TWO MOORLAND EPISODES
Though all hands were needed on the farm in strenuous endeavor to repair
the storm's havoc, Dr. MacGregor forbade Martin to work when he examined
the reopened cut. Thus, the boy was free to guide Fritz, the chauffeur,
on the morning the man came to look at Bolland's herd.
Fritz Bauer--that was the name he gave--had improved his English
pronunciation marvelously within a fortnight. He no longer confused
"d's" and "t's." He had conquered the sibilant sound of the "s." He was
even wrestling with the elusive "th," substituting "d" for "z."
"I learnt from a book," he explained, when Martin complimented him on
his mastery of English. "Dat is goot--no, good--but one trains de ear
only in de country where de people spik--speak--de language all de
time."
The sharp-witted boy soon came to the conclusion that his German friend
was more interested in the money value of the cattle as pedigreed stock
than in the "points"--such as weight, color, bone, level back, and
milking qualities--which commended them to the experienced eye. Bauer
asked where he could obtain a show catalogue, and jotted down the
printer's address. When they happened on a team of Cleveland bays,
however, Fritz was thoroughly at home, and gratified his hearer by
displaying a horseman's knowledge of a truly superb animal.
"Dey are light, yet strong," he said, his eyes roving from high-set
withers to shapely hocks and clean-cut fetlocks. "Each could pull a ton
on a bad road--yes?"
Martin laughed. He was blind to the cynical smile called forth by his
amusement.
"A ton? Two tons. Why, one day last winter, when a pair of Belgians
couldn't move a loaded lorry in the deep snow, my father had the man
take out both of 'em, and Prince walked away with the lot."
"So?" cried the German admiringly.
"But you understand horses," went on Martin. "Yet I've read that men who
drive motors don't care for anything else, as a rule."
"Ah, dat reminds me," said the other. "It is a fine day. Come wid me in
de machine."
"That'll be grand," said Martin elatedly. "Can you take it out?"
"Oh, yes. Any time I--dat is, I'll ask Mrs. Saumarez, and she will
permit--yes."
Quarter of an hour later the chauffeur was explaining, in German, that
he was going into the country for a long spin, and Mrs. Saumarez was
listening, not consenting.
"Going alone?" she inquired languidly.
"No, madam," he answered. "Martin Bolland will come with me."
"Why not take Miss Angele?"
The man smiled.
"I want the boy to talk," he explained.
Mrs. Saumarez nodded. She treated the matter with indifference. Not so
Angele, who heard the car purring down the drive, and inquired Fritz's
errand. She was furious when her mother blurted out the news that Martin
would accompany Bauer.
"Ce cochon d'Allemand!" she stormed, her long lashes wet with vexed
tears. "He has done that purposely. He knew I wanted to go. But I'll get
even with him! See if I don't."
"Angele!" and Mrs. Saumarez reddened with annoyance; "if ever you say a
word about such matters to Fritz I'll pack you off to school within the
hour. I mean it, so believe me."
Angele stamped a rebellious foot, but curbed her tongue and vanished.
She ran all the way to the village and was just in time to see the
Mercedes bowling smoothly out of sight, with Martin seated beside the
chauffeur. She was so angry that she stamped again in rage, and Evelyn
Atkinson came from the inn to inquire the cause. But Angele snubbed her,
bought some chocolates from Mr. Webster, and never offered the other
girl a taste.
It happened that Martin, for his part, had suggested a call at the
vicarage. Fritz vetoed the motion promptly.
"Impossible!" he grinned. "I had to dodge de odder one, yes."
Evidently Fritz had kept both eyes and ears open.
They headed for the moors. Wise Martin had counseled a slow speed in the
village to allay Mrs. Bolland's dread of a new-fangled device which she
"couldn't abide"; but once on the open road the car breasted a steep
hill at a rate which the boy thought neck-breaking.
"Dat is nodding," said Fritz nonchalantly. "Twenty--twenty-five. Wait
till we are on de level. Den I show you fifty."
Within six minutes Martin flew past Mrs. Summersgill's moor-edge farm.
Never before had he reached that point in less than half an hour. The
stout party was in the porch, peeling potatoes for the midday meal. She
lifted her hands in astonishment as her young friend sped by. Martin
waved a greeting. He could almost hear her say:
"That lad o' Bolland's must ha' gone clean daft. I'm surprised at Martha
te let him ride i' such a conthraption."
On the hedgeless road of the undulating moor, even after the ravages of
the gale, fifty miles an hour was practicable for long stretches. Fritz
was a skilled driver. He seemed to have a sixth sense which warned him
of rain-gullies, and slowed up to avoid straining the car. He began
explaining the mechanism, and halted on the highest point of a far-flung
tableland to lift the bonnet and show the delighted boy the operations
of the Otto cycle. In those days the self-starter was unknown, but
Martin found he could start the heated engine without any difficulty.
Fritz permitted him to drive slowly, and taught him the use of the
brakes. Finally, this most agreeable Teuton produced a packet of
sandwiches. He was in no hurry to return.
"Dese farms," he said, pointing to a low-built house with tiled roof,
and a cluster of stables and haymows, "dey do not raise stock, eh? Only
little sheep?"
"They all keep milk-cows, and bring butter to the market, so they often
have calves and yearlings," was the ready answer.
"And horses?"
"Always a couple, and a nag for counting the sheep."
"How many sheep?"
"Never less than a hundred. Some flocks run to three or four hundred."
"Ah. Where are dey?"
Martin, proud of his knowledge, indicated the position and approximate
distance of the hollows, invisible for the most part, in which lay the
larger holdings.
"Do you understand a map?" inquired Fritz.
"Yes. I love maps. They tell you everything, when you can read them
properly."
"Not everyding," and the man smiled. "Some day I want to visit one of
dose big farms. Can you mark a few?"
He spread an Ordnance map--a clean sheet--and gave his guide a pencil.
Soon Martin had dotted the paper with accurate information, such as none
but one reared in that wild country could have supplied. He was eager to
prove his familiarity with a map, and followed each bend and twist of
the prehistoric glacier beds, where the lowland becks had their origin.
He was not "showing off" before a foreigner. He loved this brown moor
and was only too pleased to have found a sympathetic listener.
"The heather is losing its color now," he said, pausing for a moment in
his task. "You ought to see it early in August, when it is all one mass
of purple flowers, with here and there a bunch of golden gorse--'whin,'
we call it. Our moor is almost free from bog-holes, so you can walk or
ride anywhere with safety. I have often thought what a fine place it
would be for an army."
"Wass ist das?" cried Fritz sharply. He corrected the slip with a laugh.
"An army?" he went on, though his newly acquired accent escaped him.
"Vot woot an army pe toing here?"
"Oh, just a camp, you know. We hold maneuvers every year in England."
"Yez. You coot pud all your leedle army on dis grount. Bud dere iss von
grade tefecd. Dere iss no water. A vell, in eej farm, yez; bud nod
enough for a hundret dousand men, und de horses of four divisions."
This point of view was novel to the boy. He knit his brows.
"I hadn't thought of that," he confessed. "But, wait a bit. There's far
more water here than you would imagine. Stocks have to be watered, you
know. Some of the farmers dam the becks. Why, in the Dickenson place
over there," and out went a hand, "they have quite a large reservoir,
with trout in it. You'd never guess it existed, if you weren't told."
Fritz nodded. He had turned against the breeze to shield a match for a
cigarette, and his face was hidden.
"You surprise me," he murmured, speaking slowly and with care again.
"And dere are odders, you say?"
"Five that I know of. Mrs. Walker, at the Broad Ings, rears hundreds of
ducks on her pond."
Fritz took the map and pencil.
"You show me," he chuckled. "I write an essay on Yorkshire moor farms,
and perhaps earn a new suit of clo'es, yes? Our Cherman magazines print
dose tings."
* * * * *
That same afternoon a party of guns on a Scottish moor had been shooting
driven grouse flying low and fast over the butts before a strong wind.
The sportsmen, five in number, were all experts. Around each shelter,
with its solitary marksman and his attendant loader, lay a deep crescent
of game, every bird shot cleanly.
The last drive of the day was the most successful. One man, whose
bronzed skin and military bearing told his profession, handed the empty
12-bore to the gillie when the line of beaters came over the crest of
the hill, and betook himself, filling his pipe the while, to a group of
ponies waiting on the moorland road in the valley beneath.
He joined another, the earliest arrival.
"Capital ground, this," he said. "I don't know whose lot is the more
enviable, Heronsdale--yours, who have the pains as well as the pleasure
of ownership, or that of wandering vagabonds like myself whom you make
your guests."
Lord Heronsdale smiled.
"You may call yourself a wandering vagabond, Grant--the envy rests with
me," he said. "It's all very well to have large estates, but I feel like
degenerating into a sort of head gamekeeper and farm bailiff combined.
Of course, I'm proud of Cairn-corrie, yet I pine sometimes for the
excitement of a life that does not travel in grooves."
The other shook his head.
"Don't tempt fate," he said. "My life has been spent among the outer
beasts. It isn't worth it. For a few years of a man's youth,
yes--perhaps. But I am forty, and I live in a club. There, you have my
career in a nutshell."
"There is a fine kernel within. By Gad! Grant, why don't you pretend I
meant that pun? I didn't, but I'll claim it at dinner. Gad, it's fine!"
Colonel Grant laughed. His mirth had a pleasant, wholesome ring.
"If you bribe me with as good a berth to-morrow," he said, "I'll give
you the chance of throwing it off spontaneously during the first lull in
the conversation. The best impromptus are always prepared beforehand,
you know."
Others came up. The shooters mounted, and the wise ponies picked their
way with cautious celerity over an uneven track. Colonel Grant again
found himself riding beside his host.
"Tell you what," said Lord Heronsdale suddenly, "you're a bit of an
enigma, Grant."
"I have often been told that."
"Gad, I don't doubt it. A chap like you, with five thousand a year, to
chuck the Guards for the Indian Staff Corps, exchange town for the
Northwest frontier, go in for potting Afghans instead of running a drag
to Sandown; and, to crown all, remain a bachelor. I don't understand
it."
"Yet, ten minutes ago you were growling about the monotony of existence
at Cairn-corrie and half a dozen other places."
"Not even a _tu quoque_ like that explains the mystery."
"Some day I'll tell you all about it. When the time comes I must ask
Lady Heronsdale to find me a nice wife, with a warranty."
"Gad, that's the job for Mollie. _She'll_ put the future Mrs. Grant
through her paces. You're not flying off to India again, then?"
"No. I heard last week that a post is to be found for me in the
Intelligence Department."
"Capital! You'll soon have a K. before the C. B."
"Possibly. Some fellows wear themselves to the bone in trying for those
things. My scheming for years has been to avoid the humdrum of
cantonment life. And, behold! I am spotted for promotion. I don't know
how the deuce they ever heard of me in Pall Mall."
"Gad! Don't you read the papers?"
"Never."
"My dear fellow, they were full of you last year. That march through the
snow, pulling those guns through the pass, the final relief of the
fort--Gad, Molly has the cuttings. She'll show 'em to you after dinner."
"I sincerely hope Lady Heronsdale will do no such thing. Why on earth
does she keep such screeds?"
His lordship dropped his bantering air.
"Do you really imagine, Grant," he said seriously, "that either she or I
will ever forget what you did for Arthur at Peshawar?"
The other man reddened.
"A mere schoolboy episode," he growled.
"Yes, in a sense. Yet Arthur told me that he had a revolver in his
pocket when you met him that night at the mess and persuaded him to
leave the business in your hands. You saved our boy, Grant. Gad, ask
Mollie what she thinks!"
"Has he been steady since?"
"A rock, my dear chap--adamant where women are concerned. His mother is
beginning to worry about him; he wouldn't look at Helen Forbes, and
Madge Bolingbrooke does her skirt-dances in vain. Both deuced nice
girls, too."
Colonel Grant had navigated the talk into a safe channel, and kept it
there. He never spoke of the past.
At dinner a man asked him if he was reading the Elmsdale sensation. He
had not even heard of it, so the tale of Betsy and George Pickering, of
Martin Bolland and Angele Saumarez was poured into his ears.
"I am interested," said his neighbor, "because I knew poor Pickering. He
hunted regularly with the York and Ainsty."
"Saumarez!" murmured Colonel Grant. "I once met a man of that name. He
was shot on the Modder River."
"This girl may be his daughter. The paper describes her mother as a lady
of independent means, visiting the moors for her health."
"Poor Saumarez! From what I remember of his character, the child must be
a chip of the same block--he was an irresponsible daredevil, a terror
among women. But he died gallantly."
"There's a lot about her in the local paper, which reached me this
morning. Would you care to see it?"
"Newspapers are so inaccurate. They never know the facts."
Yet the colonel, not caring to play bridge, asked later for the loan of
the journal named by his informant, and read therein the story of the
village tragedy. As fate willed it, the writer was the reporter of the
_Messenger_, and his account was replete with local knowledge.
Yes, Mrs. Saumarez was the widow of Colonel Saumarez, late of the
Hussars. But--what was this?
"Martin Court Bolland, a bright-faced boy, of an intelligence far
greater than one looks for in rustic youth, has himself a somewhat
romantic history. He is the adopted son of the sturdy yeoman whose
name he bears. Mr. and Mrs. Bolland were called to London thirteen
years ago to attend the funeral of the farmer's brother. One
evening while seeing the sights of the great metropolis they found
themselves in Ludgate Hill. They were passing the end of St.
Martin's Court, when a young woman named Martineau----"
The colonel laid aside his cigar and twisted his body sideways, so that
the light of the billiard-room lamps should fall clearly on the paper
yet leave his face in the shade.
"--a young woman named Martineau threw herself, with a baby in her
arms, from the fourth story of a house in the court, and was killed
by the fall. The baby's frock was caught by a projecting sign, and
the child hung perilously in air. John Bolland, whose strong, stern
face reveals a character difficult to surprise, impossible to
daunt, jumped forward and caught the tiny mite as it dropped a
second time. Mrs. Bolland still treasures a letter written by the
infant's unhappy mother, and prizes to the utmost the fine boy
whom she and her husband adopted from that hour. The old couple are
childless, though with Martin calling them 'father' and 'mother,'
they would scoff at the statement. This, then, is the well-knit,
fearless youngster who fought the squire's son on that eventful
night, and whose evidence is of the utmost importance in the police
theory of crime, as opposed to accident."
Colonel Grant went steadily through the neat sentences on which the
_Messenger_ correspondent prided himself. He was a man of bronze; he
showed no more emotion than a statue, though the facts staring from the
printed page might well have produced external signs of the tempest
which sprang into instant being in his soul.
He read each line of descriptive matter and report. For the sorrows of
Betsy, the final daring of George Pickering, he had no eyes. It was the
boy he sought in the living record: the boy who fought young
Beckett-Smythe to rescue the thoughtless child--for so Angele figured in
the text; the boy who repudiated with scorn the solicitor's suggestion
that he formed part and parcel of the crowd of urchins gathered in the
hotel yard; the farmer's adopted son, who spoke so fearlessly and bore
himself so well that the newspaper noted his intelligence, his bright
looks.
At last Colonel Grant laid down the sheet and lighted a fresh cigar. He
smoked for a few minutes, watching the pool players, and declining an
invitation to join in the game. He seemed to be planning some line of
action; soon he went to the library and unrolled a large scale map of
England. He found Nottonby--Elmsdale was too small a place to be
denoted--and, after consulting a railway timetable, wrote a long
telegram.
These things accomplished, he seized an opportunity to tell Lord
Heronsdale that business of the utmost importance would take him away by
the first train next morning.
Of course, his host was voluble in protestations, so the soldier
explained matters.
"You asked me to-day," he said, "why I turned my back on town thirteen
years ago. I meant telling you at a more convenient season. Will it
suffice now to say that a kindred reason tears me away from your moor?"
"Gad, I hope there is nothing wrong. Can I help?"
"Yes; by letting me go. You will be here until October. May I return?"
"My dear Grant----"
So they settled it that way.
About three o'clock on the second day after the colonel's departure from
Cairn-corrie he and an elderly man of unmistakably legal appearance
walked from Elmsdale station to the village. The station master,
forewarned, had procured a dogcart from the "Black Lion," but the
visitors preferred dispatching their portmanteaux in the vehicle, and
they followed on foot.
Thus it happened--as odd things do happen in life--that the two men met
a boy walking rapidly from the village, and some trick of expression in
his face caused the colonel to halt him with a question:
"Can you tell me where the 'Black Lion' inn is?"
"Yes, sir. On the left, just beyond the bend in the road."
"And the White House Farm?"
The village youth looked at the speaker with interest.
"On the right, sir; after you cross the green."
"Ah!"
The two men stood and stared at Martin, who was dressed in a neat blue
serge suit, obtained by post from York, the wildcat having ruined its
predecessor. The older man, who reminded the boy of Mr. Stockwell, owing
to the searching clearness of his gaze, said not a word; but the tall,
sparsely-built soldier continued--for Martin civilly awaited his
pleasure--
"Is your name, by any chance, Martin Court Bolland?"
The boy smiled.
"It is, sir," he said.
"Are you--can you--that is, if you are not busy, you might show us the
inn--and the farm?"
The gentleman seemed to have a slight difficulty in speaking, and his
eyes dwelt on Martin with a queer look in them: but the answer came
instantly:
"I'm sorry, sir; but I am going to the vicarage to tea, and you cannot
possibly miss either place. The inn has a signpost by the side of the
road, and the White House stands by itself on a small bank about a
hundred and fifty yards farther down the village."
The older gentleman broke in:
"That will be our best course, Colonel. We can easily find our
way--alone."
The hint in the words was intended for the ears that understood. Colonel
Grant nodded, yet was loath to go.
"Is the vicar a friend of yours?" he said to Martin.
"Yes, sir. I like him very much."
"Does a Mrs. Saumarez live here?"
"Oh, yes. She is at the vicarage now, I expect."
"Indeed. You might tell her you met a Colonel Grant, who knew her
husband in South Africa. You will not forget the name, eh--Grant?"
"Of course not, sir."
Martin surveyed the stranger with redoubled attention. A live colonel is
a rare sight in a secluded village. The man, seizing any pretext to
prolong the conversation, drew out a pocketbook.
"Here is my card," he said. "You need not give it to Mrs. Saumarez. She
will probably recognize my name."
The boy glanced at the pasteboard. It read:
Lieut.-Col. Reginald Grant,
"Indian Staff Corps."
Now, it chanced that among Martin's most valued belongings was a certain
monthly publication entitled "Recent British Battles," and he had read
that identical name in the July number. As was his way, he remembered
exactly the heroic deeds with which a gallant officer was credited, so
he asked somewhat shyly:
"Are you Colonel Grant of Aliwal, sir?"
He pronounced the Indian word wrongly, with a short "a" instead of a
long one, but never did misplaced accent convey sweeter sound to man's
ears. The soldier was positively startled.
"My dear boy," he cried, "how can you possibly know me?"
"Everyone knows your name, sir. No fear of me forgetting it now."
The honest admiration in those brown eyes was a new form of flattery;
for the first time in his life Colonel Grant hungered for more.
"You have astonished me more than I can tell," he said. "What have you
read of the Aliwal campaign? All right, Dobson. We are in no hurry."
This to his companion, who ventured on a mild remonstrance.
"I have a book, sir, which tells you all about Aliwal"--this time Martin
pronounced the word correctly; no wonder the newspaper commented on his
intelligence--"and it has pictures, too. There is a grand picture of
you, riding through the gate of the fort, sword in hand. Do you mind me
saying, sir, that I am very pleased to have met you?"
The man averted his eyes. He dared not look at Martin. He made pretense
to bite the end off a cigar. He was compelled to do something to keep
his lips from trembling.
"I hope we shall meet often again, Martin," he said slowly. "I'll tell
you more than the book does, though I have not read it. Run off to your
friends at the vicarage. Good-by!"
He held out his hand, which the boy shook diffidently. There was no
doubt whatever in Martin's mind that Colonel Grant was an
extraordinarily nice gentleman.
"My God, Dobson!" cried the soldier, turning again to look after the
alert figure of the boy; "I have seen him, spoken to him--my own son! I
would know him among a million."
"He certainly bears a marked resemblance to your own photograph at the
same age," admitted the cautious solicitor.
"And what a fine youngster! By Jove, did you twig the way he caught on
to the pronunciation of Aliwal? Bless that book! It shall be bound in
the rarest leather, though I never rode through that gate--I ran, for
dear life! I--I tell you what, Dobson, I'd sooner do it now than face
these people, the Bollands, and explain my errand. I suppose they
worship him."
"The position differs from my expectations," said the solicitor. "The
boy does not talk like a farmer's son. And he is going to tea at the
vicarage with a lady of good social position. Can the Bollands be of
higher grade than we are led to believe?"
"The newspaper is my only authority. Ah, here is the 'Black Lion.'"
Mrs. Atkinson bustled forward to assure the gentlemen that she could
accommodate them. Colonel Grant was allotted the room in which George
Pickering died! It was the best in the hotel. He glanced for a moment
through the window and took in the scene of the tragedy.
"That must be where the two young imps fought," he murmured, with a
smile, as he looked into the yard. "Gad! as Heronsdale says, I'd like to
have seen the battle. And my boy whipped the other chap, who was bigger
and older, the paper said."
Soon the two men were climbing the slight acclivity on which stood the
White House. The door stood hospitably open, as was ever the case about
tea-time in fine weather. In the front kitchen was Martha, alone.
The colonel advanced.
"Is Mr. Bolland at home?" he asked, raising his hat.
"Noa, sir; he isn't. But he's on'y i' t' cow-byre. If it's owt
important----"
He followed her meaning sufficiently.
"Will you oblige me by sending for him? And--er--is Mrs. Bolland here?"
"I'm Mrs. Bolland, sir."
"Oh, I beg your pardon. Of course, I did not know you."
He thought he would find a much younger woman. Martha, in the
close-fitting sunbonnet, with its wide flaps, her sleeves rolled up, and
her outer skirt pinned behind to keep it clear of the dirt during
unceasing visits to dairy and hen-roosts, looked even older than she
was, her real age being fifty-five.
"Will you kindly be seated, gentlemen?" she said. She was sure they were
county folk come about the stock. Her husband's growing reputation as a
breeder of prize cattle brought such visitors occasionally. She wondered
why the taller stranger asked for her, but he said no more, taking a
chair in silence.
She dispatched a maid to summon the master.
"Hev ye coom far?" she asked bluntly.
Colonel Grant looked around. His eyes were searching the roomy kitchen
for tokens of its occupants' ways.
"We traveled from Darlington to Elmsdale," he said, "and walked here
from the station."
"My goodness, ye'll be fair famished. Hev summat te eat. There's plenty
o' tea an' cakes; an' if ye'd fancy some ham an' eggs----"
"Pray do not trouble, Mrs. Bolland," said the colonel when he had
grasped the full extent of the invitation. "We wish to have a brief talk
with you and your husband. Afterwards, if you ask us, we shall be most
pleased to accept your hospitality."
He spoke so genially, with such utter absence of affectation, that
Martha rather liked him. Yet, what could she have to do with the
business in hand? Anyhow, here came John, crossing the road with heavy
strides.
The farmer paused just within the threshold. His huge frame filled the
doorway. He wore spectacles for reading only, and his deep-sunken eyes
rested steadily, first on Colonel Grant, then on the solicitor. Then
they went back to the colonel and did not leave him again.
"Good day, gentlemen," he said. "What can I deae for ye?"
The man who stormed forts on horseback--in pictures--quailed at the task
before him. He nodded to the solicitor.
"Dobson," he said, "you know all the circumstances. Oblige me by stating
them fully."
The solicitor, who seemed to expect this request, produced a bulky
packet of papers and photographs. He prefaced his explanation by giving
his companion's name and rank, and introduced himself as a member of the
firm of Dobson, Son and Smith, Solicitors, of Lincoln's Inn Fields.
"Fifteen years ago," he went on, "Colonel Grant was a subaltern, a
junior officer, in the Guards, stationed in London. A slight accident
one day outside a railway station led him to make the acquaintance of a
young lady. She was hurrying to catch a train, when she was knocked down
by a frightened horse, and might have been injured seriously were it not
for Lieutenant Grant's prompt assistance. He escorted her to her
lodgings, and discovered that she was what is known in London as a daily
governess--in other words, a poor, well-educated woman striving to earn
a respectable living. The horse had trampled on her foot, and she
required proper attention and rest; a brief interview with her landlady
enabled Mr. Grant to make the requisite arrangements, unknown to the
young lady herself. He called a week later and found that she was quite
recovered. She was a very beautiful girl, of a lively disposition, only
twenty years of age, and working hard in her spare time to perfect
herself as a musician. She had no idea of the social rank of her new
friend, or perhaps matters might have turned out differently. As it was,
they met frequently, became engaged, and were married. I have here a
copy of the marriage certificate."
He selected a long, narrow strip of blue paper from the documents he had
placed before him on the kitchen table. He opened it and offered it to
Bolland, as though he wished the farmer to examine it. John did not
move. He was still looking intently at Colonel Grant.
Martha, all a-flutter, with an indefinite anxiety wrinkling the corners
of her eyes, said quickly:
"What might t' young leddy's neaem be, sir?"
"Margaret Ingram. She was of a Gloucestershire family, but her parents
were dead, and she had no near relatives."
Martha cried, somewhat tartly:
"An' what hez all this te deae wi' us, sir?"
"Let be, wife. Bide i' patience. T' gentleman will tell us, neae doot."
John's voice was hard, almost dissonant. The solicitor gave him a rapid
glance. That harsh tone boded ill for the smooth accomplishment of his
mission. Martha wondered why her husband gazed so fixedly at the other
man who spoke not. But she toyed nervously with her apron and held her
peace. Mr. Dobson resumed:
"The young couple could not start housekeeping openly. Lieutenant Grant
depended solely on the allowance made to him by his father, whose ideas
of family pride were so extreme that such a marriage must unquestionably
have led to a rupture. Moreover, a campaign in northern India was then
threatening. It broke out exactly a year and two months after the
marriage. Mr. Grant's regiment was ordered to the front, and when he
sailed from Southampton he left his young wife and an infant, a boy,
four months old, installed in a comfortable flat in Clarges Street,
Piccadilly. It is important that the exact position of family affairs at
this moment should be realized. General Grant, father of the young
officer, had suffered from an apopletic stroke soon after his son's
marriage, and to acquaint him with it now meant risking his life. Young
Grant's action was known to and approved by several trustworthy friends.
He and his wife were very happy, and Mrs. Grant was correspondingly
depressed when the exigencies of the national service took her husband
away from her. The parting between the young couple was a bitter trial,
rendered all the more heartrending by reason of the concealment they had
practiced. However, as matters had been allowed to drift thus far, no
one will pretend that there was any special need to worry General Grant
at the moment of his son's departure for a campaign. Lieutenant Grant
hoped to return with a step in rank. Then, whatever the consequences,
there must be a full explanation. He had not a great deal of money, but
sufficient for his wife's needs. He left her two hundred pounds in notes
and gold, and his bankers were empowered to pay her fifty pounds
monthly. His own allowance from General Grant was seventy-five pounds a
month, and it was with great difficulty that he maintained his position
in such an expensive regiment as the Guards. The campaign eased the
pressure, or he could not have kept it up for long."
"Are all these details quite necessary, Dobson?" said the colonel, for
the steady glare of the farmer, the growing pallor of poor Martha,
around whose heart an icy hand was taking sure grip, were exceedingly
irksome.
"They are if I am to do you justice," replied the lawyer.
"Never mind me. Tell them of Margaret--and the boy."
"I will pass over the verification of my statement," went on Mr. Dobson,
bending over the folded papers. "Seven months passed. Mrs. Grant
expected soon to be delivered of another child. She heard regularly from
her husband. His regiment was in the Khyber Pass, when one evening she
was robbed of her small store of jewelry and a considerable sum of money
by a trusted servant. The theft was reported in the papers, and General
Grant read of his son's wife being a resident in Clarges Street. He went
to the flat next day, saw the poor girl, behaved in a way that can only
be ascribed to the folly of an old man broken by disease, and cut off
supplies at once. Within a week Mrs. Grant found herself in poverty, and
her husband at least a month's post distant. She did not lose her wits.
She sold her furniture and raised money enough to support herself and
her baby boy for some time. Of course, she was very much distressed, as
General Grant wrote to her, called her an adventuress, and stated that
he had disinherited his son on her account. This was only partly true.
He tore up one will, but made no other, and forgot that there was a
second copy in possession of my firm. Mrs. Grant then did a foolish
thing. She concealed her troubles from her husband's friends, who would
have helped her. She took cheap lodgings in another part of London, and
changed her name. This seems to be accounted for by the fact that
General Grant, in his insane suspicions, set private detectives to watch
her. Moreover, the bankers wrote her a curt letter which added to her
miseries. She rented rooms in St. Martin's Court, Ludgate Hill, and gave
her name as Mrs. Martineau."
Martha sprang at the solicitor with an eerie screech:
"Hev ye coom to steal oor bairn, the bonny lad we've reared i' infancy
an' childhood? Leave this house! John--husband--will ye let 'em drive me
mad?"
John took her in his arms.
"Martha," he said, with a break in his voice that shook his hearers and
stilled his wife's cries; "dinnat mak' oor burthen harder te bear. A
man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps!"
Servants, men and women, came running at their mistress's scream of
terror. They stood, abashed, in the kitchen passage. None paid heed to
them.
Colonel Grant rose and approached the trembling woman cowering at her
husband's side. Her old eyes were streaming now; she gazed at him with
the pitiful anguish of a stricken animal. He took her wrinkled hand and
bent low before her.
"Madam," he said, "God forbid that my son should lose his mother a
second time!"
He could say no other word. Even in her agony, Martha felt hot tears
falling on her bare arm, and they were not her own.
"Eh, but it's a sad errand ye're on," she sobbed.
"Wife, wife!" cried John huskily, "if thou faint in the day of adversity
thy strength is small. Colonel Grant is a true man. It's in his feaece.
He weaen't rive Martin frae yer arms, an' no man can tak' him frae yer
heart."
Colonel Grant drew himself up. He caught Bolland's shoulder.
"Bear with me," he said. "I have suffered much. I lost my wife and two
children, one unborn. They were torn from me as though by a destroying
tempest. One is given back, after thirteen long years of mourning. Can
you not spare me a place in his affections?"
"Ay, ay," growled John. "We're nobbut owd folk at t' best, an' t' lad
was leavin' oor roof for school in a little while. We can sattle things
like sensible people, if on'y Martha here will gie ower greetin'. It
troubles me sair to hear her lamentin'. We've had no sike deed i'
thirty-fower years o' married life."
The man was covering his own distress by solicitude in his wife's
behalf. She knew it. She wiped her eyes defiantly with her apron and
made pretense to smile, though she had received a shock she would
remember to her dying day. Some outlet was necessary for her surcharged
feelings. She whisked around on the crowd of amazed domestics,
dairymaids and farmhands, pressing on each other's heels in the passage.
"What are ye gapin' at?" she cried shrilly. "Is there nowt te deae? If
tea's overed, git on wi' yer work, an' be sharp aboot it, or I'll side
ye quick!"
The stampede that followed relieved the situation. The servants faded
away under her fiery glance. Colonel Grant smiled.
"I am glad to see," he said, "that you maintain discipline in your
regiment."
"They're all ears an' neae brains," she said. "My, but I'm that upset I
hardly ken what I'm sayin'. Mebbe ye'll finish yer tale, sir. I'm
grieved I med sike a dash at ye, but I couldn't bide----"
"There, there," said John, with his gruff soothing, "sit ye doon an'
listen quietly. I guessed their business t' first minnit I set eyes on
t' colonel. Why, Martha, look at him. He hez Martin's eyes and Martin's
mouth. Noo, ye'd hev dark-brown hair, I reckon, when ye were a lad,
sir?"
For answer, Colonel Grant stooped to the lawyer's papers and took from
them a framed miniature.
"That is my portrait at the age of twelve," he said, placing it before
them.
"Eh, but that caps owt!" cried Martha. "It's Martin hissel! Oh, my
honey, how little did I think what was coomin' when I set yer shirt an'
collar ready, an' med ye tidy te gan te tea wi' t' fine folk at t'
vicarage. An' noo ye're a better bred 'un than ony of 'em. The Lord love
ye! Here ye are, smilin' at me. They may mak' ye a colonel or a gin'ral,
for owt I care: ye'll nivver forgit yer poor old muther, will ye, my
bairn!"
She kissed the miniature as if it were Martin's own presentment. The men
left her to sob again in silence. Soon she calmed herself sufficiently
to ask:
"But why i' t' wulld did that poor lass throw herself an' her little 'un
inte t' street?"
Mr. Dobson took up his story once more:
"She explained her action in a pathetic letter to her husband. She was
ill, lonely, and poverty-stricken. She brooded for days on General
Grant's cruel words and still more cruel letter. They led her to believe
that she was the unwitting cause of her husband's ruin. She resolved to
free him absolutely and at the same time preserve his name from
notoriety. Therefore she wrote him a full account of her change of name,
and told him that her children would die with her."
"That was a mad thing te deae."
"Exactly. The doctor who knew her best told her husband six months later
that Mrs. Grant was, in his opinion, suffering from an unrecognized
attack of puerperal fever. It was latent in her system, and developed
with the trouble so suddenly brought upon her."
"Yon was a wicked owd man----"
"The general was called to account by a higher power. Mrs. Grant wrote
him also a statement of her intentions. Next morning he read of her
death, and a second attack of apoplexy proved fatal. Her letter did not
reach her husband until after a battle in which he was wounded. He
cabled to us, and we made every inquiry, but it was remarkable how
chance baffled our efforts. In the first instance, the policeman whom
you encountered in Ludgate Hill and who knew you had adopted the child,
had left the force and emigrated, owing to some unfortunate love
affair. In the second, several newspapers reported the child as dead,
though the records of the inquest soon corrected that error. Thirdly,
someone named Bolland died in the hotel where you stayed and was buried
at Highgate----"
"My brother," put in John.
"Yes; we know now. But conceive the barrier thus placed in our path when
the dates of the two events were compared long afterwards."
The farmer looked puzzled. The solicitor went on:
"Of course, you wonder why there should have been any delay, but the
Coroner's notes were lost in a fire. Nevertheless, we advertised in
dozens of newspapers."
"We hardly ever see a paper, sir," said Martha.
"Yet, the wonder is that some of your friends did not see it and tell
you. Finally, a sharp-witted clerk of ours solved the Highgate Cemetery
mystery, and the advertisements were repeated. Colonel Grant was back in
India by that time trying hard to leave his bones there, by all
accounts, and perhaps we did not spend as much money on this second
quest as if he were at home to authorize the expenditure."
"When was that, sir--t' second lot o' advertisements, I mean?" asked
John.
"Quite a year after Mrs. Grant's death."
Bolland stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"I remember," he said, "a man at Malton fair sayin' summat aboot an
inquiry for me. But yan o' t' hands rode twenty miles across counthry te
tell me that Martin had gotten t' measles, an' I kem yam that neet."
"Naturally, I can give you every proof of my statements," said Mr.
Dobson. "They are all here----"
"Mebbe ye'll know this writin'," interrupted Martha, laying down the
miniature for the first time. She unlocked a drawer, took out a small
tin box, and from its depths produced, among other articles, a crumbling
sheet of note paper. On it was written:
"My name is not Martineau. I have killed myself and my boy. If he
dies with his unhappy mother he will never know the miseries of
this life."
It was unsigned, undated, a hurried scrawl in faded ink.
"Margaret's handwriting," said Colonel Grant, looking at the pathetic
message with sorrow-laden eyes.
"It was found on t' poor leddy's dressin'-table, fastened wi' a hatpin.
An' these are t' clothes Martin wore when he fell into John's arms. Nay,
sir," she added, as Colonel Grant began examining the little frock, "she
took good care, poor thing, that neaebody should find oot wheae she was.
Ivvery mark hez bin picked off."
"Martin is his feyther's son, or I ken nowt aboot stock," cried John
Bolland, making a fine effort to dispel the depression which again
possessed the little gathering at sight of these mournful mementoes of
the dead past. "Coom, gentlemen, sit ye doon an' hev some tea. Ye'll not
be for takkin' Martin away by t' next train. Martha, what's t' matter
wi' ye? I've nivver known folk be so lang i' t' hoose afore an' not be
asked if they had a mooth."
"Ye're on t' wrang gait this time, John," she retorted. "I axed 'em
afore ye kem in. By this time, sure-ly, ye'll be wantin' soom ham an'
eggs?" she added to the visitors.
"By Jove! I believe I could eat some," laughed the colonel.
Martha smiled once more. She liked Martin's father. Each moment the
first favorable impression was deepening. She was on the point of
bustling away to the back kitchen, when they all heard the patter of
feet, in desperate haste, approaching the front door. Elsie Herbert
dashed in. She was hatless. Her long brown hair was floating in
confusion over her shoulders and down her back. She was crying in great
gulps and gasping for breath.
"Oh, Mr. Bolland!" she wailed. "Oh, Mrs. Bolland!--what shall I say?
Martin is hurt. He fell off the swing. Angele did it! I'll kill her!
I'll tear her face with my hands! Oh, come, someone, and help father. He
is trying to bring back Martin's senses. What shall I do?--it was all on
my account. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
And she sank fainting to the floor.