DEBIT AND CREDIT
"And you're--Earl of Jura--now," stammered Herries, helplessly, as
though that undeniable fact altogether staggered belief.
The ragged scarecrow with the eye-glass nodded, somewhat shamefacedly,
and once more made a pitiful effort to straighten his stooping
shoulders. Herries looked away, wretchedly, and then, as if
understanding something of what must be in his mind, took it upon
himself to dismiss the servants, but bidding them remain within call and
also to see to it that no word went elsewhere of what they had seen and
heard in the banquet-hall.
The rest of the company were regarding the ex-engineer of the _Olive
Branch_ with very varied expressions. A sickly pallor had overspread
Slyne's rigid features as he heard the title by which Herries had
addressed that untimeous intruder. Captain Dove, his hands still on the
table before him, and crouching as if to spring, was breathing jerkily
from between set teeth, like one with a seizure. The Marquis of
Ingoldsby's narrow forehead was corrugated by a fixed and splenetic
frown which kept his eyes and mouth at their very widest. Behind
Sallie's questioning, compassionate, clouded glance lurked hope, and
fear, and a steadfast determination; she was still holding fast the stem
of her wine-glass. Justin Carthew looked as if he did not know in the
least who or where he was. Mr. Jobling's purple visage and pendulous
jowl spoke plainly the apoplectic and painful nature of his emotions. Of
them all, only the Duchess of Dawn seemed to have preserved any measure
of self-possession.
While Herries was giving the butler his orders, she crossed toward the
fireplace with a little characteristic, impulsive gesture.
"I hope you haven't forgotten me, Torquil?" said she, almost timidly. It
could not but hurt her to see what the years had made of the man who,
when she had met him last, had been little more than a teasing,
mischievous school-boy.
"I knew you at once," he replied, and blinked back at her and cleared
his throat uncomfortably. The pinch of his present decayed estate before
her once more quickened his numb sense of the grievous injury done him
by Captain Dove. He glanced again in Captain Dove's direction, but the
old man's gaze met his absolutely mystified; and his heavy heart began
to grow hot again as he recalled how often his cunning taskmaster had
cowed him by dint of threats to disclose his unknown identity to the
police.
"We all believed you were dead," said the duchess, and he answered her
stupidly, at random. His sullen eyes had encountered Slyne's, in which
he read aright dismay unspeakable and a stunned seeking after some
elusive scheme to turn the tables upon him yet. She saw how distrait he
was. "But you'll tell me by and by something of your adventures," said
she. "I just wanted to say how glad I am--that you're safe and sound
after all. And now I'll be off to the drawing-room with Ingoldsby. We're
only in the way here. I know you must have a great deal to say to your
sister."
He started at hearing Sallie so styled. His restless regard had reached
her, at the end of the table next him, and he wondered what it could be
that had brought such an uncontrollable gleam of relief into her still
bewildered eyes.
"I wish you would wait for a little, if you don't mind," he answered the
duchess. "I'd like you to stay beside her until--I get rid of some of
those others, if you don't mind."
She nodded, if rather reluctantly, and turned aside toward Herries as
Sallie approached, holding out to the shabby prodigal whose belated
return had brought about such a stupefying change in the situation there
a tremulous, eager hand.
"You're just in time," Sallie said to him in such a glad, warm, grateful
voice that even he, who knew very well her generous nature, was almost
surprised by her evident pleasure in thus admitting his prior right to
the high rank and vast heritage which he believed should have been hers
but for him. He was infinitely embarrassed when, before them all, she
stooped and touched with her lips the back of the claw-like,
toil-stained hand, he had tried hard to withhold from her.
[Illustration: She touched with her lips the back of the toil-stained
hand.]
And she, having sealed her abdication in such wise, looked up into his
flushed face with a swift, shy smile, the flutter of the fledgling hope
in her heart stirring softly the priceless lace that outlined her bosom,
and the little golden locket that lay therein.
"You're my brother--my step-brother, now, aren't you, Mr. Brasse?" she
asked, almost in a whisper.
"It seems so, Sallie," he answered mechanically, his wandering wits
almost beyond his control. Her unconscious use of the name by which she
had always known him had brought to his mental vision a blurred
picture of her on the bridge of the _Olive Branch_ in a stiff breeze,
himself at the fiddley-hatch.
"And everything that might have been mine is yours now?"
"Ours," he corrected, without any interest, as if that was of no
consequence. "There should be enough for us both; and, in any case, I
need very little--now."
"But it's all yours by law, isn't it?" she urged. "I must make sure,
because--" She looked back, over her shoulder. Mr. Jobling had joined
Slyne and Captain Dove; the three of them were engaged, with bated
breaths, in a sibilant argument, their heads very close together. Lord
Ingoldsby had just risen and was slouching over to the other ingle-nook,
where the duchess had made Herries sit down. Only Justin Carthew
remained motionless, half turned in his high-backed chair, leaning
heavily on one of its arms while he still stared, almost unseeingly, at
Sallie and her companion.
"How does that fellow come to be here?" asked the ex-engineer,
indicating Carthew with a puzzled nod, and, as Sallie told him what had
occurred since she herself had arrived at Loquhariot, his expression
grew always more blank again. But when she went on to explain how Slyne
had tried to entrap her for his own profit, his dull eyes brightened and
began to burn.
"And now," she said at last, "perhaps he won't want to marry me--when
there's nothing to be gained by it. I can't tell you how thankful I am
that you've come home in time."
Carthew got up from the table then and came limping forward to greet the
man whose belated home-coming had made such a difference to him. And
Mr. Jobling, evidently fired by his example, followed, to beg an
introduction from her ladyship to his lordship.
"I've been acting for Lady Josceline, my lord," he explained very
volubly, having thus secured his lordship's by no means favourable
attention, "just as I would have been most happy to act for your
lordship if I had known--" He came to a sudden stop, except for a
stifled, explosive hiccough, as Captain Dove shouldered him aside and
confronted the ex-engineer of the _Olive Branch_ with his most sleek,
benevolent expression.
Slyne was close behind Captain Dove. The pallor had passed from his
face. Mr. Jobling apparently did not deem it politic to push in again
just then. He choked down his not unnatural indignation and stayed
hovering about, very ill at ease, in the background. The others, all but
Sallie, had also moved a little away.
But it did not seem to be Captain Dove's idea to exchange any quiet
confidences with his late chief-engineer. What he had to say was for all
ears. Without witnesses he would, no doubt, have conducted himself very
differently. Handicapped as he was by their company, he had no recourse
but to enlist their sympathies on his side.
"Well, if this doesn't beat all for luck!" said he in a tone of the
extremest gratification, his visible features wreathed in an unctuous
smile. "I don't suppose you're sorry _now_ that you came ashore when I
sent for you, eh! You must admit that I've managed a very pleasant
little surprise for you--"
"You've managed nothing--except to put your own neck into a noose at
last," retorted Lord Jura. He was standing very erect although he could
not control the nervous tremor at the back of his neck. He saw no need
now to mince matters with the old man, whose callous effrontery was
stirring his sluggish pulses to such a pitch that he could scarcely
resist the dire temptation to spring at his throat and choke the evil
life out of him there and then. But a light hand laid on his arm
diverted him for a moment from any such insane idea, and his unreasoning
rage died down a little as he looked round into Sallie's appealing eyes.
"How long will it take to get the police here, Herries?" he asked
abruptly over one shoulder. And, at that, the arras in the dark corner
beside the Pipers' Port swayed slightly, as though there were some one
behind it about to come forth.
"The telegraph-wire is down, my lord," the old factor answered
doubtfully, "and--it would maybe be wasting a life to send anyone to
attempt the Pass with a message in weather like this. But--till we can
safely get word to the police, there are lots of stout lads in
Loquhariot that will do your lordship's bidding."
"And more on board the _Olive Branch_ that will do mine," Captain Dove
interrupted, with a smooth assurance which could not but add to the
listeners' perturbation. "Da Costa has his orders, too. It will be a bad
look out for Loquhariot if ever he and his lambs have to come ashore
here to look for me. You've seen them crack far harder nuts than this
ramshackle old castle of yours! You know very well--
"But what's the use of arguing about it? You owe me far too much to talk
in that style. If you could fetch the police here at this moment, you
couldn't afford to face them. You've surely forgotten--"
"I have forgotten nothing," Lord Jura assured him, in a steady, ominous
voice.
"That's just as well," declared Captain Dove, who seemed determined to
stand his ground, "because it will save me reminding you, before your
fashionable friends, how much I've done for you, first and last, since I
picked you up derelict on the beach at Yedo. You'd have been very badly
off without me then, eh! And, but for me, you'd maybe have come to a
worse end than starving, since. I've brought you back to your own, when
all's said and done. It doesn't say much for you, Lord Jura, that you'd
turn round on _me_ now!"
He spoke pathetically, as one disappointed in the return made him for
favours lavished with a free hand. And such of the others as did not
know the real facts of the matter looked somewhat doubtfully at Lord
Jura. Captain Dove was obviously pleased with the impression he had
produced.
"Everything you have done has been done entirely to serve your own
ends," the ex-engineer answered him in few words. "I owe you no
favour--not the very slightest. You owe me God knows how many years of
my life that you've tricked me out of. And, what's more--"
"And what's more," Captain Dove interrupted, "you think you owe me only
a grudge. You've no more use for me now that I've served your turn. I've
asked nothing of you, you'll notice. It's only because you've thought
fit to threaten me that I've reminded you--"
"There was no need," Lord Jura asserted. "I have forgotten nothing. You
can tell your side of the story to the judge at the next assizes--and
I'll tell mine."
Mr. Jobling's puffy face blanched at that, but Captain Dove did not even
change countenance.
"So much for yourself," said he patiently. "You think you can best
whiten your own record by trying to blacken mine. I'll say no more about
that--except that it isn't always true that dead men tell no tales. And
you'll have to tell the judge at the next assizes the real reason why
you ran away from home."
He was watching the other's face narrowly, to see what effect that stray
shot might have, and was clearly encouraged at seeing Lord Jura wince.
"But there's another point to be settled," he went on with slow
insistence, "before we go any further. I've brought you back to your
own, as I said, and, more than that, I've brought you back--your sister.
I wouldn't have made any song-an'-dance about such a small matter
either, but--since it's to be debit and credit between us, I'd like to
know how you think that affects the account.
"You say you've forgotten nothing. Have you remembered that I've brought
her up, so to speak, since she was knee-high to me? Have you ever
thought where she'd be to-day if I hadn't--But, of course, you don't
know where I came across _her_. And I'm not going to tell you just
now. All I _will_ say is that it rests absolutely in my hands
whether--whether she stays safe here with you or--You may believe me or
not, as you like, but--Better talk it over with her before you go any
further,--my lord!"
He frowned, as if warningly, at Sallie, and turned on his heel and,
swaggering back to the table, grotesquely aggressive, sat down again
with his back to them all, leaving them to make whatever they liked of
his veiled threat and half-spoken hints as to his mysterious power over
her. Slyne followed him. But Mr. Jobling pushed forward again, eager to
establish himself on a safer footing of service to the other side.
"If your lordship will allow me," said he, his head on one side,
shoulders bent and hands clasped, "I think I can undertake to arrange
matters for you with Captain Dove. Some small money payment, perhaps,
would save further unpleasantness--for her ladyship as well. We can
scarcely contest his claim for at least the amount of--"
"I don't know what you're talking about--or what business it is of
yours!" said Lord Jura sharply and turned to give Herries some order.
But, before he could speak, Sallie claimed his attention again.
"Let them go," she implored of him vehemently. "Oh, please let them go.
Don't send for the police. I couldn't bear to think that they had come
to any harm through helping me--even for their own purposes. And some of
what Captain Dove says is true enough: he's looked after me for longer
than I can remember, almost--and but for him I wouldn't be here now. The
past has sometimes been very hard for us both. It would spoil the future
entirely for me if I felt that I had been the means of betraying him to
the police. If they'll only promise to leave us alone now, won't you let
them go?--for my sake."
Lord Jura pulled at his under-lip in helpless indecision. He knew that
he could not for long deny the girl anything she asked of him thus.
"You don't understand, Sallie," he said at length, very vexedly. "You'd
better go off to your own room now,--and take Lady Jane--the
duchess--with you. Leave me to deal with the Old Man and Slyne; it isn't
only on my own account--"
"Will you set them on board the _Olive Branch_ safe, if they promise to
leave us alone now?" she urged, not to be denied in her purpose.
"But,--what are they to you?" he demanded. "Surely--it can't be--You
don't--care for Jasper Slyne, do you, Sallie? I'll let _him_ go, if you
like--though he doesn't deserve it."
She shuddered. "If you hadn't come to-night," she told him tremulously,
"you wouldn't have found me here--alive. I had made up my mind--" Her
voice died away, but he understood.
"But I can't treat them as they would me," she reminded him, her anxious
eyes holding his till he looked away, with an effort of will. "I could
never be happy here, or anywhere else, if I left any of my old shipmates
in the power of the law. Chance has brought us both here--and in time.
Will you not wipe the past out of your mind entirely, as I have done,
and--You won't refuse me the first favour I have asked of you, here in
your home? And I won't ever forget how good you have always been to me."
He looked into her eyes again, and was lost. "Have it your own way,
then," he said, as if with a grudge. "But--" His face fell. He looked
furtively behind him. He had just remembered his pact with Farish
M'Kissock. "You must get rid of them both at once, and very quietly," he
whispered. "I won't answer for what may happen yet unless--"
Sallie did not even wait to thank him for his weak-willed complaisance.
She crossed swiftly to the table where Jasper Slyne and Mr. Jobling were
once more in low-voiced conclave with Captain Dove.
The three conspirators, sitting with heads together, in angry,
undertoned argument, glanced up as she approached them. Their lowering
faces lightened a little at sight of her, but fell again into black,
rebellious masks while they listened sullenly to what she had to say. As
she finished, Captain Dove brought a heavy fist down upon the table like
a sledge-hammer, and, while the glasses still rang to its impact on the
solid oak, "I'll be damned if I budge from here by one step," he cried
at the top of his voice, and sprang from his chair, "till it suits me."
He pulled his smoked glasses from off his nose, flung them on the floor,
and trod viciously upon them as he advanced on Lord Jura again, ignoring
all his companions' attempts to restrain him.
"Now, see here, my friend!" said he with another fierce imprecation, and
thrust his face up close to the ex-engineer's while Carthew stepped
hastily forward beside Lord Jura. "Now, see here, my friend! I've had
about enough of you and your nonsense. Say whatever you've got to say to
me now yourself and be done with it. Then I'll tell _you_ what you're
going to do--for me and my adopted daughter. There's no need for any
more humming and hawing about it. Speak up!"
But his former slave did not shrink from before his withering glance.
The banquet-hall of Loquhariot was not the bridge of the _Olive Branch_:
and Lord Jura was even glad that his one-time tyrant did not seem
disposed to avail himself of that last chance of escape at which Sallie
had beguiled him into conniving.
"For my sister's sake," he said quietly, and not without dignity, "I was
willing to--"
"You'll do whatever I tell you--for your own sake as well as your
sister's," broke in Captain Dove, and looked him up and down with a
virtuous frown. "Why, but for me, you'd have no sister!" He lowered his
voice to a threatening whisper. "And you'd have hung long ago yourself,
for the murder that you did here!" he hissed.
Lord Jura regarded him gravely for a moment or two, in silence; and
then, turning toward the Pipers' Port, "Are you there, M'Kissock?" he
called, in the tone of one entitled to prompt attention.