|LADY LISGARD and her young friend had by this time arrived at the
Waters-meet, a lovely spot, where the river branched into two streams,
the one still pursuing its course through the Lisgard property, and
the other escaping under a sort of swing palisade--which prevented the
passage of boats--into public life. The way had lain for some time along
a broad beech-walk, paved with an exquisite checker-work of light and
shade; but they now came upon an open spot on which a rustic bench
was placed for those who would admire at leisure what was called the
home-view. The prospect from this seat was remarkable, since it took
in all that was best worth seeing at Mirk, without laying under
contribution anything, with the exception of the church, that was not
the property of the family. Two sides of the Abbey, an irregular but
very picturesque structure, could from here be seen, at a distance not
so great as to lose the bolder features of the architecture, or to mass
the ivy which Time had hung about the southern front; the sloping
lawn, with its marble fountain, and alcove of trellis-work, which the
spring-time had but sparely clothed with leaf; the boat-house, with its
carved and gilded roof--all these, backed by a living wall of stately
woods, made up a charming picture. The Park lay across the stream,
which, although both broad and deep, was only used by pleasure-boats;
and above the one-arched bridge which linked it with the hither bank
beyond the lawn, stood up the gray church tower. Gazing upon this view,
not as one who had seen it a thousand times before, and might behold it
as often again, but with eyes that had a strange yearning and regret in
them, Lady Lisgard thus addressed her companion.
“I want to speak to you about my Walter, Arthur. A mother, alas!
cannot know her son as his friend knows him; and you, I believe, are
Walter's truest friend”----
“One moment, Lady Lisgard,” interrupted the young man gravely;
“everybody is Walter's friend, but some are his flatterers. I must
tell you at once that he is displeased with me at present because I am
not one of those.”
“Yes; you have warned him of some danger, and he is piqued because he
thinks that is treating him as a child.”
“Since you know that, _ma mère_, you know all that is necessary to
be said. Go on.”
“What is the bond, Arthur, that links my Walter to this person Derrick?
I pray you, do not hesitate to tell me. There is more depends upon your
answer than you can possibly guess.”
“Really, Lady Lisgard,” returned the young man hesitatingly, “you
ask a difficult thing, and, in truth, a delicate. There are some things,
as you say, which a son does not tell his mother, and far less wishes to
have told to her by another. Women and men take such different views of
the same matter. If men are vicious--which I do not deny--in their love
of horse-racing, for instance, women reprobate it in an exaggerated
way.”
“Horse-racing!” murmured Lady Lisgard, clasping her hands. “Does
my Walter bet? Is he a gambler?”
“I did not say that,” answered the young man with irritation. “If
you insist upon making me a tale-bearer, Lady Lisgard, do not at least
heighten the colour of my scandals.”
“I beg your pardon, Arthur; I was wrong. Perhaps this eagerness
to suspect the worst is the cause of that distrust which the young
entertain of the old. And yet _he_ might have told me all, and been sure
of forgiveness.”
“Doubtless, _ma mère_; but then we don't tell our mothers all. Now,
pray, be reasonable, and assure yourself that Walter is no worse than
other young men, because he makes up a book upon the Derby.”
“_You_ do not do so, Arthur. Why should Walter?”
“_I_ do not, _ma mère_, because my taste does not lie in that
direction. My vices--and I have plenty--are of another sort. I unsettle
my mind with heterodox publications. I entertain opinions which are
subversive of the principles of good government as believed in by your
Ladyship's family. You know in what sort of faith I have been brought
up. Moreover, I live in town among a slow, hard-working set, who have
neither time nor inclination for going to race-courses; and, indeed, I
am now getting a little practice at the bar myself. If I were a handsome
young swell in a regiment of Light Dragoons, then, instead of publishing
that amusing work upon the _Law of Entail_, which, with a totally
inexcusable pang, I saw lying upon your library-table to-day _uncut_,
I should without doubt be making a betting-book. Having no call towards
that sort of employment, however, I am very severe upon it. I term it
waste of time, loss of money, &c.; and in the case of your son, I have
even been so foolish as to remonstrate with him on that very account--an
interference which, I fear, has cost me his friendship.”
“Has he lost money through this man Derrick, think you?”
“Not yet, or they would not be upon such good terms. A turf friendship
ceases at the first bad bet. The fact is, it was about his imtimacy
with this drunken fellow that I ventured to speak; it increases the
misunderstanding already unhappily existing between your sons; for you
know what a dislike Sir Richard has shewn for this person, while for
Walter himself I believe him to be a most dangerous acquaintance.”
“Dangerous?” inquired my Lady hurriedly--“how mean you
dangerous?”
“He is bad company for any young man, and he has acquaintances who are
worse. Walter is 'hail-fellow-well-met' with everybody, and may find
himself one day so deeply involved with these folks, that extrication
may not be easy. He has plenty of wits, and well knows how to take care
of himself in a general way; but all his great advantages are useless to
him among this particular class. His genial wit, his graceful ways, his
tenderness of heart--nay, even his high spirits, all go for nothing with
such vulgar good-for-naughts, whom, in my opinion, he will be lucky not
to find downright cheats and scoundrels.”
“Is this man Derrick, then,” inquired my Lady, gazing fixedly upon
the dark swirling stream, “irredeemably base and vicious?”
“No, not so,” answered the young man frankly; “he has the lees of
good still left in him, without which, indeed, he would be less harmful.
Walter was taken from the first with his openness and candour--which are
so great that he seems quite lost to the sense of shame--and with his
lavish generosity, which is probably the result of rapid fortunemaking.
He made five thousand pounds or so, it seems, in a few weeks at
gold-digging, and I should think he was in a fair way to spend it in
almost as short a period.”
“Perhaps he may have been spoilt by that mode of life,” observed
Lady Lisgard pitifully.
“I speak as I find, ma mère,” said the young man, shrugging his
shoulders. “It is nothing to us if this man may have been a good boy at
one time. You may charitably suppose, if you like, that he has been
crossed in love, or unfortunately married------ Ah! that reminds you, I
see, of his _tendresse_ for Mistress Forest. Since it moves you so
deeply, you must look that matter in the face, Lady Lisgard, and very
soon, if you wish to keep Mary. If something about this fellow pleases
Walter, you need not wonder that it has fascinated your waiting-maid.”
“Is it this fancy of his, then, think you, which alone keeps him here
at Mirk?” asked my Lady, who had started for a moment as though stung,
but was now once more looking thoughtfully at the river.
“No. Being totally without anchorage in the world, the cable-strand
of a partnership in a race-horse at present at Chifney's stables here
holds him to the place where he can be near his property. His pecuniary
affairs are, as I understand, bound up in that fourfooted creature, and
beyond them he has nothing to look to. You who have all things settled
about you, Lady Lisgard, with home, children, and friends, and from whom
so many interests radiate, are doubtless unable to picture to yourself
such a state of things. But if this man should marry Mistress Forest,
and still keep his share in _Menelaus_, I should not be surprised if he
were to take up his residence at Mirk altogether.”
“God in his mercy forbid!” ejaculated my Lady, clasping her hands.
“My dear Lady Lisgard!” cried the young man, in alarm at her
emotion, “I am afraid I must have said something very foolish, to have
frightened you about this fellow thus. After all, there is no harm done,
and I may have been very wrong--as my mind misgives me, I have been very
officious--in anticipating any harm.”
“No, no,” cried my Lady, rocking herself to and fro; “your good
sense has only told you Truth. Do not--do not forsake me, Arthur. I look
to you not only for warning, but for succour. Are you sure that you have
told me all? Is there no other reason besides those you have mentioned
why this man, having lain in wait, and entrapped my Walter, should sit
down before this house, and, as it were, besiege it thus?”
“Well, Lady Lisgard,” returned the young man gravely, “there is, I
fear, another reason; but it is one I am very loath to speak of-----
Are you cold, _ma mère?_ I fear it is too early for this sitting by the
river.”
“No, Arthur, I am not cold. Why should you hesitate to tell me
anything about this--this stranger?”
“Because, Lady Lisgard, I respect you as though you were indeed my
mother--as you have shewn towards me always a mother's love; and this
matter in some sort concerns yourself.”
“_Myself?_” whispered my Lady hoarsely. “No, not myself, good
Arthur. What can there be in common between this man--whom I have never
seen--and me?”
“Ay, there it is,” replied the young man quietly. “It would have
been far better had you not shut yourself up, as you have done these
three months, expressly to avoid this fellow--by that means making him
think himself of consequence.”
“Who says I have done that?” asked my Lady vehemently, “Who dares
to say it? Why should I fear him? Why should I think about him well or
ill? What is he to me, or I to him?”
“Ay, what indeed, _ma mère!_ All this arises from giving ourselves
such airs, and carrying matters with so high a hand: you have nothing
but Sir Richard's pride to thank for it, to which I must say, in this
instance, you have injudiciously, and, most unlike yourself, succumbed.
It was a harsh measure, surely, to forbid this man your house, when
coming, as you knew he would, upon a lawful errand of courtship; but to
serve the landlord of an inn with notice of ejectment if a certain guest
should not remove himself--which your eldest son has caused to be done
with Steve--is a most monstrous exercise of authority. No wonder this
Derrick was greatly irritated; any man so treated would be: but, in the
present case, Sir Richard has made the unhappiest mistake. He is dealing
with one who is to the full as obstinate as himself; and (what makes
the odds overwhelmingly against him) a man entirely reckless and
unprincipled. Your son does not understand how any one can be proud who
is not a gentleman. Now, this fellow is possessed of a very devil of
pride. He is come from an outlying colony, where there is conventional
respect for nothing; and where every man does pretty much what is right
in his own eyes. He has been lucky there; raised by a freak of fortune,
and not by plodding industry (although he has doubtless worked hard
too), to comparative wealth, he is by no means inclined to consider
people his superiors. A beggar on horseback if you will, he is still
_mounted_, and may ride in Rotten Row itself if it pleases him. He
resents, of course, being thus meddled with; he is one of that class
who would deem it a great liberty in the law should it punish his
actual transgressions--who would think it hard to be smitten for his
faults--but to be interfered with in a harmless avocation, such as
lovemaking, or to be dictated to as to where he is to reside, stirs his
bile, I can imagine, pretty considerably. It is my belief that he
would have got tired of Mirk and Mary too before this, and wandered off
somewhere else, scattering his bank-notes on the way, poor devil, like
the hare in a school-boy's paper chase, but for this unjustifiable
attempt on the part of Sir Richard to curtail his liberties. I am sure,
also, that Walter was at first inclined to patronise this man, for the
very reason that his brother had exhibited towards him such uncalled-for
animosity.”
“This may be all very true,” said my Lady sighing, but at the same
time not without a certain air of relief; “but I cannot understand how
it affects _me_, Arthur.”
“Well, you see, my dear Lady Lisgard, although Sir Richard issues
these foolish edicts, it is you who are responsible for them; and I have
no doubt this Derrick has been told as much. At least, I hear, that
over his cups he has declared he will never leave Mirk till he has had
a sight of this Queen of all the Roosias (as he terms you), who holds
herself so---- Pardon me, _ma mère;_ I was wrong to repeat this
fellow's impertinence. Heaven help us! Why, my Lady has fainted!”
Arthur Haldane spoke the truth. For the moment, Lady Lisgard's mind
was freed from all its anxieties, of whatever nature they might be.
The young man sprang down the bank, and dipping his handkerchief in
the stream, applied its wet folds to her forehead. Gradual and slow
the lifeblood flowed again, and with it thought, although confused and
tangled.
“Save me, save my Walter!” murmured she. “Tell him I will die
first. He shall never look upon my face.”
“He never shall, _ma mère_ said the young man soothingly, while he
chafed my Lady's stiffened fingers.
“Keep him away!” cried she, endeavouring to rise; “he is tearing
off my wedding-ring. Help! help!”
“No, no, it is not he; it is I, Arthur Haldane--a well-meaning fool,
but who has worked a deal of mischief. I have told you all I know, and
I wish my tongue had been cut out first. It makes my heart bleed to see
you thus distressed.”
“Then give me comfort, Arthur,” groaned my Lady; “you have warned
me well, but what is the use of warning without advice. How shall I make
him cease to persecute us? Gold will not buy him. I have heard of such
a man, who, being bribed, cried but the more 'Give, give;' as
the whirlpool swallows ship after ship, and yet gapes for more---for
navies.”
“Bribe him? No, Heaven forbid! That, indeed, would be the very way to
keep him what he is--to make that chronic which is now, let us hope, but
a passing ailment. But I would take care, if I were you, that nothing
further he done to irritate him. He may-revenge himself--I only say he
_may_--by doing Walter some ill turn. And, above all, you must persuade
Mistress Forest to give him his _congé_. If once you get her to say
'No,' of her own freewill, he will soon tire of haunting the Abbey;
while, if his race-horse does not do the great things expected of
him--and what race-horse ever did?--he will soon tire of Mirk itself.”
My Lady shook her head.
“Come, ma mère, there is no need for despondency about this
fellow's going--nor, indeed, for much apprehension if he stays--and,
moreover, I really think the matter lies in your own hands; at all
events, you have more influence over your waiting-maid than any one
else, and my advice is that you speak to her at once.”
“Yes, I will speak to her,” said Lady Lisgard mechanically. “Thank
you, good Arthur, much.” She rose from her seat, and, heaving a deep
sigh as she turned from the fair home-scene, was about to saunter to the
beech-walk, when the young man laid his hand upon her arm. It was the
lightest touch, but, like that of an enchanter's wand, it seemed
to remove all trace of selfish trouble, and in its place to evoke the
tenderest sympathy for another.
“You wish to speak to me upon your own account, dear boy; and, alas! I
know the subject you would choose.”
“_Alas, ma mère!_ why _alas?_ I want to talk to you about your
Letty.”
“Not now, not now,” cried Lady Lisgard. “Spare me, dear Arthur,
for this time; I feel so unhinged and woe-stricken, I can give you
neither 'Yea nor 'Nay.'”
“I hoped that you would not have thought of 'Nay,' dear Lady
Lisgard,” said the young man pathetically. “I did not look for the
same cruel arguments of difference of station and the like from _you_ as
from--others. I shall have a home to offer your daughter such as will
be wanting in no comfort, although it may not be one so fair as yonder
Abbey. My professional prospects are, I am glad to say”----
“It is not _that_, dear boy,” broke in Lady Lisgard hastily. “You
should know me better than to suppose so, Arthur; yet I cannot, nay,
I dare not tell you what it is. It may be you will hear the truth
some day, though never from these lips; it may be--I pray Heaven for
that--that you will never need to hear it. But for the present, press
me for no reply; for when you ask to be my daughter's husband, Arthur
Haldane, you know not what you ask.”
“That is what Sir Richard says,” replied the young man bitterly.
“The Lisgards are such an ancient race, their blood so pure, their
scutcheon”------
“Spare me, spare me, Arthur!” cried my Lady earnestly. “Give me
only time, and I will do my best. If I have said anything to wound you,
ah! forgive it for the sake of those old times, which you may think of
some day, boy, not without tears, when I shall be to you but a memory.
Think then--whatever's said--'Well, she was always kind to me; and
when I wooed her daughter (you will own) she was kind too, although I
did not think so then.'” My Lady's face was hidden in her hands,
but through the fair white fingers, as though the diamonds in her rings
had started from their sockets, oozed the large tears.
“Dear Lady Lisgard, good, kind friend, ma mère,” exclaimed the
young man, deeply moved, “what sorrow is it which overwhelms you thus?
I pray you, let me share it. I am young and strong, and I love you and
yours, and there is help in me. Come, let me try.”
“No, Arthur, no,” answered my Lady gravely, as she once more arose,
and re-entered the beech-walk. “I must bear my own burden--that
is only right and fitting. Heaven knows I am willing to suffer to
the uttermost, if I be only permitted to suffer alone. It is when the
innocent suffer for us that the burden galls the most. No; you can do
nothing for me but keep silence about all that we have spoken of to-day.
Not to do so, would be to do me a grievous hurt. You have passed your
word, Arthur Haldane--remember that.”
“Yes, ma mère,” replied the young man sighing. “The Haldanes
always keep their promises, you know.”