"And then you came--"
"_I!_" His voice rang sharply, and I saw a horror dawn in his eyes, and
grow. "_I!_"
"And then you came," she repeated, and broke off, her mind suddenly at
fault. Automatically he began to sway the daisy-chain afresh. "We were
on board a ship . . . a funny ship . . . with a great high stern. . . ."
"Is this the same story?" he asked, lowering his voice almost to a
whisper; and I could hear his breath going and coming.
"I don't know . . . one minute I see clear, and then it all gets mixed
up again . . . we were up there, stretched on deck, near the tiller
. . . another ship was chasing us . . . the men began to row, with long
sweeps. . . ."
"But the sand," he insisted, "is the sand there?"
"The sand? . . . Yes, I see the sand again . . . we are standing upon it
. . . we and the crew . . . the sea is close behind us . . . some men
have hold of me . . . they are trying to pull me away from you. . . .
Ah!--"
And I declare to you that with a sob the poor girl dropped on her knees,
there in the aisle, and clasped the young man about the ankles, bowing
her forehead upon the insteps of his high boots. As for him, I cannot
hope to describe his face to you. There was something more in it than
wonder--something more than dismay, even--at the success of his
unhallowed experiment. It was as though, having prepared himself
light-heartedly to witness a play, he was seized and terrified to find
himself the principal actor. I never saw ghastlier fear on human
cheeks.
"For God's sake, sir," I cried, stamping my foot, "relax your cursed
spells! Relax them and leave us! This is a house of prayer."
He put a hand under the girl's chin, and, raising her face, made a pass
or two, still with the daisy-chain in his hand. She looked about her,
shivered and stood erect. "Where am I?" she asked. "Did I fall?
What are you doing with my chain?" She had relapsed into her habitual
childishness of look and speech.
I hurried them from the church, resolutely locked the door, and marched
up the path without deigning a glance at the young man. But I had not
gone fifty yards when he came running after.
"I entreat you, sir, to pardon me. I should have stopped the experiment
before. But I was startled--thrown off my balance. I am telling you
the truth, sir!"
"Very likely," said I. "The like has happened to other rash meddlers
before you."
"I declare to you I had no thought--" he began. But I interrupted him:
"'No thought,' indeed! I bring you here to resolve me, if you can, a
curious puzzle in archaeology, and you fall to playing devil's pranks
upon a half-witted child. 'No thought!'--I believe you, sir."
"And yet," he muttered, "it is an amazing business: the sand--the
_velarium_--the outstretched arm and hand--_pollice compresso_--the
exact gesture of the gladiatorial shows--"
"Are you telling me, pray, of gladiatorial shows under the Eastern
Empire?" I demanded scornfully.
"Certainly not: and that," he mused, "only makes it the more amazing."
"Now, look here," said I, halting in the middle of the road, "I'll hear
no more of it. Here is my gate, and there lies the highroad, on to
Porthlooe or back to Plymouth, as you please. I wish you good morning,
sir; and if it be any consolation to you, you have spoiled my digestion
for a week."
I am bound to say the young man took his dismissal with grace.
He halted then and there and raised his hat; stood for a moment
pondering; and, turning on his heel, walked quickly off towards
Porthlooe.
It must have been a week before I learnt casually that he had obtained
employment there as secretary to a small company owning the _Lord
Nelson_ and the _Hand-in-hand_ privateers. His success, as you know,
was rapid; and naturally in a gossiping parish I heard about it--a
little here, a little there--in all a great deal. He had bought the
_Providence_ schooner; he had acted as freighter for Minards' men in
their last run with the _Morning Star_; he had slipped over to Cork and
brought home a Porthlooe prize illegally detained there; he was in
London, fighting a salvage case in the Admiralty Court; . . . Within
twelve months he was accountant of every trading company in Porthlooe,
and agent for receiving the moneys due to the Guernsey merchants.
In 1809, as you know, he opened his bank and issued notes of his own.
And a year later he acquired two of the best farms in the parish,
Tresawl and Killifreeth, and held the fee simple of the harbour and
quays.
During the first two years of his prosperity I saw little of the man.
We passed each other from time to time in the street of Porthlooe, and
he accosted me with a politeness to which, though distrusting him, I
felt bound to respond. But he never offered conversation, and our next
interview was wholly of my seeking.
One evening towards the close of his second year at Porthlooe, and about
the date of his purchase of the _Providence_ schooner, I happened to be
walking homewards from a visit to a sick parishioner, when at Cove
Bottom, by the miller's footbridge, I passed two figures--a man and a
woman standing there and conversing in the dusk. I could not help
recognising them; and halfway up the hill I came to a sudden resolution
and turned back.
"Mr. Laquedem," said I, approaching them, "I put it to you, as a man of
education and decent feeling, is this quite honourable?"
"I believe, sir," he answered courteously enough, "I can convince you
that it is. But clearly this is neither the time nor the place."
"You must excuse me," I went on, "but I have known Julia since she was a
child."
To this he made an extraordinary answer. "No longer?" he asked; and
added, with a change of tone, "Had you not forbidden me the vicarage,
sir, I might have something to say to you."
"If it concern the girl's spiritual welfare--or yours--I shall be happy
to hear it."
"In that case," said he, "I will do myself the pleasure of calling upon
you--shall we say to-morrow evening?"
He was as good as his word. At nine o'clock next evening--about the
hour of his former visit--Frances ushered him into my parlour.
The similarity of circumstance may have suggested to me to draw the
comparison; at any rate I observed then for the first time that rapid
ageing of his features which afterwards became a matter of common
remark. The face was no longer that of the young man who had entered my
parlour two years before; already some streaks of grey showed in his
black locks, and he seemed even to move wearily.
"I fear you are unwell," said I, offering a chair.
"I have reason to believe," he answered, "that I am dying." And then,
as I uttered some expression of dismay and concern, he cut me short.
"Oh, there will be no hurry about it! I mean, perhaps, no more than that
all men carry about with them the seeds of their mortality--so why not
I? But I came to talk of Julia Constantine, not of myself."
"You may guess, Mr. Laquedem, that as her vicar, and having known her
and her affliction all her life, I take something of a fatherly interest
in the girl."
"And having known her so long, do you not begin to observe some change
in her, of late?"
"Why, to be sure," said I, "she seems brighter."