AT THE CRAG.
"You must come, Tousle; you must, you must, you must!"
The boys were dancing round her like a pair of wild Indians, and Esther
gave up the unequal struggle.
"I'll come if you want me very much," she said rather wearily, "but I
think you'd enjoy yourselves just as much without me."
"Well, it's not so much that we couldn't do without you ourselves,"
returned Puck, with his habitual candor; "but Old Bobby says he won't
have us without our keeper, and that means you, though I'm sure I don't
know why he should call you that."
"Nor I," answered Esther, shaking her head. She felt very little power
over the mercurial pair whom she had vainly tried to make her charge.
They were fond of her, in a fashion, and she was fond of them. Their
arrival had brought a new element into her life; and there were many
happy hours when they played together joyously, and Esther forgot her
gravity and grown-up ways, and laughed and raced about and shouted
gleefully, as other children do.
Yet it could not be denied that the boys brought many new anxieties into
her life, and the uncertainty as to what they would do next kept her
upon tenter-hooks from week's end to week's end.
They did not want to give trouble and pain; they only wanted to amuse
themselves and to be left alone. They were accustomed to liberty and
independence, and were on the whole very well able to take care of
themselves. But they were full of spirit, and they delighted in
mischief; and something in the prim and proper methods prevailing in
this little place stirred up the spirit of mischief within them, and led
them to commit more pranks, perhaps, than they would otherwise have
thought of.
Mrs. St. Aiden took things easily, fortunately for Esther. The boys
amused her. She did not see very much of them, and on the whole they
behaved nicely towards her, having received rather explicit commands on
this point from their father.
They could not always restrain their mischievous devices even where she
was concerned. One morning when her breakfast-tray was brought up, and
she uncovered the plate where some little hot dainty generally reposed,
behold there was a large toad sitting upon an empty plate, and gazing at
her with its jewel-like eyes; and the shout of laughter which followed
upon her startled scream betrayed the presence of the lurking
conspirators, who had deftly made an exchange of plates whilst Esther's
back was turned, just before she took the tray up-stairs.
Still, in spite of sundry tricks of this sort, Mrs. St. Aiden did not
object on the whole to the presence of the boys in the house. She liked
to hear their racy accounts of what they did from day to day, and there
was always Mr. Trelawny to fall back upon if they threatened to become
too much for her.
A long afternoon at the Crag had been promised to the boys for some
while, on the first half-holiday when their conduct through the week had
won them the right to the treat.
Mr. Earle was to be the judge on this point, and it was some time before
he could honestly say it was deserved. Mr. Earle was exciting Esther's
admiration by the way he was obtaining the upper hand of the restless
and obstreperous boys.
At first they had obviously regarded lesson hours as so much time for
the invention of tricks for the interruption of study, and the playing
off of practical jokes. But gradually they had come to an understanding
that their tutor regarded matters differently, and that he had just as
definite ideas as they upon the subject. Then had come a certain battle
of wills between the belligerents, and little by little it became
evident that the tutor was becoming the victor. He did not often have to
resort to corporal chastisement, though he had once given Pickle a sound
caning for insubordination, and Puck had had two or three good cuts
across his grubby little hand. But he had other ways of showing that he
meant to be master in study hours; and Esther had come to have a great
admiration for him, and a sense of confidence in his presence, although
the halo of dread which surrounded all persons connected with the Crag
still continued to cling about him.
It had been a great relief to her when Saturday after Saturday Mr. Earle
had looked through his mark book and had shaken his head at the proposal
of the promised treat. She did not want Pickle and Puck to be naughty,
but she did not in the least want to go up with them to spend the
afternoon at Mr. Trelawny's house. And yet it was understood that she
was to accompany the boys, "to keep them in order," as the master of the
house said, though Esther knew perfectly that if anybody succeeded in
keeping the pair in order it would be himself or Mr. Earle.
"He likes you, Tousle," said Pickle shrewdly; "he likes you a lot better
than us. I don't think he cares for us a bit; but he's fond of you. I
can't think why you don't like him."
"I never said I didn't like him," said Esther nervously.
"No; but anybody not a fool could see it with half an eye. I can't
think why you don't. He's an awfully jolly old boy, for all he's so
gruff and such an old tyrant. He'd like you to like him I'm sure. I
can't think why you don't."
"You'd much better," advised Puck, "or perhaps you'll make him angry,
and then he might put you into one of his tanks and use you for his
experiments. I think it's silly of you always to run away and hide when
he comes. He's always asking where you have gone to, and when we tell
him you're hiding away from him, he looks as if he didn't quite like it,
though he always laughs his big, gruff laugh."
"O Puck! why do you tell?"
"Well, we must speak the truth," said Puck with an air of virtue; "and
you know you do always scuttle away when he comes."
"Never mind," cried Pickle, who was in a mighty hurry to be off; "come
along now, and let's go up. We may go any time after dinner, you know."
"It's so hot!" said Esther with a little sigh. "Would it do if I came a
little later? The sun makes my head ache."
"Oh, but it's all in the wood, and I don't believe he'll have us without
you. Do come along. Boys never have headaches. I don't see why girls
should have either."
Esther yielded. She did not want to spoil the boys' holiday afternoon,
but she did wish that her going with them had not been a condition. Her
fears of the Crag and its master did not diminish from the things she
heard dropped by older people about the things going on there, now that
Mr. Trelawny had an assistant in his experiments. The scientific names
she heard spoken sounded terrible in her ears; and she pictured the two
men in their gloomy cave, sitting up all the night through pursuing
wonderful and mysterious researches, and her books of historical
romance, which told of the secret machinations of wizards and magicians,
acquired for her a new fascination and a new terror.
The three children started off through the pine woods, but Esther was
soon left far behind. The boys clambered hither and thither, rushing
about with the inexhaustible energy of children; but Esther's feet
lagged wearily, and her small face was pale. There were shadows beneath
her eyes, and she pulled off her hat and fanned herself with it,
thinking the way to the Crag had never seemed so long before.
Esther's head had taken to aching a good deal of late. At night she
could not always sleep. Her lessons seemed to dance before her eyes, and
she would dream about them even after she got off to slumber-land.
It had been a great pleasure to Esther to have regular lessons with
somebody like Mr. Earle, who could explain everything she wanted to
know, and who never reproved her for asking questions; but perhaps the
strain of regular work, in addition to that of the two boys in the house
and the anxiety she was often in about them and their doings, was rather
much for her. At any rate, she had been feeling her head a good deal for
the past fortnight, and would so much rather have spent the afternoon
quietly at home than have faced first the long walk up the hill and then
all the tremors and excitements of the Crag.
But Esther was not accustomed to think first of herself, and she plowed
her way bravely upwards, till at last they arrived in front of the
grim-looking old house perched upon its crag, and saw the two gentlemen
sitting out on the terrace, rather as though waiting for their guests.
The boys gave a whoop and a bound, and dashed towards them. When Esther
reached the terrace they were both swarming about Mr. Trelawny like a
pair of young monkeys. He was laughing in his rather grim fashion, and
Esther heard him saying in his deep voice,--
"No, I won't have that impudence from you, you young jackanapes. If your
father lets you behave so, he ought to know better. When I was a boy we
were made to respect our elders, and if we couldn't do it, we had to
keep it to ourselves. You may call me Uncle Bob, if you like, as my name
happens to be Robert; but every time you call me Old Bobby you'll get a
good sound box on the ear--so now you understand."
The boys laughed, but they knew perfectly that Mr. Trelawny was in
earnest, and that he would be as good as his word. They had found out
that from Mr. Earle, who had absolutely forbidden the use of nicknames
in school hours, and had insisted that they should speak of Esther by
her proper name, and address him as Mr. Earle--a thing that seemed to
astonish them not a little.
Out of school hours, however, they considered that they had full liberty
of speech, and the next minute Puck exclaimed,--
"Here's Tousle coming along. She didn't want to come a bit. We had to
bully her into it. She can't bear the Crag."
A quick flush mounted to Esther's cheek as she heard, and her heart beat
fast. How she did wish the boys would not say such things! She didn't
seem able to make them understand how terrifying it was for her that Mr.
Trelawny should be told of her shrinking from him and his house. Shyness
with Esther was like a real physical pain, and she would rather have
received a sharp blow than be obliged to face Mr. Trelawny after these
words had just been spoken.
He threw the boys from him, and went and took her by the hand.
"Well, little Miss Esther, and how do you do? You are quite a stranger
here. We must make you change your opinion of the Crag and its owner.
Now you shall tell me what you would like to do and to see, since you
are here."
"Oh, thank you, but I don't mind," answered Esther nervously. "I like
sitting here and watching the beautiful sea."
"Well, we'll sit here till you have cooled down, and we have drunk our
coffee, and then we will see if we can't find something more exciting to
amuse ourselves."
A man-servant came out almost immediately, bearing cups of coffee on a
tray; and this was very good, with plenty of milk and sugar for the
little people. The boys chattered away, and Esther found herself able to
sit in a quiet corner and be silent, for if ever Mr. Trelawny asked her
a question, Pickle or Puck always broke in with an answer before she
could get in a word.
Presently the boys could be quiet no longer.
"Come along and show us things," they cried, getting upon the rails of
Mr. Trelawny's chair, and tweaking his thick, grizzled hair. "We know
you've got an awful lot of jolly things up here. Come along and show us
them. Why, even Tousle hasn't seen half, and she's lived here ever so
long."
A smart rap on the knuckles brought Pickle quickly to the ground.
"Speak properly of your cousin whilst you are in my house," said Mr.
Trelawny.
"What did I say?" asked Pickle, aggrieved. "Oh, bother! why can't we
call people what we like? I think you're a regular old tyrant."
"Well, you needn't come near me unless you like," was the equable
response; "but if you do, you'll have to behave yourself. So just you
mind that."
The brothers exchanged glances; but it was evidently not diplomatic to
quarrel with the master of the house at this juncture, and they felt
that in the matter of argument they would get the worst of it with him.
So they only made a covert grimace at the back of his head, and said,--
"Come along, then. Show us your house. We want to see all the queer old
places we've heard about. Was there once a monk walled up in the cellar?
and did you dig out his skeleton? and did his ghost go prowling about
tapping on the doors and making groans?"
"Not in my time," answered Mr. Trelawny. "There is a story about the
finding of a skeleton down below, though how it came there nobody could
say. It was all guess-work.--Come, little Miss Esther; I know you are a
historian, and I have some things I think will interest you," and Mr.
Trelawny held out his great hand, into which Esther was obliged to slip
her little cold fingers, though she felt them trembling all over as she
did so.
Mr. Trelawny looked down at her for a moment, but said nothing. The boys
dashed hither and thither through the rooms, making remarks and asking
questions, which they did not always wait to hear answered. But by and
by they got interested in the interesting tales Mr. Trelawny had to tell
about the fine old house in which he lived, and even Esther lost her
fears for a while in the breathless delight of hearing the story of some
of the pictured ladies and armed warriors whose portraits hung upon the
walls of the corridors and rooms.
It was later on, when they were taken into the great laboratory at the
top of the house, that her fears began to come back. There was a strange
smell in the place, and it was full of the queerest things, the very
names of which were terrible. Then Mr. Trelawny did some wonderful
things with wires and lights; and presently Mr. Earle was sent down into
the cave, right at the very bottom of the house, underneath its
foundations, and he and Mr. Trelawny passed messages to each other
without so much as a speaking-tube or a wire between them, and
everything seemed so strange and uncanny that even the boys were quite
silent, whilst Esther felt as though she should be stifled in the
atmosphere of this weird place.
But the boys were not frightened, though they were greatly astonished at
some of the things they saw and heard. Nothing would serve them but that
they must go down into the cave again themselves, and see what was going
on there; and Esther felt as though her heart would stop beating
altogether as she felt her hand grasped by that of this big, terrible
wizard, and knew that he was leading her down, down, down into the very
heart of the earth.
She dared not resist. His grasp was too strong for that. She was afraid
if she angered him he would begin to flash more fire, and perhaps
annihilate her altogether. Her teeth chattered in her mouth. Her breath
came and went in great gasps. If he had not had such firm hold of her
hand, she would almost have fallen.
At all times Esther had a fear of underground places. She had never done
more than just peep into a cave before this; and now she was going down,
down, down into the very heart of the earth--into that terrible place
the boys had told her of, where all sorts of unthinkable horrors were
practised, or had been in bygone days, and where, for all she knew,
skeletons were still pickling in great tanks. She dared not even think
of anything more.
They entered the cave through a sort of trap-door communicating with the
house above. The boys were delighted to go by this way. Mr. Earle was
there, moving about like a gnome in the gloom; and the voices of the
boys, as they cried out their questions, and exclaimed over the strange
things they saw, sounded hollow and strange, and went echoing away down
the vaulted passages, as though taken up and repeated by half a hundred
unseen demons.
The air of the place seemed oppressive and difficult to breathe. The
sullen booming of the sea beneath added to the awfulness of the darkness
and the horror. Esther threw a few scared glances round her, and felt as
though everything was swimming in a mist before her eyes. It seemed as
though a cold hand was grasping at her throat, hindering her breath and
numbing her limbs.
She knew that she was being walked about from place to place, but she
could see nothing and hear nothing plainly. The boys were making the
place ring with their shouts and strange calls, and it seemed to her as
though the cave were full of dancing forms, and as though she could not
breathe any longer.
Then all of a sudden it seemed to get quite dark. The sound of voices
died away in her ears. She thought she was left alone in this awful
place; perhaps she had been put into one of the tanks. She was
suffocating, and could hear nothing but the wild beating of her own
heart; and then even that seemed to stop, and she remembered nothing
more.
When she opened her eyes again the sun was shining, and it was all warm
and bright round her, and somebody had fast hold of her, and was making
her feel so comfortable and restful that she did not want to move.
She could not think where she was, but it was certainly out of doors.
The wind fanned her brow, and she could see the sky and the sea and a
bit of waving fern or tree.
Then there was the sound of a step close by, and suddenly Mr. Earle
loomed into view, carrying a glass in his hand, and when his eyes met
hers he smiled and said,--
"Ah, that is better!"
And then Esther felt herself lifted up, and saw that it was Mr. Trelawny
who was holding her so comfortably. He was sitting on the ground, and
she was on his knee, resting against his broad shoulder; and now he
bent and looked into her face with a smile, and said,--
"So, so, my little girl; that is better, that is better. Now drink what
Mr. Earle has brought you, and you will feel yourself again."
Esther held out her hand obediently, but it shook so much that Mr. Earle
would not give the glass into her hand, but knelt down on one knee and
held it to her lips. It was not nice medicine at all, and it made her
choke and cough when she had swallowed it, but it seemed to warm her all
through; and when she had finished the draught she felt able to lift up
her head, though it was rather appalling to find herself alone out on
the hillside, with only Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Earle beside her.
She remembered everything now--the terrible cave, the strange sights and
sounds there, and that feeling of giddiness and weakness which had come
over her. She sat up and looked round her, and then she shivered again a
little, for just behind them was a dark gap which she knew must lead
into the cave. Were they going to take her back into it again?
Mr. Earle had hold of her hand, and his finger was on the little wrist.
He looked into her face with a smile, and asked,--
"What is the matter now?"
"Nothing, thank you, sir."
"You are frightened," he said quietly. "Were you afraid of the darkness
in there just now?"
"I--I don't know if it was the darkness exactly. I think it was
everything." She made another little movement, and then added wistfully,
"Please, may I go home?"
"No hurry," said Mr. Trelawny's big voice just in her ear. "We will go
back to my house first, and see what all this means."
And then Esther felt herself lifted bodily in those great, strong arms,
and carried baby-fashion up the steep pathway towards the house on the
top of the crag.
"O Mr. Trelawny, I'm too heavy to be carried!" she cried.
"You're not half as heavy as you should be. I must know about that too.
We've got you a prisoner between us, my little maid, and we shall not
let you go till we've----"
Mr. Trelawny stopped suddenly, because Mr. Earle had begun to speak to
him in the strange language Esther had heard him use upon another
occasion. She shut her eyes tightly, and tried to be brave; but if only
she might have gone home by herself! The Crag was a very terrible place
to come to.
Even the boys seemed to have disappeared. There was no sign of them
about the great, quiet house. Mr. Trelawny carried her into the
drawing-room, which did not look as though it were often used, though it
was bright and sunny; and he laid her down upon a wide sofa, and took a
chair close to her. Mr. Earle stood a little way off, looking out of the
window.
If Esther had had the courage to look into the face above her, she would
have seen that it was full of a very kindly concern and interest, but
she dared not raise her eyes. She felt like a prisoner awaiting
sentence, and only wondered whether she would ever be free to run home
again.
"Now tell me, child," said Mr. Trelawny's big voice, "what is the matter
with my little friend?"
"Nothing, thank you, sir."
"Can't you call me Uncle Robert, like that pair of urchins, who are no
kith or kin of mine, though you are? Esther, I was very fond of your
father. Won't you try to be a little fond of me? I will be your friend,
if you will let me."
She looked up at him then, and her heart beat fast. It was all so very
strange and unexpected. She did not know what to say; but she put out
her hand and laid it on his, and he smiled and patted it, and said,--
"There, that is better. Now tell me about these headaches of yours. We
ought to find a cure for them. Has Mr. Earle been working you too hard?"
Esther felt a thrill run through her again. How was it he knew anything
about her headaches? She had not even told her mother, and it never
occurred to her that the boys could have spoken the word. Yet, to be
sure, once or twice lately she had not cared to join their games because
her head ached so badly towards evening. But it was not the lessons.
They must not think that. Her lessons were the great pleasure of her
life.
"Oh no, no!" she answered earnestly; "indeed it is not that. Please,
don't stop the lessons. I do like them so very much."
Mr. Earle came forward then, smiling and saying,--
"I don't want to lose my pupil either, but health comes before
pleasure--even before learning."
"I'm sure it isn't the lessons," said Esther again. "Sometimes I think
perhaps it's my hair. It makes my head so hot, and at night I can't
always sleep."
Mr. Trelawny lifted the heavy mass of curly locks and weighed it in his
hand. He looked at Mr. Earle, and they spoke a few words together in the
strange tongue.
"Did you ever complain to your mother about your hair?" asked Mr.
Trelawny, with a gleam in his deepset eyes.
"Yes," answered Esther, "I often used to ask her if I mightn't have it
short like Milly Polperran; but she doesn't like me to tease about it,
so I've given it up."
Mr. Trelawny reached out his hand towards a table upon which lay a pair
of sharp scissors in a sheath. The gleam in his eyes was deepening. Mr.
Earle said something in the foreign tongue, and he answered back in his
sharp, decisive way. Esther lay still, wondering; but they were both
behind her, and she could not see.
Then came a strange, grating sound close to her head, another, and
another; and before she realized what was happening, Mr. Trelawny
suddenly laid upon her lap a great mass of waving chestnut hair,
exclaiming as he did so,--
"There, my dear! take that home to your mother with my best compliments;
and as for me, I shall have to find a new name for little Goldylocks."
Then Esther realized that her hair had been cut off by Mr. Trelawny, and
she lay looking at it with thrills of excitement running through her.
What would her mother say when she got home? and what would it feel like
to be relieved of that great floating mass of hair? How delightful to
have no tugging and pulling at the knots morning and night, often when
her head was aching and tender, and every pull seemed to hurt more than
the last! She must get up and feel what it was like.
So she sat up and passed her hands over her head. Mr. Trelawny and Mr.
Earle were looking at her and laughing. Esther had to laugh too; but how
light and cool it felt!
"It is nice!" she exclaimed. "I feel as if I'd got a new head! Oh. I
hope mama will not mind much!"
"Look here, sir," said Mr. Earle; "you're not as good a barber as a lady
had a right to expect. Give me the scissors, and let me put a more
artistic finish to your work. We must send her home looking less like a
hearth broom than she does at the present moment."
They all laughed again at that, and the color began to come back into
Esther's cheeks. This was something rather exciting, and it had driven
away her fears for the time being. She sat quite still whilst Mr. Earle
snipped and cut, and walked round and round her, and quarreled with Mr.
Trelawny about the proper way of trimming a lady's hair; and in the end
they put her upon the sofa, and told her to look at herself in the
great mirror opposite. When she did this she began to laugh out loud.
"Will it always stand on end like that?" she asked, for the wave in her
hair made it set off from her face and stand round it rather like the
aureole round the heads of saints in the church windows. "I don't think
Genefer will think it tidy like that. Can't I brush it and make it lie
smooth, like Mr. Earle's?"
They got a brush, but the hair set them at defiance, and stood out in
its own way. But it was delightful to have no heavy mane hanging down
behind. Esther declared her headache almost gone, and so she was allowed
to go out and find the boys, who had been set to play by themselves for
an hour.
The shrieks of delight they set up at sight of Esther with her cropped
head made her laugh and glow like a child; and she looked altogether so
much brighter and merrier that the two gentlemen exchanged glances and
nodded their heads, as though quite satisfied with the high-handed
measure they had taken.
"We shall call you Roundhead now!" cried Puck, dancing round her in an
ecstasy of amusement; but Mr. Trelawny came up and took him by the ears,
saying in his gruffest way,--
"You will call your cousin by her proper name, or you will never come to
my house again. Now, do you understand?"
"Do you mean really?" asked Puck, wriggling away and facing round.
"I mean really and truly," was the emphatic answer. "You've got to learn
manners, you two, whilst you are here; and if Mr. Earle knocks some
knowledge into your thick skulls, I'll knock a little respect for other
people into your democratic little minds. So mind, if you don't behave
yourselves properly to your cousin, and speak to her properly too,
you'll never have the chance of coming to the Crag again."