"I AM TOLD"
"Maester Hugh!"
I had been leaning against a tree on the lawn, afraid to enter the
house, yet knowing that there was nothing else for me to do. At the
sound of a voice close to my elbow I turned quickly round, and found
myself face to face with our solitary man-servant, a raw country yokel
with the garb and manners of a ploughboy.
"Maester Hugh, dost thee want t' master?"
"Ay, William, have you seen him?" I cried.
"That I have, Maester Hugh, and it zeemed to me that he had gone off
'is chump like. He coom down the lane 'bait quater of an hour ago, and
insteat o' cooming t' house, blamed if he didna turn in at Varmer
Zmith's gate, and be a gone up theer," and the boy pointed to the dark
outline of the headland which towered up above us.
I sprang away from him, over the low wall, and up the steep winding
path, with a reckless speed which frightened William out of the very
few wits with which nature had endowed him, and bereft him of all
words. I had but one idea, to get to the top as quickly as possible,
and but one hope, that I might find him there when I arrived. I was a
trained climber, and I did that night what I had never done before--I
forsook the path and clambered right up the precipitous side of the
hill, helping myself with hands and feet, heedless that a slip must
cost me my life, and between my short, quick gasps for breath faltering
out a prayer that I might be in time.
It was granted. As I reached the last ridge, and swung myself on to
the summit, grasping with my bleeding hands a friendly heather bush, I
saw my father kneeling on the ground close to the edge of the cliff,
with his coat and hat thrown on one side, and his arms stretched out to
the sea. In a moment I was beside him, and as my hand descended on his
shoulder and closed upon him with a firm grasp, I drew a long sigh of
relief.
"Father, what does all this mean?" I cried. "What are you doing here?
Thank God that I have found you!"
He started as though he were shot, and tried to shrink away from me.
But I would have none of it. I dropped on my knees by his side, and
locked my arm in his.
"Father, tell me all about it," I pleaded. "Something terrible
happened a long while ago, and that man who was there to-night knew
about it. Am I not right? Tell me all about it; I am not afraid to
hear."
He shivered from head to foot, and his face looked ghastly cold. I
reached out my hand for his coat, and made him put it on.
"Hugh, my poor boy, I had meant to tell you this, but I never dreamt
that this would come. I thought that I was safe here--away from every
one."
"Let me know it," I begged.
"Ay, listen. When I was not much older than you are, I entered the
army."
I could not keep back the exclamation which rose to my lips. Had I not
always thought that he had been a soldier?
"At my first battle I unwisely deserted my post to save the life of the
man whom we saw on Exmoor last night, and whose servant was at the
meeting this evening. After the fighting was over I was charged with
running away. I thought lightly of it, and appealed at once to the man
whose life I had saved to come forward and clear me. He came forward
with his servant, but, to my horror, they both deliberately perjured
themselves. They swore that they had only seen me running away, and I
was found guilty, guilty of cowardice--was cashiered, ruined disgraced
for life, and, but for your mother, I should have killed myself."
The tears were swimming in my eyes, and I tightened my grasp upon his
arm.
"Father, why did he do it?"
He sprang to his feet, his eyes ablaze with fury and his voice shaking--
"That he might oust me from my home and my father's heart--the cur--and
take my position. We were half-brothers, and I was the elder. My
father loved me and cared little for Rupert. He was jealous,--ah! I
can see it all now,--and seized this opportunity of ruining me and
getting rid of me for ever. He succeeded. Every one believed me
guilty. My father turned me out of the house, bade me change my name,
and forget that I was a--one of a noble family. From, that day to this
I have never looked upon his face or seen my old home. Your mother
alone believed in me, refused to desert me, and, but for that, I must
have died. Oh, God, it has been cruel!"
He covered his face with his hands, and great sobs burst from him. My
heart was beating with a passionate pity, but I could not tell how to
comfort him.
"Father, you know that I do not believe this thing," I cried. "Tell me
the name of the man who has sworn to this wicked lie."
"The same as your own and mine. Devereux. Rupert Devereux. Curse
him! On his head be the sin of this thing, if sin there be! Good-bye,
my boy; good-bye, Hugh!"
He had made a sudden movement to the edge of the cliff, and it was only
by a stupendous effort that I caught hold of him in time.
"Father, what would you do?" I cried. "Are you mad?"
I caught hold of him by the waist, and dragged him back from his
perilous position. He submitted without protesting--without speech of
any sort. Looking into his face a great fear came upon me. Were my
words prophetic, and was he indeed going mad? There was a dreamy,
far-away look in his glazed eyes, a look which frightened me more than
a wilder one would have done, and his face was like the face of a
corpse. Then, with a deep groan, his knees would have given way from
under him, but that I still held him up. He was unconscious.