SQUIRE AND PARLIAMENTARIAN
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Squire Vivian was riding at a smart pace on the solid roads. He was fond
of horse-back riding, but long ago, having given up riding after the
hounds, he was constrained to solace himself by daily trips over the
turnpike. This was not exercise, however. He must see his old friend,
Sir James Lanyan, about one or two things, and so, after a hasty lunch
and a word of instruction to the steward, he mounted his fast-pacing cob
and was off. His thoughts were not very pleasant as he started forth. He
was thinking of the conversation he had had with Parson Trant just a
short time before.
"The lad is guilty," he muttered, and then there was silence save for
the rapid hoof strokes.
"He shall smart for it. The traitor's cub!"
The squire compressed his lips and the frown on his ruddy features boded
ill to Ande Trembath. Then pleasant thoughts gained the upper hand. He
had reached the confines of his estate and the fields and woods of
Lanyan Hall stretched on either side of the highway. There were round
hillocks nodding like Indian chieftains with their proud headgear, downs
alive with cattle and sheep, farmhouses of stone--as short and thick-set
in appearance as the sturdy farmers that occupied them. Yes, thought
Squire Vivian, with a smile, these shall belong to Alice when she
marries young Richard. My Lady Alice sounds as good as any other name
with a Lady attached to it. The pleasant expression passed and a worried
look came in its place. He was thinking of the Parson's disapprobation
of young Richard. The vale was passed and Lanyan moor, as wild and
uninviting as his thoughts--Lanyan moor, a high rough land of a few
miles in extent, covered with a rank, rough grass, extended on either
side. Under the influence of his surroundings and pressed by his
thoughts, the squire spurred the cob into a gallop and after a few
minutes the gables and tower of Lanyan Hall greeted his vision. It was a
stately mansion, built partly in the Queen Anne style and partly in the
style of previous times, one side being built during the Crusades, of
Cornish moor-stone that lent a heavy warrior-like appearance to the
whole structure.
The owner, Sir James Lanyan, a son of that Lanyan whose agitation in
certain quarters of the government had produced the confiscation of the
Trembath estates, like his grandfather, had devoted considerable time to
politics and had been twice in Parliament; but failing of re-election he
had turned the strength of his ambitious mind to the rebuilding of his
fortunes, which were sadly shattered by the schemes and speculations of
his grandfather.
His grandfather, in cooperation with Sunderland, the Premier of that
time, had been unduly interested in the South Sea Bubble; but though
Sunderland cleared his skirts in the gigantic swindle, Sir James, Sr.,
was entrapped. His estates were heavily mortgaged and his private
fortune ruined. He died of a broken heart, bequeathing to Sir Richard,
Sr., his son, the ancestral hall and its liabilities.
Sir Richard, Sr., was a rogue, with very little ability. Casting about
by hook or crook to retrieve his father's reverses, he thought he saw an
opportunity in the reputed treason of Squire Andrew Trembath. His
covetous eye surveyed the rich farms and woods adjoining his own, and
so, with the outward reason of loyalty to King George, and the inward
hope of profit, he turned the keen eyes of government authorities upon
the matter.
The name of the Stuart and France were still to be dreaded. The first
tendency in that direction must be crushed and an example made. The fiat
went forth, the estates were confiscated, but Sir Richard, Sr., instead
of receiving them or even a money reward, received a flattering letter
from London, a ribbon of honour and a star. With a muttered oath he
flung the bauble from him and ground the letter under his heel. He knew
what all men were to know in time, that neither Newcastle nor Pitt were
as free-handed as Walpole.
The present Sir James, a son of Sir Richard, Sr., had inherited the
bold, daring, scheming ambition of his grandfather, and was in every way
superior to his father, Richard. At first, a great Parliament man, he
gradually lost power with the electors, or rather they lost interest in
him; then he turned his attention to the task in which both his father
and grandfather had laboured in vain.
On the day mentioned, the squire rode up the drive-way and with a sigh,
for the gallop had wearied him. He slipped from the saddle, gave the cob
into the hands of a servant, and mounting the veranda, raised the rapper
and sent a peal through the old house that speedily brought to the door
a footman, clad in green livery. By him he was ushered into the main
living room--a large hall, its walls curiously and artistically panelled
in wood. Here he reposed himself in a large armchair by the open
fireplace and awaited, musingly, the coming of Sir James.
Yes, thought the squire, a fine old place--a fine old place--and my
Allie will be one of the first of Cornwall. Then he mused on.
There was a sound of a soft tread on the floor behind him, and a smooth,
liquid baritone voice broke the reverie.
"Well, my old friend, so you have decided to return my call."
The squire almost leaped to his feet, for, lost in his thoughts, the
voice startled him.
"Zounds! Sir James, you come in like a spirit."
Perhaps there were not two men in the whole kingdom of such a contrast
as Sir James and the squire of Trembath Manor. The latter was a perfect
picture of the gentleman of the olden school. His hair, silvery white,
curled in ringlets over his forehead. His face was a sturdy English
one, smooth, round, rubicund and pleasant, and yet with a dignity
peculiarly its own. He was stoutly built and as he stood switching his
Wellington boots with his riding whip, a close student would say, "Here
is a man easily imposed upon, but when that imposture stood revealed
what a hot, indignant enemy he would make!"
Honesty, frankness, integrity, were stamped all over the old squire's
frame.
Sir James was just the opposite in many respects. He was tall, dark, and
sallow of countenance. A hooked nose, like the beak of an eagle,
overhung a mouth that was firm and thin-lipped. His eyes, that were the
strangest feature about him, were dark and had an unsteady, shifting
light in them. He was clad in the conventional broadcloth tail-coat and
trowsers of the same material. A man of the world, having felt the pulse
of national life, he was generally cool, calm, and self-possessed.
With the remark above mentioned, he came forward and his own pale, slim
hand was grasped by the strong, brown one of the squire.
"Welcome to Lanyan Hall. It is not often we have the pleasure of
entertaining such an old friend of the family; and how are all things at
the Manor? Mistress Alice, is she well?"
"My Allie is tolerable well, but of her--more anon. It is of other
matters, not so well, in which I want your advice."
"Ah--and what is wrong? The rents not paid, failure of your tin mine,
or has Midnight Jack been making some depredations on your hen roosts or
sheep-folds?"
"Well," rejoined the squire, as he once more seated himself beside the
fire, his friend having done likewise, "as to Wheal Whimble tin mine,
things are moving steadily, but the new shaft is costing a heap of
money. The rockmen dull six or seven jumpers before they can make much
of an impression in drilling a hole, and though they receive ten pounds
a foot, yet say they can't make a living. I don't see how I am going to
come out of it. As to rents, they have all been paid but Farmer
Samson's, but quite a few of his sheep were taken with the murrain, and
one must give a man a chance when he's honest."
"And about Midnight Jack?"
"As sturdy a knave as ever lived, but he and his gipsy band have left
the neighbourhood some time ago. I suspected him of stealing a sheep and
threatened to have him hanged if he showed nigh the place. He knows well
enough not to fool with me. I don't think we shall ever be annoyed with
him again. There has been, though, some unknown miscreant lurking around
the estate. I do not mind so much when a sheep is stolen, I can
reprimand a man and threaten him as I did Midnight Jack, but when
property is wilfully destroyed and faithful retainers killed--it is too
much," and the squire flushed, angrily.
"Why, there has been no murder?" said Sir James, startled out of his
ordinary self-possession.
"Aye, as good as a murder," rejoined the squire, and he related with
flushed countenance and angry voice the incidents of the morning.
The master of Lanyan Hall interrupted him midway by asking him to the
study, where they could talk at their leisure. They arose and passed
from the main hall to a side apartment fitted up in elaborate style.
There, surrounded by tomes of learning and every mark of ease and
comfort, the squire and his friend were soon discussing the former's
grievances and suspicions.
"Now, what I want to know is this, what does the law allow a man to do
in such circumstances? You, Sir James, are well versed in law, have been
to Parliament and can advise me. I confess I cannot find anything about
it in the statutes."
"Well, the only thing you can do, having nothing but suspicion, is to
have a private interview with the lad and worm a confession out of him,"
said Sir James, and there was a scarcely perceptible little smile of
amusement that lingered around the lips of Lanyan.
"I am pleased to find out that I have acted wisely, for that was exactly
my plan," said the squire, flushing with gratified vanity to think that
his views and the learned parliamentarian's coincided. "And now what are
your plans for reelection to Parliament?"
"Reelection. Plans--none at all, friend Vivian."
"Why, you are certainly going to stand for the section, are you not?"
"No, I think not; my interest is not strong enough with the classes. To
tell the truth, squire, I am heartily disgusted with Tory principles,
and were it not for the name I would become a Liberal."
"What! what!" said the squire aghast; "you jest, Sir James!"
"Jest! Not at all. It is this way. It matters not what talents a person
may possess, he must stand in with a few of one's brother notables
before election is possible. Our elections are nothing but a humbug. We
have no representative house; the House of Commons does not represent
the nation."
"Why, Sir James, you did not talk this way formerly, and I am
exceedingly sorry to see one of our most distinguished parliamentarians
so inveterately opposed to the system."
The master of Lanyan Hall said nothing in reply. Indeed he was inwardly
debating with himself how far he should trust his honest friend with his
own plans and schemes. The fact was that Sir James had lost his
influence with the electors and saw no hope but in an extended
franchise; he was politician enough to see that the times were getting
riper and riper for reform. There was more hope of election for him in
the future than at the present; he must bide his time. Now it was not
any great affection for the people that induced him to take this stand.
His political creed was James Lanyan--how can he become great and
powerful, a creed dominant among politicians of all times.
"Well, we must talk of that more anon. There is another matter pressing
on my mind," said the squire, and with a little reluctance he began the
topic. "Young Master Richard has been paying some attentions to my
Allie, and it is a matter that we fathers ought to talk about. There is
nothing dearer to my life than my Allie, and I am anxious to see her
settled in life before I leave the earth; but then you, Sir James, and I
ought to have some understanding before matters go any farther. Our
estates lie adjoining. What better thing than that they should be united
after you and I pass away. I thought it better, though, to speak to you,
so that we might have a clear understanding." The old squire fastened
his clear, honest eyes on the master of Lanyan. The latter was silent
and there was a gleam in the shifty light of his eyes as he thought.
Then he spoke.
"A good thing, no doubt, if there are no objections on your part."
The master of Lanyan stretched out his hand which was grasped heartily
by the squire.
"It's a compact," said the former.
"Aye, a compact," affirmed the latter.
There was a tap at the door and a servant entered to announce tea in the
hall. Squire and parliamentarian adjourned their informal meeting and
emerged from the study.
[Illustration: "It's a compact," said the former.]