STEALING A MARCH.
Alicia Derosne had a fantastic dream that night. She saw Medland again
chasing a butterfly, as she had seen him on the day he came to
Government House to receive his office. The butterfly floated always
just over his head, and he always came near to catching it, yet never
caught it. Then, by one of sleep's strange transformations, she seemed
to be herself in spirit in the butterfly, and she knew that it flew so
near because desire brought it, that it longed to be caught, and yet, at
the last, by some sudden impulse, avoided his net. At last, as if
wearied, he turned from her to another fluttering thing, and that he
caught. And she heard a great murmur of voices applauding him, and he
smiled and was content with his prize. Then she, the first butterfly,
could not be happy unless she were caught also, envying the other, and
she went and fluttered and spread her wings before his eyes, but he
would not heed her, nor stretch the net over her, but smiled in triumph
at the bright colours of his prize and the murmur of applause. And, with
drooping wings, the first butterfly fell to the ground and died.
It needed no Joseph to interpret this dream. When he had called, she
would not come. Now he would forget her and turn to the life of ambition
and power that he loved. He would rule men, and trouble his head or his
heart no more with the vagaries of girls and the strict scruples of
their code. And she--what was there left for her? "The last time," he
had said. There was nothing for her to do but what the neglected
butterfly had done. In a few weeks more the sea would lie between them,
and she would be no more to him, nor he to her, than a memory--a memory
soon to fade in him, whose days and thoughts were so full; in her, it
seemed, always to endure, ousting everything else, reigning in
triumphant sorrow in an empty heart.
The news of the final result of the elections which Eleanor Scaife
brought her in the morning while she was still in bed, presented to her
mind another picture of the man, which appealed to her almost more
strongly.
"It's a knock-down blow for Mr. Medland, isn't it?" asked Eleanor,
sitting on the side of the bed. "As we're alone together, I may dare to
say that I'm rather sorry. I didn't want him to win, but it's very hard
on him to be crushed like this. How he must feel it!"
"He seems to have won in Kirton."
"Oh yes, just the town mob is with him. Fancy coming down to that! Of
course he'll be quite powerless, compared to what he was. I wonder if
he'll stay in politics. Captain Heseltine said some people thought that
he'd throw the whole thing up and retire into private life."
"Yes, I'm sorry too," said Alicia, who lay all this while with her face
away from Eleanor and towards the wall.
"And then his daughter's going to be married, and, of course, can never
be such a companion to him as she has been; he'll be very much alone.
Upon my word, Alicia, I'm getting quite sentimental about the man, and
it's all his own fault, really. Why does he make it impossible for
respectable people to follow him?" After a short pause, Miss Scaife
suddenly laughed. "Do you know," she asked, "what that shameless Dick
says? He says I ought to marry Mr. Medland, because we're both
'emancipated.' Really I'm not quite so 'emancipated' as Mr. Medland
seems to be."
Alicia smiled faintly.
"What an idea!" she said, at last turning her face to her friend.
"He was only joking, of course. Assuming Mr. Medland asked me, and I'm
sure nothing could be further from his thoughts, I'm afraid I should
have to decline the honour. Wasn't it impertinent of Dick? It's lucky
Mary didn't hear him. But, my dear, you must get up. All sorts of
things are going on. It's most exciting."
"I thought all the excitement was over," said Alicia languidly.
"Oh, no. There was a riot in the streets last night, and they arrested
some popular favourite and took him to prison. The mob's furious, and
the police are afraid of a disturbance when he's brought before the
magistrate this morning. Then Mr. Medland is to arrive at twelve
o'clock, and they're afraid of another riot then. Sir Robert was here at
half-past eight, and at his request the Governor authorised calling out
the Mounted Volunteers to keep order. Lord Eynesford says he'll go with
them. Do get up," and Eleanor went off, eager to hear the latest news.
The present situation was justifying her tenacious opinion that new
communities were interesting.
In spite of her many inquiries, her intelligence was not quite the
latest. The police had stolen a march on the crowd, and Big Todd had
been quietly brought before the seat of justice at nine o'clock,
remanded for a week, and carried off to the prison, which was situated
outside the town, about half-a-mile beyond Government House. The van
containing the captive had rolled unsuspected through the streets, and
it was not till the crowd had waited an hour outside the court that the
secret leaked out. The outwitted men were in a fury. The mounted police
lined the sides of the street, and their impassive demeanour seemed to
rouse the mob to fresh anger. There had been a plan to rescue Big Todd,
now it was too late, and men looked at one another in sullen wrath. The
crowd drifted off towards the railway station, thinking to welcome
Medland. The Mounted Volunteers were on guard there. They saw Kilshaw at
the head of his company and hailed him with a groan. Behind the ranks,
the Governor sat on his horse, flanked by his _aides-de-camp_ and
talking to Sir Robert Perry. No one was allowed within the station-yard,
every one was compelled to move about, the preparations were complete,
to riot would be to run against a stone wall.
Suddenly an idea, a suggestion, flew through the crowd. It was greeted
with surly smiles and emphatic nods. To the surprise of the officers and
of the Governor, the crowd began to melt away. Splitting up in twos and
threes, it sauntered off, as if it had made up its mind to submit
quietly to the inevitable. Soon only women and children were left, and
the Governor began to feel that the array of force was almost
ridiculously out of proportion to the need. The whole thing was, as
Captain Heseltine regretfully observed, "fizzling out," and he proposed
to go home to lunch.
Medland's train arrived half-an-hour later, and he came out of the
station, looking round in surprise at the martial aspect of the scene.
Then he smiled.
"We look rather asses," whispered Heseltine. "I wonder if they did it on
purpose."
Medland came down the steps and found himself almost face to face with
Kilshaw. The ex-Premier was smoking a cigar, and he took it out of his
mouth, in order to smile more freely.
"If," he said to Kilshaw, "it's not dangerous to public order, I should
like a cab."
Kilshaw heard a shamefaced, stifled giggle from his men behind him and
turned very red. The next minute Sir Robert came up, holding out his
hand.
"This is a great compliment to you," he said, smiling.
"Evidently beyond my deserts," answered Medland, getting into his cab.
"To my house," he called to the man, and was driven rapidly away.
The Governor rode up to Sir Robert with a look of vexation on his face.
"The sooner we end this farce the better," he said. "I'm going home. I
suppose you'll send the men to quarters."
"I really don't understand it," protested Sir Robert. "They looked like
mischief."
"I suppose we frightened them. Oh, no doubt you were right," and the
Governor turned his horse.
Suddenly the figure of a man on horseback, going at a gallop, was seen
in the distance. The Governor drew rein and waited. The man came nearer,
and, as soon as he was within earshot, he shouted.
"The prison! the prison! They've all gone to the prison."
"What?" cried the Governor.
"All the crowd," panted the messenger. "They mean to have Big Todd out.
We've only got ten men there, and the people are threatening to burn the
place down if he's not given up."
"By Jove, they've jockeyed us!" cried Captain Heseltine, and he turned
to his chief for orders.
"We must be after them," exclaimed the Governor. "Let the orders be
given. You, Heseltine, go and bring up the police. This looks like
business."
The column was soon on the march, followed by a string of women and
children, which was speedily outstripped when the word to trot was
given. The outskirts of the town were reached; they met man after man
who told them of a gathering crowd round the prison; they overtook more
men, armed with cudgels, who slunk on one side and tried to hide their
sticks. They reached the gates of Government House, and Lord Eynesford
spied his wife and Alicia looking out of the windows of the lodge.
"Go and tell them what's up," he said to Flemyng. "Say there's no
danger," and the column trotted on.
"This is what Mr. Medland has brought us to," observed Lady Eynesford,
when Mr. Flemyng made his report. "I'm glad we've done with him, anyhow,
aren't you, Eleanor?"
"Perhaps we haven't," suggested Eleanor. "I wonder if he's come back."
"No doubt he's encouraging this riot. I only hope he'll get the
treatment he deserves."
Alicia stood by in silence. The little room felt close and hot. She was
tired and worn out, for she had spent the morning writing a letter that
seemed very hard to write.
"Mightn't we go into the garden?" she asked. "There's no danger to us,
is there, Mr. Flemyng?"
"Oh dear, no, Miss Derosne. They're only thinking of Big Todd. I'll go
on if you don't want me, Lady Eynesford."
He trotted off and overtook the rest just as they came in sight of the
prison. The crowd was thick round it.
"By heaven, they've got the door open!" cried Heseltine.
They had. The heavy door hung on its hinges, and, as the Governor drew
nearer, he saw the prisoner, Big Todd himself, in the centre of the
crowd. There were near three thousand there, almost all men; most had
sticks, here and there the sun caught the gleam of a knife or the glint
from a revolver-barrel. A rude kind of rampart of the tables and chairs
from the gaol formed a slight makeshift barricade, and behind it, the
crowd, backed by the building, stood waiting for the attack.
The Governor halted.
"It really looks rather serious," he said.
Sir Robert Perry, whose fat cob was panting with unusual exertions,
nodded assent.
"We don't want bloodshed, if we can help it," he observed.
"No, but we'll have that fellow," said the Governor curtly, "or I'll
know the reason why."
His old instincts were astir in him. He had been a soldier in his time,
and he almost regretted that his first duty was to reason with these
men. Endeavouring to carry out this duty, he said to Heseltine,
"Go and say I'll give them three minutes to hand over Todd and
disperse."
Heseltine rode forward till he came to the barricade and delivered his
message, adding,
"Look sharp. There you are, Todd! Now come along, my man."
"Come and fetch me," grinned Big Todd.
"So we will," answered the Captain, smiling, "but you'd better come
quietly."
"Look here, sir. Say no more about what happened last night and we'll
give the Governor back his prison. We ain't hurt it, not to speak of."
Heseltine laughed.
"You're an insolent scoundrel," he said.
"You'd better get a bit further off before you talk like that, young
man," growled a fierce-looking little fellow.
"Let the gentleman alone, Tim," said Big Todd. "He's a flag o' truce."
"Then you won't come?" asked the Captain.
"Declined with thanks, sir," bowed Big Todd.
Heseltine rode back and delivered the reply. An angry flush crossed Lord
Eynesford's face.
"Very well," he said shortly, and turned to the Colonel. "Colonel," he
said, "I want your men to scatter that crowd and bring Todd here. Don't
fire without asking me again. Use the flat of the sword unless the crowd
use knives or shoot; if they do, use the edge. I can't come with you, I
wish I could."
"May I go, sir?" broke simultaneously from Dick and Heseltine.
"No," answered Lord Eynesford shortly.
"What a damned shame!" grumbled Dick.
The Colonel had spoken to the captains of his two companies, Kilshaw and
another, and they in their turn had briefly communicated the Governor's
orders to their men. Everything was ready, and the Colonel turned a last
inquiring glance towards the Governor.
"Yes," said Lord Eynesford; but at the same moment a loud cheer rang out
from the defenders of the gaol--
"Three cheers for Jimmy Medland!" they cried.
The Governor turned and saw the ex-Premier leaping from a cab and
hurrying towards them.
"Stop!" cried Medland. "Stop!"