 Chapter 23 of Erema This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Dodge Erema by R. D. Blackmore Chapter 23 Betsy's Tale Now, I scarcely know whether it would be more clear to put into narrative what I heard from Betsy Bowen, now Wilhelmina Strauss, or to let her tell the whole in her own words exactly as she herself told it then to me. The story was so dark and sad, or at least to myself it so appeared, that even the little breaks and turns of lighter thought or livelier manner, which can scarcely fail to vary now and then the speaker's voice, seemed almost to grate and jar upon its somber monotone. On the other hand, by omitting these, and departing from her homely style, I might do more of harm than good through failing to convey impressions, or even facts so accurately. Whereas the gist and core and pivot of my father's life and fate are so involved, though not evolved, that I would not miss a single point for want of time or diligence. Therefore, let me not deny Mrs. Strauss my nurse, the right to put her words in her own way. And before she began to do this, she took the trouble to have everything cleared away, and the trays brought down, that her borders, chiefly German, might leave their plates and be driven to their pipes. If you please, Miss Castlewood, Mrs. Strauss said grandly, Do you or do you not approve of the presence of my man, as he calls himself? An improper expression, in my opinion, such however is their nature. He can hold his tongue as well as any man, though none of them are very sure at that. And he knows pretty nigh as much as I do. So far his English can put things together, being better accustomed in German. For when we were courting, I was feigned to tell him all, not to join him under any false pretenses, Miss, which might give him grounds against me. Yes, yes, is all very hoot and true, so hoot and true as can be. And you might find him come very handy, my dear, to run of any kind of messages. He can do that very well, I assure you, Miss, better than any Englishman. Seeing that he wished to stay and she desired it, I begged him to stop, though it would have been more to my liking to hear the tale alone. Then sit by the door, Hans, and keep off the draft, said his Wilhelmina kindly. He is not very tall, Miss, but he has good shoulders. I scarcely know what I should do without him. Well, now to begin at the very beginning. I am a Welsh woman, as you may have heard. My father was a farmer near Abergaveny, holding land under Sir Watkin Williams, an old friend of your family. My father had too many girls and my mother scarcely knew what to do with a lot of us. So some of us went out to service, while the boys stayed at home to work the land. One of my sisters was ladies made to Lady Williams, Sir Watkin's wife, at the time when your father came visiting there for the shooting of the Morphal, soon after his marriage with your mother. What a sweet good lady your mother was, I never saw the like before or since. No sooner did I set eyes upon her, but she so took my fancy that I would have gone round the world with her. We welts are a very hot people they say, not cold-blooded as the English are. So, wise or foolish, right, wrong, or what might be, nothing would do for me but to take service, if I could, under Mrs. Castlewood. Your father was called Captain Castlewood then, as fine a young man as ever clinked a spur, but without any boast or conceit about him. And they said that your grandfather, the old lord, kept him very close in spare, although he was the only son. Now this must have been, let me see how long ago, about five and twenty years I think. How old are you now, Miss Arama? I can keep the weeks better than the years miss. I was eighteen on my last birthday, but never mind about the time, go on. But the time makes all the difference miss, although at that time we may never think so. Well then, it must have been better than six and twenty years ago. For though you came pretty fast, in the Lord's will, there was eight years between you and the first born babe, who was only just a thinking of when I began to tell. But to come back to myself, as was, mother had got too many of us still, and she was glad enough to let me go. However much she might cry over it, as soon as Lady Williams got me the place. My place was to wait upon the lady first, and make myself generally useful, as they say. But it was not very long before I was wanted in more important ways, and having been brought up among so many children, they found me very handy with the little ones, and being in a poor way, as they were then, for people I mean of their birth and place, they were glad enough soon to make me head nurse of me, although I was under two and twenty. We did not live at the Old Lord's place, which is under the hills looking on the river Thames, but we had a quiet little house in Hampshire, for the captain was still with his regiment, and only came to and fro to us. But a happier little place there could not be, with the flowers and the cow and the birds all day, and the children running gradually according to their age, and the pretty brook shining in the valley. And as to the paying of their way, it is true that neither of them was a great manager. The captain could not bear to keep his pretty wife close, and she poor thing was always trying to surprise him with other presents besides all those beautiful babies. But they never were in debt all round, as liars said when the trouble burst, and if they owed two or three hundred pounds, who could justly blame them? For the Old Lord, instead of going on as he should and widening his purse to the number of the mouths, was niggling at them always for offence or excuse to take away what little he allowed them. The captain had his pay, which would go in one hand, and the lady had a little money of her own. But still it was cruel for brought up people to have nothing better to go on with. Not that the Old Lord was a miser neither, but it was said, and how far true I know not, that he never would forgive your father for marrying the daughter of a man he hated. And some went so far as to say that if he could have done it, he would have cut your father out of all the old family estates. But such a thing never could I believe of a nobleman having his own flesh and blood. But money or no money, rich or poor, your father and mother, I assure you, my dear, were as happy as the day was long, for they loved one another and their children dearly, and they did not care for any mixing with the world. The captain had enough of that when put away in quarters. Likewise his wife could do without it better and better at every birth. Though one she had been the very gayest of the gay, which you will never be, Miss Arama. Now, my dear, you look so sad and so solid as we used to say, that if I can go on at all I must have something ready. I am quite an old nurse now, remember? Hans, go across the square and turn on the left hand round the corner. And then three more streets toward the right and you will see one going toward the left and you go about seven doors down it. And then you'll see a corner with a lamp post. The lamina, I do see the lamp posted at the every corner. That will teach you to look more bright, Hans. Then you will find a shop window with three blue bottles and a green one in the middle. How can be any middle to three without it is one of them? Well, then let it be two of them. How you contradict me, take this little bottle and the man with a gold braid round the cap and a tassel with a tail to it will fill it for four pence when you tell him who you are. Yes, yes, I do now comprehend. You send me there, I never find the way because I am in the way, Wilhelmina. I was most thankful to Mrs. Strauss for sending her husband, however good and kind-hearted he might be, to wander among many shops of chemists rather than to keep his eyes on me while I listened to things that were almost sure to make me want my eyes my own. My nurse had seen as any good nurse must that grown and formed as I might be the nature of the little child that cries for its mother was in me still. It is very sad now, Mrs. Strauss began again without replying to my grateful glance. Miss Arama, it is so sad that I wish I had never begun with it but I see by your eyes so like your father's but softer my dear and less troublesome that you will have the whole of it out as he would with me once when I told him a story for the sake of another servant. It was just about a month before you were born when the trouble began to break on us and when once it began it never stopped until all that were left ran away from it. I have read in the newspapers many, many sad things coming over whole families such as they call, quote, shocking tragedies, unquote but none of them to my mind could be more galling than what I had to see with my very own eyes. It must have been close upon the middle of September when old Lord Castlewood came himself to see his son's house and family at Shocksford. We heard that he came down a little on the sudden to see the truth of some rumors which had reached him about our style of living. It was the first time he had ever been there for although he had very often been invited he could not bear to be under the roof of the daughter as he said of his enemy. The captain just happening to come home on leave for his autumn holiday met his father quite at his own door the very last place to expect him. He afterward acknowledged that he was not pleased for his father to come like a thief in the night. However they took him in and made him welcome and covered up their feelings nicely as high-bred people do. What passed among them was unknown to any but themselves except so far as now I tell you a better dinner than usual for two was ready to celebrate the master's return and the beginning of his holiday and the old Lord having traveled far that day was persuaded to sit down with them. The five eldest children making all except the baby for you was not born miss if you please they were to have sat up at the table as pretty as could be three with their high cushion stools and two in their armchairs screwed on the hogany stuffed with horsehair and with rods in front that the little dears might not tumble out in feeding which they did it was a sight to see them and how they would give to one another with their little fingers wet and shining and saying ooh that for ooh oh dear miss Arama you were never born to see it what a blessing for you all those six dear darlings laid in their little graves within six weeks with their mother planted under them and the only wonder is that you yourself was not upon her breast pay you no heed to me miss Arama when you see me a whimper in and out while I am about it it makes my chest go easy miss I do assure you though not at the time of life to understand it all they children was to have sat up for the sake of their dear father as I said just now but because of their grandfather all was ordered back and back they come good as gold with master George at the head of them and ask me what milk teeth was grandpa had said a dinner was no dinner if milk teeth were allowed at it the hard old man with his own teeth false he deserved to sit down to no other dinner and he never did miss you may be sure that I had enough to do to manage all the little ones and answer all their questions but never having seen alive lord before and wanting to know if the children would be like him before so very long I went quietly downstairs and the biggest of my dears peeped after me and then by favor of the parlor maid for they kept neither butler nor footman now I saw the lord castle would sitting at his ease with a glass of port wine before him and my sweet mistress the captain's wife and your mother if you understand miss doing her very best thinking of her children to please him and make the polite to him to me he seemed very much to be thawed into her if you can understand miss what my meaning is and the captain was looking at them with a smile as if it were just what he had hoped for from my own eyesight I can contradict the lies put about by nobody knows who that the father and the son were at hot words even then and I even heard my master when they were out at the door vainly persuading his father to take such a bed as they could offer him and good enough it would have been for ten lords for I saw nothing wonderful in him nor fit to compare any way with the captain but he would not have it for no other reason of ill will or temper but only because he had ordered his bed at the moon stock in where his coach and four were resting I expect you to call me in the morning George I heard him say as clear as could be while his son was helping his coat on I am glad I have seen you there are worse than you and when times get better I will see what I can do with him this meant more than it might have done for he was not a man of much promises as you might tell by his face almost with his nose so stern and his mouth screwed down and the wrinkles the wrong way for smiling I could not tell what the captain answered for the door banged on them and it woke the baby perhaps about his lordship's face and his little teeth gave him the wind on his chest and his lungs were like bellows bless him well that stopped me Miss Arama for being truly accurate in my testimony what with walk in the floor and thump in his back and rattling of the rings to please him when they put me on the testament cruel as they did with the lawyer's eyes eating into me with my ears buzzing with sorrow and fright I may have gone too far with my heart and my mouth for my mind to keep out contradiction wishful as I was to tell the whole truth in a manner to hurt nobody and without any single lie or glaze of mine I do assure you Miss that I did more harm than good everybody in the room a court you call it and no bigger than my best pallor one and all they were convinced that I would swear black was white to save my master and mistress and certainly I would have done so and the Lord in heaven thought the better of me for the sake of all their children if I could have made it stick together as they do with practice at thought of the little good she had done and perhaps the great mischief through excess of zeal Mrs. Strauss was obliged to stop and put her hand to her side and sigh and eager as I was for every word of this miserable tale no selfish eagerness could deny her need for refreshment and even a breast for her round cheeks were white and her full breasts trembled and now she was beginning to make snatches at my hand as if she saw things she could only tell thus End of Chapter 23 Chapter 24 of Erema This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Linda Dodge Erema by R. D. Blackmore Chapter 24 Betsy's Tale I am only astonished, my dear, said my nurse as soon as she had had some tea and toast and scarcely the soft row of a red herring that you can put up so well and abide with my instincts in the way you do None of your family could have done it to my knowledge of their dispositions much less the baby that was next above you But it often comes about to go in turns like that One, three, five, and seven is sweet while two, four, and six is a squallon with their feet But the Lord forgive me for an ill word of them with their precious little bodies washed and laying in their patterns till the judgment day But put in by the words I said in the dirty little room they pleased to call a court and the testament so filthy that no lips could have a hold of it My meaning is to tell you, miss, the very things that happened so that you may fairly judge of them The captain came back from going with his father I am sure in less than twenty minutes and smoking a cigar in his elegant way quite happy and contented for I saw him down the staircase As for sign of any haste about him or wiping of his forehead or fumbling with his handkerchief or being in a stew of any sort of way as the stupid cook who let him in declared by reason of her own having been at the beer barrel solemnly, miss, as I hoped that you'd go to heaven there was nothing of the sort about him He went into the dining room and mistress who had been upstairs to see about the baby went down to him and there I heard them talking as pleasant and as natural as they always were together not one of them had the smallest sense of trouble hanging over them and they put away both the decanters and the crouettes and came up to bed in their proper order the master stopping down just to finish his cigar and see to the doors and bringing up the silver because there was no man's servant now and I heard him laughing at some little joke he made as he went into the bedroom a happier household never went to bed nor one with better hopes of a happy time to come and the baby slept beside his parents in his little cot as his mother liked to have him with his blessed mouth wide open now we three Cook and Susan and myself were accustomed to have a good time of it whenever the master first came home and the mistress was taken up with him we used to count half an hour more in bed without any of that wicked bell clack and then go on to things according to their order without anybody to say anything accordingly we were all snug in bed and turning over for another tuck of sleep when there came a most vicious ringing of the outer bell you get up Susan I heard the cook say for there was only a door between us and Susan said blessed if I will only Tuesday you put me down about it when the baker came not a peg would either of them stir no more than to call names on one another so I slipped on my things with the bell going clatter all the while like the day of judgment I felt it to be hard upon me and I went down cross a little just enough to give it well to a body I were not afraid of but the Lord in his mercy remember me miss when I opened the door I had no blood left there stood two men with a hurdle on their shoulders and on the hurdle a body with the head hanging down and the front of it slouching like a sack that had been stolen from and behind it there was an authority two buttons on his back and he waited for me to say something but to do so was beyond me not a bit of caution or a fear about my sham dress up as a bad folk put it afterward the whole of such thoughts was beyond me outright and no thought of anything came inside me only to wait and wonder this corpse belongeth here as I am informed said the man who seemed to be the master of it and was proud to be so young woman don't you please to stand like that for every duffer in the parish will be here and the boys that come hankering after it you be off he cried to a boy who was calling some more around the corner now young woman we must come in if you please and the least said the soonest mended oh but my mistress my mistress I cried and her time up as nigh as may be any day or night before new moon oh Mr. Constable Mr. Royal Polishman take it to the tool shed if you ever had a wife sir now even this was turned against us as if I had expected it they said that I must have known who it was and to a certain length so I did miss but only by the dress and the manner of the corpse and lying with an attitude there was no contradicting I cannot tell you now my dear exactly how things followed my mind was gone all hollow with the sudden shock upon it however I had thought enough to make no noise immediate nor tell the other foolish girls who would have set up bellowing having years to deal with the little ones brings knowledge of the rest to us I think that I must have gone to master's door where Susan's orders were to put his shaving water in a tin and fetched him out with no disturbance only in his dressing gown and when I told him what it was his rosy color turned like sheets and he just said hush and nothing more and guessing what he meant I ran and put my things on properly but having time to think the shock began to work upon me and I was fit for nothing when I saw the children smiling up with their tongues out for their bread and milk as they used to begin the day with and I do assure you Miss Arama my bitterest thought was of your coming though unknown whether male or female but both most inconvenient then with things in such a state of things you have much to answer for Miss about it but how was you to help it though the tall shed door was too narrow to let the hurdle in the body in and finding some large sea kale pot standing out of use against the door the two men who were tired with the weight and fright I dare say set down their burden upon these under a row of hollyhocks at the end of the row of beehives and here they wiped their foreheads with some rags they had for handkerchiefs or one of them with his own sleeve I should say and gaining their breath they began to talk with the boldness of the sunrise over them but Mr. Rural Polishman as he was called in those parts was walking up and down on guard and despising of their foolish words my master the captain your father miss came out of a window and down the crosswalk while I was at the green door peeping for I thought that I might be wanted if only to take orders what was to be done inside the constable stiffly touched his hat and marched to the head of the hurdle and said do you know this gentlemen your father took no more notice of him than if he had been a stiff hollyhock which he might have resembled if he had been good-looking the captain thought highly of discipline always and no kinder gentleman could there be to those who gave his dues to him but that man's voice had a low and dirty impertinent sort of twang with it nothing could have been more unlucky everything depended on that fellow in an ignorant neighborhood like that and his lordship for such he was now of course would not even deign to answer him he stood over his head in his upright way by a good foot and ordered him here and there as the fella had been expecting I do believe to order his lordship and that made the bitterest enemy of him being newly sent into these parts and puffed up with authority and the two miller's men could not help grinning for he had waved them about like a pair of dogs but to suppose that my master was unmoved and took it brutally as that wretch of a fellow swore afterward only shows what a stuck-up adult he was for when my master had examined his father and made his poor body be brought in and spread on the couch in the dining room and sent me hot foot for old Dr. Diggory down at the bottom of Shocksford Susan peeped in through the crack of the door with the cook to hold her hand behind and there she saw the captain on his knees at the side of his father's corpse not saying a word only with his head down and when the doctor came back with me with his nightgown positive under his coat the first thing that he said was my dear sir my lord I mean don't take it so such things will always happen in this world which shows that my master was no brute then the captain stood up in his strength and height without any pride and without any shame only in the power of a simple heart and he said words fit to hang him this is my doing there is no one else to blame if my father is dead I have killed him several of us now were looking in and the news going out like a winnowing woman with no one to shut the door after her our passage was crowding with people that should have had a tar brush in their faces and of course a good score of them ran away to tell that the captain had murdered his father the milkman stood there with his yoke and cans and his naily boots on our new oil cloth and not being able to hide himself plainly he pulled out his slate and began to make his bill away with you all your father said coming suddenly out of the dining room while the doctor was unbuttoning my lord who was dead with all his day clothes on and everybody brushed away like flies with the depth of his voice and his stature then he bolted the door with only our own people and the doctor and the constable inside your mother was sleeping like a lamb as I could swear having had a very tiring day the day before and being well away from the noise of the passage as well as at a time when they must sleep whenever sleep will come miss bless her gentle heart with a blessing to be out of all the scare of it all this time you must understand there was no sign yet of what had happened to his lordship over and above his being dead all of us thought if our minds made bold to think that it must have pleased the lord to take his lordship either with an apoplexy or a sudden heart stroke or at that rate some other gracious way not having any flow of blood in it but now while your father was gone upstairs for he knew that his father was dead enough to be sure that your mother was quiet and perhaps to smooth her down for trouble and while I was run away to stop the ranting of the children old Dr. Diggory and that rural officer were handling poor Lord Castlewood they said him to their liking and they cut his clothes off so Susan told me afterward and then they found why they were forced to do so which I need not try to tell you miss only they found that he was not dead for any wise visitation but because he had been shot with a bullet through his heart old Dr. Diggory came out shaking and without any wholesome sense to meet what had arisen after all his practice with dead men and he called out murder with a long thing in his hand till my master leaped down the stairs twelve at a time and laid his strong hand on the old fool's mouth would you kill my wife he said you shall not kill my wife Captain Castlewood the constable answered pulling out his staff importantly consider yourself my prisoner the captain could have throttled him with one hand and Susan thought he would have done it but instead of that he said very well do your duty but let me see what you mean by it then he walked back to the body of his father and saw that he had been murdered oh but oh Miss Arama you are so pale not a bit of food have you had for hours but not to have told you such a deal of it to once let me undo all your things my dear and give you something cordial and then lie down and sleep a bit no thank you nurse I answered calling all my little courage back no sleep for me until I know every word and to think of all my father had to see and bear I am not fit to be his daughter End of Chapter 24 Chapter 25 of Arama This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Linda Dodge Arama by R.D. Blackmore Chapter 25 Betsy's Tale concluded Well now, continued Mrs. Strauss as soon as I could persuade her to go on if I were to tell you every little thing that went on among the miss I should go on from this to this day week or I might say this day fortnight and then not half be done with it and the worst of it is that those little things make all the odds in a case of that sort showing what the great things were but only a counselor at the Old Bailey could make head or tail of the goings on that followed For some reason of his own unknown to any living being but himself whether it were pride, as I always said or something deeper, as other people thought he refused to have anyone on earth to help him when he ought to have had the deepest lawyer to be found the constable cautioned him to say nothing as it seems as laid down in their orders for fear of crimination and he smiled at this with a high contempt very fine to see but not bodily wise and even in that jack-in office could perceive that the poor captain thought of his sick wife upstairs and his little children ten times for one thought he ever gave to his own position and yet I must tell you that he would have no denial but to know what it was that killed his parent when old Dr. Diggory's hands were shaking so that his instrument would not bite on the thing lodged in his lordship's back after passing through and through him he was calling for somebody to run for his assistant who do you think did it for him, Miss Arama? as sure as I said here, the captain his face was like a rock and his hands no less and he said, allow me doctor I have been in action and he fetched out the bullet which showed awful nerve according to my way of thinking as if he had been a man with three rows of teeth this bullet is just like those of my own pistol he cried and he sat down hard with amazement you may suppose how this went against him when all he desired was to know and to tell the truth and people said that of course he got it out after a bottle full of doctors failed because he knew best how it was put in I shall now go and see the place if you please or whether you please or not, my master said Constable, you may come and point it out unless you prefer going to your breakfast my word is enough that I shall not run away otherwise as you have acted on your own authority I shall act on mine and tie you until you have obtained a warrant take your choice my man and make it quickly while I offer it the rural Polish man stared at this being used on the other hand to be made much of but seeing how capable the captain was of acting up to anything he made a sulky scrape and said sir, as you please, for the present waiting his voice on those last three words as much as to say pretty soon you will be handcuffed then said my master I shall also insist on the presence of two persons simply to use their eyes without any fear or favor one is my gardener, a very honest man but apt to be late in the morning the other is a faithful servant who has been with us for several years their names are Jacob Rig and Betsy Bowen you may also bring two witnesses if you choose and the Miller's men of course will come but order back all others that is perfectly fair and straightforward my lord, the Constable answered falling naturally into abeyance to orders I am sure that all of us wishes your lordship kindly out of this rum scrape but my duty is my duty with a few more words we will all set forth six in number and no more for the Constable said that the Miller's men who had first found the late Lord Castlewood were witnesses enough for him and Jacob Rig whose legs were far apart as he said from trenching celery took us through the kitchen garden and out at a gap which saved everybody knowing then we passed through a coops or two and across a meadow and then across the turnpike road as far as now I can remember and along that we went to a style on the right without any house for a long way off and from that style a footpath led down a slope of grassland to the little river and over a land bridge and up another meadow full of trees and bushes to a gate which came out into the road again a little to the side of the moon stock in saving a quarter of a mile of road which ran straight up the valley and turned square at the stone bridge to get to the same end I cannot expect to be clear to you miss though I see it all now as I saw it then every tree and hump and hedge of it only about the distances from this to that and that to the other they would be beyond me you must be on the place itself and I could never carry distances no, nor even clever men I have heard my master say but when he came to the style he stopped and turned upon all of us clearly and as straight as any man of men could be here I saw my father last at a quarter past ten o'clock last night or within a few minutes of that time I wish to see him to his end but he would not let me do so and he never bore a contradiction he said that he knew the way well having fished more than thirty years ago up and down this stream he crossed the style and we shook hands over it and the moon being bright I looked into his face and he said my boy God bless you knowing his short ways I did not even look after him but turned away and went straight home along this road upon my word as an Englishman and as an officer of her majesty that is all I know of it now let us go on to the to the other place we all of us knew in our hearts I am sure that the captain spoke the simple truth and his face was grand as he looked at us but the constable thought it his duty to ask did you hear no sound of a shot my lord for he fell within a hundred yards of this I heard no sound of any shot whatever I heard an owl hooting as I went home and then the rattle of a heavy wagon and the bells of horses I have said enough let us go forward we obeyed him at once even the constable looked right and left as if he had been wrong he signed to the miller's man to lead the way and my lord walked proudly after him the path was only a little narrow track with the grass like a front of hair falling over it on the upper side and on the under dropping away like side curls such a little path that I was wondering how great a lord could walk over it then we came down a steep place to a narrow bridge over a shallow river a bridge made of only two planks and a rail with a proper two to carry them and one end of the handrail was fastened into a hollow and stubby old Hawthorne tree overhanging the bridge and the water a good way and just above this tree and under its shadow there came a dry cut into the little river not more than a yard or two above the wooden bridge a water trough such as we have in Wales, Miss for the water to run in when the farmer pleases but now there was no water in it only gravel the cleverest of the miller's men though neither of them had much intellect stepped down at a beck from the constable right beneath the old ancient tree and showed us the marks on the grass and the gravel made by his lordship where he fell and lay and it seems he must have fallen off the bridge yet not into the water but so as to have room for his body if you see Miss partly on the bank and partly in the hollow of the meadow trough have you searched the place well, the captain asked have you found any weapon or implement we have found nothing but the corpse so far the constable answered in a surly voice not liking to be taught his business my first duty was to save a life if I could these men upon finding the body ran for me and knowing who it was I came with it to your house you acted for the best my man now search the place carefully while I stand here I am on my parole I shall not run away Jacob go down and help them whether from being in the army or what your father always spoke in such a way that the most stiff-nakedest people began without thinking to obey him so the constable and the rest went down while the captain and I stood upon the plank looking at the four of them for a long time they looked about according to their attitudes without finding anything more than the signs of the manner in which the poor lord fell and of these the constable pulled out a book and made a pencil memorial but presently Jacob a spry sort of a man cried helloa whatever have I got hold of here many a good crawfish have I pulled from this bank when the water comes down the gully but never one exactly like this hero for name of the lord cried the constable jumping behind the Hawthorne stump don't point it at me you luby it's loaded loaded one barrel don't you see put it down with the muzzle away from me hand it to me Jacob the captain said you understand a gun and this goes off just the same constable jobbins have no fear yes this is exactly as I thought this pistol is one of the double barreled pair which I bought to take to India the barrels are rifled it shoots as true as any rifle and almost as hard up to 50 yards the right barrel has been fired the other is still loaded the bullet I took from my father's body most certainly came from this pistol can he say can he say then who done it master asked Jacob a man very sparing of speech but ready at a beck to jump at constable and the miller's men if only the law was with him can he give a clear account and let me chuck him in the river no Jacob I can do nothing of the kind your father answered while the rural man came up and faced things not being afraid of a fight half so much as he was of an accident by reason of his own mother having been blown up by a gunpowder start at Dartford yet came down alright miss and had him three months afterward according to his own confession nevertheless he came up now as if he had always been upright in the world and he said my lord can you explain all this your father looked at him with one of his strange gazes as if he were measuring the man while trying his own inward doing of his own mind proud as your father was as proud as ever can be without cruelty is is my firm belief Miss Arama going on a woman's judgment that if the man's eyes had come up to my master's sense of what was virtuous my master would have up and told him the depth and contents of his mind and heart although totally gone beyond him but Jobin's look back at my lord with a grin and his little eyes hard to put up with have you nothing to say my lord then I am a feared I must ask you just to come along with me and my master went with him Miss as quiet as a lamb which Jobin said and even Jacob fancied was a conscious sign of guilt now after I have told you all this Miss Arama you know very nearly as much as I do to tell how the grief was broken to your mother and what her state of mind was and how she set up on the pillows and cried while things went on from bad to worse and a verdict of willful murder was brought against your father by the crowners men and you came headlong without so much as the birds in the ivy to chirp about you right into the thick of the worst of it I do assure you Miss Arama when I look at your bright eyes and clear figure the lord in heaven who has made many cripples must have looked down special to have brought you as you are for trouble upon trouble fell in heaps faster than I can wipe my eyes to think to begin with all the servants but myself and Gardner Jacob ran away they said the old lord haunted the house and walked with his hand in the middle of his heart pulling out a bullet if he met anybody sighing murder three times till every hair was crawling I took it on myself to fetch the vicar of the parish to lay the evil spirit as they do in Wales a nice kind gentleman he was as you could see and wore a velvet skull cap and waited with his legs up but whether he felt that the power was not in him or whether his old lordship was frightened of the church they never made any opportunity between them to meet and have it out Miss then it seemed as heaven to avenge his lordship rained down pestilence upon that house a horrible disease the worst I ever met broke out upon the little harmless dears the pride of my heart and of everybody's eyes for lovelier or better ones never came from heaven they was all gone to heaven in a fortnight in three days and laid in a churchyard at one another side with little beds of mold to the measure of their stature and their little carts and drums as they made me promise ready for the judgment day oh my heart was broken Miss my heart was broken I cried so I thought I'd never could cry more but when your dear mother who knew nothing of all this for we put all their illness by the doctor's orders away at the further end of the house when she was a little better of grievous pain and misery for being so upset her time was hard when she sat up on the pillow looking like a bride almost except she had what brides hasn't a little red thing in a white flannel at her side then she says to me I am ready Betsy it is high time for all of them to see their little sister they always love the baby so whenever there is a new one and they are such men and women to it they have been so good this time that I have never heard them once and I am sure that I can trust them Betsy not to make the baby cry I do long to see the darlings now do not even whisper to them not to make a noise they are too good to require it and it would hurt their little feelings I had better have been shot my dear according as the old lord was than have the pain that went through all of my heart to see the mother so she sat up leaning on one arm with the hand of the other round your little head and her beautiful hair was come out of its loops and the color in her cheeks was like a shell past the fringe of the curtain and behind it too her soft bright eyes were looking here and there for the first to come in of her children the Lord only knows what lies I told her so as to be satisfied without them first I said they were all gone for a walk and then that the doctor had ordered them away and then that they had got the measles that last she believed because it was worse than what I had said before of them and she begged to see Dr. Diggory about it and I promised that she should as soon as he had done his dinner and then with a little sigh being very weak she went down into her nest again with only you to keep her company well that was bad enough as any mortal sufferer might have said enough for one day at any rate but there was almost worse to come for when I was having a little sit down stairs with my supper and half pint of ale that comes like drawing a long breath to us when spared out of sick room's mess and having no nursery now on my mind was thinking of all the sad business with only a little girl in the back kitchen to come in and muck up the dishes there appeared a good knock at the garden door and I knew it for the thumb of the captain I locked the young girl up by knowing what their tongues are and then I let your father in and the candlelight of him made my heart go low he had come out of prison and although not being tried his clothes were still in decency they had great holes in them and the gloss all gone to a smell of mere hedges and ditches the hat on his head was quite out of the fashion even if it could be called a hat at all and his beautiful beard had no sign of a comb and he looked as old again as he had looked a month ago I know all about it you need not be afraid he said as I took him to the breakfast room where no one upstairs could hear us I know that my children are all dead and buried except the one that was not born yet ill news flies quick I know all about it George, Henrietta, Jack, Alph, little Vi, and Teenie I have seen their graves and counted them while the fool of a policeman beat his gloves through the hedge within a rod of me oh yes I have much to be thankful for my life is in my own hand now oh master, oh captain, oh my lord I cried for the sake of God in heaven don't talk like that, think of your sweet wife, your dear lady Betsy, he answered with his eyes full upon me noble yet frightful to look at I am come to see my wife go and let her know it according to your own discretion my discretion would have been not to let him see her but to go on and write to her from foreign countries with the salt sea between them but I give you my word that I had no discretion but from pity and majesty obeyed him I knew that he must have broken prison and by good rights ought to be starving but I could no more offer him the cold ham and pull it than take him by his beard and shake him is he come at last at last my poor mistress said whose wits were wandering after her children at last at last then he will find them all yes man at last at the last he will I answered while I thought of the burial service which I had heard three times in a week for the little ones went to their graves and pairs to save ceremony likewise of the epistle of St. Paul which is not like our lord's way of talking at all but arguing instead of comforting and not to catch her up in that weak state I said he will find every one of them man oh but I want him for himself for himself as much as all the rest put together my dear lady said without listening to me but putting her hand to her ear to harken for even so much as a mouse on the stairs do bring him Betsy do bring him Betsy and then let me go where my children are I was surprised at her manner of speaking which I would not have allowed to her but more than all about her children which she could only have been dreaming yet for nobody else came nigh her except only me miss and you miss and for you to breathe words was impossible all you did was to lie very quiet tucked up into your mother's side and as regular as the timepiece went your side came your eyes and your mouth to be fed if your nature had been cross or squally baby's coffin number seven would have come after all the other six which the thief of a carpenter put down on his bill as if it were so many shavings well now to tell you the downright truth I have a lot of work to do tomorrow miss with three basketfuls of washing coming home and a man about a tap that leaks and floods inside of the fender and if I were to try to put before you the way that those two were for the last time of their lives went on to one another the one like a man and the other like a woman full of sobs and choking my eyes would be in such a state tomorrow that the whole of them would pity and cheat me and I ought to think of you as well miss who has been sadly harrowed listening to when you was not born yet and to hear what went on full of weeping when you yourself was in the world and able to cry for yourself and all done over your own little self would leave you red eyes and no spirit for the night and no appetite in the morning and so I will pass it all over if you please and let him go out the back door again this he was obliged to do quick and no mistake glad as he might have been to say more words because the fellows who call themselves officers without any commission were after him false it was to say as was said that he got out of Winchester jail through money that story was quite a piece with the rest his own strength and skill it was that brought him out triumphantly as the scratches on his hands and cheeks might show he did it for the sake of his wife no doubt when he heard that the children were all in the graves and their mother was in the way to follow them madness was better than his state of mind as the officers told me when they could not catch him and sorry they would have been to do it I believe to overhear my betters is the thing of all things most against my nature and my poor lady being unfit to get up there was nothing said on the landing which is the weakest part of gentle folk they must have said goodbye to one another quite in silence and the captain as firm a man as ever lived had lines on his face that were waiting for tears if nature should overcome bringing up then I heard the words for my sake and the other said for your sake and a pledge that passed between the making breath more long than life is but when your poor father was by the back door going out towards the woods and coppices he turned sharp round and he said Betsy Bowen and I answered yes at your service sir you have been the best woman in the world he said the bravest best and kindness I leave my wife and my last child to you the Lord has been hard on me but he will spare those too I do hope and believe he will we heard a noise of horses in the valley in the clank of swords no doubt the mounted police from Winchester across in the Moonstock Bridge to search our home for the runaway and the captain took my hand and said I trust them to you hide the clothes I took off that they might not know that I have been here I trust my wife and little babe to you and may God bless you Betsy he had changed all his clothes and he looked very nice but a sadder face was never seen as he slipped through the hollyhocks I said to myself there goes a broken hearted man and he leaves a broken heart behind and your dear mother died on the Saturday night oh my oh my how sad it was End of Chapter 25 Chapter 26 of Erema This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Linda Dodge Erema by R. D. Blackmore Chapter 26 at the bank In telling that sad tale my faithful and soft hearted nurse had often proved her own mistake in saying as she did that tears can ever be exhausted and I for my part though I could scarcely cry for eager listening was worse off perhaps than if I had wedded each sad fact as it would by at any rate be it this way or that a heavy and sore heart was left me too distracted for asking questions and almost too depressed to grieve In the morning Mrs. Strauss was bustling here and there and everywhere and to look at her nice welch cheeks and aprons and to hear how she scolded the butcher's boy nobody for a moment would believe that her heart was deeper than her skin as the saying of the West Country is Major Hawken had been to see me last night for he never forgot a promise and had left me in good hands and now he came again in the morning According to his usual way of taking up an opinion he would not see how distracted I was and full of what I had heard overnight but insisted on dragging me off to the bank that being in his opinion was of more importance than old stories I longed to ask Betsy some questions which had been crowding into my mind as she spoke and while I lay awake at night however I was obliged to yield to the business of the morning and the good major zeal and keen knowledge of the world and he really gave me no time to think Yes I understand all that is well as if I heard every word of it he said when he had led me helpless into the handsome cab he came in and had slammed down the floodgates in front of us You must never think twice of what old women say Mrs. Strauss was some twenty years younger than himself They always go prattling and finding Mayor's Nest and then they always cry Now did she cry, Arama? I would have given a hundred dollars to say no not one drop but truth was against me and I said how could she help it? Exactly the major exclaimed so loudly that the cab man thought he was ordered to stop No go on cabbie if your horse can do it My dear I beg your pardon but you are so very simple you have not been among the eye-openers of the west this comes of the obsolete Uncle Sam I would rather be simple than cute I replied and my own Uncle Sam will never be obsolete Silly as I was I could never speak of the true Uncle Sam in this far country without the bright shame of a glimmer in my eyes and with this which I cared not to hide I took my companion's hand and stood upon the footway of a narrow and crowded lane move on move on cried a man with a high crowned hat Japaned at intervals and wondering at his rudeness to a lady I looked at him but he only said now move on will you without any wrath and as if he were vexed at our littleness of mind in standing still nobody heeded him any more than if he had said I am starving but it seemed a rude thing among ladies before I had time to think more about this for I always like to think of things I was led through a pair of narrow swinging doors and down a close alley between two counters full of people paying and receiving money the major who always knew how to get on found a white-haired gentleman in a very dingy corner and whispered to him in a confidential way though neither had ever seen the other before and the white-haired gentleman gazed at me as sternly as if I were a banknote for at least a thousand pounds and then he said step this way young lady major hawken step this way sir the young lady quote step that way end quote in wonder as to what English English is and then we were shown into a sacred little room where the daylight had glass reflectors for it if it ever came to use them but as it cared very little to do this from angular disabilities three bright gas lamps were burning in soft covers and fed the little room with a rich sweet glow and here shown one of the partners of the bank a very pleasant looking gentleman and very nicely dressed major hawken said after looking at the card will you kindly sit down while I make one memorandum I had the pleasure of knowing your uncle well at least I believe the late sir Rufus was your uncle not so replied the major well pleased however I fear that I am too old to have had an uncle lately sir Rufus Hawken was my first cousin oh indeed to be sure I should have known it but sir Rufus being much your senior the mistake was only natural now what can I do to serve you or perhaps this young lady miss Hawken I presume no said his visitor not miss Hawken I ought to have introduced her but for having to make my own introduction Mr. Chevelin this lady is miss Arama Castlewood the only surviving child of the late captain George Castlewood properly speaking Lord Castlewood Mr. Chevelin had been looking at me with as much curiosity as good manners and his own particular courtesy allowed and I fancied that he felt that I could not be a Hawken oh dear dear me was all he said though he wanted to say God bless me or something more sudden and stronger Lord Castlewood's daughter poor George Castlewood my dear young lady is it possible yes I am my father's child I said and I am proud to hear that I am like him that you well may be he answered putting on his spectacles you are astonished at my freedom perhaps you will allow for it or at least you will not be angry with me when you know that your father was his friend at Harrow and that when his great trouble fell upon him here Mr. Chevelin stopped as behooves a man who begins to outrun himself he could not tell me that it was himself who had found all the money for my father's escape which cost much cash as well as much good feeling neither did I at the time suspect it being all in the dark about such points not knowing what to say I looked from the banker to the major and back again can you tell me the exact time the latter asked I am due in the temple at twelve thirty and I am never a minute late whatever happens you will want a swift horse Mr. Chevelin answered or else this will be an exception to your rule it is twenty one minutes past twelve now may I leave my charge to you then for a while she will be very quiet and I have always so Irayma will you wait for me I was not quick enough then to see that this was arranged between them major hawken perceived that Mr. Chevelin wished to have a talk with me about dealer matters than money having children of his own and being as his eyes and forehead showed a man of particular views perhaps but clearly of general good will in an hour in an hour in less than an hour The Major intensified his intentions always. In three-quarters of an hour I shall be back. Meanwhile, my dear, you will sit upon a stool and not say a word, nor make any attempt to do anything everybody is not used to. This fixed me, as if I were a savage here. And I only replied with a very gentle bow, being glad to see his departure. For Major Hocken was one of those people so often to be met with, whom anyone likes or dislikes according to the changes of their behavior. But Mr. Shovelin was different from that. Miss Castlewood, take this chair, he said. A hard one, but better than a stool perhaps. Now how am I to talk to you, as an inquirer upon business matters? Or as a daughter of my old friend? Your smile is enough. Well, and you must talk to me in the same unreasonable manner. That being clearly established between us, let us proceed to the next point. Your father, my old friend, wandered from the track and unfortunately lost his life in a desolate part of America. No, oh no, it was nothing like that. He might have been alive and here at this moment if I had not drunk and eaten every bit and drop of his. Now don't, my dear child, don't be so romantic. I mean, look at things more soberly. You did as you were ordered, I have no doubt. George Castlewood always would have that. He was a most commanding man. You do not quite resemble him in that respect, I think. Oh, but did he do it? Did he do it? I cried out. You were at school with him and knew his nature. Was it possible for him to do it, sir? As possible as it is for me to go down to Seven Oaks and shoot my dear old father, who is spending a green and agreeable old age there. Not that your grandfather, if I may say it without causing pain to you, was either green or agreeable. He was an uncommonly sharp old man. I might say even a hard one. As you never saw him, you will not think me rude in saying that much. Your love, of course, is for your father. And if your father had had a father of larger spirit about money, he might have been talking to me pleasantly now instead of all those sad things. Please, not to slip away from me, I said bluntly, having so often met with that. You believe, as every good person does, that my father was wholly innocent. But do tell me, who could have done it instead? Somebody must have done it, that seems clear. Yes, replied Mr. Shovelin, with a look of calm consideration. Somebody did it undoubtedly, and that makes the difficulty of the whole affair. Qui bono, as the lawyers say. Two persons only could have had any motive so far as wealth and fortune go. The first and most prominent your father, who of course, would come into everything, which made the suspicion so hot and strong. And the other, a very nice gentleman, whom it is wholly impossible to suspect. Are you sure of that? People have more than suspected, they have condemned my father. After that, I can suspect anybody. Who is it? Please tell me. It is the present Lord Castlewood, as he is beginning to be called. He would not claim his title, or even put forth his right in any way. Until he had proof of your dear father's death, and even then he behaved so well. He did it, he did it, I cried in hot triumph. My father's name shall be clear of it. Can there be any doubt that he did it? How very simple the whole of it becomes. Nothing astonishes me, except the stupidity of people. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose. A bad man, no doubt, though I never heard of him, and putting it all on my father, of course, to come in himself and abide his time, till the misery killed my father, how simple, how horribly simple it becomes. You are much too quick, too hot, too sudden, excuse me a minute. As a silver bell struck, I am wanted in the next room. But before I go, let me give you a glass of cold water, and beg you to dismiss that new idea from your mind. I could see, as I took with a trembling hand the water he poured out for me, that Mr. Shovellin was displeased. His kind and handsome face grew hard. He had taken me for a nice young lady, never much above the freezing point, and he had found me boil over in a moment. I was sorry to have grieved him, but if he had heard Betsy Bowen's story, and seen her tell it, perhaps he would have allowed for me. I sat down again, having risen in my warmth, and tried to quiet and command myself by thinking of the sad points only. Of these there were plenty to make pictures of, the like of which had kept me awake all night. And I knew by this time, from finding so much more of pity than real sympathy, that men think a woman may well be all tears, but has no right to even the shadow of a frown, that is their own prerogative. And so, when Mr. Shovellin returned, with a bundle of papers, which had also vexed him, to judge by the way in which he threw them down, I spoke very mildly, and say that I was very sorry for my display of violence, but that if he knew all, he would pardon me, and he pardoned me in a moment. I was going to tell you, my dear Ms. Castlewood, he continued gently, that your sudden idea must be dismissed, for reasons which I think will content you. In the first place the present Lord Castlewood is, and always has been, an exemplary man of great piety and true gentleness. In the next place he is an invalid, who cannot walk a mile with a crutch to help him. And so he has been for a great many years. And lastly, if you have no faith in the rest, he was in Italy at the time, and remained there for several years afterward. There he received and sheltered your poor father after his sad calamity, and was better than a brother to him as your father, in a letter to me, declared. So you see that you must acquit him. That is not enough. I would beg his pardon on my knees since he helped my father, for he must have thought him innocent. Now, Mr. Shevelin, you were my father's friend, and you are such a clever man. How do you know that young lady? What a hurry you are always in. Oh, there can be no doubt about it. But you must not ask reasons if I am so quick. Now please to tell me what your own conclusion is. I can talk of it calmly now, yes, quite calmly, because I never think of anything else. Only tell me what you really believe, and I will keep it most strictly to myself. I am sure you will do that, he answered, smiling. Not only from the power of your will, my dear, but also because I have nothing to say. At first I was strongly inclined to believe, knowing from my certainty of your father that the universal opinion must be wrong, that the old Lord had done it himself, for he had always been of a headstrong and violent nature, which I am sure will never reappear in you. But the whole of the evidence went against this, and little as I think of evidence, especially at an inquest, your father's behavior confirmed what was sworn to. Your father knew that his father had not made a way with himself in a moment of passion. Otherwise he was not the man to break prison and fly trial. He would have said boldly, I am guiltless. There are many things I cannot explain. I cannot help that, but I will face it out. Condemn me if you like, and I will suffer. From your own remembrance of your father's nature is not that certainly the course he would have taken? I have not an atom of doubt about it. His flight and persistent dread of trial puzzle me beyond imagination. Of his life he was perfectly reckless, except at least for my sake. I know that he was, Mr. Shublin replied. As a boy he was wonderfully fearless. As a man with a sweet wife and a lot of children, he might have begun to be otherwise. But when all these were gone and only a poor little baby left, yes, I suppose I was all that. Oh, forgive me, I am looking back at you. Who could dream that you would ever even live without kith or kin to take care of you? Your life was saved by some good woman who took you away to Wales. But when you were such a poor little relic and your father could scarcely have seen you, to have such a might left must have been almost a mockery of happiness. That motive could not have been strong enough to prevent a man of proud honor from doing what honor it once demanded. Your father would have returned and surrendered as soon as he heard of his dear wife's death, if in the balance there had been only you. Yes, Mr. Shublin, perhaps he would. I was never very much as a counterbalance, yet my father loved me. I could have told him of the pledge exchanged for my sake and, yes, for your sake, with love and wedded honor set to fight cold desolate repute. But I did not say a word about it. He loved you afterward, of course, but a man who has had seven children is not enthusiastic about a baby. There must have been a larger motive. But when I was the only one left alive, surely I became valuable then. I cannot have been such a cipher. Yes, for a long time you would have been, replied this attorney and banker. I do not wish to disparage your attractions when you were a fortnight old. They may have begun already to be irresistible. Excuse me, you have led me into the light vein when speaking of a most sad matter. You must blame your self-assertion for it. All I wish to convey to you is my belief that something wholly unknown to us, some dark mystery of which we have no inkling lies at the bottom of this terrible affair, some strange motive there must have been strong enough even to overcome all ordinary sense of honor and an Englishman's pride in submitting to the law, whatever may be the consequence, consider that his flight from justice, as it was called of course by everyone, condemned his case and ruined his repute. Even for that he would not have cared so much as for his own sense of right. And though he was a very lively fellow, as I first remembered him, full of tricks and jokes and so on, which in this busy age are out of date, I am certain that he always had a stern sense of right. One never knows how love affairs and weakness about children may alter almost any man. But my firm conviction is that my dear old school fellow, George Castlewood, even with a wife and lovely children hanging all together upon his life, not only would have not broken jail, but would calmly have given up his body to be hanged. Pardon me, my dear, for putting it so coarsely, if there had not been something paramount to override even a parent's honor. What it can have been, I have no idea, and I presume you have none. None, whatever, I said at once in answer to his inquiring gaze, I am quite taken by surprise, I never even thought of such a thing. It has always seemed in me so natural that my dear father being shamefully condemned, because appearances were against him and nobody could enter into him, should for the sake of his wife and children, or even of one child like me, depart or banish himself or immigrate, as they might call it, run away. Knowing that he never could have had a fair trial, it was only the straightforward and good and affectionate thing for him to do. You cannot see things as men see them, we must not expect it of you, Mr. Shovelin answered with a kind, but rather's two superior smile, which reminded me a little of dear Uncle Sam when he listened to what, in his opinion, was only female reason. But dear me, here is Major Hockencombe, punctuality is the soul of business. So I always declare, cried the Major, who is more than three quarters of an hour late, for which in my heart I thanked him. My watch keeps time to a minute, sir, and it's master to a second. Well, I hope you have settled all questions of finance and endowed my young maid with a fortune. So far from that, Mr. Shovelin replied in a tone very different from that he used to me. We have not even said one word of business. All that has been left for your return. Am I to understand that you are, by appointment or relationship, the guardian of this young lady? God forbid, cried Major Hocken shortly. I thought it very rude of him, yet I could not help smiling to see how he threw his glasses up and lifted his wiry chest of hair. Not that she is bad, I mean, but good, very good indeed. I may say the very best girl ever known outside my own family. My cousin, Colonel Gundry, who owns an immense estate in the most oriferous district of all California, but will not spoil his splendid property by mining. He will, he will tell you the very same thing, sir. I am very glad to hear it, said the banker, smiling at me, while I wondered what it was, but hoped it meant my praises. Now, I really fear that I must be very brief, though the daughter of my oldest friend may well be preferred to business. But now we will turn at once to business, if you please. End of Chapter 26. Chapter 27 of Arama. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Dodge. Erema by R. D. Blackmore. Chapter 27. Cousin Montague. Mr. Chevelin went to a corner of the room, which might be called a signal box, having a little row of portholes like a toy frigate or accordion. And there he made sounds, which brought steps very promptly. One clerk carrying a mighty ledger, and the other a small strong box. No plate! Major Hocken whispered to me, shaking his gray crest with sorrow. But there may be diamonds, you know, Erema. One ounce of diamonds is worth a ton of plate. No, said Mr. Chevelin, whose ears were very keen. I fear you will find nothing of mercantile value. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. By and by perhaps we shall trouble you. Strictly speaking, perhaps I should require the presence of your father's lawyer or of someone producing probate ere I open this box, Ms. Castlewood. But having you here and Major Hocken, and knowing what I do about the matter, which is one of personal confidence, I will dispense with formalities. We have given your father's solicitor notice of this deposit, and requested his attention. But he has never deigned to attend to it, so now we will dispense with him. You see that the seal is unbroken. You know your father's favorite seal, no doubt. The key is nothing. It was left to my charge. You wish that I should open this? Certainly I did, and the banker split the seal with an ebony handled paper knife, and very soon unlocked the steel-ridden box, whose weight was chiefly of itself. Some cotton wool lay on the top to keep the all-penetrative dust away, and then a sheet of blue full-scrap paper, partly covered with clear but crooked writing, and under that some little twist of silver paper, screwed as if there had been no time to tie them, and a packet of letters held together by a glittering bracelet. Poor fellow, Mr. Shovelin said softly while I held my breath, and the major had the courtesy to be silent. This is his will. Of no value I fear in a pecuniary point of view, but of interest to you, his daughter, shall I open it, Ms. Castlewood, or send it to his lawyers? Open it and never think of them, I said. Like the rest they have forsaken him. Please, to read it to yourself and then tell us. Oh, I wish I had known this before, cried the banker, after a rapid glance or two. Very kind, very flattering, I am sure. Yes, I will do my duty by him. I wish there was more to be done in the case. He has left me sole executor and trustee of all his property for the benefit of his surviving child. Yet he never gave me the smallest idea of expecting me to do this for him. Otherwise, of course, I should have had this old box open years ago. We must look at things as they are, said Major Hawkins, for I could say nothing. The question is, what do you mean to do now? Nothing whatever, said the banker crisply, being displeased at the other's tone, and then, seeing my surprise, he addressed himself to me. Nothing at present but congratulate myself upon my old friend's confidence. And, as Abernethy said, take advice. A banker must never encroach upon the province of the lawyer. But so far as I layman my judge, Major Hawkins, I think you will have to transfer to me the care of this young lady. I shall be only too happy, I assure you, the Major answered truthfully. My wife has a great regard for her, and so have I, the very greatest, the strongest regard, and warm parental feelings, as you know, Arama, but I am not so young as I was, and I have to develop my property, of which she no longer forms a part, Mr. Shovelin answered, with a smile at me, which turned into pleasure my momentary pain at the other's calm abandonment. You will find me prompt and proud to claim her, as soon as I am advised that this will is valid, and that I shall learn tomorrow. In spite of pride, or by its aid, my foolish eyes were full of tears, and I gave him a look of gratitude, which reminded him of my father, as he said in so many words. Oh, I hope it is valid. Oh, how I hope it is, I exclaimed, turning round to the Major, who smiled rather grimly, and said he hopes so too. But surely, he continued, as we all are here, we should not neglect the opportunity of inspecting the other contents of this box. To me it appears that we are bound to do so, that as our plain duty to ascertain why there might even be a later will. Erema, my dear, you must be most anxious to get to the bottom of it. So I was, but desired even more that his curiosity should be foiled. We must leave that to Mr. Shovelin, I said. Then for the present we will seal it down again, the banker answered quietly. We can see that there is no other will, and a later one would scarcely be put under this. The other little packets, whatever they may be, are objects of curiosity perhaps, rather than of importance. They will keep till we have more leisure. We have taken up a great deal of your time, sir, I am sure, said the Major, finding that he could take no more. We ought to be, and we are, most grateful. Well, the banker answered, as we began to move. Such things do not happen every day, but there is no friend like an old friend, Erema, as I mean to call you now. I was to have been your godfather, but I fear that you never have been baptized. What, cried the Major, staring at us both, is such a thing possible in a Christian land? Oh, how I've neglected my duty to the church. Come back with me to Brunsey, and my son shall do it. The church there is under my orders, I should hope. And we will have a dinner party afterward. What a horrible, neglective duty. But how could I help it, I exclaimed, with some terror at Major Hawkins' bristling hair? I cannot remember. I am sure I cannot say. It may have been done in France or somewhere if there was no time in England. At any rate, my father is not to be blamed. Papistical baptism is worse than none, the Major said impressively. Never mind, my dear, we will make that all right. You shall not be a savage always. We will take the opportunity to change your name. Erema is popish and outlandish. One scarcely knows how to pronounce it. You shall have a good English Christian name. Jemima, Jane, Sophie. Trust me to know a good name, trust me. Jemima, I cried. Oh, Mr. Shovelin saved me from ever being called Jemima. Rather would I never be baptized at all. I am no judge of names, he answered, smiling, as he shook hands with us. But unless I am a very bad judge of faces, you shall be called just what you please. And I pleased to be called what my father called me. It may be unlucky as a gentleman told me who did not know how to pronounce it. However, it will do very well for me. You wish to see me then, tomorrow, Mr. Shovelin? If you please, but later in the day when I am more at leisure, I do not run away very early. Come at half past four to this door and knock. I hear every sound at this door in my room, and the place will be growing quiet then. He showed us out into a narrow alley to a heavy door sheathed with iron, and soon we recovered the fair light of day, and the brawl and roar of a London street. Now, where shall we go, the Major asked, as soon as he had found the cab again. For he was very polite in that way. You kept early hours with your Uncle Sam, as you call Colonel Gundry, a slow witted man, but most amusing when he likes, as slow witted men very often are. Now, will you come and dine with me? I can generally dine, as you with virtuous indignation found out at Southampton. But we are better friends now, Miss Heathen. Yes, I have more than I can ever thank you for, I answered very gravely. For I never could become Joe Coast to order, and sadness still was uppermost. I will go where you like, and I am quite at your orders, because Betsy Bowen is busy now. She will not have done her work till six o'clock. Well done, he cried. Bravo, young America! Frankness is the finest of all good manners, and what a lot of clumsy deception it saves. Then let us go and dine. I will imitate your truthfulness. It was two words for myself and one for you. The air of London always makes me hungry, after too much country air. It is wrong altogether, but I cannot help it. And going along I smell hungry smells coming out of deep holes with a plate at the top. Hungry I mean to a man who has known what absolute starvation is. When a man would thank God for a blue bottle fly who has taken his own nip anywhere. When I see the young fellows at the clubs pick this, and poke that, and push away the other. I may be the... Oh my dear, I beg your pardon. Cabbie to the grilled bone and scallop cockle at the bottom of St. Vintraco Dane, you know. This play seemed, from what the major had said, to have earned repute for something special, something esteemed by the very clever people, and only to be found in true virtue here. And he told me that luxury and self-indulgence were the greatest sins of the present age, and how he admired a man who came here to protest against epicurians by dining, liquor's not included, for the sum of three and six pence. All this no doubt was wise and right, but I could not attend to it properly now, and he might take me where he would and have all the talking to himself, according to his practice, and I might not even have been able to say what this temple of bones and cockles was like, except for a little thing which happened there. The room at the head of a twisting staircase was low and dark, and furnished almost like a farmhouse kitchen. It had no carpet, nor even a mat, but a floor of black timber, and a ceiling colored blue, with stars and comets and a full moon near the fireplace. On either side of the room stood narrow tables, in wise to the walls, enclosed with high back seats like settles. Forming thus a double set of little stalls or boxes was scarcely space enough between four waiters, more urgent than New York firemen, to push their steaming and breathless way. Square around, miss, ask one of them to me as soon as the major had set me on a bench, and before my mind had time to rally towards criticism of the knives in the forks, which deprecated any such ordeal, and he cleverly whipped a stand for something dirty, over something still dirtier on the cloth. I don't understand what you mean, I replied to his highly zealous aspect, while the major sat smiling dryly at my ignorance, which vexed me. I have never received such a question before, Major Hawkin, would you kindly answer him? Square, said the major, square for both. And the waiter, with a glance of pity at me, hurried off to carry out his order. Erema, your mind is all up in the sky. My companion began to remain straight. You ought to know better after all your travels. Well, then the sky should not fall and confuse me so, I said pointing to the milky way, not more than a yard above me. But do tell me what he meant, if you can. Is it about the formation of the soup? Hush, my dear, soup is high trees in here until night, when they make it of the leavings. His honest desire was to know whether you would have a grilled bone of mutton, which is naturally round, you know, or a beef, which by the same law of nature seems always to be square, you know. Oh, I see, I replied with some confusion, not at his osteology, but at the gaze of a pair of living and lively eyes fastened upon me. A gentleman waiting for his bill had risen in the next low box and stood calmly, as if he had done all his duty to himself, gazing over the wooden back at me, who thus sat facing him. And Major Hawkin, following my glance, looked up and turned around to see through it. What, cousin Magu, bless my heart, who could have dreamed of lighting on you here. Come in, my dear fellow, there is plenty of room. Let me introduce you to my new ward, Miss Arama Castlewood. Miss Castlewood, this is Sir Montague Hawkin, the son of my lamented first cousin, Sir Rufus, of whom you have heard so much. Well, to be sure, I haven't seen you for an age, my dear fellow. Now, how are you? Miss Castlewood, please not to move. I sit anywhere. Major, I am most delighted to see you, over and over again. I have been at the point of starting for Brunsey Island. It is an island now, isn't it? My father would never believe that it was till I proved it from the number of rabbits that came up. However, not a desolate island now, for it contains you and all your energies, and Miss Castlewood, as well as Mrs. Hawkin. It is not an island, and it never shall be, the Major cried, knocking a blue plate over and spilling the salt inauspiciously. It was never an island, and it never shall be. My intention is to reclaim it altogether. Oh, here come the squares. Well done, well done. I quite forget the proper thing to have to drink. Are the cockles in the pan, Mr. Waiter? Quite right, then. Ten minutes is the proper time. But they know that better than I do. I am very sorry, Montague, that you have dined. Surely you would not call this a dinner. I take my true luncheon afterward. But lately my appetite has been so bad that it must be fed up at short intervals. You can understand that, perhaps, Miss Castlewood. It makes the confectioner's fortunes, you know. The ladies only came twice to feed, but now they come three times. I am assured by a young man who knows all about it. And Cherry Brandy is the mildest form of tipple. Shocking scandal, abominable talk, cried the Major, who took everything at its word. I have heard all that sort of stuff ever since I was as high as this table. Waiter, show me this gentleman's bill. Oh well, oh well, you have not done so very badly. Two squares in a round, and a jug of Steinberg and a pint of British stout with your stilton. If this is your anti-lunch, what will you do when you come to your real luncheon? But I must not talk now. You may have it as you please. The truth of it is, Miss Castlewood, said the young man while I looked with some curiosity at my frizzling bone, with the cover just whisked off and drops of its juice, like the rays of a luster, shaking with soft inner wealth. The truth of it is just this, and no more. We fix our minds and our thoughts, and all the rest of our higher intelligence, a great deal too much upon mere food. No doubt we do, I was obliged to answer. It is very sad to think of, as soon as one has dined. But does that reflection occur as it should, at the proper time to be useful? I mean, when we are hungry? I fear not. I fear that it is rather preterite than practical. No big words now, my dear fellow, cried the major. You have had your turn. Let us have ours. But, Arema, you are eating nothing. Take a knife and fork, Montague, and help her. The beauty of these things consists entirely, absolutely, essentially. I may say in their having smoke running out of them. A gush of steam like this should follow every turn of the knife. But there I am spoiling every bit by talking so. Is that any fault of mine? asks Sir Montague, in a tone which made me look at him. The voice was not harsh, nor rough, nor unpleasant. Yet it gave me the idea that it could be all three or worse than all three upon occasion. So I looked at him, which I had refrained from doing, to see whether his face confirmed that idea. To the best of my perception it did not. Sir Montague Hawkin was rather good looking, so far as form and color go, having regular features and clear blue eyes, very beautiful teeth, and a golden beard. His appearance was grave, but not morose, as if he were always examining things and people without condemning them. It was evident that he expected to take the upper hand in general, to play the first fiddle, to hold the top saw, to be helped to all the stuffing of the pumpkin, as Dear Uncle Sam was fond of saying. Of moderate stature, a most of middle-aged and dressed nicely, without any gigos, which looked so common upon a gentleman's front. He was likely to please more people than he displeased at first on-site. The major was now in the flush of good will, having found his denergenial, and being a good man, he yielded to a little sympathetic anger with those who had done less justice to themselves. And in this state of mind he begged us to take note of one thing, that his ward should be christened in Brunsey Church, as sure as all the bells were his, according to their inscriptions, no later than next Thursday week, that being the day for a good sirloin. And if Sir Montague failed to come to see how they could manage things under proper administration, he might be sure of one thing, if no more, that Major Hawkins would never speak to him again. End of Chapter 27