The Lair of the White Worm

  CHAPTER XXV--THE LAST BATTLE

  Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to hurry on with theconveyance of Diana's Grove, so no time was lost in letting Adam Saltonhave formal possession of the estate. After his interview with SirNathaniel, he had taken steps to begin putting his plan into action. Inorder to accumulate the necessary amount of fine sea-sand, he ordered thesteward to prepare for an elaborate system of top-dressing all thegrounds. A great heap of the sand, brought from bays on the Welsh coast,began to grow at the back of the Grove. No one seemed to suspect that itwas there for any purpose other than what had been given out.

  Lady Arabella, who alone could have guessed, was now so absorbed in hermatrimonial pursuit of Edgar Caswall, that she had neither time norinclination for thought extraneous to this. She had not yet moved fromthe house, though she had formally handed over the estate.

  Adam put up a rough corrugated-iron shed behind the Grove, in which hestored his explosives. All being ready for his great attempt wheneverthe time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to passthe time, interested himself in other things--even in Caswall's greatkite, which still flew from the high tower of Castra Regis.

  The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle thebailiffs and farmers round the Brow. The hour of the intended cataclysmwas approaching apace. Adam wished--but in vain--for an opportunity,which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret ofCastra Regis. At last, one morning, he met Lady Arabella moving towardsthe Castle, so he took his courage _a deux mains_ and asked to be allowedto accompany her. She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with hiswishes. So together they entered, and found their way to theturret-room. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house,but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played thehost so well as to deceive even Adam. They all went out on the turretroof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising andlowering the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movementsof the multitudes of birds, how they answered almost instantaneously tothe lowering or raising of the kite.

  As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked himif she might make a request. Permission having been accorded, sheexplained that before she finally left Diana's Grove, where she had livedso long, she had a desire to know the depth of the well-hole. Adam wasreally happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment, but because hewished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the passageof the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his beingon the premises. He brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus,with a sufficient length of piano-wire for testing any probable depth.The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was oncefixed over the hole, he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageoustime for his final experiment.

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  In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm. Lilla, ofcourse, felt lonely in the absence of her cousin, but the even tenor oflife went on for her as for others. After the first shock of parting wasover, things went back to their accustomed routine. In one respect,however, there was a marked difference. So long as home conditions hadremained unchanged, Lilla was content to put ambition far from her, andto settle down to the life which had been hers as long as she couldremember. But Mimi's marriage set her thinking; naturally, she came tothe conclusion that she too might have a mate. There was not for hermuch choice--there was little movement in the matrimonial direction atthe farmhouse. She did not approve of the personality of Edgar Caswall,and his struggle with Mimi had frightened her; but he was unmistakably anexcellent _parti_, much better than she could have any right to expect.This weighs much with a woman, and more particularly one of her class.So, on the whole, she was content to let things take their course, and toabide by the issue.

  As time went on, she had reason to believe that things did not point tohappiness. She could not shut her eyes to certain disturbing facts,amongst which were the existence of Lady Arabella and her growingintimacy with Edgar Caswall; as well as his own cold and haughty nature,so little in accord with the ardour which is the foundation of a youngmaid's dreams of happiness. How things would, of necessity, alter if shewere to marry, she was afraid to think. All told, the prospect was nothappy for her, and she had a secret longing that something might occur toupset the order of things as at present arranged.

  When Lilla received a note from Edgar Caswall asking if he might come totea on the following afternoon, her heart sank within her. If it wasonly for her father's sake, she must not refuse him or show anydisinclination which he might construe into incivility. She missed Mimimore than she could say or even dared to think. Hitherto, she had alwayslooked to her cousin for sympathy, for understanding, for loyal support.Now she and all these things, and a thousand others--gentle, assuring,supporting--were gone. And instead there was a horrible aching void.

  For the whole afternoon and evening, and for the following forenoon, poorLilla's loneliness grew to be a positive agony. For the first time shebegan to realise the sense of her loss, as though all the previoussuffering had been merely a preparation. Everything she looked at,everything she remembered or thought of, became laden with poignantmemory. Then on the top of all was a new sense of dread. The reactionfrom the sense of security, which had surrounded her all her life, to anever-quieted apprehension, was at times almost more than she could bear.It so filled her with fear that she had a haunting feeling that she wouldas soon die as live. However, whatever might be her own feelings, dutyhad to be done, and as she had been brought up to consider duty first,she braced herself to go through, to the very best of her ability, whatwas before her.

  Still, the severe and prolonged struggle for self-control told uponLilla. She looked, as she felt, ill and weak. She was really in anerveless and prostrate condition, with black circles round her eyes,pale even to her lips, and with an instinctive trembling which she wasquite unable to repress. It was for her a sad mischance that Mimi wasaway, for her love would have seen through all obscuring causes, and havebrought to light the girl's unhappy condition of health. Lilla wasutterly unable to do anything to escape from the ordeal before her; buther cousin, with the experience of her former struggles with Mr. Caswalland of the condition in which these left her, would have taken steps--evenperemptory ones, if necessary--to prevent a repetition.

  Edgar arrived punctually to the time appointed by herself. When Lilla,through the great window, saw him approaching the house, her condition ofnervous upset was pitiable. She braced herself up, however, and managedto get through the interview in its preliminary stages without anyperceptible change in her normal appearance and bearing. It had been toher an added terror that the black shadow of Oolanga, whom she dreaded,would follow hard on his master. A load was lifted from her mind when hedid not make his usual stealthy approach. She had also feared, though inlesser degree, lest Lady Arabella should be present to make trouble forher as before.

  With a woman's natural forethought in a difficult position, she hadprovided the furnishing of the tea-table as a subtle indication of thesocial difference between her and her guest. She had chosen theimplements of service, as well as all the provender set forth, of thehumblest kind. Instead of arranging the silver teapot and china cups,she had set out an earthen teapot, such as was in common use in the farmkitchen. The same idea was carried out in the cups and saucers of thickhomely delft, and in the cream-jug of similar kind. The bread was ofsimple whole-meal, home-baked. The butter was good, since she had madeit herself, while the preserves and honey came from her own garden. Herface beamed with satisfaction when the guest eyed the appointments with asupercilious glance. It was a shock to the poor girl herself, for sheenjoyed offering to a guest the little hospitalities possible to her; butthat had to be sacrificed with other pleasures.

  Caswall's face was more set and iron-clad than ever--his piercing eyesseemed from the very beginning to look her through and through.
Herheart quailed when she thought of what would follow--of what would be theend, when this was only the beginning. As some protection, though itcould be only of a sentimental kind, she brought from her own room thephotographs of Mimi, of her grandfather, and of Adam Salton, whom by nowshe had grown to look on with reliance, as a brother whom she couldtrust. She kept the pictures near her heart, to which her hand naturallystrayed when her feelings of constraint, distrust, or fear became sopoignant as to interfere with the calm which she felt was necessary tohelp her through her ordeal.

  At first Edgar Caswall was courteous and polite, even thoughtful; butafter a little while, when he found her resistance to his dominationgrow, he abandoned all forms of self-control and appeared in the samedominance as he had previously shown. She was prepared, however, forthis, both by her former experience and the natural fighting instinctwithin her. By this means, as the minutes went on, both developed thepower and preserved the equality in which they had begun.

  Without warning, the psychic battle between the two individualities beganafresh. This time both the positive and negative causes were all infavour of the man. The woman was alone and in bad spirits, unsupported;nothing at all was in her favour except the memory of the two victoriouscontests; whereas the man, though unaided, as before, by either LadyArabella or Oolanga, was in full strength, well rested, and inflourishing circumstances. It was not, therefore, to be wondered at thathis native dominance of character had full opportunity of assertingitself. He began his preliminary stare with a conscious sense of power,and, as it appeared to have immediate effect on the girl, he felt an ever-growing conviction of ultimate victory.

  After a little Lilla's resolution began to flag. She felt that thecontest was unequal--that she was unable to put forth her best efforts.As she was an unselfish person, she could not fight so well in her ownbattle as in that of someone whom she loved and to whom she was devoted.Edgar saw the relaxing of the muscles of face and brow, and the almostcollapse of the heavy eyelids which seemed tumbling downward in sleep.Lilla made gallant efforts to brace her dwindling powers, but for a timeunsuccessfully. At length there came an interruption, which seemed likea powerful stimulant. Through the wide window she saw Lady Arabellaenter the plain gateway of the farm, and advance towards the hall door.She was clad as usual in tight-fitting white, which accentuated her thin,sinuous figure.

  The sight did for Lilla what no voluntary effort could have done. Hereyes flashed, and in an instant she felt as though a new life hadsuddenly developed within her. Lady Arabella's entry, in her usualunconcerned, haughty, supercilious way, heightened the effect, so thatwhen the two stood close to each other battle was joined. Mr. Caswall,too, took new courage from her coming, and all his masterfulness andpower came back to him. His looks, intensified, had more obvious effectthan had been noticeable that day. Lilla seemed at last overcome by hisdominance. Her face became red and pale--violently red and ghastlypale--by rapid turns. Her strength seemed gone. Her knees collapsed,and she was actually sinking on the floor, when to her surprise and joyMimi came into the room, running hurriedly and breathing heavily.

  Lilla rushed to her, and the two clasped hands. With that, a new senseof power, greater than Lilla had ever seen in her, seemed to quicken hercousin. Her hand swept the air in front of Edgar Caswall, seeming todrive him backward more and more by each movement, till at last he seemedto be actually hurled through the door which Mimi's entrance had leftopen, and fell at full length on the gravel path without.

  Then came the final and complete collapse of Lilla, who, without a sound,sank down on the floor.