V.
Anybody who had closely considered Dare at this time would havediscovered that, shortly after the arrival of the Royal Horse Artilleryat Markton Barracks, he gave up his room at the inn at Sleeping-Greenand took permanent lodgings over a broker's shop in the townabove-mentioned. The peculiarity of the rooms was that they commandeda view lengthwise of the barrack lane along which any soldier, in thenatural course of things, would pass either to enter the town, to callat Myrtle Villa, or to go to Stancy Castle.
Dare seemed to act as if there were plenty of time for his business.Some few days had slipped by when, perceiving Captain De Stancy walkpast his window and into the town, Dare took his hat and cane, andfollowed in the same direction. When he was about fifty yards short ofMyrtle Villa on the other side of the town he saw De Stancy enter itsgate.
Dare mounted a stile beside the highway and patiently waited. In abouttwenty minutes De Stancy came out again and turned back in the directionof the town, till Dare was revealed to him on his left hand. When DeStancy recognized the youth he was visibly agitated, though apparentlynot surprised. Standing still a moment he dropped his glance upon theground, and then came forward to Dare, who having alighted from thestile stood before the captain with a smile.
'My dear lad!' said De Stancy, much moved by recollections. He heldDare's hand for a moment in both his own, and turned askance.
'You are not astonished,' said Dare, still retaining his smile, as if tohis mind there were something comic in the situation.
'I knew you were somewhere near. Where do you come from?'
'From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it, asSatan said to his Maker.--Southampton last, in common speech.'
'Have you come here to see me?'
'Entirely. I divined that your next quarters would be Markton, theprevious batteries that were at your station having come on here. I havewanted to see you badly.'
'You have?'
'I am rather out of cash. I have been knocking about a good deal sinceyou last heard from me.'
'I will do what I can again.'
'Thanks, captain.'
'But, Willy, I am afraid it will not be much at present. You know I amas poor as a mouse.'
'But such as it is, could you write a cheque for it now?'
'I will send it to you from the barracks.'
'I have a better plan. By getting over this stile we could go roundat the back of the villas to Sleeping-Green Church. There is always apen-and-ink in the vestry, and we can have a nice talk on the way. Itwould be unwise for me to appear at the barracks just now.'
'That's true.'
De Stancy sighed, and they were about to walk across the fieldstogether. 'No,' said Dare, suddenly stopping: my plans make itimperative that we should not run the risk of being seen in each other'scompany for long. Walk on, and I will follow. You can stroll into thechurchyard, and move about as if you were ruminating on the epitaphs.There are some with excellent morals. I'll enter by the other gate, andwe can meet easily in the vestry-room.'
De Stancy looked gloomy, and was on the point of acquiescing when heturned back and said, 'Why should your photograph be shown to the chiefconstable?'
'By whom?'
'Somerset the architect. He suspects your having broken into his officeor something of the sort.' De Stancy briefly related what Somerset hadexplained to him at the dinner-table.
'It was merely diamond cut diamond between us, on an architecturalmatter,' murmured Dare. 'Ho! and he suspects; and that's his remedy!'
'I hope this is nothing serious?' asked De Stancy gravely.
'I peeped at his drawing--that's all. But since he chooses to make thatuse of my photograph, which I gave him in friendship, I'll make use ofhis in a way he little dreams of. Well now, let's on.'
A quarter of an hour later they met in the vestry of the church atSleeping-Green.
'I have only just transferred my account to the bank here,' said DeStancy, as he took out his cheque-book, 'and it will be more convenientto me at present to draw but a small sum. I will make up the balanceafterwards.'
When he had written it Dare glanced over the paper and said ruefully,'It is small, dad. Well, there is all the more reason why I shouldbroach my scheme, with a view to making such documents larger in thefuture.'
'I shall be glad to hear of any such scheme,' answered De Stancy, with alanguid attempt at jocularity.
'Then here it is. The plan I have arranged for you is of the nature of amarriage.'
'You are very kind!' said De Stancy, agape.
'The lady's name is Miss Paula Power, who, as you may have heard sinceyour arrival, is in absolute possession of her father's property andestates, including Stancy Castle. As soon as I heard of her I saw whata marvellous match it would be for you, and your family; it would makea man of you, in short, and I have set my mind upon your putting noobjection in the way of its accomplishment.'
'But, Willy, it seems to me that, of us two, it is you who exercisepaternal authority?'
'True, it is for your good. Let me do it.'
'Well, one must be indulgent under the circumstances, I suppose....But,' added De Stancy simply, 'Willy, I--don't want to marry, you know.I have lately thought that some day we may be able to live together,you and I: go off to America or New Zealand, where we are not known, andthere lead a quiet, pastoral life, defying social rules and troublesomeobservances.'
'I can't hear of it, captain,' replied Dare reprovingly. 'I am whatevents have made me, and having fixed my mind upon getting you settledin life by this marriage, I have put things in train for it at animmense trouble to myself. If you had thought over it o' nights as muchas I have, you would not say nay.'
'But I ought to have married your mother if anybody. And as I have notmarried her, the least I can do in respect to her is to marry no otherwoman.'
'You have some sort of duty to me, have you not, Captain De Stancy?'
'Yes, Willy, I admit that I have,' the elder replied reflectively. 'AndI don't think I have failed in it thus far?'
'This will be the crowning proof. Paternal affection, family pride, thenoble instincts to reinstate yourself in the castle of your ancestors,all demand the step. And when you have seen the lady! She has the figureand motions of a sylph, the face of an angel, the eye of love itself.What a sight she is crossing the lawn on a sunny afternoon, or glidingairily along the corridors of the old place the De Stancys knew so well!Her lips are the softest, reddest, most distracting things you ever saw.Her hair is as soft as silk, and of the rarest, tenderest brown.'
The captain moved uneasily. 'Don't take the trouble to say more, Willy,'he observed. 'You know how I am. My cursed susceptibility to thesematters has already wasted years of my life, and I don't want to makemyself a fool about her too.'
'You must see her.'
'No, don't let me see her,' De Stancy expostulated. 'If she is only halfso good-looking as you say, she will drag me at her heels like ablind Samson. You are a mere youth as yet, but I may tell you that themisfortune of never having been my own master where a beautiful facewas concerned obliges me to be cautious if I would preserve my peace ofmind.'
'Well, to my mind, Captain De Stancy, your objections seem trivial. Arethose all?'
'They are all I care to mention just now to you.'
'Captain! can there be secrets between us?'
De Stancy paused and looked at the lad as if his heart wished to confesswhat his judgment feared to tell. 'There should not be--on this point,'he murmured.
'Then tell me--why do you so much object to her?'
'I once vowed a vow.'
'A vow!' said Dare, rather disconcerted.
'A vow of infinite solemnity. I must tell you from the beginning;perhaps you are old enough to hear it now, though you have been tooyoung before. Your mother's life ended in much sorrow, and it wasoccasioned entirely by me. In my regret for the wrong done her I sworeto her that though she had not been my wife, no other woman should standin that relat
ionship to me; and this to her was a sort of comfort. Whenshe was dead my knowledge of my own plaguy impressionableness, whichseemed to be ineradicable--as it seems still--led me to think whatsafeguards I could set over myself with a view to keeping my promise tolive a life of celibacy; and among other things I determined to forswearthe society, and if possible the sight, of women young and attractive,as far as I had the power to do.'
'It is not so easy to avoid the sight of a beautiful woman if shecrosses your path, I should think?'
'It is not easy; but it is possible.'
'How?'
'By directing your attention another way.'
'But do you mean to say, captain, that you can be in a room with apretty woman who speaks to you, and not look at her?'
'I do: though mere looking has less to do with it than mentalattentiveness--allowing your thoughts to flow out in her direction--tocomprehend her image.'
'But it would be considered very impolite not to look at the woman orcomprehend her image?'
'It would, and is. I am considered the most impolite officer in theservice. I have been nicknamed the man with the averted eyes--the manwith the detestable habit--the man who greets you with his shoulder,and so on. Ninety-and-nine fair women at the present moment hate me likepoison and death for having persistently refused to plumb the depths oftheir offered eyes.'
'How can you do it, who are by nature courteous?'
'I cannot always--I break down sometimes. But, upon the whole,recollection holds me to it: dread of a lapse. Nothing is so potent asfear well maintained.'
De Stancy narrated these details in a grave meditative tone with hiseyes on the wall, as if he were scarcely conscious of a listener.
'But haven't you reckless moments, captain?--when you have taken alittle more wine than usual, for instance?'
'I don't take wine.'
'O, you are a teetotaller?'
'Not a pledged one--but I don't touch alcohol unless I get wet, oranything of that sort.'
'Don't you sometimes forget this vow of yours to my mother?'
'No, I wear a reminder.'
'What is that like?'
De Stancy held up his left hand, on the third finger of which appearedan iron ring.
Dare surveyed it, saying, 'Yes, I have seen that before, though I neverknew why you wore it. Well, I wear a reminder also, but of a differentsort.'
He threw open his shirt-front, and revealed tattooed on his breast theletters DE STANCY; the same marks which Havill had seen in the bedroomby the light of the moon.
The captain rather winced at the sight. 'Well, well,' he said hastily,'that's enough.... Now, at any rate, you understand my objection to knowMiss Power.'
'But, captain,' said the lad coaxingly, as he fastened his shirt;'you forget me and the good you may do me by marrying? Surely that's asufficient reason for a change of sentiment. This inexperienced sweetcreature owns the castle and estate which bears your name, even to thefurniture and pictures. She is the possessor of at least forty thousanda year--how much more I cannot say--while, buried here in Outer Wessex,she lives at the rate of twelve hundred in her simplicity.'
'It is very good of you to set this before me. But I prefer to go on asI am going.'
'Well, I won't bore you any more with her to-day. A monk inregimentals!--'tis strange.' Dare arose and was about to open the door,when, looking through the window, Captain De Stancy said, 'Stop.' Hehad perceived his father, Sir William De Stancy, walking among thetombstones without.
'Yes, indeed,' said Dare, turning the key in the door. 'It would lookstrange if he were to find us here.'
As the old man seemed indisposed to leave the churchyard just yet theysat down again.
'What a capital card-table this green cloth would make,' said Dare, asthey waited. 'You play, captain, I suppose?'
'Very seldom.'
'The same with me. But as I enjoy a hand of cards with a friend, I don'tgo unprovided.' Saying which, Dare drew a pack from the tail of hiscoat. 'Shall we while away this leisure with the witching things?'
'Really, I'd rather not.'
'But,' coaxed the young man, 'I am in the humour for it; so don't beunkind!'
'But, Willy, why do you care for these things? Cards are harmless enoughin their way; but I don't like to see you carrying them in your pocket.It isn't good for you.'
'It was by the merest chance I had them. Now come, just one hand, sincewe are prisoners. I want to show you how nicely I can play. I won'tcorrupt you!'
'Of course not,' said De Stancy, as if ashamed of what his objectionimplied. 'You are not corrupt enough yourself to do that, I shouldhope.'
The cards were dealt and they began to play--Captain De Stancyabstractedly, and with his eyes mostly straying out of the window uponthe large yew, whose boughs as they moved were distorted by the oldgreen window-panes.
'It is better than doing nothing,' said Dare cheerfully, as the gamewent on. 'I hope you don't dislike it?'
'Not if it pleases you,' said De Stancy listlessly.
'And the consecration of this place does not extend further than theaisle wall.'
'Doesn't it?' said De Stancy, as he mechanically played out his cards.'What became of that box of books I sent you with my last cheque?'
'Well, as I hadn't time to read them, and as I knew you would not likethem to be wasted, I sold them to a bloke who peruses them from morningtill night. Ah, now you have lost a fiver altogether--how queer! We'lldouble the stakes. So, as I was saying, just at the time the books cameI got an inkling of this important business, and literature went to thewall.'
'Important business--what?'
'The capture of this lady, to be sure.'
De Stancy sighed impatiently. 'I wish you were less calculating, and hadmore of the impulse natural to your years!'
'Game--by Jove! You have lost again, captain. That makes--let mesee--nine pounds fifteen to square us.'
'I owe you that?' said De Stancy, startled. 'It is more than I have incash. I must write another cheque.'
'Never mind. Make it payable to yourself, and our connection will bequite unsuspected.'
Captain De Stancy did as requested, and rose from his seat. Sir William,though further off, was still in the churchyard.
'How can you hesitate for a moment about this girl?' said Dare, pointingto the bent figure of the old man. 'Think of the satisfaction it wouldbe to him to see his son within the family walls again. It should be areligion with you to compass such a legitimate end as this.'
'Well, well, I'll think of it,' said the captain, with an impatientlaugh. 'You are quite a Mephistopheles, Will--I say it to my sorrow!'
'Would that I were in your place.'
'Would that you were! Fifteen years ago I might have called the chance amagnificent one.'
'But you are a young man still, and you look younger than you are.Nobody knows our relationship, and I am not such a fool as to divulgeit. Of course, if through me you reclaim this splendid possession, Ishould leave it to your feelings what you would do for me.'
Sir William had by this time cleared out of the churchyard, and the pairemerged from the vestry and departed. Proceeding towards Markton by thesame bypath, they presently came to an eminence covered with bushes ofblackthorn, and tufts of yellowing fern. From this point a good view ofthe woods and glades about Stancy Castle could be obtained. Darestood still on the top and stretched out his finger; the captain's eyefollowed the direction, and he saw above the many-hued foliage in themiddle distance the towering keep of Paula's castle.
'That's the goal of your ambition, captain--ambition do I say?--mostrighteous and dutiful endeavour! How the hoary shape catches thesunlight--it is the raison d'etre of the landscape, and its possessionis coveted by a thousand hearts. Surely it is an hereditary desire ofyours? You must make a point of returning to it, and appearing in themap of the future as in that of the past. I delight in this work ofencouraging you, and pushing you forward towards your own. You arereally very clever, you know, but--I sa
y it with respect--how comes itthat you want so much waking up?'
'Because I know the day is not so bright as it seems, my boy. However,you make a little mistake. If I care for anything on earth, I do carefor that old fortress of my forefathers. I respect so little among theliving that all my reverence is for my own dead. But manoeuvring, evenfor my own, as you call it, is not in my line. It is distasteful--it ispositively hateful to me.'
'Well, well, let it stand thus for the present. But will you refuse meone little request--merely to see her? I'll contrive it so that she maynot see you. Don't refuse me, it is the one thing I ask, and I shallthink it hard if you deny me.'
'O Will!' said the captain wearily. 'Why will you plead so? No--eventhough your mind is particularly set upon it, I cannot see her, orbestow a thought upon her, much as I should like to gratify you.'