VII
A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness
The old captain's prevailing indifference to his granddaughter'smovements left her free as a bird to follow her own courses; but it sohappened that he did take upon himself the next morning to ask her whyshe had walked out so late.
"Only in search of events, grandfather," she said, looking out of thewindow with that drowsy latency of manner which discovered so muchforce behind it whenever the trigger was pressed.
"Search of events--one would think you were one of the bucks I knew atone-and-twenty."
"It is so lonely here."
"So much the better. If I were living in a town my whole time wouldbe taken up in looking after you. I fully expected you would havebeen home when I returned from the Woman."
"I won't conceal what I did. I wanted an adventure, and I went withthe mummers. I played the part of the Turkish Knight."
"No, never? Ha, ha! Good gad! I didn't expect it of you, Eustacia."
"It was my first performance, and it certainly will be my last. Now Ihave told you--and remember it is a secret."
"Of course. But, Eustacia, you never did--ha! ha! Dammy, how 'twouldhave pleased me forty years ago! But remember, no more of it, my girl.You may walk on the heath night or day, as you choose, so that youdon't bother me; but no figuring in breeches again."
"You need have no fear for me, grandpapa."
Here the conversation ceased, Eustacia's moral training neverexceeding in severity a dialogue of this sort, which, if it everbecame profitable to good works, would be a result not dear at theprice. But her thoughts soon strayed far from her own personality;and, full of a passionate and indescribable solicitude for one to whomshe was not even a name, she went forth into the amplitude of tannedwild around her, restless as Ahasuerus the Jew. She was about half amile from her residence when she beheld a sinister redness arisingfrom a ravine a little way in advance--dull and lurid like a flame insunlight and she guessed it to signify Diggory Venn.
When the farmers who had wished to buy in a new stock of reddleduring the last month had inquired where Venn was to be found, peoplereplied, "On Egdon Heath." Day after day the answer was the same.Now, since Egdon was populated with heath-croppers and furze-cuttersrather than with sheep and shepherds, and the downs where most of thelatter were to be found lay some to the north, some to the west ofEgdon, his reason for camping about there like Israel in Zin was notapparent. The position was central and occasionally desirable. Butthe sale of reddle was not Diggory's primary object in remaining onthe heath, particularly at so late a period of the year, when mosttravellers of his class had gone into winter quarters.
Eustacia looked at the lonely man. Wildeve had told her at their lastmeeting that Venn had been thrust forward by Mrs. Yeobright as oneready and anxious to take his place as Thomasin's betrothed. Hisfigure was perfect, his face young and well outlined, his eyes bright,his intelligence keen, and his position one which he could readilybetter if he chose. But in spite of possibilities it was not likelythat Thomasin would accept this Ishmaelitish creature while she had acousin like Yeobright at her elbow, and Wildeve at the same time notabsolutely indifferent. Eustacia was not long in guessing that poorMrs. Yeobright, in her anxiety for her niece's future, had mentionedthis lover to stimulate the zeal of the other. Eustacia was on theside of the Yeobrights now, and entered into the spirit of the aunt'sdesire.
"Good morning, miss," said the reddleman, taking off his cap ofhareskin, and apparently bearing her no ill-will from recollection oftheir last meeting.
"Good morning, reddleman," she said, hardly troubling to lift herheavily shaded eyes to his. "I did not know you were so near. Isyour van here too?"
Venn moved his elbow towards a hollow in which a dense brake ofpurple-stemmed brambles had grown to such vast dimensions as almostto form a dell. Brambles, though churlish when handled, are kindlyshelter in early winter, being the latest of the deciduous bushesto lose their leaves. The roof and chimney of Venn's caravan showedbehind the tracery and tangles of the brake.
"You remain near this part?" she asked with more interest.
"Yes, I have business here."
"Not altogether the selling of reddle?"
"It has nothing to do with that."
"It has to do with Miss Yeobright?"
Her face seemed to ask for an armed peace, and he therefore saidfrankly, "Yes, miss; it is on account of her."
"On account of your approaching marriage with her?"
Venn flushed through his stain. "Don't make sport of me, Miss Vye,"he said.
"It isn't true?"
"Certainly not."
She was thus convinced that the reddleman was a mere _pis aller_ inMrs. Yeobright's mind; one, moreover, who had not even been informedof his promotion to that lowly standing. "It was a mere notion ofmine," she said quietly; and was about to pass by without furtherspeech, when, looking round to the right, she saw a painfullywell-known figure serpentining upwards by one of the little pathswhich led to the top where she stood. Owing to the necessary windingsof his course his back was at present towards them. She glancedquickly round; to escape that man there was only one way. Turning toVenn, she said, "Would you allow me to rest a few minutes in your van?The banks are damp for sitting on."
"Certainly, miss; I'll make a place for you."
She followed him behind the dell of brambles to his wheeled dwelling,into which Venn mounted, placing the three-legged stool just withinthe door.
"That is the best I can do for you," he said, stepping down andretiring to the path, where he resumed the smoking of his pipe as hewalked up and down.
Eustacia bounded into the vehicle and sat on the stool, ensconced fromview on the side towards the trackway. Soon she heard the brushingof other feet than the reddleman's, a not very friendly "Good day"uttered by two men in passing each other, and then the dwindlingof the footfall of one of them in a direction onwards. Eustaciastretched her neck forward till she caught a glimpse of a recedingback and shoulders; and she felt a wretched twinge of misery, she knewnot why. It was the sickening feeling which, if the changed heart hasany generosity at all in its composition, accompanies the sudden sightof a once-loved one who is beloved no more.
When Eustacia descended to proceed on her way the reddleman came near."That was Mr. Wildeve who passed, miss," he said slowly, and expressedby his face that he expected her to feel vexed at having been sittingunseen.
"Yes, I saw him coming up the hill," replied Eustacia. "Why should youtell me that?" It was a bold question, considering the reddleman'sknowledge of her past love; but her undemonstrative manner had powerto repress the opinions of those she treated as remote from her.
"I am glad to hear that you can ask it," said the reddleman bluntly."And, now I think of it, it agrees with what I saw last night."
"Ah--what was that?" Eustacia wished to leave him, but wished to know.
"Mr. Wildeve stayed at Rainbarrow a long time waiting for a lady whodidn't come."
"You waited too, it seems?"
"Yes, I always do. I was glad to see him disappointed. He will bethere again tonight."
"To be again disappointed. The truth is, reddleman, that that lady,so far from wishing to stand in the way of Thomasin's marriage withMr. Wildeve, would be very glad to promote it."
Venn felt much astonishment at this avowal, though he did not show itclearly; that exhibition may greet remarks which are one remove fromexpectation, but it is usually withheld in complicated cases of tworemoves and upwards. "Indeed, miss," he replied.
"How do you know that Mr. Wildeve will come to Rainbarrow againtonight?" she asked.
"I heard him say to himself that he would. He's in a regular temper."
Eustacia looked for a moment what she felt, and she murmured, liftingher deep dark eyes anxiously to his, "I wish I knew what to do. Idon't want to be uncivil to him; but I don't wish to see him again;and I have some few little things to return to him."
"If you choose to send
'em by me, miss, and a note to tell him thatyou wish to say no more to him, I'll take it for you quite privately.That would be the most straightforward way of letting him know yourmind."
"Very well," said Eustacia. "Come towards my house, and I will bringit out to you."
She went on, and as the path was an infinitely small parting in theshaggy locks of the heath, the reddleman followed exactly in hertrail. She saw from a distance that the captain was on the banksweeping the horizon with his telescope; and bidding Venn to waitwhere he stood she entered the house alone.
In ten minutes she returned with a parcel and a note, and said, inplacing them in his hand, "Why are you so ready to take these for me?"
"Can you ask that?"
"I suppose you think to serve Thomasin in some way by it. Are you asanxious as ever to help on her marriage?"
Venn was a little moved. "I would sooner have married her myself," hesaid in a low voice. "But what I feel is that if she cannot be happywithout him I will do my duty in helping her to get him, as a manought."
Eustacia looked curiously at the singular man who spoke thus. Whata strange sort of love, to be entirely free from that quality ofselfishness which is frequently the chief constituent of the passion,and sometimes its only one! The reddleman's disinterestedness was sowell deserving of respect that it overshot respect by being barelycomprehended; and she almost thought it absurd.
"Then we are both of one mind at last," she said.
"Yes," replied Venn gloomily. "But if you would tell me, miss, whyyou take such an interest in her, I should be easier. It is so suddenand strange."
Eustacia appeared at a loss. "I cannot tell you that, reddleman," shesaid coldly.
Venn said no more. He pocketed the letter, and, bowing to Eustacia,went away.
Rainbarrow had again become blended with night when Wildeve ascendedthe long acclivity at its base. On his reaching the top a shape grewup from the earth immediately behind him. It was that of Eustacia'semissary. He slapped Wildeve on the shoulder. The feverish younginnkeeper and ex-engineer started like Satan at the touch ofIthuriel's spear.
"The meeting is always at eight o'clock, at this place," said Venn,"and here we are--we three."
"We three?" said Wildeve, looking quickly round.
"Yes; you, and I, and she. This is she." He held up the letter andparcel.
Wildeve took them wonderingly. "I don't quite see what this means,"he said. "How do you come here? There must be some mistake."
"It will be cleared from your mind when you have read the letter.Lanterns for one." The reddleman struck a light, kindled an inch oftallow-candle which he had brought, and sheltered it with his cap.
"Who are you?" said Wildeve, discerning by the candlelight anobscure rubicundity of person in his companion. "You are thereddleman I saw on the hill this morning--why, you are the manwho--"
"Please read the letter."
"If you had come from the other one I shouldn't have been surprised,"murmured Wildeve as he opened the letter and read. His face grewserious.
TO MR. WILDEVE.
After some thought I have decided once and for all that we must hold no further communication. The more I consider the matter the more I am convinced that there must be an end to our acquaintance. Had you been uniformly faithful to me throughout these two years you might now have some ground for accusing me of heartlessness; but if you calmly consider what I bore during the period of your desertion, and how I passively put up with your courtship of another without once interfering, you will, I think, own that I have a right to consult my own feelings when you come back to me again. That these are not what they were towards you may, perhaps, be a fault in me, but it is one which you can scarcely reproach me for when you remember how you left me for Thomasin.
The little articles you gave me in the early part of our friendship are returned by the bearer of this letter. They should rightly have been sent back when I first heard of your engagement to her.
EUSTACIA
By the time that Wildeve reached her name the blankness with which hehad read the first half of the letter intensified to mortification."I am made a great fool of, one way and another," he said pettishly."Do you know what is in this letter?"
The reddleman hummed a tune.
"Can't you answer me?" asked Wildeve warmly.
"Ru-um-tum-tum," sang the reddleman.
Wildeve stood looking on the ground beside Venn's feet, till heallowed his eyes to travel upwards over Diggory's form, as illuminatedby the candle, to his head and face. "Ha-ha! Well, I suppose Ideserve it, considering how I have played with them both," he said atlast, as much to himself as to Venn. "But of all the odd things thatever I knew, the oddest is that you should so run counter to your owninterests as to bring this to me."
"My interests?"
"Certainly. 'Twas your interest not to do anything which would send mecourting Thomasin again, now she has accepted you--or something likeit. Mrs. Yeobright says you are to marry her. 'Tisn't true, then?"
"Good Lord! I heard of this before, but didn't believe it. When didshe say so?"
Wildeve began humming as the reddleman had done.
"I don't believe it now," cried Venn.
"Ru-um-tum-tum," sang Wildeve.
"O Lord--how we can imitate!" said Venn contemptuously. "I'll havethis out. I'll go straight to her."
Diggory withdrew with an emphatic step, Wildeve's eye passingover his form in withering derision, as if he were no more than aheath-cropper. When the reddleman's figure could no longer be seen,Wildeve himself descended and plunged into the rayless hollow of thevale.
To lose the two women--he who had been the well-beloved of both--wastoo ironical an issue to be endured. He could only decently savehimself by Thomasin; and once he became her husband, Eustacia'srepentance, he thought, would set in for a long and bitter term. Itwas no wonder that Wildeve, ignorant of the new man at the back of thescene, should have supposed Eustacia to be playing a part. To believethat the letter was not the result of some momentary pique, to inferthat she really gave him up to Thomasin, would have required previousknowledge of her transfiguration by that man's influence. Who was toknow that she had grown generous in the greediness of a new passion,that in coveting one cousin she was dealing liberally with another,that in her eagerness to appropriate she gave way?
Full of this resolve to marry in haste, and wring the heart of theproud girl, Wildeve went his way.
Meanwhile Diggory Venn had returned to his van, where he stood lookingthoughtfully into the stove. A new vista was opened up to him.But, however promising Mrs. Yeobright's views of him might be as acandidate for her niece's hand, one condition was indispensable to thefavour of Thomasin herself, and that was a renunciation of his presentwild mode of life. In this he saw little difficulty.
He could not afford to wait till the next day before seeing Thomasinand detailing his plan. He speedily plunged himself into toiletoperations, pulled a suit of cloth clothes from a box, and in abouttwenty minutes stood before the van-lantern as a reddleman in nothingbut his face, the vermilion shades of which were not to be removed ina day. Closing the door and fastening it with a padlock, Venn set offtowards Blooms-End.
He had reached the white palings and laid his hand upon the gate whenthe door of the house opened, and quickly closed again. A femaleform had glided in. At the same time a man, who had seemingly beenstanding with the woman in the porch, came forward from the house tillhe was face to face with Venn. It was Wildeve again.
"Man alive, you've been quick at it," said Diggory sarcastically.
"And you slow, as you will find," said Wildeve. "And," lowering hisvoice, "you may as well go back again now. I've claimed her, and gother. Good night, reddleman!" Thereupon Wildeve walked away.
Venn's heart sank within him, though it had not risen unduly high.He stood leaning over the palings in an indecisive mood for nearlya quarter of an hour. Then he went up the garden path, knocked, andasked
for Mrs. Yeobright.
Instead of requesting him to enter she came to the porch. A discoursewas carried on between them in low measured tones for the space often minutes or more. At the end of the time Mrs. Yeobright went in,and Venn sadly retraced his steps into the heath. When he had againregained his van he lit the lantern, and with an apathetic face atonce began to pull off his best clothes, till in the course of a fewminutes he reappeared as the confirmed and irretrievable reddlemanthat he had seemed before.