"Insult you!" shrieked Narvaez, crawling up with the expression of a fiend. "I wonder you think any one can insult you."
Montrose broke away from Alice and, gripping Narvaez firmly, shook him like a terrier shaking a rat. "You wicked wretch, how dare you! I"ll kill you if you insult Miss Enistor further."
"Lat um be," growled the same man who had spoken before; "um be bad fur sure, but um be old, my young sir."
"Pah!" Douglas flung the little gnome away and took Alice"s arm within his own. "Let him keep out of my way then. If he crosses my path again I shall rid the world of his accursed presence."
"You hear! You hear!" shouted Don Pablo again. "He threatens to kill me.
If anything happens to me, remember all of you what has been said."
"Aye, we"ll remember. But why didn"t you lat her as is to be his wife alone?"
"She was to be my wife and he robbed me of her," snarled Narvaez, arranging his disordered attire.
"Come away! come away," murmured Alice, with white lips and dragging Douglas aside, for the young man"s fury was overpowering him again.
"Yes, I"ll go. I am not master of myself while that little reptile is about--oh, you toad--you----" Words failed Montrose, and he walked hurriedly away with Alice, after shaking his fist at Narvaez.
"You threatened to kill me: I"ll remember that," shouted the Spaniard after him. "You threatened in the presence of witnesses."
Montrose, walking swiftly home with Alice, paid no attention to the cry, but turned to the girl with a white face of suppressed anger and dilated nostrils. "Why didn"t you let me twist his neck?" he growled.
"He"s an old man," apologised Alice, shivering.
"An old beast. Is age to protect him from being punished? I shall tell your father, and Narvaez will never enter again into Tremore. He won"t come near me again in a hurry, I"ll warrant, after that shaking."
"He is dangerous! dangerous!" said the girl, trembling violently. "There is some meaning in what he did. You heard how he called on those men and women to witness that you had threatened him."
"I"ll do more than threaten if he dares to as much as look at you again."
"Douglas, he is dangerous. Keep away from him."
"I don"t want to have anything to do with him. He is old as you say, and I can"t thrash the life out of him as I should like to. Come, Alice, you will be all right soon. You have done with Narvaez; he has cut his own throat."
"He is dangerous! He is dangerous!" and that was all the girl could say, or think, since a dim feeling that future evil would come out of present evil haunted her in a way she could not explain.
Had the two overheard what Narvaez was saying and seen what he was doing, Douglas also might have deemed the man dangerous. He gave money to the men and women who had witnessed the affair, and told them to remember the threats of Montrose. "I am an old man. I love Miss Enistor as a daughter," whimpered Don Pablo, "yet my life is in danger. I shall get the police to protect me. As it is, this young ruffian has almost killed me," and with a feeble gait he tottered into his cottage. There he smiled grimly when within four walls and rubbed his hands. "That is the first act of the drama: now for the second."
CHAPTER XVIII
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Enistor was furious when he was told how Narvaez had insulted his daughter, for although he had little love for the girl, yet his family pride rose up in arms against such behaviour. Don Pablo was useful to him, as he knew a great deal about super-physical laws, which the Squire desired to know also, and in which he was being instructed. All the same the Spaniard had proved to be a hard master, and moreover had talked much about the recovery of the fortune, but had done little towards enabling it to be regained. Then again, Narvaez had been struck down in the moment of triumph by a stronger force than any he possessed, and that made him out to be less powerful than he claimed he was. In one word, Enistor was beginning to consider Don Pablo to be something of a humbug.
Certainly there were the pains to which he could subject his pupil when he so chose. But that was, as Enistor knew, mere hypnotic suggestion and could be nullified by an opposing will. Narvaez hitherto had possessed the more dominating influence, but since his capabilities appeared to be shattered by the intervention of the higher powers, it might be that he could not inflict further hurt. The Squire wondered if he could make his dark master suffer by taking him unawares while his forces were weak, and determined to do so if he could, if only to be avenged for the series of petty insults to which he had long been subjected. Why Narvaez should behave in such a crude animal way to Alice, the girl"s father could not think. But as he had over-stepped the mark, it gave Enistor an opportunity of becoming openly hostile. Enistor was selfish and unscrupulous, but there was that in him which resented the treatment to which Alice had been subjected. Perhaps the germs of good to which Eberstein had referred were sprouting with unexpected swiftness. But be it as it may, Enistor sought the moorland cottage breathing out fire and fury against his former friend.
Narvaez refused to see him, and when Enistor, sternly angry, sent word by the old housekeeper that he would break his way in and take the consequence, he still refused. However, he improved upon his former message by sending an intimation that he would receive the Squire on the following afternoon. With this Enistor was fain to be content, as by breaking in he would only cause a scandal, which for Alice"s sake was not to be thought of. The master of Tremore was a very proud man, and could not bear to think that his family name should be made the subject of police-court gossip. But when he returned home, he believed more than ever that Narvaez was a fraud, as he had not even attempted to inflict the usual pains by suggestion. The man was getting so old that he was losing his nerve, and shortly would not be worth considering whether as friend or foe. Having therefore lost the magician"s dark a.s.sistance, Enistor decided to try to recover the fortune in his own way.
Alice, shaken by Don Pablo"s conduct, had retired early to bed and Montrose was seated in the library with his host over after-dinner coffee and tobacco. He was still seething with anger, but since the Squire had taken matters into his own hands, he could do nothing but look on. After a full discussion of the affair, Enistor insisted that it should be shelved.
"We have talked enough about it," he said in a peremptory tone. "I promise you that Narvaez shall not enter these doors again. To-morrow I shall explain my opinion to him, and then he can go hang for me. With regard to his desire to marry Alice----"
"Surely after what has taken place, sir, you would never think of any possible marriage," cried Montrose, glowing with wrath, "let alone the fact that you have tacitly agreed to Alice becoming my wife."
"I certainly refuse to think further of Narvaez as my son-in-law," said the Squire stiffly, "in spite of his wealth. But as regards yourself the possibility of your making my daughter your wife rests with you entirely."
The young man laughed and rested his reddish-hued head against the back of the chair. "If it rests with me the matter is soon settled," he said, with a relieved expression in his eyes. He thought that the Squire was talking in a remarkably sensible way.
"That depends upon how you reply to the question I am about to ask,"
said Enistor dryly. "You inherit the fortune of my sister?"
"Yes!" Douglas sat up, aware that the conversation was becoming serious.
"We have not spoken about this matter before, sir, but I would have you know, now that the ice is broken between us, that never in any way did I seek that fortune. It was a surprise to me when I heard the will read by Mr. Cane."
"So I understand from Mr. Cane himself. I absolve you from fortune-hunting, since you knew nothing of Lady Staunton"s intentions.
But do you think it was quite fair of her to leave the money away from her own family?"
"That is rather a difficult question to put to the man who has benefited, Mr. Enistor. And let me remind you that by marrying Alice I bring back the fortune to your family."
"I think not. Your wife benefits, but I don"t."
"Both Alice and I are prepared to be your bankers," said Montrose uneasily.
"To give me what is rightfully my own," retorted the Squire, with a curling lip. "Thank you for nothing. No, that won"t do. Until my sister met you it was always her intention to leave the money to me, to restore the position of our family in the county. I want the fortune you hold to myself, as I am a poor man. It is not for a base ambition that I seek the income, but for the sake of going into Parliament and helping to govern. I want power, I want a great sphere to work in. Without money I am condemned to stay in this cramped neighbourhood eating out my heart."
"I quite understand that with such ambitions you feel the need of money, Mr. Enistor, and with Alice"s permission I am willing to give you any reasonable sum you desire to forward your aims."
Enistor did not appear to be overcome by this generous offer, or even thankful for the same. "I take nothing as a gift and I claim my rights."
"The whole fortune of your sister?"
"Certainly! She ought to have willed it to me."
"I understood from Alice that you were quite agreeable that Lady Staunton should do what she wished with her own," said Montrose slowly.
"I don"t tell Alice everything, Montrose. I accepted my small legacy and said nothing about the matter, as there was nothing to be done until you came. Now," Enistor fixed his dominating gaze on Douglas, "I ask you to let me have the money by deed of gift. In return you shall marry Alice."
"And what are we to live on?"
"I shall allow you five hundred a year."
"In return for five thousand." Montrose laughed at the boldness of the demand. "No, sir. I cannot do what you ask."
"Then you are a fortune-hunter after all," said the Squire bitterly.