"Are they?" said the lady rather absently, giving a perfunctory glance to the woods sloping away on her right towards a little stream winding in the hollow. Sir Henry felt a slight annoyance. He was a good fellow, and no more touchy as to personal dignity than the majority of men of his age and cla.s.s. But he was accustomed to be treated with a certain deference, and in Miss Bremerton"s manner there was none whatever.
"Well, good-bye, Pamela. I mustn"t miss your father. When are you coming over to see Beryl?"
"How am I to get there?" said the girl with a sudden laugh.
"Oh, I see, you"ve got no petrol allowance?"
"How should we? n.o.body"s doing any war work here."
There was an odd note in the speaker"s voice.
"Why don"t you join Beryl in her canteen work?" said Sir Henry abruptly.
"I don"t know."
"She wants help badly. She pa.s.ses your gate on her way to Fallerton.
She could pick you up, and bring you back."
"Yes," said Pamela. There was a pause.
"Well, good-bye, dear," said Sir Henry again, and with a ceremonious bow to Pamela"s companion, he rode on--meditating on many things.
"The Squire"s in, Sir Henry, but--well, he"s very busy."
"Never mind, Forest. I must see him. Can you find some one to take my horse round?"
The grey-haired butler looked perplexed.
"I"ve only got my own small boy, Sir Henry. There"s two more of our men gone this morning. I don"t know if you"ll trust him. He"s a good boy."
"Send him along, Forest. My beast"s a lamb--you know him. But look here, Forest"--Sir Henry dismounted, bridle in hand. "Don"t give the Squire notice that I"m here, if you can help it, till you announce me."
The butler, who, in spite of his grey hair, was a square-set, vigorous-looking fellow, might be said, in reply, to have given the Squire"s visitor a wink. At any rate a look of understanding pa.s.sed between the two. The butler went quickly back into the house, and re-emerged with a boy, who was the small image of his father, to whom Sir Henry cheerfully gave up his cob. But as Forest led the way through the outer hall he stopped to say:
"The Squire"s not alone, sir. There was a gentleman arrived just as Miss Pamela went out. But I don"t think he"ll stay long."
"Who is he?"
"Can"t say, sir. He"s lodging in the village, and comes to see the Squire"s collections sometimes."
They were now in a long pa.s.sage running along the eastern front of the house to a large room which had been added to its southern end, in order to hold the Squire"s library and collections. Midway the butler turned.
"You"ve heard, Sir Henry, about Mr. Desmond?"
"Yes, Miss Pamela told me."
"Mr. Desmond says he"ll be in France by January. He"s as pleased as possible, but it"s a deal sooner than Mr. Mannering hoped."
"Well, we"ve all got to take our chance in this war," said Sir Henry gravely. "And the artillery is a bit safer than the infantry. You know my son Arthur"s a gunner."
"I hope he"s all right, sir?"
"Well, he"s still on light work. He comes home this week for a bit.
He was ga.s.sed at Ypres a year and a half ago, and had a bullet taken out of his chest about two months since. But he is nearly fit again."
The butler expressed his sympathy with a complete absence of shyness or servility, then threw open a door at the end of the pa.s.sage, announcing, "Sir Henry Chicksands, sir."
"_D-mn_!" said a voice loudly within.
Sir Henry gave an involuntary start. Another look pa.s.sed between him and Forest, amused or interrogative on the visitor"s part, non-committal on the butler"s.
The library of Mannering Hall as Sir Henry Chicksands entered it presented a curious spectacle. It was a long, barn-like room, partly lined with books, and partly with gla.s.s cases, in which Greek vases, Tanagra figures, and other Greek and Etruscan antiquities, all carefully marked and labelled, were displayed. A few large tables stood at intervals on the shabby carpet, also laden with books and specimens. They conveyed an impression of dust and disorder, as though no housemaid had been allowed to touch them for weeks--with one exception. A table, smaller than the rest, but arranged with scrupulous neatness, stood at one side of the room, with a typewriter upon it, certain books, and a rack for stationery. A folded duster lay at one corner. Pens, pencils, a box of clips, and a gum-pot stood where a careful hand had placed them. And at a corner corresponding to the duster was a small vase of flowers--autumnal roses--the only flowers in the room.
But the various untidy acc.u.mulations, most of which seemed to be of old standing, had been evidently just added to by some recent arrivals. Four large packing-cases, newly opened, took up much of what free s.p.a.ce was left on the floor. The straw, paper, and cottonwool, in which their contents had been packed, had been tossed out with a careless or impatient hand, and littered the carpet.
Among the litter stood here and there some Greek vases of different sizes; in particular, a superb pair, covered with figures; beside which stood the owner of Mannering, talking to an apparently young man with an eye-gla.s.s, who was sitting on the floor closely examining the vases. The Squire turned a furrowed brow towards his approaching visitor, and putting down a small bronze he had been holding raised a warning hand.
"How do you do, Chicksands? Very sorry, but I"m much too filthy to touch. And I"m horribly busy! These things arrived last night, and Mr. Leva.s.seur has kindly come over to help me unpack them. Don"t know if you"ve met him. Mr. Leva.s.seur--Sir Henry Chicksands."
The man on the floor looked up carelessly, just acknowledging Sir Henry"s slight inclination. Sir Henry"s inner mind decided against him--at once--instinctively. What was a stout fellow, who at any rate _looked_ as though he were still of military age, doing with nonsense of this sort, at four o"clock in the day, when England wanted every able-bodied man she possessed, either to fight for her or to work for her? At the same time the reflection pa.s.sed rapidly through his mind that neither the man nor the name had come up--so far as he could remember--before the County Tribunal of which he was Chairman.
"Well, Chicksands, what do you want with me?" said the Squire abruptly. "Will you take a chair?" And he pointed to one from which he hastily removed a coat.
"I have some confidential business to talk to you about," said Sir Henry, with a look at the dusty gentleman among the straw.
"Something you want me to do that I"ll be bound I shan"t want to do!
Is that it?" said Mannering with vivacity.
He stood with his hands on a table behind him, his long spare frame in a nervous fidget, his eyes bright and hostile, and a spot of red on either thin cheek. Beside Chicksands, who was of middle height, solidly built, and moderately stout, with mental and physical competence written all over him, the Squire of Mannering seemed but the snippet of a man. He was singularly thin, with a slender neck, and a small head covered with thick hair, prematurely white, which tumbled over his forehead and eyes. He had the complexion of a girl, disproportionately large nose, very sharply and delicately cut as to bridge and nostril, and a mouth and chin which seemed to be in perpetual movement. He looked older than Sir Henry, who was verging on sixty, but he was in fact just over fifty.
Sir Henry smiled a little at the tone of the Squire"s question, but he answered good-humouredly.
"I believe, when we"ve talked it over, you won"t think it unreasonable. But I"ve come to explain."
"I know, you want me to give Gregson notice. But I warn you I"m not the least inclined to do anything of the kind." And the speaker crossed his arms, which were very long and thin, over a narrow chest, while his eyes restlessly countered those of Sir Henry.
Chicksands paused a moment before replying.
"I have a good many papers here to show you," he said at last, mildly, drawing a large envelope half-way from the inner pocket of his coat to ill.u.s.trate his words, and then putting it back again.
"But I really can"t discuss them except with yourself."
The Squire"s eyes shot battle.
"It"s the war, of course," he said with emphasis; "it"s all the war.
I"m told to do things I don"t want to do, which affect my personal freedom, and other people"s, because of a war I don"t believe in, never asked for, and don"t approve of. Here"s Leva.s.seur now, a clever fellow, cleverer than either you or me, Chicksands, and he"s no more patriotic than I am. You talk to him!"