Livingstone rose slowly.
"I"ll go and receive him. Let Mr. Raymond know, Wise. I suppose he will not care to see any one else before dressing-time; it must be near that now."
As he pa.s.sed his cousin, he whispered something inaudible to us; and I saw his heavy hand fall on Charley"s shoulder, crushing him down again like a child.
Then Flora went to Miss Raymond, and asked her, with more kindness in her manner than usual, to come to her rooms for some tea; they always seriously inclined to the consumption of that cheerful herb about this hour. Isabel clung to her companion as they went out with a meek helplessness which was sad to see.
Charley had vanished before them. After that first involuntary movement he had become _nonchalant_ as ever, so I remained alone to ruminate. I confess, after some thought, I was still in the dark as to where things would end.
The meeting had been got over somehow, for, when I came down before dinner, Bruce was sitting on a sofa by Miss Raymond"s side.
Why does a man in such a position invariably look as if he were on the stool of repentance, expiating some misdeed of unutterable shame? He has sat by the same woman before, when it was only a strong flirtation; more eyes, curious and spiteful, were upon him then, and he met them with perfect self-possession. Now that he is in his right, why does he look blushingly uneasy, as if he would call on the curtains to hide him, and the cushions to cover him? Have any mortals existed so good, or great, or wise, as to be exempt from that dreadful poll-tax levied on all males unprivileged to woo by proxy--the necessity of looking ridiculous from the moment their engagement is announced to that when they leave the church as Benedicts? I should like to have watched Burke, or Herschel, or the Iron Duke, or _any_ Archbishop of Canterbury, through the ordeal of a recognized courtship. Would the dignity of the statesman, the sage, the soldier, or the saint have been sustained? I trow not.
In truth, it is a sight full of sad warning, that ever-recurring spectacle of an engaged man (the lady is always provokingly at her ease) in general society. His friends turn away in compa.s.sion and charity; the girls, whom he ought to have married and--didn"t, look on, exchanging smiles with their mothers; it is their hour of savage triumph. The French manage things more comfortably, I think. The promessi sposi meet so seldom before the contract is signed--between sentence and execution the time is so brief that there is little s.p.a.ce for intermediate terrors.
Nature had not been bountiful to Mr. Bruce in externals. He was very tall, with round shoulders, long, lean limbs, large feet and hands, and immense joints. There was a good deal of strength about him, but it wanted concentration and arrangement. His features were rather exaggerated and coa.r.s.e in outline, with the high cheek-bones common on the north side of the Tweed; his hair of an unhappy vacillating color that could not make its mind up to be red; and his eyes, that rarely met you fairly, of a light cold gray. About the mouth, in particular, there was a very unpleasant expression, alternately vicious and cunning.
I do not believe that his intimates, if he had any, in their wildest moments of conviviality, ever called him "Jack;" nor his mother, in his earliest childhood, "Johnnie." Plain "John Bruce" was written uncompromisingly in every line of his face; just the converse of Forrester, whom old maids of rigid virtue, after seeing him twice, were irresistibly impelled to speak of as "Charley."
I wish some profound psychologist would give us his theory on the question of "The influence of nomenclature on disposition and destiny."
It is all very well to ask, "What"s in a name?" I think there is a great deal; and that our sponsors have much to answer for in indulging their baptismal fancies. Not to go into the subject (which some have already done without exhausting it), have you not remarked that Georgiana is always pretty and slightly sarcastic; that Isabella has large, soft, l.u.s.trous eyes--generally they are dark; that f.a.n.n.y invariably flirts; and that Kate is decided in character, if not haughty?
Tragedy and comedy both are forced to observe these nominal proprieties. Who was it that illuminated his house, and had the church bells rung, on finding a name for his hero? We should never have believed in Iago"s treacheries if he had appeared before us as simple "James."
The new arrival seemed to have chilled us all into stupidity. Dinner languished; and afterward, Guy, after trying at first to be laboriously civil--the sense of duty was painfully evident--lapsed into silence, pa.s.sing the claret rather faster than usual, so that Mr. Raymond, to his intense disgust, had to make an effort and force the conversation.
When we entered, Isabel was nestling under Miss Bellasys" wing, from which shelter she had to emerge at Bruce"s request for some music. She went directly, and played several pieces that he asked for straight through, while he stood gravely behind her with a complacent air of proprietorship which was inexpressibly aggravating.
When her task was done she went back to her sofa again; there she was safe, for all Bruce"s devotion to his ladye-love and stubbornness of character could not give him courage enough to affront, at close quarters, the mingled dislike and scornful humor that played round Flora"s lips, and gleamed in her eyes like summer lightning. He had to retreat upon Lady Catharine, who, thinking him hardly used, in her inextinguishable charity exerted herself to entertain him.
We were all glad when that first evening was over, and we got into the smoking-room, whither Mr. Bruce was not entreated to follow. It was always an augury of foul weather in Livingstone"s temper when, instead of the decent evening cigar, he smoked the short black _brule-gueule_, loaded to the muzzle with cavendish. He sat thus for some minutes, rolling out stormy puffs from under his mustache, and then broke out,
"I haven"t an idea what to do with him" (there was no need to name the object of his thoughts); "I made up my mind to risk a horse or two, for, of course, he would have broken their knees; but when I offered him a mount, he thanked me and said, "He didn"t hunt." It would have got him away from home, at all events. Poor Bella! how heavy on hand she _will_ find him."
"Ah! and he might have come to a timely end over timber; Providence does interfere so benevolently sometimes." This was Forrester"s pious reflection.
"Well, that"s over," Guy went on. "He must shoot, though; every one shoots, or thinks he does. We have all the pheasants to kill yet (by-the-by, Fallowfield comes over on Thursday for the Home Wood); that will keep him employed for some time; but it"s only putting off the evil day. My match-making aunt, of blessed memory, how much she has to answer for! I hate to think of Bella"s _mignonne_ face alongside of that flinty-cheeked Scotchman"s."
"Don"t be angry, Guy," suggested Charley, with some diffidence; "but, if it"s not an impertinent question, do you think he ever tries to kiss your cousin?"
"I never thought of that," replied Livingstone, not without an oath; "there"s another pleasant reflection. No, I should think not. He _is_ ceremonious, to give the devil his due. I"ll find out to-morrow, though, without making Bella blush. Miss Bellasys is sure to know. I saw them exchanging confidences all this evening, and I am certain there were instigations to rebellion. Flora would delight in an _emeute_; she"s a perfect Red Republican, that girl."
"The opposition seems organizing," I remarked; "ministers will find themselves soon, I fear, without a working majority."
"Not unlikely," said Guy, filling another pipe; "but they won"t resign.
Some men never know when they are beaten. Well, he who lives will see.
If this wind lasts, we shall have a cracker from Lilbourne to-morrow.
You ride the young one, don"t you, Charley?"
CHAPTER XII.
"A life whose waste Ravaged each bloom by which its path was traced, Sporting at will, and moulding sport to art, With what sad holiness--the human heart."
It is a bright, crisp morning, and there is a gathering round the hall door of Kerton Manor.
To the right is Sir Henry Fallowfield, already established on the broad tack of his shooting pony, an invaluable animal, that can leap or creep wherever a man can go, and steady under fire as old Copenhagen. The baronet is very gouty. The whip made out of his favorite vices cuts him up sharply at times, and he does not like it alluded to. I never saw him look so savage at Guy as when the latter quoted, _"Raro antecedentem scelestum Deseruit pede poena claudo."_ Of course, he can not walk much; but, placed in a ride, or at the corner of a cover, he rolls over the hares and pulls down the pheasants unerringly as ever; when you come up, you will find him surrounded by a semicircle of slain, and not a runner among them.
The battle of life has left its tokens on the face of the strong, skillful Protagonist. The features, once so finely cut, are somewhat full and bloated now; but it is a magnificent ruin, and there are traces yet of "the handsomest man of his day." Very expressive are his glances still; a little too much so, some people think, when he is criticising a figure or a face; but, to do him justice, _gourmandise_ is his pet weakness now, a comparatively harmless one; and a delicate _entremet_ will bring the light into his eyes that only war or love could do in the old days.
By Sir Henry"s side, encouraging him with great prophecies of sport, stands Mallett, the head-keeper. What a contrast his fresh, honest face makes with the veteran _roue"s_! He is the elder of the two by a good ten years, and there is scarcely a wrinkle on his ruddy cheeks and smooth forehead. Wind and weather have used him with a rough kindness, and his foot is almost as light, his hand quite as heavy, as when he entered the service of Guy"s grandfather half a century ago. For generations his family have been devoted to the preservation of game; his six stalwart sons are all eminent in that line; and the "Kerton breed" of keepers is renowned throughout the Midland shires. He is a prime favorite with the village children and their mothers, for, in all respects save one, his heart is as soft as a woman"s; to poachers it is as the nether millstone. There is the stain of a "justifiable homicide"
on the old man"s hands--the blood of an antagonist slain in fair fight, in those rough times when the forest was, and marauders came out by scores to strike its deer. I do not think the deed has weighed heavily on his conscience (though he never has spoken of it since), or troubled his healthy, honest slumbers.
To the left is Guy, repressing the attentions of four couple of strong red and white spaniels, but _not_ those of Miss Bellasys, who, standing at the oriel window of the library, is good-natured enough to fasten the band of his wide-awake for him, which has come undone. As he stands with his towering head a little bent, murmuring the "more last words,"
Sir Henry, contemplating the picture with much satisfaction, smacks his lips, and suggests "Omphale."
Last of all, Mr. Raymond comes slowly down the staircase, followed by his son-in-law that is to be. Forrester and I have been ready long ago, so we start.
Bruce did shoot, certainly, if discharging his gun on the slightest provocation const.i.tuted the fact; but he shot curiously ill. Indeed, he might have formed a pendant to that humane sportsman who, having taken to rural sports _sero sed serio_, said, in extreme old age, "that it was a satisfaction to him to reflect that he could not charge himself with having been, wittingly, the death of more than a dozen of his fellow-creatures."
It was a problem whereon Mallett ruminated gravely long afterward--"Wherever Mr. Bruce"s shot do go to?" He could not conceive so much lead being dispersed in the atmosphere without a more adequate result. This want of dexterity, too, was thrown into strong relief that day; for all the other men, putting myself out of the question, were rare masters of the art.
Livingstone headed the list, though Fallowfield ran him hard. He got the most shots, indeed; for his knowledge of the woods and great strength enabled him always to keep close to the spaniels. He was a sight to marvel at, as he went crashing through bramble and blackthorn with a long even stride, just as if he had been walking through light springs.
At the end of the day we were all a.s.sembled outside the cover, where the game was being counted, except Bruce, who was still in the wood. A stray shot every now and then gave notice of his approach.
"We heard but the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing,"
Guy quoted, laughing.
"Random! you may say that," remarked Fallowfield. "That man ought to be in a gla.s.s case, and ticketed; he"s a natural curiosity. His bag to-day consists of one hare, one hen, and one--s.e.x unknown, for no one saw it rise or tried to pick it up; it was blown into a cloud of feathers within six feet of his muzzle. Here he comes; don"t ask him what he"s done--it"s cruelty."
Bruce came up to us, looking rather more discontented than usual, but not nearly so savage as the keeper who had attended him all day, who immediately retreated among his fellows to relieve himself, by many oaths, of his suppressed disgust and scorn. They offered him beer, but it was no use. I heard him growl out, "That there m.u.f.f"s enough to spile one"s taste for a fortnit."
It was the hour of the wood-pigeons coming in to roost, and several were wheeling over our heads at a considerable height.
"There"s something for you to empty your gun at, Bruce," Sir. Raymond said, pointing to one that came rather nearer than the rest.
He was leveling, when Forrester cried out, "Five-and-twenty to five on the bird!"
"Done!" answered Bruce, as he pulled the trigger. It was a long and not very easy shot, but the pigeon came whirling down through the tranches with a broken pinion.
"You are unlucky in your selection, Captain Forrester," the successful shot remarked, coolly. "You might have won a heavy stake by laying the same odds all day."