"Certainly not--in the least. Why should it? It wouldn"t be the first time by scores--hundreds--for him to stay all night away from me. Ay, and at that same Welsh Harp, too--many"s the night."
"To your great annoyance, no doubt, if it did not make you dreadfully jealous?"
She breaks out into a laugh, hollow and heartless as was ever heard in an _allee_ of the Jardin Mabille. When it is ended, she adds gravely,--
"The time was when he might have made me so; I may as well admit that; not now, as you know, Gregoire. Now, instead of feeling annoyed by it, I"d only be too glad to think I should never see his face again. _Le brute ivrogne!_"
To this monstrous declaration, Rogier laconically rejoins,--
"You may not." Then, placing his lips close to her ear, he adds in a whisper, "If all prosper, as planned, _you will not_!"
She neither starts, nor seeks to inquire further. She knows he has conceived some scheme to disembarra.s.s her of a husband she no longer cares for--to both become inconvenient. And from what has gone before, she can rely on Rogier with its execution.
CHAPTER LXIV.
A QUEER CATECHIST.
A boat upon the Wye, being pulled upward, between Llangorren Court and Rugg"s Ferry. There are two men in it--not Vivian Ryecroft and Jack Wingate, but Gregoire Rogier and Richard Dempsey.
The _ci-devant_ poacher is at the oars--for, in addition to his new post as gamekeeper, he has occasional charge of a skiff which has replaced the _Gwendoline_. This same morning he rowed his master up to Rugg"s, leaving him there; and now, at night, he is on return to fetch him home.
The two places being on opposite sides of the river, and the road roundabout, besides difficult for wheeled vehicles, Lewin Murdock, moreover, an indifferent horseman, he prefers the water route, and often takes it, as he has done to-day.
It is the same on which Father Rogier held that dialogue of sinister innuendo with Madame, and the priest, aware of the boat having to return to the ferry, avails himself of a seat in it. Not that he dislikes walking, or is compelled to it; for he now keeps a cob, and does his rounds on horseback. But on this particular day he has left his roadster in its stable, and gone down to Llangorren afoot, knowing there would be the skiff to take him back.
No scheme of mere convenience dictated this arrangement to Gregoire Rogier. Instead, one of Satanic wickedness, preconceived, and all settled before holding that _tete-a-tete_ with her he has called "cherie."
Though requiring a boat for its execution, and an oarsman of a peculiar kind--adroit at something besides the handling of oars--not a word of it has yet been imparted to the one who is rowing him. For all, the ex-poacher, accustomed to the priest"s moods, and familiar with his ways, can see there is something unusual in his mind, and that he himself is on the eve of being called upon for some new service or sacrifice. No supply of poached fish or game. Things have gone higher than that, and he antic.i.p.ates some demand of a more serious nature.
Still, he has not the most distant idea of what it is to be, though certain interrogatories put to him are evidently leading up to it. The first is,--
"You"re not afraid of water, are you, d.i.c.k?"
"Not partickler, your Reverence. Why should I?"
"Well, your being so little in the habit of washing your face--if I am right in my reckoning, only once a week--may plead my excuse for asking the question."
"Oh, Father Rogier! that wor only in the time past, when I lived alone, and the thing worn"t worth while. Now, going more into respectable company, I do a little washin" every day."
"I"m glad to hear of your improved habits, and that they keep pace with the promotion you"ve had. But my inquiry had no reference to your ablutions--rather to your capabilities as a swimmer. If I mistake not, you can swim like a fish?"
"No, not equal to a fish. That ain"t possible."
"An otter, then?"
"Somethin" nearer he, if ye like," answers Coracle, laughingly.
"I supposed as much. Never mind. About the degree of your natatory powers we needn"t dispute. I take it they"re sufficient for reaching either bank of this river, supposing the skiff to get capsized, and you in it?"
"Lor, Father Rogier! that wouldn"t be nothin"! I could swim to eyther sh.o.r.e, if "twor miles off."
"But could you as you are now, with clothes on, boots, and everything?"
"Sartin could I, and carry weight beside."
"That will do," rejoins the questioner, apparently satisfied; then lapsing into silence, and leaving d.i.c.k in a very desert of conjectures why he has been so interrogated.
The speechless interregnum is not for long. After a minute or two, Rogier, as if freshly awaking from a reverie, again asks,--
"Would it upset this skiff if I were to step on the side of it--I mean, bearing upon it with all the weight of my body?"
"That would it, your Reverence, though ye be but a light weight--tip it over like a tub."
"Quite turn it upside down--as your old truckle, eh?"
"Well, not so ready as the truckle. Still, "twould go bottom upward.
Though a biggish boat, it be one o" the crankiest kind, and would sure capsize wi" the lightest o" men standin" on its gunn"l rail."
"And surer with a heavier one, as yourself, for instance?"
"I shouldn"t like to try, your Reverence bein" wi" me in the boat."
"How would you like, somebody else being with you in it--_if made worth your while_?"
Coracle starts at this question, asked in a tone that makes more intelligible the others preceding it, and which have been hitherto puzzling him. He begins to see the drift of the _sub Jove_ confessional to which he is being submitted.
"How"d I like it, your Reverence? Well enough, if, as you say, made worth my while. I don"t mind a bit o" a wettin" when there"s anythin" to be gained by it. Many"s the one I"ve had on a chilly winter"s night, as this same be, all for the sake o" a salmon I wor "bleeged to sell at less"n half-price. If only showed the way to earn a honest penny by it, I wouldn"t wait for the upsettin" o" the boat, but jump overboard at onest."
"That"s game in you, Monsieur d.i.c.k. But to earn the honest penny you speak of, the upsetting of the boat might be a necessary condition."
"Be it so, your Reverence. I"m willing to fulfil that, if ye only bid me. Maybe," he continues, in a tone of confidential suggestion, "there be somebody as you think ought to get a duckin" beside myself?"
"There is somebody who ought," rejoins the priest, coming nearer to his point. "Nay, must," he continues; "for if he don"t, the chances are we shall all go down together, and that soon."
Coracle skulls on without questioning. He more than half comprehends the figurative speech, and is confident he will ere long receive complete explanation of it.
He is soon led a little way further by the priest observing,--
"No doubt, _mon ancien bracconnier_, you"ve been gratified by the change that"s of late taken place in your circ.u.mstances. But perhaps it hasn"t quite satisfied you, and you expect to have something more--as I have the wish you should. And you would ere this, but for one who obstinately sets his face against it."
"May I know who that one is, Father Rogier?"
"You may, and shall; though I should think you scarce need telling.
Without naming names, it"s he who will be in this boat with you going back to Llangorren."