"Surely they won"t be out all day," timidly suggests the curate; to which she makes no rejoinder, till Mr. Shenstone puts it in the shape of an inquiry.
"Is it likely they will, Miss Linton?"
"I should say not. More like they"ll be hungry, and that will bring them home. What"s the hour now? I"ve been reading a very interesting book, and quite forgot myself. Is it possible?" she exclaims, looking at the ormolu dial on the mantel-shelf. "Ten minutes to one! How time does fly, to be sure! I couldn"t have believed it near so late--almost luncheon time! Of course you"ll stay, gentlemen? As for the girls, if they are not back in time they"ll have to go without. Punctuality is the rule of this house--always will be with me. I shan"t wait one minute for them."
"But, Miss Linton, they may have returned from the river, and are now somewhere about the grounds. Shall I run down to the boat-dock and see?"
It is Mr. Shenstone who thus interrogates.
"If you like--by all means. I shall be too thankful. Shame of Gwen to give us so much trouble. She knows our luncheon hour, and should have been back by this. Thanks, much, Mr. Shenstone."
As he is bounding off, she calls after--
"Don"t you be staying too, else you shan"t have a pick. Mr. Musgrave and I won"t wait for any of you. Shall we, Mr. Musgrave?"
Shenstone has not tarried to hear either question or answer. A luncheon for Apicius were, at that moment, nothing to him; and little more to the curate, who, though staying, would gladly go along. Not from any rivalry with, or jealousy of, the baronet"s son: they revolve in different orbits, with no danger of collision. Simply that he dislikes leaving Miss Linton alone--indeed, dare not. She may be expecting the usual budget of neighbourhood intelligence he daily brings her.
He is mistaken. On this particular day it is not desired. Out of courtesy to Mr. Shenstone, rather than herself, she had laid aside the novel; and it now requires all she can command to keep her eyes off it.
She is burning to know what befel the farmer"s daughter!
CHAPTER VIII.
A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER.
While Mr. Musgrave is boring the elderly spinster about new scarlet cloaks for the girls of the church choir, and other parish matters, George Shenstone is standing on the topmost step of the boat stair, in a mood of mind even less enviable than hers. For he has looked down into the dock, and there sees no Gwendoline--neither boat nor lady--nor is there sign of either upon the water, far as he can command a view of it.
No sounds, such as he would wish, and might expect to hear--no dipping of oars, nor, what would be still more agreeable to his ear, the soft voices of women. Instead only the note of a cuckoo, in monotonous repet.i.tion, the bird balancing itself on a branch near by; and, farther off, the _hiccol_, laughing, as if in mockery--and at him! Mocking his impatience; ay, something more, almost his misery! That it is so his soliloquy tells:
"Odd her being out on the river! She promised me to go riding to-day.
Very odd indeed! Gwen isn"t the same she was--acting strange altogether for the last three or four days. Wonder what it means? By Jove, I can"t comprehend it!"
His noncomprehension does not hinder a dark shadow from stealing over his brow, and there staying.
It is not un.o.bserved. Through the leaves of the evergreen Joseph notes the pained expression, and interprets it in his own shrewd way--not far from the right one.
The old servant soliloquizing in less conjectural strain, says, or rather thinks--
"Master George be mad sweet on Miss Gwen. The country folk are all talkin" o"t; thinking she"s same on him, as if they knew anything about it. I knows better. An" he ain"t no ways confident, else there wouldn"t be that queery look on"s face. It"s the token o" jealousy for sure. I don"t believe he have suspicion o" any rival particklar. Ah! it don"t need that wi" sich a grand beauty as she be. He as love her might be jealous o" the sun kissing her cheeks, or the wind tossin" her hair!"
Joseph is a Welshman of Bardic ancestry, and thinks poetry. He continues--
"I know what"s took her on the river, if he don"t. Yes--yes, my young lady. Ye thought yerself wonderful clever, leavin" old Joe behind, tellin" him to hide hisself, and bribin" him to stay hid! And d"y "spose I didn"t obsarve them glances exchanged twixt you and the salmon fisher--sly, but, for all that, hot as streaks o" fire? And d"ye think I didn"t see Mr. Whitecap going down, afore ye thought o" a row yerself?
Oh, no; I noticed nothin" o" all that, not I! "Twarn"t meant for me--not for Joe--ha, ha!"
With a suppressed giggle at the popular catch coming in so _apropos_, he once more fixes his eyes on the face of the impatient watcher, proceeding with his soliloquy, though in changed strain:
"Poor young gentleman! I do pity he to be sure. He are a good sort, an"
everybody likes him. So do she, but not the way he want her to. Well; things o" that kind allers do go contrarywise--never seem to run smooth like. I"d help him myself if "twar in my power, but it ain"t. In such cases help can only come frae the place where they say matches be made--that"s Heaven. Ha! he"s lookin" a bit brighter! What"s cheerin"
him? The boat coming back? I can"t see it from here, nor I don"t hear any rattle o" oars!"
The change he notes in George Shenstone"s manner is not caused by the returning pleasure craft. Simply a reflection, which crossing his mind, for the moment tranquillizes him.
"What a stupid I am!" he mutters self-accusingly. "Now I remember, there was nothing said about the hour we were to go riding, and I suppose she understood in the afternoon. It was so the last time we went out together. By Jove! yes. It"s all right, I take it; she"ll be back in good time yet."
Thus rea.s.sured he remains listening. Still more satisfied, when a dull thumping sound, in regular repet.i.tion, tells him of oars working in their rowlocks. Were he learned in boating tactics he would know there are two pairs of them, and think this strange too; since the _Gwendoline_ carries only one. But he is not so skilled--instead, rather averse to aquatics--his chosen home the hunting-field, his favourite seat in a saddle, not on a boat"s thwart. It is only when the plashing of the oars in the tranquil water of the bye-way is borne clear along the cliff, that he perceives there are two pairs at work, while at the same time he observes two boats approaching the little dock, where but one belongs!
Alone at that leading boat does he look: with eyes in which, as he continues to gaze, surprise becomes wonderment, dashed with something like displeasure. The boat he has recognised at the first glance--the _Gwendoline_--as also the two ladies in the stern. But there is also a man on the mid thwart, plying the oars.
"Who the deuce is he?"
Thus to himself George Shenstone puts it. Not old Joe, not the least like him. Nor is it the family Charon who sits solitary on the thwarts of that following. Instead, Joseph is now by Mr. Shenstone"s side, pa.s.sing him in haste--making to go down the boat stair!
"What"s the meaning of all this, Joe?" asks the young man, in stark astonishment.
"Meanin" o" what, sir?" returns the old boatman, with an air of a.s.sumed innocence. "Be there anythin" amiss?"
"Oh, nothing," stammers Shenstone. "Only I supposed you were out with the young ladies. How is it you haven"t gone?"
"Well, sir, Miss Gwen didn"t wish it. The day bein" fine, an" nothing o"
flood in the river, she sayed she"d do the rowin" herself."
"She hasn"t been doing it for all that," mutters Shenstone to himself, as Joseph glides past and on down the stair; then repeating, "Who the deuce is he?" the interrogation as before referring to him who rows the pleasure boat.
By this it has been brought, bow in, to the dock, its stern touching the bottom of the stair; and, as the ladies step out of it, George Shenstone overhears a dialogue, which, instead of quieting his perturbed spirit, but excites him still more--almost to madness. It is Miss Wynn who has commenced it, saying,--
"You"ll come up to the house, and let me introduce you to my aunt?"
This to the gentleman who has been pulling her boat, and has just abandoned the oars soon as seeing its painter in the hands of the servant.
"Oh, thank you!" he returns. "I would, with pleasure; but, as you see, I"m not quite presentable just now--anything but fit for a drawing-room.
So I beg you"ll excuse me to-day."
His saturated shirt-front, with other garments dripping, tells why the apology; but does not explain either that or aught else to him on the top of the stair, who, hearkening further, hears other speeches, which, while perplexing him, do nought to allay the wild tempest now surging through his soul. Unseen himself--for he has stepped behind the tree lately screening Joseph--he sees Gwen Wynn holding out her hand to be pressed in parting salute--hears her address the stranger in words of grat.i.tude, warm as though she were under some great obligation to him!
Then the latter leaps out of the pleasure boat into the other brought alongside, and is rowed away by his waterman: while the ladies ascend the stair--Gwen lingeringly, at almost every step, turning her face towards the fishing skiff, till this, pulled around the upper end of the eyot, can no more be seen.
All this George Shenstone observes, drawing deductions which send the blood in chill creep through his veins. Though still puzzled by the wet garments, the presence of the gentleman wearing them seems to solve that other enigma, unexplained as painful--the strangeness he has of late observed in the ways of Miss Wynn. Nor is he far out in his fancy, bitter though it be.
Not until the two ladies have reached the stair head do they become aware of his being there; and not then, till Gwen has made some observations to the companion, which, as those addressed to the stranger, unfortunately for himself, George Shenstone overhears.
"We"ll be in time for luncheon yet, and aunt needn"t know anything of what"s delayed us--at least, not just now. True, if the like had happened to herself--say some thirty or forty years ago--she"d want all the world to hear of it, particularly that part of the world yclept Cheltenham. The dear old lady! Ha, ha!" After a laugh, continuing: "But, speaking seriously, Nell, I don"t wish any one to be the wiser about our bit of an escapade--least of all, a certain young gentleman, whose Christian name begins with a G., and surname with an S."
"Those initials answer for mine," says George Shenstone, coming forward and confronting her. "If your observation was meant for me, Miss Wynn, I can only express regret for my bad luck in being within earshot of it."
At his appearance, so unexpected and abrupt, Gwen Wynn had given a start, feeling guilty, and looking it. Soon, however, reflecting whence he has come, and hearing what said, she feels less self-condemned than indignant, as evinced by her rejoinder.