It surely was. George West, who had gone there but just before in the height of health and strength, had breathed his last.
How did it happen? How could it have happened? Ay, how indeed? It was a question which has never been entirely solved in Church Leet to this day.
Captain Monk"s account, both privately and at the inquest, was this: As they talked further together, after Michael left the room, the Vicar went on to browbeat him shamefully about the new chimes, vowing they should never play, never be heard; at last, rising in an access of pa.s.sion, the Parson struck him (the Captain) in the face. He returned the blow--who wouldn"t return it?--and the Vicar fell. He believed his head must have struck against the iron fender in falling: if not, if the blow had been an unlucky one (it took effect just behind the left ear), it was only given in self-defence. The jury, composed of Captain Monk"s tenants, expressed themselves satisfied, and returned a verdict of Accidental Death.
"A false account," p.r.o.nounced poor Mrs. West, in her dire tribulation.
"My husband never struck him--never; he was not one to be goaded into unbecoming anger, even by Captain Monk. _George struck no blow whatever_; I can answer for it. If ever a man was murdered, he has been."
Curious rumours arose. It was said that Mrs. Carradyne, taking the air on the terrace outside in the calmness of the autumn evening, heard the fatal quarrel through the open window; that she heard Mr. West, after he had received the death blow, wail forth a prophecy (or whatever it might be called) that those chimes would surely be accursed; that whenever their sound should be heard, so long as they were suffered to remain in the tower, it should be the signal of woe to the Monk family.
Mrs. Carradyne utterly denied this; she had not been on the terrace at all, she said. Upon which the onus was shifted to Michael: who, it was suspected, had stolen out to listen to the end of the quarrel, and had heard the ominous words. Michael, in his turn, also denied it; but he was not believed. Anyway, the covert whisper had gone abroad and would not be laid.
III
Captain Monk speedily filled up the vacant living, appointing to it the Reverend Thomas Danc.o.x, an occasional visitor at Leet Hall, who was looking out for one.
The new Vicar turned out to be a man after the Captain"s heart, a rollicking, jovial, fox-hunting young parson, as many a parson was in those days--and took small blame to himself for it. He was only a year or two past thirty, good-looking, of taking manners and hail-fellow-well-met with the parish in general, who liked him and called him to his face Tom Danc.o.x.
All this pleased Captain Monk. But very soon something was to arrive that did not please him--a suspicion that the young parson and his daughter Katherine were on rather too good terms with one another.
One day in November he stalked into the drawing-room, where Katherine was sitting with her aunt. Hubert and Eliza were away at school, also Mrs. Carradyne"s two children.
"Was Danc.o.x here last night?" began Captain Monk.
"Yes," replied Mrs. Carradyne.
"And the evening before--Monday?"
Mrs. Carradyne felt half afraid to answer, the Captain"s tone was becoming so threatening. "I--I think so," she rather hesitatingly said.
"Was he not, Katherine?"
Katherine Monk, a dark, haughty young woman, twenty-one now, turned round with a flush on her handsome face. "Why do you ask, papa?"
"I ask to be answered," replied he, standing with his hands in the pockets of his velveteen shooting-coat, a purple tinge of incipient anger rising in his cheeks.
"Then Mr. Danc.o.x did spend Monday evening here."
"And I saw him walking with you in the meadow by the rill this morning,"
continued the Captain. "Look here, Katherine, _no sweethearting with Tom Danc.o.x_. He may do very well for a parson; I like him as such, as such only, you understand; but he can be no match for you."
"You are disturbing yourself unnecessarily, sir," said Katherine, her own tone an angry one.
"Well, I hope that is so; I should not like to think otherwise. Anyway, a word in season does no harm; and, take you notice that I have spoken it. You also, Emma."
As he left the room, Mrs. Carradyne spoke, dropping her voice: "Katherine, you know that I had already warned you. I told you it would not do to fall into any particular friendship with Mr. Danc.o.x; that your father would never countenance it."
"And if I were to?--and if he did not?" scornfully returned Katherine.
"What then, Aunt Emma?"
"Be silent, child; you must not talk in that strain. Your papa is perfectly right in this matter. Tom Danc.o.x is not suitable in any way--for _you_."
This took place in November. Katherine paid little heed to the advice; she was not one to put up with advice of any sort, and she and Mr.
Danc.o.x met occasionally under the rose. Early in December she went with Mr. Danc.o.x into the Parsonage, while he searched for a book he was about to lend her. That was the plea; the truth, no doubt, being that the two wanted a bit of a chat in quiet. As ill-luck had it, when she was coming out again, the Parson in attendance on her as far as the gate, Captain Monk came by.
A scene ensued. Captain Monk, in a terrible access of pa.s.sion, vowed by all the laws of the Medes and Persians, which alter not, that never, in life or after death, should those two rebellious ones be man and wife, and he invoked unheard-of penalties on their heads should they dare to contemplate disobedience to his decree.
Thenceforth there was no more open rebellion; upon the surface all looked smooth. Captain Monk understood the folly to be at an end: that the two had come to their senses; and he took Tom Danc.o.x back into favour. Mrs. Carradyne a.s.sumed the same. But Katherine had her father"s unyielding will, and the Parson was bold and careless, and in love.
The last day of the year came round, and the usual banquet would come with it. The weather this Christmas was not like that of last; the white snow lay on the ground, the cold biting frost hardened the glistening icicles on the trees.
And the chimes? Ready these three months past, they had not yet been heard. They would be to-night. Whether Captain Monk wished the remembrance of Mr. West"s death to die away a bit first, or that he preferred to open the treat on the banqueting night, certain it was that he had kept them silent. When the church clock should toll the midnight knell of the old year, the chimes would ring out to welcome the new one, and gladden the ears of Church Leet.
But not without a remonstrance. That morning, as the Captain sat in his study writing a letter, Mrs. Carradyne came to him.
"G.o.dfrey," she said in a low and pleading tone, "you will not suffer the chimes to play to-night, will you? Pray do not."
"Not suffer the chimes to play?" cried the Captain. "But indeed I shall.
Why, this is the special night they were put up for."
"I know it, G.o.dfrey. But--you cannot think what a strangely strong feeling I have against it: an instinct, it seems to me. The chimes have brought nothing but discomfort and disaster yet; they may bring more in the future."
Captain Monk stared at her. "What d"ye mean, Emma?"
"_I would never let them be heard_," she said impressively. "I would have them taken down again. The story went about, you know, that poor George West in dying prophesied that whenever they should be heard woe would fall upon this house. I am not superst.i.tious, G.o.dfrey, but----"
Sheer pa.s.sion had tied, so far, G.o.dfrey Monk"s lips. "Not superst.i.tious!" he raved out. "You are worse than that, Emma--a fool.
How dare you bring your nonsense here? There"s the door."
The banquet hour approached. Nearly all the guests of last year were again present in the warm and holly-decorated dining-room, the one notable exception being the ill-fated Parson West. Parson Danc.o.x came in his stead, and said grace from the post of honour at the Captain"s right hand. Captain Monk did not appear to feel any remorse or regret: he was jovial, free, and grandly hospitable; one might suppose he had promoted the dead clergyman to a canonry instead of to a place in the churchyard.
"What became of the poor man"s widow, Squire?" whispered a gentleman from the neighbourhood of Evesham to Mr. Todhetley, who sat on the left hand of his host; Sir Thomas Rivers taking the foot of the table this year.
"Mrs. West? Well, we heard she opened a girls" school up in London,"
breathed the Squire.
"And what tale was that about his leaving a curse on the chimes?--I never heard the rights of it."
"Hush!" said the Squire cautiously. "n.o.body talks of that here. Or believes it, either. Poor West was a man to leave a blessing behind him; never a curse."
Hubert, at home for the holidays, was again at table. He was fourteen now, tall of his age and slender, his blue eyes bright, his complexion delicately beautiful. The pleated cambric frill of his shirt, which hung over the collar of his Eton jacket after the fashion of the day, was carried low in front, displaying the small white throat; his golden hair curled naturally. A boy to admire and be proud of. The manners were more decorous this year than they ever had been, and Hubert was allowed to sit on. Possibly the shadow of George West"s unhappy death lay insensibly upon the party.
It was about half-past nine o"clock when the butler came into the room, bringing a small note, twisted up, to his master from Mrs. Carradyne.
Captain Monk opened it and held it towards one of the lighted branches to read the few words it contained.
"_A gentleman is asking to speak a word to Mr. Danc.o.x. He says it is important._"