He had worked all the previous day in a farm-yard--carting manure, and the like; and though he was perfectly well again, some of the spring had ebbed from his muscles during his week"s rest. This day, too, the first of November, had been exhausting. They had walked since daybreak, after a wretched night in a barn, plodding almost in silence, mile after mile, against a wet south-west wind, over a discouraging kind of high-road that dipped and rose and dipped again, and never seemed to arrive anywhere.
It is true that Frank was no longer intensely depressed; quite another process had been at work upon him for the last two or three months, as will be seen presently; but his limbs seemed leaden, and the actual stiffness in his shoulders and loins made walking a little difficult.
They were all tired together. They did not say much to one another.
They had, in fact, said all that there was to be said months ago; and they were reduced--as men always are reduced when a certain pitch is reached--to speak simply of the most elementary bodily things--food, tobacco and sleep. The Major droned on now and then--recalling luxuries of past days--actual roofs over the head, actual hot meat to put in the mouth, actual cigars--and Frank answered him. Gertie said nothing.
She made up for it, soon after dark had fallen, by quite suddenly collapsing into a hedge, and announcing that she would die if she didn"t rest. The Major made the usual remarks, and she made no answer.
Frank interposed suddenly.
"Shut up," he said. "We can"t stop here. I"ll go on a bit and see what can be done."
And, as he went off into the darkness, leaving his bundle, he heard the scolding voice begin again, but it was on a lower key and he knew it would presently subside into a grumble, soothed by tobacco.
He had no idea as to the character of the road that lay before him. They had pa.s.sed through a few villages that afternoon, whose names meant nothing to him, and he scarcely knew why, even, they were going along this particular road. They were moving southwards towards London--so much had been agreed--and they proposed to arrive there in another month or so. But the country was unfamiliar to him, and the people seemed grudging and uncouth. They had twice been refused the use of an outhouse for the night, that afternoon.
It seemed an extraordinarily deserted road. There were no lights from houses, so far as he could make out, and the four miles that had been declared at their last stopping-place to separate them from the next village appeared already more like five or six. Certainly the three of them had between two and three shillings, all told; there was no actual need of a workhouse just yet, but naturally it was wished to spend as little as possible.
Then on a sudden he caught a glimpse of a light burning somewhere, that appeared and vanished again as he moved, and fifty yards more brought him to a wide sweep, a pair of gate-posts with the gate fastened back, and a lodge on the left-hand side. So much he could make out dimly through the November darkness; and as he stood there hesitating, he thought he could see somewhere below him a few other lights burning through the ma.s.ses of leafless trees through which the drive went downhill.
He knew very well by experience that lodge-keepers were, taken altogether, perhaps the most unsympathetic cla.s.s in the community. (They live, you see, right on the high road, and see human nature at its hottest and crossest as well as its most dishonest.) Servants at back doors were, as a rule, infinitely more obliging; and, as obviously this was the entrance to some big country house, the right thing to do would be to steal past the lodge on tiptoe and seek his fortune amongst the trees. Yet he hesitated; the house might be half a mile away, for all he knew; and, certainly there was a hospitable look about the fastened-back gate.
There came a gust of wind over the hills behind him, laden with wet....
He turned, went up to the lodge door and knocked.
He could hear someone moving about inside, and just as he was beginning to wonder whether his double tap had been audible, the door opened and disclosed a woman in an ap.r.o.n.
"Can you very kindly direct me--" began Frank politely.
The woman jerked her head sharply in the direction of the house.
"Straight down the hill," she said. "Them"s the orders."
"But--"
It was no good; the door was shut again in his face, and he stood alone in the dark.
This was all very unusual. Lodge-keepers did not usually receive "orders" to send tramps, without credentials, on to the house which the lodge was supposed to guard.... That open gate, then, must have been intentional. Plainly, however, he must take her at her word; and as he tramped down the drive, he began to form theories. It must be a fanatic of some kind who lived here, and he inclined to consider the owner as probably an eccentric old lady with a fad, and a large number of lap-dogs.
As he came nearer, through the trees, he became still more astonished, for as the branches thinned, he became aware of lights burning at such enormous distances apart that the building seemed more like a village than a house.
Straight before him shone a row of lighted squares, high up, as if hung in air, receding in perspective, till blocked out by a black ma.s.s which seemed a roof of some kind; far on the left shone some kind of illuminated gateway, and to his right another window or two glimmered almost beneath his feet.
Another fifty yards down the winding drive disclosed a sight that made him seriously wonder whether the whole experience were real, for now only a few steps further on, and still lower than the level at which he was, stood, apparently, a porter"s lodge, as of a great college. There was a Tudor archway, with rooms above it and rooms on either side; a lamp hung from the roof illuminated the dry stone pavement within, and huge barred gates at the further end, shut off all other view. It looked like the entrance to some vast feudal castle, and he thought again that if an eccentric old lady lived here, she must be very eccentric indeed.
He began to wonder whether a seneschal in a belt hung with keys would presently make his appearance: he considered whether or not he could wind a horn, if there were no other way of summoning the retainers.
When at last he tapped at a small interior door, also studded and barred with iron, and the door opened, the figure he did see was hardly less of a shock to him than a seneschal would have been.
For there stood, as if straight out of a Christmas number, the figure of a monk, tall, lean, with gray hair, clean-shaven, with a pair of merry eyes and a brisk manner. He wore a broad leather band round his black frock, and carried his spare hand thrust deep into it.
(II)
The monk sighed humorously.
"Another of them," he said. "Well, my man?"
"Please, father--"
The monk closed his eyes as in resignation.
"You needn"t try that on," he said. "Besides, I"m not a father. I"m a brother. Can you remember that?"
Frank smiled back.
"Very well, brother. I"m a Catholic myself."
"Ah! yes," sighed the monk briskly. "That"s what they all say. Can you say the "Divine Praises"? Do you know what they are?... However, that makes no difference, as--"
"But I can, brother. "Blessed be G.o.d. Blessed be His--"
"But you"re not Irish?"
"I know I"m not. But--"
"Are you an educated man? However, that"s not my affair. What can I do for you, sir?"
The monk seemed to take a little more interest in him, and Frank took courage.
"Yes," he said, "I"m an educated man. My name"s Frank Gregory. I"ve got two friends out on the road up there--a man and a woman. Their name"s Trustcott--and the woman--"
"No good; no good," said the monk. "No women."
"But, brother, she really can"t go any further. I"m very sorry, but we simply must have shelter. We"ve got two or three shillings, if necessary--"
"Oh, you have, have you?" said the monk keenly. "That"s quite new. And when did you touch food last? Yesterday morning? (Don"t say "S"elp me!"
It"s not necessary.)"
"We last touched food about twelve o"clock to-day. We had beans and cold bacon," said Frank deliberately. "We"re perfectly willing to pay for shelter and food, if we"re obliged. But, of course, we don"t want to."
The monk eyed him very keenly indeed a minute or two without speaking.
This seemed a new type.
"Come in and sit down a minute," he said. "I"ll fetch the guest-master."