"Poor, dear old boy!" she said again.
There was a moment"s silence. Then Jack began again:
"You see, I"ve got to go and tell Lord Talgarth. Miss Launton, I wish you"d come with me. Then we can both write by to-night"s post."
Jenny said nothing for an instant. Then:
"I suppose that would be best," she said. "Shall we go up pretty soon? I expect we shall find him in the garden."
Jack winced a little. Jenny smiled at him openly.
"Best to get it over, Mr. Jack. I know it"s like going to the dentist.
But it can"t be as bad as you think. It never is. Besides, you"ll have somebody to hold your hand, so to speak."
"I hope I shan"t scream out loud," observed Jack. "Yes, we"d better go--if you don"t mind."
He stood up and waited. Jenny rose at once.
"I"ll go and get a hat. Wait for me here, will you? I needn"t tell father till this evening."
(II)
The park looked delicious as they walked slowly up the gra.s.s under the shade of the trees by the side of the drive. The great beeches and elms rose in towering ma.s.ses, in clump after clump, into the distance, and beneath the nearest stood a great stag with half a dozen hinds about him, eyeing the walkers. The air was very still; only from over the hill came the sound of a single church bell, where some infatuated clergyman hoped to gather the lambs of his flock together for instruction in the Christian religion.
"That"s a beauty," said Jack, waving a languid hand towards the stag.
"Did you ever hear of the row Frank and I got into when we were boys?"
Jenny smiled. She had been quite silent since leaving the Rectory.
"I heard of a good many," she said. "Which was this?"
Jack recounted a story of Red Indians and ambuscades and a bow and arrows, ending in the flight of a frantic stag over the palings and among the garden beds; it was on a Sunday afternoon, too.
"Frank was caned by the butler, I remember; by Lord Talgarth"s express orders. Certainly he richly deserved it. I was a guest, and got off clear."
"How old were you?"
"We were both about eleven, I think."
"Frank doesn"t strike me as more than about twelve now," observed Jenny.
"There"s something in that," admitted Jack.... "Oh! Lord! how hot it is!" He fanned himself with his hat.
There was no sign of life as they pa.s.sed into the court and up to the pillared portico; and at last, when the butler appeared, the irregular state of his coat-collar showed plainly that he but that moment had put his coat on.
(This would be about the time that Frank left the village after his interview with the priest.)
Yes; it seemed that Lord Talgarth was probably in the garden; and, if so, almost certainly in the little square among the yews along the upper terrace. His lordship usually went there on hot days. Would Miss Launton and Mr. Kirkby kindly step this way?
No; he was not to trouble. They would find their own way. On the upper terrace?
"On the upper terrace, miss."
The upper terrace was the one part of the old Elizabethan garden left entirely unaltered. On either side rose up a giant wall of yew, shaped like a castle bastion, at least ten feet thick; and between the two ran a broad gravel path up to the sun-dial, bordered on either side by huge herbaceous beds, blazing with the color of late summer. In two or three places gra.s.s paths crossed these, leading by a few yards of turf to windows cut in the hedge to give a view of the long, dazzling lake below, and there was one gravel path, parallel to these, that led to the little yew-framed square built out on the slope of the hill.
Two very silent persons now came out from the house by the garden door on the south side, turned along the path, went up a dozen broad steps, pa.s.sed up the yew walk and finally turned again down the short gravel way and stood abashed.
His lordship was indeed here!
A long wicker chair was set in one angle, facing them, in such a position that the movement of the sun would not affect the delightful shade in which the chair stood. A small table stood beside it, with the _Times_ newspaper tumbled on to it, a box of cigars, a spirit-bottle of iridescent gla.s.s, a syphon, and a tall tumbler in which a little ice lay crumbled at the bottom. And in the wicker chair, with his mouth wide open, slept Lord Talgarth.
"Good gracious!" whispered Jenny.
There was a silence, and then like far-off thunder a slow meditative snore. It was not an object of beauty or dignity that they looked upon.
"In one second I shall laugh," a.s.serted Jenny, still in a cautious whisper.
"I think we"d better--" began Jack; and stopped petrified, to see one vindictive-looking eye opened and regarding him, it seemed, with an expression of extraordinary malignity. Then the other eye opened, the mouth abruptly closed and Lord Talgarth sat up.
"G.o.d bless my soul!"
He rolled his eyes about a moment while intelligence came back.
"You needn"t be ashamed of it," said Jenny. "Mr. Jack Kirkby caught me at it, too, half an hour ago."
His lordship"s senses had not even now quite returned. He still stared at them innocently like a child, cleared his throat once or twice, and finally stood up.
"Jack Kirkby, so it is! How do, Jack? And Jenny?
"That"s who we are," said Jenny. "Are you sure you"re quite recovered?"
"Recovered! Eh--!" (He emitted a short laugh.) "Sit down. There"s chairs somewhere."
Jack hooked out a couple that were leaning folded against the low wall of yew beneath the window and set them down.
"Have a cigar, Jack?"
"No, thanks."
They were on good terms--these two. Jack shot really well, and was smart and deferential. Lord Talgarth asked no more than this from a young man.
"Well--what"s the matter?"