TOM."
Having read this through the Major fell to profound meditation.
"I wonder?" he mused and pulled the bell.
"Sergeant!" said he, as the door opened.
"Sir?" said the Sergeant advancing three paces and coming to attention.
"Are there any--er--strangers in the village?"
"Last time I chanced to drop into the "George and Dragon" there was a round dozen gentlemen a-staying there, sir."
"Young gentlemen?"
"Aye, sir, them as I ob-served was, and very fine young gents too--almost as fine as their lackeys, sir."
"A dozen of "em, Zebedee!"
The Major rubbed his chin again and frowned slightly.
"Then my nephew will make the thirteenth. Tell Mrs. Agatha to have a chamber ready for him to-night."
"The Viscount a-comin" here, sir? Always thought same couldn"t abide country!"
"He hath chan&ed his mind it seems or----"
The Major paused suddenly and glanced toward the open window, for, upon the air without was a distant clamour of voices and shouting pierced, ever and anon, by a wild hunting yell. As the uproar grew nearer and louder the Major rose, and crossing to the cas.e.m.e.nt, beheld his lodge-gates swung wide before an insurging crowd, a motley throng, for, among rustic homespun and smock-frock he espied velvet coats brave with gold and silver lace. Before this riot a tall and slender gentleman strode waving a richly be-laced hat in one hand and flourishing a whip in the other.
"Hark away! Hark away!" he yelled, while from those behind came boisterous laughter and shouts of "Yoick!" "Tally-ho!" "Gone away!" and the like.
At the terrace steps the concourse halted and out upon this clamorous throng the quiet figure of the Major limped, his wig a little askew as usual. As he came, the clamour subsided and the crowd, falling back, discovered half-a-dozen stalwart keepers who dragged between them a slender youth, bruised and b.l.o.o.d.y.
"Ah," said the Major, surveying the scene with interest, "and what may all this be?"
"O demmit, sir!" cried the slender young gentleman, clapping hat to gorgeous bosom and bowing, "Step me vitals, sir--what should it be but a demmed rogue and a rebbit, sir!"
"O, a rabbit?" said the Major.
"And a rogue, sir! Pink me, "tis the demmdest, infernal, long-leggedest rascal and led us the demmdest chase I promise you!
Hill and dale, hedge and wall, copse and spinney, O demn! Better than any fox I ever hunted, there was only Alvaston, Marchdale, your humble and one or two keeper-fellows in at the death--pace too hot, sir--strike me dumb!"
"And pray, sir," enquired the Major, "whom have I the fortune to address?"
"O Ged, sir, to be sure--I"m Alton---very obedient, humble--gentleman yonder blowing his nose like a demmed trumpet is my friend Tony Marchdale of Marchdale--big fellow in the purple coat and nose to match is Sir Benjamin Tripp" (here Sir Benjamin bowed, spluttering mildly) "gentleman with the sparrow-legs is Lord Alvaston" (here his lordship posturing gracefully with his slender legs, bowed, cursing amiably)--"stand-and-deliver gentleman with hook-nose, Captain West of the Guards--die-away gentleman in lavender and gold, Mr. Dalroyd--fat fellow in abominable scratch-wig who looks as if he"d swallowed a lemon the wrong way, don"t know--and there we are, sir--demme!"
"And I, gentlemen, am John d"Arcy, at your service. What can I do for you?"
"O egad, sir--strike me everlasting blue, "tis we have been doing for you! Here we"ve caught your rogue for you--chased him high--chased him low--here, there and everywhere--bushes, burrs and briers, dirt and dust sir--O demmit!
"If," began the Major, "if you will have the goodness to be a little more explicit----"
But here the short, plump, fierce-eyed gentleman in the scratch-wig, elbowing aside the yokels who stood near strode forward excitedly:
"You are Major d"Arcy?" he challenged.
The Major bowed.
"Why then, sir, give me leave to say we"ve had the extreme good fortune to catch a poacher on your land. You"ll know me of course. I"m Sir Oliver Rington of Chevening."
"No!" said the Major.
"Then you"ll have heard of me, to be sure?"
"I fear not."
"Sir, I"m your member--and----"
"I rejoice to know it!"
"And justice o" the peace."
"I felicitate you!"
"As such, sir, "tis my present endeavour to get an enactment pa.s.sed making the law more rigorous against poaching----"
"A n.o.ble work!" sighed the Major.
"In the which, sir, I am being vigorously supported by the neighbouring gentry. You are a stranger in these parts, I think?"
"I have resided at the Manor precisely a month and two days, sir."
"Then, sir, permit me to say that the quality hereabouts are united against such miserable rogues as this d.a.m.ned poaching rascal."
"You are something in the majority, "twould seem!" said the Major, glancing from the blood-smeared face of the solitary captive to the shuffling throng.
"We are determined to put down such roguery with a firm hand, sir,"
answered Sir Oliver, truculently, "I have already succeeded in having four such rascals as yon transported for life, sir."
"For a dem rebbit--O Ged!" exclaimed Lord Alton.
"You forget, Alton," interposed Mr. Dalroyd, languidly, "you forget, the rabbit may be a sheep next week, a horse the next, your purse the next and----"
"And this, sir, was merely a rabbit, I believe, which happens to be mine," said the Major, turning to glance at the speaker.
Mr. Dalroyd was tall and slim and pallidly handsome; from black periwig to elegant riding boots he was _point-de-vice_, a languid, soft-spoken, very fine gentleman indeed, who surveyed the Major"s tall, upright figure, with sleepy-lidded eyes. So for a long moment they viewed each other, the Major serene of brow, his hands buried in the pockets of his threadbare Ramillie coat, Mr. Dalroyd cool and leisuredly critical, yet gradually as he met the other"s languid gaze, the Major"s expression changed, his black brows twitched together, his keen eyes grew suddenly intent and withdrawing a hand from his pocket, he began absently to finger the scar that marked his temple; then Mr. Dalroyd smiled faintly and turned a languid shoulder.