"What are you two doing here?" said Trimmer at last, speaking in rather a tongue-tied fashion, but as if in full possession of his faculties.
"Waiting up to let you in, sir," said Jane, sharply.
"It is not true," said the agent. "You must have known I could let myself in. You two are holding a disgraceful clandestine meeting; and I shall consider it my duty to report these proceedings when her ladyship sees me after breakfast. I am called away for a few hours to London, and upon my return the whole house is in disorder."
"Thank ye, sir; then I shall speak to her ladyship myself as soon as she comes home," said Jane, pertly.
"What! Her ladyship not returned yet?"
"No, sir; and I"ve got to sit up till she do."
"Er--where has she gone? Someone ill?"
"Haw, haw, haw! Hark at that, Jane! He didn"t see her ladyship"s carriage at the races. Oh, no! He didn"t go and see old Sam Simpkins, the trainer, and make a bet or two; not him! And I wasn"t close behind him in the crowd when the guv"nor came in a winner, and I didn"t see him bang his hat down on the ground and stamp on it. Oh, no! You give me that hat, Mr Trimmer, sir, and I"ll brush and sponge it and iron it into shape so that it"ll look as good as new."
The agent"s countenance went through several changes before it settled down into a ghastly smile.
"Well, well," he said, "I must confess to being attracted to seeing the big race, but I did not know you would be there, Mark. But you surprise me. Sir Hilton and her ladyship not returned? A great surprise, though, Mark--Jane. You know, of course? Sir Hilton returning to the old evil ways."
"Yah? Chuck it up, Mr Trimmer, sir," said Mark, in a tone of disgust; "and when you tell her ladyship you caught me and Jane here talking after she let me in, just you tell her how much you won on the race."
"Won--won--won, my lad?" said the agent, with loud, louder, loudest in his utterance of the word. "I"ve lost; I"m nearly ruined. Oh, it has been a horrible day. Here, I"m ill. I must have a little brandy, I"m ready to faint."
"Sorry for you, sir," said Mark, as the ghastly-looking man turned to go back across the hall.
"Same here, sir," said Jane, with a grave curtsey; "but I don"t see as it"ll do you any good now you"re ruined to try and ruin us."
"And if I was you, sir, I wouldn"t touch another drop, sir," put in Mark. "I"ve seen chaps in your state before after a race--chaps who have lost every penny--go and fly to the drink."
Trimmer gazed vacantly at the speaker, pa.s.sed his tongue over his parched lips, and said feebly--
"Do I--do I look as if I had been drinking, Mark?"
"That"s so, sir; and as if, seeing what a stew you"re in over your losses, it hadn"t took a bit of effect upon you."
"No, no," said the agent, slowly. "I don"t feel as if I had had more than a gla.s.s."
"And all the time, sir, as the conductors say, you"re "full up"; and if you put any more on it you"ll soon find it out, and come on with a fit of the horrors, same as some poor beggars have before there"s an inquest."
The agent shuddered, and unconsciously began to play with the extinguisher of the plated candlestick, lifting it off the cone upon which it rested, putting it back, and ending by lifting it off quickly, and, as if to ill.u.s.trate the groom"s meaning, putting out the light.
"Pst! Hark! What"s that?" cried Jane, excitedly. "Here they are!"
Trimmer started violently. "Oh," he cried, "I can"t meet anybody now.
Mark--Jane--don"t say that I have been out I shall not--tell her ladyship--a word."
"Thank ye for nothing," said Mark, mockingly, as the door closed upon the departing agent. "How the d.i.c.kens did he do that?" he added, for a flower-pot in the conservatory fell with a crash upon the encaustic tiled floor, and Jane uttered a gasp.
But the next instant the front door-bell was rung violently.
"Come with me, Mark," whispered the girl, and they both hurried into the hall, the groom to open the door, and Jane to busy herself with trembling hands striking matches to light a couple of the chamber candlesticks standing ready upon the slab.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
IN THE FOG.
"Murder! Now for a row," thought the groom, as, to his horror, he saw in the moonlight, instead of the barouche and pair with Lady Lisle inside, the dogcart, down from which Sir Hilton was stepping, helped by Syd, while a second dogcart was coming up the drive with a lady on the seat and a big heavy man leading the horse, and the gate clicking loudly as it swung to and fro.
"Beg pardon, Sir Hilton," cried Mark, eagerly. "Didn"t know you meant to come back to-night. Thought I"d run over and see if all was right at home."
"Humph!" grunted the baronet, entering the porch and reeling slightly as he raised one hand to his head.
"Steady, uncle!" cried Syd. "Mind the cob, Mark. Lead him away, but come back and take Mr Simpkins"s nag too."
The boy turned to meet the big, burly man, who drew his vehicle up to the door and stopped to look back.
"Can you help her down, youngster--my boy, I mean?"
"Yes, all right, sir."
"I can jump down, dad," cried the occupant of the seat. "Now, Syd, catch me; look out!"
The boy"s intentions were admirable, and the young lady light; but, as Mark afterwards said to Jane, with a chuckle, when he knew all, "Master Syd wasn"t up to her weight." For, as the young wife alighted, she was caught, but the catcher staggered back, and would have fallen but for the lady"s agility, for she not only saved herself but clung to the boy"s hands, so that he only sat down on the steps.
"Houp-la!" she cried, striking a little att.i.tude.
"Hullo! Hurt?" growled Simpkins.
"No, he"s all right, dad. Ain"t you, Syd dear?"
"Hurt, no," cried the boy. "But those stones are hard. Come along in."
"Wait a moment, my gal," growled the trainer, and he drew his child aside.
"What"s the matter, dad?"
"Nothing. I"m going round to see the mare put up and fed. I shall be in directly. But look here, don"t you commit yourself before I come."
"Who"s going to?" said the girl, merrily, as she seemed to take the nocturnal excursion as a capital bit of fun.
"Well, I only warn you, my gal. Mind, you"re as good as they are.
Don"t you let "em begin sitting upon you because you"ve got a fine chance."
"All right, dad. I"m to be a different sort of furniture from that."
"I dunno what you mean, my gal--some of your larks, I suppose. But just you mind; don"t put it in these here words, but when my orty fine lady begins on you, just you say to her, ses you, "None o" that! I"m as good as you.""