"And who," said Seymour, "has Clinton St. Mary now?"
"One of the Trenchards," said Mr. Lasher. "As you know, a very famous old Glebeshire family. There are some younger cousins of the Garth Trenchards, I believe. You know of the Trenchards of Garth? No? Ah, very delightful people. You should know them. Yes, Jim Trenchard, the man at Clinton, is a few years senior to myself. He was priest when I was deacon in--let me see--dear me, how the years fly--in--"pon my word, how time goes!"
All of which gave Seymour to understand that the Rev. James Trenchard was a failure in life, although a good enough fellow. Then it was that suddenly, in the heart of that warm and cosy drawing-room, Hugh Seymour was, sharply, as though by a douche of cold water, awakened to the fact that he must see Clinton St. Mary again. It appeared to him, now, with its lanes, its hedges, the village green, the moor, the Borhaze Road, the pirates, yes, and the Scarecrow. It came there, across the Canon"s sumptuous Turkey carpet, and demanded his presence.
"I must go," Seymour said, getting up and speaking in a strange, bewildered voice as though he were just awakening from a dream. He left them, at last, promising to come and see them again.
He heard the Canon"s voice in his ears: "Always a knife and fork, my boy ... any time if you let us know." He stepped down into the little lighted streets, into the town with its cosy security and some scent, even then in the heart of winter, perhaps, from the fruit of its many orchards. The moon, once again an orange feather in the sky, reminded him of those early days that seemed now to be streaming in upon him from every side.
Early next morning he caught the ten o"clock train to Clinton.
II
"Why," in the train he continued to say to himself, "have I let all these years pa.s.s without returning? Why have I never returned?... Why have I never returned?"
The slow, sleepy train (the London express never stops at Clinton) jerked through the deep valleys, heavy with woods, golden brown at their heart, the low hills carrying, on their horizons, white drifting clouds that flung long grey shadows. Seymour felt suddenly as though he could never return to London again exactly as he had returned to it before.
"That period of my life is over, quite over.... Some one is taking me down here now--I know that I am being compelled to go. But I want to go.
I am happier than I have ever been in my life before."
Often, in Glebeshire, December days are warm and mellow like the early days of September. It so was now; the country was wrapped in with happy content, birds rose and hung, like telegraph wires, beyond the windows.
On a slanting brown field gulls from the sea, white and shining, were hovering, wheeling, sinking into the soil. And yet, as he went, he was not leaving March Square behind, but rather taking it with him. He was taking the children too--Bim, Angelina, John, even Sarah (against her will), and it was not her who was in charge of the party. He felt as though, the railway carriages were full and he ought to say continually, "Now, Bim, be quiet. Sit still and look at the picture-book I gave you.
Sarah, I shall leave you at the next station if you aren"t careful," and that she replied, giving him one of her dark sarcastic looks, "I don"t care if you do. I know how to get home all right without your help."
He wished that he hadn"t brought her, and yet he couldn"t help himself.
They all had to come. Then, as he looked about the empty carriage, he laughed at himself. Only a fat farmer reading _The Glebeshire Times_.
"Marnin", sir," said the farmer. "Warm Christmas we"ll be havin", I reckon. Yes, indeed. I see the Bishop"s dying--poor old soul too."
When they arrived at Clinton he caught himself turning round as though to collect his charges; he thought that the farmer looked at him curiously.
"Coming back again has turned my wits.... Now, Angelina, hurry up, can"t wait all day." He stopped then abruptly, to pull himself together. "Look here, you"re alone, and if you think you"re not, you"re mad. Remember that you"re at the Bar and not even a novelist, so that you have no excuse."
The little platform--usually swept by all the winds of the sea, but now as warm as a toasted bun--flooded him with memory. It was a platform especially connected with school, with departure and return--departures when money in one"s pocket and cake in one"s play-box did not compensate for the hot pain in one"s throat and the cold marble feeling of one"s legs; but when every feeling of every sort was swallowed by the great overwhelming desire that the train would go so that one need not any longer be agonised by the efforts of replying to Mr. Lasher"s continued last words: "Well, good-bye, my boy. A good time, both at work and play"--the train was off.
"Ticket, please, sir!" said the long-legged young man at the little wooden gate. Seymour plunged down into the deep, high-hedged lane that even now, in winter, seemed to cover him with a fragrant odour of green leaves, of flowers, of wet soil, of sea spray. He was now so conscious of his company that the knowledge of it could not be avoided. It seemed to him that he heard them chattering together, knew that behind his back Sarah was trying to whisper horrid things in Bim"s ear, and that he was laughing at her, which made her furious.
"I must have eaten something," he thought. "It"s the strangest feeling I"ve ever had. I just won"t take any notice of them. I"ll go on as though they weren"t there." But the strangest thing of all was that he felt as though he himself were being taken. He had the most comfortable feeling that there was no need for him to give any thought or any kind of trouble. "You just leave it all to me," some one said to him. "I"ve made all the arrangements."
The lane was hot, and the midday winter sun covered the paths with pools and splashes of colour. He came out on to the common and saw the village, the long straggling street with the white-washed cottages and the hideous grey-slate roofs; the church tower, rising out of the elms, and the pond, running to the common"s edge, its water chequered with the reflection of the white clouds above it.
The main street of Clinton is not a lovely street; the inland villages and towns of Glebeshire are, unless you love them, amongst the ugliest things in England, but every step caught at Seymour"s heart.
There was Mr. Roscoe"s shop which was also the post-office, and in its window was the same collection of liquorice sticks, saffron buns, reels of cotton, a coloured picture of the royal family, views of Trezent Head, Borhaze Beach, St. Arthe Church, cotton blouses made apparently for dolls, so minute were they, three books, "Ben Hur," "The Wide, Wide World," and "St. Elmo," two bottles of sweets, some eau-de-Cologne, and a large white card with bone b.u.t.tons on it. So moving was this collection to Seymour that he stared at the window as though he were in a trance.
The arrangement of the articles was exactly the same as it had been in the earlier days--the royal family in the middle, supported by the jars of sweets; the three books, very dusty and faded, in the very front; and the bootlaces and liquorice sticks all mixed together as though Mr.
Roscoe had forgotten which was which.
"Look here, Bim," he said aloud, "I"ve left you up--I really am going off my head!" he thought. He hurried away. "If I _am_ mad I"m awfully happy," he said.
III
The white vicarage gate closed behind him with precisely the old-remembered sound--the whiz, the sudden startled pause, the satisfied click. Seymour stood on the sun-bathed lawn, glittering now like green gla.s.s, and stared at the house. Its square front of faded red brick preserved a tranquil silence; the only sound in the place was the movement of some birds, his old friend the robin perhaps in the laurel bushes behind him.
Although the sun was so warm there was in the air a foreshadowing of a frosty night; and some Christmas roses, smiling at him from the flower beds to right and left of the hall door, seemed to him that they remembered him; but, indeed, the whole house seemed to tell him that.
There it waited for him, so silent, laid ready for his acceptance under the blue sky and with no breath of wind stirring. So beautiful was the silence, that he made a movement with his hand as though to tell his companion to be quiet. He felt that they were crowded in an interested, amused group behind him waiting to see what he would do. Then a little bell rang somewhere in the house, a voice cried "Martha!"
He moved forward and pulled the wire of the bell; there was a wheezy jangle, a pause, and then a sharp irritated sound far away in the heart of the house, as though he had hit it in the wind and it protested. An old woman, very neat (she was certainly a Glebeshire woman), told him that Mr. Trenchard was at home. She took him through the dark pa.s.sages into the study that he knew so well, and said that Mr. Trenchard would be with him in a moment.
It was the same study, and yet how different! Many of the old pieces of furniture were there--the deep, worn leather arm-chair in which Mr.
Lasher had been sitting when he had his famous discussion with Mr.
Pidgen, the same bookshelves, the same tiles in the fireplace with Bible pictures painted on them, the same huge black coal-scuttle, the same long, dark writing-table. But instead of the old order and discipline there was now a confusion that gave the room the air of a waste-paper basket. Books were piled, up and down, in the shelves, they dribbled on to the floor and lay in little trickling streams across the carpet; old bundles of papers, yellow with age, tied with string and faded blue tape, were in heaps upon the window-sill, and in tumbling cascades in the very middle of the floor; the writing-table itself was so hopelessly littered with books, sermon papers, old letters and new letters, bottles of ink, bottles of glue, three huge volumes of a Bible Concordance, photographs, and sticks of sealing-wax, that the man who could be happy amid such confusion must surely be a kindly and benevolent creature. How orderly had been Mr. Lasher"s table, with all the pens in rows, and little sharp drawers that clicked, marked A, B, and C, to put papers into.
Mr. Trenchard entered.
He was what the room had prophesied--fat, red-faced, bald, extremely untidy, with stains on his coat and tobacco on his coat, that was turning a little green, and chalk on his trousers. His eyes shone with pleased friendliness, but there was a little pucker in his forehead, as though his life had not always been pleasant. He rubbed his nose, as he talked, with the back of his hand, and made sudden little darts at the chalk on his trousers, as though he would brush it off. He had the face of an innocent baby, and when he spoke he looked at his companion with exactly the gaze of trusting confidence that a child bestows upon its elders.
"I hope you will forgive me," said Seymour, smiling; "I"ve come, too, at such an awkward time, but the truth is I simply couldn"t help myself. I ought, besides, to catch the four o"clock train back to Polchester."
"Yes, indeed," said Mr. Trenchard, smiling, rubbing his hands together, and altogether in the dark as to what his visitor might be wanting.
"Ah, but I haven"t explained; how stupid of me! My name is Seymour. I was here during several years, as a small boy, with Canon Lasher--in my holidays, you know. It"s years ago, and I"ve never been back. I was at Polchester this morning and suddenly felt that I must come over. I wondered whether you"d be so good as to let me look a little at the house and garden."
There was nothing that Mr. Trenchard would like better. How was Canon Lasher? Well? Good. They met sometimes at meetings at Polchester. Canon Lasher, Mr. Trenchard believed, liked it better at Polchester than at Clinton. Honestly, it would break Mr. Trenchard"s heart if _he_ had to leave the place. But there was no danger of that now. Would Mr.
Seymour--his wife would be delighted--would he stay to luncheon?
"Why, that is too kind of you," said Seymour, hesitating, "but there are so many of us, such a lot--I mean," he said hurriedly, at Mr.
Trenchard"s innocent stare of surprise, "that it"s too hard on Mrs.
Trenchard, with so little notice."
He broke off confusedly.
"We shall only be too delighted," said Mr. Trenchard. "And if you have friends ..."
"No, no," said Seymour, "I"m quite alone."
When, afterwards, he was introduced to Mrs. Trenchard in the drawing-room, he liked her at once. She was a little woman, very neat, with grey hair brushed back from her forehead. She was like some fresh, mild-coloured fruit, and an old-fashioned dress of rather faded green silk, and a large locket that she wore gave her a settled, tranquil air as though she had always been the same, and would continue so for many years. She had a high, fresh colour, a beautiful complexion and her hands had the delicacy of fragile egg-sh.e.l.l china. She was cheerful and friendly, but was, nevertheless, a sad woman; her eyes were dark and her voice was a little forced as though she had accustomed herself to be in good spirits. The love between herself and her husband was very pleasant to see.
Like all simple people, they immediately trusted Seymour with their confidence. During luncheon they told him many things, of Ra.s.selas, where Mr. Trenchard had been a curate, at their joy at getting the Clinton living, and of their happiness at being there, of the kindness of the people, of the beauty of the country, of their neighbours, of their relations, the George Trenchards, at Garth of Glebeshire generally, and what it meant to be a Trenchard.
"There"ve been Trenchards in Glebeshire," said the Vicar, greatly excited, "since the beginning of time. If Adam and Eve were here, and Glebeshire was the Garden of Eden, as I daresay it was, why, then Adam was a Trenchard."
Afterwards when they were smoking in the confused study, Seymour learnt why Mrs. Trenchard was a sad woman.
"We"ve had one trial, under G.o.d"s grace," said Mr. Trenchard. "There was a boy and a girl--Francis and Jessamy. They died, both, in a bad epidemic of typhoid here, five years ago. Francis was five, Jessamy four. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." It was hard losing both of them. They got ill together and died on the same day."
He puffed furiously at his pipe. "Mrs. Trenchard keeps the nursery just the same as it used to be. She"ll show it to you, I daresay."