"Nothing, thanks, just now," answered Wagram, filling his pipe. "I"ve got a mighty unpleasant job sticking out if ever there was one. Went out to knock over a rabbit or two, and knocked over one of the blue wildebeeste instead. How"s that?"
The priest gave a whistle.
"I wouldn"t like to be the man to break the news to the old Squire," he said, "unless the man happened to be yourself. Did you kill it?"
"Dead as a herring, or rather, the girl did."
"The girl did! What girl?"
"Why, the one the brute was chevying. Of course I had to get between, don"t you see?"
"I don"t. You omitted the trifling detail that the said brute was chevying anybody. Now, begin at the beginning."
Wagram laughed. This sort of banter was frequent between the two. The priest reached down for the half-smoked pipe he had let fall, relit it, and listened as Wagram gave him the narrative, concise to baldness.
"Who was the girl?" he said, when Wagram had done.
"That"s just the point. First of all, do you know any people in Ba.s.singham named Calmour?"
"M"yes. That is to say, I know _of_ them."
"What do they consist of?"
"One parent--male. I believe three daughters. Sons unlimited."
"What sort of people are they?"
"Ask the old Squire."
"That"s good enough answer," laughed Wagram. "You"re not going to give them a bad character, so you won"t give them any. All right. I"ll go and ask him now, and, by Jove," looking at his watch, "it"s time I did.
Good-night."
Father Gayle returned from the wicket, thinking.
"So that was the girl!" he said to himself. "The eldest, from the description. I hope she won"t make trouble."
For, as it happened, he had heard rather more about Delia Calmour and her powers of attractiveness than Wagram had; moreover, he knew that men, even those above the average, were very human. Wagram, in his opinion, was very much above the average, yet he did not want to foresee any entanglement or complication that could not but be disastrous-- absolutely and irrevocably disastrous.
CHAPTER THREE.
FATHER AND SON.
The exclamation possessive which had escaped Wagram as he contemplated Hilversea Court and its fair and goodly appurtenances, was, as a matter of hard fact, somewhat "previous," in that these enviable belongings would not be actually and entirely his until the death of his father; an eventuality which he devoutly hoped might be delayed for many and many a long year. Yet, practically, the place might as well have been his own; for since the motor car accident which had, comparatively speaking, recently cut short the life of his elder brother, and he had taken up his quarters at Hilversea, the old Squire had turned over to him the whole management, even to the smallest detail. And he had grown to love the place with a love that was well-nigh ecstatic. Every stick and stone upon it, every leaf and blade of gra.s.s seemed different somehow to the like products as existing beyond the boundary; and there were times when the bare consciousness that he was destined to pa.s.s the remaining half of his life here, was intoxicating, stupefying--too good indeed to last. It seemed too much happiness for a world whose joys are notoriously fleeting.
While hurriedly dressing for dinner Wagram"s mind reverted to the recent adventure. The old Squire had procured the African antelopes at considerable trouble and expense; in fact, had made a hobby of it. He would certainly not be pleased at the outcome of the said adventure; and the duty of breaking distasteful news to anybody was not a palatable one to himself. And the girl? She seemed a nice enough girl, and unmistakably an attractive one; and at the thought of her Wagram got out a telegraph form and indited a hasty "wire" to the London agency of a well-known cycle firm. Then he went down, a little late, to find his father ready and waiting.
The old Squire was a tall man of very refined appearance, and carried his stature, in spite of his fourscore years, without stoop or bend, and this, with his iron-grey moustache, would cause strangers to set him down as a fine specimen of an old soldier--which was incorrect, for he had spent the working period of his life in the Diplomatic Service.
"Well, Wagram, and what have you been doing with yourself?" he said, as they pa.s.sed into a gem of a panelled room looking out upon a lovely picture of smooth sward and feathery elms. It was the smaller dining-room, always used when father and son were alone together.
"Oh, I crept around with the rabbit rifle--a sort of combination of keeping my hand in, and at the same time admiring the evening effects."
"Did you get any good shots?"
"H"m, rather," thought Wagram to himself drily. Then aloud, "Do you know anybody in Ba.s.singham, father, by name Calmour?"
"Calmour? Calmour?" repeated the old man dubiously. "I seem to know the name too, but for the life of me I can"t fit it with an owner.
Rundle," as the butler entered, "do I know any Calmour in Ba.s.singham?"
"Well, sir, it"s Major Calmour. Lives at Siege House, just this side of the bridge, sir." And Wagram thought to detect a subtle grin drooping the corners of the man"s well-trained mouth as he filled the Squire"s gla.s.s.
"To be sure, to be sure. Now it all comes back. Major Calmour! Ho-- ho--ho! Wagram, that"s the man right enough. Why? Has he been writing to you about anything?"
"No. But--who is he, anyway?"
"He is a retired army veterinary surgeon, addicted to strong drink, and a wholly unnecessarily lurid way of expressing himself."
"I know the species. What sort of a crowd are his descendants?"
"His descendants? I believe they are many. Their female parent was, they say, even more partial to _aqua vita_ than their male; indeed, report sayeth that she died thereof. One, by the way, obtained large damages from Vance"s eldest fool in an action for breach of promise. I believe the family has been living on it ever since."
"Which of them was that?" said Wagram carelessly, wondering if it was the heroine of the afternoon"s adventure.
"I don"t remember. Which of them was it, Rundle?"
"I believe it was the second of the young ladies, sir," supplied the butler, who, being an old and privileged and, withal, discreet family servant, was often consulted by the Squire as to local and personal matters when memory proved defective. The answer, no name having been mentioned, of course conveyed no information to Wagram. So the heroine of the adventure was the daughter of a tippling and disreputable ex-Army vet. Well, she was not lacking in pluck and readiness of resource, at any rate.
"I made the acquaintance of one of the girls this afternoon, father, and that in rather a queer way," he said.
"Ah, really; and how was that?"
Then Wagram told the story, told it graphically, too. The Squire, listening, was taken quite out of himself.
"Why didn"t you shoot the brute, Wagram? You had the rifle."
"Oh, I didn"t want to do that as long as it could possibly be avoided.
It couldn"t in the long run. But the girl shot him instead. Had to."
"The girl shot him?"
"Yes! I"m coming to that." And then as he narrated the progress of his hand-to-hand struggle, and the relief just in the nick of time, the Squire burst forth with:
"Splendid! Splendid! There"s nerve for you. You"d certainly have been killed Wagram. Why, man, did you think you were a match for the beast by sheer force of strength? Why, you might as well have tried the same thing on with a bull. Ah well, it"s a pity, but it"s lucky it was no worse. Lucky too, you were about, or that poor girl would have been killed or, at best, seriously injured. But how did the thing get out?
This is within Hood"s responsibility."
"I sent him at once to see," answered Wagram. "Perrin opined that it jumped the palisade, and that"s not impossible. I gave them particular instructions about the head. It"s worth keeping. We"d better send it to Rowland Ward"s to be set up."