Straight before him, low in the sky, hung the morning star. It almost looked as if it were drifting earthwards with all its purity, all its glistening sweetness, drifting straight to the heart of the world. He fixed his eyes upon it, drawn by its beauty almost in spite of himself.
It was the only star in the sky, and it almost seemed as if it had a message for him.
But the day was dawning, the star fading, and the message hard to read.
Why had she refused to marry Chesyl? he asked himself. The man was lukewarm in speech and action; but that surely was but the way of the world to which he belonged. No excess of emotion was ever encouraged there. Doubtless behind that amiable mask there beat the same devouring longing that throbbed in his own racing pulses. Surely Doris knew this!
Surely she understood her own kind!
He recalled those words of hers that he had overheard, the slow utterance of them as of some p.r.o.nouncement of doom. "If I can"t have corn, I won"t have husks. I will die of starvation sooner."
He had caught the pain in those words. Had Hugh Chesyl failed to do so?
If so, Hugh Chesyl was a fool. He had never thought very highly of him, though he supposed him to be clever after his own indolent fashion.
Chesyl was the old squire"s nephew and heir--a highly suitable _parti_ for any girl. Yet Doris had refused him, not wholly without ignominy. A gentleman, too! Jeff"s mouth twisted. The thought came to him, and ripened to steady conviction, that had Chesyl taken the trouble to woo, he must in time have won. The girl was miserable enough to admit the fact of her misery, and he offered her marriage with him as a friendly means of escape. On other ground he could have won her. On this ground he was probably the least likely man to win. She asked for corn, and he offered husks. What wonder that she preferred starvation!
His hands were still clenched as he turned from the window. Oh, to have been in Hugh Chesyl"s place! She would have had no complaint then to make as to the quality of his offering. He would never have suffered her to go hungry. And yet the feeling that Hugh Chesyl loved her lingered still in his soul. Ah, what a fool! What a fool!
It was nearly three hours later that Jim Dawlish the miller answered Jeff Ironside"s gruff morning greeting with an eager, "Have you heard the news, sir?"
Dawlish was of a cheery, expansive disposition, and not much of the village gossip ever escaped him or remained with him.
"What news?" demanded Jeff.
"Why, about the old Colonel up at the Place, to be sure," said Dawlish, advancing his floury person towards the doorway in which stood the master"s square, strong figure.
"Colonel Elliot?" queried Jeff sharply. "What about him?"
Dawlish wagged a knowing head. "Ah, you may well ask that, sir. He died--early this morning--quite unexpected. Had a fit or some"at. They say it"s an open question whether there"ll be enough money to bury him.
He has creditors all over the county."
"Good heavens!" said Jeff. He drew back swiftly into the open air as if he found the atmosphere of the mill oppressive. "Are you quite sure it"s true?" he questioned. "How did you hear?"
"It"s true enough," said the miller, with keen enjoyment. "I heard it from the police-sergeant. He says it was so sudden that there"ll have to be an inquest. I"m sorry for the widow and orphans though. It"ll fall a bit hard on them."
"Good heavens!" said Jeff again. "Good heavens!"
And then very abruptly he turned and left the mill.
"What"s the matter with the boss?" asked the miller"s underling. "Did the Colonel owe him money too?"
"That"s about the ticket," said Jim Dawlish cheerily. "That comes of lending, that does. It just shows the truth of the old saying, "Stick to your money and your money"ll stick to you." There never was a truer word."
"Wonder if he"s lost much?" said the underling speculatively.
Whereupon Jim Dawlish waxed suddenly severe. He never tolerated idle gossip among his inferiors. "And that"s no concern of yours, Charlie Bates," he said. "You get on with your work and don"t bother your pudden head about what ain"t in no way your business. Mr. Ironside is about the soundest man within fifty miles, and don"t you forget it!"
"He wasn"t best pleased to hear about the poor old Colonel though for all that," said Charlie Bates tenaciously. "And I"d give something to know what"ll come of it."
If he had known, neither he nor Jim Dawlish would have got through much work that morning.
CHAPTER V
A BARGAIN
It was nearly a fortnight after Colonel Elliot"s death that Jeff Ironside went to the stable somewhat suddenly one morning, saddled his mare, and, without a word to anyone, rode away.
Granny Grimshaw was the only witness of his departure, and she turned from the kitchen window with a secret smile and nod.
It was an autumn morning of mist and sunshine. The beech trees shone golden overhead, and the robins trilled loudly from the clematis-draped hedges. Jeff rode briskly, with too set a purpose to bestow any attention upon these things. He took a short cut across his own land and entered the grounds belonging to the Place by a side drive seldom used.
Thence he rode direct to the front door of the great Georgian house and boldly demanded admittance.
The footman who opened to him looked him up and down interrogatively.
"Miss Elliot is at home, but I don"t know if she will see anyone," he said uncompromisingly.
"Ask her!" said Jeff tersely. "My name is Ironside."
While the man was gone he took the mare to a yew tree that shadowed the drive at a few yards" distance and tied her to it. There was an air of grim resolution about all his actions. This accomplished, he returned to the great front door.
As he reached it there came the sound of light, hastening feet within, and in a moment the half-open door was thrown back. Doris herself, very slim and pale, but withal very queenly in her deep mourning, came forth with outstretched hand to greet him.
"But why did they leave you here?" she said. "Please come in!"
He followed her in with scarcely a word.
She led him down a long oak pa.s.sage to a room that was plainly the library, and there in her quick, gracious way she turned and faced him.
"I am very pleased to see you, Mr. Ironside. I was going to write to you to thank you again for all your kindness, but lately--there has been so much to think about--so much to do. I know you will understand. Do sit down!"
But Jeff remained squarely on his feet. "I hope you have quite recovered from your fall?" he said.
"Quite, thank you." She smiled faintly. "It seems such an age ago.
Hector came home quite safely too." She broke off short, paused as if seeking for words, then said rather abruptly, "I shall never go hunting again."
"You mean not this year?" suggested Jeff.
She looked at him, and he saw that her smile Was piteous. "No, I mean never. Everything is to be sold. Haven"t you heard?"
He nodded. "Yes, I had heard. I hoped it wasn"t true."
"Yes, it is true." Her two hands fastened very tightly upon the back of a chair. There was something indescribably pathetic in the action. She seemed on the verge of saying more, but in the end she did not say it.
She just stood looking at him with the wide grey eyes that tried so hard not to be tragic.
Jeff stood looking back with great st.u.r.diness and not much apparent feeling. He offered no word of condolence or sympathy. Only after a very decided pause he said, "I wonder what you will do?"