The entrance gates at Meriton are ancient and extremely handsome, wrought of the old iron of East Suss.e.x, and fashioned, somewhere in the mid-eighteenth century, after an elaborate Florentine pattern--tradition says, by smiths imported from Italy. The pillars are of weather-stained marble, and four in number, the two major ones surrounded by antlered stags, the two minor by cressets of carved flame, symbolising the human soul, and the whole ill.u.s.trating the singular motto of the Chandons, "_As the hart desireth._" On either side of the gates is a lodge in the Ionic style, with a pillared portico, and the lodges are shadowed by two immense cedars, the marvel of the country-side.
But to-day the lodges stood empty, with closed doors and drawn blinds-- the doors weather-stained, the blinds dingy with dust. Weeds overgrew the bases of the pillars, and gra.s.s had encroached upon all but a narrow ribbon scored by wheel-ruts along the n.o.ble drive. Parson Chichester pulled up, and was about to dismount and open the gates for himself, when he caught sight of a stranger coming afoot down the drive; and the stranger, at the same moment catching sight of the dog-cart, waved a hand and mended his pace to do this small service.
"Much obliged to you," nodded Parson Chichester pleasantly, after a sharp and curious scrutiny. For the stranger was a parson too by his dress--a tall, elderly man with grey side-whiskers and a hard, square mouth like the slit of a letter-box. The clergy are always curious about one another by a sort of freemasonry, and Parson Chichester knew every beneficed clergyman in the diocese and most of the unbeneficed.
But who could this be? And what might be his business at Meriton, of all places?
The stranger acknowledged his thanks with a slight wave of the hand.
"A fine day. I am happy to have been of service."
It was curious. Each paused for a second or so as if on the point of asking a question; each waited for the other to speak; then, as nothing came of it, each bowed again, and thus awkwardly they parted.
Parson Chichester drove on with a pucker between the eyebrows and a humorous twitch in the corners of his mouth. So when two pedestrians, strangers, meet and politely attempt to draw aside but with misdirected _cha.s.ses_ that leave them still confronting one another, they disengage at length and go their ways between irritation and amus.e.m.e.nt.
Meriton, one of "the stately homes of England," is a structure in the Palladian style, injudiciously built on the foundations of an older house dating from the fifteenth century, when sites were chosen for the sake of a handy supply of water, and with little regard to view or even to sunshine. It occupies a cup of the hills, is backed by a dark amphitheatre of evergreen trees, and looks across a narrow valley. The farther slope rises abruptly, and has been converted into a park, so to speak, against its will. The stream that flows down the valley bottom has likewise been arrested by art and forced to form a lake with a swannery; but neither lake nor swannery is entirely convincing. It was not, however, its architect"s fault that to Parson Chichester the place looked much more stately than homelike, since every window in its really n.o.ble facade was shuttered and sightless.
The great entrance porchway lay at the back of the house, in the gloom of a dripping cliff. Here the Parson climbed down and tugged at an iron bell-handle. The bell sounded far within the house, and was answered pretty promptly by the butler, a grizzled, ruddy-faced man, who (it was understood) had followed Sir Miles out of the Service, and carried confirmation of this in the wrinkles about his eyes--those peculiar, unmistakable wrinkles which are only acquired by keeping look-out in many a gale of wind.
"Ah? Good morning, Matters!" said Parson Chichester. "Sorry to disturb you, but I"ve driven over to ask for Sir Miles"s address."
"Certainly, sir. That"s curious too," added Mr. Matters half to himself. "His address . . . yes, to be sure, sir, I"ll write it down for you. But you must let me get you something in the way of luncheon after your drive. Sir Miles would be annoyed if you went away without-- though, the house being closed, you"ll pardon deficiencies. As for the horse, sir--"
"I hope I know how to stable him," struck in the Parson. "But I won"t stay--thank you all the same. I"ve eaten my sandwiches on the road, and couldn"t make a second meal if you paid me. What"s curious, by the way?"
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
"I am quoting you. "Curious," you said."
"Ah, to be sure, sir. Well, less than half an hour ago there was a stranger here--a clergyman too--putting the very same question."
"I met him at the lodge gates. Oldish man, grey whiskers, mouth like a trap."
"That"s him, sir."
"It"s a coincidence, certainly. The more remarkable, I guess, because Meriton nowadays is not much infested with parsons. "Wonder who he was, and what he wanted?"
"He would not give his name, sir. He wanted the address."
"You gave it to him?"
"I did not, sir."
"Was he annoyed?"
"He was, sir; very much annoyed. He said words to himself, which unless I"m mistaken--"
Matters paused.
Parson Chichester laughed.
"If you had refused _me_, you "d have heard "em quite distinctly."
"Yes, sir. The address is, Grand Hotel, Monte Carlo. I heard from Sir Miles only yesterday. You understand, sir, that as a rule he does not choose for everyone to know his movements."
"I do, and am obliged by your confidence. I want it for Miss Sally Breward; and, if this rea.s.sures you, I shall give it to her and to no one else."
"I thank you, sir; it was unnecessary. But I may tell you, sir, that Sir Miles has a very high opinion of Miss Sally, as I happen to know."
"We all have, Matters. . . . Well, I have what I came for, and will be driving back to Culvercoombe with it. So good day, and thank you!"
"I thank _you_, sir."
Mr. Matters bowed.
Parson Chichester turned Archdeacon, and put him at his best trotting speed--by a single hint from the reins, no whip needed. This time he had to descend and open the lodge gates for himself. A mile and a half beyond them the road crossed one of the many high brows of the moor, and here on the rise he discerned a black-habited figure trudging along the road ahead.
He recognised the stranger at once, and reined up as he overtook him.
"Good day again, sir! Can I offer you a lift?"
"I thank you," said the stranger. "I am bound for a place called Culvercoombe."
"Why, and so am I! So you must give me the pleasure."
"You are exceedingly kind."
He clambered up, not very skilfully, and the dog-cart bowled on again.
For a while the two kept silence. Then Parson Chichester made an opening--
"You don"t belong to these parts?" he asked.
"No. . . . Pardon my curiosity, but are you a friend of Miss Breward"s?"
"I believe she would allow me to say "yes." By the way, hereabouts we call her Miss Sally. Everyone does--even the butler at Meriton, with whom I was speaking just now."
"Indeed? . . . I am wondering if you would presently add to your kindness by giving me an introduction to her? Trust me," he went on, staring down the road ahead and answering Parson Chichester"s quick glance without seeming to perceive it, "you will incur no responsibility. I am not a mendicant priest, and only ask her to favour me with an address, which I believe she can easily give."
"An address?"
The stranger"s somewhat grim mouth relaxed a little at the corners.
"The English language," he said, "is full of distracting h.o.m.onyms. I am not asking her for a sermon, but to be directed where a certain gentleman resides--at present, I have reason to believe, abroad--where, for instance, a letter will reach him."
"Sir Miles Chandon?"
"Precisely. You have hit it. . . . But, to be sure, you were talking just now with his butler. A worthy fellow, I dare say, though suspicious of strangers."