With Rifle and Bayonet.
by F.S. Brereton.
CHAPTER ONE.
A SAD MISTAKE.
The last few rays of a cold September sunset were streaming through the High Street of a large and populous village called Redford, in the county of Surrey, lighting up the pretty red-brick cottages and casting a deep shadow beyond the quaint and tumble-down old porch which led to the church. A few mellow shafts had slipped by it, and, struggling through the iron bars of a ma.s.sive gate, travelled up a long gravel drive and cast a ruddy glow on the windows of a fine country mansion.
In one of the rooms facing the sunset, a man and a woman were standing opposite one another, engaged in angry conversation, while outside, on the great staircase, the subject of their dispute, a boy of about eleven, was slowly making his way upward, stopping now and again to let his head drop upon his folded arms against the banisters, and sob as if his heart would break. At last, after many stops, he reached a landing midway up, and was just in the act of succ.u.mbing once more to his grief when a jeering and unsympathetic laugh from above caught his ear, and caused him to give a violent start. Instantly the lad dried his eyes, and choked back his sobs. Then, with a sudden gesture, as if of determination to forget his sorrow, he crossed the landing, and with his head now held proudly erect in the air, ran up the remaining stairs and was quickly out of sight.
Meanwhile, in the room below, the man and woman faced one another in the gathering gloom, while angry words pa.s.sed between them.
The former, Captain Charles Somerton by name and t.i.tle, a lithe and active man of middle age, was evidently ill at ease. He stood close beside his writing-desk, shuffling restlessly from one foot to another, and toying with a paper-knife. His wife, on the other hand, was apparently calm and self-contained, though a careful scrutiny of her features would have shown that pa.s.sion had almost mastered her. She was a proud, haughty-looking woman, and now that her temper had almost got the better of her there was a decidedly evil look upon her face. She listened impatiently to what her husband was saying, glaring spitefully at him, and occasionally opening her lips as if on the point of interrupting.
"My dear," the captain was saying, somewhat nervously, "you really must be more kind to the poor little chap. Scold him if you wish to, for I have no doubt that, like all boys, he is constantly up to some kind of mischief; but if you have occasion to correct him, do so in a more gentle manner. He is quite a young lad, you must remember, and I am sure that his worst deeds cannot merit such punishment. You frighten him out of his life, and you do what I consider an extremely unkind thing--you constantly hurt his feelings, well knowing him to be a thin-skinned boy. Poor little chap! If you are not more careful he will detest you. You say that he and Frank together smashed a piece of valuable china in your boudoir? How then is it that Frank is forgiven, while Jack, who is the younger by more than a year, has his ears boxed and is spoken to so harshly?"
"There you are again, Charles!" was Mrs Somerton"s angry answer. "How often must I tell you that Jack is the ringleader in all the mischief?
If it were not for him Frank would never go astray, for he is a quiet and good-mannered boy, and, unless led away by the bad example of the other, always conducts himself as I should wish."
"I am much inclined to disagree with you there, Julia," the captain replied, with some show of temper. "It seems to me that there is something of the hypocrite about Frank. His manners may be good, but he can never look one in the face, and he is ready at any moment to snivel and whine. Jack may be a naughty boy, and given to getting into mischief, but I tell you candidly that I would far rather that he were so than a namby-pamby, milk-sop lad, afraid to say boo! to a goose.
He"s a plucky little fellow, and all that is wrong with him is that, like the majority of healthy individuals, he has a large stock of animal spirits, which are a tremendous help in getting one along in this world, but which occasionally lead one into trouble. You say he is the ringleader; but to my mind that only shows his pluck. He goes ahead where others are afraid and hang back.
"But there, my dear, do not let us quarrel about this trumpery matter.
Remember that when I, a widower with one boy, married you, a widow with an only son, a great object of our union was that the lads might prove good brothers and playfellows. That was three years ago, and now we have the satisfaction of knowing that they are fairly good companions, and our wish is that they should continue so. Treat them alike, Julia, and they will always be firm friends. But make a difference between them, punish one for the other"s faults, and you will surely separate the lads and cause them to dislike one another. As for the bit of china, I am sorry it is broken. Give it to me next time I go to London, and, if possible, I will replace it, or buy you something more valuable."
Captain Somerton spoke in his kindest and most conciliatory manner, and patted his wife playfully on the arm. But this subject of the two boys was a bitter one to her, and she was far from feeling appeased.
"Yes, it is just like you, Charles, to take Jack"s part!" she exclaimed, with an angry sneer. "It is always the same, and, upon my word, I have no patience with you. Jack is a mischievous little monkey, and if there is to be an unpleasant scene between us whenever he misbehaves himself, then the sooner he is sent away to school the better. If I had had my way he should have gone long ago."
Mrs Somerton, having delivered a parting shot, glared angrily at her husband, and bounced out of the room, banging the door after her.
As for the captain, he was evidently distressed that his attempt to set matters right had failed so completely. He gave a deep sigh, and, sinking resignedly into a chair, lit a cigar, and smoked furiously till the room was filled with choking clouds, through which the red end of his cheroot glimmered feebly.
He was a soldierly-looking man, tall and upright, and with a kindly expression on his face. Had a stranger seen him he would have taken him at once for what he was. There was no mistaking the moustache and the military air; while, had anyone been in doubt, the manner in which his grooms--who were all old soldiers--saluted him, and his method of responding, would have been convincing to the dullest. A few years before the event just narrated Captain Somerton had belonged to a crack hussar regiment. But, his father dying, he had resigned his commission, in order that he might be able to manage in person the property which had come into his possession.
Then it was that his first wife had died, leaving him with a child of five. Three years later he had married a widow, who also had a boy.
It had been a sad, indeed a fatal, mistake. His second wife was unsuitable in every respect, and was the very last woman he should have selected. She had no sympathy with him, spent much of her time amongst smart people in London, and when at home invariably upset the house, and caused her husband displeasure by her treatment of his boy. Indeed, as time pa.s.sed, she seemed to take a positive delight in speaking sharply to Jack, knowing well that by doing so she caused Captain Somerton pain and annoyance.
And Jack--poor little fellow!--though at first he had, boy-like, quickly forgotten his scoldings, was now really in terror of his unloving stepmother.
People who knew the Somertons, and were callers at Frampton Grange, soon learnt what kind of a woman its new mistress was. Though outwardly all that was pleasant and entertaining to them, they quickly gauged her character, and knew her to be a source of discord in a house which was, before her arrival there, one of the happiest in the land. They summed her up, noticed the icy looks with which she often greeted Jack, and contrasted them with the tender embraces with which she almost smothered her own son.
Then they discussed the subject by other firesides till it was almost threadbare, and came to the conclusion that jealousy of Jack"s undoubted superior qualities and good looks was the main cause of her unkind treatment of him.
And below stairs, in the kitchen of Frampton Grange, the captain"s servants put their heads together many a time, with the result that all sympathised secretly with their master and his son, and cordially disliked the new mistress and the peevish and ill-mannered cub belonging to her.
Even as Captain Somerton and his wife were exchanging their views in the study above, old Banks, the butler, who had been with the Somertons for many years, was holding forth with unusual vehemence to the cook and maids below.
"I calls it just about a shame!" he cried indignantly, bringing his fat fist down upon the table with such a thump as to make his audience start out of their seats and cause himself a twinge of pain.
"Why can"t she let the boy alone? Poor little chap! She"s always a-nagging at him; and to hear her going on at the captain is enough to make yer tear yer hair. And he sits there in front of her as tame as a girl, and gives her back gentle words. Bah! I hates it! Yer wouldn"t think at such times as he"s got a name for miles round here as the daringest rider after hounds; but that"s what he has, as anyone would tell yer. And yet, when he gets in front of her, and she starts to tackle him, he"s as mild as milk, and scarcely dares to answer her.
She"s a vixen, that"s what she is, cook, and I can tell yer I ain"t much in love with her. Why don"t he pitch into her a bit? But I dare say he acts all for peace! He dislikes a row, as all gentlemen does, and his motter is "Least said the soonest mended". "Tain"t the way I"d do it if I was in his shoes! I"d pretty soon make her leave the boy alone and stop her talk, I can a.s.sure yer!"
Banks shook his head in a threatening manner, and finding that his outburst of indignation had gained for him the sympathy and admiration of his fellow-servants, gave a deep grunt of satisfaction, and was on the point of launching forth afresh when a bell, rung from Mrs Somerton"s boudoir, sounded in the pa.s.sage.
With a startled "Oh, lor!" he was himself again. His flushed features at once a.s.sumed their accustomed impa.s.siveness, and with a hasty hitch at his tie to place it in the most exact position, he slipped hurriedly from the kitchen to obey the summons.
And now to follow the boy who had been weeping so bitterly on the stairs. Having gained the landing above, he entered a large room which was evidently set aside for the lads to play in. It was carpeted with felt, almost bare of furniture, and had stacks of cricket bats and b.a.l.l.s and other implements in its various corners. Encircling the room, and running close to the wall, was a miniature set of rails, with a wonderfully-constructed station near the fireplace; while opposite the door there was a long tunnel, built up with artificial bricks and earth, from the mouth of which a beautiful model locomotive had half emerged, and remained there stationary, waiting for steam to get up again, and hinting gently to its two old playmates that they were sadly neglectful of their one-time friend.
Here, seated on the fire-guard, with his legs dangling some inches from the floor, was a dark, sallow-complexioned lad, with heavy features and shifting eyes, who went by the name of Frank.
"Well, baby!" this pleasant young gentleman remarked as Jack entered the room, "so you"ve been blubbing again, have you? Why, you are always turning the taps on. We shall have a flood soon."
"If you were anything but a sneak you would take my part, and your own share in the blame," Jack answered sharply, vainly endeavouring to steady his quivering lip. "You are a coward to leave me to bear it all.
Why did you say that I broke the vase, when you know very well that you pushed me against it? I may be a baby, but I"d rather be that than a coward and a sneak."
Jack blurted out his last words boldly, and glared defiantly at his stepbrother.
"Here, you shut up, baby!" cried Frank, slipping to the floor and looking threateningly at him.
"Sha"n"t," said Jack stubbornly. "You know it"s the truth."
"It"s the truth, is it, baby?" repeated the other, lifting his hand menacingly. "Take it back, or I"ll lick you."
"I won"t take it back. You are a sneak and a coward, and now you are trying to be a bully," cried Jack st.u.r.dily, facing his opponent without a sign of flinching.
"Then take that!" shouted Frank, bringing his hand with a smack across Jack"s face.
Words ended there. Jack might be a baby and give way to tears when he had been treated unkindly, for he was a very sensitive boy, though not wanting in manliness, but for all that it took a considerable amount of physical pain to make him whimper.
On the receipt of the blow from Frank his teeth closed tightly, cutting off the cry he might otherwise have given; his hands shot out in front of him, and moved rapidly backwards and forwards as he guarded the vicious blows aimed at him, while he returned them with due interest whenever there was an opportunity. To anyone who did not know the two boys it looked at first a most unfair encounter, for, despite the fact that little more than twelve months intervened between Jack"s birthday and that of Frank, the latter was at least three inches taller, and correspondingly heavy.
But, though Nature had given him a body which overlapped Jack"s by more than a year"s growth, it had placed within it a meagre stock of courage, which fact was quickly brought to light.
In the first scuffle Frank"s weight and reach gave him an advantage, and in spite of his lack of science, he planted some heavy blows on Jack"s face, which, however, only seemed to increase the latter"s stubbornness.
He took his punishment without a murmur, and, blinking to clear the stars from his eyes, attacked his opponent with even more vigour and fierceness than before. Then luck favoured him. He succeeded in stopping an ugly rush with such abruptness as to make Frank stagger, and followed it up with lightning-like rapidity.
That was the turning-point. Frank could no longer face him, but dodged and scuttled round the room in a desperate hurry, vainly endeavouring to avoid the blows. One more settled the matter. With a sharp and most unpleasant thud Jack"s fist struck him on the nose, and next moment the bully was grovelling on the floor, writhing and shrieking as if in agony, while a flood of tears poured down his cheeks.
It was a funny sight, and fat and jovial old Banks, who, at his mistress"s order, had scrambled hurriedly upstairs to learn what the commotion was about, chuckled inwardly, and looked on in great enjoyment. Nor was it the only part of the struggle he had witnessed.
He had arrived at the door of the play-room shortly after its commencement, quite unknown to the boys, and there he remained, listening for sounds from below, and waiting for a more opportune time to interfere.
"That"s it! Go it, my lads!" he murmured to himself, as he stood panting on the landing outside. "You"re bound to have it out, and I ain"t a-going to stop yer if I can help it. Best get it settled now.
That young Master Frank"s been wanting a licking for a goodish time, and I"ll back Master Jack to give it him."