Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.--Tempest.
Sunday morning found Anna in a different frame of mind from that of theevening before. Uncle Clement had been very ill all night, and thehouse was to be kept as quiet as possible. When Anna came in fromearly Celebration, Aunt Cherry came out looking like a ghost, and veryanxious, and gave a sigh of relief on Adrian being reported stillsound asleep. Gerald presently came down, pale and languid, but callinghimself all right, and loitering over his breakfast till after the boyappeared, so rosy and ravenous as to cause no apprehension, except thathe should devour too much apricot jam, and use his new boots too noisilyon the stairs.
Anna devised walking him to Beechcroft to hear if there were any newsof Fergus, and though he observed, with a certain sound of contemptuousrivalship, that there was no need, for "Merrifield was as right as atrivet," he was glad enough to get out of doors a little sooner, andthough he affected to be bored by the kind inquiries of the people theymet, he carried his head all the higher for them.
Nobody was at home except General Mohun, but he verified Adrian'simpression of his nephew's soundness, whatever the mysterious comparisonmight mean; and asked rather solicitously not only after Mr. Underwoodbut after Gerald, who, he said, was a delicate subject to have made suchexertions.
"It really was very gallant and very sensible behaviour," he said, ashe took his hat to walk to St. Andrew's with the brother and sister,but Anna was conscious of a little pouting in Adrian's expression, anddispleasure in his stumping steps.
Gerald came to church, but went to sleep in the sermon, and hadaltogether such a worn-out look that no one could help remembering thathe had never been very strong, and had gone through much exertion theday before, nor could he eat much of the mid-day meal. Mrs. Grinstead,who was more at ease about her brother, looked anxiously at him, andwith a kind of smile the word "Apres" passed between them. The Sundaycustom was for Clement to take Adrian to say his Catechism, and have alittle instruction before going out walking, but as this could not be onthis day, Anna and he were to go out for a longer walk than usual, soas to remove disturbance from the household. Gerald declined, of course,and was left extended on the sofa; but just as Anna and Adrian had madea few steps along the street, and the boy had prevailed not to walk toClipstone, as she wished, but to go to the cliffs, that she might hearthe adventure related in sight of the scene of action, he discoveredthat he had left a glove. He was very particular about Sunday walkingin gloves in any public place, and rushed back to find it, leaving hissister waiting. Presently he came tearing back and laughing.
"Did you find it?"
"Oh yes; it was in the drawing-room. And what else do you think I found?Why, Cherie administering"--and he pointed down his throat, and made agulp with a wild grimace of triumph. "On the sly! Ha! ha!"
Anna felt as if the ground had opened under her feet, but she answeredgravely--
"Poor Gerald went through a great deal yesterday, and is quite knockedup, so no wonder he needs some strengthening medicine."
"Strengthening grandmother! Don't you think I know better than that?" hecried, with a caper and a grin.
"Of course you had to have some cordial when you were taken out of thewater."
"And don't you know what it was?"
"I know the fisher-people carry stuff about with them in case ofaccidents."
"That's the way with girls--just to think one knows nothing at all."
"What do you know, Adrian?"
"Know? Why, I haven't been about with Kit and Ted Harewood for nothing!Jolly good larks it is to see how all of you take for granted that afellow never knew the taste of anything but tea and milk-and-water."
"But what do you know the taste of?" she asked, with an earnestnessthat provoked the boy to tease and put on a boasting manner, so that shecould not tell how much he was pretending for the sake of amazing andtormenting her, in which he certainly succeeded.
However, his attention was diverted by coming round the corner to wherethere was a view of Anscombe Bay, when he immediately began to fight hisbattles o'er again, and show where they had been groping in the mud andseaweed in pursuit of sea-urchins, and stranded star-fish, and crabs.
"And it wasn't a forest after all, it was just a sell--nothing but mudand weed, only Fergus would go and poke in it, and there were horridgreat rough stones and rocks too, and I tumbled over one."
Anna here became conscious that the whole place was the resort of theafternoon promenaders of Rockquay, great and small, of all ranks anddegrees, belonging to the "middle class" or below it, and that theymight themselves become the object of attention; and she beggedher brother to turn back and wait till they could have the place tothemselves.
"These are a disgusting lot of cads," he agreed, "but there won't besuch a jolly tide another time. I declare I see the very rock where Isaw the sea-mouse--out there! red and shiny at the top."
Here a well-dressed man, who had just come up the Coast-guard path, putaside his pipe, and taking off his hat, deferentially asked--
"Have I the honour of addressing Sir Adrian Vanderkist?"
Adrian replied with a gracious nod and gesture towards his straw hat,and in another moment Anna found him answering questions, and giving hisown account of the adventure to the inquirer, who, she had littledoubt, was a reporter, and carrying his head, if possible, higher inconsequence as he told how Fergus Merrifield had lingered over hisstones, and all the rest after his own version. She did not hear thewhole, having had to answer the inquiries of one of the bicycle friendsof the previous day, but when her attention was free she heard--
"And the young lady, Sir Adrian?"
"Young lady! Thank goodness, we were not bothered with any of thatsort."
"Indeed, Sir Adrian, I understood that there was a young lady, MissAurelia, that Master Merrifield was lamenting, as if she had met with awatery grave."
"Ha! ha! Aralia was only the name of a bit of fossil kind of a stickthat Merrifield had us down there to find in the fossil forest. I'm sureI saw no forest, only bits of mud and stuff! But he found a bit, sureenough, and was ready to break his heart when he had to leave his bagbehind him on the rock. Aralia a young lady! That's a good one."
He forgathered with a school-fellow on the way home, and Anna heardlittle more.
The next day, however, there arrived the daily local paper, addressedto Sir Adrian Vanderkist, Bart., and it was opened by him atbreakfast-time.
"I say! Look here! 'Dangerous Accident in Anscombe. A Youthful Baronetin peril!' What asses people are!" he added, with an odd access of thegratified shame of seeing himself for the first time in print. But hedid not proceed to read aloud; there evidently was something he didnot like, and he was very near pocketing it and rushing off headlong toschool with it, if his aunt and Anna had not entreated or commanded forit, when he threw it over with an uncomplimentary epithet.
"Just what I was afraid of when I saw the man talking to him!" exclaimedAnna. "Oh, listen!
"'The young Sir Adrian Vanderkist, at present residing at St. Andrew'sRock with his aunt, Mrs. Grinstead, and the Rev. E. C. Underwood, andwho is a pupil at Mrs. Edgar's academy for young gentlemen, was, we areinformed, involved in the most imminent danger, together with a sonof General Sir Jasper Merrifield, K.G.C., a young gentleman whoseremarkable scientific talent and taste appear to have occasioned theperil of the youthful party, from whence they were rescued by Gerald F.Underwood, Esq., of Vale Leston.'"
"What's all that?" said Gerald F. Underwood, Esquire, sauntering in andkissing his aunt. "Good-morning. How is Uncle Clement this morning?"
"Much better; I think he will be up by and by," answered Mrs. Grinstead.
"What bosh have you got there? The reporters seized on their prey, eh?"
"There's Sir Jasper!" exclaimed Anna, who could see through the blindsfrom where she sat.
Sir Jasper had driven over with his little son, and, after leaving himat school, ha
d come to inquire for Mr. Underwood, and to obtain a fulleraccount of the accident, having already picked up a paper and glanced atit.
"I am afraid my little scamp led them into the danger," he said."Scientific taste forsooth! Science is as good a reason as anything elsefor getting into scrapes."
"Really," said Gerald, "I can't say I think your boy came out the worstin it, though I must own the Rockquay Advertiser bestows most of thehonours of the affair on the youthful baronet! You say he blew his owntrumpet," added Gerald, turning to Anna.
"The reporter came and beset us," said Anna, in a displeased voice. "Idid not hear all that passed, but of course Adrian told him what he toldme, only those people make things sound ridiculous."
"To begin with," said Gerald, "I don't think Fergus, or at any rateDavy Blake, was in fault. They tried to go home in good time, havingan instinct for tides, but Adrian was chasing a sea-mouse or some suchgame, and could not be brought back, and then he fell over a slipperyrock, and had to be dragged out of a hole, and by that time the channelof the Anscombe stream was too deep, at least for him, who has been onlytoo carefully guarded from being amphibious."
"Oh! that did not transpire at home," said Sir Jasper. "Boys are soreserved."
Mrs. Grinstead and Anna looked rather surprised. Anna even ventured--
"I thought Fergus got too absorbed."
"So did I," said his father dryly. "And he did not justify himself."
"M--m--m," went on Gerald, skimming the article.
"Read it," cried Anna. "You know none of us have seen it."
Gerald continued--
"'Their perilous position having been observed from Anscombe cliffs, Mr.G. F. Underwood of Vale Leston heroically' (i.e. humbugically) 'madehis way out to their assistance, while a boat was put off by theCoast-guard, and that of Mr. Carter, fisherman, from Rockquay waslaunched somewhat later.' We could not see either of them, you know. Myeye, this is coming it strong! 'The young baronet generously insistedthat the little fisher-boy, David Blake, who had accompanied them,should first be placed in safety--'"
"Didn't he?" exclaimed Anna. "I saw, and I wondered, but I thought itwas his doing."
"You saw?"
"Yes, in the Coast-guard's telescope."
"Oh! That is a new feature in the case!"
"Then he did not insist?" said Mrs. Grinstead.
"It was with the wrong side of his mouth."
"But why did you send the fisher-boy first, when after all his life wasless important?" exclaimed Anna, breaking forth at last.
"First, for the reason that I strove to impress on 'the youthfulbaronet,' Noblesse oblige. Secondly, that Davy knew how to make his wayalong the rocks, and also knew where to find the Preventive station. Icould leave him to get on, as I could not have done with the preciousAdrian, and that gave a much better chance for us all. It was swimmingwork by the time I got back, and by that time I thought the bestalternative for any of us was to keep hold as long as we could, and thenkeep afloat as best we might till we were picked up. Your boy was thehero of it all. Adrian was so angry with me for my disrespect that Icould hardly have got him to listen to me if Fergus had not made himunderstand, that to let himself be passive and be floated by me till theboats came up was the only thing to be done. There was one howl when hehad to let go his beloved aralia, but he showed his soldier blood, andbehaved most manfully."
"I am most thankful to hear it," said his father, "and especiallythankful to you."
"Oh! there was not much real danger," said Gerald lightly, "to any onewho could swim."
"But Adrian could not," said Anna. "Oh! Gerald, what do we not owe toyou?"
"I must be off," said Sir Jasper; "I must see about a new jacket for myboy. By the bye, do you know how the little Davy fared in the matter ofclothes?"
"Better than any of us," said Gerald. "He was far too sharp to gomud-larking in anything that would be damaged, and had his boots safelaid up in a corner. I wish mine were equally safe."
Sir Jasper's purchases were not confined to boots and jacket, but ascompensation for his hard words included a certain cabinet full ofdrawers that had long been Fergus's cynosure.
Anna and her aunt were much concerned at what was said of Adrian, andstill more at the boastful account that he seemed to have given; butthen something, as Mrs. Grinstead observed, must be allowed for thereporter's satisfaction in having interviewed a live baronet. Each ofthe parties concerned had one hero, and if the Merrifields' was Fergus,to their own great surprise and satisfaction, Aunt Cherry was very happyover her own especial boy, Gerald, and certainly it was an easier taskthan to accept "the youthful baronet" at his own valuation or that ofthe reporter.
Mrs. Grinstead considered whether to try to make him less conceitedabout it, and show him his want of truth. She consulted his uncle aboutit, showing the newspaper, and telling, and causing Gerald to tell, thehistory of the accident, which Clement had not been fit to hear all theday before.
He was still in bed, but quite ready to attend to anything, and helaughed over the account, which she illustrated by the discoveries shehad made from the united witnesses.
"And is it not delightful to see for once what Gerald really is?" shesaid.
"Yes, he seems to have behaved gallantly," said his uncle; "and I won'tsay just what might have been expected."
"One does expect something of an Underwood," she said.
"Little Merrifield too, who saw the danger coming, deserves more honourthan he seems to have taken to himself."
"Yes, he accepted severity from that stern father of his, who seems verysorry for it now. It is curious how those boys' blood comes out in thematter--chasser de race."
"You must allow something for breeding. Fergus had not been the idol ofa mother and sisters, and Gerald remembered his father in danger."
"Oh, I can never be glad enough that he has that remembrance of him! Howlike him he grows! That unconscious imitation is so curious."
"Yes, the other day, when I had been dozing, I caught myself calling outthat he was whistling 'Johnny Cope' so loud that he would be heard inthe shop."
"He seems to be settling down more happily here than I expected. Isometimes wonder if there is any attraction at Clipstone."
"No harm if there were, except--"
"Except what? Early marriage might be the very best thing."
"Perhaps, though sometimes I doubt whether it is well for a man to havegone through the chief hopes and crises of life so soon. He looks outfor fresh excitement."
"There are so many stages in life," said Geraldine, sighing. "And withall his likenesses, Gerald is quite different from any of you."
"So I suppose each generation feels with those who succeed it. Nor doI feel as if I understood the Universities to-day as I did Cambridgethought of old. We can do nothing but wait and pray, and put out a handwhere we see cause."
"Where we see! It is the not seeing that is so trying. The being surethat there is more going on within than is allowed to meet one's eye,and that one is only patronized as an old grandmother--quite out of it."
"I think the conditions of life and thought are less simple than in ourday."
"And to come to the present. What is to be done about Adrian--the onewho was not a hero, though he made himself out so?"
"Probably he really thought so. He is a mere child, you know, and it washis first adventure, before he has outgrown the days of cowardice."
"He need not have told stories."
"Depend upon it, he hardly knew that he did so."
"He had the reporter to help him certainly, and the 'RockquayAdvertiser' may not keep to the stern veracity and simplicity of the'Pursuivant'."
"And was proud to interview a live baronet."
"Then what shall we do--Anna and I, I mean?"
"Write the simple facts to Vale Leston, and then let it alone."
"To him?"
"Certainly. He would think your speaking mere nagging. Preserve anominous silence if he speaks. His school-fellow
s will be his best cure."
"Well, he did seem ashamed!"
Clement was right. The boy's only mention of the paragraph was once as"that beastly thing"; and Anna discovered from Valetta Merrifield, thatwhatever satisfaction he might have derived from it had been effectuallydriven out of him by the "fellows" at Mrs. Edgar's, who had beset himwith all their force of derision, called him nothing but the "youthfulBart.," and made him ashamed as none of the opposite sex or of matureryears could ever have succeeded in doing. Valetta said Fergus had triedto stop it, but there had certainly been one effect, namely, that Adrianwas less disposed to be "Merry's" shadow than heretofore, and seemedinclined instead to take up with the other seniors.
One thing, however, was certain. Gerald enjoyed a good deal moreconsideration among the Clipstone damsels than before. True, as Jaspersaid, it was only what any one would have done; but he had done it, andproved himself by no means inferior to "any one," and Fergus regardedhim as a true hero, which had a considerable effect on his sisters, themore perhaps because Jasper derided their admiration.
They were doubly bent on securing him for a contributor to theMouse-trap. They almost thought of inviting him to their Browningafternoons, but decided that he would not appreciate the femininecompany, though he did so often have a number of the 'Censor' to discussit with Dolores, whenever they met him.
CHAPTER XII. -- THE LITTLE BUTTERFLY
The Long Vacation Page 12
