Innocent : her fancy and his fact

by Marie Corelli

  CHAPTER VII

  The supper was a very silent meal. Old Hugo was evidently not inclinedto converse,--he ate his food quickly, almost ravenously, withoutseeming to be conscious that he was eating. Robin Clifford glanced athim now and again watchfully, and with some anxiety,--an uncomfortableidea that there was something wrong somewhere worried him,--moreover hewas troubled by the latent feeling that presently his uncle would besure to ask if all was "settled" between himself and Innocent.Strangely enough, however, the old man made no allusion to the subject.He seemed to have forgotten it, though it had been the chief matter onwhich he had laid so much stress that morning. Each minute Innocentexpected him to turn upon her with the dreaded question--to which shewould have had to reply untruly, according to the plan made betweenherself and Robin. But to her great surprise and relief he said nothingthat conveyed the least hint of the wish he had so long cherished. Hewas irritable and drowsy,--now and again his head fell a little forwardon his chest and his eyes closed as though in utter weariness. Seeingthis, the practical Priscilla made haste to get the supper finished andcleared away.

  "You be off to bed, Mister Jocelyn," she said,--"The sooner the better,for you look as tired as a lame dog that 'as limped 'ome twenty miles.You ain't fit to be racketing about markets an' drivin' bargains."

  "Who says I'm not?" he interrupted, sitting bolt upright and glaringfiercely at her--"I tell you I am! I can do business as well as anyman--and drive a bargain-ah! I should think so indeed!--a hard-and-fastbargain!--not easy to get out of, I can tell you!--not easy to get outof! And it has cost me a pretty penny, too!"

  Robin Clifford glanced at him enquiringly.

  "How's that?" he asked--"You generally make rather than spend!"

  Jocelyn gave a sudden loud laugh.

  "So I do, boy, so I do! But sometimes one has to spend to make! I'vedone both to-day--I've made and I've spent. And what I've spent isbetter than keeping it--and what I've made--ay!--what I'vemade--well!--it's a bargain, and no one can say it isn't a fair one!"

  He got up from the supper table and pushed away his chair.

  "I'll go," he said--"Priscilla's right--I'm dog-tired and bed's thebest place for me." He passed his hand over his forehead. "There's asort of buzzing in my brain like the noise of a cart-wheel--I wantrest." As he spoke Innocent came softly beside him and took his armcaressingly. He looked down upon her with a smile. "Yes, wilding, Iwant rest! We'll have a long talk out tomorrow--you and I and Robin.Bless thee, child! Good-night!"

  He kissed her tenderly and held out one hand to Clifford, who cordiallygrasped it.

  "Good boy!" he said-"Be up early, for there's much to do--and Landonwon't be home till late--no--not till late! Get on with the fieldwork--for if the clouds mean anything we shall have rain." He paused amoment and seemed to reflect, then repeated slowly--"Yes, lad! We shallhave rain!--and wind, and storm! Be ready!--the fine weather'sbreaking!"

  With that he went, walking slowly, and they heard him stumble once ortwice as he went up the broad oak staircase to his bedroom. Priscillaput her head on one side, like a meditative crow, and listened. Thenshe heaved a sigh, smoothed down her apron and rolled up her eyes.

  "Well, if Mister Jocelyn worn't as sober a man as any judge an' jury,"she observed--"I should say 'e'd bin drinkin'! But that ain't it. Mr.Robin, there's somethin' gone wrong with 'im--an' I don't like it."

  "Nor I," said Innocent, in a trembling voice, suggestive of tears. "Oh,Robin, you surely noticed how strange he looked! I'm so afraid! I feelas if something dreadful was going to happen--"

  "Nonsense!" and Robin assumed an air of indifference which he was farfrom feeling--"Uncle Hugo is tired--I think he has been put out--youknow he's quick-tempered and easily irritated--he may have had someannoyance in the town--"

  "Ah! And where's Landon?" put in Priscilla, with a dark nod--"That dobeat me! Why ever the master should 'ave let a man like that go on theloose for a night an' a day is more than I can make out! It's sort oftempting Providence--that it is!"

  Clifford flushed and turned aside. His fight with Landon was fresh inhis mind--and he began to wonder whether he had done rightly in tellinghis uncle how it came about. But meeting Innocent's anxious eyes, whichmutely asked him for comfort, he answered--

  "Oh, well, there's nothing very much in that, Priscilla! I daresayLandon wanted a holiday--he doesn't ask for one often, and he's keptfairly sober lately. Hadn't we better be off to bed? Things willstraighten out with the morning."

  "Do you really think so?" Innocent sighed as she put the question.

  "Of course I think so!" answered Robin, cheerily. "We're all tired, andcan't look on the bright side! Sound sleep is the best cure for theblues! Good-night, Innocent!"

  "Good-night!" she said, gently.

  "Good-night, Priscilla!"

  "Good-night, Mr. Robin. God bless ye!"

  He smiled, nodded kindly to them both, and left the room.

  "There's a man for ye!" murmured Priscilla, admiringly, as hedisappeared--"A tower of strength for a 'usband, which the Lord knowsis rare! Lovey, you'll never do better!"

  But Innocent seemed not to hear. Her face was very pale, and her eyeshad a strained wistful expression.

  "Dad looks very ill," she said, slowly--"Priscilla, surely younoticed--"

  "Now, child, don't you worry--'tain't no use"--and Priscilla lit twobedroom candles, giving Innocent one--"You just go up to bed and thinkof nothing till the morning. Mister Jocelyn is dead beat and put outabout something--precious 'ungry too, for he ate his food as though hehadn't 'ad any all day. You couldn't expect him to be pleasant if hewas wore out."

  Innocent said nothing more. She gave a parting glance round the room toassure herself that everything was tidy, windows bolted and all safefor the night, and for a fleeting moment the impression came over herthat she would never see it look quite the same again. A faint coldtremor ran through her delicate little body--she felt lonely andafraid. Silently she followed Priscilla up the beautiful Tudorstaircase to the first landing, where, moved by a tender, clingingimpulse, she kissed her.

  "Good-night, you dear, kind Priscilla!" she said--"You've always beengood to me!"

  "Bless you, my lovey!" answered Priscilla, with emotion--"Go and sleepwith the angels, like the little angel you are yourself! And mind youthink twice, and more than twice, before you say 'No' to Mr. Robin!"

  With a deprecatory shake of her head, and a faint smile, Innocentturned away, and passed through the curious tortuous little corridorthat led to her own room. Once safely inside that quiet sanctum wherethe Sieur Amadis of long ago had "found peace," she set her candle downon the oak table and remained standing by it for some moments, lost inthought. The pale glimmer of the single light was scarcely sufficientto disperse the shadows around her, but the lattice window was open andadmitted a shaft of moonlight which shed a pearly radiance on herlittle figure, clothed in its simple white gown. Had any artist seenher thus, alone and absorbed in sorrowful musing, he might have takenher as a model of Psyche after her god had flown. She was weary andanxious--life had suddenly assumed for her a tragic aspect. OldJocelyn's manner had puzzled her--he was unlike himself, and sheinstinctively felt that he had some secret trouble on his mind. Whatcould it be? she wondered. Not about herself and Robin--for were he askeen on "putting up the banns" as he had been in the morning he wouldnot have allowed the matter to rest. He would have asked straightquestions, and he would have expected plain answers,--and they would,in accordance with the secret understanding they had made with eachother, have deceived him. Now there was no deception necessary--heseemed to have forgotten--at least for the present--his own dearestdesire. With a sigh, half of pain, half of relief, she seated herselfat the table, and opening its one deep drawer with a little key whichshe always wore round her neck, she began to turn over her beloved pileof manuscript, and this occupied her for several minutes. Presently shelooked up, her eyes growing brilliant with thought, and a smile on herlips.

  "I really think it m
ight do!" she said, aloud--"I should not be afraidto try! Who knows what might happen? I can but fail--or succeed. If Ifail, I shall have had my lesson--if I succeed--"

  She leaned her head on her two hands, ruffling up her pretty hair intosoft golden-brown rings.

  "If I succeed!--ah!--if I do! Then I'll pay back everything I owe toDad and Briar Farm!--oh, no! I can never pay back my debt to BriarFarm!--that would be impossible! Why, the very fields and trees andflowers and birds have made me happy!--happier than I shall ever beafter I have said good-bye to them all!--good-bye even to the SieurAmadis!"

  Quick tears sprang to her eyes--and the tapering light of the candlelooked blurred and dim.

  "Yes, after all," she went on, still talking to the air, "it's betterand braver to try to do something in the world, rather than throwmyself upon Robin, and be cowardly enough to take him for a husbandwhen I don't love him. Just for comfort and shelter and Briar Farm! Itwould be shameful. And I could not marry a man unless I loved him quitedesperately!--I could not! I'm not sure that I like the idea ofmarriage at all,--it fastens a man and woman together for life, and thetime might come when they would grow tired of each other. How cruel andwicked it would be to force them to endure each other's company whenthey perhaps wished the width of the world between them! No--I don'tthink I should care to be married--certainly not to Robin."

  She put her manuscript by, and shut and locked the drawer containingit. Then she went to the open lattice window and looked out--andthought of the previous night, when Robin had swung himself up on thesill to talk to her, and they had been all unaware that Ned Landon waslistening down below. A flush of anger heated her cheeks as sherecalled this and all that Robin had told her of the unprepared attackLandon had made upon him and the ensuing fight between them. But now?Was it not very strange that Landon should apparently be in such highfavour with Hugo Jocelyn that he had actually been allowed to stay inthe market-town and enjoy a holiday, which for him only meant a bout ofdrunkenness? She could not understand it, and her perplexity increasedthe more she thought of it. Leaning far out over the window-sill, shegazed long and lovingly across the quiet stretches of meadowland,shining white in the showered splendour of the moon--the talltrees--the infinite and harmonious peace of the whole scene,--then,shutting the lattice, she pulled the curtains across it, and taking herlit candle, went to her secluded inner sleeping-chamber, where, in thesmall, quaintly carved four-poster bed, furnished with ancient tapestryand lavendered linen, and covered up under a quilt embroidered threecenturies back by the useful fingers of the wife of Sieur Amadis deJocelin, she soon fell into a sound and dreamless slumber.

  The hours moved on, bearing with them different destinies to millionsof different human lives, and the tall old clock in the great hall ofBriar Farm told them off with a sonorous chime and clangour worthy ofWestminster itself. It was a quiet night; there was not a breath ofwind to whistle through crack or key-hole, or swing open an unbolteddoor,--and Hero, the huge mastiff that always slept "on guard" justwithin the hall entrance, had surely no cause to sit up suddenly on hisgreat haunches and listen with uplifted ears to sounds which were toany other creature inaudible. Yet listen he did--sharply and intently.Raising his massive head he snuffed the air--then suddenly began totremble as with cold, and gave vent to a long, low, dismal moan. It wasa weird noise--worse than positive howling, and the dog himself seemeddistressfully conscious that he was expressing something strange andunnatural. Two or three times he repeated this eerie muffled cry--then,lying down again, he put his nose between his great paws, and, with adeep shivering sigh, appeared to resign himself to the inevitable.There followed several moments of tense silence. Then came a suddendull thud overhead, as of a heavy load falling or being thrown down,and a curious inexplicable murmur like smothered choking or groaning.Instantly the great dog sprang erect and raced up the staircase like amad creature, barking furiously. The house was aroused--doors wereflung open--Priscilla rushed from her room half dressed--and Innocentran along the corridor in her little white nightgown, her feet bare,and her hair falling dishevelled over her shoulders.

  "What is it?" she cried piteously--"Oh, do tell me! What is it?"

  Robin Clifford, hearing the dog's persistent barking, had hastilydonned coat and trousers and now appeared on the scene.

  "Hero, Hero!" he called--"Quiet, Hero!"

  But Hero had bounded to his master Jocelyn's door and was poundingagainst it with all the force of his big muscular body, apparentlyseeking to push or break it open. Robin laid one hand on the animal'scollar and pulled him back--then tried the door himself--it was locked.

  "Uncle Hugo!"

  There was no answer.

  He turned to one of the frightened servants who were standing near. Hisface was very pale.

  "Fetch me a hammer," he said--"Something--anything that will force thelock. Innocent!"--and with deep tenderness he took her little coldhands in his own--"I wish you would go away!"

  "Why?" and she looked at him with eyes full of terror. "Oh no, no! Letme be with you--let me call him!"--and she knelt outside the closeddoor--"Dad! Dear Dad! I want to speak to you! Mayn't I come in? I'm sofrightened--do let me come in. Dad!"

  But the silence remained unbroken.

  "Priscilla!"--and Robin beckoned to her--"keep Innocent beside you--I'mafraid--"

  Priscilla nodded, turning her head aside a moment to wipe away thetears that were gathering in her eyes,--then she put an arm roundInnocent's waist.

  "Don't kneel there, lovey," she whispered--"It's no good and you're inthe way when they open the door. Come with me!--there's a dear!"--andshe drew the trembling little figure tenderly into her arms."There!--that'll be a bit warmer!" and she signed to one of the farmmaids near her to fetch a cloak which she carefully wrapped round thegirl's shoulders. Just then the hammer was brought with other tools,and Robin, to save any needless clamour, took a chisel and inserted itin such a manner as should most easily force the catch of the door--butthe lock was an ancient and a strong one, and would not yield for sometime. At last, with an extra powerful and dexterous movement of hishand, it suddenly gave way--and he saw what he would have given worldsthat Innocent should not have seen--old Hugo lying face forward on thefloor, motionless. There was a rush and a wild cry--

  "Dad! Dad!"

  She was beside him in a moment, trying with all her slight strength tolift his head and turn his face.

  "Help me--oh, help me!" she wailed. "He has fainted--we must lifthim--get some one to lift him on the bed. It is only a faint--he willrecover--get some brandy and send for the doctor. Don't lose time!--forHeaven's sake be quick! Robin, make them hurry!"

  Robin had already whispered his orders,--and two of the farm lads,roused from sleep and hastily summoned, were ready to do what he toldthem. With awed, hushed movements they lifted the heavy fallen body oftheir master between them and laid it gently down on the bed. As thehelpless head dropped back on the pillow they saw that all wasover,--the pinched ashen grey of the features and the fast glazing eyestold their own fatal story--there was no hope. But Innocent held thecold hand of the dead man to her warm young bosom, endeavouring to takefrom it its cureless chill.

  "He will be better soon," she said,--"Priscilla, bring me thatbrandy--just a little will revive him, I'm sure. Why do you stand therecrying? You surely don't think he's dead?--No, no, that isn't possible!It isn't possible, is it, Robin? He'll come to himself in a fewminutes--a fainting fit may last quite a long time. I wish he had notlocked his door--we could have been with him sooner."

  So she spoke, tremblingly nursing the dead hand in her bosom. No onepresent had the heart to contradict her--and Priscilla, with the tearsrunning down her face, brought the brandy she asked for and held itwhile she tenderly moistened the lips of the corpse and tried to forcea few drops between the clenched teeth--in vain. This futile attemptfrightened her, and she looked at Robin Clifford with a wild air.

  "I cannot make him swallow it," she said--"Can you, Robin? He looks sogrey and co
ld!--but his lips are quite warm."

  Robin, restraining the emotion that half choked him and threatened tooverflow in womanish weeping, went up to her and tried to coax her awayfrom the bedside.

  "Dear, if you could leave him for a little it would perhaps be better,"he said. "He might--he might recover sooner. We have sent for thedoctor--he will be here directly--"

  "I will stay here till he comes," replied the girl, quietly. "How canyou think I would leave Dad when he's ill? If we could only rouse him alittle--"

  Ah, that "if"! If we could only rouse our beloved ones who fall intothat eternal sleep, would not all the riches and glories of the worldseem tame in comparison with such joy! Innocent had never seendeath--she could not realise that this calm irresponsiveness, this coldand stiffening rigidity, meant an end to the love and care she hadknown all her life--love and care which would never be replaced inquite the same way!

  The first peep of a silver dawn began to peer through the latticewindow, and as she saw this suggestion of wakening life, a sudden dreadclutched at her heart and made it cold.

  "It will be morning soon," she said--"Priscilla, when will the doctorcome?"

  Scarcely had she said the words when the doctor entered. He took acomprehensive glance round the room,--at the still form on the bed--atthe little crouching girl--figure beside it--at Priscilla, tremblingand tearful--at Robin, deadly pale and self-restrained--at thefarm-lads and servants.

  "When did this happen?" he said.

  Robin told him.

  "I see!" he said. "He must have fallen forward on getting out of bed. Irather expected a sudden seizure of this kind." He made his briefexamination. The eyes of the dead man were open and glassily staringupward--he gently closed the lids over them and pressed them down.

  "Nothing to be done," he went on, gently--"His end was painless."

  Innocent had risen--she had laid the cold hand of the corpse back onits breast--and she stood gazing vacantly before her in utter misery.

  "Nothing to be done?" she faltered--"Do you mean that you cannot rousehim? Will he never speak to me again?"

  The doctor looked at her gravely and kindly.

  "Not in this world, my dear," he said--"in the next--perhaps! Let ushope so!"

  She put her hand up to her forehead with a bewildered gesture.

  "He is dead!" she cried--"Dead! Oh, Robin, Robin! I can't believeit!--it isn't true! Dad, dear Dad! My only friend! Good-bye--good-bye,Dad!--good-bye, Briar Farm--good-bye to everything--oh, Dad!"

  Her voice quavered and broke in a passion of tears.

  "I loved him as if he were my own father," she sobbed. "And he loved meas if I were his own child! Oh, Dad, darling Dad! We can never loveeach other again!"