VC -- A Chronicle of Castle Barfield and of the Crimea

ace than ever from the parlour doorway, and a fourth auditor came upon the scene in the person of an elderly woman in black sat

the answer meant to the four people

security afforded by a brine pit in the neighbourhood of Droitwich; and his creditor having failed in the stipulated payments, James had foreclosed upon this property and had undertaken to work it for himself. He found this enterprise a failure, but since he could induce nobody to take it off his hands, he worked the property for what it was worth from time to time. There were seasons in which the pit was almost dry, and when it was impossible to work it at a profit. There were other seasons when the underground sources treated him more favourably. A more decided man than Mr. Knock Jervoyce would probably have decided to abandon the property altogether, and to let one loss stand for everything. There was a considerable cost incurred in the upkeep of machinery which was much oftener idle than engaged; and the occasional employment of the plant was, of course, on the average much more expensive than its constant use would have been. James was on the point, after two or three years of indecision, of relinquishing the working altogether, when Cousin John came home. There was a conference between the two, and following on that conference a very strange thing happened. The worthless mi

of more. Young Polson Jervase had caught this person slinking about the house on the Beacon Hill in what looked to him like a suspicious fashion, and an interview between the two had resulted in a stand-up fight in which the blackmailer had got very much the worst of it. But as he rose from the last round, and spat out the fragments of one or two broken teeth, he said things which fi

es which had brought such trouble to her boy. It was a hundred to one that young Polson Jervase would have been less disturbed if his mother, hearing these things, had not fallen to trembling and weeping an

; and his monetary affairs had never prospered until he had entrusted them to the hands of the cousins Jervase &

nd the apple of his eye. She has been wandering quite consciously towards an engagement with young Polson; and expects him, with excellent reason, to declare himself at almo

uy between the cousins translates

it cries out o

father, but the grey old father of his sweetheart; it tells him in an instant of a life of narrow means for the girl he loves; it hurls his own hopes in the mire, and makes the very thought of them a dishonour; it snatches fro

t nothing more than a confused leaping of two thoughts in one. Her m

picion stare at both of them; and the roarin

vain to close it, until his son and the General lent their aid. The hall was sown with broken glass and fragments of picture fr

d, and his lips were of the colour of lead. The swaggering jocundity of his manner had all gone. The very stature of the man seemed changed, and the

d rasping voice. And they all moved autom

embling housewife so far awoke within her that she closed the door, lest the

is forehead by the rain, and the water dripping from his cape, stood as the centre of a

is right hand blindly, 'give me-gi

, having primed himself with a gre

r? What do you mean by coming here to sca

eld region. James seemed incapable of answer, and his cousin, laying a hand ane

ou,' he said gruffl

and fell into a fit of coughing. The rest awaited him in a tense expectation. At las

nd him alternately, 'you know that when old General Airey died,

vase, 'we know that.

The young skunk has trumped up a charge against us of having tapped his br

tty cool piece of impudence, to be sure!

' James answered, 'some scoundrels who pretend tha

ion of two honest men like you and me, James? 'His voice began to take something of its old ring. 'I wonder at you-tearin' up like a madman at this time o' night, and in this weather, with a yam li

e left the room to obey his order. 'De

libel in this country, James, and them as chooses to talk it can be made to pay for it And any man as assaults the honest fame of Jack

e in this matter. But I can't understand-I really cannot understand-why an absurd charge of that sort should be at all disturbing to you.' He turned upon

gerous ride in that pelting rain and bitter wind through which he had travelled, and what with the perturbation of his spirit, he trembled like

with an idiotic want of apprehension of the question's meaning. 'Di

e so,' stam

d upon him and jolting him roughly to and fro. 'You came on a hor

rseback, to be sure-of course I came on horseback. How else,'

the horse? 'Je

lmost sure.' He made a pitiable attempt to collect himself, and prattled on. 'Oh, yes, I am quite sure now-he clattered off towards the stabl

ver a seeming of composure for himself under the shelter of a pretended anger. 'Why didn't you g

ered, as feebly as ever. '

r he was willing to relieve the tension of his

g, skunking, silly

im by the arm with

ghter is present, and she is not accustomed to

own. 'I beg ten thousand pardons-I beg Miss Irene's p

g up and down the room, casting glance

utburst, turned to the old l

ation between ourselves. Will you be so very kind as to take Irene elsewhere for a little while? 'His voice and manner were perfectly composed, and his face lit up with one of his rare sweet sm

e looked first at young Polson Jervase with a glance of fear and inquiry, and the young fellow responded to it only by a curt nod of the head,

aid, 'and then I will send for you.' He closed the d

ry sorry that my temper carried me back to my old seafaring manners; but,' with a savage look at his co

in such a manner that they are evidently very serious to his mind. Had he brought them

come to an explanation. Get on, James. Who's thi

oping shoulders straightened, and one hand went up to stroke the grey moustache. His brows straightened, his mild grey-blue eye grew stern, and his mouth was ruled into a straight line. The fact was that the General had had an almost lifelong experience in the great art of reading men, and though he had preserved a child-like simplicity in his dealings with the world, the fact was due a thousand times more t

ree,' said General

Jervoyce, who had by this time found what he had been fu

ho took it from him, and, after a single glance at it, st

y, and without a spoken word reached forward and too