upon gerard the sounds of the disturbance came with a curious sense of something long expected having come to pass. he scarcely felt so much as a slight shock of surprise.
being, therefore, in a condition to notice things, he looked round him at the various faces in the music-room, and noted the effect the noise had upon his companions.
cora, who was singing at the piano to her own accompaniment, stopped short with a low cry, and covered her face with her hands.
arthur who was standing beside her, grew red and indignant, and called sir william by several uncomplimentary names.
lady sylvia and delia, who were talking on a sofa, looked at each other in horror, and rose, as if uncertain what to do.
two men whom gerard had previously seen at the priory, and who were staying in the music-room to listen to cora’s singing in the intervals of poker, muttered something to each other in an undertone, and promptly went to the scene of the disturbance.
[239]gerard, having noticed these things, and hearing that the disturbance in the card-room was growing louder instead of calming down, slipped out of the room and across the next, and looked in at the third, where the unpleasant scene was taking place.
as he passed through the intermediate room, he noticed that mrs. van santen, with her poor old face blanched with horror, was sitting alone bolt upright in a corner, clasping her hands and apparently too much alarmed to speak or to move.
in the card-room itself all was confusion. sir william gurdon, flushed, excited, scarcely intelligible was glaring across the card-table at denver van santen, who had risen, like all the rest of the players, and who was standing with his arms folded and with a proud look of indignation on his handsome face, surrounded by men who were all speaking at once, some addressing one of the disputants, and some the other, and all failing in making themselves distinctly heard.
harry van santen, who was the coolest man in the room, was the first person to make himself clearly heard. standing on the outskirts of the crowd, he cried, in a thin, sharp, penetrating voice—
“give him a chance. make yourself understood, sir william, if you’re sober enough.”
at these words, which raised a fresh issue, and were met with a torrent of incoherent words from the young baronet, and with murmurs from the rest of the men, the ladies in the room, who had most of them[240] drawn away from the crowd of angry men, and gathered in a knot in a corner, whispered to each other and made towards the door.
harry van santen, who perceived this movement, hastened to open the door, saying in a low voice to the most important lady of the group—
“yes, that’s right. this is no scene for you ladies. the fellow’s drunk.”
he shut the door when they had all gone out, and returned to the card-table, where three or four of the men were now with difficulty holding sir william back from a personal assault upon denver whose calmly contemptuous attitude and tone were irritating him to madness.
the uproar continued, and indeed grew worse, as excited partisans on either side tried to outshout the rest.
in the midst of the noise and the turbulent movements of the crowd of men a figure flitted lightly past gerard, followed immediately by another; and delia and miss davison, the former leading, the other following close behind, made their way into the group with the authority born of combined intelligence and experience, and at once found a hearing.
“gentlemen,” said delia, “this scene is very distressing, and not one of you can make himself heard or understood if you all speak at once. will you separate for a time, and all think calmly over what has happened—or has not happened—and then[241] come together to discuss the matter like reasonable persons? if not for your own sakes, i think you will do so for my mother’s and for ours, will you not?”
manner, voice, tone, all were perfect, and one after another the men fell back, acknowledging the justice of her speech, and willing to obey her suggestion.
sir william alone of the visitors was obdurate. while denver merely retreated a few steps, and then threw himself with an air of insolent defiance on a sofa, the baronet maintained his position in the middle of the room, and poured forth his woes as incoherently and volubly as ever.
he paid no heed to delia, who looked at miss davison with a little gesture of despair.
then rachel came up to sir william, and laying her hand on his sleeve, said gently—
“don’t you think, sir william, you had better talk this over quietly with someone—with me, if you like? and i will listen to all you have to say, and will do anything i can to put the matter right.”
“you can’t put it right. i beg your pardon, miss davison, but really this isn’t a thing i can discuss with a lady. i’ve been che—”
“oh, hush, hush! think what you’re saying.”
“i’ve been cheated, i say. i’m sorry to have had to make a disturbance, but it doesn’t alter the fact that—”
“for the sake of the ladies of the family, won’t you be reasonable? wait a little; calm down a little,[242] and then hear what there is to be said on the other side.”
“there’s nothing to be said, miss davison, nothing, that is to say, that i could listen to or believe. you must really excuse me. it’s with the men of the family that i have to deal. or at least with the fellow denver. but i suppose it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other, and that while one cheats at poker, the other does at bridge!”
under the influence of the lady’s gentle talk, sir william had grown, not only too coherent, but so definite and precise in his accusations, so sweeping in his charges, that every ear was strained to catch what he said, and denver, lounging on the sofa, grew perceptibly redder as he was forced to listen too.
but miss davison, determined to end this painful scene in her own way, took the young baronet’s arm, almost as if she had been taking him into custody, and insisted on his leading her—or more properly being led by her—into the adjoining room, where mrs. van santen, still the picture of woe, was sitting in her high-backed chair, and receiving the condolences of one or two of the ladies, while the others went into the music-room, with the exception of lady sylvia, who, much disgusted at the scene she had been forced to witness, had ordered her car round and taken her departure.
“say something nice to the old lady, do, sir william,” pleaded rachel coaxingly in his ear.
[243]“how can i say anything nice to her, when i know her son is a card—”
miss davison would not let him finish.
“you know nothing certainly,” she broke in quickly. “you suspect, but that’s not enough. do pray remember what you owe to all of us, and whatever you may think or fancy, keep your suspicions to yourself until you can talk things over quietly with another man.”
“but i’m certain—” began he again.
“well, tell what you think to—to—let me see—mr. buckland and mr. aldington. they saw everything. let them judge.”
“excuse me, they saw nothing,” persisted sir william, who was now speaking more quietly, but who was not in the least disposed to waver in his statement as to what he had seen. “i don’t think they were even in the room till the row had begun.”
she was leading him gently across the middle room, deeming it more prudent not to let him speak to mrs. van santen in his obvious state of irritation. she made him take her, therefore, into the music-room, where cora and arthur were conversing near the piano, and where two or three other small knots of people were discussing the distressing affair in low voices.
gerard was sitting by himself not far from the piano, and delia had come in to do her usual work of smoothing things over in any direction where she[244] saw that her services would be useful. miss davison made straight for gerard.
“do, mr. buckland,” said she, bending down to speak pleadingly, and meanwhile looking at him with steady eyes eloquent of her anxiety, “speak to sir william, and try to persuade him to make some sort of apology, to believe that he has made a mistake, a great and dreadful mistake. i don’t want him to leave the house until he’s been brought to listen to reason,” she added earnestly, speaking quickly, and in such a low voice that only gerard heard her.
for he had started to his feet at her first words, and was standing on one side of her, while sir william, still angry and stiff, was on the other.
gerard felt himself to be in a very difficult position. of course he believed implicitly that the baronet was right, that he had suddenly found out the meaning of the constant and heavy losses at cards which he had sustained when playing with the young van santens. it was horrible to find rachel taking the part of these men, whom he now looked upon as little better than swindlers, knowing, as he did, that she must be perfectly well aware of what had been going on.
and yet he did not like to refuse her request, especially as, even if his suspicions and those of sir william were correct, the baronet had now had his lesson, and it was most desirable on all accounts to avoid a scandal.
[245]so, after a moment’s hesitation, he said, “all right. i’ll do what i can,” and thrusting his hand through the young baronet’s arm, he led him into the conservatory which opened from this room, and asked him to tell him all about it.
briefly and clearly—for he had now had time to collect his thoughts—sir william explained exactly what he had seen, and his reasons for believing that he had been robbed.
gerard listened attentively and without interruption, and was quite sure that the young baronet was correct in his surmise, and that denver, having robbed him persistently and with ease, had at last grown careless, and manipulating the cards without so much skill as usual, had been found out.
“there,” said sir william, when he had finished his recital, “that’s what i saw; and whatever you tell me, i shall think the same, that i’ve been cheated, and that to-night is probably not the first time.”
gerard did not at once reply. cora and arthur aldington were observing them, and he saw the girl whisper something to arthur, in response to which he nodded, and leaving her, strolled over to join the two young men.
“i hope you’ve changed your mind about what you fancied you saw,” said he to sir william, who laughed dryly and shook his head.
“oh, no, i haven’t,” he said. “these yankees have had me for a mug; and i’ve no doubt, as i’ve[246] just been saying to buckland, that what i found out to-night was really only the end of what had been going on for some time, in fact ever since i was fool enough to come here first.”
arthur looked angry.
“really, gurdon, i think you ought to measure your words a little more carefully,” he said stiffly. “we are friends of these people, buckland and i, and we can’t allow such things to be said uncontradicted, can we?”
gerard shook his head.
“you see, sir william, it’s impossible for you to be quite sure on such a point. it would need some confirmation—”
“confirmation! do you doubt my word?”
“of course not. what i do doubt is whether we ought to be sure without proof stronger than the eyes of one person. no, no, don’t get angry again. i mean that, supposing i had seen what you saw, and believed what you believed, i should have thought twice about bringing such a grave—such an awful accusation—in a room full of ladies—and should have waited to discuss quietly with some other fellows what was the best thing to be done.”
sir william reddened. he himself had by this time begun to feel considerable regret that he had been so rashly outspoken.
“it’s all very well,” he grumbled, “to give advice like that; but i tell you, when you suddenly make a[247] discovery like that—when you’re absolutely sure, mind you, as i was and am—you forget all rules of prudence, even perhaps of propriety, and you go for the swindler there and then.”
“sh—sh,” said gerard.
arthur reddened.
“come, i say, gurdon, you shouldn’t say things like that without a lot more proof than you’ve got, that things are not on the square,” said he, with excitement.
“by jove! what better proof can a man have than the evidence of his own eyes?” asked sir william. “i’m convinced, as i tell you, that i’ve been deliberately robbed. and the only reason why i’m allowing myself to be persuaded to sit here quietly and to let things simmer down, instead of leaving the house at once, is that the thing is too flagrant to be passed over, and that i intend to give information about it to the police.”
both his hearers protested at once, incoherently, in a low voice.
“nonsense,” said arthur. “how on earth can you bring disgrace upon the ladies by doing such a thing as that? how can you, after being hospitably received by mrs. van santen, give information against one of her sons? it’s impossible.”
“i’m going to do it, though,” said sir william, with ominous tranquillity. “if i were not absolutely certain of what i saw, i need not tell you i would[248] never do such a thing. as it is, i’m convinced i was only what you call hospitably received for the purpose of being plundered; and, as i say, i’m not going to put up with it quietly. i’m going to give information to the police. if there’s nothing in my charge, it will be all right, of course. they will listen to me quietly, and no more will be heard of it. but if, on the other hand, the information i give chimes in with anything they know, or may know in the future, about these people, then my evidence may prove useful, and i shouldn’t hesitate to give it.”
he was so quietly determined that gerard looked upon it as a hopeless task to try to dissuade him from his purpose. indeed, he was not sorry to hear his intention. if the van santens were swindlers, it was time they were brought to justice. and if, unhappily, miss davison were mixed up with them, there was ample time to warn her of what was in store for the family.
arthur, however, could not take it so quietly. he was indignant at the aspersions cast upon the americans, and poured forth an eloquent tribute to their charms, pointing out that he too had lost money at cards there, but that he did not shriek out that he had been robbed, but ascribed his losses to his own chuckleheadedness in playing with people who openly said that they played a better game than he did.
all such sneers as these, however, were lost upon sir[249] william. and to arthur’s reminder that he would be making things very unpleasant for the ladies who were among the visitors at the priory, the baronet was equally deaf. indeed, he took this suggestion as the text for another sermon.
“by the by,” he said to gerard, “have you ever noticed that, although the van santens get plenty of visitors, you never meet any of their own countrymen here?”
gerard himself had noticed the fact, and said so, adding, however, that he believed it was usual with americans to invite english people of rank, whenever they could get them, in preference to their own people.
sir william, however, persisted in seeing a sinister significance in everything that concerned the van santens, and he turned to communicate his doubts to another man, while arthur, full of indignation, went back to cora, and bursting with anger, most indiscreetly let out the fact that sir william was going to complain about his supposed grievance to the police.
cora turned very pale, and uttered a little scream of horror.
“then you may tell sir william from me that he’s not a gentleman,” she said, with flashing eyes. “whatever he may think of himself and his title, he’s just the meanest thing that breathes! when he’s been received here so well, and has had such a good[250] time! oh, what will my mother say? i must go and tell her!”
“i shouldn’t, if i were you, at least till the people are gone,” said arthur persuasively. “remember, he can’t do you any harm. he can give as much information as he likes; no notice will be taken of it, and he will merely be informed that observation shall be kept upon the house.”
but the words inflamed cora’s wrath still more.
“observation kept upon our house!” she said indignantly. “where people of rank come every day! no, indeed, the police shall do nothing of the sort. let the fellow dare to bring an honest, open charge against my brothers, and then see what evidence we shall bring on our side! observation indeed!”
and she left him, and ran, shaking with indignation, into the next room, where she took mrs. van santen aside, and poured into her ears the story of sir william’s cowardly attacks and threats.
the old lady, in great alarm, called for delia and miss davison, and hurriedly consulted them as to what was to be done. she was in a state of the greatest anxiety, but showed more quiet good sense than might have been expected from one so simple in the world’s ways.
“isn’t one of you two girls clever enough,” she said, “to talk to this young man and show him that he’s behaving as badly as a man can? what have we done that he should insult us like this? even if[251] denver had not played fair—which we all know is ridiculous—it would be worse behavior in this young man to insult us all as he wants to do, than it would have been of denver to do what he says he believed he saw him do.”
“he must be stopped,” said delia firmly. “he must be made to see he’s making an ass of himself. we can’t have a scandal made about us, and all our english friends offended and made to stay away.”
she was addressing rachel, whose face was very grave.
“of course,” said miss davison, “it doesn’t much matter if he does behave as he suggests. everybody knows you and knows the sort of society you receive.”
“and that you, who have lots of friends in the best society, actually stay with us,” added delia.
miss davison assented.
“i really don’t think you need distress yourself about this silly lad,” she said. “he would harm no one but himself if he were to go to a police-station and tell his absurd tale. he has already made half the people here think him mad, and i’m going to tell him so.”
she swept across the floor and entered the music-room, where the baronet was talking in a low voice, but with great excitement, to two or three other men who had been witnesses of the scene at the card-table.
she broke into the group and called him aside, and,[252] in a voice which was audible all over the room, protested strongly and energetically against his behavior.
“i should have thought,” she said, with a haughty movement of her handsome head, “that, if you had been undeterred by any other consideration, the knowledge that i, a friend of so many of your own friends, have been staying with the van santens, would have been enough to convince you that such a thing as you imagine could not occur here.”
but the young man, who had appeared so good-humored and so easy to manage on previous occasions, was now as firm and as stubborn as he had before been gentle.
“it is because you, a young lady of known position and a friend of so many others of position, have stayed with these people and made a friend of them, that i and my friends have taken them up,” he retorted shortly. “it makes them all the more dangerous that they’ve succeeded in hoodwinking a lady as clever as you are.”
the word caused a movement of astonishment at his tenacity, in the group of men who were within hearing.
“really, sir william, you talk as if you were in a den of thieves!” said miss davison haughtily.
“really, miss davison, i am inclined to think that i am,” retorted the baronet, as he bowed and withdrew into the next room.
[253]rachel was left standing, pale, indignant, frightened, in the middle of the music-room. the other men who had heard something of this short passage of arms, came round her, apologizing for sir william, expressing the opinion that he had had too much champagne, and that there was no other explanation of his conduct than that, or a sudden attack of insanity.
miss davison received these remarks graciously, again expressing her astonishment that sir william could make himself so ridiculous.
before she had finished speaking, the group was added to by two or three more persons, one of whom was gerard buckland. with him she presently walked away towards the conservatory, and when they were out of hearing of the rest, she said in a low voice—
“if you can’t succeed in persuading sir william not to carry out his absurd intention, but to declare—before he leaves the house that he has given it up, i advise you to look after him, mr. buckland.”
“to look after him! what do you mean?”
she raised her eyelids slowly, and looked at him with a strange, arresting steadiness.
“oh, i only mean, of course, that since it’s plain that he is scarcely in his right senses, he ought to be—closely watched.”
