the path from the spinney to the ancient castle which antedated king henry viii, and which in its older parts goes much farther back into the past, led through the park full of noble oaks and beeches, many of them older even than the ancient and honorable family which now, alas, bade fair to lose them all forever. as i trudged over it with lagging footsteps, misliking my duty more and more as the necessity for discharging it drew closer, i caught a glint of rapidly moving color on the long driveway that led from the lodge to the steps of the hall. the scarlet of my lady’s riding coat as she galloped up the tree bordered road, it was that attracted my attention. i quickened my pace and we arrived at the steps leading up to the terrace at the same instant. she was alone, for she had either chosen to ride unaccompanied, as was her frequent custom, or else, being the[22] better mounted, she had left her groom far behind.
i stood silent before her with that curious dumbness i generally experience—even at this day—when first entering her presence, while she drew rein sharply. she was a little thing compared to me, small compared even to the average woman, but in one sense she was the biggest thing i had ever confronted. no burly shipmaster had ever impressed me so, not even when i was a raw boy on my first cruise. i actually looked upon her with a feeling of—well, shall i say awe?—mingled with other emotions which i would not have breathed to a soul. the chance hit by the duke of arcester had brought the color to my cheek and it takes something definite and apposite to bring the color to a bronzed, weather-beaten cheek like mine, which has been thrust into the face of wintry seas and exposed to tropical suns all over the globe. that is the way i thought of her. i was almost afraid of her! i, who feared nothing else on land or sea! what she thought of me was of little moment to her.
it was mistress lucy’s regular habit to take a[23] morning gallop every day. it was that usual custom that caused her to look so fresh and young and beautiful, that put the color in her cheek and the sparkle in her eye. although she had left her father playing hard late the night before when she had gone to bed, there had been nothing in that to cause her to intermit her practice. poor girl, she had left her father doing that more nights than she could remember in her short life, and i suppose she had become used to it, to a certain extent, at any rate.
she nodded carelessly, yet kindly to me. it was her habit, that careless kindness. when she was a little girl and i had been a great boy we had played together familiarly enough—children caring little for distinctions of rank, i have observed—but that habit was long since abandoned. then she looked about for her groom. the steps that led to the terrace were deserted. sir geoffrey of late had grown slack in the administration of affairs on account of his troubles, therefore no attendant was at hand. like master, like man! i suspected that the servants had kept late hours, too. indeed they probably plundered sir geoffrey in every way and he,[24] seeing that all was gone or going, perhaps shut his eyes to their peculations. they might as well get what was left as his creditors. mistress lucy after that first nod stared at me frowning.
“master hampdon,” she said at last, “since nobody else seems to be about, suppose you attempt the task.”
she loosed her little foot from the stirrup and thrust it out toward me. i am nothing of a horseman. i was very early sent off to sea and i have a sailor’s awkwardness with horses. naturally i did not know how a lady should be dismounted from her horse. i had never attempted the thing and i did not recall ever to have seen it done, otherwise i might have managed, for i am quick enough at mechanical things; but her desire was obvious and i must accomplish it the best i could. i stepped over to her, disregarding her outthrust foot, for all its prettiness, seized her about the waist with both hands, lifted her bodily from the saddle and set her down gently on the gravel. she looked at me very queerly and gave a faint shriek when her weight came upon my arms.[25] indeed, i have no doubt that i held her tightly enough through the air.
“i dare say there is not a man among my father’s friends or mine, who could have done that, master hampdon,” said she, smiling up at me a little and looking flushed and excited.
“’tis no great feat,” said i stupidly enough, “i have lifted bigger—”
“women!” flashed out mistress lucy slightly frowning.
“things,” i replied.
“it amazes me,” she said. “i have never been dismounted that way before. however, i remember you always were stronger than most men, even as a boy. there seem to be no grooms about, the place is wretchedly served. will you take my horse to the stables?” she asked me.
there was a certain flattery to me in that request. if i had not shown her how strong i was, in all probability she would have thrown me the bridle and with a nod toward the stables to indicate her wishes would have left me without a word. now it was different. i took the bridle, not intending, however, to take the horse around, not because i disdained to do her any[26] service but because i had other duties to discharge more important than the care of horses.
“have you seen my father this morning?” she asked as i paused before her and then, not giving me time to answer, looked up at the sun. “but of course not,” she continued, a little bitterly, “he probably only went to bed an hour or two since and ’tis not his habit to rise so early as you and i.”
as luck would have it, while she spoke a sleepy groom chanced to come round the house. i flung the reins to him, bade him take the horse away and turned to my lady.
“madam,” said i, my voice thickening and choking, “as it happens, i have seen your noble father this morning.”
there was something in my voice and manner, great stupid fool that i was, that instantly apprised her that something was wrong. with one swift step she was by my side.
“where?”
“in the spinney.”
“when?”
“but just now.”
“what does he there at this hour?”
[27]“nothing.”
“i don’t understand.”
“sir geoffrey—” i began racking my brains, utterly at loss what to say next and how to convey the awful tidings.
she made a sudden step or two in my direction, then turned toward the coppice, her suspicions fully aroused.
but now i ventured upon a familiarity, that is, i turned with her and caught her by the arm before she could take a step.
“i will see him myself,” she began resolutely.
“madam,” said i swiftly, “you cannot.”
“master hampdon,” she said, “something dreadful has happened.”
i nodded.
this was breaking it gently with a vengeance, but what could i do? she always did twist me around her little finger and i was always more or less helpless before her. i admit that. i am still, for that matter, although she will not have it so.
“what is it? is my father—what is he doing in the spinney? he never rises at this hour.”
“mistress wilberforce,” i said, “you come of[28] a brave stock and the time for your courage is now.”
“is my father dead?” she asked, after a sudden, awful stillness.
i nodded while she stared at me like one possessed.
“killed in a duel?” she whispered. i shook my head.
“would to god i could think so,” i replied.
“you mean that he was—murdered?”
“mistress,” said i bluntly, seeing no other way, “he died by his own hand.”
“oh, my god!” she cried, clapping her hands to her face and reeling back.
i caught her about the waist. she had no knowledge that she was held or supported, of course; all her interest and attention were elsewhere. she did not weep or give way otherwise. she was a marvelous woman and her self-mastery and control amazed me, for i knew how she had loved her father.
“when? why?” she gasped out.
“i was early awake and abroad,” i answered—and i did not tell her it was my habit to see her gallop off for that morning ride, for even a[29] glimpse of her was worth much to me—“and i heard a shot in the spinney. i hurried there and found sir geoffrey—”
“dead?”
“stone dead, mistress, with a bullet in his heart.”
“let us go to him.”
“no,” said i, and i marveled to find myself assuming the direction as if i had been on the deck of my own ship, “that you cannot. it is no sight for your eyes now. i was coming to the castle to tell you and to send the servants to fetch—him. meanwhile, do you go into the hall and summon your women and—”
“i will do what you say, master hampdon,” she whispered, very small, very forlorn, very despairing. “my father, oh, my good, kind father!”
she turned, and i still supporting her, we mounted the steps of the terrace. suddenly she stopped, freed herself, and faced me.
“lord luftdon and the duke of arcester,” she explained, “they are staying at the castle; they must be notified.”
“madam,” said i, “they already know it.”
[30]“and why then have they left the duty of telling me to you? where are they? summon them at once.”
“they are gone,” i blurted out, all my rage at the duke reviving on the instant.
“gone!”
“having won everything from sir geoffrey they have left him alone in his death,” i retorted bitterly.
“impossible!”
“i ordered them off the place,” i said bluntly.
“you!” she flashed out imperiously. “and who gave you the power to dismiss my—my father’s friends?”
“i heard what they said, being close hid myself in the coppice.”
“and what said they?”
“it concerned you, mistress.”
“the duke of arcester,” she promptly began, “is my betrothed husband. i will hear no calumny against him.”
“madam,” i said, keenly aware that i had made no charges yet and wondering at her thought, “your engagement is broken.”
“broken!” she cried in amaze.
[31]“the duke declared himself to his friend to be too poor to marry the penniless child of a—disgraced man—his words, not mine, believe me.”
the awful death of her beloved father had been shock enough to her, but with this insult added i thought she would have swooned dead away. she turned so white and reeled so that i caught her again. i even shook her while i cried roughly,
“you must not give way.”
“it is a lie, a dastardly lie!” she panted out at last.
“it is god’s truth,” said i. “he repudiates you.”
“no man could be so base,” she persisted, “he swore that he loved me.”
“i would it were otherwise, madam, but he is gone, leaving that message for you.”
“and he made you his messenger?”
“i volunteered.”
“why? why?”
“because he is a low coward.”
“and you stood by and let him insult me, your patron’s daughter, your mistress?”
[32]now so far as that went, i had got mightily little out of the late sir geoffrey’s patronage, but whatever duty i could compass i would gladly pay the little lady who stood before me.
“mistress, you misjudge me. he had taken sir geoffrey’s sword, saying that he had won it with everything else. i took it from him. when he said those words about you i struck him across the face, no light blow, i assure you. when he grasped his own sword i wrenched it away from him, broke it, and cast it away. you may find the broken pieces in the spinney. i told him that you were meet for his betters and that you were well rid of him, and bade him begone.”
“in that,” she said in a certain strained way, “you acted as a loyal servitor of the house and i thank you.”
“i am to give orders to have his baggage sent to the inn at once,” said i.
“and lord luftdon?”
“he came to your defense as if he were still the gentleman he had once been. but he goes hence with his friend. his baggage will also follow him.”
[33]“i will attend to that for them both,” said mistress lucy, growing strangely and firmly resolved again, and even i could guess the tremendous constraint she put upon herself. “enough of arcester. i am well rid of him and of his companion. summon the servants to bring my father’s body to the castle. i suppose the crowner will have to be notified.”
“yes,” said i. “i will see to that myself.”
“of all my friends,” said she piteously, almost giving way, “you seem to be the only one left me, master hampdon.”
“i have been your faithful servant always, mistress lucy,” i answered as i ushered her into the hall.
