i delivered my little mistress to her woman who came at my call, and then i summoned the steward and butler and told them what had happened. in a moment all was confusion. but presently they brought the body of sir geoffrey back to the castle which was no longer his. as the duke had said, it was mortgaged to its full value. the unfortunate baronet had gambled away everything in his possession, the family jewels, the heirlooms of his daughter, and even the property that had been left to her by her dead mother, of which he was trustee. everything that he could get his hands on had been sacrificed to his passion for play.
following the inquest, and after a due interval to show a decent respect for the dead, there was a great funeral, of course, during which what little ready money there was available was of necessity spent. the gentry came for miles[35] around, even luftdon was there in the background, although arcester had the decency to keep away. i was there, too, finding my place among the upper servants of the household. although i was in no sense a servant of the house, being a free and independent sailorman and my own master, still i found no place else to stand. i was glad that i had taken that position for i happened to be immediately back of mistress lucy. from under her veil she shot a forlorn, grateful look at me as she came in, as if she felt i was the only real friend she had in that great assemblage of the gentry of the county and the tenants and dependents of the estate.
sir geoffrey, except mistress lucy, was the last of his race. the brave, fine old stock had at last been reduced to this one slender slip of a girl. kith or kin, save of the most distant, she had none. nor did she enjoy a wide acquaintance. she had never been formally introduced to society. sir geoffrey had loved her and had been kind enough to her in his careless, magnificent way, but she had been left much alone since the death of her mother some years[36] before, and she had grown up under the care of a succession of wandering and ill-paid governesses and tutors. the neighboring gentry had assembled for the funeral with much show of sympathy but in my heart i knew that mistress lucy felt very much alone and i rather gloried in the position which made me, humble though i was, her friend. well, she could count upon me to the death, i proudly said to myself. she would find i was always devoted to her and i solemnly consecrated myself anew to her service in her loneliness and bereavement.
the show and parade were over soon enough. the parson’s final words of committal were said. we left sir geoffrey in his place in the churchyard and went back to the hall, after which the company began to disperse. i had nothing to do at the time. no one paid any attention to me. i held myself above the servants and the gentry held themselves above me. i wandered into the hall and stood waiting. no one spoke to me save lord luftdon, who expressed a heart-felt regret that he had had anything to do with the final plundering of the unfortunate[37] baronet, which in a measure had brought about this sorry ending to his career.
“you seem to be a man of sense, master hampdon,” he whispered, drawing me apart, after it was all over, “and i noticed the way mistress wilberforce looked at you when she first came in.”
“what do you mean?” i asked hotly, not liking to hear her name on his lips, and especially resenting what i thought was a reflection upon her.
“nothing but the best,” he answered equably. “i have still unspent some of the proceeds of our last bout at the table with her father that could be conveyed to the lady, and—”
“she would burn her hand off rather than accept anything,” said i promptly.
“but, man, i wish to—” he persisted.
“it is not to be thought of.”
“you speak with authority?” he asked, looking at me strangely.
“i have known her from a child,” said i, “and her father before her. it is not in the breed to take favors, and—”
“but this is—er—restitution.”
[38]“did you win it fairly?” i asked.
“by god,” he answered, clapping his hand to his sword, “if another had asked me that i would have had him out.”
“your answer?” i persisted, undaunted by his fierceness.
he smiled, his sudden heat dying out apparently as he realized how foolish it was to quarrel with me and discovered the meaning of my question.
“of course we won it fairly. sir geoffrey was the most reckless and even the most foolish gambler i ever played with. we took advantage of that, but there was no cheating, master hampdon, no, on my honor, as i am a gentleman.”
“under the circumstances then,” said i, “there is nothing further to be said.”
“but what will the poor girl do?” he demanded.
i shook my head. i did not know how to answer that question for i did not know what she would do. nevertheless i was not a little touched and pleased with his interest and desire. surely the man had some good in him still.[39] association with such a scoundrel as arcester had not yet wholly ruined him.
“you should have thought of this before,” said i.
“yes, i suppose so,” he admitted rather woefully.
“it is too late to make reparation now, although the wish does you honor, my lord.”
“well, hampdon, if you have a chance to tell her what i wanted,” he said, “please do. i should do it myself,” he continued, “only since her repudiation by that blackguard arcester she will not admit me to speech. by gad—” he looked over at her where she stood in the doorway going through the dreary process of bidding farewell to the guests after the funeral meal that had followed the interment, “by gad, if i were a bit younger and not so confoundedly in debt i would marry the woman myself.”
“she is meet for a better man, my lord,” said i, exactly as i had answered the duke.
he looked at me curiously for a moment and then laughed loudly.
“doubtless,” he said, “you may tell her that, too.”
[40]with that he turned on his heel and walked away and i saw no more of him. i stood idle on the terrace until the last of the gentry had gone. as before, i did not know just what to do or just where to go. my position was most anomalous. i wanted to be of service, but how to offer myself without intrusion, i could not readily discover. it was my lady herself who solved the problem.
“master hampdon,” she began wearily, “will you come into the house? master ficklin, the lawyer, is here, waiting to go over my father’s papers with me. you have stood by me manfully, your people and my people have been—” she stopped a moment, “friends,” she added with kindly condescension, “for five hundred years. i have no one else with whom to counsel. come with me.”
sir geoffrey’s will, as master ficklin read it, was a simple affair. it left everything of which he died possessed to his daughter. unfortunately, he died possessed of nothing; the document was mere waste paper. everything was mortgaged, every family portrait, even. mistress lucy appeared to have no legal right to[41] anything in or out of the castle apparently, save the clothes she wore.
“sir geoffrey,” said master ficklin, endeavoring to put a good face on the matter, “was well meaning—most well meaning. not only did he play high and long at the gaming table but he speculated also, for he was always trusting to recoup himself; in which event doubtless there would have been a handsome patrimony for his daughter.”
“you may spare me any encomiums of my father, master ficklin,” said mistress lucy very haughtily; “i knew his devotion and affection better than anyone possibly could.”
in her mind there was no double meaning to these brave words she uttered so quickly, although i listened amazed. to rob his daughter of her all in the indulgence of a wicked passion for gaming and speculation was no great evidence of devotion or affection, i thought. however, master ficklin was only putting the best face upon a sorry matter, and for that i honored him, for all my mistress’ haughty and imperious manner.
“the point is, however,” she continued, as[42] master ficklin bowed deferentially toward her, “that i have nothing.”
“nothing from your father, madam,” answered the man of law.
“but my mother’s estate?”
“i regret to say,” said master ficklin, “that most of it has been converted into money and—er—lost by your father. strictly speaking he had no—er—legal right to dispose of your property and we might recover by suits at law from those—”
“i gave him the right,” interrupted mistress lucy quickly.
she had never given him any such right, of course, but she was jealous for the honor of her father and the family and i could only admire her action, although the plain, blunt truth ever appeals to me, let it hurt whom it may.
“in that case, there is nothing to be said or done,” returned the old attorney, who knew the facts as well as i.
“i forget,” she went on, “just how much of my mother’s property was devoted to—to our needs, by my father and myself.”
“there is left in my hands, madam, a matter[43] of some two thousand pounds out at interest which you, being now of full age—”
“i was eighteen on my last birthday.”
“exactly, so that the two thousand is at your present disposal.”
“in what shape is it?”
“it is invested in consols.”
“can they be realized upon?”
“instantly.”
“to advantage?”
“most certainly.”
“i thank you, master ficklin, for your provident care of my little fortune. it is most unexpected,” she faltered, almost overwhelmed at the sudden realization that she was not altogether a pauper.
“believe me, mistress lucy, it is a happiness to do anything for you,” said the old attorney, rising and gathering up his papers, and bowing low before her. “my father, and his father before him served the estates of the wilberforces, and for how many generations back i know not. you may command me in everything. a temporary loan, or—”
“thank you, master ficklin,” said mistress[44] lucy, “you touch me greatly, but i need nothing at present. my father made me an allowance and generally paid it. it was a generous one; living alone as i did i could not spend it all. i have a few hundred pounds in my own name at the bank, and with that for temporary use and my mother’s legacy i shall lack nothing.”
“but where will you live, mistress lucy?”
“it matters little,” she answered listlessly.
“my sister and i,” said the old attorney, “live alone in the county town. the house is large. if you would accept our hospitality until your future is decided we should be vastly honored.”
“master ficklin—” began my lady.
“i know that the accommodations are poor,” interrupted the attorney hastily, “and we are humble folk, but—”
“i accept your kindly proffer most thankfully,” was her prompt reply. “i have been invited to various homes here and there in the county, but those who invited me have sought to convey a favor to me by their courtesy and i prefer to go to you.”
“good,” said master ficklin briskly. “that is settled then. no one has either a legal or[45] a moral claim to your clothes or personal belongings or such jewelry as you have been accustomed to wear or have in your possession. you may pack everything of that sort and take away with you any little keepsake. in fact, i am empowered by those who held the mortgage to tell you that the pictures of your father or mother or anything strictly personal they waive their claim to.”
“thank you,” said mistress lucy, “i shall take but small advantage of their generosity.”
“i know that,” answered master ficklin, “and now i will return to the town. if you will be ready about six o’clock—” it was then about two—“i will return and fetch you to our home.”
“i shall be ready. good-by.”
the little lawyer bent over her hand and left the room. i had sat dumb and silent during the whole interview, although i had listened to everything with the deepest interest. as usual it was she who broke the silence when we were alone again.
“master hampdon,” she began, “to what a sorry pass am i reduced! what shall i do now?”
[46]“my lady,” said i, “the sorriest part of the pass to which you have been brought is that you have in me such a poor counselor, a rough sailor, but one who would, nevertheless, give his heart’s blood to promote your welfare, or do you any service.”
now as i said that i laid my hand on the breast of my coat and as i bent awkwardly enough toward her—i could not even bow as gracefully as the little attorney just departed—i felt the paper which i had taken from sir geoffrey’s hand and which i had entirely forgot in the hurry and confusion of the days that had followed his death. i stood covered with surprise and shame at my careless forgetfulness, and stared at her.
“what is it?” she asked, instantly noting my amaze.
“i am a fool, madam, a blundering fool,” said i, drawing forth the paper. “here is a letter addressed to you which i should have delivered at once,” i continued extending it toward her.
“to me? from whom?” she asked.
“your father.”
[47]“my father!” she exclaimed.
“yes, i took it from his dead hand that morning and thrust it into the breast of my coat and forgot it until this very moment. it may be vital to your future, my carelessness may have lost you—”
“it can lose me nothing,” said the girl with unwonted gentleness. i looked for her to rate me sharply, as i deserved, for my forgetfulness, but she was in another mood. “i can read it now with more composure and understanding than before,” she went on.
she tore open the envelope as she spoke and drew forth a letter, unfolded it, and there dropped from it a little piece of parchment which i instantly picked up and extended to her. but she was so engrossed in the letter that she did not see my action and paid no attention to my outstretched hand.
