^.^s^P^mm^M^^^^^ v^' ^^2^' m^: KING OF THE CASTLE. VOL. I. a *'//«- ^ tU2^^/^MAyO King of the Castle A NOVEL BY G. M A N V I L L E F E N N, AUTHOR OF THIS man's wife ;' 'THE MASTER OF THE CEREMONIES 'DOUBLE CUNNING,' ETC., ETC. m THREE VOLUMES. Vol. I. LONDON : WARD & DOWNEY, 2 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1892. \^All Ricrhts reserved.' CONTENTS. 1 ^ PAGE |_ CHAPTEEI. ■^^ PART OF THE GARRISON, . . . • -1 5. CHAPTEEI I. o -^ THiyGS GO CROOKED, . . . .14 CHAPTER III. LESSON THE FIRST, . . . . .33 CHAPTER IV. ^ "blown ALL TO bits! ■' . . . . .45 > C H A P T E R V. ^ THE DOCTOR IS KING, . . . . ,58 *i> CHAPTERVI. ^ IN CHARGE, . . . . . .66 CHAPTER VII. 3^ RAH WOODHAM's VOW, . . . . .87 CHAPTER VIII. CLAUDE OPENS THE AWFUL DOOR, . . . .97 vi Contents. CHAPTER IX. PAGE 112 145 THE BEGGAR, ..... CHAPTER X. DENISE, ...... CHAPTER XI. HOW TO REACH "the FAIR STAR," . . . 159 CHAPTER XII. THE GIFT OF A WHITE CARD, .... 175 CHAPTERXIII. HEARTS ARE NOT DEFORMKD, .... 196 CHAPTER XIV. A TELEGRAM, ...... 205 CHAPTER XV. TEMPTED, ....••• 226 CHAPTER XV I. GARTRAM TAKES HIS DOSE — SO DOES GLYDDYR, . . 243 KING OF THE CASTLE / KING OF THE CASTLE. CHAPTER I. PART OF THE GAREISOX. " Hullo, Claude, going for a walk ? " les, papa. ^' Alone ? " "No : Marv is g-oing; with me." '•' Humph ! If you were as giddy as Mary, Id— I'd— " " What, papa ? " '• Don't know; something bad. But, Claude, mv grirl." •• Yes, dear ? " " Why the dickens don't you dress better ? Look at you ! " The girl admonished turned merrily round, and stood facing an old bevelled-glass cabinet in the solid-looking, well-furnished library, and saw her reflection — one which for some VOL. I. 1 A 2 King of the Castle. reason made lier colour slightly ; perhaps with pleasure at seeing her handsome oval face with soft, deep brown hair, and large dark, well^shaded eyes — a face that needed no more display to set it off than the plain green cloth well-fitting dress, held at the throat by a dead gold brooch of Roman make. "Well, papa," she said, as she altered the sit of her natty, flat-brimmed straw hat, " wdiat is the matter with my dress ? " The big-headed, grey-haired man addressed gave his stifle, wavy locks an impatient rub, wrinkled his broad forehead, and then smiled in a happy, satisfied way, his dark eyes light- ing up, and his smile driving away the hard, severe look which generally rested upon his brow. " The matter ? " he said, drawing the girl on to his knee and kissing her. " I don't under- stand such things ; but your dress seems too common and plain." " But one can't wear silks and satins and muslins to scramble among the rocks and go up the glen." " Well, there, don't bother me. But dress Part of the Garrison. 3; better. If you want more money you can have it. You ought to take the lead] here, and there were hidies on some of the yachts and on the pier yesterday who quite left you behind.— Yes ! AVhat is it ? " '•' Isaac Wood ham, from the quarry, sir, would like to see you," said a servant. " Confound Isaac Woodham ! Send him in." The servant retired, leaving^ his master mutterincr. " Wants to spend money in some confounded new machinery or something. I made all my money without machinery, Claude, but these people want to waste it with their new-fangled plans." " But, papa dear, do speak more gently to them." " What ! let them be masters and eat me out of house and home ? Not such a fool." " But, papa — " " Hold your tongue. Weak little goose. You don't know them ; I do. They must be ruled — ruled. There : be off, and get your walk. Seen Mr Glyddyr to-day ? " The girl flushed scarlet. 4" King of the Castle. ** Hallo, pussy; that brings tlie colour to your cheeks." " No, papa ; indeed I — " " Yes, 1 know. I say, Claudie, fine hand- some fellow, eh ? Bit too pale for a yachts- man. But what a yacht ! Do you know he came in for three hundred and fifty thousand when his father died ? " " Indeed, papa ? " said the girl carelessly. " Yes ! Old Glyddyr was not like your grandfather, confound him." " Papa ! " " Con — found him ! Didn't I speak plain? Glyddyr left his boys a slate quarry in Wales for the eldest, and three hundred and fifty for the younger. Parry's the younger. Eh ? Nice fortune for a handsome young yachtsman, Claudie. There, go and have your walk, and keep Mary out of mischief. — Well ? " This was to a hard, heavy-looking man in working clothes, covered with earth stains and stone dust, who was ushered into the room, and who, ignoring the speaker's presence, stood bowing awkwardly, cap in hand, and changing it from rio[ht to left and back. Part of the Garrison. 5 " Quite well, thank ye, miss, and sent her dooty to you." '^ I'm very glad, Woodham. Eemember me kindly to Sarah, and tell her I shall call at the cottage soon." *'Yes, yes," said the old man impatiently, following his daughter to the door ; "go on now. I have business with Woodham. Don't be so familiar with the work-people," he whispered, as he closed the door after the girl, who ran lightly to the foot of the great carved oak staircase, to call out merrily, — " Not ready, Mary ? " " Yes ; coming, coming, coming," and a quaint, mischievous-looking little body came tripping down the stairs, halting slightly as if from some form of lameness, which her activity partly concealed. But no effort or trick of dress could hide the fact that she was deformed, stunted in proportion, and with her head rest- ing closely between her shoulders, w^hich she had a habit of shrugging impatiently when addressed. " Oh, do make haste, Mary, or we shall have no time before lunch." 6 King of the Castle. "Yes, I know. You've seen him go by." " For shame, Mary ! " said Claude, flushing. ** You are always thinking of such things. It is not true." " Yes, it is ; and I don't think more of such things than you do. ' Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love^ 'tis love that makes the world go round,' " she sang, in a singularly sweet, thrilling soprano voice, her pretty but thin keen face lighting up with a malicious smile. But the old song was checked by Claude's hand being clapped sharply over her mouth. " Be quiet, and come along. Papa will hear you." " Well, I daresay he wants to see his dar- ling married. Take away your hand, or I'll bite it." "You're in one of your mocking moods this- morning, Mary, and you really make me hate you." " Don't tell fibs," said the deformed girl,, throwing her arms lovingly about her com- panion. " You couldn't hate anybody, you dear old pet ; and why shouldn't you have a true, handsome lover % " Part of the Garrison. 7 "Oh, Maiy, you are insufferable. You think of nothing else but lovers." ''Well, why not, Claudie ? " said the girl with a sigh, and a pe€uliarly pinched look coming about her mouth, as her clear, white forehead wrinkled up, and her fine eyes seemed full of trouble. '' One always longs for the un- attainable. Nobody will ever love me, so why shouldn't I enjoy seeing somebody love you ? " ''Mary, darling, I love you dearly." ''Yes, pet, like the dearest, sweetest old sister that ever was. You worship poor old humpty dumpty ? " " Don't ridicule yourself, Mary dear." " Why not ? But I meant no nice, hand- some Christopher Lisle will ever want to look in my eyes and say — " " Will you be quiet, Mary ? Why will you be always bringing up Mr Christopher Lisle ? I never tease you about Mr Gullick." " Because — because — because — " She did not finish her speech, but burst out into a loud, rinoino; laus^h, full of teasiner, malicious mirth, till she saw Claude's flushed face, and then she stopped short. 8 King of the Castle. *' There, I've done. ^Vhich way shall we go?" '* I don't care. I feel as if I'd rather stay at home now." "No, no; I won't tease. Shall we go as far as the town ? " " No ; anywhere you like." *' Say somewhere." "Not I. You'll only tease me, and say I had some reason. I'll only go where you choose." "Then you shall, dear. We'll go up the east glen to the fall, and then cross over the hill and come back by the west glen, and you shall tease me as much as you like." " I don't want to tease you." Mary made a grimace as she looked sidewise at herself, but she coloured a little, and was silent for a time. They were already some hundred yards from the great, grey granite mansion, which stood upon a bald bluff of cliff, built within the past thirty years, and by the fancy of its architect made to resemble a stronghold of the Norman times, with its battlements, towers, frowning gateway, moat and drawbridge crossing the Part of the Gai^rison. 9 deep channel, kept well filled by a spring far up in one of the glens at the back, while the front of the solid-looking, impregnable edifice frowned down upon the glittering sea. *' See how grand Castle Dangerous looks from here," said Mary Dillon, as they were about to turn up the glen. "Don't you often feel as if we were two forlorn maidens — I mean," she cried merrily, '' a forlorn maiden and a half — shut up in that terrible place waiting for a gallant knight and a half to come and rescue us from the clutches of ogre- like Uncle Gartram ? " ''Mary, darling," said Claude affection- ately, " if you knew how you hurt me, you would cease these mocking allusions to your , murmuring sound, ran the little river, from rapid to fall, and from fall to deep, dark, slug- gish-looking hole ; while in places the trees, Part of the GariHson. 13 which had contrived to get a footing in some crevice of the rock, overhung the river, and threw the water beneath into the deepest shade. They reached, at length, a more open part, where the sun shone down brightly, and their way lay through a patch of moss-grown hazel stubbs, which after a few steps made a com- plete screen from the sun's rays, and they walked over a verdant carpet which silenced every footfall. " We shall have plenty of time," said Mary, as they reached the farther edge of the hazel clump, " and we may as well sit down on the rocks and read." " No, not now," said Claude hastily. Then in an agitated whisper, as a peculiar whizzing noise was heard : '^ Oh, Mary, this is too cruel. Why have you brought me here ? " " Because it was not considered o^ood for Adam to live alone in Paradise. There's poor Adam alone and disconsolate, fishing to pass time away. Paradise in the glen is very pretty, but dull. Enter Eve. Now, Claude, dear, show yourself worthy of the name of woman. Go on ! " CHAPTEE 11. THINGS GO CROOKED. Norman Gaetram returned to his seat, look- ing rigid and scowling as he gazed fiercely at the workman. " Well ? " he said sharply. " Don't believe she can be his bairn," said the workman to himself, as he returned his employer's angry stare. ^asaid Well!'' " I heard you, master. Needn't shout." *' What do you want ? " " Come about the big block at the corner. Time it was blasted down." ''Then blast it down ; and how many more times am I to tell you to say s^V to me ? " "You're my master, and pay me my wage, and I earn it honest. That's all there is be- tween us, for the Lord made all men equal, and — " " Look here, Isaac Woodham, once for all T 14 Things go Crooked. 15 will not have any of your Little Bethel cant in my presence. Now about this block ; let it be deeply tamped, and the powder put w^ell home." " I'm going to blast it down w^ith dinny- mite." The elder man flushed up scarlet, and the veins in his forehead swelled up into knotted network. '' Once for all — " he thundered. " There, don't get in a w^ay, master," said the man coolly. " If you go on like that you'll be having another fit, and I'm sure you oughtn't to cut short such a life as yours." " Isaac Woodham, one of these days you'll tempt me to knock you down. Insolent brute ! And now, look here ; I've told you before that I would not have dynamite used in my quarry. I'll have my w^ork done as it always has been done — with powder. The first man who uses a charge of that cursed stuff I'll discharge." " It's better, and does its work cleaner," grumbled the man sullenly ; and he gave his superior a morose look from under his shaggy brows. 1 6 King of the Castle. '• I don't care if it's a hundred times better. Go and blast the block down with powder, asj it always has been done, I tell you again. I want my men ; and there's no trusting that other stuff, or they're not fit to be trusted with it. Now go, and don't come here again without being summoned." '' Too grand for the likes o' me, eh. Master Gar tram ? " ''Will you have the goodness to recollect that you are speaking to a gentleman, sir ? " " I'm speaking to another man, I being a man," said Woodham sturdily. "I don't know nothing about no gentlemen. I'm speaking to Norman Gartram, quarry-owner, who lives here in riches and idleness upon what we poor slaves have made for him by the sweat of our brows." ''What does this mean?" cried the old man. " Have you turned Socialist ? " "I've turned nowt. But as a Christian man I warn you, Norman Gartram, that for all your fine house and your bags of money, and company and purple and fine linen, '' the Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away.' " Things go Crooked. 17 "You—"' "There, I'm going to do my work honest, master, and earn my wages." " And blast that granite down with powder, sir." " I know my work," grumbled the man, and he backedout of the room without another word. Norman Gartram — the King of the Castle, as he was called at Danmouth — stood listen- ing to the man's footsteps, at first heavy and dull as they passed over the carpet, and then loud and echoing as he reached the granite paving outside, till they died away, and then, with his face still flushed, he laid his hand gently on his temples. "A little hot," he muttered. "A fit? Enough to give any man a fit to be spoken to like that by the canting scum. They're spoiled, that's what it is — spoiled. Claude is always fooling and petting them, and the more there is clone for them the worse they work, and the more exacting they grow. I believe they think one's capital is to be sunk solely to benefit them. What the deuce do you want now % " VOL. I. B 1 8 King of the Castle, This to the servant, who had timidly opened the door. "I beg your pardon, sir." *' If it's some one from the quarry, tell him I'm engaged." "Mr Glyddyr, sir." "Why didn't you say so before? Where is he?" "In the drawing-room, sir." Norman Gartram spruDg at once from his chair, hurriedly crossed the room, stepped out of the window on to the granite paving, which did duty in his garden for a gravel walk, care- fully closed the French casement, and locked it with a small pass-key he carried in his pocket, and walked round to the verandah in front of the house, entering by the French window of the drawing-room, where a tall, handsome man of about thirty was leaning against a table, apparently admiring the brown leather shoes which formed part of his yacht- ing costume. " Ah, Mr Glyddyr, glad to see you. Kept your word, then ? " " Oh, yes ; I always do that," said the Things go Crooked. 19 visitor, shaking hands warmly. " Not come at an inconvenient time, have I — not too busy?" "Never too busy to receive friends," said Gartram. " Sit down, sit down." '*Miss Gartram none the worse for her visit to the yacht ? " " Oh, by no means ; enjoyed it thoroughly." " I could see that little Miss Dillon did, but I thought Miss Gartram seemed rather bored." " Oh dear, no ; nothing of the kind ; but you'll have something ? " " Eh ? Xo, thanks. Too early." " A cigar ? " *' Cigar ? Oh, come, I can't refuse that." " Come into my room, then. Obliged to obey the female tyranny of my household, Mr Glyddyr. I'm supposed to be master, but Tvoman rules, sir, woman rules. My daughter does what she pleases with me." '' Happy man ! " ^•Eh?" " 1 say bappy man, sir, to be ruled by such XI queen." Norman Gartram o'ave him a keen look. 20 King of the Castle. " Don't pay compliments, sir — society com- pliments. We are out of all society. I've kept my daughter out of it. Only a trades- man." " Lord Gartram's brother a tradesman, sir ? " **Yes; why not? Why shouldn't he be? My father left my brother and me with a few hundred pounds a-piece, and the prestige of being nobleman's sons, sir. I had to consider what I should do — -loaf about through draw- ing-rooms as a beggarly aristocrat, always in debt till I could cajole a rich girl into making me her poodle ; or take off my coat and go to work like a mau. Be a contemptible hanger- on, too poor to dress well, or a sturdy, hard- working human being." " And your choice, sir ? " said the visitor, inquiring for what he knew by heart. '' The latter, sir. I bit my nails down to the quick till I had an idea — sitting out on this very coast. I was yonder smoking a bad cigar which my brother had given me. I couldn't afford to buy cigars, neither could he, but he bought them all the same. I sat smoking that cigar and thought out what I Things go Crooked, 21 was sitting upon — granite — and went back to the hotel where we were staying, and told my brother what I had thought out. He called me a fool, and went his way. I, being a fool, went mine." " Yes, sir ? " "My brother," said Gartram, ''married a shrewish, elderly woman with some money. I spent all I had in buying a few acres of the cliff land by the side of this coast. Brother Fred said I must be mad. Perhaps I am ; but my cliff quarry has supplied granite for some of the finest buildings in England. It has made me a rich man, while my Lord Gartram has to ask his wife for every shilling he wants to spend — when he does not ask me. But here, come alonof : I never know when to stop if I begin talking about myself. This way." He led the visitor into his study, unlocked an oaken door in the wall with a bright key, and it swung open heavily, showing that the oak covered a slab of granite, and that the closet was formed of the same glittering stone. " Curious place to keep cigars, eh ? All 2 2 King of the Castle. granite, sir. I believe in granite. Take one of these," he continued, as he carelessly placed a couple of cedar boxes on the table. '* Light up. I'll have one too. Bad habit at this time in the morning, but one can't be always at work, eh ? " " No, sir ; and you work too hard, if report is correct." **Hang report!" said the old man, taking a cigar, throwing himself back in a chair, and gazing at his visitor through his half- closed eyes. " That a good one ? " ''Delicious!" said the visitor laconically^ and there was silence. " What do you think of my place, eh ? " " Solid. Quite stand a siege." " I meant it to, sir. There isn't a spot where I could use granite instead of wood that it is not used. Granite arches instead of beams everywhere. When I have my gate locked at night, I can laugh at all the burglars in Christendom." " Yes ; I should think you are pretty safe here." There was another pause, broken by Gart- Things go Crooked. 23 ram saying suddenly, in a loud, sharp voice. — " Well ? " The visitor was a cool man about town, but the query was so sudden and unexpected that he started. " Well, Mr Gartram % " " Why did you come this morning ? " "You asked me to look in — a friendly call." " Won't do. If you had meant a friendly call you would have come in the afternoon. You don't want to borrow money ? " " Good heavens, sir ! No." *' Then out with it, lad. You are not a boy now. I am an old man of the world ; speak out frankly, and let's get it done." "You guess the object of my visit, then, sir?" " No ; I can feel it. Besides, I'm not blind." Parry Glyddyr looked at his host with a half- amused, half-vexed expression of countenance. " No," he said thoughtfully, in reference to Gartram's last remark ; " I suppose not, sir. Well, it is an awkward thing to do, and I may as well get it over. I will be frank." 24 , King of the Castle. " Best way, sir, if you wish to get on with me." Glyddyr cleared his throat, became deeply interested in the ash of his cigar, and lolled back in his easy chair, quite conscious of the fact that his host was scanning him intently. " I can sail my yacht as well as the master, Mr Gartram ; I have a good seat in the hunting field, and I don't funk my hedges ; I am a dead shot ; you know I can throw a fly ; and I am not a bad judge of a horse ; but over a talk like this I am a mere falter- ing boy." *'Glad to hear it, sir, and hope it is your first essay. Go on." " Well, I came here nine months ago to repair damages after a storm, and you did me several pleasant little services." "Never mind them." *' I came again at the end of another three months in fine weather." . " And you have been here several times since. Go on." " Yes, sir," said Glyddyr, smiling ; " but are all fathers like you ? " Tilings go Crooked. 25 " No," said Gartram, with a hoarse laugh ; ^- 1 am the only one of my kind. There, we hare had enough preamble, Parry Glyddyr. Out ^dth it." " I will, sir. You say you are not blind. You know, then, that I was deeply impressed by Miss Gartram the first time we met. I treated it as a temporary fancy, but the feeling has grown upon me, till I can only think of doing one thing — coming to you as a gentleman, telling you frankly I love Miss Gartram, and asking your permission to visit here regularly as her accepted suitor." " What does Claude say to this ? " " Miss Gartram ? " said Glyddyr, raising his eyebrows, and removing the grey ash from the end of his cigar; ''nothing, sir. How could I be other than the ordinary acquaint- ance without your sanction ? " *' Quite right," said Gartram, looking at him searchingly, "how, indeed?" and he remained gazing at the unshrinking countenance before him, full of candour and surprise at his ignor- ance of etiquette till he covered his own eyes. *' Then Claude knows nothino: of this ? " 26 King of the Castle. "I hope and believe, sir, that she knows a great deal, but not from my lips. Women, I believe, are very quick in knowing when they are admired." " Humph ! And you like my daughter, Mr Glyddyr % " said Gartram, exhaling a huge cloud of smoke. " I love Miss Gartram very dearly, sir," said the visitor frankly ; *' so well that I dare not even think of the consequence of a refusal." "Broken heart, suicide and that sort of think, eh % " " I hope I should never make a fool of my- self, Mr Gartram," said Glyddyr coldly. "So do I. Now look here, sir. I gave up society to become a business man — slave driver some people politely call me ; but as a tradesman I have been so tricked and swindled by everybody, even my banker, that I have grown suspicious." " I don't wonder, sir. Without going into trade, a man has to keep his eyes open to the rascality of the world." " Yes," said Gartram, scanning the speaker Things go Crooked. 27 keenly still. " Then now, sir, let me ask you a question." '•' By all means ; as many as you like." '• Then pray, sir, if my daughter had been a penniless girl, would you have felt this deep admiration for her ? " " Mr Gartram ! " said Glyddyr haughtily, as he flushed deeply and rose from his chair. '' Bah ! " he added, after a pause, and he let himself sink back, and smoked heavily for a few moments. '' Stupid to be so put out. Quite a natural question. Eeally, sir," he said, smiling, and looking ingenuously in the old man's face, " fate has been so kind to me over money matters that fortune-hunting has not been one of my pursuits. In round numbers, my father left me three hundred thousand pounds. Golden armour, sir, against the arrow of poverty, and such as turns aside so fierce a stab as that of yours. Has Miss Gartram any money ? " '' Humph ! I have," said the old man roughly. '•'If she has, so much the better," con- tinued Glyddyr, smoking calmly, and evidently 28 King of the Castle. thorouglily enjoying his cigar. '' A lady with a private purse of her own no doubt occupies a more happy and independent position than one who appeals to her husband for all she wants. I am sorry that our conversation has taken this turn, Mr Gartram," he added stiffly. " I'm not, Glyddyr. It has shown you up in another light. Well, what do you want me to say ? " " To say, sir ? " cried the young man eagerly. **Yes. There, I don't think I need say anything. Yes, I do. I don't like the idea of Claude marrying any one, but nature is nature. I shall be carried off some day by a fit, I suppose, and when I am, I believe — slave driver as I am, and oppressor of the poor, as they call me, for making Danmouth a pros- perous place, and paying thousands a year in wages — I should rest more comfortably if I knew my child was married to the man she loved." "Mr Gartram." "I haven't done, Glyddyr/' There was a pause, during which the old Things go Crooked. 29 man seemed to look his visitor through and through. Then he held out his hand with a quick, sharp movement. " Yes," he said ; " I like you, my lad : I always did. Ton think too much of sport ; but you'll weary of that, and your whole thoughts will be of the best and truest girl that ever lived." " Then you consent, Mr Gartram ? " cried Glyddyr with animation. "No: I consent to nothiuo;. You've g;ot to win her first. I give you my leave, though, to win if you can ; and if you do marry her — well, I daresay I can aftord to buy her outfit — trousseau — what you may call it." " Mr Gartram — " "That will do. Be cool. You haven't won her yet, my lad." " I may speak to her at once ? " " If you like ; but my advice is — don't. Lead up to it gently — make sure of her before you speak. There, I'm a busy man, and I've got to go up the east river to look at a vein of stone which crops up there. Take another cigar, and wa'k with mc — :f you like." 30 King of the Castle. " I will, sir. Try one of mine." " Yes," said Gartram lacoaically ; and as they went out into the hall, he purposely picked out his worst hat from the stand, and put it on. " Old chap wants to make me shy at him, and show that I don't like walking through the town with that hat. Got hold of the wrong pig by the ear," said Glyddyr to himself. They walked along the granite terrace, with its crenellated parapet and row of imitation guns, laboriously chipped out of the granite ; and then out through the gateway and over the moat, and descended to the village, reach- ing the path leading to the east glen, and were soon walking beside the rushing salmon river, with Gartram pointing out great veins of good granite as it cropped out of the side of the deep ravine. " Hang his confounded stone ! " said Glyddyr to himself, after he had made several attempts to change the drift of the conver- sation. "Fine bit of stuff that, sir," said his com- panion, pointing across the river with his Things go Crooked, 31 heavy stick. " I believe I could cut a mono- lith tweuty feet long out of that rock, but the brutes won't let me have it. My solicitor has fought for it hard, but they stick to it, and money won't tempt them. I believe that was the beginning of my sleeplessness — insomnia, ^s Asher calls it." " Asher ? " "Yes; our doctor. You must know him. Pleasant, smooth-spoken fellow in black." " Oh, yes ; of course." "Worried me a deal, that did." " And you sufi'er from insomnia ? " "Horribly. Keep something to exorcise the demon, though," he said laughingly, taking a small bottle from his pocket. " Chloral." " Dangerous stuff, sir. Take it cautiously." " I take it as my medical man advises." " That is rio'ht. Of course I remember o Doctor Asher, and that other young friend of yours — the naturalist and salmon fisherman, and—" "Oh, Lisle. Yes; sort of ward of mine. T am his trusteo." 32 King of the Castle. " Quite an old friend, then, sir ? " •'Yes ; and — eh ? " said the old man laugh- ingly. " Why, Glyddyr, I can read you like a book. Is there, or has there ever been, any- thing between Claude and Christopher Lisle ? I should think not, indeed. Kubbish, man, rubbish ! and — " They had just turned one of the rugged corners of the glen, and there before them in the distance was Chris Lisle helping Claude to catch a fish — his words, of course, inaudible, but his actions sufficiently demonstrative to make Parry Glyddyr press his teeth hardly together, and the owner of the granite castle grip his stick and swear. CHAPTER III. LESSOX THE FIEST. Thixgs that seem far-fetched are sometimes simple matters of fact. Just as Claude was glancing back, and feeling as if she would give anything to be back home, a dove among the trees in the fern-clad glen began to coo, and Mary laughed. "There," she said, "only listen. You can't go back now. It would be absurd." "But you are so imprudent," whispered Claude, whose cheeks were orrowino- hotter. " How could you ? " " I wanted to see you happy, my darling coz," was whispered back. " I saw him comincr here with his fishingj-rod, and — " " But, Mary, what will Chris Lisle think ? " " Think he's in luck, and bless poor little humpy, fairy godmother me, and — no, no, too late to retreat. We have been seen." VOL. I. 33 C 34 King of the Castle, For as they had passed out into au open part of the glen where the river widened into a pool, there, only a short distance from them, and with his bright, sun-browned face directed toward the river, was a sturdy, well-built young fellow, dressed in a dark tweed Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers, busily throwing a fly across the pool till, as if intuitively becoming aware that he was watched, he looked sharply round. The next moment there was again the peculiar buzzing sound made by a rapidly- wound-up multiplying winch, the rod was thrown over the young man's shoulder, and he turned to meet them. " Ah, little Mary ! " he cried merrily ; and then, with a voice full of tender reverence, he turned, straw hat in hand, to Claude. " I did not expect to see you here." " And I am as much surprised," she said hastily. '' Mary and I were having a walk." " And now we are here, Mr Lisle, you may as well show us all your salmon," said Mary seriously. " My salmon ! I haven't had a rise." Lesson the First. 35 " And we have interrupted you, perhaps, just as the fish are biting. Come, Mary. Good-morning, Mr Lisle." '•' Oh ! " " Only a little interjection, but so full of reproach that Claude coloured here deeply, and more deeply still as, upon looking round for her companion, she found her comfortably seated upon a mossy stone, and with her head turned away to hide the mischievous delight which flashed from her eyes. " I'm beg^innino; to be afraid that I have offended you. Miss Gartram — Claude." " Oh, no ; what nonsense. Come, Mary." The stone upon which she sat was not more deaf. " Don't hurry away. I thought I was some day to give you a lesson in salmon fishing." "I should never learn, Mr Lisle; and, besides, it is not a very ladylike accom- plishment." " Anything you did, Claude, would be lady- like. Come, I know there are two or three salmon in this pool. They will not rise for me ; they might for you." 36 King of the Castle, " I sboulcl scare them away." " No," said the young man meaningly ; *' you would attract anything to stay." ^^ Mr Lisle!" *' Well, what have I said ? There, forgive me, and take the rod. You promised I should show you how to throw a fly." " Yes, yes ; but some other time — perhaps to-morrow." '' To-morrow comes never," said the young man laughingly. " No ; I have my chance now. Miss Dillon, did not your cousin promise to let me show her how to catch a salmon ? " *' Yes ; and I am so tired. I'll w^ait till you have caught one, Claude." " There," cried the young man hurriedly ; and the stronger will prevailing over the weaker, Claude allowed her instructor to thrust the lithe rod he held into her hands, and, trembling and blushing, she suffered her- self to be led to the side of the pool. " I shall never learn," she said. •'Not learn ! I shall be able to come up to the Fort carrying your first salmon, and Lesson the First. 37 to say to Mr Gartram : ' There, sir ; salmon fishing taught in one lesson.' What do you say to that ? " " How can she be so foolish ? — Of what am I talking ? — Mr Lisle, pray let me go." All silent sentences, but as the last was thought Claude raised her eyes to her com- panion, to meet his fixed upon hers, so full of tender, rcTerent love that she dropped her own, and fell a-trembling with a joy she tried vainly to crush down, while her heart beat heavily the old, old theme, — " He loves me well — he loves me well.'* They had known each other since they were boy and girl, and the afi"ection had slowly and steadily grown stronger and stronger, but Chris Lisle had said to himself time after time that it was too soon to tell her his love, and ask for the guardianship of her heart ; and he had waited, feeling satisfied that some day Claude Gartram would be his. " There," he said playfully, " now for lesson the first. Let me draw out some more line. That's the way. Now, you know as well as 1 do how to throw. Try to let your fly fall 38 King of the Castle. amongst that foam below where the water rushes into the pool. That's the way. Bravo ! " " There, Mr Lisle," cried Claude, after making a very fair cast, " now take the rod, for I must go. Mary, dear, come along." " Shan't," said Mary to herself, as she grew more deaf than ever. " Gather your rosebuds while you may, dear. He's a nice, good fellow. Ah ! how I could have loved a man like that." " Mary Dillon is too much interested in her book," said Chris. " There, that's plenty of line for a good cast. You must go on now. It isn't so very wicked, Claude." " There, then, this one throw and I must go," said the girl, her cheeks burning, and her head seeming to swim, for she was conscious of nothing — running river, the foam and swirl, the glorious landscape of rugged glen side, and the bright sun gilding the heathery earth upon which she stood — conscious of nothing save the fact that Chris Lisle was by her, and that his words seemed to thrill her to the heart, Lesson the First. 39 while in spite of herself he seemed to have acquired a mastery over her which it was sweet to obey. '* Well back," he cried ; " now then, a good one." It was not a good cast, being a very clumsy one, for the fly fell with a splash right out in a smooth, oily looking patch of water behind some stones. But, as is often the case, the tyro is more successful than the tried fisherman. The fly had no sooner touched the water than there was a rise, a sino^ino; whirr from the winch, and Chris shouted aloud with joy. " There ! " he cried. *' You have him. First lesson." " Have I caught it ? " " Yes, yes ; hold up the point of your rod." Claude immediately held it down, and the line went singing out, till Chris darted close behind his pupil and seized the rod, just over ber hands, raising the top till it bent nearly ■double. "A beauty ! " he cried excitedly. " You lucky girl 1 " 40 King of the Castle. " Thank you. That's right. Now, take the rod and pull it out." " No, no," he said, with his lips close to her ear, and she trembled more and more as she felt his crisp beard tickle the back of her neck, and his strong arms tightly press hers to her sides ; " you must land him now." Away darted the salmon wildly about the pool, but Claude could not tell whether it was the excitement caused by the electric messages sent through the line, or by the pressure of Chris Lisle's hands as he held hers to the rod. " Mary, come and see Mr Lisle catch this salmon," she cried huskily ; but Mary only turned over a leaf, and seemed more deaf than ever, while the fish tugged and strained. "Mr Lisle, loose my hands now. This is- absurd. What are you doing ? ' " Telling you I love you," he whispered, in spite of himself, for the time had come, " Claude, dearest, better than my life." '' No, no ; you must not tell me that/' she said, half tearfully, for the declaration seemed to give her pain. " I must. The words have come at last." Lesson the First. 41 " And you have lost your fish," cried Claude, for the line had suddenly become slack. ^' But have I won you \ " " Xo, no. And pray let me go now." "No?" There was so much anguish in the tone in which that one little word w^as spoken, that it went right to Claude's heart, and as if involun- tarily, she added quickly, — " I don't know." " Claude, dearest," he whispered, and his voice trembled as the words were breathed in her ear, " for pity's sake don't trifle with me." " I am not trifling with you. I told you the truth. I don't know." "Ah, that's not catching salmon," came sharply from behind them. " Claude, dear, don't listen to him. He's a wicked fortune- hunter." Chris started away from Claude as if some one had struck him a violent blow. " Mary ! " cried Claude. " Oh, I beg your pardon. "What did I say ? " ^Y}i^zz ! "Mr Lisle! Help!" cried Claude, for the 42 King of the Castle, line had suddenly tightened, the top of the rod bent over in a curve, and the winch sang out as it rapidly revolved. " Take the rod, please, Mr Lisle," continued Claude, in a voice full of emotion ; and, as he took it without a word, she saw that he was deadly pale, and that his white teeth were pressing hard upon his nether lip. He played the fish mechanically, and with Claude steadily looking on, and feeling as if she would like to run home to shut herself in her own room and throw herself upon her knees and sob. But the face before her held her as by a chain, and she turned with a bitter look of reproach upon her cousin, as she saw the way in which Chris was stung. "Don't look at me like that, dear," cried Mary, *' the words slipped out. I did not mean them, indeed. It's a big fish, isn't it, Mr Lisle ? Shall I gaff it for you ? " *' Thank you," he said drearily ; and Mary picked up the bamboo staff with the glistening hook at the end. " Oh, I do beg your pardon, Mr Lisle." ** Granted," was the laconic reply. Lesson the First. 43 " Don't, pray, don't punish me for saying those words," cried Mary. " There, finish your lesson in love and fishing. Claude," she whispered, as the young man had to follow the fish a few yards down the stream, '' you've caught him tightly ; shall I gaff him as well ? " "Yes; you had better finish your lesson, Miss Gartram," said Chris, walking back slowly winding in the line, and speaking in a hard, cold tone. "No; you had better finish," she replied hastily ; and then, as she saw the cloud deep- ening on his brow, she stepped forward quickly, and laid her hand on the rod. " Yes, let me finish, Chris," she said, and she gazed at him with her eyes full of faith and trust. " Claude," he whispered, as he gave her the rod, "you couldn't think — " "Hallo! What's this?" cried a harsh voice, and all started, so suddenly had Nor- man Gartram — follow^ed closely by his visitor — stepped up to where they stood. " Mr Lisle giving Claude and me a lesson in fishing," said Mary sharply. "Now, Claude, dear, wind in and Til hook him out." 44 King of the Castle. *' Most interesting group," said Parry Glyddyr, with rattier a contemptuous look at the teacher of the art. **Very," said Norman Grartram, frowning. " Here, Claude, stop that fooling and come home." '' Mary, Mary, what have you done ? " whis- pered Claude, as they walked away. " Made a mess of it, darling, I'm afraid." As they turned a corner of the glen, with her father's guest talking about what she did not know, Claude stole a glance back, to see Christopher Lisle standing with his hands resting upon the rod he held, and a bright, silvery fish lying at his feet. The girl's heart went on beating heavily with pulsations that seemed as full of pleasure as of pain. CHAPTEE IV. "ALL TO BITS !" Mary Dillox did the greater part of the talking on the way home, Gartram saying scarcely a word, but making great use of his eyes, to see how Glyddyr took the unpleasant contretemps. " And just after what I had said to him," muttered Gartram. "The insolent young scoun- drel ! The miserable, contemptible pauper ! How dare he ? " But Glyddyr's behaviour was perfect, and excited Gartram's wonder. " He can't have seen what I did," he thought, '' or he would never talk to her so coolly." For, ignoring everything, and as if he was blind to what had passed, Glyddyr dashed at once into a series of inquiries about Dan- mouth, and the weather in the winter. " Do the storms afiect the place much ? " he said, looking at Claude. 45 46 King of the Castle. '' Knock the pots off sometimes, and always wash the slates clean," said Mary, before Claude could reply. "Not pleasant for the inhabitants," said Glyddyr, after giving Mary a quick, amused glance before turning again to Claude. ''But at the Fort, of course, you are too high up for the waves to reach ? " " Salt spray coats all the windows, and makes the walls shine," interposed Mary. "What will he think of me?" thought Claude ; and then she wondered that she did not feel sorry, but that all the time, in spite of her father's fiercely sullen looks, a peculiar kind of joy seemed to pervade her breast. Glyddyr talked on, but he was completely talked down by Mary, who felt that the kind- est thing she could do was to draw every one's attention from her cousin, till they had passed through the little town, and nearly reached the Fort, where they were met by a rough- looking workman, who ran unceremoniously towards them, caught hold of Gartram roughly, and cried out, in wild excitement, — " Come on to the quarry at once." ''AlltoBvts!'' 47 "What's the matter— fall of rock?" cried Gartram. " Blasting — Wooclham — blown all to bits," panted the man. " Then he has been using dynamite." "Nay; soon as we picked him up, he said it was the cursed bad powder." "Bah! Where is he?" " We took him home, and I fetched the doctor, and then come on here." " Eun home, girls. No, Mr Glyddyr, see them in. I'm going on to my workmen's cottages." He hurried off, and Glyddyr turned to Claude. " I'm sorry there is such terrible news," he began ; but Claude did not seem to hear him. " Make haste, Mary," she said hurriedly. *' Bring brandy and wine, and join me there." " My dear Miss Gartram, are you going to the scene of the accident ? " Claude looked at him in an absent way. " I am going to the Woodhams' cottage," 48 King of the Castle. she said hurriedly. " Sarah Woodham was our old servant. Don't stop me, please." She hurried along the narrow road leading west, and it was not until she had gone some hundred yards following the messenger, who was trotting heavily at Gartram's heels, that she realised that she was not alone. " Mr Glyddyr ! " she exclaimed. " Pray pardon me," he said, in a low, ear- nest voice. "As a friend, I cannot let you go alone at a time like this." Claude looked up at him wildly, but there was so much respectful deference in his manner that she could say nothing. In fact, her thouo^hts were all with the suffering man and woman — the victims of this deplorable mishap. It was nearly half-a-mile along the rough cliff road ; and it was traversed in silence, Claude being too much agitated to say more. The scene was easy enough to find when they were approaching the place, for a knot of rough quarry workmen were gathered round a clean-looking, white-washed cottage, from out of whose open door came the harsh tones of a '' All to Bits f' 49 man's voice, while the crowd parted left and right, and several placed the short black pipes they were smoking hurriedly in their pockets. Claude had nearly reached the door w^hen the words which were being uttered within the cottage seemed to act like a spell, arrest- ing her steps and making her half turn shuddering away, as they seemed to lash her, so keenly and cuttingly they fell. " Curse you ! curse you ! It's all your doing. You've murdered me. Sarah, my girl, he has done for me at last." Gartram's voice was heard in low, deep, muttering tones, as if in reproof; but the injured man's voice overbore it directly, sounding shrill and harsh from agony as he cried, — " Let every one outside hear it. Hark ye, lads, I wanted to use theMinnymite, but he made me use the cursed old powder again, and he has murdered me." *'My good man," said a fresh voice, which sounded clear in the silence, *' you must be calm. It was a terrible accident." "Nay, doctor, it's his doing; it's his mean- VOL. I. D 50 King of the Castle. ness. I wanted him to use the dinnymite, and he would keep to powder. He has murdered me." There was a low groan, and then a terrible cry ; and as Glyddyr mentally pictured the scene within, of the doctor dressing the in- juries, he turned to the trembling girl beside him. "Miss Gartram," he whispered, ''this is no place for you. There is plenty of help. Let me see you home." She shook her head as she looked at him wildly, and, making a deprecating gesture, Glyddyr turned to one of the men. " Is he very bad ? " he whispered. " Blowed a'most to bits," said the man in a hoarse whisper. " Did the powder go off too soon ? " *'It warn't powder at all," said the man, as Gartram stepped quickly out of the cottage. " It were the dinnymite. He would use it, and he warn't used to its ways." It was evident from the peculiar tightening of Gartram's lips that he had heard the man's words ; and he turned back and re-entered the ''' Allto Bits !'' 51 cottage, for his name was sharply pronounced within. Then there was another groan, and the in- jured man cried, — •' Don't, don't ; you're killino: me." At that moment a thin, keen - looking woman of about thirty rushed out of the cottage, her eyes wild and staring, and her face blanched, while her hands and apron were horribly stained. "I can't bear it," she cried; "I can't bear it ! " and she flung herself upon her knees in the stony road, and covered her face with her hands, sobbing hysterically. The sio-ht of the sufferincr woman roused Claude to action ; and as she took a couple of steps forward, and with the tears falling fast, laid her hand upon the woman's shoulder, a low murmur arose among the men, and Glyddyr saw that they drew back respectfully, several turning right away. " Sarah, my poor Sarah," said Claude, bend- ing low. At the tender words of sympathy and the touch of the sentle hands, the woman let her LIBRARY 52 Kin^ of the Castle. own fall from her face, and stared up appeal- ingly at the speaker. Claude involuntarily shrank away from the ghastly face, for the hands had printed hideous traces upon the woman's brow. The shrinking away was momentary, for, recovering herself, Claude drew her handker- chief from her pocket, to turn in surprise as it was drawn from her hand, but she directly gave Glyddyr a grateful look, as she saw him step to a rough granite trough into which a jet of pure water was pouring from the cliff, and saturating it quickly, he returned the handkerchief to its owner. But before the blood stains could be re- moved, the voice of the injured man was heard calling. " Sarah ! Don't leave me, my girl. He has murdered me." The woman gave Claude a wild look, rose from her knees, and tottered back to the cottage as the voice of Gartram was heard in angry retort. " It's like talking to a madman, Ike Wood- ham," came clear and loud; "but youVe got '' All to Bits!" 53 hurt Ly your own wilful obstinacy, and you want to throw the blame on me." As he spoke, Gartram strode out of the cottage, and then whispered to his child, — "Come home, my dear. You can do no good." '' Xo, no ; not yet, papa," she whispered. '* I must try if I can help poor Sarah in her terrible trouble." A low murmur arose from the little crowd, and this seemed to excite Gartram. ''Well," he cried fiercely, ''w^hat does that mean ? It was his own fault — in direct opposition to my orders ; and this is not the first accident through your own folly." The low, angry muttering continued. *' Here, come away, Claude," cried Gartram fiercely, as he looked round at the lowering faces. '' He has murdered me, I tell you ! " came from the open cottage door. ••'Bah!" ejaculated Gartram angrily, and he strode away, but returned directly. " Are you coming, my girl ? " " Yes, papa, soon. Let me see if I can be of use." 54 King of the Castle. ''Look here, Mr Glyddyr," said Gartram, speaking in a low, excited voice, " I can't stop. I shall be saying things that will make them mad. See after Claude, and bring her home. The senseless idiots ! If a man bruises him- self with his own hammer, it is blamed on me." He strode away, and ignoring Glyddyr's presence, Claude was moving softly toward the door, when the man who had brought the message held out his hand to arrest her. " Don't go in, dear bairn," he said in a husky whisper ; "it isn't for the likes of you to see." " Thank you, Wolfe," she said calmly, " I am not afraid." But at that moment, as Glyddyr was about to make a protest, a quiet-looking, gentlemanly man appeared at the door turning down his cuffs, the perspiration glistening upon his high white forehead as he came out into the sun. "No, no, my dear child," he said in a whis- per, as a low moaning came from within and seemed to be followed by the low soft washing of the waves below. "You can do no good." " Is — is he very bad, Doctor Asher ? " asked Claude. '' All to Bits!' 55 He looked at lier for aa instant or two with out replying, and then bent his head. " Oh ! " ejaculated Claude, with a low cry of pain. "Terribly crushed, my dear; better leave them together alone." " But — you do not think — oh, Doctor Asher, you can save him ? " " Is it so bad as that, sir ? " whispered G-lyddyr, as he saw the peculiar look in the doctor's face. " Couldn't you — w^ith more help — shall I send ? " '' My dear sir," said the doctor in a low voice, "half a dozen of the crack London surgeons couldn't save him." " Oh 1 " sighed Claude again. " But a clergyman. Mr Glyddyr, would you go into Danmouth ? " "Better not, my dear child," said the doctor quietly. "You know their peculiar tenets. His wife was praying with him when I came out." As if to endorse the doctor's words, the low, constant murmur of a voice was heard from within, and from time to time a gasping utter- 5 6 King of the Castle. ance was heard, and then twice over the word ** Amen." Just then Claude stepped softly toward the open doorway, and sank upon her knees with her hands clasped, and her face turned up ap- pealingly toward the sunny sky, while all around seemed full of life, and hope, though the black shadow of death was closing in upon the humble roof. And as Glyddyr saw the sweet, pure, upturned face, wdth its closed eyes, he involuntarily took ofi* his hat, and gazed wistfully, with something very near akin to love seeming to swell within his breast. The silence was very deep, though the murmur from the cottage continued, till, in the midst of what seemed to be a painful pause, a loud and bitter wail came upon the stillness, and the doctor hurriedly stepped within. "Poor Ike's cottage is to let, mates," said a rough, low voice; "who wants to make a change ? " " Dead ? " asked Claude, with a motion of her lips, as after a short space the doctor returned. ''AlltoBitsr 57 " No ; the draught I have criven him to dull the pain has had effect : he is asleep." '' And when he awakes, Doctor Asher ? " whispered Claude, as she clung to his arm. The doctor shook his head. " Can you do nothing 1 " '* Only try to lull the pain," was the reply. And then quickly. " Wanted somewhere else ? " This last was to himself as a man was seen running toward them, and Claude turned if possible paler as she recognised one of the servants from the Fort. He ran up breathlessly. ''Miss Claude — Doctor Asher," he panted. " Come at once. Master's got another of his fits." GHAPTEE YL THE DOCTOR IS KING. " Don't be flurried, my dear," said Doctor Asher, as, in a calm, business - like way, he saw to Gartram being laid easily on the floor, where he had fallen in the study. "But he looks so ghastly. You do not think—" "Yes, I do, my child," said the doctor cheerfully. " Not what you think, because I know. He has another fit precisely the same as the last, and it was evidently a sudden seizure, just as he had risen from his chair, after writing that letter." " Then there is no danger ? " " Oh, dear, no. That's right, you see. We'll have this mattress on the floor ; and he can lie here. Don't be alarmed." " But I am horribly alarmed." " Then you must not be, my child. I will not conceal the fact from you that he will 58 The Doctor is Kmg. 59 probably be subject to more fits, and may have one at any time." "But I feel so helpless." " So does a doctor, my dear. We try all we can, but time has to perform the greater part of the cure, after we have done all we can to avoid suffocation, and the patient injuring himself in his struggles. There, there ; he's going on all right, and you've been a very good, brave girl. 1 quite admire your behavi- our all through ; and another time, if I am not here, you will know exactly how to act." ' ' Oh, don't talk of anothertime. Doctor Asher. " "Well, I will not," he said, smiling. "Now, don't be alarmed, but keep perfectly cool, for I must go back and see to that poor fellow at the quarry." " Yes, of course. But, doctor, if my poor father should be taken worse ? " " He will not be taken worse, but gradually mend. I shall not be very long away." "No, no ; pray don't be long." "No ; and mind you are my assistant. So you must be cool and self-possessed. Shall I send Miss Dillon to sit with you ? " 6o King of the Castle. " Yes, please, do," said the agitated girl, as she gazed wildly at her father's altered face. Doctor Asher seemed rather to resemble a very smooth, black tom cat, and, as he drew down his cuffs, and passed his white hands over his glossy coat, an imaginative person would not have been much surprised to see him begin to lick himself, to remove a few specks caused by the business in which he had been engaged. As he left the study and crossed the hall, with its polished granite flooring, his delicate manner of proceeding toward the drawing- room, and stepping from one to another of the oases of Eastern rugs, was still like the progress of the cat who believed the polished granite to be water, and tried to avoid wet- ting his paws. When he laid his hand upon the drawing- room door, a murmur of voices came from within, and, as he entered, Mary Dillon jumped up from the low^ ottoman upon which she had been seated, talking to Glyddyr, and ran quickly to the doctor's side. " How is he ? " she said excitedly. The Doctor is Kiii^. 6i "Better, certainly. Miss Gartram wants you to go and stay with her." "Yes, of course. Good-bye, Mr Glyddyr, and thank you for being so kind." She spoke as she ran to the door, jerked the last words back over her shoulder, and was gone, leaving the doctor face to face with the visitor. " How is he ? " said the latter. " You can speak plainly to me." "To be sure I can, my dear sir. Ah, what a world this is. Yesterday we were taking our champagne in the saloon of your charm- ing yacht, to-day — " "You are keeping me waiting for an an- swer," said Glyddyr, rather stiffly. "So I am," said the doctor, smiling. "Well, how is he ? Eather bad. Nasty fit of his usual sort." " Then he is subject to these fits ? " " Most decidedly." " But what caused it ? " "Worry. From what I can gather, he must have some upset when out walking. Our friend has a temper." 62 King of the Castle, " Ah ! " ejaculated Glyddyr. " Then he has had some quarrel with this poor fellow who is hurt. The terrible acci- dent followed, and, with the customary crass obstinacy of rustic, ignorant workmen, the poor fellow and his comrades lay the blame of a trouble, caused by their own stupidity, upon their employer. "Yes, I see. Caused great mental disturb- ance f "Exactly, my dear sir. He being a man who, in the labour of making money, has nearly worried himself to death." " Yes." " And who now worries himself far more to keep it." "Ah, money is hard to keep," said Glyddyr, with a smile. "He has found it so, sir. When the old bank broke years ago, it hit him to the tune of many thousands." " Indeed ! " " Yes ; and that set him building this place for his protection. I shouldn't wonder if he has quite a bank here." The Doctor is King. 6'i^ " Indeed ! Tben the old man is rich ? " " Eich ! I thought every one knew that. Better be poor and happy." "As we are, eh, doctor? Well, it's a ter- rible worry — money." This was accompanied by a peculiar look which the doctor interpreted, and replied to with one as suggestive. " No danger, I hope, to the old gentleman?" '*No, no. Fits are not favourable to health, though. " Well, no danger this time, I hope ? " " Not a bit. He'll feel the shock for a few days. That's all." *' And the other patient ? " " Hah, yes ; I'm just going over there." "He is very bad, you say ? " " Bad ! I expect to find him gone." The doctor nodded, and left the room. " Bah ! how I do hate them," said Glyddyr. " I'd have walked down with him, but I al- ways feel as if I were smelling physic." Glyddyr stood tapping the bottom of his watch, which he had just taken from his pocket, as he talked in a low tone, just as if 64 King of the Castle. he were conversing with the little round face before him. *'How wild the old boy was — ^just after he had been talking to me as he had. Pshaw ! I don't mind. Eustic bit of courtship. Half- bumpkin sort of fellow, and poor as Job. Old man wouldn't have him at any price. The gipsy! Been carrying on with him, then, eh? Well, it's always the way with your smooth, drooping little violets. Eegular flirtation. I don't mind. I wouldn't give a dump for a girl without a bit of spirit in her. It's all right. Friends at court — a big friend at court. But no more fits for friends — at pre- sent, I hope. I'll get him to come on a cruise, and bring her. Tell the old boy it will do him good. Get the doctor on my side, and make him prescribe a trip round the islands, with him to come as medical attendant. No- thing to do, and unlimited champagne. Keal diplomacy. By Jupiter, Parry, you are a clever one, though you do get most awfully done on the turf 1 " "Yes," he said, after another look at the watch, for the purpose now of seeing the time, The Doctor is King. 65 *' that's the plan — a long sea trip roiiDcl the islands, with sentiment, sighs and sunsets ; and, as they said in the old melodramas, ' Once aboard the lugger, she is mine.' For, lugger read steam yacht, schooner-rigged Fair Star, of Cowes ; Parry Glyddyr, owner." He laughed in a low, self-satisfied way, and then moved toward the door. " Well, it's of no use to wait here," he said. " They will not show up again. I can call, though, as often as I like. Come again this evening, and see her then. She can't refuse. I'll go now and see how the salmon fisher is getting on." VOL. T. E CHAPTER VI. m CHARGE. *' Mary, dear, don't deceive me for the sake of trying to give me comfort," said Claude, as she knelt in the study, beside the mattress upon which her father lay breathing stertorously. " Claude, darling, I tease you and say spite- ful things sometimes, but you know you can trust me." "Yes, yes, dear, I know; but you don't answer me." " I have told you again and again that your father is just like he was last time, and the best proof of there being no danger is Doctor Asher staying away so long." " It's that which worries me so. He pro- mised to come back soon." " Don't be unreasonable, dear. You know he went to the quarry where that man is dangerously hurt." 66 In Charge. 67 " Yes. Poor Sarah ! How slie must suffer ! It is very terrible. But look now, Mary — that dark mark beneath papa's eyes." '•' Yes, I can see it," said Mary, rising quickly, and soinof to the table, where she chang-ed the position of the lamp, w^ith the result that the dark shadow lay now across the sleeper's lips. '' There, that is not a dangerous symptom, Claudie." " Don't laugh at me, Mary. You can't think hoTv alarmed I am. These fits seem to come more frequently than they used. Ought not papa to have more advice ? " '' It would be of no use, dear. I could cure im. "You?" " Yes ; or he could cure himself." " Mary ! " "Yes," said the little, keen-looking body, kaeeling down by her cousin's side; "uncle has only to leave off worrying about making more money and piling up riches that he will never enjoy, and he w^ould soon be well again." Claude sis^hed. " See what a life he leads, always in such a 68 King of the Castle. hurry that he cannot finish a meal properly \ and as to taking a bit of pleasure in any form, he would think it wicked. I haven't patience with him. Yes, I have, poor old fellow — plenty. He has been very good to miser- able little me." " Of course he has, dear," said Claude, throw- ing her arms about her cousin's neck and kiss- ing her, with the result that the sharp-looking, self-contained little body uttered an hysterical cry, clung to her, and burst out sobbing wildly, as if all control was gone. **Mary, darling, don't, pray don't. You distress me. What is the matter ? " " I'm miserable, wretched," sobbed the poor girl, with her face hidden in her cousin's breast, " I always seem to be doing something wrong. It's just as if, when I tried to make people happy, I was a kind of imp of mischief, and caused trouble." "No, no, no! What folly." " It isn't folly ; it's quite true. See what I did this morning." Claude felt her cheeks begin to burn, and she tried to speak, but the words would not come. 1)1 Charge. 69 "I knew that Chris Lisle had gone up the east river fishino- and I was sure he lonoed to iiee you, and I was quite certain you wanted to see him." ''Mary, be silent," cried Claude, in an ex- -cited whisper ; "it is not true." "Yes, it is, dear. You know it is, and I could see that he was miserable, and had been since you went on board Mr Glyddyr's yacht, .so I felt that it would be quite right to take you round there, so that you might meet and make it up. And see what mischief I seem to Jiave made." ''Yes," said Claude gravely, as she meta- phorically put on her maiden mask of prudery ; " and you know now that it was very, very thoughtless of you." " Thoughtless ! " said Mary, looking up with a quick look, half-troubled, half- amused; " didn't I think too much \ " "Don't talk, Mary," said Claude primly. "You may disturb poor papa. It was very wicked and meddlesome and weak, and you •don't know what harm you have done." Marv Dillon's face wcs flushed and tear- 70 King of the Castle, stained, and her eyes looked red and troubled ; but she darted a glance at her cousin so full of mischievous drollery, that Claude's colour deep- ened, and she turned away troubled, and totally unable to continue the strain of reproof. She was spared further trouble by a cough heard in the hall. '' Wipe your eyes quickly, Mary," she whis- pered ; " here is Doctor Asher at last." Mary jumped up, and stepped to the window, where she was half hidden by the curtains, as- there was a gentle tap at the door, the handle was turned, and the doctor, looking darker and more stern than ever, entered the room. He whisperingly asked how his patient had^ been, as he went down on one knee by the mattress, made a short examination, and turned to Claude, who, with parted lips, was watching him anxiously. *' You think him worse ? " she whispered. *' Indeed I do not," he said quickly. '' No- thing could be better. He will sleep heavily for a long time." '' But did you notice his heavy breathing ? " " Of course I did," said the doctor rising, In Charge. 71 " and you have no cause for alarm. Ah, Miss Mary, I did not se^ you at first." ''Don't deceive me, Doctor Asher," said Claude, in agonised tones ; " tell me the worst." " There is no worse to tell you, my dear child. I dare say your father will be well enough to sit up to-morrow." " Thank heaven ! " said Claude to herself. Then, turning to the doctor : '' How is poor Isaac Woodham ? " " Don't ask me." *' How dreadful ! " '' Yes ; it was a terrible accident." " But is there no hope ? " "You asked me not to deceive you," said the doctor gravely. "None at all." Just then the sick man moaned slightly in his sleep, and made an uneasy movement which took his daughter back to his side. " Don't be alarmed, my child," said the doctor encouragicgly ; " there is nothing to fear." "But I am alarmed," said Claude; "and I look forward with horror to the long night when I am alone with him." 7 2 King of the Castle. " You are going to sit up with him ? " "Of course." '* Divide the night with your cousin." ''Yes— but— " ''Well— what is it?" '' Oh, Doctor Asher, don't leave him. Pray, pray, stay here." '^ But I have to go and see that poor fellow twice during the night." "" I had forgotten him," sighed Claude. " Couldn't you stop here, and go and see him in the night ? " " Well, I might do that," said the doctor thoughtfully ; " but really, my child, there is no necessity." " If you could stop, Doctor Asher," inter- posed Mary, " it would be a great relief to poor Claude, who is nervous and hysterical about my uncle's state." ''Very well," was the cheerful reply. " I'll tell you what ; I'll sit with you till about nine, and then go and see poor Woodham. Then I'll come . back and stay up with Mr Gartram till about three, when you shall be called to relieve me." In Charge. 73 "But I shall not cro to bed," said Claude decidedly. " I am your medical man, and I prescribe rest," said the doctor, smiling. " I don't want any more patients at present. You and your cousin will go and lie down early, and then come and relieve me, so that I can go and see poor Woodham again. After that I shall return here, and you can let me have a sofa ready, to be called if wanted. There, I am the doctor, and a doctor rules in a sick house." "Must I do as you say?" asked Claude pleadingly. "Yes; you must," he replied; and so matters were settled. Doctor Asher walked down to the quarry cottage to see his patient there, and did what he could to alleviate the poor fellow's pain, always avoiding the inquiring look in the wife's eyes, and then he returned to the Fort. " How^ is he now ? " asked Claude anxiously. " Very bad," was the reply. " You will find coffee all ready on the side- table, doctor," said Claude ; " and there is a spirit lamp and the stand and glasses. There 74 King of the Castle. are cigars on the shelf; but you will let me sit up too ?" "To show that you have no confidence in your medical man." "Oh, no, no; but Mary and I might be of some use." " And of none at all to-morrow, my dears. You must both go to bed, and be ready to relieve me." ** But is there anything else I can do to help you ? " " Yes ; what I say — go to bed at once." Claude hesitated a few moments, and then walked quickly to the side of the mattress, knelt down, kissed her father lovingly, and then rose. "Come, Mary," she said. " And you will ring the upstairs bell if there's the slightest need ? " " Of course, of course. There, good-night ; I shall ring punctually at two." He shook hands, and the two girls left the room unwillingly, and proceeded slowly up- stairs. "" Well lie down in your room, Mary," said In Charge. 75 Claude; "it is so much nearer the bell. Do you know, I feel so dreadfully low-spirited ? It is as if a terrible shadow had come over the place, and — don't laugh at me — it seemed to oTow darker when Doctor Asher came into the o room." " What nonsense ! Because he is all in black." "Do you think he is to be trusted, Mary ? " " I don't know. I don't like him, and I never did. He is so sleek and smooth, and I hate him to call us ' my dear ' in that nasty, patronising, paternal sort of way." " Then let's sit up." " Xo, no. It would be absurd. I daresay we should feel the same about any other doctor." "I do hope he will take great care of poor papa," sighed Claude ; and the door closed after them as they entered their room. If Doctor Asher was not going to take great care of Norman Gartram, it was very evident that he was going to take very great care of himself, for as soon as he was alone he struck a match, lit the spirit lamp, lifted the lid of 7 6 King of the Castle. the coffee pot, and found that it was still very hot, and then, removing a stopper in the spirit stand, he poured out into a cup a goodly portion of pale brandy. He had just restored the stopper to the spirit decanter, saying to himself, "Nice, thoughtful little girl ! " when Gartram moaned and moved uneasily. The doctor crossed to him directly, went down on one knee, and felt to see that his patient's neck was well opened. " Almost a pity not to have had him un- dressed," he said to himself "What's the matter with you — uncomfortable ? Why, poor old boy,'' he continued, with a half laugh, as his hands busily felt round the sick man, ** how absurd ! " He had passed a hand through the opening in Gartram's shirt front, and after a little effort succeeded in unbuckling a cash belt which was round his patient's waist, drawing the whole out,' and noting that on one side there was a pocket stuffed full and hard as he threw the belt carelessly on the table. " Nice wado-e that for a man to lie on. In Chm^ge. yj There, old fellow, you'll be more comfortable now. As if to endorse his words, Gartram uttered a deep sigh, and seemed to settle off to sleep. " Breeches pockets full too, I daresay," muttered the doctor ; " and shouldn't be sur- prised if there's a good, hard bunch of keys somewhere in his coat. Doesn't trouble him, though." He rose, and went back to the tray at the side, filled the already primed coffee cup and carried it to the table, wheeled forward an easy chair, selected a cigar, which he lit, and then threw himself back and sipped his coffee and smoked. " Yes, sweet little girl Claude," he thought ; " make a man a good wife— good rich wife, and if — no, no, not the slightest chance for me, and I'll go on as I am, and make the best of it." He had another sip. "Delicious coffee, fine cio-ar. AVorse things than being a doctor. We get as much insight of family matters as the parsons, and are trusted with more secrets." He laughed to himself as he lay back. 78 King of the Castle. " Yes, nice little heiress, Claude," he said again. " Wonder who'll get her — Christopher the salmon fisher, or our new yachting friend ? I think I should back Glyddyr." He smoked on, and thought seriously for some time about his other patient, and after a time he emitted a cloud of smoke which he had retained in his mouth, as he turned himself with a jerk from one side of his great easy chair to the other. " No," he said, "impossible to have done more. The Royal College of Surgeons couldn't save him." He smoked on in silence, sipping his coffee from time to time, gazing the while at Gart- ram, upon whom the light shone faintly, just sufficient to show his stern-looking, deeply- marked face. " Yours is a good head, my dear patient," he mused. " Well-cut features, and a look of firm determination in your aspect, even when your eyes are closed. You miss something there, for you have keen, piercing eyes, but for all that you look like what you are, a stubborn, deter- mined Englishman, who will have his own way In Chai'ge. 79 over evervthino- so long as his works will make him go. AYhen they run down, he comes to me for help, and I am helping him. Yes, you were sure to get on and heap up money, and build grand houses, and slap your pocket-book and say : ' I am a rich man, and T laugh at and deride the whole world,' and so you do, my dear sir, all but the doctor, w^ho, once he has you, has you all his life, and can do w^hat he likes with you. I have you hard, Norman Gartram, and I am licensed ; I have you com- pletely under me, and so greatly am I in pos- session of you, that I could this night say to you die, and you would die ; or I could bid you live, and you would live. A simple giving or a simple taking. A movement with the tactus eruditus of a j)hysician, and then the flag would be down, the King of the Castle would be gone, and a new king would reign in the stead — or queen," he added, with a laugh. '•' Ah, you people trust us a great deal, and we in return trust you — a very long time often , before we can get paid. Not you, my dear Gartram. vou alwavs were a hard cash man. 8o King of the Castle. But you people trust us a great deal, and our power is great. "And ought not- to be abused," lie said hastily. " No, of course not. No one ought to abuse those who trust. Capital coffee this," he added, as he partook of more. '' Grand thing to keep a man awake. " Humph ! Tired. Ours is weary w^ork," and he yawned. *'I believe I should have been a clever fellow," mused the doctor, " if I had not been so confoundedly lazy. There's something very interesting in these cases. In yours, for instance, my fine old fellow, it sets one thinking whether I could have treated you difi'erently, and whether I could do anything to prevent the recurrence of these fits." He smoked on in silence, and then shook his head. "No," he said, half aloud ; " if there is a fire burning, and that is kept burning, all that we can do is to keep on smothering it for a time. It is sure to keep on eating its way out. He has a fire in his brain which he insists upon keeping burning, so until he quenches it him- In Charge. 8i self, all I can do is to stop the flames by smothering it over by my medical sods. You must cure yourself, Norman Gartram ; I cannot cure you. Xo, and you cannot cure yourself, for you will g-o on struooiino- to make more money that you have no use for, till you die. Poor devil ! " He said the last two words aloud, in a voice full of pitying contempt. Then, after another sip of his coff'ee, he looked round for a book, drew the lamp close to his right shoulder, and picked up one or two volumes, but only to throw them down ao-ain ; and he was reach ins; over for another when his eye fell upon the cash belt with its buloinoj contents. " Humph,'' he ejaculated, as he turned it over and over, and noted that it had been in service a long time. " Stufi"ed very full. Notes, I suppose. Old boy hates banking. Wonder how much there is in ? Very dishonourable," he muttered ; '' extremely so, but he has placed himself in my hands." He drew out a pocket-book. " Wants a new elastic band, my dear Gar- tram. Out of order. I must prescribe a new VOL. I. F 82 King of the Castle. band. Let me see ; what have we here ? Notes — fivers — tens — two fifties. Droll thing that these flimsy looking scraps of paper should represent so much money. More here too — tens, all of them." He drew forth from the pockets of the book dirty doubled-up packets of Bank of England notes, and carelessly examined them, refolding them, and returning them to their places. ** What a capital fee I might pay myself," he said, with an unpleasant little laugh ; " and I don't suppose, old fellow, that you would miss it. Certainly, my dear Gartram, you would be none the worse. Extremely one- sided sometimes," he said, " to have had the education of a gentleman and run short. Yes, very." He returned the last notes to the pocket, and raised a little flap in the inner part. '•' Humph ! what's this ? An old love letter. No: man's handwriting : — ' Instructions to my executors.' " He gave vent to a low whistle, glanced at the sleeping man, then at the door, and back at his patient before laying down the pocket- In Charge. ^^^ book, and turning the soiled little envelope over and over. '•' Not fastened down," lie muttered. '' I wonder what — Oh, no : one can't do that." He hastily picked up the pocket-book, and thrust the note back into its receptacle, but snatched it out again, opened it quickly, and read half aloud certain of the sentences which caught his attention — " Granite closet behind book cases — vault under centre of study — big s;ranite chest." " Good heavens ! " he said, after a pause, durino' which he read throug^h the memorandum again ; then refolding it and returning it to the envelope, he hastily placed the writing in its receptacle, and in turn this was put in the pocket-book. Lastly, the book was returned to the pouch in the belt, which latter was thrust hastily into one of the drawers of the writing-table, the key turned and taken out. " Give it to Mademoiselle Claude," he said, with a half laugh. '' What an awkward thing if I had been tempted to behave as some would have done under the circumstances." He took out a delicate lawn handkerchief. 84 King, of the Castle, unfolded it, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and then proceeded to do the same to his hands, which were cold and damp, '* That coffee is strong," he said, *' or it is my fancy ; perhaps the place is too warm." He walked up and down the room two or three times, gazing anxiously at the book- shelves, and then at the table, where the floor was covered with a thick Turkey carpet ; but he turned away and re-filled his cup with coffee and brandy, found that his cigar was out, and threw the stump away before helping himself to a fresh one, and smoking heavily for some time, evidently thinking deeply. Then, apparently unable to resist the temp- tation, he rose and walked to the door, opened it and listened, found that all was silent, closed it again, and after glancing at his patient, who was sleeping heavily, he hastily drew out the key, opened the drawer, and, after a moment- ary hesitation, took out the belt. In another minute, the yellow looking memo- randum was in his hands, being studied care- fully before it was restored to its resting-place, and again locked up. In Charge, 85 '' I did not know I had so much curiosity in my nature," he said, with a half laugh. " Well, the study of mankind is man, doesn't some on*} say, and I'm none the worse for a little extra knowledpre of a friend's affairs. I might be called upon to give advice some day." Oddly enough, the knowledge again affected the doctor so that he wiped his brow and hands carefully, and then sat gazing thoughtfully before him as he sipped and smoked and seemed to settle down into a calm, restful state, which at times approached drowsiness. Upon these occasions he rose and softly paced the room, stopping to listen to his patient's breathing, and twice over feeling his pulse. " Could not be going on better," he muttered. Finally, during one of his turns up and down, he heard a step outside the door, followed by a light tap, and Claude entered. The doctor started, and looked at her w ildly " Why have you come down ? " he said. " Come down ? How is he ? I overslept myself, and it is half-past two." " Is it so late as that ? " S6 King of the Castle, " Doctor Asher ! " cried Claude excitedly, as she caught him by the arm, "you are keepiug something back." Her words seemed to smite him, and he tried vainly to speak. It was as if he had suddenly been startled by some terrible shock, and he stared at Claude with his jaw slightly fallen. " Why don't you speak % " " Keeping something back," he said hoarsely. "No!" " No ? Why do you say that ? You seem so confused and changed. Tell me, for heaven's sake ; my father — " *' Better— better," he said, recovering him- self, and speaking loudly, but in a husky voice, " I — I have been a little drowsy, I suppose, with the long watching. Not correct, but natural." She looked at him wonderingly, he seemed so strange, and unable to contain herself, she turned to where her father lay, with her heart throbbing wildly, and something seemed to whisper to her the words, "He is dead." CHAPTER VII. SARAH WOODHAM's VOW. It was after many hours of stupor, and when Doctor Asher, the physician of Danmouth, had gone back to the Fort, from a hurried visit to his injured patient, that Isaac Wood- ham unclosed his eyes, and lay gazing at the pale, agony-drawn face of his wife, upon which the light of the solitary candle fell. " What's the matter ? " he said hoarsely. " Ike, husband," whispered the suffering woman. " Oh, yes ; I remember now," he said, with a piteous groan. " I always knew it would come." "Ike, dear, can I do anything?" said his wife tenderly. "Yes." "Tell me what, dear?" "I'll tell you soon," groaned the man. "I 88 King of the Castle. knew it would come ; I always felt it. Ah, my girl, my girl, I've preached to them ofteu, and talked about the end of a good Christian man, but it's very, very hard to die." "Die ! oh, Isaac, don't say that." ''Yes; and to die through him — through that tyrant, and all to make him rich." " No, no ; you'll get better, dear, as Eoberts did, and Jackson, who were worse than you." " Hah ! " he cried, making a gesticulation, as if to cast aside his wife's vain words ; and then, with a sudden access of force that was startling, he caught at her hand. " Sally, my lass," he whispered harshly, " Gartram has murdered me." " Isaac, my poor husband, don't say that." " It was all his doing. He always thwarted me, and interfered when I had to blast." "Pray, pray be still, dear. You are so l)ad and weak. The doctor said you were to be kept quiet, and not to talk." "Doctor knew it was all over. I am a dying man." "No, no, my darling." " Yes, I'll say it, and more too while I have Sarah Woodhara s Vow. 89 time. But for Gartram, I should be well aod stroncr now. Oh, how I hate him ! Curse him for a dog ! " " Isaac ! — darling husband." "Yes; I always hated him, the oppressor and tyrant. He made me mad about blasting that bit of rock, and I felt I must do it — my way ; but he bullied me till my hands were all of a tremble, and I was thinking about what he said till I wasn't myself, and the stuff went off too soon. But it was his doing. He mur- dered me ; and if it hadn't been for him, I should have been right." " Oh, my darling ! " *' Hush, don't cry, my lass. It's all over now, but I can't die peaceful like yet." " Let me put your poor hands together, Ike, and I'll pray for you." " Yes, my lass, bat not yet. I'm dying, Sally— fast." " No, no, Ike. There, let me give you a drop of the stuff the doctor left. It'U do you good." " Nothing'll do me good but you." " Ike, dear, be still and I'll run and fetch 90 King of the Castle. the doctor ; he's at the Fort. Gartram has had a bad fit." *' Curse him!" " No, no, dear, don't curse. You make me shiver." There was a terrible silence in the gloomy- cottage room, where the ghastly face of the injured man seemed to loom out of the dark- ness, and looked weird and strange. The woman tried to quit his side, but he held her tightly as he lay gazing straight up at her, his breath coming in a laboured way, as if he had to force each inspiration, suffering agony the while ; and if ever the stamp of death was set plainly upon human countenance, it was upon his. " Sally," he gasped, and his voice was changing rapidly. " Sally ! " ''Yes, dear." " Don't leave me. Where are you ? " " Here, darling ; holding your hands." " Why did you put out the light ? " '' Isaac, my own dear man ! " " Listen. Do you hear me ? " '' Yes, dear, yes." Sarah Woodham s Vow, 91 "I'm dying fast, and I shall never rest without — without you do what I say." "Yes, dear, I'll do anything you tell me — you know I will." "That's right. Quick, before it's too late." " Oh, if help would only come," moaned the woman. *' No help can come, my lass. Now, put your hand under me and lift my head on your shoulder. That's right. Ah ! " He uttered a groan of agony, and lay speech- less as she raised him ; and the wife turned cold with horror, as it seemed to her that he was dead, but his lips moved again. " Now," he said, " I can talk without feeling strangled. Gartram has made an end of me, and it's a dying man speaking to you. It's almost a voice from the dead telling you what to do." " Yes, dear, tell me. What shall I do ? " " You'll swear to do what I tell you ? " " Yes, Isaac, anything." " You're in the presence of death, wife, with the good and evil all about us, and what you say is registered against you," 92 King of the Castle. ^ J " Yes, dear," said the woman, shuddering. '' You swear, so help you God, to obey my last words ? " '* Yes, dear," cried the woman, with her eyes lighting up, and a look of exultation in every feature ; *' I'll swear to obey you." " Then you will measure out to Norman Gartram, and pay back to him all he has paid to me." " Isaac ! " *' An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as it says in the Holy Book." "Husband!" " You have sworn to do it, woman, and there is no drawing back. As he murdered me, so you shall cut short his cursed life." ** Isaac, I cannot." " Woman, you have sworn to the dying ; you are the instrument, the chosen vessel to execute God's wrath upon this man. For he shall not live to do more wrong to the suffer- ing people he has been grinding under his heel." '* No, no : I could not do this thing, Isaac, it^is too terrible." '* She has sworn to do it. She has heard Sm^ah Woodham s Vow. 93 the message, and his days will come to an end as mine have come, and he will go on no longer in his wickedness, piling up riches. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Thou fool — this night shall thy — wife — are you there ? " "Isaac! Husband!" " Ah, yes. Good wife, my last words. Words from the other world. You will not rest till you have fulfilled your sacred task. I shall not rest till then — you — the chosen vessel — His wrath against the oppressor — as I have been — cut off — so shall Gartram be — cut off — yours the chosen hand, wife — quick — your hand — upon my head — you swear — that you will do my bidding — the bidding of — " He paused, and she saw his eyes gazing wildly in hers, and it seemed as if the words she whispered were dragged from her — a voice within her seeming to utter them, and the be- lief that she was but the instrument of a great punishment upon a sinful man appeared to strengthen within her breast. "Quick," gasped the dying man; "your hand upon my head, wife — your lips close to me — let me hear you speak." 94 King of the Castle. ^ ^^ " Isaac ! Husband ! " she groaned ; " must I do this dreadful thinor ? " " It is a message from — " There was a terrible silence in the narrow chamber, and the dying man's eyes were fixed upon hers as she laid her hand upon his brow and spoke firmly, — " I swear." '^Hah!" A low, rattling expiration of the breath, and as Sarah Woodham gazed in her husband's eyes, the wild, fiery look died slowly out, to become grave and tender. Then it seemed to her that the look was fixed and strange. She had been prepared, but not for so sudden a shock as this. " Ike ! " she cried, lowering him upon the pillow. "Ike! Why don't you speak? Do you hear me ? " and her voice sounded peremp- tory and harsh ; "do you hear me ? " She had seized him by the shoulders as she bent over him, and her voice grew more ex- cited and strange. " You are doing this to frighten me — to keep that oath — but I will do it. Ike, dear, do vou Sarah Wood hams Vow. 95 hear me ? Don't play with me. It hurts my poor heart — to see you — so fixed and strange —Ike ! Husband ! Speak ! " In her horror and agony she gripped his shoulders more tightly and shook him. Then the horrible truth refused to be kept longer at bay, and, starting back from the couch where the fixed, grave eyes seemed to follow her, reminding her of her oath, she stood with her hands raised, staring wildly for a few moments before an exceeding bitter cry escaped her lips. '' No," she cried ; '^ it can't be. My darling, don't leave me here alone in the weary world. Isaac, my own ! My God ! he's dead." She reeled, caught at the table to save her- self, the ill-supported candle dropped from the stick, and she fell with a thud upon the floor, as the candle rolled from the table close to her face, flickered for a few moments to display its ghastly lineaments, and then died out. But it was not quite dark. A faint light stole in beside the drawn-down blind, the chill air of morning sighed round the house, and a low murmur came from the waves 96 King of the Castle. fretting among the broken granite far below ; and it was as if the night, too, were dead, and tlie low sigh died away in a hushed silence. Then "pink, 'pink, pink, pink came the sharp cry of the blackbird from the tangle of bramble and whortleberry high up the cliff slope, and from the grassy level above, the clear loud song of the lark, as it rose high in the pale morning sky, telling that come sorrow come joy, the world still goes round, and that Nature will have her way, even though murder be on the wing. CHAPTER YI II. CLAUDE OPEXS THE AWFUL DOOR. Sarah Woodham sat in ber little parlour, sallow of cheek, and with a hard, stern look in her eyes as she gazed straight before her at the drawn-down blind, and listened to the mourn- ful wash of the waves which came with a slow, regular pulsation through the open door. Hers had been no romantic life. Hard working servant for years at the Fort, till, in a dry, matter-of-fact way, Isaac Woodham, qnarryman, and local preacher at the little chapel, and one of the most narrow-minded and bigoted of his sect, had cast his eyes upon her in the chapel and preached to her. He had selected his texts from various parts of the Bible, where it was related that certain men took unto themselves wives, and when he was at work he told himself that Sarah was comely to look upon, and that one of these days be would marry ber. VOL. I. 97 G 98 King of the Castle, And so it was tliat previously, on one of these days when he had to go on business to the Fort, he had told the woman in his hard, matter-of-fact way that he had prayed for guidance, and that he felt it was his duty and her duty that they two should wed. Sarah, in her hard, matter-of-fact way, asked for time to consider the matter herself, and at the end of a year's cold, business-like term of probation, she gave Isaac Woodham her hand, left the Fort, and went to live at one of the quarry cottages, which became at once the most spotless in the stone-cutters' hamlet by the sea. They neither of them ever displayed any great affection one for the other, but led a quiet, childless, orderly life, in w^hich she — with no pleasant recollections of her sojourn at the Fort, but still with a deep, almost motherly kind of affection for the girl whom she had seen grow up to womanhood — listened to and sided with her husband in his harsh revilings of his tyrant. It was Isaac Woodham's never-failing theme — -his hatred of his master, whom he looked Claude opens the Awftil Door. 99 upon with the bitter, narrow-minded envy of his nature. Every sharp word was magnified, every business order was looked upon as an insulting piece of tyranny, and after obeying in a morose, sulky way, he took his revenge by pitying the owner of the quarry, and praying that he might repent and become a better man. This went on for years, during which Nor- man Gartram did not repent after his servant's ideas of repentance ; and had he known the circumstances, he would have said he had no- thing to repent of, which, as far as his men were concerned, was perfectly just — his great- est sins being the insistence upon receiving a fair return for the wages he paid, and a rather stern way of giving his orders to all, Wood- ham beingr the most trusted for his sterlinoj honesty, albeit Gartram sneered at him as being full of cant. Then came the catastrophe, w^ith Sarah, the newly -made widow, in her bereavement, feeling that in her hard way she had dearly loved the cold, stern man who had been her husband those last few years ; and then she shivered as I oo Ki7ig of the Castle. she thought of the oath he had exacted from her, and felt that it was an order from the unseen world. Her husband had nursed indifFerence into hatred, till she was as bitter against Gartram as he was himself ; and years passed as the sharer of his troubles had made her so much akin that, like her husband, she was full of the bitter letter of the old Scriptures, without the under-current of the spirit of forgiveness and love. And so it was that she sat there low in spirit, thinking of the few short hours that would elapse before friends would come and bear away the cold, stern-faced form of him who had been her all, straight to the little chapel-yard, with its rough granite walls, be- yond the quarry, where he would be laid to rest, well within hearing of the waves, which w^ould lull him in his long sleep, and near to where all day long rang out the crack of the heavy stone hammers, the ring of the tamping irons, and from time to time the sharp report and the following roar of some charge when a mass of the titanic granite was laid low. Clatide opens the Awful Door. loi Only a few days could elapse, she thought, before, in obedience to the new orders of a cruel master, she would have to leave the €arefully kept cottage which had been her pride — the only pride to which she gave har- bour in her breast. And it would be better so, she thought. The sooner Gartram bade her turn out home- less, almost penniless in the world, the easier would be her task. It would give her fresh cause for hatred, a new stimulus for destroying Ihe man who had caused her husband's death. It was hour by hour, with the dead lying so near, becoming easier to her to think of Gart- ram as her husband's murderer. Isaac had with his dying lips insisted upon it that this was so, and he could not lie. The seed he had planted then was rapidly growing into a tree, and, accepting the task, she brooded over the deed she was to do, telling herself that it was to give immortal rest to him who was gone before ; and once the task was accom- plished, she prayed that she might soon rejoin him in the realms of bliss, and look him again in the eyes and say — " It is done." •^ 1 02 King of the Castle. How was it to be ? She sat there, with a strange, lurid light in her dark eyes, thinking over the vengeance and of those of whom she had read ; of how Jael slew^ Sisera with the hammer and nail — that deadly enemy of the chosen race. Then of Judith ; and a strange exultation filled her breast, and in her weak, ignorant way she began to feel herself more and more as one selected to become the instrument of Heaven's punishment upon one accursed. "The way will be opened unto me," she said to herself. " The way will be opened unto me, and the wicked shall perish. Yes,. husband, you shall rest in peace." She started erect in her chair, and turned a fierce look of anger towards the door, as at that moment there was a light step, a shadow fell across the clean white stone, a sweet-toned, tremulous voice uttered her name, and there was the rustling of a dress upon the floor, while the next moment two soft arms were about her neck, her cheeks were wet with another's tears. For Claude was kneeling by her, with her head resting on the hard, heavily- Claude opens the Azvfztl Doo7\ 103 beating heart, and the girl's broken voice fell upon her ears. "My poor, poor Sarah ! I could not come to you before. What can I do to help you ? What can I say % " Claude could not see the wild, agonised face, as she rested upon the trembling woman's breast. There had been kindly, sympathetic, neighbourly words enough spoken to her before, but these — the words of the girl she had years before tended and loved, winning her gentle vounoj love in return — went straight to her overcharged heart. The tears falling for her sorrow seemed to quench the burning glow of bitterness and hate, and the next moment vengeance, and the determination to execute her husband's command, were swept away : her arms were tightening round the slight, girlish form as if it were something to w^hich she could cling for safety, and the tears that had seemed dried up, after searing her brain, poured forth as she bent dowm sobbing hysterically, and in broken accents calling her visitor, "My darling bairn." Half-an-hour had passed, and the bitter A, 104 King of the Castle. wailing and hysterical cries liad ceased, while the sujffering woman's breast heaved slowly now, like the surface of the sea quieting after a storm ; but she still held Claude tightly to her, and rocked herself gently to and fro, as in bygone years she had held the girl when some trouble had brought her, motherless, and smarting from some bitter scolding, to seek for consolation and help. The words came at last to break the silence of the solitary place. "■ It was like you to come, my darling, and I shall never, never forget it. It was like you.^' "You know I would have come to you before, but poor papa has been so ill, and I dared not come away. But he is better now, and sitting up." The mention of Gartram seemed to harden the woman once more, and with a catching sigh she sat up rigidly in her chair. The thoughts of him who lay waiting in the next chamber brought with them the terrible scenes through which she had passed, and the scale of tenderness which Claude had borne down now rose upward to kick the bcnm. Claude opens the Awfid Doo7'. 105 "It was a terrible shock to bini," contiaued Claude. '*' You have been too full of your own trouble to know, but he was seized with a fit, and when I reached home I thought hewasdead.'' The woman drew her breath hard, but did not speak ; only sat frowning, her brow a maze of wrinkles, her lips drawn to a thin pink line, and her teeth set fast, gazing once more .straight before her at the drawn-down blind. '' Hah ! " she ejaculated at last. '' It has all come to an end." Claude started, and looked up in the woman's face, the words were spoken in so strano;e and hard a tone. '' I don't like to talk to you about the future, and hope," Claude said at last; "it seems such a vain kind of way to comfort any one ia affliction." " Yes ; life is all affliction," said the woman bitterly ; and she frowned now at the kneel- ing girl. " No, no ; you must not look at things like that, Sarah. But it is hard to bear. How well I remember coming to see your home directly vou were married." io6 King of the Castle. " Don't talk about it, child," said the woman hoarsely. " No, we'll talk about something else ; or will it not be kinder if I sit with you only, and stay as long as I can ? " "No," said the woman harshly. " Eennals will take poor Isaac's place. How soon will it be?" ''How soon?" "Yes; how soon shall I have to turn out of my poor old home ? " " Don't talk about it now, Sarah," said Claude gently. " It will be terribly painful for you, I know." " Painful !" said the woman, with a bitter laugh, " to go out once more into the cruel world. But a way will open," she added to herself; "the time will come." Her face grew more stony of aspect moment by moment, as she gazed through her nearly closed eyelids straight before her, heedless of the fact that Claude had risen from her knees, and was holding one of her hands. " Don't talk of the world so bitterly, Sarah, dear," said Claude gently. "I must go now." Claude opens the Awful Doo7\ 107 ''Yes," said the womaD, in a harsh voice. ''Maiy is sitting with papa till I go back, or she would have come with me. She sent her kindest and most sympathetic wishes to you. She is coming to see you soon." " Yes," said the woman again, in the same strange, harsh way. "You know you have many friends and well - wishers who will be only too glad to help you." " Yes ; Norman Gartram, whose first thouorht is to turn me out of the home we have shared so long." "Don't be unjust, Sarah, dear. Papa speaks harshly sometimes, but he has the w^elfare of all his people at heart." " And casts me out on to the high road." "Nonsense, dear," said Claude gently. " Don't speak in that bitter w^ay, when we are all trying so hard to soften your ter- rible loss. Papa's business must go on ; and Rennals, naturally, takes poor Woodham's place. I thought it all over this morning, and I felt that you would consent." io8 King of the Castle. '' To give up the house ? Of course ; it is not mine." " And would be of no use to you now." " No ; — but a way will open to me yet," she added to herself. " Sarah, dear old friend, you could not live alone. You will come back to your own old place with us ? " ^^What?" The woman sprang to her feet as if she had received some shock, then reeled, and would have fallen, but for Claude's quick aid. " I have been too sudden. I ought to have waited, but I thought it would set your mind at rest." " Say that again," whispered the woman, with her eyes closed. *' There is nothing to say. Papa will agree with me that it would be best to have our dear old servant back again ; and, as soon as you can, you will come." "No, no; no, no; it is impossible," cried the woman, with a shudder. '' I could not return." " You think so now ; but papa will consent, Clatide opens the Aw fid Door. 109 and I shall insist, too. But there will be no need to insist. It will be like coming back home." " No, I tell you," cried the woman ex- citedly ; and it was as if a wild fit of delirium had suddenly attacked her. "No, no, Isaac, darling, I cannot, I dare not do this thing." " My poor old nurse," said Claude aflfec- tionately ; '^ we will not talk about it now. You must wait, and think how it will be for the best." " Be for the best ! " she cried, in a wild strange way. "You do not know — you do not know." " Oh, yes ; better than you do, I am sure. Come, I will leave you now. Don't look so wildly at me. There, good-bye, dear old nurse — my dear old nurse. Kiss me, as you used when I was quite a child, and try to reconcile yourself to coming to us. It is fate." Claude kissed her tenderly, and then, not daring to say more, she hurried from the darkened room, to walk swiftly back, glad that the loneliness of the cliff road enabled her to let tears have their free course for a time. no - King of the Castle. Could she have seen the interior of the cottage, she would have stared in wonder and dread, for, sobbing wildly and tearing at her breast, with all the unbridled grief of one of her class, Sarah Woodham was walking hurriedly to and fro, like some imprisoned creature trying to escape from the bars which hemmed it in. "His child," — she cried, — "his poor, inno- cent child to draw me there. What did she say ? It is fate. Yes, it is fate ; and we are but the instruments to work His will." She stopped, gazing wildly towards the inner chamber, pausing irresolutely for a few moments before rushing in and flinging her- self upon her knees by the dead. It was an hour after that she came totter- ing out, to stand by the chair she had occu- pied, and by which she found a handkerchief Claude had dropped ; and, catching it up, she pressed it to her lips. " His poor, innocent child to lead me there to execute judgment on the evil doer. And I have prayed so hard — so hard — in vain — in Claude opens the Awfiil Door. 1 1 1 vain. Yes, she is right. \Ye are but instru- ments ; and it is my fate." She stood with her hands pressed to her brow, as if to keep her throbbing brain from bursting its bonds. Then a strangely-weird, ! " Thanks, waiter. Needn't wait. Now, doctor : bless her — the dear thing's health. Hah. not bad — for the country. I may take her back to-day, eh ? " " ^Vell, er — if great care were taken, and you broke the journey if the lady seemed worse — I — er — think perhaps you might risk it," said Asher, setting down his empty glass. " Of course you would take every precaution." " Who would take more, doctor ? Put out. of course ; but the weaker sex, eh ? Yes, the weaker sex." He refilled the doctor's glass and his own. " An accident. Pray, don't think it was anything else ; and, I say: you will contradict any one who says otherwise ? " 1 86 King of the Castle. " Of course, of course." "There are disagreeable people who might say that the poor dear sprang off the pier in a fit of temper at being left behind, but we know better, eh, doctor ? " " Oh, of course," said Asher, playing with and enjoying his glass of champagne. " It's a wonderful thing, temper. Take a cigar { ''Thanks, no. I never smoke in the day- time." " Sorry for you, doctor. Professional reasons, I suppose ? " Asher bowed. " I was going to say," continued Gellow, carefully selecting one out of the four cigars he carried, for no earthly reason, since he would smoke all the others in their turn. " I was going to say that it is a wonderful thing how Nature always gives the most beautiful women the worst tempers." " Compensation ? " hazarded Asher. "" Eh ? Yes ; I suppose so. Going, doctor V " Yes ; other patients to see." " Then my eternal gratitude, sir, for what The Gift of a White Card. 187 you have done, and with all due respect to you and your skill, I hope I may never have to place a certain lady in your care again. Shake hands, my dear sir. Doctor Asher, I think you are called ? That name will be engraven on the lady's heart." " You will take the g-reatest care ? " said Asher. '' Of course." " And break the journey, if needful ? " " And break the journey if I think it need- ful. You need be under no apprehension, my dear doctor. Good morning, and good- bye. " Yes ; bless her ! I'll take the greatest care, Asher, by gad ! " said Gellow to himself, as he saw the doctor pass the window, when he filled his own glass, took a hasty sip, and then drew out his pocket-book. *' Shall I make a lump charge on this journey," he said, '' or put down the separate items ? Better be exact," he muttered, and he carefully wrote down, — • " Doctor's fees, twenty guineas ; lunch for doctor, one guinea." 1 88 King of the Castle. " Always as well to be correct," he muttered, as he replaced his pencil in the book, and drew round the elastic band with a snap. How am I to know about how she is going on ? By jingo ! " He started, so sudden was the apparition of the woman, who flung open the door, and closed it loudly, being evidently in a fierce fit of excitement and rage. " Where is my hosband ? " she cried, speak- ing in a low voice, and through her teeth. Gellow beckoned her to the window, and pointed out to where The Fair Star was careening over, with a pleasant breeze sending her rapidly through the water. "He is dere," she said, watching the yacht through her half-closed eyes. " Yes, he's off. Gave me the slip while I was helping you. By jingo, ma'am, you had a narrow escape." "And you came down here to reveal him i was coming," she said, turning upon him suddenly, with her eyes widely open and flashing. " Come, I like that," he replied, with cool The Gift of a White Card. 189 efirontery. "How the dickens should I know that you were coming dow^n here ? " She did not reply, but stood gazing at him searchingiy. "But I wish to goodness you hadn't come." "And why, monsieur, do you wish that I shall not come ? " " Because you spoil sport. Do you know chat Glyddyr owes me thousands ? " " Of francs ? He is vairay extravagant." '•' Francs, be hanged ! Pounds. I came down here to try and get some, and just as I'd got him safe, and he w^as taking me aboard his yacht to give me some money, you came and had that accident." " Yais, I come and had that ac — ceedon," said the woman through her teeth. " Where to is he gone, monsieur ? " " Glyddyr ? Ah ! that's what I should like to know. Going to sail back to London, I ex- pect. Gravesend, perhaps. How are you now ? '' " He will come back here ? " said the woman, paying no heed to the question. Gellow burst into a roar of laughter. "What for you laugh?" said the woman 1 90 King of the Castle. angrily. " Am so I redeeculose in dese robe which do not fit me ? " "Eh? Oh, no. Ton honour I never noticed your dress. "With a face like yours one does not see anything else." "Aha, I see," said the woman, raising her eyebrows. " You flatter me, monsieur. I am extreme oblige. You tell me my face is handsome ? " "Yes ; and no mistake." " You tell me somting else I do not know at all." " Eh ? Oh, very well. I will when I think of it." " You tell me now. What for you laugh ? " "Eh, why did I laugh ? " The woman screwed up her eyelids, and nodded her head a great deal. " I remember now. It was at your thinking that Glyddyr would come back here." "He has sail away in his leettler sheep — in his yacht. Why will he not come back to-night, to-morrrow, the next day ? " " Shall I tell you ? " " Yes ; you shall tell me." The Gift of a White Card. 1 9 1 " Because lie will say to himself : ' No, I will not go back to Danmouth, because Madame Denise is so fond of me she will be waitins^.' Do you understand ? " " Oh, yais. I understand quite well. You sneer me, but you are his friend. You are his friend." "Ha, ha, ha," laughed Gellow ; "you would a't have said that if you had heard him when I talked about money." " Well ? " The abrupt question was so sudden, that Gellow looked at the speaker wonderingly. " Well what ? " he said. " Why do you look at me ? Why do you ask me question ? You go your way, I go mine. I want my hosband. I will have my hosband. AVhy is he here % " "He isn't here," said Gellow, in reply to the fierce question. " No, I know dat ; and you know what I mean. Why comes he here ? " " Well," said Gellow, " I should think it was so as to get out of my way, and — now, don't be offended if I tell you the truth." 192 King of the Castle, " Bah ! I know you. You cannot ofFend me. " Well, I'm sorry I am so insignificant in madame's beautiful eyes." "What?" "I say I am sorry I am so insignificant, but I'll tell you all the same. I should say that Mr Parry Glyddyr came down to this delect- able, out-of-the-way spot so as to be where Mademoiselle Denise — " " Madame Denise Giyd — dyr, sare." *' Ah, that's what Glyddyr says you are not." " What ? " '' I beg your pardon ; I only tell you what he says." " We shall see," cried the woman, stamping her foot, " what you did not finish yourself? " '' And I don't mean to," said Gellow, sotto voce. '' Well ? " " I have no more to say, only that I believe he came here so as to avoid you, and he is ofi*^ somewhere now to be away from you." " Yes, it is true," said the woman bitterly. The Gift of a White Card. 193 " If you had not come down, I daresay he would have run back here." '' What for ? " '* How should I know ? Play billiards, read the odds." " He has a wife here, then." " Do you mean Madame Denise ? " said Gellow innocently. She gave him a scornful look. "Are you fool, or make fon of me?" she cried fiercely. " Bah, I am too much angry. Is there a lady here ? " *' No, I should think not, but wx could easily find out. If he has, it is too bad, owing me so much as he does. No, I don't think so ; stop — yes I do. By Jingo, it's too bad. That's w^hy he did not want to take me out in his yacht." " What do you mean ? " said the woman searchingly. " If there is one, madame — if he is married, she is aboard his yacht, and yonder they go — no, they don't ; they're out of sight." There was so much reality in Gellow's delivery of this speech, that his vis-a-vis was VOL. I. N 194 King of the Castle. completely hoodwinked. She tried to pass it off with a laugh, but the compression of her lips, the contraction about her eyes, all showed the jealous rage she was in ; and it was only by giving one foot a fierce stamp on the carpet, and by walking quickly to the window, that she could keep herself from shrieking aloud. " Well, madame," said Gellow, " you are getting all right again " " Oh, yais ; I am getting all right." " And you can do without my services ? " " Oh, yais." *' Then I'll say good-bye. Glad I was near to help you out. Glad to see you again if you like to give me a call in town." " Where are you going ? " " Going ? Back to London as fast as I can." *' And what for, sir ? " " To read up all the yachting news, and see where The. Fair Star puts in, and then run down and give Master Glyddyr a bit of my mind." '' Stop — an hour — two hours." " What for ? " Tke Gift of a White Ca7'd. 195 '' Till I get back my dress all a dry. I go back wiz you." "Ob, certainly, if you wisb it ; but I wouldn't ; you bad better stop bere and rest for a few days — a week. I'll write and tell you all I find out." " I go back wiz you," said tbe woman de- cidedly. And sbe kept ber word, for in two bours tbey caugbt a train. Tbe next day came a telegram from UDcIer- ley, giving that as Glyddyr's temporary ad- dress. Gellow wrote back advising tbat tbe yacbt sbould in future sail under anotber name, witb ber owner incog., and be added tbat tbe coast at Danmoutb was now clear. CHAPTER XIII. HEARTS ARE NOT DEFORMED. '' Now Claude, darling, what do you think of me ? " said Mary, one morning ; " am I beauti- ful as a flower in spring ? " '' No," said Claude gravely ; ^' only what you are, my dear little cousin ; why ? " Mary's face was flushed, and her eyes were sparkling as much from mischief as pleasure as she caught her cousin's hand, led her softly to the open window of her bedroom, and pointed down. Claude looked at her wonderingly, but she was too well used to her companion's whims to oppose her, and she looked down. " Can you see the goose ? " whispered Mary. " I can see Mr Trevithick walking with papa ; I thought they were in the study ; " and, she hardly knew why, she gazed down with some little interest at the tall, stoutish man of 196 Hearts are not Deformed. 197 thirty, with closely-cut dark hair and smoothly shaved face, which gave him rather the aspect of a giant boy as he walked beside Gartram, talking to him slowly and earnestly, evidently upon some business matter. " Well, that's who I mean," said Mary, laughing almost hysterically, "for he must be mad." " Now, Mary dear, what fit is this ? " cried Olaude, pressing her hands and drawing her away, as, a very child for the moment, she was about to get upon a chair and. peep down from behind the curtain. " I know how angry papa would be if he caught sight of you looking -down." '* Well, the man should not be such a goose — ofander, I mean. I thoug^ht he was such a clever, staid, serious lawyer that uncle trusted him deeply." " Of course," said Claude warmly ; " and he's •quite worthy of it. I like Mr Trevithick very, very much." ''Oh!" exclaimed Mary, in a mock tragic tone, as she flung her cousin's hands away, ■" you'll make me hate you. ' 198 King of the Castle. " Mary, you ought to have been an actress." '' You mean I ought to have been a man and an actor, Claudie. Oh, how I could have played Eichard the Third." '' Hush ! " " Oh, they can't hear. They're talking of bills and bonds and lading. I heard them. But Claude, oh ! and you professing to love Chris Lisle." "I never professed anything of the kind," cried Claude indignantly. " Your eyes did ; and all the time uncle is engaging you to Mr Glyddyr." " Mary ! For shame ! " "And in spite of this double-dealing, you must want Mr Trevithick, too ? " " Do you wish to make me angry ? " " Do you wish to make me jealous ? " "Jealous? Absurd!" "Of course," cried Mary sharply. "What should a poor little miserable like I am know of love or jealousy or heartaches, and the rest of it ? " " My dear coz," whispered Claude, placing an arm round her, "I shall never understand you." Hearts are not Deformed. 199 " There isn't much of me, Claude. It oughtn't to take you long." " But it does," said Claude playfully. " I never know when you are serious and when you are teasing. I have not the most remote idea of what you mean now." " Then I'll tell you. He's in love." '' Who is ? " ''Mr Trevithick." ''Mary!" " There you go. No : not with you. Of course, it would be quite natural if the great big fellow, coming here every now and then, had fallen in love with his client's beautiful daughter. But the foolish goose has fallen in love with some one else." "Mary, dear, how do you know? With whom ? " " Ah ! Of course, you would never guess — with poor Mary Dillon." "Oh, Mary, darling! But has he really told you so ? " " I should like to see him dare." " Yes," said Claude quietly ; " I suppose that is what most girls would like." 200 King of the Castle. " Don't, Claude dearest ; pray don't. My sedate and lovely cousin trying to make jokes. Oh ! this is too delicious. But it won't do, Claudie ; it is not in your way at all. I am a natural, born female jester — a sort of Josephine Miller ; but— you I oh, it is too ridiculous." "Now, tell me seriously, what does this mean ? " said Claude, taking the girl's hands. " What I told you, darling. Big, clever, serious Mr Trevithick, the learned lawyer, is in love — with me." "Mary, you must be serious now. But how do you know ? " " How do I know ? " cried Mary, with a curl of the lip. ''How does a woman know when a man loves her ? " ''By his telling her so, I suppose ; and you say Mr Trevithick has not told you." ''Didn't you know Chris Lisle loved you before he dared to tell — I mean, to give you instructions in the art of catching salmon ? " Claude was silent. " No, of course you did not, dear," said Mary mockingly. " As if it was not only too easy to tell." Hearts are not Deforvied. 20 r "But. Mary dear, this is too serious to trifle about. You have not oriyen him anv encourao;e- ment ? " '■ Only been as sharp and disagreeable to him as I could." " But how has he shown it ? " '"Lots of ways. Held my poor little tiny hand in his great big ugly paw, where it looked like a splash of cream in a trencher, and forgot to let it o'o when he was talkino;tome : looked down at me as if he were hungry, and I was something good to eat — like an ogre who wanted to pick my bones ; sighed like the wind in Logan cave, and when I dragged my hand away, all crushed and crumpled up, and without a bit of feeling left in it, he begged my pardon, and looked ashamed of himself." "And what did you say ? " " I ? I said, ' Oh ! ' " " That all ? " *' Xo ; I said, ' You've quite spoiled that hand, Mr Trevithick,' and then the monster looked frightened of me." ''lam very sorry — no, very glad, Mary," 202 King of the Castle. said Claude thoughtfully, and looking her surprise. "Which, dear?" There was a tap at the door, and Sarah Woodham entered. '* Master wished me to tell you that Mr Trevithick will not stay dinner, Miss Claude, and said would you come down." '^ Directly, Sarah," said Claude, rising. " You will not come, Mary ? " she whispered. "Indeed, but I shall." " Mary, dear," protested her cousin. " Why, if I stop away the monster will think all sort of things ; that I care for him, that he has impressed me favourably, that I have gone to my room to dream. No, my dear coz, there are some thino-s which must be nipped in the bud, and this is one of them. It is his whim — his maggot. Oh, Claude, he is six feet two. What a huge maggot to nip." They were already part of the way down, to find Gartram and his great legal man of business standins: in the hall. Hearts a7'e not Deformed. 203 " Better alter your mind, Trevithick, and have a chop with us. Try and persuade him, Claude." " We shall be extremely glad, Mr Trevi- thick," said Claude ; but her words did not sound warm, and her father looked at her as if surprised. '' I am greatly obliged, but I must get back to town," said their visitor ; and he spoke in a heavy, bashful way, and looked at Mary as if expecting her to speak, but she did not even glance at him. '' Well," said Gartram, " if you must, you must." The big lawyer looked at Claude again in a disappointed way, and his eyes seemed to say, " Coax me a little more." But Claude felt pained as she glanced from one to the other, for there was something too incongruous in the idea of those two becoming enoraoed, for her to wish to aid the matter in the slightest way, and she held out her hand for the parting. '* I suppose it will be three months before we see you again, Mr Trevithick," she said. 204 King of the Castle. " Yes, Miss Grartram, three months ; unless," he added hastily, " Mr Gartram should sum- mon me before." " No fear, Trevithick ; four days a year devoted to legal matters are quite enough for me." '' We none of us know, Mr Gartram," said the big man solemnly. ''Good-day, Miss Gartram; good - day. Miss Dillon," and he shook hands with both slowly, as if unwill- ingly, before he strode away. ''I don't think Trevithick is well," said Gartram. CHAPTEE XIV. A TELEGRAM. The same old repetition in Chris Lisle's brain : " How am I to grow rich enough to satisfy the King ? " Always that question, to which no answer came. Then would come, till he was half maddened by the thought, the idea that Glyddyr had returned after a few days' absence and had the free run of the Fort, and would be always at Claude's side. " Constant dropping will wear a stone," he would say to himself; " and she is not a stone. I am sure she loved me, and I might have been happy if I had not been so cursedly poor — no, I mean, if she had not been so cruelly rich. For I am not poor, and I never felt poor till now. But I can't afford to keep a yacht, and go here and there to races, and win 205 2o6 King of the Castle. money. He must win a great deal at these races. " Why cannot I ? " he said half aloud, after a long, thoughtful pause. She would think no better of me, but the old man would. " Surely I ought to be as clever as Mr Parry Grlyddyr. I ought to be a match for him. Well, I am in brute strength. Pish ! what nonsense one does dream of at a time like this. I can think of no means of making money, only of plenty of ways of losing it. Nature meant me for an idler and dreamer by the beautiful river, so I may as well go out and idle and dream, instead of moping here, grumbling at my fate. " It's a fine morning, as the writer said ; let's go out and kill something." He stepped out into the passage, lifted down his salmon rod from where it hung upon a couple of hooks, took his straw hat, in whose crown, carefully twisted up, were sundry salmon flies, thrust his gaff hook through the loop of a strap, and started off along the front of the houses, in full view of the row of A Telegram. 207 fishermen, who were propping their backs up against the cliff rail. Plenty of "Mornin's" greeted him, with smiles and friendly nods, and then, as he walked on, the idlers discussed the probabilities of his getting a good salmon or two that morning. Away in the sheltered bay lay G-lyddyr's yacht, looking the perfection of trimness ; and as it caught his eye, Chris turned angrily away, wondering whether the owner was up at the Fort, or on board. Just as he reached the river w^hich cut the little town in two, he saw the boy who did duty as telegraph messenger go along up the path which led away to the Fort, and with the habit born of living in a little gossiping village, Chris found himself think- ing about the telegraph message. *'Big order for stone," he said to himself as he studied the water. "How money does pour in for those who don't want it." But soon after he saw the boy returning, a red telegraph envelope in his hand, and that he w^as trotting on quickly, as if in search of an owner. 2o8 King of the Castle. " Not at home," he muttered ; and then he became interested in the boy's proceedings in in spite of himself, as he saw the young messenger go down to the end of the rough pier and stop, as if speaking to some one below, before coming quickly back, and finally passing him, going up the path by the river side, as if to reach the old stone bridge some hundred yards up the glen. " Gartram must be over at his new quarry," said Chris to himself, and as the boy dis- appeared, he thought no more of the incident till about fifty yards farther, as he had turned up by the bank of the river, ^he caught sight of him again. He forgot him the next moment, for his interest was taken up by the rushing water, and he watched numberless little falls and eddies, as he went on, till, as he neared the bridge, he caught sight of a well-known figure seated upon the parapet smoking, and in the act of taking the telegram from the boy. He tore it open and read the message, crumpled it up, and with an angry gesture threw it behind him into the stream ; and as A Telegram. 209 lie pitched the boy a small coin, Chris saw the little crump] ed-up ball of paper go sailing down towards the sea. For a moment the young man felt disposed to avoid meeting Glyddyr, as, to reach the fishing ground he had marked down, he would have to go over the bridge, and then along the rugged path on the other side. '•' And if he sees me going back, he'll think I'm afraid of him," muttered Chris. At the thought, he swuno- his Jons: lithe rod over his shoulder, and strode on, his heavy fishing boots sounding loudly on the rugged stones. As Chris reached the bridge, Glyddyr was busv with his match-box lightinof a fresh cio-ar, and did not look up till the other was only a few yards away, when he raised his head, saw who was coming, and changed colour, hen the two young men gazed fiercely into each other's eyes, the look telling plainly enough that what had passed and was going on made them enemies for life. Chris tramped on, keeping his head up, and naturally, ^s he did not turn towards his rear, VOL. I. 210 King of the Castle, he was soon out of eyeshot, when the sharp report of a yacht's gun rang out from behind him, the effect being that he turned sharply round to look at the smoke rising half a mile away. It was a perfectly natural action, but Chris forgot that he was carrying a long, elastic salmon rod, and the effect was curious, for the rod swung through the air with a loud whish, and gave Glyddyr a smart blow on the cheek. " I beg your pardon," cried Chris invol- untarily, as Glyddyr sprang from the parapet into the roadway, with a menacing look in his eyes. " You cad ! " he roared. " You did that on purpose." ''No, I did not," said Chris, quite as hotly. " If I had meant to do it, I should have used the butt of the rod, and knocked you over into the river." Glyddyr's lips seemed to contract till his white teeth were bare ; and, dashing down clear and match, he advanced towards Chris with his fists clenched, till he was within a couple of feet of his rival. A Telegram. 211 Chris's face grew set and stony looking, but he did not move. One hand held the rod, and the other was in his pocket, so that he offered an easy mark for a blow such as he felt would pay him back for the one which had sent Glyddyr over in the study at the Fort. But he knew that the blow^ would not come, and a curiously mocking smile slowly dawned upon his lip as he saw that Glyddyr was trem- bling with impotent rage, and dared not strike. *' Well ? " said Chris. '' Have you any more to say ? " " You shall pay bitterly for these insults," whispered Glyddyr ; for he could not speak aloud. " When you like, Mr Glyddyr," said Chris coolly; ''but you dare not ask me for pay- ment. I told you that blow was an accident — so it was." ''You lie!" Chris flushed. " Do I ? " he said hoarsely. " A minute a^^o I was sorry that I had struck you inadvert- antly, and I apologised as a gentleman should." 2 1 2 King of the Castle. " A gentleman ! " said Grlyddyr mockingly. *' Yes, sir, a gentleman ; but you called me a cad and a liar, so now I tell you I'm glad 1 did strike you, and tliat it wouldn't take much to make me undo the rod and use the second joint to give you a good thrashing. Good morning." There was a peculiar sound in the still sunny glen heard above the dull rush and murmur of the river. It was the grating together of Glyddyr's teeth, as Chris turned round once more, and unintentionally brushed the top of his rod against his rival again. Glyddyr made a sharp movement, as if to snatch hold of and break the rod, but his hand did not go near it ; and he stood there watch- ing the fisherman as he turned down to the waterside, and went on up the glen, soon dis- appearing among the birches and luxuriant growth of heath and fern which crowned the stones. " Curse him ! " muttered Glyddyr, picking up the fallen cigar and lighting it, without smoking for a few minutes. " I'll pay him out yet. Well," he said, with a bitter laugh. A Telegravi. 213 *' I'm going the right way. Poor devil ; how mad he is. He shall see me come away from the church some day with little Claude on my arm, and I'd give a hundred pounds — if I'd got it — to let him see me take her in my arms, and cover her pretty face with kisses." There was a peculiarly malignant screw in his face as he stood looking up the glen, and then he lausfhed again. " Poor devil," he cried. " I can afford to grin at him." He turned to go, and at that moment a puff of wind came down the glen, rustling a piece of paper in the road, and drawing his attention to the fact that it was the envelope of the telesiram. Then he stooped and picked it up, and shaped it out till it was somewhat in the form of a boat, as he dropped it over the stone parapet, and stood watching as it swept round and round in an eddy, and then went sailing down the stream. "That's the way to serve you, Master Gellow^" he muttered ; " and I wish you were with it sailing away out yonder. No, no, my 214 King of the Castle. fine fellow, once bit twice shy ; once bit — a hundred times bit, but I've grown too cunning for you at last. Now, I suppose some other scoundrel is in that with you. Back it. Not this time, my fine fellow ; not this time." He smoked away furiously as he watched the scrap of paper float down, now fast, now slowly. At one time it was gliding down some water slide, to plunge into a little foam- ing pool at the bottom, where it sailed round and round before it reached the edge and was- whirled away again. Now it caught against a stone, and was nearly swamped ; now it re- covered itself, and was swept towards the side^ but only to be snatched away, and go gliding down once more in company with iridescent bubbles and patches of foam. " Hah ! " ejaculated Glyddyr, " if I only had now all that I have fooled away by tak- ing their confounded tips, and backing the favourites they have sent me. No, Master Gellow, I'm deep in enough now, and I'm not the gudgeon to take that bait. Money, money. There'll be a fresh demand directly, and the old bills to renew. How easy it is A Telegi^aiu. 2 1 5 to borrow, and how hard to pay it back. If I only had a few hundreds now, how pleasant times would be, and how easy it would be to get what I want." Oddly enough, just at the same time, Chris Lisle was busily whipping away at the stream in foaming patch and in dark gliding pool, thinking deeply. " Such a despicable coward ! " he muttered. " Why, if a man had served me so, I should have half killed him. What a fate for her if it were possible, and here is he accepted by that sordid old wretch of a fellow, just because he has money. Now, if I had a few thousands I Ha ! " He whipped away, fishing with most patient energy till he reached the pool where Claude had caught her first fish, and where, as he stood by the water side, he seemed to feel her little hands clasping the rod with him as mentor, instructing her in the art. But, try hard as he would, no salmon rose. Every pool, every eddy which had proved the home of some silvery fish in the past, was essayed in vain ; and at last, after a 2 1 6 King of the Castle. couple of hours' honest work, he gave it up as a bad job, and determined to try at the mouth of the river, just where the salt tide met the fresh water, for one of the peel whicli frequented that part. Winding up his line, and hesitating as to how he should fish, he walked swiftly back, wondering whether Glyddyr would still be on the bridge, waiting to insult him with word and look, and feeling heartily relieved to see that the place was clear. Eeaching the bridge, he went on down by the river on the same side as that on which he had been fishing. There was no path there, and tbe way among the rugged stones and bushes was laborious, but he crept and leaped and climbed away till he was within a hundred yards of the sea, where the river began to change its rough, turbulent course to one that was calm and gliding. It was extremely tortuous here, and in places there were eddies, in which patches of foam floated, just as they had come down from the little falls above, lingering, as it were, before taking the irrevocable ]>lungc A Telegram, 217 into the tide which woukl carry them far out to sea. Close by one of these eddies, where the water looked black and dark, the fisher had to make his way down to the very edge of the river, to climb round a rugged point, and so reach the wilderness of boulders below, among which the river rushed hurriedly to- wards the bar. It was the most slippery piece of climbing of all, and about half way along Chris was standing with one foot upon an isolated stone, the other on a ledge of slatey rock, about to make his final spring, w'hen something float- in o^ on the surface of the still water took o his attention. It was only a scrap of pinkish paper, printed iit the top, carefully ruled and crossed, and bearing some writing in coarse blue pencil. Chris stared hard at the object, for it was a telegram. Glyddyr had received a telegram, crumpled it up and thrown it into the water, where, in all probability, consequent upon the action of the water, it had slowly opened out till it lay flat, as if asking to be read. 2 1 8 King of the Castle, ** Bah ! " ejaculated Chris, turning away from temptation — as it seemed to him. The intention was good, but the mischief was done. Even as he glanced at the tele- gram lying there upon the water he took in its meaning. The writing was so large and clear, and the message so brief, that he grasped it all in what the Germans call an augenhlich. ^' Bach the Princes Jilly. — Gelloiv." A curious feeling of annoyance came over Chris as he climbed on — a feeling which made him pick up a couple of heavy stones, and dash them down one after the other into the river. The second was unnecessary, for the first was so well aimed that it splashed right into the middle of the paper, and bore it down into the depths of the river beneath the rocky bank ; and Chris walked on towards the smiling sea, with those words fixed in his mind and standing out before him. " Back the Princes Jilly. '' The thing seemed quite absurd, and he felt more and more angry as he went a few yards farther and prepared his tackle, and began A Telegram. 2 1 9 to fish just in tlie eddy where the stream and sea met. And there goodly fish, which had come up with the tide to feed on the tasty things brought down by the little river from the high grounds, gave him plenty of oppor- tunities for making his creel heavy, but he saw nothing save the words upon the tele- gram, and could think of nothing else. It was evidently a very important message to Glyddyr about some race, but for the time being he had no idea what race was coming oflf. He was fond of sport in one way, but Epsom, Ascot, Newmarket, Doncaster and Goodwood had no charm for him. But he knew accidentally that Glyddyr was a man who betted heavily, and report said that he won large sums on the turf, while by the irony of fate here was he, possibly Glyddyr's greatest enemy, suddenly put in possession of one of his great turf secrets — undoubtedly ci hint from his agent by which he would win a heavy sum. "Well, let him win a heavy sum," cried Chris petulantly, as if some one were present tempting him to try his luck. " Let him win 2 20 King of the Castle. and gamble and lose, and go hang himself; what is it to me ? " He hurriedly wound in his line, to find that a fish had hooked itself ; but, in his petulant state, he gave the rod a sharp jerk, snatched the hook free, and began to retrace his way to the bridge ; but before he reached the spot where he had had to step amid the big stones, he caught sight of a scrap of pink paper sail- ing down to meet the tide, and he could not help seeing the words, — " Prince's Jil—' And directly after another ragged fragment floated by showing, at the torn edge where the stone had dashed through, the one mutilated word, — " Any one would think there were invisible imps waiting to tempt me," thought Chris. " How absurd ! " He strode on, leaping and climbing along the rugged bank till he once more reached the bridge, crossed it, and was half-way back to his apartments when he saw Gartram coming along the road with Claude and Mary. A Telegram. 221 His first instinct was to avoid them. The second, to go straight on and meet them, and this he did, to find that, as he raised his hat, Gaitram turned away to speak to Claude, and completely check any attempt at recognition on her part. " How contemptible ! " thought Chris. " Now, if I had been as well ofi" as Glyddyr, I should have been seized by the hand, asked why I did not go up more to the Fort, and generally treated as if I were a son." ''Back the Princes Jilly.'' The idea came with such a flash across his brain that he started and looked sharply over his shoulder to see if any one had spoken. " How curious," he thought. " It just shows how impressionable the human mind is. If I gave way to it, I should begin calculating odds, and fooling away my pittance in gambl- ing on the turf. I suppose every man has the gaming instinct latent within him, ready to fly into activity directly the right string is pulled. Ah, well, it isn't so with me." He walked on, trying to think of how beau- tifid the day was, and how lovely the silver- 2 2 2 King of the Castle. damascened sea, with the blue hills beyond ; l3ut away softly, describing arcs of circles with the tips of her masts, lay Glyddyr's yacht, and there, just before him, was Glyddyr himself going into the little post office, where the one Avire from the telegraph pole seemed to descend through the roof. " Gone to send a message," thought Chris, with a feeling of anger that he could not for the moment analyse, but whose explanation seemed to come the next moment. To back the Prince's horse, perhaps make more thou- sands, and then — " Oh ! this is maddening ! " he said, half aloud ; and he increased his pace till he reached the pretty cottage where he had long been the tenant of a pleasant, elderly, ship-captain's widow; and after hanging his rod upon the hooks in the little passage, entered his room, threw the creel into the corner, and himself into a chair. " Cut dead ! " he exclaimed bitterly. " After all these years of happy life, to be served like that." ''Back the Princes Jillyy The words seemed to stand out before him. A Telegram. 223 and he gave quite a start as the door opened and the pleasant smiling face of his landlady appeared, the bustling woman bearing in a large clean blue dish. " How many this time, Mr Lisle ? " she said. " Of course you'll like some for dinner ? " " What ? No ; none at all, Mrs Sarson," said Chris hastily. "No fish, sir? Why, James Gadby came along and said that the river was just full." " Yes ; I daresay, but I came back. Head- ache. Not well." " Let me send for Dr Asher. sir. There's no- thing like taking things in time. A bit of cold, perhaps, with getting 3^ourself so wet wading." '* No, no, Mrs Sarson ; there's nothing the matter. Please don't bother me now. I want to think." The woman went out softly, shaking her head. " Poor boy ! " she said to herself ; '* I know. "Things are not going with him as they should, and it's a curious thing that love, as well enough I once used to know." " Back the Princes Jilly.'' The words stood out so vividly before Ohris 2 24 King of the Castle. Lisle that he sprang from his seat, caught up a book, and threw himself back once more in a chair by the window to read. But, as he turned over the leaves, he heard a familiar voice speaking in its eager, quick tones, and, directly after, there was another voice which seemed to thrill him through and through, the sounds coming in at the open window as the light steps passed. '' No, Mary dear. Let's go home." There was a ring of sadness in the tone in which those words were uttered, which seemed to give Chris hope. Claude could not be happy to speak like that. He crept to the window, and, from behind the curtain, watched till he could see the white flannel dress with its blue braiding no more. " If Iwereonlyrich,"thoughtChris ; and then he gave an angry stamp on the floor as he heard n quick pace, and saw Glyddyr pass, evidently hurrying on to overtake the two girls, who must have parted from Cartram lower down. Half mad with jealousy, he made for the door, but only to stop with his fingers upon the handle, as he felt how foolish any such A Telegrain. 225 step would be, and, going back to his chair, he took up his book again, and opened it, and there before him the words seemed to start out from the page. ''Back the Prince's filly ^ He closed the book with an angry snap. " Look here," he said to himself, " am I going to be ill, and is all this the beginning of a lit of delirium ? " He laughed the next instant, and then, as if obeying the strange impulse within him, he crossed the room and rang the bell. " Have you taken away the newspaper that was here, Mrs Sarson ? " he said sharply. The pleasant face before him coloured up. " I beg your pardon, sir. I didn't think you'd be back yet, and so I'd made so bold." " Bring it back," said Chris sternly. ''Bless the poor man, what is commg to him ?" muttered the landlady, as she hurrifid out to her own room. "He was once as amiable as a dove, and now nothing's right for him." " Thank you ; that will do," said Chris, shortly ; and as soon as he was alone he stood with the paper in his hand. VOL. I. P CHAPTEK XV. TEMPTED. It was some minutes before Chris opened that paper, and then he had to turn it over and over before he found the racing intelligence, and even then he did not begin to read, for plainly before him were the words, — ''Bach the Princes Jillyy Then in a quick, excited way he looked down the column he had found, and before long saw that the important race on the tapis was at Liverpool, and the last bettings on the various horses were before him, beginning with the favourite at four to one, and going on to horses against which as many as live hundred to one was the odds. But the Prince's horse ! What Prince ? What horse ? He stood thinking, and recalled a rumour which he had heard to the effect that the Prince's horses were run under the name 226 Tempted. 227 of Mr.Blanck, and there, sure enough, was in the list far down : — "Mr Blanck's ch. f. Simoom, 100 to 1." Chris dashed dow^n the paper in a rage. "What have I to do with such thino-s as this ? " he said aloud. " Even if I were a racing man I could not do it. It is too . dis- honourable." Then he set to work to argue the matter out. He had come upon the information by accident, and it might be perfectly worthless. Even if the advice was good, the matter was all speculation — a piece of gambling — and if a man staked his money upon a horse it was the merest chance whether this horse would win ; so if he used the " tip," he would be wronging no one, except, perhaps, himself, by risking money he could not spare. Anxiety, love, jealousy and disappointment had combined to work Chris Lisle's Ijrain into a very peculiar state of excitement, and he found himself battling hard now with a strange sense of temptation. Here was a message giving Glyddyr infor- mation how to make money, and it had fallen 2 28 King of the Castle. into other hands. Why should not he, Chris- topher Lisle, seize the opportunity, take ad- vantage of such a chance as might never come to him again, and back the Prince's horse to the extent of four or five hundred pounds ? Poor as he called himself, he had more than that lying at his bankers ; and if he won, it might be the first step towards turning the tables on Gartram, and winning Claude. True, the information was meant for his rival, but what of that ? All was fair in love and war. Glydclyr would stand at nothing to master him : so why should he shrink ? It would be an act of folly, and like throwing away a chance. Then his training stepped in, and did battle for him, pointing out that no gentleman would stoop to such an act, and for the next six hours a terrible struggle went on, which ended in honour winning. " I would not do such a dirty action ; and she would scorn me if I did," he said to him- self. " Eh ? Want me, Mrs Sarson ? " '' Which it's taking quite a liberty, Mr Lisle, sir," said his landlady, who had come for the Tempted. 229 fifth time into his room ; " but if you Would let me send for Doctor Asher, it would ease my mind — indeed it would." " Asher ? Send for him ? Are you ill ? " " I ? Xo, my dear boy, but you are. You are quite feverish. It's terrible to see you. Not a bit of dinner have you tasted, and you've been walking up and down the room as if you had the toothache, for hours. Now, do trust to me, my dear, an old motherly boi^ ^CK ^f i'rM MM ,tV*Wi^^ x-?^^ ^?!v;?^ ^^?§- ^J^x'icr, ;^^^P^£