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 4
 
 
 MISADVENTURE
 
 AT ALL LIBRARIES. 
 
 Among Aliens. 
 
 By Frances E. Trollope. 2 vols. 
 
 Jezebel's Friends. 
 
 By Dora Russell. 3 vols. 
 
 The Curse of Game's Hold. 
 
 By G. A. Hbnty. 2 vols. 
 
 Tumbledo^?vn Farm- 
 By Alan Muir. 2 vols. 
 
 SPENCER BLACKETT, 
 
 35, ST. BRIDE STREET, LONDON, E.G.
 
 MISADVENTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 W. E. NORRIS 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 MY FRIEND JIM, " MAJOR AND MINOR," " LA BELLE AMERICAINE," " MATRIMONY, 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 IX THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SPENCER BLACKETT 
 
 15 ST. BRIDE STREET. LUDGATE CIRCUS. E.C. 
 1890. 
 
 [All rights rt^ei c(d]
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/misadventure01norr
 
 ^;i3 
 
 V.I 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I 
 
 CHAP. l-AGE 
 
 I. MB. BLIGH I 
 
 II. MISS BLIGH 19 
 
 III. THE HEIB-APPAEEXT 35 
 
 IV. MADAME SOURAVIEFP 5 1 
 
 V. MARK'S LAWYER 65 
 
 VI. ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 82 
 
 VII. THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 97 
 
 VIII. CICELY IS INTERESTED JI3 
 
 IX. MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY . . . .128 
 
 X. CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 143 
 
 XI. COPPARD IN TROUBLE 159 
 
 XIL LADY dare's BALL 1 75 
 
 Xlll. BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE I90 
 
 XIV. MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS .... 204 
 
 XV. MARK MAKES PEACE 220 
 
 XVI. ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 234
 
 2 MISADVENTURE 
 
 sermons, botli doctrinal and practical, at liim. If, after 
 all this, lie has cliosen to go to the deuce, the conse- 
 quences should be upon his own head, you think. But 
 then comes the question of how far any of us are 
 answerable for our ^proclivities, or ought to be punished 
 for the natural results of them." 
 
 The speaker was a man whom most j^^op^© would 
 have pronounced at first sight to be nearer seventy than 
 sixty, because his hair and his short beard were as white 
 as snow, and because the clear, pale skin of his face was 
 furrowed by such deep lines ; but closer inspection con- 
 veyed the idea that these were lines of suffering, and that 
 he was probably younger than he looked. As a matter of 
 fact, he had at this time only just turned his fifty-first 
 year. He w^as reclining, as he did all day long, in a 
 wheeled chair close to a bay-window, whence he could 
 survey some part of the broad lands which he owned 
 but could not tread. Long ^oeriods of neuralgic or 
 rheumatic pain (so called by the doctors, who could find 
 neither a cause nor a cure for them) had culminated at 
 length in what all the doctors were agreed in describing 
 as creeping paralysis, and had changed into a frail 
 worn-out wreck of humanity one whom many middle- 
 aged people could remember as a keen sportsman, a
 
 MR. BLIGH 3 
 
 first-rate judge of a horse, and a very popular frequenter 
 of London drawing-rooms. Even now lie had not lost 
 all trace of the good looks for which he had once been 
 famous, nor had disease, trouble and disappointment 
 robbed his smUe of its good-humoured kindliness. 
 
 His friend, Mr. Lo^^Tides, the Rector of Abbotsport, 
 was his senior by some half-dozen years or so, and 
 looked capable of outliving him by a quarter of a 
 century at least. Tall, broad-shouldered and ruddy, 
 his thick black hair and whiskers being only here and 
 there streaked with grey, Mr. Lowndes, had it not been 
 for the clerical garb that he wore, would have had a 
 good deal more of the appearance of a country squire 
 than the crippled invalid whom he sat facing, with a 
 hand on each knee. He said : 
 
 '• Xow, Bligh, you are going to mount one of your 
 fantastic hobbies. You want to excuse and explain 
 eveiything upon some fanciful theory of inherited 
 tendency, which can't hold water for a single moment. 
 Added to which, you are paying a poor compliment to 
 your forefathers by assuming that Morton inherited his 
 tendencies from them. He certainly didn't get them 
 from you." 
 
 "I should be sorry to be uncomplimentary to my
 
 4 MISADVENTURE 
 
 forefathers," said Mr. Bligli, witli a smile, " but for any- 
 thing I know to the contrary, there may have been 
 some scoundrels amongst them. And I don't see any- 
 thing fantastic or fanciful in stating an undeniable 
 fact. You haven't bred as many horses as I have, still 
 you are not ignorant about the subject, and I believe 
 you have bred dogs. You know as well as I do what 
 an important part hereditary tendency plays in that 
 matter, and how often it crops up in an individual after 
 lying dormant for generations." 
 
 '' We're not talking of horses and dogs," returned 
 Mr. Lowndes, " we're talking of a human being, with a 
 soul and a conscience and a free will. We all of us have 
 our besetting sins, I suppose — though I'm sure I don't 
 know what yours can be — but our business is to 
 conquer them, and if we fail we deserve to suffer for 
 onr cowardice. Suppose I have inherited a tendency 
 to some disease — gout, for instance — am I to shrug my 
 shoulders and give in, instead of taking measures to 
 counteract it ? " 
 
 " Judging by my own experience, I should be in- 
 clined to back the disease," said the other. " And then 
 you must allow that we don't all start at even weights." 
 
 " Oh. well," said |he Eector, a little impatiently — for
 
 MR. BLIGH 5 
 
 he was vexed with himself for having made use of an 
 illustration which sounded somewhat unfeeling under 
 the circumstances — ''we needn't argue the point, be- 
 cause I am sure that we don't really differ. Excuses, 
 no doubt, can be made for everybody, and let us hope 
 that eventually they will be made. Meanwhile, with 
 our imperfect knowledge of things, we are obliged to 
 judge by what is apparent ; and as for Morton — well, I 
 will only say, as I said before, that I wish you wouldn't 
 have him down here. He has refused scores of times 
 when you have asked him ; why should you accept his 
 proposal now, when you are ill and when the sight of 
 him is quite enough to make you worse ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't think the sight of him will produce 
 that effect upon me," said Mr. Bligh, quietly. 
 
 " I do, then ; I have known you too long, my dear 
 .Bligh, to be taken in by your affectation of stoicism. 
 In all m}' life I have never met a man who bore pain 
 better or who felt it more. Morton will give you pain 
 every time he opens his lips — you know he will. What's 
 more, he will try to give you pain." 
 
 " Perhaps not. I imagine his object in paying us 
 this visit is quite the reverse of that.'' 
 
 '* What is his object ? " inquired the Rector, who.
 
 6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 however, could liave answered liis own question easily 
 enough. 
 
 Mr. Bligh laughed. " After all," he said, ^' it is only 
 what you and I should do under similar circumstances. 
 Given a dying father, who has absolute control over tho 
 disposal of his property, shouldn't we think it our duty 
 to seek him out and express to him a sincere regret for 
 any little differences which might have arisen between 
 us and him ? " 
 
 "No," answered the Eector, stoutly; "neither you 
 nor I would stoop to such meanness. Besides, you are 
 not dying." 
 
 " So the doctors are kind enough to assure me. They 
 say that I may live for a great many more years ; but 
 they think it will be a very strange thing if I do. 
 Doctors, of course, can't tell the real truth, but there is 
 no reason that I know of why patients shouldn't, when, 
 they happen to be aware of it. The real truth is always 
 bracing and invigorating, though I admit that it often 
 looks rather ugly from a distance ; and the truth, I take 
 it, is that Morton is coming because he has heard that 
 his cousin Archie is here, and because that has very 
 naturally alarmed him." 
 
 Mr. Lowndes had a pair of round, projecting brown
 
 MK. BLIGH 7 
 
 eyes, which now became rounder and projected them- 
 selves somewhat more prominently than usual. " Do you 
 mean to say," he began, '*' that you really propose " 
 
 " Oh no, I don't think it would be right or wise, or 
 in any way desirable. All the same I wish Archie were 
 my son. Even though he is younger than Morton, I 
 might perhaps be justified in making an elder son of 
 him in this case ; but nephews, I suppose, must be 
 regarded as out of the question. What do you think 
 of him ? " 
 
 " I think he is a fine, manly young fellow : I always 
 did think so, and soldiering has improved him im- 
 mensely. Still, as you say, he is only your nephew. I 
 should have thought — will you allow me to speak my 
 mind plainly to you, Bligh ? " 
 
 " Haven't I just told you that the unvarnished truth 
 is full of fascination for me ? " 
 
 "Well, then, I should have thought that if you con- 
 sidered your son unworthy to succeed you — which he 
 most undoubtedly is — you could have left this place 
 to your daughter. I know you can provide for her 
 amply without doing that, and I know that the man- 
 agement of a large property is a heavy burden to place 
 on the shoulders of a young girl. Still, when one has
 
 8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to face two evils one can but choose the smaller ; and 
 although Cicely is inexperienced, and a little headstrong 
 at times, her heart is in the right place. And then she 
 will marry. Surely it would be better for us all to have 
 decent Christian people at the Priory than an avowed 
 atheist." 
 
 " Is Morton an avowed atheist ? " 
 
 *' If he isn't he ought to be. Holding the views that 
 he does, and living the life that he lives, he has no 
 business to call himself anything else." 
 
 " Ah, I think I remember that he once got rather 
 the better of you in a theological discussion." 
 
 "No, he didn't," returned the Kector, reddening 
 slightly, " he didn't get the better of me at all. Of 
 course he asked me questions which I couldn't answer ; 
 any Sunday-school child could do that — and indeed 
 they often do. The times that I have been bothered 
 with that tiresome old difficulty about the rainbow and 
 its appearance in waterfalls and fountains ! Why, only 
 last week a wretched little whipi^er-snapper wanted me 
 to explain how it was that Balaam showed so little 
 surprise when his ass entered into conversation with 
 him." 
 
 " I have always felt a good deal of curiosity upon that
 
 MR. BLIGH 9 
 
 point myself," observed Mr. Bligh. "' What did you 
 say ? " 
 
 " I said that Balaam was a prophet, that he was 
 accustomed to supernatural manifestations, and that an 
 incident of that kind wouldn't be at all likely to astonish 
 him. Then, if you please, my young gentleman wanted 
 to know whether the mouth and tongue of an ordinary 
 donkey were so formed that it would be possible for it 
 to produce sounds resembling articulate speech. He 
 didn't put it in those words, but that was the gist of 
 his inquiries. Xow I only mention this to show you 
 how easy it is for a mere child to throw doubts upon 
 the truth of the Scripture narrative.'' 
 
 " I quite see that it is very easy indeed," replied Mr. 
 Bligh, gravely ; " but we are wandering away from our 
 rival candidates. Not that Archie is a conscious candi- 
 date — at least I hope he isn't." 
 
 " I am perfectly sure that no such notion has ever 
 entered his head," cried the Rector, warmly. 
 
 " There is no occasion to be so sure as all that ; such 
 a notion might have entered his head without disgracing 
 either it or his heart. I only meant to say that I hoped 
 for his sake that he didn't cherish expectations which 
 are so very unlikely to be fulfilled."
 
 lo MISADVENTURE 
 
 There was a pause of a few moments, after which 
 Mr. Bligh resumed : "It will be rather amusing to 
 watch them." 
 
 " To watch whom ? " asked the Rector. 
 
 " Archie and Morton. Of course they will fight ; 
 Morton will take good care of that. But Morton 
 never loses his temper, whereas Archie is decidedly 
 peppery. I should say that Archie would get the worst 
 of it." 
 
 " I don't see what there will be amusing in that," 
 grunted Mr. Lowndes, who was a very straightforward, 
 matter-of-fact sort of person, and did not sympathize 
 with all his friend's moods. " I wish you wouldn't say 
 such things, Bligh. They sound — not to me, because I 
 know you — but to other people they might sound a 
 little bit malicious." 
 
 " Cripples are always malicious," said Mr. Bligh ; 
 " they can't help it. So long as one lives one is bound 
 to get some. sort of fun out of existence ; and what sort 
 of fun is there within the reach of a man who has lost 
 the use of his legs, except studying his fellow-creatures, 
 and laughing in his sleeve at them ? I lie here on my 
 back from morning to night and watch you — Cicely and 
 Archie and the servants, and the people who come to
 
 MR. BLIGH II 
 
 call, and your reverend and respected self. You liave 
 no idea how funny you all are." 
 
 " Well, I'm glad that I'm not the only subject of 
 ridicule, at all events,"' observed Mr. Lowndes, with a 
 somewhat dissatisfied look. " What makes us so funny, 
 if I may ask ? " 
 
 " You would have to break your back before you could 
 understand ; and that perhaps is rather too long a price 
 to pay for the privilege. I'm completely out of it, don't 
 you see ; I'm still alive, though I'm as good — or as bad 
 — as dead; and that gives me a fine sense of the 
 triviality of everything that excites the rest of you. 
 What does it all matter ? In quite a short time the 
 whole generation of us will be wiped out and clean 
 forgotten ; isn't it a little comical that we should make 
 so much ado about nothing ? " 
 
 This (as possibly it may have been intended to do) 
 drew from the Rector an eloquent vindication of the 
 seriousness of life and the far-reaching consequences of 
 every individual act. Furthermore, he thought fit to 
 wind up with a final application of his remarks. " Y^ou 
 have no right to say that you are ' out of it,' Bligh : on 
 the contrary, very great power for good or for evil 
 remains in your hands. The temporal, and for aught I
 
 12 MISADVENTURE 
 
 know, tlie eternal welfare of many people depends~upon 
 you, and you can't joke yourself free from your respon- 
 sibilities. I tkink you ouglit to bear that in mind and 
 consider it carefully before you decide to nominate as 
 your successor a man who will — who will " 
 
 " Who will play the deuce generally," suggested Mr. 
 Bligh. " Well, I'll consider it — and him too. He seems 
 to have challenged consideration, so that he can't com- 
 plain. Nevertheless, I doubt whether any conceivable 
 arrangement that I could make would be wholly satis- 
 factory." 
 
 The Kector sighed, and went sorrowfully away. He 
 was very much afraid that his old friend's days were 
 numbered; he was pretty sure that his old friend 
 would not set established custom aside in making his 
 will, and he was quite convinced that infinite harm 
 might be done in the parish of Abbotsport by such a 
 Squire as Morton Bligh would be. 
 
 " It's all very unfortunate," he muttered to himself 
 as he mounted his brown cob ; " very unfortunate 
 indeed ! " 
 
 When he had ambled down the long, gently sloping 
 «.pproach, bordered on either side by ^rhododendrons, 
 which were one of the chief glories of the Priory, and
 
 MR. BLIGH 13 
 
 when lie liad passed through an iron gate, which 
 separated lawns, shrubberies and flower-beds from the 
 park, he turned his horse off the road and cantered 
 across the grass, until he reached a point from which 
 he could look down upon the slate roofs of Abbotsport 
 and the blue veil of smoke which hung motionless over 
 them on that still afternoon of early spring. The little 
 fishing village, overhung by lofty chalk cliffs and pro- 
 tected both from easterly and from westerly gales by 
 sheltering promontories, had been made additionally 
 safe and snug by a breakwater, constructed some years 
 back at the expense of Mr. Bligh. The same munificent 
 benefactor had supplied the inhabitants with the solid 
 school-house, which Mr. Lowndes could descry, and had 
 carried out a great many other works of public utility 
 during his reign. There had always been Blighs at 
 the Priory, and they had always owned the whole of 
 Abbotsport ; but they had been far less powerful, because 
 far less wealthy, than the present holder of the estate, 
 who, while still a young man, had inherited a large 
 fortune from his mother's family. That he had spent 
 his income wisely and well could not be denied. He 
 had found Abbotsport poverty-stricken, dirty and over- 
 populated, and by dint of judicious expenditure, com-
 
 14 MISADVENTURE 
 
 bined with sonie exercise of authority, which had been 
 at first resented, but subsequently acquiesced in (because 
 improved circumstances always promote a spirit of 
 toleration), he had converted the community over which 
 he ruled into a prosperous and contented one. He had 
 been a benevolent despot, but like other benevolent 
 despots he laboured under the disadvantage of being 
 mortal ; so that there could be no certainty of the work 
 which he had inaugurated being carried on. 
 
 " Besides, I am not sure that he hasn't sapped their 
 independence," mused the Kector, as he gazed down on 
 the little fleet of fishing smacks, which were stealing in 
 before a very light, southerly breeze. " They have got 
 too much into the habit of looking to the Priory for 
 help the moment that anything goes wrong, and it's 
 precious little help they are likely to get from Morton 
 Bligh. Cicely would take care that their wants were 
 supplied, at any rate, though no doabt she would be 
 injudicious, and she has inherited her father's disincli- 
 nation to be guided by advice. Still she would be sure 
 to marry before long ; and if she had a husband who 
 was a decent fellow" — Mr. Lowndes paused for a 
 moment in his meditation and tapped his boot pensively 
 with the handle of his riding- whip. " Now, if Cicely
 
 MR. BLIGH 15 
 
 would many her cousin," lie resumed presently, '"' and I 
 strongly suspect tliat her cousin wouldn't object to the 
 arrangement — Good gracious, Archie, how you made 
 me jump ! You ought to know better than to play 
 such tricks upon an old man whose reins are hang- 
 ing loose. It's lucky that nothing ever startles the 
 cob/" 
 
 The young man, who had playfully thrown a fir-cone 
 at the Rector's broad back, laughed and said: ''The 
 cob's ears are quicker than yours, Mr. Lowndes ; 
 he knew I was behind you two or three minutes 
 ago." 
 
 This young man, who was tall, spare and broad- 
 shouldered, and had a slight, fair moustache, with an 
 upward twist to it, bore the marks of his profession as 
 plainly as if he had been dressed in full cavalry 
 uniform. Without being exactly good-looking, he 
 possessed the beauty which belongs to youth and 
 physical vigour, and he had a pleasant, smart, sunburnt 
 appearance. Also his blue eyes seemed to belong to 
 an honest mortal. " '\^^lat were you dreaming 
 about ? " he asked. " About the future fate of that 
 intemperate flock of yours ? " 
 
 "Well, yes," answered the Rector. '* I was thinking
 
 i6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 about their future, poor fellows ! Not that they are so 
 very intemperate, except now and then, when they have 
 had a great catch of fish, and even at such times they 
 are a good deal better than they used to be. Neverthe- 
 less, I sometimes feel anxious about them. I've just 
 seen your uncle, and he tells me that Morton is 
 expected at the Priory this evening." 
 
 " Yes, I believe so ; it's rather a bore. I don't know 
 much about him, but I've always understood that he is 
 an awful blackguard." 
 
 " He isn't so much that — at least not in the way 
 that you probably mean. There's always hope for 
 the sort of man whom you would call an awful 
 blackguard." 
 
 " Oh ! And isn't there any hope for Morton ? " 
 
 The Eector shook his head. " I'll tell you what 
 Morton is," said he ; " he's a thoroughly bad -hearted 
 fellow. You may have heard stories about him. I 
 don't want to enter upon them, and indeed they are 
 stories of a sort which you young fellows don't 
 generally mention before parsons. It would be very 
 wrong of me and quite against my duty and my con- 
 science to make light of sin of any kind : yet there is a 
 difference, you know. A man may be chivalrous in
 
 MR. BLIGH 17 
 
 spite of his wickedness. It isn't very long since 
 Sir James Hannen addressed Morton Bligli from 
 the Bench in words which — which, upon my honour, 
 I think I would rather have been hanged than 
 have heard addresseed to me. But I don't believe 
 he cared." 
 
 " Everybody said he behaved thundering badly," 
 observed the young man. " I was in India at the time, 
 you know ; so I only heard about it through the news- 
 papers. "Was that why Uncle Wilfrid quarrelled with 
 him?-' 
 
 "Oh, there wasn't any quarrel. Your uncle never 
 quarrels ; and if he had meant to wash his hands of 
 Morton, as most fathers would have done, he might 
 have found am.ple excuse for that years ago. I don't 
 mind telling you that that is what I should have done. 
 As a general principle, I am opposed to placing women 
 in positions of authority, but supposing I had to choose 
 between Cicely and Morton my choice would be very 
 soon made." 
 
 " Only Cicely will marr}^ some day, I suppose." 
 
 '• Yes ; but when she does, her husband won't have 
 things all his own way. That fortunate fellow — 
 because he will be a veiy fortunate fellow — may as well 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 I8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 make up his mind to accept the part of a prince- 
 consort." 
 
 The Eector looked rather hard at his companion, who 
 gazed imperturbably out to sea, and then he added, with 
 an abrupt chuckle : " Put that in your pipe and smoke 
 it, young man."
 
 19 ) 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 ^nSS BLIGH 
 
 The yoang lady who Mr. Lowndes had quite accu- 
 rately described as possessing a strong will of lier own 
 was, at the time when she was being thus criticized, 
 discharging one of the duties incident to her station in 
 life, by visiting the poor. There were always plenty of 
 poor people in the village of Abbotsport, which, being 
 situated at a distance of three miles (and mostly up-hill 
 miles) from the nearest railway station, could not dis- 
 pose of its fish with the ease and profit enjoyed by 
 some of its neighbours on the south coast. However, 
 they were none of them destitute, nor in any danger of 
 becoming so, because they had Miss Cicely Bligh, as 
 well as her father, to look after them. ^Tienever Miss 
 Cicely walked down to the village (and that was three 
 or four times a week on an average) she carried on her 
 arm a basket, which was heavy on leaving the Priory 
 and liofht on its return. For this reason she was alwavs
 
 20 MISADVENTURE 
 
 a welcome visitor , and if lier instructions and rebukes 
 were ratlier more peremptory tlian some folks thought 
 becoming in one so young, yet they were magnanimous 
 enough to pardon her in consideration of her pretty 
 face and her kind heart, and smiled with good- 
 humoured toleration, when her back was turned, at her 
 mania for cleanliness, her determination that everybody 
 should go to church once a week, and all her other little 
 fads and fancies. In reality, the housewives of Abbots- 
 port were mortally afraid of her, though they would have 
 died rather than admit such a thing. 
 
 It mattered very little to Cicely whether they 
 admitted or denied a circumstance of which she was 
 fully aware. She knew that she could always carry her 
 point, whatever it might be, and the only thing she 
 regretted w^as that people should ever waste time by 
 arguing with her, when it would have been so much 
 more simple and sensible to give in at once. To be 
 sure she shared the inestimable boon, with which 
 Abbotsport at large was blessed, of being seldom 
 pressed for time. On this particular afternoon she had 
 gone her rounds and had administered her charities, 
 together with a few necessary scoldings, as usual, and 
 now she thought she would stroll down to the harbour
 
 MISS BLIGH 21 
 
 and see the trawlers come in. So slie made lier way 
 along the steep streets to the water side — a natty, well- 
 proportioned, and very upright little figure, with her 
 long sable boa flung back over her shoulders and her 
 empty basket swinging. 
 
 Cicely Bligh had the family features, which were such 
 as the family had no reason to complain of. Her nose 
 was slightly aquiline ; but it was such a diminutive 
 specimen of that class that nobody with the slightest 
 sense of the fitness of terms would have dared to call it 
 a hook. Her upper lip, which was very short, had an 
 outward curve ; the lower one was somewhat full ; her 
 chin was perfectly rounded, without being too pro- 
 minent, her dark eyebrows were straight, and from 
 beneath them there looked forth a pair of large, stead- 
 fast, grey eyes, for the discomfiture of evil-doers and 
 the sad undoing of susceptible young men. She was, 
 beyond all reach of rivalry, the beauty of the county ; 
 and how could she help knowing it when she had been 
 told as much such a number of times ? She did not, 
 however, value herself so much upon her good looks — 
 which were hers by clear right of inheritance, and, 
 therefore, not worth boasting about — as upon her strict 
 integrity of purpose, and her truly remarkable accuracy
 
 22 MISADVENTURE 
 
 of judgment. To these fine qualities she flattered her- 
 self that her claim was undisputed ; and so, in truth, it 
 was, because nobody wanted to dispute it with her. From 
 her father — the only human being to whom she owed or 
 owned allegiance — she met with little or no opposition, 
 her views and tastes being fortunately very much the 
 same as his own. Illness had of late so incapacitated 
 him that he had been compelled to manage a great part 
 of his affairs vicariously, and from being his delegate 
 his daughter had insensibly become his substitute. As 
 for her aunt. Miss Skip with, who had been asked to 
 stay a few weeks at the Priory soon after Mrs. Bligh's 
 death and who had remained there for fifteen years, 
 Cicely had never been told to regard that lady as 
 placed in authority over her, and had never dreamt 
 of doing so. Thus she was about as independent as a 
 young woman can be ; and perhaps rather more so 
 than it is good for any young woman to be, seeing 
 that the absolute equality of the sexes has not yet been 
 admitted, even in the most progressive countries. 
 
 The trawlers, of which Abbotsport boasted but four, 
 had already entered the harbour when she reached it, 
 and a knot of more or less interested persons had col- 
 lected on the pier, to watch them discharge their load
 
 MISS BLIGH 23 
 
 of fish and to help in carting it away. This was a 
 somewhat lengthy operation — because, as has been 
 mentioned, Abbotsport disdained huriy — but Cicely 
 waited patiently until it was almost completed, when 
 she caught sight of a weather-beaten, grey-bearded 
 man, who touched the brim of his sou'-wester to her 
 with a slightly deprecating air. 
 
 " Coppard," said she, fixing her eyes upon him 
 severely, '• I am surprised to see you going out with the 
 trawlers among these boys. I should have thought you 
 might have found some better employment than that.*' 
 
 " You're right there, IMiss," answered the man, '' as 
 you mostly are. Come to my time 0' life, better em- 
 ployment I ought to have, and that's Gospel truth. 
 But food must be purvided for the young 'uns someway 
 or other, and times is terribly bad just now." 
 
 " Times are bad with you, you mean," interrupted 
 Cicely, " and no wonder ! I didn't see you at church on 
 Sunday, Coppard." 
 
 " You did not, Miss," replied Mr. Coppard, with a 
 great show of straightforward candour. " You did 
 not see me, for the reason that I were not there. I 
 were very porely o' Sunday and compelled for to keep 
 my bed."
 
 24 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " You couldn't expect to be anything else after having 
 been disgracefully intoxicated all Saturday." 
 
 " What ? — me, Miss ? " cried Mr. Coppard, in extreme 
 astonishment. " Me disgracefully intox — well, I never ! 
 Who could ha' been and told you such a thing as that 
 about me in my habsence ? " 
 
 " The same person who told me that you had sold 
 your share in the Rover and spent all the money. It 
 really is too bad, Coppard." 
 
 " So 'tis, Miss ; and a great refreshment it has been 
 to me to get two nights at sea beyond reach o' that 
 there woman's tongue. ' Spent all the money,' says she ! 
 And her with a new gownd to her back — as you might 
 ha' noticed o' Sunday, Miss, and did notice, I make no 
 doubt. But she's well known far and wide for what she 
 is, and there ain't a six year old child in Abbotsport as 
 pays any manner o' heed to her talk." 
 
 '' When I have seen that new gown I shall believe 
 that poor Mrs. Coppard got it from you," observed Miss 
 Bligh, placidly. "I am afraid it is useless to remon- 
 strate with you, and certainly it is quite useless to try 
 and help you. I am very sorry now that I asked my 
 father to buy a share in the Rover for you." 
 
 " Now don't 'ee say that. Miss. Squire he hacted for
 
 MISS BLIGH 25 
 
 the best — ^likewise yourself ; but as for getting a living 
 out of part share in a hopen boat, 'taint to be thought 
 of, Miss ; and what I do I do for the sake of mv family 
 as should be more grateful to me.'" 
 
 "I really think there is something in that, ]Miss 
 Bligh,'* chimed in a gentle and deferential voice from 
 the background. "A man must catch a great many 
 dabs and congers before he can expect to get a fair 
 day's wages for a fair day's work." 
 
 Cicely whisked round sharply, and was thus brought 
 face to face with a young man in a blue serge suit, who 
 took off his cap to her. He was a young man of some- 
 thing under middle height, square-built, clean-shaven 
 and fresh-complexioned. He was as evidently a sailor 
 as Archie Bligh was a soldier, and if a little less smart- 
 looking than that gentleman was certainly handsomer, 
 his features being quite classic in their regularity, and 
 his big brown eyes almost as expressive as a dog's. 
 Cicely held out her hand to him with a little air of 
 condescension and patronage. " Oh, how do you do, 
 Bobby ? '' said she. '*' Have you been out with the 
 trawlers ? '' 
 
 "- That he has.. Miss," answered Coppard, who perhaps 
 was not unwilling to bring about a change of subject ;
 
 26 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " and though I don't care to flatter no one, I will say 
 there's not a many officers in Her Majesty's Navy as 
 can sail a boat like Captain Dare." 
 
 " Not Ca2otain Dare, surely," said Cicely. " I know 
 you are no longer a midshipman, Bobby, but I didn't 
 know you had jumped up quite so high as that." 
 
 " Sub-lieutenant," answered the individual entitled 
 to that rank, modestly. Then he added in an apologetic 
 tone, '' I can't be so near blue water without wanting 
 to be upon it ; so as these fellows offered to take me 
 trawling with them, I thought I would go and see what 
 it was like. We've had good luck and fine weather, I 
 am glad to say ; but it must be a hard life in the winter 
 time." 
 
 Bobby Dare was one of the many sons of Sir George 
 Dare, who shared with Mr. Bligh the pre-eminence in 
 the southern county where the properties of both of them 
 were situated. Cicely had known Bobby all her life, and 
 was well aware that he had humbly adored her from his 
 infancy. She said : " I don't think I should much care 
 to spend a night on board a trawler. How did you 
 manage about washing and dressing in the morning ? " 
 
 "Well, I jumped overboard and had a swim," said 
 the young man. " Do I look very grubby ? "
 
 MISS BLIGH 27 
 
 Cicely took a calm and deliberate survey of him from 
 liead to foot. " Xot more so than might have been 
 expected/' she replied, at lenglh. " And so Coppard 
 has been talking you over ? I daresay he would find it 
 easy enough to do that.'' 
 
 The young sailor laughed, pushed his cap to the back 
 of his head and glanced over his shoulder. Perceiving 
 that Coppard had judiciously effected a movement of 
 retreat, he said : " I confess that I have a sneaking 
 affection for that old rascal. I suppose he gets drunk 
 now and then, like the rest of them, and I know he's an 
 arrant poacher ; but for all that he's a fine seaman. So 
 are most of these fellows, for that matter. Oh, dear ! 
 what a pity it is that press-gangs have been done away 
 with ! " 
 
 " If you could kidnap our fishermen they would bo 
 very much thrown away in the navy, I think," Cicely 
 declared. "What is the use of fine seamanship on 
 board one of those hideous iron hulks that you call men- 
 of-war ? Besides, you never have any fighting to do." 
 
 "PerhajDS we shall, though, one of these days," 
 returned Mr. Dare, hopefully. " Even as it is, we often 
 have to help the soldiers out ashore." 
 
 " In skirmishes with savages, you mean ? But isn't
 
 28 MISADVENTURE 
 
 that rather poor fun ? You see, you are quite certain 
 of being able to beat tliem, with the weapons that you 
 have. If I were a man I would much rather be 
 in the cavalry, like Archie," said Cicely, to provoke 
 him. 
 
 But Bobby was of far too simple and modest a nature 
 to be irritated by such malicious attacks. 
 
 " It is a matter of taste," said he. " We can't be all 
 in the cavalry, and I shouldn't have done for it even if 
 the governor could have stood the expense, because I 
 never could make head or tail of a horse. But I dare- 
 say I shall do my duty as well as Archie when the time 
 comes. At least I hope so." 
 
 " Of course you will do it a great deal better, you 
 dear, stupid old Bobby ! " said Miss Bligh, who always 
 chose to talk to this neighbour of hers as though he had 
 been much younger than herself. " You belong to the 
 class out of which heroes are made, and will certainly 
 end your career as an Admiral of the Fleet and a 
 G.C.B., if only we give you the chance of distinguishing 
 yourself by fighting the French or the Russians or 
 somebody. Archie isn't that sort of person at all. One 
 can't fancy Archie flourishing a Field Marshal's baton, 
 and I'm sure he doesn't want such a thing."
 
 MISS BLIGH 29 
 
 A slight flush of pleasure liad overspread Mr. Dare's 
 cheeks when he heard himself described as a potential 
 hero, but he did not appear to be altogether satisfied 
 with Cicely's criticisms ujDon her cousin. 
 
 " You must like him very much, or you wouldn't run 
 him down," was his comment upon them. 
 
 "What do you mean?" asked the girl, with a 
 wondering look. 
 
 " Only that I think you often run down the people 
 whom you care for. You don't mind giving a little pat 
 on the back to the others — such as myself." 
 
 " You are rather rude, and rather ungrateful," Cicely 
 remarked. " I am not at all in the habit of running 
 anybody down, except, just occasionally, a few per- 
 sons who deserve it ; but I certainly do like Archie 
 very much. Have you any objection to my liking 
 him ? " 
 
 Bobby did object very strongly to her entertaining 
 anything beyond a sisterly affection for her cousin. 
 But he could hardly say so without proceeding to 
 further statements which he was not prepared to make 
 on the spur of the moment ; so he only said, rather 
 despondingly, "Archie is the sort of fellow whom 
 everybody is bound to like."
 
 30 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " Aunt Susan doesn't," said Cicely, laughing ; " she 
 calls him a ' designing young man.' " 
 
 " Oh — Miss Skipwith ! But then she hardly counts, 
 does she ? I mean, of course, she is a good old thing 
 and all that, only nobody pays much attention to her." 
 
 " No, nobody pays much attention to her," agreed 
 Cicely, in a somewhat grave voice. 
 
 During the above conversation they had been moving 
 slowly away from the quay, and were now mounting 
 the steep street which led in the direction of the Priory. 
 It did not lead towards Instowe, where Sir George Dare 
 lived; but perhaps Bobby was not eager to take the 
 shortest way home. 
 
 "Why does she call Archie designing?" he asked 
 presently. 
 
 " Oh, I suppose she thinks that my father will make 
 him his heir instead of Morton. One can't wonder at 
 her thinking so. My father won't do it, but it is what 
 a great many peoj)le would do." 
 
 After this there was silence for some minutes. Then 
 Bobby said, "My sisters told me that your brother was 
 expected down here. Is that true ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he wrote to propose it himself, and he is to
 
 MISS BLIGH 31 
 
 arrive this evening. Probably lie lias tlie same idea as 
 Aunt Susan, and tliinks it is time for liim to bestir him- 
 self." After a pause tke girl resumed : " I don't feel as 
 if he were my brother at all. I have only seen him 
 twice in my life, and I didn't like him. Is it wrong, I 
 wonder, to dislike one's brother when he is so very dis- 
 agreeable ? " 
 
 " It can't be wrong, or you wouldn't do it." answered 
 Eobby, with conspicuous imbecility. " Besides," he 
 continued, " I never met any one who didn't hate 
 Morton. It is just like him to make up to poor Mr. 
 Bligh at the last, after turning his back upon him all 
 these years." 
 
 Now this was a perfectly true and justifiable speech, 
 but the effect of it upon Cicely was not quite what the 
 speaker could have wished. " What do you mean by 
 ■* the last ? ' " she exclaimed, turning upon him angrily. 
 " It is abominable of you to say such things ! I don't 
 mind the people in the village, because it is their way 
 of showing sympathy, and when they are in the least 
 ill they always think they must be going to die ; but 
 you have no right to be so stupid, and so — so brutal. 
 You must know perfectly well that my father is not
 
 32 MISADVENTURE 
 
 a bit worse than lie was a year ago. Don't you 
 know it?" 
 
 Bobby might have replied that he had been afloat a 
 year ago, and consequently had not seen Mr. Bligh at 
 the time referred to ; also, if he had been strictly honest 
 he would have had to say that he thought Mr. Bligh 
 very ill indeed. But he did neither of these things ; 
 he only stammered out in accents of deep contrition, 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon ; I'm awfully sorry ; I didn't 
 think of what I was saying. I — I daresay he isn't 
 nearly as bad as he looks." 
 
 " Well," said Cicely, more calmly, " you know nothing 
 at all about it ; that's one comfort. The truth is that 
 his general health is perfectly good ; and although he 
 may never be able to walk again " (here Cicely's eyes 
 suddenly filled with tears and her voice trembled) 
 " there is nothing — nothing at all in his present con- 
 dition to make us feel alarmed about him. I have Sir 
 Peter Parsons's authority for saying so, and I suppose 
 you will admit that Sir Peter understands his busi- 
 ness." 
 
 Bobby hastened to declare that he never for a 
 moment thought of setting up his opinion against that 
 of the eminent physician in question. Indeed he was
 
 MISS BLIGH 33 
 
 certain that Sir Peter might be right. Still, of course, 
 Morton might think differently. 
 
 This explanation having been more or less graciously 
 accepted, he felt encouraged to ask whether Miss Bligh 
 vrouldn't like to come out fishing some day. Coppard, 
 he said, had assured him that there was plenty of 
 pollock in the bay, and sometimes one could have a lot 
 of fun with a big conger. •' And if it"s necessary for 
 you to have a chaperon/' he added, a little reluctantly, 
 " perhaps Miss Skipwith would come." 
 
 At this Cicely burst out laughing. '•' I really believe 
 Aunt Susan would rather get on the back of a horse 
 than trust herself in a boat,"' said she. " I'll go out 
 fishing with you some day, Bobby, and I daresay I may 
 bring Archie with me if he cares to come. I certainly 
 sha'n't require a chaperon to look after me in the com- 
 pany of my own cousin and a boy like you. Xow I 
 have taken you quite far enough out of your way. 
 Good-night." 
 
 Sub-lieutenant Dare, who was two-and-twenty years 
 of age, did not quite relish being called a boy, but it 
 was something to have obtained Cicely's assent to his 
 modest proposition, and it was something to know that 
 Miss Skipwith might be disjDensed with. As for Archie, 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 34 MISADVENTURE 
 
 perhaps lie wouldn't want to come. " And perhaps 
 if he does come he will be sick," thought the young 
 sailor. 
 
 It is thus that love, which is in itself so pure and 
 beautiful a sentiment, is wont to inspire even the most 
 generous minds with ignoble desires.
 
 35 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE HEIR-APPAREXT 
 
 All his life long Archie Bligh had been practically 
 his own master. It is a fate which is usually con- 
 sidered to be undesirable for the young; yet it has 
 its alleviations, and Archie, for his part, had never 
 felt disposed to repine at it. Of his father he had no 
 recollection at all ; his mother, who had idolized him 
 and done her best to spoil him (but had not succeeded), 
 had died while he was still at Sandhurst ; and as his 
 Uncle Wilfrid thus became his nearest relation, it was 
 natural that he should have spent at the Priory such 
 holiday time as remained to him before he was gazetted 
 to the 24th Lancers. The Priory, indeed, had always 
 been a sort of second home to him, so that when, after 
 •an absence of three years in India, he returned with 
 his regiment to his native shores, the first use that he 
 made of his leave was, of course, to betake himself to 
 Abbotsport. Perhaps it was almost equally a matter
 
 36 MISADVENTURE 
 
 of course that the first thing he did upon arriving" 
 there was to fall over head and ears in love with his 
 cousin Cicely ; for there was scarcely a young man 
 within a twenty mile radius of that enchantress's abode 
 who was not in the same sad case. Archie, to be sure, 
 might have remained exempt, seeing that Cicely and 
 he had been companions as children, and that he had 
 not been at all in love with her then ; but that was 
 because his youthful affections had been given to the 
 eldest Miss Dare, who was now approaching her 
 thirtieth year and had never been remarkable for 
 personal beauty. 
 
 One cannot be a dashing young cavalry officer and 
 possess a snug little fortune of one's own without 
 having been made the object of flattering attentions 
 on the part of the ladies who frequent garrison towns. 
 Archie, therefore, knew something of women, and 
 thought that he knew a great deal. And this rendered 
 him low-spirited ; for his experience convinced him 
 that Cicely had by no means fallen a victim to his 
 attractions. She did not even seem to be aware that 
 he had fallen a victim to hers ; although he had done 
 his best to place that fact outside the range of scep- 
 ticism. She made no stranger of him ; she treated
 
 THE HEIR-APPARENT yr 
 
 liim very mucli as if he liad been lier brotlier — not to 
 say her younger brother — she did not exert herself to 
 entertain him, and took it for granted that he could 
 amuse himself in his own way without her help. That 
 very afternoon, when he had offered to accompany her 
 to the village, she had laughed in his face, remarking, 
 " I don't think you could visit any of my poor people 
 without longing to be rid of me, and I am sure I 
 couldn't visit any of them without longing to be rid 
 of you." So he had been reduced to the necessity of 
 taking a solitary walk into the country, which is a very 
 dismal way of spending an afternoon. After his meet- 
 ing with Mr. Lowndes, he sauntered down the hill 
 towards Abbotsport, and in due course of time his 
 hopes were fulfilled by the appearance of his cousin, 
 who greeted him from afar with a wave of her empty 
 basket. 
 
 *' Am I late for dinner ? " she asked, when he 
 quickened his pace and joined her. " Did they send 
 you to look for me ? " 
 
 " Oh dear no," said Archie, consulting his watch, 
 '' there's heaps of time before dinner ; I did come to 
 look for you, but that was on my own hook, and 
 because I thought that perhaps, if I had the luck to
 
 38 MISADVENTURE 
 
 meet you, you would let me walk home with you. 
 Wliat a long afternoon this has been ! " 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " exclaimed Cicely, with half-ironical 
 compassion ; "I suppose it must be desperately slow 
 for you down here. What have you been doing with 
 yourself since luncheon ? " 
 
 " Nothing, in the fullest sense of the word. And 
 what have you been doing ? — if I may ask." 
 
 " Well, I have distributed jellies and bunches of 
 grapes to sick people, and I have listened to the 
 domestic woes of Mrs. Coppard, and I have seen the 
 trawlers come in, and I have administered a well- 
 deserved scolding to Coppard, and I have had an inter- 
 view with Bobby Dare, who, by the way, had returned 
 from a two days' cruise with the fishermen. Just 
 imagine sleeping on board a trawler for pleasure ! 
 Why is it that sailors always want to be at sea when 
 they are ashore, and that soldiers hate nothing so 
 much as the sight of a red coat when they are on 
 leave ? " 
 
 " Because sailors are usually men of one idea," said 
 Archie, promptly. " Other people like to have a 
 change occasionally." 
 
 " And you a^-e beginning to think that you would
 
 THE HEIR-APPAREXT 39 
 
 like a change now, I daresay. I don't wonder at it : 
 only, selfishly speaking, I wish yon could bring yourself 
 to stay here until Morton takes his departure. I don't 
 want to have Morton left upon my hands. I don't 
 understand him, and. what is more, I'm afraid of him." 
 
 "I don't believe you're afraid of anybody or any- 
 thing in the world," returned her cousin; ''but of 
 course I shall be only too glad to stay here until I'm 
 turned out, and I'll do my best to be civil to your 
 brother." 
 
 ''Will you?" asked the girl rather eagerly; '-'I 
 hope you will. He will certainly try to provoke you, 
 but if you will bear in mind that that is what he wants, 
 and if you will decline to be provoked, you will not 
 only disappoint him but make things much smoother 
 for the rest of us." 
 
 "Oh, I'll keep my temper," said Archie, with a laugh. 
 " He seems to be an amiable sort of chap. Why should 
 he want to provoke me ? " 
 
 Cicely looked at him with a somewhat pitying smile. 
 The reason was so obvious that he might surely have 
 divined it. However, she liked him none the less for 
 his obtuseness and only said : " Morton isn't amiable ; 
 he tries to provoke most people. He used to succeed
 
 40 MIS A D VENTURE 
 
 witli me ; but I don't mean him to succeed again, and 
 I hope he won't with you." 
 
 ^' Does he succeed with Dare ? " asked Archie after a 
 pause. 
 
 " I don't think he has ever had the chance ; but any- 
 how he wouldn't be likely to consider poor Bobby worth 
 powder and shot." 
 
 The slightly contemptuous tone in which this opinion 
 was enunciated reassured Archie upon a point as to' 
 which he had begun to feel certain misgivings, and 
 when he parted from his cousin and went upstairs to 
 dress for dinner, he felt in a sufficiently good humour 
 to face any number of disagreeable strangers. 
 
 The Priory, as regarded a large portion of its outer 
 walls, was an ancient structure ; but it had been con- 
 stantly added to by its present owner, while the interior 
 had been so thoroughly restored, re-modelled, and re- 
 decorated, that it was to almost all intents and purposes 
 modern. Many people, of course, thought this a pity, 
 and said so ; but then as Mr. Bligh was wont to re- 
 mark, in answer to these criticisms, they had not been 
 called upon to live in the old house. He and his 
 architect had done their best with the materials at their 
 command. The fine old entrance-hall and the broad oak
 
 THE HEIR-APPARENT 41 
 
 staircase had been left intact, and dark corridors, 
 broken by unexpected steps, still afforded a somewhat 
 dangerous channel of communication with the bed- 
 rooms; but, since it had been found impossible to 
 retain the distinctive character of the building in the 
 living-rooms, all attempts to reconcile medi^evalism with 
 modern requirements had been abandoned there, and 
 the library, to which Ai'chie betook himself in the 
 course of half an hour, was, as the critics complained, 
 *' utterly characterless." It was, however, spacious, 
 cheerful, and sunny, when there was any sun to shine. 
 
 It was in this room that Mr. Bligh now spent nearly 
 the whole of the day, and here Archie found him, rest- 
 ing in his wheeled chair by the bay window, and with a 
 slightly troubled look upon his usually placid face. 
 Beside him sat his sister-in-law, Miss Skipwith, whose 
 face was seldom placid and now displayed signs of un- 
 wonted agitation and excitement. " I can't think it 
 wise, Wilfrid," she was saying, as Archie entered. 
 
 There were a good many things and there were two 
 people at the Priory which and whom ^liss Skipwith 
 could not think wise. She was a thin, anxious, nervous 
 little woman, with fluffy flaxen hair, which was turning 
 grey, and prominent pale blue eyes. She was very
 
 42 MISADVENTURE 
 
 much in awe of Mr. Bligh, altliougli she had a poor 
 opinion of his sagacity, and she worshipped her niece, 
 of whose manners and customs she strongly disapproved. 
 Her whole life was a mild protest, which those who lived 
 under the same roof with her accepted smilingly and 
 never thought of resenting. 
 
 " Who has been making a fool of himself now, Miss 
 Skipwith ? " inquired Archie. 
 
 Miss Skipwith, who had never had any great affec- 
 tion for this young man and thought him disposed 
 to be impertinent, drew herself up, compressed her 
 lips, and made no reply ; but Mr. Bligh said : " Oh, 
 you'll see presently, and I daresay you will agree with 
 Susan. Nevertheless, I might have made an even 
 greater fool of myself if I had refused to receive my 
 only son. The most foolish thing that anybody can 
 do is to put himself gratuitously in the wrong. Per- 
 haps, if sufficient opportunity is given to him, Morton 
 may do that, and then Susan will think better of 
 me. Doesn't that strike you as a wise way of looking 
 at things ? " 
 
 Archie was fond of his uncle, because the latter had 
 always been kind to him and had been a good sportsman 
 in bygone days ; but he was not fond of irony, which
 
 THE HEIR-APPARENT 43 
 
 lie would probably have defined as a needless and 
 iiTitating liabit of saying what yon didn't mean. "I 
 don't know anything at all about it.'' he answered rather 
 curtly. 
 
 At this moment the door opened and Cicely and her 
 brother entered the room together. There was a strong 
 family resemblance between them ; but this resemblance, 
 as the most careless observer must have noticed at a 
 glance, was only skin deep. Morton Bligh had been 
 a very handsome man, and was so still, despite his 
 waxy, unhealthy complexion, and the grey threads in 
 his dark hair. Like his sister he was small, well- 
 proportioned, and had delicately moulded features ; but 
 his eyes and mouth differed greatly from hers, the 
 former being narrow, glittering and too close together, 
 while his lips were thin and had acquired an habitually 
 smiling set which had no suggestion of mirth about it. 
 
 " I don't think you have ever met your cousin 
 Archie before, Morton," said Mr. Bligh. 
 
 "Don't remember to have had that pleasure," an- 
 swered the new-comer, holding out a limp, white hand. 
 " Been in India, haven't you — or somewhere ? I forget 
 whether you're a plunger or a gunner." 
 
 Archie explained good-huraouredly that he was
 
 44 MISADVENTURE 
 
 neither the one nor the other, and mentioned the 
 distinguished corps to which he had the honour to 
 belong. 
 
 " Ohj ah! — the 24th Lancers, of course," said the 
 other. " Beg your pardon, I'm sure. I suppose a 
 Lancer doesn't like being called a plunger, does he ? " 
 
 " That entirely depends upon who calls him so," said 
 Archie. 
 
 " Keally ? Well, I hope you mean that you don't 
 mind my having called you so. The fact is that I 
 know very little about soldiers ; though I believe I 
 was once in the Yeomanry myself. I joiued the 
 Yeomanry to please you, you know," he added, turning 
 to his father. 
 
 "And retired to please yourself," observed Mr. 
 Bligh. 
 
 "Exactly so. I'm too much given to pleasing 
 myself; but it's never too late to mend, and I'm going 
 to turn over a new leaf now. The fact of my being 
 where I am at this moment is a pretty convincing proof 
 of that." 
 
 " You don't flatter us," said Miss Skip with, drily. 
 
 " My dear Aunt Susan, I'm incapable of it ; I don't 
 know how to flatter people, and it has been a great
 
 THE HEIR-APPAREXT 45 
 
 disadvantage to me through life. Besides, you would 
 never have believed me if I had told you that I came 
 here for the pleasure of seeing you all." 
 
 Mr. Bligh laughed a little at this, but the other three 
 jDersons present remained grave and felt the announce- 
 ment of dinner to be a relief. Morton, however, did 
 not seem to consider a change of subject obligatory or 
 desirable. While he was eating his sou]3 he explained 
 that much as he hated the country he had thought it 
 best to familiarize himself with it, and with the manage- 
 ment of a property which in the natural course of 
 things must shortly be his. '* One may not be 
 enamoured of one's station in life,"' said he, '•' still as 
 one can't escape from it, the only plan is to endeavour 
 to fit oneself for it." 
 
 Cicely reddened with suppressed anger \ Archie was 
 greatly shocked and scandalized; and Miss Skipwith, 
 in a high tremulous voice, began to talk about the 
 danger that was sure to be done to the fruit-blossoms 
 by the late frosts. But ]klr. Bligh appeared to be much 
 more tickled than annoyed at the calmness with which 
 his approaching demise was counted upon. Morton 
 was in many respects a queer, distorted reproduction 
 of himself, and he recoi^nized this with some inward
 
 46 MISADVEATURE 
 
 amusement. He himself had always had a great love 
 for truth, and a great contempt for the phrases in which 
 it is customary to wrap up truth ; only as he was 
 courteous and kind-hearted, he could not have expressed 
 himself as Morton did. That his son did not love him 
 he was perfectly aware, and that his son should make 
 no secret of the fact scarcely disturbed him. What, 
 perhaps, he did not quite realize was that his son was a 
 very clever fellow. 
 
 That was certainly not the opinion formed of him by 
 Archie, who thought he had never met such a brute in 
 his life. Archie , as has been said, was accustomed to 
 look upon the Priory as his home, and had some 
 right to do so, whereas Morton had not been near 
 the place for many years. It was, therefore, not a 
 little exasperating to the former to be treated by 
 the latter as a guest. After Miss Skipwith and 
 Cicely had left the dining-room, Morton (who was 
 rapidly disposing of a decanter of port) urged him 
 to have another glass of claret, begged him to smoke if 
 he felt inclined, and apologized for the dulness of 
 Abbotsport, where, he said, one really had no business to 
 ask a man to stay at that season of the year. Mindful of 
 the promise that he had made, Archie kept his temper
 
 THE HEIR-APPARENT 47 
 
 and responded civilly ; but Morton's whole demeanour 
 made his blood boil, and later in the eveninof he con- 
 fided to Cicely that if that fellow meant staying, he was 
 afraid he would have to go. 
 
 "I thought you would," remarked the girl, rather 
 sadly ; '• I am not at all surprised at it/"'" 
 
 '•'I won't go if you would rather I didn't," said 
 Archie, brightening up a little. 
 
 " Well, I told you that I didn't want to have Morton 
 left on my hands ; and I told you that he would try 
 to provoke you. Can't you manage to des^oise him ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, I think I can manage that much/'" replied 
 the young man with a short laugh. 
 
 '' I mean can't you manage not to care what he says or 
 does ? My father isn't angry, you see ; yet he has rather 
 more reason to be angry, perhaps, than you have."' 
 
 •' I'll try to imitate him," answered Archie, sighing. 
 " It isn't going to be easy, though, I can see." 
 
 He was young and peppery, while his uncle was old 
 and philosophical, sick and weary. Moreover, his uncle, 
 after all, was master of the house, and of the situation, 
 which made a difference. One may put up with a good 
 deal of insolence and bad temper from a man whom it 
 is in one's power to disinherit at any moment. Still,
 
 48 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Archie was resolved to exercise self-dontrol, and his 
 resolution was put to a tolerably severe test when Morton 
 and he had adjourned to the smoking-room. 
 
 " Cicely," observed Morton, after offering his cousin a 
 cigar, " has grown up into a devilish good-looking girl. 
 I suppose one will have to find a husband for her soon." 
 
 "I should think she would choose for herself," said 
 Archie, shortly. 
 
 " Well, it will save trouble if she does — supposing 
 she makes a reasonable choice, that is. But she strikes 
 me as a rather unreasonable sort of young woman. 
 Added to which, there's nobody for her to choose 
 down here. A season in London might open her eyes 
 a little." 
 
 " In what way ? " inquired Archie. 
 
 " Oh, I don't say that it would make a reasonable 
 being of her : there are so few reasonable beings about. 
 But it would probably enlighten her as to her own 
 market value, which is really a good bit above the ave- 
 rage. You may depend upon it that the governor won't 
 leave her a penny less than thirty thousand pounds." 
 
 " Oh, that is her market value, is it?" said Archie. 
 " Fortunately she is not likely to offer herself for sale." 
 
 Morton screwed up his eyes and laughed unplea-
 
 THE HEIR-APPARENT 49 
 
 santly. "You think she will marry for love then?" 
 said he. 
 
 " Yes, that is what I think, certainly." 
 
 " We must try to save her from making such an idiot 
 of herself. Love is delightful ; nobody has been more 
 often in love than I have, and nobody appreciates the 
 emotion more thoroughly. But then I have never made 
 the mistake of imao-ininsf that it could last more than 
 two years at the very outside. Marriage is another 
 affair altogether ; marriage is essentially a bargain, and 
 women are very well aware of that." 
 
 " You speak as though all women were alike." 
 
 " So they are, my dear fellow. The popular belief is 
 that there is a great gulf fixed between good and bad 
 women ; but that's nonsense. They difier in their talk, 
 but they no more differ in their actions than men do." 
 
 " I should have said that men differed a good deal in 
 their actions," observed Archie. 
 
 " That's only because circumstances vary ; it isn't 
 because human nature varies. It wouldn't occur to you 
 to steal a leg of mutton ; but you would a great deal 
 rather steal a leg of mutton than be hungry. We re all 
 tarred with the same brush : only it isn't supposed to be 
 the proper thing to say so." 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " I don't know how that may be," said Archie, " but 
 I know that if I had a sister, I shouldn't like to talk 
 about her as you do about yours." 
 
 " You wouldn't like to face facts, you mean ; very 
 few people do. Still it's the safest plan, upon the 
 whole ; and one unquestionable fact is that Cicely won't 
 fall a prey to a fortune-hunter if her affectionate brother 
 can prevent it." 
 
 To this Archie made no rejoinder ; but throwing his 
 cigar into the fire, got up and went to bed. It might 
 be possible, he thought, to avoid quarrelling with 
 Morton, but it was quite impossible to help wanting 
 to break his neck.
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 MADAME SOURAVIEFF 
 
 Ix the drawiDg-room of a small but artistically fur- 
 nished house in Clarges Street, a lady was seated, scrib- 
 bling off notes and letters with a great appearance of 
 haste. This was the Countess Souravieff, a name pretty 
 well-known in all European capitals, except London, 
 and now in a fair way to achieve notoriety there also. 
 That the Countess would ever achieve anything more 
 than that doubtful advantage was, perhaps, not very 
 likely ; because in these days political adventurers have 
 to contend almost everywhere against democratic insti- 
 tutions, which limit the scope of their ingenuity. Still 
 she was in some degree a personage. Diplomatists took 
 her into account ; Priine Ministers (one or two of them 
 at all events) asked her to dinner and listened with 
 interest to what she had to say ; and the police kept a 
 solemn and watchful eye upon her movements. This 
 pleased her very much ; for she was an ambitious 
 
 H OF »^ ^'^
 
 52 MISADVENTURE 
 
 woman, and, what was more, she was quite in earnest. 
 If there was one thing about which Madame Souravieff 
 was more certain than another (and she was certain 
 about a remarkable number of things) it was that 
 the Slavonic races were^ destined to rule the world. 
 That being so, the sooner the Slavonic races got into the 
 saddle the better, and she was now devoting all her 
 energies to giving them a leg up. With this end, and 
 with certain subordinate and private ends of her own ire 
 view, she had taken a house in Mayfair for the season, 
 and initiated friendly relations with a few politicians 
 and journalists, and explained to sundry great ladies that 
 if she did not live with her husband, that was only because 
 her husband was a man for whom it was impossible to feel 
 anything but antipathy. She was not divorced from him ; 
 she was not even separated from him ; but, since they 
 could not meet without disagreeing, they had thought 
 it advisable to meet as seldom as might be. 
 
 Judging by the quantity of invitation cards which lay 
 upon her writing-table, the great ladies had considered 
 these excuses sufficiently valid, and there was every 
 prospect of Madame Souravieff proving herself a 
 social, if not a political, success. She had been a very 
 pretty woman, and one would not have thought of
 
 MAD A ME SO URA VIEFF 53 
 
 employing the plaperfect tense in speaking of lier had 
 it not been for a few grey hairs in the neighbourhood 
 of her temples and a slight inclination towards enibon- 
 point in her figure. Her complexion and her teeth were 
 as perfect as they had always been, and her large, dark 
 eyes quite as expressive. One kind of critic might have 
 objected that her cheekbones were a little too high, and 
 another kind that she had loaded her white fingers with 
 rather too many jewels : in other respects there was 
 really no fault to be found with her appearance. 
 
 Her epist/olary labours were interrupted every now 
 and then by the entrance of a grave butler, who brought 
 her cards upon a silver tray. Some of them he merely 
 handed to her and then retired ; others appeared to call 
 for some response, and this was always given in the 
 same words — " I do not receive." It was not until the 
 afternoon had become evening that this formula was 
 departed from in favour of a gentleman whose card bore 
 the name " Mr. Mark Chetwode." The butler, who was 
 an observant man, and naturally wanted to find out 
 anything that he could about the foreign lady whose 
 service he had only just entered, fancied that Madame 
 Souravieff's hand trembled slightly as she took this 
 scrap of pasteboard from him ; but, however that may
 
 54 MISADVENTURE 
 
 have been, there was no tremulousness in her clear 
 voice when she said, " Yes, show him in." 
 
 He was shown in accordingly : a slim, pale man, 
 very carefully dressed, who, despite his English name, 
 had much more of the ajopearance of a Eussian than 
 the lady who rose to greet him. His age might have 
 been anything between thirty and forty. His fair hair 
 was cut close to his head, after the foreign fashion, and 
 had no parting ; his moustache was waxed ; his eyes* 
 were of so pale a blue as to be almost colourless ; his face 
 (and this was what made many people admire him) had 
 absolutely no expression whatsoever. One cannot help 
 admiring a man who can manage to look a perfect blank 
 without looking in the least a fool. 
 
 '' What a pretty house ! " he exclaimed, glancing 
 appreciatively round the room. " You look quite as if 
 you lived here. But that is a way of yours. If you 
 were planted in the middle of Siberia — as perhaps you 
 may be some fine day — you would make yourself com- 
 pletely at home in a few hours." 
 
 Madame Souravieff made a slight grimace. " Is that 
 all you have to say to me ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh no ; I have so many things to say that the 
 difficulty is to know where to start. Perhaps I had
 
 MADAME SOURAVIEFF 55 
 
 better begin by expressing my surprise and deligbt at 
 meeting you in England." 
 
 " That would be as good a way of beginning as 
 another if it were not absurd. You are never sui-prised, 
 Mark ; and sometimes I think that you are never 
 delighted. Of course I have ver)' good reasons for 
 being in Engl8.nd, and you know them all. For one 
 thing, it is a free country." 
 
 " So they say ; but to the best of my knowledge it is 
 not a country in which one can do what one likes." 
 
 " At any rate it is a country in which one can say 
 what one likes without being sent to prison." 
 
 " Yes — if that is an advantage. You will certainly 
 obtain a good deal of s}Tapathyj and possibly you may 
 be able to collect a good deal of money, if you are 
 careful to avoid specifying what you want it for. 
 Setting politics aside, what motive have you for estab- 
 lishing yourself in Clarges Street ? — if one may venture 
 to ask." 
 
 " You ought not to require any answer to such a 
 question," said Madame Souravieff. 
 
 Mr. Chetwode looked down at his neat little boots, 
 and tapped them meditatively with his cane for a few 
 seconds. " It is dangerous," he said, at length. One
 
 56 MISADVENTURE 
 
 may be watched in London just as well as anywhere 
 else." 
 
 " At least we can meet here, and we could not meet 
 at Vienna or Wiesbaden. Besides, what do I care? 
 Let him watch and spy to his heart's content. He can 
 never find out anything wrong about me, because there 
 is nothing wrong to find out." 
 
 " It might perhaps be sufficient if he found out that 
 I visited you constantly. I doubt whether he believes 
 in my entire devotion to the cause of Panslavism." 
 
 " Nobody could believe easily in your devotion to any 
 cause — or any person," returned Madame Souravieff, 
 rather bitterly. " You almost make me regret that I 
 did not take you at your word long ago and say farewell 
 to you for ever. Most likely that is what you would 
 have preferred. If you are weary of me, be honest and 
 tell me so." 
 
 Mr. Chetwode raised his pale blue eyes and smiled 
 faintly. "You know how long I have loved you, Olga," 
 he replied. " I am not weary, I am only hopeless. 
 And why should you compromise yourself by receiving 
 me^ It may get you into great trouble, and it can do 
 no good to either of us. Do you know that when your 
 note reached me I had serious thoughts of paying no
 
 MADAME SOURAVIEFF 57 
 
 attention to it ? If I were a rich man tlie case would 
 be different ; but, as far as I can make out, I am very 
 nearly a ruined man. I can do nothing either for you 
 or for your cause, and, really, your wisest plan would be 
 to show me the door." 
 
 Madame Souravieff seemed to be a good deal touched 
 by the words, which were coldly enough enunciated. 
 ^' Poor Mark 1 " she exclaimed compassionately. '' Has 
 your journey been a failure, then ? Are your affairs m 
 a worse state than you expected ? " 
 
 "Oh, I expected them to be in a bad state. For 
 some years past I have had very little to live upon 
 beyond the rent that I received for my house, and now 
 my tenant has departed, and the lawyer tells me that I 
 am not very likely to find a fresh one. He thinks the 
 best thing I can do is to live there myself. It is a 
 cheerful prospect." 
 
 " I can't imagine you living in an English province,' 
 remarked Ma'iame Souravieff, smiling a little at the 
 idea. "What will you do with yourself? Who will 
 your neighbours be ? " 
 
 '' It is not unlikely that I shall blow my brains out. 
 I have not had the curiosity to inquire who will be my 
 neighbours. The village clergyman, I suppose, and the
 
 5 8 MI SAD VENTURE 
 
 village doctor. Also a few native landowners— amongst 
 otliers, the one who now owns the land which ought to 
 be mine." 
 
 "I remember that you used to tell me about him. 
 His name is Bligh, and he gained a lawsuit against 
 you, because he was rich enough to bribe the judges. 
 Was not that it ? " 
 
 " Not exactly. In this country judges are irremov- 
 able, which, I am assured, renders them incorruptible'. 
 Nevertheless, a rich Englishman is more likely to win a 
 lawsuit than a poor one, because he can go on applying 
 to Superior Courts. I believe it was in that way that 
 Mr. Bligh obtained a decision against my father, whose 
 means were limited." 
 
 " Consequently, Mr. Bligh can hardly be counted as a 
 neighbour." 
 
 " I do not precisely love him," replied Mr. Chetwode,. 
 with his slow, faint smile; "but if he sees fit to call 
 upon me I shall return his visit. I hear, however, 
 that he is a cripple; so he p)robably won't call upon 
 me. Let us talk no more of my affairs, which are a 
 most depressing topic of conversation. Tell me about 
 yours. Has the date of the revolution been fixed 
 
 yet?"
 
 MADAME SOURAVIEFF 59 
 
 " What revolution ? " inquired Madame Souravieff, 
 quickly. 
 
 " I am so stupid ! I can't at tliis moment recollect 
 whether it was to take place in Servia or Bulgaria. 
 However, the Vienna people know all about it ; so that 
 the persons interested have no doubt received full 
 warning." 
 
 " You accuse me of doing dangerous things," observed 
 Madame Souravieff; "don't you think that you your- 
 self sometimes say them ? When one has taken such 
 engagements as you have done, one should be a little 
 less reckless." 
 
 " I am discretion itself in ordinary company ; but 
 with you I feel sure that I am safe. The revolution 
 has my best wishes ; only I am rather sceptical as to its 
 coming off, because, as I tell you, the secret is already 
 an open one." 
 
 " Mark," exclaimed Madame Souravieff, striking her 
 hands together impatiently, "you are a true English- 
 man ; you have no heart ! " 
 
 " And everybody here tells me that I am not in the 
 least like an Englishman. They say it regretfully and 
 apologetically, because, of course, it is such a very cruel 
 thing to say of any one ; yet they think I ought to
 
 6o MISADVENTURE 
 
 know it, in order that I may try to reform. As for my 
 having no heart, that is a point upon which there can be 
 no better judge than you. If you say that I have none, 
 you are probably right." 
 
 Madame Souravieff made no rejoinder for some 
 minutes. " And when do you propose to instal yourself 
 in this remote chateau of yours ? " she asked abruptly, 
 at length. 
 
 " I thought of going down to-morrow or the nexfr 
 day." 
 
 " Although you know that I came here for — for " 
 
 " For political objects, as I understood." 
 " Ah, yes ; for political objects. I had better stick 
 to them, no doubt. Good-bye then, Mark, since you 
 are so anxious to say good-bye." And she held out her 
 hand to him. 
 
 "You are rather unjust, Olga," said Mr. Ohetwode, 
 without rising. ^' If I were anxious to leave London 
 immediately after your arrival, and on account of it, 
 that would be for your sake, not for mine. The Count 
 can do me no sort of harm ; it wouldn't injure me in 
 any way if he were to learn that I was in this house 
 from morning to night. But he might injure you very 
 materially by the simple expedient of declining to pay
 
 MADAME SO URA VIEFF 6 1 
 
 your expenses any longer. You used to be fully alive 
 to that risk." 
 
 •' D.o you mean to tell me that you are going away 
 for my sake, then ? "' 
 
 " Oh no — although if I were able to stay in London 
 I should endeavour to be circumspect for your sake. I 
 am going away for the vulgar but sujBBcient reason that 
 I can't afford to live here. The necessaries of life are 
 cheap at Abbotsport I am told.*' 
 
 Madame Souravieff looked as if she were strongly 
 tempted to make an offer which it has been agreed from 
 time immemorial that no man who respects himself can 
 accept. Probably knowledge of her visitor's character 
 restrained her from doing so ; for she only sighed, and 
 said : ^' Abbotsport ? Is there an hotel at Abbotsport ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. I doubt whether there is even an 
 inn : though there may be a few alehouses." 
 
 "Then I will tell you what I will do. When the 
 London season is over, I will take your house. Will 
 you let your house to me for a few months ? " 
 
 "I shall be delighted; only in that case, you see, I 
 should have to go away." 
 
 '' Xot necessarily. You could find accommodation in 
 the neighbourhood, if you chose. Have you not an
 
 62 MISADVENTURE 
 
 intendant — a bailiff — wliat do you call him ? Turn him 
 out of his house for the time ; it could easily be done. 
 We must think it over and devise some plan. It is 
 absurd that we should both be in England, yet unable 
 to exchange a word." 
 
 ''I suppose it is," said Mr. Chetwode, rising; "yet, 
 perhaps, it is even more absurd that we should continue 
 to meet. As I told you before, I am useless and ruined. 
 One should never compromise oneself for a ruined and* 
 useless man." 
 
 " You are not useless, and I have not compromised 
 myself," declared Madame Souravieff, warmly. " As 
 for ruin, nobody is ever ruined except by his own fault. 
 I want you to be great and powerful, and I think you 
 will be some day. And I want to see you from time to 
 time, because — well, you know why. Try to believe, 
 Mark, that one may be ambitious without being heart- 
 less, and that love is not always selfish." 
 
 ''Dear me!" said Mr. Chetwode, "I thought that 
 was just what I was proving. The unselfishness of love, 
 I mean. I know very little about ambition." 
 
 To look at him, one would have imagined that he 
 knew quite as much about that passion as about the 
 other ; and, as a matter of fact, he was a man who had
 
 MADAME SO URA VIEFF 63 
 
 always coveted power and had fretted under conditions 
 which had made the attainment of any sort of distinction 
 impossible to him. Born and brought up at St. Peters- 
 burg, where his father, after marrying a Russian lady, 
 had settled permanently, he belonged to his mother's 
 nation in habits and feelings, while remaining an 
 Englishman in name. Thus he had been debarred 
 from any career either in the land of his adoption or 
 that of his origin, and when his parents died he had 
 passed the age at which a fresh start can be made. They 
 left him a moderate fortune, which he got rid of slowly, 
 but steadily, over the card-tables at his club. He had 
 amused himself to the best of his ability, but that was 
 not very well, because, for his misfortune, amusements 
 did not satisfy him. Of late years he had dabbled in 
 political intrigues to an extent which had rendered his 
 departure from St. Petersburg desirable, his chief 
 reason for labouring in the cause of Panslavism being 
 a desii-e to please Madame Souravieff, with whom he 
 had fallen as much in love as a man of his temperament 
 could. As he walked away from Clarges Street, with 
 both his hands clasped behind his back, he said to him- 
 self tbat he was very tired of Panslavism and of the 
 solemn mystery in which his fellow conspirators were
 
 64 MISADVENTURE 
 
 wont to stiroud their proceedings. Perhaps he was also 
 beginning to be a little tired of Madame Souravieff; 
 but this he did not say to himself, because there are 
 misgivings which it is always unwise to formulate, lest 
 they should thus resolve themselves into unmistakable 
 realities. For two years past Madame Souravieff had 
 been everything to him : if he were now to lose the ex- 
 citement by means of which she had been wont to make 
 his somewhat sluggish blood run more quickly in his 
 veins, he would have absolutely nothing left to live for. 
 Life as an impoverished English country gentleman did 
 not seem to him to offer any attractive possibilities : yet 
 that was the kind of life which he had to face, and from 
 which, so far as could be seen, no way of escape lay 
 open to him. Thinking of this and of the forfeited in- 
 come of certain lands, he forgot himself so far as to 
 scandalize the crossiDg-sweeper in Berkeley Square by 
 cursing the Bligh family aloud, root and branch.
 
 ^ 65 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 INI A R K ' S LAWYER 
 
 Mr. Chetwode walked away from Madame Souravieff's 
 door with his eyes bent down gloomily upon the pave- 
 ment, and his mind absorbed in meditation upon 
 subjects with which his immediate surroundings for 
 the time being had nothing to do. He therefore failed 
 to notice a plump, middle-aged, smooth-shaven man of 
 foreign aspect, who was loitering on the opposite side 
 of the street, and who witnessed his exit with an amused 
 smile. This individual's smile expressed relief as well 
 as amusement ; because he had been walking up and 
 down Clarges Street for a long time, and few duties are 
 so fatiguing as that of mounting guard. However, he 
 was being handsomely paid for his work, which is always 
 a consolation, and he was earning his pay by strict 
 attention to duty, which is a greater consolation still to 
 the scrupulous mind. He glanced at his watch, sighed 
 comfortably, and murmured : " Enough for one day ! 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Fifteen carriages, of whicli the greater part have coronets 
 upon tliem ; the society of London accepts Madame. 
 No one is admitted until nearly six o'clock, when the 
 suspected one presents himself. He enters, and emerges 
 at the end of half an hour with the air of one who has 
 w^asted his time. But that is a detail which need not 
 be mentioned in the report. If I am unable to watch 
 the house continuously, that is due to no fault of mine, 
 but to the habits of these English, who are not flaneurs. 
 One cannot walk two or three times up and down a 
 London street without making oneself conspicaoas ; 
 although on this occasion I have been fortunate enough 
 to escape notice." 
 
 He had not been so fortunate in this respect as he 
 supposed, for while he had been thus meditating and 
 biting the end off a very long cigar, Madame Souravieff, 
 who had moved to the window, had caught sight of 
 him. 
 
 " What insolence ! " she exclaimed, and immediately 
 rang the bell. 
 
 The grave butler who presently appeared in answer 
 to this summons, was sur^^rised and somewhat scan- 
 dalized by the order which he received. " On the other 
 side of the street there is a fat man who is lighting a
 
 MARK'S LA WYER 67 
 
 cigar. Run across and tell him to come here at once ; 
 I want to speak to him."* 
 
 To suppose that a respectable English upper servant, 
 who had lived in the very best families, would consent 
 to •' run '" anpvhere — and without his hat too — showed 
 an ignorance of all propriety which could only be par- 
 doned in a foreigner. The butler, of course, did no such 
 thing ; but he despatched a subordinate, who overtook 
 the stout stranger and duly delivered the message. 
 
 The stout stranger did not look disconcerted. He 
 smiled, glanced regretfully at his cigar, then carefully 
 cut the lighted end off it and replaced it in his pocket. 
 *• I am at the orders of Madame la Comtesse/' said he, 
 in very fair English. 
 
 And indeed nothing could have been more respectful 
 than the bow with which he greeted Madame Souravieff, 
 when that lady swept down into the dining-room, where 
 he had been requested to wait for her, and fixed a pair 
 of angry eyes upon him. *• What does this mean, 
 Victor ? ■' she asked in French. 
 
 The stout man shrugged his shoulders, and spread 
 out his hands. '• Madame la Comtesse," he replied, 
 " must be aware that I have no choice but to do my 
 duty and obey the orders that are given to me."
 
 68 MISADVENTURE 
 
 "Is it the duty of a valet to be a S]3y ?" Madame 
 Souravieff inquired. 
 
 " Mon Dieu^ Madame, we may say that it is the duty 
 of every j)oor man to lay by a little money in antici- 
 pation of his old age. When Monsieur le Comte 
 commands me to proceed to London for a certain 
 purpose, and not only pays all my expenses, but 
 promises me three napoleons as well, in addition to 
 my ordinary wages, I find myself in the impossibility 
 of refusing. The more so because I am persuaded that 
 I might remain here for months without making any 
 revelation of importance." 
 
 " You may certainly count upon that," returned 
 Madame Souravieff, disdainfully. " At the same time 
 it is not agreeable to me to be watched, and I do not 
 know why I should submit to such an insult." 
 
 " With permission, Madame la Comtesse, how can 
 you help it ? For the rest, one must admit, the Mon- 
 sieur le Comte has reason to be disquieted. Monsieur 
 desires to return to Russia as soon as his health may 
 permit, and he is naturally anxious that he should not 
 be coldlv received at Court. It is said that Madame la 
 Comtesse is pursuing a policy which is not that of His 
 IMajesty the Czar."
 
 MARK'S LA WYER 69 
 
 " All, bah ! Yon were not sent liere to report upon 
 matters of policy, my good Victor. My political objects, 
 of wMcli I make no secret, are well known to Monsieur 
 le Comte, and are, perhaps, less objectionable to His 
 Majesty than is pretended. What is hoped for is that 
 you may furnish evidence which will be instrumental in 
 bringing about a divorce ; but such evidence you never 
 will be able to give, unless you perjure yourself. And 
 you know that as well as anybody." 
 
 The valet replied that Madame la Comtesse was a 
 thousand times risfht. Nevertheless, she would under- 
 stand that he must make his report. 
 
 '•' No doubt. Report then all that you have seen and 
 all that you have not seen. You may even give a 
 report of this interview, if you choose. I have nothina' 
 to conceal." 
 
 The man smiled deferentially. " Am I to say that 
 Mr. Chetwode was here this afternoon, and that he was 
 the only person whom Madame deigned to admit ? " he 
 inquired. 
 
 " I have already told you that you are at liberty to 
 report anything and everything, true or untrue." 
 
 "I only ventured to ask the question, because I 
 feared that it midit not be agreeable to Madame la
 
 70 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Comtesse to be summoned back to Germany. Have I 
 permission to mention Monsieur's instructions to me ? " 
 
 Madame Souravieff nodded. 
 
 "He said — I beg pardon for repeating sucli words — 
 he said, ' I will not be disgraced. If you find that she 
 has gone to England in order to meet Mr. Chetwode 
 you will let me know, and I will at once cease remitting 
 money to her. Detestable' — I quote him textually — 
 ' detestable though her company is to me, I prefer even 
 that to being made a laughing-stock.' " 
 
 Now Madame Souravieff did not mind being told 
 that her company was detestable to her husband, 
 because she knew that it was so, and had, indeed, 
 always endeavoured to make it so ; but she had no 
 private fortune, and to be recalled from London to the 
 German baths at which her husband was then sojourn- 
 ing would not have suited her at all. Therefore, with- 
 out any superfluous delicacy, she drew her purse from 
 her pocket and handed a couple of bank-notes to her 
 interlocutor, to whom she observed briefly : '' You have 
 not seen Mr. Chetwode." 
 
 The valet took the notes and bowed profoundly. " I 
 am convinced of it," said he. " There was a gentleman 
 somewhat resemblino- Mr. Chetwode who entered the
 
 MARK'S LA WYER 71 
 
 house a short time ago ; but I could not be sure of 
 recoDrnizingr him, and now that Madame la Comtesse tells 
 me that it was not he, all doubt is at an end. For the 
 rest, Madame la Comtesse knows that I am, as ever, 
 devoted to her interests. If I can be in any way 
 useful " 
 
 Madame Souravieflf, who during this colloquy had 
 been standing beside the dining-table, drummed upon 
 it for a few seconds with her white fingers, while she 
 looked over the man's head. ''' And Monsieur's health ? '' 
 she asked abruptly, at length. 
 
 '' Excellent, Madame. A little gout — a little indiges- 
 tion — which are yielding to the action of the waters. 
 Monsieur counts upon returning to St. Petersburg 
 before the winter.'* 
 
 " Well," said Madame Souravieff, with an impatient 
 sigh, "you can go now. I am sure that I may rely 
 upon your fidelity, because it must be delightful to be 
 paid both for saying things and for lea\'ing them unsaid. 
 Besides, you are now in my power. In the event of 
 any unpleasantness arising, I should not hesitate for a 
 moment to tell Monsieur that I had bribed you, and he 
 would cei-tainly believe me.*' 
 
 When Madame Souravieff was left alone, she began
 
 72 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to laugli. She had a low, musical laugh, which was 
 rightly considered to be one of her charms. "I was 
 perhaps too quick," she murmured; ''whatever Boris 
 may have said, he is not likely to have said that. He 
 would rather be despised than worried. Yet he is so 
 malicious that he might be capable of putting up with 
 my society if he knew how very much I should hate to 
 leave England just now. After all, the best way is to 
 pay Victor, and it is amusing to think that Boris 
 provides the money. At this she laughed again ; for 
 she had a certain mischievous, childish sense of 
 humour, which also was one of her charms. 
 
 However, she became grave and pensive while her 
 maid was bedecking her for the dinner-party which she 
 had promised to attend, and at which she expected to 
 meet some eminent politicians. She was a woman of 
 the world, whose worldliness was tempered by a large 
 admixture of enthusiasm and romance. Of human 
 nature in the abstract she had formed a tolerably 
 accurate estimate, having had sufficient opportunity of 
 so doing: but it was not in her power to apply this 
 estimate to individuals, and thus she was unfitted for 
 success either in public or in private life. Loving Mark 
 Chetwode as she did, with a perfectly disinterested love,
 
 MARK'S LA WYER 11 
 
 she was obliged to clotlie liim in lier tliouglits with 
 attributes which her reason told her that he did not 
 possess ; so that the memory of what he had said and 
 done often gave her some anxious moments. Her 
 temperament, however, was so far a fortunate and 
 happy one, that if anything worried her she could 
 almost always stop thinking about it ; and she ceased 
 to think about Mark very soon after she had seated 
 herself in her carriage, and was being driven at a 
 sharp trot towards Berkeley Square, where Lord 
 Queensferry, with whom she had been invited to dine, 
 resided. 
 
 Lord Queensferry was a man of over forty, who still 
 looked young, and was always spoken of as being so. 
 He was a Whig, and liked to be called a Kadical ; he 
 was a sportsman, though scarcely a keen one ; and he 
 had made some smart speeches both in the House of 
 Lords and upon the platform. Possibly he might never 
 have risen to Cabinet rank if he had not been so very 
 rich ; but whatever the reason of it may have been, he 
 had held high offices, and was sure to hold them again 
 some day. At present he was in Opposition, which left 
 him free to amuse himself and others by delivering in- 
 flammatory harangues every now and then, by consorting
 
 74 MISADVENTURE 
 
 with queer peo^Dle, and by asking Madame SonraviefF 
 to dinner. 
 
 That lady on being shown into the great drawing- 
 room at Queensferry House, met with a very cordial 
 reception from her host and hostess, and found herself 
 in highly distinguished company. The guests were not 
 numerous, but they were celebrated, and Madame 
 Souravieff had not been three minutes in the room 
 before she perceived that she herself was, for the time 
 being, the chief celebrity amongst them. The}' all 
 looked at her, they were all anxious to be introduced 
 to her, and it was evident that they all thought her a 
 remarkably handsome woman. This pleased her 
 immensely, for she loved admiration, and delighted in 
 being recognized as a factor in contemporary politics. 
 But she knew better than to begin talking of politics 
 at once. While dinner was going on she contented 
 herself with asking many questions about English life 
 and manners, and confessing to a strong affection for 
 English people. 
 
 " I should like to be an Englishwoman," she remarked 
 ingenuously, during a pause in the general conversa- 
 tion ; " but since that cannot be, I must try to be a good 
 Russian. It is perhaps the next best thing."
 
 MARK'S LA IVYER 75 
 
 Everybody thought her very nice and very clever, 
 and in truth she managed to say some clever things in 
 an unaffected way. She was. at all events, clever enough 
 to know that English people are easily bored, and that 
 nothing bores them quite so much as enthusiasm in 
 private life. Therefore she kept a curb upon herself 
 until her op^^ortunity arrived. 
 
 This was soon after dinner, when the venerable 
 statesman whose countenance and support she specially 
 coveted approached her and seated himself upon the 
 sofa by her side. He crossed his legs, folded his hands, 
 smiled benignly, and said : " Now, Madame Souravieff, 
 you must tell me all about Bulgaria." 
 
 "Ah," she replied, "what can I tell you that you 
 do not already know ? You are one of those marvellous 
 people who know everything." 
 
 The great man looked pleased, although he felt bound 
 to disclaim the omniscience ascribed to him. "When he 
 was out of office he was compelled, he said, to derive 
 his information from the newspapers, like the rest of 
 the public, and such information was not always to be 
 relied upon. 
 
 " Oh, the newspapers ! " exclaimed Madame Soura- 
 vieff, with a disdainful shrug of her shoulders. " I have
 
 76 MISADVENTURE 
 
 always been accustomed to read tlie English news- 
 papers, and since I have been in London I have done so 
 with additional interest. They are very nicely printed 
 — one must render them that justice — but I have often 
 been obliged to rub my eyes in order to convince myself 
 that the words which I seemed to see were actually 
 there. The way in which they treat General Kaulbars, 
 the most charming, the most inoffensive, the most plac- 
 able man in the world, is enough to make any one doubt 
 their good faith. Yet I really believe that they are 
 honest. The English people are no doubt stupid and 
 easily taken in, but they are honest, and that is why I 
 love them." 
 
 " We are certainly honest," said the statesman. 
 
 " Nevertheless you are, if I may be allowed to say so, 
 curiously prejudiced. Your one idea is that Russia 
 wants Constantinople and must be kept out of it. You 
 will not believe that Bulgaria is in the hands of a gang 
 of ]^ad venturers, and that the heart of the people is — as 
 indeed it must be — with us. You can't, or you won't, 
 understand that it is we who have given freedom to 
 Bulgaria, that the Bulgarians are our brothers by race 
 and by creed, and that there is such a thing as gratitude 
 even in politics."
 
 MARK'S LA ]VYER 77 
 
 " We may admit all tliat and yet not wish to see you 
 at Constantinople, Madame Souravieff." 
 
 '•' But can you prevent us from going there eventu- 
 ally ? Have you any alternative policy ? I am only a 
 woman, I have no pretensions to statecraft ; still I can 
 see that right is might, not might right. It is a conflict 
 between Christianity and infidelity, and though Europe 
 may choose to take the losing side and to close her 
 eyes, and may retard the inevitable for many years to 
 come, yet at last Christianity must conquer, as it 
 always has conquered. The Cross will be raised again 
 upon the dome of St. Sophia — I am as certain of it 
 as I am of my own existence — the only question is 
 whether this shall be done with or against the will of 
 Christendom." 
 
 She spoke with a great deal of animation, and per- 
 haps her beauty and her earnestness may have impressed 
 her auditor, who remarked, '" I, at least, shall hardly 
 be accused of entertainicg any sentiments of tenderness 
 for the Turks." 
 
 "Nor for us either, I am afraid. Ah, if you only 
 understood us and would trust us ! There are but 
 two great races in the world, the Anglo-Saxon and 
 the Slav. Let them be friends, instead of enemies,
 
 78 MISADVENTURE 
 
 and the peace and happiness of mankind is assured. 
 Is it too much to hope for such an understanding ? " 
 
 Whether this was or was not an extravagantly 
 sanguine expectation, she was encouraged to enlarge 
 upon it, and the succeeding half -hour was made ex- 
 tremely pleasant to her. By the end of that time the 
 room was full of people, for Lady Queensferry was 
 holding a great reception, to which she had invited 
 every man and woman whose name appeared in her 
 visiting-book. Amongst them were many persons who 
 wished to be recognized by Madame Souravieff's inter- 
 locutor, and amongst them, too, was a certain obscure 
 (comparatively obscure) solicitor who, for reasons of 
 his own, was anxious to make Madame Souravieff's 
 acquaintance. 
 
 He attained his object without any difficulty, and 
 she smiled with her usual graciousness when the little 
 chubby, grey-headed man, who was introduced to her 
 as " Mr. Wingfield," drew his heels together and made 
 her a profound bow, though she wondered who Mr. 
 Wingfield might be and what he could have to say 
 to her. 
 
 He had plenty to say to her about political 
 matters, and was much less reserved than the great
 
 MARK'S LA WYER 79 
 
 statesman had been. He quite saw the force of all her 
 arguments ; he professed himself a Liberal — a moderate 
 Liberal — and was willing to allow that the British 
 public might have been wholly misled as to the state 
 of affairs in the Balkan provinces. But of course she 
 understood perfectly well that he only reached his point 
 when he remarked casually: •' A great friend and client 
 of mine, who, I believe, is also a friend of yours, is 
 deeply interested in the Eastern question. I mean poor 
 young Chetwode." 
 
 '' Why do you call him poor ? '" Madame Souravieft' 
 inquired. 
 
 " Because, unfortunately, he is very poor indeed. 
 He seems to have spent nearly the whole of his fortune 
 — whether in support of revolutionary committees or 
 not, of course, I can't say — and the income arising from 
 the small extent of property which still remains to 
 him in this country can hardly do more than keep the 
 big house which stands upon it in repair." 
 
 " He was defrauded of a part of his property by 
 a neighbour of his, was he not ? "' asked Madame 
 Souravieff. 
 
 The lawyer laughed. 
 
 " Oh, well, his father used to say so, and I believe
 
 8o MISADVENTURE 
 
 he liimself has some such idea. As a matter of fact, 
 old Mr. Bligh, the father of Mark's present neighbour, 
 held mortgages and foreclosed. Old Mr. Bligh may 
 not have been very friendly or forbearing ; but he was 
 certainly within his right. However, the transfer of 
 the land has left a great deal of bitter feeling, which is 
 to be regretted. In your wide experience you must 
 have met with many queer types of humanity, Madame 
 Souravieff : did you ever happen to come across -a 
 romantic lawyer before ? " 
 
 '' Frequently," answered Madame Souravieff, smiling. 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps they are more common in Russia 
 than they are in England. Anyhow, I have always 
 regarded myself as singular in that respect. It is an 
 amiable weakness which I can't help, and which, after 
 all, harms nobody. Lately I have been beguiling my 
 leisure moments by constructing a romantic plot, of 
 which Mark Chetwode is the hero and Mr. Bligh's only 
 daughter the heroine. I must tell you that Mr. Bligh 
 is a very rich man, and that his daughter will certainly 
 inherit a considerable fortune from him, if she does not 
 inherit the whole of his landed property." 
 
 " Is she pretty ? " asked Madame Souravieff, quickly.
 
 MARK'S LA IVYER. 8i 
 
 *' I beKeve she is not plain/' said the astute solicitor J 
 '• but one must not be too exacting in such cases." 
 
 He looked sharply, as he spoke, at the Russian lady, 
 who preserved an unruffled exterior. " I hope,"' said she 
 musingly, " that your romance may become a reality. 
 It would be a very good thing." 
 
 " Yes, yes/' returned Mr. Wingfield, nodding his 
 head; ''it would be a good thing. A good thing for 
 Mark, and, perhaps, not a very bad thing for the revolu- 
 tionary committees." 
 
 " Oh, I know nothing about revolutionary committees," 
 Madame Souravieff declared ; " it is only from the 
 newspapers that I hear of their existence. Still, there 
 is no cause in the world that can be kept going without 
 funds, and you are quite right in guessing that Mr. 
 Chetwode will be more valuable to us as a rich man 
 than as an impoverished one." 
 
 She turned away with a little nod of dismissal, 
 leaving Mr. Wingfield in some doubt as to whether she 
 would prove to be an ally or an opponent of his. " But 
 I am pretty sure of one thing," he reflected ; ''I am 
 pretty sure that Mark wants to be rid of her." 
 
 VOL. 1.
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 
 
 *' Lowndes brought me a bit of news this morning," 
 remarked Mr. Bligh, addressing the four persons who 
 were seated at luncheon round the oval table. 
 
 " I know what it is," exclaimed Miss Skipwith, ex- 
 citedly ; •' I have been expecting it for weeks past. 
 The Bishop has forbidden him to use the eastward 
 position, and I must say that I think the Bishop is 
 perfectly right. I do hope Mr. Lowndes will not be 
 so silly as to go on defying the law." 
 
 " Oh, I fancy he will," answered her brother-in-law, 
 placidly. "The Bishop hasn't been so silly — or so 
 wise, which is it ? — as you imagine. Lowndes's news 
 was of a less important kind. It is only that young 
 Mark Chetwode is coming home." 
 
 " Coming to live at Upton Chetwode, do you 
 mean ? " asked Cicely eagerly. " I call that very 
 important indeed. Is he really going to settle there.
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 83 
 
 •or is lie only coming down until lie can find another 
 tenant ? " 
 
 '' That Lowndes didn't know;" answered Mr. Bligli. 
 ^' Probably Chetwode would be glad to let the place 
 •again if he could ; but it isn't very lettable, and he can't 
 afford to leave it empty. The chances are that he will 
 •have to occupy it himself for a good many years to 
 come." 
 
 " Poor devil ! "" ejaculated Morton, compassionately. 
 
 " You wouldn't like to be situated as he is, would 
 you ? " asked his father, with a smile. 
 
 The heir-apparent took some trouble to make his 
 meaning clear. Certainly he would not care to be in 
 Mark Chetwode's shoes, because, in his opinion, nothing 
 could be more wretched than to live in a large house 
 surrounded by lands which had passed away from one's 
 family, and to be reminded at every turn that one 
 represented a worn-out, poverty-stricken race. He 
 •did not in the least believe that the day of territorial 
 influence and usefulness had gone by ; only landowners 
 -who depended for an income on their land were now an 
 ■anachronism. They couldn't live upon such an income, 
 much less help others out of it. '' Look at this property, 
 for instance," he added. •' It is a well-managed property.
 
 84 MISADVENTURE 
 
 I believe ; but if it were mine I would mucli rather sell 
 it at once than attempt to keep things going upon the 
 rents that I could squeeze out of my tenants." 
 
 " I trust that you will never be reduced to so painful 
 a necessity," said Mr. Bligh, with such a slight twinkle 
 in his eyes that nobody noticed it. 
 
 " I remember that I used to hear vague rumours about 
 the Chetwodes ,when I was a boy," remarked Archie. 
 "The Abbotsport people shook their heads over them, 
 and doubted whether they weren't traitors to their 
 Queen and country. Didn't they stay in Kussia all 
 through the Crimean War ? " 
 
 " I believe so," answered Mr. Bligh ; "but as Mark was 
 not born at that time we must not hold him responsible. 
 I daresay you recollect old Mr. and Mrs. Morant, who 
 lived at Upton Chetwode for many years. They are 
 both dead now, and I suppose it isn't easy to find any- 
 body who would care to take such a large house, with 
 nothing attached to it beyond the park and a few acres 
 of woodland." 
 
 '•There are pheasants in the woods," said Cicely, 
 " and there might be many more at the cost of a little 
 money and trouble. Upton Chetwode is a dear old 
 place, which must not be allowed to fall into ruins. I
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHIXG 85 
 
 shall seize the first opportunity of telling- ]Mr. Chetwode 
 that it is his duty to take up his abode there." 
 
 ''' You have such a convincing way of putting things, 
 my dear.*' observed her father. '* that I am quite sure 
 he would see his duty at once, if only a chance of 
 pointing it out to him were given you. Unfortunately, 
 there is very little prospect of your getting that chance, 
 because I am afraid he has been taught to regard us as 
 hereditary enemies." 
 
 "Oh, but he niDst not be so ridiculous," Cicely de- 
 clared, decisively. '• Old Mr. Wingfield told me all 
 about that when he was down here last year, and he 
 himself said that it was perfect nonsense. The Chet- 
 wodes couldn't have kept their property in any case ; 
 and they ought to be thankful that it wasn't grabbed 
 by some horrid old Jew or other. Besides, if ever he 
 has money enough to buy it back I am sure we shall 
 "be delighted to let him have it." 
 
 •' Shall we, indeed ? " said Mr. Bligh, laughing. " 1 
 was not aware of that ; but since you say so no doubt 
 it is so." 
 
 Morton glanced at his sister from beneath his lowered 
 eyelids, and remarked: '-Little girls shouldn't be so 
 cock-sure of other people's intentions."
 
 86 MISADVENTURE 
 
 This bronglit about an uncomfortable period of 
 silence, soon after which the company dispersed. Mr. 
 Bligh was wheeled away to the library ; Miss Skipwith, 
 murmuring something about having letters to write, 
 fluttered after him towards the sitting-room which was- 
 appropriated to her especial use ; a,nd Morton, with a 
 cigar in his mouth and his hands in his pockets, made- 
 for the smoking-room. 
 
 " How long," asked Archie, when he was left alone 
 with his cousin, " do you suppose that your dear brother- 
 means to stay here ? " 
 
 She shook her head rather despondently. " I think 
 he is very tired of us," she replied, " but then, un- 
 happily, we have not been able to conceal our desire 
 for his departure. PerhajDS if we all went down on our- 
 knees and implored him to remain with us he might 
 
 Archie did not seem disposed to treat the matter in 
 so light a spirit. " The man is simply intolerable ! " he 
 declared. '' I have put up with him for three days, and 
 in spite of great provocation I have behaved to him, I 
 really must say, like an angel — for your sake." 
 
 *' Thank you," said Cicely, with a little bow. 
 
 " Well, you asked me to be civil to him, you know.
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHJXG 87 
 
 But I don't think I can stand liis perpetual imper- 
 tinence to you mucli longer." 
 
 " If I can stand it I should think you might. I really 
 don't mind what you call his impertinence ; the only 
 thing that distresses me is that I am afraid his being* 
 in the house worries my father. However, it can't be 
 helped, and there's no use in talking about it. What 
 are you going to do this afternoon ? Would you like to 
 be taken out fishing with me and Bobby Dare ? Bobby 
 wrote to me this morning to say that he had hired a 
 boat of old Coppard (who, by the way, must have bor- 
 rowed it, for he hasn't one of his own), and it would be 
 an act of charity if we were to make use of it." 
 
 "Of charity to Dare or to Mr. Coppard?" inquired 
 Archie. 
 
 '^ Well, to both, perhaps,'' answered the girl, laughing. 
 " Besides, it might help to amuse you — which is more 
 to the purj^ose." 
 
 Archie was not quite sure that it would amuse him to 
 put out to sea : because the wind was in the east, and, 
 as everybody knows, the wind cannot blow from that 
 quarter in the English Channel, be it never so softly, 
 without raising a long swell, which is apt to be discon- 
 certing to landsmen. But he was not going to miss the
 
 88 MISADVENTURE 
 
 chance of spending several hours in Cicely's society; 
 still less was he inclined to leave her for several hours 
 in the society of Bobby Dare. 
 
 Presently, therefore, the two young people set forth 
 for the village, and Morton, who espied them from the 
 smoking-room window, muttered: "Hang the fellow! 
 he ought to be ashamed of himself. If he had the feel- 
 ings of a gentleman he would understand that he has no 
 alternative but to clear out and not show his face here 
 again until a certain event has taken place. He may 
 come back then, and welcome." 
 
 But Archie was free from any of the scruples which, 
 according to this rigid moralist, ought to have disturbed 
 him, because — incredible thousfh that would have 
 seemed to the rigid moralist — he was free from any 
 suspicion of their appropriateness. He adored Cicely, 
 and that was all that he thought about in connection with 
 her. He did not believe his uncle to be dying ; he had 
 never asked himself what would happen when his uncle 
 died, or supposed that it was in contemplation to put 
 him in Morton's place. All his life he had had a suffi- 
 ciency of money, and the idea of being wealthy would 
 not have been especially attractive to him, even if it had 
 entered his head. What chiefly preoccupied him just
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 89 
 
 now was an uneasy feeling of jealousy of Bobby Dare, 
 wliicli, as almost anybody could have told him, was a 
 perfectly absurd sentiment to harbour. It was well 
 known in the neighbourhood of Abbotsport that Miss 
 Bligh held her head very high indeed, and that there 
 was little likelihood of her throwing herself away upon 
 the younger son of a baronet whose rent roll, probably, 
 did not exceed four thousand pounds a year. But 
 the Abbotsport estimate of Miss Bligh was unknown 
 to Archie ; nor, perhaps, had it been revealed to him, 
 would he have recognized its accuracy. 
 
 " What sort of a chap has Dare developed into ?*'* he 
 asked her while they were walking at a brisk pace 
 across the park ; and when she replied, carelessly, •" Oh, 
 rather a nice, manly boy,'" he felt reassured. He him- 
 self had not yet passed the age of those — -fortunatos 
 nimium — who can't hear themselves described as boys 
 without considering^that they have been insulted ; so he 
 was quite prepared to extend the hand of tolerant good- 
 fellowship to his old acquaintance, Lieutenant Dare, 
 R.N., who had been walking impatiently up and down 
 the jetty for a good half-hour Ijefore the arrival of 
 Cicely and her escort. 
 
 Bobby Dare, for his part, was not precisely overjoyed
 
 90 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to see the young Lancer, for whose appearance he 
 had not been prepared ; but as he was a thoroughly- 
 kind-hearted and good-natured little fellow, he said 
 everything that was polite, and was even consi- 
 derate enough to mention that there was a bit of a 
 lop outside. 
 
 '' I know Miss Bligh doesn't care," he said, " she's as 
 good a sailor as I am. But there are a good many 
 people who cannot stand an easterly swell." 
 
 Archie at once gave it to be understood that he was 
 not one of the unfortunates alluded to ; and from the 
 bottom of his heart he hoped he was not. At all events 
 he would have died rather than retreat at the eleventh 
 hour, and he seated himself in the boat with a grim 
 determination that if by any means the mind could be 
 made to dominate the body he would not disgrace 
 himself. 
 
 Now there is no doubt but that the mind can, 
 dominate the body to a certain extent and within 
 certain limits. Any ordinary person, by putting forth 
 the full strength of his will, may keep himself for a 
 time from fainting or from being sea-sick ; but even 
 an extraordinary person is bound to be vanquished at 
 length. In the former case the colours have to be
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 91 
 
 hauled down when everjiihing becomes black : in the 
 latter defeat is indicated by symptoms upon which 
 it is needless to dwell. Archie was well acquainted 
 with them, and was thankful that he did not exjoeri- 
 ence them during the first half-hour that he spent on 
 board the Eorcv. Nevertheless, he was not altogether 
 happy. There was very little wind, but the ebbing 
 tide was raisings a nastv cross sea. over which the boat 
 plunged and rolled uncomfortably : he was afraid that 
 he was looking rather green, and he felt incapable of 
 keeping up conversation. Over the side he was 
 dangling a line with which old Coppard had provided 
 him ; although nobody knew better than old Coppard 
 that there was not the remotest prospect of any fish 
 being caught under existing circumstances. But after 
 all, fishing of that kind is never a very exciting form 
 of sport, and in truth neither Bobby Dare nor Cicely 
 cared a straw whether they were successful or not. 
 Cicely was enjoying herself. She loved the sea; 
 perhaps, too, she did not dislike the humble worship of 
 her neighbour, who. with the tiller under his arm, was 
 looking unspeakable things at her. She ignored the 
 unspeakable things, but listened willingly to those 
 which were spoken, and displayed a kindly interest in
 
 92 MISADVENTURE 
 
 what Bobby told lier about his prospects. He had been 
 through a course of gunnery instruction ; he hoped 
 soon to be afloat again; he confessed that he did not 
 care much about a prolonged leave, and said, with some- 
 thing of a sigh, that his profession was all he had 
 to live for. His wooing could hardly be called a 
 wooing, because it started with the assumption that 
 there was no hope for him (which is a very fatal 
 assumption to start with) ; yet he obtained a measure 
 of compassion and gratitude which his rival noted 
 with vexation. It was not pleasant to hear Cicely say- 
 ing that if she had been a man she would certainly have 
 been a sailor ; it was still less pleasant to catch frag- 
 ments of confidential communications about her brother, 
 which she thought fit to make to one who was in no 
 way concerned with her family affairs ; and what was 
 worst of all was to be treated as non-existent. Archie 
 was not accustomed to be so treated ; he did not appre- 
 ciate the delicacy which deterred his cousin from look- 
 ing at him or addressing him ; and so, as time went on, 
 his physical uneasiness became complicated by a sharp 
 attack of jealousy and ill-temper. 
 
 Meanwhile, Coppard, who had been sitting in the bows, 
 with his elbows on his knees, and had been keeping
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT EISHIAG 93 
 
 very quiet (for he was not sure Avliether Miss Cicely 
 had forgiven him yet) was also gi'owing uneasy. 
 Coppard knew that the wind was shifting — had, in- 
 deed, already shifted a point or two to the southward. 
 Furthermore, he knew that it was going to blow, and 
 had private misgivings which he felt bound at last to 
 express. 
 
 " What should you say to gettin' about, sir ? " he 
 asked, deferentially. "'Tis working up rather ugly to 
 the westward, and we may get more of it than we want 
 presently." 
 
 Bobby rose and took a quick survey of the horizon. 
 " Yes, there's a change of weather coming," he agreed, 
 " but I expect we shall be all right until after sunset. 
 What do you think, Miss Bligh ? Do you want to 
 go back ? " 
 
 Cicely did not want to go back, but she did think that 
 the sky looked threatening. After a momentary hesita- 
 tion, she referred the question to her cousin. " Have 
 you had enough of it, Archie ? " 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Coppard was ill-advised and ill- 
 mannered enough to chuckle. ''More'n enough, Miss, 
 you may depend ! '' answered he, before Archie could 
 open his lips. Then it was that Archie was impelled
 
 94 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to declare promptly and mendaciously that for his part 
 he didn't care if they stayed out till midnight. Now 
 this, little as he supposed it, was by no means an im- 
 possible contingency. The south-west wind defied 
 precedent, as it sometimes will, by rising, first in 
 puffs, then with steadily increasing force, a good hour 
 before its proper time, and soon the Rover was running 
 before it towards Abbotsport without any certainty of 
 being able to make that haven. The harbour, it is 
 true, was protected by a breakwater, which Mr. Bligh 
 had caused to be constructed, but then this breakwater 
 had for years past been causing the gradual formation 
 of a bar, and under certain conditions of tide and 
 wind this bar was an obstacle which had to be taken 
 into account." 
 
 " I doubt we sha'n't do it, sir," said Coppard to the 
 man at the helm. 
 
 " Oh, we shall do it right enough," returned the latter, 
 who had himself been peering somewhat anxiously 
 across the curling waves ahead; "there ought to be 
 plenty of water." 
 
 " So there did, sir ; you never spoke a truer word. 
 But maybe there ain't, you see. 'Tis nigh upon low 
 water now, and the sea setting straight in."
 
 ARCHIE GOES OUT FISHING 95 
 
 " Wei], but what are we to do if we can't cross the 
 bar, Coppard ? '' Cicely inquired. 
 
 Coppard had to confess that in that case there would 
 be nothing for it but to stand out to sea again and await 
 the turn of the tide. This, he hastened to add, would 
 involve no sort of risk ; the Rover would make nothino- 
 of far worse weather than they were likely to see 
 that evening. Only, to be sure, they might get a 
 wetting. 
 
 " Hang it all, man !"" exclaimed Archie, with a sudden 
 outburst of ii-ritation, •' if you knew there was going to 
 be any difficulty about getting into harbour, why did 
 you keep us out so long ? I suppose the fact is that 
 you're paid by time.'" 
 
 He might have brought many more injurious accusa- 
 tions without giving half so much offence. The only 
 excuse for him was that he was afraid neither Cicely nor 
 Bobby would much mind being exjDosed to the buffeting 
 of the waves for another two or three hours, whereas 
 he knew for certain that he himself must very shortly 
 collapse. 
 
 Coppard behaved extremely well. For a moment he 
 scowled angrily at the young man, but he controlled 
 himself and only answered : " I'll take 'ee in, sir, if so
 
 g6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 be as it can be done. I don't want Miss Cicely to be 
 put to no inconvenience." 
 
 So tliey kept on their course, while a little group of 
 persons who were watching them from the jetty hoped 
 that they might be in time, but had doubts about it.
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 
 
 *' Your view, then," said Mark Chetwode, " is that I 
 must grin and bear it ? '' 
 
 He was sitting in the City office of Mr. Wingfield, 
 whither he had betaken himself in order to consult his 
 family solicitor about certain matters of business, the 
 discussion of w^hich had gradually led to a topic very 
 near his heart — that, namely, of the transfer of a part 
 of his hereditary possessions to Mr. Bligh. 
 
 "My dear sir," answered the little lawyer, folding 
 his hands and smiling amiably, '" what other view could 
 a sensible being take ? Nobody asks you to grin, but 
 as for bearing it — well, I suppose we must all bear 
 what can't be helped. Your poor father, I know, 
 persisted in thinking that he had been defrauded, but 
 that, if I may be allowed to say so, was very great 
 nonsense. He mortgaged his land, he was unable for a 
 considerable time to pay the interest due, and then the 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 98 MISADVENTURE 
 
 mortgagee foreclosed. You may be as angry as you 
 please with the mortgagee, but I really don't see how 
 ^ou can imagine that you have any legal claim against 
 him. For the matter of that, I confess that I don't see 
 much sense in being angry with him either." 
 
 Mark Chetwode stroked his moustache and fixed his 
 colourless eyes upon Mr. Wingfield. "I am very 
 seldom angry," said he ; " only I should have thought 
 that in this country, where justice is supposed to reign 
 supreme, a man would have been allowed some chance 
 of redeeming his own. My father, as you know, could 
 have done that, if time had been given him." 
 
 " Your theory," observed the lawyer, with a smile, 
 " favours an insecurity of title which would hardly be 
 to the public advantage. Not that it matters much. 
 Your father, you say, could have freed the estate ; but 
 could you do so ? " 
 
 " No, because I have been a fool, and have squandered 
 my patrimony. That, however, does not prevent me 
 from regarding Mr. Bligh as a licensed robber. I am 
 unreasonable, if you choose, but that is how I feel." 
 
 " Well now," said the lawyer, persuasively, " I 
 wouldn't feel in that way about it if I were you; I 
 wouldn't really. It's a little bit absurd, you know, and
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 99 
 
 I am sure that you are no lover of absurdity. You 
 have a fancy — a veiy natural and very creditable fancy 
 — for recoverinor tlie land wliicli once belono-ed to 
 your family. But there are more ways than one of 
 doing that. Or, to be strictly accurate, there is only 
 one way ; and I should think that it would be by no 
 means an unpleasant one. Mr. Bligh, who won't live 
 much longer, has a daughter ; and from all that I hear 
 his daughter has an excellent chance of being his 
 heiress." 
 
 " He has a son, too, hasn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes, but his son is a black sheep. Xot an ordinary 
 black sheep, who might be expected to turn more or less 
 white on acquiring wealth and responsibility, but one 
 of a deep and permanent dye. Morton Bligh has 
 advertised himself, too, as a Eadical. Also he is a free- 
 thinker, who has translated the freedom of his thoughts 
 into action after a fashion which shows that he has the 
 courage of his opinions. There is no saying what 
 mischief a fellow like that might not work in such a 
 place as Abbotsport, where feudal traditions still linger. 
 His father, who is a conscientious Tory, is afraid of his 
 son and would like to disinherit him. He is not fond 
 of his son and he adores his daughter. His present
 
 loo MISADVENTURE 
 
 scheme, if I am correctly informed, is to disinherit the 
 son in favour of the daughter, always supposing he can 
 get the daughter to marry a nephew of his, a subaltern 
 in a cavalry regiment. But the young lady is said to 
 be self-willed ; and for my own part I should imagine 
 that a young lady's first cousin would alwaj^s start 
 rather heavily handicajoped." 
 
 " Oh, I see. You would advise me to enter myself 
 against the subaltern ? " 
 
 " Why not ? It would be an honourable and satis- 
 factory method of attaining your object." 
 
 Mark Chetwode laughed. He had a singularly dreary 
 laugh. 
 
 "I am much obliged to you," he said, " but there are 
 reasons which I am afraid w^ould make it impossible for 
 me to adopt your suggestion." 
 
 Mr. Wingfield knew a great deal better than to in- 
 quire what those reasons might be. He only remarked, 
 after a pause, during which he had glanced at some of 
 the letters which were lying upon his table : " By the 
 way, I met your friend, Madame Souravieff, at Lord 
 Queensferry's the other night. Lord Queensferry, who 
 is a client of mine, asks me to his big crushes, and in 
 that way I get occasional glimpses of celebrities.
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN loi 
 
 Madame Souravieff is a celebrity, isn't she ? Anyliow, 
 she is a very clever woman."' 
 
 "Did you think so?'' returned Mark, languidly. 
 *' What did she talk about to you ?" 
 
 "Oh, not much about politics ; she probably under- 
 stood that my political opinions were of no great 
 importance to anybody. I think we talked more about 
 you than about anything else. And she quite agi'eed 
 with me that you could not do better than many Miss 
 Bligh."' Mr. Wingfield, as he made this assertion, 
 peeped from under his eyelids at his visitor, whose 
 impassive countenance did not change. The lawyer, 
 however, was a close observer, and he thought that he 
 detected an almost imperceptible movement, which 
 could not be called a start, yet might be taken as an 
 equivalent to one, on the part of the younger man. 
 
 Mark said: " That was generous of her, because she 
 doesn't as a rule like her friends to many.'' 
 
 The subject was not pursued further, and soon after- 
 wards he took his leave. He walked meditatively for 
 some distance down the street, and the upshot of his 
 meditations was that he said to himself, '' I don't 
 believe it." As a matter of fact he seldom believed in 
 anybody or anything, experience having convinced him 
 
 w
 
 I02 MISADVENTURE 
 
 that most things and people are false. Still it seemed 
 worth while to proceed to Clarges Street with a view 
 to making investigations ; so he hailed a hansom and 
 had himself driven to Madame Souravieff's door. 
 
 That lady was at home and was glad to see him, or 
 at all events professed to be so. 
 
 "I didn't expect you to-day," she said; " you told 
 me you wouldn't be able to come." 
 
 " I didn't think I should be able to come," he said ; 
 '' I had to go and hold a conference with my old 
 solicitor, Mr. Wingfield, and I imagined that he would 
 detain me longer than he did. As it happened, our 
 conference was brief and unsatisfactory. He assured 
 me that I had nothing at all to complain about, that 
 the iDroperty which was once ours now belonged quite 
 legitimately to Mr. Bligh, and that if I wanted to get it 
 back again I had better begin paying my addresses to 
 Mr. Bligh's daughter, who, it seems, is not unlikely to 
 be his successor before long." 
 
 Madame SouraviefF nodded. " Yes, that is what he 
 said to me," she observed. " Did he tell you that we 
 had met at Lord Queensferry's?" 
 
 " He did, and he added that you approved of this 
 scheme. I had just a shade of difficulty in believing him."
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 103 
 
 A very slow and faint flusli overspread Madame 
 Souravieff's cheeks. She looked down at the carpet, 
 which she was tapping softly with her foot. Her feet 
 were small and well shaped, and her shoes always fitted 
 perfectly. 
 
 '' Do you consider me a selfish woman ? " she asked, 
 raising her eyes suddenly. 
 
 " I do not pretend to understand women," Mark 
 replied. " All I am sure about in dealing with them i? 
 that one can never be sure of them." 
 
 It was not a very polite speech, but it did not seem to 
 displease Madame Souravieff, who smiled. " Actually 
 a little suspicion of jealousy ? " she asked, with lifted 
 eyebrows. 
 
 " At the risk of seeming unpardonably vain, I must 
 own that I did not think you would wish me to marry." 
 
 He looked piqued, and the truth was that he felt so, 
 although he was more than half conscious of longing 
 for a release which only Madame Souravieff" could give 
 him. 
 
 How far she read his thought is uncertain, for 
 the benefit of a doubt is what no human being has ever 
 been able to refuse to him or herself. But she said 
 gently :
 
 I04 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " I think you are right ; I think you don't understand 
 women. When we love we love less selfishly than you 
 do. We are wise or foolish ; it doesn't matter, because 
 we can't help ourselves ; we are made like that. I want 
 you to be happy, I want you to be rich, and I know you 
 well enough to know that you can never be happy 
 unless you are rich." She added with a deep sigh : 
 " And the Count will live for ever. He will always 
 have the gout ; but that will not prevent him from 
 hobbling after my coffin when I am laid in my grave. 
 He will make a point of being at the ceremony ; he is a 
 great stickler for etiquette, as you know."" 
 
 Mark shrugged his shoulders. " You really desire 
 then that I should raise another barrier between us?" 
 
 " My friend, when we have already a stone wall 
 between us which we cannot climb, it signifies very 
 little whether you erect a second one beyond it or not. 
 If there were any hope — but there is no hope ! Marry 
 your heiress ; it is not I who shall forbid you. Only," 
 she added, with an abrupt laugh, which had a certain 
 ring of fierceness in it, " do not permit yourself to fall 
 in love with her." 
 
 " I possess guarantees against that danger," said 
 Mark.
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 105 
 
 He remained another half-hour with the woman 
 whom he had once adored, and whom, perhaps, he 
 still loved. She had many qualities which were 
 easily enough understood, but she had others which 
 were incomprehensible save to enthusiasts, and there 
 never lived a less enthusiastic man than Mark 
 Chetwode. 
 
 When they parted it was with the mutual knowledge 
 that they would meet no more for some time to come. 
 He was going to his long deserted home, and she was 
 compelled, or thought herself compelled, to remain in 
 London. But they were to write to one another 
 frequently, and, when the season should be more 
 advanced, perhaps she might carry out that plan of 
 renting his house from him. 
 
 "In the meantime," were her last words, "try to 
 make yourself veiy agreeable to the heiress. You can 
 be veiy agreeable when you please ; one must do you 
 that justice.'' 
 
 " I suppose," said Mark, as he walked away, '• that 
 she is really unselfish. It is strange ; but it seems to 
 be the truth. After all, she has c;jmmon sense on her 
 side. It is time to conclude a roaiance which has no 
 prospect of reaching any reasonable conclusion. Perhaps
 
 io6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 that is wliat she means, tliough she doesn't like to say- 
 it in so many words." 
 
 As to Mr. Wingfield's project, in which she had 
 acquiesced with such surprising readiness, he did not 
 trouble himself to consider it seriously. He was not a 
 vain man ; he did not suppose — as they apparently did 
 — that the heiress would be quite pleased to marry him 
 if he did her the honour to propose to her ; moreover, 
 such a method of regaining the possessions of his fore- 
 fathers would have been repugnant to him. Not that 
 he had any sort of scruple about making a marriage of 
 convenience, but he had been brought up to regard the 
 Blighs as his enemies ; he had been accustomed to hold 
 them as in some undefined way responsible for the many 
 failures of his life, and for his j)resent impecunious con- 
 dition. He hated the very sound of their name, and 
 was convinced that he should hate them individually if 
 ever he were brought into contact with them. 
 
 On the following day he reached Upton Chetwode, and 
 saw for the first time the beautiful old house of which 
 the exterior had been made familiar to him by photo- 
 graphs. It was undeniably a beautiful old house, dating 
 almost throughout from the sixteenth century, standing 
 as beautiful old houses so seldom do) upon a height^
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 107 
 
 surrounded by lavrns and flower-beds, beyond which an 
 expanse of fairly well-timbered park fell gradually away 
 to the edge of the chalk cliffs. But it was scarcely an 
 inviting or cheerful dwelling-place for a lonely man. 
 The lawns were unmown; the flower-beds were bare; the 
 gravel walks evidently had not been weeded for a very 
 long time ; the few rooms which had been opened for 
 the reception of the owner were dark, gloomy, deserted- 
 looking, and had a damp, musty smell. As Mark stood 
 gazing out of one of the mullioned windows at his 
 shrunken territory and at the prospect of grey sea and 
 sky which was discernible in the waning light of a 
 chill spring evening, he shuddered and murmured 
 under his breath : •' A garret in Paris would be better 
 than this." 
 
 Dinner was served for him presently in the great 
 silent dining-room, and a very bad dinner it was. He 
 had engaged no servants ; the old couple who, with 
 their daughter, had been living in the house since the 
 departure of the last tenant, would, he presumed, be 
 capable of providing for his modest wants. His French 
 valet waited upon him, and enlivened the proceedings 
 from time to time by a heartrending sigh. All this 
 was bad enough, but going to bed was a great deal
 
 io8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 worse. It was a positive fact — for he ascertained it by 
 inquiry — that there was not a single spring mattress in 
 the whole house ; so that there was nothing for it but 
 to sleep, or attempt to sleep, upon a feather bed. And 
 they had put him into the best bedroom, which was oak- 
 panelled and of gigantic dimensions, and the bedstead 
 itself was an appalling old four-poster. " Same as 
 pore Mr. Morant died in," the old woman who had 
 cooked the dinner informed him, by way of a recom- 
 mendation. 
 
 Perhaps it was because he had spent such an ex- 
 tremely wretched night that the forlorn owner of Upton 
 Chetwode was able to take a slightly more cheerful 
 view of his demesne on the following morning. When 
 one's spirits have reached the lowest attainable ebb, 
 they must needs begin to flow again ; besides, sunshine 
 makes a difference in everything and everybody. He 
 did not in the least believe that he could reside per- 
 manently in such a place, but he thought he might be 
 able to put up with it for a time, and that by laying 
 out a little money upon it (though where the money 
 was to come from he couldn't imagine) he might render 
 it attractive enough to tempt a tenant of retiring tastes ; 
 and he felt a certain languid curiosity to make acquaint-
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN 109 
 
 ance with the details or English country life. It would 
 at least be a new experience, if not a particularly 
 exciting one. So he roamed over the house and the 
 gardens, and had intei-views with the few dependents 
 whose services he had been compelled to retain, and he 
 gave an order or two, and wrote some letters, and listened 
 to a great many complaints, the nature of which he 
 scarcely understood, and thus the day passed away more 
 quickly than might have been anticipated. It was 
 already evening when he set out to walk seawards, 
 thinking that perhaps he would pursue his explorations 
 as far as the village of Abbotsport. which, he had been 
 given to understand, might be reached by a zigzag 
 pathway cut in the face of the cliff. 
 
 Now it came to pass that while he was wanderino- 
 along the confines of, his domain in search of this path, 
 he encountered a little old lady who was hurrying from 
 another point of the compass towards the same desti- 
 nation, and who appeared to be much perturbed by 
 the sight of him. She started, threw up her hands 
 nervously and faltered out, '' Oh, I'm afraid I'm 
 trespassing." 
 
 Mark took off his hat. '* You are very welcome, 
 Madam/' he replied, smiling.
 
 no MISADVENTURE 
 
 In acknowledgment of this civility, tlie old lady made 
 an antiquated bow, wliicli was almost a curtsey. " 1 
 think," she said, " j^ou must be Mr. Chetwode." And 
 when he had admitted his identity she added, " We did 
 not know that you were expected here so soon ; other- 
 wise, I should not have ventured to take this liberty. 
 The truth is that I have been calling at the Eectory, and 
 was on my way to the village. This is a short cut 
 which poor Mr. Morant kindly gave us permission to 
 use." 
 
 " You will confer a favour on me if you will continue 
 to use it," Mark declared. " This neighbourhood does 
 not appear to be densely populated, and I presume that 
 the permission was not given to an unlimited number of 
 persons." 
 
 "Oh, dear, no!" returned the old lady, looking a 
 little shocked at such an idea. " We ourselves very 
 seldom took advantage of it. This afternoon I was 
 rather in a hurry to get to Abbotsport, because I was 
 anxious about my niece, who has gone out sailing. The 
 wind, you see, has changed, and Mr. Lowndes says we 
 may expect a gale ; and sometimes it is impossible for 
 boats to enter the harbour. Oh, dear, what a pity it is 
 that young people will be so careless and thoughtless ! "
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIEN iii 
 
 " I don't tliink we are going to liave a gale/* said 
 Mark, to comfort her, though in truth he was no judge 
 of such matters. " But I can quite understand your 
 anxiety. I myself am bound for the village ; perhaps 
 you will kindly permit me to accompany you, and will 
 show me the way." 
 
 Miss Skipwith thought him a very pleasant-mannered 
 young man, and assented graciously ; but when she told 
 him who she was, a change came over his face which 
 she could not help noticing. 
 
 "Oh," she exclaimed, breathlessly, "perhaps I ought 
 to have mentioned my name before. I am afraid — but 
 really that is a great mistake — that you think Mr. 
 Bligh has taken your property from you ? " 
 
 " I may be mistaken, but I was certainly under the 
 impression that the property had passed into Mr. 
 Bligh's hands," said Mark, with a rather grim smile. 
 
 " Yes, but then you know it was paid for ; and 
 besides, it was not Wilfrid but his father who foreclosed 
 — if that is the right word to use. It does seem so sad 
 and so unnecessary that there should be any bad feeling 
 about it. Only the other day Cicely was saying that 
 they would be delighted to let you buy the land back if 
 you wished. Of course it isn't in her hands yet, and
 
 112 MISADVENTURE 
 
 perhaps never will be, but I am sure that neither she 
 
 nor her father would ever be guilty of an unneighbourly 
 
 action." 
 
 "Is Cicely your niece?" asked Mark, who was 
 amused and a little touched by the communicativeness 
 of the elderly stranger. 
 
 "Yes, and the dearest and best girl in the world, 
 though a little too fond of her own way. But that is only 
 what might have been expected. Poor Wilfrid being so 
 ill and suffering, and that dreadful son of his alw^ays 
 absent, a great deal has devolved upon Cicely w^hich 
 other girls of her age would naturally have been spared. 
 Just now I am in a good deal of trouble and perplexity 
 about her. But I must really apologize for speaking to 
 you about family affairs, which of course can't interest 
 yoQ.'* 
 
 "They would interest me very much indeed if you 
 would tell me about them," answered Mark, smothering 
 an inclination to laugh. " Please go on."
 
 ( 113 ) 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 CICELY IS INTERESTED 
 
 Everybody who knew Miss Skipwitli at all well aorreed 
 that she was a goose ; and the general verdict was 
 probably con-ect. Nevertheless, geese sometimes ac- 
 compKsh what wise piersons might attempt in vain, 
 and foolish old Miss Skipwith succeeded without 
 any difficulty in breaking down the barrier of hos- 
 tility which Mark Chetwode had conceived against 
 all who dwelt at the Priory. She did not indeed per- 
 suade him that he had no grievance, but she conveyed 
 to him the impression that the present holder of estates 
 which had belonged for centuries to the Chetwode 
 family was as innocent a sinner as Louis XVL, and she 
 made him feel that his quarrel was rather with cii'cum- 
 stances than with individuals. She interested him, too, 
 by what she told him about her nephew and niece. 
 She led the way down the zigzag path, talking volubly 
 the whole time, and pausing every now and then to 
 VOL. I. H
 
 114 MISADVENTURE 
 
 glance over her shoulder, while she laid bare her simple 
 hopes and fears. 
 
 Morton Bligh was a dreadful man — a man who had 
 openly avowed his disbelief in revealed religion, and 
 who had, besides, all his life long deliberately and 
 persistently neglected the duties imposed upon him by 
 birth. It would be a sad calamity for Abbotsport if 
 ever Morton were to succeed his father. 
 
 "He cares nothing for the place. I doubt if he 
 would ever live there. All he would do would be to 
 exact every penny of rent that was due to him, and 
 laugh if he were told that any of his tenants in the 
 village were starving. With Cicely it would be very 
 different; she loves the people and they love her. I 
 don't say that she wouldn't make mistakes, because she 
 is very young and headstrong, but at least her mistakes 
 would be upon the right side." 
 
 " Possibly," said Mark, "Mr. Bligh may be aware of 
 all this, and may dispose of his property accordingly." 
 
 Miss Skip with sighed, " Of course he is aware of 
 it," she answered, " but Wilfrid also is headstrong in 
 his own way ; nobody can dictate to him. He will 
 do what he thinks right ; and just now, I am 
 afraid, he does not think it would be right to pass
 
 CICEL V /S IM TERES TED 1 1 5 
 
 over his son. Morton, knowing how ill his father is, 
 Las come down here to show how well he can behave. 
 Unfortunately, he has few opportunities of behaving 
 badly in a place such as this. Still, he is very rude and 
 disagreeable : that, I suppose, he can't help being." 
 
 " I think," said Mark, smiling, " that the young 
 lady's chances look promising."'" 
 
 '' Ah, but there are complications. She has a cousin, 
 an officer in a cavalry regiment, whom my brother-in- 
 law has virtually adopted, and who is at present staying 
 with us on leave. I daresay you can guess what his 
 ambition is ; and the worst of it is that Wilfrid is quite 
 inclined to encourage him. AYilfrid is like most men ; 
 he can't believe that a woman can safely be entrusted 
 with authority ; and though he has never said so, I 
 know perfectly well that nothing would please him 
 more than to see Archie married to Cicely. Then, I 
 think, he would probably make Archie his heir."" 
 
 " And would that be such a very bad arrangement ? '* 
 " First-cousin marriages are always a bad arrange- 
 ment," said Miss Skipwith, decisively; '* but setting 
 that aside, the arrangement would be bad because it 
 would make Cicely unhappy. She has always been 
 accustomed to rule ; she wouldn't understand how to
 
 1 1 6 MIS AD VENTURE 
 
 play second fiddle. I would rather that she had to 
 leave Abbotsport altogether than that she should remain 
 here in a subordinate position. Added to which, I don't 
 see why that young man should have everything his 
 own way. It isn't as if he were worthy to tie Cicely's 
 shoe-strings." 
 
 "What does she herself think about it?" Mark 
 inquired. " In England that is always an important 
 question, I believe." 
 
 Miss Skipwith replied that that was, no doubt, a very 
 important question, but that she was unable to answer 
 it. All she knew was that Cicely seemed to like being 
 with him, and that they were together a great deal 
 more than she, for her part, thought desirable or even 
 proper. " But people's ideas have changed so much 
 since I was young," she added, sorrowfully. " This very 
 afternoon they have gone out in a boat together, which 
 in former times would have been considered quite an 
 impossible thing to do. To be sure they have a third 
 person with them — a young Mr. Dare, who lives near 
 this — but even so I can't think it right. And now if 
 there is too much sea for them to get into the harbour 
 they may be out half the night, for anything that we 
 can do to prevent it."
 
 CICEL Y IS INTERESTED 1 1 7 
 
 It appeared, indeed, that Miss Skipwith was far more 
 disquieted upon the score of propriety than upon that 
 of physical risk ; and this surprised her companion, 
 because the nearer he drew to the sea the more he 
 became aware that dirty weather was setting in. T^Hien 
 they had passed down the steep, narrow street of the 
 village and had reached the jetty, they found themselves 
 in the midst of a group of experienced persons who 
 were unanimously of opinion that the lugger, which 
 could be seen running before the wind towards the 
 harbour's mouth, was attempting a hazardous feat. It 
 was now blowing something like half a gale, and the 
 entrance of the harbour, which lay between the wooden 
 jetty and the concrete breakwater, was marked by an 
 ugly white line of foam where the waves curled and 
 struck. 
 
 " Will they be able to get in ? '' asked 3Iiss Skipwith 
 anxiously of an ancient mariner in a sou'-wester. 
 
 " As much as they will, mum," answered the man. 
 " You may say there is room, but you can't say no more- 
 Oh, you ain't no call to be afeard, mum ; they won't be 
 drownded, though they might get a wetting. We'll get 
 'em ashore safe enough. But with the boat, you see^ 
 'tis different. Once she gets upon that there bar she'll
 
 ii8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 go to pieces for certain. 'Tis wrong to make light 
 of other men's property in that way, and Coppard 
 ought to have known a deal better than to do such 
 things." 
 
 "Oh, if that is all, I am sure Mr. Bligh will be only 
 too happy to pay for the boat," Miss Skip with declared 
 confidently. 
 
 Meanwhile the lugger was approaching her destina- 
 tion at a great rate of speed. Presently, the forms and 
 features of all those who were on board were clearly 
 discernible. Bobby Dare, with the tiller in his hand, 
 was standing up, his keen eyes fixed upon the water 
 ahead ; Coppard, holding the sheet, was ready to lower 
 the sail at the word of command ; and it is a pity that 
 neither Miss Skipwith nor Mark Chetwode possessed 
 knowledge enough of seamanship to appreciate a 
 manoeuvre which elicited murmurs of admiration from 
 their better instructed neighbours. However, when 
 once a thing has been done every one sees how easy it 
 was to do it, and as soon as the Hover had been brought 
 alongside of the landing-stej)s, her handiness obtained 
 more praise than Mr. Dare's skill. " Told'ee so, mum,'* 
 grunted the fisherman in the sou'-wester (who had done 
 nothing of the sort). " Bless yer 'eart, with a craft like
 
 CICEL V IS Ii\ TERES TED 1 1 9 
 
 that there a child could make this 'arbour at any tide 
 and in any weather." 
 
 Miss Skipwith said, ** Really ? T\'elL I am very glad 
 to hear it, I"m sure : it looks to me dreadfully 
 dangerous." 
 
 She picked her way gingerly down the slippery steps, 
 and began to administer one of the mild remonstrances 
 to her niece which she ventured upon from time to 
 time, much as a man across whose land a right of way 
 has been established will close his gates once a year, in 
 formal assertion of a privilege which has practically 
 ceased to be his. "My dear Cicely," she exclaimed, 
 " what a fright you have given us : you really should 
 think a little more of what you are doing, and — and of 
 other people's feelings. You, I daresay, would have 
 thought it ver}' good fun to be kept out at sea half 
 through the night, but it would not have been at all 
 good fun either for your father or for me to be left for 
 hours in uncertainty as to whether you were alive or 
 dead. I should have thought," added the old lady 
 severely, " that Mr. Archibald might have remembered 
 that, even if you forgot it." 
 
 When ^liss Skipwith wished to be especially 
 impressive it was her habit to speak of Archie as Mr.
 
 I20 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Archibald. She was perhaps aware that the designa- 
 tion irritated him. 
 
 " Well, we haven't remained out half through the 
 night, you see, Aunt Susan," said Cicely, composedly ; 
 " so that there is no occasion to blame anybody. At 
 all events, it would be most unjust to blame poor 
 Archie, because nobody could have been more anxious 
 than he was to get into harbour again. In fact, he- 
 simply insisted upon our risking our lives to do it." 
 
 Having thus, as it were, fired right and left with 
 effect. Miss Bligh proceeded to disembark. Declining 
 the proffered assistance of her two admirers, she laid 
 her hand for an instant upon the shoulder of old 
 Coppard, who was clinging to the jetty with his boat- 
 hook, and sprang lightly out on the steps. But the 
 steps were overgrown wdth seaweed, and so it came to 
 pass that this self-reliant young lady's foot slipped, and 
 that she would have fallen ignobly upon her nose, but 
 for a pair of arms which were opportunely stretched out 
 to save her. These she instinctively clutched until she 
 had recovered her balance, when she became aware that 
 they belonged to a young man whom she had never 
 seen before, and who took off his hat, which he held for 
 a moment in his hand, instead of at once replacing it
 
 CICEL V IS INTERES TED 1 2 r 
 
 after tlie English fashion. ''I beg your pardon," he 
 said. 
 
 " It is I who ought to beg yours," answered Cicely, 
 laughing. " I wonder I didn't knock you down." 
 
 Cicely did not know the meaning of the word shy- 
 ness. She was as much at her ease with a total 
 stranger as with an intimate friend, and this was one 
 of her idiosyncrasies which her aunt never quite knew 
 whether to admire or to deprecate. 
 
 " Cicely, my dear," said the old lady, '• let me 
 introduce Mr. Chetwode, of whom you have often 
 heard your father speak. Mr. Chetwode very kindly 
 gave me permission to walk through his grounds just 
 now." 
 
 The young man's hat was once more raised, while 
 Cicely bestowed a little bow and a scrutinizing gaze 
 upon him. 
 
 She was much interested in the owner of Upton 
 Chetwode, and had felt no slight anxiety to see what 
 manner of man he was. Her first impression — and, like 
 all women, she attached great importance to first 
 impressions — was decidedly favourable. Handsome, he 
 could hardly be called ; perhaps too, on closer inspec- 
 tion, his face was somewhat older than his figure ; but
 
 122 MISADVENTURE 
 
 lie liad undoubtedly the appearance of a gentleman, and 
 what was better still was, that he had not at all the 
 appearance of an ordinary English gentleman. His 
 colourless, expressionless face invited interrogation. 
 All sorts of things might be hidden behind that 
 seemingly impenetrable mask, which a young woman 
 of inquiring bent might find amusement in calling 
 forth. It is even possible that, without being aware of- 
 it, Miss Bligh may have been a trifle piqued by the 
 absence of that tribute of frank admiration which she 
 was accustomed to detect in the eyes of all men and 
 to accept as her due. 
 
 " So you have come home at last," she said. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders slightly. '* I've come to 
 my house," he replied. " At present I can't say that I 
 feel very much at home there." 
 
 He spoke with just the faintest suspicion of a foreign 
 accent, and Cicely noticed that his boots and gloves 
 (had he any business to be wearing gloves at all ?) 
 were not of English make, although the rest of his 
 costume was. 
 
 '• Oh, but you must learn to feel at home here," she 
 declared. " Aren't you proud of being an Englishman ? 
 You ought to be, you know."
 
 CICELY IS lATERESTtD 123 
 
 " I will try to be as proud as I ought to be/' lie 
 answered, gravely, *' if you will kindly tell me the way to 
 set about it. How should one begin ? '' 
 
 During the above interchange of remarks the whole 
 party had been moving along the jetty, and it now 
 occurred to Cicely that conversation might be carried 
 on with less risk of interruption if one member of it 
 weie got rid of. Accordingly she turned round and 
 extended her hand to the selected victim, saying. 
 "Good-night, Bobby, and many ^thanks for the saiL 
 Don't forget to give my love to your sisters." 
 
 " Oh, 111 walk part of the way home with you, if you 
 don"t mind," said poor Bobby, who was in no such hurry 
 to be dismissed. 
 
 " But I do mind very much indeed ; and Sir George 
 will mind very much indeed if you are late for dinner. 
 Do you know what time it is ? Ycu will only just save 
 yourself, even if you run." 
 
 Kow Sir George Daie, who never waited dinner for 
 anybody, would assuredly not have dreamt of waiting for 
 this young son of his ; but Bobby was too completely 
 under the sway of the imperious Cicely to dispute her 
 commands. He took his leave sadly and ""submissively ; 
 and then she observed: '-As for you, Mr. Chetwode^
 
 124 MISADVENTURE 
 
 your way is the same as ours, for some little distance at 
 all events." 
 
 " Indeed ! " he said ; " that is very fortunate for me." 
 But he did not speak as if he felt her companionship to 
 be any great privilege, and she glanced at him with an 
 innocent surprise at his indifference which almost made 
 him laugh. 
 
 "Now tell me," said he, to account for the smile. 
 which he could not altogether suppress, " how I am to 
 convert myself into a good John Bull. Will it be easy, 
 do you think ? " 
 
 She frowned slightly. '' Of course it will not be easy," 
 she answered, " if you prefer being a foreigner ; but 
 really that seems to me a very odd sort of taste to have. 
 Because you see you arc an Englishman." 
 
 '* More or less of one." 
 
 " Why, your family is English ; everybody belongs to 
 his father's family. I know you have been brought up 
 in Russia, but that's only an accident. You wouldn't 
 have been a cannibal if you had been brought up in the 
 Fiji Islands, I hope." 
 
 " I venture to hope not. Still there is no saying to 
 what lengths one may not be carried by the influence 
 of early associations. I have no reason to love England,
 
 CICEL V IS INTERESTED 125 
 
 whereas I have — or at least I suppose I ought to have — 
 many reasons for loving Russia, where most of my 
 friends and all my relations reside." 
 
 "Well," said Cicely, with fine liberality, ''there is 
 something in that, no doubt. At the same time, I 
 shouldn't care to be neither the one thing nor the other, 
 if I were you. Being English, and having property in 
 England, I should viish to live on my property and do 
 the best I could for it. And most likely that is just 
 what you do wish, or you wouldn't have come home.'"' 
 
 Mark's grave face was lighted up for an instant bv a 
 smile, and he glanced at the girl with more interest 
 than he had hitherto displayed in her. 
 
 " Possibly you are right,'"' he answered ; '* possibly 
 that is what I want, but really I am not very sure 
 about it. My property, as you know, has shrunk to 
 such small dimensions that I should hardly find em- 
 ployment in looking after it, and my actual reason 
 for coming here was the very simple one that an empty 
 house is too expensive a luxury for me." 
 
 " You might quite well live here without being at 
 home all the year round," said the girl, ^' and as for 
 employment, a countiy gentleman need never be without 
 that."
 
 126 MISADVENTURE 
 
 And straightway she began to point out to him how- 
 he might occupy his time agreeably to himself and profit- 
 ably to his neighbours. She had not the most distant 
 comprehension of the man to whom she was talking ; 
 her ideas of life and happiness and duty were necessarily 
 circumscribed, but she had perfect confidence in their 
 •accuracy, and, such as they were, she expressed them 
 w^ell. As for Mark, he was not particularly interested- 
 in her ideas, but he became a good deal interested in 
 her, and it was with unaffected regret that he wished 
 Jier good-bye on being informed that the point at which 
 their paths diverged had been reached. He did not, 
 however, offer to walk any farther than that point, nor 
 •did he respond, save by an inarticulate murmur, to Miss 
 Bligh's expressed hope that they might meet again 
 before long. 
 
 " I think he is rather queer, and rather nice," was 
 the verdict which his unusual behaviour elicited from 
 •Cicely after he had withdrawn. 
 
 But Archie, who during all this time had been rele- 
 gated to the background, and whose temper had not 
 been improved by the enforced society of Miss Skipwith, 
 isaid : 
 
 " I don't know so much about his being nice ; he's
 
 CICEL V 7S INTERES TED 1 27 
 
 queer enough for an\i:liing. One can forgive a French- 
 man for trying to look like an Englishman, though of 
 course he never succeeds ; but there must be something 
 very wrong indeed about an Englishman who tries to 
 look like a Frenchman — especially when he does 
 succeed." 
 
 " Oh, I daresay he will learn better things in time,*' 
 answered Cicely. '*' In fact,"' she added demurely, 
 " I feel sure he will, because I mean to take him in 
 hand."' 
 
 And the disgusted grunt with which this announce- 
 ment was received was doubtless a source of amusement 
 and gratification to her.
 
 ( 128 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 
 
 It seemed that Miss Skipwitli could not say enough in 
 praise of Mr. Chetwode that evening. He was clever, 
 he was distinguished, he had a singular charm of 
 manner ; she had not for a long time met any one who 
 had so impressed her with a sense of his superiority to 
 the common run of men. She prattled on in this way 
 both before and in the course of dinner ; and her 
 brother-in-law could not imagine why, until it dawned 
 upon him that this artless schemer proposed to set the 
 new-comer up as a counter-attraction to Archie. That 
 discovery tickled him, and he led her on by a few care- 
 less, disparaging observations, which eventually had 
 the effect of drawing his daughter into the arena. 
 
 " He may not be such a black swan as Aunt Susan 
 makes him out; but at all events he is our nearest 
 neighbour, and of course he must be called upon," said 
 Cicely, decidedly.
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 129 
 
 " It is always comforting to have one's duty set 
 before one in such plain language," remarked Mr. 
 Bligh. '-The only question is, who is to call upon 
 him ? / can't, because I have no legs ; and I'm afraid 
 c jnventionality would hardly allow of your doing it, my 
 dear. Would the emergency be met by my sending a 
 groom over with my card, do you think ? " 
 
 Cicely shook her head. 
 
 " Much too formal,'" said she. " He wouldn't like it ; 
 he would take it as an intimation that you were willing 
 to acknowledge him. but didn't care about cultivating 
 him." 
 
 ^'' Bo \ care about cultivating him ? " inquired Mr. 
 Bligh. 
 
 "You know you do," replied his daughter, tran- 
 quilly ; " you know you are unhappy in your mind 
 about that land of his, and you would like to have a 
 chance of explaining to him that it isn't your fault that 
 you are in possession of it." 
 
 "If I know myself," said Mr. Bligh— ''but possibly 
 I don't know myself — that is quite the last subject 
 which I should wash to discuss with him. My title, I 
 am assured, is a perfectly good title, legitimately 
 acquired. If he thinks differently, he can go to law 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 I30 MISADVENTURE 
 
 about it ; but I doubt wbetlier lie and I sliould become 
 better friends by talking the matter over." 
 
 " Oil, you will talk tlie matter over," said Cicely, 
 confidently. "He lias. taken up a wrong view of it, 
 and you will have to set him right. Only there is a 
 little difficulty about the first step, I admit. How 
 would it do to write and ask him to dine ? " 
 
 " I should not venture to take such a liberty," Mr. 
 Bligh declared ; and Miss Skipwith, who was very 
 punctilious, was also of opinion that that suggestion 
 was inadmissible. 
 
 " My dear," said she, " there must be a visit, and the 
 visit must be returned, before any invitation can be 
 sent." 
 
 "Well, then," said Cicely, "perhaps Archie might 
 go, and take papa's card with him." 
 
 Archie looked recalcitrant ; but before he could open 
 his lips Morton had thrown himself into the breach. 
 
 "It seems to me," observed the latter languidly, 
 " that I am marked out by fate as the proper person to 
 undertake this act of social servitude. At what time 
 do you suppose that your friend goes out for a walk, 
 Cicely? At four o'clock ? " 
 
 Cicely looked doubtfully at her brother. She could
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 131 
 
 hardly dispute his right to represent the head of the 
 family, but she was pretty sure that he did not enter- 
 tain the friendly and neighbourly sentiments of the 
 head of the family, and she thought it very likely that 
 he would be rude to Mr. Chetwode. 
 
 " I know nothing about his habits/'' she said; ''but 
 I hope he may be out when you call.'' 
 
 •' Thanks, very much ; so do I. Perhaps you hope 
 that for his sake, though, not for mine."' 
 
 •• Well, for your sake, and for his sake, and for 
 everybody's sake. I don't think you would get on 
 particularly well together, and I want him to like 
 us.'' 
 
 For some reason or other this remark appeared to 
 amuse Morton, who began to laugh, and who laughed 
 €ven more heartily when he noticed the frown on 
 Archie's brow. 
 
 " Oh, you needn't be afraid," he returned ; '' he shall 
 like us. Not me as an individual, perhaps — that would 
 be a little too much to hope for — but he shall like us 
 collectively, and when he has dined here I have no 
 doubt that he will like you in particular. That, how- 
 ever, will naturally depend upon yourself. As for me, I 
 will put on my best clothes and my best manners
 
 132 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to-morrow afternoon, and I humbly trust that I may 
 not disgrace the family.'*' 
 
 Morton was as good as his word. After luncheon on 
 the following day he set out on foot for Upton Chet- 
 wode, much though he disliked pedestrian exercise. 
 There was, however, one thing that he disliked even 
 more, which was getting upon the back of a horse ; and 
 Miss Skipwith had appropriated the carriage. For that 
 matter, the walk was not a disagreeable one, being over 
 grass or footpaths the whole way, and he had plenty of 
 interesting reflections to keep him company. 
 
 Since his arrival at the Priory, Morton Bligh had 
 been somewhat dejected in mind. His presence under 
 his father's roof was, of course, due to a motive which 
 everybody had divined, and which he himself had 
 decided that it would be stupid and clumsy to conceal. 
 His father was going to die ; he was his father's natural 
 and legitimate heir, and it was necessary for him to 
 show that, whatever he might be, or have been, he 
 could live an outwardly decent and respectable life. It 
 was necessary, he thought, for him to do this, because 
 he believed his father to be one of those scrupulous ]3er- 
 sons who always set duty above inclination, and because 
 he could form a tolerably shrewd guess what Mr.
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 133 
 
 Bligh's inclinations were. But liis father's demeanour 
 had puzzled him. !Mr. Lligh had been perfectly good- 
 humoured, tolerant, and amiable, had not repulsed him, 
 nor made the faintest allusion to incidents which could 
 not have been alluded to without embarrassment : yet 
 not a word had been spoken as to the management of 
 the property, or as to any of the topics to which a dying 
 man might be expected to refer in conversation with his 
 successor. It was plain — or so, at all events, Morton 
 feared — that the dying man's will had not yet been 
 signed. Xow there was very little probability that 
 Cicely would be placed in her brother's shoes. One 
 does not replace a son by a daughter, and Morton him- 
 self had a contempt for women which he suspected his 
 father of sharing to a considerable extent. But doubtless 
 a nephew who has married your only daughter and who 
 bears your own name may, at a pinch, be made to do 
 duty for a son who has been weighed in the balance and 
 found wanting. This was what troubled Morton. He 
 saw, and could not help seeing — even Miss Skipwith 
 saw it — that Archie was receiving every encouragement 
 to propose to Cicely ; he saw, what perhaps Miss Skip- 
 with was too blinded by prejudice to see, that the 
 young soldier had fallen desperately in love with his
 
 134 MISADVENTURE 
 
 cousin ; and, for his own part, lie was only too well 
 aware that nobody would pity him if he were to receive 
 a substantial money legacy instead of his birthright. 
 
 His record, in truth, was shockingly bad. It was not 
 only that he had led a life of idle dissipation, and that 
 his debts had had to be paid for him more than once ; it 
 was not only that he had gone his own way, taking no 
 notice of his father and sister, and never so much as 
 writing a letter to them from year's end to year's end ; 
 these are offences which may be pardoned. But (being 
 by no means devoid of brains, and having a certain mis- 
 chievous bent of mind) he had at one time amused him- 
 self by reading up the indictments which have been 
 brought by learned men against accepted systems of 
 theology, and, though he was in reality no scholar, he 
 had written articles in advanced reviews which had 
 gained for him a certain notoriety. That had been a 
 great mistake, and he was very sorry now that he had 
 committed it, because, as a matter of fact, he did not 
 care two straws what mankind at large might be 
 pleased to believe in and worship. However, there it 
 was in black and white, and there was no getting out of 
 it. Worse things, moreover, than that might be said of 
 him. London society in these days has not the name of
 
 MORTOX REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 135 
 
 being over-squeamisli ; yet there were many men and 
 many women in London who would not be seen speak- 
 ing to Morton Bligh. 
 
 And so the long and the short of it was. that if by 
 any means Cicely could be prevented from marrying 
 Archie, that end must be accomplished. Therefore 
 Morton was on his way to call upon Mark Chetwode, in 
 whom he had observed with satisfaction that his sister's 
 interest had been powerfully aroused. Archie, it might 
 be assumed, would not be made Mr. Bligh's heir if he 
 did not marry Cicely ; Mark Chetwode would surely 
 not be raised to that enviable position if he did. And 
 Chetwode was poor, and Cicely was not only pretty but 
 would have a fortune of thirty or forty thousand pounds 
 at least. 
 
 The solitary denizen of Upton Chetwode was smoking 
 a cigarette in his comfortless dining-room when his 
 visitor was announced. After a somewhat formal 
 greeting, he expressed a hope that the latter did not 
 mind the smell of tobacco, to which Morton replied 
 that he would be grateful if he too might be allowed 
 to smoke. 
 
 A man who will smoke with you is by that very fact 
 to some extent a companionable creature, and Morton's
 
 136 MISADVENTURE 
 
 manners were pleasant enough when he took the trouble 
 to make them so. Mark rather liked the man, though 
 (as he was accustomed to scrutinize men and motives) 
 it did not take him very long to discover that there was 
 some una vowed reason for this display of neighbourly 
 courtesy. Morton, it should be mentioned, had deplor- 
 able nerves. Without being precisely a glutton or a sot, 
 he had nevertheless for many years habitually eaten and 
 drunk more than was good for him, besides having taken 
 very little exercise ; and the consequence was that when 
 he attempted to be artful he speedily made his aims 
 evident to a practised observer. Mark, cold, temperate, 
 and constitutionally suspicious, was a great deal more 
 than a match for him. They discussed (for what else 
 could they begin by discussing ?) local topics and local 
 means of passing the time ; Morton avowed his abhor- 
 rence of the country, and was pleased to learn that his 
 host was no great lover of field sports. 
 
 " You'll be bored to death down here," he said ; 
 " that's a matter of course. But, perhaps, if you're in- 
 clined to be charitable, you'll sometimes come over to 
 the Priory and relieve our chronic boredom. I haven't 
 any inducement to offer you beyond a sincere welcome 
 and the governor's Madeira, which I can conscientiously
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 137 
 
 praise. By the way, lie sent you all sorts of messages 
 and apologies. He would have come to pay his respects 
 to you in person, but he never gets beyond the garden 
 now, as I daresay you have heard from my old aunt. 
 You have won Aunt Susan's heart, I must tell you : and 
 as for Cicely — well, I suppose it wouldn't be proper to 
 say that she has lost her heart to you,'' laughed Morton ; 
 " but anyhow she is very anxious to see more of you. 
 Won't you come and dine quietly some evening ? '' 
 
 Mark said what was polite and necessary in reply. 
 He began in a casual, indifferent way to put indirect 
 questions ; also he rang the bell, and ordered brandy- 
 and-soda, of which his guest was pleased to partake 
 freely ; and so, in about twenty minutes, he found out 
 all he wanted to know. That Morton was not upon the 
 best of terms with his father, that he was in mortal di-ead 
 of being ousted by his cousin Archie, and that he was 
 only sojourning at the Priory now in the hope of bring- 
 ing personal influence to bear against the interloper — all 
 this was elicited, without effort on the one side or con- 
 sciousness of self-betrayal on the other, and all doubt as 
 to the nature of Morton's scheme was removed when 
 that ingenuous plotter remarked : 
 
 '' I assure you that 1 don't half like the idea of having
 
 1 38 MISA D VENTURE 
 
 to spend the rest of my life in tliis neiglibourhood ; but 
 it will liave'to come to that, I expect. And I shall be 
 all alone, too ; for it isn't over and above likely that my 
 sister will care to stay and keep house for me. She will 
 have a fortune of her own — something like fifty thou- 
 sand pounds, probably." (For Morton thought there 
 could be no harm in adding a trifle of ten thousand 
 pounds or so to his mental estimate.) 
 
 "Your cousin is a very good-looking young man," 
 said Mark, with his faint smile, and his slight foreign 
 accent. " I should like to be your cousin." 
 
 " I don't call him good-looking ; and he's as stupid as 
 an owl," returned Morton. " Why should you want to 
 change places with him ? " 
 
 " Oh, only a fancy, which perhaps it is impertinent 
 in me to mention. Seeing them together, it struck me 
 that he was upon terms of something more than friend- 
 ship with your sister, that was all. So much beauty, 
 and fifty thousand pounds besides — you must admit 
 that he is enviable." 
 
 '' I think," said Morton, who had swallowed two 
 rather strong glasses of brandy-and-soda, " that if I were 
 ten years younger, and if I admired a girl with Cicely's 
 advantages, I should be no more afraid of such a fellow
 
 MORTON REPRESENTS THE FAMILY 139 
 as Archie than I should be afraid of the curate or the 
 doctor." 
 
 Having delivered himself of this statement with much 
 impressiveness, he rose to depart. Mark's speech had 
 been unquestionably impertinent — even very imperti- 
 nent ; but Morton did not resent it. On the contraiy, 
 he was quite pleased to have been furnished with an 
 opportunity of asserting so unequivocally that Archie 
 was no formidable antagonist. Thus it is that the 
 reasoning powers of the brain become enfeebled when 
 the other organs of the body are not kept in a proper 
 state of subjection. 
 
 " You'll come to dinner, then, some day soon, won't 
 you ? " he said, with a slight thickness of utterance, as 
 he held out his limp little hand. " I'll tell Cicely to 
 send you a formal invitation, though you won't be asked 
 to a formal party. I believe we do give formal dinner- 
 parties from time to time, but we won't be so brutal as 
 to include you among our victims." 
 
 When he had gone, Mark laughed a little and walked 
 once or twice up and down the room ; and then, taking 
 up his pen, resumed the letter which had been 
 interrupted by the entrance of the visitor. 
 
 *' It seems to me," he wrote, " that I am in a fair way
 
 I40 MISADVENTURE 
 
 towards carrying out your benevolent programme. The 
 brother of the young lady whom you were so kind as to 
 select for my future partner through life has just been 
 calling here, and has hinted broadly — possibly a little 
 too broadly — that he would be charmed to welcome me 
 as his brother-in-law. Naturally he has his reasons : he 
 is not quite so disinterested as you are. He thinks that 
 his father wishes to bring about a marriage between 
 Miss Cicely (that, I believe, is her name) and a young 
 cousin of whom old Mr. Wingfield spoke to me, and 
 whom I forget whether I mentioned to you or not. In 
 the case of that project succeeding, the young cousin, 
 it seems, would be made heir to the entire property ; 
 but it is not considered likely that any other son-in-law 
 than the cousin would be preferred before the heir- 
 apparent. Consequently I am implored to come 
 forward, and a bribe of fifty thousand pounds is offered 
 to me by way of inducement. Would you believe that, 
 poor as I am, I hesitate to take advantage of this 
 generous suggestion ? I am sure you would not believe 
 it if you saw Miss Bligh, who happens to be quite pretty 
 and agreeable, and that it would be difficult to convince 
 you how little her charms have to say to the matter. Do 
 you think fifty thousand pounds a very large sum of
 
 MORTON REPRESEiXTS THE FAMILY 141 
 money ? In all trutli and candour, I think liberty is 
 wortti more than that : but I am aware that upon such 
 points your ideas differ from mine.'' 
 
 Having wound up his letter, and addressed it to 
 Madame Souravieff, he put on his hat and walked down 
 to the iron railing which divided the garden from the 
 park. Upon this he dropped his arms, and so stood 
 for a long time, revolving many considerations in 
 his mind. It is quite true that a bribe of fifty 
 thousand pounds hardly tempted him, welcome 
 though such a supply of hard cash would have 
 been to a man in his straitened circumstances ; it was 
 also true that Cicely's personal attractions had left 
 him cold. If you are not in love with a woman, what 
 can it signify whether she is pretty or ugly ? But 
 there w^as one thing he cared about a good deal, and 
 always rather wondered at himself for caring about, 
 which was the recovering of the lands of which he 
 considered that he had been wrongfully dispossessed. 
 Xo one can relinquish without something of a pang 
 and a wrench the religious faith in which he has 
 been brought up ; and in much the same way Mark 
 Chetwode found it impossible to free himself from the 
 impressions which had been dinned into his ears from
 
 142 MISADVENTURE 
 
 his earliest childhood. Legally speaking, he might 
 have no sort of case against these prosperous, wealthy, 
 condescending Blighs, but he could not help longing to 
 be avenged upon them, to get the better of them ; and 
 if this desire could not be satisfied in one way, perhaps 
 it might be in another. To get the better of the 
 debilitated creature who had j ast left him would surely 
 be a task of no great difficulty ; and as to the cousin,' 
 he appeared to be a very commonplace person. There 
 remained Mr. Bligh, with whom, of course, it would be 
 needful to ingratiate oneself; but, as far as could be 
 gathered from report, Mr. Bligh was only too eager to 
 find some heir who might decently be substituted for 
 his son. Was the stake worth playing for? Mark 
 •eventually decided that it was ; and, oddly enough, 
 what helped him towards this decision was his con- 
 viction that if ever success should seem to be within 
 his reach, he would have no more vehement opponent 
 to contend against than Madame Souravieff .
 
 ^43 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 
 
 Ix these clays, hunting ladies are so numerous that it is 
 scarcely more necessary to apologize for them than 
 George III. thought it necessary to write an apology 
 for the Bible. Xevertheless, there still remain certain 
 old-fashioned people who think that a woman is out of 
 her place in the hunting-field, and of these Miss 
 Skipwith was one. She had never felt able to approve 
 of her niece following the hounds, and although she 
 had never been able to prevent her niece from doing 
 that, or anything else which the self-willed young- 
 woman in question intended to do, she considered 
 herself bound to uphold her testimony from time to 
 time — that is, as often as the hounds met within 
 manageable distance of the Priory. And it is needless 
 to add that the escort of Ai'chie Bligh did not present 
 itself to her in the light of a mitigating circumstance. 
 But what could she do when the girl's o^vn father
 
 144 MISADVENTURE 
 
 backed her up, and refused to see the slightest impro- 
 priety in her enjoying what he called a " good 
 healthy gallop" in the comjDany of her cousin? Mr. 
 Bligh had himself been an ardent sportsman until his 
 health had broken down ; he had perhaps a somewhat 
 exaggerated admiration for the virtues which sport, 
 combined with a spice of danger, brings into promi- 
 nence ; and possibly he did not sufficiently recognize 
 that, although bravery may be a very fine thing, the kind 
 of bravery which life demands of women is of a very 
 different class from that which it demands of men. 
 
 And so, when the hounds met at Upton Mill, it was 
 altogether useless for Miss SkijDwith to try and defraud 
 Cicely and Archie of a happy day. 
 
 " My dear Susan," said Mr. Bligh, in response to 
 certain oft-repeated remonstrances of hers, "they mean 
 to be there, and it is my belief that neither you nor I 
 can hold them back by anything short of hamstringing 
 every horse in the stables ; to which I am not prepared 
 to consent. You need not be so alarmed ; they won't 
 come to any harm. One is only young for a few years, 
 and during these few years wise young people make 
 the most of their time." 
 
 "You speak as if we were only here to amuse our-
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 145 
 
 selves, Wilfrid/' said ^liss Skip with, in a dissatisfied 
 tone of voice. 
 
 " Do I ? I have never been able to discover exactty 
 what we are here for; and, with all due deference, I 
 doubt whether you can tell me. But one thing I know : 
 we are bom with certain craving's which are bound to 
 
 o 
 
 be satisfied in this way or in that ; and for my part I 
 have always been strongly on the side of physical exer- 
 tion and exhaustion. You think perhaps that a young 
 man and a young woman who go out hunting together 
 are like a young man and a young woman in a ball- 
 room ; but then you have never hunted. I am going 
 to put Archie up on the Flying Dutchman, and I 
 know what that means, though you don't. When 
 once hounds are running he will forget all about 
 Cicely, and, what is better still, Cicely, who is going 
 to ride Hypatia, will forget all about him. Ah, if 
 I could only have one more day with them — just one 
 more before I die ! " 
 
 Perceiving that it was a waste of time to reason with 
 a man who could talk in that way, Miss Skipwith 
 sighed and gave in, and kept her own opinion, as usual ; 
 and one fine morning Archie and Cicely trotted off to 
 the meet, without let or hindrance. Moreton declined 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to accompany them, owning with his customary frank- 
 ness that he had no longer nerve to hunt. 
 
 " I have only one neck,*' he said, " and nothing would 
 annoy me more than to break it. However, I wouldn't 
 for the world deter you from breaking yours." And 
 this was as true and honest an assertion as any assertion 
 could be. 
 
 Hunting had already ceased in many parts of England, 
 but that was a late country. 
 
 ^'We go on up to the last permissible moment," 
 Cicely informed her companion, " and begin again at 
 the first. The worst of it is that I can't hunt at all 
 regularly now, because it isn't thought right for me to 
 go out quite alone." 
 
 " Well, I'll be here as much and as often as I can," 
 Archie replied. 
 
 " Thank you ; that is very kind of you. But you 
 must please to remember that when you are here your 
 duty will be simply to escort me to the meet. From 
 the moment we have found you will cease to have any 
 responsibility, and you will only think of your own 
 interests. I am very well able to take care of myself, 
 and if I catch you attempting to take care of me I will 
 never forgive you. Mind that."
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 147 
 
 Archie laughed and said : '• All right, then ; I quite 
 understand," 
 
 He was very well pleased with his mount — a power- 
 ful, free-going grey ; but as he had never ridden the 
 horse before, he could not be aware, as his uncle was, 
 that he was bestriding one of the best hunters that ever 
 was bred, and he fully intended to keep an eye upon 
 his cousin, even though this should prove to his own 
 detriment. Cicely's chestnut mare was an animal of 
 quite another class — nervous, high-couraged, and re- 
 quiring a light hand and a good deal of riding; but 
 Cicely was an accomplished horsewoman. 
 
 " The mare will be all right after the first few minutes," 
 she said, in reply to some expression of uneasiness on 
 Archie's part. " Unless something upsets her at start- 
 ing she will be as good as gold. You needn't trouble 
 your head about her — or about me either." 
 
 But of course he could not help troubling his head 
 about her, and although he admired her seat and her 
 hands, he was vexed and surprised that his uncle should 
 have given her such a mount. As a matter of fact, Mr. 
 Bligh, who did not himself know the meaning of the 
 word fear, had perfect confidence in Cicely's skill, and 
 would have trusted her with any horse in his stables.
 
 148 MISADVENTURE 
 
 At the meet, which was in a central locality, a great 
 concourse of people was assembled. There was young 
 Lord Shoreham, the M.F.H., whose language was apt 
 to be more emphatic tlian choice, and of whom every- 
 body stood in awe ; there was Sir George Dare, a 
 ruddy-cheeked, white- whiskered gentleman, with a good- 
 humoured smile, and a high, squeaky voice ; there, too, 
 was Bobby, looking somewhat ill at ease upon the fiddle- 
 headed, raw-boned steed which had been assigned to 
 him. Bobby was not at all fond of hunting, and every 
 time he went out he did so with the full assurance that 
 he carried his life in his hands. That risk, however, 
 he was always willing, like a true-born British sailor, to 
 accept, and he was now about to imperil his neck with 
 more or less of cheerfulness upon the off-chance of earn- 
 ing Cicely's approval. He rode up to her side as soon 
 as she appeared upon the scene, although, while accord- 
 ing him a smiling greeting, she warned him not to 
 approach too closely. 
 
 " Keep clear of the mare's heels," she said, as, not- 
 withstanding her signal, he drew nearer : " otherwise 
 you may get a broken leg before you know where you 
 are." 
 
 But Bobby, who tliought he was in much more danger
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 149 
 
 of getting a broken heart, chose to disregard this caution. 
 His father had engaged Archie in conversation, so that 
 presently he had the privilege of riding with ^liss Bligh 
 to the covert-side, and hearing from her own lips that 
 she did not want to have anything more to do with her 
 cousin. 
 
 " 1 know that he is possessed with the idea that he 
 is in charge of me/' she said; ''and I am sure he. will 
 keep looking over his shoulder the whole time — which 
 will exasperate me beyond all bearing. Considering 
 that I know every yard of the countr}', and that he 
 hasn't ridden over it since he was a boy of sixteen, I 
 really think he would do more wisely to mind his own 
 business, and leave me to mind mine." 
 
 Bobby cordially concurred. At the same time he 
 did not quite like the look of Cicely"s plunging, bucking 
 mare, and he said with a sigh : " I wish I were capable 
 of taking charge of you ; but it is as much as I shall 
 accomplish to make this brute of mine answer his helm, 
 even if we don't part company altogether, as I daresay 
 we shall before long." He added in a melancholy voice : 
 '' I suppose you utterly despise a man who can't ride, 
 don't you?" 
 
 Now it was true that Cicely thought every man ought
 
 ISO MISADVENTURE 
 
 to be able to manage a liorse. Sailors, no doubt, are 
 to some extent privileged persons, yet she could not 
 help finding any human being who held on by his reins 
 a trifle ridiculous, and poor Bobby would perhaps have 
 been better advised if he had remained at home that 
 morning. Therefore she left his question unanswered, 
 and after a time he put another one to her : " Are 
 cavalry men always flyers across a country ?" he inquired, 
 difiidently. 
 
 " Keally, I can't tell you," she answered, laughing ; 
 " but I don't know why they should be. If Archie sees 
 more of the run than you or I do, he won't have much 
 to brag about. The Dutchman will ask nothing more 
 of him than to stick to his saddle." 
 
 Bobby was by no means confident of his own capacity 
 to comply even with that modest requirement ; but he 
 was pleased to hear himself bracketed with Cicely, and 
 he resolved to keep alongside of her if he could. That, 
 however, was a programme which he probably could 
 not, under ^any ^circumstances, have carried out, and, 
 as it chanced, he lost sight of her almost immediately 
 after deciding upon it. For scarcely had the covert 
 been drawn when a fox was found and got away, and 
 for ten minutes after that event all control over his
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 151 
 
 own movements was taken out of the young sailor's 
 hands. His career, though brief, was glorious. He 
 was borne at a high rate of speed down a steep hill- 
 side ; he was lifted, to his utter amazement, over three 
 stiff fences, after each of which experiences he found 
 himself with his arms round his horse's neck : and when 
 at length he was deposited quite easily and comfortably 
 in a bed of rushes, he did not in the least realize why 
 he was there, until he became aware of a broad stream 
 in front of him, and came to the just conclusion that 
 his horse had declined to attempt impossibilities. 
 
 Cicely, meanwhile, had got off badly. Both she 
 and her mare were taken by surprise, and for several 
 hundred yards they were much hampered by the too 
 numerous field. At the first fence the mare jumped 
 short and very nearly landed on her nose. This 
 perhaps roused her not very amiable temper: for no 
 sooner had she recovered herself than she threw up her 
 head and broke clean away. There was nothing to be 
 done but to sit tight and keep cool. Cicely had sense 
 enough and experience enough to know that : also she 
 had enough of both to be aware that she was in imminent 
 danger of a bad fall. The mare, for the time being, 
 had completely lost her senses, and would certainly
 
 152 MISADVENTURE 
 
 rush blindly at any obstacle that might lie in her path. 
 She might get over such obstacles or she might not : 
 anyhow it was hopeless to attemj^t to steady her. And 
 so it came to pass that Miss Bligh was only prevented 
 by good luck from jumping upon the hounds, and that 
 Lord Shoreham apostrophized her under his breath in 
 terms quite unfit for reproduction. Her heart failed 
 her a little when she saw a great ragged bullfinch 
 before her, which it was st^arcely within the bounds of 
 possibility that she could clear without slackening 
 speed, and she made up her mind that the end was at 
 hand. However, she threw up her arm to protect her 
 face, and was hurled through somehow or other, though 
 not without a crash and a jerk which very nearly sent 
 her out of her saddle. Immediately after this the mare 
 began to falter, and was easily brought to a standstill 
 in the middle of a ploughed field. 
 
 " I thought as much," murmured Cicely, as she 
 slipped her foot out of the stirrup and sprang down to 
 the ground ; and a brief examination of her mount 
 showed her that her suspicions had been only too well 
 founded. The mare, with starting eyeballs and heaving 
 flanks, was quiet enough now, while from a long jagged 
 wound in her shoulder the blood was dripping slowly.
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 153 
 
 It was very evident that not only could there be uo 
 more hunting for Miss Bligh that day, but that one of 
 the best animals in her father's possession had been 
 marked for life. This, it will be allowed, was no fault 
 of Cicely's ; but she felt very guilty all the same, and 
 the worst of it was that she could not judge what the 
 extent of the mischief might be. She had no means of 
 binding up the mare's wound, nor could she tell by a 
 hasty inspection whether it was deep or merely super- 
 ficial. All she knew was that it behoved her to lead 
 the sufierer home without fmi:her loss of time ; and this 
 she immediately prepared to do, hooking up her riding 
 habit and passing her arm through the bridle. One 
 comfort was that she was in no danger of being bothered 
 by offers of unskilled assistance ; for Bobby Dare had 
 disappeared, and on a distant hillside against the sky 
 she could see Archie and his gallant grey sailing along 
 in blissful unconsciousness of everything save the de- 
 lightful fact that they had shown a clean pair of heels 
 to their competitors. So, perceiving that there was a 
 gate at the corner of the field, she made for it, and was 
 soon on the high road which connects Abbotsport with 
 the county town. 
 
 Along this road it so chanced that a landed pro-
 
 154 MISADVENTURE 
 
 prietor of the vicinity was at tiiat moment wending his 
 lonely way. He was deeply immersed in thought, and 
 his eyes were cast down, so that he did not at once 
 become aware that a lady leading a lame horse had 
 debouched upon the grassy wayside ahead of him. As 
 soon, however, as he did become aware of her he quick- 
 ened his pace, caught her up and accosted her. 
 
 " How do you do. Miss Bligh ? " said he, taking off 
 his hat. " Why are you on foot ? Have you had an 
 accident ? '" 
 
 Cicely recognized Mr. Chetwode, without much 
 pleasure at an encounter which she felt to be in- 
 opportune. She wanted to get home and she didn't 
 want to talk. 
 
 " I'm afraid I have staked my mare," she answered. 
 " Do you know anything about horses ? Perhaps you 
 can tell me whether she is badly hurt or not." 
 
 It did not seem very likely that this alien had any 
 knowledge of such subjects, and she only put the 
 question to him because she supposed that, being a 
 man, he might feel slighted if she did not pay him the 
 compliment of consulting him ; but in truth, Mark, who 
 had always been a lover of horses, possessed some 
 little veterinary skill, and after a brief examination he
 
 CICELY HAS POOR SPORT 155 
 
 was able to assure her that the damage done was com- 
 paratively trifling. 
 
 " I do not promise you that no trace of the mishap 
 shall remain," said he. " The cut will have to be sewn 
 up, and unluckily it is not a clean cut ; but I think I 
 may safely say that the real value of the animal will 
 not be affected, although, perhaps, the selling value 
 may be." 
 
 Cicely was relieved and was also decidedly impressed. 
 She came of a sporting family, and although she was 
 personally large-minded enough to admit that a man 
 may be an admirable member of the community and 
 yet not know a horse from a cow, she could not help 
 thinking him a good deal more admirable if he did. 
 She at once dropped into easy conversation with her 
 companion, relating the particulars of her misadventure, 
 to which he listened with deferential interest while he 
 paced slowly by her side. 
 
 "You ought to hunt," she remarked, after a time. 
 " Why don't you ? " 
 
 " For the best reason in the world," he answered. " I 
 have no horses, and no money to buy any." 
 
 Cicely was silent for a moment or two. She had an 
 uncomfortable feeling that although Mr. Chetwode's
 
 156 MISADVENTURE 
 
 impecuniosity was no fault of hers, lie might consider 
 her father in some measure responsible for it. 
 
 "But really/' she resumed at length, " I don't see 
 how you can go on living here unless you hunt. There 
 is nothing else to be done during the winter, you see. 
 Except, of course, the shooting, which would help you 
 through a few months." 
 
 " Only I can't afford either keepers or pheasants," 
 observed Mark, with a smile. "Perhaps, however, I 
 shall not go on living here." 
 
 " You mean that you will let your house again ? " 
 
 " If I can find any one sufficiently insane to take it. 
 
 If I can't " He shrugged his shoulders and drew 
 
 down the corners of his mouth expressively. 
 
 Thereupon Cicely read him a serious lecture. She 
 declared emphatically that it is the plain duty of land- 
 owners, whether rich or poor, to reside upon their land. 
 " A tenant," she said, " can never take the place of the 
 real owner of the soil, nor fulfil half his functions ; " and 
 this assertion she supported by instances and examples. 
 
 " After all, what will you do if you leave Upton 
 Chetwode again, I wonder ? " she inquired in conclusion. 
 
 " Ah ! " he returned, lifting his eyebrows, " I wonder !" 
 
 He thought her very pretty, and her confident way of
 
 CICEL V HAS POOR SPORT 157 
 
 offering her opinion and advice amused him ; but she 
 did not touch his heart, Madame Souravieff would 
 perhaps have said that he had no heart to be touched. 
 And it may be that Cicely, who, though no flirt, yet 
 was accustomed to homage of a kind which this stranger 
 showed no inclination to pay her, was a little puzzled 
 and piqued by a failure of which she could not but be 
 conscious : for she certainly took great pains to be 
 pleasant to him. and even went so far as to hint that 
 she could enter into his feelings about those ancestral 
 possessions of his which had passed into other hands. 
 
 " Of course it must be horrid for you," she said, when 
 he had informed her that the subject was rather a sore 
 one with him ; '' but then if I were you, I think I should 
 set before myself as an object the getting of that land 
 back again. It would be something to live for."" 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 " But in order to attain that object two things are 
 indispensable — first, that the present proprietor should 
 be willing to sell ; and, secondly, that I should have 
 money enough to tempt him. How would you get over 
 those difficulties. Miss Bligh ? " 
 
 *' I don't believe the first is a difficulty at all," she 
 answered. " As for the second, money may be acquired
 
 158 MISADVENTURE 
 
 after fifty fashions. Where there's a will there's a 
 way." 
 
 She dismissed him at her father's gates, frankly 
 expressing a hope that she might see him again soon, 
 and if Mark placed a mistaken interpretation upon her 
 words and demeanour, it would be hardly fair to blame 
 him. He was not a coxcomb, but he had some excuse, 
 for thinking that he understood women, and it did 
 appear to him that he had been invited in pretty plain 
 language to offer himself as a candidate for the hand of 
 the heiress. But before complying with that invitation 
 it would perhaps be prudent to ascertain whether she 
 really was to be an heiress or not.
 
 159 : 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 COPPARD IX TROUBLE 
 
 " Oh, we're quite convinced that you are guilty. We 
 don't entertain any doubt at all as to that. But we 
 have come to the conclusion that the evidence is in- 
 suflBcient. and therefore you will be discharged this 
 time ; and a very lucky fellow you are to get off. I can 
 tell you — a precious lucky fellow ! Xow you take mv 
 advice and be very careful what you are about in future ; 
 because if you are brought up before us again you may 
 not find us so disposed to be lenient." 
 
 This remarkable illu^ration of that fine old axiom 
 of English law which declares every man innocent until 
 he has been proved guilty was provided for the delecta- 
 tion of a limited audience by Sir George Dare, who was 
 sitting upon the bench of justice, fianked by several 
 anxious colleagues. Sir George's colleagues were 
 always a little anxious about him ; because in these 
 evil davs one never can be sure that there is not some
 
 i6o MISADVENTURE 
 
 miscliievous busybody at baud taking notes, and it is 
 of course most undesirable that paragraphs should get 
 into the newspapers which may tend to lessen the 
 respect of the public for the unpaid magistracy. But 
 Sir George cared not two straws for his colleagues or 
 the newspapers or the public, and nothing whatever 
 was to be gained by digging your elbows into his ribs. 
 
 "What I think I shall say," he was wont to reply 
 when counsels of prudence were offered to him, and if 
 he thought it would do any culprit good to tell him that 
 he was a rascal, although his rascality could not be proved 
 bv strict rule of evidence, he never shrank from doincr 
 his duty to that culprit. The culprits had no objection. 
 They knew that Sir George was a great deal more 
 fond of scolding than of passing severe sentences, and 
 they knew and cared as little about his law as he did 
 himself. 
 
 The prisoner who had been addressed in the terms 
 above mentioned said : '' Thank 'ee, sir." and touched 
 his grey forelock, preparatory to resuming his position 
 as an honest householder without a stain upon his 
 character. David Coppard thought it no shame to be a 
 poacher, and if he was a notorious thief, he was seldom 
 so designated in his hearing, because of the length and
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE i6i 
 
 strength of his arms. Behind his back he was, of 
 course, liable, like the rest of us, to have unpleasant 
 things said of him by malicious and cowardly persons, 
 but no sensible man deigns to take notice of what may 
 be said behind his back. Coppard was in the habit of 
 borrowing (not stealing, which is a very different thing) 
 the lines and nets and lobster-pots of his neighbours. 
 This was an understood thing, and the freedom was 
 readily pardoned by his neighbours in consideration of 
 the borrower's admirable seamanship, which was almost 
 always at their service. As for rabbits, everybody knows 
 what mischief those animals do. and how much more they 
 would do, if their numbers were not kept down by the 
 exertions of nocturnal sportsmen. But unfortunately 
 there are certain miserable landlubbers whose minds are 
 so warped by prejudice and selfishness that they begin 
 to make a fuss if a man cannot settle his little account 
 for tea and sugar at the end of a year, and who will 
 avail themselves of any paltry pretext that may come 
 handy to get such a man into trouble. Thus it was 
 that Mr. Coppard had been subjected to the indignity 
 of arrest upon a charge of petty larceny, and had in- 
 curred no small inconvenience in obtaining the acquittal 
 which was his due. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 i62 MISADVENTURE 
 
 It will, perhaps, hardly be believed that any one could 
 be so mean as to give a fellow-citizen and constant 
 customer into custody because a trumpery hammer 
 belonging to him had been discovered in the possession 
 of that fellow-citizen, yet this is what Simpkins, the 
 Abbotsport grocer, had done ; and as Coppard trudged 
 homewards nothing seemed to him more obvious and 
 just and essential than that he should take the first 
 opportunity of paying Simpkins out. As for the ham- 
 mer, he had no doubt made use of it. When a derelict 
 hammer finds its way by some unexplained means to 
 one's premises, and when one happens, oddly enough, 
 to be in want of such an article at that very time, one 
 naturally makes use of it. Surely the fact of its having 
 a big S branded upon the handle does not saddle a busy 
 man with the responsibility of running round to every- 
 body in Abbotsport whose name begins with an S and 
 inquiring if they have mislaid anything. The magis- 
 trates, at all events, had very properly decided that no 
 such responsibility rested upon Mr. Coppard, and he 
 was free from any feeling of rancour against them. 
 Still the fact remained that he had been very badly 
 treated. So that when, on reaching the high road, he 
 chanced to encounter Mr. Robert Dare and young Mr.
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE 163 
 
 Bligh, lie could not rest satisfied with touching liis hat 
 to these gentlemen, but must needs impart to them the 
 story of his wrongs. 
 
 '' A hunjust charge ; that's where "tis, you see, sir," 
 said he, fixing his eye on Bobby, who looked the more 
 sympathetic of the two. '* I can't get no remedy, so 
 they tell me ; but it do come hard on a workin' man to 
 be deprived of two days' earnings, not to mention the 
 missus's bad temper, which I shall be sure to suffer from 
 it soon as ever I get 'ome. I couldn't estimate this job at 
 a farthing less than ten shillings out 0' my pocket, sir.'" 
 Bobby's finger and thumb were at once inserted into 
 his own. Bobby had a sneaking affection for old Cop- 
 pard, though he was quite as well aware as his father 
 that Coppard's character would not bear too close 
 investigation. 
 
 But Archie, who had no foolish predilections of the 
 kind, and who was in a bad humour into the bargain, 
 said: 
 
 " It strikes me that you have not much to complain 
 about, my friend. People who are found in possession 
 of stolen goods don't as a general rule get off scot-free, 
 and I rather suspect that if I had been upon the bench 
 you wouldn't have been at liberty at this moment."
 
 i64 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Coppard bent Lis shaggy brows and from beneath 
 them shot an angry glance at the speaker. 
 
 " Then, sir," said he^ " I'm 'umbly thankful as you're 
 not upon the bench now, nor likely to be. Nor likely to 
 be," he added with emphasis, while he pocketed Bobby's 
 half-sovereign, saying : '' Thank 'ee kindly, Cap'en, 
 and 'twill be a dooty and a pleasure to me to drink your 
 good 'ealth. Likewise that of Sir George and all true 
 gentlemen ; which there ain't a many of 'em left, sir." 
 
 "Well, don't drink our healths more than once or 
 twice, you know, Coppard," returned Bobby, laughing. 
 
 " He'll drink as long as he has any money to spend 
 on drink, you may be sure," said Archie, when the two 
 young men had resumed their walk. " What an ass 
 you are to tip such an old ruffian ! You're only stimu- 
 lating the liquor traffic, and doing him a great deal 
 more harm than good." 
 
 This being in all probability true, Bobby remained 
 meekly silent. From the days when they had been 
 boys together he had alwaj^s been accustomed to be 
 called an ass by Archie, and had always felt that the 
 accusation was justified by facts. He had no sort of 
 admiration for himself, while he had a great admiration 
 for his companion, mingled with such envy as an honest
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE 165 
 
 man may entertain of one who has ever surpassed him 
 in those attributes which are apt to excite general 
 admu'ation. Wandeiing towards Abbotsport that morn- 
 ing, with a secret hope of meeting Cicely, he had met 
 her cousin instead, and having been informed by the 
 latter that Miss Bligh was spending the day at the 
 Rectory, had generously invited him to come home to 
 luncheon. This invitation Archie had accepted after a 
 moment's hesitation. He did not want to be bored by 
 the numerous Miss Dares, but he was still less desirous 
 of returning to the Prioiy and struggling to keep upon 
 terms of civility with Morton while deprived of Cicely's 
 restraining influence ; and Cicely had given him to 
 understand that she had parish matters to talk over 
 with Mrs. Lowndes which would keep her occupied 
 until at least the middle of the afternoon. 
 
 " I hear you were in at the death the other day," 
 remarked Bobby, after a pause. 
 
 " Oh yes," answered the other, in a somewhat dis- 
 satisfied voice ; '• I couldn't have helped it unless I had 
 tried. I certainly should have tried if I had known my 
 cousin had come to grief ; but I lost sight of her and 
 took it for granted that her mare had refused the broolc. 
 What became of you?"
 
 i66 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " Well, I can hardly tell you," replied Bobby. ''After 
 a bit I found myself standing on my head, and then I 
 had a great piece of work to catch my brute of a horse. 
 When I did catch him, I climbed up on his back and 
 went home. It didn't occur to me that Miss Bligh 
 might be in need of assistance." 
 
 " She wasn't in need of any assistance that you could 
 have given her," responded Archie, rather unkindly. 
 " A man who had known what he was about might have 
 changed the saddles and saved her a long walk, that's 
 all. As it happened, she fell in with that fellow Chet- 
 wode, who, she says, set her mind at ease. Though how 
 he could have set her mind at ease without telling a 
 pretty big cram I don't know, considering that the mare 
 is marked for life." 
 
 Instowe, the residence of Sir George Dare, was a 
 large rambling white house of no architectural preten- 
 sions. That it was large wag a fortunate circumstance, 
 seeing that it corresponded in that respect with Sir 
 George's family. Sir George was the father of five sons 
 and six daughters. The former were all earning their 
 living, or almost earning it, in various professions, and 
 only one of them, Bobby, was now at home : but the 
 latter remained under the paternal roof, and Lady Dare
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE 167 
 
 feared that there was every possibility of their remaining 
 there permanently, because it was useless to shut one's 
 eyes to the fact that they were not pretty. Plain they 
 could not fairly be called; but in a county cruelly 
 denuded of bachelors there is little chance for girls who 
 have only just esca^Ded being plain ; and as for seasons 
 in London, Sir George declared that once in three years 
 was the very utmost that his resources could be made to 
 meet. Consequently Lady Dare was a little peevish at 
 times. 
 
 She received the unexpected guests with a good deal 
 of friendliness ; and Archie, who had known the stout, 
 grey-haired, harassed-looking woman all his life, and 
 had always been rather of a favourite of hers, was put 
 into somewhat better humour by her cordiality. Ai'chie, 
 after all, was unmarried, and certain to be pretty well 
 provided for by his rich uncle. It was said, to be sure, 
 that he was smitten with his cousin ; but that did not 
 at all prove that his cousin was smitten with him, and 
 the most unlikely events are for ever occurring. Lady 
 Dare would have thought it very wrong and very 
 foolish to show any lack of civility to the young 
 soldier; nor were the sis Misses Dare (whose ages 
 ranged from seventeen to eight-and-twenty) remiss
 
 i68 MISADVENTURE 
 
 in welcoming this addition to the family luncheon- 
 party. Good-hnmonred, rosy-faced Sir George, who 
 bustled in just as the big bell on the top of the house 
 was set going, was quite as hearty and much more dis- 
 interested. Sir George reposed his trust in Providence, 
 and imagined that if his daughters were destined to 
 marry, the right man would turn up at the right time". 
 He entertained no sort of hope of Archie Bligh, who, 
 for his part, he sincerely trusted might marry Cicely 
 and oust that worse than useless creature, Morton. 
 
 " Well," he said, as soon as he had taken his place at 
 the head of the table and had commenced operations upon 
 the joint before him, " we let off your friend Coppard 
 this morning, Bobby. Not that he deserved it. There 
 isn't a more poaching, thieving vagabond in these parts, 
 and so I've told him scores of times. Much he cares 
 what one tells him ! Still the rascal has a wife and 
 family." 
 
 " He has a great respect for you. Sir George," 
 remarked Archie. " We met him on our way here, 
 and Bobby gave him half a sovereign, which he said he 
 would expend in drinking your health." 
 
 " The devil he did ! " ejaculated Sir George. " Con- 
 found the fellow ! Why I gave him half-a-crown myself
 
 CGPPARD IN TROUBLE 169 
 
 to compensate him for his loss of time ; and quite 
 enough too. I tell you what it is, Bobby; if you're 
 going to behave in this way, the sooner you get afloat 
 again the better. Half-a-sovereign for stealing a 
 hammer ! At that rate the next time he helps himself 
 to my pheasants he'll expect a five-pound note, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " And very likely get it," remarked the eldest Miss 
 Dare, who was credited by her family with a great deal 
 of practical common sense. *• Bobby,*' she continued, 
 " may be excused ; he knows no better. But really, 
 papa, I don't understand why you gave Coppard that 
 half-crown." 
 
 " My dear, I have told you," replied Sir George. 
 " The man had lost a day's work ; and after all it was a 
 trumpery charge. Very shabby of Simpkins, in my 
 opinion, and I shall certainly let him know what I 
 think of him." 
 
 '• I wish you would mention to him at the same time 
 that he systematically sends us short measure of ever}'- 
 thing," said Lady Dare. '"One gets one's gi'oceries from 
 the local man because it is one's duty, and one submits 
 to their being very bad and very dear ; but it is a little 
 too much that he should swindle us into the bargain. "_ J
 
 17 o MISADVENTURE 
 
 The conversation after this turned chiefly upon the 
 misdeeds of Simpkins and others, and was utterly- 
 uninteresting to Archie, who ate his mutton in silence 
 and wished himself away. Nor was he much better 
 pleased when the topic of Lady Dare's annual ball, 
 which was appointed to take place shortly, was intro- 
 duced. He was obliged to say that he would be 
 delighted to attend that festivity, but he inwardly 
 resolved that his presence should be conditional upon 
 that of Cicely, which he knew from her own lips to be 
 as yet an uncertain factor. 
 
 But Lady Dare was not so well informed. 
 
 " I daresay," she remarked graciously, " that we may 
 trust Cicely to see that you do not fail us. I haven't 
 yet sent a card to your cousin Morton," she added in a 
 dubious tone. " Do you think he would come ?" 
 
 " I'm sure he would if he suspected that you didn't 
 want him," said Archie. " Of course you don't want 
 him." 
 
 " Well, under all the circumstances " began Lady 
 
 Dare. But the circumstances could not be discussed 
 before her daughters, so she left her sentence un- 
 finished. 
 
 " Don't forget to ask Ohetwode, by the way," called
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE 171 
 
 out Sir George from tlie other end of the table. " I 
 rode over to call upon him the other day, but he wasn t 
 at home. You've seen him I suppose. Archie?" 
 
 " Oh yes, several times/' answered Archie. '' He 
 was dining with us last night." 
 
 "' Was he really? I'm veiy glad to hear that. There 
 was an estrangement, you know, in his father's time — 
 quite uncalled for — and I was afraid this young man 
 might keep it up. And what is he like, eh ? Pleasant 
 sort of fellow ? "' 
 
 ** I should think most people would call him so/' 
 Archie was generous enough to reply ; "I haven't 
 talked very much to him myself." 
 
 *' He is dreadfully impoverished, I understand," 
 observed Lady Dare, with a sigh which was not 
 altogether caused by pity for the impoverished one. 
 
 " He can't help that, poor beggar ! " returned her 
 good-natured husband. 
 
 "He might have helped it, by all accounts. How- 
 ever," added Lady Dare, with another sigh, " it doesn't 
 concern us." 
 
 After this there was a long discussion as to who was 
 and who was not coming to the dance, and whether 
 Lord Shoreham would put in an appearance, and
 
 172 MISADVENTURE 
 
 whether, if lie did, he would behave himself decently, 
 and so forth — all of which was a weariness to Archie, 
 who wanted to get away. He did not get away until 
 the afternoon was well advanced, because he was too 
 young to have acquired that art of creating a pause 
 which very few people acquire before middle age, 
 and in his clumsy efforts to emancipate himself he 
 only succeeded in snubbing everybody. 
 
 When at length he had taken his leave, the eldest 
 Miss Dare remarked : 
 
 " That young man has far too high an opinion of 
 himself." 
 
 It was to her brother that she expressed this opinion, 
 and probably she had reason for believing that it would 
 not be unwelcome to him, since she had led him out 
 into the garden to deliver it. 
 
 But Bobby answered disconsolately, " Oh, I don't 
 know. I shouldn't call him a conceited fellow ; and 
 even if he is, he has some right to be." 
 
 *' Bobby," said Miss Dare, impressively, " you are an 
 utter goose. Nobody who is worth anything is con- 
 ceited ; but of course if you will persist in asserting 
 that Archie Bligh is your superior, which he isn"t, you 
 will be believed, because it will naturally be supposed
 
 COPPARD IN TROUBLE 173 
 
 that you ought to kno^v. If I were you I should be 
 ashamed of having so little pluck." 
 
 " My dear Jane, what on earth do you mean ? " 
 inquired Bobby, with round eyes of astonishment. 
 
 " I mean," answered Miss Dare, composedly, " that 
 everybody knows you are in love with Cicel}" Bligh, 
 and that I know you are quite good enough for her, 
 and that you will never have the slightest chance of 
 getting what you want unless you are bold enough 
 to declare yourself. Girls don't, as a rule, fall in 
 love with their cousins — and I'm sure there's nothing 
 so desperately fascinating about Archie ! — but girls 
 will sometimes marry against their own inclinations 
 to please their fathers. Especially when other people 
 are too stupid or too modest to come forward." 
 
 Bobby was much surprised. He had been under the 
 impression that his secret had been most carefully kept ; 
 but he was not altogether sorry that his sister, upon 
 whose insight he placed great reliance, had divined it. 
 •• The truth is," said he, presently, '' that I've no busi- 
 ness to ask any girl to marry me. I haven't got any 
 coin, you see." 
 
 *' But she has — or will have." 
 
 "That's just it. Putting everything else aside?
 
 174 MISADVENTURE 
 
 wouldn't she think it great cheek of a pauper like 
 me to propose to an heiress ? " 
 
 " No, she wouldn't. Bhe is not an idiot ; and if it is 
 any comfort to you to know that she can read you like a 
 book, you may safely lay that comfort to your soul. 
 Only she will be very apt to despise you if you despise 
 yourself." 
 
 Poor Bobby heaved a deep sigh and formed a bold 
 resolution. He was not very sanguine, but, after all, 
 his sister might be right, and could hardly be very far 
 wrong. If one is to be rejected, one may as well be 
 rejected in plain terms as by implication.
 
 ( 175 ) 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 LADY dare's ball 
 
 It is the nature of mankind, and perhaps (though one 
 must not venture to afiSrm this too positively) it is even 
 more the nature of womankind, to desire what seems to 
 be difficult of attainment, and to despise everything 
 that has either been already attained or may be attained 
 without much exertion. That, at all events, seems the 
 most plausible explanation of the fact that Cicely Bligli 
 patronized her cousin Archie, and snubbed Bobby Dare, 
 both of whom were very nice young men indeed, whilst 
 she took an almost respectful interest in Mark Chet- 
 wode, who was past his first youth, who had never been 
 handsome, and who took very little trouble to please 
 her. Mark, as has been mentioned, had dined at the 
 Prioiy, and it may be added that he had produced a 
 generally favourable impression there. Mr. Bligh had 
 found him clever and exceptionally well-informed upon 
 questions of European politics, Miss Skipwith had been
 
 176 MISADVENTURE 
 
 much gratified by his courteous and deferential address 
 and Morton had liked him as much as he could like 
 anybody except himself — which, to be sure, is not 
 making a strong positive statement, yet must be ac- 
 counted as strong in a comparative sense. But to 
 Cicely he had scarcely spoken at all ; and this naturally 
 interested her, because she could not comprehend why 
 he should be so odd and so very unlike other people. 
 
 While Archie was spending a long and weary after- 
 noon with the Dare family, as narrated in the last 
 chapter. Cicely was discussing this abnormal stranger 
 with Mrs. Lowndes; and Mrs. Lowndes, a lean, busy 
 little woman, with iron-grey hair, who had no children, 
 and whose intimate acquaintance with the affairs of 
 every one who dwelt within ten miles of her was prover- 
 bial, said : 
 
 "My dear, you may depend upon it there is some 
 entanglement. As soon as I had seen the man I said to 
 Robert, ' There is some entanglement." He has a sort 
 of hopeless look which tells its own tale as plainly as 
 possible. Besides, why is he burying himself down 
 here ? Not because he cares a fig for his property, or 
 his tenants, or his neighbours, you may be sure. The 
 whole time that I was talkinsr to him about them he
 
 LADY DARE'S BALL 177 
 
 kept swallo^ving yawns until his eyes began to water. 
 No ! there is a mystery in the case ; and if it were not 
 wrong to bet, I would bet you a shilling to sixpence that 
 a woman is at the bottom of it." 
 
 Sharp little Mrs. Lowndes was. as we know, both 
 right and wrong. Cicely had no means of verifying the 
 more experienced lady's diagnosis, but it is needless to 
 say that, after that, she was more than ever determined 
 to get at the truth. Mr. Chetwode and his entangle- 
 ments might not concern her particularly, yet it was 
 intolerable that he should continue to be mysterious. 
 When one holds triumphant sway over the entire 
 countryside one really cannot suffer mysteries to remain 
 unexplained. 
 
 And so, when certain parochial matters had been 
 talked over, and Cicely had set out homewards, her 
 thoughts were a good deal occupied with Mr. Chetwode. 
 She was not at all surjmsed to find Archie loitering at 
 the comer of one of the lanes, nor was she taken in for 
 a moment by his clumsy affectation of a start. 
 
 '^ Do you mean to tell me that you have only just got 
 away from the Rectory ? '' he asked. " What can you 
 have been doing all this time ? " 
 
 " Have I been a long time ? I did not know it was 
 VOL. I. M
 
 178 MISADVENTURE 
 
 long," returned Cicely. " Mrs. Lowndes and I always 
 have plenty to do when we meet. And how have you 
 been occupying yourself during my absence ? " 
 
 '' Oh, I've been lunching out, too," answered Archie, 
 rather dismally. " I didn't want to be left to the tender 
 mercies of Morton if I could help it, so, as I happened 
 to come across Bobby Dare, and as he asked me to 
 go and lunch at Instowe, I thought I had better accept. 
 It was deadly dull. They are deadly dull people, and 
 they wouldn't talk about anything except that ball of 
 theirs — which will be deadly dull too, I expect." 
 
 " Oh, they have made you promise to go to it, 
 then?" 
 
 " I don't think I exactly promised ; but if I did I can 
 have a sick headache when the time comes. And I 
 certainly will unless you go. Why can't you go ? " 
 
 " Well, I told you, you know. I can't be sure that 
 papa will be well enough to be left." 
 
 " Oh, but that's only an excuse. Of course you can 
 go if you want to go." 
 
 " But why should I want to go ? You yourself say 
 that it will be deadly dull, and what inducement have 
 you to offer me beyond that of a waltz or two with you ? 
 — and you know, my dear Archie, that unless you have
 
 LAD V DARE ''S BALL 179 
 
 improved very much you are not quite a lirst-rate 
 dancer." 
 
 " I have improved very much," Archie declared. 
 " Moreover, you will have Bobby to dance with, if that's 
 an inducement. Chetwode too, I believe, for they said 
 they must ask him. Would Chetwode be au induce- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " An immense one," answered Cicely, decisively. *•' If 
 he accepts the invitation I will certainly make an effort 
 to do likewise. I can see you and Bobby any day, but 
 it isn't so easy to see Mr. Chetwode. or to get him to 
 talk when one does see him.*' 
 
 Archie grunted. 
 
 " I don't know why you should be so anxious to make 
 him talk," he remarked. 
 
 " You would know if you had tried and failed. 
 Perhaps he may have nothing to say ; but one would 
 like to make sure of that before giving him up. I 
 wonder whether Morton will go. Did they say any- 
 thing about asking him ?" 
 
 " Well — yes, they did," Archie replied, with some 
 hesitation. 
 
 '' Only they had doubts as to the propriety of in- 
 troducing him to their friends, 1 suppose. They are
 
 i8o MISADVENTURE 
 
 wrong, I think. Some day or other he will be Lord of 
 Abbotsport Manor, and then they will be obliged to know 
 him. They ought to send him a card — especially as he 
 is almost sure to refuse." 
 
 But when this question was spoken of during dinner, 
 it transpired that Morton took no such ungenerous 
 view of his duty to his neighbours. He said he would 
 certainly show himself at the ball, and did not even 
 seem to think that there was any occasion for him to 
 wait until he was asked. Further, he was clearly of 
 opinion that Mark ought to be there, and must be 
 taken there by main force if necessary. 
 
 " London is one thing," he was good enough to explain, 
 " and Abbotsport is another. One can't decline civilities 
 here without giving a good and sufficient reason. It's 
 one of the first duties of a man who is trying to become 
 a country gentleman, to submit to social nuisances and 
 look pleasant." 
 
 '' Are you trying to become a country gentleman, 
 Morton ? " inquired his father, with an air of faintly 
 amused curiosity. 
 
 " I've no choice in the matter," replied the heir- 
 apparent, calmly ; '' that is what I'm bound to be, and I 
 must make up my mind to it. Chetwode isn't situated
 
 LADY DARE'S BALL i8i 
 
 quite as I am, and I daresay he may be inclined tx) shirk 
 his burdens. But he mustn't be allowed to shirk them 5 
 we'll offer him a lift over to Instowe. He has no trap 
 of his own, I believe.'" 
 
 " Only, as you mean to join us, we shall be four with- 
 out him," remarked Archie. 
 
 '•'Well," said Morton, composedly, ' sve can divide 
 ourselves into two carriage loads. In fact we ought to 
 do so, for I am sure Aunt Susan would be gi'ieved 
 beyond measure if her ball dress were crushed. You 
 and the two ladies can take the landau, and I'll drive 
 Chetwode over in the brougham. I suppose the stables 
 do contain an animal who is quiet enough to go in 
 single harness without scariug a nervous man out of 
 his wits ? " 
 
 Mr. Bligh having intimated that such was probably 
 the case, the subject di-opped, and before the date fixed 
 for the ball Moi-ton was at the pains of walking over a 
 second time to Upton Chetwode and bringing a certain 
 amount of pressure to bear upon one whose inclinations 
 appeared to tend towards seclusion. Mark said he didn't 
 think he would derive much amusement from provincisl 
 gaieties, but yielded gracefully when he was infoimed 
 that it was Miss Bligh's particular wish that he should
 
 1 82 MIS A D VENTURE 
 
 respond to such advances as his neighbours were able to 
 make to him. 
 
 " Cicely went the length of saying that she herself 
 would not put in an ajDpearance unless you did," Morton 
 averred. " She's tremendously in earnest about it : and 
 upon my word I believe she's right. It doesn't do to 
 make oneself unpopular. Just look at me for instance. 
 I expect I hate balls a good deal more than you do, and 
 no one has paid me such a compliment as to say that she 
 would go to Instowe for the pleasure of meeting me ; 
 but I shall be there just the same." 
 
 In presence of so bright an example Mark could no 
 longer hesitate. He signified his willingness to do all 
 that might be required of him, and accepted with thanks 
 Morton's kind offer of a seat in Mr. Bligh's brougham ; 
 and after his visitor had left him he laughed un- 
 restrainedly for several minutes. All this was certainly 
 a little comical. Morton's designs were simple and 
 explicable enough ; but what in the world did a young 
 and beautiful heiress mean by throwing herself at his 
 head ? During the whole of his career, which, in a 
 social sense, had been tolerably eventful, he had had no 
 such experience ; and not unnaturally Cicely sank in his 
 estimation by reason of her supposed importunity. He
 
 LADY DARE'S BALL 183 
 
 was, of course, willing enough to many her, if it came 
 to that, but he was not sure that it would not be a great 
 bore to have to make love to her. His sentiments, in 
 short, were precisely what those of the writer and reader 
 of these words would probably be under similar circum- 
 stances ; and if the statement of them makes him appear 
 somewhat of a coxcomb, allowance may perhaps be 
 made for him in consideration of his complete mii-'.under- 
 standing of the case. This was, at any rate, the very 
 last time that any such misconception came within the 
 range of his capacities. 
 
 For although, when the proper time arrived, he duly 
 carried out his share of the compact, and was conducted 
 by Morton Bligh to the scene of festivity. Miss Bligh 
 did not see fit to fulfil hers, except in so far as that she 
 was present in the ball-room on his entrance. She 
 seemed quite surprised when he asked her how many 
 dances she could spare him. 
 
 '• I am very sorry," she answered, " but my card is 
 more than full, and as it is I shall have to throw a good 
 many people over most likely, because I don't think 
 I can stay till the end. But I shall be very glad 
 to introduce you to partners, if you are in want of 
 them."
 
 I&4 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Mark smilingly declined and fell back, with a distinct 
 feeling of mortification. He had not expected to be 
 so snubbed, nor did lie in the least believe, what was 
 nevertheless perfectly true, that Cicely's programme 
 could have been filled up so early in the evening. To 
 be a beauty in London or Paris, or any other large city, 
 is to be one of a certain number of happy and dis- 
 tinguished persons ; but to be the beauty of an English 
 county is very generally to shine supreme and alone, 
 and, since it is human to be gregarious, Cicely's 
 admirers numbered just as many young men as there 
 were in the room. Moreover, it was a matter of almost 
 absolute indifference to her whether she danced with 
 A or B ; so she had promised three dances in advance 
 to her cousin, and had willingly accorded as many to 
 Bobby Dare, who had rushed forward to implore them 
 immediately upon her arrival. 
 
 Mark leant against the wall and watched her, after 
 quieting his conscience by walking through a set of 
 Lancers with the eldest Miss Dare. Her frock was 
 very well cut, he noticed — assuredly it was not the 
 handiwork of a provincial dressmaker — and as for her 
 beauty, that was what he had never thought of disput- 
 ing. Only, somehow or other, it attracted him to-
 
 LADY DARE-'S BALL 185 
 
 night, whicli it could scarcely be said to liave done 
 heretofore. After her very plain invitation to him, he 
 could only account for her behaviour upon the supposi- 
 tion that she was either capricious or a coquette, and 
 the uncertainty stimulated his curiosity. 
 
 In reality she was quite as much disappointed as he 
 was that her engagements did not permit of her danc- 
 ing with him, and she also thought him rather tiresome 
 for having been so dilatory about presenting himself. 
 But upon further consideration she remembered that 
 the delay was probably rather Morton's fault than his ; 
 so that it seemed a little unfair to make him suffer for 
 it. Consulting her programme she found that she had 
 promised the fourteenth dance to Archie and the 
 fifteenth to Bobby; and, with that unscrupulousness 
 which all women, unhappily, are wont to exhibit m 
 their dealings with those whom they have brought into 
 subjection, she determined to ask each of them to let 
 her off. She used no deception in the matter : she told 
 them both candidly that she wished to dance with Mr. 
 Chetwode, and that she relied upon their good-nature 
 to enable her to do as she wished. And having been 
 granted the release, which could hardly be refused, she 
 requested her partner to conduct her to Mr, Chetwode,
 
 1 86 MISADVENTURE 
 
 wliom she informed tliat, after all, she could manage to 
 give him numbers fourteen and fifteen, if he cared to 
 have them. 
 
 " You are very kind,'* he replied, with that deferen- 
 tial, un-English bow of his. •' I was thinking of going 
 away ; but now I shall most thankfully remain. I only 
 wish I could flatter myself that, as a ^Dartner, I should 
 prove worthy of you." 
 
 He danced, as many Russians do, after the German 
 fashion — that is to say, admirably in respect of time 
 and smoothness, yet with a manner of holding himself 
 and his partner which was a little uncomfortable to a 
 lady who had never been out of England. Perhaps it 
 was because she did not get on with him quite as well 
 as she had expected, perhaps it was (as she alleged) 
 because the evening was far advanced and she was tired 
 out, but more probably it was because she desired to 
 test his conversational rather than his waltzing powers 
 that Cicely proposed to sit out the remainder of the 
 time at her disposal. At all events, she obtained his 
 assent, of which she lost no time in taking advantage. 
 Hitherto, this man had baffled her ; and to be baffled 
 was an altogether novel experience for Miss Bligh. She 
 put forth all her powers, which were very great (is not
 
 LAD Y DARE 'S BALL 187 
 
 the power of any young and beautiful woman enor- 
 mous ?)j to break down the barrier of his polite reserve, 
 and it need scarcely be said that she was successful. 
 She made him talk about himself ; she led him on to 
 speak of subjects which he was not in the habit of dis- 
 cussing; she did not, it is true, hear anything about 
 ^Madame SouraviefF — because one must draw the line 
 somewhere — but she learnt that Mr. Chetwode was a 
 w^eary and unhappy man, that he had lost all his 
 illusions and did not know where to find fresh ones ; 
 also that sympathy was very pleasant and very welcome 
 to him. 
 
 And he, for his part, was perfectly sincere. He not 
 only seemed to be fascinated, but really was fascinated. 
 Being no fool, he very soon perceived that Cicely was 
 neither in love with him nor anxious to make him fall 
 in love with her. He had never met a woman at all 
 like her before — had never, indeed, had the chance of so 
 doing — and her combination of audacity and innocence 
 touched some chord or other in his heart which through 
 the whole of his previous life had remained intact. It 
 was with quite spontaneous honesty that he paid her a 
 very pretty compliment at length. 
 
 " You understand a great deal," he said. " How is
 
 i88 MISADVENTURE 
 
 it that you have come to understand so much without 
 ever leaving Abbotsport ? " 
 
 "What is the difference between Abbotsport and 
 other places ? " she asked, laughing. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I suppose you are right ; it is always the same story 
 over and over again ; only sometimes it is printed in* 
 big type and sometimes in small. Still one does not 
 meet every day with a person whose eyes are clear 
 enough to read the small type. And is that enough for 
 you ? Will you have philosophy enough to live always 
 contentedly in a microcosm ? " 
 
 " If that were to be my fate I don't think I should 
 complain of it," answered Cicely ; " but it is not at all 
 likely to be my fate." 
 
 '• Doesn't one's fate very much depend upon one- 
 self?" 
 
 " Yours may, and I daresay it does; but mine will 
 be settled for me by other people. Here comes Bobby, 
 looking very sad and reproachful ; I must go and dance 
 with him, poor boy ! And you can go home to bed, as I 
 see that you are dying to do. Take the brougham, if 
 you want it ; we will make room for Morton, and put 
 Archie up on the box."
 
 LADY DARE'S BALL 189 
 
 But Mark, instead of going home, remained where 
 he was for a time, and watched her while she danced. 
 *' It is not going to be such a simple affair after all," he 
 thought to himself. Indeed, there were several reasons 
 why the line of action upon which he had resolved 
 seemed less easy to carry out than it had at first 
 appeared. To begin with, he had discovered that Miss 
 Bligh's intelligence was above the average : then he 
 suspected that although, like most women, she coveted 
 admiration, her head was not likely to be turned by it : 
 finally — and this was most serious of all — his own head 
 was no longer as cool as he could have wished it to be. 
 He was conscious of certain once familiar sensations, 
 from the recurrence of which he had believed himself 
 to be permanently delivered ; he was conscious, too, of 
 a decided loss of self-confidence and increase of anxiety. 
 " No, it isn't going to be simple," he repeated, as 
 he rose and made for the door. " However, that will, 
 at least, make it more interesting."
 
 ( I90 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 
 
 While Cicely was producing the impression above 
 mentioned upon Mark Chetwode, while Archie from a 
 distant point of vantage was glaring at the unconscious 
 couple, and while the remainder of the assembled 
 company were, it may be hoped, enjoying themselves 
 after their several fashions, Bobby Dare was in a 
 condition of tumultuous mental excitement. That very 
 evening — so he had determined — he was to hear 
 whether life thenceforth should mean for him a hopeful 
 effort towards some realizable ideal or merely a daily 
 round of monotonous duty. Either way, he was going 
 to be relieved from suspense, which is always a stirring 
 prospect. His sister Jane had patted him on the back 
 and encouraged him very much, but that is what one's 
 sister Jane may generally be relied upon to do ; and if 
 one be a sensible man, like Bobby, one makes allow- 
 ance for her partiality while duly appreciating it, and
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 191 
 
 is not specially elated by her sanguine anticipations. 
 Bobby was veiy far from being sanguine, yet lie was 
 glad, as ever}' brave man ought to be, that the time for 
 decisive action had arrived ; and so, after he had danced 
 with Cicely for a minute or two. he asked her whether 
 she would mind coming with him into the libraiy. 
 " Because," said he, "I want to tell you something." 
 
 "I shall be delighted." she answered, unhesitatingly. 
 " I have had more than enough dancing for one night, 
 and if you can tell me anything of a nature to amuse or 
 interest me I shall be truly grateful." 
 
 The libraiy was deserted, and in the way of illumina- 
 tion had but two shaded lamps fa concession to modern 
 social requirements which Lady Dare had only 
 sanctioned after a struggle), the bay windows had been 
 thrown open, and beside one of them was an armchair, 
 of which Cicely promptly took possession. 
 
 '' Well," said she, as soon as Bobby had seated him- 
 self, with his elbows on his knees, upon an old-fashioned 
 stool in front of her. "' speak on. I am accustomed to 
 receiving confidences ; nobody gets more of them than 
 I do, and if I were not so discreet I could tell you all 
 the domestic secrets of Abbotsport. What is your 
 particular trouble ? Have you been falling desperately
 
 192 MISADVENTURE 
 
 in love with somebody, after the manner of sailors? 
 And has she snubbed you ? " 
 
 Perhaps this was rather a cruel speech ; but then it 
 must be apparent to everybody that there are occasions 
 upon which one is cruel only to be kind. Bobby neither 
 took the hint nor resented it. 
 
 '•First of all," he answered, "I wanted to tell you" 
 that I've been appointed to the Cygnet, and that I shall 
 have to join in a few days." 
 
 "It is very ignorant of me, but I really don't know 
 whether I ought to congratulate you or not. Where is 
 the Cygnet 1 And what is she going to do ? " 
 
 " Oh, it's a matter for congratulation, I think. I 
 shall be on the East India Station — in the Persian 
 Gulf or the Red Sea, most likely — and one might be 
 worse off than that. There's always the chance of 
 active service in putting down the slave trade, you see. 
 But what I have made up my mind to say to you to- 
 night — because I'm sure it's better to say it and have 
 done with it — is that whatever happens to me in the 
 future will be good or bad or indifferent, just as you 
 may decide." 
 
 Cicely assumed an air of astonishment which she did 
 not feel.
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 193 
 
 " I don't understand how tliat can be," she declared. 
 
 " But of course you do understand," returned Bobby, 
 who was a very straightforward young man. " You 
 understand quite well, Cicely, that I love you, and that 
 I have never loved any one but you. I haven't said so 
 before, but you knew it without my saying so ; and now 
 I want you to tell me honestly whether it's an alto- 
 gether hopeless business or not. I can do with a very 
 little bit of hope,'' he added, modestly, " if you can give 
 it me." 
 
 Cicely burst out laughing. Her laughter might have 
 struck a dispassionate observer as being a trifle forced. 
 but it would have been most unreasonable to expect of 
 a matter-of-fact and amorous young sailor that he 
 should be in a position to make dispassionate obser- 
 vations. 
 
 "My dear Bobby," she exclaimed, "you are very 
 flattering, but you are a little bit absurd, you know. 
 Didn't I tell you you were in love with somebody? 
 Well, by this time next year you will be in love with 
 somebody else, that's all. And then, if there's any 
 gratitude in you, you will be thankful to me, I hope, for 
 not having taken you too seriously." 
 
 "That isn't a fair way to answer me. Cicely. You 
 VOL. I. N
 
 1 94 MISA D VENTURE 
 
 may refuse me, and I sup^DOse you will ; but you aren't 
 heartless enough to laugh at me, and you needn't 
 pretend that you are. I know you better than that." 
 
 Cicely was a little surprised, and showed she was so 
 by a change in her voice. 
 
 " But, Bobby," she remonstrated, " how would you 
 have me answer you ? You are only a boy." 
 
 " So you say ; still the fact remains that I am a man. 
 If you tell me that you don't care for me, and never can 
 care for me, there's an end of it ; only I'm sure you 
 can't think me absurd. It wasn't absurd to love you. 
 It may be presumptuous perhaps ; that I quite admit." 
 
 If he had been as clever as he was stupid, and as 
 designing as he was honest, he could not have put the 
 case more effectively ; for he touched Cicely's heart and 
 made her feel ashamed of herself. Nevertheless, she 
 shook her head. 
 
 " I am very sorry, Bobby," she said, ^' but you mustn't 
 think about it any more. I hope you won't think 
 about it any more — or, at any rate, not for long. You 
 oughtn't to call me heartless because I can't help 
 remembering how young you are. You haven't seen a 
 great many women yet, have you ? And just think 
 what a dreadful thing it would be to be bound to one,
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 195 
 
 and then to find that there was another whom yon liked 
 better." 
 
 " I daresay it wonld be dreadful if it were possible/' 
 answered Bobby; '"only in my case it isn't possible. 
 However, I suppose you mean me to understand that 
 there's no chance for me ? " 
 
 Cicely, by silence, signified assent. The moon, which 
 was nearly at the full, shone in through the open window, 
 and fell upon the features of the handsome, dejected- 
 looking young fellow who sat facing her. She had never 
 meant to flirt with him ; she had never meant to give a 
 moment of pain to his honest heart. Certainly she had 
 known he was an admirer of hers ; but then so many 
 people were admirers of hers ! Yet, while she looked 
 at him, her conscience pricked her, and at length she 
 said : 
 
 '' I haven't — I hope you don't think I have — en- 
 couraged you, Bobby ? " 
 
 " Oh no," he replied, with a dreary little laugh ; 
 " you cannot be accused of having done that. Only 
 there seemed to be just the least shadow of a hope, and 
 as I am going away for such a long time I thought 
 I would rather hear the truth before I started ; and then 
 Jane kept on telling me that I should never get what I
 
 195 MISADVENTURE 
 
 wanted if I hadn't the pluck to ask for it — which was 
 sensible enough, I daresay." 
 
 The counsels of Jane were no doubt sensible in the 
 abstract, but it was scarcely sensible to quote them to 
 Cicely, whose manner at once underwent a slight 
 change. 
 
 " Oh," said she, " you have been making a confidante 
 of Jane, then ? " 
 
 In truth there was no great love lost between her 
 and Miss Dare, who was strong-minded and managing, 
 and whom she suspected (with perfect justice) of being 
 desirous that her brother should marry a rich woman. 
 
 "I didn't exactly confide in her," answered Bobby. 
 " She guessed what was the matter with me, and when 
 she taxed me with it in plain terms I couldn't contradict 
 her. So then she urged me not to put off speaking 
 until it might be too late." 
 
 " Your sister," observed Cicely, " doesn't seem to give 
 me credit for knowing my own mind. Did she think that 
 it was a question of who might happen to speak first ? " 
 
 " No, only she thought But perhaps you will be 
 
 offended if I tell you what she thought." 
 
 " Perhaps I shall,"" answered Cicely ; " but I wish to 
 hear it, all the same. Go on."
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 197 
 
 And so accustomed was Bobby to obey this imperious 
 young lady that he did not venture to dispute her 
 pleasure. 
 
 •* Well," he began, ••' I was afraid — of course I don't 
 know whether I am right or wrong, and I mustn't ask — 
 but for some time past I have been very much afraid of 
 Archie. Jealous of him, in short, if I must speak the 
 plain truth." 
 
 " Yes," said Cicely, with an unmoved countenance, 
 for indeed this was no news to her. 
 
 Bobby looked wistfully at her for a moment, nnd then 
 resumed : 
 
 " Naturally I can't help knowing that Archie is a cut 
 above me in almost everything, except, perhaps, in 
 
 saiKng a boat ; but Jane, you see "' 
 
 " Jane, quite as naturally, has a less humble opinion 
 of you. So far, I am entirely with Jane. Well ? '' 
 
 " Well, she wouldn't allow that, on our merits, there 
 was much difference between us ; but she has an idea 
 that your father wants you to many Archie, and that 
 you may do it in order to please him. I"ve been thinking 
 a good deal about it since,"' continued Bobby, as the girl 
 remained silent, " and it seems to me that it really is a 
 danger. A danger for you, I mean; as for me, no
 
 198 MISADVENTURE 
 
 doubt I shouldn't have beeu any better off if Archie 
 had never been born." 
 
 And, with a certain unstudied eloquence vs^hich was 
 not ineffective, he proceeded to expatiate upon the fatal 
 consequences which must necessarily result from a 
 marriage of convenience. He declared — and his face 
 proved his sincerity — that he cared far more for her 
 happiness than for his own, that he could very well bear 
 to hear that she had married a man whom she loved, 
 and that he had always known that he himself could 
 hardly win her love by anything short of a miracle ; 
 but to hear that from motives of expediency she had 
 married a man whom she did not really love would, he 
 confessed, be to him the very worst news possible, and 
 he implored her not to sacrifice herself in so useless 
 a way. 
 
 Cicely's response to his appeal was scarcely satisfac- 
 tory to him. 
 
 "Perhaps," said she, "the simplest plan is not to 
 marry at all. I don't think I have ever met anybody 
 except my father whom I should care to live with 
 always ; and you are completely mistaken if you 
 imagine that he wishes me to marry against my will." 
 
 " Perhaps he doesn't," answered Bobby, doubtfully,
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 199 
 
 " but everybody seems to tliink that he has set his 
 heart upon your marrying Archie. And small blame to 
 him if he has ! Although I do tnist you won't oblige 
 
 him, unless — unless '" 
 
 Cicely shut up her fan with a sudden impatient 
 rattle. 
 
 " Oh, the chances are that I shall live and die an old 
 maid," she said. '• No doubt there are plenty of women 
 who can manage to think their husbands paragons of 
 perfection, but I can't believe myself capable of such 
 imbecility, and if one didn't think the man a paragon, I 
 don't see how one could escape abhorring him. The 
 whole question is one of imagination from beginning to 
 end, and my imagination has always been defective.'' 
 
 That was probably true; and it was certainly true 
 that she was as yet fancy free. If any one had con- 
 trived to find a soft place in her heart, that person was 
 no other than the modest Bobby himself ; but of course 
 such an avowal could not be made without a risk of mis- 
 conception. 
 
 And now this interview was brought to an abrupt 
 close by the entrance of Archie, who marched up to the 
 couple in a state of ill-disguised irritation, to say that 
 he had been looking for them all over the place, that
 
 200 MISADVENTURE 
 
 the carriage was at the door, and that everybody was 
 going away. 
 
 " Chetwode appears to have appropriated the 
 brougham," he added. "Pretty cool of him, I must 
 say. We shall have to stow Morton away somehow." 
 
 He was not much mollified when his cousin re- 
 joined : 
 
 " That is my fault ; I told Mr. Chetwode he could 
 have the brougham. The carriage holds four, but 
 anyhow you won't mind sitting on the box on such a 
 lovely night, will you ? I thought you w^ould be glad to 
 have the chance of a cigar." 
 
 Archie grunted ; and while Cicely, who had risen, 
 was making her way towards the ball-room, to say good- 
 night to her entertainers, he muttered to Bobby : 
 
 " That brute has been swilling champagne the w^hole 
 evening. If we could have got away a little sooner, 
 there might have been some hope of his being able to 
 behave himself ; but by this time he must be as drunk 
 as an owl. I'd put him on the box, only I suppose he'd 
 roll off." 
 
 Morton was subsequently offered the box-seat, which 
 he declined, with thanks. He was not drunk, but he 
 might without much exaggeration have been called
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 201 
 
 tipsy. He was also in high spirits ; for he had witnessed 
 from a distance his sister's prolonged conversation with 
 Mark Chetwode. and Archie's evident ill-humour struck 
 him in the light of a capital joke. He beguiled the 
 homeward way with some facetious sallies at the ex- 
 pense of Lady Dare's guests, most of which were 
 expressed in language which shocked Miss Skipwith 
 beyond measure, and consequently amused Cicely. The 
 latter was in need of any amusement that she could 
 obtain, because her own spirits were somewhat de- 
 pressed. She had an uncomfortable feeling that she 
 had not behaved very well to poor Bobby, and a still 
 more uncomfortable feeling that he had behaved with a 
 good deal of magnanimity to her ; she coald have 
 wished also to ex^olain to him — had it seemed possible 
 to do that without exciting false hopes — that she was 
 not, and never had been, in love with any man, and that 
 she believed herself to be constitutionally incapable of 
 such emotions. But there are things which it is always 
 extremely difficult to say, because nobody will ever 
 believe them ; so that perhaps it was just as well for 
 Bobby's peace of mind that his entreaties had been met 
 by an uncompromising negative. After all he was very 
 young, and the wounds of young people heal quickly.
 
 202 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Meanwhile Morton, encouraged by his aunt's de- 
 precatory murmurs and his sister's laughter, was 
 not mincing matters. Not a good word had he to 
 say for a single person whom he had met that even- 
 ing, except Mark Chetwode, whom he boldly averred 
 to be the only civilized human being in the entire 
 countryside. 
 
 " Chetwode is a gentleman," said he. " Clever fellow 
 too — uncommonly clever fellow. Not much use for 
 the Miss Dares to set their caps at him, I can tell 
 them." 
 
 "Perhaps they won't," observed Cicely. "He isn't 
 such a very great catch, you see." 
 
 " My dear girl," returned her brother, with much 
 solemnity, " a man like Chetwode would be a catch if 
 he hadn't a brass farthing in the world. You may take 
 my word for that. He'll get into Parliament and dis- 
 tinguish himself, you'll see ; he won't be content to 
 vegetate down here all his life. I should say," con- 
 tinued Morton with as much gravity and deliberation 
 as if he had known what he was talking about, 
 '' that with a little capital — of course a little capital 
 is necessary to start with — Chetwode might rise to 
 almost any position."
 
 BOBBY IS PUT OUT OF SUSPENSE 203 
 
 And it is tiglily probable that he would have pro- 
 ceeded to hint in plain tenns at the quarter whence the 
 requisite capital might appropriately be derived, had he 
 not been preserved from wrecking his schemes in that 
 way by the termination of the drive.
 
 ( 204 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 
 
 One fine morning, not long after the ball at which he 
 had entertained his friends and acquaintances, Sir 
 George Dare mounted his old bay horse, and lost a 
 button off the back of his trousers in the process. This, 
 coming on the top of other vexatious incidents, sad- 
 dened him and brought gloomy ideas into his mind ; so 
 that he shook his head very mournfully as he jogged 
 down the drive. 
 
 " It comes to this," he sighed, " that I must either 
 give up wearing braces altogether, or have the library 
 steps brought out every time that I want to get upon a 
 horse's back. A pretty state of things for a man of my 
 age, who has always led an abstemious life ! " 
 
 As, however, his temperament was optimistic, and as 
 exercise and fresh air always did him good, he presently 
 became more cheerful, remembering that, after all, he 
 might be a great deal worse off. There was poor Bligh^
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 205 
 
 for instance, to whom lie was about to pay a neighbourly 
 visit — Bligh, who was his junior by a long way and was 
 a helpless cripple, simply waiting for death. 
 
 '•'Waiting for death," soliloquized Sir George, "that's 
 all that can be said about him ; and with no prospect 
 of dying comfortably either ; for it must be deuced 
 unpleasant to have such a rascal of a son, and see him 
 standing there ready to step into your shoes. Thank 
 God, I've no cause to be ashamed of any son of mine — 
 though I wish one of 'em wasn't such a stoopid young 
 ass!" 
 
 Sir George, who was fond of Bobby and proud of him, 
 would have turned purple with anger if anybody else 
 had ventured so to describe the Benjamin of the family ; 
 but it certainly was tiresome of the boy to have abortive 
 love affairs and bolt off to London on some flimsy pre- 
 text before his leave had expired. Bobby had departed, 
 and the flimsy pretext alluded to had been outwardly 
 acquiesced in ; but the mishap which had befallen him 
 was no secret to any of his near relations, because he 
 had been unable to conceal it from Jane, and Jane had 
 imparted it to her mother, who had told Sir George, and 
 reticence had never been one of Sir George's many fine 
 qualities. Not that he meant to say a word about the
 
 2o6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 matter to Bligh ; that would be a very useless and un- 
 dignified thing to do. Girls must be allowed to choose 
 their own husbands, or at any rate to reject aspirants 
 whom they may have the bad taste not to fancy, and 
 Lady Dare was much mistaken in thinking that Cicely 
 was the sort of girl who would submit to have a husband 
 chosen for her. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Lady Dare did not think so ; but 
 Jane did. Jane was convinced that unless some disin- 
 terested person intervened Cicely would be talked into 
 marrying her cousin, and Jane's conviction, which had 
 reached her father's ears, may have had something to do 
 with that honest gentleman's sudden anxiety to inform 
 himself as to the state of poor Bligh's health. But if so 
 he was quite unconscious of it. He had told Lady 
 Dare, who had suggested the intervention of the disin- 
 terested person, that that was all stuff and nonsense, 
 and although he had agreed with her that it would be 
 very nice if Bobby were to make a good marriage, and 
 had not disputed her assertion that Bobby was both 
 handsomer and more lovable than Archie, he had at the 
 same time reminded her that Cicely appeared to be of a 
 different opinion. 
 
 On reaching the Priory he was informed that Mr.
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS IXTEXTIONS 207 
 
 Bligh was out in the garden, and there, reclining in a 
 sheltered, sunny spot, he found the invalid, whom he 
 greeted with much heartiness. 
 
 •'' Well, Bligh,'"' said he, " it's a great pleasure to see 
 you out of doors again, I'm sure ! And how are you ? 
 Progressing, I hope — progressing, eh ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm progressing," answered Mr. Bligh, with a 
 little laugh. *•' In fact I may say that I'm progi'essing 
 very fast indeed — dowm the hill." 
 
 Sir George began to say : '• Oh, nonsense, my dear 
 fellow, you mustn't talk like that ! You're all right ; we 
 shall have you about again before long." But while he 
 was speaking he looked at the other's pale, waxen face, 
 and suddenly felt ashamed of uttering such absurdities ; 
 so that his sentence, which had started so bravely, died 
 away feebly before reaching its conclusion. 
 
 To relieve his embarrassment Mr. Bligh at once 
 changed the subject, and presently made some inquiry 
 about Bobby, which enabled Sir George to say : 
 
 " Ah, poor boy, I'm here partly on his behalf. Asked 
 me to say good-bye to you all for him. He has been 
 ordered off to the East India Station, you know." 
 
 " So Cicely told me," observed Mr. Bligh ; '* but I 
 didn't know that he had to join his ship immediately."
 
 2o8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " He won't have to join for a week or two, I believe ; 
 but lie said he must go up to London to get his outfit. 
 The fact of the matter is that he wanted to get away — 
 and no fool he ! / didn't attempt to detain him, though 
 of course his mother was distressed." 
 
 Sir George glanced at Mr. Bligh and saw that his 
 meaning had been understood. He did not, however.- 
 obtain much comfort or encouragement from the latter, 
 who only smiled and remarked : 
 
 " He is one of a tolerably large number. Happily for 
 him he is a sailor, and sailors have short memories." 
 
 " I don't know so much about that," returned Sir 
 George, rather grumpily ; "we Dares aren't weather- 
 cocks, whatever we may be. At the same time, I am 
 qaite aware — and so I told his mother — -that you have 
 other intentions. No doubt it's just as well that he 
 should get away, poor fellow ! How long do you expect 
 your son to stay with you ? " 
 
 " He hasn't spoken to me about his plans," Mr. Bligh 
 answered, " but I should think that, under the circum- 
 stances, he would see the propriety of being in at the 
 death. It's customary, you know ; and I have been 
 much impressed of late by Morton's earnest desire to do 
 what is customary."
 
 MR BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 209 
 
 Sir George suddenly broke out into strong language. 
 As a matter of principle, no one was more firmly con- 
 vinced than tie that it is both wrong and unlike a 
 gentleman to swear; but surely it is justifiable to resort 
 to any remedy in order to secure yourself against a fit 
 of apoplexy, and his good friend Bligh had the knack 
 of exasperating him beyond endurance. His observa- 
 tions were somewhat incoherent, but the upshot of them 
 was that it was downright disgusting : and Mr. Bligh 
 agreed meditatively that perhaps it was rather disgust- 
 ing, when you came to think of it. The situation, how- 
 ever, was not of his creating, and he was at a loss to 
 understand why he was being scolded. 
 
 Sir George said : 
 
 " Nobody is scolding you, Bligh ; but if you don't 
 want to make a man lose his temper — I believe that's 
 just what you do want, though — you shouldn't talk in 
 such an unnatural way." 
 
 '' I thought I was suiting myself to my subject," 
 answered Mr. Bligh, mildly. " For the matter of that, 
 nothing that happens is unnatural. Otherwise it 
 couldn't happen, you see." 
 
 This puzzled Sir George, who rubbed the back of hi» 
 head and endeavoured to argue the point. Thus he was 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 2IO MISADVENTURE 
 
 led away into an irrelevant discussion, and had not yet 
 ascertained whether the Abbotsport property was really 
 to pass into the hands of the obnoxious Morton or not, 
 when the colloquy was interrupted by Archie's appear- 
 ance upon the scene. 
 
 That young man, who strolled up with his hands in 
 his pockets, looked as if he didn't know what to do with 
 himself — which indeed was his case. He said disconso- 
 lately that Cicely had gone off somewhere to visit the poor» 
 as usual, and that Morton was asleep in the smoking- 
 room — also as usual. After which he sat down upon 
 the ground and heaved a profound sigh. Sir George 
 chatted for a few minutes longer, and then took his 
 leave, saying : 
 
 ^' Well, I ought to be going home or I shall be late 
 for luncheon. Very glad to have seen you, Bligh, and 
 — and — I hope you'll be better soon. And you must 
 keep up your spirits, you know — you must keep up your 
 spirits ! " 
 
 " He's a good old fellow, that," remarked Archie, when 
 the worthy baronet was out of hearing. "Did he come 
 over here just to ask how you were ? " 
 
 " He is a very good old fellow," replied Mr. Bligh, 
 " although I don't think he came over solely for that
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 211 
 
 purpose. I believe that one of his reasons for coming 
 was that he — or possibly Lady Dare — is very anxious to 
 know whether I mean my son to inherit this place.'' 
 
 " What business is that of theirs ? '' 
 
 " It is to some extent their business. One can't be 
 altogether independent of ones neighbours, and there is 
 a certain kind of neighbour who can give one a good 
 deal of annoyance if he chooses. However, I didn't tell 
 Sir George what my intentions were. But I think," 
 added Mr. Bligh, after a short pause, " that I will tell 
 yo/u, if you don't mind listening to me for a minute or 
 two. Xow that my mind is made up, I should like you 
 to know it. Did it ever occur to you that I might put 
 you in Morton's place ? " 
 
 •' No," answered the young man, looking up wonder- 
 ingly, ■' I can't say that it ever did." 
 
 '' I am glad of that ; because I don't mean to commit 
 such an act of injustice, much as I should like to commit 
 it. If I felt free to consult my own inclinations, I 
 should choose to be succeeded by somebody who would 
 be content to lead the ordinary life of an English 
 country gentleman. I have been interested in my 
 tenants, and in the fishing people, and I have tried to 
 do what I could for them, and the idea that my work
 
 212 MISADVENTURE 
 
 will be either undone or allowed to die a natural death 
 isn't, of course, quite pleasant to me. Still I couldn't 
 deprive Morton of liis birthright. After thinking it 
 over, that is the conclusion to which I have come. The 
 excuse, it seems to me, would be insufficient, and I need 
 not weary you by going into reasons and particulars. 
 But I have thought myself justified in leaving him only 
 a life interest in the estates, which will pass on his death 
 to his eldest son, or, if he never has any sons, to Cicely. 
 For you I have made such provision as it seemed right 
 and reasonable to make. You won't be a rich man, 
 Archie, but you will be independent — which, after all, 
 means much the same thing." 
 
 Archie made the unintelligible mumble which is all 
 that can be expected of a man to whom an announce- 
 ment of that kind has been made, and a pause ensued. 
 Then Mr. Bligh, who had been scrutinizing the young 
 man with a faintly amused air, resumed : 
 
 " I wonder whether you would mind my speaking to 
 you with brutal and unceremonious frankness ? " 
 
 Archie raised his blue eyes wonderingly and an- 
 swered : 
 
 *' I don't mind your saying anything that you want to 
 say, Uncle Wilfrid."
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 213 
 
 "Thank you. Well, I want to say something that 
 may perhaps make you blush ; but I will look the other 
 way while I'm saying it. You must try to forgive an 
 unemployed cripple for having had eyes shaq) enough 
 to perceive that you are smitten with my daughter, and 
 maybe you will forgive me the more easily when I tell 
 you that it has given me the greatest possible satisfaction 
 to perceive that such is the case. If I had to choose a 
 husband for her out of the whole world, I should choose 
 you ; and — in short, my dear fellow, I wish you good 
 luck with all my heart."' 
 
 Here Mr. Bligh held out his hand to his nephew, who 
 took it, expressing his gratitude as warmly as a some- 
 what limited vocabulary would allow. He thought his 
 uncle was treating him with very great kindness and 
 generosity, and he said as much. 
 
 "Well, no,'" answered the elder man, laughing, " I"m 
 afraid I can't claim much credit for either. You have 
 all the personal qualities that one is entitled to ask 
 for in a son-in-law, but, in addition to that, circum- 
 stances give you a special value in my eyes. I suppose 
 feeling one's end so near makes one a little wanting in 
 delicacy and inclined to say things which, as a general 
 rule, are only hinted at, but as I have begun by being
 
 214 MISADVENTURE 
 
 SO candid, I may as well go on. Looking to the future, 
 I can't but be aware that Morton is not likely to marry, 
 and that his life is not likely to be a long one. Conse- 
 quently I foresee that some day my place may be taken 
 by Cicely's husband, and it would be a comfort to me to 
 know that Cicely's husband will be one of my own 
 blood. I only mention this by way of explaining 
 myself ; your own good sense will tell you that it would 
 be a very great mistake for you to count upon chances, 
 or even upon probabilities. I trust I haven't shocked 
 you by my cold-bloodedness." 
 
 It IS not impossible that Archie might have been just 
 the least bit in the world shocked, had he been in a 
 calmer condition of mind ; but as it was he was too 
 excited and anxious for criticism, and what he chiefly 
 wanted to know was whether he could at once declare 
 himself to Cicely with any prospect of success. 
 
 " Eeally," said his uncle, laughing, " you ought to be 
 a better judge of that than I. I can't, of course, do 
 anything to help you ; all I can say is that you have 
 my best wishes." 
 
 This was, no doubt, the proper attitude to take up, 
 and, whatever may be thought of Mr. Bligh's discretion, 
 it cannot be said that up to that point he had used any
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 215 
 
 undue influence for the furtherance of his schemes. 
 But later in the day he did, thougrh without intending 
 it, transofress to some extent the limits of strict neu- 
 trality. Cicely — as indeed was a common enough 
 practice with her — did not put in an appearance at 
 luncheon, but at five o'clock she found her father in 
 the library and seated herself by his side to pour out 
 his tea for him ; and then it was that she heard the 
 news of Bobby's precipitate departure, which seemed 
 both to distress and anger her. 
 
 " He migrht at least have taken the trouble to come 
 and say good-bye to us," she remarked. 
 
 '^ Taking: evervthinof into consideration," answered 
 Mr. Bligh, with a smile, " perhaps some allowance may 
 be made for his bad manners." 
 
 " Oh, you know, then ? " 
 
 "Well, I can guess. Sir George didn't leave a great 
 deal to my imagination, though we avoided particulars. 
 From your guilty expression, I presume that the poor 
 youth must have gone the length of putting a plain 
 question and getting a plain answer." 
 
 Cicely nodded, rather sadly. She was not much given 
 to confidences, but she had never had any secrets from 
 her father, and she was the more willing now to tell
 
 2i6 MISADVENTURE 
 
 him what had occurred because her conscience was ill at 
 ease. Did he, she asked, consider that she had behaved 
 badly ? Had she been to blame ? Did he think that 
 Bobby was very angry with her ? 
 
 "" It seems so horrid and cruel to have sent him away 
 like this before his time ; and I am afraid his people 
 will hate me for it," she said, penitently. 
 
 Mr. Bligh, however, could not be brought to view 
 this matter in a serious light. He was one of the most 
 kind-hearted men in the world, but he had forgotten, or 
 perhaps had never known, the sufferings attendant upon 
 unrequited love, and he did not think it probable that 
 a healthy young sailor would find much difficulty in 
 forgetting the girl he had left behind him. These 
 unromantic sentiments he imparted to Cicely, and was 
 amused to notice that if they reassured her they did not 
 altogether please her. Women may always be trusted 
 to think kindly of a disconsolate lover ; but, whatever 
 they may say, they can't readily pardon a lover who has 
 found consolation. 
 
 And it may be that her father's philosophical remarks 
 produced a certain effect upon Cicely, which, to do him 
 justice, he had not meant to produce ; for when, as 
 seemed but natural after such a conversation, he went
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 217 
 
 on to speak of other admirers of hers, and mentioned 
 one in particular whom, if he were in her place, he 
 should rate more highly than all the rest put together, 
 she only shrugged her shoulders and said : 
 
 '• Oh, he is very nice and I like him very much. I 
 daresay he would do as well as anybody, if there must 
 be somebody. But must there be somebody ? " 
 
 •• No,'" answered Mr. Bligh ; '• but I hope there will 
 be somebody. You don't like me to say I sha'n't be 
 here much longer ; yet that is what I am always think- 
 ing of, and I am quite sure I should have a better 
 chance of living for another year or so if I were easy in , 
 my mind about you." 
 
 In saying this he unquestionably went fmther than 
 he ought to have done ; but he conceived himself to be 
 merely stating a fact. Nothing could have been less in 
 accordance with his desires than that his life should be 
 prolonged by his daughter's marriage with a man whom 
 she did not love. His own impression was that she 
 really did love Archie, but that she probably was not as 
 yet aware of it. It had always been so much a matter 
 of course that every young man who came near her should 
 prostrate himself before her. So that there seemed to 
 be no great harm in saying what an honest, manly
 
 2i8 MISADVENTURE 
 
 young fellow Archie was, and how straight he had 
 always kept, although his regiment had the name of 
 being a fast one, and what a good sportsman he had 
 shown himself, and how well he seemed to be adapted 
 for country life. 
 
 " I was telling him this morning," continued Mr. 
 Bligh with a sigh, " that I would very much rather 
 leave the Priory to him than to Morton, who will hate 
 the place. But that can't be." 
 
 " I suppose not," said Cicely, doubtfully. 
 
 " Oh no ; it wouldn't do. I hesitated for a time, but 
 my mind is quite made up now. Morton must have 
 the place for life, and the remainder must be to his son, 
 supposing that he ever has a son. Happily, I can leave 
 you a considerable sum of money without pinching him, 
 and I have always intended to provide for Archie. Sup- 
 posing that things should fall out as they may, you and 
 he, by putting your means together, would have enough 
 to live the sort of life that I should like to think of you 
 as living. I mean that you could have a moderate- 
 sized country house and a. sufficiency of horses. Some- 
 times I have thought that possibly Upton Chetwode 
 might suit you. But these are only a sick man's 
 fancies," concluded Mr. Bligh, laughing. "I amuse
 
 MR. BLIGH STATES HIS INTENTIONS 219 
 
 myself with fancies, having so little else to do. Occa- 
 sionally also I torment myself; and in one of my 
 blackest visions I see you established in a London 
 house, with your Aunt Susan mounting guard over you. 
 Heavens ! how wretched you would be ! "' 
 
 Well, at any rate, this man was not selfish. 
 Perhaps he did not know what was most likely to 
 ensure his daughter's happiness : perhaps he did not 
 sufficiently realize that the destiny of eveiy individual 
 on earth is, or ought to be,, the property of that indivi- 
 dual. All his life he had been accustomed to be a ruler, 
 and in some measure to sway the destinies of a large 
 number of dependents. But of himself he had thought 
 little enough ; and this was what struck Cicely, as she 
 rose and looked down upon his somewhat wistful face. 
 
 '• You are always doing things, or wanting to do 
 things, for other people, papa," she said. " We must 
 try to show our gratitude by pleasing ourselves, in order 
 to please you.*" 
 
 Then she bent down and kissed him and left the 
 room. There were tears in her eyes, he noticed, and 
 he wondered why. He did not, however, imagine that 
 they were caused by any dread of the future which he 
 had sketched out for her.
 
 ( 220 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 
 
 Her father's avowal of his wishes did not come upon 
 Cicely as any surprise. She had divined them some 
 time back — in truth they had not been very carefully 
 disguised — and although he had not been quite 
 as explicit with her as he had been with Archie, 
 he might have been so and yet told her little 
 that she did not already understand. Evidently 
 there was something more than a possibility that 
 Morton might die without issue, and just as evidently 
 it must have been necessary to make arrangements 
 for the succession, in that event, of a Bligh worthy 
 of the name. Now there was but one such man in 
 existence besides the present owner of the property ; 
 and what could be more natural than that that owner 
 should desire to bring about a match which in time might 
 have the effect of restoring his daughter to the position 
 of authority and beneficence of which his own demise
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 221 
 
 would deprive her? The match, in fact, was un- 
 doubtedly a desirable one. Cicely was able to contem- 
 plate it without repugnance, if without enthusiasm. 
 She was not in love with Archie, but then she was not 
 in love with anybody else, nor likely to be, and she 
 worshipped her father. Her feeling at the moment was 
 that if, by marrying her cousin, she could relieve her 
 fj^ther's mind of anxiety and so prolong his life, she 
 would not hesitate for a moment to make what, after all, 
 could hardly be called a sacrifice. Nobody, at any rate, 
 should suspect that it was a sacrifice. One must do 
 these things with a good grace if one is to do them at 
 all ; and why Cicely, who was not given to weeping, 
 should have found it necessary to dry her eyes at fre- 
 quent intervals for half an hour after coming to this 
 conclusion it would be useless to inquire, since she her- 
 self did not know. She supposed that she was crying 
 because she hated so to talk or think about her father's 
 death — which, to be sure, was a plausible reason enough. 
 
 When she had dressed for dinner she returned to the 
 library, where she found an unexpected guest in conver- 
 sation with her father. 
 
 " You will think that I am developing into a very 
 obstrusive neighbour," Mark Chetwode said, as he rose
 
 222 MISADVENTURE 
 
 to shake hands with her, " but your brother must bear 
 the blame. He came to see me this afternoon and in- 
 sisted on bringing me back with him, though I assure 
 you that I defended myself to the best of my power." 
 
 " Didn't you want to come, then ? " asked Cicely, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Ah, that is a question which requires no answer.. 
 But I know that in England a man who presents him- 
 self at the dinner-hour without an invitation takes a 
 very great liberty. In Russia it is different."' 
 
 " My dear sir, didn't I invite you ? " called out Morton 
 from the armchair in which he was lounging at the 
 other end of the room. " Let it be supposed that we 
 are Bussians, if that will make you any happier." 
 
 " Mr. Chetwode Avill be good enough to suppose no- 
 thing of the kind," returned Cicely. " We are English, 
 and so is he : and if he were anything else he wouldn't 
 be half as welcome as he is, I can tell him." 
 
 In point of fact, his presence was particularly welcome 
 to her that evening; because, after what had passed 
 between her and her father, she was conscious of a 
 novel and not very agreeable sensation of embarrassment 
 which prevented her from talking to Archie with her 
 accustomed freedom. Her father, she was aware, had
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 223 
 
 been making confidential statements to Archie as well 
 as to her, and it was more than probable that he had 
 received confidential statements in retm-n. Under the 
 circumstances, it was a relief to have to exert oneself 
 for the entertainment of an outsider. 
 
 No great exertion, however, was required in order to 
 •entertain Mr. Chetwode upon this occasion. It was 
 rather he who exerted himself, and when he chose to 
 ■exert himself he could be very pleasant company. With- 
 out seeming to take any trouble about it (though of 
 ■course such a thinsf can't be done without a g^ood 
 deal of trouble), he contrived to draw everybody round 
 the dinner-table into a conversation which he turned 
 hither and thither as he pleased. AVhat was more, he 
 managed to put them all ujDon pretty good terms with 
 themselves, and consequently with him. Meanwhile he 
 kept his faculties of observation on the alert and made 
 a few trifling discoveries. It did not take him long to 
 detect Archie's subdued excitement and Cicely's some- 
 what forced gaiety, nor was he slow to note the circum- 
 stance that Mr. Bligh's eyes kept wandering from his 
 •daughter to his nephew and back again. But these 
 things were far from disquieting him. The first act of 
 the little domestic drama was drawing towards a close,
 
 224 MISADVENTURE 
 
 he thought, and its conclusion would clear the ground. 
 Obviously the nephew, strongly supported by the uncle, 
 was about to make his^ proposal ; obviously, too, he was 
 about to be rejected : for Mark was convinced that 
 Cicely's affection for her cousin was of a pure cousinly 
 nature. He, for his part, therefore, had at present 
 nothing to do but to bide his time and make himself 
 unobtrusively agreeable. 
 
 " My dear," said Miss Skipwith to Cicely, when the 
 two ladies had returned to the drawing-room, a vast 
 apartment which was seldom occupied at any other hour 
 of the day, '' I don't, as you know, pretend to any great 
 insight into character, but it does seem to me that Mr. 
 Chetwode is a most remarkable man." . 
 
 " Very remarkable," agreed Cicely, who was not 
 thinking about Mr. Chetwode at the moment. 
 
 " He has so much more information than most of the 
 young men whom one meets nowadays ; and then his 
 manners are so very superior to theirs ! To be sure it 
 is no great compliment to him to say that; because 
 some of them really have no manners at all. Look at 
 your cousin Archie, for instance. I daresay he doesn't 
 mean to be rude, but he has a way of yawning under 
 one's very nose which I can't think gentleman-like ; and.
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 225 
 
 to my mind, he is not nearly careful enough about the 
 language that he uses in the presence of ladies."' 
 
 '' Has he been saying an}"thing indecent ? " asked 
 Cicely, absently. 
 
 " My dear Cicely ! Of course I only meant that he 
 was too much given to slang expressions. Mr. Chet- 
 wode, if you have noticed, never interlards his conver- 
 sation with slang. Mr. Chetwode. in short." concluded 
 Miss Skipwith, emphaticall}^, " is a thorough gentleman.'' 
 
 " The inference," observed Cicely. '' is flattering to us 
 all. If Archie isn't a gentleman I suppose the rest of 
 us must be snobs ; for there's no getting over the fact 
 that his blood is the same as our?." 
 
 '' It is not altogether a question of blood, my dear : 
 and I am sure that I never denied that your cousin was 
 a gentleman. One may disapprove of a person notwith- 
 standing his being a gentleman by birth." 
 
 That Miss Skipwith disapproved of Ai'chie was an 
 old story, and her motives for so doing were no secret 
 to her niece : but when, encouraged by the latter s 
 silence, the old lady went on to say that no true gentle- 
 man was scheming or self-seeking, that greed of money 
 was peculiarly repellent in the young, and a good deal 
 more to the like effect, Cicely grew a little impatient. 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 226 MISA D VENTURE 
 
 '• If 1 wanted to create a prejudice against any one, I 
 siiould not set to work in your way, Aunt Susan," she 
 remarked. '' One can hardly expect to succeed unless 
 one can hit upon some charges which have at least a 
 faint show of probability about them. But of course 
 you're not a good calumniator, you poor old Aunt 
 Susan," she added, softening at the sight of Miss Skip- 
 with's conscience-stricken countenance ; " how should 
 y(3u be ? And you're quite wrong about Archie — if that 
 matters." 
 
 So saying she moved towards the piano, by way of clos- 
 ing the conversation, while Miss Skipwith sighed heavily. 
 
 In the dining-room things were not going on quite so 
 smoothly as they had done before the departure of the 
 ladies. As soon as the men were left to themselves 
 Mr. Bligh apologized to his guest, and requested his son 
 to do the honours for him. He had had a rather tiring 
 day, he said, and felt quite worn out. 
 
 "'- 1 daresay Mr. Chetwode will kindly excuse my lack 
 of ceremony in consideration of my infirmity." 
 
 So his servant was rung for, and presently he was 
 wheeled away. 
 
 " Breaking up fast," remarked Morton, laconically, 
 after the door liad closed.
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 227 
 
 *' Oh. I hope not," said Mark, wishing to be polite. 
 
 Mr. Bligh's heir-apparent laughed rather disagree- 
 ably. 
 
 " No amount of hoping will keep the governor alive 
 much longer/' answered he ; '•' and as far as that goes 
 I shouldn't think he himself cared about living. What's 
 the use of remaining alive when youVe lost the use of 
 your legs ? You're only a burden to yourself and to 
 others." 
 
 Archie cracked a walnut with unnecessary noise, 
 threw the crackers down upon the table, and muttered 
 something under his breath. 
 
 " I beg your pardon,'' said Morton, turning round 
 upon him at once with a deferential smile ; " did you 
 make a remark ? '" 
 
 " Yes," answered Archie, " I made a remark. But 
 perhaps I had better not repeat it." 
 
 Mark hastily threw himself into the breach with some 
 question about the vintage of the claret they were drink- 
 ing ; but Morton, who may have been a little under the 
 influence of that excellent wine, or may have been de- 
 termined to exasperate his cousin — possibly both causes 
 were at work — did not choose to be put to silence. 
 
 " I always think," said he, throwing himself back in
 
 228 MIS AD VEN TURK 
 
 his chair, and nursing his leg comfortably, " that the 
 humbug of ever^^day life is the most gratuitous of the 
 many miseries which we are in the habit of inflicting 
 upon ourselves in this country. It serves absolutely no 
 purpose, because nobody is deceived by it ; it makes 
 political speeches intolerably dull and leading articles 
 simply unreadable. One must forgive lawyers and 
 parsons and diplomatists, because it's their trade to say 
 what they don't think, and their bread-and-butter 
 depends u^oon it ; but why the deuce shouldn't the rest 
 of us acknowledge what we can't conceal ? In my own 
 humble way I endeavour to do so ; and when a man is 
 palpably dying I don't pretend to think that he will live 
 for another twenty years.'" 
 
 Mark tried to give the discussion an academical turn, 
 and for a short space of time he was successful. He 
 could not, however, do the whole of the talking himself, 
 and so Morton soon found an opportunity of harking 
 back to the original subject. 
 
 " Family affection," said he, " may be a very pretty 
 thing where it exists ; but where it doesn't exist, and 
 where everybody knows that it doesn't, one merely 
 behaves like a fool by making a show of it. When a 
 man stands between me and a fortune, and when he
 
 MARK .\fAKES PEACE 229 
 
 happens to be afflicted with an incurable disease into 
 the bargain, I confess that nothing seems to me more 
 desirable than his removal to a happier sphere/' 
 
 This was too much for Archie, who exclaimed : 
 
 '' I believe you're the only man in England. Morton, 
 who would say such a thing as that about his father in 
 his father's house ! *' 
 
 '• In all probability I am," agTeed Morton, impeiturb- 
 iibly ; " that is just what I modestly venture to pride 
 myself upon. You'll admit that I'm not the only man 
 in England who holds such views ; my peculiarity 
 consists in my expressing them. And, mind you, I 
 shouldn't for a moment hesitate to express them to the 
 governor himself. ' 
 
 '' Even you would hardly be such a blackguard as 
 that ! " cried Archie, hotly. 
 
 If Morton's object had been to make a short-tempered 
 vounof man anofrv, he had attained it : but his own 
 temper, though of a very different order, was not in the 
 least under his control, and for all his love of plain 
 language, it did not please him to liear himself called a 
 blackguard. He shot a singularly malevolent glance 
 across the table at his cousin as he said : 
 
 '* All the same, you are quite as anxious as I am — a
 
 230 MISADVENTURE 
 
 little more anxious, perhaps — to hear the governor's 
 will read. You have done your best, in your rather 
 clumsy way, to cut me out ; but I shouldn't wonder if 
 you were to meet with a disappointment after all. 
 Toadying doesn't always pay.' 
 
 " I can't submit to such a gross insult as that from 
 any man," Archie declared, jumping up. " You must 
 apologize for it at once, or either you or I must leave 
 the house." 
 
 '* A more appalling threat I never heard," chuckled 
 Morton. " It will be painful to lose you ; but I am 
 afraid we must make up our minds to the loss, because . 
 I don't intend to go. and I certainly don't intend to 
 apologize." 
 
 At this juncture Mark the pacificator thought it high 
 time to intervene. 
 
 •' Pardon me, gentlemen," said he, with a certain air 
 of authority, " but you are both very much in the wrong. 
 You have both said things which you do not really 
 mean, and which I am sure yon will see that you ought 
 to retract." 
 
 Each of the disputants shook his head decisively, but 
 Mark took no notice of that. He proceeded to point 
 out that in a country like England, where the satisfac-
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 231 
 
 tion which would be promptly demanded and granted 
 elsewhere has been done away with by common consent, 
 opprobrious epithets are clearly inadmissible. Then, 
 with some adroitness, he observed that Morton could 
 not actually believe in the very offensive charge which 
 he had brouofht ao^ainst his cousin, or he never would 
 have put it into words. When one is apprehensive of 
 being supplanted, one does not carefully put ones 
 possible supplanter in the right and oneself in the 
 wrong. 
 
 •"Of course," he added, ''I know nothing of Mr. 
 Bligh's intentions and very little of his ethical standard ; 
 but I know that if I had a son who had forced a guest 
 of mine to leave my house by insulting him. I should 
 feel that I owed every reparation to my guest and the 
 sharpest punishment I could inflict to my son." 
 
 By the time that he had finished his harangue he had 
 made one of the men ashamed of himself and had 
 frightened the other; and so the incident terminated 
 with a somewhat grudging exchange of apologies. The 
 cousins, it need scarcely be said, were no 1)etter friends 
 than they had been before ; but they j^erceived the 
 expediency of adjourning their quarrel. Morton went 
 straight off to the smoking-room, while tlie other two
 
 232 MIS A D VENTURE 
 
 joined Miss ykipvvitli and Cicely ; and as the latter was 
 still seated at the piano, Mark contrived to exchange 
 a few words with her in private, under cover of the 
 resonant chords which she continued to strike upon that 
 instrument. 
 
 " If you are not careful there will be bloodshed in 
 this house," said he, laughingly. " I have patched up 
 a peace for to-night ; but I do not answer for the 
 future." 
 
 Cicely looked alarmed. 
 
 "Have Morton and Archie fallen out?" she asked, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Very much so. At home — in Russia, I mean — I 
 could have done nothing ; matters went too far. As it 
 was i induced them to shake hands: qidttes a reconi- 
 mencer.^' 
 
 " They must not be allowed to quarrel ! " exclaimed 
 Cicely. "It would distress papa beyond everything; 
 and there is really no reason why they should quarrel." 
 
 " As for that, of course I do not know ; but I doubt 
 whether they can be kept within bounds unless they 
 are held back by strong hands. Could you, do you 
 think, restrain your cousin ? For your brother " — here 
 ]\Iark could not repress a look of contempt, which Cicely
 
 MARK MAKES PEACE 233 
 
 saw without resenting — " I really believe that I may 
 venture to make myself responsible." 
 
 Now this was very kind of Mr. Chetwode, and Cicely 
 felt proportionately grateful to him. She endeavoured 
 to express her thanks, but had not much time for 
 doing so, because ^[iss Skipwith and Archie, who had 
 nothing to say to one another, very soon inteiTupted 
 her. Mark, however, went away very well satisfied with 
 his evenings work. He had somewhat strengthened his 
 hold over Morton, he had averted, what might have 
 been a little dangerous, the elevation of Archie to the 
 rank of an aggrieved person, and, best of all, he had 
 established something like a secret understanding with 
 Miss Bligh.
 
 ( 234 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Archie's triumph 
 
 While Cicely was dressing on the following morning 
 she made up her mind to give her cousin a lecture. 
 Although she had been a good deal distressed at 
 hearing that the dining-room had so nearly been made 
 the scene of an unseemly brawl, Archie's foolish be- 
 haviour had at least had the effect of making her more 
 comfortable in one respect, inasmuch as it had relieved 
 her of the un^vonted feeling of shyness in his presence 
 with which she had been afflicted the night before. In 
 her heart she rather liked him for attacking Morton, 
 who, she was sure, had deserved it ; still he must cer- 
 tainly be lectured. 
 
 vSo, as soon as breakfast was over, she followed him 
 into the conservatory, whither he had betaken himself 
 with a cigarette and a handful of letters, and drawing 
 a wicker chair up to his side, seated herself upon it with 
 an air of stern resolution.
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 235 
 
 '•Archie/' said she,, "* I am sorry to find that you 
 can't keep your word — or your temper either ! '' 
 
 Archie raised a somewhat troubled countenance from 
 his correspondence. 
 
 '* Has that beast, ^lorton, been telling you anything ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 •' No, 'that beast, Morton," has kept his own counsel. 
 It was Mr. Chetwode who told me that he had to drag 
 you apart. Now, you know, Archie., you promised me- 
 that you wouldn't quarrel with Morton." 
 
 '' I don't think I quite promised that, did I ? I said I 
 wouldn't quarrel with him if I could help it. and good- 
 ness knows I have tried hard enough to help it ! But 
 there must be limits to everybody's patience and meek- 
 ness. You don't know what things that fellow says." 
 
 *' Why will you never understand that it doesn't 
 signify what he says ? '" 
 
 •* I can't help feeling that it does signify a little to 
 nit' when he tells me that I have done my very best to 
 cut him ou+^i of his inheritance, and that I came down 
 here on purpose to ' toady ' Uncle Wilfrid.'" 
 
 '' Did he say that ? '" 
 
 *' Yes, ' toady ' was the very word that he used. 
 Ought I to have' bowed and held my tongue ? "
 
 236 MISADVENTURE 
 
 " Well — it isn't true, you see ; and he only said it to 
 enrage you, not because lie believed it." 
 
 " So Chetwode seemed to think ; but I don't know 
 that one ought to be expected to submit to an insult 
 just because it is a palpable lie. However, I had told 
 him a few minutes before that he was a blackguard- — 
 which he is — so that I had to some extent put myself 
 in the wrong, and we ended by burying the hatchet." 
 
 "I am afraid you buried it in some place where it 
 can very easily be scratched up again. I don't feel 
 that I have much right to scold j^ou, Archie, because 
 yep certainly have been patient upon the whole, and 
 you have had a good deal to put up with ; but will you 
 waive your rights and be patient a little longer, for 
 papa's sake and mine ? " 
 
 The young man's face brightened up wonderfully at 
 this appeal. 
 
 "Of course, I will," he answered. ''I'm not very 
 good-tempered, I'm sorry to say, and sometimes I feel 
 9;S if it would be a righteous deed to catch Morton by 
 the throat and choke him. But I won't clioke him, or 
 even tell him what I think of him again. After all, if 
 he becomes unbearable one can always go out of the 
 room. Besides, ' he added, with a sigh and a change of
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 237 
 
 tone, •• I sha'n't have many more chances of giving 
 trouble, for I have just had orders to join at Aldershot 
 on Friday, instead of a fortnight hence as I expected. 
 It's a horrid bore," 
 
 •• Will you think me very unkind if I say that I am 
 glad ? '• asked Cicely. 
 
 "When Morton came you begged me not to leave 
 you alone with him,*' Archie remarked, rather reproach- 
 fully. 
 
 *' Yes, because I didn't think then that he would stay 
 long ; but now I don't see any prospect of getting rid 
 of him. and though I quite believe that you will try 
 your best to be forbearing, it isn't jDleasant for you or 
 me or anybody to go on as we have been doing lately. 
 As it is, we'll manage to enjoy ourselves during your 
 last few days. Now I must be off, or I shall get 
 behindhand with all my morning's duties."' 
 
 On her way through the hall she encountered Morton, 
 to whom she thought it might be as well to impart the 
 news of Archie's imminent departure, and who heard it 
 with a satisfaction which he made no attempt to disguise. 
 Morton, as it happened, had that morning received an 
 urgent summons to London, where certain private affairs 
 of his, which have nothing to do with this narrative,
 
 238 MISADVEhTURE 
 
 demanded his attention ; but lie had almost decided to 
 let these affairs look after themselves as best they could, 
 because he did not like the idea of leaving the enemy in 
 possession of the field. Now, however, the case was 
 altered. Archie might , it was true, offer himself to 
 Cicely in the course of the next day or two ; but that h(' 
 could not, under any circumstances, have prevented him 
 from doing, and it was needless to keep strict watch and 
 ward over a man who would so soon be out of the way. 
 When once he was gone, time would be upon the side 
 of Cicely's affectionate brother and Mark Chetwode. 
 
 Morton therefore said : 
 
 '• I find I shall have to run up to London myself this 
 afternoon. Only for three days, though ; so you needn't 
 shed tears. Let me see, this is Thursday, and I j^romised 
 \o dine with Chetwode on Monday. I think I could 
 just manage to get through what I have to do by Mon- 
 day evening, and I can drive straight to Upton Chetwode 
 from the station. By the way, if you're going to the 
 back regions you might tell somebody that I shall want 
 the brougham at three o'clock sharx^." 
 
 At luncheon, when the whole party met, Morton was 
 in high good-humour and charmingly affable with 
 everybody, actually offering to charge himself with any
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 239 
 
 commissions that his aunt might desire to have executed 
 in London. So pleased was he to notice that Cicely's 
 spirits had been in no way depressed by the intelligence 
 which had exhilarated his own, that he announced his 
 intention of buying her a birthday present. 
 
 " I don't know when your birthday is, but as I pro- 
 bably forgot it last year and the year before. I have some 
 arrears to make up." 
 
 Even for Archie he had a word or two of soiir-sweet 
 civility. 
 
 " Going back to yom- regiment. I hear. Well, I 
 should think you will find Aldershot rather livelier than 
 Abbot sport. Sorry we haven't been able to make your 
 stay pleasanter ; but om* resources are limited, as you 
 know. We'll try to do better if you look us up next 
 winter. I suppose youll hardly get leave again before 
 then ? " 
 
 With a truly heroic effort, Ai'chie summoned up a 
 distorted smile, which nearly upset Cicely's gravity, 
 and grunted out " Thanks."' To be spoken to as though 
 he had been Mort(jn's guest and to receive Morton's 
 apologies for the duluess of the Priory was indeed hard 
 to bear. However, the man was going, and he had 
 three happy days to look forward to ; at least, he hoped
 
 240 MISADVENTURE 
 
 they would be happy, and in his anxiety to make them 
 so it seemed to him wisest to put off to the last hour the 
 momentous question upon which the happiness of his 
 future life must depend. 
 
 But when Morton had been whirled away in the 
 brougham, and when Cicely, of her own accord, invited 
 him to walk with her as far as the gamekeeper's cottage,- 
 where she had a sick child to visit, he felt so much en- 
 couraged that he began to reconsider that decision. 
 After all, she already knew that he loved her ; would it 
 not be better to tell her so plainly, instead of to keep 
 hinting at it ? To be at once accepted was more than 
 he hoped for ; he would be quite satisfied with an 
 admission that he need not altogether despair. No 
 sooner, therefore, had he and his companion reached 
 the outskirts of the woods through which their path lay 
 than he drew a long breath and plunged head first into 
 a subject to which he had made several futile attempts 
 to lead up. 
 
 '" You said, this morning," he began, rather hoarsely, 
 '' that we would enjoy ourselves during my last few days 
 here. There is only one thing that can make me enjoy 
 myself now, and I needn't tell you what that is. Can 
 you give it me, Cicely ? "
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 241 
 
 The girl stood still, looking at him seriously and with 
 a sort of kindly compassion. 
 
 " I don't know/' she answered ; " it depends upon 
 how much yon ask for." 
 
 "Oh, I only ask for very little/' he declared, eagerly. 
 " If yon will but give me leave to hope that perhaps, 
 some day, you may care for me a tenth part as much as 
 I care for you, that shall be enough." 
 
 And gaining courage, now that he was fairly under 
 way, he launched forth into fervent protestations which, 
 like all words that come straight from the heart, had 
 a certain effect of eloquence, but of which it would 
 scarcely be fair to give a xerlatim report. 
 
 When he paused. Cicely, who had resumed her walk, 
 
 held out her hand to him and said, in a far humbler 
 
 tone than was usual with her : 
 
 " Thank you, Archie ; any woman might be proud to 
 
 be loved by you, and I know very well how little I 
 
 deserve to be loved in that way ; but I suppose one's 
 
 deserts haven't much to say to such questions. Xow I 
 
 want to tell you the exact truth. I wish I loved you as 
 
 you love me ; but I don't." 
 
 " Of course you don't ! " interrupted Archie. " I 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 242 MISADVENTURE 
 
 never dreamt of such a thing ; I shall be more than con- 
 tent if you can care for me the least little bit." 
 
 ''I care a great deal," Cicely answered; "but per- 
 haps a great deal isn't enough. I don't think it is in my 
 nature to fall desperately in love with anybody, and in 
 many ways I seem to myself to be cut out for an old 
 maid. But I know that nothing could make papa 
 happier than to hear that we were engaged, and if we 
 were married I think I could promise to be a good wife 
 to you. It isn't as if I liked any one else better," she 
 added, almost deprecatingly. 
 
 Archie had never anticipated being met in such a 
 spirit as that. He was overjoyed, and could only 
 stammer out incoherent phrases of delight and gratitude. 
 
 " But, Cicely," he broke off suddenly, " will you be 
 happy with me ? That is the question." 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "No," she answered, with a calmer insight into the 
 future than he could as yet attain to, " that isn't the 
 question. The question is whether you will be happy 
 with me. What satisfies you now may not satisfy you 
 always : you may think that if I am not in love with 
 you at this moment I shall be before long — and then 
 you may be disappointed."
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 243 
 
 Of course that was just what he did think, and most 
 people would have told him that, under the circum- 
 stances, he was fully justified in so thinking. A man 
 when he is in love is aware of the fact ; but it is said — 
 truly or untruly— that women are often unconscious of 
 their own sentiments, and there is also an impression, 
 so general that it can hardly be altogether devoid of 
 foundation, to the effect that in nine cases out of ten a 
 wife will end by loving her husband unless he treats her 
 badly. Archie, however, as was but natural, disclaimed 
 such ambitious aspirations. He was willing and thank- 
 ful to take all risks, he declared, and it was quite im- 
 possible that he could incur any disappointments. 
 
 Well, whatever the future might have in store for 
 him he had not much to complain of in the present. 
 Cicely had no idea of doing things by halves, and since 
 Archie was to be her husband, it was her duty, she 
 thought, to please him. Her efforts in that direction 
 were quite successful and met with their reward ; 
 because in pleasing him she also to some extent pleased 
 herself. It is, no doubt, pleasant to be adored. Besides, 
 she was really very fond of Archie. 
 
 The gamekeeper's little daughter was in luck that 
 afternoon; for not only did she receive a visit from
 
 244 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Miss Cicely (whom she loved, yet of whom she was 
 considerably in awe), but after a time a very nice 
 gentleman, who had been waiting about in the garden, 
 stepped in, cracked some excellent jokes, and, on leav- 
 ing, slipped nothing lees than a golden sovereign into 
 her small palm ! Indeed it is well that that did not 
 happen to be one of Cicely's days for going the round of 
 Abbotsport, otherwise it is to be feared that night 
 would have fallen upon some distressing scenes of 
 intemperance. 
 
 When one is exceptionally happy it is only human 
 that one should wish to give others a chance of being 
 happy too, if they can manage it ; but one can't expect 
 everybody to drink one's health, and Miss Skipwith was 
 very much disinclined to pay Archie that compliment 
 on being requested to do so, the same evening, by her 
 brother-in-law. Miss Skipwith could not but feel that 
 Cicely was throwing herself away sadly ; added to which 
 the triumph of Archie was very bitter to her. When 
 Mr. Bligh, in the exuberance of his satisfaction, pro- 
 posed the above toast after dinner, the old lady raised 
 her glass to her lips and set it down again wdth its con- 
 tents undiminished. She became, however, a little 
 more reconciled to the engagement when she was sub-
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 245 
 
 Bequently mfomied that Archie's triumph was not quit^ 
 of the kind that she had imagined, and that it was not 
 in contemplation to make him inheritor of his uncle s 
 estates. That was satisfactoiy in so far as it served to 
 clear his character ; but it was melancholy to think that 
 Morton, not Cicely, was destined to reign at the Priory, 
 and she could not resist saying as much to her infor- 
 mant, who answered : 
 
 " I am quite of your opinion, Susan : it is melancholy. 
 Nevertheless it is inevitable ; so we may as well put a 
 bright face upon it." 
 
 When Mr. Bligh spoke in that tone of voice his 
 sister-in-law always succumbed. He was a man who, as 
 regarded tiifles, prefeiTed giving in to being won-ied, so 
 that she not unfrecpiently found it to be ht^r duty to 
 woriy him ; but in matters of more importance he took 
 his own way, and had a quiet and convincing fashion of 
 letting those about him understand that he meant to do 
 so. Miss Skipwith, therefore, endeavoured to put on a 
 bright face, which feat was the more easy of accomplish- 
 ment because Cicely's face was so bright. The main 
 thing, after all, was that Cicely should be happy. 
 
 And happy Cicely certainly appeared to be. During 
 the next three days she rode, walked and talk* d with
 
 246 MISADVENTURE 
 
 Archie continually, and did not weary of his company. 
 No doubt she saw him at his best, which she had not 
 always done of late ; but after making all deductions 
 the fact remained that he was, as she had told him, a 
 man of whose love any woman might be proud, and she 
 did not regret her choice. Once or twice, to be sure, she 
 thought with a pang of poor Bobby ; but perhaps Bobby 
 would not hear of her engagement before he had reached 
 his tropical destination, and by that time his wound 
 would probably have healed. The engagement, it was 
 agreed, was not to be formally announced as yet, nor 
 was any date fixed for the marriage. 
 
 " I can't leave papa with only Aunt Susan to attend 
 him," Cicely said ; and Archie acquiesced. It was only 
 too plain that the delay stipulated for was not likely to 
 be a very long one. 
 
 Mr. Bligh, for his part, was in no hurry to get rid of 
 his daughter, and thought it as well that the young 
 man should return to duty for a time. He mshed him, 
 however, to send in his papers before his marriage, and 
 this Archie expressed his willingness to do. Indeed, 
 when the day came for his departure he felt very much 
 inclined to send them in forthwith. 
 
 " I beg you will do no such thing ! " said Cicely,
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 247 
 
 laughing. " Have you forgotten that Morton comes 
 back to-night ? " 
 
 '' I'm not afraid of him," answered Archie. 
 
 " Perhaps not : but I am. At least I should be in 
 perpetual teri'or of your devouring one another if you 
 were both living in the house. No, I should prefer 
 your remaining at Aldershot until he has accustomed 
 his mind to the idea that you will be his brother-in-law 
 some day. It's a merciful thing that you will have left 
 before he arrives." 
 
 " I suppose I had better go up by the three-thirty 
 train," observed Archie, ruefully. 
 
 " That depends upon whether you want to be at 
 Aldershot this evening or not. If not, you might stay 
 until after dinner : because ^lorton is going to dine at 
 Upton Chetwode and intends to dress there, so that 
 there is not much fear of his appearance here before the 
 coast is clear ! " 
 
 Archie jumped at this reprieve as eagerly as if he 
 had been a school-boy on the last day of the holidays. 
 He was, in truth, very like a school-boy in more ways 
 than one, and that perhaps was what had won him the 
 place which he held in Cicely's heart ; for she always 
 got on best with those whom she could patronize a
 
 248 MISADVENTURE 
 
 little. His talk, wlien lie was Happy and at his ease, 
 was of tliat artlessly selfish kind which no one, surely, 
 can help enjoying. He would chatter away by the hour 
 about his brother officers and the exceedingly humorous 
 practical jokes which they were wont to play upon one 
 another, and about polo and tent-pegging and pig- 
 sticking and other enlivenments of Indian military life,' 
 while Cicely encouraged him by her questions. Perhaps 
 one reason why she never wearied of hearing him dilate 
 upon these themes was that the discussion of them 
 prevented him from being too affectionate. 
 
 " Would there be any harm," he asked her, " in tell- 
 ing the fellows that I am engaged to be married ? It's 
 so difficult to keep a thing of that sort to oneself ! " 
 
 "By all means tell them, if you like,"' answered 
 Cicely, laughing; "there is no occasion to make a 
 secret of it. Only I hope you won't bore them by 
 dwelling too much upon the perfections of your 
 betrothed." 
 
 " Oh, they won't mind," Archie declared, reassuringly. 
 " Especially if they know that I shall leave the 
 regiment when I marry. Of course we don't care about 
 having many married men." 
 
 "And aren't you afraid that you will miss your
 
 ARCHIE'S TRIUMPH 249 
 
 friends, and polo, and all the rest of it, when you settle 
 dowTi to a humdrum countiy life ? " 
 
 He made the reply which might have been antici- 
 pated. Life with her on a desert island would be a 
 thousand times better than life anywhere without her ; 
 but life in the neighbourhood of Abbot sport would be 
 simply the realization of his wildest dreams. 
 
 "And even if we did find it slow — which is im- 
 possible — we could have people down to stay with us. 
 One can always get heaps of men to come, by offering 
 them a little shooting or hunting." 
 
 '•Well, let us hope so," said Cicely. ''Papa thinks 
 Upton Chetwode would do for us. We could certainly 
 get a lease of the place, and perhaps Mr. Chetwode 
 might be persuaded to sell. Papa means to sound him 
 upon the subject, and if he is successful he says he 
 will make us a wedding present of it. It's a dear 
 old house ; it only wants a little outlay to be made 
 charming." 
 
 This conversation took place during the last few 
 minutes of Archie's stay at the Priory. It was a fine 
 moonlight night, and as the dog-cart had come round 
 rather early, he had sent the groom on with his 
 luggage, saying that he would walk to the station by
 
 250 MISADVENTURE 
 
 the short cut across the fields. Cicely had accompanied 
 hiroL to the end of the garden, and they were now- 
 standing beside a little iron gate which divided it from 
 the park. 
 
 " By Jove ! " exclaimed the young fellow, " how 
 awfully good Uncle Wilfrid is ! It seems to me that I 
 am just about the luckiest beggar in the whole world ! " 
 
 " If you think so," Cicely answered, smiling, " that is 
 the same thing as being so, I suppose." 
 
 Then she cut short his aclieux^ over which he was 
 inclined to linger, telling him that he would have to 
 put his best leg foremost if he didn't want to miss the 
 train. She watched his tall, lithe figure as he strode 
 across the grass in the moonlight, and waved her hand 
 to him when he turned to signal a last farewell. She 
 said to herself that she certainly loved him. What a 
 pity that there should be a difference — possibly rather 
 a wide difference — between loving and being in love ! 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 PRIMTED RV RAI.I.ANTYNR, HANSOM AND CO. 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH 
 
 lt>
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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