The Quiet Gentleman

Chard, who had jumped down from the curricle, and had been listening to him with a puzzled frown on his face, said that he thought the injuries were hardly more than grazes. 'I handed him over to Jem, me lord, not knowing what kind of an embarazo you was got into, and thinking you might need me more than the horse.'

'Nonsense! Is it likely I could be in serious trouble?'

'As to that, me lord, there's no saying what trouble you could be in,' replied his henchman bluntly. 'All I know is I never knew your horse to come home without you before!'

By this time, the Viscount had turned the curricle about, and was commanding Gervase to climb into it.

'Certainly not! It is Miss Morville whom you shall drive, Lucy, not me!'

'Take you both!' said the Viscount. 'You won't mind being a trifle crowded, ma'am? Come, Ger, no playing the fool with me! I don't know how you came to do it, but it's as plain as a pikestaff you took a bad toss! Shaken to pieces, I daresay—your cravat is, at all events! Never saw you look such a quiz in my life!'

Thus adjured, the Earl handed Miss Morville up into the curricle, and climbed in after her. The Viscount observed that it was a fortunate circumstance that they were none of them fat; Chard swung himself up behind, and the horses were put into motion.

'Tell you another thing, Ger, about this precious rumble of yours!' said the Viscount. 'Can't see how—' He broke off, for the Earl, who had flung one arm across the back of the driving-seat, in an attempt to make more room for Miss Morville, moved his hand to his friend's shoulder, and gripped it warningly. 'Oh, well! No sense talking about it!' he said.

They were soon bowling through the archway of the Gate Tower. Miss Morville was set down at the Castle, but the Earl insisted on driving to the stables, to examine Cloud's hurts. Here they found Theo, also engaged on this task. He came out into the yard at the noise of the curricle's approach, and said, in his unemotional way: 'Well, I am glad to see you safe and sound, Gervase! Pray, what have you been doing?'

'Merely coming to grief through my own folly,' replied Gervase, alighting from the curricle. 'In the failing light I didn't perceive a rabbit-hole, that is all!'

'My dear St. Erth, your horse never cut his knees stumbling into rabbit-holes!' expostulated Theo. 'I thought, when I saw him, you must have put him at a stone wall!'

'Are they badly damaged?'

'I hope not. He has done little more than scratch himself. Whether he will be scarred or not, I can't tell. I've directed your man to apply hot fomentations.'

The Earl nodded, and went past him into the stable, followed by Chard. Theo looked up at the Viscount with a questioning lift to his brows.

'No good asking me!' Ulverston said, correctly interpreting the look. 'He don't want it talked of, that's all I know. Where's that damned fellow of mine? Clarence! Hi, there, come and take the horses in, wherever you are!'

His groom came running up. The Viscount relinquished the team into his care, and jumped down from the curricle. 'Where's young Frant?' he asked abruptly.

'Martin? I don't know,' Theo replied, a surprised inflexion in his voice.

'Mr. Frant went out with his gun a while back, my lord,' offered Clarence.

'Oh, he did, did he? Very well; that'll do!'

'What's this, Ulverston?' Theo said, drawing him out of earshot of the groom. 'What has Martin to do with it?'

'I don't know, but if you can believe all this humdudgeon of Ger's about falling into rabbit-holes, I can't! Part company he might; leave go of his rein he would not! No wish to meddle in what don't concern me, but Ger's a friend of mine. Fancy he's a friend of yours too. Don't know what it was, but something happened to him he don't mean to tell us about. Dash it, I haven't spent three days here without seeing that that young cub of a brother of his would do him a mischief if he could!'

Theo was frowningly silent. After a moment, the Viscount said: 'Quarrelled last night, didn't they? Oh, you needn't be so discreet! I walked into the middle of it! Got a shrewd notion I know what it was about, too.'

'They did quarrel, but I believe it was not serious. Martin is hot-tempered, and will often say what he does not mean.'

'What's the matter with the fellow?' demanded the Viscount. 'Seems to live in the sulks!'

Theo smiled faintly. 'He has certainly done so ever since St. Erth came home, but he can be pleasant enough when he likes.'

'Pity he doesn't like more often! Does he dislike Ger?'

'He is jealous of him. I think you must have realized that. St. Erth has inherited what Martin has always regarded as his own. I hope he may soon perceive the folly of his behavior. Indeed, I believe he must, for there is not a better fellow living than Gervase, and that Martin will be bound to discover before he is much older.'

'But this is Gothick, Frant, quite Gothick!' objected Ulverston.

'Well, in some ways I think Martin is rather Gothick!' said Theo. 'His disposition is imperious; his will never was thwarted while his father lived; nor was he taught to control his passions. Everything that he wanted he was given; and, worse than all, he was treated as though he had been the heir, and Gervase did not exist.'

'Went to school, didn't he?'

'Yes, he followed Gervase to Eton.'

'Well, don't tell me his will wasn't thwarted there!' said Ulverston. 'Doing it too brown, dear fellow! I was at Eton m'self!'

'You were perhaps not so much indulged at home. With Martin, the influence of school counted for nothing once he was back at Stanyon.'

They were interrupted by the Earl, who, coming up behind them, said lightly: 'What treason are you hatching, the pair of you? I don't think Cloud's legs will be marked.'

'Gervase, are you concealing something from us?' asked Theo bluntly.

'Oh, so Lucy has been telling you that I have never been known to let my rein go, has he? I thank you for the compliment, Lucy, but it is undeserved. Now I think I should do well to slip into the house unobserved, for if Martin were to catch a glimpse of my cravat in its present lamentable condition he would cease to think me a dandy, and that would be a sad disappointment to both of us.'

'Martin ain't in the house,' said the Viscount. 'He went out with his gun, my man tells me.'

'Ah, did he? He is the most indefatigable sportsman! I have not yet seen him riding to hounds—neck-or- nothing, I feel tolerably certain!—but he is an excellent shot. Lucy, I never thanked you for coming so heroically to my rescue! My dear fellow, I could not be more grateful if I had needed you!'

'Bamming, Ger, bamming! I know this humour, and shan't be taken-in!'

The Earl laughed, kissed the tips of his fingers to him, and vanished into the Castle.

He was received in his bedchamber by Turvey, who palpably winced at the sight of him. 'I know, Turvey, I know!' he said. 'My coat will never be the same again, do what you will, and I am sure you will do everything imaginable! As for my cravat, I might as well wear a Belcher handkerchief, might I not?'

'I am relieved to see that your lordship has sustained no serious injury,' responded Turvey repressively.

'You must be astonished, I daresay, for you believe me to be a very fragile creature, don't you?'

'The tidings which were brought to the Castle by Miss Bolderwood were of a sufficiently alarming nature to occasion anxiety, my lord.'

'Oh, so that is how the news was spread!'

'Miss Bolderwood had but just stepped down from my Lord Ulverston's curricle when your lordship's horse bolted past them. I understand that the young lady sustained a severe shock. Permit me, my lord, to relieve you of your coat!'

The Earl was seated at his dressing-table when, some twenty minutes later, Ulverston came into his room. He was dressed in his shirt and his satin knee-breeches, and was engaged on the delicate operation of arranging the folds of a fresh cravat into the style known as the Napoleon. At his elbow stood Turvey, intently watching the movements of his slender fingers. A number of starched cravats hung over the valet's forearm, and three or four crumpled wrecks lay on the floor at his feet. The Earl's eyes lifted briefly to observe his friend in the mirror. 'Hush!' he said. 'Pray do not speak, Lucy, or do anything to distract my attention!'