'Martin is rash—his temper is uncontrollable, but he would not murder you, Gervase!'
'Murder me! Good God, I should hope he would not!' exclaimed the Earl, laughing. 'No, no, I only meant that I think I should prefer to live at Maplefield, or Studham— ah, no! Studham was not entailed, was it? It belongs to Martin!'
'Yes, it belongs to Martin, along with the Jamaican property,' said Theo grimly. 'And your stepmother has the London house and the Dower House for the term of her life!'
'I grudge her neither,' replied the Earl lightly.
'When I can bring you to pay a little heed to the way in which things are left, you may well grudge the pair of them a great deal of what they now stand possessed!' retorted Theo. 'I have sometimes thought that my uncle had taken leave of his senses! You have me to thank for it that the estate is not cut up even more!'
'I think I have you to thank for more than you would have me guess,' St. Erth said, smiling across at him. 'You have been a good friend to me, Theo, and I thank you for it.'
'Well, I have done what lay in my power to keep the property intact,' Theo said gruffly. 'But I am determined you shall be made to attend to your affairs, and so I warn you!'
'What a fierce fellow you are, to be sure! But you wrong me, you know! I did read my father's will, and I fancy I know pretty well how things stand.'
'Then I wonder that you will be so expensive, Gervase!' said Theo forthrightly. 'The charges you have made upon the estate this past twelvemonth—!'
'Oh, won't it bear them? I shall be obliged to marry an heiress!'
'I wish you will be serious! Things have not come to such a pass as that, but you will do well to be a little more careful. When I have shown you how matters stand, I hope you may be persuaded to take up your residence here. It will not do to leave Stanyon masterless, you know.'
'Stanyon has a very good master in you, I fancy.'
'Nonsense! I am nothing but your agent.'
'But I should find it a dead bore!' objected Gervase. 'Only consider the dreadful evening I have spent already! I have not the remotest guess where Martin went to, but I am sure he was not to be blamed for his flight. I wish I had had the courage to follow his example! And who, pray, is that little squab of a female? Was she invited for my entertainment? Don't tell me she is an heiress! I could not— no, I really
'Drusilla! No, no, nothing of, that sort!' smiled Theo. 'I fancy my aunt thinks she would make a very suitable wife for me!'
'My poor Theo!'
'Oh, she is a very good sort of a girl, after all! But my tastes do not run in that direction. She is a guest at Stanyon merely while her parents are visiting in the north. They live at Gilbourne: in fact, they are your tenants. Her ladyship has a kindness for Drusilla, which is not wonderful, for she is always very obliging, and her lack of countenance, as you have it, makes it in the highest degree unlikely that she will ever be a danger to Lady St. Erth's schemes for Martin.' He rose from his chair, and added, glancing down at the Earl: 'We can offer you better entertainment, I hope! There is the hunting, remember, and your coverts should afford you excellent sport.'
'My dear Theo, I may have been abroad for a few years, but I
Theo laughed. 'Wood-pigeons!'
'Yes, and rabbits. I thank you!'
'Well, you will go to London for the Season, I daresay.'
'You may say so with the fullest confidence.'
'I see it is useless for me to waste my eloquence upon you. Only remain at Stanyon for long enough to understand in what case you stand, and I must be satisfied! Tomorrow, I give you warning, I shall make you attend to business. I won't tease you any more tonight, however. Sleep sound!'
'I hope I may, but I fear my surroundings may give me a nightmare. Where are you quartered, Theo?'
'Oh, in the Tower! It has come to be considered my particular domain. My bedchamber is above the muniment room, you know.'
'A day's march to reach you! It must be devilish uncomfortable!'
'On the contrary, it suits me very well. I am able to fancy myself in a house of my own, and can enter the Tower by the door into the Chapel Court, if I choose, and so escape being commanded to furnish my aunt with the details of where I have been, or where I am going!'
'Good God! Will it be my fate to endure such examinations?'
'My aunt,' said Theo, with a lurking twinkle, 'likes to know all that one does, and why one does it.'
'You terrify me! I shall certainly not remain at Stanyon above a week!'
But his cousin only smiled, and shook his head, and left him to ring for his valet.
When the man came, he brought with him a can of hot water, and a warming-pan. The Earl, staring at this, said: 'Now, what in thunder are you about?'
'It appears, my lord,' responded Turvey, in a voice carefully devoid of expression, 'that extremely early hours are kept in this house—or, as I apprehend I should say, Castle. The servants have already gone to bed, and your lordship would hardly desire to get between cold sheets.'
'Thank you, my constitution is really not so sickly as you must think it! Next you will bring me laudanum, as a composer! Set the thing down in the hearth, and don't be so foolish again, if you please! Have they housed you comfortably?'
'I make no complaint, my lord. I collect that the Castle is of considerable antiquity.'
'Yes, parts of it date back to the fourteenth century,' said the Earl, stripping off his shirt. 'It was moated once, but the lake is now all that remains of the moat.'
'That, my lord,' said Turvey, relieving him of his shirt, 'would no doubt account for the prevailing atmosphere of damp.'
'Very likely!' retorted Gervase. 'I infer that Stanyon does not meet with your approval!'
'I am sure, a most interesting pile, my lord. Possibly one becomes inured to the inconvenience of being obliged to pass through three galleries and seven doors on one's way to your lordship's room.'
'Oh!' said the Earl, a trifle disconcerted. 'It would certainly be better that you should be quartered rather nearer to me.'
'I was alluding, my lord, to the position of the Servants' Hall. To reach your lordship's room from my own, it will be necessary for me to descend two separate stairways, to pass down three corridors; through a door permitting access to one of the galleries with which the Castle appears to be—if I may say so!—somewhat profusely provided; and, by way of an antechamber, or vestibule, reach the court round which this portion of the Castle was erected.' He waited for these measured words to sink into his master's brain, and then added, in soothing accents: 'Your lordship need have no fear, however, that I shall fail to bring your shaving-water in the morning. I have desired one of the under-footman—a very obliging lad—to act as my guide until I am rather more conversant with my surroundings.' He paused. 'Or, perhaps I should say, until your lordship decides to return to London!'
CHAPTER 3
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Neither the Dowager nor Miss Morville appeared at the breakfast-table next morning; and although a place was laid for the Chaplain, he had not emerged from his bedchamber when Gervase joined his brother and his cousin in the sunny parlour. His entrance disconcerted Martin, who was fairly embarked on a scathing condemnation of the clothing which he apparently considered suitable for country-wear. Since Gervase was impeccably attired in riding-breeches, top-boots, and a serviceable, if unusually well-cut, frockcoat, Martin's scornful animadversions became, even in his own ears, singularly inapposite. Theo, who had listened to him in unencouraging silence, smiled slightly at sight of the Earl, and said to his younger cousin: 'You were saying?'
'It don't signify!' snapped Martin, glowering at him.
'Good-morning!' said Gervase. 'Oh, don't ring the bell, Theo! Abney knows I am here.'
'I trust no nightmares, Gervase?' Theo said quizzically.
'Not the least in the world. Do either of you know if my horses have yet arrived?'
