“Hush,” said Gerald. He came forward to the table, very pale and patient, as became a man at the point of legal death. “I have sent away my letter. By this time I am no longer Rector of Wentworth. Do not break my heart. Do you think there is any particular in the whole matter which I have not considered—the children, yourself, everything? Hush; there is nothing now to be said.”
The Squire rose, almost as pale as his son, from his chair. “I think I’ll go out into the air a little,” said Mr. Wentworth. “There’s always something new happening. Here is a son of my own,” said the old man, rising into a flush of energy, “who has not only deserted his post, but deserted it secretly, Frank. God bless my soul! don’t speak to me, sir; I tell you he’s gone over to the enemy as much as Charley would have done if he had deserted at the Alma—and done it when nobody knew or was thinking. I used to be thought a man of honour in my day,” said Mr. Wentworth, bitterly; “and it’s a mean thing to say it came by their mother’s side. There’s Jack—”
The eldest son roused himself up at the mention of his own name. Notwithstanding all his faults, he was not a man to stand behind backs and listen to what was said of him. He came forward with his usual ease, though a close observer might have detected a flush on his face. “I am here, sir,” said the heir. “I cannot flatter myself you will have much pleasure in seeing me; but I suppose I have still a right to be considered one of the family.” The Squire, who had risen to his feet, and was standing leaning against the table when Jack advanced, returned to his chair and sat down as his eldest son confronted him. They had not met for years, and the shock was great. Mr. Wentworth put his hand to his cravat and pulled at it with an instinctive movement. The old man was still feeble from his late illness, and apprehensive of a return of the disease of the Wentworths. He restrained himself, however, with force so passionate that Jack did not guess at the meaning of the gasp which, before the Squire was able to speak to him, convulsed his throat, and made Frank start forward to offer assistance which his father impatiently rejected. The Squire made, indeed, a great effort to speak with dignity. He looked from one to another of his tall sons as he propped himself up by the arms of his chair.
“You are the most important member of the family,” said Mr. Wentworth; “it is long since you have been among us, but that is not our fault. If things had been different, I should have been glad of your advice as a man of the world. Anyhow, I can’t wish you to be estranged from your brothers,” said the Squire. It was all anyone could say. The heir of Wentworth was not to be denounced or insulted among his kindred, but he could not be taken to their bosom. Perhaps the reception thus given him was more galling than any other could have been to Jack Wentworth’s pride. He stood at the table by himself before his father, feeling that there existed no living relations between himself and anyone present. He had keen intellectual perceptions, and could recognise the beauty of honour and worth as well as most people; and the contrast between himself and the others who surrounded him presented itself in a very forcible light to Jack. Instead of Gerald and Frank, Wodehouse was his allotted companion. For that once he was bitter, notwithstanding his habitual good-humour.
“Yes,” he said; “it would be a pity to estrange me from my brothers. We are, on the whole, a lucky trio. I, whom my relations are civil to; and Frank, who is not acquitted yet, though he seems so confident; and Gerald, who has made the greatest mistake of all—”
“Jack,” said the Curate, “nobody wants to quarrel with you. You’ve dealt shabbily by me, but I do not mind. Only talk of things you understand—don’t talk of Gerald.”
For a moment Jack Wentworth was roused almost to passion. “What is Gerald that I should not understand him?” said Jack; “he and I are the original brood. You are all a set of interlopers, the rest of you. What is Gerald that I should not talk of him? In the world, my dear Frank,” continued the heir, superciliously, “as the Squire himself will testify, a man is not generally exempted from criticism because he is a parson. Gerald is—”
“I am a simple Catholic layman, nothing more,” said Gerald; “not worth criticism, having done nothing. I am aware I am as good as dead. There is no reason why Jack should not talk if it pleases him. It will make no difference to me.”
“And yet,” said Frank, “it is only the other day that you told us you were nothing if not a priest.”
Gerald turned upon him with a look of melancholy reproach that went to the Curate’s heart. “It is true I said so,” he replied, and then he made a pause, and the light died out of his pale face. “Don’t bring up the ghosts of my dead battles, Frank. I said so only the other day. But it is the glory of the true Church,” said the convert, with a sudden glow which restored colour for a moment to his face, “to restrain and subdue the last enemy, the will of man. I am content to be nothing, as the saints were. The fight has been hard enough, but I am not ashamed of the victory. When the law of the Church and the obedience of the saints ordain me to be nothing,
