Charles Rex

by Ethel M. Dell

  CHAPTER I

  JAKE BOLTON

  It was a week after the sinking of _The Night Moth_ that Saltash, veryimmaculately dressed, with field-glasses slung over his shoulder, madehis first appearance since the disaster at a meeting on the GraydownRace-course, a few miles from his ancient castle of Burchester. He waslooking very well pleased with himself and certainly none the worse forthe adventure as he sauntered among his friends, of whom a good many werepresent. His ugly face and wiry figure were well-known at Graydown, andhe seemed sure of his welcome wherever he went.

  There had been a time years before when he had kept his own stud, andracing had been his hobby. It had not held him for long. He was not theman to pursue any one object for any length of time. With characteristicvolatility he had thrown up this amusement to follow others, but he hadnever wholly abandoned his interest in the stud which had once been his.

  It was owned by one, Jake Bolton, a man of rugged exterior whoseintegrity had become a proverb on the Turf. This man was Saltash'serstwhile trainer, and a very curious bond existed between them. Utterlyunlike in every respect, the one as subtle as the other was simple, yetthe two men were friends. How it had come about neither of them quiteknew. When Saltash had been his employer, Jake Bolton had distrusted anddespised him, but by some means this attitude of his had become verymaterially modified. He greeted Saltash now with the hand of friendshipwhich Saltash on his part was always ready to accept with a bafflingsmile that was not wholly without irony. He was wont to say that any mancould make an enemy of him, but no man could keep him as such. Perhaps itwas that very volatility of his which made anything of the nature ofprolonged enmity an impossibility. He possessed also that maddening senseof humour that laughs at deadly things. A good many people had tried totake him seriously and had failed. He was never serious. As he used tosay with his mocking laugh, life was difficult enough withoutcomplications of that sort. All he ever asked of it was a certain meadof enjoyment. It was utterly unreasonable to expect anything else.Happiness! What was it. A bursting bubble, no more. No lasting joy hadever come his way, and he was fain to believe that such a thing did notexist outside the covers of a book.

  Jake Bolton could have told him otherwise, but he and Saltash never spokeof abstract things. Saltash might have seen the deep content in the man'seyes, but if he had, he would probably have scoffed at it. In any casethere was certainly no denying that he and Bolton had been cast indifferent moulds, and that which gave life-long satisfaction to thelatter would have held the former for possibly but a very brief period.As a woman friend who knew him well had once said of him, Charles Rex wastoo rapid a traveller to gather much upon the way. For though keen forpleasure, he was too restless for its enjoyment when attained. But eventhat friend had not fathomed all the possibilities of that strangepersonality. Perhaps there was only one woman in the world who would everdo that.

  It was a showery spring day, and the turf of the race-course shone with afresh greenness. Saltash strolled through the paddock to find JakeBolton, whistling a careless air as he went. Several stable-boys salutedhim as he passed, and finally a man he knew, Sam Vickers, Bolton'sright-hand man, came up and accosted him.

  "Are you looking for Mr. Bolton, my lord? He's round by the boxes withSir Bernard Brian. We've got our best two-year-old round there--PrinceCharlie his name is. He's by the old Hundredth Chance and Queen of theEarth. Your lordship ought to see him. He is a royalty and no mistake;tame as a dog too, and that knowing--well, there, you'd hardly believeit, but we have to talk in French sometimes so as he shan't know what wesay!"

  Saltash chuckled. "You must let me hear you, Sam. All right. I'll goround. Ah! Here is Sir Bernard! Hullo, Bunny, my boy! You, is it? Where'sthe boss?"

  A black-haired, black-eyed lad of about three-and-twenty, handsome,spare, and very upright, had come suddenly round the corner of abuilding. He greeted Saltash with enthusiasm.

  "Why, Charlie! I'm awfully pleased to see you! We all thought you weredone for. How are you, I say? It was rotten luck for you to lose the poorold _Night Moth_ like that. Hope she was decently insured. And you'renone the worse?"

  "Not a mite!" laughed Saltash. "How are you? As skimpy a bag of bones asever?"

  "Oh, dash it! I've grown!" protested Bunny. "I'm as tall as you areanyway."

  "Oh, you're long enough," chaffed Saltash. "But you're too damn slim! Ishould think Maud could get you through her wedding-ring if she tried."

  "Shut up!" growled Bunny who was somewhat sensitive on the point ofphysical shortcomings. "I'm well enough, so what does it matter? Are youcoming round to see Maud when this show is over?"

  "Depends," grinned Saltash.

  "What's it depend on?" Bunny linked an arm in his and drew him forward;they were friends of many years' standing.

  Saltash looked at him with his odd eyes that always seemed to bespeculating like a monkey's, as to how far his next jump would carry him."Depends upon Jake of course. Your good brother-in-law doesn't alwaysinvite the wolf into the fold, _mon cher_."

  "As if you needed an invitation!" ejaculated Bunny impatiently. "Well, Iinvite you anyway. I know Maud will be awfully disappointed if you don'tcome and tell her all about your adventure. We were talking about youonly this morning."

  "Really!" said Saltash. "Would it be rude to ask what you were saying?"

  Bunny's thin face flushed. "You're welcome to know so far as I'mconcerned," he said bluntly. "I always stick up for you, Charlie."

  "Do you? _Mais vraiment!_" protested Saltash. "I am touched beyond words.And what says Brother Jake to that?"

  "Oh, Jake says I'm an ass, but he's quite decent about you,Charlie,--rather fond of you in fact. Don't run away with that idea!"begged Bunny, turning still redder. "Only people jaw a lot about you, youknow. No one ever can be content to mind their own business."

  "He'd be a fool who was," said Saltash. "There's no such thing asindependent action in this world. We all hang to each other like swarmingbees. So you've been sticking up for me, have you? And what says SisterMaud?"

  Bunny broke into a sudden laugh. "Oh, she's decided to reserve judgment.You'll have to come and see her. You really must. And the kids too--fourof 'em now. The eldest is a darling."

  "Eileen! Oh, I know Eileen," said Saltash. "I was actually allowed tohave her to tea once at the Castle. I am not supposed to have such avenomous effect upon quite small girls as upon young men of two or threeand twenty."

  "Oh, shut up!" Bunny growled again. "There's Jake, look! Come and speakto him!"

  There was nothing ornamental about Jake Bolton. Short, thick-set,powerful as a bull and with something of a bull's unswerving contempt forall obstacles in his path, with red-brown eyes that were absolutely levelin their regard and mercilessly keen, such was the man who had marriedMaud Brian eight years before, practically in the teeth of Saltash whohad wooed her in her girlhood. There was no feud between them. Theirenmity was long since dead and buried. Saltash could be intolerablymalicious and even vindictive when the mood took him, but his moods neverlasted. And as for Bolton, since he had won and still possessed hisheart's desire, he could afford to be generous.

  His greeting was generous now, but it was not wholly without reserve. Hegave Saltash a square hand-grip before he uttered a word.

  Then: "Glad you're safe and sound, my lord," he said, in a voice that wascuriously soft and deliberate.

  "That's uncommon kind of you, Jake," laughed Saltash, with his royal airof graciousness. "I share the sentiment. I know you would all have beenheart-broken if I hadn't turned up again. How is Maud?"

  "Very well--if she doesn't work too hard. I have to keep her in order inthat respect," said Jake Bolton with a sudden smile that swept all thesomewhat dominant lines from his face.

  Saltash grinned in sympathy. "You always were a bully, but I'll bet shegets her own way all the same. So you've got a boy at last! Hope it's agood one!"

  "He'd better be, hadn't he, Jake?" struck in Bunny. "The imp is sixmonths old now and goes for
a canter on The Hundredth Chance every daywhen I'm at home. You actually haven't seen him yet, Charlie? What arotter you were to be away all the winter!"

  "Well, I'm home now anyway," said Saltash, with a comical glance at Jake."Am I to be allowed to call and view the latest acquisition?"

  Jake was looking straight at him. "Are you--alone at the Castle, mylord?" he asked after a moment.

  Saltash began to laugh. "Of course I'm alone! What did you expect? Ah, Isee!" His glance flashed to Bunny. "Yes, I am quite alone--mostconspicuously and virtuously unaccompanied. Come and see for yourself!Search the Castle from turret-chamber to dungeon! You will find nothingbut the most monastic emptiness. I've turned into a hermit. Haven't theymade that discovery yet? My recent deliverance from what I must admit wasa decidedly awkward predicament in the Channel has sobered me to such anextent that on my life I begin to doubt if I shall ever be anything but adull dog again. Yes, that's the truth, Jake. You can take it or leave it.But I'm coming to see Maud in any case. When is my presence least likelyto cause you inconvenience?"

  "Oh, damn it, Jake!" broke in Bunny with sudden heat. "You know Maud saidyou were to ask him to dine if he turned up."

  "You shut up, my son!" commanded Jake with absolute serenity. "It's notany business of yours anyway. We'll send you to bed before dinner if youaren't mighty careful."

  Bunny laughed at the threat, but his sallow boyish face colouredsensitively notwithstanding.

  Saltash laughed also. "Oh, you needn't do that, Jake. I'm as harmless asany sucking dove, I assure you. You'll have to put up with me now. Whenshall I come?"

  "Come tonight!" said Jake with quiet decision. "Eight o'clock if thatsuits you. Afraid I must go now. Bunny, take his lordship to see PrinceCharlie!"

  He lifted a hand in salute and turned away--a man of no pretensionseither social or intellectual, yet who knew how to hold his own with highand low alike.

  "Keeps you in order still, does he?" gibed Saltash, as he watched him go."You're getting too old to be on a leading-string, _mon cher_."

  Bunny frowned at the careless words. "You don't know him. He's not thatsort of ass. We're pals, Jake and I, and I'm proud of it."

  "Of course you are!" said Saltash comfortably. "Didn't I tell you longago that he was a gentleman? It's the way he's made. Hewn out of rawmaterial, but the real thing and no mistake. You must never quarrel withhim on my account, Bunny, my lad. It would be very poor economy on yourpart."

  "I shan't do that," said Bunny. "But he's got to do you justice. Maudsays the same."

  Saltash laughed aloud. "But, my dear chap, nobody ever does that! I don'tmyself!"

  Bunny looked at him with affection. "You always have tried to makeyourself out a worse rotter than you really are, haven't you, Charlie?I always tell Jake so."

  "No, it's not my doing," said Saltash lightly. "That's the rest of theworld, _mon ami_. They like their pictures highly coloured. So--_pourquoipas_?"

  He snapped his fingers and laughed, and they passed on together withcareless jesting and friendly chaff. Saltash had always been kind toyoung Bernard Brian. The boy had been a helpless cripple in hischildhood, and he had developed a keen appreciation for all kindnessduring those days which nothing could now efface. Whatever Saltash'smorals, he was a friend, and as such Bunny never failed to treat him.They spent the rest of the afternoon together in and out of theenclosure, and when amidst wild enthusiasm Prince Charlie won hismaiden race, the two were waiting side by side to congratulate Jakeas he led the victor in. Saltash departed soon afterwards and motoredback to Burchester Castle to dress. And then Bunny, half-laughing,half-apologetic, turned to his brother-in-law.

  "I can't help being decent to Charlie, Jake. I don't care a damn whatthey say."

  Jake gave him a straight look from under his rough red brows. "I'm notblaming you," he said.