A Search For A Secret: A Novel. Vol. 3

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER IV.

  AN ODD WOOING.

  We had not much society at Putney--that is, not much ladies' society.Putney is too near to London for people to call upon new comers; so theonly acquaintances we made were the wives and sisters of the"Metropolitan" men who resided there. There were only four or five ofthem--that is only that number of married men; but that gave us as muchquiet evening visiting as we cared for. We were all very sociable, andvery frequently met at each other's houses to tea, and then, after alittle music, the gentlemen sat down to whist, while we talked andlooked on. It was a great place for whist, and both Polly and I werefond of it, and played, Harry said, very fairly for girls. We oftenplayed when we were wanted; and when Harry brought in two friends withhim, we took it by turns to play the double rubber. In summer this wasconstantly the case, for then Putney was full of "Metropolitan" men, whotook up their quarters there for the rowing season, went up to theirbusiness by the morning train, and came down in quite a strong body forthe rowing; in the evening--increased as their numbers were by those wholived in other parts of London, and had to return again the sameevening. A finer-looking set of men could hardly be found--men withstraight, active figures, and fresh, healthy complexions; not noisy, andyet full of fun and life. They were almost all in business of some kindin the City; merchants, Stock Exchange men, solicitors, and men ingovernment and other offices. Harry was very particular who he broughthome with him, and certainly Polly's opinion and mine--as far as ourlittle season in town had qualified us to judge--was, that they were aspleasant and gentlemanly a set of men as could be found. There were,Harry said, of course, a few men in the club who were not quite sopresentable; but that was to be expected in any large body of men.

  Harry came down twice a week all through the summer, to go out in theclub-eights, and we generally walked a little way along the towing-pathon these evenings, to see them come along with their measured stroke,and steady swing. In time, from hearing so much talk about it, we got toknow how nearly every man in the club rowed.

  It was more especially when the club races were coming on, and three orfour eights had entered, that these matters were discussed with thegreatest interest.

  Harry always entered for them. He had taken to rowing too late ever tobecome a finished oar; but he was considered a very useful man in themiddle of the boat. What excitement we all felt about it; and I believethe ladies of the club--if I may call them so--were at least as muchinterested as the men. We discussed the chances of the boats quitescientifically, and laid bets of kid-gloves with each other upon theresult. The first great excitement was the evening when Harry came backfrom the club on the night of choosing the crews, with the lists. Howeagerly we looked over them, and how glad we would be to see that he hadGriffin for stroke, and Thompson for seven, a host in themselves; but asour eye ran down it, our faces would fall greatly, when we saw that hehad also Big Hamper, who it was notorious never pulled his weight along,and Long Black, who in himself was enough to----well I must not useHarry's word, though it was very expressive--but enough to spoil anycrew he got among.

  During the fortnight they were practising for the race, pretty MissPlanter would generally call in for us every evening, as we lived nearerto the water than she did; and we would walk through the cricket-fieldto the towing-path, and watch the different boats coming down over thecourse. In time we became quite judges of rowing, and could tell prettynearly which would be most likely to win, by the regularity of thestroke and the steadiness of the swing with which they did the lasthalf-mile down to the bridge; for, as Harry said, any crew could swingwhen they were fresh, but the boat which kept its form after going overthe course might be pretty well relied upon to win the race. MissPlanter was a better judge than we were, for her brother was the lifeand soul, the guiding spirit of the club.

  Rupert Planter was a tall, wiry man, rather loosely put together, with arolling, uncouth walk. On shore, no one would have singled him out as aman of unusual strength, or as a practised gymnast; but put him into aboat, and his muscles seemed to stiffen into steel, and, as he tore hisoar through the water, you saw before you the most finished, as well as,perhaps, the most plucky, oarsman in the world. Rupert Planter's lifewas passed, when not at business or asleep, in a boat. His every thoughtand energy were devoted to the promotion of the aquatic art in general,and of the "Metropolitan Rowing Club" in particular. His whole time wasat its disposal, and no trouble was grudged by him in the endeavour tomaintain it in its proud position of the first rowing club in England.

  He was rather a despot in his way, and a little fond of carrying thingswith a high hand, and anything like shirking was greeted with a force ofdenunciation which sometimes rather astonished new members; but no oneminded what he said, for they knew that he only spoke as he did for thegood of the club. It was wonderful the influence he had over them, andhow much better a boat went when he was steering her; and if he were onthe bank, and an eight came along pulling heavily against the tide, themoment his voice was heard, with his sharp "Now lift her up, boys!" theway in which the tired crew straightened up and lay out to their workwas almost magical.

  On the day of the race we went in the steamer which the club hired toaccompany it, and great was our interest and excitement. I don't knowanything prettier than to see four eights dash off together at the word"Go!" their oars all dipping together, amidst the burst of shouts andencouragement from their friends in the accompanying steamer, and thebreathless excitement, lest--as they close nearer to each other, intheir efforts to draw over to the Middlesex shore--there should be afoul; then the thrill of pleasure and triumph with which you see theboat you wish to win, slowly, inch by inch, draw itself out from amongthe others. Even should the boat which first leads not be yourfavourite, still you do not give up hope, but continue to wave yourhandkerchief, and to watch each fresh effort, until, perhaps, towardsHammersmith, your boat, stroke by stroke, slowly gains on the leadertill it is nearly abreast, and then with a desperate spurt, amidst thewild cheering from the steamer, it snatches the victory in the lastquarter of a mile. Oh, it is a glorious exercise! and if ever I wishedmyself a man, it was, certainly, that I might be able to row in aboat-race.

  Polly would get even more excited than I did, and I remember that on oneor two occasions of particularly hard races, she came home with herhandkerchief and gloves literally torn into shreds, quite unconsciouslyto herself, in the excitement she felt in watching the varying chancesof the boat Harry pulled in.

  On occasions of general interest, such as the University contests, orraces for the championship, we used to go up to the club-room, and outinto the long balcony looking over the river; and it was veryinteresting to see the river crowded with steamers, and the excitedcrowd on the towing-path, and to hear the burst of cheering which brokeout when they started. But it was only the start we saw, and not evenalways that--for the steamers often got in our way--so that, on thewhole, I enjoyed the club races far more than these great contests.

  On quiet afternoons, when the tide was favourable, and there was noracing on, Harry would come down early, and, perhaps, bring a friendround with him, and take a club skiff, and row us up to Richmond. Verypleasant it was, lying back in the boat, with its gentle gliding motionthrough the still water, and listening to the regular plash of the oars;and then, when we reached Richmond, to get out, and stroll up into thepark, and look out on the wonderfully beautiful view over the richwooded country towards Windsor, with the winding river, and the prettymansions, and country seats on its banks. Then, when the tide turned, wewould start again, floating down lazily with the current, and notgetting back to the boat-house until it was growing quite dark, and themists were beginning to curl up from the still river.

  We had now been two years at Putney, and in this time Polly had manyadmirers; indeed, I don't think any one could help loving her; and shecould, had she given them the slightest encouragement, have marriedalmost any one of Harry's friends. But her heart was evidently quiteuntouched at present, and she did
not seem to be at all anxious tochange her name. Among Harry's friends it was generally understood thatI was engaged. I wished it to be so, as it made my position morepleasant, by putting me quite at my ease with them, and by preventingthe possibility of any unfortunate mistake being made; besides, I wasthe better able to chaperone Polly.

  In the winter season, as I have said, we were much quieter than insummer, for then the rowing men almost all went away to London till thespring; but twice a week at any rate we went in of an evening to thePlanters', or one of the other resident families, or they came in to us.Saturday was the club-day, and then Harry went out on the water when theweather was fine, and in the evening to the club-room, where he boxed,fenced, and played whist till twelve o'clock.

  It was not till we had been there two years that we came to know one ofHarry's friends, he had never brought home before; and yet we had heardmore of him than of almost any man in the club. This was Charley Horton,a merchant, with a very good business in the City--not that any onewould have taken him for a merchant, or, indeed, for anything connectedwith business in any way. He was a man of about thirty, of middleheight, but very strongly built, with a large pair of whiskers, a ruddycomplexion, a clear, honest eye, a big voice, and a hearty laugh. Harryhad often spoken of him as one of the most popular men in the club, butwhen we had asked him why he did not bring him in, Harry had said--

  "Oh, Charley can't stand women; it is not that he dislikes themabsolutely, but he says he does not understand them, and can never thinkof anything to say to them; a man who once met him at a party reportsthat he stood at the door all the evening, and looked as afraid ofspeaking to a woman as if he had never seen one before in his life."

  One day, however, when Harry came down early with the intention oftaking us up the river, Charley happened to come down in the samecarriage with him, and Harry told him what he was going to do, and askedhim to take an oar. After great difficulty, and only under the promisethat he should pull bow, so as to be as far out of the way ofconversation as possible, Charley consented to come. Harry came home tofetch us, while his friend went round to the club-room to dress, and metus at the boat-house. When he saw us coming I do believe that if hecould by any possibility have got away he would have done so; but therewas no escape. Harry introduced him to us, he murmured something vague,and then went off to help to get the boat down.

  I do not think that I ever remember Polly in such a wild humour as shewas on that afternoon. She kept up a string of questions and talk thewhole time we were on the water, I believe on purpose to put Mr. Hortonout, and as we were going up with the tide there was no occasion to pullhard, and the rowers had no excuse for not talking.

  Polly commenced the attack directly the boat had pushed off. I believeshe waited for that lest her victim should escape her.

  "Do you know, Mr. Horton, we have been wishing to make your acquaintancefor ever so long; Harry has so often spoken about you, that we seem toknow you quite well."

  Charley Horton coloured up like a girl, and murmured something about"mutual pleasure, he was sure."

  I was obliged to hold my face down, while I thought that Harry, who waspulling stroke and had therefore his back to Charley Horton, would havelaughed out loud. However, he restrained himself, and shook his headadmonishingly at Polly, who, however, paid not the slightest attentionto it; but with a perfectly innocent and unconscious look continued totalk, sometimes addressing Harry, sometimes his friend, but always aquestion requiring rather a long answer or explanation. I do believethat for his own sake, Charley Horton would willingly have jumpedoverboard and swam ashore at any time during our trip up. Coming backagain she was more merciful, and confined her questions chiefly toboating matters, and on these Charley was able to answer prettyfluently, and was more at his ease. I leaned forward and asked Harry toinvite his friend round. He nodded, but said nothing about it till wegot out of the boat. Then he asked--

  "I suppose you are not going up to town, Charley, till a late train?"

  "No," he answered, "not till the 10.40."

  "Well, then," Harry said, "you may as well come round with us, we aregoing to have a dinner-tea."

  Charley opened his eyes with an expression of absolute alarm.

  "Much obliged," he said, "but I can't anyhow. It is quite impossible."

  "Why, Mr. Horton," I said quietly, "you said you were not going up totown till late, so there can be surely nothing to prevent your coming into us."

  "Come, old fellow," Harry laughed, "there can't be any reason why youwon't come, so say no more about it, but come."

  "Well, I don't know that there is any particular reason," Charley saidin a tone of extreme depression, and evidently quite unable at themoment to invent any excuse whatever, "No--well, Ashleigh, I'll come."

  "That's right," Harry said, "I want to speak to some one at the rooms,so I will go round with you; you may as well go on girls and get teaready."

  As we went home I talked quite seriously to Polly, and told her I wasreally very surprised at her; but Polly would by no means allow she waswrong, and insisted that she had only been very polite and chatty. Thiswas, to a certain extent, true and I was quite unable to extract anypromise from her that she would be more merciful. Presently the twogentlemen came in, and Harry told us afterwards that had he not goneround with his friend he would never have come; as it was, he hadendeavoured to persuade Harry to tell us that he had received someurgent message calling him to town; but Harry refused to do this, andpointed out that if he did we should not believe him, and that he wouldhave to call and apologize next time he came down.

  And so Charley, with great discontent, came round, and was for some timeevidently very uncomfortable; but as the evening went on, he became moreat his ease, although it was ridiculous to hear the difference betweenhis loud, jovial tone when he spoke to Harry, and his shy, disconnectedway of speaking when he answered our questions.

  This was Charley Horton's first visit to us, but it was by no means thelast. After this he came with Harry, not often at first, but as hebecame more intimate, much more frequently, and sometimes even whenHarry did not bring him in; and as he got to know us, and found thatwomen were not such terrible beings after all, he became comparativelyat his ease. Certainly Polly did not help to make him so, for she teazedand put him out of countenance most unmercifully; the consequence was,that although before very long he got to talk to me almost in the sameway he did to Harry, he was always shy and awkward when he addressedher. I wondered myself that he came at all, for Polly plagued him sadlyin spite of what I could say to her; I even expressed myself surprisedto Harry, but Harry laughed, and said, "Do you know, Agnes, I am firmlyof opinion that Charley is rather smitten with Polly."

  "What nonsense," I said; greatly amused at the idea; "you are not inearnest, Harry, are you?"

  "I am, indeed, Agnes," he said, "and a capital husband he would make,too."

  "Why, my dear Harry, Polly would as soon think of marrying the man inthe moon as Charley Horton. Why, she could marry almost any one sheliked, and she does nothing but make fun of him."

  I told Polly what Harry had said, as a very great joke. Polly laughedtoo, but she coloured a little, and said, "What ridiculous nonsense,Agnes;" altogether she was not so amused at the idea as I had thoughtshe would be. After this I watched them closely, and at last came to theconclusion that Harry was right, and that Charley really was seriousabout it. About Polly I could not tell at all; she was just as teazingas ever with him, and I could not see the least change in her manner.

  I cannot enter into all this at length, or I shall never bring thisstory of mine to an end, and I must, therefore, be very brief with it,as I have been with all this part of my history.

  It was a funny courtship, and I never, till it was settled, felt quitecertain that it was a courtship at all. I never heard Charley pay her acompliment, or say anything such as people in his condition do; never atleast, but once, and that was not at all the usual way of doing it. Wehad been talking about a race, a
nd Polly said that she should like tosteer one of the boats, when Charley came out in his loud way,--"ByJove! Miss Ashleigh, if you did, there would be no occasion to say,'Eyes in the boat.'" Harry and I laughed heartily, and Polly got up andmade a very deep curtsey, and poor Charley was so completely astonishedat himself that he could not say another word that evening, and took hisleave very shortly. It was only to Harry that he would confide anything,and he at last told him that he was only waiting for an opportunity toask Polly, but that for the life of him he could not imagine what heshould say to her. However, I suppose he did manage it somehow, for oneday Polly told me that it was all settled, and that she was going tomarry Charley Horton.

  I was very pleased; for although Charley was not a bit the man I shouldhave thought Polly would have chosen, still I was sure, from what I hadheard and seen of him, that he was a really good fellow, and would makeher extremely happy. How Charley managed to summon up courage enough topropose to her I never found out; for although I several times askedPolly, she always laughed, and would never tell me a word about it. Sheat first wanted to wait until Percy came back from India for me, as shesaid she did not like to leave me alone; but this, of course, I wouldnot hear of. I had not so much longer now to wait; and, besides, Charleyurged, if anything should take Harry away from town, that of course Ishould come and live with them. And so it was arranged that they shouldbe married in six months. Now that it was all settled, it seemed verystrange to me; and yet I was very glad that it was so, for I had hopedanxiously that Polly would be married to some one, whom I could likevery much, before I was myself, as I should have been very loath to havegone away and left her alone, while leaving her with a husband sheloved, I should know in my far off home in India that she was happy aswell as myself: and so I was heartily glad at her engagement withCharley Horton.

  About this time I was rather anxious about Harry. He was restless andunhappy; it was some time before I could make out the reason, and then Iguessed, that whether from the idea of Polly being married, or why, Iknow not, but that he had fallen in love with Planter's pretty sister.Of course, Harry, in his present circumstances, could not think ofmarrying; and I knew whatever he felt, that he was one of the last menin the world to become engaged unless he could keep a wife. I said oneday,--

  "Well, Harry, I suppose I shall have you following Polly's examplenext;" and he answered so sharply,--"Yes, a nice match I should be, onmy L200 a year," that I was certain that there was something of the sortin his mind.

  It happened that one day soon after this I read in the paper aprospectus of a company to execute some extensive engineering works inAustralia, and Lord Holmeskirk's name was among the directors.

  The same day I went up and saw Ada and her husband, and asked if hecould procure Harry an appointment upon it. He kindly said that he woulddo what he could, and ten days later Harry received a letter, offeringhim the appointment of resident engineer, at a salary of L800 a year tobegin with, and L1,200 at the end of three years. Harry accepted theoffer with the greatest joy; and thus, in the space of a month, I was tolose my brother and sister--I say, lose them both, because Harry wouldbe absolutely gone, and Polly would have other loves and cares, and Ishould no longer be, as I had so long been, her first object in life.Harry was not to leave for six months yet, and it was arranged thatPolly should be married immediately before he started, and that I was totake up my abode with her and her husband.

  Charley, now his shyness had worn off, improved wonderfully, and I likedhim more and more every day, with his hearty, straightforward manner.Polly's manner to him was very little changed, and she still delightedin teazing and bothering her "dear old bear," as she generally calledhim, but I could see now, that under all her fun and raillery she wasvery, very fond of him.