Lady Hester; Or, Ursula's Narrative

by Charlotte M. Yonge

  CHAPTER VIII.

  DUCK SHOOTING.

  Alured's thirteenth birthday was on the 10th of January, and he hadextracted a promise from Fulk, to take him duck-shooting to the mouthof our little river.

  Nothing can be prettier than our tide river by day, with the retreatingbanks overhung with trees, the long-legged herons standing in the firs,looking like toys in a German box; while the breadth of blue waterreflects the trees that bend down to it.

  But, on a winter's night, to creep in perfect silence and lie stillunder an overhanging bank, not daring to make a sound, till you couldget a shot at the ducks disporting themselves in the moonlight, on thefrozen mud on the banks! Such an occupation could only be endurableunder the name of sport.

  However, Fulk and Bertram had had their time, and now Alured was havingthe infection in his turn; but Trevor was driven over to spend the day,much mortified that he had a bad broken chilblain, which made his bootsunwearable, and it was the more disappointing, that it was a very hardfrost, and there was a report that some wild swans had been seen on theriver.

  But in the course of the day Jaquetta routed out a pair of India rubberboots which, with worsted stockings beneath, did not press thechilblains at all, and after having spent all the day in snow-ballingand building forts, Trevor declared himself far from lame, and resolvednot to lose the fun. He had not come equipped, so Alured put him intoan old grey coat and cap of his own, and merrily they started in thefrosty moonlight, with dashes of snow lying under the hedges, andeverything intensely light. Fulk grumbling in fun at being draggedaway from his warm fire, and pretending to be grown old, the boysshouting to one another full of glee, all the dogs in the yardclamouring because only the wise old retriever, Captain, was allowed tobe of the party; Arthur Cradock making ridiculous mistakes on purposebetween the uncle and nephew, Trevorsham and Sham Trevor, as he calledthem.

  Alas! Nay, shall I say alas, or only be thankful?

  They had been gone some time when we heard a rapid tread coming towardsthe porch. Something in the very sound thrilled Jaquetta and me atonce with dismay. We darted out, and saw Brand, the head gamekeeper inthe park.

  "Never fear, my lady; thank God," he said, "my lord is quite safe. Itis poor Master Lea who is hurt; and Mr. Torwood sent me up for somebrandy, and a mattress, and a lantern, and some cloths."

  That assured us that he was alive, and we ran to fulfil the request inthe utmost haste, without asking further questions, and sending offSisson to ride for the poor mother, and to go on to Shinglebay for thedoctor, though, to our comfort, we knew that Arthur had almost finishedhis surgical education, and was sure to know what was to be done.

  "A stray shot," we said again and again to each other; and we calledNurse Rowe, and made up a bed in Alured's old nursery, and lighted afire, and were all ready, with hearts beating heavy with suspensebefore the steps came back--my poor Alured first, as we held the dooropen. How pale his face looked! and his brows were drawn with horror,and his steps dragging, saying not a word, but trembling, as he cameand held by me, with one hand on my waist, while Fulk and Sissoncarried in the mattress, Arthur Cradock at the side, and Perrault, whohad joined them, walking behind with the flask.

  Dear Trevor lay white with sobbing breath and closed eyes, the clothsand mattress soaked through and through with blood. They put him downon the keeping-room table, and Arthur poured more brandy into his mouth.

  I said something of the room being ready but Arthur said very low "Heis dying--internal bleeding;" and when Jaquetta asked "Can nothing bedone?" he answered, "Nothing but to leave him still."

  "Trevorsham," murmured the feeble voice, and Alured was close to him;"Ally! you are all right!" and then again, as Alured assured him hewould be better-- "No, I shan't; I'm so glad it wasn't you. I alwaysthought he'd do it some day, and now you're quite safe, I want to thankGod."

  We did not understand those words then; we did soon.

  The weak voice rambled on, "to thank God; but oh, it hurts so--Ican't--I will when I get there." Then presently "Mother!"

  "She'll come very soon," said Alured.

  "Mother! oh, mother! Trevorsham, don't let them know. O Trev, promise,promise!"

  "Promise what? I promise, whatever it is! Only tell me," entreatedAlured.

  "Take care of her--of mother. Don't let--" and then his eyes metPerrault's, and a shudder came all over him, which brought the endnearer; and all another spoonful of brandy could do was to enable himto say something in Alured's ear, and then a broken word ortwo--"forgive--glad--pray;" and when we all knelt and Fulk did say theLord's Prayer, and a verse or two more, there was a peaceful lovinglook at Fulk and Jaquetta and me, and then the whisper of the Name thatis above every name, as a glad brightness came over the face, and theeyes looked upwards, and so grew set in their gaze, and there was thesound one never can forget.

  Nurse Rowe laid her hand on Alured's neck, as he knelt with his headclose to Trevor's. Fulk and I looked at each other, and we knew thatall was over.

  They had tried in vain to check the bleeding. No one could have donemore than Arthur had done, but a main artery had been injured, andnothing could have saved him. He had said nothing after the first cry,except when he saw Alured's grief. "Never mind; I'm glad it was notyou." And once or twice, as they carried him home, he had begged to beput down, though they durst not attend to the entreaty, and Arthur didnot think he had suffered much pain.

  It jarred that just as we would have knelt for one silent prayer,Perrault's voice broke on us. "Ah! poor boy, it is better than if itlasted longer! I saw that half-witted fellow, Billy Blake about. So Idon't wonder at anything; but of course it was a mere accident, and Ishall not press it."

  Scarcely hearing him, I had joined Mrs. Rowe in the endeavour to detachAlured from his dear companion, when there was poor Hester among us,with open horror-stricken eyes, and a wild, frightful shriek as sheleapt forward; and no words can describe the misery of her voice as shecalled on her boy to look at her, and speak to her--gathering him intoher bosom with a passionate, desperate clasp, that seemed almost anoutrage on the calm awful stillness of the innocent child; and Aluredinvoluntarily cried, "Oh, don't," while Fulk spoke to her kindly; butjust then she saw her husband, and sprang on her feet, her eyesflashing, her hands stretched out, while she screamed out, "You here?You dare to come here? You, who killed him!" Fulk caught her arm,saying, "Hush! Hester; come away. It was a lamentable accident, but--"

  "Oh!" the laugh she gave was the most horrible thing I ever heard."Accident! I tell you it has been his one thought to make accidents forTrevorsham! And he hated my child--my dear, noble, beautiful, onlyone! He made him miserable, and murdered him at last!"

  She gave another passionate kiss to the cheeks, and then just as Ihoped she was going to let us lead her away, she darted from us, rushedpast Mr. Cradock who was entering the porch, and in another moment, hehurrying after her, saw her rush down the steep grassy slope, and flingherself into the swollen rapid stream.

  His shout brought them all out, and Fulk found him too in the river,holding her, and struggling with the stream, which winter had made fulland violent, and the black darkness of the shadows made it hard to findany landing place, and he was nearly swept away before it was possibleto get them out of the river; and Fulk was as completely drenched as hewas when they brought poor Hester, quite unconscious, up to the house,and brought her to the room that had been prepared for her son; andthere Dr. Brown and Arthur gave us plenty to do in filling hot-waterbaths and warming flannels, or rubbing the icy hands and feet. Onlythat constant need of exertion could have borne us through the horrorof it all. But it was not over yet. There was a call of "Ursula," andas I ran down, I found Fulk standing at the bottom of the stairs withAlured in his arms looking like death!

  "I found him on the parlour sofa, the little window and the escritoireopen!" Fulk said breathlessly, "the villain!"

  "I'm not hurt," said dear Alured's voice, faintly, but reassuringly,"Oh! p
ut me down, Fulk."

  We did put him down on the floor--there was no other place--with hishead on my lap, and I found strange voices asking him what Perrault haddone to him. "Oh! nothing! 'twasn't that. Yes, he's gone, out by thewindow."

  He swallowed some wine and then sat up, leaning against me as I sat atthe bottom of the stairs, quite himself again, and assuring us that hewas not hurt; Perrault never touched him--"Threatened you, then," saidFulk.

  "No," said Alured, as if he hadn't spirit to be indignant; "I meant himto get off."

  "Lord Trevorsham!" cried a voice in great displeasure, and I saw thatMr. Halsted, the nearest magistrate, was standing over us.

  "He told me--Trevor did"--said Alured.

  "Told you to assist the murderer to escape!" exclaimed Mr. Halsted.

  Alured let his head fall back, and would not answer, and Fulk said,"There is no need for him to speak at present, is there? The constableand the rest are gone after Perrault, but I do not yet know what hasdirected the suspicion against him."

  And then at the stair foot, for there was no other place to go to, wecame to an understanding, the two gentlemen and Brand the keeperstanding, and I seated on the step with my boy lying against me. Icould not trust him out of my sight, nor, indeed, was he fit to be left.

  It seems that Brand had been uneasy about the number of shooters whomthe report of the swans had attracted; and though the bank of the riverwas not Trevorsham ground, he had kept along on the border of thecovers higher up the hill, to guard his hares and pheasants.

  Thus he had seen everything distinctly in the moonlight against thesnowy bank below; and he had observed one figure in particular, movingstealthily along, in a parallel line with that which he knew our partywould take, though they were in shadow, and he could not see them.

  Suddenly, a chance shot fired somewhere made all the ducks fly up. Ahead and shoulders that Brand took for his young lord's, appearedbeyond the shadow, beside Fulk's; and, at the same moment, he saw theman whom he had been watching level his gun from behind, and fire. Thencame the cry, and Brand running down in horror himself, was amazed tosee this person doing the same, and when they came up with the group,he recognised Perrault; and found, at the same time, that Trevor wasthe sufferer, and that Lord Trevorsham was safe. He then would havethought it an accident, but for Perrault's own needless wonder, whencethe shot came, and that same remark, that Billy Blake, the half-wittedson of a farmer, was about that night.

  Brand, a shrewd fellow, restrained his reply, that Mr. Perrault knewmost about it himself. He saw that the most pressing need was to obeyFulk in fetching necessaries from our house, and that Perrault meant todisarm suspicion by treating it as an accident, so he thought it bestto go off to a magistrate with his story, before giving any alarm;feeling certain, as he said, that the shot had been meant for the Earl;as indeed, Perrault's first exclamation on coming up showed that he toohad expected to find Trevorsham the wounded one.

  Mr. Halsted had sent for the constable and came at once, though eventhen inclined to doubt whether Brand had not imputed accident tomalice. But Perrault's flight had settled that question. During theconfusion, while Hester was being carried upstairs, the miscreant hadthe opportunity of speaking to the child.

  "Drowned! No, she is not drowned; but she may be the other thing ifyou don't get me off! What, don't you understand? Let the law lay afinger on me, and what is to hinder me from telling how your sweetsister has been plotting to get you--yes, you, out of the way of herdarling. No, you needn't fear, there's nothing to get by it now. Luckyfor you you brought the poor boy out, when I thought him safe by thefire nursing his chilblain. But mind this, if I am arrested, all thestory shall come out. I'll not swing alone. If I fired, she pointedthe gun! And you may judge if that was what poor Trevor meant by hismutterings to you about 'mother.'"

  "But what do you want?" Alured asked. He had backed up against thewall; he was past being frightened, but he felt numb and sick withhorror, and ready to do anything to get the wretch out of his sight.

  "I want a clear way out of the house and all the cash you can gettogether. What! no more than that? I'd not be a lord to be kept soshort. Find me some more."

  Alured knew I should forgive him, and he took my key from my basket,unlocked the escritoire, and gave him my purse of household money,undid the shutters, and helped Perrault to squeeze himself through thelittle parlour window; and then, as he said, something came over him,and he just reached the sofa, and knew no more.

  He did not tell all this about Hester before Mr. Halsted; only whenFulk, finding how shaken he was, had carried him upstairs, and we hadtaken him to his room, he asked anxiously whether anyone had heardHester say that dreadful thing, and added, "Then if Mr. Perrault getsaway no one will know--about her."

  "Was that why you helped him?" we asked.

  "Trevor told me to take care of her," he said; and then he told us ofPerrault's arguments, but we ought not to have let him talk of themthat night, for it brought back the shuddering and sobbing, and thehorror seemed to come upon him, so that there was no soothing him orgetting him calm till the doctor mixed an anodyne draught; and let itgo as it would with Hester, I never left my boy till I had crooned himto sleep, as in the old times.