by James Payn
CHAPTER IV.
LOST.
The morning subsequent to Sir Massingberd's visit to the Rectory wasbright, but intensely cold. I was very particular about my shaving inthose days, and would not have dispensed with that manly exercise uponany account; but I remember that the frost made it a difficult process.In the course of the ceremony, Mrs. Myrtle, who was a very privilegedperson, knocked softly at my door. A visit from her at such a time wasunusual, but not unprecedented. I said, "Pray, come in." My attire wastolerably complete, and perhaps I was not indisposed to let people knowwhat tremendous difficulties were entailed upon a gentleman by thepossession of an obstinate beard. I was not prepared for her closing thedoor behind her, sinking into the nearest chair, and fanning herself, asthough it had been midsummer, with her outspread fingers. I looked ather with a face all soap-suds and astonishment.
"My dear Mrs. Myrtle, what is the matter?"
"Oh, don't ask me, Master Peter," cried she, although she had come forno other purpose than to be cross-questioned. "Oh, pray, don't, for it'smore nor I can bear. Dearey me, if I ain't all of a twitter!"
"Nothing the matter with your master," said I, "surely? I saw him out ofthe window a little while ago on the lawn, talking to one of theunder-keepers of the Hall."
"I dare say you did, sir," quoth Mrs. Myrtle, with one of thoseaggravated shudders which are generally produced by the anticipation ofsenna and salts. "No, master's all well, thank Heaven."
"No bad news from Harley Street?" exclaimed I, laying down my razor in atremor. "I trust Miss...--I mean that Mr. Marmaduke is as he should be."
"For all that I know to the contrary, he is, sir," returned thehousekeeper; "and likewise all _friends_" Mrs. Myrtle laid such anaccent upon "friends" that my mind naturally rushed to the opposite.
"You don't mean to say," said I, "that anything has happened to SirMassingberd?"
Mrs. Myrtle had no voice to speak, but she nodded a number of times incompensation.
"Is he DEAD?" asked I, very solemnly, for it was terrible to think ofsudden death in connection with that abandoned man.
"Wus than dead, sir," returned the housekeeper; "many times wus thandead; Heaven forgive me for saying so. Sir Massingberd is LOST."
"Lost!" repeated I; "how? where?"
"There is only One knows that, Master Peter; but the Squire is not atthe Hall, that's certain; he never returned there last night, after hehad gone his rounds in the preserves. He spoke with Bradford and twomore of the keepers, and bade them keep a good look-out as usual; but hedid not come to the watchers in the Home Plantation. He never got sonear the house as that; nobody saw him since midnight. Gilmore put outhis cigars and spirits as usual for him in his room; but they areuntouched. The front-door was not fastened on the inside; SirMassingberd never came in."
Here I heard Mr. Long calling upon the stairs in a voice very differentfrom his customary cheerful tones, for Mrs. Myrtle.
"Mercy me, I wonder whether there's anything new!" cried she, risingwith great alacrity. "As soon as I knows it, you shall know it, MasterPeter;" with which generous promise she hurried from the room.
After this intelligence, shaving became an impossibility, and I hurrieddown as soon as I could into the breakfast-room. My tutor was standingat the window very thoughtful, and though he greeted me with his usualhilarity, it struck me that it was a little forced.
"Why, you are early this morning, Peter; and how profusely you haveillustrated yourself with cuts; it is sad to see one so young with sucha shaky hand. One would think you were one of the five-bottle-men, likeSir--like Lord Stowell."
He had been about to say "Sir Massingberd," I knew, and would onordinary occasions not have hesitated to do so.
"De perditis nil nisi bonum?" quoth I inquiringly.
"Oh, so you have heard of this nine hours' wonder, have you?" returnedmy tutor. "Because our neighbour has chosen to leave home for a little,on some private business best known to himself, everybody will have itthat he is Lost."
"But it does seem very extraordinary too," said I, "does it not? He hasnever done so before, has he?"
"Not in all the years he has lived in Fairburn," returned my tutormusingly.
"And he made no preparations, I suppose, for departure, did he? Took noclothes with him?"
"Nothing, nothing," interrupted Mr. Long, pacing the room to and fro,with his hand to his forehead. "But he had money, you know; he was eagerto get that money yesterday."
"Then he would probably have hired a vehicle," urged I; "Sir Massingberdis not the man to use his own legs, beyond the limit, that is, of hisown lands. You have heard him say that he would never be seen on theroad without four horses."
Mr. Long continued his walk without reply, but I thought I perceivedthat he was not unwilling to have the subject discussed. He seemed to beeager to take as light a view of the matter as possible, although likeone who contends against his own more sombre convictions. I, on thecontrary, had that leaning towards the gloomy and mysterious notuncommon with young persons, and both imagined the worst, andendeavoured to picture it.
"He went out after the poachers did he not?" said I.
"Yes, as usual," replied my tutor; "he has done it before, scores oftimes."
"The pitcher goes often to the well, but is broken at last," returned I."I should not be surprised if the wretched man has been murdered by someof those against whom he waged such unceasing war."
"Then if so, he must have been shot, Peter," returned the rectorhastily: "without firearms, it would have been hard to dispose of thegigantic baronet, armed as he doubtless was with his life-preserver. Nowno gun has been heard to go off by any one, although it was thought thatSir Massingberd expected some raid to be made last night, by thegipsies or others; at all events, he seemed more alert than usual,Oliver tells me."
The gipsies! My heart sank within me, as I thought of Rachel Liversedgeconsumed with the wrongs of her "little sister;" and of the young man,relative of that unhappy Carew whose life had been sworn away throughthe Squire's machinations. I had seen nothing of them since my memorableinterview, but it was like enough that the tribe were yet in theneighbourhood. True, they had waited so long for vengeance, that it wasnot probable they should have set about it at this time; but if SirMassingberd had really come across them alone, while they werecommitting a depredation, violence might easily enough have ensued; andif violence, murder. I was very glad that Mrs. Myrtle came in at thisjuncture with the eggs and buttered toast, and concealed myembarrassment.
"No news, sir," said she lugubriously, as she placed the delicacies uponthe table. "The last words were, 'Nothing has been heard of him.'" Thehousekeeper had established a system of communication by help of herkitchen-maid and the stable-lad at the Hall, whereby she receivedbulletins, every quarter of an hour or so, with respect to SirMassingberd's mysterious disappearance.
"Well, no news is good news, you know," responded Mr. Long gaily. "Weshould always look upon the bright side of things, Mrs. Myrtle."
"Yes, sir; but when a thing ain't got a bright side," remarked thehousekeeper, shaking her head. "Why, it's dreadful now he's Lost; and itwould be dreadful even if, after all, he was al----"
"Hush, hush, Mrs. Myrtle; you don't know but you may be speaking of apoor soul that is gone to his account. Sir Massingberd is doubtless abad man; but let us not call it dreadful if he should be permitted toreturn among us, and have some time yet, it may be, to repent in."
"Then you think he's dead and gone, do you, sir? Well, that's what Ithink, and that's what Patty thinks too, and she's a very reasonablegirl. 'Them ravens,' says she to me, 'didn't come to that church-towerfor nothing;' and though, of course, I told her to hold her tongue, andnot talk folly like that, there was a good deal in what she said. Why,we have not had ravens here since Sir Wentworth came to his awful end inLondon; there was a mystery about that too, wasn't there, sir?Lawk-a-mercy! Mr. Meredith, you gave me quite a turn."
I had only said "Look there!" and pointed to the
window, through whichGilmore and the head-keeper were seen approaching the Rectory, andengaged in close conversation.
"I'll go with Patty, and let them in," quoth Mrs. Myrtle, unconsciouslybetraying that she was unequal to opening the door alone, in such anemergency. It is probable that, when it was opened, the incomers and shehad a great deal to talk about, for they were not ushered into thebreakfast-room for many minutes, and after the very moderate meal whichsufficed us both upon the occasion had long been finished. The butlerand Oliver Bradford were by no means good friends, and it must have beensomething portentous indeed which brought them to the Rectory together.It was, in fact, their very rivalry which had produced the doublevisit. Each conceived himself to be the superior minister of the absentpotentate, and called upon, by that position, to act in his master'sbehalf, and give notice to neighbouring powers, such as the parson, ofthe event that had paralyzed affairs at the Hall. It seemed only natural(as he himself subsequently expressed it) to Oliver Bradford, who hadbeen servant, man and boy, to the Heath family for nearly sixty years,that he should be the spokesman on an occasion such as this, andsleeking his scanty white hairs over his forehead with the palm of hishand, and passing the back of it across his mouth, he commenced asfollows:--
"Muster Long, I make bold to come over here, having been upon theproperty going on for three-score years and ten----"
"As out-door servant," interrupted Mr. Gilmore, severely; "but not asconfidential in any way. Mr. Long, this old man here insisted uponaccompanying me in the performance of my duty, and I have humoured him."
"You've what?" cried the ancient keeper; "you've humoured _me_, you oilyknave, have you? No, no, you never did that to Oliver Bradford. Itwasn't worth your while. I come here about my master's business as amatter of right. Are a few years of truckling, and helping the devil'shand, and feathering your own nest pretty comfortably, to be weighedagainst a lifetime of honest service? Let Mr. Long here decide."
"Look here, men," quoth my tutor, "it is no use quarrelling aboutprecedence. You are both in the same service, and owe the same duty toyour master. I know what has happened in a general way, and require nolong story from either of you. But you have doubtless each of you someinformation concerning this matter peculiar to your own positions, and Iwill ask you to communicate it in time. Twelve hours have not elapsedsince your master's disappearance, a very short time surely to set itdown so decidedly to some fatal accident."
"He was as regular in his rounds as clockwork," interposed the oldkeeper, shaking his head; "he would never have left the Home Spinneyunvisited last night, if life had been in him."
"And if he had meant to leave Fairburn of his own head," added thebutler, "he would have come back for his brandy before he started; forall his hearty look, Sir Massingberd could not get on long without that;and he would not have taken Grimjaw out with him neither."
"Oh, the dog was with him, was it?" said my tutor, musing.
"It was not in the house, sir," replied Gilmore, "after Sir Massingberdhad left. I went to make the fire in his sitting-room, and I noticedthat the creature was neither on the hearthrug, nor under the sofa, asis usually the case. I don't know when I have known the dog go out withhim o' nights before. When I went to open the front door as usual thismorning, there was Grimjaw, nigh frozen to death."
"Your master had made no sort of preparation, so far as you know, forhis own departure anywhere?"
"None whatever. I set out his cigars for him, and I noticed that he hadonly put two in his case, a sure sign that he meant to return soon. Hehad no greatcoat, although it was bitter cold."
"Was he armed in any way?"
"No, sir; that is to say, he had his life-preserver, of course, but nogun or pistol."
"Had he any sum of money, or valuables of any kind about him, Gilmore?"
"I don't think that is at all likely," replied the butler, grinning. "Wehaven't seen money at the Hall this many a day. As for valuables, SirMassingberd had his big gold chain on, with a silver watch at the end ofit, borrowed from me years ago, and my property."
It was remarkable how this ordinarily cautious and discreet person waschanged in manner, as though he was well assured that he would nevermore have a master over him. Both Mr. Long and myself observed this.
"What time was your master usually accustomed to return home from hisrounds in the preserves?"
"I did not sit up for him in general," returned Gilmore; "but when Ihave chanced to be awake, and to hear him come in, it was never laterthan three o'clock. His ordinary time was about half-past twelve, but itdepended on what time he started. He left the Hall last night at aboutten, and should, therefore, have returned a little after midnight. Inever set eyes on him since nine o'clock, when he was in his ownsitting-room reading."
"And when did _you_ see him last, Bradford?"
"When did I see Sir Massingberd Heath?" replied the old keeper, who hadbeen chafing with impatience through his rival's evidence--"well, Isee'd him last nine hours ago, at nearly twelve o'clock at night. I wason watch in the Old Plantation, and he came upon me sudden, as usual,with his long quick stride."
"Was there anything at all irregular about his manner or appearance;anything in the least degree different from what you always saw uponthese occasions?"
"Nothing, whatever, sir. Look you, I knew my master well," [He hadalready begun to talk of him in the past tense!] "I could tell at aglance when he was put out more than usual, or when he had anything outof ordinary in hand; he never swore, saving your reverence's presence,what you may call _freely_ then. He might have knocked one down, likelyenough, if you gave him the least cross, but he was not flush of hisoaths. Now I never heard him in a better fettle in that respect than hewas last night. He cussed the lad Jem Meyrick, who had come up to meaway from Davit's Copse for a light to his pipe; and he cussed me too,for giving it him, up hill and down dale, and in particular he cussedGrimjaw for being so old and slow that he couldn't keep up with him.Sir Massingberd never waited for him, of course; but after he'd beenwith us a few minutes, the old dog came up puffin' and wheezin'; andwhen the Squire left us, it followed him as well as it could, but withthe distance getting greater between them at every step. I watched them,for the moon made it almost as light as day, going straight for theWolsey Oak, which was the direct way for the Home Spinney; and that waswhere Sir Massingberd meant to go last night, although he never gotthere, or leastways the watcher never saw him.
"Have you any reason to believe, keeper, that there were poachers in anypart of the preserves last night?"
"No, sir," replied Oliver, positively. "On the contrary, I knows therewasn't, although Sir Massingberd was as suspicious of them as usual, ormore so. Why, with Jack Larrup and Dick Swivel both in jail, and allthe Larchers sent out of the parish, and Squat and Burchall at sea,where was they to come from?"
"Sir Massingberd must have had many enemies?" mused my tutor.
"Ay, indeed, sir," replied old Oliver, pursing his lips; "he held hisown with the strong hand; so strong, however, as no man would contendagainst him. If Sir Massingberd has been killed, Mr Long, it was not infair fight; he was too much feared for that."
"There has been a gang of gipsies about the place this long time, hasthere not?" quoth my tutor.
"There has, sir; but don't you think of gipsies and this here matter ofSir Massingberd as having anything to do with one another. They'refeeble, feckless bodies at the best. They ain't even good poachers,although my master always bid us beware of them. They would no morehave ventured to meddle with the squire, than a flock of linnets wouldattack a hawk, that's certain."
My tutor had been setting down on paper brief notes of his conversationwith these two men; but he now put the writing away from him, andinquired what steps, in their judgment, ought to be taken in the matter,and when.
"You know your master better than I. If he chanced to come back thisafternoon, or to-morrow, or next day, from any expedition he may havechosen to undertake, would he not be much annoyed at any hue a
nd cryhaving been made after him?"
"That he just would," observed the keeper with emphasis.
"I would not have been the man to make the fuss," remarked the butler,sardonically, "for more money than he has paid me these ten years."
"In a word," observed my tutor, "you are both come here to shift theresponsibility of a public search from your own shoulders to mine. Verygood. I accept it. Let sufficient hands be procured at once, Bradford,to search the Chase and grounds, and drag the waters. And you, Gilmore,must accompany me, while I set seals on such rooms as may seem necessaryup at the Hall."
The butler was for moving away on the instant with a "_Very_ well, sir,"but Mr. Long added, "Please to wait in Mrs. Myrtle's parlour for me. Wemust go together."
"I don't like the look of that man Gilmore at all, sir," observed I,when the two had left the room.
"No, nor I, Peter," returned my tutor, sententiously, as he set aboutcollecting tapes and sealing-wax; "I am afraid he is a rogue in grain."
Now, that was not by any means, or rather was very far short of, what Imeant to imply; what I had had almost upon my burning lips was, "Don'tyou think he has murdered Sir Massingberd?" But the moment had gone byfor putting the question, even if Mr. Long had not begun to whistle--asure sign with him that he did not wish to speak upon the matter anyfurther, just at present.