by Hugh Walpole
Groups of men were waiting in the cloisters, waiting for the doors to open for “Hall.” As Olva came towards the gates an undergraduate, white, breathless, brushed past him and burst into the quiet, murmuring groups.
“My God, have you heard?”
Olva passed through the iron gates. The groups broke. He had the impression of many men standing back — black in the dim light — waiting, listening.
There was an instant’s silence. Then, the man’s voice breaking into a shrill scream, the news came tumbling out. It seemed to flash a sudden glare upon the blackness.
“It’s Carfax — Carfax — he’s been murdered.”
The word was tossed, caught, flung against the stone pillars —
“Murdered! Murdered! Murdered!”
“They’ve just brought his body in now, found it in Sannet Wood this evening; a working man found it. Been there two days. His neck broken — —”
The mysterious groups scattered into strange fantastic shapes. There was a pause and then a hundred voices began at once. Some one spoke to Olva and he answered; his voice low and stern. . . . On every side confusion.
But for himself, like steel armour encasing his body, was the strange calm — aloof, unmoved, dispassionate — that had come to him half an hour ago.
He was alone — like God.
CHAPTER IV
MARGARET CRAVEN
1
It is essential to the maintenance of the Cambridge spirit that there should be no melodrama. Into that placid and speculative air real life tumbles with a resounding shock and the many souls that have been building, these many years, with careful elaboration, walls of defence and protection find themselves suddenly naked and indecent before the world. For that army of men who use Cambridge as a gate to the world in front of them the passage through the narrow streets is too swift to afford more in after life than a pleasant reminiscence. It is because Cambridge is the bridge between stern discipline and pleasant freedom that it is so happily remembered; but there are those who adopt Cambridge as their abiding home, and it is for these that real life is impossible.
Beneath these grey walls as the years pass slowly the illusions grow. Closer and closer creep the walls of experience, softer and thicker are the garments worn to keep out the cold, gentler and gentler are the speculations born of a good old Port and a knowledge of the Greek language. About the High Tables voices softly dispute the turning of a phrase, eyes mildly salute the careful dishes of a wisely chosen cook, gentle patronage is bestowed upon the wild ruffian of the outer world. Many bells ring, many fires are burning, many lamps are lit, many leaves of many books are turned — busily, busily hands are raising walls of self-defence; the world at first regretted, then patronized, is now forgotten . . . hush, he sleeps, his feet in slippers, his head upon the softest cushion, his hand still covering the broad page of his dictionary. . . . Nothing, not birth nor love, nor death must disturb his repose.
And here, in the heart of the Sannet Wood, is death from violence, death, naked, crude, removed from all sense of life as we know it. The High Tables avoid Carfax’s body with all possible discretion; for an hour or two the Port has lost its flavour, Homer is hidden by a cloud, the gentle chatter is curtailed and silenced. Amongst the lower order — those wild and turbulent undergraduates — it is the only topic. Carfax is very generally known; he had ridden, he had rowed, he had played cricket. A member of the only sporting club in the University, he had been known as a “real sportsman and a damned good fellow” because he was often drunk and frequently spent an evening in London . . . and now he is dead.
In Saul’s a number of very young spirits awake to the consciousness of death. Here is a red-faced hearty fellow as fit as anything one moment and dead the next. Never before had the fact been faced that this might happen to any one. Let the High Table dismiss it easily, it is none so simple for those who have not had time to build up those defending walls. For a day or two there is a hush about the place, voices are soft, men talk in groups, the mystery is the one sensation. . . . The time passes, there are other interests, once more the High Table can taste its wine. Death is again bundled into noisier streets, into a harder, shriller air. . . .
2
Olva, on the morning after the discovery of the body, heard from Mrs. Ridge speculations as to the probable criminal. “You take my word, Mr. Dune, sir, it was one of them there nasty tramps — always ‘anging round they are, and Miss Annett was only yesterday speakin’ to me of a ugly feller comin’ round to their back door and askin’ for bread, weren’t you, Miss Annett?”
“I was, indeed, Mrs. Ridge.”
“And ’im with the nastiest ‘eavy blue jaw you ever saw on a man, ‘adn’t ’e, Miss Annett?”
“He had, indeed, Mrs. Ridge.”
“Ah, I shouldn’t wonder — nasty-sort-o’-looking feller. And that Sannet Wood too — nasty lonely place with its old stones and all — comfortable? — I don’t think.”
Olva made inquiries as to the stones.
“Why, ever so old, they say — before Christ, I’ve ‘eard. Used to cut up ‘uman flesh and eat it like the pore natives, and there’s a ugly lookin’ stone in that very wood where they did it too, or so I’ve ‘eard. Would you go along that way in the dark, Miss Annett?”
“Not much — I grant you, Mrs. Ridge.”
“Oh yes! not likely on a dark night, I don’t think! — and that pore Mr. Carfax — well, all I say is, I ‘opes they catch ’im, that’s all I say . . .” with further reminiscence concerning Mrs. Birch who had worked on Carfax’s staircase the last ten years and never “‘ad no kind of luck. There was that Mr. Oliver—”
Final dismissal of Mrs. Ridge and Miss Annett.
Meanwhile, strange enough the relief that he felt because the body was actually removed from that wood. No longer possible now to see it lying there with the leg bent underneath, the head falling straight back, the ring on the finger. . . . Curious, too, that the matchbox had not been discovered; they must have searched pretty thoroughly by now — perhaps after all it had not been dropped there.
But over him there had fallen a strange lassitude. He was outside, beyond it all.
And then Craven came to see him. The event had wrought in the boy a great change. It was precisely with a character like Craven’s that such an incident must cleave a division between youth and manhood. He had, until last evening, considered nothing for himself; his father’s death had occurred when he was too young to see anything in it but a perfectly natural removal of some one immensely old. The world had seemed the easiest, the simplest of places, his years at Rugby had been delight. Fully free from shocks of any kind. Good health, friendship, a little learning, these things had made the days pass swiftly. Rupert Craven had been yesterday, a child precisely typical of the system in which he had been drilled; now he was something different. Olva knew that he was capable of depths of feeling because of his extraordinary devotion to his sister. Craven had often spoken of her to Olva— “So different from me, the most brilliant person in the world. Her music is really wonderful —— people who know, I mean, all say so. But you see we’re the same age — only two of us. We’ve always been everything to one another.”
Olva wondered why Craven had told him. It was not as though they had ever been very intimate, but Craven seemed to think that Olva and his sister would have much in common.
Olva wondered, as he looked at Craven standing there in the doorway, how this sister would take the change in her brother. He had suddenly, as he looked at Craven, a perception of the number of lives with whose course his action had involved him. The wheel was beginning to turn. . . .
The light had gone from Craven’s eyes. His vitality and energy had slipped from him, leaving his body heavy, unalert. He seemed puzzled, awed; there were dark lines under his eyes, his cheeks were pale and his mouth had lost its tendency to smile, its lines were heavy; but, above all, his expression was interrogative. Finally, he was puzzled.
For
an instant, as he looked at him, Olva felt that he could not face him, then with a deliberate summoning of the resources of his temperament he strung himself to whatever the day might bring forth.
“This is awful — —”
“Yes.”
“Of course it doesn’t matter to you, Dune, as it does to me, but I knew the fellow so awfully well. It’s horrible, horrible. That he should have died — like that.”
Olva broke out suddenly. “After all not such a bad way to die — swift enough. I don’t suppose Carfax valued life especially.”
“Oh! he enjoyed it — enjoyed it like anything. And that it should be taken so trivially, for no reason at all. It seems to be almost certain that it was some tramp or other — robbery the motive probably, and then he was startled and left the money — it was all lying about on the grass. But then Carfax was mixed up with so many ruffians of one kind and another. It may have been revenge or any-thing. I believe they are searching the wood now, but they’re not likely to bring it home to any one. Misty day, no one about, and the man simply used his fist apparently — he must have been most awfully strong. Have you ever heard of any one killing a man with one blow — except a prize-fighter?”
“It’s simply a knack, I believe, if you catch a fellow in a certain spot.”
Supposing that some wretched tramp were arrested and accused? Some dirty fellow from behind a hedge? All the tramps, all the ruffians of the world were now a danger. The accusation of another would bring the truth from him of course. His dark eyes moved across the room to Craven’s white, tired face. Within himself there moved now with every hour stirring more acutely this desire for life. If only they would let him alone . . . let the body alone . . . let it all alone. Let the world sink back to its earlier apathy.
His voice was resentful.
“Carfax wasn’t a good fellow, Craven. No, I know — Nil nini bonum . . . and all the rest of it. But it looks a bit like a judgment — judgment from Heaven.”
Craven broke in.
“But now — just now when his body’s lying there. I know there were things he did. He was a bit wild, of course — —”
“Yes, there was a girl, a girl in Midgett’s tobacconist’s shop — his daughter. Carfax ruined her, body and soul . . . ruined her. He boasted of it. Looks like a judgment.”
“I don’t care.” Craven sprang up. “Carfax may have done things, but he was a friend of mine, and a good friend. They must catch the man, they must. It’s a duty they owe us all. To have such a man as that hanging about. Why, it might happen to any of us. You must help me, Dune.”
“Help you?”
“Yes — help them to catch the murderer. We must think of everything that could make a clue. Perhaps this girl. I had heard something about her, of course; but perhaps there was another lover, a rival or something, or perhaps her father — —”
“Well,” Dune said slowly, “my advice to you, Craven, is not to think too much about the whole business. A thing like that is certain to get on one’s nerves — leave it alone as much as you can — —”
“What a funny chap you are! You’re always like that. As detached from everything as though you weren’t alive at all. Why, I believe, if you’d committed the murder yourself you wouldn’t be much more concerned!”
“Well, we’ve got to go on as we’re made, I suppose, only do take my advice about not getting morbid over it. By the way, I see I’m playing against St. Martin’s this afternoon.”
“Yes. I thought at first I wouldn’t play. But I suppose it’s better to go on doing one’s ordinary things. You’re coming in to-night, aren’t you?
“Are you sure you want me after all this disturbance?
“Why, of course; my mother’s expecting you. Half-past seven. Don’t dress.” He raised his arms above his head, yawning. He was obviously better for the talk. His eyes were less strained, his body more alert. “I’m tired to death. Didn’t get a wink of sleep last night — saw poor Carfax in the dark — ugh! Well, we meet this afternoon.”
When the door closed Olva had the sensation of having been on his trial. Craven’s eyes still followed him. Nerves, of course . . . but they had strangely reminded him of Bunker.
3
Olva had never been to Craven’s house before. It stood in a little street that joined Cambridge to the country. At one end of the prim little road the lamps stopped abruptly and a white chalk path ran amongst dark common to a distant wood.
At the other end a broader road with tram-lines crossed. The house was built by itself, back from the highway, with a tiny drive and some dark laurels. It was always gloomy and apparently unkept. The autumn leaves were dull and sodden upon the drive; the bell and knocker upon the heavy door, from which the paint was worn in places, were rusty. No sound came from the little road beyond.
The place seemed absolutely without life. Olva now, as he sent the bell pealing through the passages, knew that this dark desertion had an effect upon his nerves. A week ago he would not have noticed the place at all — now he longed for lights and noise and company. He had played foot-ball that afternoon better than ever before; that, too, had been a defence, almost a protest, an assertion of his right to live.
As he waited his thoughts pursued him. He had heard them say to-night that no clue had been discovered, that the police were entirely at a loss. It was impossible to trace foot-marks amongst all that undergrowth. No one had been seen in that direction during the hours when the murder must have been committed . . . so on — so on . . . all this talk, this discussion. The wretched man was dead — no one would miss him — no one cared — leave him alone, leave him alone. Olva pulled the bell again furiously. Why couldn’t they come? He wanted to escape from this dark and dismal drive; these hanging laurels, the cold little road, with its chilly lamps. An old and tottering woman, her nose nearly touching her chin and her fingers in black mittens, opened at last and led Olva into the very blackest and closest little hall that he had ever encountered. The air was thick and musty with a strangely mingled smell of burning wood, of faded pot-pourri, of dried skins. The ceiling was low and black, and the only window was one of a dull red glass that glimmered mournfully at a distance. The walls were hung with the strangest things, prizes apparently that the late Dr. Craven had secured in China — grinning heathen gods, uncouth weapons, dried skins of animals. Out of this dark little hall Olva was led into a drawing-room that was itself nearly as obscure. Here the ceiling was higher, but the place square and dark; a deep set stone fireplace in which logs were burning was the most obvious thing there. For the rest the floor seemed littered with old twisted tables, odd chairs with carved legs, here a plate with sea shells, here a glass case with some pieces of ribbon, old rusty coins, silver ornaments. There were many old prints upon the walls, landscapes, some portraits, and stuck here and there elaborate arrangements of silk and ribbon and paper fans and coloured patterns. Opposite the dark diamond-paned window was an old gilt mirror that seemed to catch all the room into its dusty and faded reflections, and to make what was old and tattered enough already, doubly dreary. The room had the close and musty air of the hall as though windows were but seldom opened; there was a scent as though oranges had recently been eaten there.
At first Olva had thought that he was alone in the room; then when his eyes had grown more accustomed to the light he saw, sitting in a high-backed chair, motionless, gazing into the fire, with her fine white hands lying in her lap, a lady. She reminded him, in that first vision of her, of “Phiz’s” pictures of Mrs. Clennam in Little Dorrit, and always afterwards that connection remained with him. Her thin, spare figure had something intense, almost burning, in its immobility, in the deep black of her dress and hair, in the white sharpness of the outline of her face.
How admirably, it seemed to him, she suited that room. She too may have thought as she turned slowly to look at him that he fitted his background, with the spare dignity of his figure, his fine eyes, the black and white contrast of his body so that his c
heeks, his hands, seemed almost to shine against the faded air. It is certain that they recognized at once some common ground so that they met as though they had known one another for many years. The old minor caught for a moment the fine gravity and silence of his approach to her as he waited for her to greet him.
But before she could speak to him the door had opened and Margaret Craven entered. In her gravity, her silence, she seemed at once to claim kinship with them both. She had the black hair, the pale face, the sharp outline of her mother. As she came quietly towards them her reserve was wonderful, but there was tenderness in the soft colour of her eyes, in the lines of her mouth that made her also beautiful. But beyond the tenderness there was also an energy that made every move seem like an attack. In spite of her reserve there was impatience, and Olva’s first judgment of her was that the last thing in the world that she could endure was muddle; she shone with the clean-cut decision of fine steel.
Mrs. Craven spoke without rising from her chair.
“I am very glad to see you, Mr. Dune, Rupert has often told us about you.”
Margaret advanced to him and held out her hand. She looked him straight in the eyes.
“We have met before, you know.”
“I had not forgotten,” he answered her gravely.
Then Rupert came in. It was strange how one saw now, when he stood beside his mother and sister, that he had some of their quality of stern reserve. He had always seemed to Olva a perfectly ordinary person of natural good health and good temper, and now this quality that had descended upon him increased the fresh attention that he had already during these last two days demanded. For something beyond question the Carfax affair must be held responsible. It seemed now to be the only thing that could hold his mind. He spoke very little, but his white face, his tired eyes, his listless conversation, showed the occupation of his mind. It was indeed a melancholy evening.
To Olva, his nerves being already on edge, it was almost intolerable. They passed from the drawing-room into a tiny dining-room — a room that was as dingy and faded as the rest, with a dull red paper on the walls and an old blue carpet. The old woman waited; the food was of the simplest.