by Thomas Hardy
CHAPTER XXI.
When the general stampede occurred Winterborne had also been lookingon, and encountering one of the girls, had asked her what caused themall to fly.
She said with solemn breathlessness that they had seen something verydifferent from what they had hoped to see, and that she for one wouldnever attempt such unholy ceremonies again. "We saw Satan pursuing uswith his hour-glass. It was terrible!"
This account being a little incoherent, Giles went forward towards thespot from which the girls had retreated. After listening there a fewminutes he heard slow footsteps rustling over the leaves, and lookingthrough a tangled screen of honeysuckle which hung from a bough, he sawin the open space beyond a short stout man in evening-dress, carryingon one arm a light overcoat and also his hat, so awkwardly arranged aspossibly to have suggested the "hour-glass" to his timid observers--ifthis were the person whom the girls had seen. With the other hand hesilently gesticulated and the moonlight falling upon his bare browshowed him to have dark hair and a high forehead of the shape seenoftener in old prints and paintings than in real life. His curious andaltogether alien aspect, his strange gestures, like those of one who isrehearsing a scene to himself, and the unusual place and hour, weresufficient to account for any trepidation among the Hintock daughtersat encountering him.
He paused, and looked round, as if he had forgotten where he was; notobserving Giles, who was of the color of his environment. The latteradvanced into the light. The gentleman held up his hand and cametowards Giles, the two meeting half-way.
"I have lost my way," said the stranger. "Perhaps you can put me inthe path again." He wiped his forehead with the air of one sufferingunder an agitation more than that of simple fatigue.
"The turnpike-road is over there," said Giles
"I don't want the turnpike-road," said the gentleman, impatiently. "Icame from that. I want Hintock House. Is there not a path to itacross here?"
"Well, yes, a sort of path. But it is hard to find from this point.I'll show you the way, sir, with great pleasure."
"Thanks, my good friend. The truth is that I decided to walk acrossthe country after dinner from the hotel at Sherton, where I am stayingfor a day or two. But I did not know it was so far."
"It is about a mile to the house from here."
They walked on together. As there was no path, Giles occasionallystepped in front and bent aside the underboughs of the trees to givehis companion a passage, saying every now and then when the twigs, onbeing released, flew back like whips, "Mind your eyes, sir." To whichthe stranger replied, "Yes, yes," in a preoccupied tone.
So they went on, the leaf-shadows running in their usual quicksuccession over the forms of the pedestrians, till the stranger said,
"Is it far?"
"Not much farther," said Winterborne. "The plantation runs up into acorner here, close behind the house." He added with hesitation, "Youknow, I suppose, sir, that Mrs. Charmond is not at home?"
"You mistake," said the other, quickly. "Mrs. Charmond has been awayfor some time, but she's at home now."
Giles did not contradict him, though he felt sure that the gentlemanwas wrong.
"You are a native of this place?" the stranger said.
"Yes."
"Well, you are happy in having a home. It is what I don't possess."
"You come from far, seemingly?"
"I come now from the south of Europe."
"Oh, indeed, sir. You are an Italian, or Spanish, or French gentleman,perhaps?"
"I am not either."
Giles did not fill the pause which ensued, and the gentleman, whoseemed of an emotional nature, unable to resist friendship, at lengthanswered the question.
"I am an Italianized American, a South Carolinian by birth," he said."I left my native country on the failure of the Southern cause, andhave never returned to it since."
He spoke no more about himself, and they came to the verge of the wood.Here, striding over the fence out upon the upland sward, they could atonce see the chimneys of the house in the gorge immediately beneaththeir position, silent, still, and pale.
"Can you tell me the time?" the gentleman asked. "My watch hasstopped."
"It is between twelve and one," said Giles.
His companion expressed his astonishment. "I thought it between nineand ten at latest! Dear me--dear me!"
He now begged Giles to return, and offered him a gold coin, whichlooked like a sovereign, for the assistance rendered. Giles declinedto accept anything, to the surprise of the stranger, who, on puttingthe money back into his pocket, said, awkwardly, "I offered it becauseI want you to utter no word about this meeting with me. Will youpromise?"
Winterborne promised readily. He thereupon stood still while the otherascended the slope. At the bottom he looked back dubiously. Gileswould no longer remain when he was so evidently desired to leave, andreturned through the boughs to Hintock.
He suspected that this man, who seemed so distressed and melancholy,might be that lover and persistent wooer of Mrs. Charmond whom he hadheard so frequently spoken of, and whom it was said she had treatedcavalierly. But he received no confirmation of his suspicion beyond areport which reached him a few days later that a gentleman had calledup the servants who were taking care of Hintock House at an hour pastmidnight; and on learning that Mrs. Charmond, though returned fromabroad, was as yet in London, he had sworn bitterly, and gone awaywithout leaving a card or any trace of himself.
The girls who related the story added that he sighed three times beforehe swore, but this part of the narrative was not corroborated. Anyhow,such a gentleman had driven away from the hotel at Sherton next day ina carriage hired at that inn.