by Thomas Hardy
XIII
He was standing immediately inside the door at the bottom, though it wasso dark she could hardly see him. The villagers were audibly talkingjust without.
'He's sure to come, rathe or late,' resounded up the spiral in the vocalnote of Hezzy Biles. 'He wouldn't let such a fine show as the cometmakes to-night go by without peeping at it,--not Master Cleeve! Did yebring along the flagon, Haymoss? Then we'll sit down inside his littleboard-house here, and wait. He'll come afore bed-time. Why, his spy-glass will stretch out that there comet as long as Welland Lane!'
'I'd as soon miss the great peep-show that comes every year to GreenhillFair as a sight of such a immortal spectacle as this!' said Amos Fry.
'"Immortal spectacle,"--where did ye get that choice mossel, Haymoss?'inquired Sammy Blore. 'Well, well, the Lord save good scholars--and takejust a bit o' care of them that bain't! As 'tis so dark in the hut,suppose we draw out the bench into the front here, souls?'
The bench was accordingly brought forth, and in order to have a back tolean against, they placed it exactly across the door into the spiralstaircase.
'Now, have ye got any backy? If ye haven't, I have,' continued SammyBlore. A striking of matches followed, and the speaker concludedcomfortably, 'Now we shall do very well.'
'And what do this comet mean?' asked Haymoss. 'That some great tumult isgoing to happen, or that we shall die of a famine?'
'Famine--no!' said Nat Chapman. 'That only touches such as we, and theLord only consarns himself with born gentlemen. It isn't to be supposedthat a strange fiery lantern like that would be lighted up for folks withten or a dozen shillings a week and their gristing, and a load o' thornfaggots when we can get 'em. If 'tis a token that he's getting hot aboutthe ways of anybody in this parish, 'tis about my Lady Constantine's,since she is the only one of a figure worth such a hint.'
'As for her income,--that she's now lost.'
'Ah, well; I don't take in all I hear.'
Lady Constantine drew close to St. Cleeve's side, and whispered,trembling, 'Do you think they will wait long? Or can we get out?'
Swithin felt the awkwardness of the situation. The men had placed thebench close to the door, which, owing to the stairs within, openedoutwards; so that at the first push by the pair inside to releasethemselves the bench must have gone over, and sent the smokers sprawlingon their faces. He whispered to her to ascend the column and wait tillhe came.
'And have the dead man left her nothing? Hey? And have he carried hisinheritance into's grave? And will his skeleton lie warm on account o't?Hee-hee!' said Haymoss.
''Tis all swallered up,' observed Hezzy Biles. 'His goings-on made hermiserable till 'a died, and if I were the woman I'd have my randys now.He ought to have bequeathed to her our young gent, Mr. St. Cleeve, assome sort of amends. I'd up and marry en, if I were she; since herdownfall has brought 'em quite near together, and made him as good as shein rank, as he was afore in bone and breeding.'
'D'ye think she will?' asked Sammy Blore. 'Or is she meaning to enterupon a virgin life for the rest of her days?'
'I don't want to be unreverent to her ladyship; but I really don't thinkshe is meaning any such waste of a Christian carcase. I say she's rathermeaning to commit flat matrimony wi' somebody or other, and one younggentleman in particular.'
'But the young man himself?'
'Planned, cut out, and finished for the delight of 'ooman!'
'Yet he must be willing.'
'That would soon come. If they get up this tower ruling plannardstogether much longer, their plannards will soon rule them together, in myway o' thinking. If she've a disposition towards the knot, she can soonteach him.'
'True, true, and lawfully. What before mid ha' been a wrong desire isnow a holy wish!'
The scales fell from Swithin St. Cleeve's eyes as he heard the words ofhis neighbours. How suddenly the truth dawned upon him; how itbewildered him, till he scarcely knew where he was; how he recalled thefull force of what he had only half apprehended at earlier times,particularly of that sweet kiss she had impressed on his lips when shesupposed him dying,--these vivid realizations are difficult to tell inslow verbiage. He could remain there no longer, and with an electrifiedheart he retreated up the spiral.
He found Lady Constantine half way to the top, standing by a loop-hole;and when she spoke he discovered that she was almost in tears. 'Are theygone?' she asked.
'I fear they will not go yet,' he replied, with a nervous fluctuation ofmanner that had never before appeared in his bearing towards her.
'What shall I do?' she asked. 'I ought not to be here; nobody knows thatI am out of the house. Oh, this is a mistake! I must go home somehow.'
'Did you hear what they were saying?'
'No,' said she. 'What is the matter? Surely you are disturbed? Whatdid they say?'
'It would be the exaggeration of frankness in me to tell you.'
'Is it what a woman ought not to be made acquainted with?'
'It is, in this case. It is so new and so indescribable an idea tome--that'--he leant against the concave wall, quite tremulous withstrange incipient sentiments.
'What sort of an idea?' she asked gently.
'It is--an awakening. In thinking of the heaven above, I did notperceive--the--'
'Earth beneath?'
'The better heaven beneath. Pray, dear Lady Constantine, give me yourhand for a moment.'
She seemed startled, and the hand was not given.
'I am so anxious to get home,' she repeated. 'I did not mean to stayhere more than five minutes!'
'I fear I am much to blame for this accident,' he said. 'I ought not tohave intruded here. But don't grieve! I will arrange for your escape,somehow. Be good enough to follow me down.'
They redescended, and, whispering to Lady Constantine to remain a fewstairs behind, he began to rattle and unlock the door.
The men precipitately removed their bench, and Swithin stepped out, thelight of the summer night being still enough to enable them todistinguish him.
'Well, Hezekiah, and Samuel, and Nat, how are you?' he said boldly.
'Well, sir, 'tis much as before wi' me,' replied Nat. 'One hour a weekwi' God A'mighty and the rest with the devil, as a chap may say. Andreally, now yer poor father's gone, I'd as lief that that Sunday hourshould pass like the rest; for Pa'son Tarkenham do tease a feller'sconscience that much, that church is no hollerday at all to the limbs, asit was in yer reverent father's time! But we've been waiting here, Mr.San Cleeve, supposing ye had not come.'
'I have been staying at the top, and fastened the door not to bedisturbed. Now I am sorry to disappoint you, but I have anotherengagement this evening, so that it would be inconvenient to admit you.To-morrow evening, or any evening but this, I will show you the comet andany stars you like.'
They readily agreed to come the next night, and prepared to depart. Butwhat with the flagon, and the pipes, and the final observations, gettingaway was a matter of time. Meanwhile a cloud, which nobody had noticed,arose from the north overhead, and large drops of rain began to fall sorapidly that the conclave entered the hut till it should be over. St.Cleeve strolled off under the firs.
The next moment there was a rustling through the trees at another point,and a man and woman appeared. The woman took shelter under a tree, andthe man, bearing wraps and umbrellas, came forward.
'My lady's man and maid,' said Sammy.
'Is her ladyship here?' asked the man.
'No. I reckon her ladyship keeps more kissable company,' replied NatChapman.
'Pack o' stuff!' said Blore.
'Not here? Well, to be sure! We can't find her anywhere in the widehouse! I've been sent to look for her with these overclothes andumbrella. I've suffered horse-flesh traipsing up and down, and can'tfind her nowhere. Lord, Lord, where can she be, and two months' wagesowing to me!'
'Why so anxious, Anthony Green, as I think yer name is shaped? You benot a married man?' said
Hezzy.
''Tis what they call me, neighbours, whether or no.'
'But surely you was a bachelor chap by late, afore her ladyship got ridof the regular servants and took ye?'
'I were; but that's past!'
'And how came ye to bow yer head to 't, Anthony? 'Tis what you never wasinclined to. You was by no means a doting man in my time.'
'Well, had I been left to my own free choice, 'tis as like as not Ishould ha' shunned forming such kindred, being at that time a poor dayman, or weekly, at my highest luck in hiring. But 'tis wearing work tohold out against the custom of the country, and the woman wanting ye tostand by her and save her from unborn shame; so, since common usage wouldhave it, I let myself be carried away by opinion, and took her. Thoughshe's never once thanked me for covering her confusion, that's true! But,'tis the way of the lost when safe, and I don't complain. Here she is,just behind, under the tree, if you'd like to see her?--a very nicehomespun woman to look at, too, for all her few weather-stains. . . .Well, well, where can my lady be? And I the trusty jineral man--'tismore than my place is worth to lose her! Come forward, Christiana, andtalk nicely to the work-folk.'
While the woman was talking the rain increased so much that they allretreated further into the hut. St. Cleeve, who had impatiently stood alittle way off, now saw his opportunity, and, putting in his head, said,'The rain beats in; you had better shut the door. I must ascend andclose up the dome.'
Slamming the door upon them without ceremony he quickly went to LadyConstantine in the column, and telling her they could now pass thevillagers unseen he gave her his arm. Thus he conducted her across thefront of the hut into the shadows of the firs.
'I will run to the house and harness your little carriage myself,' hesaid tenderly. 'I will then take you home in it.'
'No; please don't leave me alone under these dismal trees!' Neitherwould she hear of his getting her any wraps; and, opening her littlesunshade to keep the rain out of her face, she walked with him across theinsulating field, after which the trees of the park afforded her asufficient shelter to reach home without much damage.
Swithin was too greatly affected by what he had overheard to speak muchto her on the way, and protected her as if she had been a shorn lamb.After a farewell which had more meaning than sound in it, he hastenedback to Rings-Hill Speer. The work-folk were still in the hut, and, bydint of friendly converse and a sip at the flagon, had so cheered Mr. andMrs. Anthony Green that they neither thought nor cared what had become ofLady Constantine.
St. Cleeve's sudden sense of new relations with that sweet patroness hadtaken away in one half-hour his natural ingenuousness. Henceforth hecould act a part.
'I have made all secure at the top,' he said, putting his head into thehut. 'I am now going home. When the rain stops, lock this door andbring the key to my house.'