Run to Earth by M. E. Braddon

M >> M. E. Braddon >> Run to Earth

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Miss Graham looked her best in one of those forgotten headdresses; the
rich velvet, the drooping feathers, set off her showy face, and Laura
and Ellen Mordaunt, in their fresh young beauty and simple costume,
lost by contrast with the aristocratic belle.

The poor of Hallgrove parish looked forward eagerly to the coming of
Christmas.

Lionel Dale's parishioners knew that they would receive ample bounty
from the hand of their wealthy and generous rector.

He loved to welcome old and young to the noble hall of his mansion, a
spacious and lofty chamber, which had formed part of the ancient manor-
house, and had been of late years converted into a rectory. He loved to
see them clad in the comfortable garments which his purse had
provided--the old women in their gray woollen gowns and scarlet cloaks,
the little children brightly arrayed, like so many Red Riding hoods.

It was a pleasant sight truly, and there was a dimness in the rector's
eyes, as he stood at the head of a long table, at two o'clock on
Christmas-day, to say grace before the dinner spread for those humble
Christmas guests.

All the poor of the parish had been invited to dine with their pastor
on Christmas-day, and this two o'clock dinner was a greater pleasure to
the rector of Hallgrove than the repast which was to be served at seven
o'clock for himself and the guests of his own rank.

There were some people in Hallgrove and its neighbourhood who said that
Lionel Dale took more pleasure in this life than a clergyman and a good
Christian should take; but surely those who had seen him seated by the
bed of sickness, or ministering to the needs of affliction, could
scarcely have grudged him the innocent happiness of his hours of
relaxation. The one thing in which he himself felt that he was perhaps
open to blame, was in his passion for the sports of the field.

No one who had stood amongst the little group at the top of the long
table in Hallgrove Manor-house on this snowy Christmas morning could
have doubted that the heart of Lionel Dale was true to the very core.

He was not alone amongst his poor parishioners. His guests had
requested permission to see the two o'clock dinner-party in the
refectory. Lydia affected to be especially anxious for this privilege.

"I long to see the dear things eating their Christmas plum-pudding,"
she said, with almost girlish enthusiasm.

Mr. Dale's parishioners did ample justice to the splendid Christmas
fare provided for them.

Lydia Graham declared she had never witnessed anything that gave her
half so much pleasure as this humble gathering.

"I would give up a whole season of fashionable dinner-parties for such
a treat as this, Mr. Dale," she exclaimed, with an eloquent glance at
the rector. "What a happy life yours must be! and how privileged these
people ought to think themselves!"

"I don't know that, Miss Graham," answered Lionel Dale. "I think the
privilege is all on my side. It is the pleasure of the rich to minister
to the wants of the poor."

Lydia Graham made no reply; but her eyes expressed an admiration which
womanly reserve might have forbidden her lips to utter.

While the pudding was being eaten, Mr. Dale walked round amongst his
humble guests, to exchange a few kindly words here and there; to shake
hands; to pat little children's flaxen heads; to make friendly
inquiries for the sick and absent.

As he paused to talk to one of his parishioners, his attention was
attracted by a strange face. It was the face of an old man, who sat at
the opposite side of the table, and seemed entirely absorbed by the
agreeable task of making his way through a noble slice of plum-pudding.

"Who is that old man opposite?" asked Lionel of the agricultural
labourer to whom he had been talking. "I don't think I know his face."

"No, sir," answered the farm-labourer; "he don't belong to these parts.
Gaffer Hayfield brought 'un. I suppose as how he's a relation of
Gaffer's. It seems a bit of a liberty, sir; but Gaffer Hayfield always
war a cool hand."

"I don't think it a liberty, William. If the man is a relation of
Hayfield's, there is no reason why he should not be here with the
Gaffer," answered Lionel, good-naturedly, "I am glad to Bee that he is
enjoying his dinner."

"Yes, sir," replied the farm-labourer, with a grin; "he seems to have
an oncommon good twist of his own, wheresoever he belongs to."

No more was said about the strange guest--who was an old man, with very
white hair, which hung low over his eyebrows; and very white whiskers,
which almost covered his cheeks. He had a queer, bird-like aspect, and
a nose that was as sharp as the beak of any of the rooks cawing
hoarsely amongst the elms of Hallgrove that snowy Christmas-day.

After the dinner in the old hall, Lionel Dale and his guests returned
to their own quarters; Mrs. Mordaunt and the three younger ladies
walked in the grounds, with Douglas Dale and Sir Reginald Eversleigh in
attendance upon them.

Miss Graham was the last woman in the world to forget that the income
of Douglas Dale was almost as large as that of his brother, the rector;
and that in this instance she might have two strings to her bow. She
contrived to be by the side of Douglas as they walked in the
shrubberies, and lingered on the rustic bridge across the river; but
she had not been with him long before she perceived that all her
fascinations were thrown away upon him; and that, attentive and polite
though he was, his heart was far away.

It was indeed so. In that pleasant garden, where the dark evergreens
glistened in the red radiance of the winter sunset, Douglas Dale's
thoughts wandered away from the scene before him to the lovely Austrian
woman--the fair widow, whose life was so strange a mystery to him; the
woman whom he could neither respect nor trust; but whom, in spite of
himself, he loved better than any other creature upon earth.

"I had rather be by her side than here," he said to himself. "How is
she spending this season, which should be so happy? Perhaps in utter
loneliness; or in the midst of that artificial gaiety which is more
wretched than solitude."

* * * * *

The rector of Hallgrove and his guests assembled in the old-fashioned
drawing-room of the manor-house rectory at seven o'clock on that snowy
Christmas-night. The snowflakes fell thick and fast as night closed in
upon the gardens and shrubberies, the swift-flowing river, and distant
hills.

The rectory drawing-room, beautified by the soft light of wax-candles,
and the rich hues of flowers, was a pleasant picture--a picture which
was made all the more charming by the female figures which filled its
foreground.

Chief among these, and radiant with beauty and high spirits, was Lydia
Graham.

She had contrived to draw Lionel Dale to her side. She was seated by a
table scattered with volumes of engravings, and he was bending over her
as she turned the leaves.

Her smiles, her flatteries, her cleverly simulated interest in the
rector's charities and pensioners, had exercised a considerable
influence upon him--an influence which grew stronger with every hour.
There was a sweetness and simplicity in the manners of the two Misses
Mordaunt which pleased him; but the country-bred girls lost much by
contrast with the brilliant Lydia.

"I hope you are going to give us a real old-fashioned Christmas
evening, Mr. Dale," said Miss Graham.

"I don't quite know what you mean by an old-fashioned Christmas
evening."

"Nor am I quite clear as to whether I know what I mean myself,"
answered the young lady, gaily. "I think, after dinner, we ought to sit
round that noble old fire-place and tell stories, ought we not?"

"Yes, I believe that is the sort of thing," replied the rector. "For my
own part, I am ready to be Miss Graham's slave for the whole of the
evening; and in that capacity will hold myself bound to perform her
behests, however tyrannical she may be."

When dinner was announced, Lionel Dale was obliged to leave the
bewitching Lydia in order to offer his arm to Mrs. Mordaunt, while that
young lady was fain to be satisfied with the escort of the disinherited
Sir Reginald Eversleigh.

At the dinner-table, however, she found herself seated on the left hand
of her host; and she took care to secure to herself the greater share
of his attention during the progress of dinner.

Gordon Graham watched his sister from his place near the foot of the
table, and was well satisfied with her success.

"If she plays her cards well she may sit at the head of this table next
Christmas-day," he said to himself.

After less than half-an-hour's interval, the gentlemen followed the
ladies into the drawing-room, and the usual musical evening set in.
Lydia Graham had nothing to fear from comparison with the Misses
Mordaunt. They were tolerable performers. She was a brilliant
proficient in music, and she had the satisfaction of observing that
Lionel Dale perceived and appreciated her superiority. She could
afford, therefore, to be as amiable to the girls as she was captivating
to the gentlemen.

The Misses Mordaunt were singing a duet, when a servant entered, and
approached Lionel Dale.

"There is a person in the hall who asks to see you, sir," said the man,
"on most particular business."

"What kind of person?" asked the rector.

"Well, sir, she looks like an old gipsy woman."

"A gipsy woman! The gipsies about here do not bear the best character."

"No, sir," replied the man. "I bore that in mind, sir, with a view to
the plate, and I told John Andrew to keep an eye upon her while I came
to speak to you; and John Andrew is keeping an eye upon her at this
present moment, sir."

"Very good, Jackson. You can tell the gipsy woman that, if she needs
immediate help of any kind, she can apply in the village, to Rawlins,
but that I cannot see her to-night."

"Yes, sir."

The man departed; and the Misses Mordaunt finished their duet, and rose
from the piano, to receive the usual thanks and acknowledgments from
their hearers.

Again Miss Graham was asked to sing, and again she seated herself
before the instrument, triumphant in the consciousness that she could
excel the timid girls who had just left the piano.

But this time Lionel Dale did not place himself beside the instrument.
He stood near the door of the apartment, ready to receive the servant,
if he should return with a second message from the gipsy woman.

The servant did return, and this time he begged his master to step
outside the room before he delivered his message. Lionel complied
immediately, and followed the man into the corridor without.

"I was almost afraid to speak in there, sir," said the man, in an awe-
stricken whisper; "folks have such ears. The woman says she must see
you, sir, and this very night. It is a matter of life and death, she
says."

"Then in that case I will see this woman. Go into the drawing-room,
Jackson, and tell Mrs. Mordaunt, with my compliments, that I find
myself compelled to receive one of my parishioners; and that she and
the other ladies must be so good as to excuse my absence for half an
hour."

"Yes, sir."

The rector went to the hall, where, cowering by the fire, he found an
old gipsy woman.

She was so muffled from head to foot in her garments of woollen stuff,
strange and garish in colour, and fantastical in form, that it was
almost impossible to discover what she really was like. Her shoulders
were bent and contracted as if with extreme age. Loose tresses of gray
hair fell low over her forehead. Her skin was dark and tawny; and
contrasted strangely with the gray hair and the dark lustrous eyes.

The gipsy woman rose as Lionel Dale entered the hall. She bent her head
in response to his kindly salutation; but she did not curtsey as before
a superior in rank and station.

"Come with me, my good woman," said the rector, "and let me hear all
about this very important business of yours."

He led the way to the library--a low-roofed but spacious chamber, lined
from ceiling to floor with books. A large reading-lamp, with a Parian
shade, stood on a small writing-table near the fire, casting a subdued
light on objects near at hand, and leaving the rest of the room in
shadow. A pile of logs burnt cheerily on the hearth. On one side of the
fire was the chair in which the rector usually sat; on the other, a
large, old-fashioned, easy-chair.

"Sit down, my good woman," said the rector, pointing to the latter; "I
suppose you have some long story to tell me."

He seated himself as he spoke, and leaned upon the writing-table,
playing idly with a carved ivory paper-knife.

"I have much to say to you, Lionel Dale," answered the old woman, in a
voice which had a solemn music, that impressed the hearer in spite of
himself; "I have much to say to you, and it will be well for you to
mark what I say, and be warned by what I tell you."

The rector looked at the speaker earnestly, and yet with a half-
contemptuous smile upon his face. She was seated in shadow, and he
could only see the glitter of her dark eyes as the fitful light of the
fire flashed on them.

There was something almost supernatural, it seemed to him, in the
brilliancy of those eyes.

He laughed at himself for his folly in the next instant. What was this
woman but a vulgar impostor, who was doubtless trying to trade upon his
fears in some manner or other?

"You have come here to give some kind of warning, then?" he said, after
a few moments of consideration.

"I have--a warning which may save your life--if you hear me patiently,
and obey when you have heard."

"That is the cant of your class, my good woman; and you can scarcely
expect me to listen to that kind of thing. If you come here to me,
hoping to delude me by the language with which you tell the country
people their fortunes at fairs and races, the sooner you go away the
better. I am ready to listen to you patiently: if you need help, I am
ready to give it you; but it is time and labour lost to practise gipsy
jargon upon me."

"I need no help from you," cried the gipsy woman, scornfully; "I tell
you again, I come here to serve you."

"In what manner can you serve me? Speak out, and speak quickly!" said
Lionel; "I must return to my guests almost immediately."

"Your guests!" cried the gipsy, with a mocking laugh; "pleasant guests
to gather round your hearth at this holy festival-time. Sir Reginald
Eversleigh is amongst them, I suppose?"

"He is. You know his name very well, it seems."

"I do."

"Do you know him?"

"Do _you_ know him, Lionel Dale?" demanded the old woman with sudden
intensity.

"I have good reason to know him--he is my first-cousin," answered the
rector.

"You _have_ good reason to know him--a reason that you are ignorant of.
Shall I tell you that reason, Mr. Dale?"

"I am ready to hear what you have to say; but I must warn you that I
shall be but little affected by it."

"Beware how you regard my solemn warning as the raving of a lunatic. It
is your life that is at stake, Lionel Dale--your life! The reason you
ought to know Reginald Eversleigh is, that in him you have a deadly
enemy."

"An enemy! My cousin Reginald, a man whom I never injured by deed or
word in my life! Has _he_ ever tried to injure me?"

"He has."

"How?"

"He schemed and plotted against you and others before your uncle Sir
Oswald's death. His dearest hope was to bring to pass the destruction
of the will which left you five thousand a year."

"Indeed! You seem familiar with my family history," exclaimed Lionel.

"I know the secrets of your family as well as I know those of my own."

"Then you pretend to be a sorceress?"

"I pretend to be nothing but your friend. Sir Reginald Eversleigh has
been your foe ever since the day which disinherited him and made you
rich. Your death would make him master of the wealth which you now
enjoy; your death would give him fortune, position in the world--all
which he most covets. Can you doubt, therefore, that he wishes your
death?"

"I cannot believe it!" cried Lionel Dale; "it is too horrible. What!
he, my first cousin! he can profess for me the warmest friendship, and
yet can wish to profit by my death!"

"He can do worse than that," said the gipsy woman, in an impressive
voice; "he can try to compass your death!"

"No! no! no!" cried the rector. "It is not possible!"

"It is true. Sir Reginald Eversleigh is a coward; but he is helped by
one who knows no human weakness--whose cruel heart was never softened
by one touch of pity--whose iron hand never falters. Sir Reginald
Eversleigh is little more than the tool of that man, and between those
two there is ruin for you."

"Your words have the accent of truth," said the rector, after a long
pause; "and yet their meaning is so terrible that I can scarcely bring
myself to believe in them. How is it that you, a stranger, are so
familiar with the private details of my life?"

"Do not ask me that, Mr. Dale," replied the gipsy woman, sternly; "when
a stranger comes to you to warn you of a great danger, accept the
warning, and let your nameless friend depart unquestioned. I have told
you that an unseen danger menaces you. I know not yet the exact form
which that danger may take. To-morrow I expect to know more."

"I can pledge myself to nothing."

"As you will," answered the gipsy, proudly. "I have done my duty. The
rest is with Providence. If in your blind obstinacy you disregard my
warning, I cannot help it. Will you, for your own sake, not for mine,
let me see you to-morrow; or will you promise to see anyone who shall
ask to see you, in the name of the gipsy woman who was here to-night?
Promise me this, I entreat you. I have nothing to ask of you, nothing
to gain by my prayer; but I do entreat you most earnestly to do this
thing. I am working in the dark to a certain extent. I know something,
but not all, and I may have learned much more by to-morrow. I may bring
or send you information then, which will convince you I am speaking the
truth. Stay, will you promise me this, for my sake, for the sake of
justice? You will, Mr. Dale, I know you will; you are a just, a good
man. You suspect me of practising upon you a vulgar imposition. To-
morrow I may have the power of convincing you that I have not done so.
You will give me the opportunity, Mr. Dale?"

The pleading, earnest voice, the mournful, dark eyes, stirred Lionel
Dale's heart strangely. An impulse moved him towards trust in this
woman, this outcast,--curiosity even impelled him to ask her, in such
terms as would ensure her compliance, for a full explanation of her
mysterious conduct. But he checked the impulse, he silenced the
promptings of curiosity, sacrificing them to his ever-present sense of
his professional and personal dignity. While the momentary struggle
lasted, the gipsy woman closely scanned his face. At length he said
coldly:

"I will do as you ask. I place no reliance on your statements, but you
are right in asking for the means of substantiating them. I will see
you, or any one you may send to-morrow."

"You will be at home?" she asked, anxiously. "The hunt?"

"The hunt will hardly take place; the weather is too much against us,"
replied Lionel Dale. "Except there should be a very decided change,
there will be no hunt, and I shall be at home." Having said this,
Lionel Dale rose, with a decided air of dismissal. The gipsy rose too,
and stood unshrinkingly before him, as she said:

"And now I will leave you. Good night. You think me a mad woman, or an
impostor. This is the second occasion on which you have misjudged me,
Mr. Dale."

As the rector met the earnest gaze of her brilliant eyes, a strange
feeling took possession of his mind. It seemed to him, as if he had
before encountered that earnest and profound gaze.

"I must have seen such a face in a dream," he thought to himself;
"where else but in a dream?"

The fancy had a powerful influence over him, and occupied his mind as
he preceded the gipsy woman to the hall, and opened the door for her to
pass out.

The snow had ceased to fall; the bright wintry moon rode high in the
heaven, amidst black, hurrying clouds. That cold light shone on the
white range of hills sleeping beneath a shroud of untrodden snow.

On the threshold of the door the gipsy woman turned and addressed
Lionel Dale--

"There will be no hunting while this weather lasts."

"None."

"Then your grand meeting of to-morrow will be put off?"

"Yes, unless the weather changes in the night."

"Once more, good night, Mr. Dale."

"Good night."

The rector stood at the door, watching the gipsy woman as she walked
along the snow-laden pathway. The dark figure moving slowly and
silently across the broad white expanse of hidden lawn and flower-beds
looked almost ghost-like to the eyes of the watcher.

"What does it all mean?" he asked himself, as he watched that receding
figure. "Is this woman a common impostor, who hopes to enrich herself,
or her tribe, by playing upon my fears? She asked nothing of me to-
night; and yet that may be but a trick of her trade, and she may intend
to extort all the more from me in the future. What should she be but a
cheat and a trickster, like the rest of her race?"

The question was not easy to settle.

He returned to the drawing-room. His mind had been much disturbed by
this extraordinary interview, and he was in no humour for empty small-
talk; nor was he disposed to meet Reginald Eversleigh, against whom he
had received so singular, so apparently groundless, a warning.

He tried to shake off the feeling which he was ashamed to acknowledge
to himself.

He re-entered the drawing-room, and he saw Miss Graham's face light up
with sudden animation as she saw him. He was not skilled in the
knowledge of a woman's heart, and he was flattered by that bright look
of welcome. He was already half-enmeshed in the web which she had
spread for him, and that welcoming smile did much towards his complete
subjugation.

He went to a seat near the fascinating Lydia. Between them there was a
chess-table. Lydia laid her jewelled hand lightly on one of the pieces.

"Would you think it very wicked to play a game of chess on a Christmas
evening, Mr. Dale?" she asked.

"Indeed, no, Miss Graham. I am one of those who can see no sinfulness
in any innocent enjoyment."

"Shall we play, then?" asked Lydia, arranging the pieces.

"If you please."

They were both good players, and the game lasted long. But ever and
anon, while waiting for Lydia to move, Lionel glanced towards the spot
where Sir Reginald Eversleigh stood, engaged in conversation with
Gordon Graham and Douglas Dale.

If the rector himself had known no blot on the character of Reginald
Eversleigh, the gipsy's words would not have had a feather's weight
with him; but Lionel did know that his cousin's youth had been wild and
extravagant, and that he, the beloved, adopted son, the long-
acknowledged heir of Raynham, had been disinherited by Sir Oswald--one
of the best and most high-principled of men.

Knowing this, it was scarcely strange if Lionel Dale was in some degree
influenced by the gipsy's warning. He scanned the face of his cousin
with a searching gaze.

It was a handsome face--almost a perfect face; but was it the face of a
man who might be trusted by his fellow-men?

A careworn face--handsome though it was. There was a nervous
restlessness about the thin lips, a feverish light in the dark blue
eyes.

More than once during the prolonged encounter at chess, Reginald
Eversleigh had drawn aside one of the window-curtains, to look out upon
the night.

Mr. Mordaunt, a devoted lover of all field-sports, was also restless
and uneasy about the weather, peeping out every now and then, and
announcing, in a tone of disappointment, the continuance of the frost.

In Mr. Mordaunt this was perfectly natural; but Lionel Dale knew that
his cousin was not a man who cared for hunting. Why, then, was he so
anxious about the meet which was to have taken place to-morrow?

His anxiety evidently was about the meet; for after looking out of the
window for the third time, he exclaimed, with an accent of triumph--

"I congratulate you, gentlemen; you may have your run to-morrow. It no
longer freezes, and there is a drizzling rain falling."

Mr. Mordaunt ran out of the drawing-room, and returned in about five
minutes with a radiant face.

"I have been to look at the weathercock in the stable-yard," he said;
"Sir Reginald Eversleigh is quite right. The wind has shifted to the
sou'-west; it is raining fast, and we may have our sport to-morrow."

Lionel Dale's eyes were fixed on the face of his cousin as the country
squire made this announcement. To his surprise, he saw that face blanch
to a death-like whiteness.

"To-morrow!" murmured Sir Reginald, with a sigh.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXIII.

"ANSWER ME, IF THIS BE DONE?"

All through the night the drizzling rain fell fast, and on the morning
of the 26th, when the gentlemen at the manor-house rectory went to
their windows to look out upon the weather, they were gratified by
finding that southerly wind and cloudy sky so dear to the heart of a
huntsman.