Is he your brother?
We can never pull him up into that conveyance. No, we must get him astride my horse; you hold him on one side, I on the other, and so we shall get on. Come here, Watt, and lend a hand; you help also, Beauty, and see what you can do.
With difficulty the insensible man was raised into the saddle. He seemed to gather some slight consciousness when mounted, for he muttered something about pushing on.
You go round on the further side of the horse, said the man imperiously to Barbara. You seem strong in the arm, possibly stronger than I am. Beauty! lead the horse.
The boy can do that, said Barbara.
He dont know the way, answered the man. Let him come on with your old rattletrap. Upon my word, if Beauty were to throw a bridle over my head, I would be content to follow her through the world.
Thus they went on; the violence, of the gale had somewhat abated, but it produced a roar among the heather and gorse of the moor like that of the sea. Eve, as commanded, went before, holding the bridle. Her movements were easy, her form was graceful. She tripped lightly along with elastic step, unlike the firm tread of her sister. But then Eve was only leading, and Barbara was sustaining.
For some distance no one spoke. It was not easy to speak so as to be heard, without raising the voice; and now the way led towards the oaks and beeches and pines about Morwell, and the roar among the branches was fiercer, louder than that among the bushes of furze.
Presently the man cried imperiously Halt! and stepping forward caught the bit and roughly arrested the horse. I am certain we are followed.
What if we are? asked Barbara.
What if we are! echoed the man. Why, everything to me. He put his hands against the injured man; Barbara was sure he meant to thrust him out of the saddle, leap into it himself, and make off. She said, We are followed by the boy with our gig.
Then he laughed. Ah! I forgot that. When a man has money about him and no firearms, he is nervous in such a blast-blown desert as this, where girls who may be decoys pop out of every furze bush.
Lead on, Eve, said Barbara, affronted at his insolence. She was unable to resist the impulse to say, across the horse, You are not ashamed to let two girls see that you are a coward.
The man struck his arm across the crupper of the horse, caught her bonnet-string and tore it away.
I will beat your brains out against the saddle if you insult me.
A coward is always cruel, answered Barbara; as she said this she stood off, lest he should strike again, but he took no notice of her last words, perhaps had not caught them. She said no more, deeming it unwise to provoke such a man.
Presently, turning his head, he asked, Did you call that girl Eve?
Yes; she is my sister.
That is odd, remarked the man. Eve! Eve!
Did you call me? asked the young girl who was leading.
I was repeating your name, sweet as your face.
Go on, Eve, said Barbara.
The path descended, and became rough with stones.
He is moving, said Barbara. He said something.
Martin! spoke the injured man.
I am at your side, Jasper.
I am hurt where am I?
I cannot tell you; heaven knows. In some God-forgotten waste.
Do not leave me!
Never, Jasper.
You promise me?
With all my heart.
I must trust you, Martin, trust you.
Then he said no more, and sank back into half-consciousness.
How much farther? asked the man who walked. I call this a cursed long half-hour. To women time is nought; but every moment to me is of consequence. I must push on.
You have just promised not to desert your friend, your brother.
It pacified him, and sent him to sleep again.
It was a promise.
You promise a child the moon when it cries, but it never gets it. How much farther?
We are at Morwell.
They issued from the lane, and were before the old gatehouse of Morwell; a light shone through the window over the entrance door.
Old Davy is up there, ill. He cannot come down. The gate is open; we will go in, said Barbara.
I am glad we are here, said the man called Martin; now we must bestir ourselves.
Thoughtlessly he struck the horse with his whip, and the beast started, nearly precipitating the rider to the ground. The man on it groaned. The injured man was lifted down.
Eve! said Barbara, run in and tell Jane to come out, and see that a bed be got ready at once, in the lower room.
Presently out came a buxom womanservant, and with her assistance the man was taken off the horse and carried indoors.
A bedroom was on the ground-floor opening out of the hall. Into this Eve led the way with a light, and the patient was laid on a bed hastily made ready for his reception. His coat was removed, and Barbara examined the head.
Here is a gash to the bone, she said, and much blood is flowing from it. Jane, come with me, and we will get what is necessary.
Martin was left alone in the room with Eve and the man called Jasper. Martin moved, so that the light fell over her; and he stood contemplating her with wonder and admiration. She was marvellously beautiful, slender, not tall, and perfectly proportioned. Her hair was of the richest auburn, full of gloss and warmth. She had the exquisite complexion that so often accompanies hair of this colour. Her eyes were large and blue. The pure oval face was set on a delicate neck, round which hung a kerchief, which she now untied and cast aside.
How lovely you are! said Martin. A rich blush overspread her cheek and throat, and tinged her little ears. Her eyes fell. His look was bold.
Then, almost unconscious of what he was doing, as an act of homage, Martin removed his slouched hat, and for the first time Eve saw what he was like, when she timidly raised her eyes. With surprise she saw a young face. The man with the imperious manner was not much above twenty, and was remarkably handsome. He had dark hair, a pale skin, very large, soft dark eyes, velvety, enclosed within dark lashes. His nose was regular, the nostrils delicately arched and chiselled. His lip was fringed with a young moustache. There was a remarkable refinement and tenderness in the face. Eve could hardly withdraw her wondering eyes from him. Such a face she had never seen, never even dreamed of as possible. Here was a type of masculine beauty that transcended all her imaginings. She had met very few young men, and those she did meet were somewhat uncouth, addicted to the stable and the kennel, and redolent of both, more at home following the hounds or shooting than associating with ladies. There was so much of innocent admiration in the gaze of simple Eve that Martin was flattered, and smiled.
Beauty! he said, who would have dreamed to have stumbled on the likes of you on the moor? Nay, rather let me bless my stars that I have been vouchsafed the privilege of meeting and speaking with a real fairy. It is said that you must never encounter a fairy without taking of her a reminiscence, to be a charm through life.
Suddenly he put his hand to her throat. She had a delicate blue riband about it, disclosed when she cast aside her kerchief. He put his finger between the riband and her throat, and pulled.
You are strangling me! exclaimed Eve, shrinking away, alarmed at his boldness.
I care not, he replied, this I will have.
He wrenched at and broke the riband, and then drew it from her neck. As he did so a gold ring fell on the floor. He stooped, picked it up, and put it on his little finger.
You are strangling me! exclaimed Eve, shrinking away, alarmed at his boldness.
I care not, he replied, this I will have.
He wrenched at and broke the riband, and then drew it from her neck. As he did so a gold ring fell on the floor. He stooped, picked it up, and put it on his little finger.
Look, said he with a laugh, my hand is so small, my fingers so slim I can wear this ring.
Give it me back! Let me have it! You must not take it! Eve was greatly agitated and alarmed. I may not part with it. It was my mothers.
Then, with the same daring insolence with which he had taken the ring, he caught the girl to him, and kissed her.
CHAPTER V.
THE LIMPING HORSE
Eve drew herself away with a cry of anger and alarm, and with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. At that moment her sister returned with Jane, and immediately Martin reassumed his hat with broad brim. Barbara did not notice the excitement of Eve; she had not observed the incident, because she entered a moment too late to do so, and no suspicion that the stranger would presume to take such a liberty crossed her mind.
Eve stood back behind the door, with hands on her bosom to control its furious beating, and with head depressed to conceal the heightened colour.
Barbara and the maid stooped over the unconscious man, and whilst Martin held a light, they dressed and bandaged his head.
Presently his eyes opened, a flicker of intelligence passed through them, they rested on Martin; a smile for a moment kindled the face, and the lips moved.
He wants to speak to you, said Barbara, noticing the direction of the eyes, and the expression that came into them.
What do you want, Jasper? asked Martin, putting his hand on that of the other.
The candlelight fell on the two hands, and Barbara noticed the contrast. That of Martin was delicate as the hand of a woman, narrow, with taper fingers, and white; that of Jasper was strong, darkened by exposure.
Will you be so good as to undress him, said Barbara, and put him to bed? My sister will assist me in the kitchen. Jane, if you desire help, is at your service.
Yes, go, said Martin, but return speedily, as I cannot stay many minutes.
Then the girls left the room.
I do not want you, he said roughly to the serving woman. Take yourself off; when I need you I will call. No prying at the door. He went after her, thrust Jane forth and shut the door behind her. Then he returned to Jasper, removed his clothes, somewhat ungently, with hasty hands. When his waistcoat was off, Martin felt in the inner breast-pocket, and drew from it a pocket-book. He opened it, and transferred the contents to his own purse, then replaced the book and proceeded with the undressing.
When Jasper was divested of his clothes, and laid at his ease in the bed, his head propped on pillows, Martin went to the door and called the girls. He was greatly agitated, Barbara observed it. His lower lip trembled. Eve hung back in the kitchen, she could not return.
Martin said in eager tones, I have done for him all I can, now I am in haste to be off.
But, remonstrated Barbara, he is your brother.
My brother! laughed Martin. He is no relation of mine. He is naught to me and I am naught to him.
You called him your brother.
That was tantamount to comrade. All sons of Adam are brothers, at least in misfortune. I do not even know the fellows name.
Why, said Barbara, this is very strange. You call him Jasper, and he named you Martin.
Ah! said the man hesitatingly, we are chance travellers, riding along the same road. He asked my name and I gave it him my surname. I am a Mr. Martin he mistook me; and in exchange he gave me his Christian name. That is how I knew it. If anyone asks about this event, you can say that Mr. Martin passed this way and halted awhile at your house, on his road to Tavistock.
You are going to Tavistock?
Yes, that is my destination.
In that case I will not seek to detain you. Call up Doctor Crooke and send him here.
I will do so. You furnish me with an additional motive for haste to depart.
Go, said Barbara. God grant the poor man may not die.
Die! pshaw! die! exclaimed Martin. Men arent such brittle ware as that pretty sister of yours. A fall from a horse dont kill a man. If it did, fox-hunting would not be such a popular sport. To-morrow, or the day after, Mr. Jasper Whats-his-name will be on his feet again. Hush! What do I hear?
His cheek turned pale, but Barbara did not see it; he kept his face studiously away from the light.
Your horse which you hitched up outside neighed, that is all.
That is a great deal. It would not neigh at nothing.
He went out. Barbara told the maid to stay by the sick man, and went after Martin. She thought that in all probability the boy had arrived driving the gig.
Martin stood irresolute in the doorway. The horse that had borne the injured man had been brought into the courtyard, and hitched up at the hall door. Martin looked across the quadrangle. The moon was shining into it. A yellow glimmer came from the sick porters window over the great gate. The large gate was arched, a laden waggon might pass under it. It was unprovided with doors. Through it the moonlight could be seen on the paved ground in front of the old lodge.
A sound of horse-hoofs was audible approaching slowly, uncertainly, on the stony ground; but no wheels.
What can the boy have done with our gig? asked Barbara.
Will you be quiet? exclaimed Martin angrily.
I protest you are trembling, she said.
May not a man shiver when he is cold? answered the man.
She saw him shrink back into the shadow of the entrance as something appeared in the moonlight outside the gatehouse, indistinctly seen, moving strangely.
Again the horse neighed.
They saw the figure come on haltingly out of the light into the blackness of the shadow of the gate, pass through, and emerge into the moonlight of the court.
Then both saw that the lame horse that had been deserted on the moor had followed, limping and slowly, as it was in pain, after the other horse. Barbara went at once to the poor beast, saying, I will put you in a stall, but in another moment she returned with a bundle in her hand.
What have you there? asked Martin, who was mounting his horse, pointing with his whip to what she carried.
I found this strapped to the saddle.
Give it to me.
It does not belong to you. It belongs to the other to Jasper.
Let me look through the bundle; perhaps by that means we may discover his name.
I will examine it when you are gone. I will not detain you; ride on for the doctor.
I insist on having that bundle, said Martin. Give it me, or I will strike you. He raised his whip.
Only a coward would strike a woman. I will not give you the bundle. It is not yours. As you said, this man Jasper is naught to you, nor you to him.
I will have it, he said with a curse, and stooped from the saddle to wrench it from her hands. Barbara was too quick for him; she stepped back into the doorway and slammed the door upon him, and bolted it.
He uttered an ugly oath, then turned and rode through the courtyard. After all, he said, what does it matter? We were fools not to be rid of it before.
As he passed out of the gatehouse, he saw Eve in the moonlight, approaching timidly.