No More Learning

It was in the fourth summer of Lucian 's residence at Simonstower, and he was fifteen and Sprats nearly two years older, when the serpent stole into their Para- dise. Until the serpent came all had gone well with them. Sprats was growing a fine girl; she was more rudely healthy than ever, and just as sunburned; her freckles had increased rather than decreased; her hair, which was growing deeper in colour, was a perpetual nuisance to her. She had grown a little quieter in
manner, but would break out at times; the mere fact that she wore longer skirts did not prevent her from climbing trees or playing cricket. And she and Lucian were still hand-in-glove, still David and Jonathan; she had no friends of her own sex, and he none of his; each was in a happy state of perfect content. But the stage of absolute perfection is by no means assured even in the Arcadia of childhood—it may endure for a time,
but sooner or later it must be broken in upon, and not seldom in a rudely sudden way.
The breaking up of the old things began one Sunday
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 65
morning in summer, in the cool shade of the ancient church. Nothing heralded the momentous event; everything was as placid as it always was. Lucian,
in the pew sacred to the family of Pepperdine, looked about him and saw just what he saw every Sunday. Mr. Pepperdine was at the end of the pew in his best clothes; Miss Pepperdine was gorgeous in black silk and bugles; Miss Judith looked very hand- some in her pearl-grey. In the vicarage pew, all alone, sat Sprats in solemn state. Her freckled face shone with much polishing; her sailor hat was quite straight; as for the rest of her, she was clothed in a simple blouse and a plain skirt, and there were no tears in either. All the rest was as usual. The vicar's surplice had been
sitting
washed, and Sprats had mended a bit of his hood, which had become frayed by hanging on a nail in the vestry, but otherwise he presented no different
appearance to that which always characterised him. There were the same faces, and the same expressions upon them, in every pew, and that surely was the same bee that always buzzed while they waited for the ser- vice to begin, and the three bells in the tower droned out. ' Come to church—come to church—come to
church ! *
It was at this very moment that the serpent stole into
Paradise. The vicar had broken the silence with ' When the wicked man turneth away from his wicked- ness,' and everybody had begun to rustle the leaves of
their prayer-books, when the side-door of the chancel opened and the Earl of Simonstower, very tall, and very gaunt, and very irascible in appearance, entered in advance of two ladies, whom he marshalled to the castle pew with as much grace and dignity as his gout would allow. Lucian and Sprats, with a wink to each other which no one else perceived, examined the earl's companions during the recitation of the General Con- fession, looking through the slits of their hypocritical
newly
to be a woman of fashion: she was dressed in a style not often seen at
fingers. The elder lady appeared
£
66 LUCIAN THE DREAMER
Simonstower, and her attire, her lorgnette, her vinai- grette, her fan, and her airs and graces formed a delightful contrast to the demeanour of the old earl, who was famous for the rustiness of his garments, and stuck like a leech to the fashion of the ' forties. '
But it was neither earl nor simpering madam at which Lucian gazed at surreptitious moments during the rest of the service. The second of the ladies to enter into the pew of the great house was a girl of sixteen, ravish- ingly pretty, and gay as a peacock in female flaunts and fineries which dazzled Lucian' s eyes. She was dark, and her eyes were shaded by exceptionally long lashes which swept a creamy cheek whereon there appeared the bloom of the peach, fresh, original, bewitching; her hair, curling over her shoulders from beneath a white sun-bonnet, artfully designed to com- municate an air of innocence to its wearer, was of the same blue-black hue that distinguished Lucian's own curls. It chanced that the boy had just read some extracts from Don Juan : it seemed to him that here was Haidee in the very flesh. A remarkably strange sensa- tion suddenly developed in the near region of his heart —Lucian for the first time in his life had fallen in love. He felt sick and queer and almost stifled; Miss Pepper- dine noticed a drawn expression on his face, and passed him a mint lozenge. He put it in his mouth —some- thing nearly choked him, but he had a vague suspicion that the lozenge had nothing to do with it.
Mr. Chilverstone had a trick of being long-winded if he found a text that appealed to him, and when Lucian heard the subject of that morning's discourse he feared that the congregation was in for a sermon of at least half an hour's duration. The presence of the Earl of Simonstower, however, kept the vicar within reasonable bounds, and Lucian was devoutly thankful. He had never wished for anything so much in all his life as he then wished to be out of church and safely hidden in the vicarage, where he always lunched on Sunday, or in some corner of the woods. For the girl in the earl's
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 67
pew was discomposing, not merely because of her prettiness but because she would stare at him, Lucian. He, temperamentally shy where women were con- cerned, had only dared to look at her now and then; she, on the contrary, having once seen him looked at nothing else. He knew that she was staring at him all through the sermon. He grew hot and uncomfortable
and Miss Judith increased his confusion by asking him if he were not quite well. It was with a great sense of relief that he heard Mr. Chilverstone
and wriggled,
wind up his sermon and begin the Ascription—he felt that he could not stand the fire of the girl's eyes any
longer. in the porch and seemed in a great He joined Sprats however,
hurry to retreat upon the vicarage. Sprats,
had other views — she wanted to speak to various old women and to Miss Pepperdine, and Lucian had to remain with her. Fate was cruel—the earl, for some
mad reason or other, brought his visitors down the church instead of taking them out by the chancel door;
close by Lucian. He looked at her; she raised demure eyelids and looked at him. The soul within him became as water—he was lost. He seemed to float into space; his head burned, and he shut his eyes, or thought he did. When he opened them again the girl,
a dainty dream of white, was vanishing, and Sprats and Miss Judith were asking him if he didn't feel \yell. New-bom love fostered dissimulation: he complained of a sick headache. The maternal instinct was
consequently
Haidee passed
his heart turned icy-cold,
aroused in Sprats: she conducted him homewards, stretched him on a comfortable sofa in a
immediately
room, and bathed his forehead with eau-de- Her care and attention were pleasant, but Lucian 's thoughts were of the girl whose eyes had
smitten him to the heart.
The sick headache formed an excellent cloak for the
darkened cologne.
of the afternoon and evening. He recovered sufficiently to eat some lunch, and he after-
shortcomings
68 LUCIAN THE DREAMER
wards lay on a rug in the garden and was tended by the faithful Sprats with a fan and more eau-de-cologne. He kept his eyes shut most of the time, and thought of Haidee. Her name, he said to himself, must be Haidee
no other name would fit her eyes, her hair, and her red lips. He trembled when he thought of her lips;
it, and wondered if he was going to have rheumatic fever or ague. She fetched a cHnical
thermometer out of the house and took his temperature.
It was quite normal, and she was reassured, but still a
Sprats
noticed
little puzzled. When tea-time came she brought his
tea and her own out into the garden—she observed
that he ate languidly, and only asked twice for straw-
berries. She refused to allow him to go to church in
the evening, and conducted him to the farm herself.
On the way, talking of the events of the day, she asked
him if he had noticed the stuck-up doll in the earl's
pew. Lucian dissembled, and replied in an indifferent
tone—it appeared from his reply that he had chiefly
observed the elder lady, and had wondered who she
was. Sprats was able to inform him upon this point— she was a Mrs. Brinklow, a connection, cousin, half-
cousin, or something, of Lord Simonstower's, and the girl was her daughter, and her name was Haidee.
Lucian knew it—it was Fate, it was Destiny. He had had dreams that some such mate as this was reserved for him in the Pandora's box which was now being opened to him. Haidee! He nearly choked with emotion, and Sprats became certain that he was
from indigestion. She had private conversa- tion with Miss Pepperdine at the farm on the subject of Lucian' s indisposition, with the result that a cooling draught was administered to him and immediate bed insisted upon. He retired with meek resignation; as a matter of fact solitude was attractive—he wanted to think of Haidee. —
In the silent watches of the night disturbed but twice, once by Miss Pepperdine with more medicine, and once by Miss Judith with nothing but solicitude —
suffering
V
LUCIAN THE DREAMER bg
he realised the entire situation. Haidee had dawned upon him, and the Thing was begun which made all poets mighty. He would be miserable, but he would be great. She was a high-bom maiden, who sat in the pews of earls, and he was—he was not exactly sure what he was. She would doubtless look upon him with scorn: well, he would make the world ring with his name and fame; he would die in a cloud of glory, fighting for some oppressed nation, as Byron did, and then she would be sorry, and possibly weep for him.
By eleven o'clock he felt as if he had been in love all his life; by midnight he was asleep and dreaming that Haidee was locked up in a castle on the Rhine, and that he had sworn to release her and carry her away to liberty and love. He woke early next morning, and wrote some verses in the metre and style of my Lord Byron's famous address to a maiden of Athens; by breakfast-time he knew them by heart.
It was all in accordance with the decrees of Fate that Lucian and Haidee were quickly brought into each other's company. Two days after the interchange of glances in the church porch the boy rushed into the dining-room at the vicarage one afternoon, and found himself confronted by a group of persons, of whom he for the first bewildering moment recognised but one. When he realised that the earth was not going to open and swallow him, and that he could not escape without shame, he saw that the Earl of Simonstower, Mrs.
Brinklow, Mr. Chilverstone, and Sprats were in the room as well as Haidee. It was fortunate that Mrs. Brinklow, who had an eye for masculine beauty and admired pretty boys, took a great fancy to him, and immediately began to pet him in a manner which he
bitterly resented. That cooled him, and gave him
He contrived to extricate himself from her caresses with dignity, and replied to the ques- tions which the earl put to him about his studies with modesty and courage. Sprats conducted Haidee to
the garden to inspect her collection of animals; Lucian
self-possession.
70
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
went with them, and became painfully aware that for every glance which he and Haidee bestowed on rabbits, white mice, piebald rats, and guinea-pigs, they gave two to each other. Each glance acted hke an electric thrill—it seemed to Lucian that she was the very spirit of love, made flesh for him to worship. Sprats, how- ever, had an opinion of Miss Brinklow which was
to his own, and she expressed it with great freedom. On any other occasion he would
diametrically opposed
have quarrelled with her: the shame and modesty of
love kept him
against one of her own sex.
silent; he dared not defend his lady
It was in the economy of Lucian's dream that he and Haidee were to be separated by cruel and inexorable Fate : Haidee, however, had no intention of permitting Fate or anything else to rob her of her just dues. On the afternoon of the very next day Lord Simonstower sent for Lucian to read an Italian magazine to him; Haidee, whose mother loved long siestas on summer days, and was naturally inclined to let her daughter manage her own affairs, contrived to waylay the boy with the beautiful eyes as he left the Castle, and as pretty a piece of comedy ensued as one could wish to
see. They met again, and then they met in secret, and Lucian became bold and Haidee alluring, and the woods by the river, and the ruins in the Castle, might have whispered of romantic scenes. And at last Lucian could keep his secret no longer, and there came a day when he poured into Sprats 's surprised and sisterly ear the momentous tidings that he and Haidee had plighted their troth for ever and a day, and loved more madly and despairingly than lovers ever had loved since
Leander swam to Hero across the Hellespont.
CHAPTER VIII
Sprats was o! an eminently practical turn of mind. She wanted to know what was to come of all this. To her astonishment she discovered that Lucian was already full of plans for assuring bread and butter and many other things for himself and his bride, and had arranged their future on a cut-and-dried scheme. He was going to devote himself to his studies more zeal- ously than ever, and to practise himself in the divine art which was his gift. At twenty he would publish his first volume of poems, in English and in Italian; at the same time he would produce a great blank verse tragedy at Milan and in London, and his name would be extolled throughout Europe, and he himself pro- bably crowned with laurel at Rome, or Florence, or somewhere. He would be famous, and also rich, and he would then claim the hand of Haidee, who in the meantime would have waited for him with the fideHty
that, of course, there would follow eternal bliss — it was not necessary to look
further ahead. But he added, with lordly condescen- sion, that he and Haidee would always love Sprats, and she, if she liked, might live with them.
' Did Haidee tell you to tell me so? ' asked Sprats,
No,
Lucian made no reply to this generous offer. He knew that there was no love lost between the two girls, and could not quite understand why, any more than he could realise that they were sisters under their skins.
of a Penelope. After
' because the prospect is not exactly alluring.
thank you, my dear—I'm not so fond of Haidee as all that. But I will teach her to mend your clothes and dam your socks, if you like—it will be a useful accomplishment. '
maternal, side; but Haidee was an ethereal being
He understood the Sprats of the sisterly, good-chum
71
72
LUCIAN THE DREAIVIER
though possessed of a sound appetite. He wished that Sprats were more sympathetic about his lady-love; she was sympathetic enough about himself, and she hstened to his rhapsodies with a certain amount of curiosity which was gratifying to his pride. But when he remarked that she too would have a lover some day, Sprats's rebellious nature rose up and kicked vigorously.
' Thank you ! ' she said, ' but I don't happen to want anything of that sort. If you could only see what an absolute fool you look when you are an3rwhere within half a mile of Haidee, you'd soon arrive at the conclu- sion that spooniness doesn't improve a fellow! I sup- pose it's all natural, but I never expected it of you, you know, Lucian. I'm sure I've acted like a real pal to you—just look what a stuck-up little monkey you were when I took you in hand ! —you couldn't play cricket nor climb a tree, and you used to tog up every day as if you were going to an old maid's muffm-worry. I did get you out of all those bad ways—until the Dolly came along (she is a Dolly, and I don't care! ). You didn't mind going about with a hole or two in your trousers and an old straw hat and dirty hands, and since then you've worn your best clothes every day, and greased your hair, and yesterday you'd been putting scent on your handkerchief! Bah! —if lovers are like that, I don't want one—I could get something better out of the nearest lunatic asylum. And I don't think much of men anyhow—they're all more or less babies. You're a baby, and so is his Vicarness ' (this was Sprats 's original mode of referring to her father),
' and so is your uncle Pepperdine—all babies, hope- lessly feeble, and unable to do anything for yourselves. What would any of you do without a woman? No, thank you, I'm not keen about men—they worry one too much. And as for love—well, if it makes you go off your food, and keeps you awake at night, and turns you into a jackass, I don't want any of it—it's too rotten altogether. '
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 73
' You don't understand/ said Lucian pityingly,
with a deep sigh. ' * Don't want to,' retorted Sprats.
Oh, my—fancy spending your time in spooning when you might be
Lucian, though I expect you can't help it—it's inevitable, like measles and whooping-cough. I wonder how long you
playing cricket! You have degenerated,
will feel bad? '
Lucian waxed wroth. He and Haidee had sworn
eternal love and faithfulness—they had broken a coin in two, and she had promised to wear her half round her neck, and next to the spot where she believed her heart to be, for ever; moreover, she had given him a lock of her hair, and he carried it about, wrapped in tissue paper, and he had promised to buy her a ring with real diamonds in it. Also, Haidee already possessed fifteen sonnets in which her beauty, her soul, and a great many other things pertaining to her were
and
after love's extravagant fashion—it was un- reasonable of Sprats to talk as if this were an evanescent fancy that must needs pass. He let her see that he thought so.
praised,
' All right, old chap ! ' said Sprats. ' It's for life, then. Very well; there is, of course, only one thing to be done. You must act on the square, you know— they always do in these cases. If it's such a serious affair, you must play the part of a man of honour, and ask the permission of the young lady's mamma, and of her distinguished relative the Earl of Simonstower— mouldy old ass! —to pay your court to her. '
Lucian seemed disturbed and uneasy.
! he answered I ' Yes—yes—I know ' hurriedly. '
know that's the right thing to do, but you see, Sprats, Haidee doesn't wish at present at any rate. She—
heiress, or something, and she says wouldn't do. She wishes to be kept secret until I'm
she's great
will be all right then, of course. And it's awfully easy to arrange stolen meetings at
twenty. Everything
a
it, it
it
74
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
present; there are lots of places about the Castle and in the woods where you can hide. '
' Um—well, I suppose that's inevitable, too. Of course the earl would never look at you, and it's very evident that Mrs. Brinklow would be horrified— she wants the Dolly kid to marry into the peerage, and you're a nobody. '
calchi, and the Aldobrandini in my veins! The earl? —why, your English noblemen are made out of trades- folk—pah! It is but yesterday that they gave a baronetcy to a man who cures bacon, and a peerage to a fellow who brews beer. In Italy we should spit upon your English peers—they have no blood. I have the blood of the Caesars in me ! '
' Your mother was the daughter of an English farmer, and your father was a macaroni-eating Italian who
' Like a housemaid and an under-footman/ remarked
Sprats.
' I'm not a nobody! ' said Lucian, waxing furious. ' I am a gentleman —an Italian gentleman. I am the earl's equal —I have the blood of the Orsini, the Odes-
said Sprats, with imperturbable ' You yourself ought to go about with a
painted pictures,'
equanimity.
turquoise cap on your pretty curls, and a hurdy-gurdy with a monkey on the top. Tant pis for your rotten
old Italy —
handful of centesimi !
' there for a ! anybody can buy a dukedom
Then they fought, and Lucian was worsted, as usual, and came to his senses, and for the rest of the day Sprats was decent to him and even sympathetic. She
confidence, however much they differed, and during the rest of the time which Haidee spent at the Castle she had to listen to many ravings, and more than once to endure the read-
ing of a sonnet or a canzonet with which Lucian intended to propitiate the dark-eyed nymph whose
image was continually before him. Sprats, too, had to console him on those days whereon no sight of Miss Brinklow was vouchsafed. It was no easy task: Lucian, during these enforced abstinences from love's
was always intrusted with his
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 75
delights and pleasures, was preoccupied, sometimes almost sulky.
taciturn, and
' You're like a bear with a sore head,' said Sprats, using a homely simile much in favour with the old women of the village. * I don't suppose the Dolly kid is nursing her sorrows like that. I saw Dicky Feversham riding up to the Castle on his pony as I
came in from taking old Mother Hobbs's rice-pudding. ' Lucian clenched his fists. The demon of jealousy
was aroused within him for the first time.
* What do you mean? ' he cried.
* Don't mean anything but what I said,' replied
' I should think Dickie has gone to spend the afternoon there. He's a nice-looking boy, and as his uncle is a peer of the rel-lum, Mrs. Brinklow doubtless loves him. '
Lucian fell into a fever of rage, despair, and love. To think that Another should have the right of approaching His Very Own! —it was maddening; it made him sick. He hated the unsuspecting Richard Feversham, who in reality was a very inoffensive, fun-
Sprats.
sort of schoolboy, with a deadly hatred. The thought of his addressing the Object was awful; that he should enjoy her society was
loving, up-to-lots-of-larks
unbearable. He might perhaps be alone with her— might sit with her amongst the ruined halls of the Castle, or wander with her through the woods of Simonstower. But Lucian was sure of her—had she not sworn by every deity in the lover's mythology that her heart was his alone, and that no other man should ever have even a cellar-dwelling in it? He became almost lachrymose at the mere thought that Haidee's lofty and pure soul could ever think of another, and before he retired to his sleepless bed he composed a sonnet which began —
' Thy dove-like soul is prisoned in my heart ' With gold and silver chains that may not break,
and concluded —
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
76
afternoon, and was looking forward to it with great
eagerness, more especially because he possessed a new suit of grey flannel, a new straw hat, and new brown boots, and he had discovered from experience that the young lady loved her peacock to spread his tail. But, as ill-luck would have it, the earl, with the best inten- tion in the world, spoiled the whole thing. About noon Lucian and Sprats, having gone through several pages of Virgil with the vicar, were sitting on the gate of the vicarage garden, recreating after a fashion peculiar to themselves, when the earl and Haidee, both mounted, came round the comer and drew rein. The earl talked to them for a few minutes, and then asked them up to the Castle that afternoon. He would have the tennis- lawn made ready for them, he said, and they could eat as many strawberries as they pleased, and have tea in
* While e'er the world remaineth, thou shalt be Queen of my heart as I am king of thine. '
He had an assignation with Haidee for the following
Haidee, from behind the noble relative, made a moue at this; Lucian was obliged to keep a straight face, and thank the earl for his confounded
graciousness. Sprats saw that something was wrong. 'What's up? ' she inquired, climbing up the gate again when the earl had gone by. ' You look jolly
blue. '
Lucian explained the situation. Sprats snorted.
' Well, of all the hardships ! ' she said. ' Thank the
Lord, I'd rather play tennis and eat strawberries and have tea —especially the Castle tea —than go mooning about in the woods ! However, I suppose I must con- trive something for you, or you'll groan and grumble all the way home. You and the Doll must lose your- selves in the gardens when we go for strawberries. I suppose ten minutes' slobbering over each other behind a hedge or in a corner will put you on, won't it? '
Lucian was overwhelmed at her kindness. He offered to give her a brotherly hug, whereupon she
the garden.
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 7^
smacked his face, rolled him into the dust in the middle of the road, and retreated into the garden, bidding him turn up with a clean face at half-past two. When that hour arrived she found him awaiting her in the porch; one glance at him showed that he had donned the new suit, the new hat, and the new boots. Sprats shrieked with derision.
' Lord have mercy upon us! ' she cried. ' It might be a Bank Holiday! Do you think I am going to walk through the village with a thing like that? Stick a cabbage in your coat—it'll give a finishing touch to your appearance. Oh, you miserable monkey-boy! — wouldn't I like to stick you in the kitchen chimney and shove you up and down in the soot for five minutes ! '
Lucian received this badinage in good part—it was merely Sprats 's way of showing her contempt for finick- ing habit. He followed her from the vicarage to the Castle —she walking with her nose in the air, and from time to time commiserating him because of the newness of his boots; he secretly anxious to bask in the sunlight of Haidee's smiles. And at last they arrived, and there, sprawling on the lawn near the basket-chair in which
Haidee's lissome figure reposed, was the young gentle- man who rejoiced in the name of Richard Feversham. He appeared to be very much at home with his young
hostess; the sound of their mingled laughter fell on the ears of the newcomers as they approached. Lucian
curious, undefinable sense of evil; Sprats heard too, and knew that moral
heard and shivered with
thunderstorm was brewing.
The afternoon was by no means
success, even in its
earHer stages. Mrs. Brinklow had departed to friend's house some miles away; the earl might be asleep or dead for all that was seen of him. Sprats and Haidee cherished a secret dislike of each other; Lucian was proud, gloomy, and taciturn; only the Feversham boy appeared to have much zest of life left in him. He was somewhat thick-headed youngster, full of good
nature and high spirits; he evidently did not care
a
a
a
a
a
it
a
it,
78
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
straw for public or private opinion, and he made boyish love to Haidee with all the shamelessness of depraved youth. Haidee saw that Lucian was jealous, and encouraged Dickie's attentions —long before tea was brought out to them the materials for a vast explosion were ready and waiting. After tea—and many plates of strawberries and cream—had been consumed, the thick-headed youth became childishly gay. The tea seemed to have mounted to his head—he effervesced. He had much steam to let off: he suggested that they should follovv the example of the villagers at the bun- struggles and play kiss-in-the-ring, and he chased Haidee all round the lawn and over the flower-beds in order to illustrate the way of the rustic man with the
rustic maid. The chase terminated behind a hedge of laurel, from whence presently proceeded much giggling,
and confused laughter. The festive youngster emerged panting and triumphant; his rather homely face wore a broad grin. Haidee followed with highly becoming blushes, settling her tumbled hair and crushed hat. She remarked with a pout that Dickie was a rough boy; Dickie replied that you don't play country games as if you were made of egg-shell china.
The catastrophe approached consummation with the inevitableness of a Greek tragedy. Lucian waxed gloomier and gloomier; Sprats endeavoured, agonis- ingly, to put things on a better footing; Haidee, now thoroughly enjoying herself, tried hard to make the other boy also jealous. But the other boy was too full of the joy of life to be jealous of anything; he gambolled about like a young elephant, and nearly as gracefully; it was quite evident that he loved horseplay and believed that girls were as much inclined to it as boys. At any other time Sprats would have fallen in with his mood and frolicked with him to his heart's content; on this occasion she was afraid of Lucian, who now looked more like a young Greek god than ever. The
lightning was already playing about his eyes; thunder sat on his brows.
screaming,
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
7^
At last the storm burst. Haidee wanted to shoot with bow and arrow at a target; she despatched the two youngsters into the great hall of the Castle to fetch the materials for archery. Dickie went off capering and
whistling; Lucian followed in sombre silence. And inside the vaulted hall, mystic with the gloom of the past, and romantic with suits of armour, tattered ban- ners, guns, pikes, bows, and the rest of it, the smoulder- ing fires of Lucian' s wrath burst out. Master Richard Feversham found himself confronted by a figure which typified Wrath, and Indignation, and Retribution.
' Cad yourself ! ' retorted Dickie. ' Who are you talking to? '
' You are a cad! ' said Lucian.
' I am talking to you,' answered Lucian, stem and cold as a stone figure of Justice. ' I say you are a
cad—a cad ! grossly
You have insulted a
and I will punish you. ' —
Dickie's eyes grew round he wondered if the other
fellow had suddenly gone off his head, and if he'd better call for help and a strait waistcoat.
' Grossly insulted —a young lady! ' he said, pucker- ing up his face with honest amazement. ' What the dickens do you mean? You must be jolly well dotty! *
' You have insulted Miss Brinklow,' said Lucian. ' You forced your unwelcome attentions upon her all the afternoon, though she showed you plainly that they
were distasteful to her, and you were finally rude and brutal to her —beast! '
' Good Lord! ' exclaimed Dickie, now
amazed, * I never forced any attention on her—we were only larking. Rude? Brutal? Good heavens! —I only kissed her behind the hedge, and I've kissed her many a time before ! '
Lucian became insane with wrath,
* Liar! ' he hissed. ' Liar! '
Master Richard Feversham straightened himself,
mentally as well as physically. He bunched up his
young lady,
thoroughly
Bo LUCIAN THE DREAMER
fists and advanced upon Lucian with an air that was
thoroughly British.
' Look here,' he said, * I don't know who the devil
you are, you outrageous ass, but if you call me a liar
again, I'll hit you! '
' Liar! ' said Lucian, ' Liar! '
Dickie's left fist, clenched very artistically, shot out like a small battering-ram, and landed with a beautiful plunk on Lucian' s cheek, between the jaw and the bone. He staggered back.
' I kept off your nose on purpose,' said Dickie, ' but, by the Lord, I'll land you one there and spoil your pretty eyes for you if you don't beg my pardon. '
'Pardon! ' Lucian 's voice sounded hollow and strange. ' Pardon! ' He swore a strange Italian oath that made Dickie creep. * Pardon! —of you? I will kill you —beast and liar! '
He sprang to the wall as he spoke, tore down a couple of light rapiers which hung there, and threw one at his enemy's feet.
' Defend yourself! ' he said. ' I shall kill you. ' Dickie recoiled. He would have faced anybody twice his size with fists as weapons, or advanced on a
battery with a smiling face, but he had no taste for encountering an apparent lunatic armed with a weapon of which he himself did not know the use. Besides, there was murder in Lucian 's eye—he seemed to mean business.
* Look here, I say, you chap '
! exclaimed Dickie, ' put that thing down. One of us'11 be getting stuck, you know, if you go dancing about with it like that.
I'll fight you as long as you Hke if you'll put up your fists, but I'm not a fool. Put it down, I say. '
' Coward! ' said Lucian. ' Defend yourself! '
He made at Dickie with fierce intent, and the latter was obliged to pick up the other rapier and fall into some sort of a defensive position.
' Of all the silly games,' he said, ' this is '
But Lucian was already attacking him with set teeth,
there will be a row !
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 8i
glaring eyes, and a resolute demeanour. There was a rapid clashing of blades; then Dickie drew in his breath sharply, and his weapon dropped to the ground. He looked at a wound in the back of his hand from which the blood was flowing rather freely.
' I knew you'd go and do it with your silliness! ' he said. ' Now there'll be a mess on the carpet and we shall be found out. Here—wipe up that blood with your handkerchief while I tie mine round my hand. We . . . Hello, here they all are, of course ! Now
I say, you chap, swear it was all a lark —do }'ou hear? '
Lucian heard but gave no sign. He still gripped his rapier and stared fixedly at Haidee and Sprats, who had run to the hall on hearing the clash of steel and now stood gazing at the scene with dilated
eyes. Behind them, gaunt, grey, and somewhat amused and cynical, stood the earl. He looked from one lad to the
other and came forward.
' I heard warlike sounds,' he said, peering at the
combatants through glasses balanced on the bridge of the famous Simonstower nose, ' and now I see warlike sights. Blood, eh? And what may this mean? '
' It's all nothing, sir,' said Dickie in suspicious haste, ' absolutely nothing. We were larking about with
these two old swords, and the other
scratched my hand, that's all, sir—'pon my word. '
' Does the other chap's version correspond? ' in- quired the earl, looking keenly at Lucian's flushed face.
' Eh, other chap? '
Lucian faced him boldly.
' No, sir,' he answered; ' what he says is not true, though he means honourably. I meant to punish him —to kill him. '
' A candid admission,' said the earl, toying with his glasses. ' You appear to have effected some part of your purpose. And his offence? '
' He ' Lucian paused. The two girls, fascin- ated at the sight of the rapiers, the combatants, and the
chap's point
F
82 LUCIAN THE DREAMER
blood, had drawn near and were staring from one boy's face to the other's; Lucian hesitated 'at sight of them.
' Come! ' said the earl sharply. His offence? '
' He insulted Miss Brinklow,' said Lucian gravely. ' I told him I should punish him. Then he told Hes— about her. I said I would kill him. A man who hes
about a woman merits death. ' * 'A very excellent apothegm,' said the earl.
Sprats, my dear, draw that chair for me—thank you. Now,' he continued, taking a seat and sticking out his gouty leg, ' let me have a clear notion of this delicate ques-
tion. Feversham, your version, if you please. '
' I—I—you see, it's all one awfully rotten misunder-
sir,' said Dickie, very ill at ease. ' I—I— don't like saying things about anybody, but I think Damerel's got sunstroke or something —he's jolly dotty, or carries on as if he were. You see, he called me a cad, and said I was rude and brutal to Haidee, just because I—well, because I kissed her behind the laurel hedge when we were larking in the garden, and I said it was nothing and I'd kissed her many a time before, and he said I was a liar, and then—well, then I hit
him. '
* I see,' said the earl, ' and of course there was then
much stainless honour to be satisfied. And how was it that gentlemen of such advanced age resorted to steel instead of fists? '
standing,
The boys made no reply: Lucian still stared at the earl; Dickie professed to be busy with his impromptu bandage. Sprats went round to him and tied the knot.
' I think I understand,' said the earl. * Well, I
suppose honour is satisfied? '
He looked quizzingly at Lucian. Lucian returned
the gaze with another, dark, sombre, and determined.
' He is still a liar ! ' he said.
' I'm not a liar! ' exclaimed
as eggs are eggs I'll hit you again, and on the nose this time, if you say I am,' and he squared up to his foe
Dickie, ' and as sure
LUCIAN THE DREAMER 83
The earl smiled. asked, looking at Lucian.
utterly regardless of the earl's presence.
' Why is he a liar? ' he
' He Ues when he says that—that
'
Lucian looked, almost entreatingly, at Haidee. She had stolen up to the earl's chair and leaned against its high back, taking in every detail of the scene with
choked and
eager glances. As Lucian's eyes met hers, she smiled; a dimple showed in the corner of her mouth.
' I understand,' said the earl. He twisted himself round and looked at Haidee. ' I think,' he said, ' this is one of those cases in which one may be excused if one appeals to the lady. It would seem, young lady, that Mr. Feversham, while abstaining, like a gentle- man, from boasting of it '
to, you know. '
' I say that Mr. Feversham, like a gentleman, does
not boast of but pleads that you have indulged him with the privileges of lover. His word has been ques- tioned—his honour at stake. Have you so indulged it, may one ask? '
Haidee assumed the airs of the coquette who must
fain make admissions.
—suppose so,' she breathed, with smile which
included everybody.
Very good,' said the earl. It may be that Mr.
Damerel has had reason to believe that he alone was
' Oh, I say, sir! ' burst out Dickie; ' I—didn't mean
Eh? '
Boys are so silly said Haidee. And Lucian
so serious and old-fashioned. And all boys like to kiss me. What fuss to make about nothing
entitled to those privileges.
understand your position and your mean- ing, my dear,' said the earl. have heard similar sentiments from other ladies. ' He turned to Lucian.
Well? ' he said, with sharp, humorous glance. Lucian had turned very pale, but dark flush still clouded his forehead. He put aside his rapier, which
until then he had held tightly, and he turned to Dickie.
quite
a
! '
'
I' a
'
I* ' 'I'
a
it, is a
!
'
is
'
a
84
LUCIAN THE DREAMER
' I beg your pardon,' he said; * I was wrong—quite wrong. I offer you my sincere apologies. I have behaved ill — I am sorry. '
Dickie looked uncomfortable and shuffled about.
' Oh, rot! ' he said, holding out his bandaged hand.