George Manville Fenn

“ Dinah Gurdon knew that well enough, as, with her teeth set fast and her eyes dilated, she hurried along that afternoon over the mountain-side. The path was an old track, which had been made hundreds of years before, so that ponies could drag the little trucks up and down, and in and out, but always lower and lower to the smelting-house down in the dale, a mere crack in the limestone far below, whose perpendicular jagged walls were draped with ivy, and at whose foot rushed along the clear crystal trout-river, which brought a stranger into those solitudes once in a way. ”

“ The Doctor looked up at the bold precipitous bulwark of rock above their heads, and then downward toward the far-stretching vale below the shelf-like path, where a flock of sheep dotting the bottom by the river, endorsed the suggestion that the sound might be a call.
“Never mind that,” said the Doctor. “Come, I say that Dinah has given you no reason for behaving as you have.”
“Doctor, I resent all this,” cried Clive angrily. “I make no charge against Miss Gurdon, and I tell you that you have no right to attack me as you do. A man is helpless in such a case. Hush! No more.—Major Gurdon.” ”

“ The blow was ineffective to a certain extent, but was sufficient to make Jessop stumble and fall forward heavily. Before, however, his brother could seize him, he had scrambled up and ran along that shelf-like path as if for his life, while, as Clive started in pursuit, mad almost with despair and rage, a low, piteous, sobbing cry arrested him, and he turned back into the dark tunnel with his temples throbbing, his eyes feeling as if on fire, and a strange mad desire to kill thrilling every nerve. ”

“ I like that,” said the old father. “Good lad!” and he laid his hand gently upon his son’s head. “I’m not a grand old patriarch,” he sighed. “What, Doctor?—not talk? Yes, I must have my say now, while there’s time. Not a good old patriarch, Clive—not a religious man; made too much of a god of money; but I said my wife and sons should never know the poverty from which I had suffered, and I think it was right; but I overdid it, boy. Don’t follow my example; there’s no need. There—my blessing for what it’s worth, boy. Now go: I want Jessop.” ”

“ Bless you, my dear! May you be very happy!”
“Happy!” she moaned, as Jessop engaged fiercely in conversation with some of the old family friends, and Clive stood silent and watchful, fighting against the horrible despair in his breast.
“Yes, happy, my dear—eh, Doctor? We old fellows grow to think that death when it comes is not a horror, but a restful ending to a busy life, if we go down to the quiet grave loving and beloved, honoured, too, by all our friends.” ”

“ Clive made a movement to fling himself upon the ruffian, but the Doctor passed a hand across his chest.
“Too weak, boy,” he whispered. “Give the scoundrel rope.”
“I do deny it,” said Dinah at last, as she drew herself up, a true woman now, her honour at stake, and all listening for her refutation of her pursuer’s words.
“There, what’s the good of lying, little one,” cried Sturgess, with a mocking laugh. “It’s all nature, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in a strong man’s love.”
“I do deny it,” said Dinah again, more firmly now. “Father, dear—Clive Reed—this man lies. It is not true.” ”

“ You suddenly lifted up to a position of great wealth and influence, she a poor servant.”
“Doctor, she is a gentle woman, and my nature would not let me forsake her like a brute. Damn you, sir!” cried Clive, leaping from his seat, “how dare you believe it of me—that I could come here ready to swear fidelity to Janet, kiss her sweet pure lips, and tender her my love, while I frankly offered you—her father—my hand? It is a shame, a disgrace, a blot upon your own nature, to think it of your old friend’s son.” ”

“ I, a poor defenceless girl—you, a strong, savage man. I must speak now, father, Clive; God, who is my judge, hear me too. Faint and exhausted, he seized me at last, and I was at his mercy, till my poor old faithful Rollo came and set me free.”
“Yah, nonsense!” cried Sturgess triumphantly. “Perhaps you will say I did not come to your window night after night. What about that time when your father had gone up to town?”
“The wound upon your shoulder is my answer, my witness to the truth. Father, my only protector lay helpless in a drugged sleep. Poor Rollo was poisoned by this miscreant’s hand. ”

“ Look here, Clive; I’m a cleverish sort of old fellow in my way, and experience has put me up to a good many wrinkles in the treatment of disease, but I tell you frankly it was not I, but Dinah Gurdon, who saved your life by her nursing.”
“I suppose so,” said Clive, with a sigh.
“Then why the deuce, sir, do you go on like this and break the poor girl’s heart?”
“I cannot explain matters,” said Clive sadly. “You saw for yourself that Miss Gurdon accepted the position.”
“Of course she did, sir; so would any girl of spirit if she found a man playing fast and loose with her. ”

“ Clive Reed stood up like a statue on a natural pedestal, high on the precipitous slope. It was a great ponderous block of millstone grit, which had become detached just at the spot where, high up, mountain limestone and the above-named formation joined. And as he looked about him, it seemed wonderful to a man fresh from London that he could find so great a solitude in central England. Look where he would, the various jumbled together eminences of the termination of the Pennine range met his eye ”

“ The captain of one of the underground gangs stepped out after him, and laying a hand upon his arm, said quietly—
“You take my advice, Mr Sturgess; that place is turning ugly. You go and lie down again, and let the doctor see it when he comes.”
“You hold your tongue for a fool,” said Sturgess savagely; and then he made a lurch as if he had turned giddy, but he recovered himself directly. “Here, some of you: where’s Mr Jessop Reed?”
“I told you,” said Robson, who came up just then, “he has gone to town.”
“It’s a lie!” said Sturgess. “He wouldn’t have gone without telling me.” ”

“ It is so hard, dear, to find one’s all swept away through my greedy folly, and at my time of life.”
Dinah uttered a low piteous sigh, and her face went down upon her father’s shoulder, while her lips moved as she said the words in her shame, misery, and despair, the words which she had long wished to confide to him. But they were inaudible—he did not hear, and at last, after a tender, passionate embrace, he placed her in a chair.
“Well,” he said firmly, “I must act like a man.” ”

“ Tell her it is as she believed, only a rumour, and that everything is right.”
“Everything wrong, you mean,” groaned the Major. “How can I write that?”
“Because everything will be all right, sir. You do not think I am going to let my dearest wife’s father suffer for an error of judgment?”
“No, no,” groaned the Major, “I cannot lower—I cannot—God in Heaven! how could I have been such a fool.”
“Because, my dear sir,” said Clive, patting his shoulder affectionately, “you are not quite perfect. There, send the message at once. Poor darling! She must be in agony.” ”

“ A low sigh and a shiver of horror, as Dinah shrank away to flee into the house; but as she felt Clive’s arm tighten about her, she clung to him once more.
“Why, you silly child, don’t you understand a joke?” cried the Major. “I mean this fellow who is holding you fast; and you not shrinking in the least. But there! it is a time to be serious now. God bless you, Clive Reed! You have solved one difficulty in a declining life. I have often said to myself, ‘What is to become of my darling when I go?’ Now I know, and can go in peace.” ”

“ The lawyer read the few remaining words connected with the signature amidst a murmur of congratulations, in the midst of which Jessop started up, black with fury and disappointment.
“Shame!” he cried. “I protest!” and a dead silence fell.
“May I ask why, sir?” said the lawyer coldly. “My deceased friend has done more than his duty by you.”
“Your words are uncalled-for and insolent, sir,” cried Jessop. “Recollect that you are only a paid professional man.”
“And Grantham Reed’s trusted confidential friend, sir. Dr Praed and I were the two men to whom he opened his heart—eh, Doctor?” ”

“ There was a savage snarl, mingled with the report of the piece, and followed instantly by the tinkling of falling glass, a crushing sound of a gliding body, and then a dull concussion upon the stones beneath, where there was a panting and struggling, accompanied by a hissing as of breath drawn in agony; and then the rushing of the wind as it tore round the house, while within all was silence, as if of the dead.
Dinah stood in the chamber holding the gun, motionless and with a cold perspiration bedewing her face as she breathed the dank, clinging, hydrogenous fumes of the burnt powder. ”

“ Then she turned pale and shrank to her father’s side, as a spasm of rage shot through Clive Reed.
“Jessop again!” he whispered hoarsely to the Doctor; and his fingers crooked, and he held out his hands as if about to spring at another’s throat. Then he reeled, but recovered himself with an exultant cry, for a voice came loudly to their ears from round the buttress toward the mine.
“Curse you! I will. The police shall stop that.”
“No; you don’t get away,” cried another voice; and Dinah turned of a sickly white. “Stop, you! and let’s have it out, or I’ll heave you down below. Blast you! ”

“ Fair play, Mr Engineer. Keep your own side, and don’t come burrowing under me. Hang your rooting and mining! I don’t want to have my garden under-drained and my cottage come toppling about my ears.”
“Don’t be alarmed, sir. I shall keep rigorously within the limits of the mapped-out estate.”
“Of course you will, my dear sir. I have no fear. It is fascinating work, that mining, though. If I were a young man I might be tempted to begin myself. As you saw indoors, I do dabble a bit in mineralogy and metallurgy. Dinah, too, is quite an expert.” ”