Robert Williams Buchanan

“ At length, however, Monk gathered that there was some secret hiding-place which Brinkley had discovered.
“I thought his poking and prying meant summat,” moaned William Jones. “I fancied, too, I seen marks i’ the sand, but I never could find no one near, and I thought they was my own marks. Oh, what will come to me! I’m ruined!”
“Curse your folly!” exclaimed Monk, “you’ve brought it all on yourself by your own greed, and you don’t deserve I should help you; but I will help you! Listen, then! It is clear that this young man has possessed himself somehow of your secret and mine. ”

“ It was Brinkley’s turn to blush now. It was clear that Matt, despite other changes, still retained her indomitable frankness.
“Even then,” he replied, laughing. “But I say, you were a precocious youngster. You proposed to me, you know!”
“I know I did,” said Matt, “and it wasn’t leap year then”—she added still more slyly—“But it’s leap year now!”
Their eyes met. Both blushed more and more.
“Matt, don’t! It won’t do, you know! Yes, I say so still. You’re a rich woman, and I’m only a poor devil of a painter. You must marry some great swell.” ”

“ I remember an old amusement of mine in the west of Ireland, and I track puss by her footprints—now clearly and beautifully printed in the soft sand of the hollows, now more faintly marked on the harder sides of the ridges. The sun blazes down, the refraction of the heat from the sand is overpowering, the air is quivering, sparkling, and pulsating, as if full of innumerable sand-crystals. ”

“ Every gust of wind went through his heart like a knife; every sound of wind or sea made that same heart stop and listen. Only supreme greed and miserly anxiety led him on. But at last he gained the cave, within which there was a sound as of clashing legions, clarions shrieking, drums beating, all the storm and stress of the awful waters clashing on the cliffs without, and boiling with unusual screams through the black slit between the cave and the Devil’s Cauldron. ”

“ Half a dozen small trout, each about the size of a small herring, reward my enterprise. When I have captured them, the moon is high up above the sand-hills, and it is quite dark.
“Such is the chronicle of the past day. By the light of my lamp inside the caravan I have written it down. It has been all very tranquil and uneventful, but very delightful, and a day to be marked with a white stone in one respect—that from dawn to sunset I have not set eyes on a human being, except my servant. ”

“ Here Marshall turned with a wink to William Jones, and nudged him in the ribs.
“Don’t you think now,” he asked, “it might be worth while looking for it in that little underground parlour of yours, down alongside the sea?”
William Jones uttered a despairing groan, and fell on his knees.
“I’m ruined!” he cried. “Oh, Mr. Monk, it’s your doing! Lord help me! They knows everything.”
“Curse you, hold your tongue!” said Monk, with a look of mad contempt and hatred. “These men are only playing upon your fears, but they cannot frighten me.” ”

“ Did you ever see so much, money in all your life before, Matt?”
She shook her head, but her eyes were still fixed upon the gold.
“I see,” observed Brinkley flippantly, “the sight of that gold fascinates you. Well, so it did me at first; but you see what use does. I can regard it now with comparative calmness. However, I have a particular wish to accustom you to the sight of wealth; therefore I shall bring you here and show you this now and again. Come, Matt, tell me what you would do if you were very rich—if all this flotsam and jetsam, in fact, belonged to you.” ”

“ They rose on every side of the road, completely shutting out the view, and their pale livid yellowness, scarcely relieved with a glimpse of greenness, was wearisome and lonely in the extreme. As we advanced among them, the road we were pursuing grew worse and worse, till it became so choked and covered with drifted sand as to be hardly recognizable, and I need hardly say that it was hard work for one horse to pull the caravan along; more than once, indeed, the wheels fairly stuck, and Tim and I had to pull with might and main to get them free. ”

“ To avoid these and similar inconveniences we generally halt for the night in some secluded spot—some roadside nook, or outlying common. But there is a fatal attraction in the caravan: it seems to draw spectators, as it were, out of the very bowels of the earth. No matter how desolate the place we have chosen, we have scarcely made ourselves comfortable when an audience gathers, and stragglers drop in, amazed and open-mouthed. ”

“ Matt’s answer was embarrassing. She quietly sat down on his knee, and gave him a smacking kiss.
“Matt! Matt!” he cried. “You mustn’t!”
But she put her warm arm round his neck, and rested her cheek against his shoulder.
“I should like to have pretty dresses and gold bracelets and things, and to go away from William Jones and to stay with you.”
“My dear,” said Brinkley, laughing, “you couldn’t. It wouldn’t be proper.”
“Why not?” asked Matt simply.
“The world is censorious little one. I am a young man, you are a young lady. We shall have to shake hands soon and say good-bye. ”

“ Monk looked round towards the dog-cart and on every side, but Matt was nowhere to-be seen.
“I see her go into that theer cart,” said William Jones.
“Call her,” cried Monk. “I’ll stay no longer here. Listen to me, you two. Whether you are telling truth or lies, that girl is going to become my wife—I have her guardian’s consent, and she herself, I may tell you, fully appreciates the honour I am doing her.”
“Indeed!” said Mr. Lightwood, smiling. “Unfortunately I, as Miss Monk’s legal adviser, must have a say in the matter. ”

“ He threw down his brush, rose and stretched himself, and said—
“Look here, Matt, I’m tired of work. The sun shining on those sand-hills and on the far-off sea is too tempting. I shall go for a walk, and you, if you are in the mood, shall be my guide.”
She evidently was in the mood, for she was on her feet in an instant.
“All right, master,” she said, “I’ll go.”
“Very well.—Tim, bring forth some refreshment. We will refresh the inner man and girl before we start.”
Tim disappeared into the caravan. ”

“ Presently, without turning his eyes again from the far distance, the man spoke in a husky, far-away whisper:—
“Matt, do you see summat out yonder?” Matt strained her gaze through the dazzling sunlight, but failed to discern any object on the light expanse of water.
“Look ye now,” continued the man; “it may be drifting weed, or it may be wreck; but it’s summat. Look again.”
“Summat black, William Jones?”
“Yes. Coming and going. Now it comes, and it’s black; now it goes, and the water looks white where it was. If it isn’t wreck, it’s weed; if it ain’t weed, it’s wreck. ”

“ The bridegroom, attired in decent black, with a flower in his button-hole, stood waiting impatiently in the garden. Despite the festive occasion, he had a gloomy and hangdog appearance. Presently there emerged from the door William Jones, attired in a drowned seaman’s suit several sizes too large for him, and wearing a chimney-pot hat and a white rosette. Leaning on his arm was Matt, dressed in a dress of blue silk, neatly made for her by one of the coastguard women, out of damaged materials supplied by Jones, a light straw hat with blue ribbons to match, and a light lace shawl. ”

“ Monk’s overture as amiably as possible.
“I dare say it was a mistake,” he said. “Gentlemen don’t usually travel about in caravans.”
“You are an artist, I am informed,” returned Monk.
“Something of that sort,” was the reply. “I paint a little for pleasure.”
“And do you find this neighbourhood suit your purpose?—It is somewhat flat and unpicturesque.”
“I rather like it,” answered Brinkley. “It is pretty in summer; it must be splendid in winter, when the storms begin, and the uneventful career of our friend William Jones is varied by the excitement of wrecks.” ”

“ To the sand-hills, therefore, they wended their way. Having gained them they followed a route which Matt knew full well, and which soon brought them to the narrow footpath beyond. During the walk she was singularly silent, and Brinkley seemed to be busily trying to work out some abstruse problem which had taken possession of his brain.
When they had followed the footpath for some distance, and had gained the greensward on the top of the cliffs, the young man threw himself upon the grass, and invited Matt to do the same. It was very pleasant there, soothing both to the eye and to the mind. ”

“ Monk to keep you, instead of sending you to the workhouse as he might have done.”
On this point Matt seemed rather sceptical.
“Well,” continued Brinkley, as he went on lightly touching up his work, “perhaps I have done my equestrian friend a wrong. Perhaps his unamiable exterior belies his real nature; perhaps he is good and kind, generous to the poor, willing to help the helpless—like you, for instance.”
“Is it him?” exclaimed Matt, “Monk of Monkshurst! Why, he don’t give nothin’ to nobody. No fear.” ”

“ Monk,” returned William Jones meekly; “but look ye now, I think——”
“You’ve no right to think,” thundered Monk; “you’re not paid for thinking; you’re paid for keeping the girl, and what more do you want?—Matt,” he continued in a softer tone, “come to me.”
But Matt didn’t hear—or, at any rate, did not heed; for she made no movement. Then Monk, gazing intently at her, gave vent to the same remark as William Jones had done a few hours before. ”

“ Strange as the fancy may seem to you, I should like for once in my life to stand face to face with a real live wrecker.”
They made their way back along the coast, until they reached William Jones’s cottage. Here they paused, principally for Brinkley to take a glance at the quaint dwelling, then they crossed the threshold. What sort of a place he had got into, it was utterly impossible for Brinkley to tell; it was so dark, he could see nothing. Having crossed the threshold, therefore, he paused; but Matt went fearlessly forward, struck a light, and ignited the rushlight on the table. ”

“ There would be novelty in the title, at any rate: ‘Cruises in a Caravan, by Charles Brinkley, with illustrations by the author; photographic frontispiece, the caravan, with Tim as large as life, smirking self-consciously in delight at having his ‘pictur’ taken. My friend B——— has promised to find me a publisher, if I will only persevere. Well, we shall see. If the book does not progress, it will be entirely my own fault; for I have any amount of time on my hands. Paint as hard as I may all day, I have always the long evenings, when I must either write, read, or do nothing. ”

“ He is the only human being we have to fear. We must cease to fear him. Do you understand?”
No, William Jones did not understand; so in order to make his meaning clear, Mr. Monk drew him out from the cottage, and whispered something in his ear. William Jones turned as white as death, and began to tremble all over. ”

“ The damp black rocks rose on every side, and from the roof hung spongy weeds and funguses like those which are to be seen in sunless vaults of wine, but piled against the inner wall was a hoard of treasures enough to make a smuggler’s mouth water or turn a wrecker’s brain. ”

“ An old coastguard, whom Brinkley found next day on the station, was his chief informant.
“Don’t you believe him, sir,” said this old salt, “if he tells you he’s poor. He’s a shark, William Jones is, and couldn’t own up even to his own father. It’s my belief he’s got gold hidden somewheres among them sandhills, let alone what he’s got in the savings bank. ”

“ For William Jones was genuinely afraid; his hereditary calm of mind was shaken, not so much with horror at a murderous deed, as with consternation that his lifelong secret had been discovered by one man, and might, sooner or later, be discovered by others. He did not put implicit faith even in Monk; it was his nature to trust nobody where money was concerned. ”

“ Matt shook her head again. Once more the young man was lost in meditation. Doubtless it was owing to his abstraction of mind that he quietly placed his arm round Matt’s waist, and kept it there. At first Matt went very red, then she glanced up at his face, and saw that his eyes were fixed thoughtfully on the distant sand-hills. Seeing he still kept silence, she moved a little closer to him, and said very quietly—“I didn’t tell William Jones that you—kissed me!”
Brinkley started from his abstraction, and looked at the girl’s blushing face. ”

“ She was certainly an extraordinary young person, and wore her mysterious finery with a coolness I thought remarkable, it being quite clear, from her explanation, that all was fish that came to her net, or, in other words, that dead men’s clothes were as acceptable to her unprejudiced taste as any others. However, the time was hastening on, and I had my promise to keep. So I got my crayon materials, and made Matt sit down before me on a stool, first insisting, however, that she should divest herself of her head-gear, which was an abomination, but which she discarded with extreme reluctance. ”

“ An excited colloquy, angry on the one side, and apologetic on the other, ensued, and did not cease, even when the driver, with a flick of his whip, put the caravan again in motion, while the other strode alongside on foot.
It was just such a caravan as may be seen any summer day forming part of the camp on an English common, with the swart face of a gipsy woman looking out at the door, and half a dozen ragged imps and elves rolling on the grass beneath ”

“ In the second place, you attempted murder, at any rate. But upon my life, I don’t think you are worth prosecuting. I think, Mr. Marshall, you might let him go.”
“It’s letting a mad dog loose, sir,” replied Marshall. “He’ll hurt somebody.”
“What do you say, Miss Monk?” said Brinkley. “This amiable-looking person is your father’s cousin. Shall I release your bridegroom, in order that you may go with him to the altar of Hymen and complete the ceremony?”
“I hate him,” cried Matt; “I should like to drown him in the sea.” ”