S. Baring-Gould

“ Afraid of disturbing the old rector at his painting, Kate withdrew. She was happy at heart. What he had said had done her good. She had shrunk from the thought of return to the humdrum of her usual life, but Mr. Fielding had given her a motive for facing work with cheerfulness. It was a delight to her to think that her aunt loved her. She loved her aunt. Daily association with Zerah had made her cling to the hard, captious woman; she had had no one else to love, and the young heart must love someone. ”

“ Halfway up the ascent is an oblong mass of granite, lying in the moor, which goes by the name of the Coffin Stone, because on it coffins are rested by those who are bearing a corpse to its lasting resting-place in the distant churchyards of Buckland or Ashburton. Kate had reached this stone, and was panting for breath, when she heard shouts and cries in the valley she was leaving, and, leaping upon the Coffin Stone, she saw a swarm of men on the opposite bank of the Dart—the Brimpts side—running in the direction of the bridge, headed by her uncle, who was then levelling a gun he carried. ”

“ Then Zerah pulled her niece into the window. Kate drew a long breath. She knew that now came the worst trial of all.
“Kitty,” said the aunt, holding both the girl’s arms, and looking into her face. “Are you utterly heartless? Is it a matter of no concern to you that we should be ruined? You have but to run after Mr. Pooke, and all will be well. Why should you not give way to my wishes and those of your uncle? What have you against the lad? He is good, and he is rich.”
“I do not love him,” answered Kate confusedly.
“But he is so well off. There is no one with half his prospects in the place. ”

“ Tors rise to the height of from twelve to fifteen hundred feet; their sides are strewn with rocky ruin. Dense masses of furze cover the moorland sweeps, and between the clefts of the rocks whortleberry grows rankly into veritable bushes, hung in June with purple berries. Below, at the depth of a thousand feet, foams and roars the Dart amidst boulders and bushes of mountain-ash and thorn.
It was obvious to the clouded mind of Pepperill that if he was to get rid of Kitty, it must be done either in the Holne Wood or on the moor. One place was as good as the other for disposal of the child’s body ”

“ A FACE IN THE WATER Kate Quarm was very happy on the moor. Her father had fetched her from Ashburton, and had lodged her in a cottage near Dart-meet, the point where the East and West Darts, rushing foaming from the moors, dancing over boulders, breaking over granite floors, plunging under tufts of golden gorse, and through brakes of osmund and male fern, reach each other and meet in one silver flood. ”

“ The fire and smoke on the farther side in the bosom of Benjietor made it impossible for him to secrete himself there—every lurking-place was scorched or menaced by the flames. The slope of Sharpitor on his left, though strewn with the wreckage of the crags above, offered no safe refuge; it was exposed to full light, without any bushes in it other than the whortle and heather. Roger did not take long to make up his mind; he pursued his course down the river, now wading, then scrambling over stones, then leaping from rock to rock, and then again flying over a tract of smooth turf. ”

“ He was accustomed to hear his wife find fault with Kate, and now he followed suit. We all, unless naturally generous, cast blame on those who are beneath us; on our children, our servants, the poor and weak, when we are conscious of wrong within ourselves, but are too proud for self-accusation. It has been so since Adam blamed Eve for his fall, and Eve threw the blame on the serpent.
“I don’t hold with holiday-making,” said Pasco. “It is all very well for wealthy people, but not for those who are workers for their daily bread. ”

“ Pasco bore no malice against his niece. In his cold fashion he liked her. She was useful in the house, and saved him the expense of a maid. It was doubtful whether any servant would have been as submissive to Zerah as was Kitty, whether any would have continued so long in service to her. He had forgotten his momentary resentment at Kate refusing the offer of John Pooke. He wished the girl ill for no other reason than his own safety. ”

“ Almost immediately after the junction of the East with the West Dart, the united stream 39doubles round Sharpitor, that shoots high above it on one side, and under the ridges of Benjietor on the other side, in whose lap grows a little copse, and which, from its crags to the water’s edge, is green with bracken in summer, but at this period was russet with withered leaves. Thence smoke rose—some boys had ignited the gorse, and the flames ran among the withered ferns and the fallen oak-leaves, and blackened and burnt the copse. ”

“ He held to a projection of granite, and panted. “Interfering with law—protecting a scoundrel.” He paused to wipe his face. “A malefactor—a criminal—guilty”—again gasped like a fish out of water—"guilty of incendiarism, of arson, of felony!"
“Why, Pasco, you’re hot. Keep cool, old boy,” said Jason, laughing. “Who has created you constable, or sheriff of the county, that you are so anxious to apprehend rogues?”
“Rogues? rogues? Only rogues assist rogues in escaping the reward of their deeds.” ”

“ Kate was in all points the reverse of Wilmot, and because so unlike, woke the antipathy of the bereaved mother, as though the silence and reserve of Kate were assumed out of slight to the memory of the merry, open-hearted girl. She looked on her niece as perverse, as acting in everything out of a spirit of contrariety. How else explain that a young girl with warm blood in her veins should not retain the longings and express the wishes common to other girls of her age? ”

“ ON MISCHIEF BENT When Pasco returned from Newton, he drew up his tax-cart close to the door of the storehouse, took the horse out, but did not unharness him; he merely removed the bridle and gave the brute a feed.
Then he entered the dwelling-house and seated himself at the kitchen table without a word to his wife, and emptied his pocket on the board. A couple of sovereigns and a few shillings clinked together. With his forefinger he separated the gold from the silver coins.
“What! money come in, in place of going out?” asked Zerah. ”

“ The ostler gave him the halter, and Pepperill fastened it to the splashboard and drove on. He had attached it hastily, carelessly, and before long the rope uncoiled and hung before him. His eyes were drawn to it.
“What would come to me if the bailiffs were put into the house, and Coombe Cellars were sold over my head to pay what I owe?”
Pasco was a man who could live only where he was esteemed, looked up to, and where he could impose on underlings and brag among equals. The idea of being in every man’s mouth as “gone scatt”—a ruined man—was intolerable. ”

“ But your niece, Kitty, has money.”
“Money? oh, of course! We are a moneyed family.”
“That is well. Mine is a moneyed family. One cannot be comfortable oneself without money, nor have anything to do comfortably with other people unless they’re moneyed. I have often thought there is a great gulf fixed between the comfortably off and those who are in poor circumstances, and those who are in comfort can’t pass to the other side—not right they should; let them make their associates among the comfortably off. That’s my doctrine.”
“And mine also,” said Pasco. ”

“ John Pooke is an honest, worthy fellow, and he has won my respect because he saw your value and has striven to win you. But he is not the man for you. For my little Kitty I hope there will come some one possessed of better treasures than broad acres, fat beeves, and many flocks of sheep; possessed of something better even than amiability of temper. ”

“ The felling of the Okehampton Park oaks has spoiled the market in this country. Come, what say you, Pasco—shall I settle?”
136“I cannot do it,” answered Pepperill, a cold sweat breaking out over his brow.
“There is an old mine wheel available. I can buy it for a song,” said Quarm.
“I have no money. Have I not told you that—or must I knock it into your brain with my fist—or the house key?” He raised his hand threateningly.
“Be reasonable, Pasco. I cannot tell what has come over you to-night. You are not yourself. ”

“ Pasco sank into deep thought, looking at the match-box and playing with it, now opening, then shutting it.
“I’m depriving you of it,” he said.
“Not a bit. I have a dozen. They are just brought in from London and are selling off amazin’ fast at Ashburton. In a week they’ll be all over the country and the tinder boxes chucked away.”
“Are they dangerous—I mean to carry about with one?” asked Pasco.
“Not a bit. There is no fire till you strike it out.”
Then Pepperill again fell into meditation. He put the box into his pocket, and sat looking before him into space, speechless. ”

“ You will return to Coombe Cellars strengthened and nerved to do your duty well and hopefully. Remember, it was kind of your aunt to let you come. She has to drudge hard whilst you are absent, but she does it because you have been ill and need relaxation in mind and invigoration of body. She does it, Kitty, because she loves you.”
“Oh, sir!” Kate coloured with astonishment and with a twinge of pain at her heart.
“Yes, dear little friend, she loves you. She is not a demonstrative person. She is a clear-headed, practical woman. ”

“ On reaching the new inn at Newton, his heart was full of anger against all mankind.
The host did not receive him with cordiality, as he expected; he looked out at the door and went in again with a hasty nod.
In the yard Pasco cautiously opened his gig-box when the ostler was not looking and drew out a halter, then, hastily closed the flaps, and, extending the cord, said, “I’m not going to stay many minutes; don’t take the cob out of harness. Let him stand and eat a bite, that is all.” ”

“ Folks say that there is a stone as turns all base metal to gold. I say that your palm has the faculty of converting gold into quicksilver, that escapes and cannot be recovered.”
“This is only a temporary embarrassment.”
“It shall not be done,” said Zerah. “I don’t myself believe Jason will hear of it, and if he does, and prepares to carry it out, I’ll knock his head off—that’s my last word. The parson said I didn’t love Kate, that I was starving her; but I’ll stand up for her against you—and her own father if need be.”
“The coal merchant must wait,” said Pasco, shrugging his shoulders. ”

“ Get out of my house!”
“Where be I to go to?” asked Quarm, settling himself from one leg to the other. “There’s Jane Redmore in my cottage, with all her children.”
“Well”—
“I can’t go there—the place is full.”
“You are a fool to have suffered it.”
“Kate begged and prayed of me”—
“Take the consequences, and be homeless.”
“I cannot, for to-night. You are going to Brimpts, and it is as well the men should see you. I shall return to-morrow, but to-night I must house me somewhere. Let me stay here; there is no one in the place, and I’ll keep guard for you if you wish.” ”

“ No one in Coombe can say a bad word against her. She is the prettiest girl in all the country round. She is always neat and fitty (dapper) . If you know at all what love is, Jan, you must judge how miserable Rose is, when, loving you with all her heart, she finds you indifferent, and even rough towards her; she hates me, only because you prefer me to her. Your father, I am quite sure, has no wish to see you marry anyone but Rose. Sister Sue is her friend, and Sue knows and cares nothing about me. Let us always remain friends. I shall ever value you for your goodness of heart, dear Jan. ”

“ Kate reluctantly produced the cherished volume.
“Pshaw!” said Pasco, rejecting it with disgust. “Poetry—rotten rubbish—I hate it. It’s no good to anyone, it stuffs heads with foolery. I wish I was king, and I’d make it a hanging matter to write a line of poetry and publish it. It’s just so much poison. No wonder you 61don’t like work, when you read that vile, unwholesome trash.”
Kate hastily folded up the volume and replaced it in her bosom.
“No wonder you and your father encourage vagabonds and incendiaries if you read poetry.”
“Father did not help Roger Redmore to escape,” said Kate. ”

“ A gentleman put his head out of the bar parlour window, which was open. “Who is it that hates lawyers? Not Mr. Pepperill?”
Pasco attempted to scramble into his trap.
“Is that Mr. Pepperill, of Coombe Cellars? You must stay. I have a word to speak with you.”
“I won’t stay—not a minute.”
“I’ll not charge you six-and-eight. Yet it is something to your advantage. I’m Mr. James Squire, solicitor, Tavistock. I have come about your affairs. Your old uncle, Sampson Blunt, is dead—died of a stroke—sudden—and you come in for everything. What say you now? Will you stay? Will you put up your horse? ”

“ Never sell sticks standing. A timber merchant will always buy the trees before felled, and many a landowner is fool enough to sell standing trees. The merchant knows his gain; the landlord does not know his loss.”
“Felled or unfelled, I must realise. My condition is desperate. I cannot meet any of the demands on me.”
Pepperill had lost his purple colour. He wiped his brow again, but this time the drops did not rise from heat, but from uneasiness of mind.
“You have drawn me into this Brimpts venture, and I have now all my fortunes on one bottom. ”