Draycott

“ You know, Dodwell, you should have started denying at the first. When you tacitly admit that you did meet Draycott, and that you did quarrel with him, you have already reached the point at which a general denial only tells against you. What I don't understand, Draycott, is, where have you been since that night? I don't know if you are aware that the British public has been taking a most lively interest in your private affairs, and that all sorts of more or less interested persons have been searching for you high and low. It's a good time ago, you know, since the Easter ball. ”

“ Draycott's father is a big bug over in New South Wales. They've been telegraphing to each other, he and his father, spending no end of money on wires. It seems that the old man heard that he was missing and got flurried; but they've made that all right by telegram. Draycott's going back to his father; he is the only son, his father has big interests, and wants him, and he hasn't made a very good thing of soldiering; so Draycott's going back. And, what is much more--to me--I'm going with him."
"Sydney! Really?" ”

“ Of course, Major Reith had been under a misapprehension. In the first shock of his surprise at finding the man in such a dreadful condition on the floor, he jumped to the not unnatural conclusion that he was dead, which, though natural, was absurd. Who had ever heard of a dead man picking himself up and taking himself off? Which was what Noel Draycott had done. ”

“ I don't wish to assert that he took care that the lady was here before he began what he calls his story; but when the lady has gone he will receive from me the treatment from which her presence saves him."
"If you will take my advice," the excited gentleman was told by Major Reith, "you will let Draycott tell his story without comment or interruption; when he has finished you will be able, if you think it necessary, to tell yours; but you will not improve your case by doing your best to keep him from stating his. Draycott, do we understand you to say that you did not see Sydney Beaton cheat?" ”

“ The lady glanced at a gold watch set in a jewelled bangle.
"How the time does go--I must be off; I'm keeping Major Reith waiting. One moment--excuse me, Miss Forster, if I am interrupting you when you were about to speak--but please don't let us talk about that business of Captain Draycott; it's so much better not to."
"I don't agree with you; what do you know about it?"
"Suppose I know everything--what good will it do you, or him? You're not fool enough to suppose that I did it. Captain Draycott was an utter stranger to me; I had no grudge against him; you know how it was--with Mr. Beaton. ”

“ It cheers a man up when he is waiting and wondering—and England is still silent.
It was just as Draycott had made the unpleasant discovery that no longer did the weekly boat run from Marseilles to Tunis and thence to Malta, and was debating on the rival merits of a journey through Italy, and thence by Syracuse to the island of goats; or a journey through Spain to Gibraltar, and thence by sea—with luck, that a railway magnate entered and gave his celebrated rendering of a boiler explosion. ”

“ If you weren't afraid of what he has to say, you'd let him say it; that, to us, if not to you, is as plain as the nose upon your face. Draycott, I'm going to take the liberty of asking you one or two questions. Do you seriously wish us to understand that merely because Dodwell winked at you, you charged Beaton with being a cheat when you knew he wasn't? ”

“ Now, Dodwell, don't you interfere; you shall have your turn presently, when you'll have every opportunity of making Draycott out even blacker than he has painted himself. Consider, Draycott, before you speak; it's a very queer story you're asking us to swallow, much queerer than your first. What grounds have you for saying that Dodwell never thought, even at the moment of making his accusation, that Beaton had cheated? ”

“ Very really--thanks to Draycott. I couldn't stay in England--now; and I wouldn't. I've made such a mess of things that I shouldn't be able to breathe if I stayed. I want to put the old things behind me, and to get into a new world, and a new life. ”

“ Bet Elsa Draycott makes her own clothes. They look it, anyway. It's better to be thrifty, though. Wife of Martin Draycott wouldn't dare to be anything else, I guess. Too bad about their son. Folly of youth. Only seventeen. He'll get over it, like as not, and settle down. A farm (Mr. Pond privately permitted himself a small joke) is no place for wild oats. ”

“ You've seen in the papers about this Noel Draycott who is missing; he's one of the men who accused him that night at poker. They say that after Sydney had made off with the women's jewels he came across Draycott, there was a row, and he killed him. And this is the man Violet has gone to London to look for! She's not the only person who is doing it. ”

“ Scandal was the thing most to be avoided; if the police had been called in, there would have had to be a scandal, and nothing might have suited Noel Draycott less. There might, his lordship put it, have been a discussion between Noel Draycott and, say, someone else, of a strictly personal kind, in which Draycott might have got the worst of it. It was a most regrettable incident, that such a thing should have occurred at Avonham, on the night of the Easter ball. Mr. Draycott owed an apology to his hosts and their guests; he would be called to a severe account at the very first possible moment. ”

“ It was a troop train apparently, and in the course of time it would arrive at Marseilles—perhaps. It would not be comfortable. "Mais, que voulez-vous, M'sieur? c'est la guerre."
At first he had not been genial; but when he had grasped the fact that mufti invariably cloaked the British officer, en permission, he had become more friendly.
He advised dinner; in these days, as he truly remarked, one never knows. Also, what was England going to do?
"Fight," Draycott answered promptly, with an assurance he did not feel. "Fight, mon Colonel; ça va sans dire." ”

“ I behaved all through like a blackguard--that's what I want to tell you."
"You may put it either way you like," sneered Anthony Dodwell; "it is plain to the meanest intelligence that you behaved like a blackguard whichever way you put it. Either you were lying then, or you're lying now; from neither predicament do you come out nicely."
Draycott ignored the other's words.
"Dodwell owed Beaton a grudge, and I owed Dodwell money, or at least, he said I did." ”

“ Knows what side his bread is buttered on. Horse-sense. Good son. Bet Martin Draycott sort of envies me. Nice deposit Martin made just now. Farm must be having a good year. A solid citizen, Martin Draycott, a solid citizen.
When he had finished his business at the bank, Martin Draycott hurried back to his farm. From far down the road he could see his new red barn, standing out, huge and impressive, against the blue of the day. He smiled.
A barn any man could be proud of. It's mine. In a sense, it's me. Built by my own effort. Solid. Honest. Prosperous. ”

“ Anyone may forget and recall facts later, but to state facts that may be used as evidence is to stand handcuffed before inexorable justice, and Mrs. Wilder had left her hands free.
"Is anything the matter?" Draycott jerked out the question as he got up to leave the room. "You seem rather silent."
Clarice laughed, and her laugh was slightly forced.
"I went for a ride this morning, and met Mr. Hartley. He is the most exhausting man I ever met."
"I hope you told him so," said Wilder shortly. "He's about here frequently enough, even though he does bore you." ”

“ They seemed satisfied as they watched the sobbing girl; and they were people of understanding. "Pauvre petite," muttered the waiter as they passed. "Mon Dieu! quelle vâche de guerre."
"My God!" said Draycott, as they went down the steps. "I didn't realise before what war meant to a woman. And we shall never realise what it means to our own women. We only see them before we go. Never after."
IV Half an hour later he encountered Monsieur le Colonel once again, and suggested that they should split a bottle of wine together if he could spare the time. ”

“ A solid man, Martin Draycott. Too few farmers like him. A head on his shoulders. Honest. Reliable. That farm of his, the place old Forbes let go to seed, that's a nice piece of property for you. A hundred acres, and I'll bet they're all paying their way. Glad to put a mortgage on it. Not likely, though. Draycott too well fixed. Made it all himself, too. With his own hands, one might say. Wife helped, of course. Fine woman, Elsa Draycott. No nonsense about her. Most wives seem to think all they have to do is spend a husband's money as fast as he makes it. ”

“ Dodwell looked at him very much as a bad-tempered big dog is apt to regard a courageous little one.
"If you're not very careful I shall whip you, Jackie Tickell; I don't intend to stand more than a certain amount of impertinence, even from an ass."
Instead of showing signs of trepidation, the little man seemed to grow more heated.
"We'll see what you will or won't do when we've heard what Draycott has to say. Until he has said it, you'll do nothing; you won't even run away. Draycott, do you remember that poker business? ”

“ A nation of sportsmen going merrily forth, with the ideal of sport as their guide, to fight a nation of swine, with the ideal of fouling as theirs. And so the world wags on in its funny old way, while the gods laugh, and laugh, and laugh. . . .
XI On the boat Draycott hardly realised. For the first week of the three he spent in England he hardly realised—he was too excited. He was going out; that was all that mattered; until one morning his eyes were opened to his personal case. It is easy to see things where others are concerned; but in one's own case. ”

“ I'm not saying a word for Draycott, he's given himself away with every word he's said; but he'd better do that than continue to play the cur to Beaton in the way he owns he has done. Your case, Dodwell, is safer in our hands than in your own. After what has happened we'll sift his story to the bottom before we pronounce judgment on it either way; I'm afraid the time has gone by when his mere 'Yes' or 'No' would be accepted. But if you want to force us to the conclusion that you are the kind of person he says you are, you can't do better than continue your present behaviour. ”

“ Let him be got to bed as soon as possible. What is the name of your nearest town, and the distance to it?" enquired Draycott of the farmer.
"Fallowfield is about two miles from here, sir. There is a good road and no one could miss it," was the reply.
"Let me have a horse and I will go myself and get what I require; Captain Carlton will remain until I return," and the young surgeon was soon on his way at a hand gallop. ”

“ Nicholas Whyte, of Whyte's Hall, Knt.,—Draycott deceased,—Privy Seal, 18 July, 1572,—patent, 1572.—Life.—Fee, £50, This patent is not finished on the Roll and so there is no date. "We understand that the Mastership of the Rolls is void by the death of Henry Draycott, whom we always esteemed as a faithful good servant, and therefore we are sorry to have lost such a one, hut that we trust he hath won a better state hy exchange of this worldly life ”

“ Can it be all true what the little man in black has been telling us?" and Carlton paced excitedly up and down the apartment.
"Not a doubt of it, my lord," resumed Draycott "these musty old lawyers never commit themselves by letting out so much as this one has done, unless they are quite sure that everything is all safe, cut and dried and ready for use, as the saying is, and I think your lordship cannot refuse to join me in drinking the health of the future Countess of Castlemere;" ”

“ In the meantime the good people of the farm were doing all in their power to render the sufferings of their wounded guest as little painful as possible; and every attention was shown him. He spoke but little; but several times asked for Carlton, and on seeing him only repeated, "Do not leave me yet, Arthur, I may have something to say concerning you and Miss Effingham."
In less time than could have been expected, Draycott returned, accompanied by the best surgeon in Fallowfield, the rector, and a lawyer of good standing in that town. ”

“ Loring recommended, throwing himself on to the rug in front of the fire.
"It's no good. All the fags are over in Matheson's side, getting Leave Out for Wednesday."
"Well, bang and go on banging. They must come back some time."
Draycott kicked the door and waited. The only fags in Hall at the time were Sinclair, whose leave had been stopped for the rest of the term, and O'Rane, who was going over to Crowley Court. Sam Dainton had undertaken to get leave for both. ”

“ One of the later novels by Mrs. Leith Adams (who prefers to retain her former name in her literary capacity) is "Louis Draycott," in which the reader will find many traces of the influence of school life, and the study of the characteristics of boys. "No one but a woman could have filled in these tiny canvases," remarked a critic; "nor are evidences wanting of her being surrounded by the classic traditions of Stratford-on-Avon. Thoroughly imbued with Shakespeare, she has judiciously, to a certain extent allowed him to influence her diction, but never obtrusively." ”