Hector D'Estrange

“ I love pretty boys.”
20“And plucky ones, too,” laughs Vivi. “I was speaking to young Estcourt, who is his chum, and he told me that when Hector D’Estrange first came to Eton, a good many attempts were made to bully him, but he soon settled his tormentors, and gave one of them, a big overgrown monster, such a drubbing, that he never molested him more. What fun, Dodo, it would have been to see my Adonis punching the overgrown bully! I did laugh when Estcourt told me. I do so hate overgrown boys. ”

“ Trevor sits very still in his chair. A flood of thoughts have come to fill his brain. They keep him very busy and occupied. The revelations thrown upon woman’s position by the straightforward, truth-breathing article of Hector D’Estrange, have taken him by storm, and have completely revolutionised his ideas. He has hitherto been so accustomed to look upon and treat women with the self-satisfied, conscious feeling of superiority assumed by men, that such ideas as these before him are startlingly strange and extraordinary. ”

“ Two years in the earth would necessarily render it so; yet on the skeleton little finger of one hand a plain gold ring had been found, as also around the skeleton’s neck a gold chain and locket, the latter containing a faded portrait of the late Countess of Westray, the earl’s mother. It had been proved that Lord Westray always wore this ring, chain, and locket, and his valet had sworn that he was wearing them the very day on which he disappeared. Public opinion was perplexed. Even those who would glory in Hector D’Estrange’s innocence found it difficult to believe him so. ”

“ He is melancholy without cause, and merry against the haire, hee hath the ioynts of euery thing, but euery thing so out of ioynt, that hee is a gowtie Briareus, many hands and no vse; or purblinded Argus, all eyes and no sight.
Cre. But how should this man that makes me smile, make Hector angry?
Man. They say he yesterday cop’d Hector in the battle and stroke him downe, the disdaind & shame whereof, hath euer since kept Hector fasting and waking. ”

“ Not far behind Hector followed Paris, his armor glittering like the sun, and with a laugh on the face that was more full of beauty than that of any other man on earth. Like a noble charger that has broken its bonds and gallops exultingly across the plain, so did Paris stride onward.
"I fear I have delayed thee," he said to his brother when he overtook him.
"No man can speak lightly of thy courage," answered Hector, "only thou hast brought shame on thyself by holding back from battle. But now let us go forward, and may the gods give the Greeks into our hands." ”

“ For I am rotten—rotten to the core."
"You're not, you're not, no man can be who can love a child like that. Dearest, I won't have you say it, for you're mine, Hector, mine. My love is all yours now, and so am—I."
"Yes, with reservations. Oh, I know the sort of love—pure, no vile, earthly thoughts—thus far and no farther."
"No. I am not like that. I make no reservations. I give you all."
Hector stared, and, passion once more reawakening, he caught her by the shoulders; but Stara held him off, her grey eyes looking up into his. ”

“ Hector may tremble all his life, And die,—but not of that he's dreading.... Ah me, the World! How fast it spins! The beldams dance, the caldron bubbles; They shriek, they stir it for our sins, And we must drain it for our troubles. We toil, we groan; the cry for love Mounts up from this poor seething city, And yet I know we have above A Father, infinite in pity. When Beauty smiles, when Sorrow weeps, Where sunbeams play, where shadows darken, One inmate of our dwelling keeps Its ghastly carnival ”

“ And there came back to me the memory of what Hector had said as we stood on the golden patch of gorse when the mist had for a moment or so blown aside, what he had said of man's awakening, and, remembering all the ages of—childish, useless dread, how he would stand—
I did not turn suddenly, but slowly. I was not startled in the faintest degree. He stood there close to me as he had so often stood.
And he stood—and smiled.
I have seen him many times since. I shall see him many times again. And when I see him he always stands—and smiles. ”

“ The figure of Moon, busy round the cooking fire, stood black against the sunset.
"My son, you may remember, long ago, when we were at the Sun Dance camp, I told you that the white man's ways are not our ways and one should not adopt the habits of the other."
"I remember," Hector answered.
"I have changed my mind. That is, I think sometimes the law may be set aside. I wish to set it aside now—today—or soon."
"Go on," said Hector.
"You saved my life. I owe it to you; I know it. No man can owe to another man anything more precious. Then how can he repay such a debt? ”

“ I should love to. My brother shan't see, and Polly won't mind, I know. Come, as we must," and together they rode home, Graeme for once talkative, but Stara silent.
* * * * *
Next morning, before the sun had risen, the woman's dream had come to an end, and Hector was on his way back to a man's life once more. Within a mile of the station, at the top of the rise, where Stara had first seen his coming, the boy pulled up his mules, and pointed backward with his whip at a speck on the road behind them, rapidly growing larger. ”

“ Sleeping Thunder glanced keenly at Hector. The white man was silent; and he could not understand it.
"I know that I am pledging much. It is a great honour I do you, my son." Smiling, the chief stretched out a kindly hand and patted Hector's shoulder. "But of all the world there is no man to whom I would more gladly give my daughter. You are a good man—strong, just, brave, true-hearted. And the debt I owe is great. Be not afraid."
The sunset glow was melting rapidly into the mauves and blues of night. Moon had stopped her work and Hector saw her gazing enraptured towards the West. ”

“ For what else but such success could come to Hector? Had it not been drawing nearer and nearer all the time? And for a moment she seemed again to stand, a much younger child than now, amid the gusty whirling of the dead leaves about her feet, once more on the point of stooping to pick up what might prove a withered leaf, but was in reality a pound-note, the thing which had wrought her so much misery, and was now filling her cup of joy to the very brim. The book the old lady had talked of could be no other than Hector’s book. No other than Hector could have written it. ”

“ You are young and hopeful. I am too much inclined to despond. I have always been timid about the future. It is a matter of temperament.”
It was early in the afternoon when they reached New York. As they emerged from the depot a bright-faced boy came up eagerly and greeted them.
“How are you, Hector?” he said. “You see, I came to meet you. I have been longing to have you come.”
“I am just as glad to see you, Walter,” said Hector, heartily. “Mr. Crabb, here is your future pupil, Walter Boss.” ”

“ So he dragged Hector to the ships. And Priam saw him from the walls, and scarce could his sons keep him back, but that he should go forth and beg the body of his dear son from him who had slain him. And Hecuba, his mother, also bewailed him, but Andromache knew not as yet of what had befallen. For she sat in her dwelling, weaving a great purple mantle broidered with flowers. And she bade her maidens make ready a bath for Hector, when he should come back from the battle, nor knew that he should never need it more. ”

“ Thus the dull, material being is as dull and brutish in his loves as he is in all else; the rare, steadfast nature, knowing no satiety, loves on till death; the ardent and imaginative invests his mistress with a halo of romantic fancies. And so, Hector loved Stara, with an exalted, passionate adoration, rendering him, for the time, ready and longing for any manifestation of self-sacrifice, and, as he truly believed, incapable of the very wrong to the accomplishment of which his whole present energies were nevertheless directed. ”

“ In the heat of the battle, Sir Hector was covered from the enemy’s attacks by seven brothers of his clan, all whom successively sacrificed their lives in his defence. Each brother, as he fell, exclaimed, “Fear eile air son Eachainn,” ‘Another for Eachann,’ or Hector, and a fresh one stepping in, answered, “Bàs air son Eachainn,” ‘Death for Eachann.’ The former phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since to be a proverb or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succour. Sir Hector, however, was left among the slain, with about 500 of his followers. ”

“ It grows dark, he may stumble. [HOLOFERNES retires] PRINCESS OF FRANCE. Alas, poor Maccabaeus, how hath he been baited!
Enter ARMADO, for HECTOR
BEROWNE. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes Hector in arms. DUMAIN. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry. KING. Hector was but a Troyan in respect of this. BOYET. But is this Hector? DUMAIN. I think Hector was not so clean-timber'd. LONGAVILLE. His leg is too big for Hector's. DUMAIN. More calf, certain. BOYET. No; he is best indued in the small. BEROWNE. This cannot be Hector. DUMAIN. He's a god or a painter, for he makes faces. ”

“ He was now gloomily debating in his mind on whom to commence operations when he came upon the other three standing together, and at sight of the despondency on their faces wrath boiled up in Hector's breast.
"What the devil are you looking so sick for, all of you?" he said angrily. "What if they have got three goals, we can beat them all right. Damme, I'll give you this pony, if we don't!" ”

“ Let him go away and make a living as he can. He’ll have to turn newsboy, or something of that sort—perhaps he’ll have to be a bootblack. Wouldn’t that be a good come down for a boy like Hector?”
Guy spoke with great glee, but his father did not seem to enjoy his release as well as Guy. He showed that he understood the boy better when he said:
“Hector will not have to resort to any such employment. He has a good education, and he can get some decent position, probably. ”

“ And the ice thus broken, things went on a good deal better, and they came to talk freely.
“Of course,” said Hector, “I am not so silly or so wicked as to try to persuade you that my mother will open her arms to you. She knows neither you nor herself.”
“Will she be terribly angry?” said Annie, with a foreboding quaver in her voice.
“Rather, I am afraid,” allowed Hector.
“Then don’t you think we had better give it up at once?”
“Never forever!” cried Hector. “That is not what I fell in love with you for! I will not give you up even for Death himself! He is not the ruler of our world. ”

“ Thus it was that when the valet came in and said, "The bailiff is here," he seemed like a spectre commanding suicide.
Hector took the announcement coolly and said, as he got up:
"Well, here's an end of it."
He was very calm, though a little confused. A little confusion is excusable when a man passes from wealth to beggary. He thought he would make his last toilet with especial care. Parbleu! The French nobility goes into battle in court costume! ”

“ Tell him to show him no mercy, if he doesn’t behave himself.”
“You seem to dislike Hector very much. You shouldn’t feel so. It isn’t Christian.”
Guy looked at his father queerly out of the corner of his eye. He understood him better than Allan Roscoe supposed.
“I hope you won’t insist on my loving him, father,” he said. “I leave that to you.”
“I only wish you to avoid coming into collision with him. As for love, that is something not within our power.”
“Will you be ready to go with me to boarding school on Monday morning, Hector?” asked Allan Roscoe, on Saturday afternoon. ”

“ For, though from a perished universe it comes, it is not gloom but passion it stirs in most human hearts, and in this alliance of Azrael and Eros can be read the great secret of the world—that death is but the passing to another birth, and, without love, birth cannot be.
It was not of the latter that Hector was thinking now, but of that something within him, revealed that afternoon—though but in a paltry game. ”

“ Then a wonderful thing happened. The impatient crowd broke its bonds and instantly filled all the space about the platform. It rushed round Hector. He found himself suddenly walled in by a field of exultant faces and dimly realized that they were cheering him ... cheering him....
Over this heaving mass a voice suddenly threw a roaring word, hailing Hector by the name long given him by the Indians and sometimes by the civilians, in token of the strength and fearlessness which they considered him, the embodiment of himself:
"Manitou-pewabic!" shouted the voice. "Manitou-pewabic!" ”

“ He paused, and then again seizing her by the shoulders while the glow in his eyes became a leaping flame, went on: "We love each other, Stara, and love such as ours must be satisfied. What do conventions matter to you and me; leave them to the weak fools whose lives they trammel. Belong to me you shall, not, as you think, by paltry deceit, but openly, for the whole world to see. It's marriage I offer you, not dishonour."
Stara looked up at him bewildered.
"Are you mad, Hector, your wife?" ”

“ The note was short, and this was what he read:
"Don't go to-morrow to Petit-Bourg; or rather, return before breakfast. He has just told me that he must go to Melun, and that he should return late. A whole day!"
"He"—that was himself. This other lover of Hector's was Bertha, his wife. For a moment he saw nothing but that; all thought was crushed within him. His temples beat furiously, he heard a dreadful buzzing in his ears, it seemed to him as if the earth were about to swallow him up. He fell into a chair; from purple he became ashy white. ”