Lord Stranleigh

“ The elder Mackeller looked sternly at this dapper young man of the bandbox, so beautiful, so neat, so debonair, so well-groomed, and the young man became so uncomfortable under the fierce scrutiny of those hawklike eyes, that his own drooped modestly like those of a girl, and with the thin, elegant glove which he held loosely in his right hand Stranleigh flicked an invisible particle of dust from his trouser leg.
One need not be deeply versed in human nature to understand the temptation which now assailed the gray-haired stockbroker. ”

“ After dinner on the day the liner left Queenstown, Lord Stranleigh sat in a comfortable chair in the daintily furnished drawing-room of his suite. A shaded electric light stood on the table at his [Pg 31] elbow, and he was absorbed in a book he had bought before leaving London. Stranleigh was at peace with all the world, and his reading soothed a mind which he never allowed to become perturbed if he could help it. ”

“ Greatly to Stranleigh's embarrassment the mad musician flung himself at his lordship's feet, seized a reluctant hand, and covered it with kisses.
"Tut-tut!" cried Stranleigh, with an uneasy laugh. "We are not rehearsing a sentimental play, you know. You are overwrought, and so, for that matter, am I. I consider you the greatest genius I have ever met, and your music will haunt me while I live. Have no fear that you will languish for lack of opportunity, but meantime let us to bed, for there is strenuous work to do in the morning." ”

“ As he rose from his chair, the door opened, and there entered a most comely young woman in automobile garb, noticeably younger than Trenton, but bearing an unmistakable likeness to him.
“Hello, Ned!” she cried. “I thought I’d find you here,” then seeing his visitor, who had risen, she paused.
“Lord Stranleigh,” said Trenton. “My sister, Mrs. Vanderveldt.”
“I am very glad to meet you, Lord Stranleigh,” she said, advancing from the door and shaking hands with him.
“Why didn’t you telephone?” asked her brother. ”

“ Ponderby's stout figure seemed to have shrunk. His erstwhile rubicund countenance was actually pale, and his face wore a crestfallen expression almost akin to terror that was not without its touch of comicality. Indeed, Stranleigh almost smiled, and, in fact, would have smiled, had the victim been a man of less consequence than his indispensable valet. But instead of smiling, he spoke very calmly.
"Well, Ponderby, what's the trouble?"
"It's the Suffragettes, my lord. They demand to see your lordship, and won't believe you're not at home. There's about twenty of them, my lord." ”

“ In spite of the fact that they saw their boss stepping ashore, large groups of men had ceased work, and were standing twenty or thirty yards back from the landing, viewing with eyes of wonderment the trim white steamer that had come out of the wilderness. Frowningshield stepped ashore like a man in a dream, and a couple of stewards placed the cases of champagne and the boxes of cigars on the rock beside him. Lord Stranleigh leaned against the rail, and bade farewell to the manager. ”

“ He felt helpless as a child.
“Now,” said Stranleigh, “we will see who is the coward. I’ll lay a wager with you that this car tumbles off the bank before five minutes are past.”
Stranleigh with his heels was working the two outside [Pg 84] pegs, and the car acted as if it were drunker than a lord, and almost as drunk as the valet.
“In God’s name,” cried the latter, “let me go. We shall be wrecked in a moment.”
“No, we won’t.”
“I implore you, Lord Stranleigh!”
“I’ll save your life, but will give you a lesson against attempted blackmail.” ”

“ Accustomed to self-suppression though he was, Ponderby could not altogether conceal from Lord Stranleigh his dislike of the metamorphosis that was proposed. He had been born a servant and brought [Pg 89] up a servant, with the result that he was a capable one, and posing as a gentleman was little to his taste. Of course, he would do anything Lord Stranleigh commanded, and that without consciously hinting disapproval, but the earl shrank from giving a command as much as he would have disliked receiving one. ”

“ I don’t mind possessing a giant’s strength, but we must remember we should not use it like a giant.”
Lord Stranleigh, a picture of contentment, leaned back in his chair, and blew rings of filmy cigarette smoke toward the ceiling. Peter Mae-keller, the gloom on whose face had grown darker and darker, watched the nonchalant young man opposite him with a curl of contempt on his lip, yet he realized that if his lordship could not be forced to move, he himself was helpless. At last he rose slowly to his feet, the first tardy movement he had made since he entered the breakfast room. ”

“ Striking across country, and walking through forest and field, mostly over his own property, at last he saw Stranleigh Manor-house, nestling in the upper part of a well-wooded valley, sheltered on three sides from the winds.
Stranleigh had tramped over the hills, and now stood for a few minutes enjoying the view from the highest part of his estate. Half a mile further down the valley, along the banks of the stream, lay the rural village, quaint with its grey stone, ivy-covered walls and thatched roofs, while above it rose the grey, square Norman tower of the old church. ”

“ She was in a room where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile. She knew their sneaking ways. However, she made no audible protest, and her companions were all very quiet, as though rather awed by their surroundings, and the celerity with which their desire had been accomplished. The door opened, and the Earl of Stranleigh entered. ”

“ Preston."
"Good morning, Lord Stranleigh."
As the old and the young man very dejectedly descended the stairs of the Great Southern Railway offices, Lord Stranleigh hurried up behind them and flung an arm over each shoulder.
"Cheer up!" he cried. "My motor is waiting outside, and we will make a dash through the fog to the Corinthian Club. I need a refresher, as our legal friends put it. I also want to thaw out. Peter, why don't you say 'I told you so!'?"
"He's a hard man," growled Mackeller. ”

“ Ponderby departed instantly, with a deep sigh of relief.
Stranleigh’s life had been made more of a burden to him than was necessary through the indefatigable exertions of a fellow countryman, whose name was Wentworth Parkes. This individual brought with him a letter of introduction from the Duke of Rattleborough. Rattleborough was an acquaintance, but not a particular friend of Stranleigh’s; nevertheless, a Duke overtops a mere Earl in social eminence, much as the Singer building overtops the structure next to it. ”

“ Peter Barnacle has promised to build a library in Stranleigh village, if the inhabitants will provide a site for the building. As all property in the vicinity belongs to Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood, there is little doubt that a beautiful plot of land will be offered by his lordship, so that advantage may be taken of this munificence. ”

“ I should feel rather nervous if taking part in a similar display through the streets of Petersburg."
"Oh, you are quite safe here!" replied his lordship. "Rightly or wrongly, we are so tender with the denizens of the under-world, that they will not risk their own safety——"
Stranleigh sprang suddenly to his feet, and stood covering the Prince with his body.
"Seize that man!" he shouted, in a voice that rang out above the cheers, so startling was its note.
To Stranleigh the whole mob had but one face; the pallid, ecstatic countenance of the mad musician. ”

“ Lord Stranleigh was an Earl in every portion of the King's dominions except one, and that was the beautiful little coast town of Pebblesdale, the home of stalwart sea fishermen, said, when caught young, to be the very best recruits for His Majesty's navy. In this idyllic spot Lord Stranleigh was known as Tom Pitts, and was probably the most popular young fellow in the neighbourhood.
Hardly a fisher lass in the place but would have married him if he had asked her, yet Tom caused no heartburnings, for it became universally known that he was not a lady's man ”

“ In spite of being touched for varying amounts, Lord Stranleigh enjoyed to the full his return to the Metropolis, and for many days strolled down Piccadilly with the easy grace of a man about town, the envy of less fortunate people who knew him. This period of indolence was put an end to by the receipt of a telegram from Mackeller. That capable young man had sent his message from the northwest corner of Brittany, having ordered the Rajah to be run into the roadstead of Brest. ”

“ Just be your own cold, calm, contemptuous self, and, above all things, don't give the snap away. You must never forget, night or day, that you are Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood. Mackeller and I will not be stopping at your hotel, but at some more modest hostelry."
"Yes."
"Very good. You will set out at once to engage such servants as Lord Stranleigh would wish to accompany him. Secure a discreet valet who is acquainted with neither you nor me, and you must take none of our own servants with us, or any of their acquaintances. I am trusting everything to your discretion." ”

“ The young man came to a standstill, slightly raising his admirably glossy silk hat, but no light of recognition came into his eyes.
"I see you don't remember me, and no wonder," continued the woman breathlessly. "I called out before I thought, but I knew you very well as a lad, if I may be forgiven for calling your lordship a lad. I was Sally Hopkins, daughter of Job Hopkins, who kept the lodge at the west gate of Stranleigh Park, my lord."
A gentle smile came to the lips of Lord Stranleigh; a smile so winning that it would have disarmed the rancour of a socialist. ”

“ The brokers in New York could not acquire any Powerville stock, as was shown by their application to Miss Maturin herself, neither had their efforts been executed with that secrecy which Stranleigh had enjoined. He realised this when John L. Boscombe called upon him. He went directly to the point.
“I am happy to meet you, Lord Stranleigh, and if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to say that you are more greatly in need of advice at this moment than any man in America.”
“You are perfectly right, Mr. Boscombe. I am always in need of good advice, and I appreciate it.” ”

“ Barnacle or Lord Stranleigh we shall never know, for Ponderby rarely confided in any one.
The young nobleman returned home at eleven o'clock, and half an hour later Wilson, the agent, put in an appearance. Wilson was a very brisk, business-like man, with a hard face, a lowering brow, and lips which had a touch of tyranny about them. Although obsequious enough to Stranleigh, he was very domineering to those over whom he exerted power, and was generally disliked by villagers and tenants. ”

“ The moment the footman opened the door, they rushed him; nearly knocked Spilkins over, my lord, and now they're all in the hall, except one, who stands outside the door, waving a banner inscribed 'Votes for Women.'"
This time Stranleigh did smile, in spite of himself, as he pictured the six-foot Spilkins, so cold and formal in manner, unexpectedly submerged at the door by an impetuous onrush.
"Ponderby, when you are captured, the only thing to do is to capitulate as gracefully as possible. ”

“ Besides, a man cannot read a letter in the street, can he?”
“I see no reason against it,” replied the other sharply.
“Don’t you really? Well, I am going across to my club, and perhaps as we walk along together, you will be good enough to say why you wish to see me.”
Lord Stranleigh was about to proceed down another step when the other answered “No” so brusquely that his lordship paused once more, with a scarcely perceptible elevation of the eyebrows, for, as a rule, people did not say “No” to Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood, who was known to enjoy thirty thousand pounds a year. ”

“ Lord Stranleigh at the wheel saw much of a charming country; sometimes with Ponderby in the back seat, but more often without him, for the inestimable valet was quite evidently ill-at-ease through this change of their relative positions.
One balmy, beautiful day during the exceptionally mild Indian summer of that year, Stranleigh left Altonville alone in his motor, and turned into a road that led northward, ultimately reaching the [Pg 92] mountains to be seen dimly in the autumn haze far to the north. ”

“ Stranleigh knew that many a man who later became famous spent his first night in London on the Embankment, and he hoped that by chance he might succour some genius, yet he fancied in such case his benefaction would not have been so greedily accepted as it was by these outcasts. ”

“ He will regard me as a servant, and unless I said to him: ‘Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood, why did you bolt so suddenly from New York?’ he would never have the least idea who was sitting beside him, and even then he would exhibit no surprise.”
“Lord Stranleigh?” echoed Sterling in amazement.
“Yes; that’s the man you’re dealing with, and he’s worth untold millions. I’ll go up to this hotel now, and see him, if you prefer that I should do so.”
“No; you may take him out to-morrow, but I advise you to say nothing to him about me or my [Pg 82] business. ”

“ Blessed is he who has nothing, for he need fear no trap. Will you come with me to my house, since all the restaurants of London are closed?"
They walked together to Westminster Bridge, where a friendly policeman whistled for a wandering cab, and then looked with some astonishment at the strangely-assorted pair. A hansom came flying across the bridge in response to the call. The richest man and the poorest in Europe got in together, and drove to Stranleigh House, where his lordship found an excellent supper laid awaiting his return.
"Champagne?" asked Stranleigh.
The Russian hesitated. ”