Manvers

“ What mystery lay behind Manuela's sidelong eyes? What sin or suffering? What knowledge, how gained, justified Estéban's wizened saws? These two were wise before their time; when they ought to have been flirting on the brink of life, here they were, breasting the great flood, familiar with death, hating and stabbing!
A pretty child with a knife in her hand; and a boy murdered—what a country! And where stood he, Manvers, the squire of Somerset, with his thirty years, his University education and his seat on the bench? Exactly level with the curate, to be counted on for an archery meeting! ”

“ Manvers returned whistling from his bath, at peace with all the world of Spain, in a large mood of benevolence and charitable judgment. His mind dwelt pleasantly on Manuela, but pity mixed with his thought; and he added some prudence on his own account. "That child—she's no more—I must do something for her. Not a bad 'un, I'll swear, not fundamentally bad. I don't doubt her as I doubt the male: he's too glib by half... She's distractingly pretty—what nectarine colour! The mouth of a child—that droop at the corners—and as soft as a child's too." ”

“ Iff and Manvers obeyed. Staff paused on the threshold, bending his head to escape the lintel.
Standing thus, he appreciated the tableau: the neat, tidy little room—commodious for a steamship—glistening with white-enamelled woodwork in the radiance of half a dozen electric bulbs; Alison in a steamer-coat seated on the far side of a chart-table, her colouring unusually pallid, her brows knitted and eyes anxious; the maid, Jane, standing respectfully behind her mistress; Manvers to one side and out of the way, but plainly eager and distraught ”

“ That is the reasonable standpoint of a people who mind their own business and credit their neighbours with the same preoccupation.
But Manvers was an Englishman, and could not for the life of him consider Estéban as anything but a puppy for seeing him in a compromising situation. So much was he annoyed that he did not remark any longer that Manuela was another person, sitting stiffly, strained against his arm, every muscle on the stretch, as taut as a ship's cable in the tideway, her face in rigid profile to the newcomer. ”

“ Estéban raised his sombrero.
"I hope your grace's lady is not disturbed by my company; for to tell you the truth, sir, I propose to enjoy your own as long as you and she are agreeable. I am used to companionship."
"She will speak for herself, no doubt," said Manvers; but she did not; and the three kept silence for some time—a silence emphasized by the plodding hoofs, broken only by the Englishman's occasional swishing at the flies. And at last they entered the cork wood, and Manvers thanked God for the shade and the prospect of food and rest. ”

“ One last look at the preparations for the feast, one lingering touch of her crucifix, and she mounted Estéban's donkey and urged it through the trees. She never looked back.
Mr. Manvers returned whistling from his bath, in excellent spirits. He had found the river and swum in it, dressed himself, and walked slowly back lest he should get hot again. He was not very surprised to find that his companions had deserted him. "Queer people," he reflected, "but I had a notion that they knew each other. I suppose they've made a match of it. So much the better for me." ”

“ Manuela was seen to close her eyes; but she collected herself directly. She looked once, piercingly, at Manvers, then surrendered herself to him who touched her on the shoulder, turned, and went out of the court.
Everybody was against her now: they jeered, howled, hissed and cursed her. A spoiled plaything had got its deserts. Manvers turned upon them in a white fury. "Dogs," he cried, "will nothing shame you?" But nobody seemed to hear or heed him at the moment, and Gil Perez whispered in his ear, "That no good, master. ”

“ And there was one, sitting a little above her, on his hams, who seemed a sort of proprietor; for he did nothing but watch, and had enough of mastery over the others to prevent what he might at any moment choose to think an infringement of his rights. A sullen, dull dog, Manvers agreed; a broad-shouldered, black-avised kind of a brute, a bully by inheritance who must end in the hulks. ”

“ But everybody who is worth anything goes a little mad at forty. I was forty last week"—Rose Flaxman gave an involuntary sigh—"I can't get over it."
"Ah, well, it's quite time you were a little nipped by the years," said Manvers dryly. "Why should you be so much younger than anybody else in the world? When you grow old there'll be no more youth!" ”

“ That was Manuela, who had lulled a man to save him.
After a moment or so of hesitation he followed her, keeping his distance. She walked steadily up the carrera, looking neither to right nor to left. Many remarked her, some tried to stop her. A soldier followed her pertinaciously, till presently she turned upon him in splendid rage and bade him be off.
Manvers praised her for that, and, quickening, gained upon her. She turned up a narrow street on the right. It was empty. Manvers, gaining rapidly, drew up level. ”

“ Much of this was Greek to the doganero, who, however, understood that the stranger was referring in tolerable Castilian to a provincial gentleman of degree. The name and Manvers' twisted smile together won him the entry. The officer just eased his peaked cap. "Go with God, sir," he directed.
"Assuredly," said Manvers, "but pray assist me to the inn."
The Providencia was named, indicated, and found. There was an elderly man in the yard of it, placidly plucking a live fowl, a barbarity with which our traveller had now ceased to quarrel. ”

“ At this point they were interrupted: a man burst into the smoking-room from the deck and pulled up breathing heavily, as if he had been running, while he raked the room with quick, enquiring glances. Staff recognised Mr. Manvers, the purser, betraying every evidence of a disturbed mind. At the same moment, Manvers caught sight of the pair in the corner and made for them.
“Mr. Ismay—” he began, halting before their table and glaring gloomily at Staff’s companion.
“I beg your pardon,” said the person addressed, icily; “my name is Iff.”
Manvers made an impatient movement with one hand. ”

“ Manvers said.
"No, sir," said Gil, "thata true. All beautiful girls lika that. I understanda too much. But look 'ere—if she belong to me, that all the same, because I belong to you. You do what you like with 'er. I say, That all the same to me!"
"Gil Perez," said Manvers, "you're a gentleman, and I'm very much ashamed of myself. But we must do what we can for Manuela. I shall give evidence, of course. I think I can make the judge understand."
Gil was inordinately grateful, but could not conceal his nervousness. "I think the Juez, 'e too much friend with Don Luis. ”

“ On the other hand, as you have not, it must have been mine to have overtaken you."
"You are a philosopher?" asked Manvers, fatigue deliberately in his voice. Estéban's eyes shone intensely; he had marked the changed inflection. ”

“ But when Manvers announced his coming departure, there was a short tussle, preceded by a pause for breath.
Gil Perez inquired of the sky, searched up the street, searched down. A group of brown urchins hovered, as always, about the stranger, ready to risk any deadly sin for the chance of a maravedi or the stump of a cigar.
Gil snatched at one by the bare shoulder and spoke him burning words. "Canalla," he cried him, "horrible flea! Thou makest the air to reek—impossible to breathe. Fly, thou gnat of the midden, or I crack thee on my thumb." ”

“ There is no other country in Europe where things so grossly cruel, or cruelly gross, may be done, and none where they may be done with an air of franchise, serenely sure enough to rob them of nearly all their vileness.
Meditating these things, Manvers saw the very thing in process, when the lumpish fellow above the girl suddenly put his hand upon her and kept it there, and the others thereupon drew back and ceased their tricks, as if recognizing just such an act of possession—a taking of seisin, as the lawyers call it. To Manvers the act was hateful. ”

“ And there they all are to this day, broken some of them, alas!—one of them surreptitiously mutilated by Dick as a small boy,—but many intact still, worn to a deep black polish by the hands of generation after [Pg 281] generation of the sturdy people of Riff taking hold of them as they go into their places.
The Manvers monuments and hatchments jostle each other all along the yellow-plastered walls: from the bas-relief kneeling figure of the first Roger Manvers, Burgess of Dunwich, to the last owner, John Manvers, the husband of Lady Louisa Manvers. ”

“ Sir John Manvers bowed coldly on the entrance of Daveney, and pointing to an open note before him, said, in a tone of vexation, “That note is from Sir Adrian Fairfax; I confess its contents are beyond my comprehension, and I am utterly at a loss to know, sir, why my friend has thought it necessary to make you the medium of communication to me, instead of addressing me on a point which he chooses to invest with mystery.”
Sir John Manvers had been accustomed to see men bend at once to his haughty, imperious manner ”

“ The English mind works that way; we cannot endure a breath upon our fair surface. We must direct the operations of this world, or the devil's in it.
Manvers was not, of course, in love with Manuela. He was sentimentally engaged in her affairs, and very sure that they were, and must be, his own. Yet I don't know whether the waking dream which he had upon the summit of that plateau of brown rock which bounds Valladolid upon the north was the cause or consequence of his implication. ”

“ It drove the Marqués back to the door, and sent Gil Perez scudding on tiptoe to the window.
"You are magnificent, all of you!" cried Manvers. "You flatter me into connivance. Let me state the case exactly. Don Luis is to stab or shoot me at sight, and I am to give him a free hand. Is that what you mean? Admirable. But let me ask you one question. Am I not supposed to protect myself?" ”

“ Gil Perez did not blink any more. "I think 'e wisha that," he said; "but I think 'e won't."
"Why not?"
"Because I tell Manuela what I see at the corrida. She was there too. She know it already. Bless you, she don't care."
"But I care," said Manvers sharply. "I've got her on my conscience. I don't intend her to suffer on my account."
"That," said Gil Perez, "is what she wanta do." He looked piercingly at his master. "You know, sir, I ask 'er for your 'andkerchief."
"Well?" Manvers raised his eyebrows.
"I tell you whata she do. She look allaways in the dark. Nobody there. ”

“ Still, long association with an amiable woman and an innocent family had softened the heart of Sir John Manvers, and he would have given worlds that he had never been tempted.
The command at the Cape of Good Hope was offered to him soon after the loss of the Trafalgar; his acceptance of it was requested as a favour, since every one knew it was eventually designed for Sir Adrian Fairfax, then absent in India. ”

“ Mr Daveney had long asserted this to Sir John Manvers, who, jealous of all interference from the Commissioner, and haughtily reserved alike in communicating or receiving opinions, especially from him, made no serious objections to the return homeward of some of his best burgher captains. Troops and colonists rested on their arms, and the usual amusements of camp life were entered into with all the avidity of excitement-loving soldiers. ”

“ Manvers, the purser—”
“Good Heavens!” Alison interrupted in exasperation. She rose, with a general movement of extreme annoyance. “Am I never to hear the last of that man? He’s been after me every day, and sometimes twice a day.... He’s a personified pest!”
“But he’s right, you know,” said Staff quietly.
“Right! Right about what?”
“In wanting you to let him take care of that necklace—the what-you-may-call-it thing—the Cadogan collar.”
“How do you know I have it?”
“You admitted as much to Manvers, and Mrs. Ilkington says you have it.” ”

“ Iff grinned appreciatively. “You’re improving,” he said. “I guess that doesn’t get you even with me for the rest of your life—what?”
“Moreover,” Manvers went on doggedly, “Ismay always could prove a copper-riveted alibi.”
“That’s one of the best little things he does,” admitted Iff cheerfully.
“You don’t deny you’re Ismay?” This from the captain, aggressive and domineering.
“I don’t have to, dear sir; I just ain’t—that’s the answer.”
“You’ve been recognised,” insisted the captain. “You were on this ship the time of the Burden Hamman robbery. Mr. Manvers knows you by sight ”

“ Manuela: "Yes, yes."
Judge: "You are impatient because your evil deeds are coming to light. I am not surprised; but you must command yourself. There is more to come." (Manvers, who was furious, asked his advocate whether something could not be done. Directly her fear of Estéban was touched upon, he said, the Judge changed his tactics. The advocate smiled. "Be patient, sir," he said. "The Judge has been instructed beforehand." "You mean," said Manvers, "that he has been bribed?" "I did not say so," the advocate replied.)
The Judge returned to Palencia. ”

“ Manvers took the initiative: “Mr. Staff, this is Mr. Siddons of the customs service; this is Mr. Arnold of the United States Secret Service; and this, Mr. Cramp of Pinkerton’s. They came aboard at Quarantine.”
Staff nodded to each man in turn, and reviewed their faces, finding them one and all more or less commonplace and uninteresting.
“How-d’-you-do?” he said civilly; and to Manvers: “Well ...?”
“We were wondering if you’d seen anything of Mr. Iff this morning?”
“No—nothing. He came to bed after I’d gone to sleep last night, and was up and out before I woke. Why?”
“He—” the purser began ”