Mr. Hartley

“ Hartleys, I said, Clarice."
There was no doubt about the emphasis he laid upon the name.
"You flatter Mr. Hartley considerably," she said, but her voice was conciliatory and her laugh nervous.
"He represents a type; a type that some married men may be thankful continues to exist. God!" he broke out violently, "if he could hear you talk of him, it would be a lesson to the fool, but he won't hear you. No man ever does hear these things until the knowledge comes too late to be of any use to him. ”

“ She was touched at the proofs of her daughter’s affection, and the hot tears rolled rapidly down her furrowed cheek, but she steadily refused to leave the institution. In vain the poor girl pleaded, and Mr. Hartley and myself joined in our entreaties that she would accompany her daughter and her husband. Finding all our arguments of no avail I advised Mr. Hartley to let the poor creature have her way till the reality of the situation had come home to her, recommending him to allow his wife to call frequently at the Convent to see her mother. ”

“ Mr. Hartley glanced at him uneasily. "Perhaps—" he began.
"There's no 'perhaps' about it," said the masterful captain. "If you're not very careful there'll be trouble. You know what Mr. John is—he's got big ideas, and the youngster is as obstinate as a mule."
"It's all very well," said Hartley, "but how can I be careful? What can I do? Besides, I dare say you are making mountains of mole-heaps; she probably hurried off thinking to catch me up."
Captain Trimblett gave a little dry cough. "Ask her," he said, impressively. ”

“ I am to meet Hartley for lunch on the other side of the river, and, if we can manage it, I should like to start north this afternoon or evening.
"Good!" said Captain Stewart, smiling. "Good! that is what I call true promptness. You lose no time at all. Go to Dinard and Deauville, by all means, and look into this thing thoroughly. Don't be discouraged if you meet with ill success at first. Take Mr. Hartley with you and do your best." He paid for the two glasses of aperatif, and Ste. Marie could not help observing that he left on the table a very small tip. ”

“ But I [173] forget that this story can have but little interest for you, my lady.”
“Why should it not?” she replied. “Life is full of such sad stories.” She leant her head on her hand, and for a moment or two we were silent. “I, too, am troubled to-night for the safety of one I love,” she continued.
“Yes, madam?” I murmured as she paused.
“I allude to my brother,” she said quickly. “Mr. Cassilis, you know well that a battle is imminent. Alas! my brother is a true Ingram, in that he is so rash. I tremble for his safety.” ”

“ Mr. Hartley, however, had won his promise to remain till he himself returned from the round-up.
All the young people did their best to make the injured man's time pass as pleasantly as possible; and very often one or another of them might be found reading to him, or playing a game of checkers or chess with him.
It was on such an occasion that Cordelia Wilson, at the conclusion of a game of checkers, found the courage to say something that had long been on her mind.
"Mr. Edwards, do—do you know Texas very well?" ”

“ The girl returned at this moment with an armful of wood.
"Let me put it in," cried Hartley, springing up. "Excuse me. My name is Hartley, book agent: Blaine's Twenty Years, plain cloth, sprinkled edges, three dollars;156 half calf, three fifty. This is my friend Mr. Lohr, of Marion; German extraction, soph at the university."
The girl bowed and smiled, and pushed by him toward the door of the parlor. Hartley followed her in, and Bert could hear them rattling away at the stove.
"Won't you sit down and play for us?" asked Hartley, after they returned to the sitting-room. ”

“ To the Hexagon Club it was a most wonderful sight—those long lines of men moving with such perfect precision. Fresh from the Alamo as the girls were, with the story of that dreadful slaughter in their ears—to them it almost seemed that there before them marched the brave men who years ago had given up their lives so heroically in the little chapel.
It was Tilly who broke the silence.
"Oh, I do just love soldiers," she cried, with a hurried glance sideways to make sure that Mr. Hartley in the next carriage could not hear her. "Don't you, Genevieve?" But Genevieve was too absorbed to answer. ”

“ I stammered. “I—I do not understand!”
“When you leave this house, sir,” she said in the same low tone, “what do you intend to do?”
“I shall cross to France, madam,” I answered, “and from thence to Flanders! There is always work there for a good sword—there is always fortune to be won there—or a nameless grave!” With a quick movement she rose to her feet.
“You go to France,” she said in a voice that thrilled me—“to France, whither my brother has already gone! Ah, Mr. Cassilis, will you not take me too?” ”

“ I dodged a crowd of them round the corner there for the sake of telling you first;” wherefrom it was easy to discover that Mr. Hartley had a somewhat partial regard for his earnest little listener. It was a decidedly partial regard, for that matter, and with reason. Had any other child friend along his route, no matter how friendly, questioned him day after day as to how he was getting on with his training for the race? ”

“ Hartley put his hand out in dismay.
"Really, Heath, your attitude is quite absurd. I have already told one man to-day that he was going mad; are you dreaming, man? I only want you to help me, and you talk as if I had accused you of something. There is nothing criminal in being seen in Paradise Street after sundown."
Mr. Heath stood holding by the back of his chair, looking over Hartley's head, his dark eyes burning and his face set.
"Come, then," said the police officer abruptly, "who did you see? Did you, for instance, see the Christian boy, Absalom, Mhtoon Pah's assistant?" ”

“ Shedding plenteous tears, he exclaimed, “My daughter! my daughter! she will never survive the shame of being uncovered before the eyes of strangers. O your highness! O dispenser of justice! spare me and my house this terrible disgrace.”
The Hartleys felt pity for the humbled chief. Harold stepped forward, and addressing the commissioner said: “Might it not be sufficient, sir, for my wife to see and identify this lady?”
“Let Mrs. Hartley ascertain that the person in court, who from her feebleness appears to be of great age, is really identical with the young widow in question,” said Mr. Thole. ”

“ Do you provide any verses on this occasion? Your fear for Hartley's intellectuals is just and rational. Could not the Chancellor be petitioned to remove him? His lordship took Mr. Betty from under the paternal wing. I think at least he should go through a course of matter-of-fact with some sober man after the mysteries. Could not he spend a week at Poole's before he goes back to Oxford? Tobin is dead. But there is a man in my office, a Mr. Hedges, who proses it away from morning to night, and never gets beyond corporal and material verities. ”

“ Droll to see Hartley's little girl sit in her Grandmother's Chair beside her Crutch, where her Grandmother hobbling in did find her, and to think that she too will be such another old Woman, one of these Days, if she live. Some of the bigger Boys public School Boys, mighty grand, and a few wearing Spectacles like young Owls. Mrs. Hartley's Brother, Mr. St. Leger, dress himself like a Conjuror, in a conjuring Cap with magick Characters on it, and conjure with Cards, and Oranges, and little Images, and Dolls, mighty clever, and I do mean to get him if I can to teach me. ”

“ I had seen many women more beautiful. “Do I address the Lady Lettice Ingram?” I said, doffing my hat.
“She is my sister,” she replied slowly. Her eyes were still dark with fear. In a moment I was minded of the steward’s words. I told myself that this was the Mistress Grace that he had mentioned.
“Madam,” I made haste to answer, “I beg that you will not be alarmed at this intrusion, which the exigencies of my errand alone warranted. My business is with this gentleman,” I continued, indicating the Frenchman, who stood, one white hand laid upon the hilt of his rapier. ”

“ Would you have me believe that the country is any the more anxious to receive James back than it was, two years ago, to be quit of him?”
“I am afraid that I do not understand you, sir!” my lady answered. “You have heard what has already been said!”
“Granted,” he replied quickly. “And now hear what I have to say, madam. Is it right for us to risk our—” he coughed slightly—“to risk the lives of these poor peasants in a premature and ill-organized rising? The sin of doing so is a matter to be considered, madam. We should unite the—hum!—guile of the serpent——”
“With the courage of the hare!” ”

“ The conversation then took another turn. "If I can in the least, judge of character by face, I think that there is one of our fellow-passengers whom we shall like," observed Harold, glancing in the direction of a lady, past middle age, who—clad in deep mourning—was sitting on the other side of the deck, engaged in reading.
"What a beautiful chastened expression is hers!" exclaimed Robin. "That is a face that can never grow old; it has the stamp of heaven's loveliness on it. Do you know who the lady is?"
"One of our people," replied Harold Hartley. ”

“ I answered quickly. “There is a chance yet—it is a desperate one! Your part, madam, must be to hinder these men as long as possible. Use your woman’s wit. Bid them search the house. Delay them but ten minutes, and all may yet be well.”
“But my sister?” she faltered, casting a lingering glance at my lady’s unconscious figure.
“You must act for her,” I said rapidly. “There is no time to lose. Listen!”
I raised my hand to enjoin silence. Far away down the avenue came the trampling of horse. “They are coming! Now, madam, will you trust me?” ”

“ For a moment he remained still and silent, then he rose slowly to his feet.
“There are some men,” he said quietly, “who would demand their own price for granting your request. I will not take the hand without the heart.” He paused and cast a long look upon my lady. “Give me the paper that you hold in your hand, madam,” he added abruptly.
Without a word she laid the fatal order upon the table before him, and taking it up, he tore it across and across and flung the pieces from him. Then raising his voice: “Colonel Zulestein!” The Dutch officer appeared upon the threshold. ”

“ Now Lady O'More wants to have her Shelah with her—such a fond mother, you know; and she could not trust the darling to anyone but me, so I consented, as guardian, you understand, to my dear friend's child, to take her under my care as far as Bombay."
The Hartleys did not inquire whether the friendship, now first heard of by them, was a mere formal correspondence concerning what was really a simple matter of business, Miss Petty, for a consideration, undertaking to play the nurse to a baronet's child. ”

“ The child, desolate and helpless in a land of strangers, where the name of Christian was scarcely known, had no one to whom to look for kindness and protection but Harold. He had regarded her as unlovely and unloveable; Shelah, in her merrier days, had excited no sympathy in his mind; but Christian pity now touched a chord, and that chord wakened something like music in young Hartley's desolate spirit. As he marched on painfully in the heat, keeping as near as he could to the camel on which poor Shelah was perched, Harold thought much of the future fate of the young Irish girl. ”

“ The steward waited until he had recovered his breath, then:
“There be some at the house yonder who think ’tis Mistress Grace he would be wedding,” he said slowly, but the old man only shook his head.
“It’s not my lady,” he answered doggedly. “I’ll take my oath of that! No, nor Mistress Grace either.”
“Then why is he here?” cried the steward eagerly. “Tell me that!” The other raised his head with a cunning look on his wrinkled face.
“I have heard it said that James Stuart is in Ireland,” he said slowly.
“Bah!” the man in the cloak answered. “Every one knows that!” ”

“ Cassilis?” she replied graciously. “Are we not friends?”
I bowed low to conceal the exultation her words caused me, and then, taking my hat and cloak, I advanced to the table for my pistols. On a sudden I was startled by a low cry of pain from behind me. I turned swiftly at the sound. My lady had stumbled upon the lowest step and had fallen forward upon her hands. She recovered her feet almost immediately, but only to lean with half-closed eyes against the carved oak balustrade.
“Are you ill, madam?” I cried anxiously, crossing quickly to her side.
“No, no, it is nothing, sir,” she gasped. ”

“ The younger is little more than a lad, numbering, perhaps, sixteen or seventeen summers, with broad shoulders, a form made more for activity than grace, a sunburnt face, and a rough head of hair under his wide-awake; his locks are brown in colour with a little dash of auburn red, which also tints the thick eyebrows which overhang bright intelligent eyes.
"So, Robin, we are fairly started for India!" said Harold, laying his hand on his brother's arm. "We have the meeting with our father to look forward to now; all the partings are over." ”

“ Travellers used to look after him on the road, and guides and drivers were always willing to tell about him; and still his old friends almost expect to see Hartley at any turn,—the little figure, with the round face, marked by the blackest eyebrows and eyelashes, and by a smile and expression of great eccentricity. ”