Mr. Wilding

“ Wilding besought the Duke. “As I have said, these hinds have nothing to lose but their lives.”
“Faith, can a man lose more?” asked Grey contemptuously. He disliked Wilding by instinct, which was but a reciprocation of the feeling with which Wilding was inspired by him.
“I think he can,” said Mr. Wilding quietly. “A man may lose honour, he may plunge his family into ruin. These are things of more weight with a gentleman than life.”
“Odds death!” blazed Grey, giving a free rein to his dislike of this calm gentleman. “Do you suggest that a man's honour is imperilled in His Grace's service?” ”

“ As for Sir Rowland, he looked into the old rake's eyes agleam with wicked mirth, and rage welled up to choke him. He must kill this man.
“Come,” said he. “I'll see to your fine friend Wilding afterwards.”
“Excellent,” said Trenchard, and led the way through the shrubbery to the orchard.
Ruth, reviving, looked up. Her glance met Mr. Wilding's; it quickened into understanding, and she stirred. “Is it true? Is it really true?” she cried. “I am being tortured by this dream again!”
“Nay, sweet, it is true; it is true. I am here. Say, shall I stay?” ”

“ Wilding sighed. “It's little matter, perhaps, as the place is no longer mine.
“No... no longer yours, sir?”
“I'm an attainted outlaw, Walters,” he explained. “They'll bestow it on some Popish time-server, unless King Monmouth can follow up by greater victories to-night's. Have you aught a man may eat or drink?”
Meat and wine, fresh linen and fresh garments did old Walters find him; and when he had washed, eaten, and drunk, Mr. Wilding wrapped himself in a dressing-gown and laid himself down to sleep on a settle in the library, his servant and his dog on guard. ”

“ Wilding had chosen that better part of valour which discretion is alleged to be.
It needed Diana, who, blinded by no sisterly affection, saw him exactly as he was, and despised him accordingly, to enlighten him. It may also be that in doing so at once she had ends of her own to serve; for Sir Rowland was still of the company.
“Mr. Wilding afraid?” she cried, her voice so charged with derision that it inclined to shrillness. “La! Richard, Mr. Wilding was never afraid of any man.”
“Faith!” said Rowland, although his acquaintance with Mr. Wilding was slight and recent. ”

“ He rose abruptly, interrupting her. “I'll go to Wilding now,” he cried, his voice resolute. “He shall cancel this bargain he had no right to make. He shall take up his quarrel with me where it stood before you went to him.”
“No, no, Richard, you must not!” she urged him, frightened, rising too, and clinging to his arm.
“I will,” he answered. “At the worst he can but kill me. But at least you shall not be sacrificed.”
“Sit here, Richard,” she bade him. “There is something you have not considered. If you die, if Mr. Wilding kills you...” ”

“ Wilding reminded him; “and if the militia deserts him for Your Grace, in what case will Albemarle find himself?”
“And if the militia does not desert? If you should be proven wrong, sir? What then? What then?” asked Grey.
“Aye—true—what then, Mr. Wilding?” quoth the Duke, already wavering.
Wilding considered a moment, all eyes upon him. “Even then,” said he presently, “I do maintain that in this dash for Exeter lies Your Grace's greatest chance of success. We can deliver battle if need be. Already we are three thousand strong...” ”

“ Do you think that I am the man to do things by halves? I have betrayed the plot to Albemarle; but do you imagine I have made no provision for what must follow?”
“Provision?” echoed Wilding, staring.
“Aye, provision. God lack! What do you suppose Albemarle will do?”
“Dispatch a messenger to Whitehall with the letter within an hour.”
“You perceive it, do you? And where the plague do you think Nick Trenchard'll be what time that messenger rides?”
Mr. Wilding understood. “Aye, you may stare,” sneered Trenchard. “A letter that has once been stolen may be stolen again. ”

“ Ruth continued.
“Yes, and Mr. Newlington, and all the other knaves that are engaged in this murderous business. Well?” she demanded. “Will you do it, or must I?”
“Do it?” Ruth's eyes sought her cousin's white, excited face in the quasi-darkness. “But have you thought of what it will mean? Have you thought of the poor people that will perish unless the Duke is taken and this rebellion brought to an end?”
“Thought of it?” repeated Diana witheringly. “Not I. I have thought that Mr. Wilding is here and like to have his throat cut before an hour is past.” ”

“ Diana watched him in some surprise, and never doubted but that his offer was impulsive, and that he would regret it when his ardour had had time to cool.
“It were idle,” said Ruth at last—not that she quite believed it, but that it was all-important to her that Richard should not be imperilled. “Mr. Wilding will prefer the bargain he has made.”
“No doubt,” growled Blake, “but he shall be forced to unmake it.” He advanced and bowed low before her. “Madam,” said he, “will you grant me leave to champion your cause and remove this troublesome Mr. Wilding from your path?” ”

“ You'll betray yourself,” she cried. “He is here.”
And at that same moment Mr. Wilding's tall figure, still arrayed in his bridegroom's finery of sky-blue satin, loomed in the doorway. He was serene and calm as ever. Neither the discovery of the plot by the abstraction of the messenger's letter, nor Ruth's strange conduct—of which he had heard from Lord Gervase—had sufficed to ruffle, outwardly at least, the inscrutable serenity of his air and manner. He paused to make his bow, then advanced into the room, with a passing glance at Richard still spurred and booted and all dust-stained. ”

“ They followed him, it appears, and on the road they overtook and fell upon him; they knocked him from his horse, possessed themselves of the contents of his wallet, and left him for dead—with his head broken.”
Mr. Wilding drew a sharp breath. His wits worked quickly. He was, he realized, in deadly peril. One thought he gave to Ruth. If the worst came to pass here was one who would rejoice in her freedom. The reflection cut through him like a sword. He would be loath to die until he had taught her to regret him. Then his mind returned to what Trenchard had told him. ”

“ Just indignation stirred her, and, when stirred, she knew no pity, set no limits to her speech.
“I think, indeed,” said she, her voice crisp and merciless, “that the family honour will best be saved if Mr. Wilding kills you. It is in danger while you live. You are a coward, Richard.”
“Diana!” he thundered—he could be mighty brave with women—whilst Ruth clutched her arm to restrain her.
But she continued, undeterred: “You are a coward—a pitiful coward,” she told him. “Consult your mirror. It will tell you what a palsied thing you are. That you should dare so speak to Ruth...” ”

“ Thus he remained until he and his half-sister were alone together, then he flung himself wearily into the seat beside her, and took her hand.
“Ruth,” he faltered, “Ruth!”
She stroked his hand, her honest, intelligent eyes bent upon him in a look of pity—and to indulge this pity for him, she forgot how much herself she needed pity.
“Take it not so to heart,” she urged him, her voice low and crooning —as that of a mother to her babe. “Take it not so to heart, Richard. I should have married some day, and, after all, it may well be that Mr. Wilding will make me as good a husband as another. ”

“ Wilding should be sent away from the army.
“Else there'll be trouble 'twixt him and Grey,” the plotting parson foretold. “We'll be having a repetition of the unfortunate Fletcher and Dare affair, and I think that has cost Your Grace enough already.”
“Do you suggest that I dismiss Wilding?” cried the Duke. “You know his influence, and the bad impression his removal would leave.”
Ferguson stroked his long lean jaw. “No, no,” said he; “all I suggest is that you find Mr. Wilding work to do elsewhere.” ”

“ Wilding reviewed that night the scene so lately enacted, in which one had taken an active part, the other been little more than a spectator. Trenchard had come from the Duke's presence entirely out of conceit with Monmouth and his cause, contemptuous of Ferguson, angry with Grey, and indifferent towards Fletcher.
“I am committed, and I'll not draw back,” said he; “but I tell you, Anthony, my heart is not confederate with my hand in this. Bah!” he railed. “We serve a man of straw, a Perkin, a very pope of a fellow.”
Mr. Wilding sighed. “He's scarce the man for such an undertaking,” said he. ”

“ Wilding coldly, advancing to the table as he spoke, and taking up a napkin to wipe his blade, “than the reward of an unworthy servant.”
Monmouth felt his sudden enthusiasm chilled by that tone and manner.
“Mr. Newlington,” said Mr. Wilding, after the briefest of pauses, and the fat, sinful merchant started forward in alarm. ”

“ Wilding called after him. “Walters, you rascal, light Sir Rowland to the door.”
Poor Blake went home deeply vexed; but it was no more than the beginning of his humiliation at Mr. Wilding's hands—for what can be more humiliating to a quarrel—seeking man than to have his enemy refuse to treat him seriously? He and Mr. Wilding met next morning, and before noon the tale of it had run through Bridgwater that Wild Wilding was at his tricks again. ”

“ She sat her horse and answered nothing, which threw her cousin out of all patience with her. “Come, Jerry,” Diana called to the groom. “We will walk our horses up the hill.”
“You are very good, madam,” said Mr. Wilding, and he bowed to the withers of his roan.
Ruth said nothing; expressed neither approval nor disapproval of Diana's withdrawal, and the latter, with a word of greeting to Wilding, went ahead followed by Jerry, who had regained control by now of the beast he bestrode. ”

“ There will be no second coming for you. Your influence will have been dissipated. Men will not trust you another time. I do not think that even Mr. Wilding can deny the truth of this.”
“I am by no means sure,” said Wilding, and Fletcher looked at him with eyes that were full of understanding. This sturdy Scot, the only soldier worthy of the name in the Duke's following, who, ever since the project had first been mooted, had held out against it, counselling delay, was in sympathy with Mr. Wilding.
Monmouth rose, his face anxious, his voice fretful. ”

“ He thrust forward his chin and took great greedy breaths in a very gluttony of air—and never came Muscadine sweeter to a drunkard's lips. He laughed softly to himself. He was alone and safe. Wentworth and his men had disappeared. Away in the direction of Penzoy Pound the sounds of battle swelled ever to a greater volume. Cannons were booming now, and all was uproar—flame and shouting, cheering and shrieking, the thunder of hastening multitudes, the clash of steel, the pounding of horses, all blent to make up the horrid din of carnage.
Mr. Wilding listened, and considered what to do. ”

“ Thus musing, and puzzling over whether he had done the right thing, William continued to help unload the truck, keeping a sharp lookout for Mr. Wilding or the three chums.
The three boys arrived first. They came down the street in a hurry looking for the place William had described to the hotel clerk over the telephone.
“There he is!” cried Bart, as he caught sight of the boy they had pulled from the snow drift. “Where’s Ned?” he added. ”

“ There is news that Albemarle has gone to Exeter, and that Sir Edward Phelips and Colonel Luttrell have been ordered to Taunton by the King.”
Mr. Wilding stared at him with sudden dismay.
“Odso!” he exclaimed. “Is King James taking fright at last?” Then he shrugged his shoulders and laughed; “Pshaw!” he cried. “They are starting at a shadow.”
“Heaven send,” prayed Trenchard, “that the shadow does not prove to have a substance immediately behind it.”
“Folly!” said Wilding. “When Monmouth comes, indeed, we shall not lack forewarning. Come,” he added briskly. ”

“ Ruth reminded her, with a faint show of heat.
Diana shrugged her shoulders. “You may not love him, but you can't ordain that he shall not love you. You are very harsh, I think. To me it rather seems that Richard acted like a boor.”
“But, mistress,” cried Sir Rowland, half out of countenance, and stifling his vexation, “in these matters it all depends upon the manner.”
“Why, yes,” she agreed; “and whatever Mr. Wilding's manner, if I know him at all, it would be nothing but respectful to the last degree.” ”

“ Something about the lad attracted William's attention.
"I wonder if that's Ned?" he said to himself. "He looks just like the boys told me he would and like that photograph Mr. Wilding had. Still I wouldn't like to make a mistake. I must get closer."
He pretended to be searching for a number on the building, and so approached near to the boy helping unload the crates.
"I'll bet it is Ned," William said to himself with conviction. "I'm going to ask him. He can't any more than say no." ”

“ Wilding eagerly after explaining he had obtained the address of the chums from the police sergeant who offered to telephone to them.
"Just a little," replied Fenn and he told of the finding of Ned's valise. Then all went over the situation, but the prospect seemed no brighter than ever.
"I'll tell you what we ought to do," declared William.
"What?" asked Mr. Wilding anxiously.
"We ought to make a regular search of all the lodging houses and other places. I've slept in lots of 'em. ”