Parslewe

“ There was considerable satisfaction in travelling with Parslewe, for he reduced the whole thing to the perfection of comfort. He had already booked three places and a table in the first-class dining-car, armed himself with a heap of magazines and newspapers, and, as he said, we had nothing to do but drop on our padded seats, put our toes under the table, and go away in luxurious idleness. We went—but when that train moved out of Newcastle and started on its long journey southward, neither Madrasia nor myself bad the faintest idea as to where we were going. ”

“ I turned instinctively towards the coffee-room as we entered, already anticipating its pleasures more than my meeting with Parslewe. But our guide steered us away from it; he took us upstairs, along corridors, down passages, finally opened a door. And there was a private sitting-room, and a table laid for lunch, and on the hearth, warming his coat-tails at a blazing fire, his [136] saturnine countenance wearing a more cynical grin than ever, Parslewe.
He greeted us as coolly and unconcernedly as if we were in his own parlour at Kelpieshaw and had just come down to breakfast ”

“ Motioning to the coachman to follow him up the road, Parslewe walked on ahead with his companion, and presently turned into a wayside wood. Coming abreast of the bridle-gate by which they had entered, we saw them in conversation with a third man, also elderly, who was felling trees; for some minutes the three stood talking together.
“What is he after now?” asked Madrasia.
I shook my head—nothing was going to draw me into speculations about Parslewe’s proceedings.
“The best thing at the present juncture,” said I, as oracularly as possible, “is just to let things occur. ”

“ And I noticed that after a first glance at him, she gave Parslewe a steady, knowing inspection.
“Good morning to you, ma’am,” said Parslewe, with his best old-fashioned politeness. “I understand we may look round?”
The housekeeper explained. The state rooms, including those once used by Queen Elizabeth, and the bed in which her Majesty had slept, were open to inspection. Visitors paid a shilling each; the shillings were given to the local charities. So Parslewe paid three shillings, and we all inscribed our names in a book—Parslewe last. ”

“ Parslewe, [47] I’m sure,” replied Mr. Pawley. “I should value that, sir.”
Parslewe rose from his chair and left the room. I heard him climb the stair to his library on the next floor of the tower. Mr. Pawley looked at me. It was a peculiarly scrutinising, appraising glance—it gave me an idea that the man was wondering how much he could get out of me in the way of information.
“A very clever and learned gentleman, Mr. Parslewe,” he observed. “Uncommon!”
“I agree!” said I.
“Makes a man like me—just beginning to take an interest in these things, do you see—feel that he knows—ah, nothing!” ”

“ I remarked.
“Oh, well, one thinks of things, sir,” he answered. “Faces, now, sir, they stir your memory up, don’t you think? And I’ve seen some remarkable faces in my time—faces that you’d remember twenty years after. Some faces, of course, is that ordinary that you never notice ’em. But others——”
At that moment Parslewe put his face through the swing door behind us, and seeing the hall-porter on the steps came out. He had a letter in his hand. Coming to the hall-porter he waved the letter towards the west end of the Market Place. ”

“ Pawley. I had noticed his odd, shrewd, examining glances; he looked to me like a man who has an object, a mission; who is spying out the land; endeavouring to get at a discovery. That he had some purpose in view I was sure, but I said nothing to Parslewe and Madrasia. ”

“ Then she spoke.
“There’s one thing about Jimmie,” she remarked, reassuringly, “nobody will get the better of him! So let him work things out.”
I did not tell her that there was no question of choice on my part. We saw the play which Parslewe had commended so highly; we went back to the hotel; we had supper together; then Madrasia went off to her room. And it was then twenty minutes to twelve, and I sat out every one of them, waiting, watching the door, listening for a step in the corridor without. But Parslewe did not come. ”

“ Whether the mystery was going to be done with next day or not, its atmosphere was still thick upon us next morning. At ten o’clock, Parslewe, who invariably made all his arrangements without consulting anybody who was affected by them, marshalled us into a carriage and pair at the door of the Crown and gave some instructions, aside, to the coachman. We drove off into a singularly picturesque and well-wooded country. Madrasia, fresh from the almost treeless slopes of the Cheviots, was immediately in raptures with it. ”

“ Craye, I think he hid that will in the copper box, and that Mr. Parslewe now has it in his pocket!”
It seemed a probable suggestion, and I nodded my assent.
“I suppose we shall hear,” I said.
Pawley picked up his suit-case.
“I must go to my train,” he said. “Hear? Yes—and see, too, Mr. Craye! I think you’ll hear and see some queer things within this next day or two, if you’re remaining in Mr. Parslewe’s company. But, I’ll say this—Mr. Parslewe, though unmistakably a queer, a very queer, eccentric gentleman, is a straight ’un, and whatever he got from Bickerdale, it’s safe with him. ”

“ Parslewe wants.”
Weech sprang to his feet—an epitome of anger and chagrin.
“But us!” he vociferated. “Us—me and him! What are we going to get out of it? Where shall we profit?” He turned almost savagely on Bickerdale. “Don’t!” he went on. “Don’t you do it! Never mind those fellows over there! there’s no police business in this that I know of, and——”
“I’ll give you in charge of the police in two minutes, my lad!” said Parslewe suddenly. “Just to show you——”
“Mr. Bickerdale,” said Pawley. “Take my advice! I—I understand—from Mr. Parslewe—you’ll not be a loser.” ”

“ And I saw then what I had not been able to see the night before, that this place, Kelpieshaw, was absolutely isolated; as far as I could see, on any side, there was not even a shepherd’s hut or gamekeeper’s lodge in view.
“You love solitude, Mr. Parslewe,” I remarked as I looked about me. “This, surely, is solitude!”
“Aye, it is!” he agreed. “And it suits me. What’s more to the purpose, it suits my ward—up to now, anyway. When I brought her from India, where she was born, I looked about for a likely place in this district. ”

“ And as you’ve brought police here, I’d better say at once that——”
Parslewe suddenly rose from his chair. He held up his left hand—towards Pawley. There was something in the gesture that made Pawley break off short in his words and remain silent. As for Parslewe’s right hand, it went into his pocket and brought out his cigar case. ”

“ As I expected, there was not a light to be seen in any of the windows, not even in those of the upper part of the tower wherein Parslewe had his library. I felt very lonely when the car had driven off, leaving me in the solitude of the wind-swept courtyard. I knocked on the turret door several [71] times without getting any response, and knowing the thickness of the walls and doors as I did, I began to fear that no summons of mine would be heard, and that I should have to camp out in one of the buildings. But my knocking roused the dogs ”

“ After that I set out in quest of a firm whose name Parslewe had given me. Its manager had not got a canvas of the precise size I wanted, but he promised [54] to make me one by noon of the following day, and I accordingly decided to stay in Newcastle for the night, and, later, went to the hotel at the station to book a room. In the smoking-room there, writing letters, was the white-whiskered person. Pawley was not with him. Nor was Pawley with him when, after dinner that evening, he came into the smoking-room again and took a chair close by my own in a comfortable corner. ”

“ It was to Parsy, as she had always called her, and as she still called her, though never, now, in the presence of anyone else, not even in that of her children, that the Duchess had always gone with her troubles, her anxieties, and. what perhaps is the greatest test of love, her intimate joys.
Here in the castle, Mrs. Parsleet—for she had chosen to assume brevet rank when her young lady had done so—reigned as absolute sovereign over the great household. And as time went on, her power grew rather than diminished. ”

“ Instead she put her long thin arms round the Duchess.
"I've been thinking," she said, in a muffled tone, "a great deal of our little Lady Susie, and of that fine young gentleman of hers."
"So have I, Parsy. But what can I do? I told you yesterday what had been settled. The Duke feels sure that it won't do either of them any harm to wait a while if, that is, they truly care for one another."
"I don't believe much in waiting—not when one's young," said Mrs. Parsleet. "When a body's old 'tis easy-like to stand up to disappointment." ”

“ Then he did as the Fisher bade him, and leave would he courteous pray,35
But he quoth, 'I myself will thine host be, an thou fail not to find the way,
Be thy thanks then as is our tendance—As thou ridest around the hill
Have a care lest the wood mislead thee, such mischance would but please me ill.'
Then Parzival turned his bridle, and gaily he took his way,
Nor missed he the path till before him the moat of the castle lay; 40
And the drawbridge was raised, and the fortress it lacked not for strength I trow,
As a turner with skill had wrought them stood the turrets in goodly row. ”

“ At sight of Old Weaver, Parson took his churchyard dust and boldly threw it in the face of the vision, and afore you could cross your heart the shadow had turned into a gert black dog—so dark as night. The poor beast whimpered and yowled something cruel, but Parson was short and stern with it, well knowing you can't have half measures with spirits, no more than you can with living men if you will to conquer 'em. ”

“ He challenged Parzival, and, vanquished like his seneschal, was likewise sent to Arthur's Court.
Love was strong between Queen Condwiramurs and Parzival her husband. One morning Parzival spoke to her in the presence of their people: "Lady, please you, with your permission, I would see how my mother fares and seek adventures. If thus I serve and honour you, your love is ample guerdon."
From his wife and from all those who called him Lord, Parzival rode forth alone. He has to learn what pain and sorrow are; the first teaching came now, as longing for his wife filled his heart with grief. ”

“ Now these journeys of the Parson to take the air set Father Myles Macdonnell upon a pretty plan, which he imparted to Rose and to George.
'You drive one afternoon up into Highgate Woods—d'ye follow that? I have half-a-dozen well-disposed persons hiding in a clump of trees who will take care of your warder—d'ye see? There will be a stout horse tethered to a branch close by, and a lugger waiting off the coast of Essex—'but the Parson would hear no more of the scheme. ”

“ Parzival, the hero and title of a metrical romance, by Wolfram v. Eschenbach. Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother, in solitude, but when grown to manhood, two wandering knights persuaded him to go to the court of King Arthur. His mother, hoping to deter him, consented to his going if he would wear the dress of a common jester. This he did, but soon achieved such noble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy Graal, which was kept in a magnificent castle called Graalburg, in Spain, built by the royal priest Titurel. ”

“ Book IX. In the opening the spirit of adventure craves admission to the heart of the poet, who would fain learn from her tidings of Parzival. The venture telleth how the hero had ridden long in doubt and despair, and knew not the days of his wanderings. How he met again with Siguné and came to the forest of Monsalväsch, where he fought with a Knight of the Grail. How, on Good Friday, Parzival met with a pilgrim knight who reproached him for bearing arms at that Holy Tide, and bade him seek the hermit Trevrezent. ”

“ As a rule parsley in London is terribly over-worked. In the refreshment-room at a London terminus late at night I have seen a barmaid collect the sprigs of wilted parsley from the tired sandwiches and sad hard eggs, and put it all in a teacup with a little water. It was heart-breaking to think that that parsley would have to go to work again the next day. But also it presented the barmaid in a new light. It was so foreign to her abnormal stateliness and her unnatural gaiety. It tempted one to believe that after all she was human. ”

“ A sonnet of Wordsworth is a difficult thing to illustrate, but Mr. Parsons’ ripe taste has shown him the way. Then there are lovely morsels from his hand associated with the drawings of his friend Mr. Abbey—head-pieces, tailpieces, vignettes, charming combinations of flower and foliage, decorative clusters of all sorts of pleasant rural emblems. If he has an inexhaustible feeling for the country in general, his love of the myriad English flowers is perhaps the fondest part of it. ”

“ Had failed not to wreak stern vengeance for the ill that Kay wrought that day;465
Then her brother and fair Jeschuté she led by the hand straightway,
And Parzival looked upon them as the three to his tent drew near,
And his face, thro' the rust of his armour, it shone ever fair and clear,
As roses dew-dipped had flown there: his harness aside he laid,
And he stood before Kunnewaaré, and thus spake the gentle maid: 470
'To God shalt thou first be welcome, as welcome thou art to me,
Since thy manhood thou well hast proven, and the faith that I had in thee! ”