Stroud

“ At Stroud Lady Paul’s pony-carriage was waiting, and we drove swiftly through some deep valleys, the old coachman, twenty-five years in the family, telling me how he had seen and nursed me when a baby, and how glad he was that I was come to see my grandfather We turned up by a house which he said was my ‘Aunt Jane’s,’ [9] through a steep lane overhung by magnificent beech-trees, and then round a drive to this hill-set mansion, which has a fine view over wood and valley on one side, and on the other a garden with conservatories and fountains. ”

“ Forsyth never appeared at all. I was not surprised when Nelly came to me the last thing at night, as she was so fond of doing, and announced,—
'Well, it is all settled. Constance and Mr. Stroud are engaged, and I wish her joy of him. Mother is pleased, because he has a nice little property; but I wouldn't have him for all the properties in creation. He is a regular stick, and hasn't a spark of fun in him. I only hope he won't stay on here after next week. Both he and Captain Gates said they must go when the Walkers' theatricals are over.'
'Is Constance very happy about it?' I asked. ”

“ He said we had better have three boats; but I wonder how we are going to pair off. I am not always going to be coupled with Kenneth, he and I are sure to fight. And I know Captain Gates will have you with him if he can manage it; he follows you about everywhere. Constance and Mr. Stroud are inseparable, and no one takes any notice of me!'
'Oh, Nelly, how you run on!' I exclaimed, half laughing, half vexed. 'I dare say I shall not go with you.'
'But you must; it will be great fun. Well, good night; I must be going.'
CHAPTER V OPPORTUNITIES 'Draw through all failure to the perfect flower ”

“ When we came up to the house we found that afternoon tea was going on under the old elms on the lawn. Mrs. Forsyth was in a low wicker-chair with her work, Constance was pouring out tea, and Nelly was swinging lazily in a hammock, whilst Captain Gates and Mr. Stroud were making themselves generally agreeable.
'Have you two been taking a walk together?' asked Nelly as we approached. 'I have been hunting for you everywhere, Hilda. Lady Walker has been calling, and wanted to see you ”

“ I tell you the prairie's hard on a woman—hard."
"'For better or worse,' you know," Strode reminded him.
"Oh, it's all right for us to talk that way," objected the other. "We've got our work. It's queer the grip it gets on us, too. We begin to think we're really doing something. It's all I know—how to work, and what's it done but lose me all I was working for?"
"Me?" The man leant back in the chair with his legs asprawl and a bitter smile on his lips. "I've got a few bottles up at the shack. ”

“ Since then the two had sweated side by side, and Strode had come to think that he knew his man. How far he was out in his calculations had been demonstrated by a flask on a trellis bridge. By such narrow margins may a man betray his soul.
The next day was the same as any other. At daylight, and in answer to the mill whistle, that pierced the silence of the mountains like a knife, Grouch rolled from his bunk, added a few clothes to those he seemed never to discard, and went out to groom his team. ”

“ A minute must have passed, and a minute was a long time, a deuced long time. It could not be good. He must put his foot down... Strode dropped to his knees at the edge of the pool and found himself watching a minute fish, striped like a zebra, that darted out from a coral cranny, and hovered like a marine butterfly in the translucent water. A squid trailed by.... But this was preposterous! A prank? How could that be? Stella was down there somewhere—somehow.... A thought leapt to Strode's mind that caused his unruly heart to stand still. ”

“ I stood by, at a loss, like a stranger in a land where the reactions of man to familiar things are all different from those he has known. Stroeve tried to talk to me about the picture, but he was incoherent, and I had to guess at what he meant. Strickland had burst the bonds that hitherto had held him. He had found, not himself, as the phrase goes, but a new soul with unsuspected powers. ”

“ Stroeve gave a little gasp. He wiped his face. He turned to me for support, but I did not know what to say.
"He's a great artist."
"What do I care? I hate him."
"Oh, my love, my precious, you don't mean that. I beseech you to let me bring him here. We can make him comfortable. Perhaps we can save him. He shall be no trouble to you. I will do everything. We'll make him up a bed in the studio. We can't let him die like a dog. It would be inhuman." ”

“ Lord Clare was charmed, and hurried to Strogue with the good news. My lady was a riddle, whose behaviour was always different from what might be expected. He knew that Terence's danger had placed her on a gridiron where she was consuming slowly, and naturally concluded that her joy at his reprieve would culminate when she was told that she might keep him near her for a while. This extraordinary young man, for whom a servant would sacrifice his life, must needs be tenderly beloved by the mother to whom he owed his birth. If she was in raptures she had a queer method of displaying her feelings. ”

“ The fairy islet of Glas-aitch-é seemed defended from outer evil by a spell, which gave the sleeping knights in the sea-caves no cause for waking. The seals rolled over on the blue-green waves as though the world were not full of sorrow; the eagles soared high up in ether, dazzled by the glory of the sun. As month followed month my lady saw that her pet project was brought no nearer to realisation than in the old days of Strogue; that it was further off, indeed; for Shane had grown as coldly indifferent to his cousin as she was to him. ”

“ Stroeve accompanied me unwillingly. His own plan was to run up and down the streets that led out of the Avenue de Clichy and ask at every house if Strickland lived there. My commonplace scheme was, after all, effective, for in the second shop we asked at the woman behind the counter acknowledged that she knew him. She was not certain where he lived, but it was in one of the three houses opposite. Luck favoured us, and in the first we tried the concierge told us that we should find him on the top floor.
"It appears that he's ill," said Stroeve. ”

“ And the one who's never done anything, and never will do anything if he can help it. Oh, I tell you, we get all sorts in here."
"I expect you do," said Strode, "but I don't seem to recognise myself yet."
"No," agreed the agent, "that's why I'm taking the trouble to talk to you."
Strode was encouraged into turning back from the door.
"Mind, I'm not raising any false hopes," warned the other, with a dolorous eye fastened on his victim like a poultice, "but if you're willing to do anything until you can do something, there's a mixed farmer out Lakeville, Ontario way, wanting a choreboy." ”

“ The false emphasis with which they try to deck their worthless thoughts blunts their susceptibilities. Like the charlatan who counterfeits a spiritual force he has sometimes felt, they lose the power they have abused. But Stroeve, the unconquerable buffoon, had a love and an understanding of beauty which were as honest and sincere as was his own sincere and honest soul. It meant to him what God means to the believer, and when he saw it he was afraid.
"What did you say to Strickland when you saw him?" ”

“ Strickland did not come, but presently we saw the French painter who occasionally played chess with him. I had formed a casual acquaintance with him, and he sat down at our table. Stroeve asked him if he had seen Strickland.
"He's ill," he said. "Didn't you know?"
"Seriously?"
"Very, I understand."
Stroeve's face grew white.
"Why didn't he write and tell me? How stupid of me to quarrel with him. We must go to him at once. He can have no one to look after him. Where does he live?" ”

“ Strode, with dancing eyes. "What have we to do with time?" She took Felisi's hand in hers. "Perhaps you didn't know you had married a mermaid. Behold, oh, Caliban, we are about to show off!"
The two figures slid beneath the water as silently as seals. The ripples expanded in ever-widening circles, and were still.
At the end of perhaps half a minute, which to Strode seemed more like half an hour, he went to the edge of the pool and looked down. There was nothing—nothing but a pale green abyss fringed with swaying weed. Stella had always been fearless where water was concerned, he remembered. ”

“ Dublin sank into stupor when the news leaked out, for all classes respected the single-minded young martyr of Irish liberty. Curran was the first to arrive at Strogue with the sad intelligence--his eyes red, his face worn. Doreen turned her head away, too sorrowful for tears. My lady sat in a trance as though she heard nothing, for the temporary energy which had brought her to town had waned; the ghost at her elbow fanned her with his pinions, mesmerised her free-will. As for Sara, she gave way to hysterical weeping. Sara was domesticated now at Strogue. ”

“ Strogue Abbey from within, was no more pleasant to its owner than from without. Doreen's serenity, which for years had made Shane uncomfortable, assumed now a preternatural repulsion. Odours as of gravecloths seemed to emanate from her garments. The phosphorescence of the charnel-house was a nimbus to her head. Her brow was circled by the calm that appertains not to mundane matters; which chills the creeping souls of those who cling to earth. Instead of being shocked that Theobald should have evaded the offices of the scrag-boy, she was content. ”

“ Strode looked up with a slightly puzzled expression. "Oh, it's not that," he said. "The Islands suit me all right, but I don't seem to suit them."
"Drink?" queried Bowman, his smile broadening to, cover the blatancy of the question.
Strode shook his head. "No," he said, "that doesn't worry me."
"Mat fever?" (Indolence.)
"No, I don't think I've ever been accused of that."
"Then what the mischief's the matter with the Islands?"
"They don't let a man work," said Strode.
Bowman was surprised into letting his tea get cold. ”

“ You start with your poor wits already ingrained and case-hardened with the grease and suet of self-conceit, and nothing ever sticks to you."
[Pg 461]
Nickols, and Cator, and I, in the corner, with unanimous surprise: "Captain Strogue is the humblest of mankind, and therefore the most omniscient!"
Strogue. "It is true, my friends; a great home-truth, and you shall gather the fruits of it. I have penetrated this lady's scheme, and deeply regret that so fine a woman, one of the handsomest I have ever seen, should not behave with equal beauty. ”

“ Stroeve liked his ease, and in his studio were a couple of heavily upholstered arm-chairs and a large divan. Strickland would not go near them, not from any affectation of stoicism, for I found him seated on a three-legged stool when I went into the studio one day and he was alone, but because he did not like them. For choice he sat on a kitchen chair without arms. It often exasperated me to see him. I never knew a man so entirely indifferent to his surroundings. ”

“ The fascinating idea took possession of the worthy woman; yet shrank she not from that to which she considered herself bound by oath. She would have kicked over with her own fat foot, if need were, the palace she had built, and have thought no more of Norah as mistress of Strogue Abbey and the possible intimate friend of a lady-lieutenant; but she was none the less charmed to find that duty and delight were not incompatible, that Lord Clare was decided in his opinion that Shane must still wear the coronet. ”

“ It was a terrible mistake. I should never have come." She gave a hard little laugh. "Four years is too long. A woman changes, and men's memories are short. I began to think of these things some time ago, and on the boat——"
"On the boat," Strode continued glibly, "the idea took such a hold that you decided to prove it one way or the other by letting Tatham recognise you first. If he did, well and good. If not——"
"You seem to know a great deal," murmured the girl.
"You see, I've been with Tatham nearly a month," said Strode, "and that was his idea, too." ”

“ A crackle of burning wood gave the answer; the light increased and spread. The danger now was critical.
“We can’t stand this,” I said. “The old place will burn like matchwood. We must make a rush for it.”
Strode muttered something between his teeth—a not very flattering comment on Count Furello and his methods.
“If we hadn’t to think of her,” he said, jerking his head towards the room with the closed door, “we could sally out and meet these beasts, taking our chance. But with her we can’t. Stay here, while I go and see what I can do. Nonsense! I’m the man to take the risk, not you.” ”

“ An hour later Strode was pacing the deck with ill-concealed impatience. He was not used to being baulked of anything, and in the present instance he was aware of an inordinate and unaccountable desire to set eyes on his wife.
Afternoon tea, served by the implacable Parks, proved a dreary affair, and by five o'clock impatience had given way to a senseless but none the less acute anxiety. He might go and meet her. It would be a pleasant surprise. He called for the sailing dinghy, and set out for the reef. After all, it was only about half a mile long, and Stella must be somewhere on it. ”

“ Both he and I were depressed at the thought of the parting, and I am sure our minds were full of darker forebodings than we cared to acknowledge; but Strode’s dry humour and happy-go-lucky temperament kept up our spirits; carelessness of self is infectious, as every soldier knows.
We reached the spot where the Eilwagen was to pass, and after some twenty minutes’ waiting it lumbered into sight. Thereupon we bade Von Lindheim God-speed and left him, thinking it just as well that he should appear alone. ”