Stonechat

“ Stonehouse's judgment was sound. Now he is injured, and blind; and our little Pearl loves him. If indeed he be the man we believe he is, then we may be able to do something which all his millions cannot buy. He will come to us, and be as a son to us, and a brother to Pearl. We will be his eyes; and nothing but love and patience will guide his footsteps!' She paused, her mouth quivering; then she went on:
'If it is not our Mr. Robinson, then it will be our pleasure to do all that is necessary for his comfort. If he is a poor man he will never want ... ”

“ It must have seemed to her, so Stonehouse reflected as he followed the shrivelled old woman down a passage dim and gorgeous with an expensive and impossible Orientalism, a natural sequel to his enmity. Men did not hate her—or they did so at their peril. ”

“ We’ll be gone two days and a night. And I tell you what it is, boys, it will be more than glorious! We’re going down after a big steamer, that’s broken her propeller-blades and has to be towed up to the city. I came up to tell you fellows, and see what my people said about it. But I know they’ll agree, and I don’t want you to let your folks put in any objections. It’ll be just as safe as staying at home, and there’s entirely too much fun in it for any of us to miss it.”
Neither Phil nor Phœnix hesitated for an instant in agreeing that Chap’s idea was a splendid one. ”

“ Stonebridge as a man still on the right side of sixty, who certainly bore traces on his prematurely wrinkled face and in his tired, lustreless eyes of a life spent in dissipation rather than in work, but otherwise he bore himself well, was well-dressed and appeared plentifully supplied with money. ”

“ As The Rolling Stone was pushed off, Mary Brown stood upon the beach and watched the departing boat.
“Don’t you forget the letter,” she called after Chap.
“No, indeed!” shouted Chap, heartily. “You needn’t be afraid of that.”
“Goin’ to write to her?” asked Adam, with a grin.
“No, I’m not,” said Chap, his face flushing a little, “but my sister Helen is. It’ll be a piece of out-and-out charity. That poor girl never got a letter in her life.”
“How are you going to send it?” asked Phœnix. “Per alligator?”
“No,” said Chap; “per land-shark; the man who keeps the store up the river.” ”

“ Stonehouse came to him and said as he grasped Harold's hand so hard that his fingers ached:
'I cannot thank you as I would. But you are a man and will understand. God be good to you as you have been good to my child; and to her mother and myself!' As he turned away Pearl, who had now been holding close to her mother's hand, sprang to him holding up her arms. He raised her up and kissed her. Then he placed her back in her mother's arms. ”

“ So too Pearl, who though a child was a woman-child; softly they rose up to steal away. But Stephen saw them; her own instincts, too, told her that her hour had not come. What she hoped for must come alone! So she called to her guests:
'Don't go! Don't go, Mrs. Stonehouse. You know now that Harold and I are old friends, though neither of us knew it--till this moment. We were brought up as ... almost as brother and sister. Pearl, isn't it lovely to see your friend ... to see The Man again?'
She was so happy that she could only express herself, with dignity, through the happiness of others. ”

“ The next day Stonehouse stalked and brought down his first "Royal." This time the chase had cost him every ounce of his endurance, and in the chill dusk he stood watching the gillie at his work on the lovely body (still so warm and lissom that one could almost see the last sorrowful heaving of its golden flanks) with a kind of stolid triumph as though now he had wiped out that other failure, for he realized that he had been both too sanguine and too impatient. When you were angling a man with a sick brain back to health, you had to go slowly—delicately. ”

“ She has been over wrought, and I am always afraid for her. She is so sensitive. And after all she is only a baby!'
'She is a darling!' said Stephen impulsively; and she meant it. Mrs. Stonehouse smiled gratefully as she went on:
'I suppose you noticed what a hold on her imagination that episode of Mollie Watford at the bank had. Mr. Stonehouse is, as perhaps you know, a very rich man. He has made his fortune himself, and most honourably; and we are all very proud of him, and of it. So Pearl does not think of the money for itself. But the feeling was everything; she really loves Mr. Robinson ”

“ Stonehouse and Pearl arrived, and were shown into the room where Lady de Lannoy awaited them. The high sun, streaming in from the side, shone on her beautiful hair, making it look like living gold. When the Americans came in they were for an instant entranced by her beauty. One glance at Mrs. Stonehouse's sweet sympathetic face was enough to establish her in Stephen's good graces forever. As for Pearl, she was like one who has unexpectedly seen a fairy or a goddess. She had been keeping guardedly behind her mother, but on the instant she came out fearlessly into the open. ”

“ She, too, in the depths of her own heart knew--KNEW--that it was the same Robinson. And she also knew that both identities were one with another. The beating of her heart and the wild surging of her blood told her all. She was afraid to speak lest her voice should betray her.
She could not even think. She would have to be alone for that.
Mrs. Stonehouse, with the wisdom and power of age, waited, suspending judgment. But Pearl was in a fever of anxiety; she could imagine nothing which could keep her away from The Man. ”

“ A week spent at Stonegate had taught Ruth more of her own frailties and weaknesses, and had shown her more of the various sorts of people of which the world is composed, than she would have learnt in a whole year spent in the quiet sheltered seclusion of her home at Cressleigh. ”

“ As she did so the gale took her, and in an instant whirled her, almost touching her mother, over the rail into the sea.
Mrs. Stonehouse shrieked and sprang forward as though to follow her child. She was held back by the strong arm of her husband. They both slipped on the sloping deck and fell together into the scuppers. There was a chorus of screams from all the women present. Harold, with an instinctive understanding of the dangers yet to be encountered, seized a red tam-o'-shanter from the head of a young girl who stood near. ”

“ At this announcement there was a general laugh, during which the boys left.
“He thinks we can’t kill alligators,” said Chap; “but, then, all these people suppose we’re city boys, just because we come from the North. I believe most folks down here have an idea that the whole North is built up solid with houses, like one great town, and it’s no use telling them we’ve been using guns ever since we were big enough to hold them.”
The Rolling Stone was found at the end of the pier, with Coot Brewer in it, and the row-boat which [222] he had borrowed made fast to the stern. ”

“ No, he didn’t know, but he was beginning to see how it might be possible, if one were that kind of man. Stoneman, however, prided himself on being a very different kind of man. He had a work to do in the world, and one traveled farther without the superfluous baggage of emotions. ”

“ Stonehouse, after a short pause, as if arranging his thoughts, spoke:
'Let me tell you what I am. I began life with nothing but a fair education such as all our American boys get. But from a good mother I got an idea that to be honest was the best of all things; from a strenuous father, who, however, could not do well for himself, I learned application to work and how best to use and exercise such powers as were in me. From the start things prospered with me. Men who knew me trusted me ”

“ The grass grows rank and dark in the showery England. At the inn, there was only milk for one cup of tea. When we called for more, the girl brought us three drops. My friend was annoyed who stood for the credit of an English inn, and still more, the next morning, by the dog-cart, sole procurable vehicle, in which we were to be sent to Wilton. I engaged the local antiquary, Mr. Brown, to go with us to Stonehenge, on our way, and show us what he knew of the "astronomical" and "sacrificial" stones. ”

“ Stonehouse saw him; she ran to him and caught Pearl in her arms. She was so agitated, so lost in concern for the child that she never even thought to speak to the man whom she had come so far to seek. She wailed over the child:
'Pearl! Pearl! What is it, darling? It is Mother!' She laid the girl on the sofa, and taking the flowers out of a glass began to sprinkle water on the child's face. Harold knew her voice and waited in patience. ”

“ It is as well that the man who catches the eight-thirty should think thus. Such things have nothing to do with Bulls and Bears: such things have no market value on the Stock Exchange. And yet, surely to even the most prosaic of train catchers, motoring maybe over Salisbury Plain, there must come some faint stirring of imagination as he sees the vast dead monument of Stonehenge. ”

“ A telegram was also written and given to the sporting gentleman, who promised to forward it as soon as he reached Sanford, on the St. John’s River, this being the nearest point from which telegrams could be sent.
“There, now,” said Chap, when the little boat had sailed away, “I feel more comfortable. The folks will know all about us just as soon as if we had gone on ourselves, and that’s the main thing; for, as far as I’m concerned, I’m in no particular hurry to get home.”
“You don’t want to stay here, do you?” asked Phœnix. ”

“ Oh, wake up, man! There are lots of good things left in life if you only get out and look for them.”
Stone gazed fixedly into the darkness.
“Please don't say any more,” he said. “It won't do any good, and I don't like to hear it; it's worse than the laugh.”
“Look here, Stone,” said Sprague firmly, “you're going to stay with me in London. We're going to take rooms that I know of in the Gray's Inn Road—not a very salubrious neighborhood for a man with slathers of money, but cheap and central for me. You'll come to the rehearsals and take an interest in 'Lorette' in spite of yourself. ”

“ The board fence was not a very tight one, and as in passing the place where they sat he was but a short distance from them, he heard some words which made him stop.
“The long-legged fellow is always keeping to himself,” were the words that he heard.
Now, as Chap was pre-eminently a long-legged fellow, this remark instantly recalled to Adam’s [257] mind the captain of The Rolling Stone, and this suggestion was made stronger by the fact that Adam had noticed that Chap was very fond of separating himself from the company, and doing something on his own account. ”

“ He knew that Lord Stonehenge was in the habit of passing an hour at the Athenæum after luncheon. He sat always in a certain chair, near the window, which by common consent was invariably left vacant for him. No one ventured to disturb him. He went in and out of the club, indifferent to his fellow-members, as if he did not notice that a soul was there. But Canon Spratte was an audacious man and did not fear to be importunate. He smiled with satisfaction when he saw Lord Stonehenge, heavily seated in his accustomed place. ”

“ But he stopped in time, not from remorse, but as though pulled up by a revelation of maddening absurdity.
"Oh, you—you! You don't understand. You aren't capable of understanding. You're a block—a machine—you don't feel—you g-go about—rolling over p-people and things like—like a damned steam-roller. You're not a man at all. You don't love anyone—not even yourself. What do you know about anything?"
He was grotesque in his scorn, and yet Stonehouse, leaning with an apparent negligence against the mantel-shelf, felt himself go dead white under the attack. He had lost Cosgrave. ”

“ Chap had read tales of man-of-war life and of whaling voyages, and he knew that the way to make men row hard and fast was to yell and shout at them like mad, and for work of this kind no one was better adapted than the captain of the Rolling Stones.
The negroes became so excited that they made the boat spin over the water. It stopped directly in the course of the Humphrey Giles, when that boat was a quarter of a mile away. ”

“ After breakfast, therefore, he informed Chap that he intended to ride over to a neighbor’s farm to see about some oats which had been bought before his uncle’s departure, but which had not yet been delivered.
“You can come along, if you like,” said Phil. [74] “Kit has been turned out to grass, but I can have him caught.”
“That means you are going to ride Jouncer?” said Chap.
“Yes, I intend to ride him,” Phil replied.
“Good boy!” cried Chap. “You’ll kill two birds with one stone. You’ll see about the oats, and you’ll have a chance to open fire on Joel, if he shows symptoms of revolt. ”

“ And in his sleep his father drew himself up suddenly, showing his terrible white face, and clutched at little Robert Stonehouse, who skirted him and ran screaming down the dark stairs.
"You can't—you can't—you're dead. I'm grown up—I'm free—I'm not like you—you can't—you can't——"
But the next morning he was himself again, sure and cool-headed and cool-hearted. ”

“ And this was not the only good result from that serious double accident; for the necessity of daily enquiry at our cottage became so pressing, and Stoneman so gallantly rose to this occasion, that the stiffness and coldness which had hitherto marked my mother's reception of him could no longer be maintained, but glided very quietly into goodwill and gratitude. All of us began to forgive him, more and more, for the crime of not belonging to an ancient county family, while the merits of his affluence almost drove us to maintain them against his own indifference. ”