JOAN HASTE, H. RIDER HAGGARD [free ereaders TXT] 📗

for luncheon, and I must go too, but without washing my hands," and he stared at his delicate fingers. "After all, they do not look so very dirty; even Ellen Graves will scarcely notice them"; and laughing bitterly at his own jest he left the room.

That afternoon Mr. Levinger had a long conversation with Mrs. Gillingwater, whom he sent for to see him after Ellen had gone.

With the particulars of this interview we need not concern ourselves, but the name of Samuel Rock was mentioned in it.

 

On the following morning it chanced that Mr. Samuel Rock received a letter from Mr. Levinger referring to the erection of a cattle-shed upon some fifty acres of grass land which he held as that gentleman's tenant. This cattle-shed Samuel had long desired; indeed, it is not too much to say that he had clamoured for it, for he did not belong to that class of tenant which considers the landlord's pocket, or makes shift without improvements when they can be had by importunity. Consequently, as was suggested in the letter, he hastened to present himself at Monk's Lodge on that very afternoon, adorned in his shiniest black coat and his broadest-brimmed wide-awake.

"The man looks more like a Methodist parson than ever," thought Mr. Levinger, as he watched his advent. "I wonder if she will have anything to say to him? Well, I must try."

In due course Samuel Rock was shown in, and took the chair that was offered to him, upon the very edge of which he seated himself in a gingerly fashion, his broad hat resting on his knee. Mr. Rock's manner towards his landlord was neither defiant nor obsequious, but rather an unhappy combination of these two styles. He did not touch his forehead according to the custom of the old-times tenant, nor did he offer to shake hands. His greeting consisted of a jerky bow, lacking alike dignity and politeness, a half-hearted salute which seemed to aim at compromise between a certain respect for tradition and a proper sense of the equality of all men in the sight of Heaven.

"How do you do, Mr. Rock?" said Mr. Levinger cheerfully. "I thought that I would ask you to have a chat with me on the matter of that cowshed, about which you spoke at the audit last January--rather strongly, if I remember."

"Yes, Mr. Levinger, sir," answered Samuel, in a hesitating but mellifluous voice. "I shall be very glad to speak about it. A shed is needed on those marshes, sir, where we look to let the cattle lie out till late in autumn, untempered to all the winds of heaven, which blow keen down there, and also in the spring; and I hope you see your way to build one, Mr. Levinger, else I fear that I shall have to give you notice and find others more accommodating."

"Really! do you think so? Well, if you wish to do that, I am ready to meet you half way and accept short service, so that you can clear out next Michaelmas; for I don't mind telling you that I know another party who will be glad to take the land."

"Indeed, sir, I was not aware," answered Samuel, running his fingers through his straight hair uncomfortably--for the last thing that he desired was to part with these particular marshes. "Not that I should wish to stand between a landlord and a better offer in these times. Still, Mr. Levinger, I don't hold it right, as between man and man, to slip like that behind a tenant's back as has always paid his rent."

The conversation, which was a long one, need not be pursued further. Samuel was of the opinion that Mr. Levinger should bear the entire cost of the shed, which the latter declined to do. At length, however, an arrangement was effected that proved mutually satisfactory; the "said landlord" agreeing to find all material necessary, and to pay the skilled labour, and the "said tenant" undertaking to dig the holes for the posts and to cut the reed for the thatch.

"Ah, Mr. Rock," said Levinger, as he signed a note of their contract, "it is very well for you to pretend that you are hard up; but I know well enough, notwithstanding the shocking times, that you are the warmest man in these parts. You see you began well, with plenty of capital; and though you rent some, you have been wise enough to keep your own land in hand, and not trust it to the tender mercies of a tenant. That, combined with good farming, careful living and hard work, is what has made you rich, when many others are on the verge of ruin. You ought to be getting a wife, Mr. Rock, and starting a family of your own, for if anything happened to you there is nowhere for the property to go."

"We are in the Lord's hands, sir, and man is but grass," answered Samuel sententiously, though it was clear from his face that he did not altogether appreciate this allusion to his latter end. "Still, under the mercy of Heaven, having my health, and always being careful to avoid chills, I hope to see a good many younger men out yet. And as for getting married, Mr. Levinger, I think it is the whole duty of man, or leastways half of it, when he has earned enough to support a wife and additions which she may bring with her. But the thing is to find the woman, sir, for it isn't every girl that a careful Christian would wish to wed."

"Quite so, Mr. Rock. Have a glass of port, won't you?"--and Mr. Levinger poured out some wine from a decanter which stood on the table and pushed it towards him. Then, taking a little himself by way of company, he added, "I should have thought that you could find a suitable person about here."

"Your health, sir," said Samuel, drinking off the port and setting down the glass, which Mr. Levinger refilled. "I am not saying, sir," he added, "that such a girl cannot be found--I am not even saying that I have not found such a girl: that's one thing, marrying is another."

"Ah! indeed," said Mr. Levinger.

Again Samuel lifted his glass and drank half its contents. The wine was of the nature that is known as "full-bodied," and, not having eaten for some hours, it began to take effect on him. Samuel grew expansive.

"I wonder, sir," he said, "if I might take a liberty? I wonder if I might ask your advice? I should be grateful if you would give it to me, for I know that you have the cleverest head of any gentleman in these parts. Also, sir, you are no talker."

"I shall be delighted if I can be of any service to an old friend and tenant like yourself," answered Mr. Levinger airily. "What is the difficulty?"

Samuel finished the second glass of wine, and felt it go ever so little to his head; for which he was not sorry, as it made him eloquent.

"The difficulty is this, sir. Thank you--just a taste more. I don't drink wine myself, as a rule--it is too costly; but this is real good stuff, and maketh glad the heart of man, as in the Bible. Well, sir, here it is in a nutshell: I want to marry a girl; I am dead set on it; but she won't have me, or at least she puts me off."

"Why not try another, then?"

"Because I won't want no other, Mr. Levinger, sir," he answered, suddenly taking fire. The wine had done its work with him, and moreover this was the one subject that had the power to break through the cold cunning which was a characteristic of his nature. "I want this girl or none, and I mean to have her if I wait half a lifetime for her."

"You are in earnest, at any rate, which is a good augury for your success. And who may the lady be?"

"Who may she be? Why, I thought you knew! There's only one about here that she could be. Joan Haste, of course."

"Joan Haste! Ah! Yes, she is a handsome and attractive girl."

"Handsome and attractive? Eh! she is all that. To me she is what the sun is to the corn and the water to the fish. I can't live without her. Look here: I have watched her for years, ever since she was a child. I have summered her and wintered her, as the saying is, thinking that I wouldn't make no mistake about her, whatever I might feel, nor give myself away in a hurry, seeing that I wanted to keep what I earn for myself, and not to spend it on others just because a pretty face chanced to take my fancy."

"Perhaps you have been a little too careful under the circumstances, Mr. Rock."

"Maybe I have: anyway, it has come home to me now. A month or so back I spoke out, because I couldn't keep myself in no longer."

"To Joan Haste?"

"Yes, to Joan Haste. Her aunt knew about it before, but she didn't seem able to help me much."

"And what did Joan say?"

"She said that she did not love me, and that she never would love me nor marry me; but she said also that she had no thought for any other man."

"Excuse me, Mr. Rock, but did this interview happen before Captain Graves and Joan Haste met with their accident in Ramborough Abbey? I want to fix the date, that's all."

"It happened on that same afternoon, sir. The Captain must have come along just after I left."

And Samuel paused, passing his white hands over each other uneasily, as though he were washing them, for Mr. Levinger's question seemed to suggest some new and unpleasant idea in his mind.

"Well?"

"Well, there isn't much more to say, sir, except that I think I was a bit unlucky in the way I put it to her; for it slipped out of my mouth about her father never having had a name, and that seemed to anger her."

"Perhaps it was not the best possible way to ingratiate yourself with the young woman," replied Mr. Levinger sweetly. "So you came to no understanding with her?"

"Well, I did and I didn't. I found out that she is afraid for her life of her aunt, who favours me; so I made a bargain with her that, if she would let the matter stand open for six months, I'd promise to say nothing to Mrs. Gillingwater."

"I see: you played upon the girl's fears. Doubtful policy again, I think."

"It was the best I could do, sir; for starving dogs must eat offal, as the saying is. And now, Mr. Levinger, if you can help me, I shall be a grateful man all my days. They do say down in Bradmouth that you know something about Joan's beginnings, and have charge of her in a way, and that is why I made bold to speak to you; for I only promised to be mum to her aunt."

"Do they indeed, Mr. Rock? Truly in Bradmouth their tongues are long and their ears are open. And yet, as you are seeking to marry her, I do not mind telling you that there is enough truth in this report to give it colour. As it chances, I did know something of Joan's father, though I am not at liberty to mention his name. He was a gentleman, and has been dead many years; but he left me, not by deed but in an informal manner, in a position of some responsibility towards her, and entrusted me with a sum of money--small, but sufficient--to be employed for her benefit, at my entire discretion, which was only hampered by one condition--namely, that she should not be educated as a lady. Now, Mr. Rock, I have told you so much in order to make matters clear; but I will add this to it: if you repeat a