Wilfrid Cumbermede, George MacDonald [essential reading .txt] 📗

sheathed for ever."-The person who has now unsheathed it has done a great wrong to the memory of a loyal cavalier.'

'The sheath halfway split was as familiar to my eyes as the face of my uncle,' I said, turning to Sir Giles. 'And in the only reference I ever heard my great-grandmother make to it, she mentioned the name of Sir Marmaduke. I recollect that much perfectly.'

'But how could the sword be there and here at one and the same time?' said Sir Giles.

' That I do not pretend to explain,' I said.

'Here at least is written testimony to our possession of it,' said Brotherton in a conclusive tone.

'How, then, are we to explain Mr Cumbermede's story?' said Sir Giles, evidently in good faith.

'With that I cannot consent to allow myself concerned.-Mr Cumbermede is, I am told, a writer of fiction.'

'Geoffrey,' said Sir Giles, 'behave yourself like a gentleman.'

'I endeavour to do so,' he returned with a sneer.

I kept silence.

'How can you suppose,' the old man went on, 'that Mr Cumbermede would invent such a story? What object could he have?'

'He may have a mania for weapons, like old Close-as well as for old books,' he replied.

I thought of my precious folio. But I did not yet know how much additional force his insinuation with regard to the motive of my labours in the library would gain if it should be discovered that such a volume was in my possession.

'You may have remarked, sir,' he went on, 'that I did not read the name of the owner of the sword in any place where it occurred in the manuscript.'

'I did. And I beg to know why you kept it back,' answered Sir Giles.

'What do you think the name might be, sir?'

'How should I know? I am not an antiquarian.'

'Sir Wilfrid Cumbermede . You will find the initials on the blade.-Does that throw any light on the matter, do you think, sir?'

'Why, that is your very own name!' cried Sir Giles, turning to me.

I bowed.

'It is a pity the sword shouldn't be yours.'

'It is mine, Sir Giles-though, as I said, I am prepared to abide by your decision.'

'And now I remember;-the old man resumed, after a moment's thought-'the other evening Mr Alderforge-a man of great learning, Mr Cumbermede-told us that the name of Cumbermede had at one time belonged to our family. It is all very strange. I confess I am utterly bewildered.'

'At least you can understand, sir, how a man of imagination, like Mr Cumbermede here, might desire to possess himself of a weapon which bears his initials, and belonged two hundred years ago to a baronet of the same name as himself-a circumstance which, notwithstanding it is by no means a common name, is not quite so strange as at first sight appears-that is, if all reports are true.'

I did not in the least understand his drift; neither did I care to inquire into it now.

'Were you aware of this, Mr Cumbermede?' asked his father.

'No, Sir Giles,' I answered.

'Mr Cumbermede has had the run of the place for weeks. I am sorry I was not at home. This book was lying all the time on the table in the room above, where poor old Close's work-bench and polishing-wheel are still standing.'

'Mr Brotherton, this gets beyond bearing,' I cried. 'Nothing but the presence of your father, to whom I am indebted for much kindness, protects you.'

'Tut! tut!' said Sir Giles.

'Protects me, indeed!' exclaimed Brotherton. 'Do you dream I should be by any code bound to accept a challenge from you?-Not, at least, I presume to think, before a jury had decided on the merits of the case.'

My blood was boiling, but what could I do or say? Sir Giles rose, and was about to leave the room, remarking only-

'I don't know what to make of it.'

'At all events, Sir Giles,' I said hurriedly, 'you will allow me to prove the truth of what I have asserted. I cannot, unfortunately, call my uncle or aunt, for they are gone; and I do not know where the servant who was with us when I took the sword away is now. But, if you will allow me, I will call Mrs Wilson-to prove that I had the sword when I came to visit her on that occasion, and that on the morning after sleeping here I complained of its loss to her, and went away without it.'

'It would but serve to show the hallucination was early developed. We should probably find that even then you were much attracted by the armoury,' said Brotherton, with a judicial air, as if I were a culprit before a magistrate.

I had begun to see that, although the old man was desirous of being just, he was a little afraid of his son. He rose as the latter spoke, however, and going into the gallery, shouted over the balustrade-

'Some one send Mrs Wilson to the library!'

We removed to the reading-room, I carrying the scabbard which Sir Giles had returned to me as soon as he had read the label. Brotherton followed, having first gone up the little turn-pike stair, doubtless to replace the manuscript.

Mrs Wilson came, looking more pinched than ever, and stood before Sir Giles with her arms straight by her sides, like one of the ladies of Noah's ark. I will not weary my reader with a full report of the examination. She had seen me with a sword, but had taken no notice of its appearance. I might have taken it from the armoury, for I was in the library all the afternoon. She had left me there thinking I was a 'gentlemany' boy. I had said I had lost it, but she was sure she did not know how that could be. She was very sorry she had caused any trouble by asking me to the house, but Sir Giles would be pleased to remember that he had himself introduced the boy to her notice. Little she thought, &c., &c.

In fact, the spiteful creature, propitiating her natural sense of justice by hinting instead of plainly suggesting injurious conclusions, was paying me back for my imagined participation in the impertinences of Clara. She had besides, as I learned afterwards, greatly resented the trouble I had caused of late.

Brotherton struck in as soon as his father had ceased questioning her.

'At all events, if he believed the sword was his, why did he not go and represent the case to you, sir, and request justice from you? Since then he has had opportunity enough. His tale has taken too long to hatch.'

'This is all very paltry,' I said.

'Not so paltry as your contriving to sleep in the house in order to carry off your host's property in the morning-after studying the place to discover which room would suit your purpose best!'

Here I lost my presence of mind. A horror shook me lest something might come out to injure Mary, and I shivered at the thought of her name being once mentioned along with mine. If I had taken a moment to reflect, I must have seen that I should only add to the danger by what I was about to say. But her form was so inextricably associated in my mind with all that had happened then, that it seemed as if the slightest allusion to any event of that night would inevitably betray her; and in the tremor which, like an electric shock, passed through me from head to foot, I blurted out words importing that I had never slept in the house in my life.

'Your room was got ready for you, anyhow, Master Cumbermede,' said Mrs Wilson.

'It does not follow that I occupied it,' I returned.

'I can prove that false,' said Brotherton; but, probably lest he should be required to produce his witness, only added,-'At all events, he was seen in the morning, carrying the sword across the court before any one had been admitted.'

I was silent; for I now saw too clearly that I had made a dreadful blunder, and that any attempt to carry assertion further, or even to explain away my words, might be to challenge the very discovery I would have given my life to ward off.

As I continued silent, steeling myself to endure, and saying to myself that disgrace was not dishonour, Sir Giles again rose, and turned to leave the room. Evidently he was now satisfied that I was unworthy of confidence.

'One moment, if you please, Sir Giles,' I said. 'It is plain to me there is some mystery about this affair, and it does not seem as if I should be able to clear it up. The time may come, however, when I can. I did wrong, I see now, in attempting to right myself, instead of representing my case to you. But that does not alter the fact that the sword was and is mine, however appearances may be to the contrary. In the mean time, I restore you the scabbard, and as soon as I reach home, I shall send my man with the disputed weapon.'

'It will be your better way,' he said, as he took the sheath from my hand.

Without another word, he left the room. Mrs Wilson also retired. Brotherton alone remained. I took no further notice of him, but followed Sir Giles through the armoury. He came after me, step for step, at a little distance, and as I stepped out into the gallery, said, in a tone of insulting politeness:

'You will send the sword as soon as may be quite convenient, Mr Cumbermede? Or shall I send and fetch it?'

I turned and faced him in the dim light which came up from the hall.

'Mr Brotherton, if you knew that book and those weapons as early as you have just said, you cannot help knowing that at that time the sword was
not there.'

'I decline to re-open the question,' he said.

A fierce word leaped to my lips, but repressing it I turned away once more, and walked slowly down the stair, across the hall, and out of the house.


CHAPTER XLIV.


I PART WITH MY SWORD

I made haste out of the park, but wandered up and down my own field for half an hour, thinking in what shape to put what had occurred before Charley. My perplexity arose not so much from the difficulty involved in the matter itself as from my inability to fix my thoughts. My brain was for the time like an ever-revolving kaleidoscope, in which, however, there was but one fair colour-the thought of Mary. Having at length succeeded in arriving at some conclusion, I went home, and would have despatched Styles at once with the sword, had not Charley already sent him off to the stable, so that I must wait.

'What has kept you so long, Wilfrid?' Charley asked, as I entered.

'I've had a tremendous row with Brotherton,' I answered.

'The brute! Is he there? I'm glad I was gone. What was it all about?'

'About that sword. It was very foolish of me to take it without saying a word to Sir Giles.'

'So it was,' he returned. 'I can't think how