Luttrell Of Arran Part 79

She never stirred nor raised her head, till, by a rustling sound of the branches at the window, she was startled, and looked up. It was O'Rorke, who was leaning on the sill of the window, and looking in.

"Would you give me a sc.r.a.p of something you were wearing--a bit of ribbon, or the like, I know you're not fond of cutting off your hair--to give the old man? He'd rather have it than a crown jewel----"

"Take this!" cried she, s.n.a.t.c.hing up a scissors, and cutting off the long and silky lock that fell in a curl upon her neck; and, turning to the table, she folded it neatly in a piece of paper. She took up her pen, too, but the thought that he could not read deterred her; for what she would have written she could not bear that other eyes than his own should trace, and she sat thinking for some minutes, when suddenly, through what train of thought impelled it is not easy to say, she cried out, "Yes, I will do it! Come back--wait a moment--or, better still, leave me to myself an instant, and I shall be ready."

He left the window, and she sat down at the table. Without a moment's hesitation or reflection she wrote thus:

"St. Finbar's, Arran.

"Sir,--I make no attempt to deprecate your anger, or palliate the wrong I have done you. My offence is one that only a free pardon could coyer, and I do not dare to entreat for this. It is for something more, and less than forgiveness, I have now to ask you.

"My grandfather, a man of eighty, is in gaol, about to be tried on a charge of felony; he declares his innocence, but, having no means to pay counsel, despairs of establishing the fact. My uncle cannot help him; will you?

"When I think of the time that I had not to speak a wish till I saw it gratified, I sicken over the ingrat.i.tude which drives me to approach you as a suppliant, while I promise never again to address you.

"The bearer of the present note will take charge of your answer, should you deign to reply to your unhappy, because unworthy,

"Kate Luttrell."

"Are you ready with the letter?" asked O'Rorke, as he leaned his arms on the window-sill and looked into the room.

"Yes," said she, folding and addressing it. "You will set out immediately, and deliver this into the hands of Sir Within Wardle, at Dalradern Castle. It is about fourteen miles from Wrexham. Mind!

into his own hands, for I am not sure how or by whom he may now be surrounded. As little can I guess what sort of a reply he may give; he may reject my entreaty; he may even refuse to answer it. He would have every right to do either. Let it be your care to note him closely as he reads my letter, and mark what effect it produces. I shall question you, when you come back, on the minutest details of your meeting--of all that he says, of his manner, of his looks; whether he speaks of me, and how.

You know well, few better, how to acquit yourself in such a scene, and be sure that you address your sharpest wits to it. If he be ill and cannot write, tell him that he may trust you with a verbal answer. _I_ have not said so in my note, but _you_ may, and he will believe you; he reads men quickly, and he will see that you are in my confidence. If he asks you about me and my life here, answer freely whatever your own judgment prompts; he may question you about the place I live in, tell him what it is like."

"Don't give me any more directions, if you don't want me to forget some of them; only tell me one thing. If he asks me as to what amount might be required for the defence, am I to say the highest figure or the lowest?"

"You are to adhere to the strict truth, O'Rorke, and for this reason, if for no other, that you will be in the presence of a man well accustomed to deal with craftier men than yourself, and that all your attempts at deception would go for nothing."

"And if he says, 'Why don't Mr. Luttrell come forward to help one of his own near relations?'"

"He will not ask this."

"And why wouldn't he?"

"Because he is a gentleman, Sir."

"Oh, that's the reason," said O'Rorke, sneeringly. "Well, I think by this time I know as much about him as I am likely to do till I see him, so I'll be going."

"Have you any money for this journey?"

"Of course I haven't. I suppose I'll need five pounds to come and go."

"Take ten," said she, pushing the notes towards him. "I will try and settle matters with my uncle later."

"By St. Peter! you ought to have been born a lady with a fine estate,"

cried he, rapturously. "You have a grand way of doing things, anyhow!"

She smiled at the flattery; it was not at all displeasing to her, and she held out her hand to him as she said "Good-by."

"You'll see me here by Sat.u.r.day next, if I'm alive."

"May it be with good news," said she, waving a good-by. "My love to old grandfather." Scarcely was the last word uttered, when Luttrell opened the door stealthily, and peeped in.

"How long this interview has lasted, Kate," said he; "what have you done?"

"You must wait till next Sat.u.r.day, uncle, for my answer, and I hope it will content you."

"Why not tell me now?"

"Because I could not tell you enough, Sir."

"I am not wont to be treated as a child whose fortunes are to be in the keeping of others!" said he, sternly. "When Sat.u.r.day comes, it may be to hear that which I cannot approve of--which I will not accept."

"Yes, Sir, you will," said she, calmly. "You charged me to do my best, and when I shall have done so you will not discredit me."

CHAPTER XLIX. MR. O'RORKE ABROAD

Albeit Mr. O'Rorke had no partiality for the Saxon, he did not dislike his English tour. It was an occasion for much enjoyment in the present, with a prospect of considerable expatiation over in the future. He travelled--and it is a mode which occasionally enhances the enjoyments of travel--at another's expense; and he indulged in many little luxuries not known to his daily life.

It was towards the close of a glorious day, mellow in all the richness of autumn, that he first caught sight of the great ma.s.sive towers and battlemented walls of Dalradern Castle. The setting sun had just fallen on the windows, and the vast frontage was illuminated with a golden glory that relieved the stern severity of the heavy masonry, and gave warmth and colour to its cold and stately feudalism.

"And she left this for that rock--that miserable rock in the ocean,"

cried he. "What could possess her to do it? She was no fool, that was clear enough. It was no fool could have made herself what she was; and what else than folly could make any one exchange that princely place for the wild and dreary desolation of Arran? There's more in this than one sees on the surface," thought O'Rorke. "It's not in human nature to believe that she did not enjoy the grand life such a house must supply--the very aspect of it suggested everything that wealth could compa.s.s, and it could not be that she did not attach herself to its enjoyments. No; there must have been a reason, or something that she thought was a reason, for it. Ay, and that same reason, whatever it was, must have been the source of her great unwillingness to address Sir Within. She left him in anger, that's plain enough; and about what could it be? Had she wearied him? Had her temper, or her caprice, or her extravagance, tired out his patience? Was it that the self-indulgence of the spoiled child had at last revolted the very spirit that had spoiled her? or was it"--and, to O'Rorke's thinking, this seemed not improbable--"Sir Within had made her some proposals, not merely offensive to her dignity, but an outrage to her ambition? If I know you, Miss Katty," said he, aloud, "you never lived in that grand house without dreaming of the time you'd be the mistress of it. And what made you give up the game? That's what I'd like to know, and it's what I'll try to find out before I leave this."

As he drew nearer the castle, the stately grandeur of the place impressed him still more. Never had he seen such magnificent timber--never before had he witnessed that marvellous order and propriety which give even to a vast park all the elegance of a garden.

The clumps of flowery shrubs, in spots that few would probably ever visit--rare trees in out-of-the-way places--seemed to show what immense resources existed where so much that was valuable could be squandered uncared for.

One of the keepers, by whom he was accompanied from the gate-lodge, discoursed to him freely as they went along, telling of the hundreds of acres enclosed within the demesne, the extensive gardens and pleasure-grounds, to keep which in order required quite a regiment of labourers, "and all," as the man added, "for an old man that sits all day at a window, and only comes out of an evening to take the air on a terrace. Never sees any one, nor goes anywhere; and won't even dine with his young relation, Mr. Ladarelle, who is down here for the shooting."

O'Rorke skirmished cautiously, of course, to ascertain whether the man could tell him anything of Kate, but he found that he had only lately entered the service, and never heard of her. He had heard, however, that Sir Within was greatly changed of late; some heavy blow, of what sort he knew not, had befallen him, and he now neither rode out nor drove, did not care to enter the garden, and, in fact, seemed weary of his life, and indifferent to everything.

"There he is now, on the terrace, taking his evening walk. I mustn't go any farther with you; but when you pa.s.s the two large oaks yonder, you'll see the great entrance, ring the bell, and some one will come to you."

O'Rorke went on his way, but had not gone far when he was overtaken by a servant in livery, who, bare-headed and almost breathless from running, demanded angrily "What he was doing there?"

"I have a letter for your master that I wish to deliver at once,"

replied he, firmly.

"Give it here, and wait for your answer round there, by the stables."

"No such thing, my smart fellow; I am to deliver my letter into your master's hand, and I will give it to no other."

"You're more likely, then, to take it back with you," said the other, jeeringly, and turned away.