Major Frank Part 14

"Just so, that's it," she replied, a.s.suming her defiant and bitter tone. "If you wish to know more about it, ask the people at the farm--they know all the particulars."

"I shall take good care not to go making inquiries into your secrets behind your back, Francis."

"My secrets!" she exclaimed, her voice quivering with indignation. "There is no secret in the matter. It is a question of a dreadful accident, which happened on the public high-road in the presence of a crowd of spectators attracted by the noise; but the occasion was not lost to set public opinion against me. Was it not Major Frank, who never acted like anybody else--Major Frank the outlaw! It would have been a pity to let such an opportunity of blackening her character pa.s.s. I ought to have reflected that you would have heard the story; and very likely you are come here 'to interview' the heroine of such a romantic adventure. It would be a pity you should lose your pains. There's the farm--go straight on and ask the people to tell you all about the affair between Major Frank and her coachman Harry Blount; both the man and his wife were witnesses. And, Jonker van Zonshoven, when they have satisfied you, you may return to the Werve to take your leave, and return as you came."

And off she ran, without giving me time to answer, leaving me in a state of terrible confusion.

One thing at last seemed clear to me; I had lost her for ever. Should I follow and overtake her? She appeared resolute to tell me no more. Yet I must know more! I could neither stay at the Werve nor go away until my doubts were cleared up.

I went on to the farm, and was soon served with a gla.s.s of milk. The farmer's wife seemed to know all about my visit, and thought it quite natural for the Freule to send me there for a gla.s.s of new milk. She was loud in her praises of the Freule, said her equal was not to be found in the whole aristocracy, "so familiar and kind-hearted, but at times flighty, and then she goes off like a locomotive"--she p.r.o.nounced it "leukemetief." But it would be impossible for me to reproduce her Guelders dialect; and, to confess a truth, I had myself sometimes great difficulty in understanding her.

She showed me the farm and the dog, a splendid brown pointer who allowed me to stroke him, probably for his mistress' sake. Once the good farmer's wife had loosened her tongue, she rattled away with great volubility--

"Yes, she was sorry the General was no longer their landlord; but Overberg was not a bad fellow--he had made many repairs, and even promised to build a new barn which the General would never consent to. It was a pity for the man! A good gentleman, but he took no interest in farming; the whole place must have gone to wrack and ruin if the General had not agreed to sell it before it was too late. The Freule was sorry, for she liked farming; she had learned to milk, and talked to the cows just as if they were human beings. And horses--yes, Jonker, even the plough horses, before they go out into the field in the morning, she talks to them. My husband was groom to her grandfather, in his youth; I think I can see the greys she used to drive with so much pride, and Blount the coachman at her side, as proud as a king, with his arms folded, and looking as if the team belonged to him. Oh dear, yes! And now all that grandeur has disappeared. The beautiful carriage-horses are sold, and the Freule has only her English horse which my husband stables and grooms for her. What a sin and shame it is when the gentry fall into such decay! And the family used to be the greatest in these parts, and good to their tenants. My parents and grandparents always lived on the estate; but oh, oh! since the marriage of the eldest Freule Roselaer, they have never prospered. What can I say? 'A house divided against itself cannot stand,' as the Scriptures tell us. The Jonker has certainly heard of all these things?"

"Enough, Mrs. Pauwelsen, more than enough," I responded, for the good woman's chatter was becoming insupportable. I hastily took my leave of her and arrived just in time for breakfast; in fact, I was in the breakfast-parlour before either the Captain or the General. Francis was alone, but when she saw me she left the room under the pretext of seeing if the tea-water boiled.

"Stay, Francis--I think I have a right to a kinder reception."

"On what do you ground your right? Have you now satisfied your curiosity?"

"I know nothing, Francis; I asked no questions."

"Asked nothing! on your word of honour?"

"I have not asked two words, Francis. I did not ask, because I did not want to hear anything."

"Forsooth! You have shown more self-control than I thought a man capable of."

"Are the women so much our superiors in this respect?"

"If it be necessary, we can keep quiet."

CHAPTER XIX.

The Captain made his appearance, and put an end to our conversation, without for a moment being aware how unwelcome his presence was to me. I could scarcely give a civil answer to his question--

"Slept well, Jonker?"

He went on, however, in his jovial tone--

"The General will be here directly."

And, indeed, the General's entrance followed like an echo to the words, and the breakfast began.

Francis was silent and preoccupied--yet she gave me a look as if she regretted her want of confidence in me--making all sorts of mistakes. The General's tea was sweetened twice over, and the Captain found he had no sugar in his, a defect which he remedied as furtively as possible, whispering to me--

"Our Major's got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning. We must take care, or the orders of the day will be severe. She----"

"But Francis! What's the matter with you today; the eggs are too hard,"

growled the General.

"What a pity, just when we have a visitor," sighed the Captain; "otherwise they are boiled to perfection."

"By the way, Leopold, what hour is your carriage ordered for?" interposed the General.

"Well, uncle, I left it to the Captain," was my reply.

As we spoke a carriage drove up, and Francis rose from the table to look out of the window.

"It is indeed too early," said the General, reproachfully, to Rolf.

"Wait a moment, Excellency," replied Rolf, with a roguish twinkle of the eye; and he walked over to the window where Francis stood. Then with a loud laugh he said, "The Jonker left the matter in my hands, and perceiving he would like to stay a little longer with us, I simply sent off to Zutphen for his luggage."

It was now my turn to speak, and I asked Francis if she would keep me there a few days longer. Her answer, however, was in the negative.

"Leave at once; it is better for both of us."

In the meantime the Captain, like a worthy major-domo, had not only a.s.sisted in bringing in my box, but also a number of packages, bottles, tins, &c., which he spread over the table, and clapping the General on the shoulder, as he said--

"Now, what says your Excellency; have I not made a splendid foraging party?"

"No more of your 'Excellency' and insolent nonsense," burst out Francis, her eyes striking fire and her cheeks burning with rage. "You clearly forget, you d----d rascal, that you are an inferior; otherwise you would not dare to act like this. Bless my soul, what a foolish throwing away of money is this--perdrix rouges, pate-de-foie-gras, all kinds of fish in jelly, all kinds of preserved fruit. Why, it looks as if you were going to start a business here. Why have you brought all these useless dainties again?" And she struck the table with her clenched fist till the pots and bottles danced again. "The General ought to turn you out of doors; and he would if his tongue and sense of honour had not grown dull."

"Francis, Francis!" murmured Von Zwenken in a pitiful tone.

"No, grandfather," she continued, more loudly and rudely, "it is a shame, and if you had the least fort.i.tude left you would put a stop to such extravagance."

"Major, Major!" interposed Rolf, deprecatingly.

"Silence, you miserable epicure--I am no longer your major; I have had enough of your quasi-pleasantry. If I had my will all this should be changed. But I have lost my authority; you let me talk----"

"Scream, you mean," corrected Von Zwenken, with a quivering voice.

"And you go on just the same," resumed Francis, pitching her voice still higher. "But I will not suffer you to take such liberties any longer; and if grandfather does not call you to order, I will myself put you out of doors, and all your delicacies with you."

"For heaven's sake, Francis, calm yourself," said Von Zwenken; "remember that Jonker van Zonshoven is a witness of your unseemly conduct."

"All the better. The Jonker chooses to become our guest, and he shall see and know into what a mean and miserable a household he has entered. I will put no blind before his eyes."

"There is, however, a difference between trying to blind people, and tearing off the bandages from the sores in this way, Miss Mordaunt,"

I replied, with emphasis.