The Star-Gazers Part 50

"No, sir, I have not got a good haul of toadstools to-day; but I have unearthed a few truffles. Should you like a dish for dinner?"

"Thanks, no. Not coming my way, I suppose?"

"No," said the major. "I think I shall trudge back."

"Ho!" exclaimed Rolph. "Well, then, I'll say _ta-ta_, till dinner-time;" and he went off at a good swinging pace.

"Almost looks as if they were watching me," muttered the young officer, as he trudged on. "Tchah! no! The old boys wouldn't do that, either of them;" and he turned into one of the thickest portions of the wood.

The major kept on rubbing his little steel trowel till long after it was dry, and then slowly sheathed it, as if it were a sword, before going thoughtfully on hunting up various specimens of the singular plants that he made his study.

"It's very curious," he mused, "very. Women are unmistakably enigmas, and I suppose that things must take their course. Bless me! I must want some of his training. It's very warm."

He stopped, took out his handkerchief, a genuine Indian bandanna, that he had brought home himself years ago, and now very soft and pleasant to the touch, but decidedly the worse for wear. He wiped his face, took off his hat, and had a good dab at his forehead, and then, after a few minutes' search round the bole of a huge beech, whose bark was ornamented with patches of lovely cream and grey lichens, he stopped short to look at a great broad b.u.t.tress-like root, which spread itself in so tempting a way that it suggested a comfortable garden seat, a great favourite of the major's. Then, with a smile of satisfaction, the old man sat down, shuffled himself about a little, and finally found it so agreeable, with his back resting against the tree, that he fell into a placid state of musing on the various specimens he had collected; from them he began to think of his niece, then of Lucy Alleyne, and then of Rolph, returning to his niece by a natural sequence, and then thinking extremely deeply of nothing.

It was wonderfully quiet out there in the woods. Now and then a bird chirped, and the harsh caw of a rook, softened by distance, was heard.

Anon there came a tap on the ground, as if something had fallen from high up in the big tree, and then, after a pause, there was a rustle and swishing about of twigs and leaves, as something bounded from bough to bough, ran lightly along the bigger branches, and finally stopped, gazing with bright, dark eyes at the sleeping intruder. The latter made no sign, so after a while, the squirrel gave its beautiful, bushy tail a few twitches, uttered a low, impatient sound that resembled the chopping of wood on a block, and then scurried down the bole of the tree, picked up something, and ran off.

Soon after a rabbit came cantering among the leaves, sat up, raising it ears stiffly above its head, drooped its fore paws, and stared in turn at the sleeper, till, gaining confidence from his motionless position, it played about, ran round, gave two or three leaps from the ground, and then proceeded to nibble at various succulent herbs that grew just outside the drip from the branches of the beech.

The rabbit disappeared in turn, and after picking up a worm that had slipped out of the ground, consequent upon the rabbit having given a few scratches, in one place, a round-eyed robin flitted to a low, bare twig of the beech, and sat inspecting the major, as if he were one of the children lost in the wood, and it was necessary to calculate how many leaves it would take to cover him before the task was commenced.

The delicious, scented silence of the wood continued for long enough, and then closely following each other, with a peculiarly silent flight, half-a-dozen grey birds came down a green arcade straight for the great beech, where one of them, with vivid blue edges to its wings, all lined with black, and a fierce black pair of moustachios, set up its loose, speckled, warm grey crest, and uttered a most demonically harsh cry of "_schah-tchah-tchah_!" taking flight at once, followed by its companions, giving vent to the same harsh scream in reply, and making the major start from his nap, spring up, and stare about.

"Jays!" he cried. "Bless my soul, I must have been asleep."

He pulled out his watch, glanced at it, muttered something about "a good hour," which really was under the mark, and then, after a glance at his specimens and a re-arrangement of his creel, he started to trudge back to the Hall, but stopped and hesitated.

"Too far that way," he said. "I'll try the road and the common."

He glanced at the tiny pocket compa.s.s attached to his watch-chain, and started off once more in a fresh direction, one which he knew would bring him out on the road near Lindham. The path he soon found was one evidently rarely used, and deliciously soft and mossy to his feet, as, refreshed by his nap, he went steadily on, following the windings till he stopped short wonderingly, surprised by eye and ear, for as he went round a sudden turn it was to find himself within a yard or two of a girl seated on the mossy ground, her arms clasping her knees, and her face bent down upon them, sobbing as if her heart would break.

"My good girl," cried the chivalrous major eagerly.

Before he could say more, the woman's head was raised, so that in the glance he obtained he saw that she was young, dark and handsome, in spite of her red and swollen eyes, dishevelled, dark hair, and countenance generally disfigured by a pa.s.sionate burst of crying.

For a moment the girl seemed about to bound up and run; but she checked the impulse, clasped her knees once more, and hid her face upon them.

"Why, I ought to know your face," said the major. "Mr Rolph's keeper's daughter, if I am not mistaken?"

There was no reply, only a closer hiding of the face, and a shiver.

"Can I do anything for you?" said the major kindly. "Is anything the matter?"

"No. Go away!" cried the girl in low, m.u.f.fled tones.

"But you are in trouble."

"Go away!" cried the girl fiercely; and this she reiterated so bitterly that the major shrugged his shoulders and moved off a step or two.

"Are you sure I cannot a.s.sist you?" said the major, hesitating about leaving the girl in her trouble.

"Go away, I tell you."

"Well then, will you tell me where to find the Lindham road?"

For answer she averted her head from him and pointed in one direction.

This he followed, found the road and the open common, coming out close to a cottage to which he directed his steps in search of a cup of water.

The door was half open, and as soon as his steps approached, an old woman's sharp voice exclaimed,--

"Ah, you've come back then, you hussy! Who was that came and called you out, eh?"

"You are making a mistake," said the major quietly. "I came to ask if I could have a gla.s.s of water?"

"Oh yes, come in, whoever you are, if you ar'n't afraid to see an ugly old woman lying in bed. I thought it was my grandchild. Who are you?"

"I come from Brackley," said the major, smiling down at the crotchety old thing in the bed.

"Do you? oh, then I know you. Your one of old Sir John Day's boys. Be you the one who went sojering?"

"Yes, I'm the one," said the major, smiling.

"Ah, you've growed since then. My master pointed you out to me one day on your pony. Yes, to be sure, you was curly-headed then. There, you can take some water; it's in the brown pitcher, and yonder's a mug. It was fresh from the well two hours ago. That gal had just fetched it when some one throwed a stone at the door, and she went out to see who threw it, she said. Ah, she don't cheat me, a hussy. She knowed, and I mean to know. It was some chap, that's who it was, some chap--Caleb Kent maybe--and I'm not going to have her come pretending to do for me, and be running after gipsy chaps."

"No, you must take care of the young folks," said the major. "What beautiful water!"

"Yes, my master dug that well himself, down to the stone, and it's beautiful water. Have another mug? That's right. You needn't give me anything for it without you like; but a shilling comes in very useful to get a bit o' tea. I often wish we could grow tea in one's own garden."

"It would be handy," said the major. "There's half-a-crown for you, old lady. It's a shame that you should not have your bit of tea.

Good-bye."

"Good-bye to you, and thank you kindly," cried the old woman; "and if you see that s.l.u.t of a girl just you send her on to me."

"I will," he said. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye," shrieked the old woman; and as the major pa.s.sed out of the gate, the shrill voice came after him, "Mind you send her on if you see her."

The words reached a second pair of ears, those of Judith, who flushed up hot and angry as she found herself once more in the presence of the major.

"You've been telling her about me," she cried fiercely. "It's cowardly; it's cruel."

She stood up before him so flushed and handsome that the major felt as it were the whole of her little story.

"No," he said quietly, "I have not told your grandmother about you; she has been telling me."

With an angry, indignant look the girl swept by him and entered the cottage.

"Poor la.s.s, she is very handsome," said the major to himself, "and it seems as if her bit of life romance is not going so smoothly as it should. Hah! that was a capital drop of water; it gives one life.