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A South-Sea Siren

Chapter XXVI

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Chapter XXVI

It was dawn when Raleigh awoke from a short and fitful sleep. The fire had gone out, and inside the dilapidated hovel all was squalid and dreary. Some broken pieces of furniture, smashed in the encounter of the previous night, were strewed about the floor; everything was upset or in disorder, and a pall of gloom hung over the place.

A chilly draught poured through the cracked window and made the lonely occupant shiver as he sat up on the stretcher, rubbing his eyes and looking hopelessly around him. Outside, the fog still hung heavily over the gully, and clouded the surrounding scene in hazy obscurity.

Raleigh's first care was to look after his obstreperous patient, and he found him sunk in a profound slumber, with laboured breathing, and, to all appearances, utterly prostrated. There seemed to be no reason to fear any sudden awakening in the present case. Raleigh's watch had been damaged during the late scuffle; it had stopped, and he could form no idea of the time of day. This caused him much uneasiness. He set about lighting a fire, put on the kettle, and then endeavoured to tidy up a little the disordered apartment.

He soon became, after partaking of an early cup of tea, somewhat more composed in mind; but his nervous system had received a violent shock, of which he still felt the effects. He still shuddered under some undefined dread; he continued to hear ominous sounds in the air; and sometimes fancied he saw shadows flitting about the room. His pulse beat hard and fast and he felt in a hot fever. ‘Another night like the last,’ he muttered to himself, ‘and I shall have a fit of delirium myself.’ The dreary hours passed on, but no one appeared on the scene. Tom Muster seemed to have fallen into a state of collapse. Raleigh became extremely impatient, for he had important business to transact on that particular day, and to attend a meeting of the District Council. He discovered with some concern that he carried in his pocket the key of the council chamber, and that the board room would be actually closed to its lawful occupants unless he hastened back to the township to be in attendance. At the same time he felt very uneasy at the idea of leaving the hut without being relieved from his charge, as it might be dangerous to absent himself from his patient, even for a few minutes. He was pinned to his miserable post, and became every moment more and more fretful and anxious, until at last he worked himself into a page 290 fever of suspense. Although he could not rightly tell the hour on account of the fog, yet he felt convinced that the day was already well advanced. There was no means of ascertaining, for nobody resided in the near neighbourhood, and there was no way of sending for information.

He paced up and down the pathway in front of the cottage, giving ear to every sound, and straining his sight through the mist, until at last in a paroxysm of impatience he could stand it no longer, and he rushed off to the adjoining paddock for his horse. When he had groomed and saddled his steed and was ready for a start, he went inside to have a final look at his charge, who he found lying perfectly still and, to all appearances, in a state of torpor. The opiate, administered the previous evening in strong doses, still held him in a firm grasp. ‘There does not seem much likelihood of his awaking for the next twelve hours,’ muttered Raleigh, ‘if, indeed, he awakes at all. At any rate, he must take his chance. I have done my best for him—a great deal more than he deserves. I only undertook to look after him for one night, and under a solemn engagement of being relieved the first thing in the morning. The responsibility no longer rests with me. I will hasten to Dovecot and send some one to take my place—remain here any longer, I cannot.’

And having thus settled it with his conscience, but not without serious misgivings, he mounted his horse and rode off at a hard gallop towards the home-station.

When he arrived there he found the place seemingly deserted. He rang the hall bell, but no one came to the door; he hallooed about the premises, but got no response. The stable doors were open as before, but there were no horses in the stalls; the kitchen fire, in an outhouse, was smouldering, but the cook was nowhere to be found.

Raleigh became alarmed at this extraordinary state of things; he fancied that some unexpected or disastrous event must have taken place, and he decided to look through the house. So he ran up the outside stairs that led up to the balcony, and went into the drawing-room, which he found to be empty. Then he proceeded to Mrs Wylde's private apartment and knocked discreetly at the door, when a feeble voice called to him to come in. He entered.

The room was darkened and in much disorder, but he could see that the lady of the house was in bed, and apparently in a weak and ailing state. She looked startled and rather frightened at his appearance, as if she had been suddenly roused from sleep: then she page 291 beckoned to him to come near to her, and seized his hand with nervous trepidation.

‘Oh, Richard!’ she exclaimed, in tones of violent distress, ‘what has happened? Is it all over with my poor brother? Your promised me not to leave him unattended. The doctor called here late last night and told me that I might expect the worst. Tell me—tell me what has happened!’

‘Calm yourself,’ replied the other, as he sat down by the bedside and took her hand. ‘Calm yourself. Tom is all right. He gave us a good deal of trouble last night, but I have just left him in a profound sleep, and the fever seems to have subsided. Sleep is what he wanted, and sleep alone could save him. But he is quite deserted in the hut. You never sent any one to relieve me, as you promised. I waited till I could wait no longer. It is a shame that I should be treated so.’

‘Why, it is quite early!’ she exclaimed excitedly. ‘It can't be eight o'clock yet, and I have been up all the night, and nearly distracted. Poor Susy insisted on leaving for her mother's at daybreak. She had been very ill, but I let her go, and of course I had to send our man John and the trap with her. Malcolm, the shepherd, never came to the homestead last night; and I sent Maggie over to the woolshed an hour ago to tell him to let everything else go, and to start for the creek hut immediately. He should be there before this, and I wonder you did not cross him on the way. The cook gave notice last week, and marched off yesterday before I could find some one to take her place, leaving me in the lurch, at this dreadful time too. The commodore is expected back this afternoon, everything is in a hopeless muddle, and I am utterly knocked up. I could stand it no longer, and went to bed and let everything go. There's nobody about, and I don't know what's going on. Oh! Richard, you shouldn't have left Tom alone; I hope to God that no harm will befall him. You gave me your word that you would not leave him until help arrived, and I relied upon you. My poor brother, to be abandoned in such a place and at such a moment!’

‘And this is all the thanks I get,’ answered the other, reproachfully, ‘for risking my life to serve you, for I had a near squeak of being murdered by that furious madman last night. I had no idea what time it was, as my watch had stopped; but, as I told you yesterday, I could not stay there this morning. Well, good-bye, for I must be gone. You need not fret yourself about Tom; he will be all right again, until the next outburst, for he has as many lives as a cat, and really deserves no consideration. It is solely on account of his poor sick wife and yourself that I concerned myself about him.’

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‘Oh! Richard, don't go! For pity's sake don't leave me like that. I do thank you with all my heart for what you have done. You are so good, so kind, so noble, so generous. Forgive me!’ She seized his hand, and with a passionate impulse pressed it to her lips. Raleigh tried to withdraw it, but she held him fast.

‘No!’ she cried vehemently, ‘you shall not go till I have told you all, if I have to confess it on my knees. You shall know what I, too, have suffered for you—for you alone. If you only knew, I am sure you would forgive me.’

She was sitting up in the bed, clad only in a thin nightdress, which was all open at the neck and displayed much of her white shoulders and the soft outlines of her heaving bosom, over which her long tresses fell in wild disorder. Her eyes were full of tears, her lips quivering with emotion, her whole being strangely excited.

‘Do be calm,’ he exclaimed nervously. ‘Don't talk about these things. The doctor will be here presently, and he must not find you like this. Shall I call Maggie?’

‘Maggie cannot be back yet,’ she cried piteously. ‘There is no one about the place—not a soul! Oh! it is dreadful, and I shall go distracted. You must not leave me like this. Say you will not leave me like this, Richard!’

‘I certainly will not go until some one comes,’ he said to pacify her. ‘But you must lie down quietly, cover yourself up and be calm. There, it will be all right, only do be quiet.’

‘But you also have forsaken me. You, too, have turned against me. I have no friends left now—no, not one. If you only knew how miserable I have been at the thought of having lost you.’

‘If you had lost me, Celia,’ he replied incautiously, ‘I should not be here now. I came to you the moment you sent for me. I forsook everything at your call. You well know that I love you still!’

She gave a faint cry of joy. She answered him with a look, but it was a look so intense, so beaming with delightful surprise, so melting in tenderness, that he felt himself suddenly overpowered, magnetised, and drawn towards her by an irresistible attraction. He clasped her yielding form in his arms and imprinted a lingering kiss on her lips. All was overcome, all was forgotten in that passionate embrace. She repulsed him gently, she struggled to disengage herself. He released her with a stammering of excuses, with a renewal of fond protestations. She upbraided him with mild reproaches, then forgave him with tears and smiles, then bade him be gone while she held him to her.

A gust of wind blew open the door; she asked him to close it again page 293 and make it fast; the bright sunshine shone through the window and dazzled her eyes; she directed him to draw down the blind. Then he brought a stool to the bedside, and, crouching in lowly posture upon it, with his head resting on her pillow, her hands clasped tightly in his, he listened, oblivious of all else, to the murmur of her faltering voice, while he muttered a tender response to her soft appeals for sympathy and affection.

For how long, nobody knows. She was slumbering on the bed in blissful repose, with her face towards him, while he, too, was fast asleep on the lowly footstool, and reclining against the bed, when they were suddenly awakened by loud and strange noises below stairs. Then there was the sound of shrill voices, a pattering of feet on the steps, and a violent rattling at the door.

Overcome by fatigue as he was, and still stupefied by the effects of the dreadful vigil of the previous night, Raleigh could scarcely realise his compromising position, or gather his scattered senses together, before a heavy impact from outside burst open the door, and several shrieking people rushed into the room.

They were led by an excited and fierce-looking woman; a Mistress Malcolm—a sort of Scotch virago, and the wife of the shepherd who had been despatched that same morning to take charge of Tom Muster at the Creek hut. She had just arrived in hot haste from the Woolshed, and in a breathless condition, to impart to her mistress a dreadful piece of news.

Mrs Malcolm was a strong-minded person, with carrotty hair, ferretty eyes, a voluble tongue, and strict notions of decorum. Moreover she bore anything but good-will towards Mrs Wylde.

She was evidently much shocked at the sight which met her gaze on thus forcing an entrance into the bedroom, and she was not backward in expressing her surprise in some forcible broad Scotch. The people who accompanied her, struck with confusion, thought it best to beat a hasty retreat from the apartment, but the comments that were made outside were not very complimentary to the inmates.

At the first alarm Raleigh had bounded to his feet, dazed and bewildered; Mrs Wylde, awaking with a start, and being of a hysterical nature, uttered a fearful cry, and clung frantically to her companion, with her half-draped figure exposed on the bed, and her arms tightly clasped round his neck. And so they remained for a moment, confused and confounded, and apparently unconscious of the damaging aspect of the situation, while Mrs Malcolm with a forbidding look, and in page 294 harsh terms, informed them of the disastrous tidings. These were to the effect that her husband and a boy had just returned from the hut to report that Tom Muster had escaped and was nowhere to be found. The two, she said, had searched high and low and could discover no trace of him, but a tramp who they had met, had related having seen a naked man run along the riverbank and disappear over a steep cliff. The alarm had been given, a messenger had been sent off to inform the police, and a party had started to drag the water-holes in the riverbed. There could be no doubt but that the unfortunate man had perished somewhere, and had probably been drowned.

At the conclusion of this harrowing narrative Mrs Wylde uttered a loud shriek, threw herself on the floor and went into a fit; little Maggie rushed upon the scene, weeping copiously, but at the sight of Raleigh she held back, blushed crimson, and gave him a look full of indignant reproach. Fortunately, just at that moment the doctor happened to arrive on the scene, and, as he ordered the room to be cleared, Raleigh was able to effect his escape unnoticed in the general confusion. He was distracted with anxiety, and bewildered with excitement; he ran down the stairs to the place where he had tied his horse to one of the verandah posts, but only to find fragments of his bridle there. The animal had broken loose and escaped. There was no assistance to be procured at the station, in consequence of the commotion occasioned by the news of the disaster. The wildest confusion prevailed everywhere. Raleigh, being sorely pressed for time, ran about the adjoining paddock looking for his steed, but all in vain. By this he lost a solid hour, and he was nearly giving up the search in despair when it struck him to look in the stable, where he found the brute comfortably installed and feeding leisurely in the manger. To seize on another bridle—the first he could lay his hands upon; to mount and gallop off, was then the work of a few minutes, but it was already getting late in the day and Sunnydowns was six miles off.

Meanwhile a rather comical incident was taking place at the council chamber, where the councillors had gravely congregated for business. They had come from different parts of the district, and some of them from pretty long distances; and they were intent on municipal affairs, which at that particular time were in a bad way, but they found no secretary in waiting for them, and the place securely locked up.

The members were excluded even from their own board room, and they had, with an infinite loss of prestige, to stand at ease in the porch, or to kick their heels about the outside premises, while keenly watched page 295 by a crowd of small boys that had been attracted to the spot by such an unusual occurrence.

After the first astonishment at such an unlooked-for proceeding had subsided, the worthy civic functionaries began to realise the full sense of the indignity inflicted upon them, and to resent it accordingly. The conduct of the unfortunate clerk of the council became the theme for some very severe comments. He had latterly fallen off in grace, and drifted out of favour with several of the members, for no particular reason or fault of his own, but apparently because he was no longer popular.

Possibly, it was merely the usual reaction that had taken place after all the fuss that had been made over his appointment, and the exaggerated praise that had been lavished upon him in the first instance, possibly it was instigated by the scandal that had been lately raised about him.

The Councillors were in an angry mood which soon found vent in threats and reproaches. The chairman, who was a sensible, good-natured man, and very partial to Raleigh, tried his best to smooth over matters, and he attributed the contretemps to some accident or pardonable oversight. He invited his fellow councillors to adjourn to the adjacent hotel for refreshments, and suggested that they might hold their meeting there.

Unfortunately for this kindly proposal two of the members were rabid teetotalers, and they flatly refused to cross the bar of a public-house. So, after waiting a little longer, there was nothing for it but to disperse, and to await future explanations from the absent official before pronouncing his condemnation.

Just at that moment a stockrider galloped into the little township, making a great dust, and with a sensational account of the disappearance of Tom Muster, his supposed death, and the discovery of his missing guardian in a certain lady's bed-chamber.

The news spread like wild-fire; every incident was greedily seized upon, and distorted or magnified until all the elements of a shocking tragedy and disgraceful scandal in high life were fully evolved and spread out in gaudy colours before a gaping public. The councillors, who received the news in its first thrilling outburst, were shocked and indignant; they vowed vengeance on their delinquent officer, and one of them gave verbal notice of a motion for their next meeting for his immediate dismissal.

Hardly had they left the site, and before some of them had got beyond the limits of the township, than Raleigh on his foaming steed page 296 dashed up to the council chambers, but only to find the place deserted. He was greeted with a round of derisive cheers by the group of small boys who had been watching the proceedings and who had fully grasped the situation.

The unfortunate young man found himself suddenly an object of evil remark; he noticed himself being pointed at by passers-by; he overheard indignant murmurs that followed on his footsteps. It had been a market-day, the streets were thronged, and wherever he went people turned to glare at him or to jeer. He had purposed going to the Royal Mail Hotel to obtain some refreshment, for he had not tasted food all that day, and to pour out his griefs to the sympathising ear of his amiable friend Mrs McDonald, but he shrank from contact with the crowd that had gathered round the place where his name, he well knew, was being freely mentioned. So he slunk away by a back lane to his lonely residence and there shut himself up in miserable solitude.

The evening wore drearily on. The whole disastrous occurrence had been so sudden, so overwhelming, that Raleigh felt stunned and quite unnerved by it. He could hardly bring himself to realise what had actually taken place.

He did not consider himself to blame, yet he could not but apprehend that serious consequences might ensue. His official position might be jeopardised, his future prospects might be ruined. He sat in blank dismay, reviewing in his mind the events of the day, and wondering in what way he might be held accountable for them.

He indignantly repudiated all responsibility for the tragical ending, but he knew that a measure of popular odium would attach to his conduct; he quite looked forward to be misrepresented and defamed, and he bitterly regretted the episode with Mrs Wylde.

For the outside world generally he cared little, but what distressed him most was the thought of the damaging report which was certain to reach the ears of Miss Seymour. He felt overwhelmed with confusion at the idea of the scandalous manner in which his misdoings would be represented to her virtuous mind; he trembled inwardly at the prospect of losing at one stroke all that he valued most on earth—her esteem and affection.

While he remained plunged in these painful reflections and the darkness of approaching night was setting in, he heard a subdued tap at the door of the cottage.

It was slowly opened, and in trod an individual enveloped in a long mantle, with a broad hat pulled down over his eyes and the stealthy page 297 step of a conspirator in a pantomime. The intruder, after cautiously spying around him, closed and locked the door, then slowly unwound his huge wrapper, uncovered his head, and revealed to Raleigh's astonished gaze the kindly and familiar features of the chairman of the District Council.

Raleigh could not repress a smile at this unexpected and mysterious apparition; but when the visitor advanced a few steps on tip-toe, looking suspiciously around him, and with a finger on his lips, the absurdity of the situation was too much for the other's equanimity, and he fairly burst out laughing.

The chairman seemed greatly taken aback at such a display of levity on such a momentous occasion. ‘This is no laughing matter,’ he muttered in a low voice, and with a grave shake of the head. He then seated himself like some one about to make a most solemn communication.

‘It is a very disagreeable and unfortunate affair,’ replied Raleigh, testily, ‘but I don't see that I am much concerned in it.’

‘The cry is everywhere that you should be criminally prosecuted, that's all!’

‘For what?’

‘For manslaughter!’

Raleigh jumped to his feet with an oath.

‘Are people gone stark, raving mad?’ he exclaimed. ‘In what way am I to be held responsible?’

The chairman put on a most magisterial air. ‘I am a justice of the peace,’ he said, ‘and of course I have had to study the law. I have told them that no criminal action can lie. You did not incur any legal responsibility whatever; it is not shown that you neglected any duty you had undertaken; and, thirdly, it is not proved that any serious result has followed. The fellow is only supposed to have come to grief. Under these circumstances I don't even see how you can be sued for damages. Still, you know, English law is peculiar—men have been hanged for less.’

Raleigh merely shrugged his shoulders. ‘We all know,’ he replied, ‘that “the law is an ass”.’

‘Still,’ continued the other, impressively, ‘from a moral point of view——’

‘Where the deuce,’ interrupted Raleigh, impatiently, ‘does the moral come in, I should like to know? The facts are simply as follows:—I was implored on the score of friendship to mind that drunken reprobate, during the night, in a fit of the horrors, as nobody else could be induced to stay with him. His wife was utterly broken down, seriously page 298 ill, and frightened out of her wits; Mrs Wylde was in great distress and quite helpless; the commodore was away, and none of the neighbours would lend a hand. Out of pure good-nature I consented to remain in the hut for one night, but on the express condition that I should be relieved from that irksome duty the first thing in the morning. After a frightful night, cooped up with a dangerous madman, I get him off into a profound sleep with some doses of morphia that would have killed a horse; and in the morning, as no one came to take my place, and I could not remain any longer, I rode to the home station to ask for help. On arriving there I was informed that a man and a boy had already started for the hut. The patient was therefore clearly off my hands—I had done all that I undertook to do, and a great deal more than any one else could be found willing to do. Now it appears that these chaps did not go direct to the hut; they must have lingered a long time on the way, and when they did arrive they report that they found the bird flown. Goodness only knows what has become of him. I hope he is not drowned in a water-hole, as they seem to think; although really, from the point of view of his family, the district, and the country at large, it would be about the best thing that could happen to him. Last night the doctor about gave him up, and he has been trying to kill himself for the past five years.’

‘What you tell me,’ answered the chairman, sententiously, ‘puts rather a different face on the matter, but I don't think it will go down with the public. There's an awful amount of popular indignation on the subject. Besides, there's another question—a rather delicate question for you, perhaps—What were you doing while all this took place?’

Raleigh reddened a little. ‘I don't see how that concerns the public,’ he replied gruffly.

‘Possibly not; but it concerns the members of the District Council, who were kept waiting in the cold outside their own office, and had to go home without holding a board meeting. They didn't like it.’

‘I am sorry, very sorry for the contretemps. It was quite an accident. It can be satisfactorily explained. There were circumstances——’

‘My dear boy,’ replied the other good-naturedly, ‘don't misunderstand me. I am not going to preach morality, and that sort of thing. Although I am now very much married, and have to keep up a great show of respectability, yet, you know, I have been a young man myself, and had many an escapade. I have been up to all sorts of larks in my time. Besides, I can quite imagine how you were situated; a ticklish position—very ticklish!’

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‘Nothing of the sort! You are altogether mistaken. It is a scandalous shame that such yarns should go about.’

‘Tut! tut! Don't make such a fuss about it to me, and don't call out so loud—why, one could almost overhear you outside. I have come to you as a friend; I have stood by you as well as I can, and you can confide in me. It's no use mincing matters, for it's the talk of the whole neighbourhood. It is currently reported that you were discovered sleeping with the lady.’

‘And don't you know, sir, that Report is a liar? It's false, I tell you again.’

‘But you were fast asleep?’

‘I admit to that. There is no harm in being asleep.’

‘That depends,’ remarked the chairman, dubiously. ‘In itself sleep is harmless enough; but you were sleeping during office hours, which is a grave dereliction of duty. Besides, in this case——’

‘The lady was asleep too,’ continued the other, excitedly. ‘She was utterly exhausted, and so was I.’

‘That is rather suspicious. She was in bed.’

‘Yes.’

‘And you?’

‘I was by her side.’

‘Lying down.’

‘Not’

‘Reclining, then?’

‘Well, I admit to reclining.’

The chairman shook his head. ‘It looks uncommon bad,’ he remarked, gravely, ‘and in these cases appearances go for everything.’

‘But, I assure you——’ pleaded the other.

‘Please don't! I will take it as read. I have been through the mill, my dear boy. I wasn't quite a Joseph at your age. There! I could tell you a story when I was travelling in Wales, some twenty years ago. Quite a sensational little episode, and such a lark! I was a wild young spark in those days. It was like this——’

‘Oh! you told me that yarn before’, interrupted the other, impatiently. ‘Capital! I know, but I am in no laughing mood. You must consider the lady's character.’

‘The lady's character! The weakest part in the whole case. That's just it. You know very well how she is talked about.’

‘She is quite innocent, as far as I am concerned.’

‘Of course; but people will talk, you know. As I said before, appearances go for everything, and putting two and two together——’

‘Well?’

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‘You are seriously compromised, and in the present humour of the council it will go badly with you.’

‘And am I to be sacrificed to a scandalous outcry?’ exclaimed the other, vehemently. ‘To be condemned unheard, untried? To lose my good name, to forfeit my position, to be ruined for life over a pack of lies! Let them dare to formulate a charge against me, and I will undertake to prove my innocence, if I fight it out to the bitter end!’

‘They won't give you the chance,’ said the other. ‘You see there are wheels within wheels. As you know, the District Council is in financial difficulties. The grant-in-aid is exhausted, and nothing remains but to levy rates—a very unpopular business! Retrenchment is the order of the day—some one will have to go, and you just come in as a convenient scapegoat. I have done my best for you, but I am in a hopeless minority. If it had not been for this infernal business we might have tided over the evil hour, but as it is it is hopeless. If you don't retire of your own accord—the most dignified proceeding—a notice of motion has been tabled for the next meeting that your services be dispensed with. There is no redress. It is a great pity. I am sorry for you, but que voulez vous?’ And the chairman, with a grievous look, set about quietly filling his pipe.

There was a long silence. Then Raleigh sullenly rose from his seat, went to his desk, took out a sheet of foolscap, and in the regular official style wrote out his formal resignation.

‘Will that do?’ he remarked, as he handed the paper to his chief. ‘I trust I shall not be required to attend any more at the office.’

‘No!’ replied the chairman solemnly, as he folded up the document. ‘I will save you any further annoyance. I will fix everything up. It's a bad job, but the best way is to meet it like a man. After all, you are young, clever, accomplished, and with the world before you. I don't see that you need take it much to heart. It is probably all for the best.’

‘Let us hope so,’ replied Raleigh, moodily, ‘but to me just now it seems to spell Ruin.’

The chairman lit his pipe, shook hands gravely, and made slowly for the door. Then he turned again, for a parting word of advice.

‘My dear boy,’ he said with sympathy, ‘I don't say, keep away from the girls. Bless the little dears, they have afforded me plenty of fun in my day, and young men will be young men. We know all about that; but for goodness’ sake, and if you want to keep out of further trouble, don't get entangled with any more married women. They manage these things better in France, but here it doesn't do. Between ourselves, that's why I got married. And so, good-night!’