CHAPTER XIX

THE DEVIL AND ALL AT AMERSHAM PLACE

Never did two human creatures get to their feet with more alacrity than

the lawyer and myself. We had locked and barred the main gates of the

citadel; but unhappily we had left open the bath-room sally-port; and

here we found the voice of the hostile trumpets sounding from within,

and all our defences taken in reverse. I took but the time to whisper

Mr. Romaine in the ear: "Here is another tableau for you!" at which he

looked at me a moment with a kind of pathos, as who should say, "Don't

hit a man when he's down." Then I transferred my eyes to my enemy.

He had his hat on, a little on one side: it was a very tall hat, raked

extremely, and had a narrow curling brim. His hair was all curled out in

masses like an Italian mountebank--a most unpardonable fashion. He

sported a huge tippeted overcoat of frieze, such as watchmen wear, only

the inside was lined with costly furs, and he kept it half open to

display the exquisite linen, the many-coloured waistcoat, and the

profuse jewellery of watch-chains and brooches underneath. The leg and

the ankle were turned to a miracle. It is out of the question that I

should deny the resemblance altogether, since it has been remarked by so

many different persons whom I cannot reasonably accuse of a conspiracy.

As a matter of fact, I saw little of it and confessed to nothing.

Certainly he was what some might call handsome, of a pictorial,

exuberant style of beauty, all attitude, profile, and impudence: a man

whom I could see in fancy parade on the grand stand at a race-meeting,

or swagger in Piccadilly, staring down the women, and stared at himself

with admiration by the coal porters. Of his frame of mind at that moment

his face offered a lively if an unconscious picture. He was lividly

pale, and his lip was caught up in a smile that could almost be called a

snarl, of a sheer, arid malignity that appalled me and yet put me on my

mettle for the encounter. He looked me up and down, then bowed and took

off his hat to me.

"My cousin, I presume?" he said.

"I understand I have that honour," I replied.

"The honour is mine," said he, and his voice shook as he said it.

"I should make you welcome, I believe," said I.

"Why?" he inquired. "This poor house has been my home for longer than I

care to claim. That you should already take upon yourself the duties of

host here is to be at unnecessary pains. Believe me, that part would be

more becomingly mine. And, by the way, I must not fail to offer you my

little compliment. It is a gratifying surprise to meet you in the dress

of a gentleman, and to see"--with a circular look upon the scattered

bills--"that your necessities have already been so liberally relieved."

I bowed with a smile that was perhaps no less hateful than his own.

"There are so many necessities in this world," said I. "Charity has to

choose. One gets relieved, and some other, no less indigent, perhaps

indebted, must go wanting."

"Malice is an engaging trait," said he.

"And envy, I think?" was my reply.

He must have felt that he was not getting wholly the better of this

passage at arms; perhaps even feared that he should lose command of his

temper, which he reined in throughout the interview as with a red-hot

curb, for he flung away from me at the word, and addressed the lawyer

with insulting arrogance.

"Mr. Romaine," he said, "since when have you presumed to give orders in

this house?"

"I am not prepared to admit that I have given any," replied Romaine;

"certainly none that did not fall in the sphere of my responsibilities."

"By whose orders, then, am I denied entrance to my uncle's room?" said

my cousin.

"By the doctor's, sir," replied Romaine; "and I think even you will

admit his faculty to give them."

"Have a care, sir," cried Alain. "Do not be puffed up with your

position. It is none so secure, Master Attorney. I should not wonder in

the least if you were struck off the rolls for this night's work, and

the next I should see of you were when I flung you alms at a pothouse

door to mend your ragged elbows. The doctor's orders? But I believe I am

not mistaken! You have to-night transacted business with the Count; and

this needy young gentleman has enjoyed the privilege of still another

interview, in which (as I am pleased to see) his dignity has not

prevented his doing very well for himself. I wonder that you should care

to prevaricate with me so idly."

"I will confess so much," said Mr. Romaine, "if you call it

prevarication. The order in question emanated from the Count himself. He

does not wish to see you."

"For which I must take the word of Mr. Daniel Romaine?" asked Alain.

"In default of any better," said Romaine.

There was an instantaneous convulsion in my cousin's face, and I

distinctly heard him gnash his teeth at this reply; but, to my surprise,

he resumed in tones of almost good-humour:

"Come, Mr. Romaine, do not let us be petty!" He drew in a chair and sat

down. "Understand you have stolen a march upon me. You have introduced

your soldier of Napoleon, and (how, I cannot conceive) he has been

apparently accepted with favour. I ask no better proof than the funds

with which I find him literally surrounded--I presume in consequence of

some extravagance of joy at the first sight of so much money. The odds

are so far in your favour, but the match is not yet won. Questions will

arise of undue influence, of sequestration, and the like: I have my

witnesses ready. I tell it you cynically, for you cannot profit by the

knowledge; and, if the worst come to the worst, I have good hopes of

recovering my own and of ruining you."

"You do what you please," answered Romaine; "but I give it you for a

piece of good advice, you had best do nothing in the matter. You will

only make yourself ridiculous; you will only squander money, of which

you have none too much, and reap public mortification."

"Ah, but there you make the common mistake, Mr. Romaine!" returned

Alain. "You despise your adversary. Consider, if you please, how very

disagreeable I could make myself if I chose. Consider the position of

your _protege_--an escaped prisoner! But I play a great game. I condemn

such petty opportunities."

At this Romaine and I exchanged a glance of triumph. It seemed manifest

that Alain had as yet received no word of Clausel's recapture and

denunciation. At the same moment the lawyer, thus relieved of the

instancy of his fear, changed his tactics. With a great air of

unconcern, he secured the newspaper, which still lay open before him on

the table.

"I think, Monsieur Alain, that you labour under some illusion," said he.

"Believe me, this is all beside the mark. You seem to be pointing to

some compromise. Nothing is further from my views. You suspect me of an

inclination to trifle with you, to conceal how things are going. I

cannot, on the other hand, be too early or too explicit in giving you

information which concerns you (I must say) capitally. Your great-uncle

has to-night cancelled his will, and made a new one in favour of your

cousin Anne. Nay, and you shall hear it from his own lips, if you

choose! I will take so much upon me," said the lawyer, rising. "Follow

me, if you please, gentlemen."

Mr. Romaine led the way out of the room so briskly, and was so briskly

followed by Alain, that I had hard ado to get the remainder of the

money replaced and the despatch-box locked, and to overtake them, even

by running, ere they should be lost in that maze of corridors, my

uncle's house. As it was, I went with a heart divided; and the thought

of my treasure thus left unprotected, save by a paltry lid and lock that

any one might break or pick open, put me in a perspiration whenever I

had the time to remember it. The lawyer brought us to a room, begged us

to be seated while he should hold a consultation with the doctor, and,

slipping out of another door, left Alain and myself closeted together.

Truly he had done nothing to ingratiate himself; his every word had been

steeped in unfriendliness, envy, and that contempt which (as it is born

of anger) it is possible to support without humiliation. On my part, I

had been little more conciliating; and yet I began to be sorry for this

man, hired spy as I knew him to be. It seemed to me less than decent

that he should have been brought up in the expectation of this great

inheritance, and now, at the eleventh hour, be tumbled forth out of the

house door and left to himself, his poverty, and his debts--those debts

of which I had so ungallantly reminded him so short a time before. And

we were scarce left alone ere I made haste to hang out a flag of truce.

"My cousin," said I, "trust me, you will not find me inclined to be your

enemy."

He paused in front of me--for he had not accepted the lawyer's

invitation to be seated, but walked to and fro in the apartment--took a

pinch of snuff, and looked at me while he was taking it with an air of

much curiosity.

"Is it even so?" said he. "Am I so far favoured by fortune as to have

your pity? Infinitely obliged, my cousin Anne! But these sentiments are

not always reciprocal, and I warn you that the day when I set my foot on

your neck, the spine shall break. Are you acquainted with the properties

of the spine?" he asked, with an insolence beyond qualification.

It was too much. "I am acquainted also with the properties of a pair of

pistols," said I, toising him.

"No, no, no!" says he, holding up his finger. "I will take my revenge

how and when I please. We are enough of the same family to understand

each other, perhaps; and the reason why I have not had you arrested on

your arrival, why I had not a picket of soldiers in the first clump of

evergreens, to await and prevent your coming--I, who knew all, before

whom that pettifogger, Romaine, has been conspiring in broad daylight to

supplant me--is simply this: that I had not made up my mind how I was to

take my revenge."

At that moment he was interrupted by the tolling of a bell. As we stood

surprised and listening, it was succeeded by the sound of many feet

trooping up the stairs and shuffling by the door of our room. Both, I

believe, had a great curiosity to set it open, which each, owing to the

presence of the other, resisted; and we waited instead in silence, and

without moving, until Romaine returned and bade us to my uncle's

presence.

He led the way by a little crooked passage, which brought us out in the

sick-room, and behind the bed. I believe I have forgotten to remark that

the Count's chamber was of considerable dimensions. We beheld it now

crowded with the servants and dependants of the house, from the doctor

and the priest to Mr. Dawson and the housekeeper, from Dawson down to

Rowley and the last footman in white calves, the last plump chambermaid

in her clean gown and cap, and the last ostler in a stable waistcoat.

This large congregation of persons (and I was surprised to see how large

it was) had the appearance, for the most part, of being ill at ease and

heartily bewildered, standing on one foot, gaping like zanies, and those

who were in the corners nudging each other and grinning aside. My uncle,

on the other hand, who was raised higher than I had yet seen him on his

pillows, wore an air of really imposing gravity. No sooner had we

appeared behind him than he lifted his voice to a good loudness, and

addressed the assemblage.

"I take you all to witness--can you hear me?--I take you all to witness

that I recognise as my heir and representative this gentleman, whom most

of you see for the first time, the Viscount Anne de Saint-Yves, my

nephew of the younger line. And I take you to witness at the same time

that, for very good reasons known to myself, I have discarded and

disinherited this other gentleman whom you all know, the Viscount de

Saint-Yves. I have also to explain the unusual trouble to which I have

put you all--and, since your supper was not over, I fear I may even say

annoyance. It has pleased M. Alain to make some threats of disputing my

will, and to pretend that there are among your number certain estimable

persons who may be trusted to swear as he shall direct them. It pleases

me thus to put it out of his power and to stop the mouths of his false

witnesses. I am infinitely obliged by your politeness, and I have the

honour to wish you all a very good evening."

As the servants, still greatly mystified, crowded out of the sick-room

door, curtsying, pulling the forelock, scraping with the foot, and so

on, according to their degree, I turned and stole a look at my cousin.

He had borne this crushing public rebuke without change of countenance.

He stood now, very upright, with folded arms, and looking inscrutably at

the roof of the apartment. I could not refuse him at that moment the

tribute of my admiration. Still more so when, the last of the domestics

having filed through the doorway and left us alone with my great-uncle

and the lawyer, he took one step forward towards the bed, made a

dignified reverence, and addressed the man who had just condemned him to

ruin.

"My lord," said he, "you are pleased to treat me in a manner which my

gratitude, and your state, equally forbid me to call in question. It

will be only necessary for me to call your attention to the length of

time in which I have been taught to regard myself as your heir. In that

position I judged it only loyal to permit myself a certain scale of

expenditure. If I am now to be cut off with a shilling as the reward of

twenty years of service, I shall be left not only a beggar, but a

bankrupt."

Whether from the fatigue of his recent exertion, or by a well-inspired

ingenuity of hate, my uncle had once more closed his eyes; nor did he

open them now. "Not with a shilling," he contented himself with

replying; and there stole, as he said it, a sort of smile over his face,

that flickered there conspicuously for the least moment of time, and

then faded and left behind the old impenetrable mask of years, cunning,

and fatigue. There could be no mistake: my uncle enjoyed the situation

as he had enjoyed few things in the last quarter of a century. The fires

of life scarce survived in that frail body; but hatred, like some

immortal quality, was still erect and unabated.

Nevertheless my cousin persevered.

"I speak at a disadvantage," he resumed. "My supplanter, with perhaps

more wisdom than delicacy, remains in the room," and he cast a glance at

me that might have withered an oak tree.

I was only too willing to withdraw, and Romaine showed as much alacrity

to make way for my departure. But my uncle was not to be moved. In the

same breath of a voice, and still without opening his eyes, he bade me

remain.

"It is well," said Alain. "I cannot then go on to remind you of the

twenty years that have passed over our heads in England, and the

services I may have rendered you in that time. It would be a position

too odious. Your lordship knows me too well to suppose I could stoop to

such ignominy. I must leave out all my defence--your lordship wills it

so! I do not know what are my faults; I know only my punishment, and it

is greater than I have the courage to face. My uncle, I implore your

pity: pardon me so far; do not send me for life into a debtors' gaol--a

pauper debtor."

"_Chat et vieux, pardonnez?_" said my uncle, quoting from La Fontaine;

and then, opening a pale-blue eye full on Alain, he delivered with some

emphasis:

"La jeunesse se flatte et croit tout obtenir;

La vieillesse est impitoyable."

The blood leaped darkly into Alain's face. He turned to Romaine and me,

and his eyes flashed.

"It is your turn now," he said. "At least it shall be prison for prison

with the two viscounts."

"Not so, Mr. Alain, by your leave," said Romaine. "There are a few

formalities to be considered first."

But Alain was already striding towards the door.

"Stop a moment, stop a moment!" cried Romaine. "Remember your own

counsel not to despise an adversary."

Alain turned.

"If I do not despise I hate you!" he cried, giving a loose to his

passion. "Be warned of that, both of you."

"I understand you to threaten Monsieur le Vicomte Anne," said the

lawyer. "Do you know, I would not do that. I am afraid, I am very much

afraid, if you were to do as you propose, you might drive me into

extremes."

"You have made me a beggar and a bankrupt," said Alain. "What extreme is

left?"

"I scarce like to put a name upon it in this company," replied Romaine.

"But there are worse things than even bankruptcy, and worse places than

a debtors' gaol."

The words were so significantly said that there went a visible thrill

through Alain; sudden as a sword-stroke, he fell pale again.

"I do not understand you," said he.

"O yes, you do," returned Romaine. "I believe you understand me very

well. You must not suppose that all this time, while you were so very

busy, others were entirely idle. You must not fancy, because I am an

Englishman, that I have not the intelligence to pursue an inquiry. Great

as is my regard for the honour of your house, M. Alain de Saint-Yves, if

I hear of you moving directly or indirectly in this matter, I shall do

my duty, let it cost what it will: that is, I shall communicate the real

name of the Buonapartist spy who signs his letters _Rue Gregoire de

Tours_."

I confess my heart was already almost altogether on the side of my

insulted and unhappy cousin; and if it had not been before, it must have

been so now, so horrid was the shock with which he heard his infamy

exposed. Speech was denied him; he carried his hand to his neckcloth; he

staggered; I thought he must have fallen. I ran to help him, and at that

he revived, recoiled before me, and stood there with arms stretched

forth as if to preserve himself from the outrage of my touch.

"Hands off!" he somehow managed to articulate.

"You will now, I hope," pursued the lawyer, without any change of voice,

"understand the position in which you are placed, and how delicately it

behoves you to conduct yourself. Your arrest hangs, if I may so express

myself, by a hair; and as you will be under the perpetual vigilance of

myself and my agents, you must look to it narrowly that you walk

straight. Upon the least dubiety, I will take action." He snuffed,

looking critically at the tortured man. "And now let me remind you that

your chaise is at the door. This interview is agitating to his

lordship--it cannot be agreeable for you--and I suggest that it need not

be further drawn out. It does not enter into the views of your uncle,

the Count, that you should again sleep under this roof."

As Alain turned and passed without a word or a sign from the apartment,

I instantly followed. I suppose I must be at bottom possessed of some

humanity; at least, this accumulated torture, this slow butchery of a

man as by quarters of rock, had wholly changed my sympathies. At that

moment I loathed both my uncle and the lawyer for their cold-blooded

cruelty.

Leaning over the banisters, I was but in time to hear his hasty

footsteps in that hall that had been crowded with servants to honour

his coming, and was now left empty against his friendless departure. A

moment later, and the echoes rang, and the air whistled in my ears, as

he slammed the door on his departing footsteps. The fury of the

concussion gave me (had one been still wanted) a measure of the turmoil

of his passions. In a sense I felt with him; I felt how he would have

gloried to slam that door on my uncle, the lawyer, myself, and the whole

crowd of those who had been witnesses to his humiliation.