The Mystery of Cloomber | Page 8

We all sat gazing at this announcement for some moments in silent
astonishment. Then Esther and I, tickled by the absurdity of the thing,
burst out laughing, but my father pulled the ponies' heads round, and
drove home with compressed lips and the cloud of much wrath upon
his brow. I have never seen the good man so thoroughly moved, and I
am convinced that his anger did not arise from any petty feeling of
injured vanity upon his own part, but from the thought that a slight had
been offered to the Laird of Branksome, whose dignity he represented.

CHAPTER IV

OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A GREY HEAD
If I had any personal soreness on account of this family snub, it was a

very passing emotion, and one which was soon effaced from my mind.
It chanced that on the very next day after the episode I had occasion to
pass that way, and stopped to have another look at the obnoxious
placard. I was standing staring at it and wondering what could have
induced our neighbours to take such an outrageous step, when I became
suddenly aware of a sweet, girlish face which peeped out at me from
between the bars of the gate, and of a white hand which eagerly
beckoned me to approach. As I advanced to her I saw that it was the
same young lady whom I had seen in the carriage.
"Mr. West," she said, in a quick whisper, glancing from side to side as
she spoke in a nervous, hasty manner, "I wish to apologise to you for
the indignity to which you and your family were subjected yesterday.
My brother was in the avenue and saw it all, but he is powerless to
interfere. I assure you, Mr. West, that if that hateful thing," pointing up
at the placard, "has given you any annoyance, it has given my brother
and myself far more."
"Why, Miss Heatherstone," said I, putting the matter off with a laugh,
"Britain is a free country, and if a man chooses to warn off visitors
from his premises there is no reason why he should not."
"It is nothing less than brutal," she broke out, with a petulant stamp of
the foot. "To think that your sister, too, should have such a unprovoked
insult offered to her! I am ready to sink with shame at the very
thought."
"Pray do not give yourself one moment's uneasiness upon the subject,"
said I earnestly, for I was grieved at her evident distress. "I am sure that
your father has some reason unknown to us for taking this step."
"Heaven knows he has!" she answered, with ineffable sadness in her
voice, "and yet I think it would be more manly to face a danger than to
fly from it. However, he knows best, and it is impossible for us to judge.
But who is this?" she exclaimed, anxiously, peering up the dark avenue.
"Oh, it is my brother Mordaunt. Mordaunt," she said, as the young man
approached us. "I have been apologising to Mr. West for what

happened yesterday, in your name as well as my own."
"I am very, very glad to have the opportunity of doing it in person,"
said he courteously. "I only wish that I could see your sister and your
father as well as yourself, to tell them how sorry I am. I think you had
better run up to the house, little one, for it's getting near tiffin-time.
No--don't you go Mr. West. I want to have a word with you."
Miss Heatherstone waved her hand to me with a bright smile, and
tripped up the avenue, while her brother unbolted the gate, and, passing
through, closed it again, locking it upon the outside.
"I'll have a stroll down the road with you, if you have no objection.
Have a manilla." He drew a couple of cheroots from his pocket and
handed one to me. "You'll find they are not bad," he said. "I became a
connoisseur in tobacco when I was in India. I hope I am not interfering
with your business in coming along with you?"
"Not at all," I answered "I am very glad to have your company."
"I'll tell you a secret," said my companion. "This is the first time that I
have been outside the grounds since we have been down here."
"And your sister?"
"She has never been out, either," he answered. "I have given the
governor the slip to-day, but he wouldn't half like it if he knew. It's a
whim of his that we should keep ourselves entirely to ourselves. At
least, some people would call it a whim, for my own part I have reason
to believe that he has solid grounds for all