The Toll-Gate Page 9

  Slightly mollified, she said: ‘It seems absurd, but do you suppose Brean’s disappearance may be connected in some way with whatever it is those two are plotting?’

  ‘Certainly I do – though in what way I must own I have not the smallest conjecture! However, it will not do to be applying the principles of commonsense to a situation which we clearly perceive to be something quite out of the ordinary, so do not tell me, ma’am, that it is fantastic to suppose that your cousin and his friend can have anything to do with a gatekeeper!’

  She smiled, but absently, saying, after a moment: ‘I thought I was indulging my fancy only, but – the thing is, Captain Staple, that I am persuaded my cousin is suspicious of you! I don’t know who told him that there was a new gatekeeper at the Crowford pike, but he knows it, and has been asking me who you are, and what has become of Brean.’

  ‘Well, that does not encourage us to think that Brean is working with him,’ John admitted. ‘On the other hand, he might be cutting a sham – making it appear, you see, as though he knew nothing of Brean. Or even being afraid of what Brean may be doing.’

  ‘No, I don’t think it is that,’ she replied, knitting her brows. ‘Coate seems not to care about it. He came into the room when Henry was questioning me, and all he said was that he had fancied you were not the man who had opened to him before, but for his part he had paid very little heed to you.’

  ‘Well, before he is much older he will be paying a great deal of heed to me,’ observed John. ‘However, you were very right not to tell him so! He is too set in his ways, and a surprise will be good for him. For anything we know, of course, he and Brean may have decided to tip Cousin Henry the double. Or – But the possibilities stretch into infinity!’

  ‘Are you funning again?’ she demanded. ‘I collect that you think it all incredible!’

  ‘Not a bit of it! You will allow, however, that in this prosaic age it is certainly unusual to find oneself suddenly in the middle of what promises to be an excellent adventure! I have spent the better part of my life looking for adventure, so you may judge of my delight. The only thing is, I wonder if I was wise to turn myself into a gatekeeper? I can’t but see that it is bound to restrict my movements.’

  ‘I must say, I can’t conceive what should have induced you to do anything so whimsical!’ she said frankly.

  ‘Oh, it wasn’t whimsical!’ he replied. ‘After I had seen you, I had to provide myself with an excuse for remaining at Crowford, and there it was, ready to my hand!’

  She gave a gasp. ‘C-Captain Staple!’

  ‘On the other hand,’ he went on, apparently deaf to this interruption, ‘I could scarcely hope to escape remark, were I to revert to my proper person, and that might put our fine gentlemen on their guard. No: setting the hare’s head against the goose-giblets, things are best as they are – for the present.’

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed uncertainly, stealing a sidelong look at him.

  He urged the cob to a trot again. ‘What I must first discover is the precise nature of Coate’s business here. To tell you the truth, I can’t think what the devil it can be! If this were Lincolnshire, or Sussex, I should be much inclined to suspect the pair of them of being engaged in some extensive smuggling, and of using your house as their headquarters; but this is Derbyshire, and sixty or seventy miles from the coast, I daresay, so that won’t answer.’

  ‘And hiding kegs of brandy in the cellars?’ she asked, laughing. ‘Or perhaps storing them in one of our limestone caverns?’

  ‘A very good notion,’ he approved. ‘But my imagination boggles at the vision of a train of pack ponies being led coolly to and fro, and exciting no more interest than if they were accommodation coaches!’ They had come within sight of Crowford village, and he gave back the reins and the whip into her hands, saying: ‘And we shall excite less interest, perhaps, if you drive, and I sit with my arms folded, groom-fashion.’

  In the event, this precaution was superfluous, since the only two persons to be seen on the village street were a short-sighted old dame, and Mr Sopworthy, who was standing outside the Blue Boar, but seemed to recall something needing his attention, and had disappeared into the house by the time the gig drew abreast of it. Miss Stornaway was still wondering why he had not waited to exchange a greeting with her when she drew up before the toll-gate.

  The Captain alighted; the merchandize was unloaded, and his debts faithfully discharged. Joseph Lydd reported that only strangers had passed the gate during his absence, and got up beside his mistress. The Captain went to hold open the gate, and Miss Stornaway drove slowly forward. Clear of the gate, she pulled up again, for he had released it, and stepped into the road, holding up his hand to her. Hesitating, she transferred the whip to her left hand, and put the right into his. His fingers closed over it strongly, and he held it so for a moment while her eyes searched his face, half in enquiry, half in shy doubt. There was a little smile in his. ‘I meant what I said to you,’ he told her. Then he kissed her hand, and let it go, and with considerably heightened colour she drove on.

  Six

  Mr Lydd, observing these proceedings out of the tail of his eye, preserved silence and a wooden countenance for perhaps two minutes. Then, as the gig, rounding a bend, passed the entrance to a rough lane, leading up to the moors, he gave a discreet cough, and said: ‘Fine young fellow, our new gatekeeper, miss. I disremember when I’ve seen a chap with a better pair of shoulders on him. Quite the gentleman, too – even if he is Ned Brean’s cousin.’

  ‘You know very well that he is not, Joseph,’ said Miss Stornaway calmly. ‘He is a Captain of Dragoon Guards – or he was, until he sold out.’

  ‘A Captain, is he?’ said Joseph, interested. ‘Well, it don’t surprise me, not a bit. He told me himself he was a military man, miss, and that didn’t surprise me neither, him having the look of it. In fact, I suspicioned he might be an officer, on account of the way he’s got with him, which makes one think he’s used to giving his orders, and having ’em obeyed – and no argle-bargle, what’s more!’

  ‘When did he tell you he was a military man?’ demanded Nell.

  Under the accusing glance thrown at him, Mr Lydd became a little disconcerted. He besought his young mistress to keep her eyes on the road.

  ‘Joseph, when has Captain Staple had the opportunity to tell you anything about himself, and why did he?’

  ‘To think,’ marvelled Mr Lydd, ‘that I should have gone and forgotten to mention it to you, missie! I’m getting old, that’s what it is, and things slip me memory, unaccountable-like.’

  ‘If you have been at the toll-house, prying into Captain Staple’s business –’

  ‘No, no!’ said Joseph feebly. ‘Jest dropped in to blow a cloud, being as I was on me way to the Blue Boar! Yesterday evening, it was, and very nice and affable the Captain was. We got talking, and one thing leading to another he jest happened to mention that he was a military man.’

  ‘You went there on purpose!’ said Nell hotly. ‘Because he – because you thought – I wish to heaven you and Rose would remember that I am not a child!’

  ‘No, Miss Nell, but you’re a young lady, and seeing as Sir Peter can’t look after you no more, like you ought to be – and Rose being an anxious sort of a female,’ he added basely, ‘it seems like it’s me duty to keep me eye on things, as you might say!’

  ‘I know you only do it out of kindness,’ said Nell, ‘but I assure you it is unnecessary! You have no need to be anxious about me!’

  ‘Jest what I says to Rose, missie! Them was me very words! “We got no need to be anxious about Miss Nell,” I tells her. “Not now, we haven’t.” That, out of course, was after I come home from the toll-house.’

  Miss Stornaway, fully and indignantly conscious of the unwisdom of attempting to bring to a sense of his presumption a servitor who had held her on the back of her first pony, extricated her from difficulties in an a
pple tree, and, upon more than one occasion, rescued her from the consequences of her youthful misdeeds, accomplished the rest of the short journey in dignified silence.

  Kellands Manor was an old and a rambling house, standing at no great distance from the pike road, which, in fact, ran through the Squire’s land. Its pleasure gardens, though well laid-out, were neglected, the shrubbery being overgrown, the flower beds allowed to run riot, and the wilderness to encroach year by year on lawns once shaven and weedless. Miss Stornaway, unlike the one remaining gardener, looked upon this decay with indifference. Behind a crumbling stone wall an extensive vegetable plot was in good order; new trees had been planted in the orchard; and the home farm was thriving.

  Miss Stornaway, walking up from the stables with her rather mannish stride, the tail of her worn riding dress looped over her arm, entered the house through a side-door, and made her way down a flagged corridor to the main hall. From this an oaken staircase rose in two graceful branches to the galleried floor above. She was about to mount it when a door on one side of the hall opened, and her cousin came out of the library. ‘Oh, there you are, cousin!’ he said, in the peevish tone which was habitual with him. ‘I have been in these past twenty minutes, and desirous of having a word with you.’

  She paused, a hand on the baluster rail, and one booted foot already on the first step of the stairway. ‘Indeed!’ she said, looking down at him from her superior height, her brows lifting a little.

  His was not an impressive figure, and he was never so conscious of this as when he stood in his magnificent cousin’s presence. He had neither height nor presence, and a strong inclination towards dandyism served only to accentuate the shortcomings of his person. Skin-tight pantaloons of an elegant shade of yellow did not set off to advantage a pair of thin legs, nor could all the exertions of his tailor disguise the fact that his narrow shoulders drooped, and that he was developing a slight paunch. His countenance was tolerably good-looking, but spoilt by a sickly complexion and the unmistakable marks of self-indulgence; and his rather bloodshot eyes seemed at all times incapable of maintaining a steady regard. He sported several fobs and seals, wore exaggeratedly high points to his collars, and fidgeted incessantly with snuff-box, quizzing-glass, and handkerchief.

  ‘I’m sure I don’t know where you can have been,’ he complained. ‘And Huby and that woman of yours quite unable to tell me! I must say, I don’t consider it at all the thing.’

  ‘Perhaps they thought my whereabouts no concern of yours,’ suggested Nell. ‘I have been transacting some business in Tideswell. What is it that you wish to say to me?’

  Instead of answering, he embarked on a rambling censure of her independent manners. ‘I can tell you this, cousin, you present a very odd appearance, jauntering all over the country as you do. I wonder that my grandfather should suffer it, though I suppose the old gentleman is in such queer stirrups he don’t realize what a figure you make of yourself. Nat was saying to me only this morning –’

  ‘Pray spare me a recital of Mr Coate’s remarks!’ she interrupted. ‘If my odd ways have given him a distaste for me, I can only say that I am heartily glad of it!’

  ‘There you go!’ he exclaimed bitterly. ‘I should have supposed you might have taken pains to be civil to a guest, but no! You behave –’

  ‘Let me remind you, Henry, that Mr Coate is a guest in this house neither by my wish nor my invitation!’

  ‘Well, he’s here by mine, and if you weren’t such an unaccountable girl you’d be glad of it! Handsome fellow, ain’t he? Slap up to the mark, too, as you’d say yourself!’

  ‘I should never describe Mr Coate in such terms.’

  ‘Oh, don’t put on those missish airs with me, Nell! Lord knows I’ve heard you using all sorts of sporting lingo!’

  ‘Certainly! I trust, however, that I am in general veracious!’ she retorted.

  ‘I’m not surprised that fine aunt of yours couldn’t nabble a husband for you!’ he said, nettled. ‘You’ve a damned nasty tongue in your head! I can tell you this, a Long Meg like you can’t afford to put up the backs of people as you do!’

  ‘That is the second thing you have been so obliging as to tell me, and no more interesting to me than the first. Have you anything more to say?’

  ‘Yes, I have! I wish you will accord Nat a little common civility! It’s no very pleasant thing for me to have my cousin behaving like a shrew! One would have thought you would have been pleased with the very flattering distinction he accords you! I don’t know what you think is to become of you when the old man slips his wind! You needn’t look to me to provide for you, for if he has more to leave than the title and an estate mortgaged to the hilt –’

  ‘Are you having the effrontery to suggest that I – I, Nell Stornaway! – should encourage the advances of Coate?’ she demanded. ‘Perhaps you think he would make a suitable match for me?’

  ‘Oh, well!’ he muttered, his eyes shifting from hers. ‘You might do worse, and you’re not likely to do better. I don’t say – I never spoke of marriage, after all! All I care for is that you should make his visit agreeable. You don’t give a fig for the awkwardness of my position! If you open your mouth at the dinner table, ten to one it is only to say something cutting to Nat –’

  ‘Yes, indeed! You would fancy that he must be sensible by now, would you not, that his presence at Kellands is only less distasteful to me than the extremely improper style of his advances? But, no!’

  ‘A woman of address would know how to turn it off without flying into a miff!’

  ‘Yes, and some women, no doubt, are more fortunate than I in those male relatives whose duty it might be thought to guard them from such unwanted attentions!’

  He coloured, and shot her a resentful glance. ‘What a piece of work you make about a trifle! I suppose you expect Nat to toad-eat you, though how you should when you wear a gown with a darn in it – the shabbiest thing! puts me to the blush, I can tell you! – and serve such plain dinners – only one course, and that ill-dressed! And then, to crown all, go off afterwards, and never come into the drawing room, as you should! No tea-tray brought in: nothing as it should be! – ’pon my soul, I don’t know why you should look to be treated with any extraordinary civility!’

  ‘Good gracious, does Mr Coate desire tea in the evening?’ she exclaimed. ‘I thought it was the brandy he wanted! I will not fail to tell Huby that between us we have quite mistaken the matter; and a tray shall be brought to you. My presence, however, you must dispense with: I sit every evening with my grandfather.’

  ‘Yes! If Nat had the good fortune to please you, you wouldn’t choose to spend your time with an old dotard who’s had his notice to quit!’

  She took a swift step towards him. He shrank back instinctively, but not quickly enough to escape a swinging box on the ear, which made him stagger. ‘You will speak of my grandfather with respect in this house, Henry! Understand that!’

  A burst of hearty laughter, coming from the direction of the front door, made her turn, at once startled and mortified. Nathaniel Coate stood upon the threshold, laughing, and waving his hat like a huntsman capping hounds to a scent. ‘Bravo, bravo! That was a wisty one, by God! It’s bellows to mend with you, Henry: she’ll give you pepper, by God, she will!’ He tossed his hat and his whip on to a chair, and came forward, saying: ‘What have you been about, you stupid fellow? Why don’t you take that Friday-face of yours away before Miss Nell slaps it again?’

  Henry, taking this broad hint, retired again into the library, shutting the door behind him with a vicious slam, which made his friend give another of his loud laughs, and say: ‘Silly ninny hammer! Now we shall have him in the sullens! Ah, don’t be in a hurry to slip off, Miss Nell! Damme if this ain’t the first time I’ve laid eyes on you today!’

  Since he had contrived to step between her and the staircase she was unable to slip off. He was looking her over in a way
that gave her the unpleasant sensation of having been stripped of her clothing; and although she was not at all afraid of him she would have been glad to have been able to escape. She said coolly: ‘You might have seen me at the breakfast table, but you are not an early riser. Now, if you please, I must go to my grandfather!’

  He did not move from the stairs. ‘Ah, that’s a slap for me, ain’t it? I shall have to mend my ways, shan’t I? Why don’t you take me in hand, eh? Blister me if I wouldn’t enjoy being schooled by you! I don’t know when I’ve taken such a fancy to a girl as I have to you, and that’s the truth! Ay, you may look down that highbred nose of yours, lass, and try to bam me you’re a stone statue, but I know better! Full of spirit, you are, and that’s how I like women to be – women and horses, and devilish alike they are! You’re a beautiful stepper, and a ginger besides, and that’s the metal for my money!’

  ‘If we are to employ the language of the stables, Mr Coate,’ she replied, rigid with wrath, ‘I will inform you that having lived all my life with a nonpareil I have nothing but contempt for mere whipsters! Now, if you will be so obliging as to permit me to pass – !’

  She had the momentary satisfaction of knowing that she had touched him on the raw, for he flushed darkly, but she regretted it an instant later. He strode up to her, an ugly look in his face, and said in a thickened voice: ‘Contempt, eh? We’ll see that!’ He flung his arms round her before she could evade him, chuckling deep in his chest.

  She was a strong woman, and as tall as he, but found herself helpless. He was immensely powerful, and seemed to control her struggles without any particular effort. ‘Kiss and be friends, now!’ he said, his breath hot on her face.

  A dry cough sounded from the staircase; a voice devoid of all expression said: ‘I beg pardon, miss: might I have a word with you, if convenient?’

  Coate swore, and released Nell. For a moment she confronted him, still unafraid, but white with anger, her eyes blazing. Then she swept past him, and went up the stairs to where her grandfather’s valet stood awaiting her. He stepped aside, bowing politely, and followed her to the gallery off which her own and her grandfather’s apartments were situated.