第3章 THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX(2)

He was received by the two or three old servants who were in charge of the lonely place,where a few rooms only were kept habitable for his use or that of his friends when hunting;and during the morning he was made more comfortable by the arrival of his faithful servant Tupcombe from King's-Hintock.But after a day or two spent here in solitude he began to feel that he had made a mistake in coming.By leaving King's-Hintock in his anger he had thrown away his best opportunity of counteracting his wife's preposterous notion of promising his poor little Betty's hand to a man she had hardly seen.

To protect her from such a repugnant bargain he should have remained on the spot.He felt it almost as a misfortune that the child would inherit so much wealth.She would be a mark for all the adventurers in the kingdom.Had she been only the heiress to his own unassuming little place at Falls,how much better would have been her chances of happiness!

His wife had divined truly when she insinuated that he himself had a lover in view for this pet child.The son of a dear deceased friend of his,who lived not two miles from where the Squire now was,a lad a couple of years his daughter's senior,seemed in her father's opinion the one person in the world likely to make her happy.But as to breathing such a scheme to either of the young people with the indecent haste that his wife had shown,he would not dream of it;years hence would be soon enough for that.They had already seen each other,and the Squire fancied that he noticed a tenderness on the youth's part which promised well.He was strongly tempted to profit by his wife's example,and forestall her match-making by throwing the two young people together there at Falls.The girl,though marriageable in the views of those days,was too young to be in love,but the lad was fifteen,and already felt an interest in her.

Still better than keeping watch over her at King's Hintock,where she was necessarily much under her mother's influence,would it be to get the child to stay with him at Falls for a time,under his exclusive control.But how accomplish this without using main force?The only possible chance was that his wife might,for appearance'sake,as she had done before,consent to Betty paying him a day's visit,when he might find means of detaining her till Reynard,the suitor whom his wife favoured,had gone abroad,which he was expected to do the following week.Squire Dornell determined to return to King's-Hintock and attempt the enterprise.If he were refused,it was almost in him to pick up Betty bodily and carry her off.

The journey back,vague and Quixotic as were his intentions,was performed with a far lighter heart than his setting forth.He would see Betty,and talk to her,come what might of his plan.

So he rode along the dead level which stretches between the hills skirting Falls-Park and those bounding the town of Ivell,trotted through that borough,and out by the King's-Hintock highway,till,passing the villages he entered the mile-long drive through the park to the Court.The drive being open,without an avenue,the Squire could discern the north front and door of the Court a long way off,and was himself visible from the windows on that side;for which reason he hoped that Betty might perceive him coming,as she sometimes did on his return from an outing,and run to the door or wave her handkerchief.

But there was no sign.He inquired for his wife as soon as he set foot to earth.

'Mistress is away.She was called to London,sir.'

'And Mistress Betty?'said the Squire blankly.

'Gone likewise,sir,for a little change.Mistress has left a letter for you.'

The note explained nothing,merely stating that she had posted to London on her own affairs,and had taken the child to give her a holiday.On the fly-leaf were some words from Betty herself to the same effect,evidently written in a state of high jubilation at the idea of her jaunt.Squire Dornell murmured a few expletives,and submitted to his disappointment.How long his wife meant to stay in town she did not say;but on investigation he found that the carriage had been packed with sufficient luggage for a sojourn of two or three weeks.

King's-Hintock Court was in consequence as gloomy as Falls-Park had been.He had lost all zest for hunting of late,and had hardly attended a meet that season.Dornell read and re-read Betty's scrawl,and hunted up some other such notes of hers to look over,this seeming to be the only pleasure there was left for him.That they were really in London he learnt in a few days by another letter from Mrs.Dornell,in which she explained that they hoped to be home in about a week,and that she had had no idea he was coming back to King's-Hintock so soon,or she would not have gone away without telling him.

Squire Dornell wondered if,in going or returning,it had been her plan to call at the Reynards'place near Melchester,through which city their journey lay.It was possible that she might do this in furtherance of her project,and the sense that his own might become the losing game was harassing.

He did not know how to dispose of himself,till it occurred to him that,to get rid of his intolerable heaviness,he would invite some friends to dinner and drown his cares in grog and wine.No sooner was the carouse decided upon than he put it in hand;those invited being mostly neighbouring landholders,all smaller men than himself,members of the hunt;also the doctor from Evershead,and the like--some of them rollicking blades whose presence his wife would not have countenanced had she been at home.'When the cat's away--!'

said the Squire.