The Project Gutenberg Etext of New Arabian Nights

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I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of the
innumerable heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, and
favoured not only by the nurse's deafness, but by the uproar of the
wind and surf. She entered the pavilion, and, going at once to the
upper storey, opened and set a light in one of the windows that
looked towards the sea. Immediately afterwards the light at the
schooner's masthead was run down and extinguished. Its purpose had
been attained, and those on board were sure that they were
expected. The old woman resumed her preparations; although the
other shutters remained closed, I could see a glimmer going to and
fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one chimney after
another soon told me that the fires were being kindled.

Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come ashore as
soon as there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for boat
service; and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I
reflected on the danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it
was true, was the most eccentric of men; but the present
eccentricity was both disquieting and lugubrious to consider. A
variety of feelings thus led me towards the beach, where I lay flat
on my face in a hollow within six feet of the track that led to the
pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction of recognising
the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be acquaintances,
greeting them as soon as they had landed.

Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low,
a boat's lantern appeared close in shore; and, my attention being
thus awakened, I could perceive another still far to seaward,
violently tossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The
weather, which was getting dirtier as the night went on, and the
perilous situation of the yacht upon a lee shore, had probably
driven them to attempt a landing at the earliest possible moment.

A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy chest,
and guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of me
as I lay, and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. They
returned to the beach, and passed me a second time with another
chest, larger but apparently not so heavy as the first. A third
time they made the transit; and on this occasion one of the
yachtsmen carried a leather portmanteau, and the others a lady's
trunk and carriage bag. My curiosity was sharply excited. If a
woman were among the guests of Northmour, it would show a change in
his habits and an apostasy from his pet theories of life, well
calculated to fill me with surprise. When he and I dwelt there
together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny. And now, one
of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. I
remembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness and
almost of coquetry which had struck me the day before as I surveyed
the preparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I
thought myself dull not to have perceived it from the first.

While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me from the
beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, and
who was conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These two
persons were unquestionably the guests for whom the house was made
ready; and, straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as
they passed. One was an unusually tall man, in a travelling hat
slouched over his eyes, and a highland cape closely buttoned and
turned up so as to conceal his face. You could make out no more of
him than that he was, as I have said, unusually tall, and walked
feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, and either clinging to him
or giving him support - I could not make out which - was a young,
tall, and slender figure of a woman. She was extremely pale; but
in the light of the lantern her face was so marred by strong and
changing shadows, that she might equally well have been as ugly as
sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be.

When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark which
was drowned by the noise of the wind.

"Hush!" said her companion; and there was something in the tone
with which the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook my
spirits. It seemed to breathe from a bosom labouring under the
deadliest terror; I have never heard another syllable so
expressive; and I still hear it again when I am feverish at night,
and my mind runs upon old times. The man turned towards the girl
as he spoke; I had a glimpse of much red beard and a nose which
seemed to have been broken in youth; and his light eyes seemed
shining in his face with some strong and unpleasant emotion.

But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to the
pavilion.

One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. The
wind brought me the sound of a rough voice crying, "Shove off!"
Then, after a pause, another lantern drew near. It was Northmour
alone.

My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a
person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as
Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face
bore every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to
look at him, even in his most amiable moment, to see that he had
the temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that was
both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he combined the
vivacity of the south with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the
north; and both traits were plainly written on his face, which was
a sort of danger signal. In person he was tall, strong, and
active; his hair and complexion very dark; his features handsomely
designed, but spoiled by a menacing expression.

At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore a
heavy frown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round him
as he walked, like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet I
thought he had a look of triumph underlying all, as though he had
already done much, and was near the end of an achievement.

Partly from a scruple of delicacy - which I dare say came too late
- partly from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired
to make my presence known to him without delay.

I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward. "Northmour!" said
I.

I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He leaped
on me without a word; something shone in his hand; and he struck
for my heart with a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him head
over heels. Whether it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I
know not; but the blade only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and
his fist struck me violently on the mouth.

I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the
capabilities of the sand-hills for protracted ambush or stealthy
advances and retreats; and, not ten yards from the scene of the
scuffle, plumped down again upon the grass. The lantern had fallen
and gone out. But what was my astonishment to see Northmour slip
at a bound into the pavilion, and hear him bar the door behind him
with a clang of iron!

He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I knew
for the most implacable and daring of men, had run away! I could
scarce believe my reason; and yet in this strange business, where
all was incredible, there was nothing to make a work about in an
incredibility more or less. For why was the pavilion secretly
prepared? Why had Northmour landed with his guests at dead of
night, in half a gale of wind, and with the floe scarce covered?
Why had he sought to kill me? Had he not recognised my voice? I
wondered. And, above all, how had he come to have a dagger ready
in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp knife, seemed out of
keeping with the age in which we lived; and a gentleman landing
from his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even although it was
at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does not usually,
as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly onslaught. The
more I reflected, the further I felt at sea. I recapitulated the
elements of mystery, counting them on my fingers: the pavilion
secretly prepared for guests; the guests landed at the risk of
their lives and to the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, or
at least one of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless
terror; Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his most
intimate acquaintance at a word; last, and not least strange,
Northmour fleeing from the man whom he had sought to murder, and
barricading himself, like a hunted creature, behind the door of the
pavilion. Here were at least six separate causes for extreme
surprise; each part and parcel with the others, and forming all
together one consistent story. I felt almost ashamed to believe my
own senses.

As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow painfully
conscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; skulked
round among the sand-hills; and, by a devious path, regained the
shelter of the wood. On the way, the old nurse passed again within
several yards of me, still carrying her lantern, on the return
journey to the mansion-house of Graden. This made a seventh
suspicious feature in the case - Northmour and his guests, it
appeared, were to cook and do the cleaning for themselves, while
the old woman continued to inhabit the big empty barrack among the
policies. There must surely be great cause for secrecy, when so
many inconveniences were confronted to preserve it.

So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security, I
trod out the embers of the fire, and lit my lantern to examine the
wound upon my shoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although it bled
somewhat freely, and I dressed it as well as I could (for its
position made it difficult to reach) with some rag and cold water
from the spring. While I was thus busied, I mentally declared war
against Northmour and his mystery. I am not an angry man by
nature, and I believe there was more curiosity than resentment in
my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of
preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the charges,
cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became
preoccupied about my horse. It might break loose, or fall to
neighing, and so betray my camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined to
rid myself of its neighbourhood; and long before dawn I was leading
it over the links in the direction of the fisher village.

CHAPTER III - TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE

For two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the uneven
surface of the links. I became an adept in the necessary tactics.
These low hillocks and shallow dells, running one into another,
became a kind of cloak of darkness for my enthralling, but perhaps
dishonourable, pursuit. Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could
learn but little of Northmour or his guests.

Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness by the old
woman from the mansion-house. Northmour, and the young lady,
sometimes together, but more often singly, would walk for an hour
or two at a time on the beach beside the quicksand. I could not
but conclude that this promenade was chosen with an eye to secrecy;
for the spot was open only to the seaward. But it suited me not
less excellently; the highest and most accidented of the sand-hills
immediately adjoined; and from these, lying flat in a hollow, I
could overlook Northmour or the young lady as they walked.

The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only did he never
cross the threshold, but he never so much as showed face at a
window; or, at least, not so far as I could see; for I dared not
creep forward beyond a certain distance in the day, since the upper
floor commanded the bottoms of the links; and at night, when I
could venture farther, the lower windows were barricaded as if to
stand a siege. Sometimes I thought the tall man must be confined
to bed, for I remembered the feebleness of his gait; and sometimes
I thought he must have gone clear away, and that Northmour and the
young lady remained alone together in the pavilion. The idea, even
then, displeased me.

Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen abundant
reason to doubt the friendliness of their relation. Although I
could hear nothing of what they said, and rarely so much as glean a
decided expression on the face of either, there was a distance,
almost a stiffness, in their bearing which showed them to be either
unfamiliar or at enmity. The girl walked faster when she was with
Northmour than when she was alone; and I conceived that any
inclination between a man and a woman would rather delay than
accelerate the step. Moreover, she kept a good yard free of him,
and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a barrier, on the side
between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, as the girl
retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of diagonal
across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had it
been long enough continued. But, when this was imminent, the girl
would unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between her
and the sea. I watched these manoeuvres, for my part, with high
enjoyment and approval, and chuckled to myself at every move.

On the morning of the third day, she walked alone for some time,
and I perceived, to my great concern, that she was more than once
in tears. You will see that my heart was already interested more
than I supposed. She had a firm yet airy motion of the body, and
carried her head with unimaginable grace; every step was a thing to
look at, and she seemed in my eyes to breathe sweetness and
distinction.

The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a tranquil
sea, and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigour in the air, that,
contrary to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to walk.
On this occasion she was accompanied by Northmour, and they had
been but a short while on the beach, when I saw him take forcible
possession of her hand. She struggled, and uttered a cry that was
almost a scream. I sprang to my feet, unmindful of my strange
position; but, ere I had taken a step, I saw Northmour bareheaded
and bowing very low, as if to apologise; and dropped again at once
into my ambush. A few words were interchanged; and then, with
another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion. He
passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering,
and cutting savagely with his cane among the grass. It was not
without satisfaction that I recognised my own handiwork in a great
cut under his right eye, and a considerable discolouration round
the socket.

For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking out
past the islet and over the bright sea. Then with a start, as one
who throws off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its mettle,
she broke into a rapid and decisive walk. She also was much
incensed by what had passed. She had forgotten where she was. And
I beheld her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand where
it is most abrupt and dangerous. Two or three steps farther and
her life would have been in serious jeopardy, when I slid down the
face of the sand-hill, which is there precipitous, and, running
half-way forward, called to her to stop.

She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor of fear in
her behaviour, and she marched directly up to me like a queen. I
was barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an Egyptian
scarf round my waist; and she probably took me at first for some
one from the fisher village, straying after bait. As for her, when
I thus saw her face to face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously
upon mine, I was filled with admiration and astonishment, and
thought her even more beautiful than I had looked to find her. Nor
could I think enough of one who, acting with so much boldness, yet
preserved a maidenly air that was both quaint and engaging; for my
wife kept an old-fashioned precision of manner through all her
admirable life - an excellent thing in woman, since it sets another
value on her sweet familiarities.

"What does this mean?" she asked.

"You were walking," I told her, "directly into Graden Floe."

"You do not belong to these parts," she said again. "You speak
like an educated man."

"I believe I have right to that name," said I, "although in this
disguise."

But her woman's eye had already detected the sash. "Oh!" she said;
"your sash betrays you."

"You have said the word BETRAY," I resumed. "May I ask you not to
betray me? I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; but
if Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than
disagreeable for me."

"Do you know," she asked, "to whom you are speaking?"

"Not to Mr. Northmour's wife?" I asked, by way of answer.

She shook her head. All this while she was studying my face with
an embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out -

"You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, sir, and tell
me what you want and what you are afraid of. Do you think I could
hurt you? I believe you have far more power to injure me! And yet
you do not look unkind. What do you mean - you, a gentleman - by
skulking like a spy about this desolate place? Tell me," she said,
"who is it you hate?"

"I hate no one," I answered; "and I fear no one face to face. My
name is Cassilis - Frank Cassilis. I lead the life of a vagabond
for my own good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest friends;
and three nights ago, when I addressed him on these links, he
stabbed me in the shoulder with a knife."

"It was you!" she said.

"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, "is
more than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have not
many friends, nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no man
shall drive me from a place by terror. I had camped in Graden Sea-
Wood ere he came; I camp in it still. If you think I mean harm to
you or yours, madam, the remedy is in your hand. Tell him that my
camp is in the Hemlock Den, and to-night he can stab me in safety
while I sleep."

With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more among
the sand-hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious sense
of injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while, as a matter
of fact, I had not a word to say in my defence, nor so much as one
plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden
out of a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and though
there was another motive growing in along with the first, it was
not one which, at that period, I could have properly explained to
the lady of my heart.

Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though her
whole conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find it
in my heart to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could have
staked my life that she was clear of blame, and, though all was
dark at the present, that the explanation of the mystery would show
her part in these events to be both right and needful. It was
true, let me cudgel my imagination as I pleased, that I could
invent no theory of her relations to Northmour; but I felt none the
less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on instinct in
place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night with
the thought of her under my pillow.

Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon as
the sand-hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to the
edge, and called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished to
observe that she was deadly pale, and seemingly under the influence
of strong emotion.

"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!"

I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A remarkable
air of relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw me.

"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom has been
lightened of a weight. And then, "Thank God you are still safe!"
she added; "I knew, if you were, you would be here." (Was not this
strange? So swiftly and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts for
these great life-long intimacies, that both my wife and I had been
given a presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. I
had even then hoped that she would seek me; she had felt sure that
she would find me.) "Do not," she went, on swiftly, "do not stay
in this place. Promise me that you will sleep no longer in that
wood. You do not know how I suffer; all last night I could not
sleep for thinking of your peril."

"Peril?" I repeated. "Peril from whom? From Northmour?"

"Not so," she said. "Did you think I would tell him after what you
said?"

"Not from Northmour?" I repeated. "Then how? From whom? I see
none to be afraid of."

"You must not ask me," was her reply, "for I am not free to tell
you. Only believe me, and go hence - believe me, and go away
quickly, quickly, for your life!"

An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself of a
spirited young man. My obstinacy was but increased by what she
said, and I made it a point of honour to remain. And her
solicitude for my safety still more confirmed me in the resolve.

"You must not think me inquisitive, madam," I replied; "but, if
Graden is so dangerous a place, you yourself perhaps remain here at
some risk."

She only looked at me reproachfully.

"You and your father - " I resumed; but she interrupted me almost
with a gasp.

"My father! How do you know that?" she cried.

"I saw you together when you landed," was my answer; and I do not
know why, but it seemed satisfactory to both of us, as indeed it
was the truth. "But," I continued, "you need have no fear from me.
I see you have some reason to be secret, and, you may believe me,
your secret is as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I have
scarce spoken to any one for years; my horse is my only companion,
and even he, poor beast, is not beside me. You see, then, you may
count on me for silence. So tell me the truth, my dear young lady,
are you not in danger?"

"Mr. Northmour says you are an honourable man," she returned, "and
I believe it when I see you. I will tell you so much; you are
right; we are in dreadful, dreadful danger, and you share it by
remaining where you are."

"Ah!" said I; "you have heard of me from Northmour? And he gives
me a good character?"

"I asked him about you last night," was her reply. "I pretended,"
she hesitated, "I pretended to have met you long ago, and spoken to
you of him. It was not true; but I could not help myself without
betraying you, and you had put me in a difficulty. He praised you
highly."

"And - you may permit me one question - does this danger come from
Northmour?" I asked.

"From Mr. Northmour?" she cried. "Oh no; he stays with us to share
it."

"While you propose that I should run away?" I said. "You do not
rate me very high."

"Why should you stay?" she asked. "You are no friend of ours."

I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious of a
similar weakness since I was a child, but I was so mortified by
this retort that my eyes pricked and filled with tears, as I
continued to gaze upon her face.

"No, no," she said, in a changed voice; "I did not mean the words
unkindly."

"It was I who offended," I said; and I held out my hand with a look
of appeal that somehow touched her, for she gave me hers at once,
and even eagerly. I held it for awhile in mine, and gazed into her
eyes. It was she who first tore her hand away, and, forgetting all
about her request and the promise she had sought to extort, ran at
the top of her speed, and without turning, till she was out of
sight.

And then I knew that I loved her, and thought in my glad heart that
she - she herself - was not indifferent to my suit. Many a time
she has denied it in after days, but it was with a smiling and not
a serious denial. For my part, I am sure our hands would not have
lain so closely in each other if she had not begun to melt to me
already. And, when all is said, it is no great contention, since,
by her own avowal, she began to love me on the morrow.

And yet on the morrow very little took place. She came and called
me down as on the day before, upbraided me for lingering at Graden,
and, when she found I was still obdurate, began to ask me more
particularly as to my arrival. I told her by what series of
accidents I had come to witness their disembarkation, and how I had
determined to remain, partly from the interest which had been
wakened in me by Northmour's guests, and partly because of his own
murderous attack. As to the former, I fear I was disingenuous, and
led her to regard herself as having been an attraction to me from
the first moment that I saw her on the links. It relieves my heart
to make this confession even now, when my wife is with God, and
already knows all things, and the honesty of my purpose even in
this; for while she lived, although it often pricked my conscience,
I had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little secret,
in such a married life as ours, is like the rose-leaf which kept
the Princess from her sleep.

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