The Keepers of the People

Front matter

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Book I In England Chap

PAGE I. RALPH FALCON COMES TO QUIVERN COURT . 3 II. RALPH FALCON MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF HIS COUSINS . . . . l8 III. THE EMPRESS WITH THE EMERALD EYES 29 IV. LADY HAMMERSMITH ASKS QUESTIONS . 38 V. MISS FRESHINGTON's INTEREST AWAKES 48 VI. PRINCE MELINSKY ARRANGES A DOG-FIGHT . 59 VII. LADY HAMMERSMITH PROTESTS . . 67 VIII. AN OFFER OF A CROWN ... 77 IX. ALTHEA BREAKS WITH HER MOTHER . . 87 X. THE REVOLT OF ALTHEA ... 99 XI. THE LOSS OF ALTHEA . . . 115

Book II In Varandaleel

I. THE CHILD OF THE HILLS II. THE COURT OF VARANDALEEL _i CONTENTS CHAP. PACE III. THE HISTORY OF VARANDALEEL . 150 IV. THE REVOLT OF THE PRINCESS AGNES . l6l V. THE TRAINING OF ALTHEA . . 172 VI. THE HITCH IN THE SUCCESSION . . 179 VII. THE PRINCESS AGNES AND ALTHEA . . I9I VIII. ALTHEA ASKS A BOON .... 201 IX. ALTHEA'S TIGER . . . .212 X. RUTH COMES TO VARANDALEEL . . 220 XI. THE COUNCIL OF WAR .... 236 XII. THE RUSSIANS COME .... 247 XIII. THE RUSSIANS GO ... . 258 XIV. THE RUSSIAN REMNANT . . 274 XV. THE COURTING OF VASHTI . . 285 XVl! THE AFFAIR OF THE MISSIONARY . . 30I XVII. THE LAST PATH ..... 317 XVIII. THE DIVORCE LAW OF VARANDALEEL . 33I XIX. ALTHEA INTERVENES ....

BOOK I IN ENGLAND CHAPTER

I RALPH FALCON COMES TO QUIVERN COURT Ralph Falcon came down an aisle of Quivern Wood, his footfall noiseless in the thick, coarse moss. The air of the summer afternoon was drowsy with the hum of bees, the sun dappled the green carpet with flecks of gold, and the flowers of the rhododendrons, on either side, were clusters of pale pink stars in the dimming shade. He came on a light, swinging step, very swift for the heat of the day, yet no tinge of red flushed the clear, pale skin of his face ; indeed, his coolness in that heat, his alert, hunter's eyes seemed proper rather to the passage of some tropical, dangerous forest. Half-way down the aisle, the faint murmur of a voice on the right caught his quick ear, and he stopped short, with the suddenness of a wild animal, listening. The words, pitched too low, and from too far away for any untrained, civil ised ear, came to him plainly enough, clear and musical — " Across the hills, and far away Beyond their utmost purple rim, And deep into the dying day The happy Princess followed him."

He stood awhile, thoughtful, his eyes on the little by-path that led towards the sound ; then giving the rein to his desire to see the possessor of the beautiful, murmuring voice he went down the path on silent feet and came to the edge of a glade. On the further side of it a mimic Greek portico reared slender marble columns, and under its roof stood the famous statue of Diana Huntress, brought from Sicily by the third Earl Lisdor. Before the portico was spread a pile of rugs and cushions ; half sitting, half lying on them, facing him, was a child of a veiy fair, frail beauty ; and lying, propped on one elbow, with her back to him, was the reader, her great coils of fine red hair shining with so warm a lustre, in a sunbeam that slanted on to them through the serried tree-tops, as seemed to diffuse a subdued glow throughout the glade.

Her right arm was thrust forward, the hand holding the book ; and her light summer gown left plain the admirable line of her figure from the armpit to the knee ; her treache rous skirt had withdrawn above her slender ankles, and from one of her Uttle feet the shoe had fallen. Even as he admired, the child saw him ; and her eyes opened wider in a look of pleasant, wondering recognition. She turned them on the reading girl and said, with a faint mischief in her tone, " Ruth, dear, the Fairy Prince is here, and — and — your ankles." The feet flashed under the skirt ; the lady looked swiftly round, saw Ralph Falcon, sprang to her feet, and faced him with a fine flush in her cheeks, with quivering nostrils and flashing eyes — a very present ment of the statue behind her awakened to life and wrath.

" You are trespassing, sir ! " she cried haughtily. " Madam, a thousand pardons," said Ralph Falcon gravely, with a bow so stiff as seemed almost to show him averse from the exercise. " I am seeking Lord Lisdor, and Quivern Court. I am Ralph Falcon." He spoke with an accent that showed him used to a softer tongue. " Yes," broke in the child, in a gentle, drawling voice. " You are Sir Ralph Falcon, the pirate, from the picture-gallery, our far-off cousin. I knew you at once, but your hair is black." Ralph Falcon's inscrutable eyes turned to the child, and the set gravity of his face relaxed to the shadow of a smile. " My grandfather," he said. " I am Lady Lisdor," said the lady coldly. She was no more than a girl ; but her face had softened as she gazed on the bigness of the stranger and his handsome face.

He bowed again, his stiff, unaccustomed bow ; and there was a pause. " Perhaps," said the child, " if we were to take Mr. Falcon to find George, it might seem — polite." Lady Lisdor flashed a chiding look at her, and said less coldly, " Will you let us be your guides, Mr. Falcon ? " " Thank you," said Ralph Falcon ; and stepped aside to let them pass down the path before him. The child rose languidly, and led the way ; Lady Lisdor followed on her heels, and at a turn in the path said in a very low voice, but not too low for his hearing, " You are the most detestable child in the world ! " The child turned her face, lighted by the most winning of smiles, and said in a whisper, " Oh, they're awfully pretty ankles, don't you know ? you needn't be distressed — besides, I do love pulling your leg."

" Hateful httle wretch ! " said Lady Lisdor ; and the child smiled again. When they came from the path into the wide aisle, they walked abreast ; and from time to time the two of them let fall an admiring glance on their big com panion. He walked silent, slowing and shortening his stride to their pace ; he seemed to feel no need to say anything. Lady Lisdor, who had no knack of small-talk, saw no great politeness in beginning with a question, and thought the beauties of the wood obvious, was casting about what to say, when the child began : " About that piracy : are you a pirate, cousin Ralph ? " " Mr. Falcon," said Lady Lisdor. " Cousin Ralph," said the child with gentle firm ness. " Let it be Cousin Ralph. It's pleasant hearing ; I have been among strangers so long," he said. " No, little cousin, I am not a pirate.

Are you pulling my leg ? " " Oh ! " said the child quickly. " You must have heard what I said to Ruth ! " She laughed gleefully, and sprang away from Lady Lisdor's hand that grasped swiftly at her arm. "But what do you know about that piracy?" said Ralph Falcon. " Oh, it's a family legend," said the child. " The only family legend ; all the others are scandals, like that story " " Althea ! " cried Lady Lisdor. " Very well, Ruth — very well ; I won't," said the child. " But I wish you had been a pirate all the same, cousin Ralph. I have never known a pirate ; but I have always thought they would be so violent, and nice, don't you know?" A little spark flashed in either of his grey eyes ; he caught the child by the waist, swung her lightly off her feet, and held her lightly out at arm's length, as one might hold a kitten.

" Oh, how delightful ! " cried the child, and shivered in his arms, gazing into his eyes with her own half closed. " Mr. Falcon ! " cried Lady Lisdor. Obedient to the tone, he set the child lightly on her feet, and Lady Lisdor slipped a restraining hand round her waist. ' n " Don't you think you might introduce us now, Ruth ? " said the child. " Miss Althea Flodden — Mr. Falcon," said Lady Lisdor, smiling. " I think," said Althea thoughtfully, " that if only you are as wicked as you are strong, I shall find you very amusing, cousin Ralph. At any rate, you will be able to prevent Ruth bullying me." " Me ! Bully you ! Me ! The victim of your perpetual mischief ! You wicked child ! " cried Lady Lisdor ; and Althea smiled at her. They came out of the wood on to a great lawn, bordered by many flower-beds, teeming with bright flowers, which stretched for a full quarter of a mile to the terraces which rose above one another before Quivern Court, a great stone building of a dignified simplicity.

Two men, who had just finished playing lawn tennis, were coming towards them from the middle of the lawn, the face of the taller flushed and angry, the face of the shorter cool and serene. " I do hope George has beaten that horrid Russian," said Althea. " It looks like it," said Lady Lisdor. "They have been betting again," said Althea. " I know George's gambling look. You will have a new horse, if you are good." " You will soon know all about your English rela tives, Mr. Falcon," said Lady Lisdor patiently. The two men met them ; Lady Lisdor introduced Ralph Falcon to her husband, and either looked very keenly into the other's eyes. " I am very pleased to see you at Quivern Court, Cousin Ralph," said Lord Lisdor. " Thank you," said Ralph Falcon. " Mr. Falcon — Prince Melinsky," said Lady Lisdor ; and Prince Melinsky, in his bad temper, stared at him with a certain insolence ; but Ralph Falcon had only eyes for the Lisdors.

" How did the tennis go ?" said Lady Lisdor. " Such luck was never known ! " Prince Melinsky broke out angrily. " I had the deciding set in my hands : five games love. Then Lord Lisdor crept up, crept up, crept up ; and I played worse and worse ; and he beat me seven five." From the frank pleasure on the faces of Lady Lisdor and Althea it was plain that neither liked the Russian ; and Lady Lisdor said quickly, to escape from his petulance — " Do you play lawn tennis, Mr. Falcon ? " " No," said Ralph Falcon. " By the way, it's Sir Ralph Falcon, isn't it ? " said Lord Lisdor. " No ; my grandfather dropped the ' Sir ' when he left England." " Well, we must teach you lawn tennis. It's not much of a game. I play it a good deal, because I am not keen on riding ; I don't go racing ; and there is nothing else to do in the country at this time of year.

But how did you get to the Court this way ? " said Lord Lisdor. " Through the wood," said Ralph Falcon. "We must send to the station for your things, or you won't have time to dress comfortably for dinner. It's a long way," said Lord Lisdor. " My baggage and my servants are at the village inn," said Ralph Falcon. " We will send at once. You must make the Court your headquarters while you are in England," said Lord Lisdor. " Thank you," said Ralph Falcon. Lord Lisdor called to one of the boys who had been fielding their tennis-balls, and bade him tell a servant to come at once. " My servants are mutes," said Ralph Falcon ; " and if they were not, they would not understand. But if he shows them this ring, they will follow him." He drew a ring, in which was set a great engraved sapphire, from his finger, and was hand ing it to the boy.

"No," said Lord Lisdor; "if it's hke that, I'll send Jackson. Tell him to come to me, Tommy." They walked slowly to the river terrace, Althea with her arm through Lord Lisdor's, Lady Lisdor behind with the Russian, who was still complaining of his ill-fortune at tennis. " I suppose," said Althea in a low voice to Lord Lisdor, " he is always put out like this by trifles because he has too much of his own way in his own country." " I have given him a lesson or two in doing with out it, don't you know ? " said Lord Lisdor, with a grin. They drank their tea on the river terrace ; and Ralph Falcon sat among them, his face set in a strange, unchanging sternness. He was plainly watching them; but nothing in his expression told them how they affected him. He was never the first to speak ; and answered the questions that one or another asked him from time to time, with a faint haughtiness in his tone, almost as if a question to him were a breach of manners.

They were only assured that they were as strange to him as he to them, and that he was trying to understand them, or grow used to them. The men had lighted their cigarettes and Prince Melinsky had at last ceased his complaining, when Ralph Falcon said to Lord Lisdor, " I have a letter from my father to yours ; and as I gather that he is dead, I will deliver it to you." He drew from his pocket a square of folded parch ment, and handed it to Lord Lisdor. " It's like an official document," said Lord Lisdor, opening it and beginning to read. It began with many friendly messages from the writer and his wife to Lord Lisdor's father and mother : dead this twenty years ; recommended Ralph Falcon to their kind offices ; begged that they would aid him in the end for which he had come to England, and was subscribed Raleigh.

Lord Lisdor read it, and when he had come to the end of it, Althea said, " Give it to me ; Ruth and I will put it in its place among the family papers." Lord Lisdor gave it to her, and said, " Let me see ; I suppose it was your father who came to England when my grandfather was alive, and married my father's sister Dorothy. I have heard all about it ; but it all happened before I was born, and I have forgotten it." " That is what happened," said Ralph Falcon. " I knew you were likely to come some day ; and I suppose this is your first visit to Europe," said Lord Lisdor. " Yes ; I have been in Europe a year, studying crafts and manufactures," said Ralph Falcon. There came a faint laugh from Prince Melinsky, contemptuous of such a pursuit. Ralph Falcon's face at last wore an expression — an expression of faint bewilderment ; the possibility that any one might regard with contempt anything he had chosen to do, seemed new to him.

Lady Lisdor and Althea, who had been watching him with the womanly eyes which miss nothing, opened them wide in a comprehending amazement. Jackson, coming for instructions touching his luggage, broke the thread of the talk ; on Althea's suggestion, they went down to the tennis-lawn, and she and Lord Lisdor played Lady Lisdor and Prince Melinsky. Ralph Falcon watched them, his eyes alert in his set, stern face, which only relaxed now and again to an admiration of the beautiful curves of Lady Lisdor's supple figure. At the end of the second set they stopped playing, and Lady Lisdor and Althea began again their careful watch on Ralph Falcon. They were talking to him about the game, the ease with which it might be learned, when a loud baying came from the other side of the house. " Whatever dogs are those ?

" said Althea, " Mine," said Ralph Falcon. " They sound pretty big," said Lord Lisdor. " Let's go and look at them." They walked round the house, and at the back of it they found Jackson returned with Ralph Falcon's luggage and servants. A footman was unloading a cart of some portmanteaus, and a big brown man was helping him. Another big brown man stood by, holding in a leash two great tawny dogs, and guard ing a curious chest of an Eastern look, carved and bound with brass. At the sight of their master the dogs crouched flat on their bellies, the two brown men bent low, till a short word from him, in a strange tongue, brought them upright. " By Jove, you train your dogs well ! " said Lord Lisdor. " And your servants," muttered Prince Melinsky. " Oh, what lovely dogs ! " cried Althea, stepping forward to pat them.

They growled, and bared great fangs. " Be careful ! " cried Lord Lisdor, springing for ward to catch her back. But Ralph Falcon was before him, and as his light hand rested on the child's shoulder, their savageness fell from them ; and at another strange word from him, they crawled forward, and let her pat them. They were tawny brutes of the bloodhound kind, but bigger than a bloodhound by far ; and Lord Lisdor and the Russian plied their master with questions about them. "All the same, my wolfhound would kill one of them," said Prince Melinsky. " I think not," said Ralph Falcon. As they went to dress for dinner, Althea said to Lady Lisdor, " I think that Ralph is exactly the man to bring letters for people who have been dead twenty years ; don't you ? " After dinner they drank their coffee in a sheltered corner of the river terrace, lighted by two electric globes.

Lord Lisdor had no great liking for the twilight ; he said justly that the sight of such beautiful creatures as Lady Lisdor and Althea was worth all the charm of all the twilights of a summer. The two of them were side by side, at once complements and foils to one another ; the richer colouring of Lady Lisdor's hair and eyes blending with Althea's frail delicacy in such a fashion as to invest it with a warmth strange to it, and at the same time draw to itself from the contrast a warmer glow. The Russian alone was talking, boasting of what he had done, or what he would do, as was his custom after dinner, and watching Lady Lisdor. Althea said a word now and again to Lord Lisdor ; Lady Lisdor was thought ful, gazing at the glimmering stream ; Ralph Falcon watched her. There was a sound of footsteps on the gravel, and the two brown men came into the circle of the light, bearing the Eastern chest.

" The gifts of my father to his cousins," said Ralph Falcon, and waved them to Lady Lisdor. Roused from her dreaming, she looked at them with a startled air, as they set the chest at her feet, and knelt before her. One of them drew a key from his bosom and unlocked it. At the raising of the lid the fragrance of strange perfumes floated on the air ; and the two mutes drew from it Eastern stuffs, wonderful embroideries on gossamer grounds, cloth stiff with gold and jewels. Lady Lisdor and Althea greeted each fresh piece with glowing faces and little cries of wonder. Last of all, one of the mutes took a casket from the bottom of the chest, and laid it on Lady Lisdor's knee. She opened it, and rings, bracelets, and necklaces, set with emeralds and rubies, gleamed and flashed upon their startled eyes.

Althea cried out ; Lord Lisdor said, " By Jove ! " Prince Melinsky grunted his wonder ; but a look of distress gathered on Lady Lisdor's face, and she said in a doubtful tone that gained conviction as she spoke — " These are too valuable and beautiful. We cannot take them. At least I cannot. Now, one of these beautiful embroideries " Lord Lisdor chuckled, and said, " I was waiting for that." Ralph Falcon's face remained unmoved, and he said quietly — " These are gifts from my father ; I am but the bearer. I cannot take them back." Lady Lisdor's hand played with the jewels, but her face did not grow easy. She looked at Lord Lisdor, but he gave her no aid. Althea had clasped a ruby bracelet on her little white arm, and was admiring it. " I seem so ungracious," said Lady Lisdor ; " but " " It must be," said Ralph Falcon, and he smiled.

" If I must " she said ; and an answering smile gathered slowly on her face. " Well, convey a thousand thanks to your father from me, cousin Ralph ; and George and I will write a thousand more. Althea, let us divide them." They divided them with womanly delight, com paring the effect of each bracelet or necklace or ring, first on the arm, or neck, or finger of one, then of the other. The emeralds fell to Lady Lisdor' " They match your eyes," said Althea. The rubies fell 'to Althea. " I want a little glow," she said. The men admired and discussed the jewels, Prince Melinsky fidgeting and saying, " I don't understand ! I don't understand ! " "What don't you understand ?" said Lord Lisdor at last. " The cutting of the stones is European ; but the setting and design of the ornaments are Eastern — Eastern.

Where did they come from, Mr. Falcon?" said Prince Melinsky. " Asia," said Ralph Falcon. " It's all so jolly ' Arabian Nights,' don't you know ? " said Lord Lisdor.

Chapter II Ralph Falcon Makes The Acquaintance Of His Cousins

Ralph Falcon had fallen into a pleasant land ; and the month was May. In it no one acted but on the fancy of the moment, and no binding to times and seasons made pleasure a burden. Clever, amusing people came down from London for a day or two, and went away. But for the most part, the five of them were alone ; and Lady Lisdor was the centre round which the little group circled ; Althea might go wandering with Alrasch, one of Ralph Falcon's bloodhounds which she had made her pet ; Lord Lisdor and the Russian might play lawn tennis or picquet ; Ralph Falcon might sit for hours, thinking and smoking on the terrace, or betake himself to the village and fields, watching the work and lives of the rustics ; but sooner or later they found themselves all gathered together round Lady Lisdor. She was a gracious creature, for the most part grave, with eyes wistful for the great things life is owed her fine beauty.

For the most part, too, she was silent ; when she spoke, her speech was graver than her years, the speech of a woman whom hfe had taught to think ; and she spent much of her time with books. Her life before her marriage had been hard, and of a narrow range ; marriage had unbarred the world to her ; and she was for ever eager to learn more of human nature, of the springs of human action, and the essentials of human happiness. Of art and music she knew nothing ;, and they appealed little to her fine intelligence ; she esteemed the look ing at pictures and the hearing of operas agreeable diversions ; but with man, his doings and his dreams, her preoccupation was unceasing. She disliked London ; the first sight of the Thames after an absence set her shuddering ; yet her friends were all dwellers in London.

She was not liked in the County, and it was but natural. On her return from abroad, after her marriage, she had tired of the society of the County people in a month ; her unfeigned, unconcealed indifference to their pursuits, and their talk ; her entire aloofness from them had banded them against her in an exasperation to which they were powerless to give vent. For she had not been slow to learn that the Countess of Lisdor, by virtue of her name and wealth, was a power in the County ; and had shown that she had the skill and courage to use her power to the utmost, on the only occasion on which their ill-will had found expres sion. Had she cared to, she might have led the County : a County is always its women : but her curiosity about her fellows had not yet ripened to the desire to rule ; and she was content to force them to let her go her own way, to leave her to the uninterrupted enjoyment of her riding, her books, and the few clever friends who could tell her something of the things she wished to know.

A friendship between her and Ralph Falcon was not long springing up : they were attracted to one another by a kindred strength of spirit ; and little definite as it was to the mind of either — neither was given to waste time analysing the emotions — it was a strong attraction that was drawing them very close to one another. Besides, they were together in a pleasant land ; and each found the other's beauty a perpetual delight. He soon became her companion on her rides in the early morning ; they sat together on the terrace through the long, hot hours of the middle day, she reading, he smoking or dreaming. Yet they talked but little : both were of a silent habit : sometimes, as they breathed their horses after a gallop, they would talk of the lives of the country folk ; sometimes, as they sat on the terrace, she would lay down her book, tell him what the writer had said, and talk with him about it.

Always his refusal to accept any vague generalisations, his aversion from the commonplace sentimentalities, his persistent assertion of the sound, human point of view were very satisfying to her clear intelligence. Prince Melinsky, who had immured himself at Quivern Court, at this season, out of an admiration for her, began to rage at their growing intimacy, and even came to Lord Lisdor with a warning. Lord Lisdor laughed at his impertinence, and said : "You are used to foreign women, Melinsky. But Lady Lisdor is a Falcon. She was brought up away from other women, fortunately ; and so she's as straight as a die." Alone with Althea she was a child with a child ; and they lavished on one another an extraordinary fondness. In either the will to love had found no expression in the common ways : neither had had any relations or friends to be fond of, and each had filled the place of them in the other's heart.