Scamp. A novel

Front matter

SCAMP. SCAMP. A NOVEL. BY J. SALE LLOYD, AUTHOR OF "shadows of the past," "ruth everingham," " we costelions," "the silent shadow," "gold and silver," etc., etc. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: F. V. WHITE & CO., 31 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1887. [AU Sights reserved.] EDINBURGH COLSTON AND COMPANY PRINTERS. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. "Scamp," ..... 1 II. "Friends," . . . . .13 III. Lord Carruthers' Offer, ... 46 IV. " I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN," ... 73 V. A Disappointing Meeting, ... 95 VI. In the Gloaming, .... 118 VII. " Can You not trust Me 1" . . 149 VIII. Adela's Request, .... 170 IX. " What a Peacemaker You are ! " . 202 X. In the Lion's Den, .... EIGHT POPULAR NOYELS. No7v ready, in One Vol., the Seventh Edition of ARMY SOCIETY ; or, Life in a Garrison Town. By John Strange Winter, Author of 'Booties' Baby.' Cloth gilt, 6s.; also picture boards, 2s. GARRISON GOSSIP, Gathered in Blankhampton.

By the same Author. Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. THE OUTSIDER. A Sporting Novel. By Hawley Smart. New Edition. In 1 vol. THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT. A Sporting Novel By Mrs Edward Kennard. Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. STRAIGHT AS A DIE. By the same Author. Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. BY WOMAN'S WIT. By Mrs Alexander. Author of 'The Wooing O't.' Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. KILLED IN THE OPEN. By Mrs Edward Kennard. Author of ' The Right Sort.' Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. IN A GRASS COUNTRY. By Mrs H. Lovett-Camekon. Author of ' A North Country Maid,' etc. (Sixth Edition.) Cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. F. V. WHITE & Co., 31 Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.C. TO HER VALUED FRIEND, COLONEL G. B. MALLESON, C.S.I.. THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED, WITH BEST WISHES, BY THE AUTHOR. SCAMP. CHAPTEE I. " SCAMP." " CAMP! Scamp ! where are &^«igg^| you?" cried a pleasant, manly P^-**^ voice ; but there was not the faintest response, for " Scamp," other wise Adela Thorndyke, was deep in a sensational novel, and had no mind to be disturbed, even by her father.

" Thomas, what has become of Miss Adela ? " he asked of the old gardener, who had lived at the Rectory with him before Adela was born. VOL. I. A Scamp. 2 A white hand parted the leaves of an ancient walnut tree, and a dainty index finger was shaken at the factotum warningly, even menacingly ; but the Rector of Winsthorpe was not a man to be trifled with, except by one person, his daughter Scamp, his one and only, and it must be added, spoilt child ; and although Thomas saw the warning hand, he dared not say he did not know where the young lady was. He pushed back his hat, and screwed up his mouth gravely, and raised his honest eyes to his master's face. " Miss Ad'la's somewhere about, sir," he said. " Maybe she won't be long." " Come, no prevarication, Thomas ; you know where she is ! " and the keen grey orbs of the clergyman, who had once been an officer, fixed upon him relentlessly.

Chapter II

" FRIENDS." R and Mrs Thorndyke had gone 1 u! out to pay a round of visits, _«£l and the Captain and Adela had watched them drive off in the village cart with Peggy, till they were out of sight. Then the girl turned suddenly, and looked at her companion. " What shall we do ? " she asked. " Anything you like," he responded. "I'm at your service." " Really . or is that politeness ? " " Really ! I'll do whatever you ask me — Scamp. 14 if it be to turn Catherine wheels like the street Arabs, for your amusement. I learnt the accomplishment when I was a boy." She clapped her hands. " I shoidd like to see you — but I w _n't ask that, for you were wounded in the head, were you not ? and it might make you ill." " It's more than likely," he laughed. " I forget I am cracked china sometimes." " And, besides, you are too tall and dignified for that sort of thing.

I shouldn't like you if you looked ridiculous." " Then you do like me, Adela ? " he said eagerly. " Of course I do ; you're a dear, and awfully nice." They were walking around the garden now, and she stopped before a rose tree and plucked him a lovely bud, and placed it in his button-hole, with the innocent freedom of a child. "Friends." 15 " There ! now it is your turn to give me one, Captain," she said merrily. He turned to a syringa bush laden with white flowers, filling the air with its sweetness, and picked a spray. " Here are orange blossoms for you, Scamp," he said softly. " Papa would call that talking non sense," she replied, shaking her sunny head, " because they are not, and you know it, Captain Egerton." Then they came to the old walnut tree, and stood beneath it. " Don't you want to smoke ?

" she asked ; " I like the smell of tobacco out of-doors." " I shouldn't mind a weed at all," he admitted. "Go up to my parlour," she suggested ; " it's quite a little room — place one foot there, and another there, catch hold of that bough, and you will find it quite easy." Scamp. He caught her young enthusiasm, and obeyed her to the letter, and was soon looking down. " What a delightful place ! " he said. " Are you not coming up, Scamp ? " She ascended with far greater ease than he had done, with catlike grace . and in a few moments they were seated side by side upon the leafy throne which the girl so loved — he contentedly enjoying a cigar, while she sat by, watching the white smoke curl up through the branches. He caught sight of the book which had been the subject of dispute between her and her father, stuck in a crevice in the tree, and took it up ; and as he did so, the leaves opened, and he read upon the first page the name of Horace Lake, and his eyes rested upon the words.

" Who is Horace Lake, Adela ? " he " Friends." 17 asked, a strange shade of disappointment crossing his brow, and an equally strange pain contracting his heart. " He's an awfully jolly fellow ! " she returned, with animation. " And he does no end of things for me. I cannot think what I should do without him." " Oh, indeed ! And how old is this paragon ? " "He is about twenty." "And you?" " I'm fifteen. But I thought it wasn't polite to ask ladies their ages ! " " Do you wish me to be polite, Adela . " She sat still a moment thinking, her large eyes looking into vacancy — self-absorbed. He laid his hand upon her arm, and she looked up at him. " Well ? " he said interrogatively. " I want you to be always just what you are," she answered, with a smile. VOL. I. B Scamp " A pretty compliment, Scamp," he said, with a brightened look.

" Never more, nor less to you, than I am now ? Is that your wish ? " " Certainly never less % " And then she hesitated, but turned her bright eyes to his frankly. " I want you to promise that we shall always be friends ! " she went on eagerly. " I know you're a great deal older, and all that, but I like you, and I don't care for many people ! " " Of course, we will be friends, Scamp. We are friends, my child, and will remain so, so long as you will let the compact last." And he took her hand and held it in a firm clasp. Suddenly she broke out into a merry laugh. " Do you know you are encouraging me in disobedience ? " she asked. "Friends." 19 " I knew I should, if ever I were put to the test ! " he said, laughing too. "I told Thorndyke so!" " Told father ? And what did he say ? " " He didn't say much.

He thought it was fun, but I knew it was earnest." Again she relapsed into the trans cendental mood, and as quickly broke it with the bright upturned glance. " You won't split upon Horace, will you ? You shouldn't have seen the book, if I had not thought I could trust you ! " " You can trust me. The name of Horace shall not pass my lips ! " " You are a brick ! I felt sure of it, or I shouldn't have asked you to be chums," she replied, with animation. " Brick ! chums ! " The terms would have sounded fast and slangy from less beautiful lips than Adela Thorndyke's, Scamp. 20 and have disgusted the sensitive ears of Cecil Egerton, but she spoke them with such childlike grace and ease, looking so bright and happy the while, that he could not quarrel with them in her. "Who taught you slang, young lady?" he inquired playfully.

" Not papa, you may bet ! " she laughed. "He's real riled when he hears me." " Nor mamma ! " suggested Cecil " Not exactly ; mother is very patient — but slang does nearly give her a fit." " Then why use it, little woman ? It cannot add to your happiness, and from your account it diminishes that of your parents ! " " Not a bit of it. I torment them, and they enjoy it ; it is like being tickled with a feather — some people delight in it. Dad and mam do, in my naugh tiness ; they would be quite lost without "Friends." 21 it. As to slang, I simply love it ; if we are to be friends you must not expect me to be sedate, and sit on my hind legs all day. I couldn't do it for any one, not even for you ! " " Not for Horace ? " he asked. " Horace ! " and she broke out into merriment. " Why, he likes it ; he has taught me all the mischief I know !

" " Oh ! has he ? You seem an apt pupil ! " retorted Captain Egerton, amusement and annoyance struggling for the mastery in his mind. " I am," she admitted, " because I en joy it so much ! " "Enfant terrible!" he sighed. " By-the-by," said Adela reflectively, "you have broken your word." "I have! How?" "You said the name of Horace should not pass your lips, and it has ' " Scamp, 22 " Oh ! I didn't mean to you, child ! " " Well, then you're forgiven — but to no one else, mind ! " " And what is this paragon of perfec tion like ? " asked Cecil, somewhat bitterly. was perfection ! I jolly ; and so he " I never said he said he was awfully is ! "Well! what is he like ? " "Like? Not at all like you ! " " That is only telling me what he is not like ! " " Oh ! I see I must mind my P's and Q's with you, Mr Severity ; you're nearly as bad as Mrs Jackson, who comes here sometimes !

" " And what does Mrs Jackson do ? " " Do ! AVhy, she's an authoress, and edits me upon every possible occasion. Do you know any authors ? Save me from them ! " "Friends." 23 "Yes! I know a few!" " What do you think of them . " " I generally find them inclined to be silent and reserved ; people are too apt to try and draw them out, and make a show of them, I fancy, and they resent it, and keep their ideas for their books ! " " I wish Mrs Jackson would ! " Then she began again, — " Don't they ever try to edit you ? ' " No ! I suppose they think I'm past it!" " I should be glad if Mrs Jackson would think that of me," said Adela. " Naughty Scamp ! You should __sh to be improved." " Should I ? " she inquired naively. " Well I don't — I like being naughty best. No one would love me half so well if I were not a Scamp.

If I were tract able and obedient every one would say I was a very good girl, and there the matter would end ; there would be no further Scamp. 24 interest in me, you see ; but it's a little excitement for every one to scold me, and forgive me, and all that, both for them and for me. It must be very oppressive to be a saint ! " " It never struck me in that light before," laughed Cecil ; " but now you mention it, there is something in the idea. The wild son is always the mother's favourite, I do believe." "Of course he is! From the lost sheep in the parable down to me, the naughty one gets all the petting — the bad little animal got carried, and all the rest had to trudge home on foot." "So I suppose you never mean to try and become a model young woman ? " " Not I. I should bore myself terribly, and how Horace and Lilian would laugh at me !

" "And who is Lilian ?" "Friends." 25 " Oh ! she's a chum of mine, too. Lilian Freemantle her name is, and she's a very pretty girl indeed. It's a pity you can't see her ; but she's at school now. She is the daughter of Sir Richard Freemantle of Marsden Hall, and he's an old tartar. He would make a nun of Lilian if he dared, and if it were not for me the poor girl would be crushed ; but I am wicked enough for two, and help her when she wants it." " I hope you don't lead her into mis chief, Scamp." " Of course I do when I can. Sir Richard won't let her see any one but ourselves, and fondly thinks she cannot take any harm under the Rector's wing, and when he is here I'm as demure as a mouse." " I didn't know mice were demure." " Now you're editing ! I didn't think you would be so nasty. You're as bad as Mrs Jackson."

Scamp, " What ! quite ? " "Well, nearly. In fact, I'm not sure you're not worse, because, you know, we're friends." " And do you think friends ought never to correct each other, little one ? " " Never. They ought to think what ever the other does is right, and accept their acts and sayings without ques tion. That is my idea of friendship," she said warmly, " and so it is Lilian's too." " And Horace's ? " " Yes, and Horace's." " Well, it is not mine, Adela," and he was silent. The girl sat still, pondering his words, and he gently blew away his cloudlets of white vapour with an unconcerned look. She hoped he would begin to speak again ; but he did not, and she was soon tired of being quiet. "Friends." 27 " What is yours ? " she inquired at length. " My what ? " he answered, with ap parent indifference.

She flushed. " Oh, if you have so soon forgotten, it does not matter," she said vexedly. " And if I have not forgotten ? " " Then you're a horror ! " she retorted, springing up, "and I'm off." He stretched out his hand, and stayed her. " Where are you going, Scamp ? " " Anywhere away from you ; I don't care where." " Then you may as well sit down again." She hesitated. She didn't really want to go ; she would much prefer to spend the rest of the afternoon by his side, but she was annoyed with him. " AVill you stay if I give you my Scamp. definition of friendship ? " he asked, with a smile, drawing her towards him. "Yes, if you will do that," and his smile was reflected upon her face. " AVell, sit down, little one, and I'll try ; but I'm not good at putting my thoughts upon such subjects into shape."

He took a long pull at his weed, as if to draw inspiration from it, and began, — " I do not consider a friend shuts his eyes to obvious faults." " That is telling me what you do not consider friendship, not what you do," she retorted severely, repeating his own words. " Mocking bird ! " he laughed, " you've scattered all my ideas, and they were sublime ! You'll never now hear the grand image under which I was about to paint my wingless Cupid." " Oh ! a sort of lost chord, eh ? AVell, if this is the way you keep your "Friends." 29 promises I won't trust you again," and once more she arose, then as suddenly stopped. " AVhat do you mean by a wingless Cupid, Captain Egerton ? " " Do you not know the lines, — ' Friendship is love without wings . ' That will do for my definition, Scamp. Love may be blind to faults, friendship is not ; love may make difficul ties fly, for friendship they will only walk."

" How do you know ? Have you ever been in love ? " she asked, turning her great eyes upon him. " Never ! Have you ? " " No, but I should like to be ; it must be such fun." " Fun ? " " Awful fun. Do you know, I am sure I should torment my lover dreadfully." " I can quite believe it," he said, Scamp. 30 breaking out into a hearty laugh. " You're a perfect little Phyllis ; your father should have named you so." "And what did she do? something nice ? " she asked archly. "Naughty, and nice," he returned. "Don't you know the song?" "No; do you sing it ? I have heard papa say yon have a beautiful voice." "That is very kind of him, I'm sure." " AVill you sing me Phyllis ? " "AVell, I'm afraid I can't after that." " Do, please. I want so much to hear the words," and she laid her hand upon his arm in a manner not to be resisted.

He took his cigar from his lips and laid it aside, and turning to her with a smile, sang a snatch of the old ballad, — " Phyllis is my only joy, Faithless as the wind or seas, Sometimes forward, sometimes coy, Yet she never fails to please." "Friends." 31 " It is very pretty," she said ; " but, Captain Egerton, do you think I am faithless ? " " I hope not, child ; but who can tell ? Even gold must be tried by fire. Of one thing I am certain, you will be the joy and torment of some poor fellow's life one of these days." " Would you be sorry for him ? " " I hardly know. If you loved him a little — yes ! " "And if I were very fond of him?" " You wTould make him wildly happy, or intensely miserable," he said gravely, even sadly. " How old are you ? " she asked ir relevantly. " I am thirty-five.

AVhy ? " " Because you were looking a hundred just now, and as though you had been a judge on the bench all your life." Scamp 32 " AVas I of so very severe an aspect ? " "Very. A^inegar cruets were nothing to you." "You're a polite young lady." " Am I ? It's to take the edge off the compliment about your voice. Go on w.th the song, please." " No, thanks ! " "You're sulky!" she asserted, looking at him fully. " AVell, you are touchy ! I often say much worse things than that to Horace, and he doesn't mind a bit." " Oh, bother Horace ! " he said irritably. " AVhy, certainly ! " she replied, like a veritable Yankee, with an exasperating laugh. " I'm tired of him. AVho is the fellow ? Does he live here ? " " If you're tired of him why do you ask ? " " Because I want to know, to be sure." "Friends." 33 "AVell, then, he is the son of Mr Lake, the solicitor, and he'll be a lawyer him self some day, I suppose — although he doesn't want to be."

" And what does he desire to be ? " " Dear me, your interest is growing in the young man," she remarked mockingly. " Not at all ; but as you are my friend, and he is yours, I ought to know all about him." " Ah ! that's a sort of logic, isn't it ? " " Don't tease, child ; you're too young to know anything about logic." "No, I'm not. I can prove to you by logic that it's raining now. Horace taught me how to do it." " AVell ? " " It either rains, or it doesn't rain. It doesn't rain, therefore it rains. Do you n _ see ? "Not clearly." vol. i. c Scamp 34 " Ah ! evidently the rain is a Scotch mist in this instance ! " " You're a sharp young puss." " Have you only just found it out ? " she laughed. "Horace says I'm as sharp as a blunt needle ! " " What a clever simile, and so new ! " he retorted mockingly.

"AVell, and what does this clear-sighted young man aspire to?" " AVell, you see," said Adela gravely, " I don't quite like to tell you." "Why?" "You might think me rude; Mr Lake is rather a wag, you see." " Do you mean Horace by Mr Lake ? " " No, his father, who is blessed with three sons, and he has made up his mind what to do with each of them." " Oh, indeed ! " " I heard him tell papa that his three boys w _re totally different, and that he "Friends." 35 should place them out in life according to their abilities." ' AVise man," remarked the Captain. " ' Horace wishes to enter the army,' he said to papa ; ' but that will never clo, he has too many brains for an officer — he must go into my office. Tom's a rake, he will make a good soldier. Bob's a fool, and he will do for a parson ; and Horace is a rogue, he's just fitted for a lawyer.' " Captain Egerton broke out into a merry peal of laughter.

" The old fellow is honest, at any rate, and I'm blessed if there is not a certain amount of truth in what he says." Papa thinks there's a great deal." AVhat ! when he's a parson himself ? " "He is one from conviction, not for the sake of a living, as so many are. A young man has an uncle a bishop, and from his cradle it is settled he is to be a clergyman, no matter what his predilec- Scamp. tions are ; and, besides, you're a soldier, and you acknowledge that there is a point in the remark." "That's true. And so your friend is the rogue of the family ? Does your father like him, Adela ? " "Yes, just as Mr Lake likes me. He thinks him a pickle ; but he can't help liking him." " Shall I see him ? " " See him, no ! He's at college." Captain Egerton breathed more freely. " He would want you to tell him all about the campaigns you have been through if you and he were to meet.

He is always drawing dad out, and some times we have such interesting anecdotes, until he finds out the fact, and then he collapses like a telescope." " That's very natural." "But why don't soldiers like to talk of what they have gone through ? " "Friends" 37 " Have you ever heard of bragga docio ? " "Rather!" " Well, soldiers see such strange sights, and go through such marvellous experi ences, that if we were to tell half we have seen, we should get the credit of going in for it." " In other words, it is not churlishness, but modesty ? " " In most men, I think." " I wish you would go on with that song," said Adela, suddenly dashing from one subject to another. " AVill you be very nice if I do ? " " Very, very, most particularly nice ! " "How will you do it, Scamp?" he asked softly. " Like this," she replied, slipping her hand into his.

" AVon't that suit ? " " Excellently ! " he laughed, as he clasped it in both his own. "But first, child, Scamp. do you know I am going away to-morrow ? "Will you be sorry ? " "Must you go?" she asked, her eyes upraised to his. "Duty calls." " I wish it didn't." " Then you like me to be with you ? " "Awfully, and especially up here in my own green den." ' ' I shall remember this afternoon, Scamp, as long as I live." " I expect 1 shall, too." "You are not sure, then?" " Yes, I am," she acknowledged, a dimple deepening in her chin ; " only I thought I'd tease you." " Phyllis again ! Child, I wonder how you and I will meet in the future ! " She looked at him in surprise. " AVhy, are you not coming back to Winsthorpe now you have found your way here once ? " "Friends." 39 He shook his head. " Ours is the first regiment for foreign service.

We may be abroad for years, and by the time I return, I shall find you flown from AVinsthorpe, perhaps." " Flown from AVinsthorpe ! " " Yes. Married, very likely — torment ing some fool of a parson, or rake of a soldier, or rogue of a lawyer," he said, with the ghost of a smile. " I don't think I shall be married," she answered gravely. " I might be engaged." " AVell, well, the one is a prelude to the other, is it not ? " "Not necessarily," she returned. "I doubt if it would ever come to that with me. It would be great fun all the love making, and that ; but when it was all made, wouldn't it be dreadfully tame work ? Fancy being expected to do echo to any man's opinions ! Why I should Scamp. 40 hate him in a week, and make myself disagreeable, and then he would hate me, and that would be the end of the matter."

" Until you found another lover to amuse yourself with, eh ? " " I suppose so," she replied dubiously. " AVhat a child you are ! " he said, a sudden light breaking out in his face. " Keep so, Scamp — keep so till I come back. I should like to find you un changed," he ended, with feeling. " Should you ? I thought you wanted me to be an angel instead of a — " " Scamp ! " he interrupted, with a smile. " No, child, an angel would be too fluffy for my taste. Do not change till I come back, and then — " " Then ? " she repeated, questioning. " How can I tell, child — how can I tell ? Scamp, Scamp, will you promise to keep our compact of friendship ? AVill "Friends." 41 you never forget me ? Child, you have grown strangely dear to me ! " "Never," she answered, a flush rising to her fair young cheek, and an unwonted softness to her eyes.

" Cecil, you will always be one apart from the rest of the world to me." And for the first time Adela Thorn dyke peeped through the door of childhood into the golden fields beyond. A sweet chord was touched in her young heart, and vibrated with tender, scarcely understood happiness. " AVait, child, wait ! " he said earnestly ; " wait till I come back." She no longer questioned what was then to happen — a quivering hope was turning the child into a woman. " Yes ! I will wait," she said softly. Then he caught her in his arms, and pressed his lips to her pure white brow. " My little Phyllis, my little Scamp ! Scamp 42 will you make me happy or miserable ? " he asked. " Hallo ! who's up there ? " cried the Rector's voice from below. For the afternoon had passed, and the long hours had seemed short to the friends in the leafy parlour.

The visits were paid, and Mr Thorndyke and his wife having returned, were puzzled to know what had become of Captain Egerton and Scamp ; and so intent were these two upon their conversation, that they failed to hear the Rector's footstep as he came down the garden path in search of them. " Who's up there ? " he repeated angrily*, as there was no response. " I'll have that tree cut down." " Don't do that," said Cecil, " it would be a thousand pities— it is simply delight ful up here, Thorndyke. Do join us!" "Friends." 43 " Join you ? " he echoed. " Has Adela dared, after all I said to her ? " " Don't repeat it, dad. I know it so well by heart ; but you see I couldn't help it this once, for I was obliged to show my favourite place to Captain Egerton, because you knowT, after all you said about it, he would have gone away thinking I had done something dreadful, if I had not proved to him that it was entirely prejudice on your part, dad."