A Deadly Foe: A Romance of the Northern Seas

Front matter

Google to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

Contents

CHAP. PAGB

I. LOVERS ------ I

II. "the stranger within the gates" - 19

Chapter I. Lovers

It was as pretty a scene as in all England you could find. The quaint little village, perched on the slopes of a gradual ascent from beach to cliff, was in itself picturesque, and had been sketched a hundred times for the Royal Academy and minor exhibitions in London : the sea that bathed the sandy shore or dashed itself against the oldfashioned wooden pier was always, and in every mood, an element of beauty; and the fisher-folk, in their blue jerseys and knitted caps, or scarlet handkerchiefs and striped petticoats, according to sex, were not the least noticeable features of the place. But village and cliff and sea seemed but accessories to the beauty of a girl on whose face the eyes of Frank Lovell were fixed, as he came, lightly enough, along the winding path which led from the main street to a little house and garden half-way up the hill, where Nelly Dene kept watch and ward for him.

They were lovers, of (:ourse : they had been lovers ever since their childhood, and they had plighted their troth before they were in their teens. Nelly was six and Frank eleven when they first promised each other that they would be man and wife "some day"; but now that Nelly was nineteen and Frank twenty-four, the day of their union still seemed almost as remote as it had done in those earlier years. For Nelly had not a penny to her fortune ; and Frank had hitherto occupied no loftier position than that of third officer on board a merchantvessel, which sometimes carried a few passengers between Hamburg and Hull. It was a position which had many disadvantages; and among them was that of offering a very narrow prospect of advancement in the future to an ambitious young man, and of giving him only a very small income for the present.

It was also not the position which might have seemed most natural to him, for he came of a good family, many members of whom had served in the Royal Navy, and had bequeathed to him a love for a seafaring life, which even the merchant-service had failed to extinguish. But he was the sixth boy out of ten children of a not very wealthy country clergyman, and the Vicar of Combe was too sensible a man to set aside an evident vocation because it led his boy into scenes and among companions whose merit it was that they were honest, and whose fault it was not that they were unaristocratic.

But Frank Lovell's chance had come at last. Two or three acts of extraordinary courage had recommended him to the passengers in his vessel, almost as much as his more business-like qualities had endeared him to its owners ; and a lucky friendship, struck up on board-ship with a certain Captain Peters, had led to his being asked by that gentleman, who was, in fact, a distinguished Arctic explorer, to join him as first officer in an expedition to the North which he was just then contemplating. It would be a dangerous expedition, Captain Peters explained ; there would be privations, hardships, difficulties of every kind ; whereat Frank Lovell had actually thrown his cap in the air and hurrahed for gladness of heart and the joy of conflict which characterises every true-born Englishman.

Danger and privation! what were they to him save spurs to exertion? He might be frozen or starved, of course, and leave his bones bleaching among Polar snows ; but then, on the other hand, he might achieve the greatest distinction, and be known as one of the members of the most successful Arctic expeditions ever undertaken. Successful or not, a share in it would give him all the start in the world he needed ; and Frank assured his friend enthusiastically that he was ready to set off at a day*s notice. ** A day I must have, you know/' he said, "to say good-bye to the old folks — and Nelly/'

Captain Peters whistled. " Oh, there's a Nelly in the case, is there?" he said. ''And old folks, too? Tm sorry for that, my lad. I've half a mind to declare you disqualified."

** You are very much mistaken, sir, if you think that any of them would object," said Frank, warmly. *' Neither my father and mother, nor Nelly, would say a word to hold me back."

" I should like to speak to your father first," said Captain Peters. '* I don't know how I got it into my head that you had no near relations, Lovell. As a rule, I prefer men who are unattached. There's no denying, of course, that we run a bit of a risk."

"What's a risk? We run risks every day of our life," said Frank, contemptuously. But Captain Peters refused to discuss the matter any further, until he had conferred with the Reverend Edmund Lovell, Vicar of Combe.

Frank's prognostication was, however, more than correct. What the Vicar said was this :

'*God forbid that I should put any obstacle in the way if this is the thing my son desires to do. Have I not always wished to be the father of a line of heroes?*' And, indeed, he seemed likely to have his way, for his two elder sons were in the army — one in Burmah and one in Egypt ; and his third boy had gone out to the South Seas as a missionary, and the fourth was on a gunboat off the coast of Africa. And here Frank was desiring to join an exploring party to the Arctic regions ; while the one remaining boy at school was fighting vigorously against the fate which had offered him a situation on a tea plantation in Ceylon, and declaring that he would enlist as a private if he were not allowed his chance — "like the others" — at Woolwich and Sandhurst. The two girls who were married had been equally adventurous, for one was the wife of a captain in a marching regiment, and the other had chosen a naval doctor for her mate. The Vicar sometimes said, half smiling, half sadly, that he thought there must be a strain of Viking blood in his veins, which had manifested itself less in his own life than in those of his children.

Captain Peters declared himself satisfied of the Vicar's full consent, and renewed his offers to Frank, which offers were immediately accepted. As to Nelly, perhaps Captain Peters did not think it necessary to ask her opinion, for he did not speak of her to Frank again. Certainly, although all the members of the Lovell family then in England lost their hearts at once to the commander of this expedition, and could not speak enough in praise of his quiet manner, his steady life, his far-seeing, beautiful blue eyes — the eyes of a visionary and an enthusiast, as well as of a leader of men — Nelly Dene alone had not a good word for him, and persisted in considering him a kind of arch-fiend, intent on Frank s destruction and the breaking of her heart.

And now there was one week only left before Frank's departure would take place ; and he had come to spend some of his last days in the quiet little village where lived those who were most dear to him — which explains why Nelly watched for him at the gate, and why Frank thought her face the fairest thing that he had ever seen.

"Here I am, Nelly !" he called out to her, when he was yet some yards away.

*'At last, Frank! I thought you were never coming."

" Why, you impatient darling ! " — he had reached the gate by this time, and could lower his voice to the tender pitch required by such words of affection — " What will you do when I am away ? Two years, Nelly, and perhaps three ; and you — will you be watching for me all that time ? "

'* I shall never cease to think of you and watch for you, Frank; you may be sure of that."

"Thank you, my darling — my own dear Nell. I shall think of that when I am on the seas, or dragging sledges over ice-floes, or breaking up frozen meat with pick-axes, and otherwise enjoying myself. It will give me heart and strength to think of you here, with your sweet face turned to the sea, watching for me to come home again. And " — his voice grew graver, and even a little tremulous — " if I never come home, Nell — "

** But you will — you will ! " she cried with almost feverish eagerness. ** You will come

Lovers, g

back, Frank ; don't say if you come back. I cannot bear it — if you do not come back, I shall die too — and come to you.'^

There was a fervent light in her dark eyes, and the rose colour came and went in her oval cheeks ; her red lips trembled as she lifted them with a sweet maidenly frankness and virginal innocence, to be kissed by her lover. They had withdrawn from the gate to the shelter of an arbour in the garden, and Frank was able to put his arm round her, and draw her close to his bosom without fear of observation ; wondering, meanwhile, to himself, whether there was any girl in the world half so sweet and half so charming as his Nelly, and how it was that he had thought so calmly of a separation which would certainly last for years, perhaps even for ever, while she looked fondly up into his face, and felt proud of his manly beauty, the strength of his arm, and the brightness of his resolute eye. And, apart from the natural exaggeration of the lovers, it must be avowed that the twain made a goodly pair.

Frank Lovell came of a strong and vigorous race. Although not unduly tall, he was lO A Deadly Foe.

rather above middle height and a trifle broader than the rules of strict proportion justified. His limbs were, however, so supple and so muscular, that it was really no wonder to hear him spoken of (by the country paper, where the excellent ** derangement of epitaphs " was very much admired by the villagers) as **our local Hercules." "A modern Viking" would perhaps have been a better term. For he was fair — fair as a Northern hero is supposed to be — and his golden hair clustered in short curls and waves around his well-shaped head ; while his eyes were grey-blue as the Northern sea itself, though less dreamy than those of his enthusiastic friend Peters, and perhaps more capable of softening with affection for a person, if not for an idea. Like most seamen, he allowed his beard to grow to the approved naval point ; but as Nelly had a weakness for a moustache, he had promised her to shave off the beard '* when he came home again." In spite of her objections, it became him well, and the trim young officer, in his suit of naval blue, was as handsome a young fellow as you could wish to see.

Nelly formed an absolute contrast — a contrast, not a foil. She was indeed a lovely girl, but she was a decided brunette, with a pearly complexion, tangled, curling, unmanageable black hair, a rosebud mouth, and the most liquid, enchanting and bewildering dark eyes in the world. And Nelly s beauty was as delicate as it was bright ; there was no coarseness in her vivid colour, no want of fine modelling about the curves of ear and lip and cheek. She was not very big, but she was as graceful as a fawn ; and she had as many pretty ways as a linnet or a kitten. She was, withal, a brave, loving, tenderhearted girl, strongly attached to Frank Lovell, but resolved not to say a word to hold him back from doing what he thought to be his duty.

** Aunt Rachel is hoping to see you," Nelly said to him, when they had had a little more of their pretty lover-talk in the shady little arbour overlooking the blue and crystal sea — ah, how often would Nelly sit there alone and gaze at the distant horizon and cry her eyes out before Frank could hope to come sailing back to her again ! — " and she has got out her best china and made you the little sugared cakes that you like so much ; so you must stay to tea."

'* Of course ! " said Frank ; '• I came to tea — I came expecting to be asked. I must be at the Vicarage by seven, however ; a friend of mine is coming there for a day or two. "

" A friend ! What friend ? " asked Nelly, thinking that she discerned a certain reticence in his tone.

" Dyson — Oliver Dyson ; surgeon on board the Triton^' The Triton was Captain Peters's ship.

" But surely you have not known him very long, Frank dear ? "

'* Oh, no ; only since Peters introduced us a month ago. Didn't I mention him to you before ? "

"No, indeed you didn't And I don't see why you should speak of him as a friend and ask him here to spoil your last few days with us, when you have scarcely known him a month."

** When one is going on an expedition of this kind, Nell, one soon becomes intimate with the men who are to be one's fellowvoyagers and companions for the next two or three years."

" That is all very well, Frank ; but you don't like this Dr. Dyson very much, although you call him your friend."

Frank was startled. Nelly had read him through and through ; and there was a thought in his mind which he had never attempted to put into words. Nelly's observation revealed to him what it was.

At first he was a little shocked, as well as startled. " Nelly, my dear,'* he said, '' you shouldn't put words into my mouth. I never said I did not like Dyson ; indeed, I think him a very fine fellow — in many ways ; extremely clever and — "

'' Oh. you silly boy ! " laughed Nelly. "As if you needed to say that you did not like him ! As if I could not read your eye, your lips, your tone ! I am a witch ; I know all that is in yqur heart. You think Dr. Dyson very clever ; you admire him, and all that sort of thing — but you don't quite trust him — for reasons best known to yourself"

Frank reflected. *' Now I think of it," he said, '* I am not sure that there isn't some i truth in what you say. Nell, I had a sort of notion when I first saw him — but I had no reasons, none in the least ; so you can't say that the reasons were best known to myself!*'

" What was your notion, dear ? " asked Nelly.

"Oh, nothing; I cant tell you, Nell. It was a mere impression of something disagreeable about his manner when I first met him ; but it wore off — it wore off immediately. You must not be prejudiced against him, little' one. Everybody speaks well of Dyson, and I believe he is a thoroughly good fellow. I do indeed."

Nelly nodded her curly dark head rather unbelievingly. " TU tell you what I think when I see him," she remarked. '* But, Frank, do you know — you may call it superstition, if you like — but I believe that when one has that sort of feeling about a man — a sort of repulsion or dislike without meaning — it is a warning of some kind, and that one ought to be careful to have as little to do with that person as possible."

Frank threw back his head and laughed uproariously. '' You dear little nervous thing ! " he said ; '* who would have suspected you of old wives* notions ? The warning is a little late, my dear, considering that I shall have to be shut up with Dyson in a ship for months at a time, and that, good, bad, or indifferent, we shall all share the same fate."

'* Oh, Frank, don't laugh at me," said Nelly, rather piteously. "You know how anxious I shall be ; promise me that you will be careful — "

- " And not let Dyson knife me or poison me, or throw me overboard," said Frank with redoubling hilarity, which perhaps he emphasised by way of making her ashamed of her fears. At any rate, as she afterwards remembered, his laughter ceased very hurriedly, and was succeeded by a look of sudden anger, when the sound of a voice — a stranger s voice to Nelly, but not unknown to Frank — ^fell just at that moment upon his ear.

" I beg pardon for intruding ; but may I ask if this is the Vicarage of Combe ? " said the voice.

Nelly uttered a little scream, and Frank faced round, sharply and suddenly — almost as though he would have shielded her from the eyes of the new-comer. ** How the dev — how on earth did you get here ? " he asked.

The man who stood in the garden-path before him was young in figure and general appearance ; but a second glance sufficed to tell an observant eye that he was older than he looked. His thin dark face bore marks that do not come in youth ; marks of experience, of hard living, probably of longsustained excitement and dissipation. But it was a handsome face still ; and its clearly-cut features were unobscured by any growth of hair except a small black moustache. His sleek dark hair was cut very short and close to the head ; his eyes were dark and fine, but half-hidden by slightly-tinted glasses. His dress was simple, well-fitting, and professional ; the conventional frock-coat and tall hat looked slightly out of place in a country village. He held in his neatly-gloved hand a small black bag, and inclined his body forward a little in a somewhat deprecatory attitude, as he answered Frank Lovell's not very civil question.

'* I came here from the station," he said. *' I did not know my way to the Vicarage ;

but on passing along the road I saw you in the garden, and divined that you were already at home. I hope I do not interrupt. I think I am speaking in the presence of your sister, Lovell } "

** You are quite mistaken," said Lovell, still too much ruffled to speak with his accustomed good-humour. ' ' You are not in the Vicarage garden at all. I am paying a call here. Allow me to point out my fathers house to you. It is the grey gabled building yonder, half-covered with creepers, near the church. If you will go on I will join you in a minute or two."

Oliver Dyson bowed, and retreated for perhaps a couple of steps ; but he did not take his eyes off Nelly, whose appearance seemed to have struck him. And then Nelly spoke — in a voice of velvet, and with a charming smile*

" Oh, Frank, won't you introduce your friend to me ^ And don't let me keep you " — when the ceremony had been performed — " if you want to show Dr. Dyson the way to the Vicarage — you can come back to tea,*' she whispered suddenly and slyly to Frank

B in a voice which she felt sure was too low to reach the visitor's ears.

Frank assented with rather a downcast air ; but Nelly threw him a smile which smoothed his brow at once. Dyson turned politely to the gate, and Lovell prepared to follow ; but he had just time to turn to Nelly for a parting word, and to hear her say quite fiercely —

" / hate him ! "

Frank laughed and went on his way ; but even he, in all his abundant good-nature, could not find Dyson anything but irritating when the doctor turned to him and said in dulcet tones: ''That's a very pretty little girl. Not your sister, did you say? Ah, Lovell, you're a lucky man, and I wish I were in your shoes."

And Frank stared at him, for there was a ring of somewhat odd sincerity in the tone.

CHAPTER II. The Vicarage people did not share Nelly's

objection to Dyson. When she went there

to dinner next day, she found them all as

enthusiastic about him as they had been

about Captain Peters — or, at least, she rather

rudely told them so. ** You raved about

Captain Peters's blue eyes, and now you rave

about this young doctor's black ones," she

said to her special friend and confidante, Nora

Lovell, who was two years her senior. " I am

sure that Frank is twice as good-looking as

either of them."

** You are jealous for Frank's reputation as

the handsomest man in the county," said

Nora, laughing. " At any rate, you won't be

able to say that he sings better than Dr.

Dyson. Dear old Frank — he has a voice like

a trumpet ; but Dr. Dyson sings divinely.

Still, I know which I would rather hear of the two."

And as Nora sighed and turned to the fire with tears in her eyes, Nelly kissed and forgave her ; and they came downstairs together.

This colloquy had taken place in Noras bedroom, where Nelly had been taking off her cloak and hat. Her aunt, Miss Rachel Dene, with whom she lived in the pretty little cottage half-way up the cliff, had been conducted to a more stately apartment, but Nora's cosy room was the place where Nelly was most at home.

All the Lovells were fond of her. She had shared the lessons of the Vicarage girls, and the games of the Vicarage boys, ever since she could remember. She had no '* people*' of her own to interfere with her childish friendships or girlish loves. Miss Rachel Dene was the kindest of maiden aunts ; and Nelly had never known for a moment the want of a mother s love. Nevertheless, when Frank had proposed in due form (after an *' understanding " with Nelly which had lasted a good number of years !) there had been, in spite of the Lo veils' affection for Nelly, some slight, inexplicable hesitation on their part in consenting to the engagement. Inexplicable, that is to say, to Nelly. Miss Rachel understood.

But finally the hesitation — the delay — whatever it was, came to an end, and the Vicar and his family took Nelly so completely to themselves that she forgot — at least, for a time — that there had ever been any appearance of a difficulty.

There was no dinner-party at the Vicarage that night — only Nelly and her aunt, and Dr. Dyson, ** the stranger within the gates." They were all rather quiet, for the shadow of Frank's approaching departure on an expedition which could not be devoid of great peril rendered them little disposed for mirth or frivolity ; and yet they were not without cheerfulness. The Vicar especially kept up an appearance of comparative gaiety ; he talked, indeed, rather more than usual, and was seconded in his efforts by Frank himself and by Dr. Dyson, who turned out to be a fluent and interesting speaker, full of information and anecdote, and ready to impart all he knew.

Even Nelly, who was prejudiced against him, was forced to own that he was amusing ; and it would have been very ungrateful if she had not owned it, considering that he employed all his powers of mind and language to enchain her attention. She even found herself regretting — just for a second — ^that Frank did not talk so well.

In the drawing-room, after dinner, however, the remembrance of this half involuntary slight to Frank made her remorsefully try to close her ears to Dyson's clever talk ; she sat with her lover in a corner, and was almost inclined to feel vexed when Dora and Grace proposed some music. Frank's quick eyes read her face.

" Don't you want any music ? " he said in her ear.

" Yes, \{ you will sing."

'* I'm not worth hearing, compared with Dyson," he rejoined, still in a low voice.

"What do I care about your friend Dyson?" she answered, impatiently. ** Why do you praise him so much ? There is something about him which I do not like."

** Darling, be nice to him for my sake.

Poor fellow, he is all alone in the world, and hasn't a relation to wish him good-bye. That was why I asked him down here for two or three days before we started — he seemed as if he had no notion what to do with himself."

** Of course, Frank, dear, if you wish it," said Nelly, a little dolefully. '* I am sorry for him, of course ; and if you want me to be kind to him, I will ; only — you didn't seem to like him very much yourself last night, and you said — "

'* Don t recall my ill-natured speeches," said Frank, good-humouredly. '* I was a little put out, ril own. Let us have some music, and forget these past disturbances."

His sisters meanwhile were pressing Dr. Dyson to sing ; but he would not be induced to do so until Frank had, as he expressed it, led the way. So Frank sat down to the piano, and sang a rollicking sea-song, in a full, manly baritone which seemed to breathe of life and vigour as the deep notes rolled out. Nelly listened in delight, and Mrs. Lovell was so pleased with the sweetness of the girl's listening face that she called upon

A the Vicar (in a whisper) to admire it with her.

" Ay, Letty, my dear,'* said the Vicar in her ear, " and it reminds me of the time when I used to sing to you, and you looked at me with a face like that — only prettier and sweeter in my eyes than hers. It is more than thirty years ago, my wife : God grant that those two children may have as happy a married life as we have had."

" I fear there is trouble before them," sighed

his wife ; but old Mr. Lovell would not listen. ** Capital, Frank ; capital ! A very good

song indeed ! And now that you have done

your part, perhaps Dr. Dyson will give us

something."

Dr. Dyson was quite ready. He had laid a bundle of music-sheets on the piano, and, when Dora was ready to accompany him — he liked to be accompanied, he said ; he had not his friend Lovell's talent for accompanying himself — he placed one of these music-sheets before her and began to sing.

Nelly lifted her soft dark eyes, with a little wonder in their lustrous depths, as the song proceeded. How could a man whom she had thought worthy of dislike sing so divinely ? Surely she had been altogether mistaken in her estimate of him. Surely the yearning pathos, the exquisite rise and fall of those melodious notes, could not come from an ungenerous soul, or a nature capable of base thoughts and low desires ? The singer seemed to put a charm upon her while he sang. The song was all about love, and faith, and loyalty till death ; and to Nelly's simplicity the words seemed to come from the singer's heart. . Well — perhaps they did. She woke at last from a dream of passionate, pure devotion to find a sudden silence in the room, and a dimness of unshed tears in her eyes. And it seemed as if others had been affected like herself, for the Vicar was blowing his nose, and Mrs. Lovell's handkerchief was going furtively to her eyes, and Frank's face was turned away. But it was Frank who recovered himself first, and thanked the singer for his song.

** It does one good to hear a song like that, Dyson," he said, warmly. *' Old man, I never knew you could sing so well ! " And something in his voice betrayed to Nelly that he, too, was repenting the injustice that he had done to his friend.

Oliver Dyson looked round at his audience with a touch of whimsical amusement. What had he done } Where had these simple folk lived that they had not heard that very ballad given a hundred times better than he could give it ? And here they were all wiping their eyes — "snivelling," he said to himself — because he had chosen to throw a little more tremolo than usual into his upper notes. He knew his limitations ; he had a very sweet, not very strong, tenor voice, with a sympathetic thrill in some of the tones, which he had done his utmost to cultivate. He often sang in private houses and at small concerts, and received a fair meed of praise ; but he did not consider his chance of success great enough to encourage him in pursuing music as a profession. He had seldom met with a more appreciative audience than this one ; but the fact caused him to sneer rather than feel grateful. He half determined to give up singing. He should not need it on this Arctic trip, which he had undertaken out of sheer dislike of the routine part of his career, and a desire to obtain notoriety at any price. Mrs. Lovell did not please him at all when she said in her soft, motherly way :