The Credit of the County

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

CHAPTER

i. — a welcome home .

IL^Denis pronounces judgment III. — Mr. Asher's wife .

Chapter I

Denis Vale, emerging, on a still, warm afternoon of early summer, from the wayside railway-station which was but a mile and a half distant from his abode, decided to walk home. As he had arrived a couple of hours before his time, no conveyance was waiting for him, and it really was not worth while to summon the village fly on account of his baggage, which could very well follow him later. Besides, he wanted to stretch his long legs and breathe the fresh country air, which he loved, after three days and nights of London, which he hated.

This stalwart, clear-eyed young man, who was just past his thirtieth birthday, but who scarcely looked his age, might have taken a first prize anywhere as a specimen of the class to which he belonged — ^the physically attractive, morally sound, mentally wellbalanced, and practically illiterate class of English country gentlemen at the close of the nineteenth century. It is an expiring class, doomed by centralization, free-trade, and a recent chancellor of the exchequer to disappear erelong: what its successor will be like, those who live will see; but it will not, one may venture to predict, perish unwept. Denis Vale, at any rate, being pretty well off and as yet unburdened with a large family, had hitherto discharged a squire's duties, as he understood them, to the entire satisfaction of the county. Whether he had been equally successful in the fulfilment of his conjugal obligations, is another question. Mrs. Vale might have had something to say — would, indeed, certainly have had something rather uncomplimentary to say — ^about that, had she been consulted. But what is the use of consulting people unless you mean to act upon their demands or suggestions ? Denis, after all, had granted his wife three successive London seasons, at the price of no small personal weariness and discomfort : surely it was his turn to claim, for once, a reasonable, healthy, enjoyable summer! Moreover, he had had reasons for reasonably refusing, this year, Barbara's annual request. It is true that he had not specified them; but that was no fault of his. A nice row there would have been had he committed the imprudence of specifying them!

Yet they were cogent. He ruminated over them, while he strode across the hay-fields under the high June sun, and said to himself that they were cogent. Not that there was any harm in Barbara, who— within the limits inseparable from her modernity — was a good little wife and mother ; only smart society was neither improving her nor increasing her happiness. That much had been evident to him in more ways than one, and had reminded him that prevention is better than cure — especially as incurable maladies are easily enough contracted. He himself had mixed a good deal in what is called smart society during his bachelor days, which may perhaps explain his distaste for the same as a married man. Intermittent twinges of compunction had, nevertheless, assailed him in the course of his own brief, obligatory visit to the metropolis; and that was why he was carrying with him in his pocket a diamond-and-emerald ring which had cost him a considerable sum of money. Barbara's passing fits of ill-temper were seldom, as he knew, proof against emeralds. He had remembered, too, to purchase presents for his offspring — ^an air-gun for Dicky, aged five (because you can't begin too early with boys if you want them to develop into decent shots), and a beautiful dolly, who opened and closed her eyes, for Di, aged three. Thus he had every ground for anticipating a warm welcome home.

The soft, sunny landscape greeted him, as it always did, with a tacit welcome. It was a landscape characteristic of central England, pleasing rather than beautiful, gently undulating, well timbered, suggestive of peace and perhaps of rather more agricultural prosperity than it actually enjoyed; although Trentshire, being a hunting county and a district of large landed proprietors, offered certain uncovenanted mercies to the stricken farmer. Over the western horizon brooded a heavy, dark cloud which showed the whereabouts of that famous manufacturing city, Blackhampton ; at every other point of the compass the sky was clear, and of that pale turquoise blue which in these islands announces settled fine weather. The hay would be a good crop, and would be got in all right this time, Denis thought.

He had stepped across a stile and was walking along a short stretch of high-road, which adjoined his property, when the sound of rapidly approaching wheels caused him to glance over his shoulder. He recognised at once the high dog-cart, the thoroughbred bay, and the swarthy gentleman who owned both ;

but his intimacy with the latter was scarcely sufficient to warrant the cheery familiarity with which he was hailed.

" Hullo, Vale ! Back from the little village already, eh? Well, that's all right. You're the very man I wanted to see."

The speaker handed the reins to his groom and climbed down, saying, " Just trot quietly on to Southacre and wait for me at the lodge."

He added, as he shook hands with the pedestrian, " I'll accompany you for a bit. Vale, if you don't mind."

Denis minded a little; but not enough to make discourteous revelation of his sentiments. He did not particularly like this wealthy Semitic personage, who had for some seasons past been a hunting acquaintance of his and who had lately become his permanent neighbour; still there was really nothing against the man, except his vulgarity, which can hardly in these days be accounted a disqualifying attribute; so he answered quite civilly:

"Very glad of your company, I'm sure, Mr. Asher."

" I say," began Mr. Asher, in a confidential tone of voice, "this is a bad job about the hounds, isn't it?"

" Oh, I expect it will be all right," answered Denis cheerfully ; " there's plenty of time yet, and they are sure to find somebody."

" Well, it seems that they can't find anybody, and after all, you know, we're within a couple of months almost of cub-hunting. Of course, if we are to have a subscription pack, with a sufficient guarantee, some sort of a master will be forthcoming; but that sort of thing would be a sad comedown for the North

Trent, wouldn't it? I suppose you couldn't be persuaded to take the hounds, Vale?"

" Oh, dear, no ! To begin with, Fm more of a shooting than a hunting man. Besides which, I couldn't afford to hunt the country at my own expense, and I shouldn't care about being the paid servant of a fractious committee."

"Ah! — well, I can't blame you. Poor old Sir George used to take the subscriptions, it is true; but he often told me he would sooner be without them. Some fellows seem to think that, in return for their wretched ten guineas, or whatever it is, they have a right to grumble and dictate. The fact of the matter is, that unless a man has money enough to be independent of subscribers, he had much better leave the thing alone. And, now that Sir George is dead, I hardly know who in the county has money enough to take his place."

" Present company always excepted. Have you been appointed yet ? "

" Not formally, I have had some hints about it. That is exactly why I was anxious to see you. As a friend, now, what would you advise me to do?"

It was upon the tip of Denis's tongue to reply that he could not venture to number himself amongst Mr. Asher's friends, but he subdued that not unnatural temptation. It would certainly be a sad pity if the North Trent hounds were to fall from their hithertr high estate, and this pushing Hebrew, if no vCg experienced sportsman, was at least keen and in j^ habit of riding straight. Moreover, he would ^p^^j under him a first-rate, cross-grained huntsman ^f^^^, would stand no nonsense, and — he was possej gay^ the wherewithal to uphold time-honoured tr?,^Q^ ^^ In all probability his decision had already be^^ rudeil unquestionably, he had little opposition to fear. In spite, therefore, of certain old-fashioned ideas and personal prejudices, Denis Vale's advice was unhesitating.

" Oh, if you ask me, I should say take them, by all means. You would like it, I suppose."

" Well," answered the other meditatively, " I should and I shouldn't. Of course, if I do decide to accept the mastership, the thing will be done well. There will be no falling off from Sir George's time, and perhaps there may in some ways be a slight improvement."

Mr. Vale was positively sure of that. " Yes; and it will cost me a good lump of money — 2i good many thousands a year, in fact." I daresay it will."

So that one is justified, perhaps, in expecting some equivalent."

Denis stared for a moment and then laughed. What sort of an equivalent, I wonder?" he asked. Well," replied Mr. Asher, " you see, I am more or less of a newcomer in these parts; I should wish, before making up my mind, to feel sure of my neighbours' support."

" You may count upon mine," Denis declared.

" I can generally manage two days' hunting a week

after the turn of the year, and although, as you know,

ny coverts are not extensive, it shall not be my fault

sthey are ever drawn blank."

That was not what Mr. Asher meant, and Denis afte/ell aware that it was not ; yet, for various reasbns, almos unable to say more. He could not even a subihe response which seemed to be expected of sort oen his companion, becoming more explicit of thin^tent, complained of the singularly distant

V and stand-oflF attitude adopted by the Trentshire families.

" Upon my life," Mr. Asher exclaimed, " I believe this is the most stuck-up county in England! You might live ten years in these parts and contribute to every blessed club and institution there is — ^and Lord knows there are plenty of 'em ! — before people began to realize that you were one of themselves."

Denis thought that it might possibly take them even longer to realize what was so obviously not the case; but he only answered: "We are not so much stuck-up as stick-in-the-mud ; it comes of being born and bred on stiff clay. Things don't dawn upon us rapidly — ^which is unfortunate in a social, but fortunate in a political sense. At least I, as an inveterate Tory, am bound to think so."

" Oh, if it comes to that, I'm as Tory as anybody," Mr. Asher declared. He added, after a minute : " Personally, I don't care a button ; I have friends enough of my own, and I daresay some of them think themselves a cut above the Trentshire magnates, if that matters. Only, when one is asked to take the hounds, one does feel that some sort of local backing-up is required."

" I haven't the least doubt that you will be backed up in the hunting-field," was Denis's blandly unsatisfactory reply.

Denis Vail was of a somewhat obstinate disposition. He would perhaps have asked his wife to call on Mrs. Asher, had the right way of persuading him to do so been adopted; but this pertinacious Jew adopted quite the wrong way of sticking to him even after he had passed through the wicker gate which gave access to his own grounds. The man was not to be shaken off by anything short of downright rudet THE CREDIT OF THE COUNTY ness; yet it was absolutely certain that he would not be invited to come in to tea. Denis would have stood still in the garden and continued the conversation for half an hour rather than yield to pressure of that description.

As a matter of fact, he did stand still on arriving at the end of one of those long, level alleys, carpeted with the closest sward and bordered by hedges of clipped yew, for which the Southacre gardens are so justly renowned. His quick ear had caught the sound of voices ; he knew the spot to which Barbara's tea-table had most likely been carried out that sultry evening, and he said to himself, " No, you don't, my good fellow ! "

It may be that Mr. Asher had become aware of Mrs. Vale's vicinity; at any rate, he displayed the utmost reluctance to take an unspoken hint He lingered and loitered, while he dwelt upon the sacrifices which every M. F. H. must be prepared to make ; every now and again he advanced a few paces, compeUing his interlocutor to do otherwise. Not until every device for protracting the one-sided discussion had been exhausted did he accept defeat.

" Well, I am afraid I have bored you. Vale," he said ; " but I wanted to have your opinion. I'll think it over. Upon the whole, though, I expect my wisest plan will be to let things slide; it was only in the interests of sport that I ever hesitated."

Denis wished the poor man good-evening and walked on — ^not without a twinge of compunction. It would have been easy enough to gratify him, and perhaps, in the interests of sport, it would have been polite to do so. Nor would Barbara have been in the least likely to object. She would have given Mr. Asher a cup of tea and would have become quite familiar with him in five minutes. To be sure, she would not have called upon Mrs. Asher^ so that he would have gained nothing by the introduction; but it would have taken him some little time to find that out. It had taken Barbara's husband some little time to find out that, although she was always willing to make fresh male acquaintances, she did not care to be bothered with strangers of her own sex. Some male acquaintance was even now (so the pitch of an alternative voice revealed) engaged in conversation with her, and Denis wondered, with a slight smile, whom she had got hold of. The neighbourhood of Southacre, in the month of June, was but scantily furnished with young men.

Nine men out of ten, were they permitted to select the manner of their death, would choose to be shot through the heart, rather than perish by slow degrees ; and in the same way, if some irremediable catastrophe is to ruin our lives, most of us would prefer it to fall upon us without weeks or months of anxious foreboding. Nevertheless, sudden catastrophes make a tremendous demand upon the nervous system. Denis Vale was a magnificent type of the healthy, well-to-do, athletic Englishman, and if he had any nerves about him, he had never been made disagreeably conscious of their existence; yet he had not advanced many 3rards from the spot where he had left Mr. Asher standing when his heart, after one great bound, ceased beating, while a curious moist chill, as from some icy blast, overspread his whole person.

What he was looking down upon from the advantage of a slight eminence would have furnished one of our innumerable, but not strikingly original, modern artists with a charming little subject for an lO THE CREDIT OF THE COUNTY

Academy picture. The sheltered grass-plot, barred by long, dark shadows from the yew-hedges which fenced it in; the moss-grown sundial in the foreground; the glittering tea-table; the graceful, girlish figure, arrayed all in white, whose waist was encircled by the arm of a comely young loon, whose golden head dropped upon his shoulder and whose pocket-handkerchief was pressed to her lips — the whole thing, judiciously and sympathetically treated, required only to be labelled " Adieu, love ! " or something equally touching, in order to secure a ready purchaser and a subsequent satisfactory sale in engraved form. The beauty and pathos of it were, however, a little spoilt for one who was thus admitted, as it were, to a first private view by the circumstance that the lady in white was not a girl, but a married woman. As for Ernest Glyn, it might be conceded that he was good-looking in a somewhat effeminate style ; but no man, when seen in the act of embracing another man's wife, can possibly look good. Not, at all events, to the other man. Denis's impulse — 2l most natural and human one — was to descend swiftly upon the miscreant and so arrange his features that no female eye would care to behold them again for many a day to come.

He did not yield to it: it was not, in truth, characteristic of him to yield to impulse under any circumstances, nor, being what he was, could he fail to recognise in a moment that the situation was not one to be dealt with precipitately. He drew no nearer to the unsuspecting pair, not caring to confirm the evidence of his eyes by that of his ears, but turned and slowly retraced his steps, with a bent head. Thus he walked almost into the arms of Mr. Asher, who confusedly apologized.

A WELCOME HOME II

" Beg your pardon, I'm sure, Vale ; I thought you would excuse my following you. The fact is I quite forgot to ask whether Lord Mount-Sorrel had said anything to you about the possibility of my taking the hounds."

Denis, whose nerves were always under control, looked his olive-complexioned interrogator straight in the face. Did the man suspect anything? — had he seen anything? Apparently not ; for he stood scrutiny without more embarrassment than was to be accounted for by his having pursued an inhospitable landowner upon an obviously insufficient pretext.

" You see," he resumed explanatively, " it is rather important to me to ascertain what Lord Mount- Sorrel's views are."

" I can't conceive why," returned Denis. " Considering that Mount-Sorrel has never been seen upon the back of a horse and that he doesn't know a hound from a terrier, I should have thought he was quite the last man in the county whose views upon such a subject could be of importance to anybody."

"Ah, but, my dear fellow, you forget that, fox-hunting apart, he is the first man in the county — ^the lord-lieutenant of the county. That makes him deuced important. Besides which, he owns nearly all the best coverts."

" I think I may venture to promise that there will always be foxes in those coverts. Of course Mount-Sorrel isn't a sportsman and ddesn't pretend to be ; but he is quite alive to his duties. No, he hasn't said a word to me about the mastership; I doubt whether he has even realized that it is vacant."

" Well, supposing he should speak to you, perhaps you wouldn't mind mentioning that his approval would go a long way with me."

.2

" I Will make a point of mentioning it. Is there anything else that I can do for you, Mr. Asher ? "

There was probably nothing more that he could be invited to do with any prospect of success, and Mr. Asher, after some expressions of gratitude, once more took his leave — definitely, it might be hoped, this time.

As soon as he was out of sight, Denis drew a long breath of relief, muttering, " By George, that was a narrow shave! But he didn't see them; he wouldn't have been able to conceal his emotions if he had. One step more and we should all have been at his mercy ! I seem to see myself taking Mrs. Asher in to dinner and imploring every stiff-backed old woman in the vicinity to be kind to her. Oh, my worthy Hebrew friend, you little know what a chance you have lost ! "

He laughed aloud, wondering vaguely at himself for being capable of laughter. But of what strange, incongruous manifestations and vagaries is not our mortal nature capable! Who (unless, perchance, it be here and there a priest) can fathom the mysteries of the human heart or reconcile the actual with the antecedently incredible? Barbara, of all women in the world! Oh, if it came to that, she was flighty, avid of admiration, prone to flirting, though a matron of six years' standing : it was even in a great measure because she had chosen to make herself somewhat conspicuous with this very fellow Glyn — ^this silly young fellow who was about to take up a diplomatic appointment in South America — that she had forfeited her London season. But that she was what she had now proved herself beyond all possibility of doubt to be — ^no, one must witness such things in order to believe in them.

Presently Denis sat down on the grass beneath a spreading cedar, with his elbows on his knees, and reviewed the position in which events had placed him. He was quite cool by this time, clear in head and very bitter at heart. For his wife he made no excuses at all ; he had judged and condemned her (incidentally judging and condemning her entire sex with her) upon evidence which could not be explained away, and, had she been childless, he would have known well enough how to act. But the children had to be considered. For the children's sake it might be —he almost thought it would be — ^necessary to save appearances, to let that young whelp leave the country scot-free and to take the risk of further highly probable humiliations. Further humiliations must, in that case, be anticipated, since it stands to reason that a woman who will embrace one illicit admirer will, opportunity aiding her, show the same favour to half a dozen others: the whole and sole question was whether a man is or is not bound to eat dirt in order to avert all the miseries attendant upon a public scandal. Denis, after a quarter of an hour of cogitation, concluded that, although no man is bound to make such a sacrifice, he would have to make it. He laughed again when he reflected that he must have meant to make it from the first moment: otherwise the unexpected reappearance of Mr. Asher would not have so greatly perturbed him.

" It is a charming lookout," he muttered, " and one's little personal dignity and self-respect seem likely to suffer; but at any rate there will be no scandal. Barbara — ^whom I must frighten — will continue, I am sure, to discharge her religious duties, visit the poor intermittently, cultivate such susceptible youths as may cross her path, and hear the children say their prayers morning and evening. Most likely, after the first pangs of remorse at having been found out have passed away, she will begin to regard herself in the light of an injured innocent. But in what sort of light I shall eventually manage to regard myself, I'll be hanged if I know. At the present moment I feel rather more like a contemptible accomplice than anything else."

Chapter II Denis Pronounces Judgment

When Barbara Mackworth — then a girl of eighteen and childish for her age — married Denis Vale she was thought to have done uncommonly well for herself. Vale, being a comparatively rich man, with a charming old place, conspicuous personal advantages, a large London acquaintance, and a reputation for fastidiousness, had always been expected to end by contracting some high alliance ; so that Trentshire was a good deal surprised to hear of his choice having fallen upon Lady Mount-Sorrel's orphaned grand-daughter, who, though pretty enough, was, after all, a mere nonentity, barely out of the school-room. Precisely in that fact, perhaps, lay her attraction for one who had been made familiar with the fashionable society of the period, its habits and its morals. Anyhow, he fell in love with her, and she with him — which, as Lady Mount-Sorrel contentedly remarked, was in every way satisfactory and creditable to them both.

The love-match did not turn out badly: indeed it turned out, to all appearance, exceedingly well. Yet to marry a person whose character is as yet quite unformed is, of course, to incur obvious risks, and the formation of Barbara's character necessarily took place under circumstances which her husband would not have chosen had it been possible for him to choose. It was not possible for him, nor would it have been reasonable of him, to bury her at Southacre all the year round ; she had a right, which he acknowledged, to see something of the world, like other young married women of her class. So there were months in London, superlatively enjoyable to her, utterly wearisome to him ; also there were occasional flying visits to Scotland, to Newmarket, to Cowes, to the Riviera — the customary pleasure-seeking round, broken only by enforced intervals of quietude when Dicky and Di made their respective debuts, Denis really behaved very well to his wife. He " took her about," he did not grumble, he paid her bills (which were sometimes unexpectedly heavy) without much remonstrance, he showed civility and hospitality to her friends, little though he liked the majority of them, and he soon desisted from any attempt to force his own country-loving tastes upon her. Only, as time went on and Mrs. Vale developed into the singularly pretty, fascinating, lively, and well-dressed young woman whom all Trentshire felt to be a credit to the county, the pair became gradually, hopelessly estranged. Their estrangement was the more hopeless because they never quarrelled —although this omission, it must be said, was not Barbara's fault. She would, like the rest of her sex, have enjoyed an occasional quarrel and have been all the better and happier for one; but Denis, unfortunately, disliked nothing in the world quite so much as rows. Consequently, there were neither disputes nor reconciliations, and Mrs. Vale was fain to seek other outlets for the natural effervescence of her temperament.

She had, at the time when this narrative opens — or rather a little before that — convinced herself that

DENIS PRONOUNCES JUDGMENT 1/

her husband did not care in the least for her. He was not unkind (save every now and then, when he saw fit to assert his authority, as in the instance of this prohibited London season, and declined to listen to argument); but he was evidently, almost ostentatiously, indifferent. Thus it came to pass that other persons, who professed themselves quite passionately the reverse, were not rebuked by her as they ought to have been. It is so pleasant and consoling to be respectfully adored! And her adorers had, upon the whole, been quite respectful; it was clear that they did not believe there was any harm in her. At odd moments she was half annoyed with them for being so certain of that, although she would have been still more annoyed had they dared to hold a different opinion. For, in truth, there was not much harm in her, nor anything the matter with her, beyond restlessness, vanity, want of work, and an insatiable longing to be appreciated.

Yet, in the evil hour, she allowed Ernest Glyn to kiss her, and even allowed him to assume that, if the Fates had been more propitious, she might have returned his ardent affection. A chain of unfortunate circumstances must be held partially responsible for this act of folly on her part. To begin with, she was out of all patience with Denis, who had sentenced her to spend the month of June in the country without assigning any possible reason for such selfishness; then she strongly suspected that his reason was a most insulting and unjustifiable one ; thirdly, she had a genuine affection for this poor boy, who was so devoted to her, and whom the exigencies of his peaceful calling were about to banish to a remote, insalubrious land; finally, his visit took her by surprise and chanced to coincide with an access of profound mental depression. She might, to be sure, have expected him to turn up, considering that his people lived only a few miles away and that he was not likely to leave England without bidding them farewell; but she associated him with London, where all their previous meetings and philanderings had taken place, so that his unforeseen advent and his impetuous avowal proved a little too much for her.

Sympathetic readers of Barbara Vale's history — if such there be — ^will be glad to hear that she was properly ashamed of herself as soon as she had dismissed her too audacious victim. She was aware of having behaved badly, and not more exultant over the memory of her bad behaviour than most mortals, after having permitted themselves to kick over the traces just for once. Had she been a member of the Church of Rome, she would doubtless have confessed her sin to her director and meekly accepted such ' penance as he might have pronounced requisite for the wiping out of the same. Nevertheless, she did not take an exaggeratedly serious view of what had occurred. Ernest, at his South America legation, would soon forget her; she, for her part, anticipated no particular difficulty about forgetting him ; his discretion, since he was a gentleman, might be relied upon, and (most consolatory reflection of all) nobody would ever know that she had in this single instance been betrayed into transgressing the limits of strict decorum. She was, in short, penitent, but scarcely to the extent of being remorseful — most assuredly not to the extent of contemplating any avowal to her injured husband, who, she said to herself with a sigh and a yawn, would presently be making his appearance and giving vent to irritating ejaculations of contentment, as his habit was whenever he returned