The wooden horse

Front matter

11 ill i!

lill

liliiplill:''

Chapter I

ROBIN TEOJAN was waiting for his father. Through the open window of the drawing-room came, faintly, the cries of the town — ^the sound of some distant bell, the shout of fishermen on the quay, the muffled beat of the mining-stamps from Forth- Vennic, a village that lay two miles inland. There yet lingered in the air the faint afterglow of- the sunset, and a few stars, twinkling faintly in the deep blue of the night sky, seemed reflections of the orange lights of the herringboats, flashing far out to sea.

The great drawing-room, lighted by a cluster of electric lamps hanging from the ceiling, seemed to flaunt the dim twinkle of the stars contemptuously; the dark blue of the walls and thick Persian carpets sounded a quieter note, but the general effect was of something distantly, coldly superior, something indeed that was scarcely comfortable, but that was, nevertheless, fulfilling the exact purpose for which it had been intended.

And that purpose was, most certainly, not comfort. Robin himself would have smiled coiltemptuously if you had pleaded for something homely, something suggestive of roaring fires and cosy armchairs, , instead of the stifpbacked, beautifully carved Louis XIV. furniture that stood, each chair and table rigidly in its appointed place, as thougH bidding defiance to any one bold enough to attempt alterations.

The golden light in the sky shone faintly in at the open window, as though longing to enter, but the dazzling brilliance of the room seemed to fling it back into the blue dome of sea and sky outside.

Eobin was standing by a large looking-glass in the corner of the room trying to improve the shape of his tie; and it was characteristic of him that, although he had not seen his father for eighteen years, he, was thinking a great deal more about his tie than about the approaching meeting.

He was, at this time, twenty years of age. Tall and dark, he had all the Trojan characteristics-; small, delicately shaped ears; a mouth that gave signs of all the Trojan obstinacy, called by the Trojans themselves family pride; a high, well-shaped forehead with hair closely cut and of a dark brown. He was considered by most people handsome — but to some his eyes, of the real Trojan blue, were too cold and impassive. He gave you the impression of some one who watched, rather disdainfully, the illconsidered and iiapulsive actions of his fellow-men.

He was, however, exactly suited to his surroundings. He maintained the same position as the room with regard to the world in general — " We are Trojans ; we are verj old and very expensive and very, very good, and it behooves you to recognise this fact and give way with fitting deference."

He had not seen his father for eighteen years, and, as he had been separated from him at the unimpressionable age of two, he may be said never to have seen him at all. He had no recollection of him, and the picture that he had painted was constructed out of monthly rather uninteresting letters concerned, for the most patt, with the oare and maintenance of New Zealand sheep, and such meagre details as his Aunt Clare and Uncle Garrett had bestowed on him from time to time. From the latter he gathered that his father had heen, in his youth, in some vague way, unsatisfactory, and had departed to Australia to seek his fortune, with a clear undeiStanding from his father that he was not to return from there until he had found it.

Eobin himself had been born in New Zealand, but his mother dying when he was two years old, he had been sent home to be brought up, in the proper Trojan manner, by his aunt and uncle.

On these things Robin reflected as he tried to twist his tie into a fitting Trojan shape; but it refused to behave as a well-educa:ted tie should, and the obvious thing was to get another. Robin looked at his watch. It was really extremely provoking; the carriage had been timed to arrive at haJf-past six exactly ; it was now a quarter to seven and no one had appeared. There was probably not time to search for another tie. His father would be certain to arrive at the very moment when one tie was off and the other not yet on, which meant that Robin would be late; and if there was one thing that a Trojan hated more than another it was being late. With many people unpunctuality was a fault, with a Trojan it was a crime; it was what was known as an " odds and ends " — one of those things, like untidiness, eating your fish with a steel knife and wearing a white tie with a short dinner-jacket, that marked a man, once and for all, as some one outside the pale, an impossible person.

Therefore Eobin allowed Ms tie to remain and walked to the open window. »

" At any rate," lie said to himself, still thinking of his tie, "father won't probably notice it." He wondered how much his father would notice. " As he's a Trojan," he thought, "he'll know the sort of things that a fellow ought to do, even though he has been out in New Zealand all his life."

It would, Eobin reflected, be a very pretty little scene. He liked scenes, and, if this one was properly manoeuvred, he ought to be its very interesting and satisfactory centre. That was why it was really a pity about the tie.

The door from the library swung slowly open, and Sir Jeremy Trojan, Robin's grandfather, was wheeled into the room.

He was very old indeed, and the only part of his face that seemed alive were his" eyes; they were continually darting from one end of the room to the other, they were never still ; but, for the rest, he scarcely moved. His skin was dried and brown like a mummy's, and even when he spoke, his lips hardly stirred. He was in evening dress, his legs wrapped tightly in rugs ; his chair was wheeled by a servant who was evidently perfectly trained in all the Trojan ways of propriety and decorum.

"Well, grandfather," said Eobin, turning back from the window with the look of annoyance still on his face, " how are you to-night ? " Robin always shjouted at his grandfather although he knew, perfectly well that he was not deaf, but could, on the other hand, hear wonderfully well for his age. Nothing annoyed his grandfather so much as being shouted at, and of this Robin was continually reminded.

" Tut, tut, boy," said Sir Jeremy testily, " one would think that I was deaf. Better? Yes, of course. Close the windows ! "

" I'll ring for Marchant," said Robin, moving to the 'hell, " he ought to have done it before." Sir Jeremy said nothing — it was impossible to guess at his thoughts from his face; only his eyes moved uneasily round the room.

He was wheeled to his accustomed comer by the big open stone fireplace, and he lay there, motionless in his chair, without further remark.

Marchant came in a moment later.

" The windows, Merchant," said Robin, still twisting uneasily at his tie, " I think you had forgotten."

" I am sorry, sir," Marchant answered, " but Mr. Garrett had spoken this morning of the room being rather close. I had thought that perhaps "

He moved silently across the room and shut the window, barring out the fluttering yellow light, the sparkling silver of the stars, the orange of the fishing-boats, the murmured . distance of the town.

A few moments later Olare Trojan came in. Although she had never been beautiful she had always been interesting, and indeed she was (even when in the company of women far more beautiful than herself) always one of the first at whom men looked. This may have been partly accounted for by her very obvious pride, the quality that struck the most casual observer at once, but there was also an air of indifference, a look in the eyes that seemed to pique men's curiosity and stir their interest. It was not for lack of opportunity that she was still unmarried, but she had never discovered the man who had virtue and merit sufficient to cover the obvious disadvantages of his not having been born a Trojan. Middle age suited the air of almost regal dignity with which she moved, and people who had known her for many years said that she had never looked so well as now. To-night, in a closelyfitting dress of black silk relieved by a string of pearls ronnd her neck, and a superb white rose at her breast,, she was almost handsome. Eobin watched her with satisfaction as she moved towards him.

" Ah, it's cold," she said. " I know Marchant left those windows open till the last moment. Bobin, your tie is shocking. It looks as if it were made-up."

" I know," said Eobin, still struggling with it ; " but their isn't time to get another. Father will be here at any moment. It's late as it is. Yes, I told Marchant to shut the windows, he said something about Uncle Garrett'» saying it was stuffy or something."

" Harry's la)t&" Clare moved across to her father and bent down and kissed him. .

" How are you to-night, father t " but she was arranging the rose at her breast and was obviously thinking more of its position than of the. answer to her question.

".Hungry — damned hungry," said Sir Jeremy.

" Oh, we'll have to wait," said Clare. " Harry's; got t& dress. Anyhow you've got no right to be hungry at a quarter to seven. Nobody's ever hungry tiE half-past seven at the earliest."

It was evident that she was very iU at ease. Perhaps it was the prospect of meeting- her brothpr after a separation of eighteen years; perhaps it was anxiety as to how this reclaimed son of the house of Trojan wotlld behave in the face of the world. It was so very important that the house should not be in any way let down, that the dig-

THE WOODEIST HOUSE 15

aity with wMch it had invariably conducted its affairs for the last twenty years should be, in no Way, impaired. Harry had been .anything but dignified in his early days, and sheep-farming in New Zealand — ^well, of course, one knew what kind of life that was.

But, as she looked across at Eobin, it was easy to see that her anxiety was, in some way, connected with him. How was this invasion to affect her nephew ? Fot eighteen years she had been the only father and mother that he had known, for eighteen years she had educated him in all the Trojan laws and traditions, the things that a Trojan must . speak and do and think, and he had faithfully responded to her instruction. He was in every way everything tliat a Trojan should be; but there had been moments, rare indeed and swiftly passing, when Clare had fancied that there were other impulses, other ideas at work. She was afraid of those impulses, and she was afraid of what Henry Trojan might do with regard to them.

It was, indeed, hard, after reigning absolutely for eighteen years, to yield her place to another, but perhaps, after all, Kobin would be true to his early training and she would not be altogether supplanted.

" Eandal comes to-morrow," said Eobin suddenly, after a few minutes' silence. " Unfortunately he can only stop for a few days. His paper on ' Pater ' has been taken by theNational. He's very much pleased, of course."

Eobin spoke coldly and without any enthusiasm. It was not considered quite good form to be enthusiastic ; it was apt to lead you into rather uncertain company with such people as Socialists and the Salvation Army.

" I'm glad he's coming — quite a nice fellow," said Clare, looking at the gold clock on the mantelpiece. " The train

16 THE WOODE:tT HORSE

is shockingly late. On 'Pater,' you said! I mnst try and get the National — Miss Ponsonby takes it, I think. It's unusual for Garrett to b© unpunotual."

He entered at the same moment — a tall, thin man of forty years of age, clean shaven and rather bald, with a, very slight squint in the right eye. He walked slowly,, and always gave the impression that he saw nothing of hia surroundings.' For the rest, he was said to be extremely cynical and had more than a fair share of the Trojan pride..

" The train is late," he said, addressing no one in particular. " Father, how are you this evening? "

This third attack on Sir Jeremy was repelled by a snort, which Garrett accepted as an answer. " Kobin, your tie is atrocious," he coiitinued,^ picking up the Times and opening it slowly ; " you had better change it."

Robin was prevented from answering by the sound of carriage-wheels on the drive. Clare rose and stood by thefireplace near Sir Jeremy ; Garrett read to the end of the paragraph and folded the paper on his knee; Robin fingered his watch-chain nervously and moved to his aunt'a side — only Sir Jeremy remained motionless and gave no< sign that he had heard.

Perhaps he was thinking of that day twenty years before when, after a very heated interview, he had forbidden his son to see his face again until he had done somethingthat definitely justified his existence. Harry had certainly done several things since then that justified his existence; he had, for one thing, made a fortune, and that was not so easily done nowadays. Harry was five-andf orty now ; he must be very much changed ; he had steadied, down, of course ... he would be well able to take his. place as head of the family when Sir Jeremy himself . . ..

But he gave no sign. Tou could not tell that he had heard the carriage-wheels at all; he lay motionless in his chair with his eyes half closed.

There were voices in the hall. Beldam's superlatively courteous tones as of one who is ready to die to serve you, and then another voice — rather loud and sharp, but pleasant, with the sound of a laugh in it.

" They are in the blue drawing-room, sir — ^Mr. Henry," Beldam's voice wag heard on the stairs, and, in a moment, Beldam himself appeared — "Mr. Henry, Sir Jeremy." Then he stood aside, and Henry Trojan entered the room.

Clare made a step forward.

" Harry — old boy — at last "

Both her hands were outstretched, but he disregarded them, and, stepping forward, crushed her in his arms, crushed her dress, crushed the beautiful rose at her breast, and, bending down, kissed her again and again.

" Clare — after twenty years ! "

He let her go and she stepped back, still smiling, but she touched the rose for a moment and her hair. He was very strong.

And then there was a little pause. Harry Trojan turned and faced his father. The old man made no movement and gave no sign, but he said, his lips stirring very slightly, " I am glad to see you here again, Harry."

The man flushed, and with a little stammer answered, " I am gladder to be back than you can know, father."

Sir Jeremy's wrinkled hand appeared from behind the rugs, and the two men shook in silence.

Then Garrett came forward. " You're not much changed,- Harry," he said with a laugh, "in spite of the twenty years."

" Why, Garrie ! " His brother stepped towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder. " It's splendid to see you again. I'd almost forgotten what you were like— I only had that old photo, you know — of us both at Rugby."

Robin had stood aside, in a comer by the fireplace^ watching his father. It was very much as he had expected, only he couldn't, try as he might, think of him as his father at all. The man there who had kissed Aunt Clare and shaken hands with Sir Jeremy was, in some unexplained way, a littl« odd and out of place. He was very big and strong ; his hair curled a little and was dark brown, like Robin's, and his' eyes were blue, but, in other respects, there was very little of the Trojan about him. His mouth was large, and he had a brown, slightly curling moustache. Indeed the general impression was brown in spite of the blue, badly fitting suit. He was deeply tanned by the sun and was slightly freckled.

He would have looked splendid in 'Sew Zealand or Klondyke, or, indeed, anywhere where you worked with your coat off and your shirt open at the neck ; but here, in that drawing-room, it was a pity, Robin thought, that his father had not stopped for two or three days in town and gone to a West End tailor.

But, after all, it was a very nice little scene. It really had been quite moving to see him kiss Clare like that, but, at the same time, for his part, kissing . . . !

" And Robin ? " said Harry.

'* Here's the son and heir," said Garrett, laughing and pushing Robin forward.

'Now that the moment had really come, Robin was most impleasantly embarrassed. How foolish of Uncle Garrett to try and be funny at a time like that, and what a pity it was that his tie was sticking out at one end so miich farther than at the other. He felt his hand seized and crushed in the grip of a giant; he murmured something about his being pleased, and then, suddenly, his father bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

They were both blushing, Eobin furiously. How he hated sentiment! He felt sure that Uncle Garrett was laughing at him.

" By Jove, you're splendid ! " said Harry, holding him back with both his hands on his shoulders. " Pretty different from the nipper that I sent over to England eighteen years ago. Oh, you'll do, Eobin."

" And now, Harry," said Clare, laughing, " you'll go and dress, won't you? Father's terribly hungry and the train was late."

" Eight," said Harry ; " I won't be long. It's splendid to be back again."

When the door had closed behind him, there was eilence. He gave the impression of some one filled with overwhelming, rapturous joy. There was a light in his eyes that told of dreams at length fulfilled, and hopes, long and wearily postponed, at last realised. He had filled that stiff, solemn room with a spirit of life .and strength and sheer animal good health — it was even, as Clare afterwards privately confessed, a little exhausting.

Now she stood by the fireplace, smiling a little. " My poor rose," she said, looking at some of the petals that had fallen to the ground. " Harry is strong ! "

" He is looking well," said Garrett. It sounded almost sarcastic.

Eobin went up to his room to change his tie — ^he had said nothing about his father.

As Harry Trojan passed doTPn the well-remembered passages where the pictures hung in the same old familiar places, past staircases vanishing into dark abysses that had frightened him as a child, windows deep-set in the thick stone walls, comers round which he had crept in the dark on his way to. his room, it seemed to him that those long, dreary years of patient waiting in New Zealand were as nothing, and that it was only yesterday that he had passed down that same way, his heart full of rage against his father, his one longing to get out and away to other countries where he should be his own master and win his own freedom. And now that he was back again, now that he had seen what that freedom meant, now that he had tasted that same will-o'-the-wisp liberty, how thankful he was to rest here quietly, peacefully, for the remainder of his days ; at last he knew what were the things that were alone, in this world, worth striving, for — not money,, ambition, Buccess, but love for one's own little bit of country that one called home, the patient resting in the heritage of all those accumulating traditions that ancestors had been making, slowly, gradually, for centuries of years.

He had hoped that he would have the same old rooms at the top of the West Towers that he had had when a boy ; he remembered the view of the sea from their windows-— the great s^eep of the Cornish coast far out to Land's End itself, and the gulls whirring with hoarse cries ovet his head as he leant out to view the little cove nestling at the foot of the Hall. That view, then, had meant to him distant wonderful lands in which he was to make his name and his fortune: now it spoke of home and peace, and, beyond all, of Cornwall.

They, had put him in one of the big spare rooms that faced inland. As he entered the sense of its luxury filled him with a delicious feeling of comfort : the log-fire burning in the open brown-tiled fireplace, the softness of the carpets, the electric light, shaded to a soft glow — ah! these were the things for which he had waited, and they had, indeed, been worth waiting for.

His man was laying his dresi-clothes on his bed.

" What is your name ? " he said, feeling almost a little shy ; it was so long since he had had things done for him.

" James Treduggan, sir," the man answered, smiling. " You won't remember me, sir, I expect. I was quite a youngster when you went away. But I've been in service here ever since I was ten." There was a note of pride in his voice; he, too, had the Trojan traditions strong upon him.

When Harry was left alone, he stood by the fire, thinking. He had been preparing for this moment for so long that now that it was actually here he was frightened, nervous. He had so often imagined that first arrival in England, the first glimpse of London; then the first meeting and the first evening at home. Of course, all his thoughts had centred on Eobin — everything else had been secondary, but he had, in some unaccountable way, never been, able to realise exactly what Eobin would be. He had had photographs, but they had been unsatisfactory and had told him nothing; and now that he had seen him, he was at rest; he was all that he had hoped — straight, strong, manly, with that clear steady look in the eyes that meant so much; yes, there was no doubt about his son. He remembered Robin's mother with affectionate tenderness; she had been the daughter of a doctor in Auckland — he had fallen in love with her at once and married her, al-

■thougli Ms prospects had been so bad. They had been very happy, and then, when Eobin was two years old, she had died ; the boy had been sent home, and he had been alone again — ^f or eighteen years he had been alone. There Tiad been other women, of course; he did not pretend to Tiave been a saint, and women had liked him and been rather sorry for him in those early years: but they had none of them been very much to him, only episodes— the •central fact of his existence had always been his son. He had had a friend there, a Colonel Durand, who had three sons of his own, and had given him much advice as to his treatment of Robin. He had talked a great deal about the young generation, about its impatience of older theories and manners, its dislike of authority and restraint; and Harry, remembering his own early hatred of restriction and longing for freedom, was determined that he would be no fetter on his son's liberty, that he would be to him a friend, a companion rather than a father. After all, Tie felt no more than twenty-five— there was really no space of years between them — ^he was as young to-day as he had been twenty years ago.

As to the others, he had never cared very much for C!lare and Garrett in the old days; they had been stiff, cold, lacking all sense of family affection. But that had been twenty years ago. There had been a time, in New Zealand, when he had hated Garrett. When he had been ;away from home for some ten years, the longing to see his boy had grown too strong to be resisted, and he had writ- -ten to his father asking for permission to return. He had received a cold answer from Garrett, saying that Sir Jeremy thought that, as he was so successful there, it would be perhaps better if he remained there a little

■while longer ; that he would find little to do at home and would only weary of the monotony — ^four closely written pages to the same effect. So Harry had remained.

But that was ten years ago ; at last, a letter had come, saying that Sir Jeremy was now very old and feeble, that he desired to see his son before he died, and that all the past was forgotten and forgiven. And now there was but one thought in his heart — ^love for all the world, one overwhelming desire to take his place amongst them decently, worthily, so that they might see that the wastrel of twenty years ago had developed into a man, able to take his place, in due time, at the head of the Trojan family. Oh ! how he would try to please them all ! how he would watch and study and work so that that long twenty years' exile might he forgotten both by himself and by them.

He bathed and dressed slowly by the fire. As he saw his clothes on the bed he fancied, for a moment, that they might be a little worn, a little old. They had seemed very good and smart in Auckland, but in England it was rather different. "He almost wished that he had stayed in London for two days and been properly fitted by a tailor. But then he had been so eager to arrive: he had not thought of clothes ; his one idea had been to rush down as soon as possible and see them all, and the place, and the town.

Then he remembered that Clare had asked him to be quick. He finished his dressing hurriedly, turned out. the electric light, and left the room.

He was pleased to find that he had not forgotten the. turns and twists of the house. He threaded the dark passages easily, humming a little tune, and smelling that same sweet scent of dried rose leaves that he had known so well when he was a small boy. He could see, in imagination, the great white-and-pink china pot-pourri bowls standing at the corner of the stairs — nothing was changed.

The blue drawing-room was deserted when he entered it — only the blaze of the electric light, the golden flame of the log-fire in the great open fireplace, and the solemn ticking of the gold clock that had stood there, in the same place of honour, for the last hundred years. He passed over to the windows and flung them open; the hum of the town came, with the cold night air, into the room. The stars were brilliant to-night and the golden haze of the lamplight hung over the streets like a magic curtain. Ah ! how good it was 1 The peace of it, the comfort, the homeliness !

Above all, it was Cornwall — ^the lights of the herring fleet, the distant rhythmical beat of the mining-stamps, that peculiar scent as of precious spices coming with the wind of the sea, as though borne from distant magical lands, all told him that he was, at last, again in Cornwall.

He drank in the night air, bending his eyes on the town as though he were saluting it. again, tenderly, joyously, with, the greeting of an old familiar friend.

Robin closed the door behind him and shivered a little. The windows were open — ^how annoying when Aunt Clare iiad especially asked that they should be closed. Oh! it Was his father ! Of course, he did not know !

He had not been noticed, so he coughed. Harry turned round.

" Hullo, Robin, my boy ! " He passed his arm through his son's and drew him to the window. " Isn't it splendid ? " he said. " Oh ! I don't suppose you notice it now, after having been here all liis time ; you want to go away for twenty years, then you'd know how much it's worth. Oh! it's splendid — ^what times we'll have here, you and I?"

" Yea," said EoMn, a little coldly. It was very chilly with the window open, and there was something in all that enthusiasm that was almost a little vulgar. Of course, it was natural, after being away so long . . . but stilL . . . Also his father's clothes were really very old — ^the back of the coat was quite shiny.