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Won from the Waves, a novel by William H. G. Kingston |
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Chapter 23. Caught In A Thunderstorm |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. CAUGHT IN A THUNDERSTORM Harry's ship had been paid off, and Headland having received his promotion, the two friends started in a post-chaise and four for London. It would have been unbecoming for two naval officers, with their pockets full of prize money, to travel in a less dignified way. The last time Harry had come that road it had been on the top of a coach. Captain Headland had been very little on shore in England, and everything was new to him and full of interest. The country girls at the cottage doors struck him especially. "I had no idea English women were so pretty," he observed. Harry laughed. "I thought your philosophy would soon be capsized. If you think them attractive, I suspect that you will find the girls of higher rank enchanting." They remained in town to attend a levee, when Captain Headland was presented on his promotion, and Harry on his return from foreign service. Headland was in no hurry to leave London, for never having before been in the big city, he found so much to interest him; but Harry was anxious to be at home. Julia had written him word that they hoped to have a number of visitors, and intended to give a fete in honour of his return. They posted to Texford, agreeing that a pair of horses would take them there as fast as four, which their dignity no longer required. Headland received a warm welcome from Sir Ralph and Lady Castleton as their son's friend, and Julia extended her hand as if she had known him all her life. He thought her a very charming girl, and wondered that Harry had never spoken to him of her beauty. Her frankness soon set him at his ease. He had mixed but little in ladies' society, and at first felt awkward. Algernon was kind and polite, but was somewhat cold and stiff in his manner, like his father, and Headland suspected that he should never be very intimate with him. Next morning Julia volunteered to show several of the guests who had lately arrived, including Captain Headland, over the grounds. Algernon had in the meantime asked Harry to ride with him, and invited their guest to join them. "Miss Castleton has engaged me to be one of the walking party, and as I am no great horseman you will, I hope, excuse me." Harry begged that he would do as he had promised. He wished to ride with Algernon to enjoy some private conversation. He had been struck by his brother's changed appearance. He had a short teasing cough, of which, however, he made light, observing that it generally disappeared with the warm weather, though it annoyed him a little longer that year. The brothers had much to talk about after their long separation. Harry enquired if any authentic account of their uncle's death had been received. Algernon replied that though their father and Mr Shallard had made every possible enquiry, the only fact they had learned was that the ship he had sailed in had never been heard of, and that there was no doubt she had gone down in a hurricane which had occurred during the time she must have been at sea. "It would be a trying state of things if our uncle were after all to make his appearance and claim the title and property," observed Algernon. "I suspect that our father would be very unwilling to give them up, and possession is nine-tenths of the law." "Surely he would not hesitate if convinced of our uncle's identity," said Harry, "and would be thankful to welcome his brother back to life." "He is so firmly convinced of his death that it would be difficult to persuade him to the contrary," replied Algernon. "For my own part I am not ambitious of becoming a baronet, and as far as I am individually concerned I should be ready to welcome with sincerity our long lost uncle." "So should I," cried Harry warmly, "and surely our father with his political interest can, if he chooses, obtain a baronetcy for himself." "He would prefer exerting that influence in gaining a higher rank," observed Algernon with a sigh. "He wished me to be in parliament, but he only a few days ago, greatly to my relief, acknowledged that he was afraid my health for the present would not enable me to stand the wear and tear I should have to undergo in the 'house.' I am afraid that it has greatly disappointed him. He probably will wish you to take the place he intended for me." Harry laughed heartily. "I in parliament," he exclaimed, "I should indeed feel like a fish out of water. I wish to stick to the service, and hope to get my flag some day." "But there are naval men in parliament, and you may do that notwithstanding," said Algernon. "I do not wish to disobey him, but the very thoughts of the life I should have to lead, talking and debating, or worse, listening to long debates in the close atmosphere of the House of Commons, would make me miserable. So, pray, if he suggests such a thing to you, tell him you are sure that I should not like it, and beg him to let me off." Algernon promised to do as his brother wished. They had taken the way to the downs to the south of Hurlston. Harry enquired for their cousins, the Miss Pembertons. On hearing that they were still living there he proposed paying them a visit. "To tell you the truth, I have not called since we came to Texford," answered Algernon. "You know that they have peculiar notions. Our father, looking upon them as puritanical dissenters, has no wish to have them at the house. I have not seen the old ladies for some years. I remember that they did not make a very favourable impression on me when I met them last." "I suppose I may call on them," said Harry. "They were kind to me when I was a boy, and I liked cousin Mary, as we called her." "Yes, there can be no objection to your going," answered Algernon. "They will not consider it necessary to return your visit, and will look upon it as a kindness." The young men had been riding on further than they had intended, and being engaged in conversation while passing along lanes with high hedges on either side, they had not observed a storm gathering in the sky. Emerging from the lanes Harry invited his brother to take a gallop across the wide extended downs spread out before them, and thus they did not observe till they turned the thunder clouds sweeping up rapidly towards them. "We shall get wet jackets, I suspect, before we reach home," observed Harry. "I hope not," answered his brother, "for I have been especially charged to avoid the damp and cold, and I feel somewhat heated. I wish there was some place where we could get shelter." "I am very sorry that I led you on, for I see no shed or cottage anywhere," said Harry, gazing round; "and I am afraid we shall have the rain down upon us before many minutes. Our shortest way to the nearest house at Hurlston will, I suspect, be across the downs. Come along, there is no time to spare." They put their horses into a gallop. The downs though at a distance appearing to be level, were intercepted by several deep ravines, and the young men had not gone far before they were compelled to turn inland by coming to one of the most rugged and wild of these ravines, the side of which was too steep to allow them to ride down it. A little further Harry observed a place which he thought they could descend without difficulty, and thus save some distance. As he reached the bottom, followed by Algernon, he saw nestling under a rock on one side a hut built party of rough stones, and partly of the planks of some wreck cast on shore. At the same moment a bright flash of lightning darted from the clouds, followed by a crashing peal of thunder, when immediately down came the rain. "We may, at all events, find shelter in yonder hut," said Harry, "though it seems scarcely large enough to admit our horses, but I will hold them while you go inside." They made their way down the ravine, when Algernon dismounting pushed open the door and ran in, while Harry leading the horses followed him. At the further end of the hut a woman was seated on a stool before the wood fire blazing on the hearth, over which she bent, apparently engaged in watching the contents of an iron pot boiling on it. "Who dares intrude unbidden into my mansion," she shrieked out in a wild unearthly tone, which made Algernon start back. Her long grey hair hung down on either side of her colourless face, from which beamed forth a pair of wild eyes, glowing with the fire of madness. Her dress being of the same sombre hue as was everything in the hut, had as Algernon entered prevented him from observing her till she turned her face full upon him. She rose as she spoke, confronting the two young men. "Who are you?" she repeated; "speak, or begone, and trouble me not." "I beg your pardon for entering without leave," said Algernon; "but the rain is coming down so heavily that we should have been wet through in another minute, and there is no other shelter at hand." "That's no answer to my question," she exclaimed. "What care I for rain or storm; let the lightning flash and the thunder roar, and do its worst. Go your way, I say, and leave me to my solitude." "My brother would suffer should he get wet," said Harry, stepping in. "And I must beg you, my good lady, not to be annoyed if we remain till the storm is over; it will probably pass away in half an hour, and we beg not to interrupt you in what you are about." "You are fair spoken, young sir, but you have not answered my question. Who are you, I ask again?" "We are the sons of Sir Ralph Castleton, and we discovered your hut by chance, while looking for a place to obtain shelter from the rain." "Spawn of the viper, how dare ye come hither to seek for shelter beneath my roof?" exclaimed the woman in a voice which made the young men start, so shrill and fierce did it sound, high above the roar of the thunder, the howling of the wind, and the pattering of the rain. "A fit time ye have chosen to come and mock at me; but I have powers at my command to overwhelm you in a moment. See, the heavens fight on my side." As she spoke a bright flash of lightning darted down the glen, which, with the crashing peal of thunder that followed, made the horses snort and plunge so violently, that Harry had no little difficulty in holding them, and was drawn out from the doorway in which he had been standing. "And you deem yourself the heir of Texford," she continued in the same tone, gazing with her wild eyes intently fixed on Algernon. "Though you rejoice in youth and wealth, I see death stamped on your brow; and before many months have passed away, instead of dwelling in your proud and lordly hall, you will have become a tenant of the silent tomb. I can command the elements, and can read the future. It was I who summoned this storm to drive you hither that you might hear your fate, that fate which the stars last night revealed to me. Ah! ah! ah! you now wish that you had passed by instead of seeking shelter beneath my roof; but your destiny drove you hither, and against that you fight in vain." Algernon feeling that it would be wiser not to reply to the wild ravings of the strange creature looked anxiously out of the hut, strongly inclined, in spite of the rain, to make his escape. Harry, who, having been engaged with the horses, had not heard what she first said, now brought them back again, and stood once more beneath the roof of the hut. "At all events now we are here, my good woman, I hope you will not object to our remaining till the storm is over," he said, hoping that by speaking in a quiet tone he might calm her temper. "I invited you not to come, I welcomed you not when you did come, and my curses will follow you when you go," she shrieked out. "We really had better not stay," said Algernon to Harry. "I cannot understand what has irritated the poor woman, and I fear nothing we can say will have the effect of soothing her." "I cannot consent to your going out and getting wet through," said Harry; "so notwithstanding what she says we must stay till the rain has ceased." "My good woman, I really think you are mistaken with regard to us," said Harry, turning to the mad woman. "When we saw your cottage we were not aware that it was inhabited, and as we have taken up your time in interrupting you in what you were about, we shall be glad if you will accept a present as a recompense;" and Harry, giving the reins to Algernon to hold, took out half-a-guinea, and offered it to their hostess. "You cannot bribe me to reverse the orders of fate," she shrieked out, snatching the coin from his hand and throwing it into the fire, and uttering a piercing shriek she frantically waved about her arms, now high above her head, now pointing at them with threatening gestures, till Algernon declared that he could stand it no longer. In vain Harry entreated him to remain till the rain had altogether ceased. The old woman shouted and shrieked louder and louder, encouraged possibly by observing the effect her behaviour had produced on the eldest of the brothers. At last the rain moderating, Algernon rushed out of the hut. "This is not to be endured," he exclaimed, as he mounted his horse. Harry followed his example, and they rode up the glen as fast as the rugged nature of the road would allow them, the wild shrieks and cries of Mad Sal, as she watched them from the door of her hut, sounding in their ears till they gained the open downs. "I am glad we are out of hearing of that dreadful old creature," said Algernon, as they galloped along. "I hope she will not prove a true prophetess." "I don't believe in wizards or witches," answered Harry, "although sometimes by chance their predictions may appear to be fulfilled; and we should be foolish if we allowed the nonsense she talked to weigh on our spirits. I am very sure that the thread of our lives will not be cut shorter from anything she can do, and she certainly will not make me the less willing to go afloat, and fight as readily as I should have done had we not fallen in with her. She has evidently some dislike to the name of Castleton, and hearing us mention it, vented her feelings by trying to frighten us." "Poor woman, she is perfectly mad. I am curious to learn who she is," observed Algernon. "Perhaps Groocock or some of the Hurlston people may know." Although the rain had moderated, the young men were nearly wet through before they had made their way across the down; and instead of stopping at Hurlston, as they had intended, they rode on to Texford. In spite of the exercise he had taken, Algernon complained of the cold, and Harry observed that he shivered several times. As he, however, hurried to his room immediately on his arrival, and changed his wet things, his brother hoped he would not suffer. _ |
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