The Money Moon Part 23

"Married!" she repeated, glancing up very quickly, "Adam--what do you mean?"

"Why you must know," began Adam, wringing at his hat again, "ever since the day I found him asleep in your hay, Miss Anthea, mam, Mr. Belloo has been very kind, and--friendly like. Mr. Belloo an' me 'ave smoked a good many sociable pipes together, an' when men smoke together, Miss Anthea, they likewise talk together."

"Yes?--Well?" said Anthea, rather breathlessly, and taking up a pencil that happened to be lying near to hand.

"And Mr. Belloo," continued Adam, heavily, "Mr. Belloo has done me--the--the honour," here Adam paused to give an extra twist to his hat,--"the--honour, Miss Anthea--"

"Yes, Adam."

"Of confiding to me 'is 'opes--" said Adam slowly, finding it much harder to frame his well-meaning falsehood than he had supposed, "his--H-O-P-E-S--'opes, Miss Anthea, of settling down very soon, an' of marryin' a fine young lady as 'e 'as 'ad 'is eye on a goodish time,--'aving knowed her from childhood's hour, Miss Anthea, and as lives up to Lonnon--"

"Yes--Adam!"

"Consequently--'e bought all your furnitur' to set up 'ousekeepin', don't ye see."

"Yes,--I see, Adam!" Her voice was low, soft and gentle as ever, but the pencil was tracing meaningless scrawls in her shaking fingers.

"So you don't 'ave to be no-wise back-ard about keepin' the money, Miss Anthea."

"Oh no,--no, of course not, I--I understand, it was--just a--business transaction."

"Ah!--that's it,--a business transaction!" nodded Adam, "So you'll put the money a one side to help pay off the mortgage, eh, Miss Anthea?"

"Yes."

"If the 'ops comes up to what they promise to come up to,--you'll be able to get rid of Old Grimes--for good an' all, Miss Anthea."

"Yes, Adam."

"An' you be quite easy in your mind, now, Miss Anthea--about keepin' the money?"

"Quite!--Thank you, Adam--for--telling me. You can go now."

"Why then--Good-night! Miss Anthea, mam,--the mortgage is as good as paid,--there ain't no such 'ops nowhere near so good as our'n be.

An'--you're quite free o' care, an' 'appy 'earted, Miss Anthea?"

"Quite--Oh quite, Adam!"

But when Adam's heavy tread had died away,--when she was all alone, she behaved rather strangely for one so free of care, and happy-hearted.

Something bright and glistening splashed upon the paper before her, the pencil slipped from her fingers, and, with a sudden, choking cry, she swayed forward, and hid her face in her hands.

CHAPTER XVI

_In which Adam proposes a game_

"To be, or not to be!" Bellew leaned against the mighty hole of "King Arthur," and stared up at the moon with knitted brows. "That is the question!--whether I shall brave the slings, and arrows and things, and--speak tonight, and have done with it--one way or another, or live on, a while, secure in this uncertainty? To wait? Whether I shall, at this so early stage, pit all my chances of happiness against the chances of--losing her, and with her--Small Porges, bless him! and all the quaint, and lovable beings of this wonderful Arcadia of mine. For, if her answer be 'No,'--what recourse have I,--what is there left me but to go wandering forth again, following the wind, and with the gates of Arcadia shut upon me for ever? 'To be, or not to be,--that is the question!'"

"Be that you, Mr. Belloo, sir?"

"Even so, Adam. Come sit ye a while, good knave, and gaze upon Dian's loveliness, and smoke, and let us converse of dead kings."

"Why, kings ain't much in my line, sir,--living or dead uns,--me never 'aving seen any--except a pic'ter,--and that tore, though very life like. But why I were a lookin' for you was to ax you to back me up,--an'

to--play the game, Mr. Belloo sir."

"Why--as to that, my good Adam,--my gentle Daphnis,--my rugged Euphemio,--you may rely upon me to the uttermost. Are you in trouble? Is it counsel you need, or only money? Fill your pipe, and, while you smoke, confide your cares to me,--put me wise, or, as your French cousins would say,--make me 'au fait.'"

"Well," began Adam, when his pipe was well alight, "in the first place, Mr. Belloo sir, I begs to remind you, as Miss Anthea sold her furnitur'

to raise enough money as with what the 'ops will bring, might go to pay off the mortgage,--for good an' all, sir."

"Yes."

"Well, to-night, sir, Miss Anthea calls me into the parlour to ax,--or as you might say,--en-quire as to the why, an' likewise the wherefore of you a buyin' all that furnitur'."

"Did she, Adam?"

"Ah!--'why did 'e do it?' says she--'well, to keep it from bein' took away, p'raps,' says I--sharp as any gimblet, sir."

"Good!" nodded Bellew.

"Ah!--but it weren't no good, sir," returned Adam, "because she sez as 'ow your 'ome being in America, you couldn't really need the furnitur',--nor yet want the furnitur',--an' blest if she wasn't talkin'

of handing you the money back again."

"Hum!" said Bellew.

"Seeing which, sir, an' because she must have that money if she 'opes to keep the roof of Dapplemere over 'er 'ead, I, there an' then, made up,--or as you might say,--concocted a story, a anecdote, or a yarn,--upon the spot, Mr. Belloo sir."

"Most excellent Machiavelli!--proceed!"

"I told her, sir, as you bought that furnitur' on account of you being wishful to settle down,--whereat she starts, an' looks at me wi' her eyes big, an' surprised-like. I told 'er, likewise, as you had told me on the quiet,--or as you might say,--con-fi-dential, that you bought that furnitur' to set up 'ouse-keeping on account o' you being on the p'int o' marrying a fine young lady up to Lonnon,--"

"What!" Bellew didn't move, nor did he raise his voice,--nevertheless Adam started back, and instinctively threw up his arm.

"You--told her--that?"

"I did sir."

"But you knew it was a--confounded lie."

"Aye,--I knowed it. But I'd tell a hundred,--ah! thousands o' lies, con-founded, or otherwise,--to save Miss Anthea."

"To save her?"

"From ruination, sir! From losing Dapplemere Farm, an' every thing she has in the world. Lord love ye!--the 'ops can never bring in by theirselves all the three thousand pounds as is owing,--it ain't to be expected,--but if that three thousand pound ain't paid over to that dirty Grimes by next Sat.u.r.day week as ever was, that dirty Grimes turns Miss Anthea out o' Dapplemere, wi' Master Georgy, an' poor little Miss Priscilla,--An' what'll become o' them then,--I don't know. Lord! when I think of it the 'Old Adam' do rise up in me to that extent as I'm minded to take a pitch-fork and go and skewer that there Grimes to his own chimbley corner. Ye see Mr. Belloo sir," he went on, seeing Bellew was silent still, "Miss Anthea be that proud, an' independent that she'd never ha' took your money, sir, if I hadn't told her that there lie,--so that's why I did tell her that here lie."

"I see," nodded Bellew, "I see!--yes,--you did quite right. You acted for the best, and you--did quite right, Adam,--yes, quite right"