My Lady Caprice Part 24

"You were never what one might call--very 'level-headed,' were you, d.i.c.k?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"And, do you know, I think that is the very reason why I--good gracious!--what is that?" She pointed toward the shadow of the hedge.

"Merely the Imp," I answered; "but never mind that--tell me what you were going to say--'the very reason why you'--what?"

"Reginald!" said Lisbeth, unheeding my question, "come here, sir!" Very sheepishly the Imp crept forth from the ditch, and coming up beside me, stole his hand into mine, and I put it in my pocket.

"Reginald?" she repeated, looking from one to the other of us with that expression which always renews within me the memory of my boyish misdeeds, "why are you not asleep in bed?"

"'Cause I had to go an' feed my outlaw, Auntie Lisbeth."

"And," I put in to create a diversion, "incidentally I've discovered the secret of his 'enormous appet.i.te.' It is explained in three words, to wit, 'the bye Jarge."

"Do you mean to say--" began Lisbeth.

"Fed him regularly twice a day," I went on, "and nearly famished himself in the doing of it--you remember the dry-bread incident?"

"Imp!" cried Lisbeth; "Imp!" And she had him next moment in her arms.

"But Uncle d.i.c.k gave him a whole sovereign, you know," he began; "an'--"

"I sent him to a certain house, Lisbeth," I said, as her eyes met mine; "an old house that stands not far from the village of Down, in Kent, to prune the roses and things. I should like it to be looking its best when we get there; and--"

"An' my outlaw kissed Uncle d.i.c.k's hand," pursued the Imp. "Don't you think he must love him an awful lot?"

"I gave him a month to do it in," I went on; "but a month seems much too long when one comes to consider--what do you think, Lisbeth?"

"I think that I hear the wheels of the dog-cart!" she cried. Sure enough, a moment later Peter hove in view, and great was his astonishment at sight of "Master Reginald."

"Peter," I said, "Miss Elizabeth has changed her mind, and will walk back with us; and--er--by the way, I understand that Master Reginald purchased a coat, a s.h.i.+rt, and a pair of trousers of you, for which he has already paid a deposit of sixpence. Now, if you will let me know their value--"

"That's hall right, Mr. Brent, sir. Betwixt you and me, sir, they wasn't up to much, nohow, the coat being tightish, sir--tightish--and the trousis uncommon short in the leg for a man o' my hinches, sir."

"Nevertheless," said I, "a coat's a coat, and a pair of trousers are indubitably a pair of trousers, and nothing can alter the fact; so if you will send me in a bill some time I shall be glad."

"Very good, Mr. Brent, sir." Saying which Peter touched his hat and turning, drove away.

"Now," I said as I rejoined Lisbeth and the Imp, "I shall be glad if you will tell me how long it should take for my garden to look fair enough to welcome you?"

"Oh, well, it depends upon the gardener, and the weather, and--and heaps of things," she answered, flas.h.i.+ng her dimple at me.

"On the contrary," I retorted, shaking my head, "it depends altogether upon the whim of the most beautiful, tempting--"

"Supposing," sighed Lisbeth, "supposing we talk of fis.h.!.+"

"You haven't been fis.h.i.+ng lately, Uncle d.i.c.k," put in the Imp.

"I've had no cause to," I answered; "you see, I am guilty of such things only when life a.s.sumes a grey monotony of hue and everything is a flat, dreary desolation. Do you understand, Imp?"

"Not 'zackly--but it sounds fine! Auntie Lisbeth," he said suddenly, as we paused at the Shrubbery gate, "don't you think my outlaw must be very, very fond of Uncle d.i.c.k to kiss his hand?"

"Why, of course he must," nodded Lisbeth.

"If," he went on thoughtfully, "if you loved somebody--very much--would you kiss their hand, Auntie Lisbeth?"

"I don't know--of course not!"

"But why not--s'posing their hand was nice an' clean?"

"Oh, well--really I don't know. Imp, run along to bed; do."

"You know now that I wasn't such a pig as to eat all that food, don't you?" Lisbeth kissed him.

"Now be off to bed with you."

"You'll come an' tuck me up, an' kiss me good-night, won't you?"

"To be sure I will," nodded Lisbeth.

"Why, then, I'll go," said the Imp; and with a wave of the hand to me he went.

"d.i.c.k," said Lisbeth, staring up at the moon, "it was very unwise of you, to say the least of it, to set a desperate criminal at large."

"I'm afraid it was, Lisbeth; but then I saw there was good in the fellow, you know, and--er--"

"d.i.c.k," she said again, and then laughed suddenly, with the dimple in full evidence; "you foolish old d.i.c.k--you know you would have done it anyway for the sake of that dying old soldier."

"Poor old Jasper!" I said; "I'm really afraid I should." Then a wonderful thing happened; for as I reached out my hand to her, she caught it suddenly in hers, and before I knew had pressed her lips upon it--and so was gone.

VII

THE BLASTED OAK

I had quarrelled with Lisbeth; had quarrelled beyond all hope of redemption and forgiveness, desperately, irrevocably, and it had all come about through a handkerchief--Mr. Selwyn's handkerchief.

At a casual glance this may appear all very absurd, not to say petty; but then I have frequently noticed that insignificant things very often serve for the foundation of great; and incidentally quite a surprising number of lives have been ruined by a handkerchief.

The circ.u.mstances were briefly these: In the first place, I had received the following letter from the d.u.c.h.ess, which had perturbed me not a little:

MY DEAR d.i.c.k: I hear that that Agatha Warburton creature has written threatening to cut off our dear Lisbeth with the proverbial s.h.i.+lling unless she complies with her wish and marries Mr. Selwyn within the year. Did you ever know of anything so disgusting?

If I were Lisbeth, and possessed such a "creature" for an aunt, I'd see her in Timbuctoo first--I would! But then I forget the poor child has nothing in the world, and you little more, and "love in a cottage" is all very well, d.i.c.k, up to a certain time. Of course, it is all right in novels but you are neither of you in a novel, and that is the worst of it. If Providence had seen fit to make me Lisbeth's aunt, now, things might have been very different; but alas! it was not to be.

Under the circ.u.mstances, the best thing you can do, for her sake and your own, is to turn your back upon Arcadia and try to forget it all as soon as possible in the swirl of London and everyday life.