King of the Castle

"But you will save his life, Doctor?" said Claude piteously.

"I hope yes, my dear madam. I think I can say you may rely upon our friend here. It will be a long and tedious recovery, no doubt, and afterwards it will rest with you to save him from the temptation of further indulgence.--And if he is not an idiot he will thank his stars for his fate," added the great Doctor himself.

"And I will try so hard, so hard," vowed Claude. "It was like a judgment upon me. Yes, I will try to be his good, true wife, and bring him back to a better life."

Thus, on her knees that night, ere she lay down to rest.

"Talks, does he, of murder, eh?" said Gellow. "Yes, Mr Trevithick, they do at times. Never had _DT_, I suppose?"

"No, sir; I never had."

"Good job for you. I had once, and that was enough for me. I didn't swear off, but I swore a little way on. I've had 'em, sir. Snakes in your boots--blue-devils, things crawling all over you; it's enough to make you s.h.i.+ver to think of it."

"I suppose so."

"You won't believe me, but I couldn't keep him away from the stuff."

"Then he has been in the habit of drinking a great deal?"

"Great deal isn't half big enough, sir."

"Then don't you think it would have been your duty to warn Miss Gartram of the character of the man she was about to wed?"

"Split on my friend; get up an action for slander; set the young lady against me; and perhaps have poor old Glyddyr knock me on the head. No, sir: I'm not that sort of man. There, good evening. If you want me, I shall be at the hotel. I seem to be the poor chap's only friend, and I can't go back to town till I see him safe."

"I don't like that man," said Trevithick. "He has some hold on Glyddyr, I am sure."

As the great doctor prophesied, it was a long, slow recovery, and there were returns of the delirium and horrible nights when Glyddyr appeared to be haunted by one who was always reproaching him for some deed, and Sarah Woodham would sit, looking at him wildly, and with the past and her oath to her dead husband slowly revolving in her mind.

Then the invalid began to mend, and became constant in his demands

"Where is she?" he would ask with a quick, jealous eagerness if she were away from his room for an hour; and on her return from one of the walks necessary for her health, he would cross-examine her, gazing at her searchingly, as to where she had been and whom she had seen.

Claude had nothing to conceal, and she answered him quietly and without resentment; but she did not--and she knew it--allay the pang of mad jealousy in her husband's breast.

"It is a judgment on me," she used to say, "for I gave him cause."

Time glided on, and Glyddyr began to be about, at first in an invalid chair, and then he was able to walk up and down a little on the terraces of the Fort; and as the rough fishermen of the place saw him, there was a quiet nudge pa.s.sed on, as they said that the new King of the Castle was not like the old.

As he grew better, he looked a haggard, sallow being, with wild, restless eyes, which appeared to be always on the lookout for some antic.i.p.ated danger or trouble, and the sight of Chris Lisle pa.s.sing in the distance was sufficient at any time to make him turn angrily upon his wife, and, clinging to her arm, bid her help him in doors.

Claude never showed even that she was hurt, but bore his taunts and peevish remarks patiently, always with the same grave, calm pale face.

But in the solitude of her own room, or when clasped in Mary's arms, she sobbed wildly at times to relieve her overladen breast.

Trevithick had his legal business to transact at the Fort, but he never resented the sneers and snarls of its owner, who was constantly making allusions as to the probable length of his bill.

"And I deserve it all, Mary, dear," Trevithick used to say. "I could do it all by means of letters, except when I wanted a signature witnessed; but of course I sha'n't charge."

"But why do you come?" asked Mary demurely; "I'm sure this place is miserable enough. It's a perfect purgatory."

"For shame!" he said, with a quiet, happy smile; "why, its a perfect paradise, dear, and unless I'm very hard at work, I'm wretched unless I'm here.--Mary, dear?"

"Yes."

"When is it to be?"

"What?"

"Our wedding."

"How can you ask me such a thing? As if I could ever think of leaving poor Claude. And besides, after such a lesson upon what matrimony really is, I wonder that you should ever renew the subject."

"No, you don't, dear," he said, gaining possession of the little white hand, which pretended to escape, and then resigned itself to its fate, while Trevithick's countenance told how truthful were his words.

"Tell me when it shall be," he said in a whisper.

"When I can see Claude happy.--John, couldn't she have a divorce?"

"For what reason?"

"Because she does not love him; and the way in which he treats her with his horrid jealousy is maddening."

"That's no reason."

"No reason? Why, I thought people could be divorced if they could prove cruelty."

"Yes--legal cruelty. No, my dear, jealousy and suspicion will not do."

"Why did you come over to-day?"

"Business. I had to see old Mrs Sarson at the cottage where Mr Lisle lodges. She's ill."

"What for? You are not a doctor."

"No," he said, with a chuckle, "but about her affairs. She thinks it time to make a will and arrange about her savings. Curious old body."

"Why?"

"Troubled with poor Mr Gartram's complaint."

"What do you mean?"

"Distrust. She has all her savings h.o.a.rded up, and next time I go she has promised to place them in my hands for investment."

"Don't talk about that. I hate the very name of money. I wish poor Claude hadn't a s.h.i.+lling, and we were both free girls, able to do what we liked."