The Star-Gazers Part 58

The result was that at her earnest prayer Lucy was allowed to run into the observatory to her brother, to prepare him for the visitors.

"Sir John--Major Day," said Alleyne, calmly. "I will come to them. No: let them be shown in here."

Perhaps he felt that he would be stronger on his own ground, surrounded by his instruments, than in the chilly drawing-room, where he knew he was out of place.

"But, Moray, dear, you will not be angry and pa.s.sionate. You will not quarrel with Sir John."

"Angry?" said Alleyne calmly. "I cannot tell. He might say things to me that will make me angry; but do not be afraid, I shall not quarrel."

"You promise me that, dear?"

"I promise you."

Lucy threw her arms about his neck and kissed him, and then ran out of the observatory, into which Sir John and the major were introduced a few minutes later.

Alleyne was right. He was stronger in his own place, for, surrounded as he was by the various strange implements used in his studies, he seemed to Sir John someone far more imposing than the simple dreamy man, whom he had come, as he called it, to put down.

Alleyne came from where he was standing with his hand resting upon some papers, and, bowing formally, he pointed to chairs, for it needed no words to tell that this was no friendly visit.

"I've called, Mr Alleyne," said Sir John, giving his stick a twist, and then a thump down upon the floor, "to ask for some explanation."

The major laid a warning hand upon his arm, for Sir John's voice was increasing in volume. In fact he had been impressed with the fact that his task was not so easy a one as he had imagined, and hence he was glad to have the sound of his own words to help work up the pa.s.sion necessary to carry out his purpose.

He lowered his tone directly, though, in obedience to his brother's hint, and continued his discourse angrily, but still as a gentleman should; and he afterwards owned to his brother that he forgot all about the horse-whipping he had designed from the moment he entered the room.

"Those telescopes and the quicksilver trough and instruments put it all out of mind, Jem," he afterwards said. "One couldn't thrash a man who looks like a sage; whose every word and tone seems to say that he is your superior."

Sir John finished a sufficiently angry tirade, in which he pointed out that Alleyne had met with gentlemanly courtesy, that he had been treated with every confidence, and made the friend of the family. Miss Day had made a companion of his sister, and nothing had been wanting on his part; while, on the other hand, Alleyne's conduct, Sir John said, had culminated in what was little better than an outrage.

"There, sir," he exclaimed, by way of a finish, with his face very red and with a tremendous thump of his stick upon the floor. "Now, what have you to say?"

Alleyne stood before them deadly pale, and with a fine dew glistening upon his forehead; but there was no look of shame or dread upon his face, which rather bore the aspect of one lately smitten by some severe mental blow from which he had not yet recovered.

He gazed straight before him without meeting the eyes of either of his visitors, as if thinking of what reply he should find to a question that stung him to the heart. Then his eyes fell, and the wrinkles that formed in his brow made him look, at least, ten years older.

Just then, as Sir John was chafing, and without thoroughly owning to it, wis.h.i.+ng that he had let matters rest, the major said softly,--

"I thought I would come over with my brother, Mr Alleyne. I am sorry that this visit was deemed necessary."

"Hang it all, Jem, don't take sides with the enemy! And you a soldier, too."

"I take no sides, John," replied the major, quietly. "Had we not better end this interview?"

"I am waiting to hear what Mr Alleyne has to say to the father of the lady he insulted," cried the baronet warmly; and these words acted like a spur to Alleyne, who turned upon him proudly.

"It was no insult, Sir John, to tell her that I loved her," he said.

"But I say it was, sir, knowing as you did that she was engaged to Captain Rolph. Confound it all, sir, it was positively disgraceful. I am her father, sir, and I demand an apology--a full apology at once."

Alleyne looked at him for a few moments in silence, and then, with his lips quivering, he spoke in a low deep voice,--

"Tell her, Sir John, that in answer to your demand I humbly ask forgiveness if I have given her pain. I regret my words most bitterly, and that I would they had been unsaid--that I ask her pardon."

"That is enough, I think," said Sir John, with a show of importance in his speech, but with a look in his eye that betokened more and more his dissatisfaction with his task.

"Quite," said the major gravely. "If an apology was necessary, Mr Alleyne has made the _amende honorable_."

"Exactly," said Sir John impatiently, as if he were on the magisterial bench, and some poacher had been brought before him. "And now, sir, what am I to say to Captain Rolph?"

The major laid his hand upon his brother's arm, but he could not check his words, and he turned round directly after, almost startled by the vehemence with which Alleyne spoke, with his keen eyes first upon one brother, then upon the other.

"Tell Captain Rolph, gentlemen, if he wishes for an apology to come and ask it of me himself."

"Sir," began Sir John; but the major quickly interposed.

"Mr Alleyne is quite right, John," he said. "He has apologised to the father of the lady he is accused of insulting; that ought to be sufficient. If Rolph feels aggrieved, it should be his duty to himself apply for redress."

"But--" began Sir John.

"That will do, my dear John," said the major firmly. "You have performed the duty you came to fulfil; now let us go. Mr Alleyne, for my part, I am very sorry this has happened--good-day."

Alleyne bowed, and Sir John, who was feeling beaten, allowed the major to lead him out of the house, the latter feeling quite relieved when they were in the lane, for he had been dreading the coming of Mrs Alleyne or Lucy for the last ten minutes of their visit.

"Hah!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, breathing more freely, "I am glad that is over."

"But it isn't over," cried Sir John, who was exceedingly unsettled in his mind. "Why, Jem, your confounded interference has spoiled the whole affair."

"Nonsense, Jack, he apologised very handsomely; what more would you have?"

"What more would I have! How am I to face Rob? What am I to say when he asks me what apology the fellow made?"

"My dear Jack," said the major, "I may be wrong, but I look upon Mr Alleyne as a thorough gentleman."

"Oh, do you?"

"Yes, my boy, I do; and it is very unseemly, to my way of thinking, for you to be speaking of him as 'that fellow' or 'the fellow.' If your chosen son-in-law were one half as much of a gentleman in his conduct I should feel a great deal more happy over this match."

Sir John's face flushed of a deeper red, and it looked as if fierce words would ensue between the brothers; but as much ire as could dwell in Sir John's genial spirit had been used up in the encounter with Alleyne, and it required many hours for the reserve to be refilled.

Hence, then, he bore in silence several rather plain remarks uttered by his brother, and walked back to the park, where they encountered Rolph coming rapidly down the long drive.

"Seems in a hurry to hear our news," said Sir John.

"Pshaw!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the major; "he has not seen us. He is training for something or another."

"Nonsense, Jem. How spitefully you speak. He is coming to meet us, I tell you."

Sir John's words did not carry conviction with them, for it was strange that if the captain were coming to meet them, he should be running in a very peculiar manner, with his fists clenched and his eyes bent upon the ground; and, in fact, as he reached something white, which proved to be a pocket handkerchief tied to a cane stuck in the ground, he turned suddenly, and ran off in the opposite direction.