The Pagan's Cup

CHAPTER IV

THE DINNER-PARTY

Built on the lower slopes of the Castle Hill, Mr Pratt's residence, commonly known as The Nun's House, stood a little distance back from the highway which led down to King's-meadows. It was a plain, rough stone building of great strength, two storeys in height, and with a high roof of slate. Gloomy in the extreme, it was rendered still more so from its being encircled by a grove of yew trees which gave it a churchyard air. Not the kind of residence one would have thought attractive to a cheerful and dapper man like Richard Pratt. But he had, so he declared, fallen in love with it at first sight, and Mrs Gabriel, always having an eye to business, had only too readily granted him a seven years' lease. She was delighted at the chance of securing a tenant, as the house had been empty for a long time owing to its uncomfortable reputation. There was not a man, woman or child in Colester that did not know it was haunted.

The name came from a tradition, probably a true one, that when the Colester convent had been suppressed by Henry VIII., the evicted nuns had found refuge in this dismal house, a dozen of them. In time they died, and the mansion was inhabited by other people. But queer sounds were heard, strange sights were seen, and it became known that the twelve nuns re-visited the scene of their exile. There never was a house so populated with ghosts; and the tenants promptly departed. Others, lured by a low rent, came, and after a month's trial departed also. Finally no one would stop in the ill-omened mansion until Mr Pratt arrived. He liked the place, laughed at the gruesome reputation of the dwelling, and announced his intention of making it his home.

"Ghosts!" laughed Pratt, with his cheery smile. "Nonsense. Ghosts went out with gas. Besides, I should rather like to see a ghost, particularly of a nun. I am partial to the fair sex."

"I wonder, then, you never married," said the person who had warned him against the house, with the best intentions, of course.

Pratt looked at her – she was Mrs Bathurst, the gossip of the neighbourhood – under half-closed eye-lids, and smiled. "Ah!" said he, rubbing his plump white hands, "I have admired so many beautiful women, dear lady, that I could not remain constant to one;" which reason, although plausible, did not satisfy Mrs Bathurst. But then she was one of those amiable persons always willing to believe the worst of people.

However, Pratt took up his abode in the chief Colester inn, and sent for cartloads of furniture, while the house was being re-decorated. He took a deal of trouble to make it comfortable, and as he was a man of excellent taste, with an eye for colour, he succeeded in making it pretty as well. In six weeks the place was ready to receive him, and up to the period of his walk with the vicar, Pratt had occupied it for another six without being disturbed by the numerous ghosts. The Colester folks quite expected to hear that he had been carried off like Dr Faust, and were rather disappointed that he met with no ghostly adventure. But then Mr Pratt, as he said himself, was not imaginative enough for spectres.

Failing his leaving the house, the gentry expected that he would entertain them and show his treasures, for it was reported that he had many beautiful things. But Pratt was in no hurry. He wanted first to study his neighbours in order to see who were the most pleasant. In a surprisingly short time he got to know something about everyone, and on the knowledge thus acquired he selected his guests. In addition to those already mentioned, he invited Mrs Bathurst and her daughter Peggy. The girl was pretty and the mother talkative, so, in Pratt's opinion, it paid to ask them. "There is no chance of an entertainment being dull if Mrs Bathurst has her legs under the table," he said, and this being reported to the lady, she accused Pratt of coarseness. Nevertheless, she accepted the invitation. Not for worlds would Mrs Bathurst have missed a sight of re-decorated Nun's House. Besides, it was her duty to go. She supplied all the gossip of the neighbourhood.

Anxious to see as much as possible of the house, Mrs Bathurst was the first to arrive. Pratt, in a particularly neat evening dress, advanced to meet her and Peggy with a smile. He knew very well that her ungovernable curiosity had led her to be thus early. "I am glad to see you, Mrs Bathurst," he said genially; "pray sit down. You are the first to arrive."

"I always like to be punctual," responded the lady, nodding to her daughter that she also should be seated. "Dear me, how well this room looks! I can see you have spared no expense."

"I like to make myself comfortable, Mrs Bathurst. We only have one life."

"I wonder you care to spend it in such a dull place as Colester. If Mr Bathurst were rich I should make him take me to London."

"You would soon get tired of the roar of that city."

Here Peggy, who was fair and pretty and fond of gaiety, shook her blonde head vigorously. "I should never get tired of fun," she said. "I could go to a dance every night and still want more."

"Ah, Miss Peggy, you are young and active!"

"Well, dear Mr Pratt, you are not old," said Mrs Bathurst, flatteringly; "we must make you happy here. I am sure you are quite an acquisition. We must find you a wife."

"I shall apply to you when I want one," he said, with a laugh; "but I guess I'm not made to run in double harness."

"What odd expressions you use! I daresay that comes from your being an American. Never mind, you'll soon lose all Americanisms here. I look upon you as quite one of ourselves, dear Mr Pratt."

The fact is that Mrs Bathurst wished to bring about a marriage between her daughter Peggy and the newcomer. He had been introduced by Mrs Gabriel, so his social position was secure; and if one could judge from the magnificent furnishing of the house, he was a wealthy man. That Peggy herself should be consulted never entered her mother's head.

Pratt guessed what Mrs Bathurst was after, and chuckled. He had no intention of having the good lady for a mother-in-law. Moreover, he knew that Peggy was in love with Raston, the curate. Nevertheless, having a love of tormenting people, and wishing to punish Mrs Bathurst, he sighed, cast a languishing look at Peggy, and allowed the mother to think that he might be guided by her wish. Seeing this, the lady pushed her advantage vigorously, and was getting on very well by the time the other guests arrived. Then, after some desultory conversation, dealing with the weather and the crops, all went in to dinner.

The table was beautifully set out. The linen was snowy white, the silver and crystal of the best, and the flowers, which Pratt had personally arranged, were skilfully chosen and blended. The women present were rather annoyed that a man should be able to manage a house so well, for the dinner was one of the best that had ever been eaten in Colester, and the service was all that could be desired. What was the use, thought Mrs Bathurst, of suggesting a wife to a man who knew so well how to dispense with one? She could not have arranged things better herself, and it was vexing that a mere man should be able to beat a woman on her own ground.

"You have certainly made a very pretty place of it, Mr Pratt," said Mrs Gabriel, when they returned to the drawing-room. "I suppose you will live here for many a long day?"

"I hope to die here," he replied, smiling. "But one never knows. I may take a fancy to resume my travels."

"You are like Ulysses," put in the vicar, "you know men and cities."

"And, like Ulysses, I don't think much of either, Mr Tempest."

"Come now!" cried Leo, laughing. "I never heard that Ulysses was a cynic."

"He was not modern enough," said Sybil, who was looking particularly charming, much to the anger of Mrs Gabriel, who saw in her a man-trap for her adopted son.

"I don't think cynicism is altogether a modern disease," remarked Sir Frank Hale. "Solomon had not much belief in human nature."

"What could you expect from a man who had so many wives?" put in Pratt, in a dry voice. The remark annoyed Mrs Bathurst. It augured ill for her scheme to marry Peggy. A man who talked thus of women could never be brought to respect his mother-in-law.

While this conversation was taking place Mrs Gabriel kept a vigilant eye on Leo. Whenever he tried to edge up to Sybil she contrived to get in the way, and, finally, by a dexterous move, she placed him 'longside the baronet's sister. Edith Hale was a tall, raw-boned, thin girl, with small pretensions to beauty or wit. She had a freckled skin and red hair, an awkward way of carrying herself and a silent tongue. She was so deeply in love with Leo that she followed his every movement with her eyes, until he found her regard most embarrassing. However, Leo, to avert a storm when he returned home, was obliged to show her every attention, and strolled away with her into Mr Pratt's new conservatory. Sybil looked disappointed, but controlled herself sufficiently to play an accompaniment for Peggy. Raston turned over the leaves of the music, and Mrs Bathurst, with a glance at Pratt, settled herself to listen. As to Mr Tempest, he was moving round the room examining the objects of art in his usual near-sighted way. Seeing everyone thus occupied, Mrs Gabriel drew aside Sir Frank into a convenient corner.

The baronet was a pale-faced, hunchback, lame creature, with a shrewish expression and a pair of brilliant grey eyes. He had been an invalid all his life, and his temper had been spoilt thereby. The only person in the world for whom he cherished the least affection was his sister. In his eyes she was as beautiful as Helen and as clever as Madame de Stael. He knew that she was breaking her heart for Leo, and resented the young man's indifference. And as Hale had the spite of a cripple, his resentment was not to be despised. But Leo did not know that.

"Frank," said Mrs Gabriel, addressing him thus familiarly, as she had known him from his cradle, "I want to speak to you about Leo. It is time he was married. Nothing but marriage will steady him."

"Sybil Tempest is ready enough to become his wife, Mrs Gabriel," snarled the little man. "Why don't you speak to her?"

"Because she is not your sister," replied Mrs Gabriel, coldly. "I do not intend that Leo shall throw himself away on a penniless girl who has nothing but her face to recommend her. Edith has both brains and beauty."

"Leo does not see that," said Hale, who implicitly believed in his companion; "he is infatuated with Sybil. I don't say a word against her," he added hastily; "I want to marry her myself."

Mrs Gabriel looked with secret contempt on the deformed man, and wondered how he could have the impertinence to think that any woman could take him for her husband. However, she was pleased to hear of this new complication. If Sybil could be induced to marry the baronet – and from a worldly point of view the match was a good one – she would be out of the way. In despair Leo might marry Edith, and thus all would be as Mrs Gabriel wanted. She wished to move human beings as puppets to suit her own ends, and never thought that she might be thwarted by the individual will of those with whom she played. However, she had an idea of how to entangle matters so as to carry out her schemes, and commenced her intrigue with the baronet. She knew he would help her, both for his own sake and for the sake of his sister. At the same time she moved warily, so as not to make a false step. It was no easy matter to deal with Hale, as she knew. Once or twice he had got the better of her in business.

"I don't mind being candid with you," said Mrs Gabriel softly. "It is my wish that Leo should marry Edith, and I shall be delighted to help you to become Sybil's husband."

"It's easy saying, but harder doing," said Hale, snappishly. "Sybil is in love with Leo, and the woman who admires Apollo will not look upon Caliban. Oh, I am under no delusions respecting myself," he added, with a hoarse laugh. "I am not agreeable to look upon, but I have money, a title and a good position. Nine women out of ten would be content with these things."

"I am afraid Sybil is the tenth," said Mrs Gabriel, coldly. "However, neither she nor Leo know what is good for them. Help me to marry him to your sister, and then Sybil will fall into your arms."

"Do you think so?"

"I am certain of it."

"How are we to manage?" asked Hale, after a pause. "You have some scheme."

"It is in order to explain my scheme to you that I have brought about this conversation. Listen. I am not pleased with Leo. He has been leading a wild life in Town, and is in debt to the tune of three hundred pounds."

"Humph!" said Frank, under his breath. "These Apollos know how to waste money. I shall see that Edith's dowry is settled on herself."

"And I shall tie up the Gabriel property so that Leo cannot waste it."

Hale looked at her from under his bushy eyebrows. "You intend that he shall be your heir, then?"

"Assuredly. If he does what I want him to do."

"What is that?"

"He must marry Edith and take up his residence in the castle. No more gadding about, no more wild living. Let Leo be a respectable country gentleman and his future is secure."

"Have you explained that to him?" asked the baronet, sharply.

"No. Leo is a fool, and infatuated with that girl. I must force him to do what I want. It is for his own good. You must help, both for the sake of Edith, and because it is your only chance of marrying Sybil."

"I'm quite ready to help you, Mrs Gabriel. Go on."

Mrs Gabriel glanced round, bent her head, and spoke lower. "I intend to refuse to pay this three hundred pounds for Leo. There is no chance of his earning it for himself, and he will soon be in serious difficulty. Now if you come forward as his old friend and – "

"I don't like lending money," said Hale, who was something of a miser.

"If you want to gain Sybil and make your sister happy, you must lend Leo three hundred pounds. When he is in your debt, well – the rest is easy."

Hale nodded. "I see what you mean," said he, ponderingly. "The idea is not a bad one. But Leo – humph! Three hundred pounds! A large sum!"

"Oh, I will be your surety for it," said Mrs Gabriel, impatiently. She did not want her plans upset by this miser. "But if you want to gain anything you must sacrifice something. You love Sybil?"

"With my whole soul," said the cripple, and flushed.

"And your sister?"

"I would give anything to secure her happiness."

"Three hundred pounds will be enough," said Mrs Gabriel, coolly. "Make Leo your debtor, and then you can deal with him. He is so honourable that he will keep his word even at the cost of his happiness. Well?"

Hale reflected. "I will think of it," said he, cautiously.

"As you please. But remember that if I do not have this settled within the week, I shall allow Leo to marry Sybil."

Of course Mrs Gabriel had no such intention, but she determined outwardly on this course to frighten the baronet. It had the desired effect.

"I will see to the matter," he said hastily; "to-night I will ask Leo to come and see me. It will all be arranged. But three hundred pounds!" He winced and Mrs Gabriel smiled.

"I will be your surety," she said, rising. "Let me know when you have made Leo your debtor. Come, we must not talk any more. Here is Mr Pratt."

It was indeed the host who came to disturb them. He wished to take the whole party round his house. Leo and Edith returned from the conservatory, the former looking bored, the latter brilliantly happy. Sybil did not like this, and glanced reproachfully at Leo, who immediately would have gone to her side, but he was anticipated by Hale. "Help me to get round the house, Miss Tempest," he said, pointing to his lame leg. "You must be my crutch."

Sybil could not but assent, and so Leo found himself out in the cold. Peggy, who approved of his love for Sybil, took his arm. "Never mind," she said softly, "I will manage to take Sir Frank away," and Leo gave her hand a grateful squeeze.

"Come, all of you!" cried Pratt, cheerily. "The museum is open."

He led them through a series of rooms crammed with treasures. There were valuable pictures, pieces of rich tapestry, exquisite examples of goldsmith's work, and many other things of value. Mr Pratt had a story for every object. This he picked up in the Great Bazaar at Stamboul; that was a bargain obtained in an Italian town; the silver crucifix came from Spain; the lacquer work from Japan. Apparently he had been all over the world, and had made purchases in every part. Here was the evidence of his travels and his wealth before the longing eyes of Mrs Bathurst. More than ever was she determined that Peggy should become Mrs Pratt.

While Pratt discoursed and the company exclaimed at the treasures displayed to their wondering eyes, Mrs Gabriel maintained her haughty silence. She surveyed all the beautiful things in a cold, unemotional manner, and kept an eye on the movements of Leo. He felt uncomfortable under her gaze, and once or twice looked angrily at her. But Mrs Gabriel met his indignant looks with a calm smile.

"You must have spent a fortune on all this," said Hale, inspecting a tray of antique coins. "What a collection!"

"I have been buying for years," explained Pratt, smiling. "Mine has been a varied life. I was born of poor parents and had to make my own way in the world. For years I worked in the States, in South America and elsewhere to make money. Finally I secured a fortune in South Africa, and for the last ten years I have devoted myself to collecting these things. They have been stored for years, and now that I have a house of my own, this is the first time I have been able to arrange them. I am glad you are pleased."

"We are more than pleased," gushed Mrs Bathurst. "It is a most beautiful treat to see these lovely things and hear you talk about them. What is this cup, dear Mr Pratt?"

"Ah!" said Pratt, taking it up. "This is the property of the vicar."

"Mine!" said Mr Tempest in mild surprise. "Dear me, Mr Pratt, what do you mean? It would take half my year's stipend to buy this!"