Chapter 37
an anxious wife inside glingog house is mrs murdock alone or with only the two female domestics but these are back in the kitchen while the ex cacot is moving about in front at intervals opening the door and gazing out into the night a dark stormy one for it is the same in which has occurred the mysterious embarkation of father rogier only an hour later to her no mystery she knows whither the priest is bound and on what errand it is not him therefore she is expecting but her husband to bring home word that her countryman has made a safe start so anxiously does she await this intelligence that after a time she stays altogether on the doorstep regardless of the raw night and a fire in the drawing-room which blazes brightly there is another in the dining-room and a table profusely spread set out for supper with dishes of many kinds cold ham and tongue fowl and game flanked by decanters of different wines sparkling attractively whence all this plenty within walls were of late and for so long has been such scarcity as no one visits at glengog save father rogier there is no one but he to ask the question and he would not were he there knowing the answer better than any one else
he ought the cheer upon lewin murdoch's table with a cheerfulness observable on mrs murdoch's face are due to the same cause by himself brought about or to which he has largely contributed as moses lends money on post obits at sixty per cent with other expectations a stream of that leaven has found its way into the ancient manor-house of blingog conducted thither by grgoire rogier who has drawn it from a source of supply provided for such eventualities and seemingly inexhaustible the treasury of the vatican yet only a tiny rivulet of silver but soon if all goes well to become a flood of gold grand and yellow as that in the wye itself having something to do with the waters of this same stream no wonder there is now brightness upon the face of olympe renault so long shadowed the sun of prosperity is again to shine upon the path of her life splendour gaiety volupte be hers once more and more than ever as she stands in the door of glingog looking down the river at llangorren and through the darkness sees the court with only one or two windows alight they but in dim glimmer she reflects less on how they blazed the night before with lamps over the lawn like constellations of stars than how they will flame hereafter
and ere long when she herself be the ruling spirit and mistress of that mansion but as the time passes and no husband home a cloud steals over her features from being only impatient she becomes nervously anxious still standing in the doorway she listens for footsteps she has oft heard making approach unsteadily little caring not so to-night she dreads to see him return intoxicated though not with any solicitude of the ordinary woman's kind but for reasons purely prudential these are manifested in her muttered soliloquy grgoire must have got off long ere this at least two hours ago he said they'd set out soon as it came night half an hour was enough for my husband to return up the meadows home if he has gone to the ferry first and sets to drinking in the harp c'est auberge maudit there's no knowing what he may do or say saying would be worse than doing a word in his cups a hint of what has happened might undo everything draw danger upon us all and such danger le prix de corps mon dieu the cheek blanches at thought of the ugliest spectres thus conjured up surely he will not be so stupid so insane sober he can keep secrets well enough guard them closely like most of his countrymen but the cognac hark footsteps his i hope
she listens without stirring from the spot the tread is heavy with now and then a loud stroke against stones were her husband a frenchman it would be different but lewin murdick like all english country gentlemen affects substantial footgear and the step is undoubtedly his not as usual however to-night firm and regular telling him to be sober he isn't such a fool after all a reflection followed by the inquiry called out c'est vous mon of course it is who else could it be you don't expect the father our only visitor to-night you'll not see him for several days to come he's gone then two hours ago by this he should be miles away unless he and coracle have had a capsize and been spilled out of their boat not unlikely occurrence with the river running so madly she still shows unsatisfied though not from any apprehension of the boat's being upset she is thinking of what may have happened at the welsh harp for the long interval since the priest's departure her husband could only have been there she is less anxious however seeing the state in which she presents himself so unusual coming from the auberge mordite two hours ago they got off you say about that just as it was dark enough to set out with safety and no chance of being observed they did so oh yes
le bagage bien arranger parfaitement or as we say in english neat as a trivet if you prefer another form nice as ninepence she is pleased at his facetiousness quite a new mode for lew and murdoch coupled with his sobriety it gives her confidence that things have gone on smoothly and will to the end indeed for some days murdoch has been a new man acting as one with some grave affair on his hands feat to accomplish or negotiation to effect resolved on carrying it to completeness now less from anxiety as to what he has been saying at the welsh harp than to know what he has been there heard said by others she further interrogates him where have you been meanwhile monsieur part of the time at the ferry the rest of it i've spent on paths and roads coming and going i went up to the harp to hear what i could hear and what did you hear nothing much to interest us as you know ruggs is an out-of-the-way corner none more so on the wye and the langorren news hasn't reached it the talk of the ferry-folk is all about the occurrence at abergan which still continues to exorcise them the other don't appear to have got much abroad if at all anywhere for reasons told father rogier by your countrywoman clarice with whom he held an interview some time during the afternoon
and has there been no search yet search yes but nothing found and not much noise made for the reasons i allude to what are they you haven't told me oh various some of them laughable enough whimsies of that quixotic old lady who has been so long doing the honours at llangorren ah madam linton how has she been taking it i'll tell you after i've had something to eat and drink you forget a limp where i've been all the day long under the roof of a poacher who of late otherwise employed hadn't so much as a head of game in his house true i've since made call at an hotel but you don't give me credit for my abstemiousness what have you got to reward me for it entrees she exclaims leading him into the dining-room their dialogue so far having been carried on in the porch he is gratified though no way surprised at the set-out he does not need to inquire whence it comes he too knows it is a sacrifice to the rising sun but he knows also what a sacrifice he will have to make in return for it one-third the estate of llangorren well ma chrie he says as his reflection occurs to him we'll have to pay pretty dear for all this but i suppose there's no help for it none she answers with a comprehension of the circumstances clearer and fuller than his
we've made the contract and must abide by it if broken by us it wouldn't be a question of property but life neither yours nor mine would be safe for a single hour ah monsieur you little comprehend the power of those gentry les jesuits how sharp their claws and far-reaching confound them he exclaims angrily dropping down upon a chair by the table's side he eats ravenously and drinks like a fish his day's work is over and he can afford the indulgence and while they are at supper he imparts all details of what he has done and heard, among them Miss Linton's reasons for having put restraint upon the search. "'The old simpleton,' he says, concluding his narration,
"'she actually believed my cousin to have run away with that captain of Hussars. "'If she don't believe it still—ha, ha, ha! "'She'll think differently when she sees that body brought out of the water. "'It will settle the business. "'Alimprenot, retiring to rest, is long kept awake by the pleasant thought,
not that for many more nights will she have to sleep in a mean bed at glengog but on a grand couch in llangorren court chapter seventeen
