Chapter 41
chapter twenty one brulon semer major marne is the soldier of the rollicking irish type good company as ever drank wine at a regimental mess-table or whisky and water under the canvas of a tent brave in war too as evinced by sundry scars of wounds given by the sabres of rebellious and an empty sleeve dangling down by his side this same token almost proclaims that he is no longer in the army for he is not having left it disabled at the close of the indian mutiny after the relief of lucknow where he also parted with his arm he is not rich one reason for his being in boulogne convenient place for men of moderate means there he has rented a house in which for nearly a twelvemonth he has been residing a small domicile still large enough for his needs for the major though nigh forty years of age has never thought of getting married or if so has not carried out the intention as a bachelor in the french watering-place his income of five hundred per annum supplies all his wants
far better than if it were in an english one but economy is not his only reason for sojourning in boulogne there is another alike creditable to him or more he has a sister much younger than himself receiving education there an only sister for whom he feels the strongest affection and likes to be beside her for all he sees her only at stated times and with no great frequency her school is attached to a convent and she is in it as a pensionnaire all these matters are made known to captain ryecroft on the day after his arrival at boulogne not in the morning it has been spent in promenading through the streets of the lower town and along the jatte with a visit to the grand lion of the place j'establishment de bain ending in an hour or two past that kirkel of which the major is a member and where his old campaigning comrade against all protestations is introduced to the half-dozen good fellows as ever stretched legs under mahogany it is not till a later hour however after a quiet dinner in the major's own house and during a stroll upon the ramparts of the hauteville that these confidences are given to his guest
with all the exuberant frankness of the hibernian heart ryecroft though irish himself is of less communicative nature a native of dublin he has sexen in his blood with some of its secretiveness and the major finds a difficulty in drawing him in reference to the particular reason of his interrupted journey to paris he essays however with as much skill as he can command making approach as follows what a time it seems ryecroft since you and i have been together an age and yet if i'm not wrong in my reckoning it was but a year ago yes just twelve months or thereabout you remember we met at the bag and dined there with russell of the artillery of course i remember it i've seen russell since about three months ago when i was over in england and by the way twas from him i last heard of yourself what had he to say about me only that you were somewhere down west on the wye i think salmon fishing i know you were always good at casting a fly that all he said well no admits the major with a sly inquisitive glance at the other's face there was a trifle of a codicil attached to the information about your whereabouts and occupation
what may i ask that you'd been wonderfully sick to very fine fish a big one besides and sold out of the army so that you might be free to play it on your line in fine that you'd captured safe landed and intended staying by it for the rest of your days come old boy don't be blushing about the thing you know you can trust charlie mahone is it true is what true asked the other with an air of assumed innocence that you've caught the richest heiress in herefordshire or she you or each the other as russell had it and which is best for both of you down on your knees ryecroft confess major mahone if you wish me to remain your guest for another night another hour you'll not ask me aught about that affair nor even name it in time i may tell you all but now to speak of it gives me a pain which even you one of my oldest and i believe truest friends cannot fully understand i can at least understand that it's something serious the inference is drawn less from ryecroft's words than their tone and the look of utter desolation which accompanies them but continues the major greatly moved you'll forgive me old fellow for being so inquisitive i promise not to press you any more so let's drop the subject and speak of something else
what then asked ryecroft scarce conscious of questioning my little sister if you like i call her little because she was so when i went out to india she's now a grown girl tall as that and as flattering friends say a great beauty what's better she's good you see that building below they are on the outer edge of the rampart looking upon the ground adjacent to the ancien of the ancient cit a slope in warlike days serving as the glacis now occupied by dwellings some of them pretentious with gardens attached that which the major points to is one of the grandest its enclosure large with walls that only a man upon stilts of the landis county could look over i see what of it asks the ex-hussar it's the convent where kate is at school the prison in which she's confined i might better say he adds with a laugh but in tone more serious than jocular it need scarce be said that major mahon is a roman catholic his sister being in such a seminary is evidence of that but he is not bigoted as ryecroft knows without drawing the deduction from his last remark
his old friend and fellow-campaigner does not even ask explanation of it only observing a very fine mansion it appears walks shade-trees arbours fountains i had no idea that nuns were so well bestowed they ought to live happily in such a pretty place but then shut up domineered over coerced as i've heard they are ah liberty it's the only thing that makes the world worth living in ditto say i i echo your sentiment old fellow and feel it if i didn't i might have been long ago a benedict with a millstone around my neck in the shape of a wife and half a score of smaller ones of the grindstone pattern in piccaninnies instead i'm free as the breezes and by the mole kelly intend remaining so the major winds up the ungallant declaration with a laugh but this is not echoed by his companion to whom the subject touched upon is a tender one perceiving it so mahon makes a fresh start in the conversation remarking it's beginning to feel a bit chilly up here suppose we saunter down to the kirkle and have a game of billiards if it be all the same to you mahon i'd rather not go there to-night
oh it's all the same to me let us home then and warm up with the tumbler of whisky toddy there were orders left for the kettle to be kept on the boil i see you still want cheering and there's nothing will do that like a drop of the crather without resisting ryecroft follows his friend down the stairs of the rampart from the point where they descended the shortest way to the rue tintelliers is through a narrow lane not much used upon which about only the back walls of gardens with their gates or doors one of these a gaol-like affair is the entrance to the convent in which miss mahon is at school as they approach it a fiacre is standing in front as if but lately drawn up to deliver its fare a traveller there is a lamp and by its light dim nevertheless they see that luggage is being taken inside someone on a visit to the convent or returning after absence nothing strange in all that and neither of the two men make remark upon it but keep on just however as they are passing the back about to drive off again captain ryecroft looking towards the door still ajar sees a face inside it which causes him to start
what is it asks the major who feels a spasmodic movement the two walking arm in arm well if it wasn't that i am in boulogne instead of on the banks of the river why i'd swear that i saw a man inside that doorway whom i met not many days ago in the shire of hereford what sort of a man a priest oh black's no mark among sheep the petres are all alike as peas or policemen i'm often puzzled myself to tell one from satisfied with this explanation the ex-hussar says nothing further on the subject and they continue on to the rude tintelleries entering his house the major calls for and they sit down to the steaming punch but before their glasses are half emptied there is a ring at the door-bell and soon after a voice inquiring for captain ryecroft the entrance hall being contiguous to the dining-room where they are seated they hear all of this who can be asking for me queries ryecroft looking towards his host the major cannot tell cannot think who but the answer is given by his irish man-servant entering with a card
which he presents to captain ryecroft saying it's for you your honour the name on the card is mr george shenstone chapter twenty one
