Trevlyn Hold. Mrs. Henry Wood
not only Nora, but Mrs. Ryle and Trevlyn came flocking to the porch. George could only go in then.
"Don't be frightened, mamma," he said, in answer to their questions. "My father has had a fall, and—and says he cannot walk home. Perhaps he has sprained his ankle."
"What has become of your jacket and waistcoat?" cried Nora, amazed to see George standing in his shirt-sleeves.
"They are safe enough. Is John Pinder still in the kitchen?" continued George, escaping from the room.
Trevlyn ran after him. "George, have you been fighting?" he asked. "Is your jacket torn to ribbons?"
George drew the boy into a dark angle of the passage. "Treve," he whispered, "if I tell you something about papa, you won't cry out?"
"No, I won't cry out," answered Treve.
"We must get a stretcher of some sort up to him, to bring him home. I am going to consult John Pinder."
"Where is papa?" interrupted Treve.
"Lying in a ditch in the large meadow. Chattaway's bull has attacked him. I am not sure but he will die."
The first thing Treve did was to cry out. George put his hand over his mouth. But Mrs. Ryle and Nora, who were full of curiosity, both as to George's jacketless state and George's news, had followed into the passage. Treve began to cry.
"He has dreadful news about papa, he says," sobbed Treve. "Thinks he's dead."
It was all over. George must tell now, and he could not help himself. "No, no, Treve, you should not exaggerate," he said, turning to Mrs. Ryle in his pain and earnestness. "There is an accident, mamma; but it is not so bad as that."
Mrs. Ryle retained perfect composure; very few people had seen her ruffled. It was not in her nature to be so, and her husband had little need to caution George as he had done. She laid her hand upon George's shoulder and looked calmly into his face. "Tell me the truth," she said in tones of quiet command. "What is the injury?"
"I do not know yet——"
"The truth, boy, I said," she sternly interposed.
"Indeed I do not yet know what it is. He has been attacked by Chattaway's bull."
It was Nora's turn now. "By Chattaway's bull?" she shrieked.
"Yes," said George. "It must have happened immediately after he left here at tea-time, and he has been lying ever since in the ditch in the upper meadow. I put my jacket and waistcoat over him; he was shivering with cold and pain."
While George was talking, Mrs. Ryle was acting. She sought John Pinder and issued her orders clearly and concisely. Men were got together; a mattress with holders was made ready; and the procession started under the convoy of George, who had been made to put on another jacket. Bill, the waggoner's boy, had been faithful, and was found by the side of Mr. Ryle.
"I'm glad you be come," was the boy's salutation. "He's been groaning and shivering awful. It set me shivering too."
As if to escape from the evil, Bill ran off, there and then, across the field, and never drew in until he reached Trevlyn Hold. In spite of his somewhat stolid propensities, he felt a sort of pride in being the first to impart the story there. Entering the house by the back, or farmyard door—for farming was carried on at Trevlyn Hold as well as at Trevlyn Farm—he passed through sundry passages to the well-lighted hall. There he seemed to hesitate at his temerity, but at length gave an awkward knock at the door of the general sitting-room.
A large, handsome room. Reclining in an easy-chair was a pretty and pleasing woman, looking considerably younger than she really was. Small features, a profusion of curling auburn hair, light blue eyes, a soft, yielding expression, and a gentle voice, were the adjuncts of a young woman, rather than of one approaching middle-age. A stranger, entering, might have taken her for a young unmarried woman; and yet she was mistress of Trevlyn Hold, the mother of that great girl of sixteen at the table, now playing backgammon and quarrelling with her brother Christopher. Mistress in name only. Although the wife of its master, Mr. Chattaway, and daughter of its late master, Squire Trevlyn; although universally called Madam Chattaway—as from time immemorial it had been customary to designate the mistress of Trevlyn Hold—she was in fact no better than a nonentity in it, possessing little authority, and assuming less. She has been telling her children several times that their hour for bed has passed; she has begged them not to quarrel; she has suggested that if they will not go to bed, Maude should do so; but she may as well talk to the winds.
Miss Chattaway possesses a will of her own. She has the same insignificant features, pale leaden complexion, small, sly, keen light eyes that characterise her father. She would like to hold undisputed sway as the house's mistress; but the inclination has to be concealed; for the real mistress of Trevlyn Hold may not be displaced. She is sitting in the background, at a table apart, bending over her desk. A tall, majestic lady, in a stiff green silk dress and an imposing cap, in person very like Mrs. Ryle. It is Miss Trevlyn, usually called Miss Diana, the youngest daughter of the late Squire. You would take her to be at least ten years older than her sister, Mrs. Chattaway, but in point of fact she is that lady's junior by a year. Miss Trevlyn is, to all intents and purposes, mistress of Trevlyn Hold, and she rules its internal economy with a firm sway.
"Maude, you should go to bed," Mrs. Chattaway had said for the fourth or fifth time.
A graceful girl of thirteen turned her dark, violet-blue eyes and pretty light curls upon Mrs. Chattaway. She had been leaning on the table watching the backgammon. Something of the soft, sweet expression visible in Mrs. Chattaway's face might be traced in this child's; but in Maude it was blended with greater intellect.
"It is not my fault, Aunt Edith," she gently said. "I should like to go. I am tired."
"Be quiet, Maude!" broke from Miss Chattaway. "Mamma, I wish you wouldn't worry about bed! I don't choose Maude to go up until I go. She helps me to undress."
Poor Maude looked sleepy. "I can be going on, Octave," she said to Miss Chattaway.
"You can hold your tongue and wait, and not be ungrateful," was the response of Octavia Chattaway. "But for papa's kindness, you would not have a bed to go to. Cris, you are cheating! that was not sixes!"
It was at this juncture that the awkward knock came to the door. "Come in!" cried Mrs. Chattaway.
Either her gentle voice was not heard, for Cris and his sister were disputing just then, or the boy's modesty would not allow him to respond. He knocked again.
"See who it is, Cris," came forth the ringing voice of Miss Trevlyn.
Cris did not choose to obey. "Open the door, Maude," said he.
Maude did as she was bid: she had little chance allowed her in that house of doing otherwise. Opening the door, she saw the boy standing there. "What is it, Bill?" she asked in surprise.
"Please, is the Squire there, Miss Maude?"
"No," answered Maude. "He is not well, and has gone to bed."
This appeared to be a poser for Bill, and he stood considering. "Is Madam in there?" he presently asked.
"Who is it, Maude?" came again in Miss Trevlyn's commanding tones.
Maude turned her head. "It is Bill Webb, Aunt Diana."
"What does he want?"
Bill stepped in. "Please, Miss Diana, I came to tell the Squire the news. I thought he might be angry with me if I did not, seeing as I knowed of it."
"The news?" repeated Miss Diana, looking imperiously at Bill.
"The mischief the bull have done. He's gone and gored Farmer Ryle."
The words arrested the attention of all. They came forward, as with one impulse. Cris and his sister, in their haste, upset the backgammon-board.
"What do you say, Bill?" gasped Mrs. Chattaway, with white face and faltering voice.