The Dust of Conflict Read online

  II -- DAVIDSON MEETS HIS MATCH

  IT was with confused feelings that Appleby, treading softly as hecrossed the gravelled terrace, slipped into the gloom of a shrubbery.There was a trace of frost in the air, and the stars shone brightly, buthere and there a thin white mist hung in filmy wisps. He was, however,conscious of an elation which had a curious bracing effect. Violet Waynehad trusted him with her confidence, and it was the first time a womanof her station had cast more than a passing glance on him. Her reposefulserenity, with its faint suggestion of imperiousness, had impressed himmore than her beauty, and he was sensible of an unbounded respect andadmiration for Tony's fiancee. Tony had also, in his indolent fashion,and perhaps because the favors he dispensed cost him nothing, been agood friend to him, which was, however, not astonishing, since Applebyhad fought most of his battles for him and stood between him and theresults of his easy-going carelessness at school. Tony Palliser was oneof the men who need the guidance of a stronger hand, and usually obtainit.

  Appleby had, however, affairs of his own to think of that night, and ashe swung across a misty meadow the half-formed resolution which had beenlong in his mind took definite shape, and he decided he would not goback to the drudgery his soul detested. His father had risen by valorfrom the ranks, and the instincts he had stubbornly held in check atlast asserted themselves dominantly. He remembered the sordid poverty,the struggle to maintain appearances, and the strain of forced attentionto an uncongenial task, and asked himself half contemptuously why he hadborne them so long. He had spent his early years in Spain, where he hadbeen taught out of charity by an army chaplain, and had reckless brown-faced muleteers and smugglers and grave artillery officers, thegatekeepers of the Mediterranean, for his friends, while the fortnightspent at Northrop had brought back old associations overwhelmingly.

  It was, however, not the leisure and wealth and luxury which appealed tohim--and indeed there was little of the latter at Northrop Hall--but thesmell of the brown woods and the ringing of the guns. There were alsothe horses, for Appleby had learned to ride in Spain, the wide spaces hecould gallop through with tingling blood, and the hours he had spentpitting every faculty against the wariness of the grayling in thestream. He felt he could never go back to the old colorless life again,and as he looked out into the dusky blueness under the stars and acrossthe dim landscape which rolled away before him, silent, and wide, andshadowy, his courage rose. There was room, he felt, beyond the confinesof English cities for men with thews and sinews who were willing to hewtheir own way to fortune out in the wind and sun.

  He stopped for a few moments on a hillside and looked about him, whilehis heart throbbed faster. There was still a light or two in the hallbehind him, but none in the village, and the earth lay asleep wrapped infleecy draperies of drifting mist, while the low murmur of the rivercame out of the great stillness. He could see its pale blink where itslid out from the gloom of a wood, and above, across the stubble wherethe footpath led, a clump of rigid spires that rose black and solidagainst the faintly luminous night. That, he knew, was the fir spinnywhere he was to meet the blackmailer, and shaking all thought of his ownaffairs from him he went on quietly resolute to do battle for hisfriend. Appleby was an impulsive man, quick to decide; but there wasalso an obdurate persistency in him, and the decision once made wasusually adhered to. Keeper Davidson was not to find an easy victim thatnight.

  He stopped outside the spinny with the riding crop held, where it wouldnot be seen, behind him, and a man who had been listening for hisfootsteps came out of it. It was unfortunate for him that he had spentmost of the evening in the hostelry at the village, or he might haverecognized the difference between them and Tony Palliser's reluctanttread. Appleby had come up with swift, resolute stride, as one who had apurpose, and meant to accomplish it.

  "Davidson?" he said, with a little ring in his voice, which was veryunlike Tony's then.

  The man stared at him. "It was Mr. Palliser I expected to see," he said.

  "I have come in place of him, and don't think it likely that he willmeet you here again," Appleby said dryly. "In fact, unless we can cometo some arrangement, it is very probable that you will get a month'snotice from Mr. Godfrey Palliser to-morrow."

  Davidson laughed unpleasantly. "Mr. Tony tried that game before, andfound it wouldn't pay. Now, you listen to me, though I'm not telling youanything you don't know. Mr. Tony has to marry money, and Miss Wayne isa particular young lady. They say he's fond of her, too; but if Ithought it my duty to tell her the kind of man he is there'd be no moretalk of that match."

  "The trouble is that Miss Wayne would not believe you," said Appleby.

  Now, though Appleby was not aware of this, Davidson had consumed a gooddeal of liquid refreshment that evening, or he might not have shown hishand so plainly. Nor did he know that Appleby had any connection withthe legal profession.

  "It would be easy convincing her when she saw his letter. I've gotwitnesses--and a certificate," he said.

  The sullen anger in the last words would probably have caught Appleby'sattention had he been an older man, and shown him that it was notavarice alone which prompted Davidson. As it happened, however, he didnot notice it.

  "That proves nothing," he said. "We do not dispute the fact it relatesto, but maintain that Mr. Palliser had no connection with it."

  "Do you think you could convince anybody who heard my story?"

  "We can try. Isn't it clear to you that Mr. Palliser can't go onsubsidizing you forever?"

  "He'll go on until there's enough put by to bring his daughter up alady."

  Again Appleby failed to discern the sincerity of conviction inDavidson's tone, which would have been evident to him had he possessedany of the qualities which go to make a successful lawyer.

  "I think you are mistaken," he said. "It is quite clear to us that youwill tell your story sooner or later, and because it is Mr. Palliserwill tell it before you in his own way. That cuts the ground from underyour feet, you see. Then he will indict you and your daughter forconspiracy. It is a somewhat serious thing to blackmail anybody, but youshall have one more chance. I will pay you twenty pounds for Mr.Palliser's letter, on condition that you sign a statement confessingthere is no truth in the slander you have brought against him, and leavehis uncle's service within a month from to-morrow."

  The man stood silent a moment or two, his gun on his arm; and it wasunfortunate that Appleby could not see the passion in his face. A sullenhatred of the class he served had smouldered within him since the day agunshot accident, for which he had obtained no adequate compensation,left him with a limp, and now when he saw the game was up it blazed intounreasoning anger. He may also have been as fond of his daughter as hewas of gold, and deceived by her, for the veins were swollen on hisforehead when he made a step forward.

  "Who are you to thrust yourself into what doesn't concern you?" he said.

  "I am a lawyer," said Appleby quietly. "Don't come any nearer!"

  Davidson dropped the gun into the palm of his left hand with a rattle."I might have known it by your tricks," he said. "Well, I'll make youfight, and we'll see who Miss Wayne will believe to-morrow. Now takeyourself and your money to ---- out of this!"

  He raised the gun, and Appleby's calmness deserted him. With a sweep ofthe riding crop he struck the barrel aside, and, perhaps withoutDavidson intending it, there was a flash and an explosion. Then theriding crop came down upon a dim white face. The man reeled, recovered,and lurched forward, while next moment he and his adversary were pantingand straining in a breathless grapple. Davidson was a strong man, butthe blow had dazed him, and the refreshment consumed at the "Black Bull"had endued him with an unreasoning passion, which was not an advantagein a conflict with a man who kept his head. Appleby was also wiry, andtolerably proficient in a certain useful art. Thus when he got his fisthome in a place where it would hurt Davidson slackened his grasp, andAppleby struck again as he flung him off. He staggered backwards andwent down heavily. Appleby stood still until he
rose shakily to his feetagain.

  "Go home," he said. "You will be sorry for this tomorrow. It willprobably cost you twenty pounds."

  Davidson turned without a word, and Appleby waited a minute or twowatching him cross the meadow towards the narrow, one-railed footbridgethat spanned the river. He was walking unevenly, but Appleby was tooshaken himself to trouble about his condition. Perhaps keeper Davidsonwas still dazed by the blows dealt him, or his brain was clouded byimpotent anger, for he passed on, a dim, shadowy figure, into the gloomof a coppice, and no man saw him alive again. Then Appleby went back tothe hall and let himself in through the conservatory. He found Tonywaiting him in a state of feverish anxiety, told him briefly what hadpassed, and, assuring him that Davidson would in all probability listento reason next day, went to sleep. He also slept soundly, and awakenedlater than usual when Tony's man, who had found knocking useless,entered the room with some of his garments on his arm.

  "Mr. Palliser was asking if you were up, sir, and they're gettingbreakfast now," he said, and then glanced at the clothes. "I've beengiving them a brush. There was some mud on the trousers, and I notice aseam split in the coat. I could ask one of the maids to put a stitch init before it gets worse."

  "No," said Appleby, a trifle too hastily. "You can put them in my bag. Iam leaving by the night train."

  He got into his tweeds, and went down to find the rest of the men whohad finished breakfast lounging about the hall, while Tony and his unclestood on the terrace outside. A dog-cart was also waiting, and anothervehicle coming up the avenue. Appleby commenced his breakfast,wondering--because he surmised that Miss Wayne would be anxious to hearwhat he had accomplished--whether any of the ladies would come downbefore the shooters started. By and by he saw a light dress flit acrossthe gallery at the head of the stairway, and immediately got up with theostensible purpose of going back to his room. He, however, stopped inthe corridor which led out of the gallery, where, as he had expected,Violet Wayne was waiting him. She usually appeared to as much advantagein the morning as she did under the glitter of the lamps at night, butAppleby fancied that she had not slept very well. There was, so far ashe could see, nobody else about.

  "You have something to tell me?" she said quietly.

  "No," said Appleby. "I fancied I should have had, but instead I have tenpounds to give you back."

  "Then some plan you had has failed?"

  "Not exactly! I am going to try a bolder course."

  The girl looked at him steadily. "I have trusted you, Mr. Appleby. Wouldit be too much if I asked you to take me into your confidence?"

  Appleby shook his head. "I am afraid I can't very well do that justnow," he said. "In the meanwhile you can be kind to Tony. He has beenfoolish--and a trifle weak--but he has done nothing that you could notreadily forgive him."

  There was a faint sparkle in Violet Wayne's eyes, and a suspicion ofcolor in her cheek. "How do you know that my code is as lenient as yourown--and are you wise in asking me to take so much on trust?"

  Appleby smiled gravely. "I think I grasp your meaning, but if you try tofollow up any clue I may have given you it can only lead you into apitfall. Please wait, and I think I can engage that Tony will tell youthe whole story. It would come best from himself, but he mustsubstantiate it, and that is what I expect I can enable him to do."

  The color grew a trifle plainer in Violet Wayne's cheek, and Appleby,who guessed her thoughts, shook his head.

  "There is a question you are too proud to ask, but I will venture toanswer it," he said. "I have known Tony a long while, and he has neverwavered in his allegiance to you. To doubt that would be an injusticeyou have too much sense to do yourself. Now you have the simple truth,and if it is a trangression to tell it you, you must remember that Ihave had no training in conventional niceties."

  The girl looked at him with a curious little glow in her eyes. "Tony hasthe gift of making good friends," she said. "One could have faith inyou."

  She turned and left him, while Appleby, who went down, found GodfreyPalliser talking to the under-keeper on the terrace. He was a spare,gray-haired gentleman, formal and fastidious, and betrayed hisimpatience only by a faint incisiveness of speech.

  "Davidson has kept us waiting half an hour, it has never happenedbefore, and it shall not occur again," he said. "You have been round tothe lodge, Evans?"

  "Yes, sir," said the man. "They had not seen him since last night. Hetold them he was going to the fir spinny. Some of the Darsley men hadbeen laying snares for hares."

  "It shall be looked into, but we will make a start now as you have sentthe beaters on," said Palliser, who turned to his guests. "I am sorry wehave kept you waiting, gentlemen."

  They started, and, as it happened, Tony and Appleby sat at the back ofthe dog-cart which followed the larger vehicle, while the rattle ofgravel beneath the wheels rendered their conversation inaudible to thosewho sat in front.

  "You heard what Evans said?" asked Tony anxiously.

  "Of course!" said Appleby. "I am almost afraid Davidson has made a bolt.If he hadn't he would have come for the twenty pounds."

  "I hope so," and Tony drew in a deep breath. "It would be a mercifulrelief to feel I had seen the last of him. Why in the name of all that'swonderful are you afraid he has gone?"

  "Because I wanted a statement and your letter from him," said Appleby."You see, you will have to tell Miss Wayne that story sooner or later."

  "Tell her!" said Tony blankly. "I'll be shot if I do!"

  "Then she'll find out, and it will be considerably the worse for you."

  Now, Tony Palliser was a good-natured man, and had as yet never doneanything actually dishonorable, but whenever it was possible he avoideda difficulty, which, because difficulties must now and then be grappledwith, not infrequently involved him in a worse one. He lived for thepresent only, and was thereby sowing a crop of trouble which he wouldsurely have to reap in the future.

  "I don't think it's likely, and there is no reason why I should makeunpleasantness--it wouldn't be kind," he said.

  "You don't know Violet yet. She is almost unmercifully particular, andnow and then makes one feel very small and mean. It would hurt herhorribly to know I'd been mixed up in the affair at all--and, the factis, I don't feel equal to telling her anything of that kind. Besides, Idid kiss the girl, you see--and I don't think Violet would understandwhat prompted me."

  "Still," said Appleby dryly, "that story will have to be told."

  Just then one of the other men touched his shoulder and asked aquestion, while there are topics which when once left off are difficultto commence again; but Appleby fancied that Tony had made one incorrectstatement. He felt, strange as it seemed, that he knew Violet Waynebetter than her prospective husband did.

  They drove on, and nothing of moment happened during the shooting, or atthe lunch they were invited to at one of Palliser's neighbor's houses,though Tony, who seemed to have recovered his spirits, shot unusuallywell. He also bantered the beaters and keepers, and, though he was asgenerous as such men usually are, the largesses he distributed somewhatastonished the recipients. It was a bright day of early winter, withclear sunlight that took the edge off the faint frost; and most men withhealthy tastes would have found the hours spent in the brown woods,where the beech leaves still hung in festoons about the lower boughs,invigorating, even if they had not just had a weight lifted off theirminds. Tony made the most of them, and it was, perhaps, as well he did,for it was long before he passed another day as free from care again.

  Still, the troubles he could not see were trooping about him, and it wasdoubtless as part of the scheme that was to test him, and bring abouthis retribution when he was found wanting, that a nut on the bush of thedog-cart's wheel slackened during the homeward journey. As a result,four men and several guns were flung without serious injury into theroad; and when the horse had been taken to a neighboring farm, Tony andthree of his friends found themselves under the necessity of walkinghome. He took them the shortest way by lane
and stile, and they came tothe footbridge across the river as dusk was closing down. Both he andAppleby long remembered that evening.

  The sun had sunk behind a bank of smoky cloud, and a cold wind waileddolefully through the larches in the wood, under which the black watercame sliding down. There was no mist in the meadows now, and stragglinghedgerow and coppice rose shadowy and dim against the failing light. Theriver, however, still shone faintly as it swirled round the pool beneaththe bridge, and the men stopped a moment and leaned upon the singlerail. It was seldom any one but a keeper took that path to the hall.

  Appleby noticed how the dead leaves came sailing down, and littleclusters of them swung round and round in the eddies. It was a trifle,but it fixed his attention, and often afterwards he could see them driftand swing at the mercy of the current. Then it seemed to him that theiraimless wandering had been curiously portentous. He, however, looked upwhen Tony struck a match to light a cigarette with, and saw his face bythe pale flame of it. Tony shook off his troubles readily, and there wasa twinkle in his eyes, while his laugh rang lightly at a jest one of theothers made. Then a man standing further along the bridge stretched outhis hand.

  "There's a stone among the boulders at the tail of the pool that seemsdifferent from the rest. One could almost fancy it was somebody's head,"he said.

  "Good Lord!" said one of the others. "One could do more than fancy it.Can't you see his shoulder just above the water?"

  Tony dropped his cigarette, and stared at Appleby with a curious horrorin his face, but the latter gripped his arm.

  "Keep your head!" he said sternly.

  Nobody else heard him, for the rest were hastening across the bridge,and in a moment or two one of them sprang down among the boulders at theedge of the pool. He called out sharply as the others followed him, andstanding very still when they came up with him, they saw a white facethat moved as the stream swirled about it looking up at them. A wetshoulder also bumped softly against a stone.

  "I think it's your keeper, Palliser," said one of them a triflehoarsely. "It would have been more pleasant if somebody else had foundhim, but we can't leave him in the water."

  Tony seemed to shiver, and glanced at Appleby. "Yes," he said, and hisvoice was very strained, "it's Davidson."

  It was Appleby who, as one of the rest remembered, stooped down andgrasped the dead man's arm. "Give me a lift," he said.

  The men had evidently little liking for the task, but they accomplishedit, and stood still again when the rigid object lay with the waterdraining from it at their feet.

  "He must have fallen over the bridge and struck his head. There arestones yonder, and you can see the bruise," said one. "Still, it mightnot have happened that way, and it seems to me we had better push on tothe hall, and send somebody for the police."

  They went on in haste, and twenty minutes later Tony stood, a littlewhite in face, in Appleby's room.

  "I don't ask you whether it was the truth you told me last night," hesaid.

  "No," said Appleby, who was flinging articles of clothing into his bag."I could not have taken that from you, but I told you what happenedprecisely. Perhaps I should have seen him across the bridge, but I neverthought of it. Still, there will be an inquest, and when they find out alittle more it will be difficult to convince an average jury that one ofus didn't kill him."

  "It could be managed," said Tony, a trifle hoarsely.

  "Yes," said Appleby, "I think it could, though I couldn't be certain;but, if there was a defendant, not before everything came out. Thatwould spoil my two best friends' lives. You see, he did not sign thestatement, and folks are very quick to believe the kind of story thatwould certainly get about."

  "That would ruin me," said Tony. "Godfrey Palliser would turn me out forbringing it on him. It's a trifle horrible. You have got to help me!"

  "Yes," said Appleby, closing the bag with a snap. "I fancy it would.Still, there will be no defendant, because I'm going out of the country.If you sent to the bank you might lend me fifty pounds, and tellsomebody to get the dog-cart out. There's a train I can get through toLiverpool starts in an hour. If I am ever able, I'll send you back themoney."

  Palliser stared at him. "But they may bring it in homicide against you!I can't let you do this for me."

  Appleby smiled curiously. "I had decided to go, anyway, and I haven't afriend who would worry about me except yourself, and perhaps Miss Wayne.It would be very different with you. Now, don't waste a minute, Tony. Ihave made my mind up."

  Tony Palliser had usually yielded to the domination of his friend, andwas not in a condition to think very concisely then, so he did what hewas bidden, and ten minutes later grasped Appleby's hand as the dog-cartcame up to the door. He did not remember if he said anything, butAppleby, perhaps for the groom's benefit, laughed as he drew the rugabout him.

  "You will remember to send on the cigars you promised me," he said.

  Then the groom flicked the horse, the dog-cart rattled away, and TonyPalliser was left standing, flushed in face, on the steps, with hisheart beating painfully.