CHAPTER X
IN WHICH LADY MELTON RECEIVES A STRANGE VISITOR
However harassing and disturbing the events of the past few days hadbeen to the people particularly interested in them, to the mind of onethe proceedings of all those with whom he had come in contact had beencharacterised by an ignorance, not only of the necessities of life, buteven of the very etiquette that lends a becoming dignity to existence,which seemed almost pitiful. Not since the elephant left his nativeshore had he received what he considered to be proper, or evenintelligent, attention. On the voyage, indeed, though his quarters werecrowded, and denied by the proximity of low-caste beasts, his materialwants had been considered; but since yesterday, when he had landed inthe midst of a howling wilderness of iron monsters, who could neithersee nor hear and were no respecters of persons, there had been ascarcity even of food and water. All night he had been dragged about thecountry at a speed unbecoming the dignity of a ruler of the jungle(without even the company of his mahout, who had lost the train atSouthampton); and, now that the earth had ceased to move past him andwas once more still, he expressed his opinion of the ignorant anddegraded people of this wretched country in no uncertain voice. Then,finding that the pen in which he was confined was cramped and dirty, andwholly unfitted for one of his exalted position, he exerted himself tobe free, and in a short time reduced his car to kindling-wood. Being nowat liberty, he naturally desired his breakfast; but what was one to dowhen men disfigured the earth with bars of steel over which one tripped,and stored the fruits of the land in squat yellow bungalows, with flutediron roofs which were difficult to tear off? Therefore the elephantlifted up his voice in rage, whereat many things happened, and ahigh-caste man, clad in the blue of the sky and the gold of the sun, ranup and down upon the earth, and declared that he should forthwith betaken to the "Court" and delivered to the "Damconsul."
What a "Damconsul" was the elephant did not know; but concluded that itwas the title these barbarous people bestowed on the Maharajah of thatdistrict. Since he lived at a Court, it seemed certain that he wouldknow how to appreciate and fittingly entertain him. The elephanttherefore consented to follow his attendant slaves, though theyunderstood not the noble art of riding him, but were fain to lead himlike a beast of burden. On the way he found a spring of sweet water, ofwhich he drank his fill, despite the protestations of his leaders andthe outcries of the inhabitants of the bungalow of the well, whoselamentations showed them to be of low caste and little sensible of thehonour done them.
The procession at length reached the gate of the Court; and while theattendants were in the lodge explaining matters to the astonishedkeeper, the elephant, realising that "drink was good but food better,"determined to do a little foraging on his own account, and so movedsoftly off, taking along the stake to which his keepers fondly imaginedhe was tethered.
He judged that he was now in the park of the Court of the "Damconsul";and the fact that there were many clumps of familiar plants scatteredover the grass increased his belief that this was the case. He tried afew coleus and ate a croton or two; but found them insipid and lackingthe freshness of those which bloomed in his native land. Then turning toa grove of young palms, he tore a number up by the roots; which he foundrequired no expenditure of strength, and so gave him littlesatisfaction. Moreover, they grew in green tubs, which rolled aboutbetween his feet and were pitfalls for the unwary. He lay down on a fewof the beds; but the foliage was pitifully thin and afforded him nocomfortable resting-place; moreover, there were curious rows ofslanting things which glistened in the sunlight, and which he muchwished to investigate. On examination he found them quite brittle, andeasily smashed a number of them with his trunk. Nor was this all, for inthe wreckage he discovered a large quantity of most excellentfruit--grapes and nectarines and some very passable plums. Evidently the"Damconsul" was an enlightened person, who knew how to live; and,indeed, it is not fitting for even an elephant to turn up his trunk atespalier peaches at a guinea apiece.
Certainly, thought the elephant, things might be worse. And after a bathin a neighbouring fountain, which cost the lives of some two score ofgoldfish, he really felt refreshed, and approached the palace, which heconsidered rather dingy, in order to pay his respects to its owner.Coming round to the front of the building he discovered a marbleterrace, gleaming white in the sunshine, and flanked by two groups ofstatuary--Hercules with his club, and Diana with her bow: though, beingunacquainted with Greek mythology, he did not recognise them as such.On the terrace itself was set a breakfast-table resplendent with silverand chaste with fair linen; and by it sat a houri, holding a sunshadeover her golden head. The elephant, wishing to conciliate this vision ofbeauty, advanced towards her, trumpeting gently; but his friendlyovertures were evidently misinterpreted, for the houri, giving a wildscream, dropped her sunshade, and fled for safety to the shoulders ofHercules, from which vantage-point she called loudly for help.
Feeling that such conduct was indecorous in the extreme, he ignored herwith a lofty contempt; and, having tested the quality of the masonry,ventured upon the terrace and inspected the feast. There were morenectarines--but he had had enough of those--and something steaming in asilver vessel, the like of which he remembered to have encountered oncebefore in the bungalow of a sahib. Moreover, he had not forgotten how itspouted a boiling liquid when one took it up in one's trunk. At thismoment a shameless female slave appeared at a window, in response tothe cries of the houri, and abused him. He could not, it is true,understand her barbarous language; but the tone implied abuse. Such aninsult from the scum of the earth could not be allowed to passunnoticed. He filled his trunk with water from a marble basin near athand, and squirted it at her with all his force, and the scum of theearth departed quickly.
"It would be well," thought the elephant, "to find the 'Damconsul'before further untoward incidents could occur"; and with this end inview, he turned himself about, preparatory to leaving the terrace. Heforgot, however, that marble may be slippery; his hind legs suddenlyslid from under him, and he sat hurriedly down on the breakfast-table.It was at this singularly inopportune moment that Lady Diana appearedupon the scene.
Her ladyship awoke that morning to what was destined to be the mosteventful and disturbing day of her peaceful and well-ordered life, witha feeling of irritation and regret that it had dawned, which, in thelight of subsequent events, would seem to have been almost apremonition of coming evil. She was, though at this early hour shelittle knew it, destined to receive a series of shocks of volcanic forceand suddenness, between sunrise and sunset, any one of which would haveserved to overthrow her preconceived notions of what life, andespecially life at Melton Court, ought to be.
As yet she knew nothing of all this; but she did know that, though itwas long after the hour appointed, she had heard no sound of hergreat-niece's departing footsteps. She waited till she must have missedthe train, and then rang her bedroom bell sharply to learn why herorders had been disobeyed.
"If you please, my lady," replied her maid in answer to her mistress'squestions, "Bright did not go because we could not find Mrs. Scarsdale."
"Could not find my niece! And why not, pray?" demanded her ladyshipangrily.
"She was not in her room, my lady, or anywhere about the Court; onlythis note, directed to your ladyship, on her dressing-table."
"Why didn't you say so to begin with, then?" cried her mistress testily."Open the window, that I may see what this means."
The note was short and painstakingly polite; but its perusal did notseem to please Lady Diana, for she frowned and set her thin lips as shere-read it. The missive ran as follows:
"DEAR LADY MELTON,
"I write to apologise for the somewhat unconventional manner in which I am leaving your house; but as your plans for my disposal to-day did not accord with my own ideas of what is fitting, I have thought it best to leave thus early, and so avoid any awkwardness which might arise from conflicting arrangements. I wish you to know that I shall be
with friends by this evening, so that you need feel no anxiety about my position. Pray accept my thanks for your hospitality, which I am sure my husband will much appreciate, and believe me,
"Yours respectfully, "MABEL SCARSDALE."
This communication her ladyship tore up into small fragments, and thensnapped out:
"Is there anything more?"
"Yes, if you please, my lady," replied the maid; "a note for you fromMr. Allingford, left in his room."
Lady Melton took it as gingerly as if it were fresh from some infecteddistrict, and, spreading it out on the bed before her, read it with acontemptuous smile.
"YOUR LADYSHIP," wrote the Consul, "I have the honour to inform you that I am leaving at the earliest possible moment, not wishing to impose my company longer than is absolutely necessary where it is so evidently undesired. That there may be no burden of obligation between us, I beg you to accept a trunk belonging to me, which will arrive this morning, as compensation for my board and lodging.
"I remain "Your Ladyship's Obedient Servant, "ROBERT ALLINGFORD, "_U.S. Consul, Christchurch, England_.
"P.S.--I mail you to-day a deed of gift of the property in question, legally attested, so that there may be no question of ownership.
"R. A."
"Insolence!" gasped Lady Melton, when she comprehended the contents ofthis astonishing communication. Then turning to her maid, she commanded:
"If this person's trunk arrives here, have it sent back to himinstantly." And she fumed with rage at the thought.
"How dare he suppose that I would for a moment accept a gratuity!"
Indeed, so wrought up was she that it was with difficulty that shecontrolled herself sufficiently to breakfast on the terrace. Moreover,her interview with Bright, the butler, whom she encountered on her waydownstairs and who announced the arrival of her great-nephew and astrange lady, was hardly soothing; for it forced her to believe thatthat faithful servant, after years of probity, had at last strayed fromthe temperate paths of virtue. Seeing him dishevelled and bewildered,she had sternly rebuked him for his appearance, and from his disjointedreplies had only gathered that his astounding state was in some way dueto the Consul.
"Has that insolent person's trunk arrived?" she inquired; when, to herastonishment, her old retainer, who had always observed in her presencea respectful and highly deferential demeanour, actually tittered.
"Bright!" she said sternly.
"Beg pardon, my lady," giggled Bright, his face still wreathed insmiles; "but the way you put it."
"What have you done with this person's belongings? Have my orders beencarried out?"
"You mean in regard to the--the----"
"Trunk. Yes, let it be put off the place immediately."
"Please, your ladyship," he replied, with difficulty restraining hislaughter, "it won't go."
"Will not go?"
"No, my lady; it's been rampaging through the greenhouses, and is now onthe terrace, where it douched Anne most awful."
"Leave me at once, Bright, and do not let me see you again till you arein a more decent state," she commanded, and swept by him, ignoring hisprotestations of innocence and respect.
She found Scarsdale awaiting her in the reception-room, and accorded hima very frigid greeting, suggesting that they should have their interviewon the terrace, where he had left Mrs. Allingford safely ensconced in anarmchair, while he went to meet his great-aunt.
Her ladyship had been considerably ruffled both by her interview withBright and by the arrival of Scarsdale, towards whom, in the light ofrecent events, she felt a strong resentment; and a vision of theConsul's wife perched most indecorously on the shoulders of Hercules,which she beheld as she emerged on the terrace, did not tend to calm heralready excited nerves. But before she could speak her eyes followed thedirection of the unknown lady's gaze, and she saw, for the first time,her unwelcome visitor.
When you come suddenly face to face with an elephant seated amidst thewreck of cherished Chippendale and ancestral Sevres, it is notcalculated to increase your composure or equalise your temper; and LadyDiana may be pardoned, as the vastness of the Consul's impudence dawnedupon her, for giving vent to expressions both of anger and amazement,albeit her appearance produced no less of a disturbance in the breast ofhim who sat amidst the ruins of the breakfast-table. The elephant feltthat in the presence of the Maharanee, for such he believed her to be,his position was undignified. She was, without doubt, the wife of the"Damconsul," and, as such, should be paid all proper respect anddeference. He, therefore, bowed his head in submission, completing inthe process his work of destruction. Whereat Mrs. Allingford shriekedand clung more closely to the protecting shoulders of Hercules.
Serious as the situation was, it was not without its humorous side, andit took all Scarsdale's command of himself to control his facesufficiently to address his relative with becoming respect.
"Why, aunt," he said, "I didn't know that you had gone in for pets!"
"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale," replied her ladyship--sheprided herself on never forgetting a name--"you are one of the mostimpudent and worthless young men that I have the honour to count amongmy relatives; but you have been in India, and you ought to know how tomanage this monster."
"I've seen enough of them," he answered. "What do you want him to do?"
"Do!" she cried wrathfully. "I should think anybody would know that Iwished it to get up and go away."
"Oh," said he, and made a remark in Hindustani to the elephant, whereatthe beast gradually and deliberately proceeded to rise from the wreck ofthe breakfast, till he seemed to the spectators to be forty feet high.Then, in response to Scarsdale's cries of "Mail! mail!" (Go on) heturned himself about, and, after sending the teapot through the nearestwindow with a disdainful kick of one hind leg, he lurched down the stepsof the terrace and on to the lawn, where he remained contentedlystanding, gently rocking to and fro, while he meditatively removed fromhis person, by means of his trunk, the fragments of the feast, withwhich he was liberally bespattered.
Scarsdale, seeing that his lordship was in an amicable frame of mind,hastened to assist Mrs. Allingford to descend from her somewhat uneasyperch.
"St. Hubart," said Lady Melton, who, throughout this trying ordeal, hadlost none of her natural dignity, "you have done me a service. I shallnot forget it."
Scarsdale thought it would be difficult to forget the elephant.
"I will even forgive you," she continued, "for marrying that American."
"It was so good of you to receive my wife," he said. "I trust you arepleased with her."
"I am not pleased at all," she said sharply. "I consider her forward anddisrespectful, and I am glad she is gone."
"Gone!" he exclaimed.
"You may well be surprised," said his great-aunt, "but such is thecase."
"But where has she gone?"
"That I do not know; she left without consulting me, and against myadvice and wishes."
"Did she go alone?"
"She went," replied her ladyship, "with one of the most insolent personsit has ever been my misfortune to meet. He is owner of that!" And shepointed to the elephant.
"But who is he?" demanded Scarsdale, not recognising, from herdescription, his friend the Consul.
"He disgraces," she continued, "a public office given him by a foreignGovernment."
"You are surely not talking about Allingford!" he exclaimed.
"That, I believe, is his name," replied Lady Melton.
"What, my husband!" cried the Consul's wife, who up to this point hadkept silence. "You dare to call my husband a disgrace----!" Here Mrs.Allingford became dumb with indignation.
"If he is your husband," returned her ladyship, "I am exceedingly sorryfor you. As for 'daring' to apply to him any epithet I please, Iconsider myself fully justified in so doing after the indignity to whichhe has condemned me. I am glad, however, to have met you, as I am thusenabled to return
you your husband's property, with the request that youtake your elephant and leave my grounds as quickly as possible."
"Do you mean to say that my husband owns that monster?" gasped Mrs.Allingford.
"Such is the case," replied Lady Melton, "and I leave it in your hands.St. Hubart, I trust _you_ will join me at breakfast as soon as anothercan be prepared."
"Excuse me," he said apologetically, "but really, you know, I can'tleave Mrs. Allingford in the lurch. Besides, I must follow my wife."
His great-aunt faced round in a fury.
"That is sufficient!" she cried. "Leave my presence at once! I neverdesire to see either of you again."
"Don't let us part as enemies, aunt," he said, offering her his hand;but she swept past him into the house.
Scarsdale gloomily watched her depart, and then became conscious of ahand laid on his arm.
"I am so sorry!" murmured Mrs. Allingford. "I only seem to bring youtrouble."
"Oh, you mustn't feel badly about this," he said. "We have quarrelledever since I was born. I'm much more worried about you."
"What am I going to do with it?" she exclaimed, looking hopelessly ather husband's property as it stood rocking before her.
"The first thing is to get it off the place," replied Scarsdale,assuming a cheerfulness which he did not feel. "We may find its keepersat the lodge, and we can make our plans as we walk along."
"Come on, Jehoshaphat, or whatever you may happen to be called!" hecried, addressing the elephant, and at the same time grasping the ropebridle which still dangled from its neck; and the beast, recognising akindred spirit speaking to him in his native tongue, followed docilelywhere he led.
"I think," continued Scarsdale, as they trudged slowly across the park,"that our best course will be to take the elephant to Christchurch.Indeed, we ought to have gone there in the first instance."
"What do you expect to gain by that?" she asked quickly, ready in thisstrange dilemma to catch at any straw which gave opportunity of escape.
"Why, your husband's consulate is situated there, and that is his localhabitation in this country, where he is certain to turn up sooner orlater, and where, if the laws of his consular service are anything likeours, he would be obliged to report every few days."
"You propose to go there and await his return?"
"Yes," he said. "I don't see that we can do better. Ten to one yourhusband and my wife will hear of our affair at Winchester, and may be ontheir way there now to hunt us up; while if we attempted to follow them,it is more than likely that they would return here. I, for one, am abouttired of chasing myself around the country; as a steady occupation it isbeginning to pall."
"There is a group of men at the lodge," she said, as they drew near thegates with the elephant in tow.
"Then let us hope that there are some station people among them, andthat we can arrange for Jehoshaphat's transportation without loss oftime," replied Scarsdale.
His hope was, in the first instance, justified; for the station-masterat Salisbury, learning of the Consul's early departure that morning, andbeginning to doubt the wisdom of inflicting the elephant on so importanta personage as Lady Melton, had come up to the Court himself to see howthings were going, and had been horrified beyond measure at theexaggerated reports of the lodgekeeper as to the havoc the beast hadcreated. He was therefore unfeignedly relieved at Scarsdale's arrival; arelief, however, which instantly gave way to stubborn opposition at thefirst hint of putting the animal again in his charge.
Elephants were not in his line, he pointed out, and he had no desire totransport them about the country. Couldn't think of acting withoutreceiving advices from the main offices of the railway company inLondon, an affair of several days; wouldn't assume charge of thecreature during the interval on any account; and shouldn't stir a stepin the matter till the wrecked van had been paid for.
This ended the affair, as far as Scarsdale was concerned. He had nointention of paying damages for the Consul's elephant, but he wished todeliver it and the Consul's wife at Christchurch as soon as possible. Ifthis could not be accomplished one way, it must be another. There wereplenty of horses and carriages to be had; indeed, the landau and pairwhich had brought them from Salisbury was still at the gates. The roadswere good, the distance to Christchurch was not excessive--say thirtymiles--and the elephant could walk. It merely remained to find a leaderor driver, and they could start at once on their journey across country.
All this he explained to his fair companion, and she readily acquiesced.
"The only problem to be solved, then, is where to find a mahout," hesaid in conclusion.
She threw him an inquiring glance; but he felt it was asking too much,and said so.
"If it were any other country, I'd ride the beast myself to oblige you;but in England, and as a representative of one of the first families ofthe county, I couldn't. The prejudices of the locality would neverrecover from the shock, and I should not be able to show my face in thestreets of Salisbury. But perhaps we can find a substitute. Is there anyone here," he went on, addressing the little group of men, "whounderstands an elephant?"
"Tom, 'e knows the bloomin' beasts," said a member of the company; andTom, groom to her ladyship, and cockney every inch of him, was pushedforward for inspection.
One glance at the trim form, concealed though it was by stable costume,was sufficient to assure Scarsdale that he had found his man.
"You have been a soldier," he said, "and in India?"
"Yes, sir," replied the man, touching the peak of his cap in a militarysalute.
"Do you think you could manage him?" continued Scarsdale, indicatingthe elephant, which, wearied with the morning's exertions, had kneltdown, and seemed on the point of taking a nap.
"Do I think as 'ow I could manage 'im? I should 'ope so, if I ain'tfergot is 'eathen language, sir."
"I'll give you eighteen pence a mile," said Scarsdale, quick to act onthe man's decision.
"Make it two bob, sir, an' I'll ride 'im ter Inja."
"That's too far," he replied, laughing; "my pocket wouldn't stand thestrain; but I'll give you the price to Christchurch."
"Right you are," replied the hostler, closing the bargain at once. "Mename's Tom Ropes. What d'yer call 'im, sir?" pointing to his recumbentcharge.
"I don't know what he was christened. I call him Jehoshaphat."
"A Christian name fer a 'eathen brute," commented Tom. "Give me a legup, one er yer."
Once astride the beast's neck, with Scarsdale's cane as an improvisedankus, he poured out a flood of cockney-Indian jargon which no Hindoocould ever have recognised as his native tongue, but which evidently hada familiar sound to the elephant, who proceeded to rise, first with hisfore feet and then with his hind feet; after which his novel mahout, whothroughout these manoeuvres had retained a precarious hold by one ear,hastened to seat himself more firmly upon him.
"All right?" queried Scarsdale, looking up; and on receiving an answerin the affirmative, added: "Keep your feet well under his ears, and hithim on the head with your stick if he gets fractious. All you need do isto follow our carriage. Trust to his judgment about bridges; he knowswhat will hold him."
Arrangements, on a liberal scale, having been made for the use of theconveyance which had brought them from the station, they were ready tostart in a very short space of time; Scarsdale stipulating that theyhead towards Southampton, taking the least travelled roads, and in anyevent giving Salisbury a wide berth. This was agreed to; and thereuponcommenced one of the most extraordinary progresses that had ever stirredup a staid and conventional countryside: Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingfordleading off in the landau, since it was necessary to keep the horse wellin front of the elephant, and Tom and his charge plodding on in theirwake.
As they left the lodge behind them and came out into the open country,the Consul's wife, turning to her companion in misfortune, said, betweentears and smiles:
"What do you think is going to happen next?"