and tending them with love, she had donewell.
Whether in this conclusion Mr. Tebrick was in the right or not, is notfor us here to consider. But I would only say to those who would censurehim for a too lenient view of the religious side of the matter, that wehave not seen the thing as he did, and perhaps if it were displayedbefore our eyes we might be led to the same conclusions.
This was, however, not a tenth part of the trouble in which Mr. Tebrickfound himself. For he asked himself also: "Was he not jealous?" Andlooking into his heart he found that he was indeed jealous, yes, andangry too, that now he must share his vixen with wild foxes. Then hequestioned himself if it were not dishonourable to do so, and whetherhe should not utterly forget her and follow his original intention ofretiring from the world, and see her no more.
Thus he tormented himself for the rest of that day, and by evening hehad resolved never to see her again.
But in the middle of the night he woke up with his head very clear, andsaid to himself in wonder, "Am I not a madman? I torment myselffoolishly with fantastic notions. Can a man have his honour sullied by abeast? I am a man, I am immeasurably superior to the animals. Can mydignity allow of my being jealous of a beast? A thousand times no. WereI to lust after a vixen, I were a criminal indeed. I can be happy inseeing my vixen, for I love her, but she does right to be happyaccording to the laws of her being."
Lastly, he said to himself what was, he felt, the truth of this wholematter:
"When I am with her I am happy. But now I distort what is simple anddrive myself crazy with false reasoning upon it."
Yet before he slept again he prayed, but though he had thought first topray for guidance, in reality he prayed only that on the morrow he wouldsee his vixen again and that God would preserve her, and her cubs too,from all dangers, and would allow him to see them often, so that hemight come to love them for her sake as if he were their father, andthat if this were a sin he might be forgiven, for he sinned inignorance. The next day or two he saw vixen and cubs again, though hisvisits were cut shorter, and these visits gave him such an innocentpleasure that very soon his notions of honour, duty and so on, wereentirely forgotten, and his jealousy lulled asleep.
One day he tried taking with him the stereoscope and a pack of cards.
But though his Silvia was affectionate and amiable enough to let him putthe stereoscope over her muzzle, yet she would not look through it, butkept turning her head to lick his hand, and it was plain to him that nowshe had quite forgotten the use of the instrument. It was the same toowith the cards. For with them she was pleased enough, but onlydelighting to bite at them, and flip them about with her paws, and neverconsidering for a moment whether they were diamonds or clubs, or hearts,or spades or whether the card was an ace or not. So it was evident thatshe had forgotten the nature of cards too.
Thereafter he only brought them things which she could better enjoy,that is sugar, grapes, raisins, and butcher's meat.
By-and-bye, as the summer wore on, the cubs came to know him, and hethem, so that he was able to tell them easily apart, and then hechristened them. For this purpose he brought a little bowl of water,sprinkled them as if in baptism and told them he was their godfather andgave each of them a name, calling them Sorel, Kasper, Selwyn, Esther,and Angelica.
Sorel was a clumsy little beast of a cheery and indeed puppyishdisposition; Kasper was fierce, the largest of the five, even in hisplay he would always bite, and gave his godfather many a sharp nip astime went on. Esther was of a dark complexion, a true brunette and verysturdy; Angelica the brightest red and the most exactly like her mother;while Selwyn was the smallest cub, of a very prying, inquisitive andcunning temper, but delicate and undersized.
Thus Mr. Tebrick had a whole family now to occupy him, and, indeed, cameto love them with very much of a father's love and partiality.
His favourite was Angelica (who reminded him so much of her mother inher pretty ways) because of a gentleness which was lacking in theothers, even in their play. After her in his affections came Selwyn,whom he soon saw was the most intelligent of the whole litter. Indeed hewas so much more quick-witted than the rest that Mr. Tebrick was ledinto speculating as to whether he had not inherited something of thehuman from his dam. Thus very early he learnt to know his name, andwould come when he was called, and what was stranger still, he learntthe names of his brothers and sisters before they came to do sothemselves.
Besides all this he was something of a young philosopher, for though hisbrother Kasper tyrannized over him he put up with it all with anunruffled temper. He was not, however, above playing tricks on theothers, and one day when Mr. Tebrick was by, he made believe that therewas a mouse in a hole some little way off. Very soon he was joined bySorel, and presently by Kasper and Esther. When he had got them alldigging, it was easy for him to slip away, and then he came to hisgodfather with a sly look, sat down before him, and smiled and thenjerked his head over towards the others and smiled again and wrinkledhis brows so that Mr. Tebrick knew as well as if he had spoken that theyoungster was saying, "Have I not made fools of them all?"
He was the only one that was curious about Mr. Tebrick: he made him takeout his watch, put his ear to it, considered it and wrinkled up hisbrows in perplexity. On the next visit it was the same thing. He mustsee the watch again, and again think over it. But clever as he was,little Selwyn could never understand it, and if his mother rememberedanything about watches it was a subject which she never attempted toexplain to her children.
One day Mr. Tebrick left the earth as usual and ran down the slope tothe road, when he was surprised to find a carriage waiting before hishouse and a coachman walking about near his gate. Mr. Tebrick went inand found that his visitor was waiting for him. It was his wife's uncle.
They shook hands, though the Rev. Canon Fox did not recognise himimmediately, and Mr. Tebrick led him into the house.
The clergyman looked about him a good deal, at the dirty and disorderlyrooms, and when Mr. Tebrick took him into the drawing room it wasevident that it had been unused for several months, the dust lay sothickly on all the furniture.
After some conversation on indifferent topics Canon Fox said to him:
"I have called really to ask about my niece."
Mr. Tebrick was silent for some time and then said:
"She is quite happy now."
"Ah--indeed. I have heard she is not living with you any longer."
"No. She is not living with me. She is not far away. I see her every daynow."
"Indeed. Where does she live?"
"In the woods with her children. I ought to tell you that she haschanged her shape. She is a fox."
The Rev. Canon Fox got up; he was alarmed, and everything Mr. Tebricksaid confirmed what he had been led to expect he would find at Rylands.When he was outside, however, he asked Mr. Tebrick:
"You don't have many visitors now, eh?"
"No--I never see anyone if I can avoid it. You are the first person Ihave spoken to for months."
"Quite right, too, my dear fellow. I quite understand--in thecircumstances." Then the cleric shook him by the hand, got into hiscarriage and drove away.
"At any rate," he said to himself, "there will be no scandal." He wasrelieved also because Mr. Tebrick had said nothing about going abroad todisseminate the Gospel. Canon Fox had been alarmed by the letter, hadnot answered it, and thought that it was always better to let things be,and never to refer to anything unpleasant. He did not at all want torecommend Mr. Tebrick to the Bible Society if he were mad. Hiseccentricities would never be noticed at Stokoe. Besides that, Mr.Tebrick had said he was happy.
He was sorry for Mr. Tebrick too, and he said to himself that the queergirl, his niece, must have married him because he was the first man shehad met. He reflected also that he was never likely to see her again andsaid aloud, when he had driven some little way:
"Not an affectionate disposition," then to his coachman: "No, that's allright. Drive on, Hopkins."
When Mr. Tebrick was alo
ne he rejoiced exceedingly in his solitary life.He understood, or so he fancied, what it was to be happy, and that hehad found complete happiness now, living from day to day, careless ofthe future, surrounded every morning by playful and affectionate littlecreatures whom he loved tenderly, and sitting beside their mother, whosesimple happiness was the source of his own.
"True happiness," he said to himself, "is to be found in bestowing love;there is no such happiness as that of the mother for her babe, unless Ihave attained it in mine for my vixen and her children."
With these feelings he waited impatiently for the hour on the morrowwhen he might hasten to them once more.
When, however, he had toiled up the hillside, to the earth, takinginfinite precaution not to tread down the bracken, or make a beaten pathwhich might lead others to that secret spot, he found to his surprisethat Silvia was not there and that there were no cubs to be seen