CHAPTER V--THE WHITE WORM
Mr. Salton introduced Adam to Mr. Watford and his grand-daughters, andthey all moved on together. Of course neighbours in the position of theWatfords knew all about Adam Salton, his relationship, circumstances, andprospects. So it would have been strange indeed if both girls did notdream of possibilities of the future. In agricultural England, eligiblemen of any class are rare. This particular man was specially eligible,for he did not belong to a class in which barriers of caste were strong.So when it began to be noticed that he walked beside Mimi Watford andseemed to desire her society, all their friends endeavoured to give thepromising affair a helping hand. When the gongs sounded for the banquet,he went with her into the tent where her grandfather had seats. Mr.Salton and Sir Nathaniel noticed that the young man did not come to claimhis appointed place at the dais table; but they understood and made noremark, or indeed did not seem to notice his absence.
Lady Arabella sat as before at Edgar Caswall's right hand. She wascertainly a striking and unusual woman, and to all it seemed fitting fromher rank and personal qualities that she should be the chosen partner ofthe heir on his first appearance. Of course nothing was said openly bythose of her own class who were present; but words were not necessarywhen so much could be expressed by nods and smiles. It seemed to be anaccepted thing that at last there was to be a mistress of Castra Regis,and that she was present amongst them. There were not lacking some who,whilst admitting all her charm and beauty, placed her in the second rank,Lilla Watford being marked as first. There was sufficient divergence oftype, as well as of individual beauty, to allow of fair comment; LadyArabella represented the aristocratic type, and Lilla that of thecommonalty.
When the dusk began to thicken, Mr. Salton and Sir Nathaniel walkedhome--the trap had been sent away early in the day--leaving Adam tofollow in his own time. He came in earlier than was expected, and seemedupset about something. Neither of the elders made any comment. They alllit cigarettes, and, as dinner-time was close at hand, went to theirrooms to get ready.
Adam had evidently been thinking in the interval. He joined the othersin the drawing-room, looking ruffled and impatient--a condition of thingsseen for the first time. The others, with the patience--or theexperience--of age, trusted to time to unfold and explain things. Theyhad not long to wait. After sitting down and standing up several times,Adam suddenly burst out.
"That fellow seems to think he owns the earth. Can't he let peoplealone! He seems to think that he has only to throw his handkerchief toany woman, and be her master."
This outburst was in itself enlightening. Only thwarted affection insome guise could produce this feeling in an amiable young man. SirNathaniel, as an old diplomatist, had a way of understanding, as if byforeknowledge, the true inwardness of things, and asked suddenly, but ina matter-of-fact, indifferent voice:
"Was he after Lilla?"
"Yes, and the fellow didn't lose any time either. Almost as soon as theymet, he began to butter her up, and tell her how beautiful she was. Why,before he left her side, he had asked himself to tea to-morrow at MercyFarm. Stupid ass! He might see that the girl isn't his sort! I neversaw anything like it. It was just like a hawk and a pigeon."
As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel turned and looked at Mr. Salton--a keen lookwhich implied a full understanding.
"Tell us all about it, Adam. There are still a few minutes beforedinner, and we shall all have better appetites when we have come to someconclusion on this matter."
"There is nothing to tell, sir; that is the worst of it. I am bound tosay that there was not a word said that a human being could object to. Hewas very civil, and all that was proper--just what a landlord might be toa tenant's daughter . . . Yet--yet--well, I don't know how it was, but itmade my blood boil."
"How did the hawk and the pigeon come in?" Sir Nathaniel's voice wassoft and soothing, nothing of contradiction or overdone curiosity in it--atone eminently suited to win confidence.
"I can hardly explain. I can only say that he looked like a hawk and shelike a dove--and, now that I think of it, that is what they each did looklike; and do look like in their normal condition."
"That is so!" came the soft voice of Sir Nathaniel.
Adam went on:
"Perhaps that early Roman look of his set me off. But I wanted toprotect her; she seemed in danger."
"She seems in danger, in a way, from all you young men. I couldn't helpnoticing the way that even you looked--as if you wished to absorb her!"
"I hope both you young men will keep your heads cool," put in Mr. Salton."You know, Adam, it won't do to have any quarrel between you, especiallyso soon after his home-coming and your arrival here. We must think ofthe feelings and happiness of our neighbours; mustn't we?"
"I hope so, sir. I assure you that, whatever may happen, or eventhreaten, I shall obey your wishes in this as in all things."
"Hush!" whispered Sir Nathaniel, who heard the servants in the passagebringing dinner.
After dinner, over the walnuts and the wine, Sir Nathaniel returned tothe subject of the local legends.
"It will perhaps be a less dangerous topic for us to discuss than morerecent ones."
"All right, sir," said Adam heartily. "I think you may depend on me nowwith regard to any topic. I can even discuss Mr. Caswall. Indeed, I maymeet him to-morrow. He is going, as I said, to call at Mercy Farm atthree o'clock--but I have an appointment at two."
"I notice," said Mr. Salton, "that you do not lose any time."
The two old men once more looked at each other steadily. Then, lest themood of his listener should change with delay, Sir Nathaniel began atonce:
"I don't propose to tell you all the legends of Mercia, or even to make aselection of them. It will be better, I think, for our purpose if weconsider a few facts--recorded or unrecorded--about this neighbourhood. Ithink we might begin with Diana's Grove. It has roots in the differentepochs of our history, and each has its special crop of legend. TheDruid and the Roman are too far off for matters of detail; but it seemsto me the Saxon and the Angles are near enough to yield material forlegendary lore. We find that this particular place had another namebesides Diana's Grove. This was manifestly of Roman origin, or ofGrecian accepted as Roman. The other is more pregnant of adventure andromance than the Roman name. In Mercian tongue it was 'The Lair of theWhite Worm.' This needs a word of explanation at the beginning.
"In the dawn of the language, the word 'worm' had a somewhat differentmeaning from that in use to-day. It was an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon'wyrm,' meaning a dragon or snake; or from the Gothic 'waurms,' aserpent; or the Icelandic 'ormur,' or the German 'wurm.' We gather thatit conveyed originally an idea of size and power, not as now in thediminutive of both these meanings. Here legendary history helps us. Wehave the well-known legend of the 'Worm Well' of Lambton Castle, and thatof the 'Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh' near Bamborough. In both theselegends the 'worm' was a monster of vast size and power--a veritabledragon or serpent, such as legend attributes to vast fens or quags wherethere was illimitable room for expansion. A glance at a geological mapwill show that whatever truth there may have been of the actuality ofsuch monsters in the early geologic periods, at least there was plenty ofpossibility. In England there were originally vast plains where theplentiful supply of water could gather. The streams were deep and slow,and there were holes of abysmal depth, where any kind and size ofantediluvian monster could find a habitat. In places, which now we cansee from our windows, were mud-holes a hundred or more feet deep. Whocan tell us when the age of the monsters which flourished in slime cameto an end? There must have been places and conditions which made forgreater longevity, greater size, greater strength than was usual. Suchover-lappings may have come down even to our earlier centuries. Nay, arethere not now creatures of a vastness of bulk regarded by the generalityof men as impossible? Even in our own day there are seen the traces ofanimals, if not the animals themselves, of stupendous
size--veritablesurvivals from earlier ages, preserved by some special qualities in theirhabitats. I remember meeting a distinguished man in India, who had thereputation of being a great shikaree, who told me that the greatesttemptation he had ever had in his life was to shoot a giant snake whichhe had come across in the Terai of Upper India. He was on atiger-shooting expedition, and as his elephant was crossing a nullah, itsquealed. He looked down from his howdah and saw that the elephant hadstepped across the body of a snake which was dragging itself through thejungle. 'So far as I could see,' he said, 'it must have been eighty orone hundred feet in length. Fully forty or fifty feet was on each sideof the track, and though the weight which it dragged had thinned it, itwas as thick round as a man's body. I suppose you know that when you areafter tiger, it is a point of honour not to shoot at anything else, aslife may depend on it. I could easily have spined this monster, but Ifelt that I must not--so, with regret, I had to let it go.'
"Just imagine such a monster anywhere in this country, and at once wecould get a sort of idea of the 'worms,' which possibly did frequent thegreat morasses which spread round the mouths of many of the greatEuropean rivers."
"I haven't the least doubt, sir, that there may have been such monstersas you have spoken of still existing at a much later period than isgenerally accepted," replied Adam. "Also, if there were such things,that this was the very place for them. I have tried to think over thematter since you pointed out the configuration of the ground. But itseems to me that there is a hiatus somewhere. Are there not mechanicaldifficulties?"
"In what way?"
"Well, our antique monster must have been mighty heavy, and the distanceshe had to travel were long and the ways difficult. From where we are nowsitting down to the level of the mud-holes is a distance of severalhundred feet--I am leaving out of consideration altogether any lateraldistance. Is it possible that there was a way by which a monster couldtravel up and down, and yet no chance recorder have ever seen him? Ofcourse we have the legends; but is not some more exact evidence necessaryin a scientific investigation?"
"My dear Adam, all you say is perfectly right, and, were we starting onsuch an investigation, we could not do better than follow your reasoning.But, my dear boy, you must remember that all this took place thousands ofyears ago. You must remember, too, that all records of the kind thatwould help us are lacking. Also, that the places to be considered weredesert, so far as human habitation or population are considered. In thevast desolation of such a place as complied with the necessaryconditions, there must have been such profusion of natural growth aswould bar the progress of men formed as we are. The lair of such amonster would not have been disturbed for hundreds--or thousands--ofyears. Moreover, these creatures must have occupied places quiteinaccessible to man. A snake who could make himself comfortable in aquagmire, a hundred feet deep, would be protected on the outskirts bysuch stupendous morasses as now no longer exist, or which, if they existanywhere at all, can be on very few places on the earth's surface. Farbe it from me to say that in more elemental times such things could nothave been. The condition belongs to the geologic age--the great birthand growth of the world, when natural forces ran riot, when the strugglefor existence was so savage that no vitality which was not founded in agigantic form could have even a possibility of survival. That such atime existed, we have evidences in geology, but there only; we can neverexpect proofs such as this age demands. We can only imagine or surmisesuch things--or such conditions and such forces as overcame them."