The Laughing Mill and Other Stories Part 12

"'I've found that stone.'

"I looked at him inquiringly.

"'The diamond out of my ring. In my trouser pocket, of all places in the world! Fell out while I was groping for my keys, I suppose. Sorry to have raised false hopes in your friend Rudolph. By the way, he'll have finished that job of yours before very long?'

"'In about a week, I fancy. I shall be sorry to leave Paris.'

"'Yes? Well, it is a nice place; but one gets tired of the nicest places in time. I do. I like to be moving.'

"'I shall have a month to spend on my way to Rome. This is almost my first experience of the Continent. I wish I had some travelling companion who knew the ropes.' This hint I let fall in the hope that he might propose to join me; but as he made no rejoinder, I at length ventured to put it more plainly. I gave a rough sketch of the route I proposed to follow, asked his opinion upon it, and finally said that, should his inclination lead him also in that direction, I should be very glad of his company.

"'Well, sir, I'm obliged to you,' replied Mr. Birchmore, after a pause of some moments. 'You couldn't pay a man a better compliment than to ask him to travel with you; and I would accept your offer as frankly and fearlessly as you make it, only--well, the fact is, I'm not so entirely at my own disposal as I may appear to you to be. I have been through a good many experiences in life, and some of the consequences are upon me still. When you have reached my age--if you ever do reach it--you will understand me better. I suppose I may be fifteen years your senior; well, fifteen years means a good deal--a good deal.' He puffed a meditative cloud or two, and then added, 'You're not hurt? You see how it is? I would really like to accompany you--but I can't.'

"Of course, I warmly disavowed all resentment and felt inwardly ashamed of having forced him, by the freedom of my advances, into making this explanation. Meanwhile, I could not help liking him better than ever, and feeling more than ever interested, not to say curious, about him.

It was now certain that some mystery or other attached to him. I cast covert glances at him, in the vain attempt to read something of his secret through his outward aspect. But he was inscrutable, or rather, there was nothing especially noticeable in him. His face, as I have said, was handsome in its contours; he wore a heavy moustache and a short pointed beard on his chin. His forehead was wide across the temples, but low; and dark brown hair, rather stiff, and streaked here and there with gray, grew thickly over his head. His hands were large, and hairy up to the second joints of the fingers, but they were finely and powerfully formed, and the fingers tapered beautifully, with nails smoothly cut and polished. In figure he was above the medium size, and appeared strongly built, though he had complained to me more than once of rheumatism or some other bodily failing. In walking, he took rather short steps for a tall man, and without any swaying of the shoulders; his hands being generally thrust in the side pockets of his coat, and his face inclined towards the ground. But his eyes, large, bright, and restless, were his most remarkable feature. They appeared to take note of everything: they were seldom fixed and never introspective. Compared with the general immobility of the rest of his countenance, these eyes of Mr. Birchmore seemed to have a life of their own--and a very intense and watchful one. Whenever they met mine fully (which was but seldom, and then only for a moment at a time) I was conscious of a kind of start or thrill, as if a fine spray of icy water had swept my face. What had those eyes looked upon? or what was it that lurked behind them?

"'We may run across each other again--hope we may,' said Mr. Birchmore, when he shook hands with me at parting, a few days later. 'Glad to have met you, Mr. Gainsborough--very glad, sir.'

"'Thanks; I am glad to have met you. Your acquaintance has profited me not a little.'

"'Oh, as to that,' said Mr. Birchmore, with a smile, and one of those startling straightforward glances into my eyes, 'as to that, the profit will have been mutual, to say the least of it. Good-bye!'

III.

"My route to Italy was rather a roundabout one. Instead of running down to Ma.r.s.eilles and so on _via_ Civita Vecchia to Rome, I set off eastwards, and crossed Germany, pa.s.sing through Cologne, Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Nuremberg; thence I proceeded to Leipzig, and at length brought up in Dresden. It was my intention to go from there southwards through Switzerland to Venice, and thus to make my approach to the Eternal City.

"Dresden, however, detained me longer than I had expected. It was in August that I reached it: there were not many people in town, but I was delighted with the Gallery, with the picturesque sweep of the river, and with the green shade and good music of the Grosser Garten. There were several charming drives, too, in the neighbourhood; and as for the beer, it was really a revelation to a man who had never known anything less heavy and solid than Allsopp's pale ale.

"I had put up at the Hotel de Saxe, a broadsided old building on one side of a large irregular 'platz,' called, I believe, the Neumarkt.

My landlord, who was a young gentleman of great personal attractions, interested himself a good deal about my amus.e.m.e.nts; and one day he happened to ask me whether I had visited a region known as Saxon Switzerland. This, it appeared, was a mountainous district some twenty miles up the Elbe, in which was solved the problem of putting the greatest amount of romantic picturesqueness into the smallest possible compa.s.s. It was a land of savage rocks, wild precipices, and profound gorges, conveniently grouped within the limits of a good day's tramp.

It comprised all the sublime and startling features of your Yellowstone Valley in California with an area about equal to the summit of one of the table bluffs in that region.

"I packed my valise for a sojourn of two or three days among these pocket Alps, put my diamonds in that secure inner pocket, and took a droschkey for the railway station. The trip to Schandau (the princ.i.p.al village of Saxon Switzerland) can also be made by steamer; but after discussing the pros and cons of rival routes with my host of the hotel the evening previous, I had decided to go by rail, which provides nearly half as much pretty scenery as the river road, and takes up less than a fourth as much time. I alighted at the station door somewhat late, and having given my trunk in charge to a porter, was hurrying to get my ticket, when my attention was caught by a young lady, who was standing on the platform in an att.i.tude that bespoke suspense and anxiety. Her veil was down, but from the slender elegance of her figure and the harmonious perfection of her costume, I could not doubt that her face was beautiful. Evidently she was not a German; had she been a thought less tastefully dressed, I should have said she was an English girl; as it was, she might be either an Austrian or an American. Even then, I rather inclined to the latter hypothesis.

"She appeared to be entirely alone; but she was scanning with ill-concealed eagerness the crowd that was entering the station, as if in search of a familiar face. When her glance fell upon me, I fancied that she took an impulsive step in my direction; but she checked herself immediately, and looked away. While I was hastily debating within myself whether or not it would be 'the thing' for me to go up and ask her if she needed any a.s.sistance, I saw a _dientsman_, or carrier, come up the steps, and taking off his cap, deliver her a note. She tore it nervously open, threw back her veil impatiently, and ran her eyes over the contents. Beautiful she was, indeed! My antic.i.p.ations had been behind the truth on that score. Such strange, mystical, dark eyes underneath level black eyebrows I had never seen. But just then there was an expression of dismay and distress in them that made me half forget to remember their fascination.

"She now addressed the carrier, seemingly in broken German, for he evidently did not well understand her, and the answer he made appeared to increase her embarra.s.sment. Her slender foot tapped the stone pavement; she read the note once more, crushed it up in her hand, and then her arms fell listlessly at her sides with an air almost of despair. She looked this way and that helplessly.

"By this time several persons besides myself had observed her bewilderment, and I thought I perceived that a certain fat old Jew, wearing a number of glittering rings and a very ma.s.sive watch-chain, was inclined to take advantage of it. This decided me on my course of action: I came quickly forward, as if I had just caught sight of her, and lifting my hat with an air of respectful acquaintances.h.i.+p, I said in French:

"'If mademoiselle will permit me, I may perhaps be of some use.'

"Her veil, either accidentally or of design, dropped again over her face as she turned it towards me. I knew that she was scrutinising me with a woman's intuitive insight, and I tried to look as guileless and respectful as I am sure I felt. In a moment she asked:

"'Monsieur est-il Francais?'

"'I'm an Englishman,' I answered, blus.h.i.+ng a little, I dare say, at her implied criticism of my imperfect accent.

"'Oh, I am glad! I, too, am almost English--I am American. But I don't know how I can be helped, really!'

"'Some friend has missed an appointment----?'

"'Yes, indeed! Oh dear! it's worse than that. It's my father.'

"'You were going by the train----'

"'There has been some stupid mistake. I'm sure I don't know what I shall do. We had arranged to start at ten o'clock this morning, and I started first, because I wanted to do some shopping on the way down. I understood that we were to rendezvous here. But he did not come at ten, and I sent a dientsman to the hotel; and now he has brought word from the hotel-keeper that papa started by the ten o'clock steamboat. I had not understood that it was to be the steamboat, you see; and I'm left here all alone.'

"'But if you took the next train, you would still arrive two or three hours before him; that is--may I ask where you were going?'

"'Oh, I think Schandau is the name of the place.'

"'Schandau? Oh, then it's all right. There is a train starts immediately.'

"'Yes--but--no; I'm afraid I can't do that.'

"I was puzzled. 'Perhaps you would like to telegraph him to come back here for you?'

"'I don't know where to telegraph, so that he would get it; besides---- But, excuse me, sir. You are very kind; but I won't trouble you with my affairs. I dare say I shall get on very well.'

"She turned away with a slight bow; but she was so evidently nonplussed, that I determined to make another effort to gain her confidence. There was not much time to lose; the first bell was already ringing.

"'I am going on to Schandau,' I said. 'If you like, I will send you back to your hotel in a droschkey; and when I get to Schandau, I will hunt up your father and tell him the mistake he has made. Here is my card.'

"She looked at it, and her manner at once changed. A half-repressed smile glimmered on her face. I felt that we were on a right footing at last, though I could not at the time understand how it had happened.

"'I will confess to you, Mr. Gainsborough,' she said, glancing up at me with a charming trustfulness in her manner. 'My papa is so forgetful. We were not coming back to Dresden. After Schandau we were going on to Prague; and he has gone off with all our luggage, and--and he has left me without even any money to buy my ticket! At least, I did have enough, but I spent it all in my shopping.'

"This cleared up matters at once. 'How stupid of me not to have seen it all before!' I exclaimed. 'Now, we have just time to get the train,' I hurried her on with me as I spoke, bought our tickets in the twinkling of an eye, and without waiting for the change, convoyed her rapidly across the platform, and, with the a.s.sistance of a guard, we found ourselves safely ensconced in a first-cla.s.s carriage just as the train moved off. My beautiful companion, breathless, smiling, and yet seemingly a little frightened, sank back on the cus.h.i.+ons, and felt for the fan at her girdle. I wished to give her plenty of time to recover her composure, and to feel a.s.sured that I had no intention of taking undue advantage of our position; so, having arranged the windows to suit her convenience, I betook myself to the other end of the carriage, and diligently stared at the prospect for fully five minutes. Nature could endure no more, and at the end of that time I was fain to change my posture. I stole a glance at my fair American. She, too, was absorbed in the prospect on her side, which consisted at the moment of a perpendicular cutting about ten feet distant from her window. Her att.i.tude as she sat there was the perfection of feminine grace. Her left hand, loosely holding the fan, drooped on her lap; her sleeve, slightly pushed up, revealed the lovely curve of her arm and wrist. I am a particular admirer of beautiful wrists and hands, and here I saw my ideal. How exquisitely the glove fitted! and how artistically the colour harmonised with the rest of her costume! The other little hand supported her chin: I could just see the rounded outline of her small cheek, and the movement of the dark eyelash projecting beyond it. Beneath her hat the black hair turned in a careless coil, and charming little downy curls nestled in the nape of her neck. She was a thorough brunette, pale, and yet pervaded with warm colour. Beneath the skirt of her crisp dress peeped the pointed toe of an ineffable little boot, which occasionally lifted itself and tapped the floor softly. Suddenly, in the midst of my admiring inspection, she turned round upon me, and our eyes met. There was an instant's constraint, and then we both laughed, and the constraint pa.s.sed away, not to return.

"'I was going to ask you,' said I, 'whether you wouldn't prefer sitting on this side. You will find the river better worth looking at than that stone wall.'

"'I am under your orders, sir, for the present; you put me here; and now, if you tell me I am to go elsewhere, I shall obey.'

"She rose as she spoke; the jolting of the carriage caused her to lose her balance; I held out my hand to a.s.sist her, and so she tottered across and seated herself opposite me.

"'Now are you satisfied?' she asked demurely, folding her hands in her lap, and sending a flash into me from those mystical eyes.

"'Yes, indeed, if you are. Did you ever travel this way before?'

"'If you mean, alone with a gentleman I never met before--no!'

"'Oh, what I meant was----'

"'I know--I was only making fun. Yes, I believe I was in this part of the country once, when I was a very little girl; that was before I went to the Convent, you know.'

"'To the Convent?'