Читать книгу The Rake's Progress - Bowen Marjorie - Страница 10

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The Earl set the candle on the mantelshelf, and its feeble rays dimly revealed the massive handsome chamber, the rows of books on carved shelves, the dark pictures, the heavy furniture.

Marius fingered his cravat, and was silent; he felt constrained and ill at ease—troubled, not so much by the threatened revelation of misfortune as by the presence of his magnificent brother, who was a more splendid gentleman than any he had seen.

"I wished to tell you first and alone," said Rose Lyndwood, "for I dare swear my lady will make a scene."

He leant against the wall by the fireplace, the candle-light full over him. His light brown hair was unpowdered and tied with a turquoise ribbon in his neck; he wore no jewels; the silk flowers, pink and red, on his waistcoat sparkled with threads of gold. His complexion was naturally pale; at the corner of his full lower lip a patch of black velvet cunningly cut into the shape of a bat showed in contrast with it. His delicate fair brows were slightly frowning, and his languid lids almost concealed his eyes. He did not seem to see Marius, shyly observing him.

"I have been looking into my affairs," he said. This remark meant nothing to Marius, and his brother saw it. "It's a damned unpleasant thing to say," he added, with a half-insolent smile, "but—it's ruin."

Marius stared.

"What do you mean?" he cried.

Rose Lyndwood opened his eyes wide now and gave his brother a full glance.

"I mean I am as far in debt as I can go—that my credit is no longer good for—anything. That Lyndwood must go to pay its mortgage, that is what I mean."

"I don't understand," answered Marius stupidly.

"Have you never heard of a man being ruined before?" asked the Earl. "Gad, it is not so rare!"

"But in such a fashion—so suddenly."

Rose Lyndwood shrugged his shoulders.

"Not so suddenly, only we ignored everything until now. The crash—who cared as long as the money came from somewhere? Neither I nor you, nor my lady."

Marius took a step towards his brother.

"And my fortune?" he said.

Lord Lyndwood gave him a kindly glance.

"For that I am sorry," he answered, "and blame myself that ye have ever been led to believe there was anything solely yours, for now that I can no longer pay your allowance ye stand there as poor as I."

Marius sat down by the desk against the wall.

"Nothing?" he muttered. "Nothing at all?" and his lips trembled.

"When they have sold me up," replied my lord slowly, "here and in London, I do not see that there will be a groat between us."

"I cannot credit it!" muttered Marius.

"Believe me, you may. I have told you the truth in the fewest words."

Marius took his head in his hands, resting his elbows on the desk.

"And I am a pauper!" he said—"a pauper!"

Lord Lyndwood crossed and stood beside him.

"What can I say, Marius? When my lord died he left all in confusion, and in confusion all has remained. While the money sufficed we shared it. I could never have done differently to what I did, not being by nature thrifty."

Marius was silent.

"My lady has a few hundreds of her own," continued the Earl. "Susannah's money, too, is safe, of course"—he glanced at his brother, whose face was concealed from him—"but as for us——"

Marius looked up now. His cheeks were red, his eyes suffused.

"Well, what for us?" he asked hoarsely.

Lord Lyndwood answered the abrupt question with another.

"Do you blame me, Marius?"

The younger man rose.

"Blame you—yes, I do blame you!" he cried. "You had no right, by God, you had no right!"

"So this is how you take it," remarked the Earl quietly. "Well, it will help neither of us."

He crossed to the fireplace, and his brother's fierce eyes followed him.

"You take it very easily, my lord, but I cannot be so patient. You have told me that I am penniless—penniless!"

Lord Lyndwood looked at him steadily.

"Yes," he said.

"Then," answered Marius, very pale, "I tell you that you have behaved bitterly to me, and that I can never forgive you!"

The Earl fingered the silver braid on his sleeve.

"Why, you are very fierce," he said.

His languid manner maddened Marius.

"Reflect on what you have done, my lord. You have brought me up as a gentleman to think nothing of money—to imagine it was there for me when I was a man. I have seen it spent on all sides, and now you dare face me with this tale of ruin."

"By Gad, it is not very pleasant for me," answered the Earl.

"You!" cried Marius, goaded. "A spendthrift, a prodigal! Oh, I have heard of your reputation! If you chose to squander a fortune on your pleasures you had no right, I say, no right to involve me in paying the price."

He sank into the chair beside the desk again. He was trembling from head to foot, clutching and unclutching his hands in the fine lace at his cuffs.

The Earl looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Have you done?" he demanded.

"What is the use of speech?" cried Marius bitterly.

Rose Lyndwood faintly smiled.

"Railing easeth rage," he said. "Hear me a little longer, and I have done. There is the entailed property in Genoa; I will make that over to you——"

"Nay," interrupted Marius hotly, "that is poor charity, my lord. I will not be exiled in a dead city."

The Earl slightly flushed.

"I could get you a captaincy in the Guards."

"To starve on my pay!"

"Beyond that I can do nothing."

Marius pressed his hand to his forehead.

"You have wronged me bitterly," he said in a rough voice.

The Earl set his beautiful mouth sternly.

"These reproaches," he said, "do nought but display your ill-manners!"

Marius gave an ugly laugh.

"I am not a town rake, so I pray you excuse my behaviour. I have not yet learnt to disguise my vices and my passions."

"Enough of that!" said Lord Lyndwood shortly.

"Oh, I have heard things of you!" cried Marius, with gleaming eyes. "This fortune was not lost soberly."

"Ye speak like a boy," said Rose Lyndwood, "and there is no answer to what you say. What I have done, I have done, and to no one, Marius, will I justify myself."

"There is no justification of what you have done," answered his brother, gazing at him. "A pauper, a beggar! I think I hate you, my lord!"

The Earl moved slightly towards him.

"As you will," he said quickly; "but remember ye held no bond of mine for the fortune you imagined. All you had I gave you."

Marius rose; his face was pale and passionate. Since they had entered the room his expression had changed utterly.

"So ye would remind me that I have been living on your charity!" he cried. "That ye have educated me——"

Lord Lyndwood interrupted.

"I had not thought you would take it so hardly, Marius. I did the only thing there was to do—what my father would have desired me to do. While the money was there we spent it." He looked into his brother's angry eyes and his face hardened. "I can say no more."

Marius struck his hand on the lace at his breast.

"There will be much more to be said, much more," he answered. "You have spoilt my life for me"—he suddenly laughed—"and I suppose I take it damned ungracefully. Good night, my lord."

He went out of the room and closed the heavy door after him with a force that caused the candle flame to flicker and the window to shake.

Rose Lyndwood looked in front of him with an aimless gaze into the shadows; his drooping lids and his pallor gave him an expression of weariness.

The carved clock in the corner struck ten; as the last note quivered to stillness, my lady entered the library.

"Oh, Rose, Rose!" she said before she had closed the door. "Marius tells me, in one sentence, this—that we are ruined!"

"Yes," answered the Earl.

Lady Lyndwood dropped into the chair Marius had pulled out of place and clasped her shaking hands on the desk.

"Marius also?" she whispered.

"Yes," said my lord again. "He blames me——"

"Do you wonder?" cried the Countess bitterly. "Do you wonder, Rose?"

"It seems you too find me at fault," he answered. The candle-light only faintly revealed her, sitting by the massive desk, but fell bright over his tall restrained presence, over his grave tired face.

"What did you expect of me?" asked Lady Lyndwood; then added, with a kind of feeble energy, "Rose, it cannot happen—it must not, however entangled you are. It must not come to—to that—to selling the place."

"Not selling it," he corrected.

"I don't understand any of it," she answered, "but it is impossible for us to leave Lyndwood."

"It is impossible for us to keep it. Believe me, my lady, I have considered it all. If I had seen any means to help myself I should not be here to-night."

"But Marius!" cried the Countess miserably. "Marius to come home to this—Marius penniless!"

The Earl's lids flickered a little.

"There are chances for Marius."

The Countess rose with a movement of impatience.

"It is bitterly unfair on him. He has been brought up to wealth; he was as ignorant as I that the money you squandered was all we had."

Rose Lyndwood flushed.

"We have all been thriftless and careless, my lady," he said. "I the most of any, and if I could have done anything to avert this——"

"Oh, you talk!" she interrupted with a quivering voice. "And that is easy; but you have no right to stand there and tell me you are ruined. How is it with others? You had as fair chances as any."