Читать книгу Dark Rosaleen - Bowen Marjorie - Страница 4

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The boy was building a small fort in the Orangery, of toy bricks, mud, and sticks. The Orangery was empty. Only a few, dry, fragrant leaves from last year remained in the corners and on the wide sills of the windows which reached from floor to ceiling. On the other side a magnificent tapestry was carefully hung and the figures on it seemed to fill the large building.

When the boy glanced up from his fort he was acutely aware of all these strange, tall figures, which were moving in a stately cavalcade towards the corner where he lay: white elephants, camels of a pale honey colour, giraffes and zebra speckled and striped, princes turbanned and wearing armour that sparkled with gold thread, slaves leading monstrous beasts by scarlet cords, and captives, their arms bound behind them—all these seemed, to the lonely boy, to watch him at his play; and as the sun, pouring in through the long panes of glass, caught here a strand of bullion, there a thread of silk, they appeared to move as if about to speak.

Above the corner where the boy worked was the Triumphal Car bearing the Hero of this parade, and close by the heavy wheel was a Negro who helped to push the majestic chariot.

The expression of this figure, which seemed bent, not only in labour but in supplication, and the way in which he rolled his eyes, as if in a frenzy of terror, affected the little boy. The man was a slave and plainly expected punishment. As the boy returned to his work, laying out his lines and galleries and ramparts according to the drawing in Indian ink beside him, marking the places for each cannon and building up the citadel where the flag should fly at last, he was conscious of the shadow thrown over him by the suffering of another—a picture only, but terribly real.

He vaguely regretted that his mother and stepfather Mr. Ogilvie had not remained to keep him company, and presently he sat up with a sigh, brushing the dried earth off his hands and with his back to the tapestry, gazed out through the open door on to an expanse of lawn and park where all the grass, trees and flowers seemed to shimmer in the sun.

The long silence was broken by the first of two visits which were to make that day memorable. As he stared through the open door another boy put his head round it and smiled.

'I was told to come and play with you. May I do so?'

The child nodded with grave courtesy. Visitors to the Château were not rare, but this one spoke English and that was a little uncommon.

'My mother sent you?'

'Oh, yes,' the stranger advanced. 'Her Grace said that the other little lords and ladies were away, but that I might have the honour of coming here to play with your Lordship.'

The boy did not at all like this way of speaking. He felt embarrassed by the other's fawning awkwardness. The stranger was a little younger than himself, sharp, shrewd and precocious in manner.

'Oh, what a beautiful fort you are making here, may I look at it?'

The other rose, his natural sweetness struggling with a dislike of this intruder. He brushed the powdered earth from the knees of his trousers.

'Of course you may look at it, but there is not very much to see. I have only half finished, there is a good deal of work but I like to do it all myself. You are English, are you not?'

'Oh, no, like your Lordship, I am Irish—I was born in Dublin.'

'My name is Edward and if you have come to visit us there is no need for you to be so formal.'

'Oh, but I could not presume on any familiarity! It is very condescending of her Grace to receive us at all. You are a Lord, are you not? And the son of the greatest nobleman in Ireland?'

'The title I have is nothing. Mr. Ogilvie says it is but a formal thing, and I like better to be Edward Fitzgerald, Esquire.'8

'But your father was a Duke,' insisted the other child eagerly, turning away from the fort in which he had not taken the least interest, 'and your brother is a Duke now and I have seen his great house in Dublin. It is a magnificent palace indeed.'

Edward Fitzgerald was at a loss for a reply; his uneasiness increased. He could see that his visitor was of a rank greatly inferior to his own and that he had been told to flatter him, and he, who had been brought up in advanced ideas, greatly disliked this.

'Yours is the greatest family in Ireland,' insisted the visitor, gazing at the young Lord with curiosity. 'Why, the Geraldines are princes, are they not? You read about them in the history books—it was Maurice Fitzgerald who rose in rebellion against the king and was hanged at Tyburn, and all the great earls of Kildare and Desmond were Geraldines too!'

'We don't talk of such things,' replied Edward with increasing embarrassment, and to escape from the subject he added in nervous haste, 'And who are you?'

The other boy made a bow.

'I am only your Lordship's humble servant—Thomas Reynolds. In fact,' he added, with false humility that sat oddly on one so young, 'though we try and keep up the appearances of gentry and have a great deal of money we are nothing but silk mercers from whom her Grace is condescending enough to buy her brocades, it is true that my mother is a Fitzgerald—but a very distant relative.'

'There is no condescension in mother dealing with you and it is very honourable to be a silk mercer.'

'Oh, yes, indeed, and we are very thankful for our good fortune and prosperity. Her Grace has been a very generous customer. Coming to France with my mother, who has been to Lyons to buy pieces of damask and brocade, I asked to make a little tour of the country, as gentlemen do to finish their education, and she thought we might venture to come to Aubignè to pay a humble visit of respect to her Grace.'

As young Master Reynolds saw the boy whose possible friendship he so much desired to gain, considering him with candid, uncalculating eyes, he began to strut about and boast of the number of his warehouses, the size of his shops, the business of his wharves—all of the handsomest, the most commodious in Dublin—and to brag of his own future.

'I shall go to Trinity College—I shall go into the army, no doubt. I shall keep racehorses, I shall come often to Paris for my diversion'—then, as if recollecting himself—'how idle all this must seem to you! What is the utmost a merchant can attain compared to the future that is before your Lordship!'

Edward smiled, honestly amused.

'I shall be a soldier, too. Did you see my fort? I think it will look very well when the cannon are set in place.'

'A soldier. Oh, yes. How fine you will look in regimentals! I suppose you will very soon get a company? Your brother, his Grace, has several in his gift.'

'I don't want to get promotion that way. I hope to earn distinction by merit.'

Tom Reynolds smiled. 'Truly, what odd notions your Lordship has been brought up in! I swear that sounds like the talk of some of the republicans and democrats whom my mother says are poisonous creatures and on no account to be listened to.'

'My mother does not think so, nor does Mr. Ogilvie nor my brothers and sisters, nor any one they know. No, nor my uncle either.'

'Your uncle.' Thomas Reynolds snatched eagerly at that word. 'That is his Grace of Richmond, is it not?'

Reluctantly Edward nodded. This insistence on ranks, titles and riches embarrassed him. He began to defend himself against something vaguely offensive in the other's personality by relating some of the modern precepts with which his mother and Mr. Ogilvie had so earnestly inculcated him.

'All men are equal. Rank without merit is nothing. A man to be of any consequence has to succeed in the world on his own deserts. The savage who turns wild is perhaps the happiest of all. I hope to go and see savages some day in America. It must be glorious to hunt your own dinner and cook it and sleep under a tent.'

Master Reynolds giggled behind a hand discreetly held before his mouth.

'It is very droll. My mother would not believe it were I to tell her your sentiments. Savages, indeed, and all men born equal!'

'It is so,' insisted Edward stoutly, but reddening before the other's ridicule. 'And, believe me, I never think at all who I am.'

'Well,' replied the other, with a flash of what was almost insolence. 'If your Lordship is so indifferent I would you could change with me! I vow I should not find it a matter of no consequence to be a brother of the Duke of Leinster, the nephew of the Duke of Richmond, and a son of one of the noblest families in Ireland.'

Edward turned abruptly to the little fort and again endeavoured to engage his visitor's attention; but young Master Reynolds was plainly not at all interested. He began, instead, to examine the Orangery, to exclaim about its size and splendour and the beauty of the Château.

'It belongs to your uncle, does it not? He is Duke of Aubignè too, in France? Oh, I thought it a splendid place! The Duchess is so gracious as to give my mother tea on the terrace.'

Edward laughed. 'I am afraid you do not understand us at all. You must find me rather dull. I don't know what to do to amuse you.' He frowned in an effort to think of some distraction for his unwelcome and disliked guest. 'There are the fishponds—we have some carp supposed to be a hundred years old. Then the fountains, too, or would you like a walk along the Garonne?' he added anxiously.

But Master Reynolds rejected all these attractions.

'I think we should go back to the Château and sit with the Duchess and my mother. Perhaps you will present me to Mr. Ogilvie whom I have not seen yet?'

His bold eyes roamed over the gorgeous tapestry which was now gleaming in the rays of the sinking sun and exclaimed: 'That must be worth a great deal of money! My mother had one to sell once, not so fine as that, and got near a thousand pounds for it.'

Edward, who had never thought of anything in terms of money, was again at a complete loss.

'It is a beautiful thing,' he said, thoughtfully. 'I think there is no room for it in the house, that is why they keep it here. The Orangery is warmed in winter for tha plants, so it does not get damp.'

Master Reynolds stepped close to the arras and stared at the figure of the triumphant conqueror in his gilded chariot.

'Would it not be splendid to be in his position!' he exclaimed, with real feeling. 'Fancy, to be at the head of such a procession, with all this pomp and parade just for oneself alone! A wreath of laurel and gold armour and jewels round one's neck!'

'But there is the slave—see how unhappy he looks, as if expecting a beating! How can the man in the chariot feel glad with that poor creature pushing his wheel?'

The slave?' exclaimed Master Tom, swinging round in amazement. 'Why, that adds to the pleasure of it, to think that one has all those people to do nothing but one's will!'

'They are human beings too,' exclaimed Edward, reddening. 'They have their rights and it is very horrid to think that they should suffer. I wish Mr. Ogilvie would talk to you. If you would listen to him a little while you would soon think quite differently.'

Master Reynolds smiled behind his hand, and said, with a smoothness displeasing in one of his age:

'Why, I have no doubt Mr. Ogilvie is a very learned gentleman and would soon convert me.'

'Let us go and find him,' exclaimed Edward eagerly. But before the two boys could leave the Orangery, Edward's mother came swiftly across the lawn and said kindly to young Reynolds:

'Your mother's coach is waiting and she is asking for you. I am afraid there is no more time for you to see the Château. You will come another day, perhaps.'

'Or I may wait on you in Dublin, your Grace?' replied the boy eagerly.

'Why, yes, that of course, and I must come to your mother's warehouses to see what new silks she has brought from Lyons.'

As the coach rolled away towards the great gates of scrolled iron, the Duchess laughed good-humouredly.

'That is a sad little monkey. The poor, slily, conceited woman! It is unhappy for them that her husband is dead, for I believe he was a man of sense and judgment.' Who are they?' asked Edward, still baffled and puzzled.

'Did he not tell you? Mrs. Reynolds, who has the big silk warehouse in Dublin. I believe she is worth twenty thousand pounds, and I have always found her very obliging and courteous; she is a Fitzgerald, too, but not of your family, I think. But it is impossible to put her at her ease, and what has she not made of the boy!'

The deepening light began to return to the landscape the colour which had been taken out of it by the heat of midday, the trees in the park, the plantains, the oaks, the beeches, took on firm shapes. The river, which had been imperceptible in the haze, now appeared blue as violets, and beyond the meadows showed the brilliant grass ready for the hay-making, studded with blue and white and yellow flowers. Every brick and stone in the façade of the Château was clearly visible, every veining, calcyx and stamen in the flowers curling round the terrace balustrade stood out.

Edward was comforted by the beauty about him. He had been jarred and ruffled by the visit of the little silk mercer, he had felt vicariously humiliated by the talk of the other boy. He wanted to go back and look at his fort; but he hesitated. He did not care to go into the Orangery in the dusk; for then, even more than in the sunshine of the afternoon, the figure of the crouching slave pushing the wheel became alive and ominous. Ashamed of his own intangible fear, which he did not even put in the form of a thought, the boy went slowly on his way.

But when he reached the foot of the stone stairway that led to the terrace he met the second visitor, a little girl wearing a pale blue cloak and a wide straw hat tied under her chin. She said in French (which he knew as well as his own language):

'Oh, you are Edward? Madame said I would find you here.'

She gave him her hand and the boy put it on his own and kissed the fingers as he had seen his father and Mr. Ogilvie do when presented to ladies.

'What would you like to do, Mademoiselle?' he asked. The child reflected a second.

'I was told that we might go and pick some peaches, but I—I prefer nectarines.'

'We have some nectarines, too,' he replied. 'Come with me before it gets too dark for me to see which are the ripest.'

She put her hand through his arm, and with an engaging air of confidence walked beside him through the gloom. They reached the long, deep, pink-coloured brick wall of the fruit gardens where pears, nectarines, peaches and apples in espalier were nailed, facing southwards. The fruit was warm and luscious behind the curling leaves protected by fine net.

Will you have a nectarine or a yellow plum? Or one of these pears which I don't know the name of, but which are supposed to be very rare?'

'I would like a nectarine, please.' He stepped across the border which was set with tufts of basil, thyme and rosemary and putting his hand under the net he picked one, two, three, and placed them in the folded arms of the little girl.

'What is your name, Mademoiselle?'

'Louise.'

She fingered the fruit curiously, delicately. 'They are quite warm from the sun.' She offered him one and they ate silently.

Edward felt in complete sympathy with her, he longed to tell her all his most secret thoughts, even about the Negro on the tapestry in the Orangery. He looked at her very keenly. Young as she was she had much character in her face, and at the corner of her mouth was a small brown mole.

She was a very serious little girl, but not in the least timid or shy. She began to talk of herself, how she was being taught to embroider and to play the harp. She was often in Paris, but liked the country, where she had a pony, better. When she grew up she meant to have a cabriolet with a white horse.

Then she listened with interest while the boy told her of himself, of his lessons with Mr. Ogilvie whom he loved so much, his desire to become a soldier, of his brothers and sisters.

They turned slowly back towards the house, and as they neared the terrace they heard a voice call:

'Louise. Louise.'

'It is my mother. It is time I went. Some day you must come and see us. We too have a garden and I would like to show you our still-room. I am allowed to make things there myself sometimes. Comfits, you know, from violets and rose petals. You put them in the hot sugar—'

'Louise, Louise,' came the voice of her mother.

'Oh, don't go,' implored the boy, 'please stay, there is so much I want to ask you. When shall I see you again?'

She shook her head with a child's vagueness.

'Soon,' he insisted.

'Oh, yes. I like you very much. I must come again soon.' Then she turned, and obedient to the insistent call, ran away. He saw her little figure in the blue cloak pass rapidly up the steps to the terrace and then become lost behind the balustrade and the vases of flowers.

She had gone.