The Quiet Gentleman Read Free Page B

while with one hand he removed the beaver from his head, and held it out, and with the other he relinquished his gloves and his cane into the care of a footman. His hat was reverently taken from him by Abney, who murmured: ‘Your coat, my lord!’
    ‘My coat, yes: in a moment!’ the Earl said, moving unhurriedly towards the Hall.
    An instant Theodore hesitated, waiting for the Dowager or for Martin to make some sign; then he strode forward, with his hands held out, exclaiming: ‘Gervase, my dear fellow! Welcome!’
    Martin, his affronted stare taking in the number of the capes of that drab coat, the high polish on the Hessian boots, the extravagant points of a shirt-collar, and the ordered waves of guinea-gold hair above a white brow, muttered audibly: ‘Good God! the fellow’s nothing but a curst dandy !’

Two
    The flicker of a quizzical look, cast in Martin’s direction, betrayed that his half-brother had heard his involuntary exclamation. Before the ready flush had surged up to the roots of his hair, Gervase was no longer looking at him, but was shaking his cousin’s hand, smiling at him, and saying: ‘How do you do, Theo? You see, I do keep my promises: I have come!’
    Theo held his slender hand an instant longer, pressing it slightly. ‘One year past! You are a villain!’
    ‘Ah, yes, but you see I must have gone into black gloves, and really I could not bring myself to do so!’ He drew his hand away, and advanced into the Hall, towards his stepmother’s chair.
    She did not rise, but she extended her hand to him. ‘Well, and so you have come at last, St Erth! I am happy to see you here, though, to be sure, I scarcely expected ever to do so! I do not know why you could not have come before, but you were always a strange, whimsical creature, and I daresay I shall not find that you have changed.’
    ‘Dear ma’am, believe me, it is the greatest satisfaction to me to be able to perceive, at a glance, that you have not changed – not by so much as a hairsbreadth!’ Gervase responded, bowing over her hand.
    So sweetly were the words uttered, that everyone, except the Dowager, was left in doubt of their exact significance. The Dowager, who would have found it hard to believe that she could be the object of satire, was unmoved. ‘No, I fancy I do not alter,’ she said complacently. ‘No doubt, however, you see a great change in your brother.’
    ‘A great change,’ agreed Gervase, holding out his hand to Martin, and scanning him out of his smiling, blue eyes. ‘Can you be my little brother? It seems so unlikely! I should not have recognized you.’ He turned, offering hand and smile to the Chaplain. ‘But Mr Clowne I must certainly have known anywhere! How do you do?’
    The Chaplain, who, from the moment of the Earl’s handing his hat to Abney, had stood staring at him as though he could not drag his eyes from his face, seemed to be a trifle shaken, and answered with much less than his usual urbanity: ‘And I you, my lord! For one moment it was as though – Your lordship must forgive me! Memory serves one some strange tricks.’
    ‘You mean, I think, that I am very like my mother,’ said Gervase. ‘I am glad – though it is a resemblance which has brought upon me in the past much that I wish to forget.’
    ‘It has frequently been remarked,’ stated the Dowager, ‘that Martin is the very likeness of all the Frants.’
    ‘You are too severe, ma’am,’ said Gervase gently.
    ‘Let me tell you, St Erth, that if I favour the Frants I am devilish glad to hear it!’ said Martin.
    ‘Tell me anything you wish, my dear Martin!’ said Gervase encouragingly.
    His young relative was not unnaturally smitten to silence, and stood glaring at him. The Dowager said in a voice of displeasure: ‘I have the greatest dislike of such trifling talk as this. I shall make you known to Miss Morville, St Erth.’
    Bows were exchanged; the Earl murmured that he was happy to make Miss Morville’s acquaintance;