"Been riding instead of going to church, the young rascals," he said to himself, as he rang the bell.
A small, shrewd-faced man opened the door and ushered Mr. Delane into the hall. Then he stopped.
"If you go straight on, sir," said he, "through that baize door, and across the passage, and through the opposite door, you will find Mr. Bannister."
Mr. Delane's face expressed surprise.
"Mr. Bannister, sir," the man explained, "don't like visitors being announced, sir. If you would be so kind as walk in – "
It was a harmless whim, and the Squire nodded assent. He passed through the baize door, crossed the passage, and paused before opening the opposite door. The sounds which came from behind it arrested his attention. To the accompaniment of a gentle drumming noise, as if of sticks or umbrellas bumped against the floor, a voice was declaiming, or rather chanting, poetry. The voice rose and fell, and Mr. Delane could not distinguish the words, until it burst forth triumphantly with the lines:
"Love grows hate for love's sake, life takes death for guide;
Night hath none but one red star – Tyrannicide."
"Good gracious!" said Mr. Delane.
The voice dropped again for a few moments, then it hurled out:
"Down the way of Tsars awhile in vain deferred,
Bid the Second Alexander light the Third.
How for shame shall men rebuke them? how may we
Blame, whose fathers died and slew, to leave us free?"
The voice was interrupted and drowned by the crash of the pianoforte, struck with remorseless force, and another voice, the voice of a woman, cried, rising even above the crash:
"Now, one of your own, Dale."
"I think I'd better go in," thought Mr. Delane, and he knocked loudly at the door.
He was bidden to enter by the former of the two voices, and, going in, found himself in a billiard room. Five or six people sat round the wall on settees, each holding a cue, with which they were still gently strumming on the floor. A stout, elderly woman was at the piano, and a young man sat cross-legged in the middle of the billiard-table, with a book in one hand and a cigar in the other. There was a good deal of tobacco smoke in the room, and Mr. Delane did not at first distinguish the faces of the company.
The young man on the table uncoiled himself with great agility, jumped down, and came forward to meet the newcomer with outstretched hands. As he outstretched them, he dropped the book and the cigar to the ground on either side of him.
"Ah, here you are! Delightful of you to come!" he cried. "Now, let me guess you!"
"Mr. Bannister? – Have I the pleasure?"
"Yes, yes. Now let's see – don't tell me your name."
He drew back a step, surveyed Mr. Delane's portly figure, his dignified carriage, his plain solid watch-chain, his square-toed strong boots.
"The Squire!" he exclaimed. "Mr. Delane, isn't it?"
"I am Mr. Delane."
"Good! You don't mind being guessed, do you? It's so much more amusing. What will you have?"
"Thank you, I've lunched, Mr. Bannister."
"Have you? We've just breakfasted – had a ride before, you know. But I must introduce you."
He searched the floor, picked up the cigar, looked at it regretfully, and threw it out of an open window.
"This," he resumed, waving his hand toward the piano, "is Mrs. Ernest Hodge. This is Miss Fane, Mrs. Hodge's daughter – no, not by a first marriage; everybody suggests that. Professional name, you know – she sings. Hodge really wouldn't do, would it, Mrs. Hodge? This is Philip Hume. This is Arthur Angell, who writes verses – like me. This is – but I expect you know these gentlemen?"
Mr. Delane peered through the smoke which Philip Hume was producing from a long pipe, and to his amazement discerned three familiar faces: those of Dr. Roberts, the Mayor, and Alderman Johnstone. The Doctor was flushed and looked excited; the Mayor was a picture of dignified complacency; Johnstone appeared embarrassed and uncomfortable, for his bald head was embellished with a flowery garland. Dale saw Mr. Delane's eyes rest on this article.
"We always crown anybody who adds to our knowledge," he explained. "He gets a wreath of honor. The Alderman added to our knowledge of the expense of building a room. So Miss Fane crowned him."
An appreciative chuckle from the Mayor followed this explanation; he knocked the butt of his cue against the floor, and winked at Philip Hume.
The last-named, seeing that Mr. Delane was somewhat surprised at the company, came up to him and said:
"Come and sit down; Dale never remembers that anybody wants a seat. Here's an armchair."
Mr. Delane sat down next to Miss Fane, and noticed, even in his perturbation, that his neighbor was a remarkably pretty girl, with fair hair clustering in a thick mass on the nape of her neck, and large blue eyes which left gazing on Dale Bannister when their owner turned to greet him. Mr. Delane would have enjoyed talking to her, had not his soul been vexed at the presence of the three Denborough men. One did not expect to meet the tradesmen of the town; and what business had the Doctor there? To spend Sunday in that fashion would not increase his popularity or his practice. And then that nonsense about the wreath! How undignified it was! it was even worse than yelling out Nihilistic verses by way of Sabbath amusement.
"I shall get away as soon as I can," he thought, "and I shall say a word to the Doctor."
He was called from his meditations by Miss Fane. She sat in a low chair with her feet on a stool, and now, tilting the chair back, she fixed her eyes on Mr. Delane, and asked:
"Are you shocked?"
No man likes to admit that he is shocked.
"I am not, but many people would be."
"I suppose you don't like meeting those men?"
"Hedger is an honest man in his way of life. I have no great opinion of Johnstone."
"This is your house, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"All the houses about here are yours, aren't they?"
"Most of them are, Miss Fane."
"Then you are a great man?"
The question was put so simply that Mr. Delane could not suspect a sarcastic intent.
"Only locally," he answered, smiling.
"Have you any daughters?" she asked.
"Yes; one."
"What is she like?"
"Fancy asking her father! I think Janet a beauty."
"Fair or dark?"
"Dark."
"Dale likes dark girls. Tall or short?"
"Tall."
"Good eyes?"
"I like them."
"Oh, that'll do. Dale will like her;" and Miss Fane nodded reassuringly. Mr. Delane had not the heart to intimate his indifference to Dale Bannister's opinion of his daughter.
"Do you know this country?" he asked, by way of conversation.
"We've only been here a week, but we've ridden a good deal. We hold Dale on, you know."
"You are on a visit to Mr. Bannister?"
"Oh, yes, mother and I are here."
Mr. Delane could not help wondering whether their presence was such a matter of course as her tone implied, but before he could probe the matter further, he heard Dale exclaim:
"Oh, it's a wretched thing! Read it yourself, Roberts."
"Mount him on the rostrum," cried the young man who had been presented to Mr. Delane