it is certainly a strange coincidence that you should stumble across that sombre place, because, after what you told me the other day about your family connection with this part of the country, i have no doubt whatever that the unhappy tenants of pertwood farm (as it is called even now) were nearly related to yourself. their tragical story is well known to me,25 although its principal events happened more than sixty years ago, when i was a boy. the house had been built and enclosed, and the trees planted, by a morose old man who wished to shut himself off from the world, yet was by no means averse to a good deal of creature comfort. he lived in it for some years, attended only by one hard-featured man, who did apparently men and women’s work equally well—lived there until local rumour had grown tired of inventing fables about him, and left him to the oblivion he desired. then one day the news began to circulate that pertwood had changed hands, that old cusack was gone, and that a middle-aged man with a beautiful young wife had taken up his abode there, without any one in the vicinity knowing aught of the change until it had been made. then the village tongues wagged loosely for awhile, especially when it was found that the new-comers were almost as reserved as old cusack had been. but as time went on mr. delambre, whose huguenot name stamped him as most probably a native of these parts (you have noticed how very frequent such names are hereabout), leased several good-sized fields lower down the hill towards chicklade, and began to do a little farming. this, of course, necessitated his employing labour, and consequently, by slow degrees, scraps of personalia about him filtered through the sluggish tongues of the men who worked for him. thus we learned that his wife (your grandmother’s sister, my boy) was rarely beautiful, though pale and silent as a ghost. that her husband loved her tigerishly, could not bear that any26 other eyes should see her but his, and it was believed that his fierce watchful jealousy of her being even looked upon was fretting her to death. quite a flutter of excitement pervaded the village here not long after the above details became public property, by one of the labourers from pertwood coming galloping in on a plough-horse for old mary hoddinot, who had nursed at least two generations of neighbours in their earliest days. she was whisked off in the baker’s cart, but the news remained behind that twin boys had arrived at pert’ood, as it was locally called, and that delambre was almost frantic with anxiety about his idol. the veil thus hastily lifted dropped again, and only driblets of news came at long intervals. we heard that old mary was in permanent residence, that the boys were thriving sturdily, and that the mother was fairer than ever and certainly happier. so things jogged along for a couple of years, until an occasional word came deviously from pertwood to the effect that the miserable delambre was now jealous of his infant boys. self-tortured, he was making his wife a living martyr, and such was his wild-beast temper that none dare interfere. at last the climax was put upon our scanty scraps of intelligence by the appearance in our midst of old mary, pale, thin, and trembling. it was some time before we could gather her dread story, she was so sadly shaken; but by degrees we learned that after a day in which delambre seemed to be perfectly devil-possessed, alternately raging at and caressing his wife, venting savage threats against the innocent babes “who were stealing all her affection away from him,”27 he had gone down the hill to see after enfolding some sheep. he was barely out of sight before his wife, turning to old mary, said, “please put your arms round me, i feel so tired.” mary complied, drawing the fair, weary head down upon her faithful old bosom, where it remained until a chill struck through her bodice. alarmed, she looked down and saw that her mistress was resting indeed.
although terrified almost beyond measure, the poor old creature retained sufficient presence of mind to release herself from the dead arms, rush to the door, and scream for her employer. he was returning, when her cries hastened his steps, and, breaking into a run, he burst into the room and saw! he stood stonily for a minute, then, turning to the trembling old woman, shouted “go away.” not daring to disobey, she hurried off, and here she was. after much discussion, my father and the village doctor decided to go to pertwood and see if anything could be done. but their errand was in vain. delambre met them at the door, telling them that he did not need, nor would he receive, any help or sympathy. what he did require was to be left alone. and slamming the door in his visitors’ faces, he disappeared. even this grim happening died out of men’s daily talk as the quiet days rolled by, and nothing more occurred to arouse interest. we heard that the boys were well, and were often seen tumbling about the grass-plot before the house door by the farm labourers. rumour said many things concerning the widower’s disposal of his dead. but no one knew anything for certain, except that her body had never been seen again by any eye outside the little family. delambre himself seemed changed for the better, less harsh and morose, although as secretive as ever. he was apparently devoted to his two boys, who throve amazingly. as they grew up he and they were inseparable. he educated them, played with them, made their welfare his one object in life. and they returned his care with the closest affection, in fact the trio seemed never contented apart. yet they never came near the village, nor mixed with the neighbours in any way.
in this quiet neighbourhood the years slip swiftly by as does the current past an anchored ship, and as unnoticeably. the youthful delambres grew and waxed strong enough to render unnecessary the employment of any other labour on the farm than their own, and in consequence it was only at rare intervals that any news of them reached us in roundabout fashion through warminster, where old delambre was wont to go once a week on business. so closely had they held aloof from all of us that when one bitter winter night a tall swarthy young man came furiously knocking at the doctor’s door, he was as completely unknown to the worthy old man as any new arrival from a foreign land. the visitor, however, lost no time in introducing himself as george delambre, and urgently requested the doctor to accompany him at once to pertwood on a matter of life and death. in a few minutes the pair set off through the heavy snow-drifts, and, after a struggle that tried the old doctor terribly,29 arrived at the house to find that the patient was mending fast.
a young woman of about eighteen, only able to mutter a few words of french, had been found huddled up under the wall of the house by george as he was returning from a visit to the sheepfold. she was fairly well dressed in foreign clothing, but at almost the last gasp from privation and cold. how she came there she never knew. the last thing that she remembered was coming to hindon, by so many ways that her money was all spent, in order to find a relative, she having been left an orphan. failing in her search, she had wandered out upon the downs, and the rest was a blank.
in spite of convention she remained at pertwood, making the dull place brighter than it had ever been. but of course both brothers fell in love with the first woman they had ever really known. and she, being thus almost compelled to make her choice, with all a woman’s inexplicable perversity, promised to marry dark saturnine george, although her previous behaviour towards him had been timid and shrinking, as if she feared him. to the rejected brother, fair charles, she had always been most affectionate, so much so, indeed, that he was perfectly justified in looking upon her as his future wife, to be had for the asking. this cruel blow to his almost certain hopes completely stunned him for a time, until his brother with grave and sympathetic words essayed to comfort him. this broke the spell that had bound him, and in a perfect fury of anger he warned his brother that he30 looked upon him as his deadliest enemy, that the world was hardly wide enough for them both; but, for his part, he would not, if he could help it, add another tragedy to their already gloomy home, and to that end he would flee. straightway he rushed and sought his father, and, without any warning, demanded his portion. at first the grim old man stared at him blankly, for his manner was new as his words were rough; then, rising from his chair, the old man bade him be gone—not one penny would he give him; he might go and starve for ought he cared.
“very well,” said charles, “then i go into the village and get advice as to how i shall proceed against you for the wages i have earned since i began to work. and you’ll cut a fine figure at the warminster court.”
the threat was efficient. with a face like ashes and trembling hands the father opened his desk and gave him fifty guineas, telling him that it was half of his total savings, and with an evidently severe struggle to curb his furious temper, asked him to hurry his departure. since he had robbed him, the sooner he was gone the better. the young man turned and went without another word.
that same night old delambre died suddenly and alone. and louise, instead of clinging to her promised husband, came down to the village, where the doctor gave her shelter. the unhappy george, thus cruelly deserted, neglected everything, oscillating between the village and his lonely home. the inquest showed that the old man had died of heart disease;31 and george then, to every one’s amazement, announced his intention of carrying out his father’s oft-repeated wish, and burying him beneath the house by the side of his wife.
