By Right of Purchase

Harold Bindloss

Description

Out of his element as a house guest staying in a genteel mansion thousands of miles away from his ancestral homeland of Western Canada, Leland forms an uneasy truce with his unscrupulous host, Jimmy Denham, and finds romance when he least expects it.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776596430
• Langue: English

Extrait

BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE
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HAROLD BINDLOSS
 
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By Right of Purchase First published in 1908 Epub ISBN 978-1-77659-643-0 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77659-644-7 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Chapter I - Barrock-Holme Chapter II - Leland is Roused to Pity Chapter III - Pressure of Circumstances Chapter IV - Leland Makes the Plunge Chapter V - No Escape Chapter VI - The Prairie Chapter VII - Carrie Makes Her Views Clear Chapter VIII - Leland Seeks Distraction Chapter IX - Farmers in Council Chapter X - Homicide Chapter XI - Seedtime Chapter XII - Leland's Protest Chapter XIII - Carrie Abases Herself Chapter XIV - The Outlaws Strike Back Chapter XV - Beneficent Rain Chapter XVI - Urmston Shows His Prudence Chapter XVII - Carrie Makes a Comparison Chapter XVIII - A Midnight Visitor Chapter XIX - Prairie Hay Chapter XX - An Understanding Chapter XXI - A Willing Sacrifice Chapter XXII - Hail Chapter XXIII - Gallwey's Adventure Chapter XXIV - Leland Makes Sure Chapter XXV - A Portentous Light Chapter XXVI - Fighting Fire Chapter XXVII - Leland Feels the Strain Chapter XXVIII - Carrie's Responsibility Chapter XXIX - Leland Strikes Back Chapter XXX - Harvest
Chapter I - Barrock-Holme
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It was a hot September afternoon. Leland wondered vaguely how theharvesting and threshing were progressing in his own far distantcountry, as he leant on the moss-grown wall of the terrace beneath theold house of Barrock-holme. He had been a week there now as the guest ofLieutenant Denham, whose acquaintance he had originally made out on thewide prairie in Western Canada, and for whom he had a certain likingthat was slightly tinged with contempt. The estate would be JimmyDenham's some day, provided that his father succeeded in keeping it outof the grasp of his creditors. Those who knew the old man well fanciedthat he might with difficulty accomplish it, for Branscombe Denham ofBarrock-holme was not troubled by many scruples, and had acquiredconsiderable proficiency in the evasion of debts.
The mansion stood on the brink of a ravine in the desolate bordermarshes. Part of it had been built to stand a siege in the days of theScottish wars. The strong square tower was intact and habitable still;the rest of the low building stretched round three sides of aquadrangle, with a dry moat across the fourth, beyond which lawn andflower-garden lay shielded from the shrewd border winds by tall,lichened walls. Through an archway one could look down, acrosssilver-stemmed birches and dusky firs, upon the Barrock flashing in thedepths of the ravine.
Leland found the prospect pleasant as he lounged there, with a cigar inhis hand. He was accustomed to his own country, and there was somethingcongenial and, in a fashion, familiar in the sweep of lonely moorlandsand bleak Scottish hills which stretched, shining warm in the palingsunlight, along the northern horizon. It reminded him of his owncountry, which was even more wild and desolate, on the southern borderof Western Canada. He had been three months in England, and was alreadylonging to be home again, though he had found what he called thehardness of the North congenial.
It was a land of legends and traditions, of which they were rather proudat Barrock-holme. The grey tower had more than once been beset by theborder spears, on whom the dragon's mouth on the wall above had spoutedboiling oil. There was an oak on the edge of the ravine which had bornebitter fruit in the days of foray, and—for the men of Barrock-holmecould strike back tellingly then—the quadrangle had been filled withScottish cattle. They were grim, hard men, and what he had heard oftheir doings appealed to Leland. He himself was in some respects a hardman, and rather primitive. The life of the wardens of Barrock-holme andthe moss-troopers was rather more comprehensible to him than the one ofwhich he had had brief glimpses in London.
While he stood there, Jimmy Denham came along the terrace, and stoppedbeside him.
"You're not going down to join them?" he said, indicating with a littlewave of a particularly well-shaped hand the white-clad figures thatflitted to and fro across a sunken square of turf beyond the lawn.
"No," said Leland. "I don't play tennis well. In fact, I don't play anyof your games. I never had time to learn them."
Denham sat down upon the wall and looked at him languidly. He was awell-favoured young man, tall and fair, with pale blue eyes, anddistinguished by a finicking, almost feminine daintiness in dress andperson, though he was proficient in most manly sports and a soldier. Hisfriends, however, were aware that his fastidiousness was much lessnoticeable in his character.
"One can't do everything," he said lazily. "I don't know that I've seenanother beginner show quite as good form at billiards as you do. I'llplay you fifty with the same allowance as last time. It will be sometime yet before dinner."
"Not just now. It seems to me I've had about enough of billiards for oneweek. To be quite straight, one finds learning your amusements a trifleexpensive, and I'm not sure they're worth it. You see, I'm not going tostay here forever, and once I go back, it will probably be a very longwhile before I take part in any of them again."
Denham laughed with undiminished good-humour. "Well," he said, "though Ihave taken a little out of you, the acquisition of knowledge is usuallymore or less costly. There's a couple of hours to put in, anyway. Whatwould you like to do?"
"I don't mind poker, if you'll make it high enough."
Denham saw the little twinkle in his eyes, and languidly shook his head.
"No," he said; "I rather fancy you would have me there. The suggestion'sa bit significant, and I have a notion your nerve's too good. Of course,it isn't very sporting to say no, but I really can't afford to face arisk just now."
"Which was probably why you wanted to play billiards with me?"
Denham regarded him reproachfully for a moment or two, and then made alittle gesture. "That coming from some people might be consideredoffensive, but nobody seems to mind how you express yourself, althoughyour observations aren't always particularly delicate. Still, I'mwilling to admit that I want fifty pounds rather worse than I generallydo."
"I wonder," said Leland, with a trace of dryness, "if you would take itamiss if I offered to lend it to you?"
Jimmy Denham smiled delicately where another man would have grinned."Not in the least! In fact, I should consider myself distinctly obligedto you."
"Then you shall have a cheque after dinner."
Denham thanked him without effusion. One could almost have fancied thatit was he who was conferring the favour. As Leland listened, a littlesardonic smile crept into his eyes. He was known in his own country as ashrewd man, and was quite aware that he ran some risk in lending hiscomrade fifty pounds. But Jimmy had done him one or two kindnesses, andthat counted for much with Leland.
"Who is the very pretty girl who has just come into the tennis ground?"he asked.
"My sister," said Denham. "I had almost forgotten you had not metCarrie. She is rather pretty, though. While the governor and I areDenhams, she takes after the other side of the family in more ways thanone. She has only just come from Town, you know."
Leland did not know. He had merely heard that there was a Carrie Denham;but as he looked down across the moat he was conscious of a suddeninterest in the girl. She stood with one hand on the back of abasket-chair, her long white dress flowing in easy lines about her talland shapely figure. So far as he could see it, her face beneath the bigwhite hat was attractive, too; but it was her pose that vaguelyimpressed him. There was a suggestion of strength and pride in it thatwas by no means noticeable in the case of either her father or JimmyDenham. The appearance of the man with whom she talked was, however,much less pleasing. He was inclined to be portly, his face was coarselyfleshy, with the distinctive stamp of the city on him. He looked out ofplace in that quaint old pleasance on the desolate border side. Hereminded Leland forcibly of the caricatures he had seen of Hebrewusurers.
"And the gentleman?" he asked.
Denham laughed. "You would expect his name to be Moses, or Levy, but, asa matter of fact, it isn't. Anyway, he calls himself Aylmer. A friend ofthe governor's, and the usual something in the city. Comes down for aweek or two at the partridges, ostensibly, at least, though it's quitepossible there will be a dog or two, and, perhaps, a keeper, disabledbefore he goes away. If you care to come down, I'll present you toCarrie. She knows you are here, and is no doubt a trifle curious aboutyou."
If she was, Miss Denham concealed the fact very well, and Leland, whowas not readily embarrassed, felt a quite unusual diffidence as she heldout a little white hand. He noticed, however, that she looked at himfrankly, and that she had a beautiful hand, like the rest of theDenhams. Her face was cold and somewhat colourless, with dusky hair lowon the broad forehead, unusually straight brows, and dark eyes; abeautiful face it seemed to him, but one that had a vague suggestion ofweariness in it just then. Carrie Denham, he thought, in no wayresembled her easy-going brother Jimmy. There was, as he expressed it tohimself, more grit in her; and yet he was, without exactly knowing why,rather sorry for her. She was evidently not more