Corporal Sam and Other StoriesQuiller-Couch, Arthur
General
Corporal Sam and Other Stories
Quiller-Couch, Arthur
Short stories, English
He did more. The stab in my upper arm had bled a little, and the
shirt-sleeve could not be pulled from it without pain. He drew a
pair of scissors from his side-pocket and cut the linen away from
around the wound: and then, having noted my weakness, helped me to
wash and dress, drew on stockings and boots for me, nor left me until
he had buckled on my sword-belt, and then only with an excuse that he
must change his coat before waiting at table. Sir Luke and Lady
Glynn (he assured me) would be by this time awaiting me in the
dining-room.
Sure enough I found them there, my lady standing by the midmost
window and gazing down upon the park, Sir Luke by the fireplace with
an arm resting on the high mantel-ledge and one muddied boot jabbing
at the logs of a new-made fire till the flame roared up the chimney.
I wondered what madness could command so huge a blaze in the month of
August (albeit 'twas the last of the month), until he turned and I
saw that he had been drinking heavily.
It seemed that Lady Glynn had not heard me enter, for as I paused, a
little within the doorway, she leaned forward without turning and
pushed open a lattice of the window. I supposed that she did this to
abate the heat of the fire in the room. But no; she was leaning and
listening to the sound of guns far in the west. The sound--I had
heard it in my sleep and again at intervals while dressing--broke
heavily on the mist that damped the panes and drifted through the
opening with a breeze that set the curls waving about her neck and
puffed out the silken shawl she had drawn around her naked shoulders.
Sir Luke looked up, and was the first to catch sight of me.
'Hear the guns?' he said. 'Your foot hasn't the luck of your horse.
The King caught 'em, drove 'em back over Lestithiel Bridge, and has
been keeping 'em on the run all day, pressing 'em t'wards the coast.'
'Is that the report?' I asked.
'That's my report,' he answered; 'and'--thrusting forward one bemired
boot--'you may count on it. I've been following and watching the
fun.'
By this time Lady Glynn had turned and came past her husband to greet
me, without throwing him a look.
'You are the better for your rest?' she asked. 'At least I see that,
though wounded, you have contrived to pay me the compliment of
wearing fresh linen and a clean pair of boots.'
This was awkward, and--what was worse--she said it awkwardly, with a
sprightliness, gracious yet affected, that did not become her at all.
She meant, of course, to annoy her husband, and his face showed that
she had succeeded. He turned away to the fire with a sulky frown,
while she stood smiling, holding out a hand to me.
I touched it respectfully, and let it drop. 'The credit,' said I,
'belongs all to your servant Pascoe.'
'And here he is,' she took me up gaily, as Pascoe appeared in the
doorway. 'Is dinner ready?'
'To be served at once, my lady.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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