England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Love stories; Oxford (England) -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
He had happened to notice his father going towards the moor, and he
took the same path, running simply for exercise, measuring his young
strength against the steepness of the hill and filling his lungs with
the sweet evening air, in a passionate physical reaction against the
family distress.
Five miles away, in this same evening glow, was Constance Bledlow
walking or sitting in her aunts’ garden? Or was she nearer still—at
Penfold Rectory, just beyond the moor he was climbing, the old
rectory-house where Sorell and Radowitz were staying? He had taken good
care to give that side of the hills a wide berth since his return home.
But a great deal of the long ridge was common ground, and in the
private and enclosed parts there were several rights of way crossing
the moor, besides the one lonely road traversing it from end to end on
which he had met Constance Bledlow. If he had not been so tied at home,
and so determined not to run any risks of a meeting, he might very well
have come across Sorell at least, if not Radowitz, on the high ground
dominating the valleys on either side. Sorell was a great walker. But
probably they were as anxious to avoid a casual meeting as he was.
The evening was rapidly darkening, and as he climbed he searched the
hillside with his quick eyes for any sign of his father. Once or twice
he stopped to call:
“Father!”
The sound died away, echoing among the fields and hollows of the moor.
But there was no answer. He climbed further. He was now near the stream
which descended through the park, and its loud jubilant voice burst
upon him, filling the silence.
Then, above the plashing of the stream and the rising of the wind, he
heard suddenly a cry:
“Help!”
It came from a point above his head. A sudden horror came upon him. He
dashed on. In another minute a man’s figure appeared, higher up, dark
against the reddened sky. The man put one hand to his mouth, and
shouted through it again—“Help!”
Douglas came up with him. In speechless amazement he saw that it was
Otto Radowitz, without a coat, bareheaded, pale and breathless.
“There’s a man here, Falloden. I think it’s your father. He’s awfully
ill. I believe he’s dying. Come at once! I’ve been shouting for a long
time.”
Douglas said nothing. He rushed on, following Radowitz, who took a
short cut bounding through the deep ling of the moor. Only a few yards
till Douglas perceived a man, with a grey, drawn face, who was lying
full length on a stretch of grass beside the stream, his head and
shoulders propped against a low rock on which a folded coat had been
placed as a pillow.
“Father!”
Sir Arthur opened his eyes. He was drawing deep, gasping breaths, the
strong life in him wrestling still. But the helplessness, the ineffable
surrender and defeat of man’s last hour, was in his face.
Falloden knelt down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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