Colonel Quaritch, V.C. | Page 9

that you had a brother. He was a
dashing officer."
What he did not say, however, was that he also knew him to have been
one of the wildest and most extravagant young men in an extravagant
regiment, and as such had to some extent shunned his society on the
few occasions that he had been thrown in with him. Perhaps Ida, with a
woman's quickness, divined from his tone that there was something
behind his remark--at any rate she did not ask him for particulars of
their slight acquaintance.
"He was my only brother," she continued; "there never were but we
two, and of course his loss was a great blow to me. My father cannot
get over it at all, although----" and she broke off suddenly, and rested
her head upon her hand.
At this moment the Squire was heard advancing down the stairs,
shouting to the servants as he came.
"A thousand pardons, my dear, a thousand pardons," he said as he
entered the room, "but, well, if you will forgive particulars, I was quite
unable to discover the whereabouts of a certain necessary portion of the
male attire. Now, Colonel Quaritch, will you take my daughter? Stop,
you don't know the way--perhaps I had better show you with the
candle."
Accordingly he advanced out of the vestibule, and turning to the left,

led the way down a long passage till he reached the dining-room. This
apartment was like the vestibule, oak-panelled, but the walls were
decorated with family and other portraits, including a very curious
painting of the Castle itself, as it was before its destruction in the time
of Cromwell. This painting was executed on a massive slab of oak, and
conceived in a most quaint and formal style, being relieved in the
foreground with stags at gaze and woodeny horses, that must,
according to any rule of proportion, have been about half as large as the
gateway towers. Evidently, also, it was of an older date than the present
house, which is Jacobean, having probably been removed to its present
position from the ruins of the Castle. Such as it was, however, it gave a
very good idea of what the ancient seat of the Boisseys and de la
Molles had been like before the Roundheads had made an end of its
glory. The dining-room itself was commodious, though not large. It
was lighted by three narrow windows which looked out upon the moat,
and bore a considerable air of solid comfort. The table, made of black
oak, of extraordinary solidity and weight, was matched by a sideboard
of the same material and apparently of the same date, both pieces of
furniture being, as Mr. de la Molle informed his guests, relics of the
Castle.
On this sideboard were placed several pieces of old and massive plate,
each of which was rudely engraved with three falcons /or/, the arms of
the de la Molle family. One piece, indeed, a very ancient salver, bore
those of the Boisseys--a ragged oak, in an escutcheon of pretence--
showing thereby that it dated from that de la Molle who in the time of
Henry the Seventh had obtained the property by marriage with the
Boissey heiress.
Conversation having turned that way, as the dinner, which was a simple
one, went on, the old Squire had this piece of plate brought to Harold
Quaritch for him to examine.
"It is very curious," he said; "have you much of this, Mr. de la Molle?"
"No indeed," he said; "I wish I had. It all vanished in the time of
Charles the First."

"Melted down, I suppose," said the Colonel.
"No, that is the odd part of it. I don't think it was. It was hidden
somewhere--I don't know where, or perhaps it was turned into money
and the money hidden. But I will tell you the story if you like as soon
as we have done dinner."
Accordingly, when the servants had removed the cloth, and after the
old fashion placed the wine upon the naked wood, the Squire began his
tale, of which the following is the substance.
"In the time of James I. the de la Molle family was at the height of its
prosperity, that is, so far as money goes. For several generations
previous the representatives of the family had withdrawn themselves
from any active participation in public affairs, and living here at small
expense upon their lands, which were at that time very large, had
amassed a quantity of wealth that, for the age, might fairly be called
enormous. Thus, Sir Stephen de la Molle, the grandfather of the Sir
James who lived in the time of James I., left to his son, also named
Stephen, a sum of no less than twenty-three thousand pounds in gold.