Herb of Grace | Page 7

schoolroom, you know, so I told
Mrs. Courtenay that I had a pressing engagement in town."
"Oh, I begin to see light."
"I did some shopping in the Strand, and then I thought I would look

you up in your grimy old diggings. My word, we are going to have a
storm, Herrick," as a flash of lightning lit up the dark room.
"Yes, but it will soon be over, and you are in no hurry to catch your
train."
"No, you are right there. The house is all in a muddle from the wedding,
and we are to have a sort of nondescript meal at eight. Herrick, old
fellow, I want you to put me up for a couple of nights. You are coming
down to Staplegrove on Tuesday, so I told Dinah that we might as well
travel together."
"Does your sister really expect me?" asked Malcolm dubiously. "My
dear boy," as Cedric grew rather red and pulled his budding moustache
in an affronted manner, "I know you were good enough to invite me,
but I understood from you that your sisters were the owners of the
Wood House, and as I have not yet made their acquaintance--"
"Hang it all, Herrick, I suppose a fellow can see his friends sometimes,
even if he is dependent on his sisters," and Cedric's tone was decidedly
sulky. "Besides, Dinah sent you a message--she and Elizabeth will be
delighted to see you, and all that sort of thing, and they hoped you
would stay as long as possible."
"I am glad you told me that," returned Malcolm, with a relieved air. In
reality he had been secretly much embarrassed by Cedric's invitation.
"You know, my dear fellow, how pleased I am to be introduced to your
people, and it is most kind of Miss Templeton to send me that
message."
"Oh, Dinah is a good old sort," returned the lad carelessly. The cloud
had vanished from his face. "Well, Herrick, what do you say about
putting me up? There are two or three things I want to do in town, and
it is a bore staying on at the Briars now old Fred has gone."
"When do you want to come to me?" asked Malcolm. "I am to sleep at
Queen's Gate the next two nights, and I have promised to take Miss
Sheldon out to-morrow. She is my mother's adopted daughter, you

know--Anna Sheldon. I have often mentioned her to you."
Then Cedric nodded.
"I shall be back at Chelsea on Friday, if you like to come to me then;
but the guest-chamber is remarkably small--at present it holds all my
lumber and little else." But as Cedric professed himself indifferent on
the subject of his own comfort--an assertion that drew a covert smile
from his friend's lips--the matter was soon settled.
An animated conversation ensued, consisting mainly of a disjointed
monologue on Cedric's part; for Malcolm Herrick only contributed a
laconic remark or question at intervals, but there was a kindly gleam in
his eyes as he listened, as though the fair, closely- cropped head lying
back on the shabby cushion, with the eager bright young face, was a
goodly spectacle.
At first sight the friendship between these two men seemed singularly
ill-assorted; for what possible affinity could there be between a
thoughtful, intellectual man like Malcolm Herrick, with his habitual
reserve, his nature refined, critical, and yet imaginative, with its strong
bias to pessimism, and its intolerance of all shams, and Cedric, with his
facile, pleasure-loving temperament, at once indolent and mercurial--a
creature of moods and tenses, as fiery as a Welshman, but full of
lovable and generous impulses?
The disparity between their ages also seemed to forbid anything like
equality of sympathy. Malcolm was at least eight or nine years older,
and at times he seemed middle-aged in Cedric's eyes. "He is such a
regular old fossil," he would say--"such a cut and dried specimen of
humanity, that it is impossible to keep in touch with him; it stands to
reason that we must clash a bit; but there, in spite of his cranks, Herrick
is a good fellow." But, notwithstanding this faint praise, the inhabitants
of the Wood House knew well that there was no one whom Cedric
valued more than his friend Malcolm Herrick.
CHAPTER II

FALLEN AMONG THIEVES
Why insist on rash personal relations with your friend? Why go to his
house, or know his mother and brother and sisters? Why be visited by
him at your own? Are these things material to our covenant? Leave this
touching and clawing. Let him be to me a spirit.--EMERSON.
Malcolm Herrick was a devout disciple of Emerson. He always spoke
of him as one of the master minds that dominated humanity. "He is the
chosen Gamaliel at whose feet