Chapter XI: Watching His Opportunity

For a long time Fred debated with himself whether to make Harry a confederate in his scheme or not. He knew that Harry's affectionate spirit had been sorely ruffled and tried that afternoon by Maurice's conduct towards him; and he knew also he had only to show the large purple bruise on his shoulder to call forth a burst of bitter anger in his brother's breast. Harry, too, had a keen enjoyment in following up any scheme which savoured of danger and mystery; and there would be something almost too seductive in the thought of outwitting Maurice, with all his pride and hauteur, for Harry to be able to refuse his aid.

And, after all, what harm was there in the whole affair? He was not going to steal or even touch anything in the store-room, except to raise the lid of the box marked "Fragile," and take one glimpse at the carved ivory men; just sufficient to be able to describe them faithfully to Maurice, and leave him in all the perplexity of a secret and undiscoverable defeat.

It was only a fair revenge for the uucourteous conduct of his cousin,--the epithets hurled on him in the presence of all the guests, and the cruel blow which had sent him reeling back into the darkness of the store-room. "At least I can sound Harry on the subject, and see how he likes the look of it. If he jumps at the fly, all serene; if not, then mum's the word, and all the danger and glory will be my own." So thought Fred as he slowly walked up the stairs leading to the landing where their room was situated, and his face was grave and abstracted when he opened the door and walked in.

"Well, Fred, old man," cried Harry's sympathizing voice as he entered, "I hope you are not much hurt. I was just saying to Kathleen, as you came in, what a shame it was of Maurice to turn on you the way he did, and to knock you down and call you names before every one!"

"Yes, you may say so; and if you only saw the bruise on my shoulder-blade, you'd open your eyes a bit. I am sure it's as large as a plate this moment, and as black and blue as your shoe; and all for what, I'd like to know. Nothing but his confounded pride and ill-temper."

"I can't think why he should have grown so suddenly cold to you," said Harry uneasily. "Sometimes I think perhaps it is all my fault."

"Your fault! Rubbish! how could it be?"

"Well, because I know I said something to him yesterday about the stones you had put in your can, and he flared up at once, and said if you had done it, it was a howling shame, and all that kind of thing. But, somehow or other, I think," pleaded Harry humbly, "something more must have happened to vex him, or he could not be so frightfully waxy."

"I'll wax him before I've done with him," said Fred angrily. "Whether I put the stones in the can or not, what business is it to him? He has no right to set himself up for a judge and put me in Coventry before all the others. However, he'll be sorry for it before all's over. I'll promise you that much for your consolation."

The consolation appeared scarcely to affect Harry as much as might have been anticipated; he glanced nervously towards his brother, and ended a rumination of full five minutes' length with a prolonged sigh.

"Heigh ho, I wish we had never left home. I know I, for one, shall never be in a hurry to leave it again."

"Nor I either," cried Fred, with a certain hoarse sound in his voice which betrayed no small amount of emotion. "However, in for a penny, in for a pound, is my maxim; and I'd rather stick here all my life than leave the place without giving Maurice a Roland for his Oliver."

"You'll never be able to do it. Remember he is in his own house, and we are only visitors."

"All the same, I will do it; and what's more, the trap is set and the hook baited, and I'll be even with him before this time to-morrow, you'll see."

"Why, what are you going to do?"

"If you had the spirit of a mouse I'd tell you; but I know once you heard the whole scheme, you'd never stop till you'd put your foot in it somehow."

"Fred!"

"Oh yes, it's all very well. I know you'd stand by me, and have stood by me in lots of things; but this is a plan which will require the coolness of a cucumber and the courage and calmness of--well, anything you like, to carry it out; and one of your unhandy scruples would just put me off the whole thing, and make me far too nervous to succeed."

"But what do you want to do?"

"I want to outwit Maurice."

"In what way?"

"Well, I'll just tell you this much. Maurice has as good as sworn that he won't let me get a glimpse of those wonderful chess-men he's so ridiculously proud of, and I'm determined that I will see them; and there is the long and the short of the whole thing."

"But--"

"Never mind 'buts;' there are no 'buts' in the affair at all. I'm going to do it, and that's all."

"But, Fred, if they are locked up in Aunt Marian's store-room, how can you?"

"Ay, there's the rub; but since you know so much, I may as well just tell you I can get in and out of that store-room as easily as I could get in and out of Kathleen's room over there."

At this moment Kathleen opened the very door towards which Fred was pointing and walked in. "Were you calling me?" she asked.

"No, no; go back into your own room and dress for dinner. I was only talking to Harry."

"But I am dressed for dinner and you are not, and the gong is just going to sound."

"You don't say so," cried Harry.--"Look at your watch, Fred, and see."

Fred drew out his watch, and found it wanted but six minutes of the dinner-hour; so further conversation had to be indefinitely postponed, and it was with great difficulty the boys accomplished their feat of dressing in six minutes so as to be down in the drawing-room with the rest of the guests before the gong actually sounded.

Fred usually took his place at the end of the dining-room table close to Maurice, who sat at the foot and carved; but to-night the brothers, by a kind of intuition, exchanged places, and Harry took the vacant chair beside his cousin, while Fred sat high up, and comparatively close to his aunt.

Lady Brinsley noticed, with considerable anxiety of mind, the extreme pallor of Fred's face, and the nervous distress which seemed to overpower him so that he ate almost nothing of the various viands which were offered him, and addressed scarcely a word to those around him. However wrong Fred had been, and however dishonourable his conduct might appear, Maurice, she felt, had no right to behave in the way he had done, and to treat his cousin with such harshness; and Lady Brinsley, whose heart was peculiarly susceptible towards boys of Fred's age, felt once again a strong pity rise in her heart for the lad whose unhappiness was too plainly pictured on his face. But as the dinner-time wore on Fred's demeanour changed curiously; and by the time the meal was over, Lady Brinsley observed with surprise a certain look almost of triumph which glowed in Fred's eye, especially when he turned it in Maurice's direction. Nor was the tone of defiance lost upon her when Fred was suddenly called upon to answer some question addressed to him by his cousin, and to which he replied with a confidence and a sangfroid which were in strong contrast with his former nervousness of manner.

The fact was that Lady Brinsley had proposed that the remainder of the evening, which was deliciously soft and balmy, should be devoted to a grand game of "I Spy," among the laurels and thick-growing shrubs of the pleasure-ground; and that the whole party should adjourn outside the Hall after dinner, and have their tea spread afterwards in the tent on the archery ground, with strawberries and cream to refresh themselves after their races and fatigue.

This idea was hailed with unmixed delight by all the party, and by no one with more zeal than Fred, who saw in this suggestion a grand opportunity for carrying out his scheme; for as all the party would be busily employed outside, he could easily seize on a moment to slip away downstairs and invade undisturbed the sacred precincts of the store-room.

But matters did not turn out so propitiously as Fred had imagined. Lady Brinsley, who felt uneasy and restless in her mind both about the boy and the results which might be anticipated from his wounded pride, made it her special charge to look after him, and to see that he was not left out of the game or otherwise coldly treated by Maurice. So Fred, though he watched eagerly for an auspicious moment for flight, had to wait long before the favourable opportunity presented itself.

At last there did come a time when Fred thought he could slip away without notice. Two of the party had gone off to hide as hares in the cover of the far-off evergreens; and Maurice and his mother had gone down to the archery ground to look after the fixing of some pole in the tent, which the butler had brought them word was in rather a shaky condition, and required looking after before the rush of hungry hares into its recesses might bring the whole affair tumbling down about their heads.

Fred now watched his opportunity, and seeing the coast clear, edged slowly off from the group of hounds, which were gathered under a large beech tree, awaiting the shrill whistle from the plantation which would announce that the hares were in safe hiding, and convey also some slight notion as to their whereabouts.

"Where are you going? You are not allowed to leave bounds until the hares are hid," cried several voices as Fred moved out of their ranks.

"Humbug! what harm can I do out here? I can't catch a glimpse of the hiding-ground from this place, and I'm sick of sticking all in a lump under this tree like a swarm of bees."

"It is not fair, for all that," cried the same voices again; "we said we would not go further than this tree."

"I said nothing of the kind; besides, I am tired of the game, and I am going to take a stroll until supper is ready."

"Fred, you are not going really to leave the game?" cried Harry, coming up to him anxiously from under the shadow of the tree. "Do come back,--there's a good fellow; it will be no fun without you." And as Harry spoke he eagerly sought to scan his brother's face, half suspecting he had something more weighty on his mind than a mere stroll about the place.

"Bosh! you'll do twice as well without me," cried Fred, attempting a laugh. But seeing the look in Harry's eyes, he changed his mind, and added in a low voice, "Cannot you take a hint and keep them all quiet there for a few minutes, and draw their attention off me, for I've been watching for this opportunity the whole evening."

"What for?" gasped Harry.

"Why, what I told you before."

"But you did not tell me."

"Well, never mind; the whole thing won't take five minutes, and I'll come back and tell you then."

"O Fred! I know you will get yourself into some awful scrape. Please don't go and do anything rash."

"I tell you I'm in for it now, and, scrape or no scrape, I'll carry it through."

"Would there be less danger if I were to help you?"

"No, no; there is the whistle: if we both went off together, we should only draw suspicion on ourselves. Go, go, I tell you, and hunt with the others; this is the moment of all others for me." And Harry, sorely against his will, went off to search among the evergreens and under the low-growing shrubs for the missing hares, while Fred turned his steps with apparent nonchalance towards the house.

But the moment for success which he had so confidently looked for had not yet come. Just as Fred turned through a low gate in the pleasure-ground leading by a shrubbery walk towards the Hall, he saw Maurice coming round from an opposite path, and also making his way in the direction of the house.

Both the boys caught sight of each other at the same moment, and both paused for an instant, hesitating what course to pursue. Fred was the first to act. He turned deliberately on his heel, and retraced his steps through the dark shrubbery walk; and then Maurice's resolution seemed also taken, for Fred heard hasty steps behind him and some one calling him by his name.

"Fred, Fred! turn back and listen; I want to say something to you."

Fred walked on, his head held proudly in the air, and his ears apparently deaf to Maurice's words.

"Fred, listen to me,--stop; I want awfully to have a few words with you. Don't go on to where the others are, or I can't say them."

But Fred still walked on till he reached the small iron gate, having passed which, he swung it back resolutely in his cousin's face, almost snapping it on his extended hand. Then Maurice halted in his pursuit with a muttered growl of anger and disappointment, and turning also on his heel, he walked gloomily towards the Hall.