The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles Rex, by Ethel M. Dell

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Title: Charles Rex

Author: Ethel M. Dell

Release Date: November 5, 2004 [EBook #13960]

Language: English

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CHARLES REX

BY ETHEL M. DELL

AUTHOR OF THE TOP OF THE WORLD, THE LAMP IN THE DESERT, THE HUNDREDTH
CHANCE, Etc.

1922

I Dedicate This Book To G. T. S. In Remembrance of A Winter Day

"When half-gods go, the gods arrive."
  R. W. Emerson

Not with the clash of trumpets
  And clangour of gates thrown wide,
As when the eager crowds press round
   To see the half-gods ride;
But like a bird at even
   Silently winging home,
A message came from the darkness
   To say that the gods had come.

And the half-gods scoffed in the temple
   Which custom had bid them hold—
Sin and Success and Pleasure
   And the hideous Image of Gold.
Who and what are these strangers?
   Bid them worship before the shrine
Where we, the gods of the new world,
   Sit o'er the cards and wine!

So they derided the strangers—
   Those gods whom the old folk call
Courage and Honour and Faithfulness
   And Love which is greater than all.
But when the night was over
   And the new day pierced within,
The half-gods were gone from the temple,
   And the gods had entered in.

CONTENTS

PART I

     I. Ennui
    II. Adieu
   III. The Gift
    IV. Toby
     V. Discipline
    VI. The Abyss
   VII. Larpent's Daughter

PART II

     I. Jake Bolton
    II. Maud Bolton
   III. Bunny
    IV. Saltash
     V. The Visitor
    VI. How to Manage Men
   VII. The Promise
  VIII. The Ally
    IX. The Idol
     X. Resolutions
    XI. The Butterfly
   XII. The Ogre's Castle
  XIII. The End of the Game

PART III

     I. The Virtuous Hero
    II. The Compact
   III. L'oiseau bleu
    IV. The Trap
     V. The Confidence
    VI. The Sacred Fire
   VII. Surrender
  VIII. The Magician's Wand
    IX. The Warning
     X. The Mystery
    XI. Suspicion
   XII. The Ally
  XIII. The Truth
   XIV. The Last Card

PART IV

     I. The Winning Post
    II. The Villain Scores
   III. A Wife Is Different
    IV. The Idol of Paris
     V. The Dance of Death
    VI. The New Lover
   VII. The Refugee
  VIII. The Turning-point
    IX. Larpent
     X. In the Name of Love
    XI. The Gift of the Gods

CHARLES REX

PART I

CHAPTER I

ENNUI

"I shall go to sea to-morrow," said Saltash, with sudden decision. "I'm tired of this place, Larpent,—fed up on repletion."

"Then by all means let us go, my lord!" said Larpent, with the faint glimmer of a smile behind his beard, which was the only expression of humour he ever permitted himself.

"Believe you're fed up too," said Saltash, flashing a critical look upon him.

Captain Larpent said nothing, deeming speech unnecessary. All time spent ashore was wasted in his opinion.

Saltash turned and surveyed the sky-line over the yacht's rail with obvious discontent on his ugly face. His eyes were odd, one black, one grey, giving a curiously unstable appearance to a countenance which otherwise might have claimed to possess some strength. His brows were black and deeply marked. He had a trick of moving them in conjunction with his thoughts so that his face was seldom in absolute repose. It was said that there was a strain of royal blood in Saltash, and in the days before he had succeeded to the title when he had been merely Charles Burchester, he had borne the nickname of "the merry monarch." Certain wild deeds in a youth that had not been beyond reproach had seemed to warrant this, but of later years a friend had bestowed a more gracious title upon him, and to all who could claim intimacy with him he had become "Charles Rex." The name fitted him like a garment. A certain arrogance, a certain royalty of bearing, both utterly unconscious and wholly unfeigned, characterized him. Whatever he did, and his actions were often far from praiseworthy, this careless distinction of mien always marked him. He received an almost involuntary respect where he went.

Captain Larpent who commanded his yacht The Night Moth—most morose and unresponsive of men—paid him the homage of absolute acquiescence. Whatever his private opinions might be, he never expressed them unless invited to do so by his employer. He never criticized by word or look. Saltash was wont to say that if he decided to turn pirate he believed that Larpent would continue at his post without the smallest change of front. To raise a protest of any sort would have been absolutely foreign to his nature. He was made to go straight ahead, to do his duty without question and with perfect self-reliance.

On the present occasion, having cruised from port to port in the Mediterranean for nearly six weeks, it was certainly no ill news to him to hear that Saltash had at last had enough. The weather was perfect, too perfect for a man of his bull-dog instincts. He was thoroughly tired of the endless spring sunshine and of the chattering, fashionable crowds that Saltash was wont to assemble on the yacht. He was waiting with an iron patience for the word that should send them forth over the great Atlantic rollers, with the ocean spray bursting over their bows and the sting of the ocean wind in their faces. That was the sort of life that appealed to him. He had no use for civilization; the froth of society had no attraction for him. He preferred a deeper draught.

Saltash was thoroughly cosmopolitan in his tastes; he liked amusement, but he abhorred boredom. He declared that for him it was the root of all evil. He was never really wicked unless he was bored. And then—que voulez-vous? He did not guide the star of destiny.

"Yes," he said, after a thoughtful silence, "we will certainly put to sea to-morrow—unless—" he turned his head and threw a merry grin at his companion—"unless Fortune has any tricks up her sleeve for me, for I am going ashore for one more fling to-night."