Instead of at once complying with her wishes,he paused--hesitated--and made a strange request."Will you forgive my rudeness,if I ask leave to walk up and down the room while Italk?I am a restless man.Walking up and down helps me to express myself freely."Her f ace brightened for the first time."How like You that is!"she exclaimed.
Alban looked at her with surprise and delight.She had betrayed an interest in studying his character,which he appreciated at its full value."I should never have dared to hope,"he said,"that you knew me so well already.""You are forgetting your story,"she reminded him.
He moved to the opposite side of the room,where there were fewer impediments in the shape of furniture.With his head down,and his hands crossed behind him,he paced to and fro.Habit made him express himself in his usual quaint way--but he became embarrassed as he went on.Was he disturbed by his recollections?
or by the fear of taking Emily into his confidence too freely?
"Different people have different ways of telling a story,"he said."Mine is the methodical way--I begin at the beginning.We will start,if you please,in the railway--we will proceed in a one-horse chaise--and we will stop at a village,situated in a hole.It was the nearest place to Sir Jervis's house,and it was therefore my destination.I picked out the biggest of the cottages--I mean the huts--and asked the woman at the door if she had a bed to let.She evidently thought me either mad or drunk.Iwasted no time in persuasion;the right person to plead my cause was asleep in her arms.I began by admiring the baby;and I ended by taking the baby's portrait.From that moment I became a member of the family--the member who had his own way.Besides the room occupied by the husband and wife,there was a sort of kennel in which the husband's brother slept.He was dismissed (with five shillings of mine to comfort him)to find shelter somewhere else;and I was promoted to the vacant place.It is my misfortune to be tall.When I went to bed,I slept with my head on the pillow,and my feet out of the window.Very cool and pleasant in summer weather.The next morning,I set my trap for Sir Jervis.""Your trap?"Emily repeated,wondering what he meant.
"I went out to sketch from Nature,"Alban continued."Can anybody (with or without a title,I don't care),living in a lonely country house,see a stranger hard at work with a color-box and brushes,and not stop to look at what he is doing?Three days passed,and nothing happened.I was quite patient;the grand open country all round me offered lessons of inestimable value in what we call aerial perspective.On the fourth day,I was absorbed over the hardest of all hard tasks in landscape art,studying the clouds straight from Nature.The magnificent moorland silence was suddenly profaned by a man's voice,speaking (or rather croaking)behind me.'The worst curse of human life,'the voice said,'is the detestable necessity of taking exercise.I hate losing my time;I hate fine scenery;I hate fresh air;I hate a pony.Go on,you brute!'Being too deeply engaged with the clouds to look round,I had supposed this pretty speech to be addressed to some second person.Nothing of the sort;the croaking voice had a habit of speaking to itself.In a minute more,there came within my range of view a solitary old man,mounted on a rough pony.""Was it Sir Jervis?"
Alban hesitated.
"It looked more like the popular notion of the devil,"he said.
"Oh,Mr.Morris!"
"I give you my first impression,Miss Emily,for what it is worth.He had his high-peaked hat in his hand,to keep his head cool.His wiry iron-gray hair looked like hair standing on end;his bushy eyebrows curled upward toward his narrow temples;his horrid old globular eyes stared with a wicked brightness;his pointed beard hid his chin;he was covered from his throat to his ankles in a loose black garment,something between a coat and a cloak;and,to complete him,he had a club foot.I don't doubt that Sir Jervis Redwood is the earthly alias which he finds convenient--but I stick to that first impression which appeared to surprise you.'Ha!an artist;you seem to be the sort of man Iwant!'In those terms he introduced himself.Observe,if you please,that my trap caught him the moment he came my way.Who wouldn't be an artist?""Did he take a liking to you?"Emily inquired.
"Not he!I don't believe he ever took a liking to anybody in his life.""Then how did you get your invitation to his house?""That's the amusing part of it,Miss Emily.Give me a little breathing time,and you shall hear."
