ronald mervyn was, perhaps, the most popular man in his regiment. they were proud of him as one of the most daring steeplechase riders in the service, and as a man who had greatly distinguished himself by a deed of desperate valour in india. he was far and away the best cricketer in the corps; he could sing a capital song, and was an excellent musician and the most pleasant of companions. he was always ready to do his friends a service, and many a newly-joined subaltern who got into a scrape had been helped out by ronald mervyn's purse. and yet at times, as even those who most liked and admired him could not but admit, ronald mervyn was a queer fellow. his fits were few and far between, but when they occurred he was altogether unlike himself. while they lasted, he would scarce exchange a word with a soul, but shut himself in his room, or, as soon as parade was over, mounted his horse and rode off, not to return probably until late at night.

mervyn's moods were the subject of many a quiet joke among the young officers of the regiment. some declared that he must have committed a murder somewhere, and was occasionally troubled in his conscience; while some insisted that mervyn's strange behaviour was only assumed in order that he might be the more appreciated at other times. among the two or three officers of the regiment who came from that part of the country, and knew something of the family history of the mervyns, it was whispered that he had inherited some slight share of the curse of the carnes. not that he was mad in the slightest degree—no one would think of saying that of ronald mervyn—but he had certainly queer moods. perhaps the knowledge that there was a taint in his blood affected him, and in course of time he began to brood over it.

when this mood was on him, soon after joining the regiment, he himself had spoken to the doctor about it.

"do you know, doctor, i am a horrible sufferer from liver complaint?"

"you don't look it, mervyn," the surgeon replied; "your skin is clear, and your eye is bright. you are always taking exercise, your muscles are as hard as nails. i cannot believe that there is much the matter with you."

"i assure you, doctor, that at times for two or three days i am fit for nothing. i get into such a state that i am not fit to exchange a word with a human being, and could quarrel with my best friend if he spoke to me. i have tried all sorts of medicines, but nothing seems to cure me. i suppose it's liver; i don't know what else it can be. i have spoken about it to the major, and asked him if at any time he sees me look grumpy, to say a word to the mess, and ask them to leave me to myself; but i do wish you could give me something."

the doctor had recommended courses of various foreign waters, and had given him instructions to bathe his head when he felt it coming on; but nothing had availed. once a year, or sometimes oftener, ronald retired for two or three days, and then emerged as well and cheerful as before.

once, when the attack had been particularly severe, he had again consulted the doctor, this time telling him the history of his family on his mother's side, and asking him frankly whether he thought these periodical attacks had any connection with the family taint. the doctor, who had already heard the story in confidence from one of the two men who knew it, replied:

"well, mervyn, i suppose that there's some sort of distant connection between the two things, but i do not think you are likely to be seriously affected. i think you can set your mind at ease on that score. a man of so vigorous a frame as you are, and leading so active and healthy a life, is certainly not a likely subject for insanity. you should dismiss the matter altogether from your mind, old fellow. many men with a more than usual amount of animal spirits suffer at times from fits of depression. in your case, perhaps due, to some extent, to your family history, these fits of depression are more severe than usual. probably the very circumstance that you know this history has something to do with it, for when the depression—which is, as i have said, not uncommon in the case of men with high spirits, and is, in fact, a sort of reaction—comes over you, no doubt the thought of the taint in the blood occurs to you, preys upon your mind, and deeply intensifies your depression."

"that is so, doctor. when i am in that state my one thought is that i am going mad, and i sometimes feel then as if it would be best to blow out my brains and have done with it."

"don't let such a fancy enter your head, mervyn," the doctor said, earnestly. "i can assure you that i think you have no chance whatever of becoming insane. the fits of depression are of course troublesome and annoying, but they are few and far apart, and at all other times you are perfectly well and healthy. you should, therefore, regard it as i do—as a sort of reaction, very common among men of your sanguine temperament, and due in a very slight degree to the malady formerly existent in your family. i have watched you closely since you came to the regiment, and, believe me, that i do not say it solely to reassure you when i affirm that it is my full belief and conviction that you are as sane as other men, and it is likely that as you get on in life these fits of depression will altogether disappear. you see both your mother and uncle were perfectly free from any suspicion of a taint, and it is more than probable that it has altogether died out. at any rate the chances are slight indeed of its reappearing in your case."

"thank you, doctor; you can imagine what a relief your words are to me. i don't worry about it at other times, and indeed feel so thoroughly well, that i could laugh at the idea were it mooted; but during these moods of mine it has tried me horribly. if you don't mind, i will get you to write your opinion down, so that next time the fit seizes me i can read it over, and assure myself that my apprehensions are unfounded."

certainly no one would associate the idea of insanity with ronald mervyn, as upon the day before the ball at his mother's house he sat on the edge of the ante-room table, and laughed and talked with a group of five young officers gathered round him.

"mind, you fellows must catch the seven o'clock train, or else you will be too late. there will be eight miles to drive; i will have a trap there to meet you, and you won't be there long before the others begin to arrive. we are not fashionable in our part of the county. we shall have enough partners for you to begin to dance by half-past nine, and i can promise you as pretty partners as you can find in any ball-room in england. when you have been quartered here a bit longer you will be ready to admit the truth of the general opinion, that, in point of pretty women, devonshire can hold its own against any county in england. no, there is no fear whatever of your coming in too great strength. of course, in plymouth here, one can overdo the thing, but when one gets beyond the beat of the garrison, men are at a premium. i saw my mother's list; if it had not been for the regiment the female element would have predominated terribly. the army and navy, india and the colonies, to say nothing of all-devouring london, are the scourges of the country; the younger sons take wings to themselves and fly, and the spinsters are left lamenting."

"i think there is more push and go among younger sons than there is in the elders," one of the young officers said.

"they have not got the same responsibilities," ronald laughed. "it is easy to see you are a younger son, charley; there's a jaunty air about your forage cap and a swagger in your walk, that would tell any observant person that you are free from all responsibilities, and could, as the latin grammar says, sing before a robber."

there was a general laugh, for charley mansfield was notoriously in a general state of impecuniosity. he, himself, joined merrily in the laugh.

"i can certainly say," he replied, "'he who steals my purse steals trash;' but i don't think he would get even that without a tussle. still, what i said is true, i think. i know my elder brother is a fearfully stately personage, who, on the strength of two years' difference of age, and his heirship, takes upon himself periodically to inflict ponderous words of wisdom upon me. i think a lot of them are like that; but after all, as i tell him, it's the younger sons who have made england what it is. we won her battles and furnished her colonies, and have done pretty nearly everything that has been done; while the elder sons have only turned into respectable landowners and prosy magistrates."

"very well, charley, the sentiments do you honour," another laughed; "but there, the assembly is sounding. waiter, bring me a glass of sherry; your sentiments have so impressed me, charley, that i intend to drink solemnly to the success of second sons."

"you are not on duty, are you, mervyn?"

"no, i am starting in half an hour to get home. i shall be wanted to aid in the final preparations. well, i shall see you all to morrow night. don't forget the seven o'clock train. i expect we shall keep it up till between three and four. then you can smoke a cigar, and at five the carriages will be ready to take you to the station to catch the first train back, and you will be here in time for a tub and a change before early parade."

the ball at the mervyns' was a brilliant one. the house was large, and as mr. mervyn had died four years before, and ronald had since that time been absent on foreign service, it was a long time since an entertainment on a large scale had been given there to the county. a little to the disappointment of many of the young ladies in the neighbourhood, the military and naval officers did not come in uniform. there were two or three girls staying in the house, and one of them in the course of the evening, when she was dancing with ronald, said:

"we all consider you have taken us in, captain mervyn. we made sure that you would all be in uniform. of course those who live near plymouth are accustomed to it, but in these parts the red coats are rather a novelty, and we feel we have been defrauded."

"we never go to balls, miss blackmoor, in uniform, except when they are regular naval or military balls, either given by our own regiment or some of the regiments in garrison, or by the navy. that is generally the rule though perhaps in some regiments it is not so strictly adhered to as with us."

"then i consider that it is a fraud upon the public, captain mervyn. gentlemen's dress is so dingy and monotonous that i consider it distinctly the duty of soldiers to give us a little light and colour when they get the chance."

"very well, miss blackmoor, i will bear it in mind; and next time my mother gives a ball, the regiment, if it is within reach, shall come in uniform. by the way, do you know who is the man my cousin is dancing with? there are lots of faces i don't know here; being seven or eight years away makes a difference in a quiet country place."

"that is mr. gulston; he is first-lieutenant of the flagship at plymouth. i know it because he was introduced to me early in the evening, and we danced together, and a capital dancer he is, too."

"he is an uncommonly good-looking fellow," ronald said.

margaret carne seemed to think so, too, as she danced with him two or three times in the course of the evening, and went down to supper on his arm.

ronald having, as the son of the house, to divide his attentions as much as possible, did not dance with his cousin. lieutenant gulston had been accompanied by the third-lieutenant, and by the doctor, who never missed an opportunity of going to a ball because, as he said, it gave him an opportunity of studying character.

"you see," he would argue, "on board a ship one gets only the one side of human nature. sailors may differ a bit one from another, but they can all be divided into two or three classes—the steady honest fellow who tries to do his work well; the reckless fellow who is ready to do his work, but is up to every sort of mischief and devilment; and the lazy, loafing fellow who neglects his duty whenever he possibly can, and is always shamming sick in order to get off it. some day or other i shall settle on shore and practise there, and i want to learn something about the people i shall have to deal with; besides, there's nothing more amusing than looking on at a ball when you have no idea of dancing yourself. it's astonishing what a lot of human nature you see if you do but keep your wits about you."

in the course of the evening he came up to the first-lieutenant.

"who is that man you have just been talking to, gulston? i have been watching him for some time. he has not been dancing, but has been standing in corners looking on."

"he is mr. carne, doctor; a cousin, or rather a nephew, of our hostess."

"is he the brother of that pretty girl you have been dancing with?"

the lieutenant nodded.

"then i am sorry for her," the surgeon said, bluntly.

"sorry! what for?"

the surgeon answered by another question.

"do you know anything about the family, gulston?"

"i have heard something about them. why?"

"never mind now," the surgeon said. "i will tell you in the morning; it's hardly a question to discuss here," and he turned away before the lieutenant could ask further.

it was four o'clock before the dancing ceased and the last carriage rolled away. then the military and naval men, and two or three visitors from plymouth, gathered in the library, and smoked and talked for an hour, and were then conveyed to the station to catch the early train. the next day, as they were walking up and down the quarter-deck, the first-lieutenant said: "by the way, doctor, what was it you were going to say last night about the carnes? you said you were sorry for miss carne, and asked me if i knew anything about the history of the family."

"yes, that was it, gulston; it wasn't the sort of thing to talk about there, especially as i understand the mervyns are connections of the carnes. the question i was going to ask you was this: you know their family history; is there any insanity in it?"

the lieutenant stopped suddenly in his walk with an exclamation of surprise and pain.

"what do you mean, mackenzie? why do you ask such a question?"

"you have not answered mine. is there insanity in the blood?"

"there has been," the lieutenant said, reluctantly.

"i felt sure of it. i think you have heard me say my father made a special study of madness; and when i was studying for my profession i have often accompanied him to lunatic asylums, and i devoted a great deal of time to the subject, intending to make it my special branch also. then the rambling fit seized me and i entered the service; but i have never missed following the subject up whenever i have had an opportunity. i have therefore visited asylums for lunatics whenever such existed, at every port which we have put into since i have been in the service.

"when my eye first fell upon mr. carne he was standing behind several other people, watching the dancing, and the expression of his face struck me as soon as my eye fell upon him. i watched him closely all through the evening. he did not dance, and rarely spoke to any one, unless addressed. i watched his face and his hands—hands are, i can tell you, almost as expressive as faces—and i have not the smallest hesitation in saying that the man is mad. it is possible, but not probable, that at ordinary times he may show no signs of it; but at times, and last night was one of those times, the man is mad; nay, more, i should be inclined to think that his madness is of a dangerous type.

"now that you tell me it is hereditary, i am so far confirmed in my opinion that i should not hesitate, if called upon to do so, to sign a certificate to the effect that, in my opinion, he was so far insane as to need the most careful watching, if not absolute confinement."

the colour had faded from the lieutenant's face as the doctor spoke.

"i am awfully sorry," he said, in a low tone, "and i trust to god, doctor, that you are mistaken. i cannot but think that you are. i was introduced to him by his sister, and he was most civil and polite, indeed more than civil, for he asked me if i was fond of shooting, and when i said that i was extremely so, he invited me over to his place. he said he did not shoot himself, but that next week his cousin mervyn and one or two others were coming to him to have two or three days' pheasant shooting, and he would be glad if i would join the party; and, as you may suppose, i gladly accepted the invitation."

"well," the doctor said, drily, "so far as he is concerned, there is no danger in your doing so, if, as you say, he doesn't shoot. if he did, i should advise you to stay away; and in any case, if you will take the advice which i offer, you won't go. you will send an excuse."

the lieutenant made no answer for a minute or two, but paced the room in silence.

"i won't pretend to misunderstand you, mackenzie. you mean there's no danger with him, but you think there may be from her. that's what you mean, isn't it?"

the doctor nodded.

"i saw you were taken with her, gulston; that is why i have spoken to you about her brother."

"you don't think—confound it, man—you can't think," the lieutenant said, angrily, "that there is anything the matter with her?"

"no, i don't think so," the doctor said, gravely. "no, i should say certainly not; but you know in these cases where it is in the blood it sometimes lies dormant for a generation and then breaks out again. i asked somebody casually last night about their father, and he said that he was a capital fellow and most popular in the country; so if it is in the blood it passed over him, and is showing itself again in the son. it may pass over the daughter and reappear in her children. you never know, you see. do you mind telling me what you know about the family?"

"not now; not at present. i will at some other time. you have given me a shock, and i must think it over."

the doctor nodded, and commenced to talk about other matters. a minute or two later the lieutenant made some excuse, and turned into the cabin. dr. mackenzie shook his head.

"the lad is hard hit," he said, "and i am sorry for him. i hope my warning comes in time; it will do if he isn't a fool, but all young men are fools where women are concerned. i will say for him that he has more sense than most, but i would give a good deal if this had not happened."

lieutenant gulston was, indeed, hard hit; he had been much struck with the momentary glance he had obtained of margaret carne as he stood on the steps of the "carne arms," and the effect had been greatly heightened on the previous day. lieutenant gulston had, since the days when he was a middy, indulged in many a flirtation, but he had never before felt serious. he had often laughed at the impressibility of some of his comrades, and had scoffed at the idea of love at first sight, but now that he began to think matters seriously over, the pain the doctor's remarks had given him opened his eyes to the fact that it was a good deal more than a passing fancy.

thinking it over in every light, he acknowledged the prudent course would be to send some excuse to her brother, with an expression of regret that he found that a matter of duty would prevent his coming over, as he had promised, for the shooting. then he told himself that after all the doctor might be mistaken, and that it would be only right that he should judge for himself. if there was anything in it, of course he should go no more to the hold, and no harm would be done. margaret was certainly very charming; she was more than charming, she was the most lovable woman he had ever met. still, of course, if there was any chance of her inheriting this dreadful thing, he would see her no more. after all, no more harm could be done in a couple of days than had been done already, and he was not such a fool but that he could draw back in time. and so after changing his mind half-a-dozen times, he resolved to go over for the shooting.

"ruth, i want to speak to you seriously," margaret carne said to her maid two days after the ball. ruth powlett was the miller's daughter, and the village gossips had been greatly surprised when, a year before, they heard that she was going up to the hold to be miss carne's own maid; for although the old mill was a small one, and did no more than a local business, hiram was accounted to have laid by a snug penny, and as ruth was his only child, she was generally regarded as the richest heiress in carnesford. that hiram should then let her go out into service, even as maid to miss carne at the hold, struck every one with surprise.

it was generally assumed that the step had been taken because hiram powlett wanted peace in the house. he had, after the death of his first wife, ruth's mother, married again, and the general verdict was that he had made a mistake. in the first place, hiram was a staunch churchman, and one of the churchwardens at carnesford; but his wife, who was a dareport woman—and that alone was in the opinion of carnesford greatly against her—was a dissenter, and attended the little chapel at dareport, and entertained the strongest views as to the prospects and chances of her neighbours in a future state; and in the second place, perhaps in consequence of their religious opinions, she was generally on bad terms with all her neighbours.

but when hiram married her she had a good figure, the lines of her face had not hardened as they afterwards did, and he had persuaded himself that she would make an excellent mother for ruth. indeed, she had not been intentionally unkind, and although she had brought her up strictly, she believed that she had thoroughly done her duty; lamenting only that her efforts had been thwarted by the obstinacy and perverseness of her husband in insisting that the little maid should trot to church by his side, instead of going with her to the chapel at dareport.

ruth had grown up a quiet and somewhat serious girl; she had blossomed out into prettiness in the old mill, and folks in the village were divided as to whether she or lucy carey, the smith's daughter, was the prettiest girl in carnesford. not that there was any other matter in comparison between them, for lucy was somewhat gay and flirty, and had a dozen avowed admirers; while ruth had from her childhood made no secret of her preference for george forester, the son of the little farmer whose land came down to the dare just where hiram powlett's mill stood.

he was some five years older than she was, and had fished her out of the mill-stream when she fell into it, when she was eight years old. from that time he had been her hero. she had been content to follow him about like a dog, to sit by his side for hours while he fished in the deep pool above the mill, under the shadow of the trees, quite content with an occasional word or notice. she took his part heartily when her stepmother denounced him as the idlest and most impertinent boy in the parish; and when, soon after she was fifteen, he one day mentioned that, as a matter of course, she would some day be his wife, she accepted it as a thing of which she had never entertained any doubt whatever.

but hiram now took the alarm, and one day told her that she was to give up consorting with young forester.

"you are no longer a child, ruth, and if you go on meeting young forester down at the pool, people will be beginning to talk. of course i know that you are a good girl, and would never for a moment think of taking up with george forester. every one knows what sort of young fellow he is; he never does a day's work on the farm, and he is in and out of the 'carne arms' at all hours. he associates with the worst lot in the village, and it was only the other day that when the parson tried to speak to him seriously, he answered him in a way that was enough to make one's hair stand on end."

ruth obeyed her father, and was no more seen about with george forester; but she believed no tale to his disadvantage, and when at times she met with him accidentally, she told him frankly enough that though her father didn't like her going about with him, she loved him and meant to love him always, whatever they might say. upon all other points her father's will was law to her, but upon this she was firm; and two years afterwards, when some words young forester had spoken at a public-house about his daughter came to his ears, hiram renewed the subject to her, she answered staunchly that unless he gave his consent she would not marry george forester, but that nothing would make her give him up or go back from her word.

for once hiram powlett and his wife were thoroughly in accord. the former seldom spoke upon the subject, but the latter was not so reticent, and every misdeed of young forester was severely commented upon by her in ruth's hearing. ruth seldom answered, but her father saw that she suffered, and more than once remonstrated with his wife on what he called her cruelty, but found that as usual hesba was not to be turned from her course.

"no, hiram powlett," she said, shutting her lips tightly together; "i must do my duty whether it pleases you or not, and it is my duty to see that ruth does not throw away her happiness in this world and the next by her headstrong conduct. she does not belong to the fold, but in other respects i will do her credit to say she is a good girl and does her duty as well as can be expected, considering the dulness of the light she has within her; but if she were to marry this reprobate she would be lost body and soul; and whatever you may think of the matter, hiram powlett, i will not refrain from trying to open her eyes."

"i am quite as determined as you are, hesba, that the child shall not marry this young rascal, but i don't think it does any good to be always nagging at her. women are queer creatures; the more you want them to go one way the more they will go the other."

but though hiram powlett did not say much, he worried greatly. ruth had always been quiet, but she was quieter than ever now, and her cheeks gradually lost their roses, and she looked pale and thin. at last hiram determined that if he could not obtain peace for her at home he would elsewhere, and hearing that miss carne's maid was going to be married he decided to try to get ruth the place. she would be free from hesba's tongue there, and would have other things to think about besides her lover, and would moreover have but few opportunities of seeing him. he was shy of approaching the subject to her, and was surprised and pleased to find that when he did, instead of opposing it as he had expected, she almost eagerly embraced the proposal.

in fact, ruth's pale cheeks and changed appearance were not due, as her father supposed, to unhappiness at her stepmother's talk against george forester; but because in spite of herself she began to feel that her accusations were not without foundation. little by little she learnt, from chance words dropped by others, that the light in which her father held george forester was that generally entertained in the village. she knew that he often quarrelled with his father, and that after one of these altercations he had gone off to plymouth and enlisted, only to be bought out a few days afterwards.

she knew that he drank, and had taken part in several serious frays that had arisen at the little beershop in the village; and hard as she fought against the conviction, it was steadily making its way, that her lover was wholly unworthy of her. and yet, in spite of his faults, she loved him. whatever he was with others, he was gentle and pleasant with her, and she felt that were she to give him up his last chance would be gone. so she was glad to get away from the village for a time, and to the surprise of her father, and the furious anger of george forester, she applied for and obtained the post of margaret carne's maid.

she had few opportunities of seeing george forester now; but what she heard when she went down to the village on sundays was not encouraging. he drank harder than before, and spent much of his time down at dareport, and, as some said, was connected with a rough lot there who were fonder of poaching than of fishing.

margaret carne was aware of what she considered ruth's infatuation. she kept herself well informed of the affairs of the village—the greater portion of which belonged to her and her brother—and she learnt from the clergyman, whose right hand she was in the choir and schools, a good deal of the village gossip. she had never spoken to ruth on the subject during the nine months she had been with her, but now she felt she was bound to do so.

"what is it, miss margaret?" ruth said, quietly, in answer to her remark.

"i don't want to vex you, and you will say it is no business of mine, but i think it is, for you know i like you very much, besides, your belonging to carnesford. of course i have heard—every one has heard, you know—about your engagement to young forester. now a very painful thing has happened. on the night of the dance our gamekeepers came across a party of poachers in the woods, as of course you have heard, and had a fight with them, and one of the keepers is so badly hurt that they don't think he will live. he has sworn that the man who stabbed him was george forester, and my brother, as a magistrate, has just signed a warrant for his arrest.

"now, ruth, surely this man is not worthy of you. he bears, i hear, on all sides a very bad character, and i think you will be more than risking your happiness with such a man; i think for your own sake it would be better to give him up. my brother is very incensed against him; he has been out with the other keepers to the place where this fray occurred and he says it was a most cowardly business, for the poachers were eight to three, and he seems to have no doubt whatever that forester was one of the party, and that they will be able to prove it. i do think, ruth, you ought to give him up altogether. i am not talking to you as a mistress, you know, but as a friend."

"i think you are right, miss margaret," the girl said, in a low voice. "i have been thinking it over in every way. at first i didn't think what they said was true, and then i thought that perhaps i might be able to keep him right, and that if i were to give him up there would be no chance for him. i have tried very hard to see what was my duty, but i think now that i see it, and that i must break off with him. but oh! it is so hard," she added, with a quiver in her voice, "for though i know that i oughtn't to love him, i can't help it."

"i can quite understand that, ruth," margaret carne agreed. "i know if i loved any one i should not give him up merely because everybody spoke ill of him. but, you see, it is different now. it is not merely a suspicion, it is almost absolute proof; and besides, you must know that he spends most of his time in the public-house, and that he never would make you a good husband."

"i have known that a long time," ruth said, quietly; "but i have hoped always that he might change if i married him. i am afraid i can't hope any longer, and i have been thinking for some time that i should have to give him up. i will tell him so now, if i have an opportunity."

"i don't suppose you will, for my brother says he has not been home since the affair in the wood. if he has, he went away again at once. i expect he has made either for plymouth or london, for he must know that the police would be after him for his share in this business. i am very sorry for it, ruth, but i do think you will be happier when you have once made up your mind to break with him. no good could possibly come of your sacrificing yourself."

ruth said no more on the subject, but went about her work as quietly and orderly as usual, and margaret carne was surprised to see how bravely she held up, for she knew that she must be suffering greatly.