clump of oaks to topple and crash. Suddenly he looked directly at Craddock and his full lips twitched in an unexpectedly frank smile.
‘I don’t blame you thinking me a rum ’un,’ he said, ‘but the fact is I’m pretty much on edge these days and there’s reason enough for that right enough! I’ve been waiting here ever since Sir George died up north, and even before that I had no kind of instructions from him or his solicitors. They even let me read about Mr Hubert’s death in the newspapers. I suppose Shallowford means little enough to them but they might have had the decency to reassure me about my own future. After all, I’ve served them well for close on twenty years, and if they had any complaints I’ve yet to hear of them!’
‘You mean your position as agent has neither been confirmed nor terminated since the estate was put up for sale?’
‘I’ve not had a word, one way or the other, nothing except a telegram about the furniture sale from the solicitors.’
‘It all seems a bit casual,’ Craddock said, ‘and I can understand you feeling touchy about it. Did you intend leaving when Shallowford is sold?’
‘I’ve nothing else in the offing at the moment,’ Rudd said grimly, ‘but it would be unreasonable to discuss that with you at this stage. In any case,’ he paused a moment, looking down at the cob’s bristles, ‘to be honest it wasn’t my position here that made me fly off the handle just now. I jumped to the wrong conclusion, that’s all.’
‘That the Lovell family had written to me about you?’
‘Yes, and rather more than that.’
‘You can’t expect me to follow you there, Mr Rudd. Either tell me what’s in your mind or let’s ride on and we can discuss your position as agent when I’ve had a chance to make up my mind. It isn’t made up in advance, you know.’
Rudd said, breathing heavily, ‘No … wait, Mr Craddock! You’ve served overseas, so it isn’t like talking to a complete stranger. I’d rather tell you at once why that “innocent question” of yours encouraged me to make an ass of myself! The fact is, I have served in the Army. Until I was twenty-eight I held a commission in the Light Cavalry and I too served in Africa but another part of Africa.’ He paused a moment and then said, flatly, ‘I was cashiered, more or less.’
‘How can an officer be cashiered “more or less”?’ Craddock asked.
‘What I mean is it wasn’t official but it was a drumming-out just the same,’ Rudd said, ‘and it wasn’t for debt either but something a damned sight worse! It was that that gave the Lovells, father and sons, the edge on me all these years, and they still have it, even though all three of them are dead now, damn them! And on top of it all Hubert had to win a V.C.! Well, thank God I wasn’t called upon to congratulate him on that!’
‘Then the Lovells were bad people to work for?’
‘They were but I don’t hate them for that,’ Rudd said, ‘any more than do the rest of the people around here, folk dependent upon them for one reason or another.’ He seemed to rise slightly in his stirrups and survey the whole sweep of the moor as far as the sea. ‘This has been a bad place to be,’ he said quietly, ‘rotten bad for three generations if you had no means to escape from it! It need not have been but it was, for they made it so, one and all! It took me years to make up my mind about that, that it was them and not the place itself. However, that doesn’t explain my touchiness, does it?’, and unexpectedly he smiled again and kicked his heels, so that the cob began to walk on down the slope and the well-mannered grey followed.
‘I don’t see that you are under the slightest obligation to explain things to me at this stage,’ Paul said.
‘Oh, come, Mr Craddock,’ said Rudd, good-humouredly, now, ‘suppose I left it there? You would only get to wondering and wondering and be driven to find out one way or another. Anyone would,
‘I don’t blame you thinking me a rum ’un,’ he said, ‘but the fact is I’m pretty much on edge these days and there’s reason enough for that right enough! I’ve been waiting here ever since Sir George died up north, and even before that I had no kind of instructions from him or his solicitors. They even let me read about Mr Hubert’s death in the newspapers. I suppose Shallowford means little enough to them but they might have had the decency to reassure me about my own future. After all, I’ve served them well for close on twenty years, and if they had any complaints I’ve yet to hear of them!’
‘You mean your position as agent has neither been confirmed nor terminated since the estate was put up for sale?’
‘I’ve not had a word, one way or the other, nothing except a telegram about the furniture sale from the solicitors.’
‘It all seems a bit casual,’ Craddock said, ‘and I can understand you feeling touchy about it. Did you intend leaving when Shallowford is sold?’
‘I’ve nothing else in the offing at the moment,’ Rudd said grimly, ‘but it would be unreasonable to discuss that with you at this stage. In any case,’ he paused a moment, looking down at the cob’s bristles, ‘to be honest it wasn’t my position here that made me fly off the handle just now. I jumped to the wrong conclusion, that’s all.’
‘That the Lovell family had written to me about you?’
‘Yes, and rather more than that.’
‘You can’t expect me to follow you there, Mr Rudd. Either tell me what’s in your mind or let’s ride on and we can discuss your position as agent when I’ve had a chance to make up my mind. It isn’t made up in advance, you know.’
Rudd said, breathing heavily, ‘No … wait, Mr Craddock! You’ve served overseas, so it isn’t like talking to a complete stranger. I’d rather tell you at once why that “innocent question” of yours encouraged me to make an ass of myself! The fact is, I have served in the Army. Until I was twenty-eight I held a commission in the Light Cavalry and I too served in Africa but another part of Africa.’ He paused a moment and then said, flatly, ‘I was cashiered, more or less.’
‘How can an officer be cashiered “more or less”?’ Craddock asked.
‘What I mean is it wasn’t official but it was a drumming-out just the same,’ Rudd said, ‘and it wasn’t for debt either but something a damned sight worse! It was that that gave the Lovells, father and sons, the edge on me all these years, and they still have it, even though all three of them are dead now, damn them! And on top of it all Hubert had to win a V.C.! Well, thank God I wasn’t called upon to congratulate him on that!’
‘Then the Lovells were bad people to work for?’
‘They were but I don’t hate them for that,’ Rudd said, ‘any more than do the rest of the people around here, folk dependent upon them for one reason or another.’ He seemed to rise slightly in his stirrups and survey the whole sweep of the moor as far as the sea. ‘This has been a bad place to be,’ he said quietly, ‘rotten bad for three generations if you had no means to escape from it! It need not have been but it was, for they made it so, one and all! It took me years to make up my mind about that, that it was them and not the place itself. However, that doesn’t explain my touchiness, does it?’, and unexpectedly he smiled again and kicked his heels, so that the cob began to walk on down the slope and the well-mannered grey followed.
‘I don’t see that you are under the slightest obligation to explain things to me at this stage,’ Paul said.
‘Oh, come, Mr Craddock,’ said Rudd, good-humouredly, now, ‘suppose I left it there? You would only get to wondering and wondering and be driven to find out one way or another. Anyone would,
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