The Lair of the White Worm
by Bram Stoker
CHAPTER I--ADAM SALTON ARRIVES
Adam Salton sauntered into the Empire Club, Sydney, and found
awaiting him a letter from his grand-uncle. He had first heard from
the old gentleman less than a year before, when Richard Salton had
claimed kinship, stating that he had been unable to write earlier,
as he had found it very difficult to trace his grand-nephew's
address. Adam was delighted and replied cordially; he had often
heard his father speak of the older branch of the family with whom
his people had long lost touch. Some interesting correspondence had
ensued. Adam eagerly opened the letter which had only just arrived,
and conveyed a cordial invitation to stop with his grand-uncle at
Lesser Hill, for as long a time as he could spare.
"Indeed," Richard Salton went on, "I am in hopes that you will make
your permanent home here. You see, my dear boy, you and I are all
that remain of our race, and it is but fitting that you should
succeed me when the time comes. In this year of grace, 1860, I am
close on eighty years of age, and though we have been a long-lived
race, the span of life cannot be prolonged beyond reasonable bounds.
I am prepared to like you, and to make your home with me as happy as
you could wish. So do come at once on receipt of this, and find the
welcome I am waiting to give you. I send, in case such may make
matters easy for you, a banker's draft for 200 pounds. Come soon,
so that we may both of us enjoy many happy days together. If you
are able to give me the pleasure of seeing you, send me as soon as
you can a letter telling me when to expect you. Then when you
arrive at Plymouth or Southampton or whatever port you are bound
for, wait on board, and I will meet you at the earliest hour
possible."
Old Mr. Salton was delighted when Adam's reply arrived and sent a
groom hot-foot to his crony, Sir Nathaniel de Salis, to inform him
that his grand-nephew was due at Southampton on the twelfth of June.
Mr. Salton gave instructions to have ready a carriage early on the
important day, to start for Stafford, where he would catch the 11.40
a.m. train. He would stay that night with his grand-nephew, either
on the ship, which would be a new experience for him, or, if his
guest should prefer it, at a hotel. In either case they would start
in the early morning for home. He had given instructions to his
bailiff to send the postillion carriage on to Southampton, to be
ready for their journey home, and to arrange for relays of his own
horses to be sent on at once. He intended that his grand-nephew,
who had been all his life in Australia, should see something of
rural England on the drive. He had plenty of young horses of his
own breeding and breaking, and could depend on a journey memorable
to the young man. The luggage would be sent on by rail to Stafford,
where one of his carts would meet it. Mr. Salton, during the
journey to Southampton, often wondered if his grand-nephew was as
much excited as he was at the idea of meeting so near a relation for
the first time; and it was with an effort that he controlled
himself. The endless railway lines and switches round the
Southampton Docks fired his anxiety afresh.
As the train drew up on the dockside, he was getting his hand traps
together, when the carriage door was wrenched open and a young man
jumped in.
"How are you, uncle? I recognised you from the photo you sent me!
I wanted to meet you as soon as I could, but everything is so
strange to me that I didn't quite know what to do. However, here I
am. I am glad to see you, sir. I have been dreaming of this
happiness for thousands of miles; now I find that the reality beats
all the dreaming!" As he spoke the old man and the young one were
heartily wringing each other's hands.
The meeting so auspiciously begun proceeded well. Adam, seeing that
the old man was interested in the novelty of the ship, suggested
that he should stay the night on board, and that he would himself be
ready to start at any hour and go anywhere that the other suggested.
This affectionate willingness to fall in with his own plans quite
won the old man's heart. He warmly accepted the invitation, and at
once they became not only on terms of affectionate relationship, but
almost like old friends. The heart of the old man, which had been
empty for so long, found a new delight. The young man found, on
landing in the old country, a welcome and a surrounding in full
harmony with all his dreams throughout his wanderings and solitude,
and the promise of a fresh and adventurous life. It was not long
before the old man accepted him to full relationship by calling him
by his Christian name. After a long talk on affairs of interest,
they retired to the cabin, which the elder was to share. Richard
Salton put his hands affectionately on the boy's shoulders--though
Adam was in his twenty-seventh year, he was a boy, and always would
be, to his grand-uncle.
"I am so glad to find you as you are, my dear boy--just such a young
man as I had always hoped for as a son, in the days when I still had
such hopes. However, that is all past. But thank God there is a
new life to begin for both of us. To you must be the larger part--
but there is still time for some of it to be shared in common. I
have waited till we should have seen each other to enter upon the
subject; for I thought it better not to tie up your young life to my
old one till we should have sufficient personal knowledge to justify
such a venture. Now I can, so far as I am concerned, enter into it
freely, since from the moment my eyes rested on you I saw my son--as
he shall be, God willing--if he chooses such a course himself."
"Indeed I do, sir--with all my heart!"
"Thank you, Adam, for that." The old, man's eyes filled and his
voice trembled. Then, after a long silence between them, he went
on: "When I heard you were coming I made my will. It was well that
your interests should be protected from that moment on. Here is the
deed--keep it, Adam. All I have shall belong to you; and if love
and good wishes, or the memory of them, can make life sweeter, yours
shall be a happy one. Now, my dear boy, let us turn in. We start
early in the morning and have a long drive before us. I hope you
don't mind driving? I was going to have the old travelling carriage
in which my grandfather, your great-grand-uncle, went to Court when
William IV. was king. It is all right--they built well in those
days--and it has been kept in perfect order. But I think I have
done better: I have sent the carriage in which I travel myself.
The horses are of my own breeding, and relays of them shall take us
all the way. I hope you like horses? They have long been one of my
greatest interests in life."
"I love them, sir, and I am happy to say I have many of my own. My
father gave me a horse farm for myself when I was eighteen. I
devoted myself to it, and it has gone on. Before I came away, my
steward gave me a memorandum that we have in my own place more than
a thousand, nearly all good."
"I am glad, my boy. Another link between us."
"Just fancy what a delight it will be, sir, to see so much of
England--and with you!"
"Thank you again, my boy. I will tell you all about your future
home and its surroundings as we go. We shall travel in old-
fashioned state, I tell you. My grandfather always drove four-in-
hand; and so shall we."
"Oh, thanks, sir, thanks. May I take the ribbons sometimes?"
"Whenever you choose, Adam. The team is your own. Every horse we
use to-day is to be your own."
"You are too generous, uncle!"
"Not at all. Only an old man's selfish pleasure. It is not every
day that an heir to the old home comes back. And--oh, by the way. .
. No, we had better turn in now--I shall tell you the rest in the
morning."
