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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Miss or Mrs.?
+
+Author: Wilkie Collins
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2006 [EBook #1621]
+Last Updated: September 13, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS OR MRS.? ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by James Rusk and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MISS OR MRS.?
+
+by Wilkie Collins
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS OF THE STORY.
+
+     Sir Joseph Graybrooke. . . . . . . . . .(Knight)
+     Richard Turlington . . . . (Of the Levant Trade)
+     Launcelot Linzie . .(Of the College of Surgeons)
+     James Dicas. . . . . .(Of the Roll of Attorneys)
+     Thomas Wildfang. . . . . .(Superannuated Seaman)
+     Miss Graybrooke. . . . . . (Sir Joseph's Sister)
+     Natalie. . . . . . . . . (Sir Joseph's Daughter)
+     Lady Winwood . . . . . . . .(Sir Joseph's Niece)
+     Amelia} Sophia}. (Lady Winwood's Stepdaughter's)
+     and Dorothea}
+
+
+
+Period: THE PRESENT TIME. Place: ENGLAND.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST SCENE
+
+At Sea.
+
+The night had come to an end. The new-born day waited for its quickening
+light in the silence that is never known on land--the silence before
+sunrise, in a calm at sea.
+
+Not a breath came from the dead air. Not a ripple stirred on the
+motionless water. Nothing changed but the softly-growing light; nothing
+moved but the lazy mist, curling up to meet the sun, its master, on the
+eastward sea. By fine gradations, the airy veil of morning thinned in
+substance as it rose--thinned, till there dawned through it in the first
+rays of sunlight the tall white sails of a Schooner Yacht.
+
+From stem to stern silence possessed the vessel--as silence possessed
+the sea.
+
+But one living creature was on deck--the man at the helm, dozing
+peaceably with his arm over the useless tiller. Minute by minute the
+light grew, and the heat grew with it; and still the helmsman slumbered,
+the heavy sails hung noiseless, the quiet water lay sleeping against
+the vessel's sides. The whole orb of the sun was visible above the
+water-line, when the first sound pierced its way through the morning
+silence. From far off over the shining white ocean, the cry of a
+sea-bird reached the yacht on a sudden out of the last airy circles of
+the waning mist.
+
+The sleeper at the helm woke; looked up at the idle sails, and yawned
+in sympathy with them; looked out at the sea on either side of him, and
+shook his head obstinately at the superior obstinacy of the calm.
+
+"Blow, my little breeze!" said the man, whistling the sailor's
+invocation to the wind softly between his teeth. "Blow, my little
+breeze!"
+
+"How's her head?" cried a bold and brassy voice, hailing the deck from
+the cabin staircase.
+
+"Anywhere you like, master; all round the compass."
+
+The voice was followed by the man. The owner of the yacht appeared on
+deck.
+
+Behold Richard Turlington, Esq., of the great Levant firm of Pizzituti,
+Turlington & Branca! Aged eight-and-thirty; standing stiffly and
+sturdily at a height of not more than five feet six--Mr. Turlington
+presented to the view of his fellow-creatures a face of the
+perpendicular order of human architecture. His forehead was a straight
+line, his upper lip was another, his chin was the straightest and the
+longest line of all. As he turned his swarthy countenance eastward,
+and shaded his light gray eyes from the sun, his knotty hand plainly
+revealed that it had got him his living by its own labor at one time or
+another in his life. Taken on the whole, this was a man whom it might
+be easy to respect, but whom it would be hard to love. Better company at
+the official desk than at the social table. Morally and physically--if
+the expression may be permitted--a man without a bend in him.
+
+"A calm yesterday," grumbled Richard Turlington, looking with stubborn
+deliberation all round him. "And a calm to-day. Ha! next season I'll
+have the vessel fitted with engines. I hate this!"
+
+"Think of the filthy coals, and the infernal vibration, and leave your
+beautiful schooner as she is. We are out for a holiday. Let the wind and
+the sea take a holiday too."
+
+Pronouncing those words of remonstrance, a slim, nimble, curly-headed
+young gentleman joined Richard Turlington on deck, with his clothes
+under his arm, his towels in his hand, and nothing on him but the
+night-gown in which he had stepped out of his bed.
+
+"Launcelot Linzie, you have been received on board my vessel in the
+capacity of medical attendant on Miss Natalie Graybrooke, at her
+father's request. Keep your place, if you please. When I want your
+advice, I'll ask you for it." Answering in those terms, the elder man
+fixed his colorless gray eyes on the younger with an expression which
+added plainly, "There won't be room enough in this schooner much longer
+for me and for you."
+
+Launcelot Linzie had his reasons (apparently) for declining to let his
+host offend him on any terms whatever.
+
+"Thank you!" he rejoined, in a tone of satirical good humor. "It isn't
+easy to keep my place on board your vessel. I can't help presuming
+to enjoy myself as if I was the owner. The life is such a new one--to
+_me!_ It's so delightfully easy, for instance, to wash yourself here.
+On shore it's a complicated question of jugs and basins and tubs; one is
+always in danger of breaking something, or spoiling something. Here you
+have only to jump out of bed, to run up on deck, and to do this!"
+
+He turned, and scampered to the bows of the vessel. In one instant he
+was out of his night-gown, in another he was on the bulwark, in a third
+he was gamboling luxuriously in sixty fathoms of salt-water.
+
+Turlington's eyes followed him with a reluctant, uneasy attention as
+he swam round the vessel, the only moving object in view. Turlington's
+mind, steady and slow in all its operations, set him a problem to be
+solved, on given conditions, as follows:
+
+"Launcelot Linzie is fifteen years younger than I am. Add to that,
+Launcelot Linzie is Natalie Graybrooke's cousin. Given those two
+advantages--Query: Has he taken Natalie's fancy?"
+
+Turning that question slowly over and over in his mind, Richard
+Turlington seated himself in a corner at the stern of the vessel. He
+was still at work on the problem, when the young surgeon returned to his
+cabin to put the finishing touches to his toilet. He had not reached the
+solution when the steward appeared an hour later and said, "Breakfast is
+ready, sir!"
+
+They were a party of five round the cabin table.
+
+First, Sir Joseph Graybrooke. Inheritor of a handsome fortune made by
+his father and his grandfather in trade. Mayor, twice elected, of a
+thriving provincial town. Officially privileged, while holding that
+dignity, to hand a silver trowel to a royal personage condescending to
+lay a first stone of a charitable edifice. Knighted, accordingly, in
+honor of the occasion. Worthy of the honor and worthy of the occasion.
+A type of his eminently respectable class. Possessed of an amiable, rosy
+face, and soft, silky white hair. Sound in his principles; tidy in his
+dress; blessed with moderate politics and a good digestion--a harmless,
+healthy, spruce, speckless, weak-minded old man.
+
+Secondly, Miss Lavinia Graybrooke, Sir Joseph's maiden sister.
+Personally, Sir Joseph in petticoats. If you knew one you knew the
+other.
+
+Thirdly, Miss Natalie Graybrooke--Sir Joseph's only child.
+
+She had inherited the personal appearance and the temperament of her
+mother--dead many years since. There had been a mixture of Negro
+blood and French blood in the late Lady Graybrooke's family, settled
+originally in Martinique. Natalie had her mother's warm dusky color, her
+mother's superb black hair, and her mother's melting, lazy, lovely
+brown eyes. At fifteen years of age (dating from her last birthday) she
+possessed the development of the bosom and limbs which in England is
+rarely attained before twenty. Everything about the girl--except her
+little rosy ears--was on a grand Amazonian scale. Her shapely hand was
+long and large; her supple waist was the waist of a woman. The indolent
+grace of all her movements had its motive power in an almost masculine
+firmness of action and profusion of physical resource. This remarkable
+bodily development was far from being accompanied by any corresponding
+development of character. Natalie's manner was the gentle, innocent
+manner of a young girl. She had her father's sweet temper ingrafted on
+her mother's variable Southern nature. She moved like a goddess, and she
+laughed like a child. Signs of maturing too rapidly--of outgrowing her
+strength, as the phrase went--had made their appearance in Sir
+Joseph's daughter during the spring. The family doctor had suggested
+a sea-voyage, as a wise manner of employing the fine summer months.
+Richard Turlington's yacht was placed at her disposal, with Richard
+Turlington himself included as one of the fixtures of the vessel.
+With her father and her aunt to keep up round her the atmosphere of
+home--with Cousin Launcelot (more commonly known as "Launce") to
+carry out, if necessary, the medical treatment prescribed by superior
+authority on shore--the lovely invalid embarked on her summer cruise,
+and sprang up into a new existence in the life-giving breezes of
+the sea. After two happy months of lazy coasting round the shores of
+England, all that remained of Natalie's illness was represented by a
+delicious languor in her eyes, and an utter inability to devote herself
+to anything which took the shape of a serious occupation. As she sat
+at the cabin breakfast-table that morning, in her quaintly-made sailing
+dress of old-fashioned nankeen--her inbred childishness of manner
+contrasting delightfully with the blooming maturity of her form--the man
+must have been trebly armed indeed in the modern philosophy who could
+have denied that the first of a woman's rights is the right of being
+beautiful; and the foremost of a woman's merits, the merit of being
+young!
+
+The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who
+have already appeared on the deck of the yacht.
+
+"Not a breath of wind stirring!" said Richard Turlington. "The weather
+has got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in
+the last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with
+me--you must be longing to get on shore."
+
+He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable
+to the young lady--and plainly unsuccessful in producing any impression
+on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup, instead of
+looking at Richard Turlington.
+
+"You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment," said Launce. "The
+vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our
+breakfast on is as even as your dining-room table at home."
+
+He too addressed himself to Natalie, but without betraying the anxiety
+to please her which had been shown by the other. For all that, _he_
+diverted the girl's attention from her tea-cup; and _his_ idea instantly
+awakened a responsive idea in Natalie's mind.
+
+"It will be so strange on shore," she said, "to find myself in a room
+that never turns on one side, and to sit at a table that never tilts
+down to my knees at one time, or rises up to my chin at another. How I
+shall miss the wash of the water at my ear, and the ring of the bell
+on deck when I am awake at night on land! No interest there in how the
+wind blows, or how the sails are set. No asking your way of the sun,
+when you are lost, with a little brass instrument and a morsel of pencil
+and paper. No delightful wandering wherever the wind takes you, without
+the worry of planning beforehand where you are to go. Oh how I shall
+miss the dear, changeable, inconstant sea! And how sorry I am I'm not a
+man and a sailor!"
+
+This to the guest admitted on board on sufferance, and not one word of
+it addressed, even by chance, to the owner of the yacht!
+
+Richard Turlington's heavy eyebrows contracted with an unmistakable
+expression of pain.
+
+"If this calm weather holds," he went on, addressing himself to Sir
+Joseph, "I am afraid, Graybrooke, I shall not be able to bring you back
+to the port we sailed from by the end of the week."
+
+"Whenever you like, Richard," answered the old gentleman, resignedly.
+"Any time will do for me."
+
+"Any time within reasonable limits, Joseph," said Miss Lavinia,
+evidently feeling that her brother was conceding too much. She spoke
+with Sir Joseph's amiable smile and Sir Joseph's softly-pitched voice.
+Two twin babies could hardly have been more like one another.
+
+While these few words were being exchanged among the elders, a private
+communication was in course of progress between the two young people
+under the cabin table. Natalie's smartly-slippered foot felt its way
+cautiously inch by inch over the carpet till it touched Launce's boot.
+Launce, devouring his breakfast, instantly looked up from his plate,
+and then, at a second touch from Natalie, looked down again in a violent
+hurry. After pausing to make sure that she was not noticed, Natalie
+took up her knife. Under a perfectly-acted pretense of toying with it
+absently, in the character of a young lady absorbed in thought, she
+began dividing a morsel of ham left on the edge of her plate, into six
+tiny pieces. Launce's eye looked in sidelong expectation at the divided
+and subdivided ham. He was evidently waiting to see the collection of
+morsels put to some telegraphic use, previously determined on between
+his neighbor and himself.
+
+In the meanwhile the talk proceeded among the other persons at the
+breakfast-table. Miss Lavinia addressed herself to Launce.
+
+"Do you know, you careless boy, you gave me a fright this morning? I was
+sleeping with my cabin window open, and I was awoke by an awful splash
+in the water. I called for the stewardess. I declare I thought somebody
+had fallen overboard!"
+
+Sir Joseph looked up briskly; his sister had accidentally touched on an
+old association.
+
+"Talk of falling overboard," he began, "reminds me of an extraordinary
+adventure--"
+
+There Launce broke in, making his apologies.
+
+"It shan't occur again, Miss Lavinia," he said. "To-morrow morning I'll
+oil myself all over, and slip into the water as silently as a seal."
+
+"Of an extraordinary adventure," persisted Sir Joseph, "which happened
+to me many years ago, when I was a young man. Lavinia?"
+
+He stopped, and looked interrogatively at his sister. Miss Graybrooke
+nodded her head responsively, and settled herself in her chair, as if
+summoning her attention in anticipation of a coming demand on it. To
+persons well acquainted with the brother and sister these proceedings
+were ominous of an impending narrative, protracted to a formidable
+length. The two always told a story in couples, and always differed
+with each other about the facts, the sister politely contradicting
+the brother when it was Sir Joseph's story, and the brother politely
+contradicting the sister when it was Miss Lavinia's story. Separated one
+from the other, and thus relieved of their own habitual interchange
+of contradiction, neither of them had ever been known to attempt the
+relation of the simplest series of events without breaking down.
+
+"It was five years before I knew you, Richard," proceeded Sir Joseph.
+
+"Six years," said Miss Graybrooke.
+
+"Excuse me, Lavinia."
+
+"No, Joseph, I have it down in my diary."
+
+"Let us waive the point." (Sir Joseph invariably used this formula as a
+means of at once conciliating his sister, and getting a fresh start for
+his story.) "I was cruising off the Mersey in a Liverpool pilot-boat. I
+had hired the boat in company with a friend of mine, formerly notorious
+in London society, under the nickname (derived from the peculiar brown
+color of his whiskers) of 'Mahogany Dobbs.'"
+
+"The color of his liveries, Joseph, not the color of his whiskers."
+
+"My dear Lavinia, you are thinking of 'Sea-green Shaw,' so called from
+the extraordinary liveries he adopted for his servants in the year when
+he was sheriff."
+
+"I think not, Joseph."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Lavinia."
+
+Richard Turlington's knotty fingers drummed impatiently on the table. He
+looked toward Natalie. She was idly arranging her little morsels of
+ham in a pattern on her plate. Launcelot Linzie, still more idly, was
+looking at the pattern. Seeing what he saw now, Richard solved the
+problem which had puzzled him on deck. It was simply impossible that
+Natalie's fancy could be really taken by such an empty-headed fool as
+that!
+
+Sir Joseph went on with his story:
+
+"We were some ten or a dozen miles off the mouth of the Mersey--"
+
+"Nautical miles, Joseph."
+
+"It doesn't matter, Lavinia."
+
+"Excuse me, brother, the late great and good Doctor Johnson said
+accuracy ought always to be studied even in the most trifling things."
+
+"They were common miles, Lavinia."
+
+"They were nautical miles, Joseph."
+
+"Let us waive the point. Mahogany Dobbs and I happened to be below in
+the cabin, occupied--"
+
+Here Sir Joseph paused (with his amiable smile) to consult his
+memory. Miss Lavinia waited (with _her_ amiable smile) for the coming
+opportunity of setting her brother right. At the same moment Natalie
+laid down her knife and softly touched Launce under the table. When
+she thus claimed his attention the six pieces of ham were arranged as
+follows in her plate: Two pieces were placed opposite each other, and
+four pieces were ranged perpendicularly under them. Launce looked, and
+twice touched Natalie under the table. Interpreted by the Code agreed
+on between the two, the signal in the plate meant, "I must see you in
+private." And Launce's double touch answered, "After breakfast."
+
+Sir Joseph proceeded with his story. Natalie took up her knife again.
+Another signal coming!
+
+"We were both down in the cabin, occupied in finishing our dinner--"
+
+"Just sitting down to lunch, Joseph."
+
+"My dear! I ought to know."
+
+"I only repeat what I heard, brother. The last time you told the story,
+you and your friend were sitting down to lunch."
+
+"We won't particularize, Lavinia. Suppose we say occupied over a meal?"
+
+"If it is of no more importance than that, Joseph, it would be surely
+better to leave it out altogether."
+
+"Let us waive the point. Well, we were suddenly alarmed by a shout on
+deck, 'Man over-board!' We both rushed up the cabin stairs, naturally
+under the impression that one of our crew had fallen into the sea: an
+impression shared, I ought to add, by the man at the helm, who had given
+the alarm."
+
+Sir Joseph paused again. He was approaching one of the great dramatic
+points in his story, and was naturally anxious to present it as
+impressively as possible. He considered with himself, with his head a
+little on one side. Miss Lavinia considered with _herself_, with _her_
+head a little on one side. Natalie laid down her knife again, and again
+touched Launce under the table. This time there were five pieces of ham
+ranged longitudinally on the plate, with one piece immediately under
+them at the center of the line. Interpreted by the Code, this signal
+indicated two ominous words, "Bad news." Launce looked significantly
+at the owner of the yacht (meaning of the look, "Is he at the bottom of
+it?"). Natalie frowned in reply (meaning of the frown, "Yes, he is").
+Launce looked down again into the plate. Natalie instantly pushed all
+the pieces of ham together in a little heap (meaning of the heap, "No
+more to say").
+
+"Well?" said Richard Turlington, turning sharply on Sir Joseph. "Get on
+with your story. What next?"
+
+Thus far he had not troubled himself to show even a decent pretense of
+interest in his old friend's perpetually-interrupted narrative. It was
+only when Sir Joseph had reached his last sentence--intimating that the
+man overboard might turn out in course of time not to be a man of the
+pilot-boat's crew--it was only then that Turlington sat up in his chair,
+and showed signs of suddenly feeling a strong interest in the progress
+of the story.
+
+Sir Joseph went on:
+
+"As soon as we got on deck, we saw the man in the water, astern. Our
+vessel was hove up in the wind, and the boat was lowered. The master and
+one of the men took the oars. All told, our crew were seven in number.
+Two away in the boat, a third at the helm, and, to my amazement, when
+I looked round, the other four behind me making our number complete.
+At the same moment Mahogany Dobbs, who was looking through a telescope,
+called out, 'Who the devil can he be? The man is floating on a hen-coop,
+and we have got nothing of the sort on board this pilot-boat.'"
+
+The one person present who happened to notice Richard Turlington's
+face when those words were pronounced was Launcelot Linzie. He--and he
+alone--saw the Levant trader's swarthy complexion fade slowly to a
+livid ashen gray; his eyes the while fixing themselves on Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke with a furtive glare in them like the glare in the eyes of a
+wild beast. Apparently conscious that Launce was looking at him--though
+he never turned his head Launce's way--he laid his elbow on the table,
+lifted his arm, and so rested his face on his hand, while the story went
+on, as to screen it effectually from the young surgeon's view.
+
+"The man was brought on board," proceeded Sir Joseph, "sure enough, with
+a hen-coop--on which he had been found floating. The poor wretch was
+blue with terror and exposure in the water; he fainted when we lifted
+him on deck. When he came to himself he told us a horrible story. He was
+a sick and destitute foreign seaman, and he had hidden himself in the
+hold of an English vessel (bound to a port in his native country) which
+had sailed from Liverpool that morning. He had been discovered, and
+brought before the captain. The captain, a monster in human form, if
+ever there was one yet--"
+
+Before the next word of the sentence could pass Sir Joseph's lips,
+Turlington startled the little party in the cabin by springing suddenly
+to his feet.
+
+"The breeze!" he cried; "the breeze at last!"
+
+As he spoke, he wheeled round to the cabin door so as to turn his back
+on his guests, and hailed the deck.
+
+"Which way is the wind?"
+
+"There is not a breath of wind, sir."
+
+Not the slightest movement in the vessel had been perceptible in the
+cabin; not a sound had been audible indicating the rising of the breeze.
+The owner of the yacht--accustomed to the sea, capable, if necessary,
+of sailing his own vessel--had surely committed a strange mistake! He
+turned again to his friends, and made his apologies with an excess of
+polite regret far from characteristic of him at other times and under
+other circumstances.
+
+"Go on," he said to Sir Joseph, when he had got to the end of his
+excuses; "I never heard such an interesting story in my life. Pray go
+on!"
+
+The request was not an easy one to comply with. Sir Joseph's ideas
+had been thrown into confusion. Miss Lavinia's contradictions (held in
+reserve) had been scattered beyond recall. Both brother and sister were,
+moreover, additionally hindered in recovering the control of their own
+resources by the look and manner of their host. He alarmed, instead
+of encouraging the two harmless old people, by fronting them almost
+fiercely, with his elbows squared on the table, and his face expressive
+of a dogged resolution to sit there and listen, if need be, for the rest
+of his life. Launce was the person who set Sir Joseph going again. After
+first looking attentively at Richard, he took his uncle straight back to
+the story by means of a question, thus:
+
+"You don't mean to say that the captain of the ship threw the man
+overboard?"
+
+"That is just what he did, Launce. The poor wretch was too ill to work
+his passage. The captain declared he would have no idle foreign vagabond
+in his ship to eat up the provisions of Englishmen who worked. With his
+own hands he cast the hen-coop into the water, and (assisted by one of
+his sailors) he threw the man after it, and told him to float back to
+Liverpool with the evening tide."
+
+"A lie!" cried Turlington, addressing himself, not to Sir Joseph, but to
+Launce.
+
+"Are you acquainted with the circumstances?" asked Launce, quietly.
+
+"I know nothing about the circumstances. I say, from my own experience,
+that foreign sailors are even greater blackguards than English sailors.
+The man had met with an accident, no doubt. The rest of his story was a
+lie, and the object of it was to open Sir Joseph's purse."
+
+Sir Joseph mildly shook his head.
+
+"No lie, Richard. Witnesses proved that the man had spoken the truth."
+
+"Witnesses? Pooh! More liars, you mean."
+
+"I went to the owners of the vessel," pursued Sir Joseph. "I got from
+them the names of the officers and the crew, and I waited, leaving the
+case in the hands of the Liverpool police. The ship was wrecked at the
+mouth of the Amazon, but the crew and the cargo were saved. The men
+belonging to Liverpool came back. They were a bad set, I grant you. But
+they were examined separately about the treatment of the foreign sailor,
+and they all told the same story. They could give no account of their
+captain, nor of the sailor who had been his accomplice in the crime,
+except that they had not embarked in the ship which brought the rest of
+the crew to England. Whatever may have become of the captain since, he
+certainly never returned to Liverpool."
+
+"Did you find out his name?"
+
+The question was asked by Turlington. Even Sir Joseph, the least
+observant of men, noticed that it was put with a perfectly unaccountable
+irritability of manner.
+
+"Don't be angry, Richard." said the old gentleman. "What is there to be
+angry about?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I'm not angry--I'm only curious. _Did_ you
+find out who he was?"
+
+"I did. His name was Goward. He was well known at Liverpool as a very
+clever and a very dangerous man. Quite young at the time I am speaking
+of, and a first-rate sailor; famous for taking command of unseaworthy
+ships and vagabond crews. Report described him to me as having made
+considerable sums of money in that way, for a man in his position;
+serving firms, you know, with a bad name, and running all sorts of
+desperate risks. A sad ruffian, Richard! More than once in trouble, on
+both sides of the Atlantic, for acts of violence and cruelty. Dead, I
+dare say, long since."
+
+"Or possibly," said Launce, "alive, under another name, and thriving in
+a new way of life, with more desperate risks in it, of some other sort."
+
+"Are _you_ acquainted with the circumstances?" asked Turlington,
+retorting Launce's question on him, with a harsh ring of defiance in his
+brassy voice.
+
+"What became of the poor foreign sailor, papa?" said Natalie, purposely
+interrupting Launce before he could meet the question angrily asked of
+him, by an angry reply.
+
+"We made a subscription, and spoke to his consul, my dear. He went back
+to his country, poor fellow, comfortably enough."
+
+"And there is an end of Sir Joseph's story," said Turlington, rising
+noisily from his chair. "It's a pity we haven't got a literary man on
+board--he would make a novel of it." He looked up at the skylight as he
+got on his feet. "Here is the breeze, this time," he exclaimed, "and no
+mistake!"
+
+It was true. At last the breeze had come. The sails flapped, the main
+boom swung over with a thump, and the stagnant water, stirred at last,
+bubbled merrily past the vessel's sides.
+
+"Come on deck, Natalie, and get some fresh air," said Miss Lavinia,
+leading the way to the cabin door.
+
+Natalie held up the skirt of her nankeen dress, and exhibited the purple
+trimming torn away over an extent of some yards.
+
+"Give me half an hour first, aunt, in my cabin," she said, "to mend
+this."
+
+Miss Lavinia elevated her venerable eyebrows in amazement.
+
+"You have done nothing but tear your dresses, my dear, since you have
+been in Mr. Turlington's yacht. Most extraordinary! I have torn none of
+mine during the whole cruise."
+
+Natalie's dark color deepened a shade. She laughed, a little uneasily.
+"I am so awkward on board ship," she replied, and turned away and shut
+herself up in her cabin.
+
+Richard Turlington produced his case of cigars.
+
+"Now is the time," he said to Sir Joseph, "for the best cigar of the
+day--the cigar after breakfast. Come on deck."
+
+"You will join us, Launce?" said Sir Joseph.
+
+"Give me half an hour first over my books," Launce replied. "I mustn't
+let my medical knowledge get musty at sea, and I might not feel inclined
+to study later in the day."
+
+"Quite right, my dear boy, quite right."
+
+Sir Joseph patted his nephew approvingly on the shoulder. Launce turned
+away on _his_ side, and shut himself up in his cabin.
+
+The other three ascended together to the deck.
+
+
+
+
+SECOND SCENE.
+
+The Store-Room.
+
+Persons possessed of sluggish livers and tender hearts find two serious
+drawbacks to the enjoyment of a cruise at sea. It is exceedingly
+difficult to get enough walking exercise; and it is next to impossible
+(where secrecy is an object) to make love without being found out.
+Reverting for the moment to the latter difficulty only, life within the
+narrow and populous limits of a vessel may be defined as essentially
+life in public. From morning to night you are in your neighbor's way, or
+your neighbor is in your way. As a necessary result of these conditions,
+the rarest of existing men may be defined as the man who is capable
+of stealing a kiss at sea without discovery. An inbred capacity for
+stratagem of the finest sort; inexhaustible inventive resources;
+patience which can flourish under superhuman trials; presence of mind
+which can keep its balance victoriously under every possible stress of
+emergency--these are some of the qualifications which must accompany
+Love on a cruise, when Love embarks in the character of a contraband
+commodity not duly entered on the papers of the ship.
+
+Having established a Code of Signals which enabled them to communicate
+privately, while the eyes and ears of others were wide open on every
+side of them, Natalie and Launce were next confronted by the more
+serious difficulty of finding a means of meeting together at stolen
+interviews on board the yacht. Possessing none of those precious
+moral qualifications already enumerated as the qualifications of an
+accomplished lover at sea, Launce had proved unequal to grapple with the
+obstacles in his way. Left to her own inventive resources, Natalie
+had first suggested the young surgeon's medical studies as Launce's
+unanswerable excuse for shutting himself up at intervals in the lower
+regions, and had then hit on the happy idea of tearing her trimmings,
+and condemning herself to repair her own carelessness, as the
+all-sufficient reason for similar acts of self-seclusion on her side.
+In this way the lovers contrived, while the innocent ruling authorities
+were on deck, to meet privately below them, on the neutral ground of the
+main cabin; and there, by previous arrangement at the breakfast-table,
+they were about to meet privately now.
+
+Natalie's door was, as usual on these occasions, the first that opened;
+for this sound reason, that Natalie's quickness was the quickness to be
+depended on in case of accident.
+
+She looked up at the sky-light. There were the legs of the two gentlemen
+and the skirts of her aunt visible (and stationary) on the lee side of
+the deck. She advanced a few steps and listened. There was a pause in
+the murmur of the voices above. She looked up again. One pair of legs
+(not her father's) had disappeared. Without an instant's hesitation,
+Natalie darted back to her own door, just in time to escape Richard
+Turlington descending the cabin stairs. All he did was to go to one
+of the drawers under the main-cabin book-case and to take out a map,
+ascending again immediately to the deck. Natalie's guilty conscience
+rushed instantly, nevertheless, to the conclusion that Richard suspected
+her. When she showed herself for the second time, instead of venturing
+into the cabin, she called across it in a whisper,
+
+"Launce!"
+
+Launce appeared at his door. He was peremptorily checked before he could
+cross the threshold.
+
+"Don't stir a step! Richard has been down in the cabin! Richard suspects
+us!"
+
+"Nonsense! Come out."
+
+"Nothing will induce me, unless you can find some other place than the
+cabin."
+
+Some other place? How easy to find it on land! How apparently impossible
+at sea! There was the forecastle (full of men) at one end of the vessel.
+There was the sail room (full of sails) at the other. There was the
+ladies' cabin (used as the ladies' dressing-room; inaccessible, in that
+capacity, to every male human being on board). Was there any disposable
+inclosed space to be found amidships? On one side there were the
+sleeping berths of the sailing-master and his mate (impossible to
+borrow _them_). On the other side was the steward's store-room. Launce
+considered for a moment. The steward's store-room was just the thing!
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Natalie, as her lover made straight for a
+closed door at the lower extremity of the main cabin.
+
+"To speak to the steward, darling. Wait one moment, and you will see me
+again."
+
+Launce opened the store-room door, and discovered, not the steward, but
+his wife, who occupied the situation of stewardess on board the vessel.
+The accident was, in this case, a lucky one. Having stolen several
+kisses at sea, and having been discovered (in every case) either by the
+steward or his wife, Launce felt no difficulty in prefacing his request
+to be allowed the use of the room by the plainest allusion to
+his relations with Natalie. He could count on the silence of the
+sympathizing authorities in this region of the vessel, having wisely
+secured them as accomplices by the usual persuasion of the pecuniary
+sort. Of the two, however, the stewardess, as a woman, was the more
+likely to lend a ready ear to Launce's entreaties in his present
+emergency. After a faint show of resistance, she consented, not only to
+leave the room, but to keep her husband out of it, on the understanding
+that it was not to be occupied for more than ten minutes. Launce made
+the signal to Natalie at one door, while the stewardess went out by the
+other. In a moment more the lovers were united in a private room. Is it
+necessary to say in what language the proceedings were opened? Surely
+not! There is an inarticulate language of the lips in use on these
+occasions in which we are all proficient, though we sometimes forget it
+in later life. Natalie seated herself on a locker. The tea, sugar, and
+spices were at her back, a side of bacon swung over her head, and a net
+full of lemons dangled before her face. It might not be roomy, but it
+was snug and comfortable.
+
+"Suppose they call for the steward?" she suggested. ("Don't, Launce!")
+
+"Never mind. We shall be safe enough if they do. The steward has only to
+show himself on deck, and they will suspect nothing."
+
+"Do be quiet, Launce! I have got dreadful news to tell you. And,
+besides, my aunt will expect to see me with my braid sewn on again."
+
+She had brought her needle and thread with her. Whipping up the skirt
+of her dress on her knee, she bent forward over it, and set herself
+industriously to the repair of the torn trimming. In this position her
+lithe figure showed charmingly its firm yet easy line. The needle, in
+her dexterous brown fingers, flew through its work. The locker was a
+broad one; Launce was able to seat himself partially behind her. In this
+position who could have resisted the temptation to lift up her great
+knot of broadly-plaited black hair, and to let the warm, dusky nape
+of her neck disclose itself to view? Who, looking at it, could fail to
+revile the senseless modern fashion of dressing the hair, which hides
+the double beauty of form and color that nestles at the back of a
+woman's neck? From time to time, as the interview proceeded, Launce's
+lips emphasized the more important words occurring in his share of the
+conversation on the soft, fragrant skin which the lifted hair let him
+see at intervals. In Launce's place, sir, you would have done it too.
+
+"Now, Natalie, what is the news?"
+
+"He has spoken to papa, Launce."
+
+"Richard Turlington?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"D--n him!"
+
+Natalie started. A curse addressed to the back of your neck, instantly
+followed by a blessing in the shape of a kiss, is a little trying when
+you are not prepared for it.
+
+"Don't do that again, Launce! It was while you were on deck smoking,
+and when I was supposed to be fast asleep. I opened the ventilator in
+my cabin door, dear, and I heard every word they said. He waited till my
+aunt was out of the way, and he had got papa all to himself, and then he
+began it in that horrible, downright voice of his--'Graybrooke! how much
+longer am I to wait?'"
+
+"Did he say that?"
+
+"No more swearing, Launce! Those were the words. Papa didn't understand
+them. He only said (poor dear!)--'Bless my soul, Richard, what do you
+want?' Richard soon explained himself. 'Who could he be waiting for--but
+Me?' Papa said something about my being so young. Richard stopped his
+mouth directly. 'Girls were like fruit; some ripened soon, and some
+ripened late. Some were women at twenty, and some were women at sixteen.
+It was impossible to look at me, and not see that I was like a new being
+after my two months at sea,' and so on and so on. Papa behaved like an
+angel. He still tried to put it off. 'Plenty of time, Richard, plenty
+of time.' 'Plenty of time for _her_' (was the wretch's answer to that);
+'but not for _me_. Think of all I have to offer her' (as if I cared for
+his money!); 'think how long I have looked upon her as growing up to
+be my wife' (growing up for _him_--monstrous!), 'and don't keep me in
+a state of uncertainty, which it gets harder and harder for a man in my
+position to endure!' He was really quite eloquent. His voice trembled.
+There is no doubt, dear, that he is very, very fond of me."
+
+"And you feel flattered by it, of course?"
+
+"Don't talk nonsense. I feel a little frightened at it, I can tell you."
+
+"Frightened? Did _you_ notice him this morning?"
+
+"I? When?"
+
+"When your father was telling that story about the man overboard."
+
+"No. What did he do? Tell me, Launce."
+
+"I'll tell you directly. How did it all end last night? Did your father
+make any sort of promise?"
+
+"You know Richard's way; Richard left him no other choice. Papa had to
+promise before he was allowed to go to bed."
+
+"To let Turlington marry you?"
+
+"Yes; the week after my next birthday."
+
+"The week after next Christmas-day?"
+
+"Yes. Papa is to speak to me as soon as we are at home again, and my
+married life is to begin with the New Year."
+
+"Are you in earnest, Natalie? Do you really mean to say it has gone as
+far as that?"
+
+"They have settled everything. The splendid establishment we are to set
+up, the great income we are to have. I heard papa tell Richard that half
+his fortune should go to me on my wedding-day. It was sickening to hear
+how much they made of Money, and how little they thought of Love. What
+am I to do, Launce?"
+
+"That's easily answered, my darling. In the first place, you are to make
+up your mind not to marry Richard Turlington--"
+
+"Do talk reasonably. You know I have done all I could. I have told papa
+that I can think of Richard as a friend, but not as a husband. He only
+laughs at me, and says, 'Wait a little, and you will alter your opinion,
+my dear.' You see Richard is everything to him; Richard has always
+managed his affairs, and has saved him from losing by bad speculations;
+Richard has known me from the time when I was a child; Richard has a
+splendid business, and quantities of money. Papa can't even imagine that
+I can resist Richard. I have tried my aunt; I have told her he is too
+old for me. All she says is, 'Look at your father; he was much older
+than your mother, and what a happy marriage theirs was.' Even if I said
+in so many words, 'I won't marry Richard,' what good would it do to us?
+Papa is the best and dearest old man in the world; but oh, he is so fond
+of money! He believes in nothing else. He would be furious--yes, kind as
+he is, he would be furious--if I even hinted that I was fond of _you_.
+Any man who proposed to marry me--if he couldn't match the fortune that
+I should bring him by a fortune of his own--would be a lunatic in papa's
+eyes. He wouldn't think it necessary to answer him; he would ring the
+bell, and have him shown out of the house. I am exaggerating nothing,
+Launce; you know I am speaking the truth. There is no hope in the
+future--that I can see--for either of us.
+
+"Have you done, Natalie? I have something to say on my side if you
+have."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"If things go on as they are going on now, shall I tell you how it will
+end? It will end in your being Turlington's wife."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"So you say now; but you don't know what may happen between this and
+Christmas-day. Natalie, there is only one way of making sure that you
+will never marry Richard. Marry _me_."
+
+"Without papa's consent?"
+
+"Without saying a word to anybody till it's done."
+
+"Oh, Launce! Launce!"
+
+"My darling, every word you have said proves there is no other way.
+Think of it, Natalie, think of it."
+
+There was a pause. Natalie dropped her needle and thread, and hid her
+face in her hands. "If my poor mother was only alive," she said; "if I
+only had an elder sister to advise me, and to take my part."
+
+She was evidently hesitating. Launce took a man's advantage of her
+indecision. He pressed her without mercy.
+
+"Do you love me?" he whispered, with his lips close to her ear.
+
+"You know I do, dearly."
+
+"Put it out of Richard's power to part us, Natalie."
+
+"Part us? We are cousins: we have known each other since we were both
+children. Even if he proposed parting us, papa wouldn't allow it."
+
+"Mark my words, he _will_ propose it. As for your father, Richard
+has only to lift his finger and your father obeys him. My love, the
+happiness of both our lives is at stake." He wound his arm round her,
+and gently drew her head back on his bosom, "Other girls have done it,
+darling," he pleaded, "why shouldn't you?"
+
+The effort to answer him was too much for her. She gave it up. A low
+sigh fluttered through her lips. She nestled closer to him, and faintly
+closed her eyes. The next instant she started up, trembling from head
+to foot, and looked at the sky-light. Richard Turlington's voice was
+suddenly audible on deck exactly above them.
+
+"Graybrooke, I want to say a word to you about Launcelot Linzie."
+
+Natalie's first impulse was to fly to the door. Hearing Launce's name on
+Richard's lips, she checked herself. Something in Richard's tone roused
+in her the curiosity which suspends fear. She waited, with her hand in
+Launce's hand.
+
+"If you remember," the brassy voice went on, "I doubted the wisdom of
+taking him with us on this cruise. You didn't agree with me, and, at
+your express request, I gave way. I did wrong. Launcelot Linzie is a
+very presuming young man."
+
+Sir Joseph's answer was accompanied by Sir Joseph's mellow laugh.
+
+"My dear Richard! Surely you are a little hard on Launce?"
+
+"You are not an observant man, Graybrooke. I am. I see signs of his
+presuming with all of us, and especially with Natalie. I don't like
+the manner in which he speaks to her and looks at her. He is unduly
+familiar; he is insolently confidential. There must be a stop put to it.
+In my position, my feelings ought to be regarded. I request you to check
+the intimacy when we get on shore."
+
+Sir Joseph's next words were spoken more seriously. He expressed his
+surprise.
+
+"My dear Richard, they are cousins, they have been playmates from
+childhood. How _can_ you think of attaching the slightest importance to
+anything that is said or done by poor Launce?"
+
+There was a good-humored contempt in Sir Joseph's reference to "poor
+Launce" which jarred on his daughter. He might almost have been alluding
+to some harmless domestic animal. Natalie's color deepened. Her hand
+pressed Launce's hand gently.
+
+Turlington still persisted.
+
+"I must once more request--seriously request--that you will check this
+growing intimacy. I don't object to your asking him to the house when
+you ask other friends. I only wish you (and expect you) to stop his
+'dropping in,' as it is called, any hour of the day or evening when he
+may have nothing to do. Is that understood between us?"
+
+"If you make a point of it, Richard, of course it's understood between
+us."
+
+Launce looked at Natalie, as weak Sir Joseph consented in those words.
+
+"What did I tell you?" he whispered.
+
+Natalie hung her head in silence. There was a pause in the conversation
+on deck. The two gentlemen walked away slowly toward the forward part of
+the vessel.
+
+Launce pursued his advantage.
+
+"Your father leaves us no alternative," he said. "The door will be
+closed against me as soon as we get on shore. If I lose you, Natalie, I
+don't care what becomes of me. My profession may go to the devil. I have
+nothing left worth living for."
+
+"Hush! hush! don't talk in that way!"
+
+Launce tried the soothing influence of persuasion once more.
+
+"Hundreds and hundreds of people in our situation have married
+privately--and have been forgiven afterward," he went on. "I won't ask
+you to do anything in a hurry. I will be guided entirely by your wishes.
+All I want to quiet my mind is to know that you are mine. Do, do, do
+make me feel sure that Richard Turlington can't take you away from me."
+
+"Don't press me, Launce." She dropped on the locker. "See!" she said.
+"It makes me tremble only to think of it!"
+
+"Who are you afraid of, darling? Not your father, surely?"
+
+"Poor papa! I wonder whether he would be hard on me for the first time
+in his life?" She stopped; her moistening eyes looked up imploringly in
+Launce's face. "Don't press me!" she repeated faintly. "You know it's
+wrong. We should have to confess it--and then what would happen?" She
+paused again. Her eyes wandered nervously to the deck. Her voice dropped
+to its lowest tones. "Think of Richard!" she said, and shuddered at the
+terrors which that name conjured up. Before it was possible to say a
+quieting word to her, she was again on her feet. Richard's name had
+suddenly recalled to her memory Launce's mysterious allusion, at the
+outset of the interview, to the owner of the yacht. "What was that you
+said about Richard just now?" she asked. "You saw something (or heard
+something) strange while papa was telling his story. What was it?"
+
+"I noticed Richard's face, Natalie, when your father told us that the
+man overboard was not one of the pilot-boat's crew. He turned ghastly
+pale. He looked guilty--"
+
+"Guilty? Of what?"
+
+"He was present--I am certain of it--when the sailor was thrown into the
+sea. For all I know, he may have been the man who did it."
+
+Natalie started back in horror.
+
+"Oh, Launce! Launce! that is too bad. You may not like Richard--you may
+treat Richard as your enemy. But to say such a horrible thing of him as
+that--It's not generous. It's not like _you_."
+
+"If you had seen him, you would have said it too. I mean to make
+inquiries--in your father's interests as well as in ours. My brother
+knows one of the Commissioners of Police, and my brother can get it done
+for me. Turlington has not always been in the Levant trade--I know that
+already."
+
+"For shame, Launce! for shame!"
+
+The footsteps on deck were audible coming back. Natalie sprang to the
+door leading into the cabin. Launce stopped her, as she laid her hand on
+the lock. The footsteps went straight on toward the stern of the vessel.
+Launce clasped both arms round her. Natalie gave way.
+
+"Don't drive me to despair!" he said. "This is my last opportunity. I
+don't ask you to say at once that you will marry me, I only ask you to
+think of it. My darling! my angel! will you think of it?"
+
+As he put the question, they might have heard (if they had not been
+too completely engrossed in each other to listen) the footsteps
+returning--one pair of footsteps only this time. Natalie's prolonged
+absence had begun to surprise her aunt, and had roused a certain vague
+distrust in Richard's mind. He walked back again along the deck by
+himself. He looked absently in the main cabin as he passed it. The
+store-room skylight came next. In his present frame of mind, would he
+look absently into the store-room too?
+
+"Let me go!" said Natalie.
+
+Launce only answered, "Say yes," and held her as if he would never let
+her go again.
+
+At the same moment Miss Lavinia's voice rose shrill from the deck
+calling for Natalie. There was but one way of getting free from him. She
+said, "I'll think of it." Upon that, he kissed her and let her go.
+
+The door had barely closed on her when the lowering face of Richard
+Turlington appeared on a level with the side of the sky-light, looking
+down into the store-room at Launce.
+
+"Halloo!" he called out roughly. "What are you doing in the steward's
+room?"
+
+Launce took up a box of matches on the dresser. "I'm getting a light,"
+he answered readily.
+
+"I allow nobody below, forward of the main cabin, without my leave. The
+steward has permitted a breach of discipline on board my vessel. The
+steward will leave my service."
+
+"The steward is not to blame."
+
+"I am the judge of that. Not you."
+
+Launce opened his lips to reply. An outbreak between the two men
+appeared to be inevitable, when the sailing-master of the yacht joined
+his employer on deck, and directed Turlington's attention to a question
+which is never to be trifled with at sea, the question of wind and tide.
+
+The yacht was then in the Bristol Channel, at the entrance to Bideford
+Bay. The breeze, fast freshening, was also fast changing the direction
+from which it blew. The favorable tide had barely three hours more to
+run.
+
+"The wind's shifting, sir," said the sailing-master. "I'm afraid we
+shan't get round the point this tide, unless we lay her off on the other
+tack."
+
+Turlington shook his head.
+
+"There are letters waiting for me at Bideford," he said. "We have lost
+two days in the calm. I must send ashore to the post-office, whether we
+lose the tide or not."
+
+The vessel held on her course. Off the port of Bideford, the boat was
+sent ashore to the post-office, the yacht standing off and on, waiting
+the appearance of the letters. In the shortest time in which it was
+possible to bring them on board the letters were in Turlington's hands.
+
+The men were hauling the boat up to the davits, the yacht was already
+heading off from the land, when Turlington startled everybody by one
+peremptory word--"Stop!"
+
+He had thrust all his letters but one into the pocket of his sailing
+jacket, without reading them. The one letter which he had opened he held
+in his closed hand. Rage was in his staring eyes, consternation was on
+his pale lips.
+
+"Lower the boat!" he shouted; "I must get to London to-night." He
+stopped Sir Joseph, approaching him with opened mouth. "There's no time
+for questions and answers. I must get back." He swung himself over the
+side of the yacht, and addressed the sailing-master from the boat. "Save
+the tide if you can; if you can't, put them ashore to-morrow at Minehead
+or Watchet--wherever they like." He beckoned to Sir Joseph to lean over
+the bulwark, and hear something he had to say in private. "Remember what
+I told you about Launcelot Linzie!" he whispered fiercely. His parting
+look was for Natalie. He spoke to her with a strong constraint on
+himself, as gently as he could. "Don't be alarmed; I shall see you in
+London." He seated himself in the boat and took the tiller. The last
+words they heard him say were words urging the men at the oars to
+lose no time. He was invariably brutal with the men. "Pull, you lazy
+beggars!" he exclaimed, with an oath. "Pull for your lives!"
+
+
+
+
+THIRD SCENE.
+
+The Money Market.
+
+Let us be serious.--Business!
+
+The new scene plunges us head foremost into the affairs of the Levant
+trading-house of Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca. What on earth do we
+know about the Levant Trade? Courage! If we have ever known what it is
+to want money we are perfectly familiar with the subject at starting.
+The Levant Trade does occasionally get into difficulties.--Turlington
+wanted money.
+
+The letter which had been handed to him on board the yacht was from his
+third partner, Mr. Branca, and was thus expressed:
+
+"A crisis in the trade. All right, so far--except our business with
+the small foreign firms. Bills to meet from those quarters, (say) forty
+thousand pounds--and, I fear, no remittances to cover them. Particulars
+stated in another letter addressed to you at Post-office, Ilfracombe. I
+am quite broken down with anxiety, and confined to my bed. Pizzituti is
+still detained at Smyrna. Come back at once."
+
+The same evening Turlington was at his office in Austin Friars,
+investigating the state of affairs, with his head clerk to help him.
+
+Stated briefly, the business of the firm was of the widely miscellaneous
+sort. They plied a brisk trade in a vast variety of commodities. Nothing
+came amiss to them, from Manchester cotton manufactures to Smyrna figs.
+They had branch houses at Alexandria and Odessa, and correspondents
+here, there, and everywhere, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and
+in the ports of the East. These correspondents were the persons alluded
+to in Mr. Branca's letter as "small foreign firms;" and they had
+produced the serious financial crisis in the affairs of the great house
+in Austin Friars, which had hurried Turlington up to London.
+
+Every one of these minor firms claimed and received the privilege of
+drawing bills on Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca for amounts varying
+from four to six thousand pounds--on no better security than a verbal
+understanding that the money to pay the bills should be forwarded before
+they fell due. Competition, it is needless to say, was at the bottom of
+this insanely reckless system of trading. The native firms laid it down
+as a rule that they would decline to transact business with any house
+in the trade which refused to grant them their privilege. In the ease of
+Turlington's house, the foreign merchants had drawn their bills on him
+for sums large in the aggregate, if not large in themselves; had long
+since turned those bills into cash in their own markets, for their own
+necessities; and had now left the money which their paper represented
+to be paid by their London correspondents as it fell due. In some
+instances, they had sent nothing but promises and excuses. In others,
+they had forwarded drafts on firms which had failed already, or which
+were about to fail, in the crisis. After first exhausting his
+resources in ready money, Mr. Branca had provided for the more pressing
+necessities by pledging the credit of the house, so far as he _could_
+pledge it without exciting suspicion of the truth. This done, there were
+actually left, between that time and Christmas, liabilities to be met to
+the extent of forty thousand pounds, without a farthing in hand to pay
+that formidable debt.
+
+After working through the night, this was the conclusion at which
+Richard Turlington arrived, when the rising sun looked in at him through
+the windows of his private room.
+
+The whole force of the blow had fallen on _him_. The share of his
+partners in the business was of the most trifling nature. The capital
+was his, the risk was his. Personally and privately, _he_ had to find
+the money, or to confront the one other alternative--ruin.
+
+How was the money to be found?
+
+With his position in the City, he had only to go to the famous
+money-lending and discounting house of Bulpit Brothers--reported to
+"turn over" millions in their business every year--and to supply himself
+at once with the necessary funds. Forty thousand pounds was a trifling
+transaction to Bulpit Brothers.
+
+Having got the money, how, in the present state of his trade, was the
+loan to be paid back?
+
+His thoughts reverted to his marriage with Natalie.
+
+"Curious!" he said to himself, recalling his conversation with Sir
+Joseph on board the yacht. "Graybrooke told me he would give his
+daughter half his fortune on her marriage. Half Graybrooke's fortune
+happens to be just forty thousand pounds!" He took a turn in the room.
+No! It was impossible to apply to Sir Joseph. Once shake Sir Joseph's
+conviction of his commercial solidity, and the marriage would be
+certainly deferred--if not absolutely broken off. Sir Joseph's fortune
+could be made available, in the present emergency, in but one way--he
+might use it to repay his debt. He had only to make the date at which
+the loan expired coincide with the date of his marriage, and there
+was his father-in-law's money at his disposal, or at his wife's
+disposal--which meant the same thing. "It's well I pressed Graybrooke
+about the marriage when I did!" he thought. "I can borrow the money at a
+short date. In three months from this Natalie will be my wife."
+
+He drove to his club to get breakfast, with his mind cleared, for the
+time being, of all its anxieties but one.
+
+Knowing where he could procure the loan, he was by no means equally sure
+of being able to find the security on which he could borrow the
+money. Living up to his income; having no expectations from any living
+creature; possessing in landed property only some thirty or forty
+acres in Somersetshire, with a quaint little dwelling, half farm house,
+half-cottage, attached--he was incapable of providing the needful
+security from his own personal resources. To appeal to wealthy friends
+in the City would be to let those friends into the secret of his
+embarrassments, and to put his credit in peril. He finished his
+breakfast, and went back to Austin Friars--failing entirely, so far, to
+see how he was to remove the last obstacle now left in his way.
+
+The doors were open to the public; business had begun. He had not been
+ten minutes in his room before the shipping-clerk knocked at the door
+and interrupted him, still absorbed in his own anxious thoughts.
+
+"What is it?" he asked, irritably.
+
+"Duplicate Bills of Lading, sir," answered the clerk, placing the
+documents on his ma ster's table.
+
+Found! There was the security on his writing-desk, staring him in the
+face! He dismissed the clerk and examined the papers.
+
+They contained an account of goods shipped to the London house on board
+vessels sailing from Smyrna and Odessa, and they were signed by the
+masters of the ships, who thereby acknowledged the receipt of the goods,
+and undertook to deliver them safely to the persons owning them, as
+directed. First copies of these papers had already been placed in the
+possession of the London house. The duplicates had now followed, in
+case of accident. Richard Turlington instantly determined to make the
+duplicates serve as his security, keeping the first copies privately
+under lock and key, to be used in obtaining possession of the goods
+at the customary time. The fraud was a fraud in appearance only. The
+security was a pure formality. His marriage would supply him with the
+funds needed for repaying the money, and the profits of his business
+would provide, in course of time, for restoring the dowry of his wife.
+It was simply a question of preserving his credit by means which were
+legitimately at his disposal. Within the lax limits of mercantile
+morality, Richard Turlington had a conscience. He put on his hat and
+took his false security to the money-lenders, without feeling at all
+lowered in his own estimation as an honest man.
+
+Bulpit Brothers, long desirous of having such a name as his on their
+books, received him with open arms. The security (covering the amount
+borrowed) was accepted as a matter of course. The money was lent, for
+three months, with a stroke of the pen. Turlington stepped out again
+into the street, and confronted the City of London in the character of
+the noblest work of mercantile creation--a solvent man.*
+
+The Fallen Angel, walking invisibly behind, in Richard's shadow, flapped
+his crippled wings in triumph. From that moment the Fallen Angel had got
+him.
+
+     * It may not be amiss to remind the incredulous reader that
+     a famous firm in the City accepted precisely the same
+     security as that here accepted by Bulpit Brothers, with the
+     same sublime indifference to troubling themselves by making
+     any inquiry about it.
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH SCENE.
+
+Muswell Hill.
+
+The next day Turlington drove to the suburbs, on the chance of finding
+the Graybrookes at home again. Sir Joseph disliked London, and could
+not prevail on himself to live any nearer to the metropolis than Muswell
+Hill. When Natalie wanted a change, and languished for balls, theaters,
+flower-shows, and the like, she had a room especially reserved for her
+in the house of Sir Joseph's married sister, Mrs. Sancroft, living in
+that central deep of the fashionable whirlpool known among mortals as
+Berkeley Square.
+
+On his way through the streets, Turlington encountered a plain proof
+that the Graybrookes must have returned. He was passed by Launce,
+driving, in company with a gentleman, in a cab. The gentleman was
+Launce's brother, and the two were on their way to the Commissioners
+of Police to make the necessary arrangements for instituting an inquiry
+into Turlington's early life.
+
+Arrived at the gate of the villa, the information received only
+partially fulfilled the visitor's expectations. The family had returned
+on the previous evening. Sir Joseph and his sister were at home, but
+Natalie was away again already. She had driven into town to lunch with
+her aunt. Turlington went into the house.
+
+"Have you lost any money?" Those were the first words uttered by Sir
+Joseph when he and Richard met again, after the parting on board the
+yacht.
+
+"Not a farthing. I might have lost seriously, if I had not got back in
+time to set things straight. Stupidity on the part of my people left in
+charge--nothing more. It's all right now."
+
+Sir Joseph lifted his eyes, with heartfelt devotion, to the ceiling.
+"Thank God, Richard!" he said, in tones of the deepest feeling. He rang
+the bell. "Tell Miss Graybrooke Mr. Turlington is here." He turned again
+to Richard. "Lavinia is like me--Lavinia has been so anxious about you.
+We have both of us passed a sleepless night." Miss Lavinia came in. Sir
+Joseph hurried to meet her, and took her affectionately by both hands.
+"My dear! the best of all good news, Richard has not lost a farthing."
+Miss Lavinia lifted _her_ eyes to the ceiling with heartfelt devotion,
+and said, "Thank God, Richard!"--like the echo of her brother's voice;
+a little late, perhaps, for its reputation as an echo, but accurate to
+half a note in its perfect repetition of sound.
+
+Turlington asked the question which it had been his one object to put in
+paying his visit to Muswell Hill.
+
+"Have you spoken to Natalie?"
+
+"This morning," replied Sir Joseph. "An opportunity offered itself after
+breakfast. I took advantage of it, Richard--you shall hear how."
+
+He settled himself in his chair for one of his interminable stories; he
+began his opening sentence--and stopped, struck dumb at the first
+word. There was an unexpected obstacle in the way--his sister was not
+attending to him; his sister had silenced him at starting. The story
+touching, this time, on the question of marriage, Miss Lavinia had her
+woman's interest in seeing full justice done to the subject. She seized
+on her brother's narrative as on property in her own right.
+
+"Joseph should have told you," she began, addressing herself to
+Turlington, "that our dear girl was unusually depressed in spirits this
+morning. Quite in the right frame of mind for a little serious talk
+about her future life. She ate nothing at breakfast, poor child, but a
+morsel of dry toast."
+
+"And marmalade," said Sir Joseph, striking in at the first opportunity.
+The story, on this occasion, being Miss Lavinia's story, the polite
+contradictions necessary to its successful progress were naturally
+transferred from the sister to the brother, and became contradictions on
+Sir Joseph's side.
+
+"No," said Miss Lavinia, gently, "if you _will_ have it, Joseph--jam."
+
+"I beg your pardon," persisted Sir Joseph; "marmalade."
+
+"What _does_ it matter, brother?"
+
+"Sister! the late great and good Doctor Johnson said accuracy ought
+always to be studied even in the most trifling things."
+
+"You _will_ have your way, Joseph--"(this was the formula--answering
+to Sir Joseph's 'Let us waive the point'--which Miss Lavinia used, as
+a means of conciliating her brother, and getting a fresh start for her
+story). "Well, we took dear Natalie out between us, after breakfast,
+for a little walk in the grounds. My brother opened the subject with
+infinite delicacy and tact. 'Circumstances,' he said, 'into which it was
+not then necessary to enter, made it very desirable, young as she was,
+to begin to think of her establishment in life.' And then he referred,
+Richard (so nicely), to your faithful and devoted attachment--"
+
+"Excuse me, Lavinia. I began with Richard's attachment, and then I got
+on to her establishment in life."
+
+"Excuse _me_, Joseph. You managed it much more delicately than you
+suppose. You didn't drag Richard in by the head and shoulders in that
+way."
+
+"Lavinia! I began with Richard."
+
+"Joseph! your memory deceives you."
+
+Turlington's impatience broke through all restraint.
+
+"How did it end?" he asked. "Did you propose to her that we should be
+married in the first week of the New Year?"
+
+"Yes!" said Miss Lavinia.
+
+"No!" said Sir Joseph.
+
+The sister looked at the brother with an expression of affectionate
+surprise. The brother looked at the sister with a fund of amiable
+contradiction, expressed in a low bow.
+
+"Do you really mean to deny, Joseph, that you told Natalie we had
+decided on the first week in the New Year?"
+
+"I deny the New Year, Lavinia. I said early in January."
+
+"You _will_ have your way, Joseph! We were walking in the shrubbery at
+the time. I had our dear girl's arm in mine, and I felt it tremble.
+She suddenly stopped. 'Oh,' she said, 'not so soon!' I said, 'My dear,
+consider Richard!' She turned to her father. She said, 'Don't, pray
+don't press it so soon, papa! I respect Richard; I like Richard as your
+true and faithful friend; but I don't love him as I ought to love him
+if I am to be his wife.' Imagine her talking in that way! What could she
+possibly know about it? Of course we both laughed--"
+
+"_you_ laughed, Lavinia."
+
+"_you_ laughed, Joseph."
+
+"Get on, for God's sake!" cried Turlington, striking his hand
+passionately on the table by which he was sitting. "Don't madden me by
+contradicting each other! Did she give way or not?"
+
+Miss Lavinia turned to her brother. "Contradicting each other, Joseph!"
+she exclaimed, lifting her hands in blank amazement.
+
+"Contradicting each other!" repeated Sir Joseph, equally astonished on
+his side. "My dear Richard, what can you be thinking of? I contradict my
+sister! We never disagreed in our lives."
+
+"I contradict my brother! We have never had a cross word between us from
+the time when we were children."
+
+Turlington internally cursed his own irritable temper.
+
+"I beg your pardon--both of you," he said. "I didn't know what I was
+saying. Make some allowance for me. All my hopes in life are centered in
+Natalie; and you have just told me (in her own words, Miss Lavinia) that
+she doesn't love. You don't mean any harm, I dare say; but you cut me to
+the heart."
+
+This confession, and the look that accompanied it, touched the ready
+sympathies of the two old people in the right place. The remainder of
+the story dropped between them by common consent. They vied with each
+other in saying the comforting words which would allay their dear
+Richard's anxiety. How little he knew of young girls. How could he be
+so foolish, poor fellow! as to attach any serious importance to what
+Natalie had said? As if a young creature in her teens knew the state of
+her own heart! Protestations and entreaties were matters of course, in
+such cases. Tears even might be confidently expected from a right-minded
+girl. It had all ended exactly as Richard would have wished it to end.
+Sir Joseph had said, "My child! this is a matter of experience; love
+will come when you are married." And Miss Lavinia had added, "Dear
+Natalie, if you remembered your poor mother as I remember her, you would
+know that your father's experience is to be relied on." In that way they
+had put it to her; and she had hung her head and had given--all that
+maiden modesty could be expected to give--a silent consent. "The
+wedding-day was fixed for the first week in the New Year." ("No, Joseph;
+not January--the New Year.") "And God bless you, Richard! and may your
+married life be a long and happy one."
+
+So the average ignorance of human nature, and the average belief in
+conventional sentiment, complacently contemplated the sacrifice of one
+more victim on the all-devouring altar of Marriage! So Sir Joseph and
+his sister provided Launcelot Linzie with the one argument which he
+wanted to convince Natalie: "Choose between making the misery of
+your life by marrying _him_, and making the happiness of your life by
+marrying _me._"
+
+"When shall I see her?" asked Turlington, with Miss Lavinia (in tears
+which did _her_ credit) in possession of one of his hands, and Sir
+Joseph (in tears which did _him_ credit) in possession of the other.
+
+"She will be back to dinner, dear Richard. Stay and dine."
+
+"Thank you. I must go into the City first. I will come back and dine."
+
+With that arrangement in prospect, he left them.
+
+An hour later a telegram arrived from Natalie. She had consented to
+dine, as well as lunch, in Berkeley Square--sleeping there that night,
+and returning the next morning. Her father instantly telegraphed back
+by the messenger, insisting on Natalie's return to Muswell Hill that
+evening, in time to meet Richard Turlington at dinner.
+
+"Quite right. Joseph," said Miss Lavinia, looking over her brother's
+shoulder, while he wrote the telegram.
+
+"She is showing a disposition to coquet with Richard," rejoined Sir
+Joseph, with the air of a man who knew female human nature in its
+remotest corners. "My telegram, Lavinia, will have its effect."
+
+Sir Joseph was quite right. His telegram _had_ its effect. It not only
+brought his daughter back to dinner--it produced another result which
+his prophetic faculty had altogether failed to foresee.
+
+The message reached Berkeley Square at five o'clock in the afternoon.
+Let us follow the message.
+
+
+
+
+FIFTH SCENE.
+
+The Square.
+
+Between four and five in the afternoon--when the women of the Western
+regions are in their carriages, and the men are at their clubs--London
+presents few places more conveniently adapted for purposes of private
+talk than the solitary garden inclosure of a square.
+
+On the day when Richard Turlington paid his visit to Muswell Hill, two
+ladies (with a secret between them) unlocked the gate of the railed
+garden in Berkeley Square. They shut the gate after entering the
+inclosure, but carefully forbore to lock it as well, and carefully
+restricted their walk to the westward side of the garden. One of them
+was Natalie Graybrooke. The other was Mrs. Sancroft's eldest daughter.
+A certain temporary interest attached, in the estimation of society,
+to this young lady. She had sold well in the marriage market. In other
+words, she had recently been raised to the position of Lord Winwood's
+second wife; his lordship conferring on the bride not only the honors of
+the peerage, but the additional distinction of being stepmother to his
+three single daughters, all older than herself. In person, Lady Winwood
+was little and fair. In character, she was dashing and resolute--a
+complete contrast to Natalie, and (on that very account) Natalie's bosom
+friend.
+
+"My dear, one ambitious marriage in the family is quite enough! I have
+made up my mind that _you_ shall marry the man you love. Don't tell me
+your courage is failing you--the excuse is contemptible; I decline to
+receive it. Natalie! the men have a phrase which exactly describes your
+character. You want back-bone!"
+
+The bonnet of the lady who expressed herself in these peremptory terms
+barely reached the height of Natalie's shoulder. Natalie might have
+blown the little airy, light-haired, unsubstantial creature over the
+railings of the garden if she had taken a good long breath and stooped
+low enough. But who ever met with a tall woman who had a will of her
+own? Natalie's languid brown eyes looked softly down in submissive
+attention from an elevation of five feet seven. Lady Winwood's brisk
+blue eyes looked brightly up in despotic command from an elevation of
+four feet eleven (in her shoes).
+
+"You are trifling with Mr. Linzie, my dear. Mr. Linzie is a nice fellow.
+I like him. I won't have that."
+
+"Louisa!"
+
+"Mr. Turlington has nothing to recommend him. He is not a well-bred old
+gentleman of exalted rank. He is only an odious brute who happens to
+have made money. You shall _not_ marry Mr. Turlington. And you _shall_
+marry Launcelot Linzie."
+
+"Will you let me speak, Louisa?"
+
+"I will let you answer--nothing more. Didn't you come crying to me this
+morning? Didn't you say, 'Louisa, they have pronounced sentence on me!
+I am to be married in the first week of the New Year. Help me out of it,
+for Heaven's sake!' You said all that, and more. And what did I do when
+I heard your story?"
+
+"Oh, you were so kind--"
+
+"Kind doesn't half express it. I have committed crimes on your account.
+I have deceived my husband and my mother. For your sake I got mamma to
+ask Mr. Linzie to lunch (as _my_ friend!). For your sake I have banished
+my unoffending husband, not an hour since, to his club. You wretched
+girl, who arranged a private conference in the library? Who sent Mr.
+Linzie off to consult his friend in the Temple on the law of clandestine
+marriage? Who suggested your telegraphing home, and stopping here for
+the night? Who made an appointment to meet your young man privately in
+this detestable place in ten minutes' time? I did! I did! I did! All in
+your interests. All to prevent you from doing what I have done--marrying
+to please your family instead of to please yourself. (I don't complain,
+mind, of Lord Winwood, or of his daughters. _He_ is charming; his
+daughters I shall tame in course of time. You are different. And Mr.
+Turlington, as I observed before, is a brute.) Very well. Now what do
+you owe me on your side? You owe it to me at least to know your own
+mind. You don't know it. You coolly inform me that you daren't run
+the risk after all, and that you can't face the consequences on second
+thoughts. I'll tell you what! You don't deserve that nice fellow, who
+worships the very ground you tread on. You are a bread-and-butter miss.
+I don't believe you are fond of him!"
+
+"Not fond of him!" Natalie stopped, and clasped her hands in despair of
+finding language strong enough for the occasion. At the same moment the
+sound of a closing gate caught her ear. She looked round. Launce had
+kept his appointment before his time. Launce was in the garden, rapidly
+approaching them.
+
+"Now for the Law of Clandestine Marriage!" said Lady Winwood. "Mr.
+Linzie, we will take it sitting." She led the way to one of the benches
+in the garden, and placed Launce between Natalie and herself. "Well,
+Chief Conspirator, have you got the License? No? Does it cost too much?
+Can I lend you the money?"
+
+"It costs perjury, Lady Winwood, in my case," said Launce. "Natalie is
+not of age. I can only get a License by taking my oath that I marry her
+with her father's consent." He turned piteously to Natalie. "I couldn't
+very well do that," he said, in the tone of a man who feels bound to
+make an apology, "could I?" Natalie shuddered; Lady Winwood shrugged her
+shoulders.
+
+"In your place a woman wouldn't have hesitated," her ladyship remarked.
+"But men are so selfish. Well! I suppose there is some other way?"
+
+"Yes, there is another way," said Launce. "But there is a horrid
+condition attached to it--"
+
+"Something worse than perjury, Mr. Linzie? Murder?"
+
+"I'll tell you directly, Lady Winwood. The marriage comes first. The
+condition follows. There is only one chance for us. We must be married
+by banns."
+
+"Banns!" cried Natalie. "Why, banns are publicly proclaimed in church!"
+
+"They needn't be proclaimed in _your_ church, you goose," said Lady
+Winwood. "And, even if they were, nobody would be the wiser. You may
+trust implicitly, my dear, in the elocution of an English clergyman!"
+
+"That's just what my friend said," cried Launce. "'Take a lodging near
+a large parish church, in a remote part of London'--(this is my friend's
+advice)--'go to the clerk, tell him you want to be married by banns, and
+say you belong to that parish. As for the lady, in your place I should
+simplify it. I should say she belonged to the parish too. Give an
+address, and have some one there to answer questions. How is the
+clerk to know? He isn't likely to be over-anxious about it--his fee is
+eighteen-pence. The clerk makes his profit out of you, after you are
+married. The same rule applies to the parson. He will have your names
+supplied to him on a strip of paper, with dozens of other names; and he
+will read them out all together in one inarticulate jumble in church.
+You will stand at the altar when your time comes, with Brown and Jones,
+Nokes and Styles, Jack and Gill. All that you will have to do is, to
+take care that your young lady doesn't fall to Jack, and you to Gill,
+by mistake--and there you are, married by banns.' My friend's opinion,
+stated in his own words."
+
+Natalie sighed, and wrung her hands in her lap. "We shall never get
+through it," she said, despondingly.
+
+Lady Winwood took a more cheerful view.
+
+"I see nothing very formidable as yet, my dear. But we have still to
+hear the end of it. You mentioned a condition just now, Mr. Linzie.
+
+"I am coming to the condition, Lady Winwood. You naturally suppose, as
+I did, that I put Natalie into a cab, and run away with her from the
+church door?"
+
+"Certainly. And I throw an old shoe after you for luck, and go home
+again."
+
+Launce shook his head ominously.
+
+"Natalie must go home again as well as you!"
+
+Lady Winwood started. "Is that the condition you mentioned just now?"
+she asked.
+
+"That is the condition. I may marry her without anything serious coming
+of it. But, if I run away with her afterward, and if you are there,
+aiding and abetting me, we are guilty of Abduction, and we may stand,
+side by side, at the bar of the Old Bailey to answer for it!"
+
+Natalie sprang to her feet in horror. Lady Winwood held up one finger
+warningly, signing to her to let Launce go on.
+
+"Natalie is not yet sixteen years old," Launce proceeded. "She must go
+straight back to her father's house from the church, and I must wait
+to run away with her till her next birthday. When she's turned sixteen,
+she's ripe for elopement--not an hour before. There is the law of
+Abduction! Despotism in a free country--that's what I call it!"
+
+Natalie sat down again, with an air of relief.
+
+"It's a very comforting law, I think," she said. "It doesn't force one
+to take the dreadful step of running away from home all at once. It
+gives one time to consider, and plan, and make up one's mind. I can tell
+you this, Launce, if I am to be persuaded into marrying you, the law of
+Abduction is the only thing that will induce me to do it. You ought to
+thank the law, instead of abusing it."
+
+Launce listened--without conviction.
+
+"It's a pleasant prospect," he said, "to part at the church door, and to
+treat my own wife on the footing of a young lady who is engaged to marry
+another gentleman."
+
+"Is it any pleasanter for _me_," retorted Natalie, "to have Richard
+Turlington courting me, when I am all the time your wife? I shall never
+be able to do it. I wish I was dead!"
+
+"Come! come!" interposed Lady Winwood. "It's time to be serious.
+Natalie's birthday, Mr. Linzie, is next Christmas-day. She will be
+sixteen--"
+
+"At seven in the morning," said Launce; "I got that out of Sir Joseph.
+At one minute past seven, Greenwich mean time, we may be off together. I
+got _that_ out of the lawyer."
+
+"And it isn't an eternity to wait from now till Christmas-day. You get
+that, by way of completing the list of your acquisitions, out of
+_me_. In the mean time, can you, or can you not, manage to meet the
+difficulties in the way of the marriage?"
+
+"I have settled everything," Launce answered, confidently. "There is not
+a single difficulty left."
+
+He turned to Natalie, listening to him in amazement, and explained
+himself. It had struck him that he might appeal--with his purse in
+his hand, of course--to the interest felt in his affairs by the late
+stewardess of the yacht. That excellent woman had volunteered to do all
+that she could to help him. Her husband had obtained situations for his
+wife and himself on board another yacht--and they were both eager
+to assist in any conspiracy in which their late merciless master was
+destined to play the part of victim. When on shore, they lived in
+a populous London parish, far away from the fashionable district of
+Berkeley Square, and further yet from the respectable suburb of Muswell
+Hill. A room in the house could be nominally engaged for Natalie, in the
+assumed character of the stewardess's niece--the stewardess undertaking
+to answer any purely formal questions which might be put by the church
+authorities, and to be present at the marriage ceremony. As for Launce,
+he would actually, as well as nominally, live in the district close by;
+and the steward, if needful, would answer for _him_. Natalie might call
+at her parochial residence occasionally, under the wing of Lady Winwood;
+gaining leave of absence from Muswell Hill, on the plea of paying one of
+her customary visits at her aunt's house. The conspiracy, in brief, was
+arranged in all its details. Nothing was now wanting but the consent of
+the young lady; obtaining which, Launce would go to the parish church
+and give the necessary notice of a marriage by banns on the next day.
+There was the plot. What did the ladies think of it?
+
+Lady Winwood thought it perfect.
+
+Natalie was not so easily satisfied.
+
+"My father has always been so kind to me!" she said. "The one thing
+I can't get over, Launce, is distressing papa. If he had been hard on
+me--as some fathers are--I shouldn't mind." She suddenly brightened, as
+if she saw her position in a new light. "Why should you hurry me?" she
+asked. "I am going to dine at my aunt's to-day, and you are coming in
+the evening. Give me time! Wait till to-night."
+
+Launce instantly entered his protest against wasting a moment longer.
+Lady Winwood opened her lips to support him. They were both silenced at
+the same moment by the appearance of one of Mrs. Sancroft's servants,
+opening the gate of the square.
+
+Lady Winwood went forward to meet the man. A suspicion crossed her mind
+that he might be bringing bad news.
+
+"What do you want?" she asked.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my lady--the housekeeper said you were walking here
+with Miss Graybrooke. A telegram for Miss Graybrooke."
+
+Lady Winwood took the telegram from the man's hand; dismissed him, and
+went back with it to Natalie. Natalie opened it nervously. She read
+the message--and instantly changed. Her cheeks flushed deep; her eyes
+flashed with indignation. "Even papa can be hard on me, it seems, when
+Richard asks him!" she exclaimed. She handed the telegram to Launce. Her
+eyes suddenly filled with tears. "_You_ love me," she said, gently--and
+stopped. "Marry me!" she added, with a sudden burst of resolution. "I'll
+risk it!"
+
+As she spoke those words, Lady Winwood read the telegram. It ran thus:
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Muswell Hill. To Miss Natalie Graybrooke;
+Berkeley Square. Come back immediately. You are engaged to dine here
+with Richard Turlington."
+
+Lady Winwood folded up the telegram with a malicious smile. "Well
+done, Sir Joseph!" thought her ladyship. "We might never have persuaded
+Natalie--but for You!"
+
+
+
+
+SIXTH SCENE.
+
+The Church.
+
+The time is morning; the date is early in the month of November. The
+place is a church, in a poor and populous parish in the undiscovered
+regions of London, eastward of the Tower, and hard by the river-side.
+
+A marriage procession of five approaches the altar The bridegroom
+is pale, and the bride is frightened. The bride's friend (a
+resolute-looking little lady) encourages her in whispers. The two
+respectable persons, apparently man and wife, who complete the
+procession, seem to be not quite clear as to the position which they
+occupy at the ceremony. The beadle, as he marshals them before the
+altar, sees something under the surface in this wedding-party. Marriages
+in the lower ranks of life are the only marriages celebrated here. Is
+this a runaway match? The beadle anticipates something out of the common
+in the shape of a fee.
+
+The clergyman (the junior curate) appears from the vestry in his robes.
+The clerk takes his place. The clergyman's eye rests with a sudden
+interest and curiosity on the bride and bridegroom, and on the bride's
+friend; notices the absence of elderly relatives; remarks, in the
+two ladies especially, evidences of refinement and breeding entirely
+unparalleled in his professional experience of brides and brides'
+friends standing before the altar of that church; questions, silently
+and quickly, the eye of the clerk, occupied also in observing the
+strangers with interest "Jenkinson" (the clergyman's look asks), "is
+this all right?" "Sir" (the clerk's look answers), "a marriage by banns;
+all the formalities have been observed." The clergyman opens his book.
+The formalities have been observed; his duty lies plainly before him.
+Attention, Launcelot! Courage, Natalie! The service begins.
+
+Launce casts a last furtive look round the church. Will Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke start up and stop it from one of the empty pews? Is Richard
+Turlington lurking in the organ-loft, and only waiting till the words of
+the service appeal to him to prohibit the marriage, or "else hereafter
+forever to hold his peace?" No. The clergyman proceeds steadily,
+and nothing happens. Natalie's charming face grows paler and paler,
+Natalie's heart throbs faster and faster, as the time comes nearer for
+reading the words which unite them for life. Lady Winwood herself feels
+an unaccustomed fluttering in the region of the bosom. Her ladyship's
+thoughts revert, not altogether pleasantly, to her own marriage: "Ah
+me! what was I thinking of when I was in this position? Of the bride's
+beautiful dress, and of Lady Winwood's coming presentation at court!"
+
+The service advances to the words in which they plight their troth.
+Launce has put the ring on her finger. Launce has repeated the words
+after the clergyman. Launce has married her! Done! Come what may of it,
+done!
+
+The service ends. Bridegroom, bride, and witnesses go into the vestry
+to sign the book. The signing, like the service, is serious. No trifling
+with the truth is possible here. When it comes to Lady Winwood's turn,
+Lady Winwood must write her name. She does it, but without her usual
+grace and decision. She drops her handkerchief. The clerk picks it up
+for her, and notices that a coronet is embroidered in one corner.
+
+The fees are paid. They leave the vestry. Other couples, when it is
+over, are talkative and happy. These two are more silent and more
+embarrassed than ever. Stranger still, while other couples go off with
+relatives and friends, all socially united in honor of the occasion,
+these two and their friends part at the church door. The respectable man
+and his wife go their way on foot. The little lady with the coronet on
+her handkerchief puts the bride into a cab, gets in herself, and directs
+the driver to close the door, while the bridegroom is standing on the
+church steps! The bridegroom's face is clouded, as well it may be. He
+puts his head in at the window of the cab; he possesses himself of the
+bride's hand; he speaks in a whisper; he is apparently not to be shaken
+off. The little lady exerts her authority, separates the clasped hands,
+pushes the bridegroom away, and cries peremptorily to the driver to go
+on. The cab starts; the deserted husband drifts desolately anyhow down
+the street. The clerk, who has seen it all, goes back to the vestry and
+reports what has happened.
+
+The rector (with his wife on his arm) has just dropped into the vestry
+on business in passing. He and the curate are talking about the strange
+marriage. The rector, gravely bent on ascertaining that no blame rests
+with the church, interrogates, and is satisfied. The rector's wife is
+not so easy to deal with. She has looked at the signatures in the book.
+One of the names is familiar to her. She cross-examines the clerk as
+soon as her husband is done with him. When she hears of the coronet on
+the handkerchief she points to the signature of "Louisa Winwood," and
+says to the rector, "I know who it is! Lord Winwood's second wife. I
+went to school with his lordship's daughters by his first marriage. We
+occasionally meet at the Sacred Concerts (on the 'Ladies' Committee');
+I shall find an opportunity of speaking to them. One moment, Mr.
+Jenkinson, I will write down the names before you put away the book.
+'Launcelot Linzie,' 'Natalie Graybrooke.' Very pretty names; quite
+romantic. I do delight in a romance. Good-morning."
+
+She gives the curate a parting smile, and the clerk a parting nod, and
+sails out of the vestry. Natalie, silently returning in Lady Winwood's
+company to Muswell Hill; and Launce, cursing the law of Abduction as he
+roams the streets--little think that the ground is already mined under
+their feet. Richard Turlington may hear of it now, or may hear of
+it later. The discovery of the marriage depends entirely on a chance
+meeting between the lord's daughters and the rector's wife.
+
+
+
+
+SEVENTH SCENE.
+
+The Evening Party.
+
+
+---------------------------------------------------- MR. TURLINGTON,
+
+LADY WINWOOD At Home.
+
+Wednesday, December 15th.--Ten o'clock.
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+"Dearest Natalie--As the brute insists, the brute must have the
+invitation which I inclose. Never mind, my child. You and Launce are
+coming to dinner, and I will see that you have your little private
+opportunities of retirement afterward. All I expect of you in return is,
+_not_ to look (when you come back) as if your husband had been kissing
+you. You will certainly let out the secret of those stolen kisses, if
+you don't take care. At mamma's dinner yesterday, your color (when you
+came out of the conservatory) was a sight to see. Even your shoulders
+were red! They are charming shoulders, I know, and men take the
+strangest fancies sometimes. But, my dear, suppose you wear a chemisette
+next time, if you haven't authority enough over him to prevent his doing
+it again!
+
+"Your affectionate LOUISA."
+
+The private history of the days that had passed since the marriage was
+written in that letter. An additional chapter--of some importance in its
+bearing on the future--was contributed by the progress of events at Lady
+Winwood's party.
+
+By previous arrangement with Natalie, the Graybrookes (invited to
+dinner) arrived early. Leaving her husband and her stepdaughters to
+entertain Sir Joseph and Miss Lavinia, Lady Winwood took Natalie into
+her own boudoir, which communicated by a curtained opening with the
+drawing-room.
+
+"My dear, you are looking positively haggard this evening. Has anything
+happened?"
+
+"I am nearly worn out, Louisa. The life I am leading is so unendurable
+that, if Launce pressed me, I believe I should consent to run away with
+him when we leave your house tonight."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort, if you please. Wait till you are
+sixteen. I delight in novelty, but the novelty of appearing at the Old
+Bailey is beyond my ambition. Is the brute coming to-night?"
+
+"Of course. He insists on following me wherever I go. He lunched at
+Muswell Hill today. More complaints of my incomprehensible coldness to
+him. Another scolding from papa. A furious letter from Launce. If I
+let Richard kiss my hand again in his presence, Launce warns me he will
+knock him down. Oh, the meanness and the guiltiness of the life I am
+leading now! I am in the falsest of all false positions, Louisa, and you
+encouraged me to do it. I believe Richard Turlington suspects us. The
+last two times Launce and I tried to get a minute together at my aunt's,
+he contrived to put himself in our way. There he was, my dear, with
+his scowling face, looking as if he longed to kill Launce. Can you do
+anything for us tonight? Not on my account. But Launce is so impatient.
+If he can't say two words to me alone this evening, he declares he will
+come to Muswell Hill, and catch me in the garden tomorrow."
+
+"Compose yourself, my dear; he shall say his two words to-night."
+
+"How?"
+
+Lady Winwood pointed through the curtained entrance of the boudoir to
+the door of the drawing-room. Beyond the door was the staircase landing.
+And beyond the landing was a second drawing-room, the smaller of the
+two.
+
+"There are only three or four people coming to dinner," her ladyship
+proceeded; "and a few more in the evening. Being a small party, the
+small drawing-room will do for us. This drawing-room will not be
+lighted, and there will be only my reading-lamp here in the boudoir. I
+shall give the signal for leaving the dining-room earlier than usual.
+Launce will join us before the evening party begins. The moment he
+appears, send him in here--boldly before your aunt and all of us."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For your fan. Leave it there under the sofa-cushion before we go down
+to dinner. You will sit next to Launce, and you will give him private
+instructions not to find the fan. You will get impatient--you will go to
+find it yourself--and there you are. Take care of your shoulders, Mrs.
+Linzie! I have nothing more to say."
+
+The guests asked to dinner began to arrive. Lady Winwood was recalled to
+her duties as mistress of the house.
+
+It was a pleasant little dinner--with one drawback. It began too late.
+The ladies only reached the small drawing-room at ten minutes to ten.
+Launce was only able to join them as the clock struck.
+
+"Too late!" whispered Natalie. "He will be here directly."
+
+"Nobody comes punctually to an evening party," said Launce. "Don't let
+us lose a moment. Send me for your fan."
+
+Natalie opened her lips to say the necessary words. Before she could
+speak, the servant announced--"Mr. Turlington."
+
+He came in, with his stiffly-upright shirt collar and his
+loosely-fitting glossy black clothes. He made his sullen and clumsy
+bow to Lady Winwood. And then he did, what he had done dozens of times
+already--he caught Natalie, with her eyes still bright and her face
+still animated (after talking to Launce)--a striking contrast to the
+cold and unimpulsive young lady whom he was accustomed to see while
+Natalie was talking to _him_.
+
+Lord Winwood's daughters were persons of some celebrity in the world of
+amateur music. Noticing the look that Turlington cast at Launce, Lady
+Winwood whispered to Miss Lavinia--who instantly asked the young ladies
+to sing. Launce, in obedience to a sign from Natalie, volunteered to
+find the music-books. It is needless to add that he pitched on the wrong
+volume at starting. As he lifted it from the piano to take it back to
+the stand, there dropped out from between the leaves a printed letter,
+looking like a circular. One of the young ladies took it up, and ran her
+eye over it, with a start.
+
+"The Sacred Concerts!" she exclaimed.
+
+Her two sisters, standing by, looked at each other guiltily: "What will
+the Committee say to us? We entirely forgot the meeting last month."
+
+"Is there a meeting this month?"
+
+They all looked anxiously at the printed letter.
+
+"Yes! The twenty-third of December. Put it down in your book, Amelia."
+Amelia, then and there, put it down among the engagements for the latter
+end of the month. And Natalie's unacknowledged husband placidly looked
+on.
+
+So did the merciless irony of circumstances make Launce the innocent
+means of exposing his own secret to discovery. Thanks to his success
+in laying his hand on the wrong music-book, there would now be a
+meeting--two good days before the elopement could take place--between
+the lord's daughters and the rector's wife!
+
+The guests of the evening began to appear by twos and threes. The
+gentlemen below stairs left the dinner-table, and joined them.
+
+The small drawing-room was pleasantly filled, and no more. Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke, taking Turlington's hand, led him eagerly to their host.
+The talk in the dining-room had turned on finance. Lord Winwood was not
+quite satisfied with some of his foreign investments; and Sir Joseph's
+"dear Richard" was the very man to give him a little sound advice. The
+three laid their heads together in a corner. Launce (watching them)
+slyly pressed Natalie's hand. A renowned "virtuoso" had arrived, and
+was thundering on the piano. The attention of the guests generally was
+absorbed in the performance. A fairer chance of sending Launce for
+the fan could not possibly have offered itself. While the financial
+discussion was still proceeding, the married lovers were ensconced
+together alone in the boudoir.
+
+Lady Winwood (privately observant of their absence) kept her eye on the
+corner, watching Richard Turlington.
+
+He was talking earnestly--with his back toward the company. He neither
+moved nor looked round. It came to Lord Winwood's turn to speak.
+He preserved the same position, listening. Sir Joseph took up the
+conversation next. Then his attention wandered--he knew beforehand what
+Sir Joseph would say. His eyes turned anxiously toward the place in
+which he had left Natalie. Lord Winwood said a word. His head turned
+back again toward the corner. Sir Joseph put an objection. He glanced
+once more over his shoulder--this time at the place in which Launce had
+been standing. The next moment his host recalled his attention, and made
+it impossible for him to continue his scrutiny of the room. At the same
+times two among the evening guests, bound for another party, approached
+to take leave of the lady of the house. Lady Winwood was obliged to
+rise, and attend to them. They had something to say to her before they
+left, and they said it at terrible length, standing so as to intercept
+her view of the proceedings of the enemy. When she had got rid of them
+at last, she looked--and behold Lord Winwood and Sir Joseph were the
+only occupants of the corner!
+
+Delaying one moment, to set the "virtuoso" thundering once more, Lady
+Winwood slipped out of the room and crossed the landing. At the
+entrance to the empty drawing-room she heard Turlington's voice, low and
+threatening, in the boudoir. Jealousy has a Second Sight of its own.
+He had looked in the right place at starting--and, oh heavens! he had
+caught them.
+
+Her ladyship's courage was beyond dispute; but she turned pale as she
+approached the entrance to the boudoir.
+
+There stood Natalie--at once angry and afraid--between the man to
+whom she was ostensibly engaged, and the man to whom she was actually
+married. Turlington's rugged face expressed a martyrdom of suppressed
+fury. Launce--in the act of offering Natalie her fan--smiled, with the
+cool superiority of a man who knew that he had won his advantage, and
+who triumphed in knowing it.
+
+"I forbid you to take your fan from that man's hands," said Turlington,
+speaking to Natalie, and pointing to Launce.
+
+"Isn't it rather too soon to begin 'forbidding'?" asked Lady Winwood,
+good-humoredly.
+
+"Exactly what I say!" exclaimed Launce. "It seems necessary to remind
+Mr. Turlington that he is not married to Natalie yet!"
+
+Those last words were spoken in a tone which made both the women tremble
+inwardly for results. Lady Winwood took the fan from Launce with one
+hand, and took Natalie's arm with the other.
+
+"There is your fan, my dear," she said, in her easy off-hand manner.
+"Why do you allow these two barbarous men to keep you here while the
+great Bootmann is playing the Nightmare Sonata in the next room? Launce!
+Mr. Turlington! follow me, and learn to be musical directly! You have
+only to shut your eyes, and you will fancy you hear four modern German
+composers playing, instead of one, and not the ghost of a melody among
+all the four." She led the way out with Natalie, and whispered, "Did he
+catch you?" Natalie whispered back, "I heard him in time. He only caught
+us looking for the fan." The two men waited behind to have two words
+together alone in the boudoir.
+
+"This doesn't end here, Mr. Linzie!"
+
+Launce smiled satirically. "For once I agree with you," he answered. "It
+doesn't end here, as you say."
+
+Lady Winwood stopped, and looked back at them from the drawing-room
+door. They were keeping her waiting--they had no choice but to follow
+the mistress of the house.
+
+Arrived in the next room, both Turlington and Launce resumed their
+places among the guests with the same object in view. As a necessary
+result of the scene in the boudoir, each had his own special
+remonstrance to address to Sir Joseph. Even here, Launce was beforehand
+with Turlington. He was the first to get possession of Sir Joseph's
+private ear. His complaint took the form of a protest against
+Turlington's jealousy, and an appeal for a reconsideration of the
+sentence which excluded him from Muswell Hill. Watching them from
+a distance, Turlington's suspicious eye detected the appearance of
+something unduly confidential in the colloquy between the two. Under
+cover of the company, he stole behind them and listened.
+
+The great Bootmann had arrived at that part of the Nightmare Sonata in
+which musical sound, produced principally with the left hand, is made to
+describe, beyond all possibility of mistake, the rising of the moon in a
+country church-yard and a dance of Vampires round a maiden's grave. Sir
+Joseph, having no chance against the Vampires in a whisper, was obliged
+to raise his voice to make himself audible in answering and comforting
+Launce. "I sincerely sympathize with you," Turlington heard him say;
+"and Natalie feels about it as I do. But Richard is an obstacle in our
+way. We must look to the consequences, my dear boy, supposing Richard
+found us out." He nodded kindly to his nephew; and, declining to pursue
+the subject, moved away to another part of the room.
+
+Turlington's jealous distrust, wrought to the highest pitch of
+irritability for weeks past, instantly associated the words he had just
+heard with the words spoken by Launce in the boudoir, which had reminded
+him that he was not married to Natalie yet. Was there treachery at work
+under the surface? and was the object to persuade weak Sir Joseph to
+reconsider his daughter's contemplated marriage in a sense favorable
+to Launce? Turlington's blind suspicion overleaped at a bound all the
+manifest improbabilities which forbade such a conclusion as this. After
+an instant's consideration with himself, he decided on keeping his own
+counsel, and on putting Sir Joseph's good faith then and there to a test
+which he could rely on as certain to take Natalie's father by surprise.
+
+"Graybrooke!"
+
+Sir Joseph started at the sight of his future son-in-law's face.
+
+"My dear Richard, you are looking very strangely! Is the heat of the
+room too much for you?"
+
+"Never mind the heat! I have seen enough to-night to justify me in
+insisting that your daughter and Launcelot Linzie shall meet no more
+between this and the day of my marriage." Sir Joseph attempted to speak.
+Turlington declined to give him the opportunity. "Yes! yes! your opinion
+of Linzie isn't mine, I know. I saw you as thick as thieves together
+just now." Sir Joseph once more attempted to make himself heard. Wearied
+by Turlington's perpetual complaints of his daughter and his nephew, he
+was sufficiently irritated by this time to have reported what Launce had
+actually said to him if he had been allowed the chance. But Turlington
+persisted in going on. "I cannot prevent Linzie from being received in
+this house, and at your sister's," he said; "but I can keep him out of
+_my_ house in the country, and to the country let us go. I propose a
+change in the arrangements. Have you any engagement for the Christmas
+holidays?"
+
+He paused, and fixed his eyes attentively on Sir Joseph. Sir Joseph,
+looking a little surprised, replied briefly that he had no engagement.
+
+"In that case," resumed Turlington, "I invite you all to Somersetshire,
+and I propose that the marriage shall take place from my house, and not
+from yours. Do you refuse?"
+
+"It is contrary to the usual course of proceeding in such cases,
+Richard," Sir Joseph began.
+
+"Do you refuse?" reiterated Turlington. "I tell you plainly, I shall
+place a construction of my own upon your motive if you do."
+
+"No, Richard," said Sir Joseph, quietly, "I accept."
+
+Turlington drew back a step in silence. Sir Joseph had turned the tables
+on him, and had taken _him_ by surprise.
+
+"It will upset several plans, and be strongly objected to by the
+ladies," proceeded the old gentleman. "But if nothing less will satisfy
+you, I say, Yes! I shall have occasion, when we meet to-morrow at
+Muswell Hill, to appeal to your indulgence under circumstances which may
+greatly astonish you. The least I can do, in the meantime, is to set an
+example of friendly sympathy and forbearance on my side. No more now,
+Richard. Hush! the music!"
+
+It was impossible to make him explain himself further that night.
+Turlington was left to interpret Sir Joseph's mysterious communication
+with such doubtful aid to success as his own unassisted ingenuity might
+afford.
+
+The meeting of the next day at Muswell Hill had for its object--as
+Turlington had already been informed--the drawing of Natalie's
+marriage-settlement. Was the question of money at the bottom of Sir
+Joseph's contemplated appeal to his indulgence? He thought of his
+commercial position. The depression in the Levant trade still continued.
+Never had his business at any previous time required such constant
+attention, and repaid that attention with so little profit. The Bills
+of Lading had been already used by the firm, in the ordinary course of
+trade, to obtain possession of the goods. The duplicates in the hands
+of Bulpit Brothers were literally waste paper. Repayment of the loan
+of forty thousand pounds (with interest) was due in less than a
+month's time. There was his commercial position! Was it possible that
+money-loving Sir Joseph had any modification to propose in the matter
+of his daughter's dowry? The bare dread that it might be so struck him
+cold. He quitted the house--and forgot to wish Natalie goodnight.
+
+Meanwhile, Launce had left the evening party before him--and Launce
+also found matter for serious reflection presented to his mind before he
+slept that night. In other words, he found, on reaching his lodgings,
+a letter from his brother marked "private." Had the inquiry into the
+secrets of Turlington's early life--now prolonged over some weeks--led
+to positive results at last? Launce eagerly opened the letter. It
+contained a Report and a Summary. He passed at once to the Summary, and
+read these words:
+
+"If you only want moral evidence to satisfy your own mind, your end is
+gained. There is, morally, no doubt that Turlington and the sea-captain
+who cast the foreign sailor overboard to drown are on e and the same
+man. Legally, the matter is beset by difficulties, Turlington having
+destroyed all provable connection between his present self and his past
+life. There is only one chance for us. A sailor on board the ship (who
+was in his master's secrets) is supposed to be still living (under his
+master's protection). All the black deeds of Turlington's early life are
+known to this man. He can prove the facts, if we can find him, and make
+it worth his while to speak. Under what alias he is hidden we do not
+know. His own name is Thomas Wildfang. If we are to make the attempt to
+find him, not a moment is to be lost. The expenses may be serious. Let
+me know whether we are to go on, or whether enough has been done to
+attain the end you have in view."
+
+Enough had been done--not only to satisfy Launce, but to produce the
+right effect on Sir Joseph's mind if Sir Joseph proved obdurate when the
+secret of the marriage was revealed. Launce wrote a line directing the
+stoppage of the proceedings at the point which they had now reached.
+"Here is a reason for her not marrying Turlington," he said to himself,
+as he placed the papers under lock and key. "And if she doesn't marry
+Turlington," he added, with a lover's logic, "why shouldn't she marry
+Me?"
+
+
+
+
+EIGHTH SCENE.
+
+The Library.
+
+The next day Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Sir Joseph's lawyer, Mr. Dicas
+(highly respectable and immensely rich), and Richard Turlington were
+assembled in the library at Muswell Hill, to discuss the question of
+Natalie's marriage settlement.
+
+After the usual preliminary phrases had been exchanged, Sir Joseph
+showed some hesitation in openly approaching the question which the
+little party of three had met to debate. He avoided his lawyer's eye;
+and he looked at Turlington rather uneasily.
+
+"Richard," he began at last, "when I spoke to you about your marriage,
+on board the yacht, I said I would give my daughter--" Either his
+courage or his breath failed him at that point. He was obliged to wait a
+moment before he could go on.
+
+"I said I would give my daughter half my fortune on her marriage," he
+resumed. "Forgive me, Richard. I can't do it!"
+
+Mr. Dicas, waiting for his instructions, laid down his pen and looked at
+Sir Joseph's son-in-law elect. What would Mr. Turlington say?
+
+He said nothing. Sitting opposite the window, he rose when Sir Joseph
+spoke, and placed himself at the other side of the table, with his back
+to the light.
+
+"My eyes are weak this morning," he said, in an unnaturally low tone of
+voice. "The light hurts them."
+
+He could find no more plausible excuse than that for concealing his face
+in shadow from the scrutiny of the two men on either side of him. The
+continuous moral irritation of his unhappy courtship--a courtship which
+had never advanced beyond the frigid familiarity of kissing Natalie's
+hand in the presence of others--had physically deteriorated him. Even
+_his_ hardy nerves began to feel the long strain of suspicion that
+had been laid unremittingly on them for weeks past. His power of
+self-control--he knew it himself--was not to be relied on. He could hide
+his face: he could no longer command it.
+
+"Did you hear what I said, Richard?"
+
+"I heard. Go on."
+
+Sir Joseph proceeded, gathering confidence as he advanced.
+
+"Half my fortune!" he repeated. "It's parting with half my life; it's
+saying good-by forever to my dearest friend! My money has been such a
+comfort to me, Richard; such a pleasant occupation for my mind. I know
+no reading so interesting and so instructive as the reading of one's
+Banker's Book. To watch the outgoings on one side," said Sir Joseph,
+with a gentle and pathetic solemnity, "and the incomings on the
+other--the sad lessening of the balance at one time, and the cheering
+and delightful growth of it at another--what absorbing reading! The best
+novel that ever was written isn't to be mentioned in a breath with it.
+I can not, Richard, I really can _not_, see my nice round balance shrink
+up to half the figure that I have been used to for a lifetime. It may
+be weak of me," proceeded Sir Joseph, evidently feeling that it was not
+weak of him at all, "but we all have our tender place, and my Banker's
+Book is mine. Besides, it isn't as if you wanted it. If you wanted it,
+of course--but you don't want it. You are a rich man; you are
+marrying my dear Natalie for love, not for money. You and she and my
+grandchildren will have it all at my death. It _can_ make no difference
+to you to wait a few years till the old man's chair at the fireside
+is empty. Will you say the fourth part, Richard, instead of the half?
+Twenty thousand," pleaded Sir Joseph, piteously. "I can bear twenty
+thousand off. For God's sake don't ask me for more!"
+
+The lips of the lawyer twisted themselves sourly into an ironical smile.
+He was quite as fond of his money as Sir Joseph. He ought to have felt
+for his client; but rich men have no sympathy with one another. Mr.
+Dicas openly despised Sir Joseph.
+
+There was a pause. The robin-redbreasts in the shrubbery outside must
+have had prodigious balances at their bankers; they hopped up on the
+window-sill so fearlessly; they looked in with so little respect at the
+two rich men.
+
+"Don't keep me in suspense, Richard," proceeded Sir Joseph. "Speak out.
+Is it yes or no?"
+
+Turlington struck his hand excitedly on the table, and burst out on a
+sudden with the answer which had been so strangely delayed.
+
+"Twenty thousand with all my heart!" he said. "On this condition,
+Graybrooke, that every farthing of it is settled on Natalie, and on her
+children after her. Not a half-penny to me!" he cried magnanimously, in
+his brassiest tones. "Not a half-penny to me!"
+
+Let no man say the rich are heartless. Sir Joseph seized his
+son-in-law's hand in silence, and burst into tears.
+
+Mr. Dicas, habitually a silent man, uttered the first two words that had
+escaped him since the business began. "Highly creditable," he said, and
+took a note of his instructions on the spot.
+
+From that point the business of the settlement flowed smoothly on to its
+destined end. Sir Joseph explained his views at the fullest length, and
+the lawyer's pen kept pace with him. Turlington, remaining in his
+place at the table, restricted himself to a purely passive part in the
+proceedings. He answered briefly when it was absolutely necessary to
+speak, and he agreed with the two elders in everything. A man has no
+attention to place at the disposal of other people when he stands at
+a crisis in his life. Turlington stood at that crisis, at the trying
+moment when Sir Joseph's unexpected proposal pressed instantly for a
+reply. Two merciless alternatives confronted him. Either he must repay
+the borrowed forty thousand pounds on the day when repayment was due,
+or he must ask Bulpit Brothers to grant him an extension of time, and so
+inevitably provoke an examination into the fraudulent security deposited
+with the firm, which could end in but one way. His last, literally his
+last chance, after Sir Joseph had diminished the promised dowry by one
+half, was to adopt the high-minded tone which became his position, and
+to conceal the truth until he could reveal it to his father-in-law in
+the privileged character of Natalie's husband. "I owe forty thousand
+pounds, sir, in a fortnight's time, and I have not got a farthing of
+my own. Pay for me, or you will see your son-in-law's name in the
+Bankrupt's List." For his daughter's sake--who could doubt it?--Sir
+Joseph would produce the money. The one thing needful was to be married
+in time. If either by accident or treachery Sir Joseph was led into
+deferring the appointed day, by so much as a fortnight only, the fatal
+"call" would come, and the firm of Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca would
+appear in the Gazette.
+
+So he reasoned, standing on the brink of the terrible discovery which
+was soon to reveal to him that Natalie was the wife of another man.
+
+"Richard!"
+
+"Mr. Turlington!"
+
+He started, and roused his attention to present things. Sir Joseph on
+one side, and the lawyer on the other, were both appealing to him, and
+both regarding him with looks of amazement.
+
+"Have you done with the settlement?" he asked.
+
+"My dear Richard, we have done with it long since," replied Sir Joseph.
+"Have you really not heard what I have been saying for the last quarter
+of an hour to good Mr. Dicas here? What _can_ you have been thinking
+of?"
+
+Turlington did not attempt to answer the question. "Am I interested," he
+asked, "in what you have been saying to Mr. Dicas?"
+
+"You shall judge for yourself," answered Sir Joseph, mysteriously; "I
+have been giving Mr. Dicas his instructions for making my Will. I wish
+the Will and the Marriage-Settlement to be executed at the same time.
+Read the instructions, Mr. Dicas."
+
+Sir Joseph's contemplated Will proved to have two merits--it was simple
+and it was short. Excepting one or two trifling legacies to distant
+relatives, he had no one to think of (Miss Lavinia being already
+provided for) but his daughter and the children who might be born of her
+marriage. In its various provisions, made with these two main objects
+in view, the Will followed the precedents established in such cases.
+It differed in no important respect from the tens of thousands of other
+wills made under similar circumstances. Sir Joseph's motive in claiming
+special attention for it still remained unexplained, when Mr. Dicas
+reached the clause devoted to the appointment of executors and trustees;
+and announced that this portion of the document was left in blank.
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke, are you prepared to name the persons whom you
+appoint?" asked the lawyer.
+
+Sir Joseph rose, apparently for the purpose of giving special importance
+to the terms in which he answered his lawyer's question.
+
+"I appoint," he said, "as sole executor and trustee--Richard
+Turlington."
+
+It was no easy matter to astonish Mr. Dicas. Sir Joseph's reply
+absolutely confounded him. He looked across the table at his client and
+delivered himself on this special occasion of as many as three words.
+
+"Are you mad?" he asked.
+
+Sir Joseph's healthy complexion slightly reddened. "I never was in more
+complete possession of myself, Mr. Dicas, than at this moment."
+
+Mr. Dicas was not to be silenced in that way.
+
+"Are you aware of what you do," persisted the lawyer, "if you appoint
+Mr. Turlington as sole executor and trustee? You put it in the power of
+your daughter's husband, sir, to make away with every farthing of your
+money after your death."
+
+Turlington had hitherto listened with an appearance of interest in the
+proceedings, which he assumed as an act of politeness. To his view, the
+future was limited to the date at which Bulpit Brothers had a right to
+claim the repayment of their loan. The Will was a matter of no earthly
+importance to him, by comparison with the infinitely superior interest
+of the Marriage. It was only when the lawyer's brutally plain language
+forced his attention to it that the question of his pecuniary interest
+in his father-in-law's death assumed its fit position in his mind.
+
+_His_ color rose; and _he_ too showed that he was offended by what Mr.
+Dicas had just said.
+
+"Not a word, Richard! Let me speak for you as well as for myself," said
+Sir Joseph. "For seven years past," he continued, turning to the lawyer,
+"I have been accustomed to place the most unlimited trust in Richard
+Turlington. His disinterested advice has enabled me largely to increase
+my income, without placing a farthing of the principal in jeopardy. On
+more than one occasion, I have entreated him to make use of my money
+in his business. He has invariably refused to do so. Even his bitterest
+enemies, sir, have been obliged to acknowledge that my interests were
+safe when committed to his care. Am I to begin distrusting him, now
+that I am about to give him my daughter in marriage? Am I to leave it on
+record that I doubt him for the first time--when my Will is opened after
+my death? No! I can confide the management of the fortune which my child
+will inherit after me to no more competent or more honorable hands than
+the hands of the man who is to marry her. I maintain my appointment, Mr.
+Dicas! I persist in placing the whole responsibility under my Will in my
+son-in-law's care."
+
+Turlington attempted to speak. The lawyer attempted to speak. Sir
+Joseph--with a certain simple dignity which had its effect on both of
+them--declined to hear a word on either side. "No, Richard! as long as
+I am alive this is my business, not yours. No, Mr. Dicas! I understand
+that it is your business to protest professionally. You have protested.
+Fill in the blank space as I have told you. Or leave the instructions on
+the table, and I will send for the nearest solicitor to complete them in
+your place."
+
+Those words placed the lawyer's position plainly before him. He had no
+choice but to do as he was bid, or to lose a good client. He did as he
+was bid, and grimly left the room.
+
+Sir Joseph, with old-fashioned politeness, followed him as far as
+the hall. Returning to the library to say a few friendly words before
+finally dismissing the subject of the Will, he found himself seized by
+the arm, and dragged without ceremony, in Turlington's powerful grasp,
+to the window.
+
+"Richard!" he exclaimed, "what does this mean?"
+
+"Look!" cried the other, pointing through the window to a grassy walk
+in the grounds, bounded on either side by shrubberies, and situated at a
+little distance from the house. "Who is that man?--quick! before we lose
+sight of him--the man crossing there from one shrubbery to the other?"
+Sir Joseph failed to recognize the figure before it disappeared.
+Turlington whispered fiercely, close to his ear--"Launcelot Linzie!"
+
+In perfect good faith Sir Joseph declared that the man could not
+possibly have been Launce. Turlington's frenzy of jealous suspicion was
+not to be so easily calmed. He asked significantly for Natalie. She was
+reported to be walking in the grounds. "I knew it!" he said, with
+an oath--and hurried out into the grounds to discover the truth for
+himself.
+
+Some little time elapsed before he came back to the house. He had
+discovered Natalie--alone. Not a sign of Launce had rewarded his search.
+For the hundredth time he had offended Natalie. For the hundredth time
+he was compelled to appeal to the indulgence of her father and her aunt.
+"It won't happen again," he said, sullenly penitent. "You will find me
+quite another man when I have got you all at my house in the country.
+Mind!" he burst out, with a furtive look, which expressed his inveterate
+distrust of Natalie and of every one about her. "Mind! it's settled
+that you all come to me in Somersetshire, on Monday next." Sir Joseph
+answered rather dryly that it was settled. Turlington turned to leave
+the room--and suddenly came back. "It's understood," he went on,
+addressing Miss Lavinia, "that the seventh of next month is the date
+fixed for the marriage. Not a day later!" Miss Lavinia replied, rather
+dryly on her side, "Of course, Richard; not a day later." He muttered,
+"All right" and hurriedly left them.
+
+Half an hour afterward Natalie came in, looking a little confused.
+
+"Has he gone?" she asked, whispering to her aunt.
+
+Relieved on this point, she made straight for the library--a room which
+she rarely entered at that or any other period of the day. Miss Lavinia
+followed her, curious to know what it meant. Natalie hurried to the
+window, and waved her handkerchief--evidently making a signal to some
+one outside. Miss Lavinia instantly joined her, and took her sharply by
+the hand.
+
+"Is it possible, Natalie?" she asked. "Has Launcelot Linzie really been
+here, unknown to your father or to me?"
+
+"Where is the harm if he has?" answered Natalie, with a sudden outbreak
+of temper. "Am I never to see my cousin again, because Mr. Turlington
+happens to be jealous of him?"
+
+She suddenly turned away her head. The rich color flowed over her face
+and neck. Miss Lavinia, proceeding sternly with the administration
+of the necessary reproof, was silenced midway by a new change in her
+niece's variable temper. Natalie burst into tears. Satisfied with this
+appearance of sincere contrition, the old lady consented to overlook
+what had happened; and, for this occasion only, to keep her niece's
+secret. They would all be in Somersetshire, she remarked, before any
+more breaches of discipline could be committed. Richard had fortunately
+made no discoveries; and the matter might safely be trusted, all things
+considered, to rest where it was.
+
+Miss Lavinia might possibly have taken a less hopeful view of the
+circumstances, if she had known that one of the men-servants at Muswell
+Hill was in Richard Turlington's pay, and that this servant had seen
+Launce leave the grounds by the back-garden gate.
+
+
+
+
+NINTH SCENE.
+
+The Drawing-Room.
+
+
+"Amelia!"
+
+"Say something."
+
+"Ask him to sit down."
+
+Thus addressing one another in whispers, the three stepdaughters of
+Lady Winwood stood bewildered in their own drawing-room, helplessly
+confronting an object which appeared before them on the threshold of the
+door.
+
+The date was the 23d of December. The time was between two and three in
+the afternoon. The occasion was the return of the three sisters from the
+Committee meeting of the Sacred Concerts' Society. And the object was
+Richard Turlington.
+
+He stood hat in hand at the door, amazed by his reception. "I have come
+up this morning from Somersetshire," he said. "Haven't you heard? A
+matter of business at the office has forced me to leave my guests at my
+house in the country. I return to them to-morrow. When I say my guests,
+I mean the Graybrookes. Don't you know they are staying with me? Sir
+Joseph and Miss Lavinia and Natalie?" On the utterance of Natalie's
+name, the sisters roused themselves. They turned about and regarded each
+other with looks of dismay. Turlington's patience began to fail him.
+"Will you be so good as to tell me what all this means?" he said, a
+little sharply. "Miss Lavinia asked me to call here when she heard I was
+coming to town. I was to take charge of a pattern for a dress, which she
+said you would give me. You ought to have received a telegram explaining
+it all, hours since. Has the message not reached you?"
+
+The leading spirit of the three sisters was Miss Amelia. She was the
+first who summoned presence of mind enough to give a plain answer to
+Turlington's plain question.
+
+"We received the telegram this morning," she said. "Something has
+happened since which has shocked and surprised us. We beg your pardon."
+She turned to one of her sisters. "Sophia, the pattern is ready in the
+drawer of that table behind you. Give it to Mr. Turlington."
+
+Sophia produced the packet. Before she handed it to the visitor, she
+looked at her sister. "Ought we to let Mr. Turlington go," she asked,
+"as if nothing had happened?"
+
+Amelia considered silently with herself. Dorothea, the third sister
+(who had not spoken yet), came forward with a suggestion. She proposed,
+before proceeding further, to inquire whether Lady Winwood was in the
+house. The idea was instantly adopted. Sophia rang the bell. Amelia put
+the questions when the servant appeared.
+
+Lady Winwood had left the house for a drive immediately after luncheon.
+Lord Winwood--inquired for next--had accompanied her ladyship. No
+message had been left indicating the hour of their return.
+
+The sisters looked at Turlington, uncertain what to say or do next. Miss
+Amelia addressed him as soon as the servant had left the room.
+
+"Is it possible for you to remain here until either my father or Lady
+Winwood return?" she asked.
+
+"It is quite impossible. Minutes are of importance to me to-day."
+
+"Will you give us one of your minutes? We want to consider something
+which we may have to say to you before you go."
+
+Turlington, wondering, took a chair. Miss Amelia put the case before her
+sisters from the sternly conscientious point of view, at the opposite
+end of the room.
+
+"We have not found out this abominable deception by any underhand
+means," she said. "The discovery has been forced upon us, and we stand
+pledged to nobody to keep the secret. Knowing as we do how cruelly this
+gentleman has been used, it seems to me that we are bound in honor to
+open his eyes to the truth. If we remain silent we make ourselves
+Lady Winwood's accomplices. I, for one--I don't care what may come of
+it--refuse to do that."
+
+Her sisters agreed with her. The first chance their clever stepmother
+had given them of asserting their importance against hers was now in
+their hands. Their jealous hatred of Lady Winwood assumed the mask of
+Duty--duty toward an outraged and deceived fellow-creature. Could any
+earthly motive be purer than that? "Tell him, Amelia!" cried the two
+young ladies, with the headlong recklessness of the sex which only stops
+to think when the time for reflection has gone by.
+
+A vague sense of something wrong began to stir uneasily in Turlington's
+mind.
+
+"Don't let me hurry you," he said, "but if you really have anything to
+tell me--"
+
+Miss Amelia summoned her courage, and began.
+
+"We have something very dreadful to tell you," she said, interrupting
+him. "You have been presented in this house, Mr. Turlington, as
+a gentleman engaged to marry Lady Winwood's cousin. Miss Natalie
+Graybrooke." She paused there--at the outset of the disclosure. A sudden
+change of expression passed over Turlington's face, which daunted her
+for the moment. "We have hitherto understood," she went on, "that you
+were to be married to that young lady early in next month."
+
+"Well?"
+
+He could say that one word. Looking at their pale faces, and their eager
+eyes, he could say no more.
+
+"Take care!" whispered Dorothea, in her sister's ear. "Look at him,
+Amelia! Not too soon."
+
+Amelia went on more carefully.
+
+"We have just returned from a musical meeting," she said. "One of the
+ladies there was an acquaintance, a former school-fellow of ours. She
+is the wife of the rector of St. Columb Major--a large church, far from
+this--at the East End of London."
+
+"I know nothing about the woman or the church," interposed Turlington,
+sternly.
+
+"I must beg you to wait a little. I can't tell you what I want to tell
+you unless I refer to the rector's wife. She knows Lady Winwood by
+name. And she heard of Lady Winwood recently under very strange
+circumstances--circumstances connected with a signature in one of the
+books of the church."
+
+Turlington lost his self-control. "You have got something against my
+Natalie," he burst out; "I know it by your whispering, I see it in your
+looks! Say it at once in plain words."
+
+There was no trifling with him now. In plain words Amelia said it.
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+There was silence in the room. They could hear the sound of passing
+footsteps in the street. He stood perfectly still on the spot where they
+had struck him dumb by the disclosure, supporting himself with his
+right hand laid on the head of a sofa near him. The sisters drew back
+horror-struck into the furthest corner of the room. His face turned them
+cold. Through the mute misery which it had expressed at first, there
+appeared, slowly forcing its way to view, a look of deadly vengeance
+which froze them to the soul. They whispered feverishly one to the
+other, without knowing what they were talking of, without hearing their
+own voices. One of them said, "Ring the bell!" Another said, "Offer him
+something, he will faint." The third shuddered, and repeated, over and
+over again, "Why did we do it? Why did we do it?"
+
+He silenced them on the instant by speaking on his side. He came on
+slowly, by a step at a time, with the big drops of agony falling slowly
+over his rugged face. He said, in a hoarse whisper, "Write me down the
+name of the church--there." He held out his open pocketbook to Amelia
+while he spoke. She steadied herself, and wrote the address. She tried
+to say a word to soften him. The word died on her lips. There was a
+light in his eyes as they looked at her which transfigured his face to
+something superhuman and devilish. She turned away from him, shuddering.
+
+He put the book back in his pocket, and passed his handkerchief over his
+face. After a moment of indecision, he suddenly and swiftly stole out of
+the room, as if he was afraid of their calling somebody in, and stopping
+him. At the door he turned round for a moment, and said, "You will hear
+how this ends. I wish you good-morning."
+
+The door closed on him. Left by themselves, they began to realize it.
+They thought of the consequences when his back was turned and it was too
+late.
+
+The Graybrookes! Now he knew it, what would become of the Graybrookes?
+What would he do when he got back? Even at ordinary times--when he was
+on his best behavior--he was a rough man. What would happen? Oh, good
+God! what would happen when he and Natalie next stood face to face? It
+was a lonely house--Natalie had told them about it--no neighbors near;
+nobody by to interfere but the weak old father and the maiden aunt.
+Something ought to be done. Some steps ought to be taken to warn them.
+Advice--who could give advice? Who was the first person who ought to
+be told of what had happened? Lady Winwood? No! even at that crisis the
+sisters still shrank from their stepmother--still hated her with the old
+hatred! Not a word to _her!_ They owed no duty to _her!_ Who else could
+they appeal to? To their father? Yes! There was the person to advise
+them. In the meanwhile, silence toward their stepmother--silence toward
+every one till their father came back!
+
+They waited and waited. One after another the precious hours, pregnant
+with the issues of life and death, followed each other on the dial. Lady
+Winwood returned alone. She had left her husband at the House of Lords.
+Dinner-time came, and brought with it a note from his lordship. There
+was a debate at the House. Lady Winwood and his daughters were not to
+wait dinner for him.
+
+
+
+
+TENTH SCENE.
+
+Green Anchor Lane.
+
+An hour later than the time at which he had been expected, Richard
+Turlington appeared at his office in the city.
+
+He met beforehand all the inquiries which the marked change in him
+must otherwise have provoked, by announcing that he was ill. Before he
+proceeded to business, he asked if anybody was waiting to see him. One
+of the servants from Muswell Hill was waiting with another parcel
+for Miss Lavinia, ordered by telegram from the country that morning.
+Turlington (after ascertaining the servant's name) received the man in
+his private room. He there heard, for the first time, that Launcelot
+Linzie had been lurking in the grounds (exactly as he had supposed) on
+the day when the lawyer took his instructions for the Settlement and the
+Will.
+
+In two hours more Turlington's work was completed. On leaving the
+office--as soon as he was out of sight of the door--he turned eastward,
+instead of taking the way that led to his own house in town. Pursuing
+his course, he entered the labyrinth of streets which led, in that
+quarter of East London, to the unsavory neighborhood of the river-side.
+
+By this time his mind was made up. The forecast shadow of meditated
+crime traveled before him already, as he threaded his way among his
+fellow-men.
+
+He had been to the vestry of St. Columb Major, and had satisfied himself
+that he was misled by no false report. There was the entry in the
+Marriage Register. The one unexplained mystery was the mystery of
+Launce's conduct in permitting his wife to return to her father's house.
+Utterly unable to account for this proceeding, Turlington could only
+accept facts as they were, and determine to make the most of his time,
+while the woman who had deceived him was still under his roof. A hideous
+expression crossed his face as he realized the idea that he had got her
+(unprotected by her husband) in his house. "When Launcelot Linzie _does_
+come to claim her," he said to himself, "he shall find I have been even
+with him." He looked at his watch. Was it possible to save the last
+train and get back that night? No--the last train had gone. Would she
+take advantage of his absence to escape? He had little fear of it. She
+would never have allowed her aunt to send him to Lord Winwood's house,
+if she had felt the slightest suspicion of his discovering the truth in
+that quarter. Returning by the first train the next morning, he might
+feel sure of getting back in time. Meanwhile he had the hours of the
+night before him. He could give his mind to the serious question that
+must be settled before he left London--the question of repaying the
+forty thousand pounds. There was but one way of getting the money now.
+Sir Joseph had executed his Will; Sir Joseph's death would leave his
+sole executor and trustee (the lawyer had said it!) master of his
+fortune. Turlington determined to be master of it in four-and-twenty
+hours--striking the blow, without risk to himself, by means of another
+hand. In the face of the probabilities, in the face of the facts, he had
+now firmly persuaded himself that Sir Joseph was privy to the fraud
+that had been practiced on him. The Marriage-Settlement, the Will, the
+presence of the family at his country house--all these he believed to be
+so many stratagems invented to keep him deceived until the last moment.
+The truth was in those words which he had overheard between Sir Joseph
+and Launce--and in Launce's presence (privately encouraged, no doubt) at
+Muswell Hill. "Her father shall pay me for it doubly: with his purse and
+with his life." With that thought in his heart, Richard Turlington wound
+his way through the streets by the river-side, and stopped at a blind
+alley called Green Anchor Lane, infamous to this day as the chosen
+resort of the most abandoned wretches whom London can produce.
+
+The policeman at the corner cautioned him as he turned into the alley.
+"They won't hurt _me!_" he answered, and walked on to a public-house at
+the bottom of the lane.
+
+The landlord at the door silently recognized him, and led the way
+in. They crossed a room filled with sailors of all nations drinking;
+ascended a staircase at the back of the house, and stopped at the door
+of the room on the second floor. There the landlord spoke for the first
+time. "He has outrun his allowance, sir, as usual. You will find him
+with hardly a rag on his back. I doubt if he will last much longer. He
+had another fit of the horrors last night, and the doctor thinks badly
+of him." With that introduction he opened the door, and Turlington
+entered the room.
+
+On the miserable bed lay a gray-headed old man of gigantic stature,
+with nothing on him but a ragged shirt and a pair of patched, filthy
+trousers. At the side of the bed, with a bottle of gin on the rickety
+table between them, sat two hideous leering, painted monsters, wearing
+the dress of women. The smell of opium was in the room, as well as the
+smell of spirits. At Turlington's appearance, the old man rose on the
+bed and welcomed him with greedy eyes and outstretched hand.
+
+"Money, master!" he called out hoarsely. "A crown piece in advance, for
+the sake of old times!"
+
+Turlington turned to the women without answering, purse in hand.
+
+"His clothes are at the pawnbroker's, of course. How much?"
+
+"Thirty shillings."
+
+"Bring them here, and be quick about it. You will find it worth your
+while when you come back."
+
+The women took the pawnbroker's tickets from the pockets of the man's
+trousers and hurried out.
+
+Turlington closed the door, and seated himself by the bedside. He laid
+his hand familiarly on the giant's mighty shoulder, looked him full in
+the face, and said, in a whisper,
+
+"Thomas Wildfang!"
+
+The man started, and drew his huge hairy hand across his eyes, as if in
+doubt whether he was waking or sleeping. "It's better than ten years,
+master, since you called me by my name. If I am Thomas Wildfang, what
+are you?"
+
+"Your captain, once more."
+
+Thomas Wildfang sat up on the side of the bed, and spoke his next words
+cautiously in Turlington's ear.
+
+"Another man in the way?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The giant shook his bald, bestial head dolefully. "Too late. I'm past
+the job. Look here."
+
+He held up his hand, and showed it trembling incessantly. "I'm an old
+man," he said, and let his hand drop heavily again on the bed beside
+him.
+
+Turlington looked at the door, and whispered back,
+
+"The man is as old as you are. And the money is worth having."
+
+"How much?"
+
+"A hundred pounds."
+
+The eyes of Thomas Wildfang fastened greedily on Turlington's face.
+"Let's hear," he said. "Softly, captain. Let's hear."
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+When the women came back with the clothes, Turlington had left the room.
+Their promised reward lay waiting for them on the table, and Thomas
+Wildfang was eager to dress himself and be gone. They could get but one
+answer from him to every question they put. He had business in hand,
+which was not to be delayed. They would see him again in a day or two,
+with money in his purse. With that assurance he took his cudgel from
+the corner of the room, and stalked out swiftly by the back door of the
+house into the night.
+
+
+
+
+ELEVENTH SCENE.
+
+Outside the House
+
+The evening was chilly, but not cold for the time of year. There was no
+moon. The stars were out, and the wind was quiet. Upon the whole, the
+inhabitants of the little Somersetshire village of Baxdale agreed that
+it was as fine a Christmas-eve as they could remember for some years
+past.
+
+Toward eight in the evening the one small street of the village was
+empty, except at that part of it which was occupied by the public-house.
+For the most part, people gathered round their firesides, with an eye to
+their suppers, and watched the process of cooking comfortably indoors.
+The old bare, gray church, situated at some little distance from the
+village, looked a lonelier object than usual in the dim starlight. The
+vicarage, nestling close under the shadow of the church-tower, threw
+no illumination of fire-light or candle-light on the dreary scene. The
+clergyman's shutters fitted well, and the clergyman's curtains were
+closely drawn. The one ray of light that cheered the wintry darkness
+streamed from the unguarded window of a lonely house, separated from
+the vicarage by the whole length of the church-yard. A man stood at the
+window, holding back the shutter, and looking out attentively over the
+dim void of the burial-ground. The man was Richard Turlington. The room
+in which he was watching was a room in his own house.
+
+A momentary spark of light flashed up, as from a kindled match, in the
+burial-ground. Turlington instantly left the empty room in which he had
+been watching. Passing down the back garden of the house, and crossing
+a narrow lane at the bottom of it, he opened a gate in a low stone wall
+beyond, and entered the church-yard. The shadowy figure of a man of
+great stature, lurking among the graves, advanced to meet him. Midway
+in the dark and lonely place the two stopped and consulted together in
+whispers. Turlington spoke first.
+
+"Have you taken up your quarters at the public-house in the village?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Did you find your way, while the daylight lasted, to the deserted
+malt-house behind my orchard wall?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Now listen--we have no time to lose. Hide there, behind that monument.
+Before nine o'clock to-night you will see me cross the churchyard, as
+far as this place, with the man you are to wait for. He is going to
+spend an hour with the vicar, at the house yonder. I shall stop short
+here, and say to him, 'You can't miss your way in the dark now--I will
+go back.' When I am far enough away from him, I shall blow a call on
+my whistle. The moment you hear the call, follow the man, and drop him
+before he gets out of the church-yard. Have you got your cudgel?"
+
+Thomas Wildfang held up his cudgel. Turlington took him by the arm, and
+felt it suspiciously.
+
+"You have had an attack of the horrors already," he said. "What does
+this trembling mean?"
+
+He took a spirit-flask from his pocket as he spoke. Thomas Wildfang
+snatched it out of his hand, and emptied it at a draught. "All right
+now, master," he said. Turlington felt his arm once more. It was
+steadier already. Wildfang brandished his cudgel, and struck a heavy
+blow with it on one of the turf mounds near them. "Will that drop him,
+captain?" he asked.
+
+Turlington went on with his instructions.
+
+"Rob him when you have dropped him. Take his money and his jewelry. I
+want to have the killing of him attributed to robbery as the motive.
+Make sure before you leave him that he is dead. Then go to the
+malt-house. There is no fear of your being seen; all the people will be
+indoors, keeping Christmas-eve. You will find a change of clothes hidden
+in the malt-house, and an old caldron full of quicklime. Destroy the
+clothes you have got on, and dress yourself in the other clothes
+that you find. Follow the cross-road, and when it brings you into the
+highroad, turn to the left; a four-mile walk will take you to the town
+of Harminster. Sleep there to-night, and travel to London by the train
+in the morning. The next day go to my office, see the head clerk, and
+say, 'I have come to sign my receipt.' Sign it in your own name, and you
+will receive your hundred pounds. There are your instructions. Do you
+understand them?"
+
+Wildfang nodded his head in silent token that he understood, and
+disappeared again among the graves. Turlington went back to the house.
+
+He had advanced midway across the garden, when he was startled by the
+sound of footsteps in the lane--at that part of it which skirted one of
+the corners of the house. Hastening forward, he placed himself behind a
+projection in the wall, so as to see the person pass across the stream
+of light from the uncovered window of the room that he had left. The
+stranger was walking rapidly. All Turlington could see as he crossed the
+field of light was, that his hat was pulled over his eyes, and that he
+had a thick beard and mustache. Describing the man to the servant on
+entering the house, he was informed that a stranger with a large beard
+had been seen about the neighborhood for some days past. The account he
+had given of himself stated that he was a surveyor, engaged in taking
+measurements for a new map of that part of the country, shortly to be
+published.
+
+The guilty mind of Turlington was far from feeling satisfied with
+the meager description of the stranger thus rendered. He could not be
+engaged in surveying in the dark. What could he want in the desolate
+neighborhood of the house and church-yard at that time of night?
+
+The man wanted--what the man found a little lower down the lane, hidden
+in a dismantled part of the church-yard wall--a letter from a young
+lady. Read by the light of the pocket-lantern which he carried with him,
+the letter first congratulated this person on the complete success of
+his disguise--and then promised that the writer would be ready at her
+bedroom window for flight the next morning, before the house was astir.
+The signature was "Natalie," and the person addressed was "Dearest
+Launce."
+
+In the meanwhile, Turlington barred the window shutters of the room, and
+looked at his watch. It wanted only a quarter to nine o'clock. He took
+his dog-whistle from the chimney-piece, and turned his steps at once in
+the direction of the drawing-room, in which his guests were passing the
+evening.
+
+
+
+
+TWELFTH SCENE.
+
+Inside the House.
+
+The scene in the drawing-room represented the ideal of domestic comfort.
+The fire of wood and coal mixed burned brightly; the lamps shed a soft
+glow of light; the solid shutters and the thick red curtains kept the
+cold night air on the outer side of two long windows, which opened on
+the back garden. Snug arm-chairs were placed in every part of the
+room. In one of them Sir Joseph reclined, fast asleep; in another, Miss
+Lavinia sat knitting; a third chair, apart from the rest, near a round
+table in one corner of the room, was occupied by Natalie. Her head was
+resting on her hand, an unread book lay open on her lap. She looked pale
+and harassed; anxiety and suspense had worn her down to the shadow of
+her former self. On entering the room, Turlington purposely closed the
+door with a bang. Natalie started. Miss Lavinia looked up reproachfully.
+The object was achieved--Sir Joseph was roused from his sleep.
+
+"If you are going to the vicar's to-night. Graybrooke," said Turlington,
+"it's time you were off, isn't it?"
+
+Sir Joseph rubbed his eyes, and looked at the clock on the mantel-piece.
+"Yes, yes, Richard," he answered, drowsily, "I suppose I must go. Where
+is my hat?"
+
+His sister and his daughter both joined in trying to persuade him to
+send an excuse instead of groping his way to the vicarage in the dark.
+Sir Joseph hesitated, as usual. He and the vicar had run up a sudden
+friendship, on the strength of their common enthusiasm for the
+old-fashioned game of backgammon. Victorious over his opponent on the
+previous evening at Turlington's house, Sir Joseph had promised to pass
+that evening at the vicarage, and give the vicar his revenge. Observing
+his indecision, Turlington cunningly irritated him by affecting to
+believe that he was really unwilling to venture out in the dark. "I'll
+see you safe across the churchyard," he said; "and the vicar's servant
+will see you safe back." The tone in which he spoke instantly roused
+Sir Joseph. "I am not in my second childhood yet, Richard," he replied,
+testily. "I can find my way by myself." He kissed his daughter on the
+forehead. "No fear, Natalie. I shall be back in time for the mulled
+claret. No, Richard, I won't trouble you." He kissed his hand to his
+sister and went out into the hall for his hat: Turlington following him
+with a rough apology, and asking as a favor to be permitted to accompany
+him part of the way only. The ladies, left behind in the drawing-room,
+heard the apology accepted by kind-hearted Sir Joseph. The two went out
+together.
+
+"Have you noticed Richard since his return?" asked Miss Lavinia. "I
+fancy he must have heard bad news in London. He looks as if he had
+something on his mind."
+
+"I haven't remarked it, aunt."
+
+For the time, no more was said. Miss Lavinia went monotonously on with
+her knitting. Natalie pursued her own anxious thoughts over the unread
+pages of the book in her lap. Suddenly the deep silence out of doors and
+in was broken by a shrill whistle, sounding from the direction of the
+church-yard. Natalie started with a faint cry of alarm. Miss Lavinia
+looked up from her knitting.
+
+"My dear child, your nerves must be sadly out of order. What is there to
+be frightened at?"
+
+"I am not very well, aunt. It is so still here at night, the slightest
+noises startle me."
+
+There was another interval of silence. It was past nine o'clock when
+they heard the back door opened and closed again. Turlington came
+hurriedly into the drawing-room, as if he had some reason for wishing to
+rejoin the ladies as soon as possible. To the surprise of both of them,
+he sat down abruptly in the corner, with his face to the wall, and took
+up the newspaper, without casting a look at them or uttering a word.
+
+"Is Joseph safe at the vicarage?" asked Miss Lavinia.
+
+"All right." He gave the answer in a short, surly tone, still without
+looking round.
+
+Miss Lavinia tried him again. "Did you hear a whistle while you were
+out? It quite startled Natalie in the stillness of this place."
+
+He turned half-way round. "My shepherd, I suppose," he said after
+a pause--"whistling for his dog." He turned back again and immersed
+himself in his newspaper.
+
+Miss Lavinia beckoned to her niece and pointed significantly to
+Turlington. After one reluctant look at him, Natalie laid her head
+wearily on her aunt's shoulder. "Sleepy, my dear?" whispered the old
+lady. "Uneasy, aunt--I don't know why," Natalie whispered back. "I would
+give the world to be in London, and to hear the carriages going by, and
+the people talking in the street."
+
+Turlington suddenly dropped his newspaper. "What's the secret between
+you two?" he called out roughly. "What are you whispering about?"
+
+"We wish not to disturb you over your reading, that is all," said Miss
+Lavinia, coldly. "Has anything happened to vex you, Richard?"
+
+"What the devil makes you think that?"
+
+The old lady was offended, and showed it by saying nothing more. Natalie
+nestled closer to her aunt. One after another the clock ticked off
+the minutes with painful distinctness in the stillness of the room.
+Turlington suddenly threw aside the newspaper and left his corner.
+"Let's be good friends!" he burst out, with a clumsy assumption of
+gayety. "This isn't keeping Christmas-eve. Let's talk and be sociable.
+Dearest Natalie!" He threw his arm roughly round Natalie, and drew her
+by main force away from her aunt. She turned deadly pale, and struggled
+to release herself. "I am suffering--I am ill--let me go!" He was deaf
+to her entreaties. "What! your husband that is to be, treated in this
+way? Mustn't I have a kiss?--I will!" He held her closer with one hand,
+and, seizing her head with the other, tried to turn her lips to him. She
+resisted with the inbred nervous strength which the weakest woman living
+has in reserve when she is outraged. Half indignant, half terrified, at
+Turlington's roughness, Miss Lavinia rose to interfere. In a moment more
+he would have had two women to overpower instead of one, when a noise
+outside the window suddenly suspended the ignoble struggle.
+
+There was a sound of footsteps on the gravel-walk which ran between the
+house wall and the garden lawn. It was followed by a tap--a single faint
+tap, no more--on one of the panes of glass.
+
+They all three stood still. For a moment more nothing was audible. Then
+there was a heavy shock, as of something falling outside. Then a groan,
+then another interval of silence--a long silence, interrupted no more.
+
+Turlington's arm dropped from Natalie. She drew back to her aunt.
+Looking at him instinctively, in the natural expectation that he would
+take the lead in penetrating the mystery of what had happened outside
+the window, the two women were thunderstruck to see that he was, to
+all appearance, even more startled and more helpless than they were.
+"Richard," said Miss Lavinia, pointing to the window, "there is
+something wrong out there. See what it is." He stood motionless, as if
+he had not heard her, his eyes fixed on the window, his face livid with
+terror.
+
+The silence outside was broken once more; this time by a call for help.
+
+A cry of horror burst from Natalie. The voice outside--rising wildly,
+then suddenly dying away again--was not entirely strange to _her_ ears.
+She tore aside the curtain. With voice and hand she roused her aunt to
+help her. The two lifted the heavy bar from its socket; they opened the
+shutters and the window. The cheerful light of the room flowed out over
+the body of a prostrate man, lying on his face. They turned the man
+over. Natalie lifted his head.
+
+Her father!
+
+His face was bedabbled with blood. A wound, a frightful wound, was
+visible on the side of his bare head, high above the ear. He looked at
+her, his eyes recognized her, before he fainted again in her arms.
+His hands and his clothes were covered with earth stains. He must
+have traversed some distance; in that dreadful condition he must have
+faltered and fallen more than once before he reached the house. His
+sister wiped the blood from his face. His daughter called on him
+frantically to forgive her before he died--the harmless, gentle,
+kind-hearted father, who had never said a hard word to her! The father
+whom she had deceived!
+
+The terrified servants hurried into the room. Their appearance roused
+their master from the extraordinary stupor that had seized him. He was
+at the window before the footman could get there. The two lifted Sir
+Joseph into the room, and laid him on the sofa. Natalie knelt by him,
+supporting his head. Miss Lavinia stanched the flowing blood with her
+handkerchief. The women-servants brought linen and cold water. The man
+hurried away for the doctor, who lived on the other side of the village.
+Left alone again with Turlington, Natalie noticed that his eyes were
+fixed in immovable scrutiny on her father's head. He never said a word.
+He looked, looked, looked at the wound.
+
+The doctor arrived. Before either the daughter or the sister of the
+injured man could put the question, Turlington put it--"Will he live or
+die?"
+
+The doctor's careful finger probed the wound.
+
+"Make your minds easy. A little lower down, or in front, the blow might
+have been serious. As it is, there is no harm done. Keep him quiet, and
+he will be all right again in two or three days."
+
+Hearing those welcome words, Natalie and her aunt sank on their knees in
+silent gratitude. After dressing the wound, the doctor looked round for
+the master of the house. Turlington, who had been so breathlessly eager
+but a few minutes since, seemed to have lost all interest in the case
+now. He stood apart, at the window, looking out toward the church-yard,
+thinking. The questions which it was the doctor's duty to ask were
+answered by the ladies. The servants assisted in examining the injured
+man's clothes: they discovered that his watch and purse were both
+missing. When it became necessary to carry him upstairs, it was the
+footman who assisted the doctor. The foot man's master, without a word
+of explanation, walked out bare headed into the back garden, on the
+search, as the doctor and the servants supposed, for some trace of the
+robber who had attempted Sir Joseph's life.
+
+His absence was hardly noticed at the time. The difficulty of conveying
+the wounded man to his room absorbed the attention of all the persons
+present.
+
+Sir Joseph partially recovered his senses while they were taking him up
+the steep and narrow stairs. Carefully as they carried the patient, the
+motion wrung a groan from him before they reached the top. The bedroom
+corridor, in the rambling, irregularly built house rose and fell on
+different levels. At the door of the first bedchamber the doctor asked a
+little anxiously if that was the room. No; there were three more stairs
+to go down, and a corner to turn, before they could reach it. The first
+room was Natalie's. She instantly offered it for her father's use. The
+doctor (seeing that it was the airiest as well as the nearest room)
+accepted the proposal. Sir Joseph had been laid comfortably in his
+daughter's bed; the doctor had just left them, with renewed assurances
+that they need feel no anxiety, when they heard a heavy step below
+stairs. Turlington had re-entered the house.
+
+(He had been looking, as they had supposed, for the ruffian who had
+attacked Sir Joseph; with a motive, however, for the search at which it
+was impossible for other persons to guess. His own safety was now bound
+up in the safety of Thomas Wildfang. As soon as he was out of sight in
+the darkness, he made straight for the malt-house. The change of clothes
+was there untouched; not a trace of his accomplice was to be seen.
+Where else to look for him it was impossible to tell. Turlington had no
+alternative but to go back to the house, and ascertain if suspicion had
+been aroused in his absence.)
+
+He had only to ascend the stairs, and to see, through the open door,
+that Sir Joseph had been placed in his daughter's room.
+
+"What does this mean?" he asked, roughly.
+
+Before it was possible to answer him the footman appeared with a
+message. The doctor had come back to the door to say that he would take
+on himself the necessary duty of informing the constable of what had
+happened, on his return to the village. Turlington started and changed
+color. If Wildfang was found by others, and questioned in his employer's
+absence, serious consequences might follow. "The constable is my
+business," said Turlington, hurriedly descending the stairs; "I'll go
+with the doctor." They heard him open the door below, then close it
+again (as if some sudden thought had struck him), and call to the
+footman. The house was badly provided with servants' bedrooms. The
+women-servants only slept indoors. The footman occupied a room over the
+stables. Natalie and her aunt heard Turlington dismiss the man for the
+night, an hour earlier than usual at least. His next proceeding was
+stranger still. Looking cautiously over the stairs, Natalie saw him lock
+all the doors on the ground-floor and take out the keys. When he went
+away, she heard him lock the front door behind him. Incredible as it
+seemed, there could be no doubt of the fact--the inmates of the house
+were imprisoned till he came back. What did it mean?
+
+(It meant that Turlington's vengeance still remained to be wreaked on
+the woman who had deceived him. It meant that Sir Joseph's life still
+stood between the man who had compassed his death and the money which
+the man was resolved to have. It meant that Richard Turlington was
+driven to bay, and that the horror and the peril of the night were not
+at an end yet.)
+
+Natalie and her aunt looked at each other across the bed on which Sir
+Joseph lay. He had fallen into a kind of doze; no enlightenment could
+come to them from _him_. They could only ask each other, with beating
+hearts and baffled minds, what Richard's conduct meant--they could only
+feel instinctively that some dreadful discovery was hanging over them.
+The aunt was the calmer of the two--there was no secret weighing heavily
+on _her_ conscience. _She_ could feel the consolations of religion. "Our
+dear one is spared to us, my love," said the old lady, gently. "God has
+been good to us. We are in his hands. If we know that, we know enough."
+
+As she spoke there was a loud ring at the doorbell. The women-servants
+crowded into the bedroom in alarm. Strong in numbers, and encouraged by
+Natalie--who roused herself and led the way--they confronted the risk
+of opening the window and of venturing out on the balcony which extended
+along that side of the house. A man was dimly visible below. He called
+to them in thick, unsteady accents. The servants recognized him: he was
+the telegraphic messenger from the railway. They went down to speak to
+him--and returned with a telegram which had been pushed in under the
+door. The distance from the station was considerable; the messenger had
+been "keeping Christmas" in more than one beer-shop on his way to the
+house; and the delivery of the telegram had been delayed for some
+hours. It was addressed to Natalie. She opened it--looked at it--dropped
+it--and stood speechless; her lips parted in horror, her eyes staring
+vacantly straight before her.
+
+Miss Lavinia took the telegram from the floor, and read these lines:
+
+"Lady Winwood, Hertford Street, London. To Natalie Graybrooke, Church
+Meadows, Baxdale, Somersetshire. Dreadful news. R. T. has discovered
+your marriage to Launce. The truth has been kept from me till to-day
+(24th). Instant flight with your husband is your only chance. I would
+have communicated with Launce, but I do not know his address. You
+will receive this, I hope and believe, before R. T. can return to
+Somersetshire. Telegraph back, I entreat you, to say that you are safe.
+I shall follow my message if I do not hear from you in reasonable time."
+
+Miss Lavinia lifted her gray head, and looked at her niece. "Is this
+true?" she said--and pointed to the venerable face laid back, white, on
+the white pillow of the bed. Natalie sank forward as her eyes met the
+eyes of her aunt. Miss Lavinia saved her from falling insensible on the
+floor.
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+The confession had been made. The words of penitence and the words of
+pardon had been spoken. The peaceful face of the father still lay hushed
+in rest. One by one the minutes succeeded each other uneventfully in the
+deep tranquillity of the night. It was almost a relief when the silence
+was disturbed once more by another sound outside the house. A pebble
+was thrown up at the window, and a voice called out cautiously, "Miss
+Lavinia!"
+
+They recognized the voice of the man-servant, and at once opened the
+window.
+
+He had something to say to the ladies in private. How could he say it?
+A domestic circumstance which had been marked by Launce, as favorable
+to the contemplated elopement, was now noticed by the servant as lending
+itself readily to effecting the necessary communication with the ladies.
+The lock of the gardener's tool-house (in the shrubbery close by) was
+under repair; and the gardener's ladder was accessible to any one who
+wanted it. At the short height of the balcony from the ground, the
+ladder was more than long enough for the purpose required. In a few
+minutes the servant had mounted to the balcony, and could speak to
+Natalie and her aunt at the window.
+
+"I can't rest quiet," said the man, "I'm off on the sly to see what's
+going on down in the village. It's hard on ladies like you to be locked
+in here. Is there anything I can do for either of you?"
+
+Natalie took up Lady Winwood's telegram. "Launce ought to see this,"
+she said to her aunt. "He will be here at daybreak," she added, in a
+whisper, "if I don't tell him what has happened."
+
+Miss Lavinia turned pale. "If he and Richard meet--" she began. "Tell
+him!" she added, hurriedly--"tell him before it is too late!"
+
+Natalie wrote a few lines (addressed to Launce in his assumed name at
+his lodgings in the village) inclosing Lady Winwood's telegram, and
+entreating him to do nothing rash. When the servant had disappeared with
+the letter, there was one hope in her mind and in her aunt's mind, which
+each was ashamed to acknowledge to the other--the hope that Launce would
+face the very danger that they dreaded for him, and come to the house.
+
+They had not been long alone again, when Sir Joseph drowsily opened his
+eyes and asked what they were doing in his room. They told him gently
+that he was ill. He put his hand up to his head, and said they were
+right, and so dropped off again into slumber. Worn out by the emotions
+through which they had passed, the two women silently waited for the
+march of events. The same stupor of resignation possessed them both.
+They had secured the door and the window. They had prayed together. They
+had kissed the quiet face on the pillow. They had said to each other,
+"We will live with him or die with him as God pleases." Miss Lavinia
+sat by the bedside. Natalie was on a stool at her feet--with her eyes
+closed, and her head on her aunt's knee.
+
+Time went on. The clock in the hall had struck--ten or eleven, they
+were not sure which--when they heard the signal which warned them of the
+servant's return from the village. He brought news, and more than news;
+he brought a letter from Launce.
+
+Natalie read these lines:
+
+"I shall be with you, dearest, almost as soon as you receive this. The
+bearer will tell you what has happened in the village--your note throws
+a new light on it all. I only remain behind to go to the vicar (who is
+also the magistrate here), and declare myself your husband. All disguise
+must be at an end now. My place is with you and yours. It is even worse
+than your worst fears. Turlington was at the bottom of the attack on
+your father. Judge if you have not need of your husband's protection
+after that!--L."
+
+Natalie handed the letter to her aunt, and pointed to the sentence which
+asserted Turlington's guilty knowledge of the attempt on Sir Joseph's
+life. In silent horror the two women looked at each other, recalling
+what had happened earlier in the evening, and understanding it now. The
+servant roused them to a sense of present things, by entering on the
+narrative of his discoveries in the village.
+
+The place was all astir when he reached it. An old man--a stranger in
+Baxdale--had been found lying in the road, close to the church, in a
+fit; and the person who had discovered him had been no other than Launce
+himself. He had, literally, stumbled over the body of Thomas Wildfang in
+the dark, on his way back to his lodgings in the village.
+
+"The gentleman gave the alarm, miss," said the servant, describing the
+event, as it had been related to him, "and the man--a huge, big old
+man--was carried to the inn. The landlord identified him; he had taken
+lodgings at the inn that day, and the constable found valuable property
+on him--a purse of money and a gold watch and chain. There was nothing
+to show who the money and the watch belonged to. It was only when my
+master and the doctor got to the inn that it was known whom he had
+robbed and tried to murder. All he let out in his wanderings before they
+came was that some person had set him on to do it. He called the person
+'Captain,' and sometimes 'Captain Goward.' It was thought--if you
+could trust the ravings of a madman--that the fit took him while he
+was putting his hand on Sir Joseph's heart to feel if it had stopped
+beating. A sort of vision (as I understand it) must have overpowered
+him at the moment. They tell me he raved about the sea bursting into the
+church yard, and a drowning sailor floating by on a hen-coop; a sailor
+who dragged him down to hell by the hair of his head, and such like
+horrible nonsense, miss. He was still screeching, at the worst of the
+fit, when my master and the doctor came into the room. At sight of one
+or other of them--it is thought of Mr. Turlington, seeing that he came
+first--he held his peace on a sudden, and then fell back in convulsions
+in the arms of the men who were holding him. The doctor gave it a
+learned name, signifying drink-madness, and said the case was hopeless.
+However, he ordered the room to be cleared of the crowd to see what he
+could do. My master was reported to be still with the doctor, waiting to
+see whether the man lived or died, when I left the village, miss, with
+the gentleman's answer to your note. I didn't dare stay to hear how it
+ended, for fear of Mr. Turlington's finding me out."
+
+Having reached the end of his narrative, the man looked round restlessly
+toward the window. It was impossible to say when his master might not
+return, and it might be as much as his life was worth to be caught in
+the house after he had been locked out of it. He begged permission to
+open the window, and make his escape back to the stables while there
+was still time. As he unbarred the shutter they were startled by a voice
+hailing them from below. It was Launce's voice calling to Natalie. The
+servant disappeared, and Natalie was in Launce's arms before she could
+breathe again.
+
+For one delicious moment she let her head lie on his breast; then she
+suddenly pushed him away from her. "Why do you come here? He will kill
+you if he finds you in the house. Where is he?"
+
+Launce knew even less of Turlington's movements than the servant.
+"Wherever he is, thank God, I am here before him!" That was all the
+answer he could give.
+
+Natalie and her aunt heard him in silent dismay. Sir Joseph woke, and
+recognized Launce before a word more could be said. "Ah, my dear boy!"
+he murmured, faintly. "It's pleasant to see you again. How do you come
+here?" He was quite satisfied with the first excuse that suggested
+itself. "We'll talk about it to-morrow," he said, and composed himself
+to rest again.
+
+Natalie made a second attempt to persuade Launce to leave the house.
+
+"We don't know what may have happened," she said. "He may have followed
+you on your way here. He may have purposely let you enter his house.
+Leave us while you have the chance."
+
+Miss Lavinia added her persuasions. They were useless. Launce quietly
+closed the heavy window-shutters, lined with iron, and put up the bar.
+Natalie wrung her hands in despair.
+
+"Have you been to the magistrate?" she asked. "Tell us, at least, are
+you here by his advice? Is he coming to help us?"
+
+Launce hesitated. If he had told the truth, he must have acknowledged
+that he was there in direct opposition to the magistrate's advice. He
+answered evasively, "If the vicar doesn't come, the doctor will. I have
+told him Sir Joseph must be moved. Cheer up, Natalie! The doctor will be
+here as soon as Turlington."
+
+As the name passed his lips--without a sound outside to prepare them
+for what was coming--the voice of Turlington himself suddenly penetrated
+into the room, speaking close behind the window, on the outer side.
+
+"You have broken into my house in the night," said the voice. "And you
+don't escape _this_ way."
+
+Miss Lavinia sank on her knees. Natalie flew to her father. His eyes
+were wide open in terror; he moaned, feebly recognizing the voice.
+The next sound that was heard was the sound made by the removal of the
+ladder from the balcony. Turlington, having descended by it, had taken
+it away. Natalie had but too accurately guessed what would happen. The
+death of the villain's accomplice had freed him from all apprehension
+in that quarter. He had deliberately dogged Launce's steps, and had
+deliberately allowed him to put himself in the wrong by effecting a
+secret entrance into the house.
+
+There was an interval--a horrible interval--and then they heard the
+front door opened. Without stopping (judging by the absence of sound)
+to close it again, Turlington rapidly ascended the stairs and tried the
+locked door.
+
+"Come out, and give yourself up!" he called through the door. "I have
+got my revolver with me, and I have a right to fire on a man who has
+broken into my house. If the door isn't opened before I count three,
+your blood be on your own head. One!"
+
+Launce was armed with nothing but his stick. He advanced, without an
+instant's hesitation, to give himself up. Natalie threw her arms round
+him and clasped him fast before he could reach the door.
+
+"Two!" cried the voice outside, as Launce struggled to force her from
+him. At the same moment his eye turned toward the bed. It was exactly
+opposite the door--it was straight in the line of fire! Sir Joseph' s
+life (as Turlington had deliberately calculated) was actually in greater
+danger than Launce's life. He tore himself free, rushed to the bed, and
+took the old man in his arms to lift him out.
+
+"Three!"
+
+The crash of the report sounded. The bullet came through the door,
+grazed Launce's left arm, and buried itself in the pillow, at the very
+place on which Sir Joseph's head had rested the moment before. Launce
+had saved his father-in-law's life. Turlington had fired his first shot
+for the money, and had not got it yet.
+
+They were safe in the corner of the room, on the same side as the
+door--Sir Joseph, helpless as a child, in Launce's arms; the women
+pale, but admirably calm. They were safe for the moment, when the second
+bullet (fired at an angle) tore its way through the wall on their right
+hand.
+
+"I hear you," cried the voice of the miscreant on the other side of the
+door. "I'll have you yet--through the wall."
+
+There was a pause. They heard his hand sounding the wall, to find out
+where there was solid wood in the material of which it was built, and
+where there was plaster only. At that dreadful moment Launce's composure
+never left him. He laid Sir Joseph softly on the floor, and signed to
+Natalie and her aunt to lie down by him in silence. Their lives depended
+now on neither their voices nor their movements telling the murderer
+where to fire. He chose his place. The barrel of the revolver grated
+as he laid it against the wall. He touched the hair trigger. A faint
+_click_ was the only sound that followed. The third barrel had missed
+fire.
+
+They heard him ask himself, with an oath, "What's wrong with it now?"
+
+There was a pause of silence.
+
+Was he examining the weapon?
+
+Before they could ask themselves the question, the report of the
+exploding charge burst on their ears. It was instantly followed by a
+heavy fall. They looked at the opposite wall of the room. No sign of a
+bullet there or anywhere.
+
+Launce signed to them not to move yet. They waited, and listened.
+Nothing stirred on the landing outside.
+
+Suddenly there was a disturbance of the silence in the lower regions--a
+clamor of many voices at the open house door. Had the firing of the
+revolver been heard at the vicarage? Yes! They recognized the vicar's
+voice among the others. A moment more, and they heard a general
+exclamation of horror on the stairs. Launce opened the door of the room.
+He instantly closed it again before Natalie could follow him.
+
+The dead body of Turlington lay on the landing outside. The charge in
+the fourth barrel of the revolver had exploded while he was looking at
+it. The bullet had entered his mouth and killed him on the spot.
+
+
+
+
+DOCUMENTARY HINTS, IN CONCLUSION.
+
+First Hint.
+
+(Derived from Lady Winwood's Card-Rack.)
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke and Miss Graybrooke request the honor of Lord
+and Lady Winwood's company to dinner, on Wednesday, February 10, at
+half-past seven o'clock. To meet Mr. and Mrs. Launcelot Linzie on their
+return."
+
+
+Second Hint.
+
+(Derived from a recent Money Article in morning Newspaper.)
+
+"We are requested to give the fullest contradiction to unfavorable
+rumors lately in circulation respecting the firm of Pizzituti,
+Turlington, and Branca. Some temporary derangement in the machinery of
+the business was undoubtedly produced in consequence of the sudden death
+of the lamented managing partner, Mr. Turlington, by the accidental
+discharge of a revolver which he was examining. Whatever temporary
+obstacles may have existed are now overcome. We are informed, on good
+authority, that the well-known house of Messrs. Bulpit Brothers has an
+interest in the business, and will carry it on until further notice."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Miss Or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
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+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
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+               text-align: right;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Miss or Mrs.?
+
+Author: Wilkie Collins
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2006 [EBook #1621]
+Last Updated: September 13, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS OR MRS.? ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by James Rusk and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      MISS OR MRS.?
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Wilkie Collins
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> FIRST SCENE </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> SECOND SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THIRD SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> FOURTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> FIFTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> SIXTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> SEVENTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> EIGHTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> NINTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> TENTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> ELEVENTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> TWELFTH SCENE. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> DOCUMENTARY HINTS, IN CONCLUSION. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PERSONS OF THE STORY.
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+               Sir Joseph Graybrooke. . . . . . . . . .(Knight)
+               Richard Turlington . . . . (Of the Levant Trade)
+               Launcelot Linzie . .(Of the College of Surgeons)
+               James Dicas. . . . . .(Of the Roll of Attorneys)
+               Thomas Wildfang. . . . . .(Superannuated Seaman)
+               Miss Graybrooke. . . . . . (Sir Joseph&rsquo;s Sister)
+               Natalie. . . . . . . . . (Sir Joseph&rsquo;s Daughter)
+               Lady Winwood . . . . . . . .(Sir Joseph&rsquo;s Niece)
+               Amelia} Sophia}. (Lady Winwood&rsquo;s Stepdaughter&rsquo;s)
+               and Dorothea}
+          </pre>
+    <h4>
+      Period: THE PRESENT TIME. Place: ENGLAND.
+    </h4>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      FIRST SCENE
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      At Sea.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The night had come to an end. The new-born day waited for its quickening
+      light in the silence that is never known on land&mdash;the silence before
+      sunrise, in a calm at sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a breath came from the dead air. Not a ripple stirred on the
+      motionless water. Nothing changed but the softly-growing light; nothing
+      moved but the lazy mist, curling up to meet the sun, its master, on the
+      eastward sea. By fine gradations, the airy veil of morning thinned in
+      substance as it rose&mdash;thinned, till there dawned through it in the
+      first rays of sunlight the tall white sails of a Schooner Yacht.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From stem to stern silence possessed the vessel&mdash;as silence possessed
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But one living creature was on deck&mdash;the man at the helm, dozing
+      peaceably with his arm over the useless tiller. Minute by minute the light
+      grew, and the heat grew with it; and still the helmsman slumbered, the
+      heavy sails hung noiseless, the quiet water lay sleeping against the
+      vessel&rsquo;s sides. The whole orb of the sun was visible above the water-line,
+      when the first sound pierced its way through the morning silence. From far
+      off over the shining white ocean, the cry of a sea-bird reached the yacht
+      on a sudden out of the last airy circles of the waning mist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sleeper at the helm woke; looked up at the idle sails, and yawned in
+      sympathy with them; looked out at the sea on either side of him, and shook
+      his head obstinately at the superior obstinacy of the calm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blow, my little breeze!&rdquo; said the man, whistling the sailor&rsquo;s invocation
+      to the wind softly between his teeth. &ldquo;Blow, my little breeze!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How&rsquo;s her head?&rdquo; cried a bold and brassy voice, hailing the deck from the
+      cabin staircase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anywhere you like, master; all round the compass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice was followed by the man. The owner of the yacht appeared on
+      deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behold Richard Turlington, Esq., of the great Levant firm of Pizzituti,
+      Turlington &amp; Branca! Aged eight-and-thirty; standing stiffly and
+      sturdily at a height of not more than five feet six&mdash;Mr. Turlington
+      presented to the view of his fellow-creatures a face of the perpendicular
+      order of human architecture. His forehead was a straight line, his upper
+      lip was another, his chin was the straightest and the longest line of all.
+      As he turned his swarthy countenance eastward, and shaded his light gray
+      eyes from the sun, his knotty hand plainly revealed that it had got him
+      his living by its own labor at one time or another in his life. Taken on
+      the whole, this was a man whom it might be easy to respect, but whom it
+      would be hard to love. Better company at the official desk than at the
+      social table. Morally and physically&mdash;if the expression may be
+      permitted&mdash;a man without a bend in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A calm yesterday,&rdquo; grumbled Richard Turlington, looking with stubborn
+      deliberation all round him. &ldquo;And a calm to-day. Ha! next season I&rsquo;ll have
+      the vessel fitted with engines. I hate this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Think of the filthy coals, and the infernal vibration, and leave your
+      beautiful schooner as she is. We are out for a holiday. Let the wind and
+      the sea take a holiday too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pronouncing those words of remonstrance, a slim, nimble, curly-headed
+      young gentleman joined Richard Turlington on deck, with his clothes under
+      his arm, his towels in his hand, and nothing on him but the night-gown in
+      which he had stepped out of his bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Launcelot Linzie, you have been received on board my vessel in the
+      capacity of medical attendant on Miss Natalie Graybrooke, at her father&rsquo;s
+      request. Keep your place, if you please. When I want your advice, I&rsquo;ll ask
+      you for it.&rdquo; Answering in those terms, the elder man fixed his colorless
+      gray eyes on the younger with an expression which added plainly, &ldquo;There
+      won&rsquo;t be room enough in this schooner much longer for me and for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launcelot Linzie had his reasons (apparently) for declining to let his
+      host offend him on any terms whatever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; he rejoined, in a tone of satirical good humor. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t
+      easy to keep my place on board your vessel. I can&rsquo;t help presuming to
+      enjoy myself as if I was the owner. The life is such a new one&mdash;to <i>me!</i>
+      It&rsquo;s so delightfully easy, for instance, to wash yourself here. On shore
+      it&rsquo;s a complicated question of jugs and basins and tubs; one is always in
+      danger of breaking something, or spoiling something. Here you have only to
+      jump out of bed, to run up on deck, and to do this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned, and scampered to the bows of the vessel. In one instant he was
+      out of his night-gown, in another he was on the bulwark, in a third he was
+      gamboling luxuriously in sixty fathoms of salt-water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington&rsquo;s eyes followed him with a reluctant, uneasy attention as he
+      swam round the vessel, the only moving object in view. Turlington&rsquo;s mind,
+      steady and slow in all its operations, set him a problem to be solved, on
+      given conditions, as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Launcelot Linzie is fifteen years younger than I am. Add to that,
+      Launcelot Linzie is Natalie Graybrooke&rsquo;s cousin. Given those two
+      advantages&mdash;Query: Has he taken Natalie&rsquo;s fancy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turning that question slowly over and over in his mind, Richard Turlington
+      seated himself in a corner at the stern of the vessel. He was still at
+      work on the problem, when the young surgeon returned to his cabin to put
+      the finishing touches to his toilet. He had not reached the solution when
+      the steward appeared an hour later and said, &ldquo;Breakfast is ready, sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were a party of five round the cabin table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, Sir Joseph Graybrooke. Inheritor of a handsome fortune made by his
+      father and his grandfather in trade. Mayor, twice elected, of a thriving
+      provincial town. Officially privileged, while holding that dignity, to
+      hand a silver trowel to a royal personage condescending to lay a first
+      stone of a charitable edifice. Knighted, accordingly, in honor of the
+      occasion. Worthy of the honor and worthy of the occasion. A type of his
+      eminently respectable class. Possessed of an amiable, rosy face, and soft,
+      silky white hair. Sound in his principles; tidy in his dress; blessed with
+      moderate politics and a good digestion&mdash;a harmless, healthy, spruce,
+      speckless, weak-minded old man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Secondly, Miss Lavinia Graybrooke, Sir Joseph&rsquo;s maiden sister. Personally,
+      Sir Joseph in petticoats. If you knew one you knew the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thirdly, Miss Natalie Graybrooke&mdash;Sir Joseph&rsquo;s only child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had inherited the personal appearance and the temperament of her
+      mother&mdash;dead many years since. There had been a mixture of Negro
+      blood and French blood in the late Lady Graybrooke&rsquo;s family, settled
+      originally in Martinique. Natalie had her mother&rsquo;s warm dusky color, her
+      mother&rsquo;s superb black hair, and her mother&rsquo;s melting, lazy, lovely brown
+      eyes. At fifteen years of age (dating from her last birthday) she
+      possessed the development of the bosom and limbs which in England is
+      rarely attained before twenty. Everything about the girl&mdash;except her
+      little rosy ears&mdash;was on a grand Amazonian scale. Her shapely hand
+      was long and large; her supple waist was the waist of a woman. The
+      indolent grace of all her movements had its motive power in an almost
+      masculine firmness of action and profusion of physical resource. This
+      remarkable bodily development was far from being accompanied by any
+      corresponding development of character. Natalie&rsquo;s manner was the gentle,
+      innocent manner of a young girl. She had her father&rsquo;s sweet temper
+      ingrafted on her mother&rsquo;s variable Southern nature. She moved like a
+      goddess, and she laughed like a child. Signs of maturing too rapidly&mdash;of
+      outgrowing her strength, as the phrase went&mdash;had made their
+      appearance in Sir Joseph&rsquo;s daughter during the spring. The family doctor
+      had suggested a sea-voyage, as a wise manner of employing the fine summer
+      months. Richard Turlington&rsquo;s yacht was placed at her disposal, with
+      Richard Turlington himself included as one of the fixtures of the vessel.
+      With her father and her aunt to keep up round her the atmosphere of home&mdash;with
+      Cousin Launcelot (more commonly known as &ldquo;Launce&rdquo;) to carry out, if
+      necessary, the medical treatment prescribed by superior authority on shore&mdash;the
+      lovely invalid embarked on her summer cruise, and sprang up into a new
+      existence in the life-giving breezes of the sea. After two happy months of
+      lazy coasting round the shores of England, all that remained of Natalie&rsquo;s
+      illness was represented by a delicious languor in her eyes, and an utter
+      inability to devote herself to anything which took the shape of a serious
+      occupation. As she sat at the cabin breakfast-table that morning, in her
+      quaintly-made sailing dress of old-fashioned nankeen&mdash;her inbred
+      childishness of manner contrasting delightfully with the blooming maturity
+      of her form&mdash;the man must have been trebly armed indeed in the modern
+      philosophy who could have denied that the first of a woman&rsquo;s rights is the
+      right of being beautiful; and the foremost of a woman&rsquo;s merits, the merit
+      of being young!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who have
+      already appeared on the deck of the yacht.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a breath of wind stirring!&rdquo; said Richard Turlington. &ldquo;The weather has
+      got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in the
+      last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with me&mdash;you
+      must be longing to get on shore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable
+      to the young lady&mdash;and plainly unsuccessful in producing any
+      impression on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup,
+      instead of looking at Richard Turlington.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment,&rdquo; said Launce. &ldquo;The
+      vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our
+      breakfast on is as even as your dining-room table at home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He too addressed himself to Natalie, but without betraying the anxiety to
+      please her which had been shown by the other. For all that, <i>he</i>
+      diverted the girl&rsquo;s attention from her tea-cup; and <i>his</i> idea
+      instantly awakened a responsive idea in Natalie&rsquo;s mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be so strange on shore,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to find myself in a room that
+      never turns on one side, and to sit at a table that never tilts down to my
+      knees at one time, or rises up to my chin at another. How I shall miss the
+      wash of the water at my ear, and the ring of the bell on deck when I am
+      awake at night on land! No interest there in how the wind blows, or how
+      the sails are set. No asking your way of the sun, when you are lost, with
+      a little brass instrument and a morsel of pencil and paper. No delightful
+      wandering wherever the wind takes you, without the worry of planning
+      beforehand where you are to go. Oh how I shall miss the dear, changeable,
+      inconstant sea! And how sorry I am I&rsquo;m not a man and a sailor!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This to the guest admitted on board on sufferance, and not one word of it
+      addressed, even by chance, to the owner of the yacht!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard Turlington&rsquo;s heavy eyebrows contracted with an unmistakable
+      expression of pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If this calm weather holds,&rdquo; he went on, addressing himself to Sir
+      Joseph, &ldquo;I am afraid, Graybrooke, I shall not be able to bring you back to
+      the port we sailed from by the end of the week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whenever you like, Richard,&rdquo; answered the old gentleman, resignedly. &ldquo;Any
+      time will do for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any time within reasonable limits, Joseph,&rdquo; said Miss Lavinia, evidently
+      feeling that her brother was conceding too much. She spoke with Sir
+      Joseph&rsquo;s amiable smile and Sir Joseph&rsquo;s softly-pitched voice. Two twin
+      babies could hardly have been more like one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While these few words were being exchanged among the elders, a private
+      communication was in course of progress between the two young people under
+      the cabin table. Natalie&rsquo;s smartly-slippered foot felt its way cautiously
+      inch by inch over the carpet till it touched Launce&rsquo;s boot. Launce,
+      devouring his breakfast, instantly looked up from his plate, and then, at
+      a second touch from Natalie, looked down again in a violent hurry. After
+      pausing to make sure that she was not noticed, Natalie took up her knife.
+      Under a perfectly-acted pretense of toying with it absently, in the
+      character of a young lady absorbed in thought, she began dividing a morsel
+      of ham left on the edge of her plate, into six tiny pieces. Launce&rsquo;s eye
+      looked in sidelong expectation at the divided and subdivided ham. He was
+      evidently waiting to see the collection of morsels put to some telegraphic
+      use, previously determined on between his neighbor and himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meanwhile the talk proceeded among the other persons at the
+      breakfast-table. Miss Lavinia addressed herself to Launce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know, you careless boy, you gave me a fright this morning? I was
+      sleeping with my cabin window open, and I was awoke by an awful splash in
+      the water. I called for the stewardess. I declare I thought somebody had
+      fallen overboard!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph looked up briskly; his sister had accidentally touched on an
+      old association.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk of falling overboard,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;reminds me of an extraordinary
+      adventure&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There Launce broke in, making his apologies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shan&rsquo;t occur again, Miss Lavinia,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To-morrow morning I&rsquo;ll
+      oil myself all over, and slip into the water as silently as a seal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of an extraordinary adventure,&rdquo; persisted Sir Joseph, &ldquo;which happened to
+      me many years ago, when I was a young man. Lavinia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopped, and looked interrogatively at his sister. Miss Graybrooke
+      nodded her head responsively, and settled herself in her chair, as if
+      summoning her attention in anticipation of a coming demand on it. To
+      persons well acquainted with the brother and sister these proceedings were
+      ominous of an impending narrative, protracted to a formidable length. The
+      two always told a story in couples, and always differed with each other
+      about the facts, the sister politely contradicting the brother when it was
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s story, and the brother politely contradicting the sister when
+      it was Miss Lavinia&rsquo;s story. Separated one from the other, and thus
+      relieved of their own habitual interchange of contradiction, neither of
+      them had ever been known to attempt the relation of the simplest series of
+      events without breaking down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was five years before I knew you, Richard,&rdquo; proceeded Sir Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Six years,&rdquo; said Miss Graybrooke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, Lavinia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Joseph, I have it down in my diary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us waive the point.&rdquo; (Sir Joseph invariably used this formula as a
+      means of at once conciliating his sister, and getting a fresh start for
+      his story.) &ldquo;I was cruising off the Mersey in a Liverpool pilot-boat. I
+      had hired the boat in company with a friend of mine, formerly notorious in
+      London society, under the nickname (derived from the peculiar brown color
+      of his whiskers) of &lsquo;Mahogany Dobbs.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The color of his liveries, Joseph, not the color of his whiskers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Lavinia, you are thinking of &lsquo;Sea-green Shaw,&rsquo; so called from the
+      extraordinary liveries he adopted for his servants in the year when he was
+      sheriff.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think not, Joseph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, Lavinia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard Turlington&rsquo;s knotty fingers drummed impatiently on the table. He
+      looked toward Natalie. She was idly arranging her little morsels of ham in
+      a pattern on her plate. Launcelot Linzie, still more idly, was looking at
+      the pattern. Seeing what he saw now, Richard solved the problem which had
+      puzzled him on deck. It was simply impossible that Natalie&rsquo;s fancy could
+      be really taken by such an empty-headed fool as that!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph went on with his story:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were some ten or a dozen miles off the mouth of the Mersey&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nautical miles, Joseph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter, Lavinia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, brother, the late great and good Doctor Johnson said accuracy
+      ought always to be studied even in the most trifling things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were common miles, Lavinia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were nautical miles, Joseph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us waive the point. Mahogany Dobbs and I happened to be below in the
+      cabin, occupied&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Sir Joseph paused (with his amiable smile) to consult his memory.
+      Miss Lavinia waited (with <i>her</i> amiable smile) for the coming
+      opportunity of setting her brother right. At the same moment Natalie laid
+      down her knife and softly touched Launce under the table. When she thus
+      claimed his attention the six pieces of ham were arranged as follows in
+      her plate: Two pieces were placed opposite each other, and four pieces
+      were ranged perpendicularly under them. Launce looked, and twice touched
+      Natalie under the table. Interpreted by the Code agreed on between the
+      two, the signal in the plate meant, &ldquo;I must see you in private.&rdquo; And
+      Launce&rsquo;s double touch answered, &ldquo;After breakfast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph proceeded with his story. Natalie took up her knife again.
+      Another signal coming!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were both down in the cabin, occupied in finishing our dinner&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just sitting down to lunch, Joseph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear! I ought to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I only repeat what I heard, brother. The last time you told the story,
+      you and your friend were sitting down to lunch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t particularize, Lavinia. Suppose we say occupied over a meal?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If it is of no more importance than that, Joseph, it would be surely
+      better to leave it out altogether.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us waive the point. Well, we were suddenly alarmed by a shout on
+      deck, &lsquo;Man over-board!&rsquo; We both rushed up the cabin stairs, naturally
+      under the impression that one of our crew had fallen into the sea: an
+      impression shared, I ought to add, by the man at the helm, who had given
+      the alarm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph paused again. He was approaching one of the great dramatic
+      points in his story, and was naturally anxious to present it as
+      impressively as possible. He considered with himself, with his head a
+      little on one side. Miss Lavinia considered with <i>herself</i>, with <i>her</i>
+      head a little on one side. Natalie laid down her knife again, and again
+      touched Launce under the table. This time there were five pieces of ham
+      ranged longitudinally on the plate, with one piece immediately under them
+      at the center of the line. Interpreted by the Code, this signal indicated
+      two ominous words, &ldquo;Bad news.&rdquo; Launce looked significantly at the owner of
+      the yacht (meaning of the look, &ldquo;Is he at the bottom of it?&rdquo;). Natalie
+      frowned in reply (meaning of the frown, &ldquo;Yes, he is&rdquo;). Launce looked down
+      again into the plate. Natalie instantly pushed all the pieces of ham
+      together in a little heap (meaning of the heap, &ldquo;No more to say&rdquo;).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said Richard Turlington, turning sharply on Sir Joseph. &ldquo;Get on
+      with your story. What next?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus far he had not troubled himself to show even a decent pretense of
+      interest in his old friend&rsquo;s perpetually-interrupted narrative. It was
+      only when Sir Joseph had reached his last sentence&mdash;intimating that
+      the man overboard might turn out in course of time not to be a man of the
+      pilot-boat&rsquo;s crew&mdash;it was only then that Turlington sat up in his
+      chair, and showed signs of suddenly feeling a strong interest in the
+      progress of the story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As soon as we got on deck, we saw the man in the water, astern. Our
+      vessel was hove up in the wind, and the boat was lowered. The master and
+      one of the men took the oars. All told, our crew were seven in number. Two
+      away in the boat, a third at the helm, and, to my amazement, when I looked
+      round, the other four behind me making our number complete. At the same
+      moment Mahogany Dobbs, who was looking through a telescope, called out,
+      &lsquo;Who the devil can he be? The man is floating on a hen-coop, and we have
+      got nothing of the sort on board this pilot-boat.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The one person present who happened to notice Richard Turlington&rsquo;s face
+      when those words were pronounced was Launcelot Linzie. He&mdash;and he
+      alone&mdash;saw the Levant trader&rsquo;s swarthy complexion fade slowly to a
+      livid ashen gray; his eyes the while fixing themselves on Sir Joseph
+      Graybrooke with a furtive glare in them like the glare in the eyes of a
+      wild beast. Apparently conscious that Launce was looking at him&mdash;though
+      he never turned his head Launce&rsquo;s way&mdash;he laid his elbow on the
+      table, lifted his arm, and so rested his face on his hand, while the story
+      went on, as to screen it effectually from the young surgeon&rsquo;s view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man was brought on board,&rdquo; proceeded Sir Joseph, &ldquo;sure enough, with a
+      hen-coop&mdash;on which he had been found floating. The poor wretch was
+      blue with terror and exposure in the water; he fainted when we lifted him
+      on deck. When he came to himself he told us a horrible story. He was a
+      sick and destitute foreign seaman, and he had hidden himself in the hold
+      of an English vessel (bound to a port in his native country) which had
+      sailed from Liverpool that morning. He had been discovered, and brought
+      before the captain. The captain, a monster in human form, if ever there
+      was one yet&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the next word of the sentence could pass Sir Joseph&rsquo;s lips,
+      Turlington startled the little party in the cabin by springing suddenly to
+      his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The breeze!&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;the breeze at last!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, he wheeled round to the cabin door so as to turn his back on
+      his guests, and hailed the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which way is the wind?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is not a breath of wind, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Not the slightest movement in the vessel had been perceptible in the
+      cabin; not a sound had been audible indicating the rising of the breeze.
+      The owner of the yacht&mdash;accustomed to the sea, capable, if necessary,
+      of sailing his own vessel&mdash;had surely committed a strange mistake! He
+      turned again to his friends, and made his apologies with an excess of
+      polite regret far from characteristic of him at other times and under
+      other circumstances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on,&rdquo; he said to Sir Joseph, when he had got to the end of his excuses;
+      &ldquo;I never heard such an interesting story in my life. Pray go on!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The request was not an easy one to comply with. Sir Joseph&rsquo;s ideas had
+      been thrown into confusion. Miss Lavinia&rsquo;s contradictions (held in
+      reserve) had been scattered beyond recall. Both brother and sister were,
+      moreover, additionally hindered in recovering the control of their own
+      resources by the look and manner of their host. He alarmed, instead of
+      encouraging the two harmless old people, by fronting them almost fiercely,
+      with his elbows squared on the table, and his face expressive of a dogged
+      resolution to sit there and listen, if need be, for the rest of his life.
+      Launce was the person who set Sir Joseph going again. After first looking
+      attentively at Richard, he took his uncle straight back to the story by
+      means of a question, thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean to say that the captain of the ship threw the man
+      overboard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is just what he did, Launce. The poor wretch was too ill to work his
+      passage. The captain declared he would have no idle foreign vagabond in
+      his ship to eat up the provisions of Englishmen who worked. With his own
+      hands he cast the hen-coop into the water, and (assisted by one of his
+      sailors) he threw the man after it, and told him to float back to
+      Liverpool with the evening tide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lie!&rdquo; cried Turlington, addressing himself, not to Sir Joseph, but to
+      Launce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you acquainted with the circumstances?&rdquo; asked Launce, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know nothing about the circumstances. I say, from my own experience,
+      that foreign sailors are even greater blackguards than English sailors.
+      The man had met with an accident, no doubt. The rest of his story was a
+      lie, and the object of it was to open Sir Joseph&rsquo;s purse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph mildly shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No lie, Richard. Witnesses proved that the man had spoken the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Witnesses? Pooh! More liars, you mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to the owners of the vessel,&rdquo; pursued Sir Joseph. &ldquo;I got from them
+      the names of the officers and the crew, and I waited, leaving the case in
+      the hands of the Liverpool police. The ship was wrecked at the mouth of
+      the Amazon, but the crew and the cargo were saved. The men belonging to
+      Liverpool came back. They were a bad set, I grant you. But they were
+      examined separately about the treatment of the foreign sailor, and they
+      all told the same story. They could give no account of their captain, nor
+      of the sailor who had been his accomplice in the crime, except that they
+      had not embarked in the ship which brought the rest of the crew to
+      England. Whatever may have become of the captain since, he certainly never
+      returned to Liverpool.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find out his name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The question was asked by Turlington. Even Sir Joseph, the least observant
+      of men, noticed that it was put with a perfectly unaccountable
+      irritability of manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be angry, Richard.&rdquo; said the old gentleman. &ldquo;What is there to be
+      angry about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean. I&rsquo;m not angry&mdash;I&rsquo;m only curious. <i>Did</i>
+      you find out who he was?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did. His name was Goward. He was well known at Liverpool as a very
+      clever and a very dangerous man. Quite young at the time I am speaking of,
+      and a first-rate sailor; famous for taking command of unseaworthy ships
+      and vagabond crews. Report described him to me as having made considerable
+      sums of money in that way, for a man in his position; serving firms, you
+      know, with a bad name, and running all sorts of desperate risks. A sad
+      ruffian, Richard! More than once in trouble, on both sides of the
+      Atlantic, for acts of violence and cruelty. Dead, I dare say, long since.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or possibly,&rdquo; said Launce, &ldquo;alive, under another name, and thriving in a
+      new way of life, with more desperate risks in it, of some other sort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are <i>you</i> acquainted with the circumstances?&rdquo; asked Turlington,
+      retorting Launce&rsquo;s question on him, with a harsh ring of defiance in his
+      brassy voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What became of the poor foreign sailor, papa?&rdquo; said Natalie, purposely
+      interrupting Launce before he could meet the question angrily asked of
+      him, by an angry reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We made a subscription, and spoke to his consul, my dear. He went back to
+      his country, poor fellow, comfortably enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And there is an end of Sir Joseph&rsquo;s story,&rdquo; said Turlington, rising
+      noisily from his chair. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pity we haven&rsquo;t got a literary man on
+      board&mdash;he would make a novel of it.&rdquo; He looked up at the skylight as
+      he got on his feet. &ldquo;Here is the breeze, this time,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;and no
+      mistake!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was true. At last the breeze had come. The sails flapped, the main boom
+      swung over with a thump, and the stagnant water, stirred at last, bubbled
+      merrily past the vessel&rsquo;s sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on deck, Natalie, and get some fresh air,&rdquo; said Miss Lavinia,
+      leading the way to the cabin door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie held up the skirt of her nankeen dress, and exhibited the purple
+      trimming torn away over an extent of some yards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me half an hour first, aunt, in my cabin,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to mend this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia elevated her venerable eyebrows in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have done nothing but tear your dresses, my dear, since you have been
+      in Mr. Turlington&rsquo;s yacht. Most extraordinary! I have torn none of mine
+      during the whole cruise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie&rsquo;s dark color deepened a shade. She laughed, a little uneasily. &ldquo;I
+      am so awkward on board ship,&rdquo; she replied, and turned away and shut
+      herself up in her cabin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard Turlington produced his case of cigars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now is the time,&rdquo; he said to Sir Joseph, &ldquo;for the best cigar of the day&mdash;the
+      cigar after breakfast. Come on deck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will join us, Launce?&rdquo; said Sir Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me half an hour first over my books,&rdquo; Launce replied. &ldquo;I mustn&rsquo;t let
+      my medical knowledge get musty at sea, and I might not feel inclined to
+      study later in the day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right, my dear boy, quite right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph patted his nephew approvingly on the shoulder. Launce turned
+      away on <i>his</i> side, and shut himself up in his cabin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other three ascended together to the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      SECOND SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Store-Room.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Persons possessed of sluggish livers and tender hearts find two serious
+      drawbacks to the enjoyment of a cruise at sea. It is exceedingly difficult
+      to get enough walking exercise; and it is next to impossible (where
+      secrecy is an object) to make love without being found out. Reverting for
+      the moment to the latter difficulty only, life within the narrow and
+      populous limits of a vessel may be defined as essentially life in public.
+      From morning to night you are in your neighbor&rsquo;s way, or your neighbor is
+      in your way. As a necessary result of these conditions, the rarest of
+      existing men may be defined as the man who is capable of stealing a kiss
+      at sea without discovery. An inbred capacity for stratagem of the finest
+      sort; inexhaustible inventive resources; patience which can flourish under
+      superhuman trials; presence of mind which can keep its balance
+      victoriously under every possible stress of emergency&mdash;these are some
+      of the qualifications which must accompany Love on a cruise, when Love
+      embarks in the character of a contraband commodity not duly entered on the
+      papers of the ship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having established a Code of Signals which enabled them to communicate
+      privately, while the eyes and ears of others were wide open on every side
+      of them, Natalie and Launce were next confronted by the more serious
+      difficulty of finding a means of meeting together at stolen interviews on
+      board the yacht. Possessing none of those precious moral qualifications
+      already enumerated as the qualifications of an accomplished lover at sea,
+      Launce had proved unequal to grapple with the obstacles in his way. Left
+      to her own inventive resources, Natalie had first suggested the young
+      surgeon&rsquo;s medical studies as Launce&rsquo;s unanswerable excuse for shutting
+      himself up at intervals in the lower regions, and had then hit on the
+      happy idea of tearing her trimmings, and condemning herself to repair her
+      own carelessness, as the all-sufficient reason for similar acts of
+      self-seclusion on her side. In this way the lovers contrived, while the
+      innocent ruling authorities were on deck, to meet privately below them, on
+      the neutral ground of the main cabin; and there, by previous arrangement
+      at the breakfast-table, they were about to meet privately now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie&rsquo;s door was, as usual on these occasions, the first that opened;
+      for this sound reason, that Natalie&rsquo;s quickness was the quickness to be
+      depended on in case of accident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at the sky-light. There were the legs of the two gentlemen
+      and the skirts of her aunt visible (and stationary) on the lee side of the
+      deck. She advanced a few steps and listened. There was a pause in the
+      murmur of the voices above. She looked up again. One pair of legs (not her
+      father&rsquo;s) had disappeared. Without an instant&rsquo;s hesitation, Natalie darted
+      back to her own door, just in time to escape Richard Turlington descending
+      the cabin stairs. All he did was to go to one of the drawers under the
+      main-cabin book-case and to take out a map, ascending again immediately to
+      the deck. Natalie&rsquo;s guilty conscience rushed instantly, nevertheless, to
+      the conclusion that Richard suspected her. When she showed herself for the
+      second time, instead of venturing into the cabin, she called across it in
+      a whisper,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Launce!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce appeared at his door. He was peremptorily checked before he could
+      cross the threshold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t stir a step! Richard has been down in the cabin! Richard suspects
+      us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense! Come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing will induce me, unless you can find some other place than the
+      cabin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some other place? How easy to find it on land! How apparently impossible
+      at sea! There was the forecastle (full of men) at one end of the vessel.
+      There was the sail room (full of sails) at the other. There was the
+      ladies&rsquo; cabin (used as the ladies&rsquo; dressing-room; inaccessible, in that
+      capacity, to every male human being on board). Was there any disposable
+      inclosed space to be found amidships? On one side there were the sleeping
+      berths of the sailing-master and his mate (impossible to borrow <i>them</i>).
+      On the other side was the steward&rsquo;s store-room. Launce considered for a
+      moment. The steward&rsquo;s store-room was just the thing!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; asked Natalie, as her lover made straight for a
+      closed door at the lower extremity of the main cabin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To speak to the steward, darling. Wait one moment, and you will see me
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce opened the store-room door, and discovered, not the steward, but
+      his wife, who occupied the situation of stewardess on board the vessel.
+      The accident was, in this case, a lucky one. Having stolen several kisses
+      at sea, and having been discovered (in every case) either by the steward
+      or his wife, Launce felt no difficulty in prefacing his request to be
+      allowed the use of the room by the plainest allusion to his relations with
+      Natalie. He could count on the silence of the sympathizing authorities in
+      this region of the vessel, having wisely secured them as accomplices by
+      the usual persuasion of the pecuniary sort. Of the two, however, the
+      stewardess, as a woman, was the more likely to lend a ready ear to
+      Launce&rsquo;s entreaties in his present emergency. After a faint show of
+      resistance, she consented, not only to leave the room, but to keep her
+      husband out of it, on the understanding that it was not to be occupied for
+      more than ten minutes. Launce made the signal to Natalie at one door,
+      while the stewardess went out by the other. In a moment more the lovers
+      were united in a private room. Is it necessary to say in what language the
+      proceedings were opened? Surely not! There is an inarticulate language of
+      the lips in use on these occasions in which we are all proficient, though
+      we sometimes forget it in later life. Natalie seated herself on a locker.
+      The tea, sugar, and spices were at her back, a side of bacon swung over
+      her head, and a net full of lemons dangled before her face. It might not
+      be roomy, but it was snug and comfortable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suppose they call for the steward?&rdquo; she suggested. (&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t, Launce!&rdquo;)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind. We shall be safe enough if they do. The steward has only to
+      show himself on deck, and they will suspect nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do be quiet, Launce! I have got dreadful news to tell you. And, besides,
+      my aunt will expect to see me with my braid sewn on again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had brought her needle and thread with her. Whipping up the skirt of
+      her dress on her knee, she bent forward over it, and set herself
+      industriously to the repair of the torn trimming. In this position her
+      lithe figure showed charmingly its firm yet easy line. The needle, in her
+      dexterous brown fingers, flew through its work. The locker was a broad
+      one; Launce was able to seat himself partially behind her. In this
+      position who could have resisted the temptation to lift up her great knot
+      of broadly-plaited black hair, and to let the warm, dusky nape of her neck
+      disclose itself to view? Who, looking at it, could fail to revile the
+      senseless modern fashion of dressing the hair, which hides the double
+      beauty of form and color that nestles at the back of a woman&rsquo;s neck? From
+      time to time, as the interview proceeded, Launce&rsquo;s lips emphasized the
+      more important words occurring in his share of the conversation on the
+      soft, fragrant skin which the lifted hair let him see at intervals. In
+      Launce&rsquo;s place, sir, you would have done it too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Natalie, what is the news?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has spoken to papa, Launce.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard Turlington?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;D&mdash;n him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie started. A curse addressed to the back of your neck, instantly
+      followed by a blessing in the shape of a kiss, is a little trying when you
+      are not prepared for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t do that again, Launce! It was while you were on deck smoking, and
+      when I was supposed to be fast asleep. I opened the ventilator in my cabin
+      door, dear, and I heard every word they said. He waited till my aunt was
+      out of the way, and he had got papa all to himself, and then he began it
+      in that horrible, downright voice of his&mdash;&lsquo;Graybrooke! how much
+      longer am I to wait?&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he say that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No more swearing, Launce! Those were the words. Papa didn&rsquo;t understand
+      them. He only said (poor dear!)&mdash;&lsquo;Bless my soul, Richard, what do you
+      want?&rsquo; Richard soon explained himself. &lsquo;Who could he be waiting for&mdash;but
+      Me?&rsquo; Papa said something about my being so young. Richard stopped his
+      mouth directly. &lsquo;Girls were like fruit; some ripened soon, and some
+      ripened late. Some were women at twenty, and some were women at sixteen.
+      It was impossible to look at me, and not see that I was like a new being
+      after my two months at sea,&rsquo; and so on and so on. Papa behaved like an
+      angel. He still tried to put it off. &lsquo;Plenty of time, Richard, plenty of
+      time.&rsquo; &lsquo;Plenty of time for <i>her</i>&rsquo; (was the wretch&rsquo;s answer to that);
+      &lsquo;but not for <i>me</i>. Think of all I have to offer her&rsquo; (as if I cared
+      for his money!); &lsquo;think how long I have looked upon her as growing up to
+      be my wife&rsquo; (growing up for <i>him</i>&mdash;monstrous!), &lsquo;and don&rsquo;t keep
+      me in a state of uncertainty, which it gets harder and harder for a man in
+      my position to endure!&rsquo; He was really quite eloquent. His voice trembled.
+      There is no doubt, dear, that he is very, very fond of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you feel flattered by it, of course?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk nonsense. I feel a little frightened at it, I can tell you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Frightened? Did <i>you</i> notice him this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? When?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When your father was telling that story about the man overboard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. What did he do? Tell me, Launce.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you directly. How did it all end last night? Did your father
+      make any sort of promise?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know Richard&rsquo;s way; Richard left him no other choice. Papa had to
+      promise before he was allowed to go to bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To let Turlington marry you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; the week after my next birthday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The week after next Christmas-day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Papa is to speak to me as soon as we are at home again, and my
+      married life is to begin with the New Year.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you in earnest, Natalie? Do you really mean to say it has gone as far
+      as that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They have settled everything. The splendid establishment we are to set
+      up, the great income we are to have. I heard papa tell Richard that half
+      his fortune should go to me on my wedding-day. It was sickening to hear
+      how much they made of Money, and how little they thought of Love. What am
+      I to do, Launce?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s easily answered, my darling. In the first place, you are to make
+      up your mind not to marry Richard Turlington&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do talk reasonably. You know I have done all I could. I have told papa
+      that I can think of Richard as a friend, but not as a husband. He only
+      laughs at me, and says, &lsquo;Wait a little, and you will alter your opinion,
+      my dear.&rsquo; You see Richard is everything to him; Richard has always managed
+      his affairs, and has saved him from losing by bad speculations; Richard
+      has known me from the time when I was a child; Richard has a splendid
+      business, and quantities of money. Papa can&rsquo;t even imagine that I can
+      resist Richard. I have tried my aunt; I have told her he is too old for
+      me. All she says is, &lsquo;Look at your father; he was much older than your
+      mother, and what a happy marriage theirs was.&rsquo; Even if I said in so many
+      words, &lsquo;I won&rsquo;t marry Richard,&rsquo; what good would it do to us? Papa is the
+      best and dearest old man in the world; but oh, he is so fond of money! He
+      believes in nothing else. He would be furious&mdash;yes, kind as he is, he
+      would be furious&mdash;if I even hinted that I was fond of <i>you</i>. Any
+      man who proposed to marry me&mdash;if he couldn&rsquo;t match the fortune that I
+      should bring him by a fortune of his own&mdash;would be a lunatic in
+      papa&rsquo;s eyes. He wouldn&rsquo;t think it necessary to answer him; he would ring
+      the bell, and have him shown out of the house. I am exaggerating nothing,
+      Launce; you know I am speaking the truth. There is no hope in the future&mdash;that
+      I can see&mdash;for either of us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you done, Natalie? I have something to say on my side if you have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If things go on as they are going on now, shall I tell you how it will
+      end? It will end in your being Turlington&rsquo;s wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you say now; but you don&rsquo;t know what may happen between this and
+      Christmas-day. Natalie, there is only one way of making sure that you will
+      never marry Richard. Marry <i>me</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without papa&rsquo;s consent?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without saying a word to anybody till it&rsquo;s done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Launce! Launce!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My darling, every word you have said proves there is no other way. Think
+      of it, Natalie, think of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a pause. Natalie dropped her needle and thread, and hid her face
+      in her hands. &ldquo;If my poor mother was only alive,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;if I only had
+      an elder sister to advise me, and to take my part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was evidently hesitating. Launce took a man&rsquo;s advantage of her
+      indecision. He pressed her without mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you love me?&rdquo; he whispered, with his lips close to her ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know I do, dearly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put it out of Richard&rsquo;s power to part us, Natalie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Part us? We are cousins: we have known each other since we were both
+      children. Even if he proposed parting us, papa wouldn&rsquo;t allow it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mark my words, he <i>will</i> propose it. As for your father, Richard has
+      only to lift his finger and your father obeys him. My love, the happiness
+      of both our lives is at stake.&rdquo; He wound his arm round her, and gently
+      drew her head back on his bosom, &ldquo;Other girls have done it, darling,&rdquo; he
+      pleaded, &ldquo;why shouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The effort to answer him was too much for her. She gave it up. A low sigh
+      fluttered through her lips. She nestled closer to him, and faintly closed
+      her eyes. The next instant she started up, trembling from head to foot,
+      and looked at the sky-light. Richard Turlington&rsquo;s voice was suddenly
+      audible on deck exactly above them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Graybrooke, I want to say a word to you about Launcelot Linzie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie&rsquo;s first impulse was to fly to the door. Hearing Launce&rsquo;s name on
+      Richard&rsquo;s lips, she checked herself. Something in Richard&rsquo;s tone roused in
+      her the curiosity which suspends fear. She waited, with her hand in
+      Launce&rsquo;s hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you remember,&rdquo; the brassy voice went on, &ldquo;I doubted the wisdom of
+      taking him with us on this cruise. You didn&rsquo;t agree with me, and, at your
+      express request, I gave way. I did wrong. Launcelot Linzie is a very
+      presuming young man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s answer was accompanied by Sir Joseph&rsquo;s mellow laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Richard! Surely you are a little hard on Launce?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not an observant man, Graybrooke. I am. I see signs of his
+      presuming with all of us, and especially with Natalie. I don&rsquo;t like the
+      manner in which he speaks to her and looks at her. He is unduly familiar;
+      he is insolently confidential. There must be a stop put to it. In my
+      position, my feelings ought to be regarded. I request you to check the
+      intimacy when we get on shore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s next words were spoken more seriously. He expressed his
+      surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Richard, they are cousins, they have been playmates from
+      childhood. How <i>can</i> you think of attaching the slightest importance
+      to anything that is said or done by poor Launce?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a good-humored contempt in Sir Joseph&rsquo;s reference to &ldquo;poor
+      Launce&rdquo; which jarred on his daughter. He might almost have been alluding
+      to some harmless domestic animal. Natalie&rsquo;s color deepened. Her hand
+      pressed Launce&rsquo;s hand gently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington still persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must once more request&mdash;seriously request&mdash;that you will
+      check this growing intimacy. I don&rsquo;t object to your asking him to the
+      house when you ask other friends. I only wish you (and expect you) to stop
+      his &lsquo;dropping in,&rsquo; as it is called, any hour of the day or evening when he
+      may have nothing to do. Is that understood between us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you make a point of it, Richard, of course it&rsquo;s understood between
+      us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce looked at Natalie, as weak Sir Joseph consented in those words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did I tell you?&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie hung her head in silence. There was a pause in the conversation on
+      deck. The two gentlemen walked away slowly toward the forward part of the
+      vessel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce pursued his advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your father leaves us no alternative,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The door will be closed
+      against me as soon as we get on shore. If I lose you, Natalie, I don&rsquo;t
+      care what becomes of me. My profession may go to the devil. I have nothing
+      left worth living for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hush! hush! don&rsquo;t talk in that way!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce tried the soothing influence of persuasion once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hundreds and hundreds of people in our situation have married privately&mdash;and
+      have been forgiven afterward,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t ask you to do anything
+      in a hurry. I will be guided entirely by your wishes. All I want to quiet
+      my mind is to know that you are mine. Do, do, do make me feel sure that
+      Richard Turlington can&rsquo;t take you away from me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t press me, Launce.&rdquo; She dropped on the locker. &ldquo;See!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It
+      makes me tremble only to think of it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are you afraid of, darling? Not your father, surely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor papa! I wonder whether he would be hard on me for the first time in
+      his life?&rdquo; She stopped; her moistening eyes looked up imploringly in
+      Launce&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t press me!&rdquo; she repeated faintly. &ldquo;You know it&rsquo;s
+      wrong. We should have to confess it&mdash;and then what would happen?&rdquo; She
+      paused again. Her eyes wandered nervously to the deck. Her voice dropped
+      to its lowest tones. &ldquo;Think of Richard!&rdquo; she said, and shuddered at the
+      terrors which that name conjured up. Before it was possible to say a
+      quieting word to her, she was again on her feet. Richard&rsquo;s name had
+      suddenly recalled to her memory Launce&rsquo;s mysterious allusion, at the
+      outset of the interview, to the owner of the yacht. &ldquo;What was that you
+      said about Richard just now?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;You saw something (or heard
+      something) strange while papa was telling his story. What was it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I noticed Richard&rsquo;s face, Natalie, when your father told us that the man
+      overboard was not one of the pilot-boat&rsquo;s crew. He turned ghastly pale. He
+      looked guilty&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guilty? Of what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was present&mdash;I am certain of it&mdash;when the sailor was thrown
+      into the sea. For all I know, he may have been the man who did it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie started back in horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Launce! Launce! that is too bad. You may not like Richard&mdash;you
+      may treat Richard as your enemy. But to say such a horrible thing of him
+      as that&mdash;It&rsquo;s not generous. It&rsquo;s not like <i>you</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had seen him, you would have said it too. I mean to make inquiries&mdash;in
+      your father&rsquo;s interests as well as in ours. My brother knows one of the
+      Commissioners of Police, and my brother can get it done for me. Turlington
+      has not always been in the Levant trade&mdash;I know that already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For shame, Launce! for shame!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The footsteps on deck were audible coming back. Natalie sprang to the door
+      leading into the cabin. Launce stopped her, as she laid her hand on the
+      lock. The footsteps went straight on toward the stern of the vessel.
+      Launce clasped both arms round her. Natalie gave way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t drive me to despair!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is my last opportunity. I
+      don&rsquo;t ask you to say at once that you will marry me, I only ask you to
+      think of it. My darling! my angel! will you think of it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he put the question, they might have heard (if they had not been too
+      completely engrossed in each other to listen) the footsteps returning&mdash;one
+      pair of footsteps only this time. Natalie&rsquo;s prolonged absence had begun to
+      surprise her aunt, and had roused a certain vague distrust in Richard&rsquo;s
+      mind. He walked back again along the deck by himself. He looked absently
+      in the main cabin as he passed it. The store-room skylight came next. In
+      his present frame of mind, would he look absently into the store-room too?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me go!&rdquo; said Natalie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce only answered, &ldquo;Say yes,&rdquo; and held her as if he would never let her
+      go again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same moment Miss Lavinia&rsquo;s voice rose shrill from the deck calling
+      for Natalie. There was but one way of getting free from him. She said,
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll think of it.&rdquo; Upon that, he kissed her and let her go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door had barely closed on her when the lowering face of Richard
+      Turlington appeared on a level with the side of the sky-light, looking
+      down into the store-room at Launce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halloo!&rdquo; he called out roughly. &ldquo;What are you doing in the steward&rsquo;s
+      room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce took up a box of matches on the dresser. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting a light,&rdquo; he
+      answered readily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I allow nobody below, forward of the main cabin, without my leave. The
+      steward has permitted a breach of discipline on board my vessel. The
+      steward will leave my service.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The steward is not to blame.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the judge of that. Not you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce opened his lips to reply. An outbreak between the two men appeared
+      to be inevitable, when the sailing-master of the yacht joined his employer
+      on deck, and directed Turlington&rsquo;s attention to a question which is never
+      to be trifled with at sea, the question of wind and tide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The yacht was then in the Bristol Channel, at the entrance to Bideford
+      Bay. The breeze, fast freshening, was also fast changing the direction
+      from which it blew. The favorable tide had barely three hours more to run.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wind&rsquo;s shifting, sir,&rdquo; said the sailing-master. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid we shan&rsquo;t
+      get round the point this tide, unless we lay her off on the other tack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are letters waiting for me at Bideford,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have lost two
+      days in the calm. I must send ashore to the post-office, whether we lose
+      the tide or not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The vessel held on her course. Off the port of Bideford, the boat was sent
+      ashore to the post-office, the yacht standing off and on, waiting the
+      appearance of the letters. In the shortest time in which it was possible
+      to bring them on board the letters were in Turlington&rsquo;s hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men were hauling the boat up to the davits, the yacht was already
+      heading off from the land, when Turlington startled everybody by one
+      peremptory word&mdash;&ldquo;Stop!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had thrust all his letters but one into the pocket of his sailing
+      jacket, without reading them. The one letter which he had opened he held
+      in his closed hand. Rage was in his staring eyes, consternation was on his
+      pale lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lower the boat!&rdquo; he shouted; &ldquo;I must get to London to-night.&rdquo; He stopped
+      Sir Joseph, approaching him with opened mouth. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no time for
+      questions and answers. I must get back.&rdquo; He swung himself over the side of
+      the yacht, and addressed the sailing-master from the boat. &ldquo;Save the tide
+      if you can; if you can&rsquo;t, put them ashore to-morrow at Minehead or Watchet&mdash;wherever
+      they like.&rdquo; He beckoned to Sir Joseph to lean over the bulwark, and hear
+      something he had to say in private. &ldquo;Remember what I told you about
+      Launcelot Linzie!&rdquo; he whispered fiercely. His parting look was for
+      Natalie. He spoke to her with a strong constraint on himself, as gently as
+      he could. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be alarmed; I shall see you in London.&rdquo; He seated himself
+      in the boat and took the tiller. The last words they heard him say were
+      words urging the men at the oars to lose no time. He was invariably brutal
+      with the men. &ldquo;Pull, you lazy beggars!&rdquo; he exclaimed, with an oath. &ldquo;Pull
+      for your lives!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THIRD SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Money Market.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Let us be serious.&mdash;Business!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The new scene plunges us head foremost into the affairs of the Levant
+      trading-house of Pizzituti, Turlington &amp; Branca. What on earth do we
+      know about the Levant Trade? Courage! If we have ever known what it is to
+      want money we are perfectly familiar with the subject at starting. The
+      Levant Trade does occasionally get into difficulties.&mdash;Turlington
+      wanted money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The letter which had been handed to him on board the yacht was from his
+      third partner, Mr. Branca, and was thus expressed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A crisis in the trade. All right, so far&mdash;except our business with
+      the small foreign firms. Bills to meet from those quarters, (say) forty
+      thousand pounds&mdash;and, I fear, no remittances to cover them.
+      Particulars stated in another letter addressed to you at Post-office,
+      Ilfracombe. I am quite broken down with anxiety, and confined to my bed.
+      Pizzituti is still detained at Smyrna. Come back at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The same evening Turlington was at his office in Austin Friars,
+      investigating the state of affairs, with his head clerk to help him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stated briefly, the business of the firm was of the widely miscellaneous
+      sort. They plied a brisk trade in a vast variety of commodities. Nothing
+      came amiss to them, from Manchester cotton manufactures to Smyrna figs.
+      They had branch houses at Alexandria and Odessa, and correspondents here,
+      there, and everywhere, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and in the
+      ports of the East. These correspondents were the persons alluded to in Mr.
+      Branca&rsquo;s letter as &ldquo;small foreign firms;&rdquo; and they had produced the
+      serious financial crisis in the affairs of the great house in Austin
+      Friars, which had hurried Turlington up to London.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one of these minor firms claimed and received the privilege of
+      drawing bills on Pizzituti, Turlington &amp; Branca for amounts varying
+      from four to six thousand pounds&mdash;on no better security than a verbal
+      understanding that the money to pay the bills should be forwarded before
+      they fell due. Competition, it is needless to say, was at the bottom of
+      this insanely reckless system of trading. The native firms laid it down as
+      a rule that they would decline to transact business with any house in the
+      trade which refused to grant them their privilege. In the ease of
+      Turlington&rsquo;s house, the foreign merchants had drawn their bills on him for
+      sums large in the aggregate, if not large in themselves; had long since
+      turned those bills into cash in their own markets, for their own
+      necessities; and had now left the money which their paper represented to
+      be paid by their London correspondents as it fell due. In some instances,
+      they had sent nothing but promises and excuses. In others, they had
+      forwarded drafts on firms which had failed already, or which were about to
+      fail, in the crisis. After first exhausting his resources in ready money,
+      Mr. Branca had provided for the more pressing necessities by pledging the
+      credit of the house, so far as he <i>could</i> pledge it without exciting
+      suspicion of the truth. This done, there were actually left, between that
+      time and Christmas, liabilities to be met to the extent of forty thousand
+      pounds, without a farthing in hand to pay that formidable debt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After working through the night, this was the conclusion at which Richard
+      Turlington arrived, when the rising sun looked in at him through the
+      windows of his private room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole force of the blow had fallen on <i>him</i>. The share of his
+      partners in the business was of the most trifling nature. The capital was
+      his, the risk was his. Personally and privately, <i>he</i> had to find the
+      money, or to confront the one other alternative&mdash;ruin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How was the money to be found?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With his position in the City, he had only to go to the famous
+      money-lending and discounting house of Bulpit Brothers&mdash;reported to
+      &ldquo;turn over&rdquo; millions in their business every year&mdash;and to supply
+      himself at once with the necessary funds. Forty thousand pounds was a
+      trifling transaction to Bulpit Brothers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having got the money, how, in the present state of his trade, was the loan
+      to be paid back?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His thoughts reverted to his marriage with Natalie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Curious!&rdquo; he said to himself, recalling his conversation with Sir Joseph
+      on board the yacht. &ldquo;Graybrooke told me he would give his daughter half
+      his fortune on her marriage. Half Graybrooke&rsquo;s fortune happens to be just
+      forty thousand pounds!&rdquo; He took a turn in the room. No! It was impossible
+      to apply to Sir Joseph. Once shake Sir Joseph&rsquo;s conviction of his
+      commercial solidity, and the marriage would be certainly deferred&mdash;if
+      not absolutely broken off. Sir Joseph&rsquo;s fortune could be made available,
+      in the present emergency, in but one way&mdash;he might use it to repay
+      his debt. He had only to make the date at which the loan expired coincide
+      with the date of his marriage, and there was his father-in-law&rsquo;s money at
+      his disposal, or at his wife&rsquo;s disposal&mdash;which meant the same thing.
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s well I pressed Graybrooke about the marriage when I did!&rdquo; he
+      thought. &ldquo;I can borrow the money at a short date. In three months from
+      this Natalie will be my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He drove to his club to get breakfast, with his mind cleared, for the time
+      being, of all its anxieties but one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Knowing where he could procure the loan, he was by no means equally sure
+      of being able to find the security on which he could borrow the money.
+      Living up to his income; having no expectations from any living creature;
+      possessing in landed property only some thirty or forty acres in
+      Somersetshire, with a quaint little dwelling, half farm house,
+      half-cottage, attached&mdash;he was incapable of providing the needful
+      security from his own personal resources. To appeal to wealthy friends in
+      the City would be to let those friends into the secret of his
+      embarrassments, and to put his credit in peril. He finished his breakfast,
+      and went back to Austin Friars&mdash;failing entirely, so far, to see how
+      he was to remove the last obstacle now left in his way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doors were open to the public; business had begun. He had not been ten
+      minutes in his room before the shipping-clerk knocked at the door and
+      interrupted him, still absorbed in his own anxious thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked, irritably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Duplicate Bills of Lading, sir,&rdquo; answered the clerk, placing the
+      documents on his ma ster&rsquo;s table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Found! There was the security on his writing-desk, staring him in the
+      face! He dismissed the clerk and examined the papers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They contained an account of goods shipped to the London house on board
+      vessels sailing from Smyrna and Odessa, and they were signed by the
+      masters of the ships, who thereby acknowledged the receipt of the goods,
+      and undertook to deliver them safely to the persons owning them, as
+      directed. First copies of these papers had already been placed in the
+      possession of the London house. The duplicates had now followed, in case
+      of accident. Richard Turlington instantly determined to make the
+      duplicates serve as his security, keeping the first copies privately under
+      lock and key, to be used in obtaining possession of the goods at the
+      customary time. The fraud was a fraud in appearance only. The security was
+      a pure formality. His marriage would supply him with the funds needed for
+      repaying the money, and the profits of his business would provide, in
+      course of time, for restoring the dowry of his wife. It was simply a
+      question of preserving his credit by means which were legitimately at his
+      disposal. Within the lax limits of mercantile morality, Richard Turlington
+      had a conscience. He put on his hat and took his false security to the
+      money-lenders, without feeling at all lowered in his own estimation as an
+      honest man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bulpit Brothers, long desirous of having such a name as his on their
+      books, received him with open arms. The security (covering the amount
+      borrowed) was accepted as a matter of course. The money was lent, for
+      three months, with a stroke of the pen. Turlington stepped out again into
+      the street, and confronted the City of London in the character of the
+      noblest work of mercantile creation&mdash;a solvent man.*
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fallen Angel, walking invisibly behind, in Richard&rsquo;s shadow, flapped
+      his crippled wings in triumph. From that moment the Fallen Angel had got
+      him.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     * It may not be amiss to remind the incredulous reader that
+     a famous firm in the City accepted precisely the same
+     security as that here accepted by Bulpit Brothers, with the
+     same sublime indifference to troubling themselves by making
+     any inquiry about it.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      FOURTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Muswell Hill.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next day Turlington drove to the suburbs, on the chance of finding the
+      Graybrookes at home again. Sir Joseph disliked London, and could not
+      prevail on himself to live any nearer to the metropolis than Muswell Hill.
+      When Natalie wanted a change, and languished for balls, theaters,
+      flower-shows, and the like, she had a room especially reserved for her in
+      the house of Sir Joseph&rsquo;s married sister, Mrs. Sancroft, living in that
+      central deep of the fashionable whirlpool known among mortals as Berkeley
+      Square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his way through the streets, Turlington encountered a plain proof that
+      the Graybrookes must have returned. He was passed by Launce, driving, in
+      company with a gentleman, in a cab. The gentleman was Launce&rsquo;s brother,
+      and the two were on their way to the Commissioners of Police to make the
+      necessary arrangements for instituting an inquiry into Turlington&rsquo;s early
+      life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Arrived at the gate of the villa, the information received only partially
+      fulfilled the visitor&rsquo;s expectations. The family had returned on the
+      previous evening. Sir Joseph and his sister were at home, but Natalie was
+      away again already. She had driven into town to lunch with her aunt.
+      Turlington went into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you lost any money?&rdquo; Those were the first words uttered by Sir
+      Joseph when he and Richard met again, after the parting on board the
+      yacht.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a farthing. I might have lost seriously, if I had not got back in
+      time to set things straight. Stupidity on the part of my people left in
+      charge&mdash;nothing more. It&rsquo;s all right now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph lifted his eyes, with heartfelt devotion, to the ceiling.
+      &ldquo;Thank God, Richard!&rdquo; he said, in tones of the deepest feeling. He rang
+      the bell. &ldquo;Tell Miss Graybrooke Mr. Turlington is here.&rdquo; He turned again
+      to Richard. &ldquo;Lavinia is like me&mdash;Lavinia has been so anxious about
+      you. We have both of us passed a sleepless night.&rdquo; Miss Lavinia came in.
+      Sir Joseph hurried to meet her, and took her affectionately by both hands.
+      &ldquo;My dear! the best of all good news, Richard has not lost a farthing.&rdquo;
+       Miss Lavinia lifted <i>her</i> eyes to the ceiling with heartfelt
+      devotion, and said, &ldquo;Thank God, Richard!&rdquo;&mdash;like the echo of her
+      brother&rsquo;s voice; a little late, perhaps, for its reputation as an echo,
+      but accurate to half a note in its perfect repetition of sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington asked the question which it had been his one object to put in
+      paying his visit to Muswell Hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you spoken to Natalie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This morning,&rdquo; replied Sir Joseph. &ldquo;An opportunity offered itself after
+      breakfast. I took advantage of it, Richard&mdash;you shall hear how.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He settled himself in his chair for one of his interminable stories; he
+      began his opening sentence&mdash;and stopped, struck dumb at the first
+      word. There was an unexpected obstacle in the way&mdash;his sister was not
+      attending to him; his sister had silenced him at starting. The story
+      touching, this time, on the question of marriage, Miss Lavinia had her
+      woman&rsquo;s interest in seeing full justice done to the subject. She seized on
+      her brother&rsquo;s narrative as on property in her own right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Joseph should have told you,&rdquo; she began, addressing herself to
+      Turlington, &ldquo;that our dear girl was unusually depressed in spirits this
+      morning. Quite in the right frame of mind for a little serious talk about
+      her future life. She ate nothing at breakfast, poor child, but a morsel of
+      dry toast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And marmalade,&rdquo; said Sir Joseph, striking in at the first opportunity.
+      The story, on this occasion, being Miss Lavinia&rsquo;s story, the polite
+      contradictions necessary to its successful progress were naturally
+      transferred from the sister to the brother, and became contradictions on
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Miss Lavinia, gently, &ldquo;if you <i>will</i> have it, Joseph&mdash;jam.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon,&rdquo; persisted Sir Joseph; &ldquo;marmalade.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What <i>does</i> it matter, brother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sister! the late great and good Doctor Johnson said accuracy ought always
+      to be studied even in the most trifling things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>will</i> have your way, Joseph&mdash;&ldquo;(this was the formula&mdash;answering
+      to Sir Joseph&rsquo;s &lsquo;Let us waive the point&rsquo;&mdash;which Miss Lavinia used, as
+      a means of conciliating her brother, and getting a fresh start for her
+      story). &ldquo;Well, we took dear Natalie out between us, after breakfast, for a
+      little walk in the grounds. My brother opened the subject with infinite
+      delicacy and tact. &lsquo;Circumstances,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;into which it was not then
+      necessary to enter, made it very desirable, young as she was, to begin to
+      think of her establishment in life.&rsquo; And then he referred, Richard (so
+      nicely), to your faithful and devoted attachment&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me, Lavinia. I began with Richard&rsquo;s attachment, and then I got on
+      to her establishment in life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse <i>me</i>, Joseph. You managed it much more delicately than you
+      suppose. You didn&rsquo;t drag Richard in by the head and shoulders in that
+      way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lavinia! I began with Richard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Joseph! your memory deceives you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington&rsquo;s impatience broke through all restraint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did it end?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Did you propose to her that we should be
+      married in the first week of the New Year?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; said Miss Lavinia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; said Sir Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sister looked at the brother with an expression of affectionate
+      surprise. The brother looked at the sister with a fund of amiable
+      contradiction, expressed in a low bow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you really mean to deny, Joseph, that you told Natalie we had decided
+      on the first week in the New Year?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I deny the New Year, Lavinia. I said early in January.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>will</i> have your way, Joseph! We were walking in the shrubbery
+      at the time. I had our dear girl&rsquo;s arm in mine, and I felt it tremble. She
+      suddenly stopped. &lsquo;Oh,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;not so soon!&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;My dear,
+      consider Richard!&rsquo; She turned to her father. She said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t, pray don&rsquo;t
+      press it so soon, papa! I respect Richard; I like Richard as your true and
+      faithful friend; but I don&rsquo;t love him as I ought to love him if I am to be
+      his wife.&rsquo; Imagine her talking in that way! What could she possibly know
+      about it? Of course we both laughed&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>you</i> laughed, Lavinia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>you</i> laughed, Joseph.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get on, for God&rsquo;s sake!&rdquo; cried Turlington, striking his hand passionately
+      on the table by which he was sitting. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t madden me by contradicting
+      each other! Did she give way or not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia turned to her brother. &ldquo;Contradicting each other, Joseph!&rdquo;
+       she exclaimed, lifting her hands in blank amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Contradicting each other!&rdquo; repeated Sir Joseph, equally astonished on his
+      side. &ldquo;My dear Richard, what can you be thinking of? I contradict my
+      sister! We never disagreed in our lives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I contradict my brother! We have never had a cross word between us from
+      the time when we were children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington internally cursed his own irritable temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon&mdash;both of you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what I was
+      saying. Make some allowance for me. All my hopes in life are centered in
+      Natalie; and you have just told me (in her own words, Miss Lavinia) that
+      she doesn&rsquo;t love. You don&rsquo;t mean any harm, I dare say; but you cut me to
+      the heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This confession, and the look that accompanied it, touched the ready
+      sympathies of the two old people in the right place. The remainder of the
+      story dropped between them by common consent. They vied with each other in
+      saying the comforting words which would allay their dear Richard&rsquo;s
+      anxiety. How little he knew of young girls. How could he be so foolish,
+      poor fellow! as to attach any serious importance to what Natalie had said?
+      As if a young creature in her teens knew the state of her own heart!
+      Protestations and entreaties were matters of course, in such cases. Tears
+      even might be confidently expected from a right-minded girl. It had all
+      ended exactly as Richard would have wished it to end. Sir Joseph had said,
+      &ldquo;My child! this is a matter of experience; love will come when you are
+      married.&rdquo; And Miss Lavinia had added, &ldquo;Dear Natalie, if you remembered
+      your poor mother as I remember her, you would know that your father&rsquo;s
+      experience is to be relied on.&rdquo; In that way they had put it to her; and
+      she had hung her head and had given&mdash;all that maiden modesty could be
+      expected to give&mdash;a silent consent. &ldquo;The wedding-day was fixed for
+      the first week in the New Year.&rdquo; (&ldquo;No, Joseph; not January&mdash;the New
+      Year.&rdquo;) &ldquo;And God bless you, Richard! and may your married life be a long
+      and happy one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the average ignorance of human nature, and the average belief in
+      conventional sentiment, complacently contemplated the sacrifice of one
+      more victim on the all-devouring altar of Marriage! So Sir Joseph and his
+      sister provided Launcelot Linzie with the one argument which he wanted to
+      convince Natalie: &ldquo;Choose between making the misery of your life by
+      marrying <i>him</i>, and making the happiness of your life by marrying <i>me.</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When shall I see her?&rdquo; asked Turlington, with Miss Lavinia (in tears
+      which did <i>her</i> credit) in possession of one of his hands, and Sir
+      Joseph (in tears which did <i>him</i> credit) in possession of the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She will be back to dinner, dear Richard. Stay and dine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you. I must go into the City first. I will come back and dine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With that arrangement in prospect, he left them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour later a telegram arrived from Natalie. She had consented to dine,
+      as well as lunch, in Berkeley Square&mdash;sleeping there that night, and
+      returning the next morning. Her father instantly telegraphed back by the
+      messenger, insisting on Natalie&rsquo;s return to Muswell Hill that evening, in
+      time to meet Richard Turlington at dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right. Joseph,&rdquo; said Miss Lavinia, looking over her brother&rsquo;s
+      shoulder, while he wrote the telegram.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is showing a disposition to coquet with Richard,&rdquo; rejoined Sir
+      Joseph, with the air of a man who knew female human nature in its remotest
+      corners. &ldquo;My telegram, Lavinia, will have its effect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph was quite right. His telegram <i>had</i> its effect. It not
+      only brought his daughter back to dinner&mdash;it produced another result
+      which his prophetic faculty had altogether failed to foresee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The message reached Berkeley Square at five o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon. Let
+      us follow the message.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      FIFTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Square.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Between four and five in the afternoon&mdash;when the women of the Western
+      regions are in their carriages, and the men are at their clubs&mdash;London
+      presents few places more conveniently adapted for purposes of private talk
+      than the solitary garden inclosure of a square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day when Richard Turlington paid his visit to Muswell Hill, two
+      ladies (with a secret between them) unlocked the gate of the railed garden
+      in Berkeley Square. They shut the gate after entering the inclosure, but
+      carefully forbore to lock it as well, and carefully restricted their walk
+      to the westward side of the garden. One of them was Natalie Graybrooke.
+      The other was Mrs. Sancroft&rsquo;s eldest daughter. A certain temporary
+      interest attached, in the estimation of society, to this young lady. She
+      had sold well in the marriage market. In other words, she had recently
+      been raised to the position of Lord Winwood&rsquo;s second wife; his lordship
+      conferring on the bride not only the honors of the peerage, but the
+      additional distinction of being stepmother to his three single daughters,
+      all older than herself. In person, Lady Winwood was little and fair. In
+      character, she was dashing and resolute&mdash;a complete contrast to
+      Natalie, and (on that very account) Natalie&rsquo;s bosom friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, one ambitious marriage in the family is quite enough! I have
+      made up my mind that <i>you</i> shall marry the man you love. Don&rsquo;t tell
+      me your courage is failing you&mdash;the excuse is contemptible; I decline
+      to receive it. Natalie! the men have a phrase which exactly describes your
+      character. You want back-bone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The bonnet of the lady who expressed herself in these peremptory terms
+      barely reached the height of Natalie&rsquo;s shoulder. Natalie might have blown
+      the little airy, light-haired, unsubstantial creature over the railings of
+      the garden if she had taken a good long breath and stooped low enough. But
+      who ever met with a tall woman who had a will of her own? Natalie&rsquo;s
+      languid brown eyes looked softly down in submissive attention from an
+      elevation of five feet seven. Lady Winwood&rsquo;s brisk blue eyes looked
+      brightly up in despotic command from an elevation of four feet eleven (in
+      her shoes).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are trifling with Mr. Linzie, my dear. Mr. Linzie is a nice fellow. I
+      like him. I won&rsquo;t have that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Louisa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Turlington has nothing to recommend him. He is not a well-bred old
+      gentleman of exalted rank. He is only an odious brute who happens to have
+      made money. You shall <i>not</i> marry Mr. Turlington. And you <i>shall</i>
+      marry Launcelot Linzie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you let me speak, Louisa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will let you answer&mdash;nothing more. Didn&rsquo;t you come crying to me
+      this morning? Didn&rsquo;t you say, &lsquo;Louisa, they have pronounced sentence on
+      me! I am to be married in the first week of the New Year. Help me out of
+      it, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake!&rsquo; You said all that, and more. And what did I do
+      when I heard your story?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you were so kind&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kind doesn&rsquo;t half express it. I have committed crimes on your account. I
+      have deceived my husband and my mother. For your sake I got mamma to ask
+      Mr. Linzie to lunch (as <i>my</i> friend!). For your sake I have banished
+      my unoffending husband, not an hour since, to his club. You wretched girl,
+      who arranged a private conference in the library? Who sent Mr. Linzie off
+      to consult his friend in the Temple on the law of clandestine marriage?
+      Who suggested your telegraphing home, and stopping here for the night? Who
+      made an appointment to meet your young man privately in this detestable
+      place in ten minutes&rsquo; time? I did! I did! I did! All in your interests.
+      All to prevent you from doing what I have done&mdash;marrying to please
+      your family instead of to please yourself. (I don&rsquo;t complain, mind, of
+      Lord Winwood, or of his daughters. <i>He</i> is charming; his daughters I
+      shall tame in course of time. You are different. And Mr. Turlington, as I
+      observed before, is a brute.) Very well. Now what do you owe me on your
+      side? You owe it to me at least to know your own mind. You don&rsquo;t know it.
+      You coolly inform me that you daren&rsquo;t run the risk after all, and that you
+      can&rsquo;t face the consequences on second thoughts. I&rsquo;ll tell you what! You
+      don&rsquo;t deserve that nice fellow, who worships the very ground you tread on.
+      You are a bread-and-butter miss. I don&rsquo;t believe you are fond of him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not fond of him!&rdquo; Natalie stopped, and clasped her hands in despair of
+      finding language strong enough for the occasion. At the same moment the
+      sound of a closing gate caught her ear. She looked round. Launce had kept
+      his appointment before his time. Launce was in the garden, rapidly
+      approaching them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now for the Law of Clandestine Marriage!&rdquo; said Lady Winwood. &ldquo;Mr. Linzie,
+      we will take it sitting.&rdquo; She led the way to one of the benches in the
+      garden, and placed Launce between Natalie and herself. &ldquo;Well, Chief
+      Conspirator, have you got the License? No? Does it cost too much? Can I
+      lend you the money?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It costs perjury, Lady Winwood, in my case,&rdquo; said Launce. &ldquo;Natalie is not
+      of age. I can only get a License by taking my oath that I marry her with
+      her father&rsquo;s consent.&rdquo; He turned piteously to Natalie. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t very
+      well do that,&rdquo; he said, in the tone of a man who feels bound to make an
+      apology, &ldquo;could I?&rdquo; Natalie shuddered; Lady Winwood shrugged her
+      shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In your place a woman wouldn&rsquo;t have hesitated,&rdquo; her ladyship remarked.
+      &ldquo;But men are so selfish. Well! I suppose there is some other way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there is another way,&rdquo; said Launce. &ldquo;But there is a horrid condition
+      attached to it&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something worse than perjury, Mr. Linzie? Murder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you directly, Lady Winwood. The marriage comes first. The
+      condition follows. There is only one chance for us. We must be married by
+      banns.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Banns!&rdquo; cried Natalie. &ldquo;Why, banns are publicly proclaimed in church!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They needn&rsquo;t be proclaimed in <i>your</i> church, you goose,&rdquo; said Lady
+      Winwood. &ldquo;And, even if they were, nobody would be the wiser. You may trust
+      implicitly, my dear, in the elocution of an English clergyman!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just what my friend said,&rdquo; cried Launce. &ldquo;&lsquo;Take a lodging near a
+      large parish church, in a remote part of London&rsquo;&mdash;(this is my
+      friend&rsquo;s advice)&mdash;&lsquo;go to the clerk, tell him you want to be married
+      by banns, and say you belong to that parish. As for the lady, in your
+      place I should simplify it. I should say she belonged to the parish too.
+      Give an address, and have some one there to answer questions. How is the
+      clerk to know? He isn&rsquo;t likely to be over-anxious about it&mdash;his fee
+      is eighteen-pence. The clerk makes his profit out of you, after you are
+      married. The same rule applies to the parson. He will have your names
+      supplied to him on a strip of paper, with dozens of other names; and he
+      will read them out all together in one inarticulate jumble in church. You
+      will stand at the altar when your time comes, with Brown and Jones, Nokes
+      and Styles, Jack and Gill. All that you will have to do is, to take care
+      that your young lady doesn&rsquo;t fall to Jack, and you to Gill, by mistake&mdash;and
+      there you are, married by banns.&rsquo; My friend&rsquo;s opinion, stated in his own
+      words.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie sighed, and wrung her hands in her lap. &ldquo;We shall never get
+      through it,&rdquo; she said, despondingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood took a more cheerful view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see nothing very formidable as yet, my dear. But we have still to hear
+      the end of it. You mentioned a condition just now, Mr. Linzie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am coming to the condition, Lady Winwood. You naturally suppose, as I
+      did, that I put Natalie into a cab, and run away with her from the church
+      door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. And I throw an old shoe after you for luck, and go home
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce shook his head ominously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Natalie must go home again as well as you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood started. &ldquo;Is that the condition you mentioned just now?&rdquo; she
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is the condition. I may marry her without anything serious coming of
+      it. But, if I run away with her afterward, and if you are there, aiding
+      and abetting me, we are guilty of Abduction, and we may stand, side by
+      side, at the bar of the Old Bailey to answer for it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie sprang to her feet in horror. Lady Winwood held up one finger
+      warningly, signing to her to let Launce go on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Natalie is not yet sixteen years old,&rdquo; Launce proceeded. &ldquo;She must go
+      straight back to her father&rsquo;s house from the church, and I must wait to
+      run away with her till her next birthday. When she&rsquo;s turned sixteen, she&rsquo;s
+      ripe for elopement&mdash;not an hour before. There is the law of
+      Abduction! Despotism in a free country&mdash;that&rsquo;s what I call it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie sat down again, with an air of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a very comforting law, I think,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t force one to
+      take the dreadful step of running away from home all at once. It gives one
+      time to consider, and plan, and make up one&rsquo;s mind. I can tell you this,
+      Launce, if I am to be persuaded into marrying you, the law of Abduction is
+      the only thing that will induce me to do it. You ought to thank the law,
+      instead of abusing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce listened&mdash;without conviction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pleasant prospect,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to part at the church door, and to
+      treat my own wife on the footing of a young lady who is engaged to marry
+      another gentleman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it any pleasanter for <i>me</i>,&rdquo; retorted Natalie, &ldquo;to have Richard
+      Turlington courting me, when I am all the time your wife? I shall never be
+      able to do it. I wish I was dead!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come! come!&rdquo; interposed Lady Winwood. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to be serious. Natalie&rsquo;s
+      birthday, Mr. Linzie, is next Christmas-day. She will be sixteen&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At seven in the morning,&rdquo; said Launce; &ldquo;I got that out of Sir Joseph. At
+      one minute past seven, Greenwich mean time, we may be off together. I got
+      <i>that</i> out of the lawyer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it isn&rsquo;t an eternity to wait from now till Christmas-day. You get
+      that, by way of completing the list of your acquisitions, out of <i>me</i>.
+      In the mean time, can you, or can you not, manage to meet the difficulties
+      in the way of the marriage?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have settled everything,&rdquo; Launce answered, confidently. &ldquo;There is not a
+      single difficulty left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to Natalie, listening to him in amazement, and explained
+      himself. It had struck him that he might appeal&mdash;with his purse in
+      his hand, of course&mdash;to the interest felt in his affairs by the late
+      stewardess of the yacht. That excellent woman had volunteered to do all
+      that she could to help him. Her husband had obtained situations for his
+      wife and himself on board another yacht&mdash;and they were both eager to
+      assist in any conspiracy in which their late merciless master was destined
+      to play the part of victim. When on shore, they lived in a populous London
+      parish, far away from the fashionable district of Berkeley Square, and
+      further yet from the respectable suburb of Muswell Hill. A room in the
+      house could be nominally engaged for Natalie, in the assumed character of
+      the stewardess&rsquo;s niece&mdash;the stewardess undertaking to answer any
+      purely formal questions which might be put by the church authorities, and
+      to be present at the marriage ceremony. As for Launce, he would actually,
+      as well as nominally, live in the district close by; and the steward, if
+      needful, would answer for <i>him</i>. Natalie might call at her parochial
+      residence occasionally, under the wing of Lady Winwood; gaining leave of
+      absence from Muswell Hill, on the plea of paying one of her customary
+      visits at her aunt&rsquo;s house. The conspiracy, in brief, was arranged in all
+      its details. Nothing was now wanting but the consent of the young lady;
+      obtaining which, Launce would go to the parish church and give the
+      necessary notice of a marriage by banns on the next day. There was the
+      plot. What did the ladies think of it?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood thought it perfect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie was not so easily satisfied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father has always been so kind to me!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The one thing I
+      can&rsquo;t get over, Launce, is distressing papa. If he had been hard on me&mdash;as
+      some fathers are&mdash;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo; She suddenly brightened, as if
+      she saw her position in a new light. &ldquo;Why should you hurry me?&rdquo; she asked.
+      &ldquo;I am going to dine at my aunt&rsquo;s to-day, and you are coming in the
+      evening. Give me time! Wait till to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce instantly entered his protest against wasting a moment longer. Lady
+      Winwood opened her lips to support him. They were both silenced at the
+      same moment by the appearance of one of Mrs. Sancroft&rsquo;s servants, opening
+      the gate of the square.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood went forward to meet the man. A suspicion crossed her mind
+      that he might be bringing bad news.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you want?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, my lady&mdash;the housekeeper said you were walking
+      here with Miss Graybrooke. A telegram for Miss Graybrooke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood took the telegram from the man&rsquo;s hand; dismissed him, and
+      went back with it to Natalie. Natalie opened it nervously. She read the
+      message&mdash;and instantly changed. Her cheeks flushed deep; her eyes
+      flashed with indignation. &ldquo;Even papa can be hard on me, it seems, when
+      Richard asks him!&rdquo; she exclaimed. She handed the telegram to Launce. Her
+      eyes suddenly filled with tears. &ldquo;<i>You</i> love me,&rdquo; she said, gently&mdash;and
+      stopped. &ldquo;Marry me!&rdquo; she added, with a sudden burst of resolution. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll
+      risk it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she spoke those words, Lady Winwood read the telegram. It ran thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Muswell Hill. To Miss Natalie Graybrooke; Berkeley
+      Square. Come back immediately. You are engaged to dine here with Richard
+      Turlington.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood folded up the telegram with a malicious smile. &ldquo;Well done,
+      Sir Joseph!&rdquo; thought her ladyship. &ldquo;We might never have persuaded Natalie&mdash;but
+      for You!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      SIXTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Church.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The time is morning; the date is early in the month of November. The place
+      is a church, in a poor and populous parish in the undiscovered regions of
+      London, eastward of the Tower, and hard by the river-side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A marriage procession of five approaches the altar The bridegroom is pale,
+      and the bride is frightened. The bride&rsquo;s friend (a resolute-looking little
+      lady) encourages her in whispers. The two respectable persons, apparently
+      man and wife, who complete the procession, seem to be not quite clear as
+      to the position which they occupy at the ceremony. The beadle, as he
+      marshals them before the altar, sees something under the surface in this
+      wedding-party. Marriages in the lower ranks of life are the only marriages
+      celebrated here. Is this a runaway match? The beadle anticipates something
+      out of the common in the shape of a fee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clergyman (the junior curate) appears from the vestry in his robes.
+      The clerk takes his place. The clergyman&rsquo;s eye rests with a sudden
+      interest and curiosity on the bride and bridegroom, and on the bride&rsquo;s
+      friend; notices the absence of elderly relatives; remarks, in the two
+      ladies especially, evidences of refinement and breeding entirely
+      unparalleled in his professional experience of brides and brides&rsquo; friends
+      standing before the altar of that church; questions, silently and quickly,
+      the eye of the clerk, occupied also in observing the strangers with
+      interest &ldquo;Jenkinson&rdquo; (the clergyman&rsquo;s look asks), &ldquo;is this all right?&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;Sir&rdquo; (the clerk&rsquo;s look answers), &ldquo;a marriage by banns; all the
+      formalities have been observed.&rdquo; The clergyman opens his book. The
+      formalities have been observed; his duty lies plainly before him.
+      Attention, Launcelot! Courage, Natalie! The service begins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce casts a last furtive look round the church. Will Sir Joseph
+      Graybrooke start up and stop it from one of the empty pews? Is Richard
+      Turlington lurking in the organ-loft, and only waiting till the words of
+      the service appeal to him to prohibit the marriage, or &ldquo;else hereafter
+      forever to hold his peace?&rdquo; No. The clergyman proceeds steadily, and
+      nothing happens. Natalie&rsquo;s charming face grows paler and paler, Natalie&rsquo;s
+      heart throbs faster and faster, as the time comes nearer for reading the
+      words which unite them for life. Lady Winwood herself feels an
+      unaccustomed fluttering in the region of the bosom. Her ladyship&rsquo;s
+      thoughts revert, not altogether pleasantly, to her own marriage: &ldquo;Ah me!
+      what was I thinking of when I was in this position? Of the bride&rsquo;s
+      beautiful dress, and of Lady Winwood&rsquo;s coming presentation at court!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The service advances to the words in which they plight their troth. Launce
+      has put the ring on her finger. Launce has repeated the words after the
+      clergyman. Launce has married her! Done! Come what may of it, done!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The service ends. Bridegroom, bride, and witnesses go into the vestry to
+      sign the book. The signing, like the service, is serious. No trifling with
+      the truth is possible here. When it comes to Lady Winwood&rsquo;s turn, Lady
+      Winwood must write her name. She does it, but without her usual grace and
+      decision. She drops her handkerchief. The clerk picks it up for her, and
+      notices that a coronet is embroidered in one corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fees are paid. They leave the vestry. Other couples, when it is over,
+      are talkative and happy. These two are more silent and more embarrassed
+      than ever. Stranger still, while other couples go off with relatives and
+      friends, all socially united in honor of the occasion, these two and their
+      friends part at the church door. The respectable man and his wife go their
+      way on foot. The little lady with the coronet on her handkerchief puts the
+      bride into a cab, gets in herself, and directs the driver to close the
+      door, while the bridegroom is standing on the church steps! The
+      bridegroom&rsquo;s face is clouded, as well it may be. He puts his head in at
+      the window of the cab; he possesses himself of the bride&rsquo;s hand; he speaks
+      in a whisper; he is apparently not to be shaken off. The little lady
+      exerts her authority, separates the clasped hands, pushes the bridegroom
+      away, and cries peremptorily to the driver to go on. The cab starts; the
+      deserted husband drifts desolately anyhow down the street. The clerk, who
+      has seen it all, goes back to the vestry and reports what has happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rector (with his wife on his arm) has just dropped into the vestry on
+      business in passing. He and the curate are talking about the strange
+      marriage. The rector, gravely bent on ascertaining that no blame rests
+      with the church, interrogates, and is satisfied. The rector&rsquo;s wife is not
+      so easy to deal with. She has looked at the signatures in the book. One of
+      the names is familiar to her. She cross-examines the clerk as soon as her
+      husband is done with him. When she hears of the coronet on the
+      handkerchief she points to the signature of &ldquo;Louisa Winwood,&rdquo; and says to
+      the rector, &ldquo;I know who it is! Lord Winwood&rsquo;s second wife. I went to
+      school with his lordship&rsquo;s daughters by his first marriage. We
+      occasionally meet at the Sacred Concerts (on the &lsquo;Ladies&rsquo; Committee&rsquo;); I
+      shall find an opportunity of speaking to them. One moment, Mr. Jenkinson,
+      I will write down the names before you put away the book. &lsquo;Launcelot
+      Linzie,&rsquo; &lsquo;Natalie Graybrooke.&rsquo; Very pretty names; quite romantic. I do
+      delight in a romance. Good-morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She gives the curate a parting smile, and the clerk a parting nod, and
+      sails out of the vestry. Natalie, silently returning in Lady Winwood&rsquo;s
+      company to Muswell Hill; and Launce, cursing the law of Abduction as he
+      roams the streets&mdash;little think that the ground is already mined
+      under their feet. Richard Turlington may hear of it now, or may hear of it
+      later. The discovery of the marriage depends entirely on a chance meeting
+      between the lord&rsquo;s daughters and the rector&rsquo;s wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      SEVENTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Evening Party.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+      MR. TURLINGTON,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      LADY WINWOOD At Home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wednesday, December 15th.&mdash;Ten o&rsquo;clock. &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dearest Natalie&mdash;As the brute insists, the brute must have the
+      invitation which I inclose. Never mind, my child. You and Launce are
+      coming to dinner, and I will see that you have your little private
+      opportunities of retirement afterward. All I expect of you in return is,
+      <i>not</i> to look (when you come back) as if your husband had been
+      kissing you. You will certainly let out the secret of those stolen kisses,
+      if you don&rsquo;t take care. At mamma&rsquo;s dinner yesterday, your color (when you
+      came out of the conservatory) was a sight to see. Even your shoulders were
+      red! They are charming shoulders, I know, and men take the strangest
+      fancies sometimes. But, my dear, suppose you wear a chemisette next time,
+      if you haven&rsquo;t authority enough over him to prevent his doing it again!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your affectionate LOUISA.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The private history of the days that had passed since the marriage was
+      written in that letter. An additional chapter&mdash;of some importance in
+      its bearing on the future&mdash;was contributed by the progress of events
+      at Lady Winwood&rsquo;s party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By previous arrangement with Natalie, the Graybrookes (invited to dinner)
+      arrived early. Leaving her husband and her stepdaughters to entertain Sir
+      Joseph and Miss Lavinia, Lady Winwood took Natalie into her own boudoir,
+      which communicated by a curtained opening with the drawing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, you are looking positively haggard this evening. Has anything
+      happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am nearly worn out, Louisa. The life I am leading is so unendurable
+      that, if Launce pressed me, I believe I should consent to run away with
+      him when we leave your house tonight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will do nothing of the sort, if you please. Wait till you are
+      sixteen. I delight in novelty, but the novelty of appearing at the Old
+      Bailey is beyond my ambition. Is the brute coming to-night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course. He insists on following me wherever I go. He lunched at
+      Muswell Hill today. More complaints of my incomprehensible coldness to
+      him. Another scolding from papa. A furious letter from Launce. If I let
+      Richard kiss my hand again in his presence, Launce warns me he will knock
+      him down. Oh, the meanness and the guiltiness of the life I am leading
+      now! I am in the falsest of all false positions, Louisa, and you
+      encouraged me to do it. I believe Richard Turlington suspects us. The last
+      two times Launce and I tried to get a minute together at my aunt&rsquo;s, he
+      contrived to put himself in our way. There he was, my dear, with his
+      scowling face, looking as if he longed to kill Launce. Can you do anything
+      for us tonight? Not on my account. But Launce is so impatient. If he can&rsquo;t
+      say two words to me alone this evening, he declares he will come to
+      Muswell Hill, and catch me in the garden tomorrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Compose yourself, my dear; he shall say his two words to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood pointed through the curtained entrance of the boudoir to the
+      door of the drawing-room. Beyond the door was the staircase landing. And
+      beyond the landing was a second drawing-room, the smaller of the two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are only three or four people coming to dinner,&rdquo; her ladyship
+      proceeded; &ldquo;and a few more in the evening. Being a small party, the small
+      drawing-room will do for us. This drawing-room will not be lighted, and
+      there will be only my reading-lamp here in the boudoir. I shall give the
+      signal for leaving the dining-room earlier than usual. Launce will join us
+      before the evening party begins. The moment he appears, send him in here&mdash;boldly
+      before your aunt and all of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For your fan. Leave it there under the sofa-cushion before we go down to
+      dinner. You will sit next to Launce, and you will give him private
+      instructions not to find the fan. You will get impatient&mdash;you will go
+      to find it yourself&mdash;and there you are. Take care of your shoulders,
+      Mrs. Linzie! I have nothing more to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The guests asked to dinner began to arrive. Lady Winwood was recalled to
+      her duties as mistress of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a pleasant little dinner&mdash;with one drawback. It began too
+      late. The ladies only reached the small drawing-room at ten minutes to
+      ten. Launce was only able to join them as the clock struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too late!&rdquo; whispered Natalie. &ldquo;He will be here directly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nobody comes punctually to an evening party,&rdquo; said Launce. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let us
+      lose a moment. Send me for your fan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie opened her lips to say the necessary words. Before she could
+      speak, the servant announced&mdash;&ldquo;Mr. Turlington.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came in, with his stiffly-upright shirt collar and his loosely-fitting
+      glossy black clothes. He made his sullen and clumsy bow to Lady Winwood.
+      And then he did, what he had done dozens of times already&mdash;he caught
+      Natalie, with her eyes still bright and her face still animated (after
+      talking to Launce)&mdash;a striking contrast to the cold and unimpulsive
+      young lady whom he was accustomed to see while Natalie was talking to <i>him</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lord Winwood&rsquo;s daughters were persons of some celebrity in the world of
+      amateur music. Noticing the look that Turlington cast at Launce, Lady
+      Winwood whispered to Miss Lavinia&mdash;who instantly asked the young
+      ladies to sing. Launce, in obedience to a sign from Natalie, volunteered
+      to find the music-books. It is needless to add that he pitched on the
+      wrong volume at starting. As he lifted it from the piano to take it back
+      to the stand, there dropped out from between the leaves a printed letter,
+      looking like a circular. One of the young ladies took it up, and ran her
+      eye over it, with a start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Sacred Concerts!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her two sisters, standing by, looked at each other guiltily: &ldquo;What will
+      the Committee say to us? We entirely forgot the meeting last month.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there a meeting this month?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They all looked anxiously at the printed letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes! The twenty-third of December. Put it down in your book, Amelia.&rdquo;
+       Amelia, then and there, put it down among the engagements for the latter
+      end of the month. And Natalie&rsquo;s unacknowledged husband placidly looked on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So did the merciless irony of circumstances make Launce the innocent means
+      of exposing his own secret to discovery. Thanks to his success in laying
+      his hand on the wrong music-book, there would now be a meeting&mdash;two
+      good days before the elopement could take place&mdash;between the lord&rsquo;s
+      daughters and the rector&rsquo;s wife!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guests of the evening began to appear by twos and threes. The
+      gentlemen below stairs left the dinner-table, and joined them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The small drawing-room was pleasantly filled, and no more. Sir Joseph
+      Graybrooke, taking Turlington&rsquo;s hand, led him eagerly to their host. The
+      talk in the dining-room had turned on finance. Lord Winwood was not quite
+      satisfied with some of his foreign investments; and Sir Joseph&rsquo;s &ldquo;dear
+      Richard&rdquo; was the very man to give him a little sound advice. The three
+      laid their heads together in a corner. Launce (watching them) slyly
+      pressed Natalie&rsquo;s hand. A renowned &ldquo;virtuoso&rdquo; had arrived, and was
+      thundering on the piano. The attention of the guests generally was
+      absorbed in the performance. A fairer chance of sending Launce for the fan
+      could not possibly have offered itself. While the financial discussion was
+      still proceeding, the married lovers were ensconced together alone in the
+      boudoir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood (privately observant of their absence) kept her eye on the
+      corner, watching Richard Turlington.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was talking earnestly&mdash;with his back toward the company. He
+      neither moved nor looked round. It came to Lord Winwood&rsquo;s turn to speak.
+      He preserved the same position, listening. Sir Joseph took up the
+      conversation next. Then his attention wandered&mdash;he knew beforehand
+      what Sir Joseph would say. His eyes turned anxiously toward the place in
+      which he had left Natalie. Lord Winwood said a word. His head turned back
+      again toward the corner. Sir Joseph put an objection. He glanced once more
+      over his shoulder&mdash;this time at the place in which Launce had been
+      standing. The next moment his host recalled his attention, and made it
+      impossible for him to continue his scrutiny of the room. At the same times
+      two among the evening guests, bound for another party, approached to take
+      leave of the lady of the house. Lady Winwood was obliged to rise, and
+      attend to them. They had something to say to her before they left, and
+      they said it at terrible length, standing so as to intercept her view of
+      the proceedings of the enemy. When she had got rid of them at last, she
+      looked&mdash;and behold Lord Winwood and Sir Joseph were the only
+      occupants of the corner!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delaying one moment, to set the &ldquo;virtuoso&rdquo; thundering once more, Lady
+      Winwood slipped out of the room and crossed the landing. At the entrance
+      to the empty drawing-room she heard Turlington&rsquo;s voice, low and
+      threatening, in the boudoir. Jealousy has a Second Sight of its own. He
+      had looked in the right place at starting&mdash;and, oh heavens! he had
+      caught them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her ladyship&rsquo;s courage was beyond dispute; but she turned pale as she
+      approached the entrance to the boudoir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There stood Natalie&mdash;at once angry and afraid&mdash;between the man
+      to whom she was ostensibly engaged, and the man to whom she was actually
+      married. Turlington&rsquo;s rugged face expressed a martyrdom of suppressed
+      fury. Launce&mdash;in the act of offering Natalie her fan&mdash;smiled,
+      with the cool superiority of a man who knew that he had won his advantage,
+      and who triumphed in knowing it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forbid you to take your fan from that man&rsquo;s hands,&rdquo; said Turlington,
+      speaking to Natalie, and pointing to Launce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it rather too soon to begin &lsquo;forbidding&rsquo;?&rdquo; asked Lady Winwood,
+      good-humoredly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly what I say!&rdquo; exclaimed Launce. &ldquo;It seems necessary to remind Mr.
+      Turlington that he is not married to Natalie yet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Those last words were spoken in a tone which made both the women tremble
+      inwardly for results. Lady Winwood took the fan from Launce with one hand,
+      and took Natalie&rsquo;s arm with the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is your fan, my dear,&rdquo; she said, in her easy off-hand manner. &ldquo;Why
+      do you allow these two barbarous men to keep you here while the great
+      Bootmann is playing the Nightmare Sonata in the next room? Launce! Mr.
+      Turlington! follow me, and learn to be musical directly! You have only to
+      shut your eyes, and you will fancy you hear four modern German composers
+      playing, instead of one, and not the ghost of a melody among all the
+      four.&rdquo; She led the way out with Natalie, and whispered, &ldquo;Did he catch
+      you?&rdquo; Natalie whispered back, &ldquo;I heard him in time. He only caught us
+      looking for the fan.&rdquo; The two men waited behind to have two words together
+      alone in the boudoir.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This doesn&rsquo;t end here, Mr. Linzie!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce smiled satirically. &ldquo;For once I agree with you,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;It
+      doesn&rsquo;t end here, as you say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood stopped, and looked back at them from the drawing-room door.
+      They were keeping her waiting&mdash;they had no choice but to follow the
+      mistress of the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Arrived in the next room, both Turlington and Launce resumed their places
+      among the guests with the same object in view. As a necessary result of
+      the scene in the boudoir, each had his own special remonstrance to address
+      to Sir Joseph. Even here, Launce was beforehand with Turlington. He was
+      the first to get possession of Sir Joseph&rsquo;s private ear. His complaint
+      took the form of a protest against Turlington&rsquo;s jealousy, and an appeal
+      for a reconsideration of the sentence which excluded him from Muswell
+      Hill. Watching them from a distance, Turlington&rsquo;s suspicious eye detected
+      the appearance of something unduly confidential in the colloquy between
+      the two. Under cover of the company, he stole behind them and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Bootmann had arrived at that part of the Nightmare Sonata in
+      which musical sound, produced principally with the left hand, is made to
+      describe, beyond all possibility of mistake, the rising of the moon in a
+      country church-yard and a dance of Vampires round a maiden&rsquo;s grave. Sir
+      Joseph, having no chance against the Vampires in a whisper, was obliged to
+      raise his voice to make himself audible in answering and comforting
+      Launce. &ldquo;I sincerely sympathize with you,&rdquo; Turlington heard him say; &ldquo;and
+      Natalie feels about it as I do. But Richard is an obstacle in our way. We
+      must look to the consequences, my dear boy, supposing Richard found us
+      out.&rdquo; He nodded kindly to his nephew; and, declining to pursue the
+      subject, moved away to another part of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington&rsquo;s jealous distrust, wrought to the highest pitch of
+      irritability for weeks past, instantly associated the words he had just
+      heard with the words spoken by Launce in the boudoir, which had reminded
+      him that he was not married to Natalie yet. Was there treachery at work
+      under the surface? and was the object to persuade weak Sir Joseph to
+      reconsider his daughter&rsquo;s contemplated marriage in a sense favorable to
+      Launce? Turlington&rsquo;s blind suspicion overleaped at a bound all the
+      manifest improbabilities which forbade such a conclusion as this. After an
+      instant&rsquo;s consideration with himself, he decided on keeping his own
+      counsel, and on putting Sir Joseph&rsquo;s good faith then and there to a test
+      which he could rely on as certain to take Natalie&rsquo;s father by surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Graybrooke!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph started at the sight of his future son-in-law&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Richard, you are looking very strangely! Is the heat of the room
+      too much for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind the heat! I have seen enough to-night to justify me in
+      insisting that your daughter and Launcelot Linzie shall meet no more
+      between this and the day of my marriage.&rdquo; Sir Joseph attempted to speak.
+      Turlington declined to give him the opportunity. &ldquo;Yes! yes! your opinion
+      of Linzie isn&rsquo;t mine, I know. I saw you as thick as thieves together just
+      now.&rdquo; Sir Joseph once more attempted to make himself heard. Wearied by
+      Turlington&rsquo;s perpetual complaints of his daughter and his nephew, he was
+      sufficiently irritated by this time to have reported what Launce had
+      actually said to him if he had been allowed the chance. But Turlington
+      persisted in going on. &ldquo;I cannot prevent Linzie from being received in
+      this house, and at your sister&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;but I can keep him out of <i>my</i>
+      house in the country, and to the country let us go. I propose a change in
+      the arrangements. Have you any engagement for the Christmas holidays?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He paused, and fixed his eyes attentively on Sir Joseph. Sir Joseph,
+      looking a little surprised, replied briefly that he had no engagement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; resumed Turlington, &ldquo;I invite you all to Somersetshire,
+      and I propose that the marriage shall take place from my house, and not
+      from yours. Do you refuse?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is contrary to the usual course of proceeding in such cases, Richard,&rdquo;
+       Sir Joseph began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you refuse?&rdquo; reiterated Turlington. &ldquo;I tell you plainly, I shall place
+      a construction of my own upon your motive if you do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Richard,&rdquo; said Sir Joseph, quietly, &ldquo;I accept.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington drew back a step in silence. Sir Joseph had turned the tables
+      on him, and had taken <i>him</i> by surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will upset several plans, and be strongly objected to by the ladies,&rdquo;
+       proceeded the old gentleman. &ldquo;But if nothing less will satisfy you, I say,
+      Yes! I shall have occasion, when we meet to-morrow at Muswell Hill, to
+      appeal to your indulgence under circumstances which may greatly astonish
+      you. The least I can do, in the meantime, is to set an example of friendly
+      sympathy and forbearance on my side. No more now, Richard. Hush! the
+      music!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was impossible to make him explain himself further that night.
+      Turlington was left to interpret Sir Joseph&rsquo;s mysterious communication
+      with such doubtful aid to success as his own unassisted ingenuity might
+      afford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The meeting of the next day at Muswell Hill had for its object&mdash;as
+      Turlington had already been informed&mdash;the drawing of Natalie&rsquo;s
+      marriage-settlement. Was the question of money at the bottom of Sir
+      Joseph&rsquo;s contemplated appeal to his indulgence? He thought of his
+      commercial position. The depression in the Levant trade still continued.
+      Never had his business at any previous time required such constant
+      attention, and repaid that attention with so little profit. The Bills of
+      Lading had been already used by the firm, in the ordinary course of trade,
+      to obtain possession of the goods. The duplicates in the hands of Bulpit
+      Brothers were literally waste paper. Repayment of the loan of forty
+      thousand pounds (with interest) was due in less than a month&rsquo;s time. There
+      was his commercial position! Was it possible that money-loving Sir Joseph
+      had any modification to propose in the matter of his daughter&rsquo;s dowry? The
+      bare dread that it might be so struck him cold. He quitted the house&mdash;and
+      forgot to wish Natalie goodnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, Launce had left the evening party before him&mdash;and Launce
+      also found matter for serious reflection presented to his mind before he
+      slept that night. In other words, he found, on reaching his lodgings, a
+      letter from his brother marked &ldquo;private.&rdquo; Had the inquiry into the secrets
+      of Turlington&rsquo;s early life&mdash;now prolonged over some weeks&mdash;led
+      to positive results at last? Launce eagerly opened the letter. It
+      contained a Report and a Summary. He passed at once to the Summary, and
+      read these words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you only want moral evidence to satisfy your own mind, your end is
+      gained. There is, morally, no doubt that Turlington and the sea-captain
+      who cast the foreign sailor overboard to drown are on e and the same man.
+      Legally, the matter is beset by difficulties, Turlington having destroyed
+      all provable connection between his present self and his past life. There
+      is only one chance for us. A sailor on board the ship (who was in his
+      master&rsquo;s secrets) is supposed to be still living (under his master&rsquo;s
+      protection). All the black deeds of Turlington&rsquo;s early life are known to
+      this man. He can prove the facts, if we can find him, and make it worth
+      his while to speak. Under what alias he is hidden we do not know. His own
+      name is Thomas Wildfang. If we are to make the attempt to find him, not a
+      moment is to be lost. The expenses may be serious. Let me know whether we
+      are to go on, or whether enough has been done to attain the end you have
+      in view.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Enough had been done&mdash;not only to satisfy Launce, but to produce the
+      right effect on Sir Joseph&rsquo;s mind if Sir Joseph proved obdurate when the
+      secret of the marriage was revealed. Launce wrote a line directing the
+      stoppage of the proceedings at the point which they had now reached. &ldquo;Here
+      is a reason for her not marrying Turlington,&rdquo; he said to himself, as he
+      placed the papers under lock and key. &ldquo;And if she doesn&rsquo;t marry
+      Turlington,&rdquo; he added, with a lover&rsquo;s logic, &ldquo;why shouldn&rsquo;t she marry Me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      EIGHTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Library.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next day Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Sir Joseph&rsquo;s lawyer, Mr. Dicas (highly
+      respectable and immensely rich), and Richard Turlington were assembled in
+      the library at Muswell Hill, to discuss the question of Natalie&rsquo;s marriage
+      settlement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the usual preliminary phrases had been exchanged, Sir Joseph showed
+      some hesitation in openly approaching the question which the little party
+      of three had met to debate. He avoided his lawyer&rsquo;s eye; and he looked at
+      Turlington rather uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard,&rdquo; he began at last, &ldquo;when I spoke to you about your marriage, on
+      board the yacht, I said I would give my daughter&mdash;&rdquo; Either his
+      courage or his breath failed him at that point. He was obliged to wait a
+      moment before he could go on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said I would give my daughter half my fortune on her marriage,&rdquo; he
+      resumed. &ldquo;Forgive me, Richard. I can&rsquo;t do it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Dicas, waiting for his instructions, laid down his pen and looked at
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s son-in-law elect. What would Mr. Turlington say?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He said nothing. Sitting opposite the window, he rose when Sir Joseph
+      spoke, and placed himself at the other side of the table, with his back to
+      the light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My eyes are weak this morning,&rdquo; he said, in an unnaturally low tone of
+      voice. &ldquo;The light hurts them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He could find no more plausible excuse than that for concealing his face
+      in shadow from the scrutiny of the two men on either side of him. The
+      continuous moral irritation of his unhappy courtship&mdash;a courtship
+      which had never advanced beyond the frigid familiarity of kissing
+      Natalie&rsquo;s hand in the presence of others&mdash;had physically deteriorated
+      him. Even <i>his</i> hardy nerves began to feel the long strain of
+      suspicion that had been laid unremittingly on them for weeks past. His
+      power of self-control&mdash;he knew it himself&mdash;was not to be relied
+      on. He could hide his face: he could no longer command it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear what I said, Richard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard. Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph proceeded, gathering confidence as he advanced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half my fortune!&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s parting with half my life; it&rsquo;s
+      saying good-by forever to my dearest friend! My money has been such a
+      comfort to me, Richard; such a pleasant occupation for my mind. I know no
+      reading so interesting and so instructive as the reading of one&rsquo;s Banker&rsquo;s
+      Book. To watch the outgoings on one side,&rdquo; said Sir Joseph, with a gentle
+      and pathetic solemnity, &ldquo;and the incomings on the other&mdash;the sad
+      lessening of the balance at one time, and the cheering and delightful
+      growth of it at another&mdash;what absorbing reading! The best novel that
+      ever was written isn&rsquo;t to be mentioned in a breath with it. I can not,
+      Richard, I really can <i>not</i>, see my nice round balance shrink up to
+      half the figure that I have been used to for a lifetime. It may be weak of
+      me,&rdquo; proceeded Sir Joseph, evidently feeling that it was not weak of him
+      at all, &ldquo;but we all have our tender place, and my Banker&rsquo;s Book is mine.
+      Besides, it isn&rsquo;t as if you wanted it. If you wanted it, of course&mdash;but
+      you don&rsquo;t want it. You are a rich man; you are marrying my dear Natalie
+      for love, not for money. You and she and my grandchildren will have it all
+      at my death. It <i>can</i> make no difference to you to wait a few years
+      till the old man&rsquo;s chair at the fireside is empty. Will you say the fourth
+      part, Richard, instead of the half? Twenty thousand,&rdquo; pleaded Sir Joseph,
+      piteously. &ldquo;I can bear twenty thousand off. For God&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t ask me
+      for more!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lips of the lawyer twisted themselves sourly into an ironical smile.
+      He was quite as fond of his money as Sir Joseph. He ought to have felt for
+      his client; but rich men have no sympathy with one another. Mr. Dicas
+      openly despised Sir Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a pause. The robin-redbreasts in the shrubbery outside must have
+      had prodigious balances at their bankers; they hopped up on the
+      window-sill so fearlessly; they looked in with so little respect at the
+      two rich men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t keep me in suspense, Richard,&rdquo; proceeded Sir Joseph. &ldquo;Speak out. Is
+      it yes or no?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington struck his hand excitedly on the table, and burst out on a
+      sudden with the answer which had been so strangely delayed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty thousand with all my heart!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;On this condition,
+      Graybrooke, that every farthing of it is settled on Natalie, and on her
+      children after her. Not a half-penny to me!&rdquo; he cried magnanimously, in
+      his brassiest tones. &ldquo;Not a half-penny to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Let no man say the rich are heartless. Sir Joseph seized his son-in-law&rsquo;s
+      hand in silence, and burst into tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Dicas, habitually a silent man, uttered the first two words that had
+      escaped him since the business began. &ldquo;Highly creditable,&rdquo; he said, and
+      took a note of his instructions on the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that point the business of the settlement flowed smoothly on to its
+      destined end. Sir Joseph explained his views at the fullest length, and
+      the lawyer&rsquo;s pen kept pace with him. Turlington, remaining in his place at
+      the table, restricted himself to a purely passive part in the proceedings.
+      He answered briefly when it was absolutely necessary to speak, and he
+      agreed with the two elders in everything. A man has no attention to place
+      at the disposal of other people when he stands at a crisis in his life.
+      Turlington stood at that crisis, at the trying moment when Sir Joseph&rsquo;s
+      unexpected proposal pressed instantly for a reply. Two merciless
+      alternatives confronted him. Either he must repay the borrowed forty
+      thousand pounds on the day when repayment was due, or he must ask Bulpit
+      Brothers to grant him an extension of time, and so inevitably provoke an
+      examination into the fraudulent security deposited with the firm, which
+      could end in but one way. His last, literally his last chance, after Sir
+      Joseph had diminished the promised dowry by one half, was to adopt the
+      high-minded tone which became his position, and to conceal the truth until
+      he could reveal it to his father-in-law in the privileged character of
+      Natalie&rsquo;s husband. &ldquo;I owe forty thousand pounds, sir, in a fortnight&rsquo;s
+      time, and I have not got a farthing of my own. Pay for me, or you will see
+      your son-in-law&rsquo;s name in the Bankrupt&rsquo;s List.&rdquo; For his daughter&rsquo;s sake&mdash;who
+      could doubt it?&mdash;Sir Joseph would produce the money. The one thing
+      needful was to be married in time. If either by accident or treachery Sir
+      Joseph was led into deferring the appointed day, by so much as a fortnight
+      only, the fatal &ldquo;call&rdquo; would come, and the firm of Pizzituti, Turlington
+      &amp; Branca would appear in the Gazette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he reasoned, standing on the brink of the terrible discovery which was
+      soon to reveal to him that Natalie was the wife of another man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Turlington!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He started, and roused his attention to present things. Sir Joseph on one
+      side, and the lawyer on the other, were both appealing to him, and both
+      regarding him with looks of amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you done with the settlement?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Richard, we have done with it long since,&rdquo; replied Sir Joseph.
+      &ldquo;Have you really not heard what I have been saying for the last quarter of
+      an hour to good Mr. Dicas here? What <i>can</i> you have been thinking
+      of?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington did not attempt to answer the question. &ldquo;Am I interested,&rdquo; he
+      asked, &ldquo;in what you have been saying to Mr. Dicas?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall judge for yourself,&rdquo; answered Sir Joseph, mysteriously; &ldquo;I have
+      been giving Mr. Dicas his instructions for making my Will. I wish the Will
+      and the Marriage-Settlement to be executed at the same time. Read the
+      instructions, Mr. Dicas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s contemplated Will proved to have two merits&mdash;it was
+      simple and it was short. Excepting one or two trifling legacies to distant
+      relatives, he had no one to think of (Miss Lavinia being already provided
+      for) but his daughter and the children who might be born of her marriage.
+      In its various provisions, made with these two main objects in view, the
+      Will followed the precedents established in such cases. It differed in no
+      important respect from the tens of thousands of other wills made under
+      similar circumstances. Sir Joseph&rsquo;s motive in claiming special attention
+      for it still remained unexplained, when Mr. Dicas reached the clause
+      devoted to the appointment of executors and trustees; and announced that
+      this portion of the document was left in blank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Joseph Graybrooke, are you prepared to name the persons whom you
+      appoint?&rdquo; asked the lawyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph rose, apparently for the purpose of giving special importance
+      to the terms in which he answered his lawyer&rsquo;s question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I appoint,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;as sole executor and trustee&mdash;Richard
+      Turlington.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was no easy matter to astonish Mr. Dicas. Sir Joseph&rsquo;s reply absolutely
+      confounded him. He looked across the table at his client and delivered
+      himself on this special occasion of as many as three words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you mad?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s healthy complexion slightly reddened. &ldquo;I never was in more
+      complete possession of myself, Mr. Dicas, than at this moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Dicas was not to be silenced in that way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you aware of what you do,&rdquo; persisted the lawyer, &ldquo;if you appoint Mr.
+      Turlington as sole executor and trustee? You put it in the power of your
+      daughter&rsquo;s husband, sir, to make away with every farthing of your money
+      after your death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington had hitherto listened with an appearance of interest in the
+      proceedings, which he assumed as an act of politeness. To his view, the
+      future was limited to the date at which Bulpit Brothers had a right to
+      claim the repayment of their loan. The Will was a matter of no earthly
+      importance to him, by comparison with the infinitely superior interest of
+      the Marriage. It was only when the lawyer&rsquo;s brutally plain language forced
+      his attention to it that the question of his pecuniary interest in his
+      father-in-law&rsquo;s death assumed its fit position in his mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>His</i> color rose; and <i>he</i> too showed that he was offended by
+      what Mr. Dicas had just said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a word, Richard! Let me speak for you as well as for myself,&rdquo; said
+      Sir Joseph. &ldquo;For seven years past,&rdquo; he continued, turning to the lawyer,
+      &ldquo;I have been accustomed to place the most unlimited trust in Richard
+      Turlington. His disinterested advice has enabled me largely to increase my
+      income, without placing a farthing of the principal in jeopardy. On more
+      than one occasion, I have entreated him to make use of my money in his
+      business. He has invariably refused to do so. Even his bitterest enemies,
+      sir, have been obliged to acknowledge that my interests were safe when
+      committed to his care. Am I to begin distrusting him, now that I am about
+      to give him my daughter in marriage? Am I to leave it on record that I
+      doubt him for the first time&mdash;when my Will is opened after my death?
+      No! I can confide the management of the fortune which my child will
+      inherit after me to no more competent or more honorable hands than the
+      hands of the man who is to marry her. I maintain my appointment, Mr.
+      Dicas! I persist in placing the whole responsibility under my Will in my
+      son-in-law&rsquo;s care.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington attempted to speak. The lawyer attempted to speak. Sir Joseph&mdash;with
+      a certain simple dignity which had its effect on both of them&mdash;declined
+      to hear a word on either side. &ldquo;No, Richard! as long as I am alive this is
+      my business, not yours. No, Mr. Dicas! I understand that it is your
+      business to protest professionally. You have protested. Fill in the blank
+      space as I have told you. Or leave the instructions on the table, and I
+      will send for the nearest solicitor to complete them in your place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Those words placed the lawyer&rsquo;s position plainly before him. He had no
+      choice but to do as he was bid, or to lose a good client. He did as he was
+      bid, and grimly left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph, with old-fashioned politeness, followed him as far as the
+      hall. Returning to the library to say a few friendly words before finally
+      dismissing the subject of the Will, he found himself seized by the arm,
+      and dragged without ceremony, in Turlington&rsquo;s powerful grasp, to the
+      window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;what does this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look!&rdquo; cried the other, pointing through the window to a grassy walk in
+      the grounds, bounded on either side by shrubberies, and situated at a
+      little distance from the house. &ldquo;Who is that man?&mdash;quick! before we
+      lose sight of him&mdash;the man crossing there from one shrubbery to the
+      other?&rdquo; Sir Joseph failed to recognize the figure before it disappeared.
+      Turlington whispered fiercely, close to his ear&mdash;&ldquo;Launcelot Linzie!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In perfect good faith Sir Joseph declared that the man could not possibly
+      have been Launce. Turlington&rsquo;s frenzy of jealous suspicion was not to be
+      so easily calmed. He asked significantly for Natalie. She was reported to
+      be walking in the grounds. &ldquo;I knew it!&rdquo; he said, with an oath&mdash;and
+      hurried out into the grounds to discover the truth for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some little time elapsed before he came back to the house. He had
+      discovered Natalie&mdash;alone. Not a sign of Launce had rewarded his
+      search. For the hundredth time he had offended Natalie. For the hundredth
+      time he was compelled to appeal to the indulgence of her father and her
+      aunt. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t happen again,&rdquo; he said, sullenly penitent. &ldquo;You will find
+      me quite another man when I have got you all at my house in the country.
+      Mind!&rdquo; he burst out, with a furtive look, which expressed his inveterate
+      distrust of Natalie and of every one about her. &ldquo;Mind! it&rsquo;s settled that
+      you all come to me in Somersetshire, on Monday next.&rdquo; Sir Joseph answered
+      rather dryly that it was settled. Turlington turned to leave the room&mdash;and
+      suddenly came back. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s understood,&rdquo; he went on, addressing Miss
+      Lavinia, &ldquo;that the seventh of next month is the date fixed for the
+      marriage. Not a day later!&rdquo; Miss Lavinia replied, rather dryly on her
+      side, &ldquo;Of course, Richard; not a day later.&rdquo; He muttered, &ldquo;All right&rdquo; and
+      hurriedly left them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Half an hour afterward Natalie came in, looking a little confused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he gone?&rdquo; she asked, whispering to her aunt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Relieved on this point, she made straight for the library&mdash;a room
+      which she rarely entered at that or any other period of the day. Miss
+      Lavinia followed her, curious to know what it meant. Natalie hurried to
+      the window, and waved her handkerchief&mdash;evidently making a signal to
+      some one outside. Miss Lavinia instantly joined her, and took her sharply
+      by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible, Natalie?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Has Launcelot Linzie really been
+      here, unknown to your father or to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the harm if he has?&rdquo; answered Natalie, with a sudden outbreak of
+      temper. &ldquo;Am I never to see my cousin again, because Mr. Turlington happens
+      to be jealous of him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She suddenly turned away her head. The rich color flowed over her face and
+      neck. Miss Lavinia, proceeding sternly with the administration of the
+      necessary reproof, was silenced midway by a new change in her niece&rsquo;s
+      variable temper. Natalie burst into tears. Satisfied with this appearance
+      of sincere contrition, the old lady consented to overlook what had
+      happened; and, for this occasion only, to keep her niece&rsquo;s secret. They
+      would all be in Somersetshire, she remarked, before any more breaches of
+      discipline could be committed. Richard had fortunately made no
+      discoveries; and the matter might safely be trusted, all things
+      considered, to rest where it was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia might possibly have taken a less hopeful view of the
+      circumstances, if she had known that one of the men-servants at Muswell
+      Hill was in Richard Turlington&rsquo;s pay, and that this servant had seen
+      Launce leave the grounds by the back-garden gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      NINTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      The Drawing-Room.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amelia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ask him to sit down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus addressing one another in whispers, the three stepdaughters of Lady
+      Winwood stood bewildered in their own drawing-room, helplessly confronting
+      an object which appeared before them on the threshold of the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The date was the 23d of December. The time was between two and three in
+      the afternoon. The occasion was the return of the three sisters from the
+      Committee meeting of the Sacred Concerts&rsquo; Society. And the object was
+      Richard Turlington.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood hat in hand at the door, amazed by his reception. &ldquo;I have come up
+      this morning from Somersetshire,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you heard? A matter of
+      business at the office has forced me to leave my guests at my house in the
+      country. I return to them to-morrow. When I say my guests, I mean the
+      Graybrookes. Don&rsquo;t you know they are staying with me? Sir Joseph and Miss
+      Lavinia and Natalie?&rdquo; On the utterance of Natalie&rsquo;s name, the sisters
+      roused themselves. They turned about and regarded each other with looks of
+      dismay. Turlington&rsquo;s patience began to fail him. &ldquo;Will you be so good as
+      to tell me what all this means?&rdquo; he said, a little sharply. &ldquo;Miss Lavinia
+      asked me to call here when she heard I was coming to town. I was to take
+      charge of a pattern for a dress, which she said you would give me. You
+      ought to have received a telegram explaining it all, hours since. Has the
+      message not reached you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The leading spirit of the three sisters was Miss Amelia. She was the first
+      who summoned presence of mind enough to give a plain answer to
+      Turlington&rsquo;s plain question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We received the telegram this morning,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Something has happened
+      since which has shocked and surprised us. We beg your pardon.&rdquo; She turned
+      to one of her sisters. &ldquo;Sophia, the pattern is ready in the drawer of that
+      table behind you. Give it to Mr. Turlington.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sophia produced the packet. Before she handed it to the visitor, she
+      looked at her sister. &ldquo;Ought we to let Mr. Turlington go,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;as
+      if nothing had happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Amelia considered silently with herself. Dorothea, the third sister (who
+      had not spoken yet), came forward with a suggestion. She proposed, before
+      proceeding further, to inquire whether Lady Winwood was in the house. The
+      idea was instantly adopted. Sophia rang the bell. Amelia put the questions
+      when the servant appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Winwood had left the house for a drive immediately after luncheon.
+      Lord Winwood&mdash;inquired for next&mdash;had accompanied her ladyship.
+      No message had been left indicating the hour of their return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sisters looked at Turlington, uncertain what to say or do next. Miss
+      Amelia addressed him as soon as the servant had left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible for you to remain here until either my father or Lady
+      Winwood return?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is quite impossible. Minutes are of importance to me to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you give us one of your minutes? We want to consider something which
+      we may have to say to you before you go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington, wondering, took a chair. Miss Amelia put the case before her
+      sisters from the sternly conscientious point of view, at the opposite end
+      of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have not found out this abominable deception by any underhand means,&rdquo;
+       she said. &ldquo;The discovery has been forced upon us, and we stand pledged to
+      nobody to keep the secret. Knowing as we do how cruelly this gentleman has
+      been used, it seems to me that we are bound in honor to open his eyes to
+      the truth. If we remain silent we make ourselves Lady Winwood&rsquo;s
+      accomplices. I, for one&mdash;I don&rsquo;t care what may come of it&mdash;refuse
+      to do that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her sisters agreed with her. The first chance their clever stepmother had
+      given them of asserting their importance against hers was now in their
+      hands. Their jealous hatred of Lady Winwood assumed the mask of Duty&mdash;duty
+      toward an outraged and deceived fellow-creature. Could any earthly motive
+      be purer than that? &ldquo;Tell him, Amelia!&rdquo; cried the two young ladies, with
+      the headlong recklessness of the sex which only stops to think when the
+      time for reflection has gone by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A vague sense of something wrong began to stir uneasily in Turlington&rsquo;s
+      mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let me hurry you,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but if you really have anything to
+      tell me&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Amelia summoned her courage, and began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have something very dreadful to tell you,&rdquo; she said, interrupting him.
+      &ldquo;You have been presented in this house, Mr. Turlington, as a gentleman
+      engaged to marry Lady Winwood&rsquo;s cousin. Miss Natalie Graybrooke.&rdquo; She
+      paused there&mdash;at the outset of the disclosure. A sudden change of
+      expression passed over Turlington&rsquo;s face, which daunted her for the
+      moment. &ldquo;We have hitherto understood,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;that you were to be
+      married to that young lady early in next month.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He could say that one word. Looking at their pale faces, and their eager
+      eyes, he could say no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take care!&rdquo; whispered Dorothea, in her sister&rsquo;s ear. &ldquo;Look at him,
+      Amelia! Not too soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Amelia went on more carefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have just returned from a musical meeting,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;One of the
+      ladies there was an acquaintance, a former school-fellow of ours. She is
+      the wife of the rector of St. Columb Major&mdash;a large church, far from
+      this&mdash;at the East End of London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know nothing about the woman or the church,&rdquo; interposed Turlington,
+      sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must beg you to wait a little. I can&rsquo;t tell you what I want to tell you
+      unless I refer to the rector&rsquo;s wife. She knows Lady Winwood by name. And
+      she heard of Lady Winwood recently under very strange circumstances&mdash;circumstances
+      connected with a signature in one of the books of the church.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington lost his self-control. &ldquo;You have got something against my
+      Natalie,&rdquo; he burst out; &ldquo;I know it by your whispering, I see it in your
+      looks! Say it at once in plain words.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no trifling with him now. In plain words Amelia said it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      * * * * * * * * *
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was silence in the room. They could hear the sound of passing
+      footsteps in the street. He stood perfectly still on the spot where they
+      had struck him dumb by the disclosure, supporting himself with his right
+      hand laid on the head of a sofa near him. The sisters drew back
+      horror-struck into the furthest corner of the room. His face turned them
+      cold. Through the mute misery which it had expressed at first, there
+      appeared, slowly forcing its way to view, a look of deadly vengeance which
+      froze them to the soul. They whispered feverishly one to the other,
+      without knowing what they were talking of, without hearing their own
+      voices. One of them said, &ldquo;Ring the bell!&rdquo; Another said, &ldquo;Offer him
+      something, he will faint.&rdquo; The third shuddered, and repeated, over and
+      over again, &ldquo;Why did we do it? Why did we do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He silenced them on the instant by speaking on his side. He came on
+      slowly, by a step at a time, with the big drops of agony falling slowly
+      over his rugged face. He said, in a hoarse whisper, &ldquo;Write me down the
+      name of the church&mdash;there.&rdquo; He held out his open pocketbook to Amelia
+      while he spoke. She steadied herself, and wrote the address. She tried to
+      say a word to soften him. The word died on her lips. There was a light in
+      his eyes as they looked at her which transfigured his face to something
+      superhuman and devilish. She turned away from him, shuddering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He put the book back in his pocket, and passed his handkerchief over his
+      face. After a moment of indecision, he suddenly and swiftly stole out of
+      the room, as if he was afraid of their calling somebody in, and stopping
+      him. At the door he turned round for a moment, and said, &ldquo;You will hear
+      how this ends. I wish you good-morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door closed on him. Left by themselves, they began to realize it. They
+      thought of the consequences when his back was turned and it was too late.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Graybrookes! Now he knew it, what would become of the Graybrookes?
+      What would he do when he got back? Even at ordinary times&mdash;when he
+      was on his best behavior&mdash;he was a rough man. What would happen? Oh,
+      good God! what would happen when he and Natalie next stood face to face?
+      It was a lonely house&mdash;Natalie had told them about it&mdash;no
+      neighbors near; nobody by to interfere but the weak old father and the
+      maiden aunt. Something ought to be done. Some steps ought to be taken to
+      warn them. Advice&mdash;who could give advice? Who was the first person
+      who ought to be told of what had happened? Lady Winwood? No! even at that
+      crisis the sisters still shrank from their stepmother&mdash;still hated
+      her with the old hatred! Not a word to <i>her!</i> They owed no duty to <i>her!</i>
+      Who else could they appeal to? To their father? Yes! There was the person
+      to advise them. In the meanwhile, silence toward their stepmother&mdash;silence
+      toward every one till their father came back!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They waited and waited. One after another the precious hours, pregnant
+      with the issues of life and death, followed each other on the dial. Lady
+      Winwood returned alone. She had left her husband at the House of Lords.
+      Dinner-time came, and brought with it a note from his lordship. There was
+      a debate at the House. Lady Winwood and his daughters were not to wait
+      dinner for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      TENTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Green Anchor Lane.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      An hour later than the time at which he had been expected, Richard
+      Turlington appeared at his office in the city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He met beforehand all the inquiries which the marked change in him must
+      otherwise have provoked, by announcing that he was ill. Before he
+      proceeded to business, he asked if anybody was waiting to see him. One of
+      the servants from Muswell Hill was waiting with another parcel for Miss
+      Lavinia, ordered by telegram from the country that morning. Turlington
+      (after ascertaining the servant&rsquo;s name) received the man in his private
+      room. He there heard, for the first time, that Launcelot Linzie had been
+      lurking in the grounds (exactly as he had supposed) on the day when the
+      lawyer took his instructions for the Settlement and the Will.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In two hours more Turlington&rsquo;s work was completed. On leaving the office&mdash;as
+      soon as he was out of sight of the door&mdash;he turned eastward, instead
+      of taking the way that led to his own house in town. Pursuing his course,
+      he entered the labyrinth of streets which led, in that quarter of East
+      London, to the unsavory neighborhood of the river-side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time his mind was made up. The forecast shadow of meditated crime
+      traveled before him already, as he threaded his way among his fellow-men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been to the vestry of St. Columb Major, and had satisfied himself
+      that he was misled by no false report. There was the entry in the Marriage
+      Register. The one unexplained mystery was the mystery of Launce&rsquo;s conduct
+      in permitting his wife to return to her father&rsquo;s house. Utterly unable to
+      account for this proceeding, Turlington could only accept facts as they
+      were, and determine to make the most of his time, while the woman who had
+      deceived him was still under his roof. A hideous expression crossed his
+      face as he realized the idea that he had got her (unprotected by her
+      husband) in his house. &ldquo;When Launcelot Linzie <i>does</i> come to claim
+      her,&rdquo; he said to himself, &ldquo;he shall find I have been even with him.&rdquo; He
+      looked at his watch. Was it possible to save the last train and get back
+      that night? No&mdash;the last train had gone. Would she take advantage of
+      his absence to escape? He had little fear of it. She would never have
+      allowed her aunt to send him to Lord Winwood&rsquo;s house, if she had felt the
+      slightest suspicion of his discovering the truth in that quarter.
+      Returning by the first train the next morning, he might feel sure of
+      getting back in time. Meanwhile he had the hours of the night before him.
+      He could give his mind to the serious question that must be settled before
+      he left London&mdash;the question of repaying the forty thousand pounds.
+      There was but one way of getting the money now. Sir Joseph had executed
+      his Will; Sir Joseph&rsquo;s death would leave his sole executor and trustee
+      (the lawyer had said it!) master of his fortune. Turlington determined to
+      be master of it in four-and-twenty hours&mdash;striking the blow, without
+      risk to himself, by means of another hand. In the face of the
+      probabilities, in the face of the facts, he had now firmly persuaded
+      himself that Sir Joseph was privy to the fraud that had been practiced on
+      him. The Marriage-Settlement, the Will, the presence of the family at his
+      country house&mdash;all these he believed to be so many stratagems
+      invented to keep him deceived until the last moment. The truth was in
+      those words which he had overheard between Sir Joseph and Launce&mdash;and
+      in Launce&rsquo;s presence (privately encouraged, no doubt) at Muswell Hill.
+      &ldquo;Her father shall pay me for it doubly: with his purse and with his life.&rdquo;
+       With that thought in his heart, Richard Turlington wound his way through
+      the streets by the river-side, and stopped at a blind alley called Green
+      Anchor Lane, infamous to this day as the chosen resort of the most
+      abandoned wretches whom London can produce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The policeman at the corner cautioned him as he turned into the alley.
+      &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t hurt <i>me!</i>&rdquo; he answered, and walked on to a public-house
+      at the bottom of the lane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The landlord at the door silently recognized him, and led the way in. They
+      crossed a room filled with sailors of all nations drinking; ascended a
+      staircase at the back of the house, and stopped at the door of the room on
+      the second floor. There the landlord spoke for the first time. &ldquo;He has
+      outrun his allowance, sir, as usual. You will find him with hardly a rag
+      on his back. I doubt if he will last much longer. He had another fit of
+      the horrors last night, and the doctor thinks badly of him.&rdquo; With that
+      introduction he opened the door, and Turlington entered the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the miserable bed lay a gray-headed old man of gigantic stature, with
+      nothing on him but a ragged shirt and a pair of patched, filthy trousers.
+      At the side of the bed, with a bottle of gin on the rickety table between
+      them, sat two hideous leering, painted monsters, wearing the dress of
+      women. The smell of opium was in the room, as well as the smell of
+      spirits. At Turlington&rsquo;s appearance, the old man rose on the bed and
+      welcomed him with greedy eyes and outstretched hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Money, master!&rdquo; he called out hoarsely. &ldquo;A crown piece in advance, for
+      the sake of old times!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington turned to the women without answering, purse in hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His clothes are at the pawnbroker&rsquo;s, of course. How much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thirty shillings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bring them here, and be quick about it. You will find it worth your while
+      when you come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The women took the pawnbroker&rsquo;s tickets from the pockets of the man&rsquo;s
+      trousers and hurried out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington closed the door, and seated himself by the bedside. He laid his
+      hand familiarly on the giant&rsquo;s mighty shoulder, looked him full in the
+      face, and said, in a whisper,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thomas Wildfang!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man started, and drew his huge hairy hand across his eyes, as if in
+      doubt whether he was waking or sleeping. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s better than ten years,
+      master, since you called me by my name. If I am Thomas Wildfang, what are
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your captain, once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thomas Wildfang sat up on the side of the bed, and spoke his next words
+      cautiously in Turlington&rsquo;s ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another man in the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The giant shook his bald, bestial head dolefully. &ldquo;Too late. I&rsquo;m past the
+      job. Look here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held up his hand, and showed it trembling incessantly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an old
+      man,&rdquo; he said, and let his hand drop heavily again on the bed beside him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington looked at the door, and whispered back,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The man is as old as you are. And the money is worth having.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A hundred pounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The eyes of Thomas Wildfang fastened greedily on Turlington&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s
+      hear,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Softly, captain. Let&rsquo;s hear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      * * * * * * * * *
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the women came back with the clothes, Turlington had left the room.
+      Their promised reward lay waiting for them on the table, and Thomas
+      Wildfang was eager to dress himself and be gone. They could get but one
+      answer from him to every question they put. He had business in hand, which
+      was not to be delayed. They would see him again in a day or two, with
+      money in his purse. With that assurance he took his cudgel from the corner
+      of the room, and stalked out swiftly by the back door of the house into
+      the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ELEVENTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Outside the House
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The evening was chilly, but not cold for the time of year. There was no
+      moon. The stars were out, and the wind was quiet. Upon the whole, the
+      inhabitants of the little Somersetshire village of Baxdale agreed that it
+      was as fine a Christmas-eve as they could remember for some years past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward eight in the evening the one small street of the village was empty,
+      except at that part of it which was occupied by the public-house. For the
+      most part, people gathered round their firesides, with an eye to their
+      suppers, and watched the process of cooking comfortably indoors. The old
+      bare, gray church, situated at some little distance from the village,
+      looked a lonelier object than usual in the dim starlight. The vicarage,
+      nestling close under the shadow of the church-tower, threw no illumination
+      of fire-light or candle-light on the dreary scene. The clergyman&rsquo;s
+      shutters fitted well, and the clergyman&rsquo;s curtains were closely drawn. The
+      one ray of light that cheered the wintry darkness streamed from the
+      unguarded window of a lonely house, separated from the vicarage by the
+      whole length of the church-yard. A man stood at the window, holding back
+      the shutter, and looking out attentively over the dim void of the
+      burial-ground. The man was Richard Turlington. The room in which he was
+      watching was a room in his own house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A momentary spark of light flashed up, as from a kindled match, in the
+      burial-ground. Turlington instantly left the empty room in which he had
+      been watching. Passing down the back garden of the house, and crossing a
+      narrow lane at the bottom of it, he opened a gate in a low stone wall
+      beyond, and entered the church-yard. The shadowy figure of a man of great
+      stature, lurking among the graves, advanced to meet him. Midway in the
+      dark and lonely place the two stopped and consulted together in whispers.
+      Turlington spoke first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you taken up your quarters at the public-house in the village?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you find your way, while the daylight lasted, to the deserted
+      malt-house behind my orchard wall?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, master.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now listen&mdash;we have no time to lose. Hide there, behind that
+      monument. Before nine o&rsquo;clock to-night you will see me cross the
+      churchyard, as far as this place, with the man you are to wait for. He is
+      going to spend an hour with the vicar, at the house yonder. I shall stop
+      short here, and say to him, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t miss your way in the dark now&mdash;I
+      will go back.&rsquo; When I am far enough away from him, I shall blow a call on
+      my whistle. The moment you hear the call, follow the man, and drop him
+      before he gets out of the church-yard. Have you got your cudgel?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thomas Wildfang held up his cudgel. Turlington took him by the arm, and
+      felt it suspiciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have had an attack of the horrors already,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What does this
+      trembling mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a spirit-flask from his pocket as he spoke. Thomas Wildfang
+      snatched it out of his hand, and emptied it at a draught. &ldquo;All right now,
+      master,&rdquo; he said. Turlington felt his arm once more. It was steadier
+      already. Wildfang brandished his cudgel, and struck a heavy blow with it
+      on one of the turf mounds near them. &ldquo;Will that drop him, captain?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington went on with his instructions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rob him when you have dropped him. Take his money and his jewelry. I want
+      to have the killing of him attributed to robbery as the motive. Make sure
+      before you leave him that he is dead. Then go to the malt-house. There is
+      no fear of your being seen; all the people will be indoors, keeping
+      Christmas-eve. You will find a change of clothes hidden in the malt-house,
+      and an old caldron full of quicklime. Destroy the clothes you have got on,
+      and dress yourself in the other clothes that you find. Follow the
+      cross-road, and when it brings you into the highroad, turn to the left; a
+      four-mile walk will take you to the town of Harminster. Sleep there
+      to-night, and travel to London by the train in the morning. The next day
+      go to my office, see the head clerk, and say, &lsquo;I have come to sign my
+      receipt.&rsquo; Sign it in your own name, and you will receive your hundred
+      pounds. There are your instructions. Do you understand them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wildfang nodded his head in silent token that he understood, and
+      disappeared again among the graves. Turlington went back to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had advanced midway across the garden, when he was startled by the
+      sound of footsteps in the lane&mdash;at that part of it which skirted one
+      of the corners of the house. Hastening forward, he placed himself behind a
+      projection in the wall, so as to see the person pass across the stream of
+      light from the uncovered window of the room that he had left. The stranger
+      was walking rapidly. All Turlington could see as he crossed the field of
+      light was, that his hat was pulled over his eyes, and that he had a thick
+      beard and mustache. Describing the man to the servant on entering the
+      house, he was informed that a stranger with a large beard had been seen
+      about the neighborhood for some days past. The account he had given of
+      himself stated that he was a surveyor, engaged in taking measurements for
+      a new map of that part of the country, shortly to be published.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guilty mind of Turlington was far from feeling satisfied with the
+      meager description of the stranger thus rendered. He could not be engaged
+      in surveying in the dark. What could he want in the desolate neighborhood
+      of the house and church-yard at that time of night?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man wanted&mdash;what the man found a little lower down the lane,
+      hidden in a dismantled part of the church-yard wall&mdash;a letter from a
+      young lady. Read by the light of the pocket-lantern which he carried with
+      him, the letter first congratulated this person on the complete success of
+      his disguise&mdash;and then promised that the writer would be ready at her
+      bedroom window for flight the next morning, before the house was astir.
+      The signature was &ldquo;Natalie,&rdquo; and the person addressed was &ldquo;Dearest
+      Launce.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meanwhile, Turlington barred the window shutters of the room, and
+      looked at his watch. It wanted only a quarter to nine o&rsquo;clock. He took his
+      dog-whistle from the chimney-piece, and turned his steps at once in the
+      direction of the drawing-room, in which his guests were passing the
+      evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      TWELFTH SCENE.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      Inside the House.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The scene in the drawing-room represented the ideal of domestic comfort.
+      The fire of wood and coal mixed burned brightly; the lamps shed a soft
+      glow of light; the solid shutters and the thick red curtains kept the cold
+      night air on the outer side of two long windows, which opened on the back
+      garden. Snug arm-chairs were placed in every part of the room. In one of
+      them Sir Joseph reclined, fast asleep; in another, Miss Lavinia sat
+      knitting; a third chair, apart from the rest, near a round table in one
+      corner of the room, was occupied by Natalie. Her head was resting on her
+      hand, an unread book lay open on her lap. She looked pale and harassed;
+      anxiety and suspense had worn her down to the shadow of her former self.
+      On entering the room, Turlington purposely closed the door with a bang.
+      Natalie started. Miss Lavinia looked up reproachfully. The object was
+      achieved&mdash;Sir Joseph was roused from his sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you are going to the vicar&rsquo;s to-night. Graybrooke,&rdquo; said Turlington,
+      &ldquo;it&rsquo;s time you were off, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph rubbed his eyes, and looked at the clock on the mantel-piece.
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, Richard,&rdquo; he answered, drowsily, &ldquo;I suppose I must go. Where is
+      my hat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His sister and his daughter both joined in trying to persuade him to send
+      an excuse instead of groping his way to the vicarage in the dark. Sir
+      Joseph hesitated, as usual. He and the vicar had run up a sudden
+      friendship, on the strength of their common enthusiasm for the
+      old-fashioned game of backgammon. Victorious over his opponent on the
+      previous evening at Turlington&rsquo;s house, Sir Joseph had promised to pass
+      that evening at the vicarage, and give the vicar his revenge. Observing
+      his indecision, Turlington cunningly irritated him by affecting to believe
+      that he was really unwilling to venture out in the dark. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see you
+      safe across the churchyard,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;and the vicar&rsquo;s servant will see
+      you safe back.&rdquo; The tone in which he spoke instantly roused Sir Joseph. &ldquo;I
+      am not in my second childhood yet, Richard,&rdquo; he replied, testily. &ldquo;I can
+      find my way by myself.&rdquo; He kissed his daughter on the forehead. &ldquo;No fear,
+      Natalie. I shall be back in time for the mulled claret. No, Richard, I
+      won&rsquo;t trouble you.&rdquo; He kissed his hand to his sister and went out into the
+      hall for his hat: Turlington following him with a rough apology, and
+      asking as a favor to be permitted to accompany him part of the way only.
+      The ladies, left behind in the drawing-room, heard the apology accepted by
+      kind-hearted Sir Joseph. The two went out together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you noticed Richard since his return?&rdquo; asked Miss Lavinia. &ldquo;I fancy
+      he must have heard bad news in London. He looks as if he had something on
+      his mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t remarked it, aunt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For the time, no more was said. Miss Lavinia went monotonously on with her
+      knitting. Natalie pursued her own anxious thoughts over the unread pages
+      of the book in her lap. Suddenly the deep silence out of doors and in was
+      broken by a shrill whistle, sounding from the direction of the
+      church-yard. Natalie started with a faint cry of alarm. Miss Lavinia
+      looked up from her knitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear child, your nerves must be sadly out of order. What is there to
+      be frightened at?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not very well, aunt. It is so still here at night, the slightest
+      noises startle me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another interval of silence. It was past nine o&rsquo;clock when they
+      heard the back door opened and closed again. Turlington came hurriedly
+      into the drawing-room, as if he had some reason for wishing to rejoin the
+      ladies as soon as possible. To the surprise of both of them, he sat down
+      abruptly in the corner, with his face to the wall, and took up the
+      newspaper, without casting a look at them or uttering a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Joseph safe at the vicarage?&rdquo; asked Miss Lavinia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right.&rdquo; He gave the answer in a short, surly tone, still without
+      looking round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia tried him again. &ldquo;Did you hear a whistle while you were out?
+      It quite startled Natalie in the stillness of this place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned half-way round. &ldquo;My shepherd, I suppose,&rdquo; he said after a pause&mdash;&ldquo;whistling
+      for his dog.&rdquo; He turned back again and immersed himself in his newspaper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia beckoned to her niece and pointed significantly to
+      Turlington. After one reluctant look at him, Natalie laid her head wearily
+      on her aunt&rsquo;s shoulder. &ldquo;Sleepy, my dear?&rdquo; whispered the old lady.
+      &ldquo;Uneasy, aunt&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know why,&rdquo; Natalie whispered back. &ldquo;I would
+      give the world to be in London, and to hear the carriages going by, and
+      the people talking in the street.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington suddenly dropped his newspaper. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the secret between you
+      two?&rdquo; he called out roughly. &ldquo;What are you whispering about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We wish not to disturb you over your reading, that is all,&rdquo; said Miss
+      Lavinia, coldly. &ldquo;Has anything happened to vex you, Richard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What the devil makes you think that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old lady was offended, and showed it by saying nothing more. Natalie
+      nestled closer to her aunt. One after another the clock ticked off the
+      minutes with painful distinctness in the stillness of the room. Turlington
+      suddenly threw aside the newspaper and left his corner. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be good
+      friends!&rdquo; he burst out, with a clumsy assumption of gayety. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t
+      keeping Christmas-eve. Let&rsquo;s talk and be sociable. Dearest Natalie!&rdquo; He
+      threw his arm roughly round Natalie, and drew her by main force away from
+      her aunt. She turned deadly pale, and struggled to release herself. &ldquo;I am
+      suffering&mdash;I am ill&mdash;let me go!&rdquo; He was deaf to her entreaties.
+      &ldquo;What! your husband that is to be, treated in this way? Mustn&rsquo;t I have a
+      kiss?&mdash;I will!&rdquo; He held her closer with one hand, and, seizing her
+      head with the other, tried to turn her lips to him. She resisted with the
+      inbred nervous strength which the weakest woman living has in reserve when
+      she is outraged. Half indignant, half terrified, at Turlington&rsquo;s
+      roughness, Miss Lavinia rose to interfere. In a moment more he would have
+      had two women to overpower instead of one, when a noise outside the window
+      suddenly suspended the ignoble struggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sound of footsteps on the gravel-walk which ran between the
+      house wall and the garden lawn. It was followed by a tap&mdash;a single
+      faint tap, no more&mdash;on one of the panes of glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They all three stood still. For a moment more nothing was audible. Then
+      there was a heavy shock, as of something falling outside. Then a groan,
+      then another interval of silence&mdash;a long silence, interrupted no
+      more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turlington&rsquo;s arm dropped from Natalie. She drew back to her aunt. Looking
+      at him instinctively, in the natural expectation that he would take the
+      lead in penetrating the mystery of what had happened outside the window,
+      the two women were thunderstruck to see that he was, to all appearance,
+      even more startled and more helpless than they were. &ldquo;Richard,&rdquo; said Miss
+      Lavinia, pointing to the window, &ldquo;there is something wrong out there. See
+      what it is.&rdquo; He stood motionless, as if he had not heard her, his eyes
+      fixed on the window, his face livid with terror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The silence outside was broken once more; this time by a call for help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A cry of horror burst from Natalie. The voice outside&mdash;rising wildly,
+      then suddenly dying away again&mdash;was not entirely strange to <i>her</i>
+      ears. She tore aside the curtain. With voice and hand she roused her aunt
+      to help her. The two lifted the heavy bar from its socket; they opened the
+      shutters and the window. The cheerful light of the room flowed out over
+      the body of a prostrate man, lying on his face. They turned the man over.
+      Natalie lifted his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His face was bedabbled with blood. A wound, a frightful wound, was visible
+      on the side of his bare head, high above the ear. He looked at her, his
+      eyes recognized her, before he fainted again in her arms. His hands and
+      his clothes were covered with earth stains. He must have traversed some
+      distance; in that dreadful condition he must have faltered and fallen more
+      than once before he reached the house. His sister wiped the blood from his
+      face. His daughter called on him frantically to forgive her before he died&mdash;the
+      harmless, gentle, kind-hearted father, who had never said a hard word to
+      her! The father whom she had deceived!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The terrified servants hurried into the room. Their appearance roused
+      their master from the extraordinary stupor that had seized him. He was at
+      the window before the footman could get there. The two lifted Sir Joseph
+      into the room, and laid him on the sofa. Natalie knelt by him, supporting
+      his head. Miss Lavinia stanched the flowing blood with her handkerchief.
+      The women-servants brought linen and cold water. The man hurried away for
+      the doctor, who lived on the other side of the village. Left alone again
+      with Turlington, Natalie noticed that his eyes were fixed in immovable
+      scrutiny on her father&rsquo;s head. He never said a word. He looked, looked,
+      looked at the wound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor arrived. Before either the daughter or the sister of the
+      injured man could put the question, Turlington put it&mdash;&ldquo;Will he live
+      or die?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The doctor&rsquo;s careful finger probed the wound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Make your minds easy. A little lower down, or in front, the blow might
+      have been serious. As it is, there is no harm done. Keep him quiet, and he
+      will be all right again in two or three days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hearing those welcome words, Natalie and her aunt sank on their knees in
+      silent gratitude. After dressing the wound, the doctor looked round for
+      the master of the house. Turlington, who had been so breathlessly eager
+      but a few minutes since, seemed to have lost all interest in the case now.
+      He stood apart, at the window, looking out toward the church-yard,
+      thinking. The questions which it was the doctor&rsquo;s duty to ask were
+      answered by the ladies. The servants assisted in examining the injured
+      man&rsquo;s clothes: they discovered that his watch and purse were both missing.
+      When it became necessary to carry him upstairs, it was the footman who
+      assisted the doctor. The foot man&rsquo;s master, without a word of explanation,
+      walked out bare headed into the back garden, on the search, as the doctor
+      and the servants supposed, for some trace of the robber who had attempted
+      Sir Joseph&rsquo;s life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His absence was hardly noticed at the time. The difficulty of conveying
+      the wounded man to his room absorbed the attention of all the persons
+      present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Joseph partially recovered his senses while they were taking him up
+      the steep and narrow stairs. Carefully as they carried the patient, the
+      motion wrung a groan from him before they reached the top. The bedroom
+      corridor, in the rambling, irregularly built house rose and fell on
+      different levels. At the door of the first bedchamber the doctor asked a
+      little anxiously if that was the room. No; there were three more stairs to
+      go down, and a corner to turn, before they could reach it. The first room
+      was Natalie&rsquo;s. She instantly offered it for her father&rsquo;s use. The doctor
+      (seeing that it was the airiest as well as the nearest room) accepted the
+      proposal. Sir Joseph had been laid comfortably in his daughter&rsquo;s bed; the
+      doctor had just left them, with renewed assurances that they need feel no
+      anxiety, when they heard a heavy step below stairs. Turlington had
+      re-entered the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (He had been looking, as they had supposed, for the ruffian who had
+      attacked Sir Joseph; with a motive, however, for the search at which it
+      was impossible for other persons to guess. His own safety was now bound up
+      in the safety of Thomas Wildfang. As soon as he was out of sight in the
+      darkness, he made straight for the malt-house. The change of clothes was
+      there untouched; not a trace of his accomplice was to be seen. Where else
+      to look for him it was impossible to tell. Turlington had no alternative
+      but to go back to the house, and ascertain if suspicion had been aroused
+      in his absence.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had only to ascend the stairs, and to see, through the open door, that
+      Sir Joseph had been placed in his daughter&rsquo;s room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does this mean?&rdquo; he asked, roughly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before it was possible to answer him the footman appeared with a message.
+      The doctor had come back to the door to say that he would take on himself
+      the necessary duty of informing the constable of what had happened, on his
+      return to the village. Turlington started and changed color. If Wildfang
+      was found by others, and questioned in his employer&rsquo;s absence, serious
+      consequences might follow. &ldquo;The constable is my business,&rdquo; said
+      Turlington, hurriedly descending the stairs; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go with the doctor.&rdquo;
+       They heard him open the door below, then close it again (as if some sudden
+      thought had struck him), and call to the footman. The house was badly
+      provided with servants&rsquo; bedrooms. The women-servants only slept indoors.
+      The footman occupied a room over the stables. Natalie and her aunt heard
+      Turlington dismiss the man for the night, an hour earlier than usual at
+      least. His next proceeding was stranger still. Looking cautiously over the
+      stairs, Natalie saw him lock all the doors on the ground-floor and take
+      out the keys. When he went away, she heard him lock the front door behind
+      him. Incredible as it seemed, there could be no doubt of the fact&mdash;the
+      inmates of the house were imprisoned till he came back. What did it mean?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (It meant that Turlington&rsquo;s vengeance still remained to be wreaked on the
+      woman who had deceived him. It meant that Sir Joseph&rsquo;s life still stood
+      between the man who had compassed his death and the money which the man
+      was resolved to have. It meant that Richard Turlington was driven to bay,
+      and that the horror and the peril of the night were not at an end yet.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie and her aunt looked at each other across the bed on which Sir
+      Joseph lay. He had fallen into a kind of doze; no enlightenment could come
+      to them from <i>him</i>. They could only ask each other, with beating
+      hearts and baffled minds, what Richard&rsquo;s conduct meant&mdash;they could
+      only feel instinctively that some dreadful discovery was hanging over
+      them. The aunt was the calmer of the two&mdash;there was no secret
+      weighing heavily on <i>her</i> conscience. <i>She</i> could feel the
+      consolations of religion. &ldquo;Our dear one is spared to us, my love,&rdquo; said
+      the old lady, gently. &ldquo;God has been good to us. We are in his hands. If we
+      know that, we know enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As she spoke there was a loud ring at the doorbell. The women-servants
+      crowded into the bedroom in alarm. Strong in numbers, and encouraged by
+      Natalie&mdash;who roused herself and led the way&mdash;they confronted the
+      risk of opening the window and of venturing out on the balcony which
+      extended along that side of the house. A man was dimly visible below. He
+      called to them in thick, unsteady accents. The servants recognized him: he
+      was the telegraphic messenger from the railway. They went down to speak to
+      him&mdash;and returned with a telegram which had been pushed in under the
+      door. The distance from the station was considerable; the messenger had
+      been &ldquo;keeping Christmas&rdquo; in more than one beer-shop on his way to the
+      house; and the delivery of the telegram had been delayed for some hours.
+      It was addressed to Natalie. She opened it&mdash;looked at it&mdash;dropped
+      it&mdash;and stood speechless; her lips parted in horror, her eyes staring
+      vacantly straight before her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia took the telegram from the floor, and read these lines:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Winwood, Hertford Street, London. To Natalie Graybrooke, Church
+      Meadows, Baxdale, Somersetshire. Dreadful news. R. T. has discovered your
+      marriage to Launce. The truth has been kept from me till to-day (24th).
+      Instant flight with your husband is your only chance. I would have
+      communicated with Launce, but I do not know his address. You will receive
+      this, I hope and believe, before R. T. can return to Somersetshire.
+      Telegraph back, I entreat you, to say that you are safe. I shall follow my
+      message if I do not hear from you in reasonable time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia lifted her gray head, and looked at her niece. &ldquo;Is this
+      true?&rdquo; she said&mdash;and pointed to the venerable face laid back, white,
+      on the white pillow of the bed. Natalie sank forward as her eyes met the
+      eyes of her aunt. Miss Lavinia saved her from falling insensible on the
+      floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      * * * * * * * * *
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The confession had been made. The words of penitence and the words of
+      pardon had been spoken. The peaceful face of the father still lay hushed
+      in rest. One by one the minutes succeeded each other uneventfully in the
+      deep tranquillity of the night. It was almost a relief when the silence
+      was disturbed once more by another sound outside the house. A pebble was
+      thrown up at the window, and a voice called out cautiously, &ldquo;Miss
+      Lavinia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They recognized the voice of the man-servant, and at once opened the
+      window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had something to say to the ladies in private. How could he say it? A
+      domestic circumstance which had been marked by Launce, as favorable to the
+      contemplated elopement, was now noticed by the servant as lending itself
+      readily to effecting the necessary communication with the ladies. The lock
+      of the gardener&rsquo;s tool-house (in the shrubbery close by) was under repair;
+      and the gardener&rsquo;s ladder was accessible to any one who wanted it. At the
+      short height of the balcony from the ground, the ladder was more than long
+      enough for the purpose required. In a few minutes the servant had mounted
+      to the balcony, and could speak to Natalie and her aunt at the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t rest quiet,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m off on the sly to see what&rsquo;s
+      going on down in the village. It&rsquo;s hard on ladies like you to be locked in
+      here. Is there anything I can do for either of you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie took up Lady Winwood&rsquo;s telegram. &ldquo;Launce ought to see this,&rdquo; she
+      said to her aunt. &ldquo;He will be here at daybreak,&rdquo; she added, in a whisper,
+      &ldquo;if I don&rsquo;t tell him what has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia turned pale. &ldquo;If he and Richard meet&mdash;&rdquo; she began. &ldquo;Tell
+      him!&rdquo; she added, hurriedly&mdash;&ldquo;tell him before it is too late!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie wrote a few lines (addressed to Launce in his assumed name at his
+      lodgings in the village) inclosing Lady Winwood&rsquo;s telegram, and entreating
+      him to do nothing rash. When the servant had disappeared with the letter,
+      there was one hope in her mind and in her aunt&rsquo;s mind, which each was
+      ashamed to acknowledge to the other&mdash;the hope that Launce would face
+      the very danger that they dreaded for him, and come to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had not been long alone again, when Sir Joseph drowsily opened his
+      eyes and asked what they were doing in his room. They told him gently that
+      he was ill. He put his hand up to his head, and said they were right, and
+      so dropped off again into slumber. Worn out by the emotions through which
+      they had passed, the two women silently waited for the march of events.
+      The same stupor of resignation possessed them both. They had secured the
+      door and the window. They had prayed together. They had kissed the quiet
+      face on the pillow. They had said to each other, &ldquo;We will live with him or
+      die with him as God pleases.&rdquo; Miss Lavinia sat by the bedside. Natalie was
+      on a stool at her feet&mdash;with her eyes closed, and her head on her
+      aunt&rsquo;s knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Time went on. The clock in the hall had struck&mdash;ten or eleven, they
+      were not sure which&mdash;when they heard the signal which warned them of
+      the servant&rsquo;s return from the village. He brought news, and more than
+      news; he brought a letter from Launce.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie read these lines:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be with you, dearest, almost as soon as you receive this. The
+      bearer will tell you what has happened in the village&mdash;your note
+      throws a new light on it all. I only remain behind to go to the vicar (who
+      is also the magistrate here), and declare myself your husband. All
+      disguise must be at an end now. My place is with you and yours. It is even
+      worse than your worst fears. Turlington was at the bottom of the attack on
+      your father. Judge if you have not need of your husband&rsquo;s protection after
+      that!&mdash;L.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie handed the letter to her aunt, and pointed to the sentence which
+      asserted Turlington&rsquo;s guilty knowledge of the attempt on Sir Joseph&rsquo;s
+      life. In silent horror the two women looked at each other, recalling what
+      had happened earlier in the evening, and understanding it now. The servant
+      roused them to a sense of present things, by entering on the narrative of
+      his discoveries in the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The place was all astir when he reached it. An old man&mdash;a stranger in
+      Baxdale&mdash;had been found lying in the road, close to the church, in a
+      fit; and the person who had discovered him had been no other than Launce
+      himself. He had, literally, stumbled over the body of Thomas Wildfang in
+      the dark, on his way back to his lodgings in the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The gentleman gave the alarm, miss,&rdquo; said the servant, describing the
+      event, as it had been related to him, &ldquo;and the man&mdash;a huge, big old
+      man&mdash;was carried to the inn. The landlord identified him; he had
+      taken lodgings at the inn that day, and the constable found valuable
+      property on him&mdash;a purse of money and a gold watch and chain. There
+      was nothing to show who the money and the watch belonged to. It was only
+      when my master and the doctor got to the inn that it was known whom he had
+      robbed and tried to murder. All he let out in his wanderings before they
+      came was that some person had set him on to do it. He called the person
+      &lsquo;Captain,&rsquo; and sometimes &lsquo;Captain Goward.&rsquo; It was thought&mdash;if you
+      could trust the ravings of a madman&mdash;that the fit took him while he
+      was putting his hand on Sir Joseph&rsquo;s heart to feel if it had stopped
+      beating. A sort of vision (as I understand it) must have overpowered him
+      at the moment. They tell me he raved about the sea bursting into the
+      church yard, and a drowning sailor floating by on a hen-coop; a sailor who
+      dragged him down to hell by the hair of his head, and such like horrible
+      nonsense, miss. He was still screeching, at the worst of the fit, when my
+      master and the doctor came into the room. At sight of one or other of them&mdash;it
+      is thought of Mr. Turlington, seeing that he came first&mdash;he held his
+      peace on a sudden, and then fell back in convulsions in the arms of the
+      men who were holding him. The doctor gave it a learned name, signifying
+      drink-madness, and said the case was hopeless. However, he ordered the
+      room to be cleared of the crowd to see what he could do. My master was
+      reported to be still with the doctor, waiting to see whether the man lived
+      or died, when I left the village, miss, with the gentleman&rsquo;s answer to
+      your note. I didn&rsquo;t dare stay to hear how it ended, for fear of Mr.
+      Turlington&rsquo;s finding me out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Having reached the end of his narrative, the man looked round restlessly
+      toward the window. It was impossible to say when his master might not
+      return, and it might be as much as his life was worth to be caught in the
+      house after he had been locked out of it. He begged permission to open the
+      window, and make his escape back to the stables while there was still
+      time. As he unbarred the shutter they were startled by a voice hailing
+      them from below. It was Launce&rsquo;s voice calling to Natalie. The servant
+      disappeared, and Natalie was in Launce&rsquo;s arms before she could breathe
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For one delicious moment she let her head lie on his breast; then she
+      suddenly pushed him away from her. &ldquo;Why do you come here? He will kill you
+      if he finds you in the house. Where is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce knew even less of Turlington&rsquo;s movements than the servant.
+      &ldquo;Wherever he is, thank God, I am here before him!&rdquo; That was all the answer
+      he could give.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie and her aunt heard him in silent dismay. Sir Joseph woke, and
+      recognized Launce before a word more could be said. &ldquo;Ah, my dear boy!&rdquo; he
+      murmured, faintly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pleasant to see you again. How do you come here?&rdquo;
+       He was quite satisfied with the first excuse that suggested itself. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll
+      talk about it to-morrow,&rdquo; he said, and composed himself to rest again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Natalie made a second attempt to persuade Launce to leave the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know what may have happened,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He may have followed
+      you on your way here. He may have purposely let you enter his house. Leave
+      us while you have the chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia added her persuasions. They were useless. Launce quietly
+      closed the heavy window-shutters, lined with iron, and put up the bar.
+      Natalie wrung her hands in despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you been to the magistrate?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Tell us, at least, are you
+      here by his advice? Is he coming to help us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce hesitated. If he had told the truth, he must have acknowledged that
+      he was there in direct opposition to the magistrate&rsquo;s advice. He answered
+      evasively, &ldquo;If the vicar doesn&rsquo;t come, the doctor will. I have told him
+      Sir Joseph must be moved. Cheer up, Natalie! The doctor will be here as
+      soon as Turlington.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As the name passed his lips&mdash;without a sound outside to prepare them
+      for what was coming&mdash;the voice of Turlington himself suddenly
+      penetrated into the room, speaking close behind the window, on the outer
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have broken into my house in the night,&rdquo; said the voice. &ldquo;And you
+      don&rsquo;t escape <i>this</i> way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Lavinia sank on her knees. Natalie flew to her father. His eyes were
+      wide open in terror; he moaned, feebly recognizing the voice. The next
+      sound that was heard was the sound made by the removal of the ladder from
+      the balcony. Turlington, having descended by it, had taken it away.
+      Natalie had but too accurately guessed what would happen. The death of the
+      villain&rsquo;s accomplice had freed him from all apprehension in that quarter.
+      He had deliberately dogged Launce&rsquo;s steps, and had deliberately allowed
+      him to put himself in the wrong by effecting a secret entrance into the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an interval&mdash;a horrible interval&mdash;and then they heard
+      the front door opened. Without stopping (judging by the absence of sound)
+      to close it again, Turlington rapidly ascended the stairs and tried the
+      locked door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come out, and give yourself up!&rdquo; he called through the door. &ldquo;I have got
+      my revolver with me, and I have a right to fire on a man who has broken
+      into my house. If the door isn&rsquo;t opened before I count three, your blood
+      be on your own head. One!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce was armed with nothing but his stick. He advanced, without an
+      instant&rsquo;s hesitation, to give himself up. Natalie threw her arms round him
+      and clasped him fast before he could reach the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two!&rdquo; cried the voice outside, as Launce struggled to force her from him.
+      At the same moment his eye turned toward the bed. It was exactly opposite
+      the door&mdash;it was straight in the line of fire! Sir Joseph&rsquo; s life (as
+      Turlington had deliberately calculated) was actually in greater danger
+      than Launce&rsquo;s life. He tore himself free, rushed to the bed, and took the
+      old man in his arms to lift him out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Three!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The crash of the report sounded. The bullet came through the door, grazed
+      Launce&rsquo;s left arm, and buried itself in the pillow, at the very place on
+      which Sir Joseph&rsquo;s head had rested the moment before. Launce had saved his
+      father-in-law&rsquo;s life. Turlington had fired his first shot for the money,
+      and had not got it yet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were safe in the corner of the room, on the same side as the door&mdash;Sir
+      Joseph, helpless as a child, in Launce&rsquo;s arms; the women pale, but
+      admirably calm. They were safe for the moment, when the second bullet
+      (fired at an angle) tore its way through the wall on their right hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear you,&rdquo; cried the voice of the miscreant on the other side of the
+      door. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have you yet&mdash;through the wall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a pause. They heard his hand sounding the wall, to find out
+      where there was solid wood in the material of which it was built, and
+      where there was plaster only. At that dreadful moment Launce&rsquo;s composure
+      never left him. He laid Sir Joseph softly on the floor, and signed to
+      Natalie and her aunt to lie down by him in silence. Their lives depended
+      now on neither their voices nor their movements telling the murderer where
+      to fire. He chose his place. The barrel of the revolver grated as he laid
+      it against the wall. He touched the hair trigger. A faint <i>click</i> was
+      the only sound that followed. The third barrel had missed fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They heard him ask himself, with an oath, &ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong with it now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a pause of silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Was he examining the weapon?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before they could ask themselves the question, the report of the exploding
+      charge burst on their ears. It was instantly followed by a heavy fall.
+      They looked at the opposite wall of the room. No sign of a bullet there or
+      anywhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Launce signed to them not to move yet. They waited, and listened. Nothing
+      stirred on the landing outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly there was a disturbance of the silence in the lower regions&mdash;a
+      clamor of many voices at the open house door. Had the firing of the
+      revolver been heard at the vicarage? Yes! They recognized the vicar&rsquo;s
+      voice among the others. A moment more, and they heard a general
+      exclamation of horror on the stairs. Launce opened the door of the room.
+      He instantly closed it again before Natalie could follow him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dead body of Turlington lay on the landing outside. The charge in the
+      fourth barrel of the revolver had exploded while he was looking at it. The
+      bullet had entered his mouth and killed him on the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      DOCUMENTARY HINTS, IN CONCLUSION.
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      First Hint.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      (Derived from Lady Winwood&rsquo;s Card-Rack.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Joseph Graybrooke and Miss Graybrooke request the honor of Lord and
+      Lady Winwood&rsquo;s company to dinner, on Wednesday, February 10, at half-past
+      seven o&rsquo;clock. To meet Mr. and Mrs. Launcelot Linzie on their return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Second Hint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (Derived from a recent Money Article in morning Newspaper.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are requested to give the fullest contradiction to unfavorable rumors
+      lately in circulation respecting the firm of Pizzituti, Turlington, and
+      Branca. Some temporary derangement in the machinery of the business was
+      undoubtedly produced in consequence of the sudden death of the lamented
+      managing partner, Mr. Turlington, by the accidental discharge of a
+      revolver which he was examining. Whatever temporary obstacles may have
+      existed are now overcome. We are informed, on good authority, that the
+      well-known house of Messrs. Bulpit Brothers has an interest in the
+      business, and will carry it on until further notice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/1621.txt b/1621.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/1621.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3960 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Miss or Mrs.?
+
+Author: Wilkie Collins
+
+Release Date: March 21, 2006 [EBook #1621]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS OR MRS.? ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by James Rusk and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MISS OR MRS.?
+
+by Wilkie Collins
+
+
+
+
+PERSONS OF THE STORY.
+
+     Sir Joseph Graybrooke. . . . . . . . . .(Knight)
+     Richard Turlington . . . . (Of the Levant Trade)
+     Launcelot Linzie . .(Of the College of Surgeons)
+     James Dicas. . . . . .(Of the Roll of Attorneys)
+     Thomas Wildfang. . . . . .(Superannuated Seaman)
+     Miss Graybrooke. . . . . . (Sir Joseph's Sister)
+     Natalie. . . . . . . . . (Sir Joseph's Daughter)
+     Lady Winwood . . . . . . . .(Sir Joseph's Niece)
+     Amelia} Sophia}. (Lady Winwood's Stepdaughter's)
+     and Dorothea}
+
+
+
+Period: THE PRESENT TIME. Place: ENGLAND.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST SCENE
+
+At Sea.
+
+The night had come to an end. The new-born day waited for its quickening
+light in the silence that is never known on land--the silence before
+sunrise, in a calm at sea.
+
+Not a breath came from the dead air. Not a ripple stirred on the
+motionless water. Nothing changed but the softly-growing light; nothing
+moved but the lazy mist, curling up to meet the sun, its master, on the
+eastward sea. By fine gradations, the airy veil of morning thinned in
+substance as it rose--thinned, till there dawned through it in the first
+rays of sunlight the tall white sails of a Schooner Yacht.
+
+From stem to stern silence possessed the vessel--as silence possessed
+the sea.
+
+But one living creature was on deck--the man at the helm, dozing
+peaceably with his arm over the useless tiller. Minute by minute the
+light grew, and the heat grew with it; and still the helmsman slumbered,
+the heavy sails hung noiseless, the quiet water lay sleeping against
+the vessel's sides. The whole orb of the sun was visible above the
+water-line, when the first sound pierced its way through the morning
+silence. From far off over the shining white ocean, the cry of a
+sea-bird reached the yacht on a sudden out of the last airy circles of
+the waning mist.
+
+The sleeper at the helm woke; looked up at the idle sails, and yawned
+in sympathy with them; looked out at the sea on either side of him, and
+shook his head obstinately at the superior obstinacy of the calm.
+
+"Blow, my little breeze!" said the man, whistling the sailor's
+invocation to the wind softly between his teeth. "Blow, my little
+breeze!"
+
+"How's her head?" cried a bold and brassy voice, hailing the deck from
+the cabin staircase.
+
+"Anywhere you like, master; all round the compass."
+
+The voice was followed by the man. The owner of the yacht appeared on
+deck.
+
+Behold Richard Turlington, Esq., of the great Levant firm of Pizzituti,
+Turlington & Branca! Aged eight-and-thirty; standing stiffly and
+sturdily at a height of not more than five feet six--Mr. Turlington
+presented to the view of his fellow-creatures a face of the
+perpendicular order of human architecture. His forehead was a straight
+line, his upper lip was another, his chin was the straightest and the
+longest line of all. As he turned his swarthy countenance eastward,
+and shaded his light gray eyes from the sun, his knotty hand plainly
+revealed that it had got him his living by its own labor at one time or
+another in his life. Taken on the whole, this was a man whom it might
+be easy to respect, but whom it would be hard to love. Better company at
+the official desk than at the social table. Morally and physically--if
+the expression may be permitted--a man without a bend in him.
+
+"A calm yesterday," grumbled Richard Turlington, looking with stubborn
+deliberation all round him. "And a calm to-day. Ha! next season I'll
+have the vessel fitted with engines. I hate this!"
+
+"Think of the filthy coals, and the infernal vibration, and leave your
+beautiful schooner as she is. We are out for a holiday. Let the wind and
+the sea take a holiday too."
+
+Pronouncing those words of remonstrance, a slim, nimble, curly-headed
+young gentleman joined Richard Turlington on deck, with his clothes
+under his arm, his towels in his hand, and nothing on him but the
+night-gown in which he had stepped out of his bed.
+
+"Launcelot Linzie, you have been received on board my vessel in the
+capacity of medical attendant on Miss Natalie Graybrooke, at her
+father's request. Keep your place, if you please. When I want your
+advice, I'll ask you for it." Answering in those terms, the elder man
+fixed his colorless gray eyes on the younger with an expression which
+added plainly, "There won't be room enough in this schooner much longer
+for me and for you."
+
+Launcelot Linzie had his reasons (apparently) for declining to let his
+host offend him on any terms whatever.
+
+"Thank you!" he rejoined, in a tone of satirical good humor. "It isn't
+easy to keep my place on board your vessel. I can't help presuming
+to enjoy myself as if I was the owner. The life is such a new one--to
+_me!_ It's so delightfully easy, for instance, to wash yourself here.
+On shore it's a complicated question of jugs and basins and tubs; one is
+always in danger of breaking something, or spoiling something. Here you
+have only to jump out of bed, to run up on deck, and to do this!"
+
+He turned, and scampered to the bows of the vessel. In one instant he
+was out of his night-gown, in another he was on the bulwark, in a third
+he was gamboling luxuriously in sixty fathoms of salt-water.
+
+Turlington's eyes followed him with a reluctant, uneasy attention as
+he swam round the vessel, the only moving object in view. Turlington's
+mind, steady and slow in all its operations, set him a problem to be
+solved, on given conditions, as follows:
+
+"Launcelot Linzie is fifteen years younger than I am. Add to that,
+Launcelot Linzie is Natalie Graybrooke's cousin. Given those two
+advantages--Query: Has he taken Natalie's fancy?"
+
+Turning that question slowly over and over in his mind, Richard
+Turlington seated himself in a corner at the stern of the vessel. He
+was still at work on the problem, when the young surgeon returned to his
+cabin to put the finishing touches to his toilet. He had not reached the
+solution when the steward appeared an hour later and said, "Breakfast is
+ready, sir!"
+
+They were a party of five round the cabin table.
+
+First, Sir Joseph Graybrooke. Inheritor of a handsome fortune made by
+his father and his grandfather in trade. Mayor, twice elected, of a
+thriving provincial town. Officially privileged, while holding that
+dignity, to hand a silver trowel to a royal personage condescending to
+lay a first stone of a charitable edifice. Knighted, accordingly, in
+honor of the occasion. Worthy of the honor and worthy of the occasion.
+A type of his eminently respectable class. Possessed of an amiable, rosy
+face, and soft, silky white hair. Sound in his principles; tidy in his
+dress; blessed with moderate politics and a good digestion--a harmless,
+healthy, spruce, speckless, weak-minded old man.
+
+Secondly, Miss Lavinia Graybrooke, Sir Joseph's maiden sister.
+Personally, Sir Joseph in petticoats. If you knew one you knew the
+other.
+
+Thirdly, Miss Natalie Graybrooke--Sir Joseph's only child.
+
+She had inherited the personal appearance and the temperament of her
+mother--dead many years since. There had been a mixture of Negro
+blood and French blood in the late Lady Graybrooke's family, settled
+originally in Martinique. Natalie had her mother's warm dusky color, her
+mother's superb black hair, and her mother's melting, lazy, lovely
+brown eyes. At fifteen years of age (dating from her last birthday) she
+possessed the development of the bosom and limbs which in England is
+rarely attained before twenty. Everything about the girl--except her
+little rosy ears--was on a grand Amazonian scale. Her shapely hand was
+long and large; her supple waist was the waist of a woman. The indolent
+grace of all her movements had its motive power in an almost masculine
+firmness of action and profusion of physical resource. This remarkable
+bodily development was far from being accompanied by any corresponding
+development of character. Natalie's manner was the gentle, innocent
+manner of a young girl. She had her father's sweet temper ingrafted on
+her mother's variable Southern nature. She moved like a goddess, and she
+laughed like a child. Signs of maturing too rapidly--of outgrowing her
+strength, as the phrase went--had made their appearance in Sir
+Joseph's daughter during the spring. The family doctor had suggested
+a sea-voyage, as a wise manner of employing the fine summer months.
+Richard Turlington's yacht was placed at her disposal, with Richard
+Turlington himself included as one of the fixtures of the vessel.
+With her father and her aunt to keep up round her the atmosphere of
+home--with Cousin Launcelot (more commonly known as "Launce") to
+carry out, if necessary, the medical treatment prescribed by superior
+authority on shore--the lovely invalid embarked on her summer cruise,
+and sprang up into a new existence in the life-giving breezes of
+the sea. After two happy months of lazy coasting round the shores of
+England, all that remained of Natalie's illness was represented by a
+delicious languor in her eyes, and an utter inability to devote herself
+to anything which took the shape of a serious occupation. As she sat
+at the cabin breakfast-table that morning, in her quaintly-made sailing
+dress of old-fashioned nankeen--her inbred childishness of manner
+contrasting delightfully with the blooming maturity of her form--the man
+must have been trebly armed indeed in the modern philosophy who could
+have denied that the first of a woman's rights is the right of being
+beautiful; and the foremost of a woman's merits, the merit of being
+young!
+
+The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who
+have already appeared on the deck of the yacht.
+
+"Not a breath of wind stirring!" said Richard Turlington. "The weather
+has got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in
+the last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with
+me--you must be longing to get on shore."
+
+He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable
+to the young lady--and plainly unsuccessful in producing any impression
+on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup, instead of
+looking at Richard Turlington.
+
+"You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment," said Launce. "The
+vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our
+breakfast on is as even as your dining-room table at home."
+
+He too addressed himself to Natalie, but without betraying the anxiety
+to please her which had been shown by the other. For all that, _he_
+diverted the girl's attention from her tea-cup; and _his_ idea instantly
+awakened a responsive idea in Natalie's mind.
+
+"It will be so strange on shore," she said, "to find myself in a room
+that never turns on one side, and to sit at a table that never tilts
+down to my knees at one time, or rises up to my chin at another. How I
+shall miss the wash of the water at my ear, and the ring of the bell
+on deck when I am awake at night on land! No interest there in how the
+wind blows, or how the sails are set. No asking your way of the sun,
+when you are lost, with a little brass instrument and a morsel of pencil
+and paper. No delightful wandering wherever the wind takes you, without
+the worry of planning beforehand where you are to go. Oh how I shall
+miss the dear, changeable, inconstant sea! And how sorry I am I'm not a
+man and a sailor!"
+
+This to the guest admitted on board on sufferance, and not one word of
+it addressed, even by chance, to the owner of the yacht!
+
+Richard Turlington's heavy eyebrows contracted with an unmistakable
+expression of pain.
+
+"If this calm weather holds," he went on, addressing himself to Sir
+Joseph, "I am afraid, Graybrooke, I shall not be able to bring you back
+to the port we sailed from by the end of the week."
+
+"Whenever you like, Richard," answered the old gentleman, resignedly.
+"Any time will do for me."
+
+"Any time within reasonable limits, Joseph," said Miss Lavinia,
+evidently feeling that her brother was conceding too much. She spoke
+with Sir Joseph's amiable smile and Sir Joseph's softly-pitched voice.
+Two twin babies could hardly have been more like one another.
+
+While these few words were being exchanged among the elders, a private
+communication was in course of progress between the two young people
+under the cabin table. Natalie's smartly-slippered foot felt its way
+cautiously inch by inch over the carpet till it touched Launce's boot.
+Launce, devouring his breakfast, instantly looked up from his plate,
+and then, at a second touch from Natalie, looked down again in a violent
+hurry. After pausing to make sure that she was not noticed, Natalie
+took up her knife. Under a perfectly-acted pretense of toying with it
+absently, in the character of a young lady absorbed in thought, she
+began dividing a morsel of ham left on the edge of her plate, into six
+tiny pieces. Launce's eye looked in sidelong expectation at the divided
+and subdivided ham. He was evidently waiting to see the collection of
+morsels put to some telegraphic use, previously determined on between
+his neighbor and himself.
+
+In the meanwhile the talk proceeded among the other persons at the
+breakfast-table. Miss Lavinia addressed herself to Launce.
+
+"Do you know, you careless boy, you gave me a fright this morning? I was
+sleeping with my cabin window open, and I was awoke by an awful splash
+in the water. I called for the stewardess. I declare I thought somebody
+had fallen overboard!"
+
+Sir Joseph looked up briskly; his sister had accidentally touched on an
+old association.
+
+"Talk of falling overboard," he began, "reminds me of an extraordinary
+adventure--"
+
+There Launce broke in, making his apologies.
+
+"It shan't occur again, Miss Lavinia," he said. "To-morrow morning I'll
+oil myself all over, and slip into the water as silently as a seal."
+
+"Of an extraordinary adventure," persisted Sir Joseph, "which happened
+to me many years ago, when I was a young man. Lavinia?"
+
+He stopped, and looked interrogatively at his sister. Miss Graybrooke
+nodded her head responsively, and settled herself in her chair, as if
+summoning her attention in anticipation of a coming demand on it. To
+persons well acquainted with the brother and sister these proceedings
+were ominous of an impending narrative, protracted to a formidable
+length. The two always told a story in couples, and always differed
+with each other about the facts, the sister politely contradicting
+the brother when it was Sir Joseph's story, and the brother politely
+contradicting the sister when it was Miss Lavinia's story. Separated one
+from the other, and thus relieved of their own habitual interchange
+of contradiction, neither of them had ever been known to attempt the
+relation of the simplest series of events without breaking down.
+
+"It was five years before I knew you, Richard," proceeded Sir Joseph.
+
+"Six years," said Miss Graybrooke.
+
+"Excuse me, Lavinia."
+
+"No, Joseph, I have it down in my diary."
+
+"Let us waive the point." (Sir Joseph invariably used this formula as a
+means of at once conciliating his sister, and getting a fresh start for
+his story.) "I was cruising off the Mersey in a Liverpool pilot-boat. I
+had hired the boat in company with a friend of mine, formerly notorious
+in London society, under the nickname (derived from the peculiar brown
+color of his whiskers) of 'Mahogany Dobbs.'"
+
+"The color of his liveries, Joseph, not the color of his whiskers."
+
+"My dear Lavinia, you are thinking of 'Sea-green Shaw,' so called from
+the extraordinary liveries he adopted for his servants in the year when
+he was sheriff."
+
+"I think not, Joseph."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Lavinia."
+
+Richard Turlington's knotty fingers drummed impatiently on the table. He
+looked toward Natalie. She was idly arranging her little morsels of
+ham in a pattern on her plate. Launcelot Linzie, still more idly, was
+looking at the pattern. Seeing what he saw now, Richard solved the
+problem which had puzzled him on deck. It was simply impossible that
+Natalie's fancy could be really taken by such an empty-headed fool as
+that!
+
+Sir Joseph went on with his story:
+
+"We were some ten or a dozen miles off the mouth of the Mersey--"
+
+"Nautical miles, Joseph."
+
+"It doesn't matter, Lavinia."
+
+"Excuse me, brother, the late great and good Doctor Johnson said
+accuracy ought always to be studied even in the most trifling things."
+
+"They were common miles, Lavinia."
+
+"They were nautical miles, Joseph."
+
+"Let us waive the point. Mahogany Dobbs and I happened to be below in
+the cabin, occupied--"
+
+Here Sir Joseph paused (with his amiable smile) to consult his
+memory. Miss Lavinia waited (with _her_ amiable smile) for the coming
+opportunity of setting her brother right. At the same moment Natalie
+laid down her knife and softly touched Launce under the table. When
+she thus claimed his attention the six pieces of ham were arranged as
+follows in her plate: Two pieces were placed opposite each other, and
+four pieces were ranged perpendicularly under them. Launce looked, and
+twice touched Natalie under the table. Interpreted by the Code agreed
+on between the two, the signal in the plate meant, "I must see you in
+private." And Launce's double touch answered, "After breakfast."
+
+Sir Joseph proceeded with his story. Natalie took up her knife again.
+Another signal coming!
+
+"We were both down in the cabin, occupied in finishing our dinner--"
+
+"Just sitting down to lunch, Joseph."
+
+"My dear! I ought to know."
+
+"I only repeat what I heard, brother. The last time you told the story,
+you and your friend were sitting down to lunch."
+
+"We won't particularize, Lavinia. Suppose we say occupied over a meal?"
+
+"If it is of no more importance than that, Joseph, it would be surely
+better to leave it out altogether."
+
+"Let us waive the point. Well, we were suddenly alarmed by a shout on
+deck, 'Man over-board!' We both rushed up the cabin stairs, naturally
+under the impression that one of our crew had fallen into the sea: an
+impression shared, I ought to add, by the man at the helm, who had given
+the alarm."
+
+Sir Joseph paused again. He was approaching one of the great dramatic
+points in his story, and was naturally anxious to present it as
+impressively as possible. He considered with himself, with his head a
+little on one side. Miss Lavinia considered with _herself_, with _her_
+head a little on one side. Natalie laid down her knife again, and again
+touched Launce under the table. This time there were five pieces of ham
+ranged longitudinally on the plate, with one piece immediately under
+them at the center of the line. Interpreted by the Code, this signal
+indicated two ominous words, "Bad news." Launce looked significantly
+at the owner of the yacht (meaning of the look, "Is he at the bottom of
+it?"). Natalie frowned in reply (meaning of the frown, "Yes, he is").
+Launce looked down again into the plate. Natalie instantly pushed all
+the pieces of ham together in a little heap (meaning of the heap, "No
+more to say").
+
+"Well?" said Richard Turlington, turning sharply on Sir Joseph. "Get on
+with your story. What next?"
+
+Thus far he had not troubled himself to show even a decent pretense of
+interest in his old friend's perpetually-interrupted narrative. It was
+only when Sir Joseph had reached his last sentence--intimating that the
+man overboard might turn out in course of time not to be a man of the
+pilot-boat's crew--it was only then that Turlington sat up in his chair,
+and showed signs of suddenly feeling a strong interest in the progress
+of the story.
+
+Sir Joseph went on:
+
+"As soon as we got on deck, we saw the man in the water, astern. Our
+vessel was hove up in the wind, and the boat was lowered. The master and
+one of the men took the oars. All told, our crew were seven in number.
+Two away in the boat, a third at the helm, and, to my amazement, when
+I looked round, the other four behind me making our number complete.
+At the same moment Mahogany Dobbs, who was looking through a telescope,
+called out, 'Who the devil can he be? The man is floating on a hen-coop,
+and we have got nothing of the sort on board this pilot-boat.'"
+
+The one person present who happened to notice Richard Turlington's
+face when those words were pronounced was Launcelot Linzie. He--and he
+alone--saw the Levant trader's swarthy complexion fade slowly to a
+livid ashen gray; his eyes the while fixing themselves on Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke with a furtive glare in them like the glare in the eyes of a
+wild beast. Apparently conscious that Launce was looking at him--though
+he never turned his head Launce's way--he laid his elbow on the table,
+lifted his arm, and so rested his face on his hand, while the story went
+on, as to screen it effectually from the young surgeon's view.
+
+"The man was brought on board," proceeded Sir Joseph, "sure enough, with
+a hen-coop--on which he had been found floating. The poor wretch was
+blue with terror and exposure in the water; he fainted when we lifted
+him on deck. When he came to himself he told us a horrible story. He was
+a sick and destitute foreign seaman, and he had hidden himself in the
+hold of an English vessel (bound to a port in his native country) which
+had sailed from Liverpool that morning. He had been discovered, and
+brought before the captain. The captain, a monster in human form, if
+ever there was one yet--"
+
+Before the next word of the sentence could pass Sir Joseph's lips,
+Turlington startled the little party in the cabin by springing suddenly
+to his feet.
+
+"The breeze!" he cried; "the breeze at last!"
+
+As he spoke, he wheeled round to the cabin door so as to turn his back
+on his guests, and hailed the deck.
+
+"Which way is the wind?"
+
+"There is not a breath of wind, sir."
+
+Not the slightest movement in the vessel had been perceptible in the
+cabin; not a sound had been audible indicating the rising of the breeze.
+The owner of the yacht--accustomed to the sea, capable, if necessary,
+of sailing his own vessel--had surely committed a strange mistake! He
+turned again to his friends, and made his apologies with an excess of
+polite regret far from characteristic of him at other times and under
+other circumstances.
+
+"Go on," he said to Sir Joseph, when he had got to the end of his
+excuses; "I never heard such an interesting story in my life. Pray go
+on!"
+
+The request was not an easy one to comply with. Sir Joseph's ideas
+had been thrown into confusion. Miss Lavinia's contradictions (held in
+reserve) had been scattered beyond recall. Both brother and sister were,
+moreover, additionally hindered in recovering the control of their own
+resources by the look and manner of their host. He alarmed, instead
+of encouraging the two harmless old people, by fronting them almost
+fiercely, with his elbows squared on the table, and his face expressive
+of a dogged resolution to sit there and listen, if need be, for the rest
+of his life. Launce was the person who set Sir Joseph going again. After
+first looking attentively at Richard, he took his uncle straight back to
+the story by means of a question, thus:
+
+"You don't mean to say that the captain of the ship threw the man
+overboard?"
+
+"That is just what he did, Launce. The poor wretch was too ill to work
+his passage. The captain declared he would have no idle foreign vagabond
+in his ship to eat up the provisions of Englishmen who worked. With his
+own hands he cast the hen-coop into the water, and (assisted by one of
+his sailors) he threw the man after it, and told him to float back to
+Liverpool with the evening tide."
+
+"A lie!" cried Turlington, addressing himself, not to Sir Joseph, but to
+Launce.
+
+"Are you acquainted with the circumstances?" asked Launce, quietly.
+
+"I know nothing about the circumstances. I say, from my own experience,
+that foreign sailors are even greater blackguards than English sailors.
+The man had met with an accident, no doubt. The rest of his story was a
+lie, and the object of it was to open Sir Joseph's purse."
+
+Sir Joseph mildly shook his head.
+
+"No lie, Richard. Witnesses proved that the man had spoken the truth."
+
+"Witnesses? Pooh! More liars, you mean."
+
+"I went to the owners of the vessel," pursued Sir Joseph. "I got from
+them the names of the officers and the crew, and I waited, leaving the
+case in the hands of the Liverpool police. The ship was wrecked at the
+mouth of the Amazon, but the crew and the cargo were saved. The men
+belonging to Liverpool came back. They were a bad set, I grant you. But
+they were examined separately about the treatment of the foreign sailor,
+and they all told the same story. They could give no account of their
+captain, nor of the sailor who had been his accomplice in the crime,
+except that they had not embarked in the ship which brought the rest of
+the crew to England. Whatever may have become of the captain since, he
+certainly never returned to Liverpool."
+
+"Did you find out his name?"
+
+The question was asked by Turlington. Even Sir Joseph, the least
+observant of men, noticed that it was put with a perfectly unaccountable
+irritability of manner.
+
+"Don't be angry, Richard." said the old gentleman. "What is there to be
+angry about?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I'm not angry--I'm only curious. _Did_ you
+find out who he was?"
+
+"I did. His name was Goward. He was well known at Liverpool as a very
+clever and a very dangerous man. Quite young at the time I am speaking
+of, and a first-rate sailor; famous for taking command of unseaworthy
+ships and vagabond crews. Report described him to me as having made
+considerable sums of money in that way, for a man in his position;
+serving firms, you know, with a bad name, and running all sorts of
+desperate risks. A sad ruffian, Richard! More than once in trouble, on
+both sides of the Atlantic, for acts of violence and cruelty. Dead, I
+dare say, long since."
+
+"Or possibly," said Launce, "alive, under another name, and thriving in
+a new way of life, with more desperate risks in it, of some other sort."
+
+"Are _you_ acquainted with the circumstances?" asked Turlington,
+retorting Launce's question on him, with a harsh ring of defiance in his
+brassy voice.
+
+"What became of the poor foreign sailor, papa?" said Natalie, purposely
+interrupting Launce before he could meet the question angrily asked of
+him, by an angry reply.
+
+"We made a subscription, and spoke to his consul, my dear. He went back
+to his country, poor fellow, comfortably enough."
+
+"And there is an end of Sir Joseph's story," said Turlington, rising
+noisily from his chair. "It's a pity we haven't got a literary man on
+board--he would make a novel of it." He looked up at the skylight as he
+got on his feet. "Here is the breeze, this time," he exclaimed, "and no
+mistake!"
+
+It was true. At last the breeze had come. The sails flapped, the main
+boom swung over with a thump, and the stagnant water, stirred at last,
+bubbled merrily past the vessel's sides.
+
+"Come on deck, Natalie, and get some fresh air," said Miss Lavinia,
+leading the way to the cabin door.
+
+Natalie held up the skirt of her nankeen dress, and exhibited the purple
+trimming torn away over an extent of some yards.
+
+"Give me half an hour first, aunt, in my cabin," she said, "to mend
+this."
+
+Miss Lavinia elevated her venerable eyebrows in amazement.
+
+"You have done nothing but tear your dresses, my dear, since you have
+been in Mr. Turlington's yacht. Most extraordinary! I have torn none of
+mine during the whole cruise."
+
+Natalie's dark color deepened a shade. She laughed, a little uneasily.
+"I am so awkward on board ship," she replied, and turned away and shut
+herself up in her cabin.
+
+Richard Turlington produced his case of cigars.
+
+"Now is the time," he said to Sir Joseph, "for the best cigar of the
+day--the cigar after breakfast. Come on deck."
+
+"You will join us, Launce?" said Sir Joseph.
+
+"Give me half an hour first over my books," Launce replied. "I mustn't
+let my medical knowledge get musty at sea, and I might not feel inclined
+to study later in the day."
+
+"Quite right, my dear boy, quite right."
+
+Sir Joseph patted his nephew approvingly on the shoulder. Launce turned
+away on _his_ side, and shut himself up in his cabin.
+
+The other three ascended together to the deck.
+
+
+
+
+SECOND SCENE.
+
+The Store-Room.
+
+Persons possessed of sluggish livers and tender hearts find two serious
+drawbacks to the enjoyment of a cruise at sea. It is exceedingly
+difficult to get enough walking exercise; and it is next to impossible
+(where secrecy is an object) to make love without being found out.
+Reverting for the moment to the latter difficulty only, life within the
+narrow and populous limits of a vessel may be defined as essentially
+life in public. From morning to night you are in your neighbor's way, or
+your neighbor is in your way. As a necessary result of these conditions,
+the rarest of existing men may be defined as the man who is capable
+of stealing a kiss at sea without discovery. An inbred capacity for
+stratagem of the finest sort; inexhaustible inventive resources;
+patience which can flourish under superhuman trials; presence of mind
+which can keep its balance victoriously under every possible stress of
+emergency--these are some of the qualifications which must accompany
+Love on a cruise, when Love embarks in the character of a contraband
+commodity not duly entered on the papers of the ship.
+
+Having established a Code of Signals which enabled them to communicate
+privately, while the eyes and ears of others were wide open on every
+side of them, Natalie and Launce were next confronted by the more
+serious difficulty of finding a means of meeting together at stolen
+interviews on board the yacht. Possessing none of those precious
+moral qualifications already enumerated as the qualifications of an
+accomplished lover at sea, Launce had proved unequal to grapple with the
+obstacles in his way. Left to her own inventive resources, Natalie
+had first suggested the young surgeon's medical studies as Launce's
+unanswerable excuse for shutting himself up at intervals in the lower
+regions, and had then hit on the happy idea of tearing her trimmings,
+and condemning herself to repair her own carelessness, as the
+all-sufficient reason for similar acts of self-seclusion on her side.
+In this way the lovers contrived, while the innocent ruling authorities
+were on deck, to meet privately below them, on the neutral ground of the
+main cabin; and there, by previous arrangement at the breakfast-table,
+they were about to meet privately now.
+
+Natalie's door was, as usual on these occasions, the first that opened;
+for this sound reason, that Natalie's quickness was the quickness to be
+depended on in case of accident.
+
+She looked up at the sky-light. There were the legs of the two gentlemen
+and the skirts of her aunt visible (and stationary) on the lee side of
+the deck. She advanced a few steps and listened. There was a pause in
+the murmur of the voices above. She looked up again. One pair of legs
+(not her father's) had disappeared. Without an instant's hesitation,
+Natalie darted back to her own door, just in time to escape Richard
+Turlington descending the cabin stairs. All he did was to go to one
+of the drawers under the main-cabin book-case and to take out a map,
+ascending again immediately to the deck. Natalie's guilty conscience
+rushed instantly, nevertheless, to the conclusion that Richard suspected
+her. When she showed herself for the second time, instead of venturing
+into the cabin, she called across it in a whisper,
+
+"Launce!"
+
+Launce appeared at his door. He was peremptorily checked before he could
+cross the threshold.
+
+"Don't stir a step! Richard has been down in the cabin! Richard suspects
+us!"
+
+"Nonsense! Come out."
+
+"Nothing will induce me, unless you can find some other place than the
+cabin."
+
+Some other place? How easy to find it on land! How apparently impossible
+at sea! There was the forecastle (full of men) at one end of the vessel.
+There was the sail room (full of sails) at the other. There was the
+ladies' cabin (used as the ladies' dressing-room; inaccessible, in that
+capacity, to every male human being on board). Was there any disposable
+inclosed space to be found amidships? On one side there were the
+sleeping berths of the sailing-master and his mate (impossible to
+borrow _them_). On the other side was the steward's store-room. Launce
+considered for a moment. The steward's store-room was just the thing!
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Natalie, as her lover made straight for a
+closed door at the lower extremity of the main cabin.
+
+"To speak to the steward, darling. Wait one moment, and you will see me
+again."
+
+Launce opened the store-room door, and discovered, not the steward, but
+his wife, who occupied the situation of stewardess on board the vessel.
+The accident was, in this case, a lucky one. Having stolen several
+kisses at sea, and having been discovered (in every case) either by the
+steward or his wife, Launce felt no difficulty in prefacing his request
+to be allowed the use of the room by the plainest allusion to
+his relations with Natalie. He could count on the silence of the
+sympathizing authorities in this region of the vessel, having wisely
+secured them as accomplices by the usual persuasion of the pecuniary
+sort. Of the two, however, the stewardess, as a woman, was the more
+likely to lend a ready ear to Launce's entreaties in his present
+emergency. After a faint show of resistance, she consented, not only to
+leave the room, but to keep her husband out of it, on the understanding
+that it was not to be occupied for more than ten minutes. Launce made
+the signal to Natalie at one door, while the stewardess went out by the
+other. In a moment more the lovers were united in a private room. Is it
+necessary to say in what language the proceedings were opened? Surely
+not! There is an inarticulate language of the lips in use on these
+occasions in which we are all proficient, though we sometimes forget it
+in later life. Natalie seated herself on a locker. The tea, sugar, and
+spices were at her back, a side of bacon swung over her head, and a net
+full of lemons dangled before her face. It might not be roomy, but it
+was snug and comfortable.
+
+"Suppose they call for the steward?" she suggested. ("Don't, Launce!")
+
+"Never mind. We shall be safe enough if they do. The steward has only to
+show himself on deck, and they will suspect nothing."
+
+"Do be quiet, Launce! I have got dreadful news to tell you. And,
+besides, my aunt will expect to see me with my braid sewn on again."
+
+She had brought her needle and thread with her. Whipping up the skirt
+of her dress on her knee, she bent forward over it, and set herself
+industriously to the repair of the torn trimming. In this position her
+lithe figure showed charmingly its firm yet easy line. The needle, in
+her dexterous brown fingers, flew through its work. The locker was a
+broad one; Launce was able to seat himself partially behind her. In this
+position who could have resisted the temptation to lift up her great
+knot of broadly-plaited black hair, and to let the warm, dusky nape
+of her neck disclose itself to view? Who, looking at it, could fail to
+revile the senseless modern fashion of dressing the hair, which hides
+the double beauty of form and color that nestles at the back of a
+woman's neck? From time to time, as the interview proceeded, Launce's
+lips emphasized the more important words occurring in his share of the
+conversation on the soft, fragrant skin which the lifted hair let him
+see at intervals. In Launce's place, sir, you would have done it too.
+
+"Now, Natalie, what is the news?"
+
+"He has spoken to papa, Launce."
+
+"Richard Turlington?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"D--n him!"
+
+Natalie started. A curse addressed to the back of your neck, instantly
+followed by a blessing in the shape of a kiss, is a little trying when
+you are not prepared for it.
+
+"Don't do that again, Launce! It was while you were on deck smoking,
+and when I was supposed to be fast asleep. I opened the ventilator in
+my cabin door, dear, and I heard every word they said. He waited till my
+aunt was out of the way, and he had got papa all to himself, and then he
+began it in that horrible, downright voice of his--'Graybrooke! how much
+longer am I to wait?'"
+
+"Did he say that?"
+
+"No more swearing, Launce! Those were the words. Papa didn't understand
+them. He only said (poor dear!)--'Bless my soul, Richard, what do you
+want?' Richard soon explained himself. 'Who could he be waiting for--but
+Me?' Papa said something about my being so young. Richard stopped his
+mouth directly. 'Girls were like fruit; some ripened soon, and some
+ripened late. Some were women at twenty, and some were women at sixteen.
+It was impossible to look at me, and not see that I was like a new being
+after my two months at sea,' and so on and so on. Papa behaved like an
+angel. He still tried to put it off. 'Plenty of time, Richard, plenty
+of time.' 'Plenty of time for _her_' (was the wretch's answer to that);
+'but not for _me_. Think of all I have to offer her' (as if I cared for
+his money!); 'think how long I have looked upon her as growing up to
+be my wife' (growing up for _him_--monstrous!), 'and don't keep me in
+a state of uncertainty, which it gets harder and harder for a man in my
+position to endure!' He was really quite eloquent. His voice trembled.
+There is no doubt, dear, that he is very, very fond of me."
+
+"And you feel flattered by it, of course?"
+
+"Don't talk nonsense. I feel a little frightened at it, I can tell you."
+
+"Frightened? Did _you_ notice him this morning?"
+
+"I? When?"
+
+"When your father was telling that story about the man overboard."
+
+"No. What did he do? Tell me, Launce."
+
+"I'll tell you directly. How did it all end last night? Did your father
+make any sort of promise?"
+
+"You know Richard's way; Richard left him no other choice. Papa had to
+promise before he was allowed to go to bed."
+
+"To let Turlington marry you?"
+
+"Yes; the week after my next birthday."
+
+"The week after next Christmas-day?"
+
+"Yes. Papa is to speak to me as soon as we are at home again, and my
+married life is to begin with the New Year."
+
+"Are you in earnest, Natalie? Do you really mean to say it has gone as
+far as that?"
+
+"They have settled everything. The splendid establishment we are to set
+up, the great income we are to have. I heard papa tell Richard that half
+his fortune should go to me on my wedding-day. It was sickening to hear
+how much they made of Money, and how little they thought of Love. What
+am I to do, Launce?"
+
+"That's easily answered, my darling. In the first place, you are to make
+up your mind not to marry Richard Turlington--"
+
+"Do talk reasonably. You know I have done all I could. I have told papa
+that I can think of Richard as a friend, but not as a husband. He only
+laughs at me, and says, 'Wait a little, and you will alter your opinion,
+my dear.' You see Richard is everything to him; Richard has always
+managed his affairs, and has saved him from losing by bad speculations;
+Richard has known me from the time when I was a child; Richard has a
+splendid business, and quantities of money. Papa can't even imagine that
+I can resist Richard. I have tried my aunt; I have told her he is too
+old for me. All she says is, 'Look at your father; he was much older
+than your mother, and what a happy marriage theirs was.' Even if I said
+in so many words, 'I won't marry Richard,' what good would it do to us?
+Papa is the best and dearest old man in the world; but oh, he is so fond
+of money! He believes in nothing else. He would be furious--yes, kind as
+he is, he would be furious--if I even hinted that I was fond of _you_.
+Any man who proposed to marry me--if he couldn't match the fortune that
+I should bring him by a fortune of his own--would be a lunatic in papa's
+eyes. He wouldn't think it necessary to answer him; he would ring the
+bell, and have him shown out of the house. I am exaggerating nothing,
+Launce; you know I am speaking the truth. There is no hope in the
+future--that I can see--for either of us.
+
+"Have you done, Natalie? I have something to say on my side if you
+have."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"If things go on as they are going on now, shall I tell you how it will
+end? It will end in your being Turlington's wife."
+
+"Never!"
+
+"So you say now; but you don't know what may happen between this and
+Christmas-day. Natalie, there is only one way of making sure that you
+will never marry Richard. Marry _me_."
+
+"Without papa's consent?"
+
+"Without saying a word to anybody till it's done."
+
+"Oh, Launce! Launce!"
+
+"My darling, every word you have said proves there is no other way.
+Think of it, Natalie, think of it."
+
+There was a pause. Natalie dropped her needle and thread, and hid her
+face in her hands. "If my poor mother was only alive," she said; "if I
+only had an elder sister to advise me, and to take my part."
+
+She was evidently hesitating. Launce took a man's advantage of her
+indecision. He pressed her without mercy.
+
+"Do you love me?" he whispered, with his lips close to her ear.
+
+"You know I do, dearly."
+
+"Put it out of Richard's power to part us, Natalie."
+
+"Part us? We are cousins: we have known each other since we were both
+children. Even if he proposed parting us, papa wouldn't allow it."
+
+"Mark my words, he _will_ propose it. As for your father, Richard
+has only to lift his finger and your father obeys him. My love, the
+happiness of both our lives is at stake." He wound his arm round her,
+and gently drew her head back on his bosom, "Other girls have done it,
+darling," he pleaded, "why shouldn't you?"
+
+The effort to answer him was too much for her. She gave it up. A low
+sigh fluttered through her lips. She nestled closer to him, and faintly
+closed her eyes. The next instant she started up, trembling from head
+to foot, and looked at the sky-light. Richard Turlington's voice was
+suddenly audible on deck exactly above them.
+
+"Graybrooke, I want to say a word to you about Launcelot Linzie."
+
+Natalie's first impulse was to fly to the door. Hearing Launce's name on
+Richard's lips, she checked herself. Something in Richard's tone roused
+in her the curiosity which suspends fear. She waited, with her hand in
+Launce's hand.
+
+"If you remember," the brassy voice went on, "I doubted the wisdom of
+taking him with us on this cruise. You didn't agree with me, and, at
+your express request, I gave way. I did wrong. Launcelot Linzie is a
+very presuming young man."
+
+Sir Joseph's answer was accompanied by Sir Joseph's mellow laugh.
+
+"My dear Richard! Surely you are a little hard on Launce?"
+
+"You are not an observant man, Graybrooke. I am. I see signs of his
+presuming with all of us, and especially with Natalie. I don't like
+the manner in which he speaks to her and looks at her. He is unduly
+familiar; he is insolently confidential. There must be a stop put to it.
+In my position, my feelings ought to be regarded. I request you to check
+the intimacy when we get on shore."
+
+Sir Joseph's next words were spoken more seriously. He expressed his
+surprise.
+
+"My dear Richard, they are cousins, they have been playmates from
+childhood. How _can_ you think of attaching the slightest importance to
+anything that is said or done by poor Launce?"
+
+There was a good-humored contempt in Sir Joseph's reference to "poor
+Launce" which jarred on his daughter. He might almost have been alluding
+to some harmless domestic animal. Natalie's color deepened. Her hand
+pressed Launce's hand gently.
+
+Turlington still persisted.
+
+"I must once more request--seriously request--that you will check this
+growing intimacy. I don't object to your asking him to the house when
+you ask other friends. I only wish you (and expect you) to stop his
+'dropping in,' as it is called, any hour of the day or evening when he
+may have nothing to do. Is that understood between us?"
+
+"If you make a point of it, Richard, of course it's understood between
+us."
+
+Launce looked at Natalie, as weak Sir Joseph consented in those words.
+
+"What did I tell you?" he whispered.
+
+Natalie hung her head in silence. There was a pause in the conversation
+on deck. The two gentlemen walked away slowly toward the forward part of
+the vessel.
+
+Launce pursued his advantage.
+
+"Your father leaves us no alternative," he said. "The door will be
+closed against me as soon as we get on shore. If I lose you, Natalie, I
+don't care what becomes of me. My profession may go to the devil. I have
+nothing left worth living for."
+
+"Hush! hush! don't talk in that way!"
+
+Launce tried the soothing influence of persuasion once more.
+
+"Hundreds and hundreds of people in our situation have married
+privately--and have been forgiven afterward," he went on. "I won't ask
+you to do anything in a hurry. I will be guided entirely by your wishes.
+All I want to quiet my mind is to know that you are mine. Do, do, do
+make me feel sure that Richard Turlington can't take you away from me."
+
+"Don't press me, Launce." She dropped on the locker. "See!" she said.
+"It makes me tremble only to think of it!"
+
+"Who are you afraid of, darling? Not your father, surely?"
+
+"Poor papa! I wonder whether he would be hard on me for the first time
+in his life?" She stopped; her moistening eyes looked up imploringly in
+Launce's face. "Don't press me!" she repeated faintly. "You know it's
+wrong. We should have to confess it--and then what would happen?" She
+paused again. Her eyes wandered nervously to the deck. Her voice dropped
+to its lowest tones. "Think of Richard!" she said, and shuddered at the
+terrors which that name conjured up. Before it was possible to say a
+quieting word to her, she was again on her feet. Richard's name had
+suddenly recalled to her memory Launce's mysterious allusion, at the
+outset of the interview, to the owner of the yacht. "What was that you
+said about Richard just now?" she asked. "You saw something (or heard
+something) strange while papa was telling his story. What was it?"
+
+"I noticed Richard's face, Natalie, when your father told us that the
+man overboard was not one of the pilot-boat's crew. He turned ghastly
+pale. He looked guilty--"
+
+"Guilty? Of what?"
+
+"He was present--I am certain of it--when the sailor was thrown into the
+sea. For all I know, he may have been the man who did it."
+
+Natalie started back in horror.
+
+"Oh, Launce! Launce! that is too bad. You may not like Richard--you may
+treat Richard as your enemy. But to say such a horrible thing of him as
+that--It's not generous. It's not like _you_."
+
+"If you had seen him, you would have said it too. I mean to make
+inquiries--in your father's interests as well as in ours. My brother
+knows one of the Commissioners of Police, and my brother can get it done
+for me. Turlington has not always been in the Levant trade--I know that
+already."
+
+"For shame, Launce! for shame!"
+
+The footsteps on deck were audible coming back. Natalie sprang to the
+door leading into the cabin. Launce stopped her, as she laid her hand on
+the lock. The footsteps went straight on toward the stern of the vessel.
+Launce clasped both arms round her. Natalie gave way.
+
+"Don't drive me to despair!" he said. "This is my last opportunity. I
+don't ask you to say at once that you will marry me, I only ask you to
+think of it. My darling! my angel! will you think of it?"
+
+As he put the question, they might have heard (if they had not been
+too completely engrossed in each other to listen) the footsteps
+returning--one pair of footsteps only this time. Natalie's prolonged
+absence had begun to surprise her aunt, and had roused a certain vague
+distrust in Richard's mind. He walked back again along the deck by
+himself. He looked absently in the main cabin as he passed it. The
+store-room skylight came next. In his present frame of mind, would he
+look absently into the store-room too?
+
+"Let me go!" said Natalie.
+
+Launce only answered, "Say yes," and held her as if he would never let
+her go again.
+
+At the same moment Miss Lavinia's voice rose shrill from the deck
+calling for Natalie. There was but one way of getting free from him. She
+said, "I'll think of it." Upon that, he kissed her and let her go.
+
+The door had barely closed on her when the lowering face of Richard
+Turlington appeared on a level with the side of the sky-light, looking
+down into the store-room at Launce.
+
+"Halloo!" he called out roughly. "What are you doing in the steward's
+room?"
+
+Launce took up a box of matches on the dresser. "I'm getting a light,"
+he answered readily.
+
+"I allow nobody below, forward of the main cabin, without my leave. The
+steward has permitted a breach of discipline on board my vessel. The
+steward will leave my service."
+
+"The steward is not to blame."
+
+"I am the judge of that. Not you."
+
+Launce opened his lips to reply. An outbreak between the two men
+appeared to be inevitable, when the sailing-master of the yacht joined
+his employer on deck, and directed Turlington's attention to a question
+which is never to be trifled with at sea, the question of wind and tide.
+
+The yacht was then in the Bristol Channel, at the entrance to Bideford
+Bay. The breeze, fast freshening, was also fast changing the direction
+from which it blew. The favorable tide had barely three hours more to
+run.
+
+"The wind's shifting, sir," said the sailing-master. "I'm afraid we
+shan't get round the point this tide, unless we lay her off on the other
+tack."
+
+Turlington shook his head.
+
+"There are letters waiting for me at Bideford," he said. "We have lost
+two days in the calm. I must send ashore to the post-office, whether we
+lose the tide or not."
+
+The vessel held on her course. Off the port of Bideford, the boat was
+sent ashore to the post-office, the yacht standing off and on, waiting
+the appearance of the letters. In the shortest time in which it was
+possible to bring them on board the letters were in Turlington's hands.
+
+The men were hauling the boat up to the davits, the yacht was already
+heading off from the land, when Turlington startled everybody by one
+peremptory word--"Stop!"
+
+He had thrust all his letters but one into the pocket of his sailing
+jacket, without reading them. The one letter which he had opened he held
+in his closed hand. Rage was in his staring eyes, consternation was on
+his pale lips.
+
+"Lower the boat!" he shouted; "I must get to London to-night." He
+stopped Sir Joseph, approaching him with opened mouth. "There's no time
+for questions and answers. I must get back." He swung himself over the
+side of the yacht, and addressed the sailing-master from the boat. "Save
+the tide if you can; if you can't, put them ashore to-morrow at Minehead
+or Watchet--wherever they like." He beckoned to Sir Joseph to lean over
+the bulwark, and hear something he had to say in private. "Remember what
+I told you about Launcelot Linzie!" he whispered fiercely. His parting
+look was for Natalie. He spoke to her with a strong constraint on
+himself, as gently as he could. "Don't be alarmed; I shall see you in
+London." He seated himself in the boat and took the tiller. The last
+words they heard him say were words urging the men at the oars to
+lose no time. He was invariably brutal with the men. "Pull, you lazy
+beggars!" he exclaimed, with an oath. "Pull for your lives!"
+
+
+
+
+THIRD SCENE.
+
+The Money Market.
+
+Let us be serious.--Business!
+
+The new scene plunges us head foremost into the affairs of the Levant
+trading-house of Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca. What on earth do we
+know about the Levant Trade? Courage! If we have ever known what it is
+to want money we are perfectly familiar with the subject at starting.
+The Levant Trade does occasionally get into difficulties.--Turlington
+wanted money.
+
+The letter which had been handed to him on board the yacht was from his
+third partner, Mr. Branca, and was thus expressed:
+
+"A crisis in the trade. All right, so far--except our business with
+the small foreign firms. Bills to meet from those quarters, (say) forty
+thousand pounds--and, I fear, no remittances to cover them. Particulars
+stated in another letter addressed to you at Post-office, Ilfracombe. I
+am quite broken down with anxiety, and confined to my bed. Pizzituti is
+still detained at Smyrna. Come back at once."
+
+The same evening Turlington was at his office in Austin Friars,
+investigating the state of affairs, with his head clerk to help him.
+
+Stated briefly, the business of the firm was of the widely miscellaneous
+sort. They plied a brisk trade in a vast variety of commodities. Nothing
+came amiss to them, from Manchester cotton manufactures to Smyrna figs.
+They had branch houses at Alexandria and Odessa, and correspondents
+here, there, and everywhere, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and
+in the ports of the East. These correspondents were the persons alluded
+to in Mr. Branca's letter as "small foreign firms;" and they had
+produced the serious financial crisis in the affairs of the great house
+in Austin Friars, which had hurried Turlington up to London.
+
+Every one of these minor firms claimed and received the privilege of
+drawing bills on Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca for amounts varying
+from four to six thousand pounds--on no better security than a verbal
+understanding that the money to pay the bills should be forwarded before
+they fell due. Competition, it is needless to say, was at the bottom of
+this insanely reckless system of trading. The native firms laid it down
+as a rule that they would decline to transact business with any house
+in the trade which refused to grant them their privilege. In the ease of
+Turlington's house, the foreign merchants had drawn their bills on him
+for sums large in the aggregate, if not large in themselves; had long
+since turned those bills into cash in their own markets, for their own
+necessities; and had now left the money which their paper represented
+to be paid by their London correspondents as it fell due. In some
+instances, they had sent nothing but promises and excuses. In others,
+they had forwarded drafts on firms which had failed already, or which
+were about to fail, in the crisis. After first exhausting his
+resources in ready money, Mr. Branca had provided for the more pressing
+necessities by pledging the credit of the house, so far as he _could_
+pledge it without exciting suspicion of the truth. This done, there were
+actually left, between that time and Christmas, liabilities to be met to
+the extent of forty thousand pounds, without a farthing in hand to pay
+that formidable debt.
+
+After working through the night, this was the conclusion at which
+Richard Turlington arrived, when the rising sun looked in at him through
+the windows of his private room.
+
+The whole force of the blow had fallen on _him_. The share of his
+partners in the business was of the most trifling nature. The capital
+was his, the risk was his. Personally and privately, _he_ had to find
+the money, or to confront the one other alternative--ruin.
+
+How was the money to be found?
+
+With his position in the City, he had only to go to the famous
+money-lending and discounting house of Bulpit Brothers--reported to
+"turn over" millions in their business every year--and to supply himself
+at once with the necessary funds. Forty thousand pounds was a trifling
+transaction to Bulpit Brothers.
+
+Having got the money, how, in the present state of his trade, was the
+loan to be paid back?
+
+His thoughts reverted to his marriage with Natalie.
+
+"Curious!" he said to himself, recalling his conversation with Sir
+Joseph on board the yacht. "Graybrooke told me he would give his
+daughter half his fortune on her marriage. Half Graybrooke's fortune
+happens to be just forty thousand pounds!" He took a turn in the room.
+No! It was impossible to apply to Sir Joseph. Once shake Sir Joseph's
+conviction of his commercial solidity, and the marriage would be
+certainly deferred--if not absolutely broken off. Sir Joseph's fortune
+could be made available, in the present emergency, in but one way--he
+might use it to repay his debt. He had only to make the date at which
+the loan expired coincide with the date of his marriage, and there
+was his father-in-law's money at his disposal, or at his wife's
+disposal--which meant the same thing. "It's well I pressed Graybrooke
+about the marriage when I did!" he thought. "I can borrow the money at a
+short date. In three months from this Natalie will be my wife."
+
+He drove to his club to get breakfast, with his mind cleared, for the
+time being, of all its anxieties but one.
+
+Knowing where he could procure the loan, he was by no means equally sure
+of being able to find the security on which he could borrow the
+money. Living up to his income; having no expectations from any living
+creature; possessing in landed property only some thirty or forty
+acres in Somersetshire, with a quaint little dwelling, half farm house,
+half-cottage, attached--he was incapable of providing the needful
+security from his own personal resources. To appeal to wealthy friends
+in the City would be to let those friends into the secret of his
+embarrassments, and to put his credit in peril. He finished his
+breakfast, and went back to Austin Friars--failing entirely, so far, to
+see how he was to remove the last obstacle now left in his way.
+
+The doors were open to the public; business had begun. He had not been
+ten minutes in his room before the shipping-clerk knocked at the door
+and interrupted him, still absorbed in his own anxious thoughts.
+
+"What is it?" he asked, irritably.
+
+"Duplicate Bills of Lading, sir," answered the clerk, placing the
+documents on his ma ster's table.
+
+Found! There was the security on his writing-desk, staring him in the
+face! He dismissed the clerk and examined the papers.
+
+They contained an account of goods shipped to the London house on board
+vessels sailing from Smyrna and Odessa, and they were signed by the
+masters of the ships, who thereby acknowledged the receipt of the goods,
+and undertook to deliver them safely to the persons owning them, as
+directed. First copies of these papers had already been placed in the
+possession of the London house. The duplicates had now followed, in
+case of accident. Richard Turlington instantly determined to make the
+duplicates serve as his security, keeping the first copies privately
+under lock and key, to be used in obtaining possession of the goods
+at the customary time. The fraud was a fraud in appearance only. The
+security was a pure formality. His marriage would supply him with the
+funds needed for repaying the money, and the profits of his business
+would provide, in course of time, for restoring the dowry of his wife.
+It was simply a question of preserving his credit by means which were
+legitimately at his disposal. Within the lax limits of mercantile
+morality, Richard Turlington had a conscience. He put on his hat and
+took his false security to the money-lenders, without feeling at all
+lowered in his own estimation as an honest man.
+
+Bulpit Brothers, long desirous of having such a name as his on their
+books, received him with open arms. The security (covering the amount
+borrowed) was accepted as a matter of course. The money was lent, for
+three months, with a stroke of the pen. Turlington stepped out again
+into the street, and confronted the City of London in the character of
+the noblest work of mercantile creation--a solvent man.*
+
+The Fallen Angel, walking invisibly behind, in Richard's shadow, flapped
+his crippled wings in triumph. From that moment the Fallen Angel had got
+him.
+
+     * It may not be amiss to remind the incredulous reader that
+     a famous firm in the City accepted precisely the same
+     security as that here accepted by Bulpit Brothers, with the
+     same sublime indifference to troubling themselves by making
+     any inquiry about it.
+
+
+
+
+FOURTH SCENE.
+
+Muswell Hill.
+
+The next day Turlington drove to the suburbs, on the chance of finding
+the Graybrookes at home again. Sir Joseph disliked London, and could
+not prevail on himself to live any nearer to the metropolis than Muswell
+Hill. When Natalie wanted a change, and languished for balls, theaters,
+flower-shows, and the like, she had a room especially reserved for her
+in the house of Sir Joseph's married sister, Mrs. Sancroft, living in
+that central deep of the fashionable whirlpool known among mortals as
+Berkeley Square.
+
+On his way through the streets, Turlington encountered a plain proof
+that the Graybrookes must have returned. He was passed by Launce,
+driving, in company with a gentleman, in a cab. The gentleman was
+Launce's brother, and the two were on their way to the Commissioners
+of Police to make the necessary arrangements for instituting an inquiry
+into Turlington's early life.
+
+Arrived at the gate of the villa, the information received only
+partially fulfilled the visitor's expectations. The family had returned
+on the previous evening. Sir Joseph and his sister were at home, but
+Natalie was away again already. She had driven into town to lunch with
+her aunt. Turlington went into the house.
+
+"Have you lost any money?" Those were the first words uttered by Sir
+Joseph when he and Richard met again, after the parting on board the
+yacht.
+
+"Not a farthing. I might have lost seriously, if I had not got back in
+time to set things straight. Stupidity on the part of my people left in
+charge--nothing more. It's all right now."
+
+Sir Joseph lifted his eyes, with heartfelt devotion, to the ceiling.
+"Thank God, Richard!" he said, in tones of the deepest feeling. He rang
+the bell. "Tell Miss Graybrooke Mr. Turlington is here." He turned again
+to Richard. "Lavinia is like me--Lavinia has been so anxious about you.
+We have both of us passed a sleepless night." Miss Lavinia came in. Sir
+Joseph hurried to meet her, and took her affectionately by both hands.
+"My dear! the best of all good news, Richard has not lost a farthing."
+Miss Lavinia lifted _her_ eyes to the ceiling with heartfelt devotion,
+and said, "Thank God, Richard!"--like the echo of her brother's voice;
+a little late, perhaps, for its reputation as an echo, but accurate to
+half a note in its perfect repetition of sound.
+
+Turlington asked the question which it had been his one object to put in
+paying his visit to Muswell Hill.
+
+"Have you spoken to Natalie?"
+
+"This morning," replied Sir Joseph. "An opportunity offered itself after
+breakfast. I took advantage of it, Richard--you shall hear how."
+
+He settled himself in his chair for one of his interminable stories; he
+began his opening sentence--and stopped, struck dumb at the first
+word. There was an unexpected obstacle in the way--his sister was not
+attending to him; his sister had silenced him at starting. The story
+touching, this time, on the question of marriage, Miss Lavinia had her
+woman's interest in seeing full justice done to the subject. She seized
+on her brother's narrative as on property in her own right.
+
+"Joseph should have told you," she began, addressing herself to
+Turlington, "that our dear girl was unusually depressed in spirits this
+morning. Quite in the right frame of mind for a little serious talk
+about her future life. She ate nothing at breakfast, poor child, but a
+morsel of dry toast."
+
+"And marmalade," said Sir Joseph, striking in at the first opportunity.
+The story, on this occasion, being Miss Lavinia's story, the polite
+contradictions necessary to its successful progress were naturally
+transferred from the sister to the brother, and became contradictions on
+Sir Joseph's side.
+
+"No," said Miss Lavinia, gently, "if you _will_ have it, Joseph--jam."
+
+"I beg your pardon," persisted Sir Joseph; "marmalade."
+
+"What _does_ it matter, brother?"
+
+"Sister! the late great and good Doctor Johnson said accuracy ought
+always to be studied even in the most trifling things."
+
+"You _will_ have your way, Joseph--"(this was the formula--answering
+to Sir Joseph's 'Let us waive the point'--which Miss Lavinia used, as
+a means of conciliating her brother, and getting a fresh start for her
+story). "Well, we took dear Natalie out between us, after breakfast,
+for a little walk in the grounds. My brother opened the subject with
+infinite delicacy and tact. 'Circumstances,' he said, 'into which it was
+not then necessary to enter, made it very desirable, young as she was,
+to begin to think of her establishment in life.' And then he referred,
+Richard (so nicely), to your faithful and devoted attachment--"
+
+"Excuse me, Lavinia. I began with Richard's attachment, and then I got
+on to her establishment in life."
+
+"Excuse _me_, Joseph. You managed it much more delicately than you
+suppose. You didn't drag Richard in by the head and shoulders in that
+way."
+
+"Lavinia! I began with Richard."
+
+"Joseph! your memory deceives you."
+
+Turlington's impatience broke through all restraint.
+
+"How did it end?" he asked. "Did you propose to her that we should be
+married in the first week of the New Year?"
+
+"Yes!" said Miss Lavinia.
+
+"No!" said Sir Joseph.
+
+The sister looked at the brother with an expression of affectionate
+surprise. The brother looked at the sister with a fund of amiable
+contradiction, expressed in a low bow.
+
+"Do you really mean to deny, Joseph, that you told Natalie we had
+decided on the first week in the New Year?"
+
+"I deny the New Year, Lavinia. I said early in January."
+
+"You _will_ have your way, Joseph! We were walking in the shrubbery at
+the time. I had our dear girl's arm in mine, and I felt it tremble.
+She suddenly stopped. 'Oh,' she said, 'not so soon!' I said, 'My dear,
+consider Richard!' She turned to her father. She said, 'Don't, pray
+don't press it so soon, papa! I respect Richard; I like Richard as your
+true and faithful friend; but I don't love him as I ought to love him
+if I am to be his wife.' Imagine her talking in that way! What could she
+possibly know about it? Of course we both laughed--"
+
+"_you_ laughed, Lavinia."
+
+"_you_ laughed, Joseph."
+
+"Get on, for God's sake!" cried Turlington, striking his hand
+passionately on the table by which he was sitting. "Don't madden me by
+contradicting each other! Did she give way or not?"
+
+Miss Lavinia turned to her brother. "Contradicting each other, Joseph!"
+she exclaimed, lifting her hands in blank amazement.
+
+"Contradicting each other!" repeated Sir Joseph, equally astonished on
+his side. "My dear Richard, what can you be thinking of? I contradict my
+sister! We never disagreed in our lives."
+
+"I contradict my brother! We have never had a cross word between us from
+the time when we were children."
+
+Turlington internally cursed his own irritable temper.
+
+"I beg your pardon--both of you," he said. "I didn't know what I was
+saying. Make some allowance for me. All my hopes in life are centered in
+Natalie; and you have just told me (in her own words, Miss Lavinia) that
+she doesn't love. You don't mean any harm, I dare say; but you cut me to
+the heart."
+
+This confession, and the look that accompanied it, touched the ready
+sympathies of the two old people in the right place. The remainder of
+the story dropped between them by common consent. They vied with each
+other in saying the comforting words which would allay their dear
+Richard's anxiety. How little he knew of young girls. How could he be
+so foolish, poor fellow! as to attach any serious importance to what
+Natalie had said? As if a young creature in her teens knew the state of
+her own heart! Protestations and entreaties were matters of course, in
+such cases. Tears even might be confidently expected from a right-minded
+girl. It had all ended exactly as Richard would have wished it to end.
+Sir Joseph had said, "My child! this is a matter of experience; love
+will come when you are married." And Miss Lavinia had added, "Dear
+Natalie, if you remembered your poor mother as I remember her, you would
+know that your father's experience is to be relied on." In that way they
+had put it to her; and she had hung her head and had given--all that
+maiden modesty could be expected to give--a silent consent. "The
+wedding-day was fixed for the first week in the New Year." ("No, Joseph;
+not January--the New Year.") "And God bless you, Richard! and may your
+married life be a long and happy one."
+
+So the average ignorance of human nature, and the average belief in
+conventional sentiment, complacently contemplated the sacrifice of one
+more victim on the all-devouring altar of Marriage! So Sir Joseph and
+his sister provided Launcelot Linzie with the one argument which he
+wanted to convince Natalie: "Choose between making the misery of
+your life by marrying _him_, and making the happiness of your life by
+marrying _me._"
+
+"When shall I see her?" asked Turlington, with Miss Lavinia (in tears
+which did _her_ credit) in possession of one of his hands, and Sir
+Joseph (in tears which did _him_ credit) in possession of the other.
+
+"She will be back to dinner, dear Richard. Stay and dine."
+
+"Thank you. I must go into the City first. I will come back and dine."
+
+With that arrangement in prospect, he left them.
+
+An hour later a telegram arrived from Natalie. She had consented to
+dine, as well as lunch, in Berkeley Square--sleeping there that night,
+and returning the next morning. Her father instantly telegraphed back
+by the messenger, insisting on Natalie's return to Muswell Hill that
+evening, in time to meet Richard Turlington at dinner.
+
+"Quite right. Joseph," said Miss Lavinia, looking over her brother's
+shoulder, while he wrote the telegram.
+
+"She is showing a disposition to coquet with Richard," rejoined Sir
+Joseph, with the air of a man who knew female human nature in its
+remotest corners. "My telegram, Lavinia, will have its effect."
+
+Sir Joseph was quite right. His telegram _had_ its effect. It not only
+brought his daughter back to dinner--it produced another result which
+his prophetic faculty had altogether failed to foresee.
+
+The message reached Berkeley Square at five o'clock in the afternoon.
+Let us follow the message.
+
+
+
+
+FIFTH SCENE.
+
+The Square.
+
+Between four and five in the afternoon--when the women of the Western
+regions are in their carriages, and the men are at their clubs--London
+presents few places more conveniently adapted for purposes of private
+talk than the solitary garden inclosure of a square.
+
+On the day when Richard Turlington paid his visit to Muswell Hill, two
+ladies (with a secret between them) unlocked the gate of the railed
+garden in Berkeley Square. They shut the gate after entering the
+inclosure, but carefully forbore to lock it as well, and carefully
+restricted their walk to the westward side of the garden. One of them
+was Natalie Graybrooke. The other was Mrs. Sancroft's eldest daughter.
+A certain temporary interest attached, in the estimation of society,
+to this young lady. She had sold well in the marriage market. In other
+words, she had recently been raised to the position of Lord Winwood's
+second wife; his lordship conferring on the bride not only the honors of
+the peerage, but the additional distinction of being stepmother to his
+three single daughters, all older than herself. In person, Lady Winwood
+was little and fair. In character, she was dashing and resolute--a
+complete contrast to Natalie, and (on that very account) Natalie's bosom
+friend.
+
+"My dear, one ambitious marriage in the family is quite enough! I have
+made up my mind that _you_ shall marry the man you love. Don't tell me
+your courage is failing you--the excuse is contemptible; I decline to
+receive it. Natalie! the men have a phrase which exactly describes your
+character. You want back-bone!"
+
+The bonnet of the lady who expressed herself in these peremptory terms
+barely reached the height of Natalie's shoulder. Natalie might have
+blown the little airy, light-haired, unsubstantial creature over the
+railings of the garden if she had taken a good long breath and stooped
+low enough. But who ever met with a tall woman who had a will of her
+own? Natalie's languid brown eyes looked softly down in submissive
+attention from an elevation of five feet seven. Lady Winwood's brisk
+blue eyes looked brightly up in despotic command from an elevation of
+four feet eleven (in her shoes).
+
+"You are trifling with Mr. Linzie, my dear. Mr. Linzie is a nice fellow.
+I like him. I won't have that."
+
+"Louisa!"
+
+"Mr. Turlington has nothing to recommend him. He is not a well-bred old
+gentleman of exalted rank. He is only an odious brute who happens to
+have made money. You shall _not_ marry Mr. Turlington. And you _shall_
+marry Launcelot Linzie."
+
+"Will you let me speak, Louisa?"
+
+"I will let you answer--nothing more. Didn't you come crying to me this
+morning? Didn't you say, 'Louisa, they have pronounced sentence on me!
+I am to be married in the first week of the New Year. Help me out of it,
+for Heaven's sake!' You said all that, and more. And what did I do when
+I heard your story?"
+
+"Oh, you were so kind--"
+
+"Kind doesn't half express it. I have committed crimes on your account.
+I have deceived my husband and my mother. For your sake I got mamma to
+ask Mr. Linzie to lunch (as _my_ friend!). For your sake I have banished
+my unoffending husband, not an hour since, to his club. You wretched
+girl, who arranged a private conference in the library? Who sent Mr.
+Linzie off to consult his friend in the Temple on the law of clandestine
+marriage? Who suggested your telegraphing home, and stopping here for
+the night? Who made an appointment to meet your young man privately in
+this detestable place in ten minutes' time? I did! I did! I did! All in
+your interests. All to prevent you from doing what I have done--marrying
+to please your family instead of to please yourself. (I don't complain,
+mind, of Lord Winwood, or of his daughters. _He_ is charming; his
+daughters I shall tame in course of time. You are different. And Mr.
+Turlington, as I observed before, is a brute.) Very well. Now what do
+you owe me on your side? You owe it to me at least to know your own
+mind. You don't know it. You coolly inform me that you daren't run
+the risk after all, and that you can't face the consequences on second
+thoughts. I'll tell you what! You don't deserve that nice fellow, who
+worships the very ground you tread on. You are a bread-and-butter miss.
+I don't believe you are fond of him!"
+
+"Not fond of him!" Natalie stopped, and clasped her hands in despair of
+finding language strong enough for the occasion. At the same moment the
+sound of a closing gate caught her ear. She looked round. Launce had
+kept his appointment before his time. Launce was in the garden, rapidly
+approaching them.
+
+"Now for the Law of Clandestine Marriage!" said Lady Winwood. "Mr.
+Linzie, we will take it sitting." She led the way to one of the benches
+in the garden, and placed Launce between Natalie and herself. "Well,
+Chief Conspirator, have you got the License? No? Does it cost too much?
+Can I lend you the money?"
+
+"It costs perjury, Lady Winwood, in my case," said Launce. "Natalie is
+not of age. I can only get a License by taking my oath that I marry her
+with her father's consent." He turned piteously to Natalie. "I couldn't
+very well do that," he said, in the tone of a man who feels bound to
+make an apology, "could I?" Natalie shuddered; Lady Winwood shrugged her
+shoulders.
+
+"In your place a woman wouldn't have hesitated," her ladyship remarked.
+"But men are so selfish. Well! I suppose there is some other way?"
+
+"Yes, there is another way," said Launce. "But there is a horrid
+condition attached to it--"
+
+"Something worse than perjury, Mr. Linzie? Murder?"
+
+"I'll tell you directly, Lady Winwood. The marriage comes first. The
+condition follows. There is only one chance for us. We must be married
+by banns."
+
+"Banns!" cried Natalie. "Why, banns are publicly proclaimed in church!"
+
+"They needn't be proclaimed in _your_ church, you goose," said Lady
+Winwood. "And, even if they were, nobody would be the wiser. You may
+trust implicitly, my dear, in the elocution of an English clergyman!"
+
+"That's just what my friend said," cried Launce. "'Take a lodging near
+a large parish church, in a remote part of London'--(this is my friend's
+advice)--'go to the clerk, tell him you want to be married by banns, and
+say you belong to that parish. As for the lady, in your place I should
+simplify it. I should say she belonged to the parish too. Give an
+address, and have some one there to answer questions. How is the
+clerk to know? He isn't likely to be over-anxious about it--his fee is
+eighteen-pence. The clerk makes his profit out of you, after you are
+married. The same rule applies to the parson. He will have your names
+supplied to him on a strip of paper, with dozens of other names; and he
+will read them out all together in one inarticulate jumble in church.
+You will stand at the altar when your time comes, with Brown and Jones,
+Nokes and Styles, Jack and Gill. All that you will have to do is, to
+take care that your young lady doesn't fall to Jack, and you to Gill,
+by mistake--and there you are, married by banns.' My friend's opinion,
+stated in his own words."
+
+Natalie sighed, and wrung her hands in her lap. "We shall never get
+through it," she said, despondingly.
+
+Lady Winwood took a more cheerful view.
+
+"I see nothing very formidable as yet, my dear. But we have still to
+hear the end of it. You mentioned a condition just now, Mr. Linzie.
+
+"I am coming to the condition, Lady Winwood. You naturally suppose, as
+I did, that I put Natalie into a cab, and run away with her from the
+church door?"
+
+"Certainly. And I throw an old shoe after you for luck, and go home
+again."
+
+Launce shook his head ominously.
+
+"Natalie must go home again as well as you!"
+
+Lady Winwood started. "Is that the condition you mentioned just now?"
+she asked.
+
+"That is the condition. I may marry her without anything serious coming
+of it. But, if I run away with her afterward, and if you are there,
+aiding and abetting me, we are guilty of Abduction, and we may stand,
+side by side, at the bar of the Old Bailey to answer for it!"
+
+Natalie sprang to her feet in horror. Lady Winwood held up one finger
+warningly, signing to her to let Launce go on.
+
+"Natalie is not yet sixteen years old," Launce proceeded. "She must go
+straight back to her father's house from the church, and I must wait
+to run away with her till her next birthday. When she's turned sixteen,
+she's ripe for elopement--not an hour before. There is the law of
+Abduction! Despotism in a free country--that's what I call it!"
+
+Natalie sat down again, with an air of relief.
+
+"It's a very comforting law, I think," she said. "It doesn't force one
+to take the dreadful step of running away from home all at once. It
+gives one time to consider, and plan, and make up one's mind. I can tell
+you this, Launce, if I am to be persuaded into marrying you, the law of
+Abduction is the only thing that will induce me to do it. You ought to
+thank the law, instead of abusing it."
+
+Launce listened--without conviction.
+
+"It's a pleasant prospect," he said, "to part at the church door, and to
+treat my own wife on the footing of a young lady who is engaged to marry
+another gentleman."
+
+"Is it any pleasanter for _me_," retorted Natalie, "to have Richard
+Turlington courting me, when I am all the time your wife? I shall never
+be able to do it. I wish I was dead!"
+
+"Come! come!" interposed Lady Winwood. "It's time to be serious.
+Natalie's birthday, Mr. Linzie, is next Christmas-day. She will be
+sixteen--"
+
+"At seven in the morning," said Launce; "I got that out of Sir Joseph.
+At one minute past seven, Greenwich mean time, we may be off together. I
+got _that_ out of the lawyer."
+
+"And it isn't an eternity to wait from now till Christmas-day. You get
+that, by way of completing the list of your acquisitions, out of
+_me_. In the mean time, can you, or can you not, manage to meet the
+difficulties in the way of the marriage?"
+
+"I have settled everything," Launce answered, confidently. "There is not
+a single difficulty left."
+
+He turned to Natalie, listening to him in amazement, and explained
+himself. It had struck him that he might appeal--with his purse in
+his hand, of course--to the interest felt in his affairs by the late
+stewardess of the yacht. That excellent woman had volunteered to do all
+that she could to help him. Her husband had obtained situations for his
+wife and himself on board another yacht--and they were both eager
+to assist in any conspiracy in which their late merciless master was
+destined to play the part of victim. When on shore, they lived in
+a populous London parish, far away from the fashionable district of
+Berkeley Square, and further yet from the respectable suburb of Muswell
+Hill. A room in the house could be nominally engaged for Natalie, in the
+assumed character of the stewardess's niece--the stewardess undertaking
+to answer any purely formal questions which might be put by the church
+authorities, and to be present at the marriage ceremony. As for Launce,
+he would actually, as well as nominally, live in the district close by;
+and the steward, if needful, would answer for _him_. Natalie might call
+at her parochial residence occasionally, under the wing of Lady Winwood;
+gaining leave of absence from Muswell Hill, on the plea of paying one of
+her customary visits at her aunt's house. The conspiracy, in brief, was
+arranged in all its details. Nothing was now wanting but the consent of
+the young lady; obtaining which, Launce would go to the parish church
+and give the necessary notice of a marriage by banns on the next day.
+There was the plot. What did the ladies think of it?
+
+Lady Winwood thought it perfect.
+
+Natalie was not so easily satisfied.
+
+"My father has always been so kind to me!" she said. "The one thing
+I can't get over, Launce, is distressing papa. If he had been hard on
+me--as some fathers are--I shouldn't mind." She suddenly brightened, as
+if she saw her position in a new light. "Why should you hurry me?" she
+asked. "I am going to dine at my aunt's to-day, and you are coming in
+the evening. Give me time! Wait till to-night."
+
+Launce instantly entered his protest against wasting a moment longer.
+Lady Winwood opened her lips to support him. They were both silenced at
+the same moment by the appearance of one of Mrs. Sancroft's servants,
+opening the gate of the square.
+
+Lady Winwood went forward to meet the man. A suspicion crossed her mind
+that he might be bringing bad news.
+
+"What do you want?" she asked.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my lady--the housekeeper said you were walking here
+with Miss Graybrooke. A telegram for Miss Graybrooke."
+
+Lady Winwood took the telegram from the man's hand; dismissed him, and
+went back with it to Natalie. Natalie opened it nervously. She read
+the message--and instantly changed. Her cheeks flushed deep; her eyes
+flashed with indignation. "Even papa can be hard on me, it seems, when
+Richard asks him!" she exclaimed. She handed the telegram to Launce. Her
+eyes suddenly filled with tears. "_You_ love me," she said, gently--and
+stopped. "Marry me!" she added, with a sudden burst of resolution. "I'll
+risk it!"
+
+As she spoke those words, Lady Winwood read the telegram. It ran thus:
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Muswell Hill. To Miss Natalie Graybrooke;
+Berkeley Square. Come back immediately. You are engaged to dine here
+with Richard Turlington."
+
+Lady Winwood folded up the telegram with a malicious smile. "Well
+done, Sir Joseph!" thought her ladyship. "We might never have persuaded
+Natalie--but for You!"
+
+
+
+
+SIXTH SCENE.
+
+The Church.
+
+The time is morning; the date is early in the month of November. The
+place is a church, in a poor and populous parish in the undiscovered
+regions of London, eastward of the Tower, and hard by the river-side.
+
+A marriage procession of five approaches the altar The bridegroom
+is pale, and the bride is frightened. The bride's friend (a
+resolute-looking little lady) encourages her in whispers. The two
+respectable persons, apparently man and wife, who complete the
+procession, seem to be not quite clear as to the position which they
+occupy at the ceremony. The beadle, as he marshals them before the
+altar, sees something under the surface in this wedding-party. Marriages
+in the lower ranks of life are the only marriages celebrated here. Is
+this a runaway match? The beadle anticipates something out of the common
+in the shape of a fee.
+
+The clergyman (the junior curate) appears from the vestry in his robes.
+The clerk takes his place. The clergyman's eye rests with a sudden
+interest and curiosity on the bride and bridegroom, and on the bride's
+friend; notices the absence of elderly relatives; remarks, in the
+two ladies especially, evidences of refinement and breeding entirely
+unparalleled in his professional experience of brides and brides'
+friends standing before the altar of that church; questions, silently
+and quickly, the eye of the clerk, occupied also in observing the
+strangers with interest "Jenkinson" (the clergyman's look asks), "is
+this all right?" "Sir" (the clerk's look answers), "a marriage by banns;
+all the formalities have been observed." The clergyman opens his book.
+The formalities have been observed; his duty lies plainly before him.
+Attention, Launcelot! Courage, Natalie! The service begins.
+
+Launce casts a last furtive look round the church. Will Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke start up and stop it from one of the empty pews? Is Richard
+Turlington lurking in the organ-loft, and only waiting till the words of
+the service appeal to him to prohibit the marriage, or "else hereafter
+forever to hold his peace?" No. The clergyman proceeds steadily,
+and nothing happens. Natalie's charming face grows paler and paler,
+Natalie's heart throbs faster and faster, as the time comes nearer for
+reading the words which unite them for life. Lady Winwood herself feels
+an unaccustomed fluttering in the region of the bosom. Her ladyship's
+thoughts revert, not altogether pleasantly, to her own marriage: "Ah
+me! what was I thinking of when I was in this position? Of the bride's
+beautiful dress, and of Lady Winwood's coming presentation at court!"
+
+The service advances to the words in which they plight their troth.
+Launce has put the ring on her finger. Launce has repeated the words
+after the clergyman. Launce has married her! Done! Come what may of it,
+done!
+
+The service ends. Bridegroom, bride, and witnesses go into the vestry
+to sign the book. The signing, like the service, is serious. No trifling
+with the truth is possible here. When it comes to Lady Winwood's turn,
+Lady Winwood must write her name. She does it, but without her usual
+grace and decision. She drops her handkerchief. The clerk picks it up
+for her, and notices that a coronet is embroidered in one corner.
+
+The fees are paid. They leave the vestry. Other couples, when it is
+over, are talkative and happy. These two are more silent and more
+embarrassed than ever. Stranger still, while other couples go off with
+relatives and friends, all socially united in honor of the occasion,
+these two and their friends part at the church door. The respectable man
+and his wife go their way on foot. The little lady with the coronet on
+her handkerchief puts the bride into a cab, gets in herself, and directs
+the driver to close the door, while the bridegroom is standing on the
+church steps! The bridegroom's face is clouded, as well it may be. He
+puts his head in at the window of the cab; he possesses himself of the
+bride's hand; he speaks in a whisper; he is apparently not to be shaken
+off. The little lady exerts her authority, separates the clasped hands,
+pushes the bridegroom away, and cries peremptorily to the driver to go
+on. The cab starts; the deserted husband drifts desolately anyhow down
+the street. The clerk, who has seen it all, goes back to the vestry and
+reports what has happened.
+
+The rector (with his wife on his arm) has just dropped into the vestry
+on business in passing. He and the curate are talking about the strange
+marriage. The rector, gravely bent on ascertaining that no blame rests
+with the church, interrogates, and is satisfied. The rector's wife is
+not so easy to deal with. She has looked at the signatures in the book.
+One of the names is familiar to her. She cross-examines the clerk as
+soon as her husband is done with him. When she hears of the coronet on
+the handkerchief she points to the signature of "Louisa Winwood," and
+says to the rector, "I know who it is! Lord Winwood's second wife. I
+went to school with his lordship's daughters by his first marriage. We
+occasionally meet at the Sacred Concerts (on the 'Ladies' Committee');
+I shall find an opportunity of speaking to them. One moment, Mr.
+Jenkinson, I will write down the names before you put away the book.
+'Launcelot Linzie,' 'Natalie Graybrooke.' Very pretty names; quite
+romantic. I do delight in a romance. Good-morning."
+
+She gives the curate a parting smile, and the clerk a parting nod, and
+sails out of the vestry. Natalie, silently returning in Lady Winwood's
+company to Muswell Hill; and Launce, cursing the law of Abduction as he
+roams the streets--little think that the ground is already mined under
+their feet. Richard Turlington may hear of it now, or may hear of
+it later. The discovery of the marriage depends entirely on a chance
+meeting between the lord's daughters and the rector's wife.
+
+
+
+
+SEVENTH SCENE.
+
+The Evening Party.
+
+
+---------------------------------------------------- MR. TURLINGTON,
+
+LADY WINWOOD At Home.
+
+Wednesday, December 15th.--Ten o'clock.
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+"Dearest Natalie--As the brute insists, the brute must have the
+invitation which I inclose. Never mind, my child. You and Launce are
+coming to dinner, and I will see that you have your little private
+opportunities of retirement afterward. All I expect of you in return is,
+_not_ to look (when you come back) as if your husband had been kissing
+you. You will certainly let out the secret of those stolen kisses, if
+you don't take care. At mamma's dinner yesterday, your color (when you
+came out of the conservatory) was a sight to see. Even your shoulders
+were red! They are charming shoulders, I know, and men take the
+strangest fancies sometimes. But, my dear, suppose you wear a chemisette
+next time, if you haven't authority enough over him to prevent his doing
+it again!
+
+"Your affectionate LOUISA."
+
+The private history of the days that had passed since the marriage was
+written in that letter. An additional chapter--of some importance in its
+bearing on the future--was contributed by the progress of events at Lady
+Winwood's party.
+
+By previous arrangement with Natalie, the Graybrookes (invited to
+dinner) arrived early. Leaving her husband and her stepdaughters to
+entertain Sir Joseph and Miss Lavinia, Lady Winwood took Natalie into
+her own boudoir, which communicated by a curtained opening with the
+drawing-room.
+
+"My dear, you are looking positively haggard this evening. Has anything
+happened?"
+
+"I am nearly worn out, Louisa. The life I am leading is so unendurable
+that, if Launce pressed me, I believe I should consent to run away with
+him when we leave your house tonight."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort, if you please. Wait till you are
+sixteen. I delight in novelty, but the novelty of appearing at the Old
+Bailey is beyond my ambition. Is the brute coming to-night?"
+
+"Of course. He insists on following me wherever I go. He lunched at
+Muswell Hill today. More complaints of my incomprehensible coldness to
+him. Another scolding from papa. A furious letter from Launce. If I
+let Richard kiss my hand again in his presence, Launce warns me he will
+knock him down. Oh, the meanness and the guiltiness of the life I am
+leading now! I am in the falsest of all false positions, Louisa, and you
+encouraged me to do it. I believe Richard Turlington suspects us. The
+last two times Launce and I tried to get a minute together at my aunt's,
+he contrived to put himself in our way. There he was, my dear, with
+his scowling face, looking as if he longed to kill Launce. Can you do
+anything for us tonight? Not on my account. But Launce is so impatient.
+If he can't say two words to me alone this evening, he declares he will
+come to Muswell Hill, and catch me in the garden tomorrow."
+
+"Compose yourself, my dear; he shall say his two words to-night."
+
+"How?"
+
+Lady Winwood pointed through the curtained entrance of the boudoir to
+the door of the drawing-room. Beyond the door was the staircase landing.
+And beyond the landing was a second drawing-room, the smaller of the
+two.
+
+"There are only three or four people coming to dinner," her ladyship
+proceeded; "and a few more in the evening. Being a small party, the
+small drawing-room will do for us. This drawing-room will not be
+lighted, and there will be only my reading-lamp here in the boudoir. I
+shall give the signal for leaving the dining-room earlier than usual.
+Launce will join us before the evening party begins. The moment he
+appears, send him in here--boldly before your aunt and all of us."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For your fan. Leave it there under the sofa-cushion before we go down
+to dinner. You will sit next to Launce, and you will give him private
+instructions not to find the fan. You will get impatient--you will go to
+find it yourself--and there you are. Take care of your shoulders, Mrs.
+Linzie! I have nothing more to say."
+
+The guests asked to dinner began to arrive. Lady Winwood was recalled to
+her duties as mistress of the house.
+
+It was a pleasant little dinner--with one drawback. It began too late.
+The ladies only reached the small drawing-room at ten minutes to ten.
+Launce was only able to join them as the clock struck.
+
+"Too late!" whispered Natalie. "He will be here directly."
+
+"Nobody comes punctually to an evening party," said Launce. "Don't let
+us lose a moment. Send me for your fan."
+
+Natalie opened her lips to say the necessary words. Before she could
+speak, the servant announced--"Mr. Turlington."
+
+He came in, with his stiffly-upright shirt collar and his
+loosely-fitting glossy black clothes. He made his sullen and clumsy
+bow to Lady Winwood. And then he did, what he had done dozens of times
+already--he caught Natalie, with her eyes still bright and her face
+still animated (after talking to Launce)--a striking contrast to the
+cold and unimpulsive young lady whom he was accustomed to see while
+Natalie was talking to _him_.
+
+Lord Winwood's daughters were persons of some celebrity in the world of
+amateur music. Noticing the look that Turlington cast at Launce, Lady
+Winwood whispered to Miss Lavinia--who instantly asked the young ladies
+to sing. Launce, in obedience to a sign from Natalie, volunteered to
+find the music-books. It is needless to add that he pitched on the wrong
+volume at starting. As he lifted it from the piano to take it back to
+the stand, there dropped out from between the leaves a printed letter,
+looking like a circular. One of the young ladies took it up, and ran her
+eye over it, with a start.
+
+"The Sacred Concerts!" she exclaimed.
+
+Her two sisters, standing by, looked at each other guiltily: "What will
+the Committee say to us? We entirely forgot the meeting last month."
+
+"Is there a meeting this month?"
+
+They all looked anxiously at the printed letter.
+
+"Yes! The twenty-third of December. Put it down in your book, Amelia."
+Amelia, then and there, put it down among the engagements for the latter
+end of the month. And Natalie's unacknowledged husband placidly looked
+on.
+
+So did the merciless irony of circumstances make Launce the innocent
+means of exposing his own secret to discovery. Thanks to his success
+in laying his hand on the wrong music-book, there would now be a
+meeting--two good days before the elopement could take place--between
+the lord's daughters and the rector's wife!
+
+The guests of the evening began to appear by twos and threes. The
+gentlemen below stairs left the dinner-table, and joined them.
+
+The small drawing-room was pleasantly filled, and no more. Sir Joseph
+Graybrooke, taking Turlington's hand, led him eagerly to their host.
+The talk in the dining-room had turned on finance. Lord Winwood was not
+quite satisfied with some of his foreign investments; and Sir Joseph's
+"dear Richard" was the very man to give him a little sound advice. The
+three laid their heads together in a corner. Launce (watching them)
+slyly pressed Natalie's hand. A renowned "virtuoso" had arrived, and
+was thundering on the piano. The attention of the guests generally was
+absorbed in the performance. A fairer chance of sending Launce for
+the fan could not possibly have offered itself. While the financial
+discussion was still proceeding, the married lovers were ensconced
+together alone in the boudoir.
+
+Lady Winwood (privately observant of their absence) kept her eye on the
+corner, watching Richard Turlington.
+
+He was talking earnestly--with his back toward the company. He neither
+moved nor looked round. It came to Lord Winwood's turn to speak.
+He preserved the same position, listening. Sir Joseph took up the
+conversation next. Then his attention wandered--he knew beforehand what
+Sir Joseph would say. His eyes turned anxiously toward the place in
+which he had left Natalie. Lord Winwood said a word. His head turned
+back again toward the corner. Sir Joseph put an objection. He glanced
+once more over his shoulder--this time at the place in which Launce had
+been standing. The next moment his host recalled his attention, and made
+it impossible for him to continue his scrutiny of the room. At the same
+times two among the evening guests, bound for another party, approached
+to take leave of the lady of the house. Lady Winwood was obliged to
+rise, and attend to them. They had something to say to her before they
+left, and they said it at terrible length, standing so as to intercept
+her view of the proceedings of the enemy. When she had got rid of them
+at last, she looked--and behold Lord Winwood and Sir Joseph were the
+only occupants of the corner!
+
+Delaying one moment, to set the "virtuoso" thundering once more, Lady
+Winwood slipped out of the room and crossed the landing. At the
+entrance to the empty drawing-room she heard Turlington's voice, low and
+threatening, in the boudoir. Jealousy has a Second Sight of its own.
+He had looked in the right place at starting--and, oh heavens! he had
+caught them.
+
+Her ladyship's courage was beyond dispute; but she turned pale as she
+approached the entrance to the boudoir.
+
+There stood Natalie--at once angry and afraid--between the man to
+whom she was ostensibly engaged, and the man to whom she was actually
+married. Turlington's rugged face expressed a martyrdom of suppressed
+fury. Launce--in the act of offering Natalie her fan--smiled, with the
+cool superiority of a man who knew that he had won his advantage, and
+who triumphed in knowing it.
+
+"I forbid you to take your fan from that man's hands," said Turlington,
+speaking to Natalie, and pointing to Launce.
+
+"Isn't it rather too soon to begin 'forbidding'?" asked Lady Winwood,
+good-humoredly.
+
+"Exactly what I say!" exclaimed Launce. "It seems necessary to remind
+Mr. Turlington that he is not married to Natalie yet!"
+
+Those last words were spoken in a tone which made both the women tremble
+inwardly for results. Lady Winwood took the fan from Launce with one
+hand, and took Natalie's arm with the other.
+
+"There is your fan, my dear," she said, in her easy off-hand manner.
+"Why do you allow these two barbarous men to keep you here while the
+great Bootmann is playing the Nightmare Sonata in the next room? Launce!
+Mr. Turlington! follow me, and learn to be musical directly! You have
+only to shut your eyes, and you will fancy you hear four modern German
+composers playing, instead of one, and not the ghost of a melody among
+all the four." She led the way out with Natalie, and whispered, "Did he
+catch you?" Natalie whispered back, "I heard him in time. He only caught
+us looking for the fan." The two men waited behind to have two words
+together alone in the boudoir.
+
+"This doesn't end here, Mr. Linzie!"
+
+Launce smiled satirically. "For once I agree with you," he answered. "It
+doesn't end here, as you say."
+
+Lady Winwood stopped, and looked back at them from the drawing-room
+door. They were keeping her waiting--they had no choice but to follow
+the mistress of the house.
+
+Arrived in the next room, both Turlington and Launce resumed their
+places among the guests with the same object in view. As a necessary
+result of the scene in the boudoir, each had his own special
+remonstrance to address to Sir Joseph. Even here, Launce was beforehand
+with Turlington. He was the first to get possession of Sir Joseph's
+private ear. His complaint took the form of a protest against
+Turlington's jealousy, and an appeal for a reconsideration of the
+sentence which excluded him from Muswell Hill. Watching them from
+a distance, Turlington's suspicious eye detected the appearance of
+something unduly confidential in the colloquy between the two. Under
+cover of the company, he stole behind them and listened.
+
+The great Bootmann had arrived at that part of the Nightmare Sonata in
+which musical sound, produced principally with the left hand, is made to
+describe, beyond all possibility of mistake, the rising of the moon in a
+country church-yard and a dance of Vampires round a maiden's grave. Sir
+Joseph, having no chance against the Vampires in a whisper, was obliged
+to raise his voice to make himself audible in answering and comforting
+Launce. "I sincerely sympathize with you," Turlington heard him say;
+"and Natalie feels about it as I do. But Richard is an obstacle in our
+way. We must look to the consequences, my dear boy, supposing Richard
+found us out." He nodded kindly to his nephew; and, declining to pursue
+the subject, moved away to another part of the room.
+
+Turlington's jealous distrust, wrought to the highest pitch of
+irritability for weeks past, instantly associated the words he had just
+heard with the words spoken by Launce in the boudoir, which had reminded
+him that he was not married to Natalie yet. Was there treachery at work
+under the surface? and was the object to persuade weak Sir Joseph to
+reconsider his daughter's contemplated marriage in a sense favorable
+to Launce? Turlington's blind suspicion overleaped at a bound all the
+manifest improbabilities which forbade such a conclusion as this. After
+an instant's consideration with himself, he decided on keeping his own
+counsel, and on putting Sir Joseph's good faith then and there to a test
+which he could rely on as certain to take Natalie's father by surprise.
+
+"Graybrooke!"
+
+Sir Joseph started at the sight of his future son-in-law's face.
+
+"My dear Richard, you are looking very strangely! Is the heat of the
+room too much for you?"
+
+"Never mind the heat! I have seen enough to-night to justify me in
+insisting that your daughter and Launcelot Linzie shall meet no more
+between this and the day of my marriage." Sir Joseph attempted to speak.
+Turlington declined to give him the opportunity. "Yes! yes! your opinion
+of Linzie isn't mine, I know. I saw you as thick as thieves together
+just now." Sir Joseph once more attempted to make himself heard. Wearied
+by Turlington's perpetual complaints of his daughter and his nephew, he
+was sufficiently irritated by this time to have reported what Launce had
+actually said to him if he had been allowed the chance. But Turlington
+persisted in going on. "I cannot prevent Linzie from being received in
+this house, and at your sister's," he said; "but I can keep him out of
+_my_ house in the country, and to the country let us go. I propose a
+change in the arrangements. Have you any engagement for the Christmas
+holidays?"
+
+He paused, and fixed his eyes attentively on Sir Joseph. Sir Joseph,
+looking a little surprised, replied briefly that he had no engagement.
+
+"In that case," resumed Turlington, "I invite you all to Somersetshire,
+and I propose that the marriage shall take place from my house, and not
+from yours. Do you refuse?"
+
+"It is contrary to the usual course of proceeding in such cases,
+Richard," Sir Joseph began.
+
+"Do you refuse?" reiterated Turlington. "I tell you plainly, I shall
+place a construction of my own upon your motive if you do."
+
+"No, Richard," said Sir Joseph, quietly, "I accept."
+
+Turlington drew back a step in silence. Sir Joseph had turned the tables
+on him, and had taken _him_ by surprise.
+
+"It will upset several plans, and be strongly objected to by the
+ladies," proceeded the old gentleman. "But if nothing less will satisfy
+you, I say, Yes! I shall have occasion, when we meet to-morrow at
+Muswell Hill, to appeal to your indulgence under circumstances which may
+greatly astonish you. The least I can do, in the meantime, is to set an
+example of friendly sympathy and forbearance on my side. No more now,
+Richard. Hush! the music!"
+
+It was impossible to make him explain himself further that night.
+Turlington was left to interpret Sir Joseph's mysterious communication
+with such doubtful aid to success as his own unassisted ingenuity might
+afford.
+
+The meeting of the next day at Muswell Hill had for its object--as
+Turlington had already been informed--the drawing of Natalie's
+marriage-settlement. Was the question of money at the bottom of Sir
+Joseph's contemplated appeal to his indulgence? He thought of his
+commercial position. The depression in the Levant trade still continued.
+Never had his business at any previous time required such constant
+attention, and repaid that attention with so little profit. The Bills
+of Lading had been already used by the firm, in the ordinary course of
+trade, to obtain possession of the goods. The duplicates in the hands
+of Bulpit Brothers were literally waste paper. Repayment of the loan
+of forty thousand pounds (with interest) was due in less than a
+month's time. There was his commercial position! Was it possible that
+money-loving Sir Joseph had any modification to propose in the matter
+of his daughter's dowry? The bare dread that it might be so struck him
+cold. He quitted the house--and forgot to wish Natalie goodnight.
+
+Meanwhile, Launce had left the evening party before him--and Launce
+also found matter for serious reflection presented to his mind before he
+slept that night. In other words, he found, on reaching his lodgings,
+a letter from his brother marked "private." Had the inquiry into the
+secrets of Turlington's early life--now prolonged over some weeks--led
+to positive results at last? Launce eagerly opened the letter. It
+contained a Report and a Summary. He passed at once to the Summary, and
+read these words:
+
+"If you only want moral evidence to satisfy your own mind, your end is
+gained. There is, morally, no doubt that Turlington and the sea-captain
+who cast the foreign sailor overboard to drown are on e and the same
+man. Legally, the matter is beset by difficulties, Turlington having
+destroyed all provable connection between his present self and his past
+life. There is only one chance for us. A sailor on board the ship (who
+was in his master's secrets) is supposed to be still living (under his
+master's protection). All the black deeds of Turlington's early life are
+known to this man. He can prove the facts, if we can find him, and make
+it worth his while to speak. Under what alias he is hidden we do not
+know. His own name is Thomas Wildfang. If we are to make the attempt to
+find him, not a moment is to be lost. The expenses may be serious. Let
+me know whether we are to go on, or whether enough has been done to
+attain the end you have in view."
+
+Enough had been done--not only to satisfy Launce, but to produce the
+right effect on Sir Joseph's mind if Sir Joseph proved obdurate when the
+secret of the marriage was revealed. Launce wrote a line directing the
+stoppage of the proceedings at the point which they had now reached.
+"Here is a reason for her not marrying Turlington," he said to himself,
+as he placed the papers under lock and key. "And if she doesn't marry
+Turlington," he added, with a lover's logic, "why shouldn't she marry
+Me?"
+
+
+
+
+EIGHTH SCENE.
+
+The Library.
+
+The next day Sir Joseph Graybrooke, Sir Joseph's lawyer, Mr. Dicas
+(highly respectable and immensely rich), and Richard Turlington were
+assembled in the library at Muswell Hill, to discuss the question of
+Natalie's marriage settlement.
+
+After the usual preliminary phrases had been exchanged, Sir Joseph
+showed some hesitation in openly approaching the question which the
+little party of three had met to debate. He avoided his lawyer's eye;
+and he looked at Turlington rather uneasily.
+
+"Richard," he began at last, "when I spoke to you about your marriage,
+on board the yacht, I said I would give my daughter--" Either his
+courage or his breath failed him at that point. He was obliged to wait a
+moment before he could go on.
+
+"I said I would give my daughter half my fortune on her marriage," he
+resumed. "Forgive me, Richard. I can't do it!"
+
+Mr. Dicas, waiting for his instructions, laid down his pen and looked at
+Sir Joseph's son-in-law elect. What would Mr. Turlington say?
+
+He said nothing. Sitting opposite the window, he rose when Sir Joseph
+spoke, and placed himself at the other side of the table, with his back
+to the light.
+
+"My eyes are weak this morning," he said, in an unnaturally low tone of
+voice. "The light hurts them."
+
+He could find no more plausible excuse than that for concealing his face
+in shadow from the scrutiny of the two men on either side of him. The
+continuous moral irritation of his unhappy courtship--a courtship which
+had never advanced beyond the frigid familiarity of kissing Natalie's
+hand in the presence of others--had physically deteriorated him. Even
+_his_ hardy nerves began to feel the long strain of suspicion that
+had been laid unremittingly on them for weeks past. His power of
+self-control--he knew it himself--was not to be relied on. He could hide
+his face: he could no longer command it.
+
+"Did you hear what I said, Richard?"
+
+"I heard. Go on."
+
+Sir Joseph proceeded, gathering confidence as he advanced.
+
+"Half my fortune!" he repeated. "It's parting with half my life; it's
+saying good-by forever to my dearest friend! My money has been such a
+comfort to me, Richard; such a pleasant occupation for my mind. I know
+no reading so interesting and so instructive as the reading of one's
+Banker's Book. To watch the outgoings on one side," said Sir Joseph,
+with a gentle and pathetic solemnity, "and the incomings on the
+other--the sad lessening of the balance at one time, and the cheering
+and delightful growth of it at another--what absorbing reading! The best
+novel that ever was written isn't to be mentioned in a breath with it.
+I can not, Richard, I really can _not_, see my nice round balance shrink
+up to half the figure that I have been used to for a lifetime. It may
+be weak of me," proceeded Sir Joseph, evidently feeling that it was not
+weak of him at all, "but we all have our tender place, and my Banker's
+Book is mine. Besides, it isn't as if you wanted it. If you wanted it,
+of course--but you don't want it. You are a rich man; you are
+marrying my dear Natalie for love, not for money. You and she and my
+grandchildren will have it all at my death. It _can_ make no difference
+to you to wait a few years till the old man's chair at the fireside
+is empty. Will you say the fourth part, Richard, instead of the half?
+Twenty thousand," pleaded Sir Joseph, piteously. "I can bear twenty
+thousand off. For God's sake don't ask me for more!"
+
+The lips of the lawyer twisted themselves sourly into an ironical smile.
+He was quite as fond of his money as Sir Joseph. He ought to have felt
+for his client; but rich men have no sympathy with one another. Mr.
+Dicas openly despised Sir Joseph.
+
+There was a pause. The robin-redbreasts in the shrubbery outside must
+have had prodigious balances at their bankers; they hopped up on the
+window-sill so fearlessly; they looked in with so little respect at the
+two rich men.
+
+"Don't keep me in suspense, Richard," proceeded Sir Joseph. "Speak out.
+Is it yes or no?"
+
+Turlington struck his hand excitedly on the table, and burst out on a
+sudden with the answer which had been so strangely delayed.
+
+"Twenty thousand with all my heart!" he said. "On this condition,
+Graybrooke, that every farthing of it is settled on Natalie, and on her
+children after her. Not a half-penny to me!" he cried magnanimously, in
+his brassiest tones. "Not a half-penny to me!"
+
+Let no man say the rich are heartless. Sir Joseph seized his
+son-in-law's hand in silence, and burst into tears.
+
+Mr. Dicas, habitually a silent man, uttered the first two words that had
+escaped him since the business began. "Highly creditable," he said, and
+took a note of his instructions on the spot.
+
+From that point the business of the settlement flowed smoothly on to its
+destined end. Sir Joseph explained his views at the fullest length, and
+the lawyer's pen kept pace with him. Turlington, remaining in his
+place at the table, restricted himself to a purely passive part in the
+proceedings. He answered briefly when it was absolutely necessary to
+speak, and he agreed with the two elders in everything. A man has no
+attention to place at the disposal of other people when he stands at
+a crisis in his life. Turlington stood at that crisis, at the trying
+moment when Sir Joseph's unexpected proposal pressed instantly for a
+reply. Two merciless alternatives confronted him. Either he must repay
+the borrowed forty thousand pounds on the day when repayment was due,
+or he must ask Bulpit Brothers to grant him an extension of time, and so
+inevitably provoke an examination into the fraudulent security deposited
+with the firm, which could end in but one way. His last, literally his
+last chance, after Sir Joseph had diminished the promised dowry by one
+half, was to adopt the high-minded tone which became his position, and
+to conceal the truth until he could reveal it to his father-in-law in
+the privileged character of Natalie's husband. "I owe forty thousand
+pounds, sir, in a fortnight's time, and I have not got a farthing of
+my own. Pay for me, or you will see your son-in-law's name in the
+Bankrupt's List." For his daughter's sake--who could doubt it?--Sir
+Joseph would produce the money. The one thing needful was to be married
+in time. If either by accident or treachery Sir Joseph was led into
+deferring the appointed day, by so much as a fortnight only, the fatal
+"call" would come, and the firm of Pizzituti, Turlington & Branca would
+appear in the Gazette.
+
+So he reasoned, standing on the brink of the terrible discovery which
+was soon to reveal to him that Natalie was the wife of another man.
+
+"Richard!"
+
+"Mr. Turlington!"
+
+He started, and roused his attention to present things. Sir Joseph on
+one side, and the lawyer on the other, were both appealing to him, and
+both regarding him with looks of amazement.
+
+"Have you done with the settlement?" he asked.
+
+"My dear Richard, we have done with it long since," replied Sir Joseph.
+"Have you really not heard what I have been saying for the last quarter
+of an hour to good Mr. Dicas here? What _can_ you have been thinking
+of?"
+
+Turlington did not attempt to answer the question. "Am I interested," he
+asked, "in what you have been saying to Mr. Dicas?"
+
+"You shall judge for yourself," answered Sir Joseph, mysteriously; "I
+have been giving Mr. Dicas his instructions for making my Will. I wish
+the Will and the Marriage-Settlement to be executed at the same time.
+Read the instructions, Mr. Dicas."
+
+Sir Joseph's contemplated Will proved to have two merits--it was simple
+and it was short. Excepting one or two trifling legacies to distant
+relatives, he had no one to think of (Miss Lavinia being already
+provided for) but his daughter and the children who might be born of her
+marriage. In its various provisions, made with these two main objects
+in view, the Will followed the precedents established in such cases.
+It differed in no important respect from the tens of thousands of other
+wills made under similar circumstances. Sir Joseph's motive in claiming
+special attention for it still remained unexplained, when Mr. Dicas
+reached the clause devoted to the appointment of executors and trustees;
+and announced that this portion of the document was left in blank.
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke, are you prepared to name the persons whom you
+appoint?" asked the lawyer.
+
+Sir Joseph rose, apparently for the purpose of giving special importance
+to the terms in which he answered his lawyer's question.
+
+"I appoint," he said, "as sole executor and trustee--Richard
+Turlington."
+
+It was no easy matter to astonish Mr. Dicas. Sir Joseph's reply
+absolutely confounded him. He looked across the table at his client and
+delivered himself on this special occasion of as many as three words.
+
+"Are you mad?" he asked.
+
+Sir Joseph's healthy complexion slightly reddened. "I never was in more
+complete possession of myself, Mr. Dicas, than at this moment."
+
+Mr. Dicas was not to be silenced in that way.
+
+"Are you aware of what you do," persisted the lawyer, "if you appoint
+Mr. Turlington as sole executor and trustee? You put it in the power of
+your daughter's husband, sir, to make away with every farthing of your
+money after your death."
+
+Turlington had hitherto listened with an appearance of interest in the
+proceedings, which he assumed as an act of politeness. To his view, the
+future was limited to the date at which Bulpit Brothers had a right to
+claim the repayment of their loan. The Will was a matter of no earthly
+importance to him, by comparison with the infinitely superior interest
+of the Marriage. It was only when the lawyer's brutally plain language
+forced his attention to it that the question of his pecuniary interest
+in his father-in-law's death assumed its fit position in his mind.
+
+_His_ color rose; and _he_ too showed that he was offended by what Mr.
+Dicas had just said.
+
+"Not a word, Richard! Let me speak for you as well as for myself," said
+Sir Joseph. "For seven years past," he continued, turning to the lawyer,
+"I have been accustomed to place the most unlimited trust in Richard
+Turlington. His disinterested advice has enabled me largely to increase
+my income, without placing a farthing of the principal in jeopardy. On
+more than one occasion, I have entreated him to make use of my money
+in his business. He has invariably refused to do so. Even his bitterest
+enemies, sir, have been obliged to acknowledge that my interests were
+safe when committed to his care. Am I to begin distrusting him, now
+that I am about to give him my daughter in marriage? Am I to leave it on
+record that I doubt him for the first time--when my Will is opened after
+my death? No! I can confide the management of the fortune which my child
+will inherit after me to no more competent or more honorable hands than
+the hands of the man who is to marry her. I maintain my appointment, Mr.
+Dicas! I persist in placing the whole responsibility under my Will in my
+son-in-law's care."
+
+Turlington attempted to speak. The lawyer attempted to speak. Sir
+Joseph--with a certain simple dignity which had its effect on both of
+them--declined to hear a word on either side. "No, Richard! as long as
+I am alive this is my business, not yours. No, Mr. Dicas! I understand
+that it is your business to protest professionally. You have protested.
+Fill in the blank space as I have told you. Or leave the instructions on
+the table, and I will send for the nearest solicitor to complete them in
+your place."
+
+Those words placed the lawyer's position plainly before him. He had no
+choice but to do as he was bid, or to lose a good client. He did as he
+was bid, and grimly left the room.
+
+Sir Joseph, with old-fashioned politeness, followed him as far as
+the hall. Returning to the library to say a few friendly words before
+finally dismissing the subject of the Will, he found himself seized by
+the arm, and dragged without ceremony, in Turlington's powerful grasp,
+to the window.
+
+"Richard!" he exclaimed, "what does this mean?"
+
+"Look!" cried the other, pointing through the window to a grassy walk
+in the grounds, bounded on either side by shrubberies, and situated at a
+little distance from the house. "Who is that man?--quick! before we lose
+sight of him--the man crossing there from one shrubbery to the other?"
+Sir Joseph failed to recognize the figure before it disappeared.
+Turlington whispered fiercely, close to his ear--"Launcelot Linzie!"
+
+In perfect good faith Sir Joseph declared that the man could not
+possibly have been Launce. Turlington's frenzy of jealous suspicion was
+not to be so easily calmed. He asked significantly for Natalie. She was
+reported to be walking in the grounds. "I knew it!" he said, with
+an oath--and hurried out into the grounds to discover the truth for
+himself.
+
+Some little time elapsed before he came back to the house. He had
+discovered Natalie--alone. Not a sign of Launce had rewarded his search.
+For the hundredth time he had offended Natalie. For the hundredth time
+he was compelled to appeal to the indulgence of her father and her aunt.
+"It won't happen again," he said, sullenly penitent. "You will find me
+quite another man when I have got you all at my house in the country.
+Mind!" he burst out, with a furtive look, which expressed his inveterate
+distrust of Natalie and of every one about her. "Mind! it's settled
+that you all come to me in Somersetshire, on Monday next." Sir Joseph
+answered rather dryly that it was settled. Turlington turned to leave
+the room--and suddenly came back. "It's understood," he went on,
+addressing Miss Lavinia, "that the seventh of next month is the date
+fixed for the marriage. Not a day later!" Miss Lavinia replied, rather
+dryly on her side, "Of course, Richard; not a day later." He muttered,
+"All right" and hurriedly left them.
+
+Half an hour afterward Natalie came in, looking a little confused.
+
+"Has he gone?" she asked, whispering to her aunt.
+
+Relieved on this point, she made straight for the library--a room which
+she rarely entered at that or any other period of the day. Miss Lavinia
+followed her, curious to know what it meant. Natalie hurried to the
+window, and waved her handkerchief--evidently making a signal to some
+one outside. Miss Lavinia instantly joined her, and took her sharply by
+the hand.
+
+"Is it possible, Natalie?" she asked. "Has Launcelot Linzie really been
+here, unknown to your father or to me?"
+
+"Where is the harm if he has?" answered Natalie, with a sudden outbreak
+of temper. "Am I never to see my cousin again, because Mr. Turlington
+happens to be jealous of him?"
+
+She suddenly turned away her head. The rich color flowed over her face
+and neck. Miss Lavinia, proceeding sternly with the administration
+of the necessary reproof, was silenced midway by a new change in her
+niece's variable temper. Natalie burst into tears. Satisfied with this
+appearance of sincere contrition, the old lady consented to overlook
+what had happened; and, for this occasion only, to keep her niece's
+secret. They would all be in Somersetshire, she remarked, before any
+more breaches of discipline could be committed. Richard had fortunately
+made no discoveries; and the matter might safely be trusted, all things
+considered, to rest where it was.
+
+Miss Lavinia might possibly have taken a less hopeful view of the
+circumstances, if she had known that one of the men-servants at Muswell
+Hill was in Richard Turlington's pay, and that this servant had seen
+Launce leave the grounds by the back-garden gate.
+
+
+
+
+NINTH SCENE.
+
+The Drawing-Room.
+
+
+"Amelia!"
+
+"Say something."
+
+"Ask him to sit down."
+
+Thus addressing one another in whispers, the three stepdaughters of
+Lady Winwood stood bewildered in their own drawing-room, helplessly
+confronting an object which appeared before them on the threshold of the
+door.
+
+The date was the 23d of December. The time was between two and three in
+the afternoon. The occasion was the return of the three sisters from the
+Committee meeting of the Sacred Concerts' Society. And the object was
+Richard Turlington.
+
+He stood hat in hand at the door, amazed by his reception. "I have come
+up this morning from Somersetshire," he said. "Haven't you heard? A
+matter of business at the office has forced me to leave my guests at my
+house in the country. I return to them to-morrow. When I say my guests,
+I mean the Graybrookes. Don't you know they are staying with me? Sir
+Joseph and Miss Lavinia and Natalie?" On the utterance of Natalie's
+name, the sisters roused themselves. They turned about and regarded each
+other with looks of dismay. Turlington's patience began to fail him.
+"Will you be so good as to tell me what all this means?" he said, a
+little sharply. "Miss Lavinia asked me to call here when she heard I was
+coming to town. I was to take charge of a pattern for a dress, which she
+said you would give me. You ought to have received a telegram explaining
+it all, hours since. Has the message not reached you?"
+
+The leading spirit of the three sisters was Miss Amelia. She was the
+first who summoned presence of mind enough to give a plain answer to
+Turlington's plain question.
+
+"We received the telegram this morning," she said. "Something has
+happened since which has shocked and surprised us. We beg your pardon."
+She turned to one of her sisters. "Sophia, the pattern is ready in the
+drawer of that table behind you. Give it to Mr. Turlington."
+
+Sophia produced the packet. Before she handed it to the visitor, she
+looked at her sister. "Ought we to let Mr. Turlington go," she asked,
+"as if nothing had happened?"
+
+Amelia considered silently with herself. Dorothea, the third sister
+(who had not spoken yet), came forward with a suggestion. She proposed,
+before proceeding further, to inquire whether Lady Winwood was in the
+house. The idea was instantly adopted. Sophia rang the bell. Amelia put
+the questions when the servant appeared.
+
+Lady Winwood had left the house for a drive immediately after luncheon.
+Lord Winwood--inquired for next--had accompanied her ladyship. No
+message had been left indicating the hour of their return.
+
+The sisters looked at Turlington, uncertain what to say or do next. Miss
+Amelia addressed him as soon as the servant had left the room.
+
+"Is it possible for you to remain here until either my father or Lady
+Winwood return?" she asked.
+
+"It is quite impossible. Minutes are of importance to me to-day."
+
+"Will you give us one of your minutes? We want to consider something
+which we may have to say to you before you go."
+
+Turlington, wondering, took a chair. Miss Amelia put the case before her
+sisters from the sternly conscientious point of view, at the opposite
+end of the room.
+
+"We have not found out this abominable deception by any underhand
+means," she said. "The discovery has been forced upon us, and we stand
+pledged to nobody to keep the secret. Knowing as we do how cruelly this
+gentleman has been used, it seems to me that we are bound in honor to
+open his eyes to the truth. If we remain silent we make ourselves
+Lady Winwood's accomplices. I, for one--I don't care what may come of
+it--refuse to do that."
+
+Her sisters agreed with her. The first chance their clever stepmother
+had given them of asserting their importance against hers was now in
+their hands. Their jealous hatred of Lady Winwood assumed the mask of
+Duty--duty toward an outraged and deceived fellow-creature. Could any
+earthly motive be purer than that? "Tell him, Amelia!" cried the two
+young ladies, with the headlong recklessness of the sex which only stops
+to think when the time for reflection has gone by.
+
+A vague sense of something wrong began to stir uneasily in Turlington's
+mind.
+
+"Don't let me hurry you," he said, "but if you really have anything to
+tell me--"
+
+Miss Amelia summoned her courage, and began.
+
+"We have something very dreadful to tell you," she said, interrupting
+him. "You have been presented in this house, Mr. Turlington, as
+a gentleman engaged to marry Lady Winwood's cousin. Miss Natalie
+Graybrooke." She paused there--at the outset of the disclosure. A sudden
+change of expression passed over Turlington's face, which daunted her
+for the moment. "We have hitherto understood," she went on, "that you
+were to be married to that young lady early in next month."
+
+"Well?"
+
+He could say that one word. Looking at their pale faces, and their eager
+eyes, he could say no more.
+
+"Take care!" whispered Dorothea, in her sister's ear. "Look at him,
+Amelia! Not too soon."
+
+Amelia went on more carefully.
+
+"We have just returned from a musical meeting," she said. "One of the
+ladies there was an acquaintance, a former school-fellow of ours. She
+is the wife of the rector of St. Columb Major--a large church, far from
+this--at the East End of London."
+
+"I know nothing about the woman or the church," interposed Turlington,
+sternly.
+
+"I must beg you to wait a little. I can't tell you what I want to tell
+you unless I refer to the rector's wife. She knows Lady Winwood by
+name. And she heard of Lady Winwood recently under very strange
+circumstances--circumstances connected with a signature in one of the
+books of the church."
+
+Turlington lost his self-control. "You have got something against my
+Natalie," he burst out; "I know it by your whispering, I see it in your
+looks! Say it at once in plain words."
+
+There was no trifling with him now. In plain words Amelia said it.
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+There was silence in the room. They could hear the sound of passing
+footsteps in the street. He stood perfectly still on the spot where they
+had struck him dumb by the disclosure, supporting himself with his
+right hand laid on the head of a sofa near him. The sisters drew back
+horror-struck into the furthest corner of the room. His face turned them
+cold. Through the mute misery which it had expressed at first, there
+appeared, slowly forcing its way to view, a look of deadly vengeance
+which froze them to the soul. They whispered feverishly one to the
+other, without knowing what they were talking of, without hearing their
+own voices. One of them said, "Ring the bell!" Another said, "Offer him
+something, he will faint." The third shuddered, and repeated, over and
+over again, "Why did we do it? Why did we do it?"
+
+He silenced them on the instant by speaking on his side. He came on
+slowly, by a step at a time, with the big drops of agony falling slowly
+over his rugged face. He said, in a hoarse whisper, "Write me down the
+name of the church--there." He held out his open pocketbook to Amelia
+while he spoke. She steadied herself, and wrote the address. She tried
+to say a word to soften him. The word died on her lips. There was a
+light in his eyes as they looked at her which transfigured his face to
+something superhuman and devilish. She turned away from him, shuddering.
+
+He put the book back in his pocket, and passed his handkerchief over his
+face. After a moment of indecision, he suddenly and swiftly stole out of
+the room, as if he was afraid of their calling somebody in, and stopping
+him. At the door he turned round for a moment, and said, "You will hear
+how this ends. I wish you good-morning."
+
+The door closed on him. Left by themselves, they began to realize it.
+They thought of the consequences when his back was turned and it was too
+late.
+
+The Graybrookes! Now he knew it, what would become of the Graybrookes?
+What would he do when he got back? Even at ordinary times--when he was
+on his best behavior--he was a rough man. What would happen? Oh, good
+God! what would happen when he and Natalie next stood face to face? It
+was a lonely house--Natalie had told them about it--no neighbors near;
+nobody by to interfere but the weak old father and the maiden aunt.
+Something ought to be done. Some steps ought to be taken to warn them.
+Advice--who could give advice? Who was the first person who ought to
+be told of what had happened? Lady Winwood? No! even at that crisis the
+sisters still shrank from their stepmother--still hated her with the old
+hatred! Not a word to _her!_ They owed no duty to _her!_ Who else could
+they appeal to? To their father? Yes! There was the person to advise
+them. In the meanwhile, silence toward their stepmother--silence toward
+every one till their father came back!
+
+They waited and waited. One after another the precious hours, pregnant
+with the issues of life and death, followed each other on the dial. Lady
+Winwood returned alone. She had left her husband at the House of Lords.
+Dinner-time came, and brought with it a note from his lordship. There
+was a debate at the House. Lady Winwood and his daughters were not to
+wait dinner for him.
+
+
+
+
+TENTH SCENE.
+
+Green Anchor Lane.
+
+An hour later than the time at which he had been expected, Richard
+Turlington appeared at his office in the city.
+
+He met beforehand all the inquiries which the marked change in him
+must otherwise have provoked, by announcing that he was ill. Before he
+proceeded to business, he asked if anybody was waiting to see him. One
+of the servants from Muswell Hill was waiting with another parcel
+for Miss Lavinia, ordered by telegram from the country that morning.
+Turlington (after ascertaining the servant's name) received the man in
+his private room. He there heard, for the first time, that Launcelot
+Linzie had been lurking in the grounds (exactly as he had supposed) on
+the day when the lawyer took his instructions for the Settlement and the
+Will.
+
+In two hours more Turlington's work was completed. On leaving the
+office--as soon as he was out of sight of the door--he turned eastward,
+instead of taking the way that led to his own house in town. Pursuing
+his course, he entered the labyrinth of streets which led, in that
+quarter of East London, to the unsavory neighborhood of the river-side.
+
+By this time his mind was made up. The forecast shadow of meditated
+crime traveled before him already, as he threaded his way among his
+fellow-men.
+
+He had been to the vestry of St. Columb Major, and had satisfied himself
+that he was misled by no false report. There was the entry in the
+Marriage Register. The one unexplained mystery was the mystery of
+Launce's conduct in permitting his wife to return to her father's house.
+Utterly unable to account for this proceeding, Turlington could only
+accept facts as they were, and determine to make the most of his time,
+while the woman who had deceived him was still under his roof. A hideous
+expression crossed his face as he realized the idea that he had got her
+(unprotected by her husband) in his house. "When Launcelot Linzie _does_
+come to claim her," he said to himself, "he shall find I have been even
+with him." He looked at his watch. Was it possible to save the last
+train and get back that night? No--the last train had gone. Would she
+take advantage of his absence to escape? He had little fear of it. She
+would never have allowed her aunt to send him to Lord Winwood's house,
+if she had felt the slightest suspicion of his discovering the truth in
+that quarter. Returning by the first train the next morning, he might
+feel sure of getting back in time. Meanwhile he had the hours of the
+night before him. He could give his mind to the serious question that
+must be settled before he left London--the question of repaying the
+forty thousand pounds. There was but one way of getting the money now.
+Sir Joseph had executed his Will; Sir Joseph's death would leave his
+sole executor and trustee (the lawyer had said it!) master of his
+fortune. Turlington determined to be master of it in four-and-twenty
+hours--striking the blow, without risk to himself, by means of another
+hand. In the face of the probabilities, in the face of the facts, he had
+now firmly persuaded himself that Sir Joseph was privy to the fraud
+that had been practiced on him. The Marriage-Settlement, the Will, the
+presence of the family at his country house--all these he believed to be
+so many stratagems invented to keep him deceived until the last moment.
+The truth was in those words which he had overheard between Sir Joseph
+and Launce--and in Launce's presence (privately encouraged, no doubt) at
+Muswell Hill. "Her father shall pay me for it doubly: with his purse and
+with his life." With that thought in his heart, Richard Turlington wound
+his way through the streets by the river-side, and stopped at a blind
+alley called Green Anchor Lane, infamous to this day as the chosen
+resort of the most abandoned wretches whom London can produce.
+
+The policeman at the corner cautioned him as he turned into the alley.
+"They won't hurt _me!_" he answered, and walked on to a public-house at
+the bottom of the lane.
+
+The landlord at the door silently recognized him, and led the way
+in. They crossed a room filled with sailors of all nations drinking;
+ascended a staircase at the back of the house, and stopped at the door
+of the room on the second floor. There the landlord spoke for the first
+time. "He has outrun his allowance, sir, as usual. You will find him
+with hardly a rag on his back. I doubt if he will last much longer. He
+had another fit of the horrors last night, and the doctor thinks badly
+of him." With that introduction he opened the door, and Turlington
+entered the room.
+
+On the miserable bed lay a gray-headed old man of gigantic stature,
+with nothing on him but a ragged shirt and a pair of patched, filthy
+trousers. At the side of the bed, with a bottle of gin on the rickety
+table between them, sat two hideous leering, painted monsters, wearing
+the dress of women. The smell of opium was in the room, as well as the
+smell of spirits. At Turlington's appearance, the old man rose on the
+bed and welcomed him with greedy eyes and outstretched hand.
+
+"Money, master!" he called out hoarsely. "A crown piece in advance, for
+the sake of old times!"
+
+Turlington turned to the women without answering, purse in hand.
+
+"His clothes are at the pawnbroker's, of course. How much?"
+
+"Thirty shillings."
+
+"Bring them here, and be quick about it. You will find it worth your
+while when you come back."
+
+The women took the pawnbroker's tickets from the pockets of the man's
+trousers and hurried out.
+
+Turlington closed the door, and seated himself by the bedside. He laid
+his hand familiarly on the giant's mighty shoulder, looked him full in
+the face, and said, in a whisper,
+
+"Thomas Wildfang!"
+
+The man started, and drew his huge hairy hand across his eyes, as if in
+doubt whether he was waking or sleeping. "It's better than ten years,
+master, since you called me by my name. If I am Thomas Wildfang, what
+are you?"
+
+"Your captain, once more."
+
+Thomas Wildfang sat up on the side of the bed, and spoke his next words
+cautiously in Turlington's ear.
+
+"Another man in the way?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The giant shook his bald, bestial head dolefully. "Too late. I'm past
+the job. Look here."
+
+He held up his hand, and showed it trembling incessantly. "I'm an old
+man," he said, and let his hand drop heavily again on the bed beside
+him.
+
+Turlington looked at the door, and whispered back,
+
+"The man is as old as you are. And the money is worth having."
+
+"How much?"
+
+"A hundred pounds."
+
+The eyes of Thomas Wildfang fastened greedily on Turlington's face.
+"Let's hear," he said. "Softly, captain. Let's hear."
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+When the women came back with the clothes, Turlington had left the room.
+Their promised reward lay waiting for them on the table, and Thomas
+Wildfang was eager to dress himself and be gone. They could get but one
+answer from him to every question they put. He had business in hand,
+which was not to be delayed. They would see him again in a day or two,
+with money in his purse. With that assurance he took his cudgel from
+the corner of the room, and stalked out swiftly by the back door of the
+house into the night.
+
+
+
+
+ELEVENTH SCENE.
+
+Outside the House
+
+The evening was chilly, but not cold for the time of year. There was no
+moon. The stars were out, and the wind was quiet. Upon the whole, the
+inhabitants of the little Somersetshire village of Baxdale agreed that
+it was as fine a Christmas-eve as they could remember for some years
+past.
+
+Toward eight in the evening the one small street of the village was
+empty, except at that part of it which was occupied by the public-house.
+For the most part, people gathered round their firesides, with an eye to
+their suppers, and watched the process of cooking comfortably indoors.
+The old bare, gray church, situated at some little distance from the
+village, looked a lonelier object than usual in the dim starlight. The
+vicarage, nestling close under the shadow of the church-tower, threw
+no illumination of fire-light or candle-light on the dreary scene. The
+clergyman's shutters fitted well, and the clergyman's curtains were
+closely drawn. The one ray of light that cheered the wintry darkness
+streamed from the unguarded window of a lonely house, separated from
+the vicarage by the whole length of the church-yard. A man stood at the
+window, holding back the shutter, and looking out attentively over the
+dim void of the burial-ground. The man was Richard Turlington. The room
+in which he was watching was a room in his own house.
+
+A momentary spark of light flashed up, as from a kindled match, in the
+burial-ground. Turlington instantly left the empty room in which he had
+been watching. Passing down the back garden of the house, and crossing
+a narrow lane at the bottom of it, he opened a gate in a low stone wall
+beyond, and entered the church-yard. The shadowy figure of a man of
+great stature, lurking among the graves, advanced to meet him. Midway
+in the dark and lonely place the two stopped and consulted together in
+whispers. Turlington spoke first.
+
+"Have you taken up your quarters at the public-house in the village?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Did you find your way, while the daylight lasted, to the deserted
+malt-house behind my orchard wall?"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Now listen--we have no time to lose. Hide there, behind that monument.
+Before nine o'clock to-night you will see me cross the churchyard, as
+far as this place, with the man you are to wait for. He is going to
+spend an hour with the vicar, at the house yonder. I shall stop short
+here, and say to him, 'You can't miss your way in the dark now--I will
+go back.' When I am far enough away from him, I shall blow a call on
+my whistle. The moment you hear the call, follow the man, and drop him
+before he gets out of the church-yard. Have you got your cudgel?"
+
+Thomas Wildfang held up his cudgel. Turlington took him by the arm, and
+felt it suspiciously.
+
+"You have had an attack of the horrors already," he said. "What does
+this trembling mean?"
+
+He took a spirit-flask from his pocket as he spoke. Thomas Wildfang
+snatched it out of his hand, and emptied it at a draught. "All right
+now, master," he said. Turlington felt his arm once more. It was
+steadier already. Wildfang brandished his cudgel, and struck a heavy
+blow with it on one of the turf mounds near them. "Will that drop him,
+captain?" he asked.
+
+Turlington went on with his instructions.
+
+"Rob him when you have dropped him. Take his money and his jewelry. I
+want to have the killing of him attributed to robbery as the motive.
+Make sure before you leave him that he is dead. Then go to the
+malt-house. There is no fear of your being seen; all the people will be
+indoors, keeping Christmas-eve. You will find a change of clothes hidden
+in the malt-house, and an old caldron full of quicklime. Destroy the
+clothes you have got on, and dress yourself in the other clothes
+that you find. Follow the cross-road, and when it brings you into the
+highroad, turn to the left; a four-mile walk will take you to the town
+of Harminster. Sleep there to-night, and travel to London by the train
+in the morning. The next day go to my office, see the head clerk, and
+say, 'I have come to sign my receipt.' Sign it in your own name, and you
+will receive your hundred pounds. There are your instructions. Do you
+understand them?"
+
+Wildfang nodded his head in silent token that he understood, and
+disappeared again among the graves. Turlington went back to the house.
+
+He had advanced midway across the garden, when he was startled by the
+sound of footsteps in the lane--at that part of it which skirted one of
+the corners of the house. Hastening forward, he placed himself behind a
+projection in the wall, so as to see the person pass across the stream
+of light from the uncovered window of the room that he had left. The
+stranger was walking rapidly. All Turlington could see as he crossed the
+field of light was, that his hat was pulled over his eyes, and that he
+had a thick beard and mustache. Describing the man to the servant on
+entering the house, he was informed that a stranger with a large beard
+had been seen about the neighborhood for some days past. The account he
+had given of himself stated that he was a surveyor, engaged in taking
+measurements for a new map of that part of the country, shortly to be
+published.
+
+The guilty mind of Turlington was far from feeling satisfied with
+the meager description of the stranger thus rendered. He could not be
+engaged in surveying in the dark. What could he want in the desolate
+neighborhood of the house and church-yard at that time of night?
+
+The man wanted--what the man found a little lower down the lane, hidden
+in a dismantled part of the church-yard wall--a letter from a young
+lady. Read by the light of the pocket-lantern which he carried with him,
+the letter first congratulated this person on the complete success of
+his disguise--and then promised that the writer would be ready at her
+bedroom window for flight the next morning, before the house was astir.
+The signature was "Natalie," and the person addressed was "Dearest
+Launce."
+
+In the meanwhile, Turlington barred the window shutters of the room, and
+looked at his watch. It wanted only a quarter to nine o'clock. He took
+his dog-whistle from the chimney-piece, and turned his steps at once in
+the direction of the drawing-room, in which his guests were passing the
+evening.
+
+
+
+
+TWELFTH SCENE.
+
+Inside the House.
+
+The scene in the drawing-room represented the ideal of domestic comfort.
+The fire of wood and coal mixed burned brightly; the lamps shed a soft
+glow of light; the solid shutters and the thick red curtains kept the
+cold night air on the outer side of two long windows, which opened on
+the back garden. Snug arm-chairs were placed in every part of the
+room. In one of them Sir Joseph reclined, fast asleep; in another, Miss
+Lavinia sat knitting; a third chair, apart from the rest, near a round
+table in one corner of the room, was occupied by Natalie. Her head was
+resting on her hand, an unread book lay open on her lap. She looked pale
+and harassed; anxiety and suspense had worn her down to the shadow of
+her former self. On entering the room, Turlington purposely closed the
+door with a bang. Natalie started. Miss Lavinia looked up reproachfully.
+The object was achieved--Sir Joseph was roused from his sleep.
+
+"If you are going to the vicar's to-night. Graybrooke," said Turlington,
+"it's time you were off, isn't it?"
+
+Sir Joseph rubbed his eyes, and looked at the clock on the mantel-piece.
+"Yes, yes, Richard," he answered, drowsily, "I suppose I must go. Where
+is my hat?"
+
+His sister and his daughter both joined in trying to persuade him to
+send an excuse instead of groping his way to the vicarage in the dark.
+Sir Joseph hesitated, as usual. He and the vicar had run up a sudden
+friendship, on the strength of their common enthusiasm for the
+old-fashioned game of backgammon. Victorious over his opponent on the
+previous evening at Turlington's house, Sir Joseph had promised to pass
+that evening at the vicarage, and give the vicar his revenge. Observing
+his indecision, Turlington cunningly irritated him by affecting to
+believe that he was really unwilling to venture out in the dark. "I'll
+see you safe across the churchyard," he said; "and the vicar's servant
+will see you safe back." The tone in which he spoke instantly roused
+Sir Joseph. "I am not in my second childhood yet, Richard," he replied,
+testily. "I can find my way by myself." He kissed his daughter on the
+forehead. "No fear, Natalie. I shall be back in time for the mulled
+claret. No, Richard, I won't trouble you." He kissed his hand to his
+sister and went out into the hall for his hat: Turlington following him
+with a rough apology, and asking as a favor to be permitted to accompany
+him part of the way only. The ladies, left behind in the drawing-room,
+heard the apology accepted by kind-hearted Sir Joseph. The two went out
+together.
+
+"Have you noticed Richard since his return?" asked Miss Lavinia. "I
+fancy he must have heard bad news in London. He looks as if he had
+something on his mind."
+
+"I haven't remarked it, aunt."
+
+For the time, no more was said. Miss Lavinia went monotonously on with
+her knitting. Natalie pursued her own anxious thoughts over the unread
+pages of the book in her lap. Suddenly the deep silence out of doors and
+in was broken by a shrill whistle, sounding from the direction of the
+church-yard. Natalie started with a faint cry of alarm. Miss Lavinia
+looked up from her knitting.
+
+"My dear child, your nerves must be sadly out of order. What is there to
+be frightened at?"
+
+"I am not very well, aunt. It is so still here at night, the slightest
+noises startle me."
+
+There was another interval of silence. It was past nine o'clock when
+they heard the back door opened and closed again. Turlington came
+hurriedly into the drawing-room, as if he had some reason for wishing to
+rejoin the ladies as soon as possible. To the surprise of both of them,
+he sat down abruptly in the corner, with his face to the wall, and took
+up the newspaper, without casting a look at them or uttering a word.
+
+"Is Joseph safe at the vicarage?" asked Miss Lavinia.
+
+"All right." He gave the answer in a short, surly tone, still without
+looking round.
+
+Miss Lavinia tried him again. "Did you hear a whistle while you were
+out? It quite startled Natalie in the stillness of this place."
+
+He turned half-way round. "My shepherd, I suppose," he said after
+a pause--"whistling for his dog." He turned back again and immersed
+himself in his newspaper.
+
+Miss Lavinia beckoned to her niece and pointed significantly to
+Turlington. After one reluctant look at him, Natalie laid her head
+wearily on her aunt's shoulder. "Sleepy, my dear?" whispered the old
+lady. "Uneasy, aunt--I don't know why," Natalie whispered back. "I would
+give the world to be in London, and to hear the carriages going by, and
+the people talking in the street."
+
+Turlington suddenly dropped his newspaper. "What's the secret between
+you two?" he called out roughly. "What are you whispering about?"
+
+"We wish not to disturb you over your reading, that is all," said Miss
+Lavinia, coldly. "Has anything happened to vex you, Richard?"
+
+"What the devil makes you think that?"
+
+The old lady was offended, and showed it by saying nothing more. Natalie
+nestled closer to her aunt. One after another the clock ticked off
+the minutes with painful distinctness in the stillness of the room.
+Turlington suddenly threw aside the newspaper and left his corner.
+"Let's be good friends!" he burst out, with a clumsy assumption of
+gayety. "This isn't keeping Christmas-eve. Let's talk and be sociable.
+Dearest Natalie!" He threw his arm roughly round Natalie, and drew her
+by main force away from her aunt. She turned deadly pale, and struggled
+to release herself. "I am suffering--I am ill--let me go!" He was deaf
+to her entreaties. "What! your husband that is to be, treated in this
+way? Mustn't I have a kiss?--I will!" He held her closer with one hand,
+and, seizing her head with the other, tried to turn her lips to him. She
+resisted with the inbred nervous strength which the weakest woman living
+has in reserve when she is outraged. Half indignant, half terrified, at
+Turlington's roughness, Miss Lavinia rose to interfere. In a moment more
+he would have had two women to overpower instead of one, when a noise
+outside the window suddenly suspended the ignoble struggle.
+
+There was a sound of footsteps on the gravel-walk which ran between the
+house wall and the garden lawn. It was followed by a tap--a single faint
+tap, no more--on one of the panes of glass.
+
+They all three stood still. For a moment more nothing was audible. Then
+there was a heavy shock, as of something falling outside. Then a groan,
+then another interval of silence--a long silence, interrupted no more.
+
+Turlington's arm dropped from Natalie. She drew back to her aunt.
+Looking at him instinctively, in the natural expectation that he would
+take the lead in penetrating the mystery of what had happened outside
+the window, the two women were thunderstruck to see that he was, to
+all appearance, even more startled and more helpless than they were.
+"Richard," said Miss Lavinia, pointing to the window, "there is
+something wrong out there. See what it is." He stood motionless, as if
+he had not heard her, his eyes fixed on the window, his face livid with
+terror.
+
+The silence outside was broken once more; this time by a call for help.
+
+A cry of horror burst from Natalie. The voice outside--rising wildly,
+then suddenly dying away again--was not entirely strange to _her_ ears.
+She tore aside the curtain. With voice and hand she roused her aunt to
+help her. The two lifted the heavy bar from its socket; they opened the
+shutters and the window. The cheerful light of the room flowed out over
+the body of a prostrate man, lying on his face. They turned the man
+over. Natalie lifted his head.
+
+Her father!
+
+His face was bedabbled with blood. A wound, a frightful wound, was
+visible on the side of his bare head, high above the ear. He looked at
+her, his eyes recognized her, before he fainted again in her arms.
+His hands and his clothes were covered with earth stains. He must
+have traversed some distance; in that dreadful condition he must have
+faltered and fallen more than once before he reached the house. His
+sister wiped the blood from his face. His daughter called on him
+frantically to forgive her before he died--the harmless, gentle,
+kind-hearted father, who had never said a hard word to her! The father
+whom she had deceived!
+
+The terrified servants hurried into the room. Their appearance roused
+their master from the extraordinary stupor that had seized him. He was
+at the window before the footman could get there. The two lifted Sir
+Joseph into the room, and laid him on the sofa. Natalie knelt by him,
+supporting his head. Miss Lavinia stanched the flowing blood with her
+handkerchief. The women-servants brought linen and cold water. The man
+hurried away for the doctor, who lived on the other side of the village.
+Left alone again with Turlington, Natalie noticed that his eyes were
+fixed in immovable scrutiny on her father's head. He never said a word.
+He looked, looked, looked at the wound.
+
+The doctor arrived. Before either the daughter or the sister of the
+injured man could put the question, Turlington put it--"Will he live or
+die?"
+
+The doctor's careful finger probed the wound.
+
+"Make your minds easy. A little lower down, or in front, the blow might
+have been serious. As it is, there is no harm done. Keep him quiet, and
+he will be all right again in two or three days."
+
+Hearing those welcome words, Natalie and her aunt sank on their knees in
+silent gratitude. After dressing the wound, the doctor looked round for
+the master of the house. Turlington, who had been so breathlessly eager
+but a few minutes since, seemed to have lost all interest in the case
+now. He stood apart, at the window, looking out toward the church-yard,
+thinking. The questions which it was the doctor's duty to ask were
+answered by the ladies. The servants assisted in examining the injured
+man's clothes: they discovered that his watch and purse were both
+missing. When it became necessary to carry him upstairs, it was the
+footman who assisted the doctor. The foot man's master, without a word
+of explanation, walked out bare headed into the back garden, on the
+search, as the doctor and the servants supposed, for some trace of the
+robber who had attempted Sir Joseph's life.
+
+His absence was hardly noticed at the time. The difficulty of conveying
+the wounded man to his room absorbed the attention of all the persons
+present.
+
+Sir Joseph partially recovered his senses while they were taking him up
+the steep and narrow stairs. Carefully as they carried the patient, the
+motion wrung a groan from him before they reached the top. The bedroom
+corridor, in the rambling, irregularly built house rose and fell on
+different levels. At the door of the first bedchamber the doctor asked a
+little anxiously if that was the room. No; there were three more stairs
+to go down, and a corner to turn, before they could reach it. The first
+room was Natalie's. She instantly offered it for her father's use. The
+doctor (seeing that it was the airiest as well as the nearest room)
+accepted the proposal. Sir Joseph had been laid comfortably in his
+daughter's bed; the doctor had just left them, with renewed assurances
+that they need feel no anxiety, when they heard a heavy step below
+stairs. Turlington had re-entered the house.
+
+(He had been looking, as they had supposed, for the ruffian who had
+attacked Sir Joseph; with a motive, however, for the search at which it
+was impossible for other persons to guess. His own safety was now bound
+up in the safety of Thomas Wildfang. As soon as he was out of sight in
+the darkness, he made straight for the malt-house. The change of clothes
+was there untouched; not a trace of his accomplice was to be seen.
+Where else to look for him it was impossible to tell. Turlington had no
+alternative but to go back to the house, and ascertain if suspicion had
+been aroused in his absence.)
+
+He had only to ascend the stairs, and to see, through the open door,
+that Sir Joseph had been placed in his daughter's room.
+
+"What does this mean?" he asked, roughly.
+
+Before it was possible to answer him the footman appeared with a
+message. The doctor had come back to the door to say that he would take
+on himself the necessary duty of informing the constable of what had
+happened, on his return to the village. Turlington started and changed
+color. If Wildfang was found by others, and questioned in his employer's
+absence, serious consequences might follow. "The constable is my
+business," said Turlington, hurriedly descending the stairs; "I'll go
+with the doctor." They heard him open the door below, then close it
+again (as if some sudden thought had struck him), and call to the
+footman. The house was badly provided with servants' bedrooms. The
+women-servants only slept indoors. The footman occupied a room over the
+stables. Natalie and her aunt heard Turlington dismiss the man for the
+night, an hour earlier than usual at least. His next proceeding was
+stranger still. Looking cautiously over the stairs, Natalie saw him lock
+all the doors on the ground-floor and take out the keys. When he went
+away, she heard him lock the front door behind him. Incredible as it
+seemed, there could be no doubt of the fact--the inmates of the house
+were imprisoned till he came back. What did it mean?
+
+(It meant that Turlington's vengeance still remained to be wreaked on
+the woman who had deceived him. It meant that Sir Joseph's life still
+stood between the man who had compassed his death and the money which
+the man was resolved to have. It meant that Richard Turlington was
+driven to bay, and that the horror and the peril of the night were not
+at an end yet.)
+
+Natalie and her aunt looked at each other across the bed on which Sir
+Joseph lay. He had fallen into a kind of doze; no enlightenment could
+come to them from _him_. They could only ask each other, with beating
+hearts and baffled minds, what Richard's conduct meant--they could only
+feel instinctively that some dreadful discovery was hanging over them.
+The aunt was the calmer of the two--there was no secret weighing heavily
+on _her_ conscience. _She_ could feel the consolations of religion. "Our
+dear one is spared to us, my love," said the old lady, gently. "God has
+been good to us. We are in his hands. If we know that, we know enough."
+
+As she spoke there was a loud ring at the doorbell. The women-servants
+crowded into the bedroom in alarm. Strong in numbers, and encouraged by
+Natalie--who roused herself and led the way--they confronted the risk
+of opening the window and of venturing out on the balcony which extended
+along that side of the house. A man was dimly visible below. He called
+to them in thick, unsteady accents. The servants recognized him: he was
+the telegraphic messenger from the railway. They went down to speak to
+him--and returned with a telegram which had been pushed in under the
+door. The distance from the station was considerable; the messenger had
+been "keeping Christmas" in more than one beer-shop on his way to the
+house; and the delivery of the telegram had been delayed for some
+hours. It was addressed to Natalie. She opened it--looked at it--dropped
+it--and stood speechless; her lips parted in horror, her eyes staring
+vacantly straight before her.
+
+Miss Lavinia took the telegram from the floor, and read these lines:
+
+"Lady Winwood, Hertford Street, London. To Natalie Graybrooke, Church
+Meadows, Baxdale, Somersetshire. Dreadful news. R. T. has discovered
+your marriage to Launce. The truth has been kept from me till to-day
+(24th). Instant flight with your husband is your only chance. I would
+have communicated with Launce, but I do not know his address. You
+will receive this, I hope and believe, before R. T. can return to
+Somersetshire. Telegraph back, I entreat you, to say that you are safe.
+I shall follow my message if I do not hear from you in reasonable time."
+
+Miss Lavinia lifted her gray head, and looked at her niece. "Is this
+true?" she said--and pointed to the venerable face laid back, white, on
+the white pillow of the bed. Natalie sank forward as her eyes met the
+eyes of her aunt. Miss Lavinia saved her from falling insensible on the
+floor.
+
+* * * * * * * * *
+
+The confession had been made. The words of penitence and the words of
+pardon had been spoken. The peaceful face of the father still lay hushed
+in rest. One by one the minutes succeeded each other uneventfully in the
+deep tranquillity of the night. It was almost a relief when the silence
+was disturbed once more by another sound outside the house. A pebble
+was thrown up at the window, and a voice called out cautiously, "Miss
+Lavinia!"
+
+They recognized the voice of the man-servant, and at once opened the
+window.
+
+He had something to say to the ladies in private. How could he say it?
+A domestic circumstance which had been marked by Launce, as favorable
+to the contemplated elopement, was now noticed by the servant as lending
+itself readily to effecting the necessary communication with the ladies.
+The lock of the gardener's tool-house (in the shrubbery close by) was
+under repair; and the gardener's ladder was accessible to any one who
+wanted it. At the short height of the balcony from the ground, the
+ladder was more than long enough for the purpose required. In a few
+minutes the servant had mounted to the balcony, and could speak to
+Natalie and her aunt at the window.
+
+"I can't rest quiet," said the man, "I'm off on the sly to see what's
+going on down in the village. It's hard on ladies like you to be locked
+in here. Is there anything I can do for either of you?"
+
+Natalie took up Lady Winwood's telegram. "Launce ought to see this,"
+she said to her aunt. "He will be here at daybreak," she added, in a
+whisper, "if I don't tell him what has happened."
+
+Miss Lavinia turned pale. "If he and Richard meet--" she began. "Tell
+him!" she added, hurriedly--"tell him before it is too late!"
+
+Natalie wrote a few lines (addressed to Launce in his assumed name at
+his lodgings in the village) inclosing Lady Winwood's telegram, and
+entreating him to do nothing rash. When the servant had disappeared with
+the letter, there was one hope in her mind and in her aunt's mind, which
+each was ashamed to acknowledge to the other--the hope that Launce would
+face the very danger that they dreaded for him, and come to the house.
+
+They had not been long alone again, when Sir Joseph drowsily opened his
+eyes and asked what they were doing in his room. They told him gently
+that he was ill. He put his hand up to his head, and said they were
+right, and so dropped off again into slumber. Worn out by the emotions
+through which they had passed, the two women silently waited for the
+march of events. The same stupor of resignation possessed them both.
+They had secured the door and the window. They had prayed together. They
+had kissed the quiet face on the pillow. They had said to each other,
+"We will live with him or die with him as God pleases." Miss Lavinia
+sat by the bedside. Natalie was on a stool at her feet--with her eyes
+closed, and her head on her aunt's knee.
+
+Time went on. The clock in the hall had struck--ten or eleven, they
+were not sure which--when they heard the signal which warned them of the
+servant's return from the village. He brought news, and more than news;
+he brought a letter from Launce.
+
+Natalie read these lines:
+
+"I shall be with you, dearest, almost as soon as you receive this. The
+bearer will tell you what has happened in the village--your note throws
+a new light on it all. I only remain behind to go to the vicar (who is
+also the magistrate here), and declare myself your husband. All disguise
+must be at an end now. My place is with you and yours. It is even worse
+than your worst fears. Turlington was at the bottom of the attack on
+your father. Judge if you have not need of your husband's protection
+after that!--L."
+
+Natalie handed the letter to her aunt, and pointed to the sentence which
+asserted Turlington's guilty knowledge of the attempt on Sir Joseph's
+life. In silent horror the two women looked at each other, recalling
+what had happened earlier in the evening, and understanding it now. The
+servant roused them to a sense of present things, by entering on the
+narrative of his discoveries in the village.
+
+The place was all astir when he reached it. An old man--a stranger in
+Baxdale--had been found lying in the road, close to the church, in a
+fit; and the person who had discovered him had been no other than Launce
+himself. He had, literally, stumbled over the body of Thomas Wildfang in
+the dark, on his way back to his lodgings in the village.
+
+"The gentleman gave the alarm, miss," said the servant, describing the
+event, as it had been related to him, "and the man--a huge, big old
+man--was carried to the inn. The landlord identified him; he had taken
+lodgings at the inn that day, and the constable found valuable property
+on him--a purse of money and a gold watch and chain. There was nothing
+to show who the money and the watch belonged to. It was only when my
+master and the doctor got to the inn that it was known whom he had
+robbed and tried to murder. All he let out in his wanderings before they
+came was that some person had set him on to do it. He called the person
+'Captain,' and sometimes 'Captain Goward.' It was thought--if you
+could trust the ravings of a madman--that the fit took him while he
+was putting his hand on Sir Joseph's heart to feel if it had stopped
+beating. A sort of vision (as I understand it) must have overpowered
+him at the moment. They tell me he raved about the sea bursting into the
+church yard, and a drowning sailor floating by on a hen-coop; a sailor
+who dragged him down to hell by the hair of his head, and such like
+horrible nonsense, miss. He was still screeching, at the worst of the
+fit, when my master and the doctor came into the room. At sight of one
+or other of them--it is thought of Mr. Turlington, seeing that he came
+first--he held his peace on a sudden, and then fell back in convulsions
+in the arms of the men who were holding him. The doctor gave it a
+learned name, signifying drink-madness, and said the case was hopeless.
+However, he ordered the room to be cleared of the crowd to see what he
+could do. My master was reported to be still with the doctor, waiting to
+see whether the man lived or died, when I left the village, miss, with
+the gentleman's answer to your note. I didn't dare stay to hear how it
+ended, for fear of Mr. Turlington's finding me out."
+
+Having reached the end of his narrative, the man looked round restlessly
+toward the window. It was impossible to say when his master might not
+return, and it might be as much as his life was worth to be caught in
+the house after he had been locked out of it. He begged permission to
+open the window, and make his escape back to the stables while there
+was still time. As he unbarred the shutter they were startled by a voice
+hailing them from below. It was Launce's voice calling to Natalie. The
+servant disappeared, and Natalie was in Launce's arms before she could
+breathe again.
+
+For one delicious moment she let her head lie on his breast; then she
+suddenly pushed him away from her. "Why do you come here? He will kill
+you if he finds you in the house. Where is he?"
+
+Launce knew even less of Turlington's movements than the servant.
+"Wherever he is, thank God, I am here before him!" That was all the
+answer he could give.
+
+Natalie and her aunt heard him in silent dismay. Sir Joseph woke, and
+recognized Launce before a word more could be said. "Ah, my dear boy!"
+he murmured, faintly. "It's pleasant to see you again. How do you come
+here?" He was quite satisfied with the first excuse that suggested
+itself. "We'll talk about it to-morrow," he said, and composed himself
+to rest again.
+
+Natalie made a second attempt to persuade Launce to leave the house.
+
+"We don't know what may have happened," she said. "He may have followed
+you on your way here. He may have purposely let you enter his house.
+Leave us while you have the chance."
+
+Miss Lavinia added her persuasions. They were useless. Launce quietly
+closed the heavy window-shutters, lined with iron, and put up the bar.
+Natalie wrung her hands in despair.
+
+"Have you been to the magistrate?" she asked. "Tell us, at least, are
+you here by his advice? Is he coming to help us?"
+
+Launce hesitated. If he had told the truth, he must have acknowledged
+that he was there in direct opposition to the magistrate's advice. He
+answered evasively, "If the vicar doesn't come, the doctor will. I have
+told him Sir Joseph must be moved. Cheer up, Natalie! The doctor will be
+here as soon as Turlington."
+
+As the name passed his lips--without a sound outside to prepare them
+for what was coming--the voice of Turlington himself suddenly penetrated
+into the room, speaking close behind the window, on the outer side.
+
+"You have broken into my house in the night," said the voice. "And you
+don't escape _this_ way."
+
+Miss Lavinia sank on her knees. Natalie flew to her father. His eyes
+were wide open in terror; he moaned, feebly recognizing the voice.
+The next sound that was heard was the sound made by the removal of the
+ladder from the balcony. Turlington, having descended by it, had taken
+it away. Natalie had but too accurately guessed what would happen. The
+death of the villain's accomplice had freed him from all apprehension
+in that quarter. He had deliberately dogged Launce's steps, and had
+deliberately allowed him to put himself in the wrong by effecting a
+secret entrance into the house.
+
+There was an interval--a horrible interval--and then they heard the
+front door opened. Without stopping (judging by the absence of sound)
+to close it again, Turlington rapidly ascended the stairs and tried the
+locked door.
+
+"Come out, and give yourself up!" he called through the door. "I have
+got my revolver with me, and I have a right to fire on a man who has
+broken into my house. If the door isn't opened before I count three,
+your blood be on your own head. One!"
+
+Launce was armed with nothing but his stick. He advanced, without an
+instant's hesitation, to give himself up. Natalie threw her arms round
+him and clasped him fast before he could reach the door.
+
+"Two!" cried the voice outside, as Launce struggled to force her from
+him. At the same moment his eye turned toward the bed. It was exactly
+opposite the door--it was straight in the line of fire! Sir Joseph' s
+life (as Turlington had deliberately calculated) was actually in greater
+danger than Launce's life. He tore himself free, rushed to the bed, and
+took the old man in his arms to lift him out.
+
+"Three!"
+
+The crash of the report sounded. The bullet came through the door,
+grazed Launce's left arm, and buried itself in the pillow, at the very
+place on which Sir Joseph's head had rested the moment before. Launce
+had saved his father-in-law's life. Turlington had fired his first shot
+for the money, and had not got it yet.
+
+They were safe in the corner of the room, on the same side as the
+door--Sir Joseph, helpless as a child, in Launce's arms; the women
+pale, but admirably calm. They were safe for the moment, when the second
+bullet (fired at an angle) tore its way through the wall on their right
+hand.
+
+"I hear you," cried the voice of the miscreant on the other side of the
+door. "I'll have you yet--through the wall."
+
+There was a pause. They heard his hand sounding the wall, to find out
+where there was solid wood in the material of which it was built, and
+where there was plaster only. At that dreadful moment Launce's composure
+never left him. He laid Sir Joseph softly on the floor, and signed to
+Natalie and her aunt to lie down by him in silence. Their lives depended
+now on neither their voices nor their movements telling the murderer
+where to fire. He chose his place. The barrel of the revolver grated
+as he laid it against the wall. He touched the hair trigger. A faint
+_click_ was the only sound that followed. The third barrel had missed
+fire.
+
+They heard him ask himself, with an oath, "What's wrong with it now?"
+
+There was a pause of silence.
+
+Was he examining the weapon?
+
+Before they could ask themselves the question, the report of the
+exploding charge burst on their ears. It was instantly followed by a
+heavy fall. They looked at the opposite wall of the room. No sign of a
+bullet there or anywhere.
+
+Launce signed to them not to move yet. They waited, and listened.
+Nothing stirred on the landing outside.
+
+Suddenly there was a disturbance of the silence in the lower regions--a
+clamor of many voices at the open house door. Had the firing of the
+revolver been heard at the vicarage? Yes! They recognized the vicar's
+voice among the others. A moment more, and they heard a general
+exclamation of horror on the stairs. Launce opened the door of the room.
+He instantly closed it again before Natalie could follow him.
+
+The dead body of Turlington lay on the landing outside. The charge in
+the fourth barrel of the revolver had exploded while he was looking at
+it. The bullet had entered his mouth and killed him on the spot.
+
+
+
+
+DOCUMENTARY HINTS, IN CONCLUSION.
+
+First Hint.
+
+(Derived from Lady Winwood's Card-Rack.)
+
+"Sir Joseph Graybrooke and Miss Graybrooke request the honor of Lord
+and Lady Winwood's company to dinner, on Wednesday, February 10, at
+half-past seven o'clock. To meet Mr. and Mrs. Launcelot Linzie on their
+return."
+
+
+Second Hint.
+
+(Derived from a recent Money Article in morning Newspaper.)
+
+"We are requested to give the fullest contradiction to unfavorable
+rumors lately in circulation respecting the firm of Pizzituti,
+Turlington, and Branca. Some temporary derangement in the machinery of
+the business was undoubtedly produced in consequence of the sudden death
+of the lamented managing partner, Mr. Turlington, by the accidental
+discharge of a revolver which he was examining. Whatever temporary
+obstacles may have existed are now overcome. We are informed, on good
+authority, that the well-known house of Messrs. Bulpit Brothers has an
+interest in the business, and will carry it on until further notice."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss or Mrs.?, by Wilkie Collins
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