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diff --git a/57311-0.txt b/57311-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36fd4ee --- /dev/null +++ b/57311-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11687 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57311 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: Google Books + https://books.google.com/books?id=qJYnAAAAMAAJ + (The New York Public Library) + + + + + + +THE HEART OF A MYSTERY + + + + + + +THE HEART OF A MYSTERY + + +A Novel + + +BY +T. W. SPEIGHT + +AUTHOR OF +"HOODWINKED," "BACK TO LIFE," "BURGO'S ROMANCE," +ETC., ETC. + + + +"Pluck out the Heart of my Mystery."--HAMLET + + + + +NEW YORK +R. F. FENNO & COMPANY +112 FIFTH AVENUE + + + + + + +Copyright, 1896 +F. FENNO & COMPANY + + + +_The Heart of a Mystery_ + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +THE PROLOGUE. + +Chapter + I. In December Weather. + II. The Pengarvons of Broome. + + +THE STORY. + I. Mr. Hazeldine Changes his Notes for Gold. + II. "Farewell, a Long Farewell." + III. Tea, Talk, and Music. + IV. A Laggard in Love. + V. Ephraim Judd Cuts his Hand. + VI. The Discovery. + VII. Who Did It? + VIII. Mr. Hazeldine's Letter. + IX. The Inquest. + X. An Anxious Week. + XI. The Verdict. + XII. Amo, Amas. + XIII. The Trial. + XIV. Exit Miss Letitia. + XV. After the Trial. + XVI. A Letter and its Reply. + XVII. The Progress of Events. + XVIII. A Revelation. + XIX. The Old Story. + XX. "What will he Think? What will he Say?" + XXI. Mildew and Decay. + XXII. Ephraim Judd's Strange Experience. + XXIII. Poor John! + XXIV. Enter Mr. Hodgson. + XXV. Ephraim Judd's Remorse. + XXVI. The Brothers. + XXVII. Wrong Versus Right. + XXVIII. Victory. + XXIX. Mixed Threads. + XXX. The Downward Path.--A Proposal. + XXXI. Clement's Quest. + XXXII. Correspondence. + XXXIII. The Quest Continued. + XXXIV. Another Link. + XXXV. The Widow Varrel. + XXXVI. A Journey of Discovery. + XXXVII. How and Why. + XXXVIII. The Cloud Dispersed, and a Bitter Disappointment. + XXXIX. An Interview and its Sequel. + XL. A Story of the Past, and a Departure. + XLI. "Good-Bye to One and All." + + + + + + +THE HEART OF A MYSTERY. + + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +IN DECEMBER WEATHER. + + +On a certain bitter December evening, when the present century was +several years younger than it is now, Miss Pengarvon, of Broome, in +the shire of Derby, sat in the Green Parlor at the Hall, working by +candle-light at some piece of delicate embroidery. The fingers of the +old case-clock pointed to half-past ten--an exceptionally late hour in +that remote place. Miss Pengarvon was alone. Her sister, Miss Letitia, +had been suffering from neuralgic pains in the head, and had retired +an hour ago. Barney Dale, the major-domo and, in point of fact, the +only male member of the establishment, together with his wife, had +gone into the village to visit a sick relative, and there was no +knowing at what hour they might return. The solitary housemaid, having +nothing to sit up for, had been glad to exchange the chilly gloom of +the huge nagged kitchen for the comfort and warmth of bed. Earlier in +the evening snow had fallen to the depth of two or three inches, but +the sky was clear again by this time and the stars were glittering +frostily. Except for the ticking of the clock and the occasional +dropping of a cinder, silence the most profound reigned inside the +Hall and out. Now and then Miss Pengarvon's needle would come to a +stand for a moment while she snuffed the candles, after which the +monotonous stitching would go on as before. Be it observed that +candlesticks, tray, and snuffers were all of silver, although the +candles themselves were of a cheap and common kind. + +Miss Pengarvon was desirous of completing the work on which she was +engaged before going to bed. Both she and Miss Letitia were remarkably +skillful with their needles, and, gentlewomen though they were, were +not above seeking payment for their work. But this was a secret known +to themselves and Barney Dale alone. Once a month Barney went over to +a certain town some score miles away, where he found a ready market +for the proceeds of the untiring industry of the two ladies at the +Hall, without anybody being the wiser as to whose handiwork it was. +The money thus earned formed a welcome addition to the very limited +income of Miss Pengarvon and her sister. + +At this time Miss Pengarvon was close on her forty-fifth birthday. She +was very tall, and grim, and gaunt. The normal expression of her +features was harsh and forbidding. She had fine teeth, an aquiline +nose, and unsympathetic blue-grey eyes, with a cold, stony gleam in +them, deeply set under bushy brows--eyes which looked as though they +had never melted with tenderness or softened with tears. The mass of +her dark-brown hair, which began to show signs of the flight of time, +was coiled round the crown of her head and held in its place by a high +comb, while three small puffs or curls, which were generally kept in +paper till mid-day, decorated each side of her forehead. When not +engaged with her needle, she wore black lace mittens, and she always +changed her morning dress of black bombazine for one of black silk +before dinner. The dress she was wearing had been both dyed and +turned, but was still good for two or three years' longer wear. + +Of Miss Letitia it is enough to say that she was a copy, in somewhat +less pronounced colors, of her sister as far as one human being can be +a copy of any other; indeed, by comparative strangers, she was not +infrequently mistaken for Miss Pengarvon. She was two years younger +than her sister, whose stronger will dominated hers, and who had still +as complete an ascendency over her as when they had been children +together. It was noticeable that if any of the servants, or any poor +person, wanted a favor granted, or a kindness done them, they went by +preference to Miss Letitia rather than to Miss Barbara. + +The Green Parlor, although it was traditionally supposed to be +haunted, was the favorite sitting-room of the Misses Pengarvon, as it +had been of their mother in her time. It was probably owing to the +force of early associations that they clung to it as they did, seeing +that there were many pleasanter rooms in the old house, some of them +looking over the terrace and the garden beyond, or having views across +miles of swelling moorland; whereas the two high, narrow windows of +the Green Parlor looked into nothing more attractive than a small +shaven lawn, shut in by a thick semicircular hedge of evergreens, and +without any embellishment beyond such as might be afforded by a +dilapidated and moss-grown sun-dial. + +Both fingers and eyes were tired, but Miss Pengarvon went on doggedly +with her work. She finished her task as the clock was striking eleven. +With a sigh of relief she rose from her chair, and began to put away +her silks and needles and other materials. While thus engaged she +started suddenly; she felt nearly sure that she had heard a knocking +at the front door. She waited without stirring for a couple of +minutes. Yes, there it was again--the unmistakable sound of some one +knocking at the great door of the Hall. Who could be seeking +admittance at that late hour? The visitors at the Hall were so few +that Miss Pengarvon was utterly nonplussed, Barney Dale and his wife, +when they should return, would gain admittance through the back +premises, of which they had the key. There might be thieves or tramps +abroad, who knew that there was no one but women in the house. + +But Miss Pengarvon was a woman of nerve, and not readily frightened. +She was still waiting and hesitating when the knocking sounded for the +third time, but less loudly than before. At the best it had been a +timorous and half-hearted sort of summons, with little or no +self-assertion about it. + +Miss Pengarvon hesitated no longer. Taking up one of the two +candlesticks, for there was no light in any other part of the house, +she flung open the door of the Green Parlor and passed into the dark +corridor beyond, shading the candle with her hand as she went. From +the corridor she passed into the entrance-hall, strange, weird shadows +seeming to start into life from wall and ceiling, as though they had +been suddenly disturbed in their sleep, as she crossed it with her +feeble light. Before her was the great door, iron clamped, and +fastened with bolt and chain. Putting down her candle on a side table, +Miss Pengarvon went up to the door and laid her hand on one of the +bolts. Then she hesitated. She knew not who might be outside, and she +was but one lonely woman. Then with a gesture of impatience at her own +timidity, she undid the heavy bolts and locks one by one, but was +careful to leave the guard chain still up. Then she pulled open the +door as far as the chain would allow. A gust of frosty air, that cut +almost like a knife, leaped suddenly in, bringing with it a shower of +powdered snow and extinguishing the candle. + +Miss Pengarvon, peering out into the snowy night, saw a female figure, +hooded and cloaked from head to foot, standing on the topmost of the +broad, shallow flight of steps which led up to the door. As she looked +a dire presentiment shook her from head to foot, as few things else in +the world could have shaken her, but her voice was clear and stern +when she spoke: + +"Who are you, and what is your business here at this untimely hour?" +she demanded. + +The figure outside came a step nearer. + +"I am Isabel--your sister," was uttered in broken accents. "I have +been walking till I can walk no longer. I have not tasted food since +morning. I want shelter and rest for to-night--only for to-night." + +The tone was one of pitiful supplication. + +"Neither shelter nor rest is there under this roof for such as you," +replied Miss Pengarvon, in her stoniest accents. "You have disgraced +the name you bear as it was never disgraced before. This is your home +no longer. Go!" and without another word the great door was shut with +a crash and the bolts and locks shot one by one. + +As Miss Pengarvon put out her hand in the dark to find the +candlestick, one short, sharp, anguished cry--the cry of a broken +heart--smote her ears. She stood for some moments with a hand pressed +to her bosom, listening, but the silence was not broken again. Once +more the house seemed a house of the dead. Then Miss Pengarvon turned +and made her way through the black entrance-hall and the blacker +corridor beyond, till she reached the parlor. Going in, she shut the +door and tried to re-light the candle, but her hand trembled so that +for some time she could not. Her face looked strangely haggard, but +the hard, cold look in her eyes never varied. She drew a knitted shawl +round her shoulders and sat down by the smouldering embers. Surely +Barney and his wife could not be long now! She felt a strange +disinclination for going to bed till they should return, although +under ordinary circumstances she would have had no hesitation about +doing so. The wind was beginning to rise, and every now and again +there were eerie meanings in the wide chimney, while the windows shook +and rattled as though some one were trying them from without. There +was only one candle alight, and the room seemed full of shadows such +as she had never noticed before. The darkest corner was the corner +behind her chair. It made her uncomfortable to know this, so she +crossed to the opposite side of the hearth, and sat down in her +sister's chair. She wished that Letitia had not gone to bed. + +She never remembered having felt so nervous before, not even when a +child, and she despised herself for the feeling. All this time she was +conscious that she was still listening intently. Would that timorous +summons at the door make itself heard again? Perhaps she half hoped +that it might. She kept telling herself again and again that it was +impossible for her to have acted otherwise than as she had acted, that +no other course was open to her--and yet she listened for the knocking +to come again. By-and-bye she opened the door a little way. This, as +she told herself, was only that she might be enabled to hear Barney +when he should arrive. How slowly the minutes passed! What strange +noises the wind made! Those windows must be seen to in the morning and +made to fit more tightly in their frames. It was evident that she +would not be troubled with the knocking again. "So much the better--so +much the better," she muttered under her breath--and yet she was +listening all the time. Thank Heaven! here was Barney Dale at last. + +She could hear him unlocking one of the back doors of which he had +taken the key with him. But he did not re-lock the door, which was +strange; and now he was coming at a great pace in the direction of the +Green Parlor; his hobnailed shoes clumping noisily as he came along +the stone corridor. He had never before missed giving a preliminary +knock at the door, but this time he came in without ceremony. One +glance at his affrighted face was enough to tell Miss Pengarvon the +news he was bringing her. She rose from her seat as he entered the +room. + +"Oh! mistress, there's poor Miss Isabel lying outside in the snow, +and----" + +Miss Pengarvon's tall, thin form drew itself up to its fullest height. +"I know it," she said in her deep, harsh tones; "I know it. Let her +lie there, or let her go. There is no home for such as she." + +"But, mistress, she's dying; or, mebbe, dead already--dead and cold. I +lifted up her head, and it fell back like a lump o' lead. You munna +leave her lying there to perish. For heaven's sake, mistress, let me +and Joanna see to her!" + +"Let her go. This is no home for such as she," was all that Miss +Pengarvon said. + +"But she canna even stand, and, long afore morning, she'll be froze to +death. Besides, which----" he bent forward, and whispered a few words +in Miss Pengarvon's ear. + +A sort of stony horror came into her face as she listened. Then she +drew back a pace and clenched her hand, and for a moment Barney +thought that she was about to strike him. "It is a lie--an infamous +lie!" she whispered back through her thin, dry lips. + +"It's gospel truth, mistress, and Joanna will tell you the same. You +munna leave her lying there, dead an' cold, poor dear--dead an' cold." + +"So be it," said Miss Pengarvon, after a few moments, with an evident +effort. "Do you and Joanna bring her in--but not by the front door, +not over the threshold she has disgraced. Let her come in by the door +at which beggars and vagrants knock." + +Barney waited for no further permission, but went at once, closing the +door behind him. Miss Pengarvon folded her shawl more closely around +her and sank into a chair. She sat and stared at the dying embers, her +thin lips moving, but no sound coming from them. All the same, her +ears were painfully on the alert. She started as though she half +expected to see a ghost, when the door slowly opened, and Miss Letitia +entered the room in her grey dressing-robe and frilled night-cap. The +latter was trembling violently, and her eyes were full of terror. + +"What brings you here?" demanded the elder sister, sternly. "I thought +you were in bed hours ago." + +"I left the lotion for my face downstairs, and I can get no rest +without it. But what are Barney and Joanna about at this time of +night? As I came downstairs I saw them bringing something in through +the open door." Then she whispered, "Do you know, Barbara, it looked +for all the world like a corpse!" + +Miss Pengarvon shuddered in spite of herself. "Letitia," she said, "go +and bolt the door at the foot of the staircase that leads to Susan's +bedroom. She might come down unawares, as you have. When you have done +that, come back here, and I will tell you what it was that you saw +Barney and Joanna bringing into the house." + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE PENGARVON'S OF BROOME. + + +The Pengarvons had been settled at Broome for three hundred years. +They were the younger branch of an ancient Cornish family, which +professed to be able to trace back its pedigree to the days when +legend and history were so inextricably mixed that it was impossible +at this distance of time to draw any nice distinction between the two. +For twenty miles round they were known as "The Proud Pengarvons;" but +whether this distinctive title had its origin in some mental +peculiarity of the family, or in their mode of carrying themselves +towards their fellows, or whether the family motto, "Pride I cherish," +was responsible for it, it would not be worth while too curiously to +inquire. In any case, it was accepted as an indisputable fact that the +Pengarvons should be proud, and proud they were accordingly. The +present mansion of Broome, which was situate in the extreme north of +the county, where the Derbyshire and Yorkshire moors impinge upon each +other, dated no further back than the earlier half of the seventeenth +century. It was a long, low, two-storied house, built of common grey +stone indigenous to that part of the country--the same kind of stone +that the rough unmortared walls were built of, which divided one field +or stretch of moorland from another (for miles round Broome, hedges +were few and far between). It was a house which, as regards design and +ornamentation, was severely simple almost to the verge of ugliness, +but, in years gone by it had been found spacious enough for all the +needs of a large family, with accommodation for a score or more guests +into the bargain. Sir Jasper Pengarvon, the last baronet--with whom +the title became extinct for lack of heirs male--and the father of the +Miss Pengarvons, to whom we have already been introduced, had married +for his first wife Maria, niece of Lord Dronfield, who brought him a +fortune of ten thousand pounds. + +Sir Jasper was not a man to appreciate the delights of the country, or +to settle down after marriage into the groove which had contented so +many generations of his forefathers. While still little more than a +youngster, he had developed a very pretty taste for the gaming-table, +which it was impossible to gratify at Broome. So one day, after he had +been nearly yawning himself to death for a week, and after a more +pronounced tiff than usual with my lady, whose penurious ways were a +terrible annoyance to him, he discovered that important business +called him to London, and there, a few days later, his yellow +posting-chariot deposited him. + +After this, Broome saw little of its master except at infrequent +intervals. His visits rarely lasted longer than a fortnight at a time, +after which he would be off again, either to London, or to the country +house of one or another of his many friends. Meanwhile, Lady Pengarvon +vegetated from year end to year end in the gloomy old house, seeing +scarcely any company and rarely going from home, bringing up her +daughters, giving sparingly to the poor, and being exercised in her +mind for weeks before she ventured on the extravagance of ordering a +new gown. All this time no heir male came to gladden his parents' +hearts. Sir Jasper felt himself to be a deeply injured man, while his +wife pined in secret and shut herself up from the world more closely +than ever. + +The Baronet had not been idle all this time. He had been doing his +best, with the aid of the gaming-table, to dissipate the broad acres +which had come down to him from a dozen generations of thrifty +ancestors. It was a pleasant life, but unfortunately it couldn't last +for ever. The end came when his eldest daughter was seventeen years +old. His own fortune, his wife's fortune, the proceeds of the sale of +every acre of land and every foot of timber that he had the power to +sell had slipped through his fingers as easily as water through a +sieve, till nothing was left save the old house of Broome, with a few +acres of sparsely-timbered land about it, together with two small +farms of the rental value of eighty pounds a year each, which it was +not in the Baronet's power to touch. Beyond that the ruin was +complete. + +It was when affairs had come to this pass that Lady Pengarvon took it +into her head to die. Her husband admitted that, under the +circumstances, it was the most sensible thing she could have done. The +poor lady was well out of her troubles. + +Hardly was the funeral over before the Baronet packed off his +daughters to some of their mother's relatives, and shut up the house, +after which nothing definite was known as to his movements for nearly +three years. At the end of that time information came to hand that Sir +Jasper Pengarvon was about to take to himself a second wife, in the +person of the daughter of a rich London drysalter, with a fortune of +twenty-five thousand pounds. + +The new Lady Pengarvon proved to be an unrefined, good-natured woman, +who had probably been very pretty when she was a dozen years younger. +Between her and the young ladies, her step-daughters, there was a +great gulf, which they took care she should never overpass. She was +their father's wife, and as such they treated her with civility and a +certain amount of respect; but it was with a civility that chilled, +and with a respect which seemed ever to imply, "We cannot rid +ourselves of you, and consequently must tolerate you, bat don't look +to us for anything more." + +At the end of half a dozen years the second Lady Pengarvon went the +way of her predecessor, fading slowly out of life under the cold, +watchful eyes of Miss Barbara and her sister, which seemed to say, "We +know you can't last long, and we shall not mourn you over-much when +you are gone." She left behind her one little daughter, Isabel by +name, who was at once packed off to a sister of her mother, near +London; then the two Misses Pengarvon breathed more freely, and felt +that Providence had not been unkind to them. + +Meanwhile, Sir Jasper had resumed his old career in London as though +there had never been a break in it. The young ladies saw little more +of their father after the second Lady Pengarvon's death than they had +before. He went down to Broome occasionally for a few days at a time, +but that was all. He lived five years longer; then one morning he was +found dead in his Mayfair lodging with a bullet through his heart. +Once more he had come to the end of his resources. It was hopeless to +think of marrying a third fortune. There stared him in the face an old +age of obscure penury away from the haunts he loved so well, and the +prospect daunted him. He died as he had lived, an utter pagan. + +A few years later, the aunt with whom Isabel had gone to live died, +and Miss Pengarvon found herself under the necessity of sending Barney +Dale for the child, there being no other home for her than Broome. +Isabel at this time was a blue-eyed, yellow-haired little lady of +seven, the very presentment in features and expression of a certain +youthful Miss Pengarvon whose portrait by Sir Joshua graced the +gallery at Broome. In truth, the drysalter's little grand-daughter +had all the traditional beauty of the women of her father's race--a +beauty which had so unaccountably lapsed in the case of her elder +half-sisters, niece though their mother had been to an earl. + +It was in the dusk of an autumn afternoon that Barney Dale and his +charge reached Broome. The Misses Pengarvon were awaiting the child in +the old oak parlor, which even on the brightest day in summer was +gloomy and full of strange shadows. The elder sister came forward a +step or two, and taking Isabel by the hand, gazed down in frowning +silence on the fair young face, which returned her look with +wondering, frightened eyes. A faint momentary color flushed her sallow +cheeks. Then she stooped and pressed her thin, cold lips to Isabel's +forehead. + +"So you are come back to Broome, child. They had better have found you +another home," she said in her dry, hard voice, in which not the +slightest chord of sympathy ever seemed to vibrate. Miss Letitia, who +copied her sister in everything, went through a similar formula. + +Isabel gazed from one stern, sad-faced woman to the other, and her +lips quivered. She turned and clung to Barney's arm. + +"Oh, take me away! take me away! I want to go back!" she cried. + +Miss Pengarvon turned away in high displeasure, and Barney led the +tearful child from the room. + +That first night, and many nights afterwards, Isabel cried herself to +sleep in the huge four-poster, with its funereal draperies, in which +they put her to bed. All her life she had been used to being petted +and made much of, and had hardly known what it was to be alone. But +now she was left by herself in a great ghostly room from six o'clock +at night till seven next morning. She felt herself to be quite an +unconsidered trifle in that huge ocean of bed. She was morally sure +that those grim portraits on the walls--dark, frowning gentlemen in +perukes and embroidered clothes, and stately ladies in hoops and +high-heeled shoes--whispered to each other about her, Isabel +Pengarvon; and that after the candle was taken away they stepped down +out of their frames, and hastened to join the other ghosts in the long +gallery, where they danced and flirted and took snuff with each other, +till some watchful cock on a faraway farm sounded the warning note +which sent them back to their faded frames, there to attitudinize in +silent mockery till another midnight should come round. + +But these first fears gradually wore themselves away, and in time +Isabel and the portraits became great friends. She would sit up in bed +on moonlight nights, and talk to them by the hour together. She +invented private histories for many of them--strings of adventures, +such as only a child's brain could have imagined. Like other people, +she had her favorites. Among such were "my Lady Bluesash" and "Miss +Prettyshoes," "Mr. Longcurls" and "Captain Finelace," all people of +quality, who were so good-natured as to have no secrets from Isabel. + +With that marvellous adaptability which all children possess in a +greater or lesser degree, Isabel gradually learned to look upon Broome +as her home, and to have few cares or interests that were not bounded +by its four grey walls. She lighted up the solitary old house like a +ray of sunshine that warms and brightens at the same time. On Sundays +she went with her sisters to church, and was shut up with them in the +great oaken pew, with its closely-drawn curtains, where the preacher's +voice came to her as the voice of one that crieth in the wilderness, +he himself being altogether unseen, and from whence nothing was +visible to her wandering eyes save a portion of the groined roof and +two hideous gargoyles, whose staring eyes seemed to watch her every +movement. + +When Isabel was fourteen years old she was sent to a school in +Nottingham to complete her education. Since her arrival at Broome her +only teacher had been Miss Letitia, who, in their long hours together +over their lessons, had, in her own cold, formal way, grown to like +the bright-eyed, high-spirited girl far better than at one time she +believed it possible she ever should do. Isabel was away for three +years; at seventeen she came home "finished." + +She was quite a young lady by this time--tall, slender, and with all +the traditional beauty of her race. She was brimming over with +mischief and high spirits, and she looked forward with dread to the +dreary, uneventful life before her, with no company save that of her +two middle-aged sisters--for Miss Pengarvon was now forty years old, +Miss Letitia only two years younger--and to being buried alive, as it +were, in that grim old house among the Derbyshire hills. Her life at +school had served to show her a little of the world, from which she +now felt as if she were about to be shut out forever--just enough, in +fact, to make its attractions, known and unknown, all the more +alluring to her vivid imagination. She had seen the Nottingham shops, +gay with the manifold wares dear to a girl's heart; she had heard the +garrison band play delicious waltzes that thrilled her with emotions +unknown before, and more than one audacious young officer had turned +to look and look again, as she was pacing demurely to church with her +school-fellows. She had devoured all the love stories that had been +smuggled into the school, and she had heard other girls talking about +sweethearts and possible husbands, and she could not help wondering +whether anyone would ever fall in love with her. Isabel did what few +girls do--she cried bitter tears when the time came for her to bid +good-bye to school for ever. + +Two year passed without change. Her life of repression and isolation +became at times a burden almost too heavy to be borne. Her nature was +affectionate, but impulsive; she was warm-hearted, but with something +wayward in her disposition, which, under happier circumstances, would +doubtless have found a vent in high spirits and innocent fun. The end +of the matter was that one morning Isabel was missing. She left behind +her a note addressed to Miss Pengarvon, in which she stated that she +was about to be married to some one who loved her very dearly, and +that she would write further particulars in a few days. For some time +past, a young gentleman, name unknown, had been stopping at the King's +Arms Hotel, Stavering, ostensibly for fishing and sketching purposes; +but as he and Isabel had been seen together more than once, pacing the +sheltered walks by the river, and as he disappeared at the same time, +there could be little doubt that they had gone away together. After +reading the letter, Miss Pengarvon threw it into the fire. Then she +caused all Isabel's clothes to be burnt--not that the poor girl had +had anything beyond a very meagre wardrobe--and locked the door of the +room which had been hers and took away the key. + +"She has disgraced the name she bears. Let us never speak of her +again," she said in her bitterest tones to Miss Letitia. The latter +was crying quietly to herself. Miss Pengarvon regarded her with silent +scorn. + +Three weeks later there came a second letter from Isabel, bearing the +London postmark, and, a month after that, a third which had been +stamped at Southampton. Both these letters Miss Pengarvon burned +without opening. After that no further letter came, and it seemed as +if Isabel were indeed lost to them for ever. + +Three years went by, and then came that snowy December night which +brought Isabel back, a suppliant, to the door of Broome. It has +already been told how Miss Pengarvon refused her admittance, how +Barney Dale and his wife found her dying, or dead in the snow; and how +a reluctant consent was given to her inanimate body being brought +indoors by way of the back entrance. From that hour every trace of her +vanished. Morning broke, the housemaid came down stairs and went about +her duties, suspecting nothing. Neither inside the house nor out was +any sign or token to be seen of her, who living or dead, had been +carried in but a few hours before. Where was she? What had become of +her? Those were questions which four people alone out of all the world +could have answered, had they chosen to speak. + + + + + +THE STORY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +MR. HAZELDINE CHANGES HIS NOTES FOR GOLD. + + +Twenty years, with all their manifold changes, have come and gone +since Isabel Pengarvon was found one December night lying in the snow +in front of the great door at Broome; and the course of our narrative +now takes us to Ashdown, a thriving town in the Midlands, of some +twenty-five to thirty thousand inhabitants. + +Everybody in Ashdown knew Avison's Bank, and could have directed a +stranger to it. It had been established for nearly three-quarters of a +century, and no bank stood higher in the estimation of the +manufacturers and tradespeople of the town or of the farmers round +about. Mr. Avison, senior, owing to his great age and infirmities, had +retired from any active direction of the business some years ago. Mr. +Avison, junior, who was himself a middle-aged man, had been abroad, +with the exception of a week or two now and then, for the last year or +more, in search of the health which his native country denied him. +Now, however, he was coming back--was, in fact, expected almost +immediately, and was once more going to try a winter at home. + +Since the retirement of the elder partner, and during the absence of +the younger, the entire management of the business had devolved upon +Mr. Hazeldine, the chief cashier, and no one more capable of +sustaining the burthen could have been found. He had been with the +firm since boyhood, and in process of time had risen from one grade to +another till it was impossible for him to rise any higher, unless he +were made a partner; a contingency which had been discussed more than +once between the two Mr. Avisons. Although of obscure origin, Mr. +Hazeldine, early in life, had married a young lady of some standing in +Ashdown society, who brought with her a fortune of three thousand +pounds, and had thereby at once raised himself considerably in the +social scale. Two sons and one daughter had been born of the marriage, +all of whom were now grown up. Edward, the elder son, was in business +as a brewer at Beecham, which might almost be called a suburb of +Ashdown, although it was in another parish. He was a keen, hard-headed +business man, eager to push his way in the world, and ambitious after +a fashion which no one but himself was aware of. + +The younger son, Clement, was in practice as a surgeon. After gaining +experience for three or four years as assistant to a popular London +doctor, his father had bought for him what remained of the practice of +old Doctor Diprose. Clement had thereupon removed his quarters to +Ashdown, and was at present fighting the uphill fight of a young +doctor in a small provincial town. Fanny, Mr. Hazeldine's daughter, +was unmarried, and lived at home with her parents. + +It was customary at Avison's Bank for Mr. Hazeldine, or his chief +clerk, John Brancker (generally the latter) to go up to London by +train every Thursday and there change a thousand or twelve hundred +pounds' worth of notes for gold, in order to meet the requirements of +the bank's numerous small customers on market-day. On this particular +Thursday on which we make his acquaintance, Mr. Hazeldine himself was +on his way to London to change the usual amount of notes for gold. In +the netting of the carriage overhead was the black bag, now empty, in +which he would bring the money back. As he sits there in the train +with folded arms and shut eyes, to all appearance asleep, but in +reality as wideawake as ever he had been in his life, and with his +mind pondering a thousand questions, let us endeavor, with a few +touches, to bring him more definitely before the reader. + +James Hazeldine at this time was fifty-four years old. He was closely +shaven, except for two small side-whiskers, so that there was nothing +to hide his square, clear-cut jaw, his thin lips, and firm-set mouth. +In color his hair and whiskers, once nearly black, were now an +iron-grey. He had a prominent, well-cut nose, and cold, resolute, +steel-grey eyes. The predominant expression of his face was +determination; you felt that here was a man with a masterful spirit +who would not readily be moved from any course, whether for good or +evil, which he had once made up his mind to follow. Mingled with this +expression was the keen, shrewd look of the experienced man of +business--the look of one who in his time had chaffered and bargained +with many men. In his dress Mr. Hazeldine was somewhat old-fashioned +and precise; possibly it was part of his policy to be so. He wore a +black tail-coat and waistcoat, and pepper-and-salt continuations. He +wore a starched checked cravat, high-pointed collars and broad-toed +shoes with drab gaiters. With the addition of an overcoat in winter, +his dress was the same all the year round. + +To-day, however, Mr. Hazeldine was not looking in his usual health. +There was a worn and anxious expression on his face like that of a man +who had been much worried of late. His eyes, too, looked sunken and +dull, but his mouth was as firm-set as ever. Only a few days ago his +daughter Fanny had said to her mother: + +"Have you noticed how fast papa's hair has been turning grey of late?" + +But Mrs. Hazeldine, whose eyesight was no longer as good as it had +once been, had noticed nothing. + +Mr. Hazeldine roused himself from his reverie with a sigh when the +train stopped for the collection of tickets. At the terminus he +engaged a hansom and was driven direct to the Bank of England. There +he exchanged notes to the value of twelve hundred pounds for gold, +which sum he locked up in the bag he had brought with him. + +On leaving the Bank, he made his way into Throgmorton Street, where he +plunged into a maze of narrow and tortuous courts and passages, nearly +all of which have been swept away within the last few years. + +Threading his way like one who held the clue, he presently dived into +the semi-dark entry of one of the oldest houses; the numerous names +painted on the door-posts betokening that it was split up into sundry +suites of offices. Ascending slowly to the first floor, with feet +which seemed weighted with lead, Mr. Hazeldine turned the handle of a +certain door, and went in. He found himself in an outer office +occupied by two clerks. + +"Is Mr. Barker within and disengaged?" he asked. + +"What name, sir?" queried one of the clerks, thereby answering the +double question. + +"Mr. James," was the reply. + +The clerk was scarcely gone a moment. Holding open the door of the +inner office, he said: + +"Mr. Barker will see you, sir." + +Mr. James went in, and the door was shut behind him. + +At a square table, with his back to the fire, sat Mr. Barker, a stout, +bald-headed, foxy-looking man, dressed in a blue frock coat and white +waistcoat, with a flower in his buttonhole, and a rather conspicuous +display of jewelry. He nodded familiarly to "Mr. James" as to an old +acquaintance. + +"I rather thought you might call in the course of the day," he said. +"Come to settle up, eh?" + +"Yes, come to settle up," was the answer, with a faint sigh. "Perhaps +you won't mind taking the greater part in gold; your doing so will +oblige me." + +"I shall have no objection at all, Mr. James. It don't matter to +me--ha! ha!--in what form it comes, so long as I get hold of it. What +nice weather we have been having of late." + +Mr. James opened his bag and drew therefrom twelve small canvas bags +containing one hundred sovereigns each. "Be good enough to count +these," he said. + +Mr. Barker emptied one bag on the table and counted its contents into +little piles of twenty sovereigns each. + +"I won't detain you, Mr. James, while I count the rest," he said. "I +have no doubt I shall find them quite correct." + +"There are twelve there," said Mr. James, indicating the bags. Then he +drew a roll of notes from his breast-pocket. "These will make up the +seventeen." + +Mr. Barker took the notes, wetted his forefinger, and counted them one +by one. + +"Right you are, sir, and I'm very much obliged to you," was his +comment when he had done. Then he went to a safe in one corner, and +having deposited the notes and gold in it, he drew from a receptacle +containing several other documents of a similar kind, a long, narrow +strip of bluish paper, which he handed to his visitor. "All ready and +prepared, you see," he said, with a smile. + +Mr. James just glanced at the document, then he crumpled it up, and +flinging it into the fire, watched it till nothing was left of it but +ashes. + +Mr. Barker laughed. + +"Have a glass of sherry. You are not looking over-bright to-day," he +said, heartily. + +"Thanks; I never drink before dinner," was the answer. "I have been +worried a little in business matters lately, that is all," he added. +"But I am going to take a long holiday presently." + +"Nothing like it when you're fagged out, or when the machinery gets a +bit out of gear," responded Mr. Barker. "Can't keep the bow always +bent, you know. Sha'n't see you again for some time, then? South of +France--Italian Lakes--eh?" + +"Well, I hardly know yet where I am bound for," said Mr. James, with a +curious, pallid smile. Then he took up his hat and brushed it round +with his sleeve in a hesitating way very unusual with him. "Nothing +you see or hear ever surprises you, does it, Mr. Barker?" he asked. + +"Well, no, Mr. James. I'm rather too old a bird to be surprised at +anything." + +"Then you won't be surprised at anything you may read in the papers in +the course of the next few days." + +Mr. Barker winked and laid a finger against one side of his nose. As +an action it was vulgar, but expressive. + +Mr. James nodded and smiled the same curious smile. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Barker," he said. "Good-morning. I'll leave this +empty bag till next time I call." + +"Which I hope will be before very long, eh, Mr. James? Always happy to +accommodate you, you know." + +"We shall see what we shall see. And so, once more, good-morning." He +went without another word, closing the green baize door behind him. A +minute later he found himself in the street. + +Mr. James Hazeldine walked on till he was overtaken by an empty cab. +This he hailed, and was driven westward. Although he had told Mr. +Barker that he never drank before dinner, he now went into a tavern in +the Strand, and called for a tumbler of hot brandy and water and then +for another, both of which he drank in less than five minutes. In +truth, he looked very haggard and ill. During the next half hour he +wandered up and down the Strand in a purposeless sort of way, staring +into the shop windows, but having no thought or interest in anything +he saw there. More than once he took a letter out of the breast pocket +of his coat, read the address over to himself, and then put it back +again. At length, spying a pillar-box in a side street, he walked +slowly up to it and again took out the letter. It was directed as +under: + + + "Edward Hazeldine, Esq., + "The Brewery, + "Beecham by Ashdown, + "Midlandshire." + + +He dropped the letter into the box. + +"That settles everything," he muttered. "There can be no turning back +now. Edward will get it by the first post to-morrow." + +Why was Mr. Hazeldine posting a letter to his son, whom he would +probably see in the course of the evening? + +He turned back into the Strand, and entering a restaurant, called for +a basin of soup. He ate about half of it, finished up with a glass of +sherry, and then ordered a cab and was driven to the terminus. + +Going into the cloak-room at the station, he there redeemed a black +bag, precisely similar in size and appearance to the empty bag he had +left in Mr. Barker's office. This bag, which apparently contained +something heavy, he took with him into the carriage and placed it in +the netting over his head. + +There were other passengers in the compartment, but he spoke to no +one. He pulled up the collar of his coat and shut his eyes, and, to +all appearance, went fast asleep. The clocks were striking seven as he +walked out of Ashdown station, carrying his bag in one hand and his +umbrella in the other. + +Mr. Hazeldine's house was not far from the station. He let himself in +by means of his latchkey, and walked straight into the drawing-room, +where he found his wife and daughter. + +"You are late this evening, dear," said Mrs. Hazeldine, languidly, as +if his being so were a matter of no moment. + +"Yes, I had some special business to transact, and could not get done +in time to catch the two o'clock train." + +And yet he had spent nearly an hour mooning about the Strand! + +He sat down in his easy-chair with an air of weariness. + +"We did not wait dinner for you, not knowing how late you would be," +resumed his wife. "Will you have a steak cooked, or what shall I order +for you?" + +"I had some dinner in town; all I want is a cup of tea." + +His daughter rang the bell, and presently a tea equipage was brought +in. + +"You are not looking at all well, papa," said Fanny, as she handed him +a cup. "I hope you are not going back to that horrid Bank to-night." + +"I am quite well, my dear," he said. "A little tired with my journey; +that's all. I must go to the Bank for a couple of hours." He drew her +face down to his own and kissed it. + +"There now, you have disarranged my collar, you dear old bear," she +said, turning to survey herself in the glass over the chimney-piece. + +"You scarcely ever spend an evening at home nowadays, James," said +Mrs. Hazeldine, in the complaining tone to which her husband was well +used. "You seem to care for nothing but the Bank. Instead of taking +things easy as you get older, you seem to have to work harder every +year that you live." + +"I hope we shall see more of you at home when Mr. Avison gets back," +remarked Fanny. + +Mr. Hazeldine shivered, and then he sipped at his tea. + +"Do you know what I am going to do?" he asked, presently. "I am going +to take a long, long holiday." + +"Oh, papa! when--when?" cried Fanny the excitable. + +"Almost immediately." + +"You darling old crocodile! I'm languishing to visit Switzerland +again. But, of course, one can't go there at this time of year. The +Riviera, and then on to Rome, would be delightful. I am dying to see +Rome." + +"Give me Paris, either in winter or summer," said Mrs. Hazeldine, with +the air of a person who knows her own mind. "I care nothing for a +parcel of mouldy ruins, but I do love nice shops; and there are no +shops in the world equal to those of Paris." + + + + +CHAPTER II. +"FAREWELL, A LONG FAREWELL." + + +Mrs. Hazeldine was a lady of fifty, who, in the small circles of +Ashdown society, had at one time been accounted a beauty, and who +sometimes found it difficult to forget that she was one no longer. On +her delicate, clear-cut features there rested habitually a pinched and +careworn expression. She was a woman who, never having known any real +trouble, made her life a perpetual worry with those small, everyday +grievances which we all have to contend against in a greater or lesser +degree. To wail over the shortcomings of her servants, to moan over +certain fancied ailments, to discuss the last morsel of local gossip +with this friend or that, or to immerse herself for the time being +with Fanny in preparations for the next ball, or garden party, or +flower show, seemed to be the sole objects for which Mrs. Hazeldine +existed. And yet there was one more object for which she lived, and +that was to see her daughter married to some man of wealth and +position--two qualifications which, she persuaded herself, were +absolutely indispensable to marital felicity. As yet, she and Fanny +were waiting for the coming Prince, who, so far, had not even put in +an appearance. But Mrs. Westerton, of Owenscraig, was going to give a +fancy-dress ball on the nineteenth, to which Mrs. Hazeldine and her +daughter had been invited, and just now expectation ran high in the +breasts of both. + +Fanny Hazeldine was a pretty blonde who had seen her twenty-second +birthday. Her mother, when young, had been noted for her slender and +graceful figure, and one of Fanny's chief desires was that she should +be noted in the same way. She had been troubled in her mind of late by +a suspicion that she was imperceptibly, but surely, increasing in +bulk. She laced so tightly that sometimes she felt as if she could +scarcely breathe; but even that did not seem to have the desired +effect. Unfortunately, Fanny was blessed with a fine, healthy +appetite, and a great liking for the good things of the table. It was +a pathetic sight at dinner to see the poor girl struggling between her +natural inclination for some tempting dish, and the certainty which +beset her that by partaking of it she would not be tending to promote +the object on which her heart was so firmly fixed. She had been +brought up by her mother's side, and had imbibed her mother's notions +and prejudices; and, in such a case, unless there was some native +strength of character, as the mother is, so to a great extent will the +daughter prove to be. Fanny's pretty head was filled with thoughts of +sweethearts and possible conquests, and whether this style of dress +would suit her, or that mode of hat become her best--and with very +little beside. + +"Oh, papa," she cried, "Captain Lacie has lent me such a charming Book +of Costumes. All the plates are colored. I do wish you would look +through it and say which costume you would like me to appear in at +Mrs. Westerton's fancy ball." + +"Mrs. Westerton's fancy ball!" echoed Mr. Hazeldine, with a strangely +dismal laugh. "What should I know about such frivolities? Besides, I'm +too tired tonight. Then, again, something may happen to hinder you +from going--one never can tell." + +"It would have to be something very particular that would keep me +away," said Fanny, with a pout. "I'm dying to go--only I can't make up +my mind whether to go as a Breton fish-wife, as a Louis-Sèize +marquise, or----" + +At this moment the door opened, and in marched Edward Hazeldine. He +had caught his sister's last sentence. + +"If I were you, Fan, I should go as Ophelia, with straws in your +hair," he said. "A touch of madness would become you admirably." + +"Why don't you keep your rude speeches for your fine lady friends at +Seaham Lodge?" asked Fanny, with her nose in the air and a heightened +color. But next minute she poured out a cup of tea for her brother and +took it to him. + +Edward Hazeldine was a robust, strongly-built man of thirty, not +unlike what his father had been at the same age. His face was instinct +with energy and determination. He had his father's thin lips, and his +father's cold, steel-grey eyes. He was brusque in manner and decided +in all his movements. He was a man who had an excellent opinion of +himself, and a dogged belief that whatever he might choose to say or +do must be the right thing to say or do. He was not the sort of man +you would ask a favor of without thinking twice before doing so. +Children rarely made friends with him, and vagrants of every kind had +a rooted aversion to him. His ambition--and it was an ambition which +in most men of his position would have seemed of that vaulting kind +which Shakespeare has told us about, but, somehow, it did not seem so +in his case--was one day to win for himself a seat in Parliament; but +it was a secret which he kept locked in his own breast. + +"Have you been up to town to-day?" he asked, as he sat down near his +father. + +"Yes. I had a little business to transact which Brancker could not do +for me, so I got the notes changed at the same time." + +There was something in his father's tone that struck Edward. He bent +his eyes on him more attentively than he had hitherto done, and then +he saw how careworn and haggard he looked. He did not, however, make +any remark about it, knowing how much his father disliked being +noticed; besides which, his thoughts were just then running on a very +unpleasant matter which more immediately concerned himself. + +"I had a bit of bad news this afternoon," he presently remarked. + +"Aye--what was that?" asked Mr. Hazeldine, lifting his eyes from the +carpet to his son's face, but betraying no curiosity in the way he put +the question. + +"One of my customers at Monkshill has let me in for a debt of twenty +pounds--the scoundrel." + +"I would not call a man a scoundrel for the sake of a paltry twenty +pounds," said Fanny, as she peeped into the teapot. + +"Yes, you would, Miss, if you had to work for your living as I have," +retorted her brother. "How long would it take you to earn a 'paltry +twenty pounds,' as you call it, I wonder?" + +"I could spend it much more quickly than I could earn it, I have no +doubt," retorted Miss Fan, with a saucy smile. "Still, I am quite +sure----" + +"I am quite sure that you don't know what you are talking about," +interrupted her brother, brusquely. "Leave business matters for men to +deal with, and attend to your feathers and fal-lals. A paltry sum +indeed!" He pushed back his chair in a huff and laid hold of his hat. + +"Edward always was short-tempered, and I suppose he always will be," +murmured Mrs. Hazeldine, _sotto voce_, with the air of a martyr. + +"Going already?" asked Mr. Hazeldine. + +"Yes; I've a couple more calls to make before going home. What a scamp +that fellow must be!" Edward could not forget his twenty pounds. Money +was very dear to his soul. + +Mr. Hazeldine took one of his son's hands in both his. +"Good-bye--good-bye, and God bless you!" he said, in a low voice. +Edward looked surprised, but said nothing. "I would not let this loss +worry you overmuch, if I were you. After all, the sum is not a large +one, and there are worse things in life to endure than the loss of a +few pounds." + +Edward chafed a little. He had expected sympathy, instead of which he +was being lectured. "I'll oppose his certificate, for all that," he +muttered, viciously. He withdrew his hand abruptly from his father's +grasp, and with an all-round "Good-night," not very graciously spoken, +he marched out of the room, shaking an imaginary fist in "that +scoundrel's" face as he went. + +Mr. Hazeldine sank back into his chair without a word more. He had +made no mention to his son of the letter which he had posted to his +address that afternoon in London. + +About five minutes later, there was a tremendous rat-a-tat at the +front door. + +"Whoever can that be?" cried Fanny, springing up and taking a hasty +survey of herself in the glass. + +The visitors proved to be Mrs. and Miss Maywood, two fashionable +friends of Mrs. Hazeldine and Fanny. After the two young ladies had +kissed each other, and the two elder ones had shaken hands, and made +one or two mutual inquiries, Mrs. Maywood and her daughter +condescended to extend the tips of their fingers to the master of the +house. He was the money-making machine, and as such a necessary +adjunct of existence; but beyond that point he was a nonentity. + +As it turned out, Mrs. Maywood and her daughter were also going to +Mrs. Westerton's fancy ball, and they had come to have a quiet gossip +with their friends anent that all-important event. How fortunate that +Captain Lacie's _Book of Costumes_ was there! It opened up an +inexhaustible mine of conversational topics. As they criticised one +plate after another, it seemed to them as if they could have gone on +talking for a week; and if occasionally they were all talking at once, +it did not greatly matter. + +Mr. Hazeldine began to feel himself _de trop_. + +Presently he looked at his watch, and then he got up and stood with +his back to the fire. There was a grey, earthy look about his face, +and a strange glassiness in his eyes. Fanny came up to him. + +"Are you going now?" she asked. + +"Yes; the sooner I go, the sooner I shall finish what I have to do." + +"What a shame that you have to leave home again at this time of +night!" + +"Not a bit of it. Business is business, and must be attended to." + +There was an assumption of gaiety in his tone which his looks belied. +He was gazing down with wistful, yearning eyes into the fair young +face before him. Suddenly he enfolded Fanny in his arms and pressed +her to his heart; then he kissed her three or four times very tenderly +on her lips, her forehead, and her hair. This was a proceeding so +entirely novel in Fanny's experience of her father, that for a moment +or two she was at a loss what to make of it. Then it struck her, in +her little mercenary way, that it would be foolish on her part not to +take advantage of such an unwonted burst of paternal affection. +Surely, when he kissed her in that way, he could not have the heart to +refuse her anything! + +"Papa, dear," she whispered, "I saw such a lovely pair of earrings in +Wilson's window the other day. Turquoises and diamonds. I'm dying to +have them." + +Mr. Hazeldine looked at her vaguely for a moment or two as though his +mind were far away. Then he smiled faintly, and said: "Speak to me +about them again to-morrow. Yes--to-morrow." + +"You darling old kangaroo!" she exclaimed, and with that she squeezed +his face between her hands and kissed him in her impulsive fashion. + +"Has Clement been here this evening?" asked Mr. Hazeldine. + +"No, papa. He does not call so often of an evening now as he used to +do. He is nearly always at John Brancker's. Everybody knows why he +goes there so often." + +"I for one don't know, unless it be to play the fiddle." + +"Oh, that's a mere blind. He goes to see that Hermia Rivers, of +course. It's my opinion that he's in love with her." + +"In love with Hermia Rivers? Well, he might do worse. I don't know a +more charming girl than Miss Rivers." + +"Charming, do you call her?" said Miss Fan, with a toss of her head. +"Where are your eyes, papa? You really ought to interfere. There's no +doubt she's trying to inveigle Clem into a promise of marriage." + +"Clement's quite old enough to know his own mind and to judge for +himself; and, as I said before, Miss Rivers is a charming girl." + +He turned lingeringly away, and went up to his wife. + +"Good-night, Maria," he said. + +Mrs. Hazeldine was busy discussing some question of _chiffons_ with +Mrs. Maywood. She looked up when her husband spoke. + +"Why do you say good-night?" she asked. + +"Because I shall not be home till late. You had better not sit up for +me." + +"Very well, dear; you have your latch-key, I suppose. I will have a +little gas left on in the hall." + +She turned to Mrs. Maywood again, thinking her husband would go; but +he suddenly bent down, and taking her face gently between his hands, +he turned it up to his and kissed it twice. + +"Good gracious, James! what are you about?--and before company, too!" +cried Mrs. Hazeldine, quite in a fluster, as she readjusted her +cap-strings. But her husband had gone, taking his black bag with him. +Miss Maywood, from the opposite side of the table, had seen how white +his face was, and how his lips twitched as he turned away; but such +matters were no concern of hers. + +On leaving the house Mr. Hazeldine did not take the turning which led +the nearest way to the Bank, but one which led away from it. After +walking for a few minutes he stopped opposite a small, semi-detached +house. One window was lighted up, and in it was a wire blind, on which +the word "Surgery" was painted. It was the house of Clement Hazeldine. +Instead of going up to it, Mr. Hazeldine went across the road and +sought the shelter of a dark entry. Here he waited patiently for a +full quarter of an hour. At the end of that time the light in the +surgery was extinguished, and presently Clement emerged from the house +and strode away at a rapid pace, carrying his fiddle-case in one hand. +Mr. Hazeldine quitted his hiding-place as his son turned up the +street. + +"Clement! Clement!" he called, and there was a ring of agony in his +voice. But the young man heard him not, and went quickly on his way. + +Mr. Hazeldine said no more, but waited till his son was out of sight, +and then turned in the direction of the Bank. A few minutes' walking +brought him to it. Sweet, the porter, who with his wife lived in the +basement and was custodian of the premises, was lowering the gas in +the lobby, as Mr. Hazeldine went in. + +"There's a light in the general office. Who's at work there?" asked +the latter. + +"Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd are there yet, sir," answered Sweet. "I +left a little gas on in your office, thinking you might be back, sir." + +"All right. Sweet. Mr. Brancker and Judd will be off before long, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, sir; they told me just now that they intended clearing out in a +few minutes." + +"Good-night, Sweet." + +"Good-night, sir." + +Mr. Hazeldine passed into his private office, shut the door, and +turned up the gas. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +TEA, TALK, AND MUSIC. + + +Avison's Bank had been built about twenty years. It had been erected +on the site of a much older building which dated from the period of +William and Mary, and, after serving for several generations as the +family mansion of the Colvilles, had been converted into a bank. The +present structure was a plain but substantial building of red brick +with freestone facings. It was entered from the street through large +folding inner doors which swung easily to-and-fro on their well-oiled +hinges. On the right a glazed swing-door led into the public office, +where sundry clerks behind a long counter were prepared to honor your +cheques, or to receive at your hands whatsoever sums you might be +desirous of entrusting to the safe keeping of the Bank. This outer +office was divided from an inner one by a half-glass partition. In the +inner office John Brancker and Ephraim Judd were generally to be seen +busily engaged on the Bank ledgers; John, as the senior official next +to Mr. Hazeldine, being there to be referred to in case of any dispute +or doubtful point cropping up in the outer office. This inner office +had a second door which opened into the main corridor, and a third +door into a fireproof room where books and securities could be safely +lodged. On the left, as you entered from the street, were also two +doors, both of which bore the word "Private." The first of them opened +into Mr. Hazeldine's office, the second into that of Mr. Avison. In +the former was the entrance to the strong room in which were the +bullion safes, together with other things of scarcely less importance. +In this room there was no window, and during business hours the gas +was kept constantly alight in it, ventilation being supplied by means +of a small grated opening in the outer wall. Finally, there was a door +of communication between Mr. Hazeldine's office and that of Mr. +Avison. + +As Sweet, the night-watchman, had informed Mr. Hazeldine, John +Brancker and Ephraim Judd were at work this evening in the inner +office. It was no unusual thing for them to work overtime at +certain periods of the month. John Brancker had been in the service +of the Bank for between sixteen and seventeen years. He was a +homely-featured, plainly-dressed man of five-and-forty, with no +pretentions to style or fashion. It was this very unpretentiousness, +in conjunction with a certain simplicity of character and a +cheerfulness of disposition that never varied, which combined to make +him such a universal favorite; everybody in the town knew John +Brancker and everybody liked him. + +Ephraim Judd was twenty years younger than his fellow-clerk. Mr. +Avison the elder had brought him to the Bank when a boy, and there he +had been ever since. He was lame, the result of an accident in +childhood, and he made use of a stout stick when walking to and from +business, although he never seemed to need it when passing from one +part of the Bank to another, but got over the ground with a sort of +hop and skip which had rather a comical effect in the eyes of +strangers. He was a tall, narrow-chested young man, with long, +straight, black hair, a sallow complexion, and thin, eager, +hungry-looking features. His ears were abnormally large and stuck out +prominently from his head, and it was a matter of common report among +his fellow clerks that Ephraim could move them backward or forward, +after the fashion of certain animals, at will. Like John Brancker, he +dressed very plainly, almost shabbily, presenting thereby a marked +contrast to some of the juniors, with their chains and rings and +elaborate display of collar and cuffs. Mr. Judd's chest was delicate, +and when the weather was at all bad he wore a respirator, and at other +times he generally muffled himself up carefully about the throat in a +long, worsted comforter of many colors. It might be for the same +reason, perhaps, that he nearly always wore india rubber overshoes; +but that could hardly be the reason why his stick should be shod with +the same material. By means of his galoshes Ephraim was enabled to +move noiselessly about from place to place, and he sometimes quite +startled Sweet, who was pursy and scant of breath, by going up behind +him and touching him suddenly on the shoulder when he had no idea that +anyone was near him. + +"Drat that Mr. Judd with his ingy-rubber shoes!" the night-watchman +would say to his wife. "I wish he wouldn't shake one's narves so. He +steals about the building like a ghost, or--or as if he was going to +commit a burglary; and one never knows whether he's behind one, or in +front of one, or where he is." + +It was somewhat singular that Ephraim should be so little of a +favorite among his fellow clerks--but so it was. He was a man not much +given to talking; he kept his own counsel, making friends of nobody, +giving offence to none, and seemingly trying to efface himself as much +as possible; yet everybody seemed to have a vague distrust of him; +everybody had the feeling that he was a man who hid more than he +showed on the surface--everybody, that is, except simple-hearted John +Brancker, who was proud of Ephraim's cleverness at figures, and proud +of his handwriting, which was the best of anyone's in the Bank. + +Sweet put his head into the office where the two men were at work. +"Mr. Hazeldine has come, sir," he said, addressing himself to Mr. +Brancker. "I thought you might perhaps have something you wanted to +see him about." + +"I don't think I shall trouble him to-night," answered John; "he will +be tired, and what matters I have to see him about will keep till +morning." + +Sweet disappeared and shut the door. + +"If I were in Mr. H.'s place, I'd take care not to work as hard as he +does," remarked Ephraim. + +"When a man's heart is in what he does, as Mr. Hazeldine's is, hard +work becomes a pleasure." + +"What a pretty girl his daughter is!" resumed Ephraim, after a few +moments' silence. "Just the sort of young lady I should like to make +up to, if I were in a position to do so." + +John laughed. + +"Yes, Miss Hazeldine is pretty--nobody can deny that; but whether she +would make the sort of wife to suit a man like you may be open to +doubt." + +"Oh, you are a confirmed old bachelor, Mr. B., and are not supposed to +know anything about the ladies." + +A shadow flitted across John's face for a moment. + +"May it not be because we old bachelors know so much about the ladies +that we remain bachelors?" he asked, with a smile. "Have you any idea, +Ephraim, of making up to Miss Hazeldine?" + +"Now you are poking fun at me, Mr. B. As if she would condescend to +look at a poor beggar like me!" + +John shut up his inkstand and began to put away his books. + +"Are you going to stay much longer?" he asked. + +"I shall finish this ledger and then be off. I've had about enough of +figures for one day." + +John presently bade the other good-night, leaving him still perched on +his high stool. A sharp walk of ten minutes carried him home. He lived +in a pleasant little semi-detached cottage in the suburbs. There was a +small garden in front of his house and a larger one behind, with +wide-stretching meadows beyond, and a low range of hills crowning the +horizon. + +John halted for a moment with his hand on the garden gate. A sound of +music reached him from the cottage. His niece--Hermia Rivers--and +Clement Hazeldine were playing a duet on the piano and violin. + +"What capital time they keep!" he said to himself. "They are playing +something I've never heard before. I suppose Mr. Clement has been +having some new music from London." + +John's terrier heard its master's footsteps on the gravel, and began +to bark a welcome; the duet ceased in the middle of a bar; Hermia ran +to the door, greeted her uncle with a kiss, and relieved him of his +hat and coat, the cat came and purred round his legs, its tail erect +in the air; his sister met him with that cheery smile without which +home would not have seemed like home; and Clement Hazeldine gave him a +hearty grip of the hand. + +"We were missing your flute sadly," said the latter. "I have brought +two or three fresh pieces this evening, and we were trying one of them +over." + +"You are very late, dear; but I have kept the teapot in the cosy for +you," said Miss Brancker. + +"And there's a fire which plainly says, 'Why don't you let me toast +you some muffins,'" added Hermia. + +"Sweet brought me up some tea about six o'clock," said John; "but I +daresay I can manage another cup." + +"Of course you can, uncle," rejoined Hermia. "Why, I have known you +drink four cups many a time, and then ask for more." + +"That must have been when I was very thirsty indeed; but little girls +should never tell tales out of school." + +Presently Hermia was on her knees toasting a couple of muffins at the +sitting-room fire, for at Nairn Cottage the kitchen fire was allowed +to go out after the early two o'clock dinner, when the girl, who came +to do the rough work in the morning, was dismissed for the day. + +"I left your father at the office," remarked John to Clement. "He has +been to London, and I fancy that he did not get back till the seven +o'clock train." + +"I wish he would not stay so late, night after night," answered +Clement. "Have you not noticed how care-worn he has been looking of +late?" + +"I can't say that I have remarked much difference in him, but that may +be because I see him every day." + +Clement shook his head. + +"He has certainly aged very much of late. I was quite pained the other +day to see him so worn and anxious-looking. I wish he would take a +couple of months' rest right away from business." + +John smiled. + +"I know him better than you do, Mr. Clement. He would be miserable +away from the Bank. But when Mr. Avison returns there will be no +necessity for him to work so hard; and you must talk to him seriously +about his health." + +When John had finished his modest cup of tea he took up the poker and +gave four loud taps with it on the back of the grate. Presently there +came four taps in response, and a few minutes later Mr. Kittaway, +John's next door neighbor, came in, followed by a servant girl +carrying his violoncello in its case. + +Mr. Kittaway was a retired wine merchant. He was a little, high-dried, +bald old gentleman, with gold-rimmed spectacles, and an enormously +high and stiff white cravat, above which his puckered face peered out +as though he were gazing at one over a wall. + +"What can have become of Frank?" queried John, presently. "It must be +more than a week since he was here last. He's not ill, or I should +have missed him from the office." + +No one save Clement noticed the vivid blush that dyed Hermia's +cheek. Fortunately the question was addressed to Miss Brancker. + +"When he was here last he was all agog to join the New Spanish class +at the Institute," responded the latter. "He has a great idea about +reading 'Don Quixote' in the original." + +"Frank is always agog after something new," said John, with a laugh, +"which more often than not comes to nothing in the end. He's as +changeable as the moon, as I've told him many a time. Still, he might +have given us a look-in before now." + +"If you were to walk as far as the 'Crown and Cushion'--not that it +would be worth anyone's while to do so," remarked Mr. Kittaway, in his +dryest manner--"I have no doubt you would find Master Frank at the +present moment practising the spot-stroke, with the stump of a cigar +between his teeth, and his hat very much at the back of his head." + +It was known to all those present that there was no love lost between +the ex-wine merchant and Frank Derison. + +"There are four of us--just a comfortable quartete," resumed the +little man--"which, in my opinion, is much preferable to a quintete; +more especially when one of the five happens to keep execrable time." + +This was another hit at the absent Frank. + +"Come, come, friend Nathan," said John, slapping him lightly on the +knee. "Frank's not quite so bad as you try to make out. He may be fond +of a game of billiards--nowadays most young men seem to be--but +where's the harm? I've often wished I could handle a cue; but I don't +think I could if I were to try for a hundred years. And as for the bad +time Frank keeps when he plays, I put that down to pure carelessness." + +"There ought to be no carelessness where music is in question," +interrupted the little man, hotly. "Music calls forth, and will be +content with nothing less than the highest faculties of a man's +nature; and where those are not given ungrudgingly, the result is a +farce, sir--a wretched farce." He emphasized his last words with a +vicious twang of one of the strings of his 'cello. + +John laughed, but said nothing. He was too accustomed to his friend's +tirades to attempt any confutation of them. + +And so the little concert began. Hermia sat down to the piano, John +brought out his beloved flute, Clement screwed up the strings of his +fiddle, while Mr. Kittaway settled his spectacles and gave a +preliminary scrape or two on his 'cello. Miss Brancker fixed herself +in a corner near the fire with her knitting and a kitten on her lap. + +Charlotte Brancker was two years younger than John, and was a feminine +copy of him. She had the same homely features, somewhat softened in +their outlines, but charged with goodness in one case as in the other. +There was the same pleasant smile, the same ever-cheerful manner, the +same thoughtfulness for the comfort of others. Two more thoroughly +unselfish people than John Brancker and his sister it would have been +hard to find. + +Hermia Rivers, their orphan niece, had lived with them since she was +three years old. She was now turned twenty, and was a very lovely +girl. Her hair was the color of ripe corn in sunlight; her eyes were +of the hue of violets when they first open their dewy lids to the +morn; her face was instinct with thought and refinement. + +It is almost needless to say that Clement Hazeldine was very much in +love with her, although he had grave reasons for fearing that her +heart was already given to Frank Derison. That there was some secret +understanding between the two, his eyes, rendered keen by love, had +not failed to convince him; and a secret understanding between two +young people can, as a rule, have but one termination. Greatly he +feared the worst; but there was a stubbornness of disposition about +him which would not allow him to give up while a grain of hope was +left to sustain him. + +Meanwhile, he found it impossible to keep away from Nairn Cottage. Two +or three evenings a week found him there, and he was always made +welcome. The ostensible object of his visits was to form one in the +little musical gatherings which, every Monday and Thursday evenings, +wooed "the heavenly maid" in Miss Brancker's sitting-room. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +A LAGGARD IN LOVE. + + +As Hermia sat playing this evening all the attention she was obliged +to give to the music could not keep her uncle's words from ringing in +her ears: "He is as changeable as the moon, as I have told him many a +time." What if Frank had changed towards her, and were never to come +and see her more! + +She knew, or thought she knew, the reason why Frank Derison had kept +away from Nairn Cottage for upwards of a week. On the occasion of his +last visit, when she was at the piano, and he was turning over her +music, there being no one but themselves in the room, he had suddenly +stooped and imprinted a kiss on her cheek. She had started up in a +flame of indignation, and the result had been a short but sharp +passage of arms between the two. There was a sort of half-engagement +between them (of which more hereafter), sufficiently binding, however, +in Frank's opinion, to allow of his stealing a kiss "without a fellow +being called over the coals for it as if he had committed some awful +crime." But Hermia took a totally opposite view, and Frank was made to +understand that, on no account, must he attempt to take such a liberty +again. Thereupon, the young fellow had flung out of the cottage in a +huff, and had not been near since; while Hermia, as a matter of +course, had locked herself in her bedroom, and had a good cry all to +herself. + +The concert this evening went on for upwards of an hour. Then came an +interruption. Dr. Hazeldine was wanted in haste by one of his +patients. + +"My father would fain have made a doctor of me," remarked Mr. +Kittaway, parenthetically, "but I said, 'Give me a business that will +leave me my own master at night, and that will ensure me from being +called out of bed to go tramping through the rain or snow at all sorts +of hours.'" + +"It's nothing when you are used to it," said Clement, with a laugh. + +"It seems to me very inconsiderate of people to be taken ill in the +middle of the night," remarked the old gentleman, as he peered into +his snuff-box; "matters ought to be arranged differently somehow." Mr. +Kittaway stayed about half an hour after Clement's departure. After +partaking of a small mug of warm elder wine and a soft biscuit, he, +too, took his leave. + +"I think I will walk as far as Strong's, and see whether he is likely +to turn up on Sunday," said John, a few minutes later. + +John was organist at the parish church, and Strong was the man who +blew the bellows for him. + +"It is rather late for you to go out," observed Miss Brancker. + +"The night is fine, and the walk will do me good. Besides, if Strong +is no better, I must look out for a substitute to-morrow." + +Charlotte followed her brother to the garden gate. + +"It seems to blow very like for rain," she said, as she held up her +hand to ascertain the way of the wind. "Had you not better take your +umbrella?" + +But when the umbrella came to be looked for it could not be found. + +"I must have left it at the Bank," said John, who was rather +absent-minded in small matters; "but I don't think I shall need it +to-night." + +After a few more words he went his way, humming to himself one of the +airs he had been playing. His sister watched him down the street till +he was lost in the darkness; then she turned, and was on the point of +going indoors, when Frank Derison came hurrying up from the opposite +direction. + +"Better late than never, Miss Brancker," he said, his thin, careless +laugh. "I suppose I'm just about in time to bid you good night." + +"Just about," answered the spinster, dryly. "We had some thought of +sending the bellman round. We were anxious to know whether you were +lost, stolen, or had strayed away of your own accord." + +"I daresay you know. Miss Brancker, that I sometimes try to earn a +little money by making up tradesmen's books of an evening. Well, I've +had a special job of the kind to do during the last week, and that's +why I've not been near the Cottage." + +This was a little invention on Master Frank's part, made up on the +spur of the moment, and he laughed to himself when he found how +readily the simple-minded spinster took it in. In reality, his +evenings had been spent in the billiard-room of the "Crown and +Cushion." While he had offended Hermia at their last meeting, what she +had said had been a source of offence to him, and he had stayed away +purposely, if only to prove to her, as he said to himself, that he was +not going to be tied to any girl's apron-string. + +"Won't you come in for a little while?" said Aunt Charlotte; "John is +out, and Hermy and I are all alone." + +"Not to-night, I think, thanks all the same. My mother is not well, +and I promised not to be late home this evening." This latter +statement was also a little fiction on Frank's part. + +"In that case, of course, I cannot press you to stay." + +"Have you had any music to-night?" asked Frank abruptly. + +"Yes, both Mr. Kittaway and Clement Hazeldine were here, but Clement +was called away to a patient, and the party broke up early." + +"Confound that fellow! he's always here!" muttered Frank, between his +teeth. Then aloud: "I've brought a late rose for Hermia; perhaps you +won't mind giving it her." And with that he proceeded to detach the +flower from his button-hole. + +"Why not give it her yourself? I'm sure that would be much nicer," +said Miss Charlotte, archly. "I wonder she has not come to the gate +before now; but perhaps she doesn't know who's here. I'll go and fetch +her." + +"She knows well enough who's here, the huzzy!" growled Frank under his +breath. "It's merely a try-on--that's what it is. They all do it. What +simpletons they must take us men for, to think we can't see through +their little games. But I suppose there are some born fools who +can't." + +They had been standing at the wicket of the little garden which +divided the house from the road, the front door being wide open all +this time. Miss Brancker now hurried up the pathway into the Cottage. +Hermia was in none of the lower rooms. She called her by name, and +then the girl appeared at the head of the stairs, her hair unbound and +flowing over her shoulders. + +"Frank is at the gate. He has brought a rose which he wishes to give +you. Won't you come down?" + +"Not to-night, aunt, please. Really and truly I've a wretched +headache. Besides, my hair is down, and----" + +"Bother!" exclaimed Miss Charlotte. "It wouldn't take you a second to +tie a bit of ribbon round it." + +"You must really excuse me, aunt, and so must Frank. He can send me +the rose through you, if he wishes me to have it." + +"That won't be half so nice as giving you it himself." + +But Hermia had disappeared. + +Miss Charlotte went back, rubbing her nose. + +"I suppose there's been a tiff between them," she said to herself. +"Well, well! At lover's perjuries they say Jove laughs, and no doubt +he does the same at their quarrels." + +Frank, with his hands deep in his pockets, was whistling in a minor +key when she reached the gate. + +He laughed a laugh which was by no means as pleasant as usual, at Aunt +Charlotte's lame excuse. + +"Well, here is the rose, at any rate," he said. "Let us hope she won't +disdain it as she has disdained the giver." + +As he spoke he kissed the flower, and handed it to Miss Brancker. + +"Pray, don't forget to tell her that my love goes with it," he added, +with another laugh. "And now, goodnight; my mother will think I'm +lost." + +Then they shook hands and parted. + +"I often wonder whether the young baggage is aware of the twelve +hundred pounds standing to her credit in the books of the Dulminster +Bank," he said to himself as he went along. "It would be strange if +she isn't. And yet sometimes I'm inclined to think she knows nothing +about it." + +It was far from being his intention to go straight home. He turned +into the "Crown and Cushion" as a matter of course. There was time for +one last game of billiards before the house closed for the night. + +Miss Brancker did not fail to give Hermia both the rose and the +message. The girl smiled faintly at the latter. The flower she put in +water, but neither then nor afterwards did she touch it with her lips, +as Aunt Charlotte told her Frank had done before sending it. + +Frank Derison's mother, who had been many years a widow, was +half-cousin to Mr. Avison. At sixteen Frank had entered the Bank as +junior clerk, and there he had since remained, being treated in no way +differently from any other member of the staff, the relationship +between himself and Mr. Avison being never recognized by the latter; a +state of things which to Frank seemed exactly the reverse of that +which ought to have subsisted between the two. + +Nature, if she had any intentions at all in the framing of Frank +Derison, certainly never intended him for a bank clerk. He hated his +work: indeed it is doubtful whether he would not have hated work of +any kind; but not being able to help himself, he contrived to get +through it from day to day, although in a very half-hearted and +perfunctory sort of way. John Brancker, however, had conceived a great +liking for the handsome, careless, bright-eyed young fellow, who had +always a merry laugh for everybody and everything; and he so managed +to gloss over his faults and shortcomings--which, in truth, were not +very glaring ones--as, with rare exceptions, to keep him from being +found fault with either by Mr. Avison or Mr. Hazeldine. + +From this it came to pass that by-and-bye Frank began to be a somewhat +frequent visitor at Nairn Cottage, where he quite won the heart of +Miss Brancker, as he did the hearts of most people with whom he was +brought into contact. As time went on he and Hermia were naturally +thrown much together, and each began to find in the other that sweet +but dangerous quality of attraction which, as a rule, can conduce to +but one result. + +Meanwhile, simple-hearted John Brancker and his equally simple-hearted +sister looked on complacently happy in the happiness of the young +people, and leaving the future, if they ever took it into +consideration at all, to solve its own problems. + +One morning Frank awoke to the fact that he was of age; he also about +the same time awoke to the knowledge of another pleasant fact, to wit, +that he was in love with Hermia Rivers. He was quite persuaded that +Hermy was necessary to his happiness. Still, he was in no hurry to +declare his passion. There was a vein of cool calculation under his +laughing, happy-go-lucky exterior, the existence of which few people +except his mother were aware of, or even suspected. + +He could afford to bide awhile, he told himself. Hermy was safe, there +was no other Romeo in the field; he had but to speak the word in order +at once, as with a harlequin's wand, to change her placid, +bread-and-butter, sisterly liking into a feeling infinitely more +passionate and delightful, of which he was to be the centre and focus, +and which was to render his life beautiful with the incense it would +never tire of showering round his path. What he was to give in return +for all this he did not condescend to explain even to himself. The +awkwardness of it was that his present salary at the Bank was only +ninety pounds a year. From that sum it would rise by yearly increments +of ten pounds till it reached a hundred and fifty pounds, at which +point it would stop until the chance should offer itself of his +stepping into some senior clerk's shoes; a chance, however, which +might not come to him for an indefinite number of years. + +After all, a hundred and fifty pounds a year was a beggarly amount on +which to marry, and to secure even that limited happiness he would +have six years still to wait. Of course, considering the relationship +between them, Mr. Avison ought to do something more for him--ought to +shove him on specially over the heads of some of the other fellows, +or, in any case, give him a thumping advance in place of a paltry ten +pounds. It was an awful shame that he, a blood relation, should be +treated no differently from the veriest stranger, and that he should +even have to knuckle under, as far as position in the office went, to +that cad of an Ephraim Judd! + +Among Frank's manifold acquaintances was a young man of the name of +Winton, who had at one time been a clerk in Avison's Bank, but had +since accepted a better-paid situation in Umpleby's Bank at +Dulminster. Winton came over once or twice a month to Ashdown to see +his relatives, on which occasions he and Derison generally contrived +to have an hour or two together at their favorite billiards. + +Said Winton on one occasion, nearly a year before the time of which we +are now writing: + +"I'm going to tell you a secret, old man, which you may or may not +make use of to your own advantage. That will be for you to decide when +you've heard it; only, you must first give me your sacred word of +honor never to mention it to a soul." + +Frank gave the required promise without difficulty. + +"I know you often visit at John Brancker's," resumed the other, "and +report has it that you're sweet on that pretty niece of his. Small +blame to you, if you are, say I. However, if you're not, perhaps +you'll think it advisable to be so when I whisper to you that in our +books at Umpleby's the very nice little sum of twelve hundred pounds +is at the present moment standing to the credit of Miss Hermia +Rivers." + +"Winton, you must be dreaming," was all Derison could say, so extreme +was his astonishment. + +"Not a bit of it, my boy. I've seen the account with my own eyes. Its +been accumulating for years, at the rate of eighty pounds per annum. +John comes over once a quarter, as regular as clockwork, bringing +twenty pounds with him at each visit. The probability is that he banks +with us in order that none of Avison's people may know anything of the +affair." + +"But are you quite sure that the account stands in the name of Miss +Rivers, and of no one else?" asked Frank after a pause, during which +he had been trying to digest his friend's startling information. + +"Of course I'm sure. Hermia Rivers, and that alone, is the name in our +ledger. I suppose honest John, having no children of his own, is +investing his savings, or some portion of them, for the benefit of his +niece. He'll be a lucky fellow that gets Miss Hermy for a wife. If I +wasn't engaged already, hang me if I wouldn't have a cut-in on my own +account." + +It did not take Frank long to make up his mind what he ought to do; +the duty he owed to himself lay clearly before him. He would propose +to Hermy without a day's delay. He had loved her all along, but he +felt that she was dearer, far dearer, to him now than ever she had +been before. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +EPHRAIM JUDD CUTS HIS HAND. + + +Ephraim Judd was the victim of an insatiable curiosity with regard to +the affairs of other people. To pry into the private business and +personal histories of his fellow clerks, and of those with whom he was +brought into contact in business, was with him a sort of mania. He had +a special bunch of keys, procured it would be impossible to say how, +which gave him access to nearly every drawer in the office; and many +an evening when he stayed after the other clerks had gone, and was +supposed to be busily at work, he was, in reality, engaged in prying +into private correspondence, and other matters with which he had no +manner of concern. It was not that the knowledge thus surreptitiously +obtained was of any value to him, or was made use of to the detriment +of those from whom it was stolen; it was simply hoarded up in his +memory, where so much useless knowledge was stored up already, +doubtless greatly to the satisfaction of his curiosity, which was the +sole end he had in view. He was stopping to-night after John +Brancker's departure because, in the course of the day, John had +received a letter by post, the contents of which had seemed to puzzle +him greatly, and Ephraim was hungering to know what the letter could +possibly be about. After reading the letter two or three times, and +wrinkling his brows over it, John had put it away in one of his +drawers, and Ephraim was in the hopes of finding it there now. + +John Brancker had not been gone more than ten minutes before Ephraim +wiped his pen and laid it down. Then he sat perfectly still for a few +moments, listening intently with those large, flexible ears of his. +Nothing was to be heard save, now and then, the footsteps of someone +passing in the street. With a hop and a skip, Ephraim was off his +stool and at the door. Long practice had enabled him to turn the +handle noiselessly. Holding the door half open, he waited and listened +again. Sweet was probably downstairs getting his supper. A moment +later Ephraim was on one knee against Mr. Hazeldine's door, and +peering through the keyhole. In his india rubber overshoes he moved +without a sound. He kept his eye to the keyhole for about a couple of +minutes, and then he went back noiselessly to his own office. + +"He doesn't seem to have much to do that need keep him so late," +muttered Ephraim to himself. "I wonder what he's thinking about. He's +got something on his mind, I'm positive he has. He's not the same man +he was half a year ago." + +While speaking thus he drew from one of his pockets a steel ring, on +which were strung about a dozen keys. Selecting one of them, he +inserted it into the lock of John Brancker's drawer, which it opened +as easily as the proper key could have done. A crafty smile lighted up +Ephraim's thin, sallow face as his fingers gripped the handle of the +drawer. He pulled, but the drawer stuck and would only open to the +extent of a few inches. A little patience would have remedied this, +but Ephraim was in a hurry; Obed Sweet might come his rounds at any +moment, so into the drawer went his long, lean fingers in search of +the letter. + +Now, John Brancker was in the habit of using a quill pen nearly as +often as he used a steel one, and in his drawer was an office-knife, +almost as sharp as a razor, which he used for the making and mending +of the former. Ephraim never thought about the knife till his hand +came in contact with the blade, a gash being the immediate result. He +drew back his hand with an exclamation of pain, but not till the +contents of the drawer had been sprinkled with sundry drops of blood. +At this moment Sweet's premonitory cough was audible, and then the +door was opened, and his head protruded into the room. Ephraim was +obliged to stand still and let his wounded hand hang by his side. + +"Not gone yet, sir?" said Sweet. + +"No, but I'm just about done, and shall be off in a few minutes," +answered Mr. Judd. + +"All right, sir," responded Sweet. "The Guv'nor seems as if he was +going to stick at it late to-night," he added. And with that he went +on to talk of the weather, and lingered for fully five minutes before +he finally went. + +Looking down, Ephraim saw with dismay that there was quite a little +pool of blood on the floor by this time. He had no means of cleaning +it up, and was utterly at a loss what to do. He tied his handkerchief +round his hand, and stood thinking for a minute or two. At length he +decided that he would leave the floor as it was for to-night, and come +to the Bank an hour earlier than usual in the morning, when the woman +who cleaned the offices would be at work. He would give her sixpence, +and with her soft soap and scrubbing-brush she would quickly efface +the stains from the floor; or, if by chance any signs still remained, +a little ink spilled carefully over the place would effectually hide +them. Five minutes by daylight would suffice to so re-arrange the +contents of the drawer, that John, who was the most unsuspicious of +mortals, would never find out that they had been disturbed. Having +thus decided on his plan, Ephraim proceeded to re-lock the drawer, +then he put on his overcoat, muffler and hat, and took possession of +his stick, after which he turned off the gas. At the door he paused to +listen, but all was silent. + +About half way along the main corridor, and nearly opposite the door +of Mr. Hazeldine's office, was a spiral, iron staircase which gave +access to certain upper rooms used as storerooms for old books and +papers transferred from the offices below. Up this staircase mounted +Ephraim Judd till he reached a certain height, and then he paused. +Over Mr. Hazeldine's door was a fanlight which could be used as a +ventilator if so required. From his perch on the stairs Ephraim could +see through the fanlight into the interior of the office. He could +see, too, as previous experience had taught him, Mr. Hazeldine's table +as well as Mr. Hazeldine himself, if that gentleman happened to be +seated at it. He was so seated now, and for a space of about a dozen +seconds Ephraim's eyes seemed as though they would transfix him. "What +can he be after? What is he going to do?" he muttered to himself in +genuine surprise, and with somewhat of a scared look on his face. + +But there was no time for further prying. He heard Sweet's footsteps +ascending the stairs from the lower premises. Half a minute later, and +he had opened one of the big outer doors and had let himself into the +street. He set off homeward in a more thoughtful mood than ordinary. +Twice he turned to look at the lighted windows of Mr. Hazeldine's +office. With the exception of them and the fanlight over the main +entrance, the building was in darkness; Sweet's rooms in the basement +having windows that looked the opposite way. + +His tea was waiting for him when he reached home. After he had +partaken of it he sat awhile, puzzling himself over a chess problem in +a magazine; then he decided that he would go for a walk. He had not +gone far before John Brancker nearly ran against him at the corner of +a street. + +"Hallo! Mr. B., whoever thought of meeting you at this time of night?" +cried Ephraim. + +"I'm on my road to William Strong's," answered John. "I hear that he's +ill, and I'm doubtful whether he will be able to attend to the organ +next Sunday. That was a spot of rain. Now that I'm so near the Bank, I +may as well step in and get my umbrella, which I forgot to bring away +this evening. Sweet will hardly have shut up for the night yet." + +Ephraim's heart sank within him. Should John light the gas in the +office, he would infallibly discover the bloodstains on the floor, and +his doing so would lead to inquiry; but all he said aloud was: + +"I daresay you will find Mr. H. still in his office." + +Then the two men bade each other good-night, and John turned off +towards the Bank. + +Ephraim turned off too, but only to take another road which led to the +Bank a little further on. He strode along with his stick and +overshoes, making no noise as he went. Coming to a dark corner within +sight of the Bank, he halted there and was just in time to see John go +in. Mr. Hazeldine's office was still lighted up. Ephraim stood and +watched with a beating heart. Would John light the gas, or would he +not? His anxiety was of short duration. In three minutes John was out +of the Bank again with his umbrella in his hand. He had found it in +the dark. Ephraim breathed a sigh of relief, and then slunk further +into his corner till John's footsteps had died away. The clock of St. +Mary's Church was chiming the half-hour past ten as he turned up the +street again. + +From ten o'clock at night till six o'clock in the morning it was Obed +Sweet's duty to perambulate the Bank premises once an hour and satisfy +himself that everything was safe. At six o'clock Mrs. Sweet rose and +got her husband's breakfast ready, after which Sweet generally went to +bed for four or five hours. At seven o'clock Peggy Lown, who assisted +Mrs. Sweet to clean the offices, rang and was admitted. + +John Brancker had not been gone more than three or four minutes after +fetching his umbrella when Obed Sweet came slowly up from the lower +regions with the intention of locking up the premises for the night. +He had heard, as he fancied, the front door clash, and he never +doubted that it was Mr. Hazeldine who had gone home at last. Mr. +Brancker had let himself in with his pass-key, of which he and Mr. +Hazeldine each possessed one, and Sweet had not heard him enter. +Feeling sure that Mr. Hazeldine was no longer there, Obed opened the +door of the private office without any preliminary knock. He was quite +startled at finding the "Guv'nor" still there, and the latter was +evidently just as much startled at being so suddenly intruded upon. He +put something away hastily into a drawer, and turned an ashen face on +the night-watchman. + +"Ah, Sweet, I did not hear you knock," he said in a faint, weary +voice, very unlike his usual decisive way of speaking. + +"Beg pardon, sir," answered Sweet, in a flurry, "but I made sure that +I heard you go out about five minutes since." + +"I shall be about half an hour yet. I will let myself out when I am +ready. I suppose everyone else has gone?" + +"Yes, sir; some time ago." + +"That will do. You need not trouble further." + +Sweet retired and shut the door very gently. Then he stood on the mat +for a few moments, rubbing his nose thoughtfully. + +"I could a' sworn I heard somebody shut the front door," he muttered; +"and yet Mr. Judd went away more than an hour ago. I suppose I'm +getting old and stoopid." + +He tried the front door and found it fast. Then he opened the door of +the general office and peeped in, but all was darkness there. +Satisfied that he must have been mistaken, Sweet made his way +downstairs to his cosy little room and lighted his pipe. His wife had +gone to bed by this time, and he sat for nearly an hour, smoking and +sipping occasionally at his mug of beer, and listening for the sounds +of Mr. Hazeldine's departure. But Sweet's listening was in vain; no +sound broke the silence. By-and-bye he put his pipe down and finished +his beer. The room was warm and the ale was old; Sweet's eyelids +drooped, shut, opened and shut again: the night-watchman was asleep. +This was no uncommon occurrence during his long, lonely vigils; but he +had a happy knack of waking up, alert and fresh, at the end of about +half an hour. So it was in the present instance. Sweet awoke with a +start and a shiver. The fire had burned low, and the clock pointed to +half-past eleven. "The Guv'nor must surely have gone by this time," he +said to himself, as he got up and yawned. Then he lighted his lantern +and went upstairs. + +Placing his lantern on one of the chairs in the corridor, he went to +the door of Mr. Hazeldine's room and knocked. He was not going to make +a breach in his manners again. But there came no response. He waited a +few seconds, and then he opened the door and looked in. Everything was +in darkness, as he had expected it would be; both the gas and the fire +were out. Sweet shut and locked the door, the key being outside. Then +he bolted and barred the heavy front door, and after a final glance +into the other offices, he locked them also. His last act was to +extinguish the gas in the corridor, after which his duties were over +for another hour. + +Next morning, a few minutes before seven o'clock, Peggy Lown rang the +bell and was duly admitted by Mrs. Sweet. It was Peggy's duty to clean +the two general offices and the passage, while Mrs. Sweet herself +looked after Mr. Hazeldine's and Mr. Avison's rooms. The first thing +Peggy did was to draw up the blinds and let more daylight in through +the heavily-barred windows. She had got her broom and her pail of +water and was about to set to work, when her eye was caught by a +splash of something dark on the floor. She stooped to examine it more +closely. Was it nothing more than some red ink which had been spilled, +or was it blood? Peggy shuddered involuntarily. At this moment she +heard Mrs. Sweet's cough in the corridor, so she went and beckoned to +her and brought her in and pointed out the stain on the floor without +a word. + +Mrs. Sweet stooped as Peggy had done. "It's blood!" she exclaimed +next moment, and the two women looked at each other in mute +questioning. + +Peggy was the first to speak. + +"Look at these red finger-marks on this drawer," she said. + +"Why, that's Mr. Brancker's drawer! What can it all mean?" queried +Mrs. Sweet. + +Peggy shook her head. + +"Perhaps the gentleman has only cut his finger," she ventured to +suggest. + +Mrs. Sweet brightened up. + +"That must be it; it sent me all of a shake, though, when I set eyes +on it," she said. + +"I shall have some trouble in getting them stains out," remarked +Peggy. "I should have thought such a particular gentleman as Mr. +Brancker might have tied his handkercher round his finger." + +But Mrs. Sweet had gone, being in a hurry to get on with her own share +of the work. + +Peggy drew back the fender and fire-irons, and was on the point of +sweeping up the hearth, when she was startled by a piercing shriek. +"Lord a' mercy! What's that?" she cried, as she let her brush fall and +ran out into the corridor. The door of Mr. Hazeldine's room was open. +She rushed in. Half way across the floor lay the body of Mrs. Sweet in +a dead faint. A few yards further away lay another body, that of Mr. +Hazeldine, cold and stark. Not far from it, gleaming brightly in the +morning light, lay a long-bladed, murderous-looking knife. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +THE DISCOVERY. + + +St. Mary's clock was chiming half-past seven when Ephraim Judd, +suddenly turning the corner of a street on his way to the Bank, all +but ran against Peggy Lown. She was the very woman he was coming thus +early to see. He wanted her to get the office floor washed before John +Brancker should arrive; but the sight of her white, scared face sent a +sudden thrill of terror to his heart. Was anything suspected? Had +anything been discovered? were his mental queries, thinking of himself +alone. + +"Oh, Mr. Judd, thank heaven I've met you!" cried Peggy, with a great +gasp. "Run to the Bank, sir. There's been murder--murder! Poor Mr. +Hazeldine----" But here Peggy caught sight of a policeman at the top +of the street, and hurried off without a word more. + +Mr. Hazeldine murdered! Ephraim Judd caught hold of a garden railing +to keep himself from falling. For a moment or two the street and its +houses faded away, and he was looking through the fanlight again, as +on the previous night. A boy stopped and stared curiously at him; then +Ephraim's wits came back. A few rapid strides brought him to the Bank. +One of the heavy doors was open, left so by Peggy Lown. Ephraim passed +through, and made at once for Mr. Hazeldine's room. He took in the +scene at a glance. Mrs. Sweet had had some water thrown over her, and +showed signs of returning consciousness. Sweet himself, only partially +dressed, was kneeling on one knee a foot or two away from the murdered +man. He had tried to lift up the body, but had been compelled to let +it drop again, and now he was staring at it as though he could not +believe the evidence of his senses. A short distance away lay the +knife--no one would touch that till the police arrived. And then +Ephraim saw something else which Sweet in his perturbation had failed +to notice; the iron door which opened into the strong room was +partially open. Had there been robbery as well as murder? + +Mr. Hazeldine was lying on his face, with one arm under his head, and +the other outstretched, the hand of the latter being clenched as if in +a spasm of mortal agony. Mr. Judd stooped and took hold of the hand; +it was as cold as marble and apparently as senseless. No life was +there. + +"Oh, Mr. Judd, sir, what a sight is this!" cried Obed, while the tears +streamed down his pudgy cheeks. + +Mr. Judd did not answer. He heard the policeman's heavy footfall, and +next moment that functionary came in, accompanied by Peggy, and +followed at a respectful distance by a crowd of some half-dozen people +from the street, who felt sure that it must be a case of burglary at +the least, and that, by good luck, there might perhaps be murder as +well. + +Mrs. Sweet was sitting up by this time, and staring round in a dazed +sort of way. The sight of the constable roused her. She put her hands +to her head and felt at her drenched cap and hair. "What a sight I +must look! I wish I had my other cap on," was the first thought in her +mind. Then she whipped off her apron and hid her saturated head-dress +with it. It was the touch of comedy which is seldom absent from even +the grimmest of human tragedies. + +The constable advanced without a word, and turned the body of the dead +man over on its back. Mr. Hazeldine's vest was unbuttoned, the ends of +his cravat were hanging loose, and his collar had apparently been torn +by violence from the stud which had held it. His shirtfront had been +cut by some sharp instrument just above the region of the heart, a +small red patch marking the place. + +"He's dead enough, poor gentleman," said he, with a shake of his head, +as he let his fingers rest for a moment on Mr. Hazeldine's wrist. "But +we shall have the doctor here in a minute or two." + +Then he picked up the knife and examined it curiously. The eyes of all +present moved as with one accord from the dead man to the weapon that +had slain him. Fresh footsteps were heard outside, the crowd at the +door divided for a moment, and in came Mr. Chief Constable Mace +attended by one of his men and Dr. Barton. + +The idlers were driven out, and the front door was shut and bolted. +The news had spread, and already some half-hundred people had +assembled outside the Bank. Those inside were waiting for the first +words of Dr. Barton. Not long had they to wait. + +"He has been dead for several hours, probably since midnight, or even +earlier," was the verdict. Then he asked that a table might be brought +in from some other room, and the body be laid upon it. + +The knife was in Mr. Mace's possession by this time. He showed it to +the doctor. + +"Yes, it looks like it, but we shall know better before long," +said the latter. He was taking off his coat and rolling up his +shirt-sleeves. Sweet, who was trembling like a jelly, had gone with +one of the constables to fetch a table. + +"It seems to me as if there has been robbery as well as murder," said +Mr. Judd, in a whisper to the chief constable, as he pointed to the +open door of the strong room. + +Mr. Mace nodded. + +"You know the premises, Mr. Judd," he said. "Suppose you and I have a +look." + +The strong room was in darkness except for a sickly gleam of daylight +which penetrated through the small grated opening in the outer wall, +but Ephraim struck a match and lighted the gas. The door of one of the +three iron safes, the one in which bullion was always kept, was wide +open. Apparently the safe had been rifled. Strewn about the floor were +a number of documents, three or four empty cash-bags, and some books. +There, too, open and empty, lay the black leather bag which had +contained the twelve hundred pounds brought by Mr. Hazeldine from +London the previous afternoon. + +"It looks as if somebody had been here that had no right to," said Mr. +Mace. + +"It does indeed," assented Ephraim. "I think we ought to have Mr. +Brancker here as soon as possible." + +"Right you are; and there's the poor gentleman's relations to be told. +Who's to do that?" + +"I will go and break the news to Mr. Clement--that's the doctor--if +you like, and then he can tell the others." + +"Do so, please; and could you not call on Mr. Brancker at the same +time?" + +"He lives in an opposite direction. One of your men might fetch him in +ten minutes. By-the-bye, I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Mr. B. was +the last person who saw the Governor alive." + +"Ah; in that case the sooner we have him here the better. But what +reason have you for saying so?" + +"Why, I met him about half-past ten last night on his way to the Bank. +He said that he was coming to fetch his umbrella, but he may have seen +Mr. H. at the same time." + +"Um! Well, we shall hear what he has to say when he arrives." + +"No doubt Sweet can tell you more of the matter than I can." + +In speaking thus of Mr. Brancker, Ephraim had no ulterior motive, nor +did it strike him at the time that his words might be the means of +placing John in a very awkward position. + +Two more constables had arrived by now. Mr. Mace planted one of them +at the door of the strong room. + +"Don't let anyone enter here without my permission," he said. The +other man he sent in search of Mr. Brancker, while Mr. Judd left the +Bank at the same time to break the news to Clement Hazeldine. At the +doctor's wish Mrs. Sweet and Peggy had retired. They would be required +later on, but at present they were only in the way. + +"There seems to have been robbery here as well as murder," said Mr. +Mace to Sweet. "I suppose you have no idea how it has all come about?" + +Sweet had recovered his faculties in some measure by this time. Sorry +though he was for Mr. Hazeldine, he yet felt that he himself must of +necessity be a personage of some note for a considerable time to come. +Now that he had partly recovered from his first fright, he was +beginning to swell with a sense of self-importance, and he proceeded +to put on his most official air, and began to enter into a long, +rambling statement which might have lasted for half an hour had he not +been sharply pulled up. + +"Tut-tut, man, can't you answer a plain question in a few plain +words?" said Mr. Mace, impatiently. "Do you, or do you not, know +anything of this affair?" + +"No, I don't," answered Sweet, shortly, and very red in the face. + +"I thought as much," said Mr. Mace, dryly. "In these cases the person +one would naturally expect to know the most is nearly sure to know the +least. But, don't be afraid, my good man; you will have an opportunity +of telling all you know before long. Meanwhile, the less you say the +better, except when you are asked a question by those who have a right +to know." + +Mr. Mace mounted a chair, and examined the iron bars which protected +the two windows of the office. There was nothing the matter with them. +Evidently no entrance had been effected that way. + +"And now you and I will take a little walk round the premises," said +Mr. Mace to Obed; so away they went, the latter ungraciously enough, +although he was in a dreadful state of puzzle as to how anyone could +possibly have made his way into the Bank overnight, and left it again +without his knowledge. + +The front door was first of all examined, and afterwards the back +door, which opened into a small paved yard, shut in by a high wall +protected by revolving iron spikes. There was nothing about either of +them to show that they had been tampered with in any way. The two men +went next into the general office, where everything seemed in its +usual state, and from that they passed into the inner office. Here Mr. +Mace's sharp eyes seemed drawn as if by instinct to the blood-stains +on the floor. + +"Ha! What are these? Who has been here?" he said. + +"God bless my heart! I know no more about 'em than you do, sir!" cried +Sweet, beginning once more to quake like a jelly. + +"These are the marks of blood," said Mr. Mace, gravely. "And here are +finger-marks of a similar kind outside this drawer." + +"Why, that is one of Mr. Brancker's drawers," said Sweet. + +"One of Mr. Brancker's drawers, hey? Does that gentleman keep any +money in it, do you know?" + +"Oh, no, sir; that's not one of the cash drawers; and, besides, the +money's all put away in the strong room at night." + +Mr. Mace made a careful examination of the rest of the office, but +discovered nothing further out of the ordinary way. He then locked the +two doors that opened into the office, and put the keys in his pocket. +He and Sweet were just crossing the corridor when John Brancker, pale +and breathless, came hurriedly in. + +"This terrible tale, that I have just heard, cannot be true, Mr. +Mace," he said. + +"Only too true, I am sorry to say, Mr. Brancker. Come and see for +yourself," answered the chief constable, and he led the way into Mr. +Hazeldine's office. + +The body had been covered with a sheet, and Doctor Barton was in the +act of putting on his overcoat. He shook hands with Mr. Brancker, whom +he had known for years. John's glance traveled from the table with its +terrible burden to the doctor's face, and then tears rushed to his +eyes. It seemed all like a hideous dream. + +"We can do no more at present," said the doctor to Mr. Mace. "There +will have to be a 'post-mortem,' of course; but that, I apprehend, +will merely serve to verify what we know pretty well already. The +tissue of the heart has doubtless been punctured by some sharp +instrument--probably by the knife in your possession--and death must +have been almost instantaneous." + +"But who can have done it?" asked John, in a stupor of horror and +grief. He lifted a corner of the sheet, and gazed for a moment on the +well-known face, on which there now rested such an awful calm, while +the firm-set lips gave John the impression of keeping back by main +force some grim secret, untold in life and now frozen into silence for +ever. + +"That's just what we would all like to know," answered Mr. Mace, +dryly. + +"There was a light in his office when I called for my umbrella about +half-past ten," said John. + +"But did you see Mr. Hazeldine, and speak to him at that time?" asked +Mace. + +"No, I never saw him at all yesterday evening. He did not get back +from London till late, and I would not disturb him." + +"Then it must have been you, sir, that I heard going out about that +time," said Sweet. + +"Most probably. I let myself in with my pass-key, found my umbrella in +the dark, and was out of the Bank again in three minutes." + +"And I came upstairs when I heard the door bang, thinking it was Mr. +Hazeldine who had gone," said Sweet. "I was quite dumbfounded when I +opened the office-door and saw him sitting there in his chair. 'I +shall not be done for about half an hour yet,' says he. 'I will let +myself out when I'm ready. You needn't trouble any more, Sweet.' So +with that I went, leaving him sitting there. Little did I think----" + +"Never mind what you thought; tell us what happened next," said Mr. +Mace. + +"What happened next was that I went downstairs and got my supper," +responded Sweet, with a resentful glance at the chief constable. +"After that I sat and had a pipe, waiting to hear Mr. Hazeldine go, +that I might lock up for the night." + +Sweet paused and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. + +"But you never heard him go, hey?" queried Mace. + +"No, I never heard him go. I waited till half-past eleven, and then I +went upstairs again." + +"Perhaps you had a little snooze meanwhile," said Mace, insinuatingly. + +"Me go to sleep when I'm on dooty!" exclaimed Sweet, with an indignant +sniff. "No, sir, I'm not one of that sort, and nobody ever hinted at +such a thing before." + +"I am glad to hear it. But tell us what happened when you came +upstairs for the second time." + +"Not caring to disturb Mr. Hazeldine again if he was still there, I +peeped through the keyhole to see whether there was a light, but I +couldn't see one. Still, to make sure, I knocked, but there was no +answer, so I opened the door and looked in. Everything was in +darkness; the gas was out and the fire was out. Says I to myself, +'He's gone;' and with that I locked the door on the outside, feeling +sure that everything was right." + +"But ought not the fact of your not having heard Mr. Hazeldine leave +the premises have caused you to suspect that something was wrong?" + +"Mr. Hazeldine was a very quiet gentleman. He would shut the front +door and make hardly any noise about it. Mr. Brancker here, begging +his pardon for saying so, generally bangs the door after him." + +"What did you do when you found, as you thought, that Mr. Hazeldine +was gone?" + +"I did what I always do--I put out the gas in the lobby and fastened +up the front door for the night, and then went the rest of my rounds +to see that everything was right." + +"How often in the course of the night are you supposed to go your +rounds?" + +"Once every hour; and I'm not only supposed to go 'em, but do go 'em." + +"And you neither saw nor heard anything last night out of the ordinary +way--nothing, in fact, to make you suspicious that anything was +wrong?" + +"Nothing whatever. I was as comfortable in my mind when I turned into +bed between six and seven this morning as ever I was in my life." + +"The inference would seem to be that the crime was committed between +the hours of half-past ten and half past eleven," said Mace. "But that +is a point which will have to be inquired into more minutely later +on." Then turning to John, he added, "You, Mr. Brancker, will probably +be able to tell us whether there has been robbery here as well as +murder," and beckoning him to follow, he led the way into the strong +room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +WHO DID IT? + + +"Yes, there has certainly been foul play here as well as in the other +room," said John Brancker, after a brief examination of the strong +room. "In the first place, the twelve hundred pounds are gone which +Mr. Hazeldine fetched from London yesterday, and I have no doubt that +there were cash and notes to the amount of three or four thousand +pounds in the safe, which also seem to be missing. The exact sum I +cannot, of course, tell till I have examined the books. Of this safe +Mr. Hazeldine himself always kept the key. The other safes in the +cellar are under my charge. I must at once send a telegram to Mr. +Avison, who is staying for a few days in Paris on his way home." + +"That's an ugly bruise, Mr. Brancker, just above your left eye," said +the chief constable, gazing straight into the other's face. + +"Yes; it is the result of a little accident last night," answered +John, indifferently. "A woman flung a stone at me. I suppose I shall +be disfigured for a few days; but it might have been worse." + +"If you will step this way for a moment, there is something I should +like to ask you about," said Mace, and with that he led the way to the +inner office, Dr. Barton and Sweet bringing up the rear. Mace unlocked +the door and they all went in. "Can you explain how those marks came +there?" asked the constable, pointing to the stains on the floor. + +"Good gracious, no!" cried John with a start. "I know no more about +them than you do"--which was precisely the remark Sweet had given +utterance to. "And there are more marks outside my drawer! What can it +all mean?" + +"It may, perhaps, be as well to open the drawer, if you have the key +about you." + +John produced his bunch of keys at once. "This is the one," he said, +handing the bunch to Mace. "Perhaps you had better open the drawer +yourself." + +The constable took the key and opened the drawer. The books and papers +were marked here and there with drops of blood. John stared as he had +never stared before. "Someone has been here to a certainty," he +said. "The books and papers have been disturbed, and as for those +stains----" He was too agitated to say more. + +"And yet the lock does not seem to have been tampered with," said +Mace, with his keen eyes again fixed on John's face. + +"It's all a mystery, and I can throw no light on it whatever," +answered the latter. + +"Can you call to mind the last occasion of your having to open the +drawer?" + +"It was when I put my papers away last evening before leaving; that +would be sometime between eight and nine o'clock." + +"Then you did not open the drawer when you came back to the Bank at +half-past ten?" + +"Certainly not. I had no occasion to do so. I did not even light the +gas, but searched for and found my umbrella in the dark. I was not +more than two minutes in the office." + +"I shall have to keep this office locked up till the jury have visited +it," said Mace. "I have no doubt the Coroner will be able to sit this +afternoon." + +John looked at him for a moment as though he hardly understood his +meaning; then following Mace's lead, they all left the office, the +door of which was carefully re-locked. They had just got back to the +other office when Clement Hazeldine rushed in, white and breathless. + + +Although lame, Ephraim Judd, with the assistance of his stick, could +get over the ground as quickly as most people, and it did not take him +many minutes to reach Clement Hazeldine's door. Clem lodged with the +widow of the practitioner to whose business he had succeeded. He was +still in bed when Ephraim knocked, having been attending a patient +till four A.M.; but the summons sent upstairs was so peremptory that +he lost no time in coming down. In what words Ephraim told his +terrible tidings he never afterwards knew; it is sufficient that they +were told. + +"What about your brother?" asked Ephraim, as soon as Clement seemed in +some measure to be recovering from the shock. "Ought he not to know as +soon as possible?" + +"Will you please go and tell him, Mr. Judd, while I go down to the +Bank? There's my mother and sister, too; but Edward must break the +news to them. It seems impossible that it can be true--impossible to. +think that I shall never see my poor father alive again! What wretch's +hand has done this deed?" + +Beecham, the suburb of Ashdown, where Edward Hazeldine lived, was a +clear mile and a half away. Ephraim would have hired a fly, but there +was none to be had at that early hour. He was far from being easy in +his mind as he walked along. It was almost a certainty that during his +absence Mr. Mace would discover the blood-stains on the office floor, +and Ephraim felt terribly afraid lest, by some means or other, they +should be traced back to him. He did not well see how they could be, +but his conscience made a coward of him. He had taken away the knife +that had cut his hand, and it was now locked up in his trunk at home, +while the cut itself, although it had bled a good deal at the time, +had not proved a severe one. It was in the palm of the hand, and he +had covered it with a little gold-beater's skin to keep the air out. +He made a mental note that on no account must Mr. Mace's eyes be +permitted to discover the wound. + +Edward Hazeldine was an early riser. While breakfasting, he made a +point of running through his correspondence. It was a saving of +valuable time. He had just sat down to table with his heap of letters +before him when Mr. Judd was announced. Edward, who knew that Ephraim +was employed at the Bank, leaped in a moment to the conclusion that +his visitor could only be the bearer of ill news, and one glance at +the latter's grave face was enough to assure him that such was the +case. + +"My father--what is amiss?" he said, as he started to his feet. + +Then Ephraim had to break the same news to him that he had already +broken to his brother. Edward's face blanched, and his eyes filled +with horror as the tale was told. + +"My father murdered!--he who never harmed a creature in his life." + +Then he bowed his head on his hands, and there was silence in the room +for a little while. + +But Edward Hazeldine was a man of action; to sit still for any length +of time was for him next to an impossibility. Presently he lifted his +head, wiped his eyes, and rang the bell. To the servant who came in, +he said: + +"Order the mare to be put into the dog-cart and brought round as +quickly as possible." Then to Ephraim: "We will drive over to the Bank +together as soon as I have given certain instructions to my clerk." + +Left alone for a few minutes, Ephraim glanced with curiosity round the +handsomely furnished room. He had never been inside Edward Hazeldine's +house before. Then his eyes wandered to the breakfast tray, and the +little heap of post-letters lying beside it. As has been said already, +other people's letters always had an irresistible fascination for Mr. +Judd. If he could not see the inside of a letter, he would rather see +the outside than not see it at all. His long, thin fingers shut and +opened automatically. He half rose from his chair, and one hand went +out towards the table. His big ears were on the alert for the +slightest sound. Another moment and the letters were in his hands. + +He ran them quickly through, noting the post-mark of each, and the +handwriting of the addresses. Evidently they were chiefly business +communications. But over one of them he paused, looking at it this way +and that some half-dozen times. + +"I could almost swear that this was the poor Governor's hand, only +disguised a bit," he muttered. "Posted in London yesterday, too! That +'t' is certainly his, and so is that 'h.' It's his writing, I would +wager anything. Now, what could he possibly have to write Mr. Edward +about yesterday that he could not tell him to-day? I would give +something to know what's inside." + +But at this juncture he heard Edward Hazeldine's firm, heavy tread +outside. The letters were replaced on the table, and three minutes +later the two men were on their way to the Bank. + +Edward Hazeldine got back home about two o'clock. Never would he be +able to forget what he had gone through that forenoon. On him, as the +elder son, had devolved the duty of breaking the tragic news to his +mother and sister. Mrs. Hazeldine had fainted and Fanny had gone into +hysterics. The scene had tried him almost beyond endurance. + +The jury had been summoned for three o'clock that afternoon. As Edward +could be of no further service at present, he had made his escape. He +fervently hoped that the Coroner would not think it needful to call +him as a witness. Everything at present was conjecture and vague +surmise. So far, the police seemed to be without any clue to the +perpetrator of the crime. + +Edward had not been home more than a few minutes when Lord Elstree was +announced. + +His lordship was one of two sleeping partners in the brewery, having +about ten thousand pounds invested in the concern. He was on excellent +terms with Edward, of whose business abilities he had a very high +opinion. His home for three parts of the year was at Seaham Lodge, a +splendid property some four or five miles from Beecham. His family +were all grown up; the daughters married and the sons out in the +world; but with himself and his wife, as companion to her ladyship, +there lived a distant kinswoman, Miss Winterton by name, whom Edward +Hazeldine had secretly made up his mind to win for his wife, if it +were anyhow possible for him to do so. Miss Winterton was thirty years +old, and plain looking, but accomplished and amiable; and had, +moreover, a fortune of fifteen thousand pounds in her own right. +Edward, who had frequent occasion to visit the Lodge on matters of +business, and who was generally asked to stay for luncheon or dinner, +as the case might be, had as yet ventured to whisper no word of love +in Miss Winterton's ear; but there may have been that in his looks and +manner which afforded her some inkling of the state of affairs. If +such were the case, her treatment of Edward was not of a kind to lead +him to fear that when the time should have come for him to urge his +suit, he would be very hardly treated. He told himself that he would +wait till after Christmas; till the year's balance at the brewery +should have been struck. Business was going up by "leaps and bounds," +and he wanted to secure not merely Miss Winterton's approval of his +suit, but the Earl's as well, and he knew that nothing would put the +latter into such a good humor as the assurance of a thumping dividend +on his investment in the brewery. + +"My dear Hazeldine, what is this terrible rumor that has just reached +my ears?" said his Lordship, as he came hurriedly into the room and +held out his hand to the other. "Surely, surely there can be no truth +in it!" + +He was a short, podgy, sandy-haired man, with a fresh complexion and a +tip-tilted nose, and looked far more like a retired tradesman than a +"belted Earl." In one respect, indeed, he would have made a first-rate +tradesman; in him the commercial instinct was very strongly developed, +and half his time was given to the consideration of schemes by means +of which his large income might be made larger still. + +"My father was murdered last night, if that is the rumor to which your +Lordship refers," answered Edward, with a little break in his voice. + +The Earl sat down and stared at the other for a full half minute +without speaking. Then he said, "If not too painful to you, I should +like you to tell me such particulars of the affair as are already +known." + +This Edward proceeded to do as briefly as possible. + +"It is terrible--terrible!" ejaculated the Earl. "I need scarcely say, +my dear Hazeldine, that you have my most unfeigned sympathy--both you +and your mother--in this dreadful affliction. How little we know what +a day--nay, an hour--may bring forth!" The Earl had a habit of +indulging in mild platitudes, which he enunciated with an air of +profundity which almost lent them a touch of freshness. "I left home +the bearer of an invitation to you to dine at the Lodge to-morrow, but +that, of course, is now out of the question. It will be Agnes's +birthday"--Agnes was Miss Winterton--"so her Ladyship is going to ask +a quiet half-dozen to dinner, and you were to have been of the +number." + +A glow of satisfaction burnt for a moment in Edward Hazeldine's +cheeks. Even at a time like the present he could not help feeling a +keen sense of gratification that his name should have been remembered +on such an occasion. Might he not accept it, he asked himself, as an +augury of the good fortune that would attend him when the time should +have come for him to put to Miss Winterton a certain momentous +question? + +As soon as the Earl had gone, Edward's eyes fell on the heap of +unopened letters left there from morning. Business must go on whatever +happens, and it was with a sense of relief that he endeavored to bring +his mind back for a time to the commonplace details of everyday life. +He took up the letters one by one, opened them, read them, and his +mind took in their contents automatically, but his real mind was back +at the Bank--he was gazing again on that ghastly, upturned face, on +those sightless eyes into which no light of recognition would ever +flash more. Only last night he had been sitting by his father's side, +worrying him about the details of a paltry debt of twenty pounds, +hardly noticing how ill and careworn he looked, parting from him in +his usual off-hand, careless fashion; only last night--and now! + +There was one letter still left unopened. He took it up and looked +first at the address, as he always made a point of doing. There was a +familiar look about the writing, and yet he could not call to mind +whose it was. Without more ado he tore open the envelope, and then he +saw in a moment that the letter inside was in his father's writing. He +was startled, to say the least. His father had not written to him +since he was a schoolboy, unless it was now and then two lines of +invitation to dinner, or on some equally trivial matter. What could he +possibly have to say to him now? Before beginning to read the letter, +he took up the envelope again and saw that it bore the London +post-mark of the day before; then he turned to the signature as if to +make sure that it really was his father's writing. Then he drew his +chair a little nearer the window and began to read. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +MR. HAZELDINE'S LETTER. + + +The following is a copy of Mr. Hazeldine's letter to his son: + +Oct. 5, 18--, + +"My Dear Edward, + +"When these lines reach you, he who writes them will be no longer +among the living. The end of my days is at hand. I am about to go +hence, and be no more seen. + +"Three months ago I consulted two eminent London specialists with +reference to the state of my health. For some time I had had reason to +believe that my heart was seriously affected, but I had shrank from +turning doubt into certainty. At length, however, I did so, and the +verdict proved to be little more than a confirmation of my own secret +fears. Both the men I consulted gave me to understand that, with great +care, I might live for some time to come, but that there was a +possibility of my being taken off at any moment. Rest and perfect +quiet were essential to my case, and a complete release from the cares +and worries of business--all of which you will say might have been +mine had I so willed it--and indeed it is quite true that I might have +retired to some restful spot, and there, 'far from the madding crowd,' +have eked out the poor remainder of my days, but for certain +circumstances which rendered such a step an impossibility. What those +circumstances were, I will now tell you. + +"Edward, from youth upward I have been a gambler--a secret +gambler--but so well have I kept the knowledge to myself that not even +your mother has known of it, whatever she may have suspected. When I +was a schoolboy I used to gamble for halfpence. When I grew older I +was in the habit of venturing my half-crowns, and afterwards my +sovereigns, on this race or the other. When I was a young man, and +supposed to be taking my autumn holidays in Scotland or at the +seaside, I generally contrived to find my way to Doncaster for the St. +Leger; and over and over again I have gone through the whole gamut of +a gambler's hopes, fears, exultations, and despair. + +"Of late years, however, I have given up having anything to do with +the Turf, and have confined myself to transactions on the Stock +Exchange. Three years ago I was worth twenty thousand pounds: to-day I +am a ruined man. I wanted to turn my twenty thousand into fifty, and +it seemed so easy to do it that I had not the courage to withhold my +hand. Even now I have faith to believe that I could retrieve my +fortunes were time given me to do so, but time is the one thing I can +no longer call my own. The anxieties of the last few months have told +terribly upon me, and I feel that the end may come at any moment. +Besides which, Mr. Avison will be at home in the course of a few days. + +"You may, perhaps, ask in what way the return of Mr. Avison can affect +me, unless it serve to transfer some of the cares of business from my +shoulders to his, and, in so far, prove a source of relief to me. But, +Edward, I dare not meet him! When I tell you this, you will know what +I mean. + +"Yes, it is even so. Things that I have been able to cover up during +his absence can be hidden no longer when he returns. I cannot, I dare +not face that which would inevitably follow. What a terribly bitter +confession is this to make to you, my eldest son! + +"What then, is to be done? How escape a disgrace which seems +inevitable? There is only one mode of escaping from it--by +suicide--and that is the mode I have determined to adopt. It is my +last and only resource. + +"You are aware that, many years ago, I insured my life for twelve +thousand pounds. This sum, together with a thousand pounds standing to +my credit at the Bank (for I have always contrived to maintain a +balance there in order to avoid suspicion), will be nearly all that +your mother and sister will have to depend upon after I am gone; +should it, however, be discovered that I have committed suicide, the +policy will be forfeited and they will be left little better off than +paupers. For this reason, therefore, if for no other, my death must +not seem to be the act of my own hand. + +"But there is another reason, almost as imperative, why the world must +not be allowed to believe that I have put an end to my existence. It +must never become known that I dare not face Mr. Avison, and my +employer himself must never learn how his most trusted servant has +betrayed the confidence reposed in him. The shame, disgrace, and +misery in which such knowledge would involve those I leave behind me +must be avoided at every risk. There is only one way by which such +consequences can be averted, and that is by making my death seem to +have resulted, not from my own act, but from the act of another. In +brief, the world must be led to believe, not that I have committed +suicide, but that I have been murdered! + +"You will naturally ask how is such an end to be accomplished? for in +such a case nothing must be left to chance--every step in the affair, +every contingency that might arise out of it, must be thought of and +arranged for beforehand. I will tell you what I purpose doing--what, +in fact, will actually have been done, to secure the object I have in +view, before to-morrow's sunrise. + +"In the first place, I have paid off to the uttermost farthing all my +losses on the Stock Exchange; and as I have always speculated under an +assumed name, there is no risk of its ever becoming known that the +respected manager of the Ashdown Bank was the desperate gambler he has +been in reality. + +"And now for the details of my final arrangements. To-night--for the +final act of the tragedy can no longer be delayed, seeing that Mr. +Avison is already as far as Paris on his road home--to-night I shall +work at the office till after everyone else has gone. I shall put +Sweet off his guard. I shall arrange matters so that the door of the +bullion safe in the strong room shall be found open, and the safe, to +all appearance, rifled of its contents. The booty supposed to have +been thus appropriated will amount to something over four thousand +pounds, that being the sum in which I am indebted to the Bank. My +books will show that latterly the Bank has been accumulating funds in +notes and gold to a very considerable amount in order to provide for +certain contingencies which it would have to meet before long in the +ordinary course of business. As for my worthless self--I shall be +found dead on the hearthrug of my office, stabbed to the heart. + +"Such is an outline of the programme which will have been carried into +effect before these lines meet your eye. In carrying out this +desperate resolve I am merely anticipating the end of a life which no +power on earth could prolong for many months, and which might go out +like the snuff of a candle at any moment. The proceeds of my policy of +insurance will be saved to my family, my fair fame will remain +untainted, the world will respect my memory as that of a man just and +honorable in all his dealings, while those I leave behind me will have +no cause to blush for the name they bear. + +"Such being the case, why have I chosen to make you my confidant in +this matter? Why have I imposed upon you the burthen of such a +confession? Why have I not let you live on in ignorance, as your +brother will live on in his? I will tell you why. + +"Notwithstanding all the precautions I shall take to obviate so +untoward a result, it is just possible that my death may be laid at +the door of some innocent person. Many a guiltless man has been done +to death by circumstantial evidence, and such a thing might easily +happen again. I charge you, therefore, as my eldest son, that in the +event of anyone being accused of my death, you at once make public +such facts as will suffice to free him from so heinous a charge. +Better, a thousand times better, that the whole truth should be told, +than that the accusation of being a murderer should cling to anyone +for an hour! I lay upon you this most solemn duty, being perfectly +satisfied that I could entrust it into no better hands. My fervent +hope, however, is that no such contingency may arise. Should it do so, +your duty will lie plainly before you, and I feel satisfied that you +will not shrink from doing it. + +"And now, what shall I say more? I dare not write one-twentieth part +of that which I feel, for fear I should break down; and I need all the +strength I can summon to my aid to go through the ordeal before me. +You will continue to be what you have always been--a good son and a +good brother. You will treat your father's memory in your thoughts as +leniently as you can. I have been weak, foolish--criminal, even; but +had fortune smiled on my schemes, all this would have remained +unknown, even to you. I should have lived and died prosperous and +respected, and the local newspaper, in its obituary notice, would have +attributed to me half the virtues under the sun. But should the world +ever come to know that which I have here revealed to you, then the +colors it would paint me in would be black indeed. + +"I can write no more. + + "Farewell, a long farewell. + + "Your unhappy father, + + "James Hazeldine." + +Edward Hazeldine was still sitting with his father's open letter in +his hand, in a maze of grief, shame, and perplexity, when there came a +knock at his office door. He put the letter carefully out of sight, +and then said, "Come in." A servant entered. + +"If you please, sir, the Coroner has sent for you, and you are wanted +immediately." + +The Coroner and jury had met in a room of the "White Lion Hotel," a +house not more than two or three hundred yards from the Bank. The +twelve good men and true were either tradesmen or private householders +of the town, all of whom had known, and most of them had done business +with, the late Mr. Hazeldine. + +After viewing the body, which still lay in the room where it had been +found, the jury went back to the hotel. The proceedings were watched +by Mr. Prestwich, solicitor, retained by Mr. Edward Hazeldine, on +behalf of the relatives of the deceased. Mr. Mace and three of his men +were in attendance. + +The first witness called was Clement Hazeldine, who identified the +body of the deceased as that of his father. + +The next witness was John Brancker, who deposed to deceased having +left the Bank during the forenoon of the previous day, with the +intention of going to London to change notes to the amount of about +twelve hundred pounds for gold. When he left the Bank he took with him +the black bag which was always made use of on such occasions. It was +not often, witness went on to say, that Mr. Hazeldine himself went to +London to obtain change; that was a duty which more frequently +devolved upon him, witness; still, it sometimes happened that deceased +had other business to transact in town, in which case he would bring +back the gold himself. + +David Measom, the railway booking-clerk, deposed to having sold +deceased a first-class return ticket to London and back by the +ten-thirty train on the previous day. + +Obed Sweet, night-watchman, deposed to the events as detailed in a +previous chapter:--To seeing Mr. Hazeldine enter the Bank about +half-past eight P.M., carrying his black bag; to hearing, as he +believed, the front door shut about half-past ten, and to finding, to +his surprise when he went upstairs, that deceased was still at work; +to waiting until half-past eleven before going upstairs again, and to +finding the office at that time in darkness, and Mr. Hazeldine, to all +appearance, gone. Witness then went on to state that the noise he had +heard about half-past ten had since been accounted for, by the fact of +Mr. Brancker having come back to the Bank to fetch his umbrella. + +In reply to a question by the Coroner, it was stated that both +deceased and Mr. Brancker had pass-keys, by means of which they could +let themselves into the Bank after ordinary business hours without +troubling Sweet, unless the front door had been finally bolted for the +night. + +"Does anyone know whether the pass-key belonging to deceased has been +found?" asked the Coroner of Mr. Mace. + +"It was found in one of his pockets," was the answer. + +The next witness was Amanda Sweet, the nightwatchman's wife, who +deposed to finding the door of Mr. Hazeldine's room locked and the key +outside, as it was said to have been left by last witness, when she +went at half-past seven A.M. to sweep out and dust the office as +usual. The first thing she did was to draw up the blinds, after which, +on turning round, she saw the body of deceased lying right across the +hearthrug with a foreign-looking knife a little distance away from it. +Being asked what she did next, she replied that she screamed and +fainted right away. + +Peggy Lown, charwoman, deposed to being sent by Obed Sweet in search +of a constable; to encountering Mr. Judd a short distance from the +Bank, and telling him what had happened, and to finding a constable a +few minutes afterwards. + +Ephraim Judd deposed that, in consequence of what last witness told +him, he hurried to the Bank, and there found Sweet and his wife by the +dead body of Mr. Hazeldine. + +The evidence of Constable Jeremy was to a similar effect. + +Chief Constable Mace deposed that in consequence of a message sent him +by the last witness, he hurried to the Bank, calling on Dr. Barton by +the way, and taking that gentleman with him. He then went on to +describe the finding of the body, and produced the knife which last +witness had picked up and given him. He told how he had found the door +of the strong room open, as was also the door of the bullion-safe +inside; and that, as Mr. Brancker would tell them, there was little +doubt the safe had been robbed, and notes and hard cash to a very +large amount made away with. He then went on to describe how he had +made a thorough examination of the premises, but without finding any +clue to the mode by which the perpetrator of the crime had obtained +access to the Bank, and had afterwards been able to get clear away +with his booty, unseen and unheard by anyone. + +There was, however, one circumstance, Mr. Mace remarked, to which it +would be necessary to call the attention of the jury. On the floor of +the office usually occupied by Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd were several +stains, apparently quite recent, which had all the appearance of +blood-stains, Dr. Barton, who had examined them at his request, would +no doubt be prepared to give the jury his opinion about them. In +addition, the outside of one of the drawers--Mr. Brancker's drawer, he +believed it to be--was smeared in a similar way, as were also some +portion of its contents. He believed Mr. Brancker would tell them that +he was utterly at a loss to account for the existence of the marks in +question. Before proceeding further in the case he would respectfully +suggest that the jury should be requested to examine the stains for +themselves. + +This course was agreed to; but it was first deemed advisable to take +the evidence of Dr. Barton. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +THE INQUEST. + + +Dr. Barton, having been sworn, deposed to the fact of deceased having +met with his death by violence. His chest had been pierced by some +sharp instrument which, in all probability, had penetrated the tissues +of the heart; but that was a point as to which he could not speak +positively until after the post-mortem examination. Death, in that +case, would have been all but instantaneous. He had examined the +weapon produced and compared it with the wound, which it exactly +fitted. In his opinion, there was little doubt that the knife in +question was the one with which the fatal blow had been inflicted. +There had been a certain amount of hemorrhage from the wound, but +scarcely as much as might have been expected--a little on the floor, +rather more on the clothes of deceased. Death had taken place several +hours before he, witness, was called in. He was not prepared to state +how many hours before: it might have been five, or it might have been +eight or nine; it was impossible to speak with exactitude. The clothes +of the deceased were, to a certain extent, disarranged. His vest was +unbuttoned, the ends of his cravat were hanging loose, his collar had +been violently wrenched from the button which had held it, and the +wristband of one sleeve of his shirt had been nearly torn away--all +indicative of a struggle, however brief, with his assailant. The idea +of suicide was one which had never entered his--witness's--mind; had +any such theory been advanced, it would have seemed to him altogether +untenable. + +When the jury had reassembled after their visit to the Bank, Dr. +Barton was recalled, and, in reply to a question by the Coroner, +stated that, to the best of his belief, and speaking from a merely +casual examination, the stains on the floor of the office usually +occupied by Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd had been caused by blood. + +John Brancker was then recalled. In answer to various questions, some +of which were put by the Coroner, some by the jury, and some by Mr. +Prestwich, he deposed as under: + +He left the office about nine o'clock, without having seen Mr. +Hazeldine after his return from London, although he had understood +from Sweet that he was at work in his office. When he, witness, left +the office, Mr. Judd was still there. All the other clerks had gone +before. On quitting the Bank, he went straight home and did not stir +out again till past ten o'clock. He then decided to go and call upon +William Strong, the man who blew the organ bellows for him at church. +He had heard that Strong was ill, and he wanted to ascertain whether +he would be well enough to attend to his duties on Sunday next. He had +hardly left home when a few drops of rain began to fall, and he then +remembered that he had left his umbrella at the Bank, and determined +to call there and get it. On his way to the Bank he encountered Mr. +Judd, whom he told what he was going to do. On reaching the Bank he +saw that Mr. Hazeldine's office windows were still lighted up. This +did not surprise him, knowing, as he did, that Mr. Hazeldine often +worked till a late hour. Having let himself in with his pass-key, he +went into the inner room and there found his umbrella in the corner +where he had left it. He found it in the dark. He did not go near Mr. +Hazeldine, but left the Bank at once without seeing anyone, and went +on his way towards Strong's cottage. + +Being requested to continue his narrative, and relate what happened +afterwards, witness went on to say that on reaching Strong's cottage, +although there was a light in one of the windows, no one came in +response to his repeated knocking, and that at length he went away, +convinced that Strong was not at home. As there seemed no likelihood +of more rain, the moon being now shining, he determined to return by +way of the foot-path through the meadows by the river This would take +him quite a mile out of his way, but that did not matter as he was in +no hurry to reach home. As he was walking through the fields, he heard +the sounds of a man and woman quarrelling. As the man seemed to be +ill-using the woman, he went a little out of his road to ascertain +what was the matter. On coming up to the pair he remonstrated with the +man for his behavior, when both he and the woman turned upon him, and +demanded to know what right he had to interfere between husband and +wife. So enraged was the woman, that she took up a stone and flung it +at him, hitting him over the left eye. For a few moments he felt +stunned, and by the time he had recovered himself, both the man and +the woman had disappeared. St. Mary's clock was striking midnight as +he opened the garden gate of his own house. + +In reply to a question by the Coroner, witness stated that, in company +with Mr. Mace, he had visited the strong room. He had found the door +of the bullion safe open, and from the cursory examination, which was +all he had yet had time to make, he had no doubt that gold and notes +to the amount of between three and four thousand pounds, together with +the twelve hundred pounds' worth of change, had been abstracted from +the coffers of the Bank. + +"Am I to understand, Mr. Brancker," asked the Coroner, "that you know +nothing whatever as to the origin of the bloodstains on the floor of +your office, nor of the marks of a similar kind scattered about the +contents of your drawer?" + +"I know nothing of them whatever, sir, and I was never more surprised +in my life than when I saw them there this morning." + +"I presume that you locked your drawer before leaving it last +evening?" + +"To the best of my recollection I did." + +"And you found it locked on your arrival this morning?" + +"I certainly did. To me the whole affair is utterly inexplicable." + +At this juncture, who should shoulder his way into the room but +William Strong, the man Mr. Brancker had been so anxious to see the +previous evening. Mr. Mace recognized him, and whispered to the +Coroner, and next moment, greatly to his surprise, Strong was summoned +by name out of the crowd, and sworn by the Coroner's clerk. + +"Have you any objection to tell the Court where you were last evening +between the hours of half-past ten and half-past eleven?" queried the +Coroner. + +"I was at home, sir. I've been ill, and have not put foot outside the +door for four days till this afternoon." + +"Will you swear to that?" + +"Of course I will, and my wife will tell you the same thing if you ask +her." + +"Then if you were at home the whole of last evening, as you state, you +could scarcely have failed to hear if anyone knocked at your door?" + +"Of course I couldn't, sir; my house ain't like a gentleman's mansion. +There's only four rooms in it altogether." + +"Mr. Brancker has just told us that he knocked at your door some time +between ten and eleven last night--that he knocked repeatedly, but +that nobody answered his summons." + +"There must be a mistake somewhere," said Strong, with a puzzled shake +of his head. "All I know is that I was never out of the house, and +that nobody could have knocked without my hearing them." + +"What time did you go to bed last night?" + +"At twelve, to the minute--my general time. If I go to bed sooner than +that I can't sleep." + +"Perhaps Mr. Brancker was mistaken in the house," suggested one of the +jury, "and knocked at the wrong door." + +"Well, sir, I hardly see how that could happen," said Strong, with a +slow, incredulous smile, "seeing that my little shanty ain't one of a +row, but stands all by itself." + +John Brancker could contain himself no longer. He started to his feet. +"Do you mean to say, Strong," he cried, "that you were never out of +the house last evening, and yet that you did not hear me knock?" + +"I do mean to say so, Mr. Brancker, and what I say is the truth, if +these are the last words I ever speak." + +"Why, I knocked half-a-dozen times if I knocked once. I was upwards of +ten minutes at your door." + +Strong could only shake his head. "I can say no more than I've said +already," was his answer. "I was never out of the house, and if +anybody had knocked I must have heard 'em." + +"You may sit down for the present," said the Coroner. + +"It is incredible, incredible!" muttered John, as he too resumed his +seat. His mind was in a whirl. Was it possible, he asked himself, that +he had only dreamed that he called at Strong's cottage, and that he +had never been there in reality? But no, that was an impossibility. As +well fancy that he had not seen the man and woman quarreling; but +there was the bruise on his forehead to prove the reality of that. He +looked round the room, and to his excited fancy it seemed that people +were already beginning to gaze askance at him. What were the jury +whispering about so earnestly? Surely--surely, they could not for one +moment suspect----! No, that would be at once too horrible and too +absurd. + +To the best of his belief, Strong had sworn to nothing but the truth +when he stated that he had never left home during the previous +evening, and that it was impossible that Mr. Brancker could have +knocked at his door without his being aware of it. It was what Strong +believed to be the truth, and yet it was not the whole truth. It was +an undoubted fact that he never left the house, but as regards one +important feature of the case he had said nothing. He forgot to relate +how a certain boon companion of his had called in the course of the +evening, bringing with him a bottle of fiery whiskey, and how his +friend did not go away till the bottle was empty, leaving Strong, who +had eaten little food for several days, in a semi-maudlin state of +intoxication. + +Mrs. Strong was out at the time, and Strong, left alone before a good +fire, and rendered drowsy by the fumes of the liquor, was fast asleep +in less than five minutes after his friend had left him. He slept for +upwards of an hour, only waking up on his wife's return, but of this +sleep his memory retained no recollection whatever next morning. He +knew that he had taken a little more to drink than was good for him; +but, had he been questioned on the point, he would certainly have +denied that he had even as much as closed his eyes till after his +wife's return. + +Ephraim Judd was recalled by the Coroner. He looked very pale and +nervous; but the circumstances of the morning were enough to unnerve +any man. He wore a black kid glove on his left hand; in his right hand +he carried the other glove loose. + +"How long did you stay at the office after Mr. Brancker left you there +last evening?" + +"Certainly not more than twenty minutes." + +"You were the last of the officials to leave the Bank?" + +"The last, except Mr. Hazeldine." + +"You have seen the blood-stains on the floor of the office where you +and Mr. Brancker generally work; you have seen the marks inside the +drawer, and the smears outside; have you any knowledge whatever as to +how they came there?" + +For a moment Ephraim's lips twitched curiously, but the answer when it +came was clear and distinct. + +"I have no knowledge whatever on the point." + +"Did you see or speak to the deceased at all last evening?" + +"I neither saw him, nor spoke to him, after his departure for London +the previous forenoon." + +"Then how do you know that he was at the Bank last evening?" + +"Sweet, the night-watchman, told Mr. Brancker and me that he had +returned; and I saw that his office was lighted up when I left." + +"We have been informed that you met Mr. Brancker accidentally about +half-past ten. Tell the jury what passed between you and him on that +occasion." + +Witness having given him an account of the interview which tallied +with John's account, went on to say that after bidding Mr. Brancker +good-night, he walked as far as the newsroom, and after sitting there +for half an hour he went home to bed. + +The Coroner had one more question to put. + +"Can you tell the jury of your own knowledge how long Mr. Brancker +remained at the Bank after he left you for the purpose of fetching his +umbrella?" + +Again there was a momentary hesitation before the answer came. + +"I did not see Mr. Brancker again after leaving him," was the reply. + +The Coroner dismissed him with a nod. Ephraim squeezed his way through +the crowd to a quiet corner, and there wiped his perspiring forehead, +and waited while his flurried nerves grew calm again. + +Scarcely had Ephraim Judd resumed his seat before Mr. Edward Hazeldine +was seen shouldering his way through the crowd at the lower end of the +room. People made way for him readily, and he became at once the focus +of a hundred eyes. He looked very pale, but the hard, resolute +expression of his face was in nowise changed. + +"I am sorry to have been obliged to send for you, Mr. Hazeldine," said +the Coroner, "but as you were one of the last persons who saw your +father alive, I shall require a little formal evidence from you in +order to complete the depositions, as far as it is possible to do so +today." + +"I am entirely at your service," said Mr. Hazeldine, who was then +sworn in the usual way. + +His evidence simply went to prove that deceased had seemed to be in +his usual health and spirits on his return from London the previous +evening; that he mentioned the fact of his having been to town to +obtain the requisite gold for the Bank's requirements on the morrow; +and that he also informed witness of his intention to work late at the +office. + +"Pardon the question," said the Coroner, "but does it not strike you +as somewhat strange that Mrs. Hazeldine should not have noticed the +fact of her husband's non-arrival at home, and have been alarmed +thereby, and have at once caused inquiry to be made?" + +"There is nothing strange about it when it comes to be explained," +said witness. "The fact is, when my father worked late at the office +he usually slept on a little camp-bed in his dressing-room. This was +to avoid disturbing my mother, who, as a rule, retires for the night +at any early hour. If my mother woke up in the course of last night, +or early this morning, she would naturally conclude that my father had +let himself into the house by means of his latch-key, and had gone to +bed in the other room." + +There being no more witnesses to examine, the Coroner announced that +the inquiry would be adjourned for a week, so as to allow time for a +post-mortem examination to be made, and also to enable the police to +follow up their investigations into an affair which, the more it was +looked into, the more mysterious it seemed to become. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +AN ANXIOUS WEEK. + + +Edward Hazeldine and Mr. Prestwich retired to a private room in the +hotel, while John Brancker walked back to the Bank like a man utterly +dazed and confounded. He could not help noticing how the crowd that +lingered about the hotel divided and made way for him, nor how they +stared at him and broke into eager whisperings the moment he had +passed. To his excited fancy it seemed as if everybody shrank from +him. How could Strong swear as he had sworn! And yet there seemed the +ring of truth in all he said. And those mysterious blood-stains! It +was all a terrible mystery at present, but one which a few days at the +most would surely unravel. + +John Brancker paused on the steps outside the Bank, feeling utterly +sick at heart. Not again to-day could he set foot inside those walls. +The man whom he had respected and looked up to for so many years lay +there dead, and he, John Brancker, was actually suspected of---- Great +heavens! could it be anything more than a horrible nightmare? He +turned and set off homeward at a rapid pace. Awaiting him there were +two loving hearts into which no vile breath of suspicion, not even if +the evidence against him were an hundredfold stronger than it was, +would ever find a moment's harborage. Never had his humble home seemed +so sweet and dear to him as that afternoon. + + +It was in no very enviable frame of mind that Ephraim Judd quitted the +jury-room and made his way towards the river-bank. He was in no mood +for business; he felt the need of being alone. How he despised himself +for what he had done! And yet he felt that, in similar circumstances, +he should be driven to do the same again. How was it possible for him +to tell the truth, when to do so meant ruin to himself? Not one day +longer would Mr. Avison retain him in his service if he were to become +aware of his practice of prying into other people's affairs, and, in +that case, what would become of him and his widowed mother? + +To do Ephraim justice, in giving his evidence as he had given it, he +had thought only of screening himself, never dreaming that by so doing +he would be strengthening the web of suspicion which seemed to be +closing slowly round Mr. Brancker. With all his petty, tortuous ways +and crooked modes of reasoning, he shrank from doing anyone a direct +injury. If, in his dealings with others, however simple those dealings +might be, a roundabout course was sweeter to him than a +straightforward one--that was a little weakness which he shared in +common with many men far more highly placed than himself. + +Truth to tell, Ephraim was not framed in the mould out of which your +more robust villains are turned out. It might be said of him that, +while to serve his own ends he would not have shrunk from pricking +anyone with a pin in the dark, had a dagger been thrust into his hand +he would have dropped it in terror and slunk away. + +He had perjured himself to save himself, but nothing had been further +from his intention than to do John Brancker an injury. No one had been +more surprised than he at the turn Strong's evidence had taken; he was +utterly at a loss how to reconcile the statements of the two men. + + +As soon as Edward Hazeldine and Mr. Prestwich were alone, the latter +said: + +"I wish you had heard the evidence this afternoon; it has taken quite +an unexpected turn." + +"An unexpected turn! In what way?" asked Edward, with a quick, +suspicious glance at his companion. + +"As tending to fix a shadow of suspicion on Mr. Brancker." + +"On Mr. Brancker! What nonsense that must be!" exclaimed Edward, +impatiently. + +"I should probably have been as sceptical as you are, had I not heard +the evidence in question," remarked Mr. Prestwich dryly. + +He then went on to enlighten his companion, detailing the different +points of evidence as deposed to by each witness in turn. Edward +listened with growing wonder and uneasiness. + +"That man Strong must have sworn to a lie," he said impetuously, when +Mr. Prestwich had done. + +"I don't think so, and I watched him narrowly. The fellow may be +something of a dunderhead, but he seemed very much in earnest in what +he said." + +"Then you mean to imply that John Brancker has not told the truth?" + +"I imply nothing. I only take the evidence as it stands, and try to +consider it dispassionately. It seems to be fully understood that Mr. +Brancker called at the Bank about half-past ten last evening, and he +himself admits that he did not get home till midnight. It would appear +certain that Mr. Hazeldine came by his death within those two periods +of time. The nightwatchman is positive that he did not hear Mr. +Brancker enter the Bank, which is accounted for by the latter making +use of his pass-key. Both the murder and robbery would seem to be the +work of someone well acquainted with your father's habits, and who +knew in which particular safe the bullion was kept, and where to find +the key of it; and who also possessed the means of getting quietly +away after the deed was done. Mr. Brancker says that he knocked +several times at Strong's door; Strong says that no one knocked; Mr. +Brancker has a contusion over his left eye, which he accounts for by +saying that a woman hit him with a stone. Finally, how are we to +account for the blood-smears with which Mr. Brancker's drawer is +marked both inside and out, as well as the floor in front of it?" + +"For all that you have said I do not care one jot," was Edward +Hazeldine's answer. "I am perfectly convinced that John Brancker had +no more to do with the death of my father than I had." + +"I am not saying that he had. I am only showing you which way the +evidence is tending. In all probability the researches of the police +during the next few days will put an entirely different complexion on +the affair." + +Edward Hazeldine went his way, a thoroughly unhappy man. It is not too +much to say that the horror with which he had first heard of his +father's death was now to a certain extent overshadowed by the grief +and shame caused him by the reading of his father's letter. Under his +cold, practical, matter-of-fact exterior lay hidden a proud and, in +some things, a very sensitive nature, which was far more easily +wounded than anyone knew of, and very deep was the wound made in it +today. He prided himself on being a thoroughly just man, and it was +essential to his happiness that all his actions should meet with the +approval of his own conscience. But still more essential was it that +he should stand well in the eyes of the world, and be one of whom his +fellow-townsmen might have just reason to feel proud. Hidden in the +deepest recesses of his mind lay the half-formed hope of one day being +able to represent his native town in Parliament. It was a hope of +which he had never spoken to anyone, but none the less was it secretly +cherished. From the time when he was a boy of twelve, he had set +himself steadily to regard his advancement in life, and the +acquisition of wealth and social position, as the great ends for which +he must never cease to strive. + +But what would Lord and Lady Elstree think and say, and in what way +would they act, should he ever be compelled to reveal to the world the +real facts connected with his father's death? In such a case he knew +full well that the doors of Seaham Lodge would be closed to him +forever, and that he must give up all hope of ever winning the hand of +Miss Winterton. Goshope Grange, one of the Earl's country seats, to +which he had been invited for a week's shooting last September, and +where he had for fellow-guests two lords, three baronets, and a host +of minor celebrities, would know him no more. Social extinction would +be the fate of him and his, should the contents of his father's letter +ever become known. After such an exposure, how could he bear to look +his fellow-townsmen in the face? He would have to give up his +business, if indeed, his partners did not insist on his seceding from +it; all his ambitious projects would fall in ruins around him, and he +would have to seek another home in some place where he was known to +none. + +"And as matters were now turning out, it seemed only too probable that +he would feel himself compelled to reveal the contents of the letter. +It would never do to let an innocent man suffer under the stigma of so +terrible a crime. Whatever the cost to him and his might be, that +man's innocence must be proclaimed aloud on the housetops. Very bitter +were his thoughts as he walked slowly through the town, with his hat +pulled over his brows and his eyes bent on the ground, towards his +father's house. A chill shot through his heart as his fingers touched +the muffled knocker. The servant who let him in burst out crying +afresh the moment she set eyes on him, and he needed all his nerve +to enable him to retain his outward composure as he opened the +drawing-room door and went in. Clement was sitting on one side of the +fireplace, Fanny on the other. Edward touched his brother lightly on +the shoulder, and then the hands of both met in a long, affectionate +grip. + +"Where is my mother?" asked the elder man. + +"She is lying down in her own room," answered Fanny. "When I went to +her, a few minutes ago, she was asleep." + +"Sleep is the best thing for her just now. I must leave it to you, +Clem, to induce her to keep up her strength as much as possible." + +"You may rely upon it that I will look after her." + +Presently Edward took his leave. He was restless and anxious to get +home. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts. The company of anyone +would have been distasteful to him just then. He shut himself up in +his study as soon as he reached home. + +Next day Mr. Avison, who had been telegraphed for, arrived from Paris, +and he and John Brancker at once set to work to ascertain to what +extent the Bank was a sufferer by the recent robbery. The result was +that gold and notes to the amount of about three thousand one hundred +pounds proved to be missing, together with the twelve hundred pounds +which the dead man had brought with him from London. + +The investigation served to bring to light one singular fact which +puzzled Mr. Avison and John Brancker not a little. Mr. Hazeldine's +private ledger was missing, as were also a number of check slips on +which the undercashiers entered the numbers of the notes which they +paid over at the close of each day's business. + +"It certainly looks," said Mr. Avison, "as if the thief or thieves +were intimately acquainted with the ins and outs of our business, or +else why should they have taken away with them the only evidence by +means of which we should have been able to trace the missing notes?" + +But John Brancker could only profess himself to be as utterly puzzled +over the affair as Mr. Avison was. + +Although Mr. Avison had read the evidence taken at the inquest, he had +hitherto attached no importance to the fact that certain portions of +it seemed to point the finger of suspicion at John Brancker. John was +such an old and tried servant, and he had such implicit confidence in +his integrity, that he had only smiled to himself, as he thought how +wide of the truth people are often led by circumstantial evidence. + +But now the case began to put on a very different complexion. A grave +suspicion was taking root in his mind, that no one but a man +thoroughly acquainted with the inner working of the Bank could be at +the bottom of the mystery. It troubled him more even than the loss of +the money troubled him, to think that his faith in human nature should +be so rudely shaken. But Mr. Avison was by nature a very reticent man, +a man who thought much but said little, and John had not the faintest +notion of the feelings at work in his employer's mind. The Banker said +to himself that some further evidence would probably be forthcoming at +the adjourned inquest, and that he could afford to wait till then. + +Obed Sweet was another person who was considerably troubled in the +article he called his mind. That Mr. Hazeldine had come by his death +between half-past ten and half-past eleven o'clock, everybody seemed +fully agreed. Yet was Obed quite aware that during the greater portion +of the time in question, he had been asleep in his room downstairs. +This it was that troubled him. If he had only kept awake, as he ought +to have done, might he not have heard someone come in, or go out, or +have been alarmed by the noise of a struggle, or by some cry for help? +Unfortunately, he had heard nothing. He tried to argue himself into +the belief that he was a remarkably light sleeper. "Why, a mouse could +hardly scamper across the floor without my hearing it," he said to +himself again and again. Still he wished most fervently that he had +not fallen asleep on that fatal night. + +Meanwhile, the needful authority having been granted by the Coroner, +Mr. Hazeldine's funeral took place. It was attended by nearly half the +population of Ashdown, either as followers or onlookers. A day or two +later, the jury met again for the adjourned inquest. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +THE VERDICT. + + +One important piece of evidence bearing on the murder of Mr. +Hazeldine, and one only, had been ferreted out by the police in the +course of the week which preceded the adjourned inquest. They had +discovered the man who sold the weapon with which the crime had +presumably been perpetrated. The point that still remained to be +cleared up was the identification of the purchaser of the knife. + +As before, the jury assembled in a room of the "White Lion Hotel." + +For the sake of appearances, Edward Hazeldine had been obliged to +retain the services of Mr. Prestwich, who was supposed to be there +with the view of looking after the interests of the family of the +deceased. Mr. Avison occupied a seat in the reserved space, and all +the witnesses who had been called and sworn on the previous occasion +were again in attendance. + +The depositions having been read over, Dr. Barton was called, and +deposed that, in conjunction with his colleague, Dr. Stone, he had +made a post-mortem examination of the body of deceased, and that they +found the cause of death to be puncture of the tissues of the heart +with the point of some sharp instrument. + +The weapon produced exactly fitted the cavity of the wound, and +bearing in mind the fact that it was found close by the body, there +was little room for doubt that it was the instrument with which the +fatal blow had been inflicted. + +The evidence of Dr. Stone was to the same effect as that of the +previous witness. + +Patience Strong, wife of William Strong, deposed that, to the best of +her belief, her husband never left home on the night of the supposed +murder. He had been ill for two or three days previously, and on the +evening in question she left him about nine o'clock, sitting in his +slippers by the fire, when she went out to see a neighbor who had a +sick child, and she found him still sitting in his slippers by the +fire when she got home at five minutes before twelve. + +After speaking in a low voice to Chief Constable Mace for a few +moments, the Coroner called upon Walter Brill to come forward. In +response to the summons a dark, quick-eyed, nervous little man, +evidently dressed in his Sunday best, pressed his way through the +crowd, and was sworn in the usual way. He deposed that he resided at +No. 29 Winton Street, London, and that a few days ago he received, +through the police, the photograph of a knife, produced, with a +printed request that if he remembered having sold such a weapon he +would at once communicate with the authorities. As he at once +recognized the photograph's being very like that of a knife sold by +him about two months before, he did as he was requested, and was +waited upon by Mr. Mace and another gentleman, with the result that he +was before the Coroner to-day to give evidence. + +The knife now put into his hands was sold by him on a certain day in +August last. He knew it by a private mark, which he put on all goods +out of the common way sold by him. Had no means of telling the exact +date when he sold the knife, but knew it was in August, because his +little girl, who had just recovered from the measles, was running +about the shop at the time. The knife was called an "American knife," +but was in reality of Sheffield manufacture. It was made of the best +steel, had one blade six inches in length, and opened with a spring. +The purchaser of it was a gentleman about fifty years old, who carried +a small black leather bag, of which he seemed to take especial care. + +Being pressed to describe more particularly the appearance of the +gentleman, witness said that, to the best of his recollection, he wore +a black tail-coat and waistcoat, and a high, old-fashioned collar. He +had no beard and not much whisker, and was very "respectable-looking." +Being asked to look round the room, and see whether anyone among those +present bore any resemblance to the person who bought the knife, +witness rubbed his hands nervously together, and then turned and +fronted the sixty or seventy faces grouped at the other end of the +room. + +By the time witness had reached this point the eyes of every spectator +and juryman had shifted from his face to the face of John Brancker. +Mr. Avison and John were sitting on one side of the room between the +crowd of ordinary onlookers and the Coroner, and facing the jury. + +As Walter Brill went on to describe the appearance of the man who +bought the knife, John felt his color change in spite of himself. He +was a shy, nervous man at the best of times, and totally unfitted to +go through such an ordeal as the present one. He could feel, rather +than see, that the eyes of all present were bent upon him. He turned +first red and then white, and his lower lip began to quiver, as it had +a trick of doing in moments of excitement or agitation. Mr. Mace +favored his colleague from Scotland Yard with a nod that was +perceptible to him alone. Almost unconsciously Mr. Avison moved his +chair a few inches further away. John noticed the action, and his +heart swelled within him. + +The cause of all this was the strangely accurate description given by +Brill of the man who had purchased the knife. John Brancker was +verging towards middle-age. He went to London three or four times a +month, on which occasions he took with him a small black leather bag. +A black tail-coat and a high stiff collar formed part of his customary +attire. He was clean-shaven, except for two short side-whiskers which +began to show signs of grey; while no one could dispute the fact that +he was a very staid and respectable-looking man. + +The eyes of Brill roved with a sort of vague inquisitiveness from face +to face, but no light of recognition came into them. He shook his head +slowly and turned to the Coroner. + +"Take your time; don't be in too great a hurry," said the latter; so +Brill turned to look again. + +It needs but that two or three people should stare intently at some +one object for the eyes of all there to be drawn in the same +direction. So it was in the present case. Brill awoke to the fact that +the spectators were not looking so much at him as at someone behind +him. He turned, letting his eyes follow the direction of theirs, and +confronted John Brancker. + +The two men looked at each other. For the first few moments it seemed +to Brill that he was gazing into the face of a man whom he had never +seen before, but as his eyes took in one by one the different items of +John's attire, and then wandered back to his smooth-shaven chin and +pointed collars, and when he became conscious that everyone in the +room was waiting with a sort of breathless anxiety to see whether he +would recognize the man before him, then he began to fancy that the +face he was looking at was not altogether strange to him, and that he +must have seen it before. In such a case fancy goes a long way on the +road to certainty. But Brill felt the responsibility of his position, +and was nervously anxious not to make a mistake. + +"Well," said the Coroner, after a pause, during which, as the saying +goes, a pin might have been heard to drop, "are you satisfied that the +person to whom you sold the knife is nowhere among those present?" + +Brill drew a long breath, glanced furtively round the room again, and +then said in a low voice: + +"There is one gentleman here that seems something like the party who +called at my shop in August." + +"Be good enough to point out the person to whom you refer." + +"That is the gentleman," said the witness, turning and indicating John +Brancker with his finger. A low murmur, like an inarticulate sigh, ran +through the room, and then the silence became more intense than +before. + +"Are you prepared to swear that is the gentlemen to whom you sold the +knife you have seen here to-day?" + +"No, I am not prepared to swear to anything of the kind." + +"To the best of your belief is he the person to whom you sold the +knife?" + +"No, I won't go even as far as that," answered Brill, dogmatically. +"All I can say is that there is a strong likeness between him and the +party who came to my shop; but, for all that, I'm not going to swear +that it was him." Nor from that point could anything move him. + +John Brancker rose to his feet. + +"Don't say anything now," whispered Mr. Avison. + +"I must, sir--I must," answered John, with a passionate ring in his +voice. Then turning to the Coroner, he said: + +"Sir, as I stand here, a living man, I swear that I never saw or spoke +to this person before to-day, that I was never inside his shop in my +life, and that I never purchased a knife like the one in question +either of him or of anyone else." Having said these few words, John +resumed his seat. + +"Have you any questions to ask the last witness?" asked the Coroner of +Mr. Prestwich. He had listened with polite attention to John, but had +made no comment. + +Mr. Prestwich shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Only two +minutes before he had whispered to Edward Hazeldine, who was seated in +the next chair, "The evidence this week seems tending in the same +direction as that of last week." + +"I don't care for that--John Brancker is an innocent man," was the +emphatic reply. + +"In any case," said Mr. Prestwich, "I should like to put a few +questions to the man Brill." + +"I beg you will do nothing of the kind, at least not now," was all he +got in answer. + +After that Mr. Prestwich could say no more. To him Edward Hazeldine's +pig-headedness, as he termed it in his own mind, was altogether +inexplicable. + +But more inexplicable was it to Edward that in the description given +by Brill of the man who had bought the knife no one should have +recognized the portrait of Mr. Hazeldine. He had recognized it in a +moment, but all the others, having had their minds imbued with the +idea that the description must of necessity apply to John Brancker, +had failed to discover the other likeness--all except Ephraim Judd. +Brill's account had given him a clue to something which had hitherto +puzzled him not a little. "Now, I can guess it all," he muttered under +his breath. "I wonder whether anyone suspects besides myself." +Henceforward for him the tragedy had a double meaning. + +Both Mr. Hazeldine and John Brancker belonged to the staid, +old-fashioned school of bank officials. They were sober in their ways +and sober in their attire. There was no great dissimilarity in their +ages, and in the course of years John, without being consciously aware +of it, had got into the way of copying his superior officer both in +manner and dress: so that, under the circumstances, the mistake made +not only by Brill, but by those who knew both the men, was hardly to +be wondered at, however unfortunate it might prove to be for one of +them. + +There being no further evidence forthcoming, the Coroner proceeded to +sum up the case. It was not his fault that nearly all the evidence +seemed to point to one conclusion. He stated the facts as he found +them, and strove in no way to bias the minds of the jury. + +The jury retired at twenty minutes past five and were away forty +minutes. Much eager whispered conversation went on during their +absence, but no one attempted to leave the room. Everyone felt the +intensity of the strain. John Brancker sat perfectly still, staring +into vacancy, with his hands crossed over the knob of his umbrella. +Edward Hazeldine sat like a man in a stupor, heedless of all that was +going on around him. Mr. Prestwich took snuff and conversed with the +Coroner in undertones. There was a momentary rustle, and then a dead +silence fell upon the room as the jury filed back to their seats, and +returned a verdict of wilful murder against John Brancker. + +A ghastly pallor overspread John's face as the words fell upon his +ears. They surely could not be meant to apply to him! His lips formed +themselves to speak, but no sound came from them. Oh! to think--to +think that anyone could for a moment believe his was the hand which +had struck so foul a blow! Then he bowed his head and waited, while +two or three scalding tears dropped unseen on his crossed hands. + +Edward Hazeldine strode across the room and grasped John by the hand. +"Mr. Brancker," he said, "I am profoundly grieved at what has happened +here to-day. From the bottom of my heart I believe you to be an +innocent man. This verdict seems to me a most monstrous one--one which +will never be sustained by that higher tribunal to which your case +will now be relegated. Believe me, I would stake my life on your +innocence." + +John grasped the hand that lay in his. His momentary burst of emotion +had relieved his overcharged feelings. His courage was coming back to +him. "Thank you, sincerely, Mr. Edward, for your kind words," he said +as he stood up. "They have taken a great weight off my heart. The +world can hardly believe me guilty when it knows that you have faith +in my innocence." + +At this moment Clement Hazeldine came pushing his way through the +crowd. He had been unable to get there before. He was inexpressibly +shocked at the news which had just been told him. He, too, grasped +John by the hand, and assured him in warm terms of his thorough +confidence in his innocence. + +"Now I can face whatever has yet to come," said John, with the ghost +of a smile on his quivering lips. "But who is to break the news to my +sister, and--and to Hermia?" + +"I will do that, if you will allow me," answered Clement, gently. + +"Do--do. Poor Lotty! Poor Hermy!" He turned away; it was all he could +do to keep from breaking down again. + +Other friends crowded round him with sympathetic looks and cheering +words. Mr. Avison had slipped quietly away without speaking to anyone. + +The committal warrant, duly signed by the Coroner, was ready by this +time. The Chief Constable touched his prisoner on the shoulder, and +John followed him to the fly which was waiting to convey him to the +gaol, a mile or more away, at the other end of the town. A last hearty +hand-shake with several friends, and then the two men got inside, and +were driven off. One by one the crowd congregated round the door of +the "White Lion" melted away. + +Next forenoon John was brought up before the loca Bench of +magistrates, when the whole dreary business of the evidence against +him was minutely sifted and gone through afresh, and after a couple of +adjournments, John was committed to take his trial on the capital +charge at the forthcoming winter assizes, held at Dulminster, the +county town eight miles from Ashdown. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +AMO, AMAS. + + +As has been already stated, it was about a year before Mr. Hazeldine's +tragical end that Frank Derison had been made the confidant by his +friend Winton of a secret which the latter was not justified in +revealing to anyone. He had been told that there was a deposit of +twelve hundred pounds standing to the credit of Hermia Rivers, in +Umpleby's Bank at Dulminster, and the news had given a spur to his +lagging affections, and had decided him to propose to Hermy with the +least possible delay. + +All his life Frank had been used to talk freely to his mother, and as +soon as he reached home that evening, he did not fail to tell her what +had passed between Winton and himself, as far as it related to Miss +Rivers. + +"What a dear, noble-hearted girl she is!" he wound up by saying. "I +love her to distraction, and have done so for ever so long. Of course, +twelve hundred pounds isn't to be despised, but if she hadn't a +shilling I should love her just the same. She's the only girl in the +world I could ever be happy with." + +Mrs. Derison listened to the boy's rhodomontade with a smile which he +took to be one of sympathy, but which in reality was one of +bitterness. She had heard precisely the same sort of nonsense--in that +case addressed to herself--from the lips of Frank's father a quarter +of a century before; and at that time she had been simple and +inexperienced enough to pin her faith to it. What had it resulted in +as far as she was concerned? In Dead-sea fruit--in dust and ashes. And +so would it be with any girl who might lend an ear to Frank's vows, +and entrust her future to his keeping; for in him Mrs. Derison +recognized an exact counterpart of his father; handsome, gay, not +without a certain surface cleverness; lazy and good-natured, with a +manner that rarely failed to charm, but with a heart that was +thoroughly selfish at the core, although the owner of it was totally +unconscious of the fact. With such natures self-deception--unconscious +self-deception--is one of the primary laws of their being. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Derison, with a somewhat dubious air, "I do not doubt +that Miss Rivers is a very charming girl, nor that you fancy yourself +very deeply in love with her; and certainly, as you say, in our +circumstances a fortune of twelve hundred pounds is by no means to be +despised. But, on the other hand, it is not always advisable for a +very young man--which you still are--to tie himself down for life, +unless his future, to some extent at least, is already mapped out for +him, and he is in a position to form some idea how far it may be +affected by an early and perhaps imprudent marriage. Your future, I am +sorry to say, is anything but an assured one; still, it may contain +hidden possibilities of which at present you and I know nothing." Then +she went on to hint darkly at certain possible contingencies in +connection with his position at the Bank. Mr. Avison, senior, was a +very old man; there was little likelihood that Mr. Avison, junior, +would ever marry; Frank was a relative--though a distant one--and if +only he had the sense to play his cards properly, and to wait +patiently, who could say what might not come to pass? In any case, it +would be well to pause and consider before committing himself +seriously with any young woman, however charming she might be. + +Mrs. Derison's words had the effect she intended them to have. They +threw an effectual chill for the time being over Frank's love +aspirations. Hitherto he had had no faith that any special advancement +at the Bank would accrue to him more than to others; indeed, it had +often seemed to him that he would have stood a better chance of +promotion had he not been a relation of his employer. Still, after +all, might there not be more in his mother's hints than she was +willing to let appear on the surface? He knew that she went +occasionally to see old Mr. Avison, and had she not had good grounds +for doing so, she would not have said as much as she had said. His +brain was of the sanguine, castle-building order, and almost +unconsciously his daydreams began to assume an auriferous tinge, such +as they had ever lacked before. It would be as well, perhaps, not to +be too precipitate in the matter of Hermia. She was a darling girl, +and he loved her passionately; still----. Even in his thoughts he got +no farther than that. + +But there came a day, two or three weeks later, when, not for the +first time, Frank and Hermia found themselves on the river together. +Frank pulled up stream till all the other boats that were out were +left behind; then, in a quiet shallow, he fastened the painter round +the root of an old tree, and prepared to enjoy a smoke. It was an +afternoon in early winter. The sun was drawing towards the west, and +in its softened radiance, Hermia sat like a creature glorified. Never +had she seemed so lovely in Frank's eyes as then. For once the fervor +of passion overcame him; for once he flung prudence and all care for +his worldly advancement to the winds; for once his heart spoke without +an afterthought. A couple of minutes sufficed for him to say what he +had to say, and then he paused, leaning forward towards her, his eyes +glowing as they had never glowed before, his whole being instinct with +an emotion which was almost as great a surprise to himself as it was +to the girl sitting opposite him: for Hermia, much as she liked Frank, +had not thought of him as a possible lover. She was heart-whole and +fancy-free, and the revelation came on her with the shock of a great +surprise. + +There is no need to describe in detail the scene that followed. Frank +combated Hermia's objections and scruples one by one, and, in the end, +was provisionally accepted. The affair was to be kept a secret from +everybody for twelve months, during which time they would hold +themselves as being, to a certain extent, engaged to each other. At +the end of that time, either of them who might so choose, would be +free to break the compact; but should neither of them wish to do so, +then the engagement should be formally ratified and made known to +those whom it might concern. It was a foolish arrangement to enter +into, but excusable on Hermia's part, on the score of her ignorance of +the world and its ways, as well as of the possibilities of her own +heart. She loved no one else, and it seemed to her that she never +should. She thought to be the same always as she was at nineteen. She +had known and had liked Frank for years, and would fain have had the +relationship between them continue the same in the future as it had +been in the past; but if it made Frank happy to love her, and if he +was really sincere in wishing her to become his wife, why, in that +case, she would try to love him a little in return. Yes, she actually +told herself that she would try to love. Foolish girl! As if love +comes by trying for! But she was soon to be made wiser, after that +sweet old fashion which yet seems such a surprising fashion when first +it makes itself felt and known. + +Having given her word, Hermia would not revoke it; but the compact was +one which, for her at least, had no element of happiness in it. She +hated the secrecy which it involved, and as time went on she began to +find that her heart, instead of being drawn closer to Frank by the +bond between them, seemed rather to be repelled thereby. She felt like +one who had sold her freedom and got nothing in return. Then Clement +Hazeldine appeared on the scene, and Hermia slowly awoke to the fact +that she had made a terrible mistake. + +Meanwhile, Frank kept on in his old happy, careless way. He loved +Hermia after a fashion, and probably as much as it was in him to love +anyone, while the secret between them lent a piquancy to the feeling +he had for her which he did not fail to appreciate. + +John Brancker and his sister could not help seeing something of what +was going on, and smiled and talked to themselves about it; and +although, as time went on, they wondered a little that Frank did not +speak out, they decided to take no apparent notice, but to let the +affair develop of its own accord. + +But now the year was hurrying to its close, soon the last of the +twelve months would be here, and Hermia began to dread more and more +the coming of the day when she would be called upon to decide whether +her engagement to Frank should be broken off, or whether the bond that +held them should be drawn still closer, and so merge at last into that +closest bond of all. That Frank would hold to his part of the +engagement she had no reason to doubt. What, then, ought she to do? +She could no longer hide from herself that her heart belonged not to +Frank, but to another; the awakening had come at last, but she would +have found it hard to say whether the knowledge made her happy or the +reverse. + +Before this time, however, Clement Hazeldine had discovered that he, +too, had lost his heart; but, as he told himself not once but a +hundred times, he had found Hermia too late: she belonged to another; +for that there was some sort of an understanding between her and +Derison he felt nearly sure, although why there should be any secrecy +about it he altogether failed to comprehend. As we have already seen, +he was in the habit of going to John Brancker's house twice a week, +ostensibly for the purpose of forming one in a musical quintets, but +the magnet which really drew him there was something far different. +Then, for two brief hours he could bask in Hermia's loveliness, he +could gaze unrebuked into the depths of her violet eyes, and listen to +the music of her voice, and steep his senses in the sweet fragrance of +her presence. Frank, in whose ears the click of a billiard ball was +far sweeter music than any discoursed by violin and piano, looked in +occasionally on the musical evenings, when he played an indifferent +second to Clem's first fiddle. He felt no jealousy at seeing the young +Doctor so often at the Cottage; he was blessed with too good an +opinion of himself to feel jealous of anyone. The limit of time would +soon be reached to which he and Hermy had bound themselves by a +conditional promise. He told himself that he still loved her as much +as ever, and when the time should come for him to declare his +intentions one way or the other, he felt nearly--but not quite--sure +that he should say to Hermy: "I cannot live without you. Be my wife." + +Such was the state of affairs when the peaceful current of events was +broken by the tragic death of Mr. Hazeldine and the subsequent arrest +of John Brancker. Then followed a terribly anxious time for Miss +Brancker and her niece, during which both Clement and Frank called +often at Nairn Cottage. It is in such seasons of trial that a man's +real qualities are most conspicuously made manifest. Clement's +sympathy was so evidently genuine and heartfelt; wherever it was +possible to ease their cares, or transfer any portion of their +trouble, however small, from their shoulders to his own, it was done +so quietly and unobtrusively, that they could not feel otherwise than +touched by so much devotion to them and their interests. On the other +hand, Frank's sympathy was so obviously forced and unreal; the whole +state of affairs was so palpably distasteful to him, that even +simple-hearted Miss Brancker began to suspect that perhaps she and +her brother had been misreading the young man's character all along, +and had been attributing to him qualities very different from any +which he really possessed. But Frank was essentially a creature +of the sunshine, a being to whom sickness and trouble and the +thousand-and-one anxieties to which our poor humanity is liable, were +utterly alien. When the skies began to lower and thunder filled the +air, he was as much out of his element as a butterfly on a rainy day. + +The year of waiting agreed upon between the two young people came to +an end while John Brancker was awaiting his trial. Of course, at such +a time any talk about love affairs was out of the question. By Frank +the delay was hailed gladly, since it put off till a future time the +necessity of arriving at a decision as to which he was still as far as +ever from having made up his mind one way or the other. Far was he +from suspecting that to Hermia the delay was a relief at least equal +to that felt by himself. + + +It was a dark and anxious time for Edward Hazeldine. Knowing what he +did, he felt bound to proclaim aloud his belief in John Brancker's +innocence. There was no other course open to him, and for this reason +it was that, without consulting anyone, he secured the services of Mr. +Burgees, the eminent criminal advocate, for the defence. + +It was indeed very bitter to him to think that he, who had always +prided himself on his rigid sense of justice--one of the chief maxims +of whose life had been to do unto others as he would have them do unto +him--should allow an innocent man to be cast into prison and be too +timid of soul to speak the word that would have set him free. But the +day had now gone by for revealing to the world, except at the last +extremity, that which his father's letter had told him. He had allowed +the man to be brought in guilty by a coroner's jury, he had allowed +him to be committed by the magistrates, he had, allowed him to linger +through long, weary weeks in prison with an accusation the most +terrible of all accusations hanging over his head, and yet he had not +opened his lips. To do so now would be moral and social suicide. He +had gone so far that to turn back would be worse than to go forward. +He must take the risk, happen what might. If John Brancker were +acquitted then might all yet be well, but should the verdict go +against him, then--and only then--the dread secret must be told. Not +for a thousand such secrets should an innocent man go to the gallows. +After that, let ruin, hopeless and irremediable, be his portion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +THE TRIAL. + + +The winter assizes at Dulminster were held early in December, so that +John Brancker had not many weeks to lie in prison before being called +upon to stand his trial for the murder of James Hazeldine. The grand +jury found a true bill against the prisoner, and one crisp, sunny +morning, John found himself in a sort of a pen in the centre of a +densely crowded court, the one object on which several hundred pairs +of curious eyes, some of them helped by opera-glasses, were focused. +He was pale, but quite composed, and when called upon in the usual +form to plead to the indictment, his low but emphatic "Not guilty" was +clearly audible to everyone there. + +His sister and his niece had been permitted to have an interview with +him on the eve of the trial, and he had contrived to infuse into them +some of the courage which he felt, or professed to feel, as to the +morrow's result. They were staying with some friends in Close Street, +and Clement Hazeldine, who had given his patients into the charge of a +brother practitioner for a couple of days, had arranged to send them +frequent messages from the Court during the progress of the trial. The +prisoner's defence had been entrusted to the hands of the well-known +Mr. Burgees, with whom was Mr. Timperly as junior. Mr. Mulgrave had +been specially retained as counsel for the Crown. + +It was none other than the murdered man's eldest son who had retained +Mr. Burgees to defend the prisoner. This was a point which had been +much commented upon by the good people of Ashdown, and one that had +told strongly with them in John Brancker's favor. If a clear, +hard-headed man of the world like Edward Hazeldine had such faith in +his innocence, how would it be possible for any jury to bring him in +guilty? Then again, was it not a well-known fact that the younger son, +Clement, was a frequent visitor at Mr. Brancker's house, and among +such of the wiseacres as made it their business to pry into every +little matter in any way connected with the affair, there were not +wanting whispers of an engagement between the young doctor and the +accused man's niece. No, John Brancker must be an innocent man, they +decided among themselves; and yet, on the face of it, the evidence +against him seemed terribly conclusive, nor, so far as was known, had +anything likely to shake it been brought to light since the date of +the prisoner's committal. Strenuous efforts had been made to find the +man and woman whom John stated that he had encountered, quarrelling +fiercely, while on his way back from Strong's cottage, and one of +whom, the woman, had flung a stone at him, which had contused his +forehead. But nowhere could any traces of them be found, neither had +the offer of a reward, if they would come forward and give evidence, +been productive of any result. + +On the morning of the trial Edward Hazeldine drove over to Dulminster +in his dog-cart, and put up his horse at the "Eagle" Hotel, which is +exactly opposite the Court-house. His intention had been to find a +seat near the counsel for the defence, but he abandoned the idea at +the last moment. Happening to look at himself in the glass he started +at the sight of his haggard visage, and this morning his hands +trembled so much that not for a hundred pounds could he have signed +his own name. He felt that he could not face the ordeal of the Court, +that he could not bear the scrutiny of the crowd of coldly-curious +eyes which would focus themselves on him as being the eldest son of +the murdered man. He hired a private room on the first floor +overlooking the entrance to the Court, and arranged for a messenger to +bring him half-hourly tidings of the progress of the trial; and there +he sat throughout the day, with a decanter of brandy at his elbow, he +who, under ordinary circumstances, was one of the most abstemious of +men. He had his father's letter buttoned up in the breast-pocket of +his coat. It was not expected that the trial would extend over more +than one day, and he had arranged that the moment the jury brought in +their verdict its purport should be made known to him. Then, if the +fatal word "Guilty" were pronounced, he would at once rush across to +the Court, and before the Judge would have had time to assume the +black cap, he would proclaim to the world the innocence of the man at +the bar. His fevered imagination rehearsed the scene again and again, +always with some fresh features or added details, but always he seemed +to see the horror that would creep into the eyes of that vast crowd as +he told his tale word by word, and proclaimed himself for the vile +coward that he was. + +There was one other person, Ephraim Judd, to wit, who had also made up +his mind that, should the prisoner at the bar be adjudged guilty, he +must at once crave leave to speak, and to tell all present certain +things which were known to himself alone, but which would go far +towards proving the innocence of John Brancker. He must relate how he +saw the prisoner leave the Bank, when the latter went to fetch his +umbrella, within five minutes of the time he entered it. He must +explain all about the blood-smears in the prisoner's drawer, and the +marks on the floor. He must confess to what he saw when he looked +through the fan-light over Mr. Hazeldine's office door. He was fully +alive to the fact that to do this would be to effect his own ruin, he +was quite aware that he ought to have told all he knew at the first +examination before the Coroner; at that time he had been deterred from +speaking by a fear of the consequences which would accrue to himself, +but should the worst come to the worst, no such fear should hold him +back to-day. Be the consequences to himself what they might, John +Brancker must not be condemned to die, until he, Ephraim Judd, had +told all that which he had till now so carefully hidden. It was in no +enviable frame of mind that he walked down to the court on the morning +of the trial. + +It is not needful that any detailed account should be given here of +the progress of the trial. The evidence of the various witnesses was +little more than a recapitulation of that given by them at the +inquest. No fresh facts had come to light in the interim, neither did +the cross-examination of the witnesses tend to elicit any further +point which told materially either for or against the prisoner. As +before, Brill, the man from whom the knife had been purchased by which +Mr. Hazeldine had come by his death, would neither swear positively +that the prisoner was the man to whom he had sold the weapon, nor that +he was not. He, the prisoner, was like the man, and yet he wasn't like +the man; he couldn't be positive, and he wouldn't take an oath one way +or the other. + +William Strong, the organ-blower, was still as positive as ever that +he had not left home on the night of the murder, and that if the +prisoner had knocked at the door of his cottage he could not have +failed to hear him. + +Ephraim Judd, Obed and Amanda Sweet, Doctor Barton and Mr. Mace, +were each called upon in turn, and were each submitted to a +cross-examination more or less severe, which, however, in no case +brought to light anything of consequence tending to the exculpation of +the prisoner. + +Last of all, two people who had not been examined at the inquest were +called and sworn. The first of them was a clerk from the Bank of +England, who deposed to having changed notes for gold to the amount of +twelve hundred pounds on the day of the murder, and who, on being +shown a photograph of Mr. Hazeldine, recognized it as a likeness of +the person for whom he had effected the exchange in question. + +The second person who was called upon was Mr. Avison. He had no +positive evidence to offer in the case, beyond the fact that the Bank +had been robbed of an amount a little in excess of four thousand +pounds; but what the Counsel for the Prosecution was desirous of +eliciting from him was his opinion as to whether such a crime, +considered in all its bearings, could have been perpetrated by anyone +who was not well acquainted with the habits of the murdered man, as +well as with the working of the inner machinery of the Bank. Mr. +Avison was clearly of opinion that the crime was the result of a +carefully arranged plan, the inception, if not the carrying out, of +which was due to someone who had an intimate knowledge of certain +details, such as it was next to impossible for any outsider to have. + +The examination of Mr. Avison brought the evidence to an end. Then a +number of witnesses were called to testify to the accused man's +character, among the rest being Mr. Avison. This might have gone on +for an indefinite time if the Judge had not at length expressed +himself as being perfectly satisfied that it was impossible for any +man's character to stand higher in the estimation of those who had +known him intimately for years than that of the prisoner at the bar. +Then, after the counsel on both sides had been heard, his Lordship +proceeded to charge the jury. + +This he did in a dispassionate and unbiassed manner, reviewing the +evidence carefully, weighing each item in the judicial scales, and +giving to each its just preponderance as it told for or against the +prisoner. He was most careful in pointing out that the evidence was +entirely of a circumstantial character. On the one hand, there was the +certainty that the crime was committed some time between half-past ten +o'clock and half-past eleven, and the fact that the prisoner entered +the Bank by means of his pass-key about twenty minutes past ten and +did not reach home till close upon midnight; and that the account he +gave of having walked all the way to Strong's house during that +interval of time, and of having knocked at his door, was, so far as +regarded the latter part of the prisoner's assertion, emphatically +denied by Strong himself. + +Then there were the blood-smears in his private drawer at the office +and on the floor, close by, for which he professed himself utterly +unable to account. Then again, the facts of the case would seem +clearly to indicate that the criminal was thoroughly acquainted both +with the murdered man's habits as also with the interior economy of +the Bank--that he knew where to look for the key of the strong-room, +and on which day of the week the largest amount of gold was to be +found there. He, the Judge, advised the jury not to attach too much +importance to the evidence of Brill, the man who sold the knife. His +experience had led him to the conclusion that it was impossible to be +too cautious in accepting evidence as to personal identity, more +especially after any considerable lapse of time; and Brill had very +rightly declined to swear to a point as to which his memory was +evidently at fault. + +There were several points in the prisoner's favor, his Lordship went +on to remark, to which the jury would not fail to give due weight in +their deliberations. In the first place, there was the entire absence +of any conceivable motive on the prisoner's part tending to the +commission of such a crime. He and the murdered man had been friends +and fellow-workers for years, and, as far as was known, they had +always been on the best of terms towards each other. Further, none of +the stolen property had been traced home to the prisoner; although, of +course, it was no very difficult matter to hide away a large sum in +notes and gold where it would be next to impossible for anyone to find +it. Finally, the testimony they had heard given to the very high +character borne by the prisoner, was a point which would doubtless +receive due consideration at their hands. + +It was five o'clock when the jury quitted the court, and it wanted +twenty minutes to seven when they returned. As soon as Miss Brancker +and Hermia heard that the jury had retired to consider their verdict, +they left the house in Close Street, where they had been staying, and +accompanied by Clement Hazeldine, made their way to the Court-house +where, through Clem's influence, they were accommodated with seats in +a private room. As the slow minutes passed without bringing any news, +the strain upon them grew almost too intense to be endured. + +Clement was utterly perplexed by the non-appearance of his brother. +From hour to hour he looked for him, but in vain. Surely, Edward would +have let nothing less than illness keep him away! Clem had felt very +grateful to him for his outspoken championship of John Brancker, +although, perhaps, knowing as he did something of the hardness of his +brother's character, he had been a little surprised at the attitude +taken up by him from the first day of the inquiry. Somehow, it +scarcely seemed to harmonize with the idea of Edward, which had +unconsciously formulated itself in his mind; but that, as he told +himself, only served to prove what erroneous views one may form even +of those who are closest to us, and whom we flatter ourselves we know +and understand best. + +His Lordship, the jury, and the prisoner being all back in their +places, and silence having been proclaimed in Court, the Foreman of +the Jury, in reply to the usual question put by the Clerk of Arraigns, +said, in a voice which every ear there was strained to catch: + +"We find the prisoner at the bar 'Not guilty.'" + +A murmur that seemed half a sigh at first ran through the crowd, and +then swiftly rose and swelled into a great cheer, such as the rafters +of the old Court-house had rarely, if ever, echoed before. + +Three minutes later his sister's arms were round John Brancker's neck, +while Edward Hazeldine's messenger was speeding to him with the good +news. + +John stayed in a private room until the Court had emptied and the +crowd dispersed. He was particularly anxious to reach home with as +little observation as possible, so it was arranged that he and his +sister and Hermia, with Clement Hazeldine by way of escort, should be +driven to Ashdown in a fly, instead of returning by train. + +Accordingly, a fly was brought, and John Brancker stepped out into the +open air a free man. For a few moments the sensation was overpowering; +a mental vertigo possessed him; but Clem's strong arm was within his, +supporting him, and presently the feeling passed. They were all in the +fly, a constable had shut the door, and the driver was on the point of +starting, when a figure sprang out of the darkness into the circle of +light radiated by the lamp over the Court-house door, and pushing his +way through the little crowd of officials, laid a detaining hand on +the vehicle. The lamplight brought into relief a haggard, +sinister-looking face and two furtive, red-rimmed eyes. + +"Mr. Brancker, sir," said the fellow, speaking in hoarse, drink-sodden +tones, "if such a wretch as I may be allowed to thank heaven for +anything, then I thank it that you are once more a free man. You don't +remember me, perhaps? I am Richard Varell, your old clerk. Ah, you +recollect me now. Changed, ain't I? But no matter about that. From the +first I swore that whoever else might be guilty of Mr. Hazeldine's +death, you at least were innocent. As for him--curse him!--he hounded +me to my ruin, and he deserved his fate. For him no pity is needed. +But as for you, sir, I say again, thank heaven you are free!" He threw +up one arm as though it were a signal of farewell, and falling back, +was lost next moment in the darkness. + + +That night Edward Hazeldine slept a deep, dreamless sleep for the +first time since his father's death. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +EXIT MISS LETITIA. + + +It is to be hoped that the reader has not quite forgotten Miss +Pengarvon and her sister, although we have heard nothing of them since +that December night, now many years ago, when poor, unforgiven Isabel +was found lying in the snow in front of the great door of Broome. + +To the two lonely sisters, wearing out their uneventful lives in the +gray old house, the changes wrought by time were few indeed. Their +dark hair had slowly silvered, their long, thin faces had grown longer +and thinner, their tall figures looked a little more gaunt than of +yore, but that was all. To them the summer and winter of one year were +so like the summer and winter of another, that they almost forgot the +passage of time. They worked hard at their embroidery, and sold the +proceeds of their labor; they pinched and scraped, and saved in every +possible way, growing more miserly with every year. Barney Dale and +his wife were still with them. No thought of leaving Broome ever +crossed the mind of either. Other servants might come and go, but they +stayed on, nor ever dreamed of change. + +At length there came a morning, early in the autumn of the same year +as that in which John Brancker was committed to take his trial for the +murder of Mr. Hazeldine, when Miss Letitia found herself unable to +rise from her bed. She had been ailing for some time from the effects +of a bad cold, but during the last few days the symptoms had become +considerably aggravated, and now she could hold up no longer. Miss +Pengarvon had hinted more than once as to the advisability of calling +in Doctor Bland, but this Miss Letitia had emphatically begged of her +not to do. Neither she nor her sister had known a day's illness in +their lives; her cold was a simple affair which a few days would put +to rights; no Doctor had set foot in Broome since the late Lady +Pengarvon's death, now nearly forty years ago; and after the lapse of +so long a time she was not going to be the first to have one called +in. She well remembered that Doctor Grantley's bill on the occasion of +his attendance on Lady Pengarvon amounted to thirty guineas, yet, +after all, his patient died. Doctors were an extravagance in which +only rich people had a right to indulge. But although Miss Letitia +refused to see a Doctor, Joanna Dale, despite all her remonstrances, +insisted on lighting a fire in the sick lady's chamber. Miss Letitia +was terribly afraid her sister would look upon even that small luxury +as a piece of wasteful extravagance, and her first words to Miss +Pengarvon, when the latter went upstairs to see her, were, "It is all +Joanna's doing. She would insist on my having a fire." + +Miss Pengarvon let her cold hand rest for a moment or two on her +sister's fevered forehead, and then she said in her usual quiet way, +"If Joanna had been a woman of sense, she would have gone and fetched +Doctor Bland without saying a word to anyone, as soon as she had +lighted your fire." + +Miss Letitia stared at her sister, and then in a little while she said +to herself, "Barbara must fancy that I'm far worse than I am, or she +would not talk about a doctor in that off-hand kind of way." + +As it fell out, however, no doctor was sent for till the following +morning. Miss Pengarvon herself made her sister some gruel after a +recipe in her mother's writing, which she hunted up out of a cupboard +of odds-and-ends. Miss Letitia thought it exceedingly kind of Barbara, +and drank a little of the gruel gratefully. It was not nearly so nice +as the gruel Joanna had made her, but not for worlds would she have +said so to anyone. + +When at length Doctor Bland was called in, he seemed to think that his +patient was suffering from nothing worse than a feverish cold. He +advised her to keep her bed for the present, sent her a composing +draught, and promised to call again next day. + +"There will be no need for him to call after to-morrow," remarked Miss +Letitia, still thinking of the expense. "Indeed, I am far from sure +that there was any occasion for him to call at all. Poor people always +doctor themselves for colds, and why should not I do the same?" + +To this Miss Pengarvon made no reply. There was something in her +sister's looks that made her more uneasy than she cared to admit, even +to herself. She took her work into the sick woman's room, and sat with +her all through the dull October day, and till far into the night. +Miss Letitia was strangely drowsy, and could scarcely keep her eyes +open for longer than a few minutes at a time. + +"It must be something in this nasty medicine that makes me sleep so," +she said once or twice with a touch of irritation. "I am sorry to be +such poor company, Barbara." + +Miss Barbara smiled a little grimly at this. At the best of times poor +Letitia's company was never anything more than mildly depressing. + +The following morning Dr. Bland found his patient no better. The +feverish symptoms were more pronounced than before. He changed the +medicine at once, and promised to call again next day. + +"If he were of opinion that there were the slightest danger, he would +call again before to-morrow," argued Miss Pengarvon with herself. + +The bedrooms of the sisters adjoined each other, with a door of +communication between. This door was always left open at night, so +that there was a sense of companionship through the dark hours which +was not unpleasant to either sister, although they never admitted it +in so many words. Miss Pengarvon was always a light sleeper, and +to-night she got up several times and stalked into her sister's +room--a tall, gaunt figure in a long white night-dress and a ruffled +nightcap. Miss Letitia was talking a great deal in her sleep, and it +was her half-sister Isabel's name which she mentioned oftener than +that of anyone else. Isabel seemed to be nearly always in some great +peril, from which Letitia seemed to be vainly trying to rescue her. +Once or twice when she opened her eyes she did not seem to recognize +Barbara; and later on, when she woke up and asked for a drink, she +fancied that it was her mother she was speaking to, and that she and +her sister were on the point of setting out to gather blackberries in +the wood. A great dread began to take possession of Miss Pengarvon's +heart. + +Dr. Bland came as usual in the course of the forenoon. Miss Pengarvon +followed him out of the sick woman's room. "My sister is much worse +this morning," she said. There was a sort of menace in her voice, and +a fierce, angry light in her eyes as she spoke, that half frightened +the little Doctor. It was as though she implied that it was his fault +her sister was no better. + +"Scarcely worse, I think," responded the Doctor in his most soothing +tones, "although, perhaps, there is hardly that improvement in her I +had hoped to find. But these things take time, my dear madam, time." + +"You know in your heart that she won't get better--that she will die," +answered Miss Pengarvon, with a quiver of her thin, colorless lips. + +"Bless my heart, madam, I know nothing of the kind!" responded the +little man, a spot of angry red showing suddenly in each cheek; "on +the contrary, I have every reason for thinking that your sister will +soon be quite herself again." + +"It is very doubtful to me, sir, whether you understand her case. If +she is not better by to-morrow, I shall call in some further advice." + +"As you please, madam, as you please," responded the Doctor, as he +took himself off in a huff. "Was there ever so much fuss made about an +old woman before?" he muttered to himself, shutting the door behind +him more noisily than as a medical man he ought to have done. + +Miss Letitia's mind wandered a good deal in the course of the day, but +towards evening her senses came back to her, clear and fresh, and the +feverish symptoms seemed to be abating. Miss Pengarvon did not retire +to her own room until past midnight, and then she left her sister in +what seemed to be a quiet and refreshing sleep. A light was kept +burning in each of the rooms, and the door between was left open. + +Miss Pengarvon was thoroughly tired out, and was soon asleep. She +awoke with a start and a sudden sensation of fright. The candle was +still burning, and the clock on the chimney-piece pointed to half-past +two. Everything seemed quiet in the next room, and yet, at the very +moment of waking, it had seemed to her that she heard a sound as of +someone opening a door. Still listening, she sat up in bed. A cinder +or two dropped from the grate in the next room, and then all was +silent again. + +All at once the flame of the candle seemed to flicker as though caught +by a draught of wind. Next moment Miss Pengarvon was out of bed, and +an instant later she was in the next room. The candle there was still +alight, but her sister's bed was empty, and the door into the corridor +was wide open. What had become of Letitia? Whither had she gone? + +Pausing only to push her feet into a pair of slippers, and to fling a +shawl over her shoulders, Miss Pengarvon passed out into the corridor, +holding a candle above her head. All was cold, dark, and silent. She +stood for a minute or two, listening intently, then she thought she +heard a noise as of a door being opened downstairs. Taking this sound +as a guide, she hurried along the corridor and then down the broad, +shallow flight of stairs which led to the ground-floor of the old +house. Some instinct seemed to direct her steps towards the Green +Parlor. There was no light anywhere save that of the candle she +carried. The shadows seemed to vanish before her as she advanced, only +to crowd more darkly behind her the moment she had passed. Suddenly a +plaintive voice was heard speaking in the darkness. "Isabel, Isabel, +speak to me again. I cannot find you." + +Miss Pengarvon stood stock still for a moment or two and shuddered. +Then, hesitating no longer, she strode swiftly forward until she +reached the Green Parlor. The door was wide open; she had shut and +locked it carefully, as she always did, before retiring for the night. +She gazed around with anxious eyes, and for the first moment or two, +so faint was the light shed by her candle, it seemed to her that the +room was empty, but a second glance revealed to her her sister's +figure, clad in a dark-grey dressing-gown, crouching on the floor +against the old carved bureau that stood in one corner of the room, +with her fevered face pressed to its cold, polished panels. Miss +Pengarvon put down her candlestick, walked across the floor, and laid +a hand gently on her sister's shoulder. + +"Letitia, what are you doing here?" she asked. + +Miss Letitia rose to her feet with a sigh, and pushed back her long +locks, streaked with grey, which had fallen over her forehead. + +"Where is Isabel? I followed her here, and now I can't find her," she +said, gazing questioningly at her sister, with eyes that were full of +an eager, burning light--the light of fever. + +"This is nonsense, Letitia. You have been dreaming. Come back to your +room at once," answered Miss Pengarvon, coldly. + +"Dreaming, Barbara! Oh, no, it was far too vivid for a dream. I had +been fast asleep for I don't know how long, when suddenly I was +awakened by hearing my name pronounced quite close to me, as if the +speaker were bending over my bed. A second time my name was spoken, +and then I knew that it was Isabel who was calling me. I sat up and +gazed around, but no one was visible. Then Isabel called me again, and +this time the voice seemed to come from outside the door. I got out of +bed, put on my dressing-gown, and went out into the corridor. Still, +no one was there. Then the voice spoke again, simply calling my name, +nothing more; but this time it sounded further away--away down the +corridor, and near the head of the stairs. While I was looking and +listening, I seemed to see a white figure, very faint and vaguely +defined, standing in the dim starlight, near the staircase window, and +beckoning to me to follow it. I followed without hesitation, for I had +no fear; and yet that seems very strange. As I advanced the figure +vanished, and then, when I reached the head of the stairs, I heard my +name spoken again, as if from below. Then I descended the stairs and +followed the voice till it led me here--here, Barbara! Do you not +understand?" + +Miss Pengarvon's sallow cheeks grew still more sallow. She understood +only too well. But before she could say a word, Miss Letitia went on +in a strangely eager way: + +"But now that I am here she does not speak. I have called her, but she +will not answer; and yet she must be in trouble, for it was enough to +make one weep to hear the way she spoke my name. It is strange--very +strange! She has brought me all the way here, and now she hides +herself from me." + +"Strange indeed, Letitia; but we will talk more fully in the morning," +answered Miss Pengarvon, with an unwonted tremor in her voice. "It is +very late now, and very cold; and we had better go back to bed." + +"But what if Isabel were to call again? What if she were really to +want me for something?" + +"I will sit up and listen, and if she--if anyone should call you, I +shall be there to attend to the summons." + +"But you will wake me, will you not, if Isabel should ask for me +again?" + +"I promise you that I will." + +"Then I will go back to bed; though how you can say it is a cold +night, Barbara, is more than I can think. I am all in a glow; feel at +my hands." + +Miss Pengarvon said no more, but drew one of her sister's hot hands +under her arm, and hurried her away. + +Miss Letitia went back to bed as obediently as a little child, and +turning her face to the wall, in five minutes was fast asleep. But +there was no more sleep that night for Miss Pengarvon. She made up the +fire, wrapped a shawl round her shoulders, and sat there hour after +hour, as upright as a mummy--and nearly as motionless--staring into +the fire with unwavering eyes, and conjuring up in the glowing embers, +who shall say what strange pictures of the past--pictures, some of +them, which for years she had done her utmost to forget, but which the +torch of memory, kindled by her sister's random words, now lighted up +for her again, as vividly as though the events which they depicted +were but those of yesterday. How thankfully she watched the breaking +of the coming day! Then the shadows that haunt our thoughts and weigh +upon our spirits during the dread watches of the night take to +themselves wings, and vanish as though they had never been, before the +first rays of the rising sun. + +Day had not yet fully broken when Miss Letitia sat up suddenly in bed. +In her eyes there was a light which seemed of another world than this. +Stretching forth her arms, she said, "Oh, Barbara. The baby--the baby! +So cold! So cold!" + +They were her last words. She sighed softly, twice, and sank back on +the pillows. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +AFTER THE TRIAL. + + +Among those who had crowded round John Brancker in order to +congratulate him the moment he was a free man was neither Mr. Edward +Hazeldine nor Mr. Avison, and their absence caused him a little pang +of disappointment. Edward had all along not only expressed his +unflinching belief in John's innocence, but at his own cost had +engaged Mr. Burgees to defend him, so that his absence on the day of +the trial seemed doubly strange. John had seen Mr. Avison in court, +and had looked for a word of congratulation from him when all was +over, but he looked in vain. Besides, it was now Saturday evening, and +he was anxious to know whether Mr. Avison would expect him to be in +his place at the Bank at nine o'clock on the following Monday morning, +just as if nothing had occurred to break the continuity of his service +there. He was not, however, destined to be kept long in doubt on the +latter point. Soon after he got home a note from Mr. Avison reached +him, in which he was requested to see that gentleman in his private +room at the Bank at half-past ten on Monday forenoon. + +Next day was Sunday, and John stayed quietly indoors. It seemed to him +the most blessed Sabbath he had ever spent. To feel that the prison +walls no longer shut him in; that he was free to come and go even as +other men were; to know that the foul charge which had hung over him +for so long a time was at length dispelled, and that he was back once +more in his dear little home with those he loved best on earth--all +made up a sum of happiness which was almost oppressive in its +fullness. One needs to go through some experience analogous to that of +John Brancker before one learns to appraise at their real value those +common blessings of everyday life which to most of us seem so much a +matter of course. + +Clement Hazeldine called at Nairn Cottage in the course of the +afternoon. He and Mr. Kittaway were the only visitors that day. It +must be recorded of the latter that he had made a prompt offer to Miss +Brancker of pecuniary help in case funds should be needed to defray +the cost of her brother's defence; but, as we have seen, thanks to the +action of Edward Hazaldine, nothing of the kind was required. + +"I thought that perhaps we should have seen Frank Derison to-day," +said John to his sister, as they were on the point of sitting down to +supper. + +"Hem! We have not been troubled with much of Master Frank's company +for some time past," replied Miss Charlotte, a little coldly. + +"Indeed! How do you account for that?" + +"Oh! I've nothing to do with accounting for it. I'm merely stating the +fact." + +"You surprise me. But perhaps there's nothing more than a little tiff +at the bottom of his absence." + +"If you mean as between Frank and Hermia, I must tell you that I don't +think Hermy cares twopence about him in the way you imply." + +John stared blankly at his sister. + +"My eyes have been opened of late," went on Miss Charlotte. "Whether +it's owing to trouble, or something else, I don't know, but I seem to +see many things now in a different light from that which I used to see +them in, and you may depend upon it, dear, that if our girl cares for +anybody, it's not for Frank Derison." + +"Which means that she cares for someone else. But who is there?" + +"What say you to Clement Hazeldine?" + +"To be sure!--though I never thought of him in that connection. But do +you mean to say----?" + +"I mean to say nothing, though I may have my suspicions." + +"Don't you think the time has nearly come when she ought to be told?" +said John, with a significant look at his sister. + +"It will be a great shock to her." + +"I don't doubt that, still----" + +But at this moment Hermia entered the room, and for the time nothing +more was said. + +Frank had his reasons for not calling at the Cottage on Sunday. A few +days previously his mother had said to him, in her enigmatical way: + +"Whatever may be the result of Mr. Brancker's trial, I think it +advisable that you should keep away from his house just at present. I +have my reasons for asking this." + +That was all she had said, but Frank knew that she had paid one of her +periodical visits to old Mr. Avison a few days before, and he could +only conclude that the interdiction--for it was little less--which had +been laid upon him, had had its origin in the visit in question. It +was an easy matter for him to carry out his mother's wishes. + +At a few minutes past nine o'clock on Monday morning, Edward +Hazeldine's dog-cart stopped at the gate of Nairn Cottage. John, who +had seen it from the window, walked down through the little front +garden to the gate. The hands of the two men met in a cordial grip. + +"I was not well enough to see you on Saturday," said Edward, "but I +had a messenger to bring me the news of the verdict the moment it +was known. I felt sure of your innocence all along, and the jury by +their verdict have merely given emphatic utterance to that which all +right-thinking men must have been convinced of from the first. I +congratulate you with all my heart!" + +"I have a great deal to thank you for Mr. Edward, and I assure you +that both I and my sister are fully sensible of all that we owe to +yourself and your brother in this terrible business. I can +conscientiously say that it was your outspoken belief in my innocence, +which all through did more to uphold and strengthen me than anything +else. I can never, never forget what I owe to you." + +Edward sighed involuntarily. If John had but known the truth, what +would he not have thought and said! After a little further +conversation the two men parted, with renewed expressions of +good-will. + +It was with a confluence of emotions which he would have found it +impossible to analyze that John Brancker left home for the Bank. The +familiar streets seemed as fresh and strange to him as if his feet had +not trodden their pavements for years. On his way he met more than one +friend who stopped and shook hands with him, and would fain have +detained him, had he not been in a hurry to keep his appointment; +others there were who greeted him with a smile and a cheery +"Good-morning;" while others again--such as merely knew him by +sight--stared him hard in the face as they drew near, and then turned +to stare again when he had passed. + +On reaching the Bank he avoided the general office, and going straight +to the door of Mr. Avison's room, he knocked. A sigh that was half a +sob caught his breath as he passed the unforgotten door of Mr. +Hazeldine's room. What had not he gone through since he set eyes on it +last! + +A voice, which he recognized as Mr. Avison's, bade him enter, and he +went in. + +The Banker was a tall chin, grizzled man, with a natural stoop of +the shoulders, a high, narrow forehead, features pinched by chronic +ill-health, cold and somewhat glassy-looking eyes, a long upper lip, +and a hard yet querulous-looking mouth. He was an able financier, and +loved his profession; and it was only in obedience to his doctor's +positive orders that he had torn himself away from it even for a time. +He was a man who prided himself on being strictly just in his dealings +with others; but your very just men are liable to forget that there is +another goddess called Mercy, who is twin-sister to her at whose +shrine they bend the knee. This was a fact which Mr. Avison either did +not know, or else failed to recognize. Without being himself aware of +it, he was what is commonly called a "hard man." For the ordinary +weaknesses and foibles of his fellows he had nothing but a sort of +cold contempt. Temptations such as those which are supposed to follow +in the train of riches passed him by and left him unmoved. There were +many points of resemblance, both mental and ethical, between Mr. +Avison and Edward Hazeldine. + +Although John Brancker had been acquitted by a jury of his countrymen, +the banker felt far from satisfied in his own mind that John, without +being the actual criminal, was not, in some way or other, privy to the +crime. What fortified him in this opinion was the conviction, of which +he could not rid himself, that the combined robbery and murder could +only have been perpetrated by someone, or with the aid and connivance +of someone, who had an intimate knowledge of the interior economy of +the Bank. But even with such a conviction strong in his mind, there +would have been no reason why, in his thoughts, he should have +connected John Brancker with the crime, rather than any other member +of his staff, had it not been for those other links of circumstantial +evidence which made the case as against him seem so black, while +failing to cast a shadow of suspicion on anyone else. By right, both +of position and length of service, John Brancker ought, in the +ordinary course of events, to have succeeded to Mr. Hazeldine's post; +but with such a disquieting suspicion holding possession of his mind, +and refusing to be dislodged, Mr. Avison felt that it was altogether +out of the question for him to induct John into the onerous duties of +managing-clerk. If only at his trial he had been able to disprove, or +otherwise explain away, those damaging items of evidence which, when +considered as a whole, made up such a black indictment against him, +why, in that case he, Mr. Avison, would have been the first man in the +world to do him justice. As the case stood, however----. + +"Take a seat, Mr. Brancker," said Mr. Avison, indicating a chair on +the other side of the table, facing his own. "Of course, I need +scarcely tell you how heartily glad I am that the jury, by their +verdict, have exonerated you from all share or participation in the +murder of our poor friend Hazeldine, and--and in the robbery which +formed not the least mysterious feature of the case." Then Mr. Avison +paused to cough. With that ugly suspicion lurking in the background, +had he any right, he asked himself, to congratulate Brancker on the +result of the trial? Would it not have been much more satisfactory if +the criminal had been tracked down and convicted, even though he +should have been proved to be the man now sitting opposite him? But it +was not an opportune moment for putting casuistical questions to +himself. + +"After, however, having taken all the circumstances of the affair into +consideration, which I have done most carefully," he resumed, "it has +seemed to me, Mr. Brancker, that you would be much more comfortable, +in time to come, and more at your ease in every way, if a situation +were found for you elsewhere, where you would be altogether removed +from the painful associations connected with your late sphere of labor +and its surroundings, which cannot fail to cling to your memory as +long as you live. In view of all this, I have much pleasure in +informing you that I have been able to obtain for you a situation in a +Bank in the West of England in which my half-cousin, Mr. Pencathlow, +is a chief partner. Your new position will be somewhat more of a +subordinate one than the one you have held with us, but with your +industry and ability, you cannot fail to rise, and that rapidly. The +salary, too, will be rather less than the one you have been in receipt +of for some years past, but I am given to understand that----" + +"Pardon me, Mr. Avison," said John, with an unwonted break in his +voice, as he bent forward and laid a hand heavily on the table, "but +does all this mean that you are anxious to dispense with my services?" + +"I have not said so, Brancker, and I think you have no right to draw +any such inference," responded the Banker, with a slight flushing of +his sallow cheeks. "What I have done has been out of pure +consideration for you and your interests." + +"I thank you, sir, for the kindly feeling which has prompted you to +act as you have, but I am far from having any desire to break up my +home, and leave Ashdown, where I have lived for a great part of my +life, in order to settle in a strange place." + +"But consider the associations, Brancker; the very painful +associations which this place cannot fail to have for you in time to +come." + +"That they will be painful, I do not doubt, sir. Mr. Hazeldine and I +were ever the best of friends, and there was no man in the world whom +I respected more; but most of us have many painful things to bear as +we go through life, and, in my case, this will merely be one more +added to the number." + +"Mr. Avison mused for a few moments frowningly, then he said: + +"My allusions were not so much intended to apply to poor Hazeldine's +death as to other matters. I was certainly under the impression that, +after so terrible a charge had been laid at your door, and after +having undergone the ignominy of being imprisoned and brought to +trial, you would be grateful to anyone who was willing to assist you +to find a home elsewhere." + +The color in John's face deepened and then paled. The look of +bewilderment that had shone out of his eyes for a moment or two +changed to one of indignation. He seemed to swallow something down, +then with quiet dignity he said, "You must pardon me, Mr. Avison, if I +altogether fail to see where what you term the ignominy comes in. +Through a series of unfortunate accidents, some of which I frankly +confess myself utterly at a loss to explain, a terrible suspicion was +cast upon me; of that suspicion my imprisonment and subsequent trial +were the inevitable outcome. But, sir, the verdict of a jury of my +countrymen has cleared me from any complicity in a crime of which you, +knowing me as you do, ought to be one of the last men in the world to +believe me guilty." + +Mr. Avison chose to ignore the latter part of John's dignified +protest. "Yes," he said, in his chilliest tones, "it is precisely +because there are so many circumstances connected with the case which +still lack explanation, that----" Then he paused, staring with glassy, +contracted eyes at John. + +John started to his feet with flaming eyes and quivering nostrils. + +"Do you mean to imply, sir, that any suspicion, even the slightest, +still lingers in your mind that I was in any way privy to the death of +Mr. Hazeldine?" + +"I mean to imply nothing, Brancker. I am not in the habit of dealing +in implications. After careful consideration of all the circumstances, +I have deemed it advisable that you and I should part, at least for a +time; for which reason it is that I have interested myself in your +favor with my relative, Mr. Pencathlow, who will, I am sure----" + +"Mr. Avison, not another word is needed," broke in John, with an +abrupt wave of his arm. "If those are your sentiments towards me, +then, indeed, the sooner you and I part the better." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +A LETTER AND ITS REPLY. + + +John Brancker's abrupt departure left Mr. Avison in no very enviable +frame of mind. He was thoroughly dissatisfied with John; nay, more, as +he told himself, he was deeply offended with him; but none the less +was he conscious of a certain sense of dissatisfaction with himself. +Although he had laid such stress on the fact that the trial had failed +to clear up certain points of evidence which told strongly against +John, and had brought forward that fact as an excuse for getting rid +of him, and although he still failed to understand how the crime could +possibly have been the work of a stranger, he was possessed by a +secret conviction, which the recent interview had not failed to +strengthen, that John Brancker was as innocent as he, Benjamin Avison, +was of any participation either in the death of Mr. Hazeldine, or in +the robbery which had formed part and parcel of the mysterious affair. +Therefore he was dissatisfied with himself. The scales of justice +which he prided himself on holding with such an even balance in his +dealings with his fellows, inclined for once a little more to one side +than the other, and he was conscious that their doing so was owing +entirely to his own bias in the affair. + +Such thoughts were not comforting, and with a strong wrench he broke +away from them. John Brancker had taken his own headstrong course, and +he must abide by the consequences. "For the future, I wash my hands of +him entirely," said Mr. Avison, as he touched the bell at his elbow. + +The death of Mr. Hazeldine and the enforced absence of John had +necessitated several changes in the Bank staff. Such changes, however, +in view of John's probable resumption of his duties, had only been of +a makeshift and temporary character; but now the time had come for +them to be made permanent. Mr. Avison had taken upon his own shoulders +a great part of the duties of his dead manager. The next clerk to John +Brancker in point of seniority was a Mr. Howes, who was a protégé of +Mr. Avison, and, consequently, somewhat of a favorite, although no +signs of his being so had ever been detected by the rest of the staff. +Mr. Howes, who had performed John's duties while the latter was in +prison, was now confirmed in the position at a considerable advance of +salary. When he had given expression to his thanks and was dismissed, +Ephraim Judd and Frank Derison were sent for. + +Mr. Avison had never liked Ephraim, although no one, except perhaps +the object of his dislike, had any cognizance of the fact. The Banker, +in matters of dress and personal appearance, was one of the most +fastidious of men, whereas Ephraim was careless to the verge of +slovenliness. His clothes were of coarse material and badly made; one +collar and one pair of cuffs were made to do duty for a week; while +his necktie was usually either awry, or had its ends loosely flying. +Both his nails and his teeth would have repaid more attention than he +chose to bestow on them, while his lank, black hair, which he wore +several inches longer than is customary nowadays, only tended to +accentuate the general untidiness of his appearance. All these things, +each one a trifle in itself, had yet, when taken in the aggregate, an +irritating effect on the nerves of Mr. Avison. Then there were those +terrible ears of his, and his peculiar mode of progression--although, +of course, the fellow could not help it--something between a hop and a +skip when unassisted by his stick. Taking him all in all, the Banker +desired to see as little as possible of Ephraim Judd. + +But, on the other hand, Ephraim was one of the best of clerks, +industrious, painstaking, conscientious. Mr. Avison told himself that +it would never do--that it was contrary to all his principles--to +allow personal prejudices to stand in the way of doing what was right +by the other. It may be that he felt the more determined to deal with +him in a thoroughly just spirit because he was not without his secret +doubts whether that was altogether the spirit in which he had dealt +with John Brancker. Accordingly, the Banker now proceeded to inform +Judd that he might consider himself as being permanently installed in +the position lately filled by Mr. Howes, while Frank Derison was to +succeed Ephraim. A substantial increase of salary would follow in each +case as a matter of course. + +Both the young men were profuse in their professions of thanks, which, +however, Mr. Avison deprecated with a gentle motion of his hand. Then +he said: "If you can see your way, Judd, if you really can see your +way to pay a little more attention to the details of your attire, +and--and to your personal appearance generally, upon my word, I shall +esteem it a favor." There was something that verged on the pathetic in +the way he spoke. Then he added: "That will do for the present, Judd. +Derison, I want a word with you before you go." + +Ephraim left the room with a very red face, and a tingling sensation +about his ears as if someone had soundly boxed them. Frank turned not +red but white. Which of his little peccadilloes, he asked himself, was +he going to be "called over the coals" about? + +"I have not conferred this promotion on you, Derison, without having +very serious doubts as to the wisdom of doing so," said Mr. Avison, +toying with a paper-knife and staring the young man straight in the +face. "I trust, however, that you will give me no cause to regret +having taken such a step; but, in order that you may not do so, it +will be needful for you at once to turn over a fresh leaf. For one +thing, you must wholly give up frequenting the 'Crown and Cushion,' or +any other tavern, and if you continue to play billiards, it must be at +private houses only. I have made it my business to ascertain in what +way you are in the habit of passing your evenings, and the result, I +am sorry to say, is one which is far from creditable to you. It is +not, however, too late for you to reform, but I need scarcely tell you +that the reformation must be both thorough and sincere, and I must +have ample proof that it is so. And now, to turn to another matter. +You are a frequent visitor, I believe, at the house of John Brancker. +I am also given to understand that Brancker has a niece--a more than +ordinarily attractive young woman. Is there any engagement, may I ask, +between yourself and the person in question?" + +There was a momentary hesitation before Frank spoke. Then he said in +low, but distinct tones: "There is no engagement whatever, sir, +between me and the young lady you refer to." + +"I am glad, for reasons of my own, to have your assurance of the fact. +If you will be advised by me, you will be a less frequent visitor at +Brancker's house in time to come. I don't know that I have anything +more to say to you just now, unless it be to impress upon you the fact +that your future rests entirely in your own hands, either to make or +mar." + +When Frank reached home that evening he made haste to tell his mother +all that had passed between himself and Mr. Avison. + +"To think that he should have set someone to play the spy on me! I +call it mean and contemptible in the extreme," concluded the young +clerk in a fine burst of indignation. + +"You look at the matter from an erroneous point of view, my son," +replied Mrs. Derison, in her unemotional way. "You may rely upon it +that Mr. Avison would not have been at the trouble to act as he has +unless your future were a matter of some concern to him. He has warned +you and told you what he expects at your hands, and you may rest +satisfied he has not done it without having a certain end in view. +That your future will be a brilliant one I think you need not doubt, +if only you will be guided by him. He has put you on your trial, and +the result rests entirely with yourself." + +"All the same, it was a mean thing to set a spy to dog my footsteps," +said Frank, sullenly. + +"I do not doubt that you will live to see the wisdom of the step which +you now denounce so pettishly. And now, as to Miss Rivers?" + +"Well, what about her? I consider it a piece of unwarrantable +impertinence on Mr. Avison's part to ask me whether I am engaged to +Hermy, as also to advise me to visit less frequently at John +Brancker's house. What can it possibly matter to him how often I go +there?" + +"Oh! Frank, Frank! when will you be able to see an inch further than +your nose? Cannot you comprehend that Mr. Avison's interference in +your affairs is dictated by a strong desire for your ultimate good? Do +not his actions say as plainly as words, 'Only do as I want you to do, +and I will set you on the high-road to fortune?' You ought never to +forget that Mr. Avison's nearest relatives are all of my sex, and that +in view of the delicate state of his health, as well as of the fact +that he is no longer young, the question of a possible successor at +the Bank, especially now that Mr. Hazeldine is no more, is one which +must inevitably be much in his thoughts. I am glad you were able to +assure him that there is no engagement between yourself and Miss +Rivers." + +"But there is an engagement between us, as you know full well. I was a +hound to tell Mr. Avison that there wasn't." + +"An engagement of a sort," replied Mrs. Dersion meaningly; then after +a moment's pause, she went on: "It was only a half-and-half +provisional arrangement, look at it whichever way you will. At the end +of a year either of you could cry off that might wish to do so; and +now that the course it is to your interest to follow is put so plainly +before you, surely you would not----?" + +"I repeat it, I was a hound to tell Mr. Avison what I did. Hermia +Rivers is the most charming girl I know, and I'm far from sure that I +want to break with her." + +"Frank, you are a fool, and I have no patience with you," said Mrs. +Derison, in coldly contemptuous tones, as she got up and left the +room. + +But it was only to return to the charge a little later on. She did not +in the least doubt that, in the long run, her stronger will should +overmaster Frank's weak one, and that she should ultimately carry her +point. Thus it fell out that, in the course of the next day but one +after Frank's interview with Mr. Avison, the following letter was +received by Miss Rivers: + + + "My Dear Hermia, + + "Never before have I had so hard a task as the one which +confronts me to-day, and I scarcely know in what terms to set about +it. Pray believe me when I tell you that to me the pain is very keen, +though I cannot flatter myself that it will be anything like the same +to you. In any case, I trust that what I am about to propose will, in +the long run, prove conducive to the happiness of both. + +"It is now upwards of a year since you and I entered into a kind of +semi-engagement, which by mutual consent was to be kept secret from +everyone for the time being, and was to be terminable at the end of +twelve months at the option of either or both, unless it should +meanwhile have developed into a bond of a much closer and warmer kind. + +"Dear Hermia, I now write to offer you your freedom. My feelings +towards you have in no wise changed. I still love you as much as ever +I did, but I feel that it would be unfair towards you to keep you +longer under the bond of an engagement which I see no present prospect +of being able to bring to its legitimate conclusion. In brief, I am +too poor to marry, and am likely to remain so for an indefinite +period. Rather would I keep single forever than allow my wife to +deteriorate into one of those household drudges of which we can see so +many specimens around us. That sort of thing I could not reconcile +either to my conscience or my feelings; neither am I selfish enough to +wish you to wear out the best years of your life in waiting for one +who, the longer he lives, the more unworthy he feels himself to be of +the great treasure of your love. + +"I do not know that I can add more, unless it be to say that, should I +ever find myself in a position to marry, you would be the one whom I +should choose before all the world; and also that my heart still +clings to you, and that, in writing as I am now, I feel that I am +cutting myself adrift from all that has been brightest and best in my +life. + +"Always, dear Hermia, yours most sincerely, + + "Frank Derison." + + +This characteristic epistle elicited the following reply: + + +"Dear Frank, + +"The contents of your letter caused me very little surprise, and what +I did experience was of a pleasurable kind. For some time past it has +been plain to me that the tie which bound us, slight though it was, +had become irksome to you, and that its severance would be hailed by +you as a relief. To me, almost from the first, it has been as a chain +that galled and fretted me; and your having written me as you have, +has merely anticipated by a few days a step which I had fully made up +my mind to take on my own account. + +"To be candid with you--and surely in such a matter candor is of the +first importance--my feelings towards you were never of a kind to +warrant me in entering into any engagement with you, nor do I believe +that time would do anything towards effecting a change in them. A year +ago I was led away by your impassioned words, and by a certain amount +of self-deception on my own part, into believing that I might, after a +while, come to care for you in the way you wanted me to do. But I was +not long in finding out that I had made a great mistake; and now you +on your side have made a similar discovery. Let us hope that, taught +by experience, both of us will be wiser in time to come. + +"Always your friend and well-wisher, + + "Hermia Rivers." + + +This was not at all the kind of answer that Frank had looked for. Far +from expressing the slightest regret, or indignation--he could have +borne a little indignation with equanimity--Hermy seemed actually to +welcome her release! But, of course, as he told himself, he knew +better than to credit her assertions. Her pride would not allow her to +let him see how deeply she was wounded; as was but natural, she tried +to carry it off with a high hand; but he was not to be so easily +hoodwinked. All the same, the tone of her reply did not fail to jar +against the self-love which was one of his most pronounced +characteristics; and not for a long time to come was he able to rid +himself of an uneasy consciousness that his treatment of Hermia had +been anything rather than that of a man of honor and a gentleman; and +Frank had a great desire to pose as both--as though the two were not +synonymous--not only before the world at large, but in the clearer +eyes of his own conscience. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +THE PROGRESS OF EVENTS. + + +In the press of other matters we have lost sight of Mrs. Hazeldine and +Fanny for a time. The news of Mr. Hazeldine's tragical end came upon +them with all the force and suddenness of an earthquake shock, +shattering the little trivial round of their daily existence in a way +which seemed to render it impossible that it should ever come together +again. Not till the day of the funeral was Mrs. Hazeldine able to rise +from her bed, but after that last sad duty had been discharged, she +grew in strength rapidly, although no one expected of her that she +should do otherwise than keep up the _rôle_ of a semi-invalid for some +time to come. + +On the day following the funeral she was interviewed by an +enterprising member of the staff of the county newspaper, whom, +nothing loth, being indeed flattered by the notion that anything she +might choose to tell the man would be deemed worthy of appearing in +print, she supplied with an exaggerated and sentimental account of Mr. +Hazeldine's last evening at home, not forgetting a description of +sundry strange dreams she had been troubled with just before the sad +event; and supplementing the whole with the mention of certain omens +and portents presaging misfortune of which she had thought nothing at +the time, but which had appealed to her since with all the force of +neglected warnings. The narrative thus obtained, having been docked of +sundry excrescences, and then touched up with sundry dramatic and +picturesque details, was duly served up for the delectation of the +public at large, greatly to the disgust of Clement and Edward +Hazeldine. + +In other ways, too, Mrs. Hazeldine began to find that there was a +likelihood of her being "appreciated"--that was how she stated the +case to herself--after a fashion to which she could lay no claim +during her husband's lifetime. Both Lady Glendoyle and the Hon. +Mrs. Gore-Bandon--by neither of whom had she ever been noticed +before--called upon her in her great affliction, and were most kind +and sympathetic; while the Countess of Elstree in person made +inquiries and left a card. Even at such a time, she could not help +deriving a melancholy satisfaction from the knowledge that her +mourning was quite correct and beyond criticism. Fanny had not been +too much overwhelmed with grief to look carefully after so vitally +essential a matter. + +To Fanny the loss of her father was a serious blow in more ways than +one. For one thing, it meant her enforced absence for at least six +months to come from all those gaieties and social functions in which +her soul delighted. At two-and-twenty she felt that such a waste of +precious time was nothing less than a serious misfortune; and then she +was beset by the consciousness that in mourning she looked nothing +less than "horrid." It should not be her fault if her mother and +she did not go into half-mourning at the earliest possible moment. +In the way of half-mourning there are always some lovely things +obtainable--delicate shades and semi-tones of color which would suit +her style and complexion admirably. It was especially annoying that a +certain event should have happened when it did, just as she had +entered on a most promising flirtation with Mr. Gerald Darke, who had +come down from town to stay for a month with a rich maiden aunt from +whom he had expectations. Who could say what might not have come of +the affair! As matters fell out, however, young Darke's visit had +come to an end during the time Fanny was necessarily invisible. +She felt that it was very hard on her, more particularly in view of +the fact that for some time past she had given up flirtation for +flirtation's sake, and always, nowadays--with an eye to possible +eventualities--made herself sure beforehand that the game was worth +the candle. + +It was an unwelcome surprise both to the widow and her daughter to +find that, beyond a policy of insurance for twelve thousand pounds, +Mr. Hazeldine had left nothing behind him except a sum of one thousand +pounds lodged in the Bank to which his services had been given for so +many years. He was a man who never talked about his private affairs to +anybody, but that he had died so poor was a source of surprise to all +who had known him. The house, however, in which he had lived was his +own, and that was now left to Mrs. Hazeldine for her use during life. +With the exception of a legacy of five hundred pounds to his daughter, +all else he might die possessed of was to be invested for the benefit +of his widow, the interest accruing therefrom to be hers as long as +she lived, and at her death the principal to be divided equally among +his children. + +It was not without many inward qualms that Edward Hazeldine allowed +himself to become an accessory to the fraud--for it could be termed +nothing less--perpetrated by his father on the Stork Insurance +Company. But, as he told himself over and over again, there was no way +of escape open to him. He felt as if he had lowered himself for ever +in his own eyes when he had acknowledged the receipt of the Insurance +Company's cheque, and had paid the same into the Bank in his mother's +name. It was another of those downward steps forced on him by his +fatal knowledge of his father's secret. Fervently did he hope it might +be the last. + +A day or two after the receipt of the cheque, Edward called on his +mother in order to consult with her as to the disposition of the +money. "What I propose," he said to Mrs. Hazeldine, "is that you +should authorize me to invest the amount in the Four per cent, +debentures of a certain Company with which Lord Elstree is intimately +associated. By doing this you will come into receipt of an assured +income of four hundred and eighty pounds a year." + +"Four per cent! Why, my dear Edward, I made sure that with your +financial knowledge you would be able to get me eight per cent, for my +money--or six at the very least!" + +"Oh, I could get you eight, or even ten per cent., readily enough," +retorted Edward, a little grimly, "only in that case what sort of +security would you have for your principal? People who are not content +without a high percentage for their money must take the risk with it. +Now, the investment I am proposing to you is an absolutely safe one." + +"But four hundred and eighty pounds a year! I--I did hope that I +should have been able to keep a little pony-phaeton." + +"There will only be yourself and Fan," responded Edward, ignoring the +latter part of her remark. "Your staff of servants might well be +reduced, and I would recommend that you should let this house and move +into a smaller one." + +"My dear Edward, what are you thinking about! Remove into another +house--and a smaller one, too--when only last spring this one was +fitted throughout with new carpets and blinds? Think of the waste of +money--I will not speak of the laceration of my feelings--which such a +step would involve. This house has associations for me such as--as no +other house ever could have. But--but that, of course, matters to +nobody but myself." + +Mrs. Hazeldine began to whimper in a gentle but aggravating way. +Edward got up and walked to the window and stood there, turning over +the keys and money in his pocket. + +"And then, again, what chance would Fanny have of getting well +married, if we were to go and live in some little cottage, which in +all probability would swarm with earwigs and black beetles?" + +"My dear mother, pray don't say another word about it." + +But if he thought he was going to get off so easily, he was mistaken. + +"Just, too, as I am getting round me a circle of friends such as I +never had in your poor father's lifetime! Lady Glendoyle, and Mrs. +Gore-Bandon, and others. What would they think if I were to bury +myself alive in the way you want me to? I might almost as well go and +live in one of the parish almshouses. I consider it most unkind of you +even to suggest such a thing." + +Edward ground his teeth, but refrained from any reply. He had wound +Mrs. Hazeldine up, and there was nothing for it but to let her run +down of her own accord. Presently he remembered an appointment, and +took a hurried leave. + +Although nothing more was said about the widow's removal to a smaller +house, her son's strong will prevailed over her weak one as far as +money matters were concerned. The twelve thousand pounds were invested +in accordance with Edward's suggestion, and Mrs. Hazeldine tried to +derive consolation from the fact that none of her fine acquaintances +would know how very limited was her income. Naturally, she told +herself, if they thought of the matter at all, they would put her +income down as being at least twice the amount it actually was. + + +It was with a very strange feeling that John Brancker woke up on the +morning of the day after his interview with Mr. Avison, and called to +mind the fact that he had no office to go to, nor any work to do. + +"I feel like a fish out of water, and not a bit like a gentleman of +ease and leisure," said John at breakfast next morning, with a little +rueful laugh. "Now that I have got back home and am among my old +familiar surroundings, all that has happened during the last three +months seems almost as if it had never been. More than once this +morning I have caught myself looking at the clock, under the +impression that it would soon be time to set off; and on coming down +stairs I began to brush my hat in the hall just as I used to do every +morning." + +"After all you have gone through of late, dear, you must give yourself +a month's holiday at the very least, before you even begin to think of +looking out for another situation." + +John shook his head. "It would hardly be worth calling a holiday, +because I should be fidgeting all the time, and wondering what was +going to become of us." + +"Going to become of us, indeed! To hear you talk, one would think +there was nothing but the Workhouse before us. It is not often, +goodness knows, that I insist upon having my own way, but I do in +this. You shall take a month's holiday, going right away from Ashdown; +and if we find you too obstinate to go of your own accord, why then +Hermy and I will carry you off by main force, and having locked up the +Cottage, leave it to take care of itself till our return." + +John was pottering about the garden after breakfast, when the Reverend +Peter Edislow was announced. He was the Vicar of St. Mary's, the +church at which John, previously to his imprisonment, had filled the +post of organist for several years. He shook hands with John, and +said: + +"I congratulate you most cordially, Mr. Brancker, on the result of +last Saturday," but there was not much cordiality in his tone. He was +a thin, ascetic-looking man, with a somewhat sour and querulous +expression of countenance. He regarded himself as the most ill-used +person of his acquaintance, and pitied himself accordingly, while +cherishing much inward resentment against certain of his +ecclesiastical superiors who had passed him over time after time, when +there was preferment in the air, in favor of others, altogether his +inferiors--or so he was firmly persuaded--in point of learning, +eloquence, and sound doctrinal piety. He felt it to be hard--very +hard--that his many merits should have received such scant +acknowledgment at the hands of those who ought to have been among the +first to accord them their due meed of appreciation and reward. + +"Thank you, sir," said John. "It is a great pleasure to me to hear you +say so. One never knows until trouble overtakes us how many friends +and well-wishers one really has. And now about the organ, sir. I +presume it is your wish that I should take up my old duties on Sunday +next?" + +"Hum! Well, the fact is, Mr. Brancker, it is about your position as +organist that I have called to see you this morning. We are very well +satisfied with Mr. Plympton, who has been officiating during your +absence--very well satisfied, indeed--and I think, taking all the +circumstances of the case into consideration, that it would, perhaps, +be as well if the existing arrangement were allowed to go on, at all +events for some little time to come. You will not fail to appreciate +my motives, I am sure." + +"All the circumstances of the case!" echoed John, blankly. "Pardon me +if I fail to quite apprehend your meaning, Mr. Edislow." + +The vicar coughed behind his hand. "I was in hope that your own good +sense would have spared me the necessity of any further explanation," +he said, a little stiffly. "If you are not aware, I can only say you +ought to be, that although your trial on Saturday last resulted in +your acquittal--a fact on which I have not failed to congratulate you +most heartily--a very antagonistic feeling towards you still exists in +certain quarters. There are not wanting those who say that, although +the jury by their verdict avouched your innocence, certain suspicious +circumstances connected with the affair have not yet been cleared up; +and, in short, they choose to exercise the right of private opinion, +and--and to assume--But, really, is there any need for me to pursue +this painful topic any further?" + +"None whatever, Mr. Edislow," answered John, with grave dignity. "If +such a feeling as you speak of exists--though it seems hard to believe +it of one's fellow-townsmen--why, then, sir, I quite agree with you +that my position as organist at St. Mary's is no longer tenable, and I +will at once place my formal resignation in your hands." + +"Ah! Brancker, it is a sad thing to say, but we live in a most +uncharitable world. I shall be sorry to lose your services, but, all +things considered, I fail to see how you could have come to any other +decision." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +A REVELATION. + + +The Vicar's statement that there was a certain section of the good +people of Ashdown who, notwithstanding the result of the trial, still +regarded John Brancker with the eye of suspicion, was a great shock to +the latter; and yet, human nature being what it is, it could hardly +have been otherwise. From the day of John's committal to prison +on the capital charge, the question of his guilt or innocence had +been a burning subject of discussion--not merely among the +frequenters of bar-parlors and tap-rooms, but at dinner-parties and +tea-gatherings--through the gradually ascending scale of social life +till the highest rank of county society were reached, where it was +kept in reserve by judicious hostesses as a topic which could always +be depended on to give a fillip to the conversation whenever it seemed +in danger of languishing. Like all burning questions, it was not +discussed without acrimony and vehemence. Those who avowed themselves +firm believers in the prisoner's innocence were confronted by others +who were just as positive with regard to his guilt, although these +latter were probably far from wishing to see their belief worked out +to its logical conclusion. Then, again, there was another class; that +which is never satisfied unless it can back up its opinion with a +wager. Thus it naturally came to pass that when the trial resulted in +John's acquittal, all those who had professed themselves believers in +his guilt, as well as that other section who were out of pocket +through having wagered the wrong way, felt themselves more or less +aggrieved, a feeling which was further intensified by the undisguised +elation of those who had pinned their faith to the opposite view. +Therefore it was that sundry people were even now going about hinting +darkly at a miscarriage of justice, and averring that till certain +points of evidence should be disproved, or explained away, no person +of intelligence could fail to still have strong grounds for doubting +the late prisoner's innocence. + +When John Brancker took his first walk into the town after Mr. +Edislow's call upon him, he looked at the world from a new point of +view. All at once he had become sensitive and suspicious. He felt +himself to be a marked man. It seemed to him that numbers of those who +passed him in the street looked askance at him, or, worse still, +purposely averted their faces from him; and as he walked along his +heart was a prey to a dumb, bitter anger which was compelled to feed +on itself for lack of a definite object against which it could turn. +If you have reason to believe that half-a-dozen people have done you +an injustice, you can either meet them one by one and strive to prove +to them where they are in the wrong, or otherwise you can afford to +treat their opinion of you with indifference or contempt; but what are +you to say or do if the assurance festers in your heart that some +hundreds of your fellow-townsmen regard you with an eye of suspicion +and distrust? In such a case you are helpless; there is nothing you +can either say or do; you can only writhe in silence, trusting that +for you, as for so many others, the whirligig of Time will some day +bring in his revenges. + +That John, in the soreness of his heart, exaggerated the case as +against himself, there can be little doubt. It was a part of his +nature, perhaps a weakness of it, to be morbidly sensitive to the +opinion of others. It seemed essential to the simple content which had +hitherto been his portion through life, that he should stand well in +the eyes of his fellows. He had been buoyed up during his imprisonment +by the consciousness of his innocence, and by the certainty, which +rarely deserted him, that the trial would result in his acquittal. It +had so resulted, yet now that he was a free man again, a sheaf of +poisoned arrows were being aimed at him in the dark from which he was +powerless to protect himself. He put forth his hands to grasp his +enemy, and encountered empty space. After that first day he took +nearly all his walks among the fields and country lanes, and rarely +went into the town till after dusk. His sister was not long in +perceiving that something was the matter, and had little difficulty in +worming out of him the cause of his unwonted depression of spirits; +for John was one of those men to whom it is a relief to unburthen +themselves to someone, and who find it next to impossible to live +without the sympathy of those with whom their affections are bound up. +What had affected him with a sort of bitter sadness filled Miss +Brancker with a fine flame of indignation, which aroused whatever +combative instinct there was within her--but to no purpose, for of all +futile occupations, that of fighting against shadows is perhaps the +most unsatisfactory. + +"We must just try and live it down," said John, with a patient sigh. + +"Yes, and you eating your heart out meanwhile!" answered Miss +Brancker, with an indignant flutter of her cap-strings. + +"I really think that Hermia ought to be told," said John to his sister +a few days later. "My intention all along has been not to tell her +till her twenty-first birthday, but that will not be here for several +months, and in view of all that has happened of late, and, more +especially, of the dark cloud which during the past few days has +settled on my life----" + +"Of which I am quite sure Hermy knows nothing," interposed Miss +Brancker. + +"But of which she is sure to hear sooner or later--in consideration of +all these things, I have decided that I should not be justified in +keeping the secret from her any longer." + +"She will be greatly shocked." + +"At first, I do not doubt; but at her age she will soon recover. After +all, the story I have to tell is like a tale in two volumes, of which +one volume is all I can offer her. Where the other is, and whether she +will ever find it, is more than either you or I can say." + +John fixed on the following evening for his revelation, as the three +were seated alone in the little parlor after tea. There was a keen +frost outside, but the lamplighted interior had all that cosy +cheerfulness which we associate in our thoughts with mid-winter +weather. John sat on one side of the fireplace, more engaged with his +own musings than with the newspaper in his hand, which he used +occasionally by way of a fire-screen. A little way apart sat Hermia, +between whom and Miss Brancker was a small oval work-table. The +spinster was busy with her crewels, while the girl was engaged in +mending some delicate old lace belonging to her aunt. Now and again +Aunt Charlotte would glance up from her work to Hermia's sunny face, +who, all unconscious of the scrutiny and wrapped up in some pleasant +daydream, would let her needle come to a pause every few minutes as if +to count her heart-beats, a slow, faint smile curving her lips the +while, and the luminous depths of her dark-blue eyes becoming more +luminous still. Then, with an almost imperceptible start, she would +seem to call to mind where she was and the work on which she was +engaged, and for a little while her needle would move in and out of +the lace with the unerring precision of a machine. + +"What can have come to her?" queried Miss Brancker of herself. "She +is not the same girl she was even so short a time ago as last week. +Of course, loving John as she does, it lifted a great load off her +mind--though neither she nor I had ever the least doubt as to the +result of the trial--when he was acquitted; but is there not something +more than that which so often causes her cheeks to flush and then pale +again as they never used to do, and has set the seal of some secret +happiness on her face?" Then she added, as sagely as if she knew all +about such matters: "And what but one thing should there be in all the +world to cause a young maiden to fall into daydreams and forget where +she is, and, although her eyes are wide open, to see nothing of what +is going on around her! 'She walks in meads of Asphodel, and sunlight +dwells in all her ways,'" quoted the spinster, who was still as fond +of poetry as any girl of eighteen. And with that she gave a little +sigh, and went on with her work. + +It was from one of these daydreams that John's voice, addressing her +after a rather long silence, brought back Hermia with a start. + +"My dear," he said, speaking slowly and softly, "do you ever go back +in memory to that far-off time before you came to us, or try to piece +together whatever fragments you may still retain of the earliest +recollections of your childhood?" + +The dazzling light in Hermia's eyes, as she turned them on him the +moment he spoke to her, died out of them as her mind took in the +purport of his question. + +"When I was much younger than I am now," she replied, "I often used to +try to piece together what, even then, seemed like the broken +fragments of a number of dreams all jumbled up together, but I never +could make anything of them. Nowadays, my mind seldom travels back so +far. Why, indeed, should it? I suppose everything has been told me +which it is good for me to know, and assuming that to be so, why +should I trouble further?" + +"Nothing has been told you yet," said John, gently. + +A startled look came into her eyes. "Then something remains to be +told," she said with a little break in her voice--"something about the +parents of whom I remember nothing--nothing!" + +"My dear, neither my sister nor I have any more knowledge of your +parents than you yourself have." + +Her cheek paled suddenly, "Oh!--Can that be true? And yet you are my +uncle and aunt! How, then?" She stared helplessly from one to the +other. + +John drew his chair closer to Hermy's, and taking one of her hands in +both his, pressed it tenderly. "Ah," he said, with an infinite pathos +in his voice, "therein lies the secret--the secret which has been kept +from you for so many years, but which must be told you at last." Here +he pressed her hand a little harder. "My darling child--for so I may +surely call you--it seems a cruel thing to be compelled to say, but we +are not your uncle and aunt--I and my sister. In point of fact, we are +no relatives at all." + +Hermia's eyes were not bent on John, but on the fire, but just then +they saw no more of what they seemed to be gazing at, than if they had +been struck with blindness. Twice her lips shaped themselves as if to +speak, but no sound came from them. A large tear gathered in the +corner of each eye, lingered there for a moment, and then fell. John +himself was unable to continue for a little while. + +"And now," he went on, "having told you so much, I must, of course, +tell you the rest, for my sister agrees with me that the time has come +when you should be made aware of as much of your history as it is in +our power to impart to you. After all, there is not much to tell, as +you will be able presently to judge for yourself." He paused for a few +moments as if to gather his thoughts, and then resumed. + +"Seventeen years ago, at which time we were living in the suburbs of +London, my sister drew my attention to an advertisement in one of the +daily papers, which specified that the advertiser was desirous of +entering into communication with some thoroughly respectable and +trustworthy people, who were willing to adopt a little girl about +three years of age, and bring her up as if she were a child of their +own. My sister and I having made tip our minds years before that we +should never marry, had long been desirous of brightening our lives by +the adoption of a child, who should grow up with us, and be in +everything as though she were really our own, and here seemed the +opportunity we were seeking, ready to our hand. Accordingly, I at once +answered the advertisement, and a couple of days later was called upon +by a Mr. Hodgson, who, from the first time of seeing him, I set down +in my mind as a lawyer. The result was that a few days later, you, my +dear Hermia, were handed over to our care, and have lived with us ever +since. + +"Once every year Mr. Hodgson visits us at the Cottage, when he always +dines with us, and you will doubtless remember having seen him here on +several occasions. The object of his annual visit is to see you, +probably in order that he may be able to report to those who employ +him that you are alive and well. We were told, when you first came to +us, that your name was Hermia Rivers, but beyond that we were told +nothing. No hint whatever with regard to your parentage or family +history has ever escaped Mr. Hodgson's lips, and it was understood +between us all along that I was to ask no questions, and none has ever +been asked. Two inferences, however, may be drawn which would seem to +make it pretty clear that your relatives, whatever else they may be, +must be people of some means. The first inference is, that were they +not such, they would hardly be in a position to engage the services of +a man of the stamp of Mr. Hodgson. The second is, that although +we were quite willing to take and adopt you without any payment +whatever--and, indeed, to have made our doing so a question of gain +would have been altogether counter to our feelings in the matter--Mr. +Hodgson insisted that the sum of sixty-five pounds a year should be +paid for you till you should come of age; after which, he said, in all +probability some fresh arrangement might become desirable. +Accordingly, the sixty-five pounds has been paid punctually ever +since, but not one farthing of it has been touched by us. Year by year +it has been allowed to accumulate in your own name in Umpleby's Bank +at Dulminster, where at the present moment, there stands to your +credit a sum of over twelve hundred pounds." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +THE OLD STORY. + + +When John Brancker had brought his narrative to a close, Hermia sat +awhile without speaking. Then she got up, and flinging her arms round +John's neck, she kissed him twice very tenderly; then she crossed to +the opposite side of the fireplace and did the same to Aunt Charlotte. + +"Whoever my unknown relatives may be," she said, with a little catch +in her breath, "they cannot care greatly about me. They chose to cast +me off when I was a child, and they are evidently determined that I +shall never know more about them than I do now. Why should I care more +for them than they do for me, or, indeed, trouble myself about them in +any way? If they were to make themselves known to-morrow, I could +never learn to love them as I love you, my dear uncle and aunt--for I +shall still continue to be your niece, shall I not?--as I have always +been. Nothing you have told me can change or alter in any way the +relationship between us, or cause me to love you one whit less than I +have always loved you. To you I owe everything; to my unknown +relatives, nothing. As for the money, it belongs of right to you, and +yours it must and shall be. Not one shilling of it will I ever touch." + +"My dear--my dear, that is a very rash thing of you to say. +Consider----" + +"No, aunt, I won't consider; it is a thing about which no +consideration is needed. This money was given to Uncle John to help +pay for my keep, and clothes, and education, and by every law of right +and justice it belongs to him and to him alone." + +"I could not touch it, my dear--that is quite out of the question. The +idea of being paid for bringing you up! Such money would seem to me +like a contamination. + +"What, then, would it seem like to me?" + +"But consider, my dear," again urged Miss Brancker, "what a nice +little fortune it will make for you if you ever get married." + +At these words a vivid blush suffused Hermia's cheeks. + +"If I ever get married it will be to someone who knows my history, or +rather, as much of it as any of us knows, and if he would demean +himself so far as to accept a farthing of that money--well, if he were +to do so I should never care for him again." + +"It seems such a pity, such a very great pity," murmured Miss +Brancker. "John and I have been congratulating ourselves all these +years on the nice little nest-egg you would have when you came of age; +and now, to think----!" She ended with a sigh. + +"Dear Aunt Charlotte, cannot you see, cannot you understand, how +entirely out of the question it is that I should touch this money?" + +"It is equally out of the question that John or I should touch it." + +"In that case, when Mr. Hodgson calls next at the Cottage I will bid +him take back his money, and tell him that we will have none of it, +and that if he never troubles himself to visit us again none of us +will regret his absence. We don't want his money, and we don't want to +know his secret. My relatives chose to disown me when I was a helpless +child; now that I am grown up, I disown them!" + +Frank Derison's letter to Hermia had come as a sort of shock to her, +but it was a shock of pleasurable surprise. She had known for some +time past that the image of another had usurped in her heart the place +she had once believed to be Frank's, but which she had since +discovered had never been his in reality. She had mistaken liking for +love, as she had not been long in finding out when once the real and +not the sham Eros had aimed one of his shafts at her; and a growing +certainty had taken possession of her that if, at the end of the +twelve months, Frank should press her to make the bond between them "a +nearer one still and a dearer one," there would be no response to his +wish in her heart. How foolish she had been! How severely she blamed +herself, now that her eyes were opened, for having ever dreamed that +she really loved him! It would be painful, very painful, to have to +confess her mistake, but if he were to press his suit no other course +would be open to her. + +The twelve months which were to bring the secret engagement to an end +in one form or another had terminated during the time of John's +imprisonment. At a season of such deep trouble all thoughts of love +and matrimony were out of the question, but the moment John's +acquittal was an assured fact Hermia began to dread that which might +come to pass at any moment. The infrequency and shortness of Frank's +visits to the Cottage during the time of John's absence, and the +impossibility of not seeing how forced was the sympathy displayed by +him on those occasions, had tended still more to open Hermia's eyes; +as a consequence of which, when Frank's letter came to hand its +contents filled her with a sense of glad relief. She could not refrain +from kissing the letter, so unfeigned was her joy at the news it +brought her. There was nothing now to hinder her from loving as much +as she liked, even though her love should never be returned, nor he +who was the secret object of it so much as suspect its existence. Just +now she asked for nothing beyond that--to love in secret as much as +she liked. + +Clement Hazeldine had not omitted to note how few and far between +Frank Derison's visits to Nairn Cottage had been of late, and he did +not fail to draw a happy augury therefrom. Up to the date of John's +imprisonment, Clem had rarely gone to the Cottage without either +finding Frank there before him, or leaving him there when he went +away; but after that event, they seldom encountered each other. After +all, as Clem told himself, it might well be that he had been mistaken, +and that there had never been any secret understanding, as he had all +along tormented himself with believing there was, between Frank and +Hermia. Thus it fell out that John Brancker had not been many days +back at home before Clem made up his mind to seize the first +opportunity which might offer itself, and ascertain his fate once for +all. His practice so far had not proved a very lucrative one, but it +was growing steadily month by month, and old Dr. Finchdown had himself +told him that he intended to retire in the course of next spring, and +would recommend Clem strongly to all his best patients, as his +successor, so that, what with one thing and another, he seemed to see +a reasonable prospect of being able to take to himself a wife in +eighteen months, or, at the most, two years from then. The more he saw +of Hermia, the more strongly he felt to what an extent his future +happiness was bound up with her. + +The Fates are often kind to lovers, and seem to provide opportunities +for them, as if of set purpose; at least, so Clem thought when, two or +three evenings later, he found himself alone with Hermia. John had +gone next door to sit with Mr. Kittaway, who was confined to the house +by an attack of gout, and Clem had not been ten minutes at the Cottage +before Miss Brancker remembered that when shopping, during the +afternoon, she had quite forgotten to buy some silk of the particular +shade which she needed before she could put another stitch in the +crewel-work, over the intricacies of which she spent so many placid +hours. She must go at once, and rectify her oversight before the shops +closed for the night. Hermia offered to go in her place, but Aunt +Charlotte, while thanking her, was dubious about trusting to other +eyes the selection of the one particular shade and no other of which +she stood in need. So the young people were left to themselves, and it +was a full hour and a half--though neither Clem nor Hermia, had it not +been for the irrefutable evidence of the clock, would have believed it +half as long--before Aunt Charlotte, who, in addition to her shopping, +had found one or two friends to call upon, got back to the Cottage. + +Much had happened meanwhile. + +When Clem found himself with the longed-for opportunity ready to his +hand, he shrank a little in dismay at the ordeal which faced him. Most +of us can afford to be bold before the occasion, and he was no +exception to the rule. It had seemed to him that it would be an easy +enough thing, when the proper moment should have come, to give +utterance, if not to all, at least to a portion of that with which his +heart was charged; but now that it was here, he found himself as one +suddenly stricken dumb. It was not merely words, but ideas that for +the time being had taken wing and deserted him: and yet Clement +Hazeldine was a man not usually lacking in either one or the other. +Clear-headed and resolute of purpose in all the ordinary concerns of +life, with a mind that was in the habit of marshalling its ideas with +an almost mathematical precision, and a not unfluent tongue, he yet +found himself in the presence of this April-eyed girl, in whose cheeks +tender flushes of color came and went fitfully, without a word to say +for himself. He raged inwardly, gnawing one end of his mustache +meanwhile; but his doing so did not mend matters in the least. +Opposite him sat Hermia, busy with her needle on some delicate piece +of embroidery. She, too, seemed to have lost her tongue since Miss +Brancker's departure. The silence was becoming strained. + +Then, all at once, through the party-wall between the two houses, +there came to them faintly the strains of John's flute, with which, a +moment later, were mingled the deeper notes of Mr. Kittaway's 'cello. +His gout notwithstanding, it seemed that the ex-wine merchant was +making an heroic effort to accompany his friend on his favorite +instrument. + +Presently Hermia and Clem looked up and their eyes met. The air that +was being played was one which they both recognized. They had heard it +first one spring evening; heard it, softened by distance, as it was +being played by some troupe of wandering musicians, and very sweet it +had sounded. They had accidentally met, face to face, on the footpath +which for miles follows the windings of the little River Dene, and +Clem had ventured to turn back and walk with Hermia the way she was +going. It was the first time they had found themselves alone together, +and by neither of them would the occasion ever be forgotten. Then it +was that a certain mischievous sprite, who had been lurking in their +hearts for some time past, watching his opportunity, sprang full-armed +and laughing into the light of day. From that hour Clem knew that he +loved Hermia and she that she loved him, but neither guessed the +other's secret until afterwards. How the softened strains that reached +their ears brought back that eve as if it had been but yesterday, with +all its golden burst of self-revelation which had then flashed +dazzlingly upon them for the first time! + +The magic of the music gave back his voice to Clem. "If I were to live +to be a hundred I should never forget that air," he said. "Have you no +recollection of having heard it before?" + +"I seem to remember having heard it somewhere," answered Hermia, with +a finger-tip pressed to her lips, as if in doubt, although in reality +she had no doubt at all on the point. + +"Oh! then you have not quite forgotten!" he cried, a great light of +gladness breaking over his face. "We heard it played, in the distance, +that evening last spring by the banks of the Dene. I have often +wondered what it is called." + +Hermia could have told him its name had she been minded to do so. She +had chanced on it one day when she was buying some music, and had at +once recognized it, but as it was she kept her own counsel. + +"Yes," said Clem, at length, as if in continuation of some unspoken +train of thought, "I shall never forget that evening. It was then that +I first became sure of something which I had more than half suspected +for months before." + +"My own case exactly," whispered Hermia to herself; but she went on +demurely with her work, and did not even lift her eyes in response. + +"Can you not guess what it was that evening made me so sure of?" +demanded Clem, next moment, as he leaned forward with crossed arms on +the table which divided them. "Can you not guess?" he asked again. He +had made the plunge and was becoming reckless. + +"How should I?" answered Hermia, with a little shake of her head, but +still without looking up. "I was always a poor hand at guessing. + +"It was then the sweet certainty came to me that I loved you!" + +Again no answer save a blush, but to herself Hermia said: "And to me +that I loved you!" + +"It is a certainty which has dwelt with me ever since, and one that +will never leave me while I have breath to speak your name." He was +getting on very promisingly for a young man who had been as dumb as a +flounder only five minutes before. + +Then, almost before Hermia knew what had happened, he was on a chair +by her side, and had one of her hands imprisoned in his. No wonder her +heart beat tumultuously; indeed, so taken aback was she by his +audacity that, for the moment, she quite forgot to make any effort to +regain possession of her hand. + +The hand was lifted to Clem's lips, and an impassioned kiss imprinted +on it; then, indeed, Hermia strove to withdraw it, but to no purpose. + +"Listen," said Clem, bending his face till it was within a few inches +of hers. "I have just told you the secret which for many long months I +have hidden carefully from everyone--from you no less than from +others." + +"Perhaps he has not hidden it quite so carefully as he thinks," +whispered Hermia in her heart. + +"You can now guess why I am here to-night. It is to tell you that I +love you--a little thing to tell, but to me how full of meaning!--to +tell you that all my happiness is bound up in you, and then to ask you +whether you will try to love me a little in return." + +Try to love him! Why, her heart had been his for months and months, if +he had but known it! + +She did not answer him in words, but raising her head, let her eyes +meet his. He read his answer there. + +His arm went round her and he drew her to him. As his lips touched +hers in love's first rapturous kiss, they heard the grating of Miss +Brancker's latch-key in the lock of the front door. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +"WHAT WILL HE THINK? WHAT WILL HE SAY?" + + +Miss Brancker had scarcely been five minutes back at home before +Doctor Hazeldine's boy came in search of his master. The services of +the latter were required immediately at an address which the lad had +brought with him; Clem must hurry off without a moment's delay. He +would dearly have liked to give Hermia a parting kiss--it may be more +than one--but nothing had yet been said to Miss Brancker, and such a +proceeding on his part would certainly have surprised, and might +possibly have shocked, that somewhat staid though by no means +puritanical spinster. Accordingly, Clem had to content himself with a +simple pressure of Hermia's hand, but that of itself conveyed a world +of meaning from one to the other. As he was bidding her good-night, he +contrived to whisper, "I will call to-morrow after my first round, and +seek an interview with your uncle." + +His words gave Hermia a certain shock. She turned hot from head to +foot. In the great rush of gladness with which Clem's confession had +filled her, she had forgotten all about the strange secret which had +been imparted to her only a few days before. She had accepted him +without telling him. What would he think of her, what would he say, +when he learned the truth? How foolish--how forgetful she had been! He +had asked her to be his wife under the belief that she was the orphan +daughter of a sister of John Brancker. What would his feelings be when +told that she was a "nobody's child"--that neither she nor those under +whose roof she had been brought up knew anything whatever about her +parentage or history, and that in all probability they never would +know? Ah, if she had but remembered to tell him before allowing his +lips to touch hers! In that case, perhaps--but it was too late to +think of that now. All she could do was to intercept Clement on the +morrow before he should have time to see her uncle--as she still +continued to call John--and tell him all. + +She was on the watch for him next day, and opened the door before he +had time to knock. "Come in here, I want to speak to you," she said, +as she shut the front door behind him, and opened that of the little +parlor, the ordinary living-room of the family being on the opposite +side of the entrance-hall. As soon as they were in the room and the +door shut, Clem found it impossible to refrain from repeating the +osculatory process of the previous evening. + +Hermia's resistance was not a very determined one. "It may be for the +last time," she said to herself with lips that quivered a little. "He +may never want to kiss me again after I have told him." + +"Sit there," she said to him, indicating a chair. "I have something to +tell you which I ought to have told you last evening before"--(here +she blushed and hesitated for an instant)--"before I allowed you to +think that I cared for you a little; only, somehow, I don't know why, +I quite forgot all about it at the time." + +She paused and drew a deep breath. Then she went on to tell him in her +own words that which John and his sister had so recently told her, +including all about the twelve hundred and odd pounds lying in her +name in the Dulminster Bank, of which she positively refused to touch +a shilling. + +The young Doctor listened gravely silent, till she had finished all +she had to say. Her dark-blue eyes, a little wider open than ordinary, +were fixed on him with an air of expectancy; the sweet curve of her +lips showed a glint of pearly teeth between; her bosom was rising and +falling more quickly than ordinary; evidently she attached far more +importance than he did to the revelation she had just made him. He +gave her a reassuring smile; then he said gently, + +"Would it have mattered greatly, darling, if you had never told me +this? As far as I am concerned, it certainly would not. Mr. Brancker +and his sister will still continue to be your uncle and aunt as they +have always been, and you will still continue to be their orphan +niece. Nothing is changed. Of course, it is only natural that now you +understand so much, you should be desirous of knowing more, and----" + +"But I am by no means sure that I am desirous of knowing more," +interposed Hermia, softly, and yet proudly. "Whoever my relatives may +be--that is, providing I have any at all--they have thought well to +discard me, and such being the case, I do not know why I should +trouble myself greatly about them." + +"Your words are words of wisdom. Whoever the people may be who placed +you with Mr. Brancker, and whatever the connection between you and +them may be, it is quite evident that, for the present at least, they +are determined to keep their secret to themselves, and that any +attempt on your part to force it from them would probably be met by +rebuffs and disappointment. As you say, why trouble yourself about +them? Here are your true relations; here is the only home you have +ever known. Let them go their way; all you ask is to be allowed to go +yours without any interference on their part. + +"You do but echo my own thoughts," said Hermia, with a heavenly smile. + +"Which merely serves to prove still more clearly the affinity that +exists between us." + +"Ah, but have you sufficiently considered what you are doing--what +risks you may be running in proffering to marry a nameless girl--for +how can I be sure what my name really is?--about whose parentage and +antecedents you know absolutely nothing? For aught you or I can tell +to the contrary, there may be some dreadful disgrace hanging over my +birth, or attaching itself in some way to those who have thought well +to cast me off. Think what it would be if, after your marriage, +something should come to light which would make you ashamed of your +wife, something which would cause you to wish you had never met her! +That would be enough to make her sorry she had ever been born, while, +as for you----" She ceased, her sensitive lips quivering almost +imperceptibly, while a tear shone in the corner of each of her eyes. + +Again Clement smiled. "My dearest, are you not making a mountain out +of a molehill?" he said. "It is a way your sex sometimes has. For my +own part, I do not for one moment suppose that there is any disgrace, +as you choose to term it, connected with your birth or parentage, or +any secret which, if made known to the world to-morrow, you would have +the slightest cause to be ashamed of. Such cases as yours are by no +means so infrequent as you seem to think, and the explanation, when +one is forthcoming, is usually of a very commonplace kind indeed. My +advice to you is, to think as little as may be about that which Mr. +Brancker has deemed it his duty to tell you--in fact, to treat it as +though you had never heard it. You shake your head. Well, then, to +adopt for the moment your own extreme view of the matter, do you, can +you think that whatever may happen, whatever secret the future may +bring to light, such a revelation can or will influence my love in the +slightest degree, or make me care for you one jot less than I care for +you now? If you do think so, you must indeed have a contemptible +opinion of me." + +"No, no," protested Hermia; "indeed I have no such opinion of you. You +know differently from that. If such were the case, is is likely that I +should have given you"---- A blush finished the sentence. + +"The greatest treasure a woman can bestow on a man," said Clem, +as if he knew exactly what she would have said. "No, it is not +likely--indeed, quite the reverse. All which merely brings us round to +the point we started from. As I said at first, it would have mattered +little or nothing, as far as I am concerned, if you had never told me +all this. So now, to change the subject----" + +His way of changing the subject was to encircle her waist with his +arm. + +"But about the money," said Hermia, two or three minutes later, +as she stood before the chimney-glass, trying to put her hair to +rights, which, owing to some accident, had become considerably +disarranged--"about the twelve hundred pounds. Was I not right in +acting as I did?" + +"My dearest and best, it was out of the question that you should have +acted otherwise. Whatever your uncle may choose to say, the money is +not yours, but his. If it pleases him to let it accumulate in your +name, well and good; no one can hinder him from doing as he likes in +the matter, but his doing so in nowise alters the facts of the case. +The money remains his just the same; he cannot give you what you are +not willing to take, and this is a kind of gift, or so it seems to me, +which it is impossible for you to accept." + +"I was sure you would say so; I was sure you would think exactly as I +do in the matter," said Hermia, with shining eyes. "What will uncle +and aunt say now?" + +"Which reminds me that I have not yet had my little interview with +your uncle," said Clem. "But as I can't stay much longer--for a +doctor's time is never his own--and as one should never omit to gather +honey while one has the chance," he added artfully, "it seems to me +that it will be better to put off my interview with Mr. Brancker till +this evening, or to-morrow." + +"Indeed, sir, but you will do no such thing," cried Hermia. "I begin +to discern a certain selfishness of disposition about you, which I +trust you will do your utmost to check while it is yet in the bud. I +will ask Uncle John to come at once, in case any of your poor patients +should fancy you are neglecting them," and before Clem could intercept +her she was gone. + +On the interview between the young doctor and John Brancker it is not +needful that we should dwell. Presently Miss Brancker was called into +the room by her brother. The kind-hearted spinster could not help +letting fall a few tears when told the news, although she had not been +without her suspicions of what was in the air for some time past. +"There is no one in the wide world," she said, with fervor, "to whom +my brother and I would sooner entrust our darling than to you, Mr. +Clement. And as for her, she is worthy of all the care and love which +any man can bestow on her." + +"On that point I am quite sure," replied Clem, earnestly, "and if I +know anything of myself, she will never lack either one or the other +at my hands." + +Then John brought up the subject of the twelve hundred pounds. It +would be such a nice little nest-egg to start housekeeping with, he +said. Clem only laughed, and replied that both he and Hermia were +fully agreed that the money belonged to John and to him only, and that +neither by deed or gift nor in any other form would Hermia accept a +shilling of it. + +"Then hang me!" cried John, with what for him was a burst of passion, +as he banged his fist on the table, "if I don't give every farthing of +it to the Dulminster Hospital." + +"I question whether you could put it to a better purpose," was all the +consolation he got from Clem. + +But already in Miss Brancker's brain a scheme was germinating for +getting rid of the golden incubus after an altogether different +fashion. + +Said John to his sister after Clement had gone, "I am not quite sure, +my dear, that we are justified in giving our sanction to Hermy's +engagement without having first obtained Mr. Hodgson's leave to do so. +There may be something in the background of which you and I know +nothing, to render such an engagement objectionable to Hermy's unknown +relatives; for, of course, the dear girl must have relatives +somewhere. I am afraid we have acted rather precipitately in the +matter, and that we ought first to have taken Mr. Hodgson's opinion on +the occasion of his next visit." + +"You seem to forget one little fact, my dear, which is, that you could +not very well help yourself," replied his sister, dryly. "You, at +least, have no legal control over Hermy, and I question very much +whether Mr. Hodgson has. I consider that it was very nice on her part +to pay you the compliment, through her lover, of asking your consent +to an arrangement which it was not in your power to forbid, or +interfere with in any way." + +This was a way of looking at the affair such as had never struck John, +but he could not help acknowledging that there was a certain amount of +force in it. "For all that," he said, dubiously, "I should have been +better satisfied if Mr. Hodgson had known of and approved the +engagement." + +"When you adopted Hermia, it was understood, although there was no +specific arrangement to that effect, that she should become to you the +same as if she were, your own child. We wanted no money with her, +indeed we would not accept of any, and although Mr. Hodgson has +insisted on forwarding a cheque every quarter, we know how each has +been disposed of as it came to hand. I fail to see, therefore, what +claim Mr. Hodgson, or those who are at his back, have upon the girl's +future, or by what right they could, assuming them to be so disposed, +attempt to exercise any control over her. If she needed to be +controlled by anyone, which, thank heaven, she doesn't, you are the +only person, if there is such a thing as moral law, who has any right +to exercise authority over her; and Hermia herself would be the first +to declare that she would recognize no one's wishes, either in this or +other matters, than yours." + +It was only on very rare occasions that Aunt Charlotte launched out in +this style, but whenever she did, John was wise enough to know that +his only plan was to strike his colors at once. + +He did so on the present occasion. "In any case," he said, "there can +be no possible harm in my mentioning to Mr. Hodgson, when I see him +next, the fact of Hermia's engagement;" and with that he made haste to +change the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +MILDEW AND DECAY. + + +Life at Broome reverted to its old monotonous groove after the death +of Miss Letitia. At the funeral it was noticed by the few people who +attended it that Miss Pengarvon never once lifted to her eyes the +handkerchief which she carried in her hand, but her face was hidden by +a thick crape veil, and no one could tell how far she might be +otherwise affected. It is not the custom among families of the social +rank of the Pengarvons for the female members to be present at the +celebration of funeral obsequies, but Miss Barbara had always been a +law unto herself, and that which she willed to do, she did. In the +present instance, indeed, had she not chosen to follow the remains of +her sister, there would have been no one to do so save the doctor who +had attended her in her last illness, and the family solicitor, +with--at a respectful distance and on foot--Barney Dale and his wife, +who were mourners in the truest sense of the word. + +As soon as Miss Pengarvon got back from the funeral, she shut herself +up in the Green Parlor, and resumed her needle as if nothing had +happened, and sat at work till far into the night, as though she were +desirous of making up for lost time. But from that day forward her +sister's empty chair was always placed over against her own on the +opposite side of the little oval worktable, just as when Miss Letitia +was alive; and as the autumn nights deepened into winter, Barney would +sometimes hear his mistress talking aloud, as though there was someone +with her in the room. She would ask questions, the answers to which +were audible to no one but herself, or answer others which no one but +herself had heard put. Sometimes it seemed to be Miss Letitia who was +there with her, sometimes poor, lost Isabel, at others, that fine +gentleman, Sir Jasper. + +"It's all very uncanny, and I don't ken what to make of it," Barney +would sometimes remark to his wife, with a slow, ruminating shake of +the head--and uncanny indeed it was. + +With Miss Pengarvon the love of hoarding had grown in intensity year +by year, till it had become the ruling passion of her life. Now as +always, her food was served up ceremoniously on some relics of the +family plate, but it consisted only of the plainest and least +expensive viands. With the passage of each year, the old house was +becoming more ruinous and dilapidated; nothing in the way of repairs +had been done to it since Sir Jasper's death. The whole of the rooms, +with the exception of the three or four occupied by the sisters, and +the kitchen and domestic offices, were locked and shuttered and left +to dust, mildew, and decay. What remained of the park was rented by a +farmer as pasturage for his cattle. In one corner of the garden Barney +cultivated a few vegetables, just enough for home consumption, but +further than that no hand ever touched the grounds or shrubberies, +which, in the course of years, had degenerated into a veritable +wilderness, not lacking in a certain wild, luxuriant beauty of their +own during the spring and summer months, but unspeakably dreary when +the leaves lay rotting and sodden on sad-eyed, still November +afternoons, or when the chill December rains fell with dull, hopeless +persistency, as over the deathbed of the passing year. + +Early in January, Mrs. Dale died after a few hours' illness, and +Barney had to send for one of his nieces, Lucy Grice by name, to fill +her place. But the girl, after having been at Broome for a week, +declared that she would sleep there no longer. The place was haunted, +she averred. She had no objection to go there in the daytime and do +what work might be required of her, but stay there after nightfall she +would not. + +Miss Pengarvon listened with a contemptuous stare while Barney +explained the state of the case to her. + +"The girl is a fool," she said curtly. "Of course the house is +haunted, just as every house which has been inhabited by people who +are dead, is haunted--no more and no less. You and she can arrange the +matter between you as you think best." + +Accordingly, the girl was allowed to go backward and forward, morning +and evening, between her mother's cottage at Dritton and Broome. + +A few weeks after the foregoing little episode had taken place, a +stranger arrived one evening at the "King's Arms" Hotel, Stavering, +where he ordered supper and a bed. He was a handsome, well-preserved +man of sixty-five or thereabouts, and of semi-military appearance. +Next morning, after breakfast, he expressed a wish to see the +landlord, and was accordingly at once waited upon by that functionary, +a man about the same age as the stranger. + +"Pray, sit down," said the latter, indicating a chair; "that is, if +you can spare me ten minutes of your company." + +"Ten minutes! An hour, sir, if you wish it. Since the coaches were +knocked off the road there ain't----But I needn't trouble you on that +score, sir." + +"May I ask whether you have lived in Stavering for any considerable +number of years?" + +"For half a century, sir; a little more or a little less." + +"In that case, you have probably some knowledge of the existence of a +family of the name of Pengarvon--the Pengarvons of Broome, I believe +they are generally called in these parts." + +"There are not many folks in Stavering or for miles round about but +what have heard talk of the Pengarvons of Broome. A queer family, sir, +very!" + +"So I have been told," answered the stranger, dryly. "Who lives at +Broome at the present time?" + +"Miss Pengarvon, sir, a lady getting well on into years, eldest +daughter of the late Sir Jasper Pengarvon--with whom the title died, +there being no heir male in the family." + +"Sir Jasper was twice married, was he not?" + +"He was, sir. When he died he left two daughters by his first wife and +one by his second." + +"Just so. Now, as to the daughter by the second wife--she is still +living, I presume?" He leaned forward a little as he put the question, +and seemed to wait almost breathlessly for an answer. + +"That is more than I can say, sir; more than anybody can say, I should +imagine, unless it be Miss Pengarvon herself. Miss Isabel--that is the +daughter of Sir Jasper's second marriage--ah, what a sweet young lady +she was!--ran away, more than twenty years ago, with a gentleman who +had been stopping for a couple of months at this very hotel before he +and she disappeared. There was a fine to-do, I can tell you, sir, at +the time." + +"And did Miss Isabel never come back?" + +"Never that I heard tell of, sir. It was said that Miss Pengarvon +forbade her name ever being mentioned at the Hall, and that she even +went so far as to burn such of the poor young lady's clothes as she +had left behind her. An old witch, sir, if ever there was one!" + +The stranger seemed not to have heard the last remark, but sat with +his chin on his breast, pondering silently. Presently he roused +himself with a sigh, and said: + +"I am much obliged to you for your information. There is nothing more +I want to ask you at present." + +The landlord rose. + +"About dinner, sir: at what hour would you like it?" + +"Eh? Oh, yes. At five sharp. Anything you can get me. I leave it to +you." + +A quarter of an hour later the stranger sallied forth, with +closely-buttoned overcoat, buckskin gloves and silver-mounted cane. +After an inquiry or two, he found himself on the road which, among +other places, led to Broome. A walk of two miles and three-quarters +brought him to the Park gates, thick with the rust and grime of many +years, and hanging askew on their hinges. A heavy chain with a padlock +attached held them against all intruders. There was, however, a narrow +arched entrance in the wall hard by through which wayfarers could gain +access to the park, but the original door had rotted away long ago, +and its place was now filled by a rude make-shift of rough unpainted +planking, the handiwork of Barney Dale. A little way within the gates +stood the whilom lodge, windowless and partially roofless, its +flooring and other fittings having been torn away piecemeal by tramps +and vagabonds of various kinds, who had a kettle to boil, or a savory +stew which would be all the better for simmering over a fire of wood +ashes. Nettles and dockweed were now the sole lodge-keepers at Broome. + +The stranger, as he walked through the park towards the house, did not +fail to note the further signs of neglect which were everywhere +visible. The carriage drive was so overgrown with grass and weeds as +to be barely distinguishable; such few trees as Sir Jasper had left +standing had been left unpruned and uncared for since his death; here +and there a few cows were cropping the ragged grass. When a turn of +the drive brought into view the front of the Hall, the stranger paused +for a few moments to contemplate it. On that grey, sunless winter +noon, with its rows of shuttered windows, it looked as if it might +have held inside it not one dead person, but a dozen--not one grim +secret only, but a score. + +Miss Pengarvon, sitting at work in the Green Parlor, was suddenly +startled by a loud knocking at the front entrance of the Hall. Never +did that sound fall on her ears without recalling with startling +vividness that December night, now twenty years ago, when she who +knocked was repulsed with contumely, and left to find a winding-sheet +in the darkness and the snow. + +A few moments later, Lucy Grice, after a preliminary tap at the door, +entered the Parlor, carrying the stranger's card gingerly between her +thumb and forefinger. It was the first time she had ever seen such an +article, and she was at a loss to know the use or meaning of it. + +"A gentleman at the front door, ma'am, asked me to give you this," +said Lucy. "He says he wants to see you very perticlar." + +Miss Pengarvon took the card and peered at it through her spectacles. + +"The name is altogether strange to me," she muttered. "What possible +business can have brought him here?" Then to the girl, after a +moment's cogitation, "You may show the gentleman in." + +Accordingly Lucy ushered the stranger into the Green Parlor and shut +the door upon the two. Then she retired a little way down the corridor +and listened. The stranger's voice reached her as a low, deep murmur, +but the walls were too thick and she was too far away to distinguish +anything that was said. Then presently she heard Miss Pengarvon's +voice as if in reply, rising gradually to a pitch of shrillness and +vituperative energy such as she would not have believed possible in +the mistress of Broome. Involuntarily Lucy crept further away, and it +was as well she did so, seeing that before the stranger had been more +than five minutes in the room, the door was flung suddenly open. + +"Leave my house this instant, and never dare to set foot in it again," +exclaimed Miss Pengarvon in her harshest tones. + +"Then you positively refuse to give me the information I ask for?" +said the stranger, as if urging some point for the last time. "Let me +beg of you to reconsider your determination." + +"I have no information to give you, as I have already told you. Go; +that is all I demand of you! Go!" Then, if Lucy had been there, she +would have seen Miss Pengarvon with trembling fingers tear up the +stranger's card and fling the fragments contemptuously at his feet. + +"You may pretend not to believe what I have told you, but you are +assured in your heart that it is true," he said, still speaking in the +cold, level tones he had adopted throughout the interview. + +"Lies--lies--lies! I feel no assurance of the kind. I place no +credence in anything you have told me. Go, and never darken the +threshold of this house again!" + +Without a word more the stranger passed out of the Green Parlor, and +the instant he had done so the door was shut and locked behind him. + +"A fiend--nothing less than a fiend!" he remarked half aloud, as Lucy, +with a scared face, proceeded to let him out at the front door. + +Barney Dale, who had been away on some errand for his mistress at the +time of the stranger's visit, was duly informed by his niece of all +that had happened during his absence, as far as the facts were known +to her. After Miss Pengarvon had retired for the night, Barney, +perceiving the pieces of torn card on the floor, picked them carefully +up, and succeeded, after a little trouble, in arranging them in their +proper order, That being done he read, "Major Strickland, Army and +Navy Club, Pall Mall." + +"I canna call the name to mind nohow," muttered the old fellow. "What +business can it ha' been that brought him all the way from London to +Broome? Not----? No--that was all passed and over years ago. No, +anything but that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +EPHRAIM JUDD'S STRANGE EXPERIENCE. + + +Ephraim Judd's mother was a widow. Her husband, a journeyman carpenter +by trade, had died many years before, leaving her with three young +children and a small legacy of debts. Help, however, had come to her +from various quarters. A home had been found for her two younger +children, both of whom were girls, in a certain charitable +institution, while she herself had been set up in a small way of +business as a clearstarcher, and presently enough work had come to her +in that line to keep her constantly employed. At this time Ephraim was +at school, an earnest, painstaking lad, who wrote a beautiful hand, +and had a clever head for figures. As it happened, Mr. Avison the +elder was one of the school visitors, and Ephraim being one of the +show scholars, his attention was drawn to the boy; and thus it fell +out that when the latter was fourteen years old, a position as +boy-messenger was found for him in the Bank. There, in the course of +years, he had gradually worked himself up from the lowest rung of the +ladder to the position we now find him occupying. + +Mrs. Judd still lived in the same humble domicile in which her husband +had died, and Ephraim lodged with her, paying her a fixed weekly sum. +To do the young fellow justice, he would fain have had the widow give +up her clear-starching business, and remove with him to a house in a +better class neighborhood. + +"I can afford it, mother," he used to say. "There's no need for you to +do another day's work as long as you live." + +"And how should I contrive to get through the day, Ephy, my lad, if I +had no work to do?" she would reply. "I'm not one of your fine ladies +as can sit with their arms folded on their lap by the hour together. +Thou must just let me go on as I have since thy father died, and +instead of spending thy extry money on me, put it away in the Bank. +Thou'll mayhap want it all one o' these days." + +Mrs. Judd's two daughters had left the institution long ago, and were +away in domestic service. Now, Ephraim, like a great many other +people, had two totally opposite sides to his character. To the +majority of people he was merely an ordinary, painstaking young clerk, +but there were others who knew him under quite a different aspect. The +fact was that Ephraim was a prominent member of a certain numerically +small sect of Noncomformists, who for the purposes of this narrative +may be called "Templetonians." They were not a wealthy body by any +means, and their meeting-place was a large room up a narrow court in +one of the least reputable streets in Ashdown, which had at one time +been used as a granary. Like other and far more pretentious religious +bodies, the Templetonians were desirous of making as many proselytes +as possible; and, with that end in view, were in the habit, during the +summer months, of sending out such of their members as showed any +gifts in the way of extempore preaching and praying into the villages +round about, where, on Sunday evenings, they made a point of "holding +forth" to such of the rural population as cared to listen to them. + +Among those rough-and-ready expounders of the peculiar tenets of the +Templetonians, Ephraim Judd was one of the most popular and effective. +He had that baneful gift of fluency which enables its possessor to +bury the platitudes and commonplaces which, five times out of six, +form his sole stock in trade, under a flow of words which his ignorant +hearers mistake for eloquence, and which, for the time being, imparts +to what he has to say some of the relish of original thought. + +It was a faculty the possession of which Ephraim had discovered by +accident--it is almost needless to say that he regarded it as a +special gift from a Superior power--but after he had once become aware +of its existence, he did not fail to exercise it as often as an +opportunity of doing so offered itself. But Ephraim was thoroughly in +earnest in his preaching and expounding; whatever his other failings +might be, he was far from being a conscious hypocrite. + +It was only during the light evenings between April and September that +Ephraim and his co-workers could look to get an open-air audience +together. Had they attempted to do so during the ordinary hours of +morning service, the rural police would undoubtedly have ordered them +to "move on;" while on hot summer afternoons, after the heavy Sunday +dinner, the bucolic inclination is for sleep, rather than for mental +excitations of even the most rudimentary kind, however stimulating the +latter may be when indulged in at proper times and seasons. + +To say that Ephraim Judd was not troubled in his mind by the part +he had played--or, as he preferred to put it to himself, had been +compelled to play--at the inquest, and subsequently at the trial +of John Brancker, would be to do him scant justice indeed. +Circumstances--of his own bringing about, it is true--had so conspired +against him that only one of two alternatives remained open to him: he +must either tell what he knew, and thereby bring about his own ruin, +or otherwise, by keeping silent, help to brand his best friend with +the stigma of a most heinous crime. He was a moral coward, and when +the crucial moment came, his courage failed him. He allowed John +Brancker to go to his trial, when a dozen words spoken by him would +have gone far towards his exculpation. + +Like Edward Hazeldine, he told himself that, should John be found +guilty, then, at that extreme moment, he would unburden himself of his +secret, let the consequences to himself be what they might. As it fell +out, however, neither he nor Edward were called upon to make any such +sacrifice. + +But not only had Ephraim kept silent when it behoved him to speak; he +had done worse than that; in a moment of weakness he had perjured +himself--he had sworn to a lie. The Coroner had asked him whether he +had seen Mr. Brancker leave the Bank after the latter had entered it +to obtain possession of his umbrella, and he had replied that he had +not; whereas the fact was that he had remained lurking no great way +off, until he had seen John quit the Bank not more than three or four +minutes later. Since then, to make matters worse, from the ruin he had +tacitly helped to bring about there had come to him both preferment +and a liberal increase of salary. Small wonder was it that the young +bank clerk was a most unhappy man. + +On a certain Saturday evening towards the end of January, Ephriam was +sent for to the house of Mr. Hoskins, the pastor of the Ashdown +Templetonians. There he found John Iredale, an elderly man, a +cabinetmaker by trade, one of his co-religionists, and the leader of +the choir. Mr. Hoskins had slipped on the ice, and had sprained his +ankle so severely that it would be impossible for him to leave the +house for several days to come, and his object in sending for Iredale +and Judd was that between them they should conduct the service on the +morrow in lieu of himself. The former was to take charge of the +preliminary part of it, and the latter to deliver one of those +discourses for which his name was already so favorably known. + +Ephraim flushed with pride and pleasure when told what was expected of +him. He felt it to be a great honor--the greatest that had ever been +accorded him. He had plenty of self-confidence, and never for a moment +doubted his ability to pass creditably through the ordeal. Although +not the least bit nervous, he lay awake a great part of the night, +thinking of the morrow, and turning over a variety of texts in his +mind, each of which seemed to afford scope for amplification and +illustration, before finally deciding on a particular one. Of course +his discourse, like Mr. Hoskins' own, was to be wholly extempore: not +a note or scrap of paper would he take with him to the desk--placed on +a platform a couple of feet above the floor--from behind which Mr. +Hoskins was in the habit of holding forth to his somewhat limited +congregation. + +It had never been Ephraim's lot to break down, nor even to hesitate +for longer than a passing moment owing to a paucity of language in +which to give expression to his ideas. Rather did he suffer from a +plenitude of words, finding that his ideas--such as they were--were +capable of being clothed in so many different suits of verbiage that +he had often to put a curb on himself, lest, in the heat and fervor of +his fluency, he should impose upon his hearers by giving them the same +thought more than twice over. + +A proud man was Ephraim when he arose and dressed himself that Sunday +morning. For the time being the prickings of his conscience were +forgotten, or perhaps it would be better to say that they were thrust +remorselessly into the background. At length the opportunity for +which he had so often longed had offered itself: to-day he would be +able to show of what stuff he was made. Hitherto the majority of his +co-religionists had only known from hearsay of the gift that was in +him. At length they would be brought directly into contact with it, +and would be in a position to judge of it for themselves. Evidently +Ephraim Judd was not one of those foolish people who are content to +hide their light under a bushel. + +Scarcely less elated, in her own quiet, undemonstrative way, was Mrs. +Judd, who was a staunch Templetonian. It was far more, from her point +of view, that her son should be an eloquent expounder of the tenets of +the sect to which they both belonged than that he should be a rising +official at Avison's Bank, with a prosperous and assured future +stretching clearly before him. + +The meeting-house of the Templetonians was filled this morning to +repletion. Never had Mr. Hoskins succeeded in gathering round him so +numerous a congregation. The news that Ephraim Judd was to discourse +had spread in some mysterious way, the consequence being that there +was a large influx of strangers belonging to the other sects who were +drawn there out of curiosity to hear the rising young local preacher, +the fame of whose untutored eloquence had not failed to reach their +ears. + +When Ephraim, who was seated on the front bench next his mother till +the time should come for him to take his place on the platform, +glanced round as the first hymn was being given out, his heart swelled +within him. All these people had been drawn there to hear him--him! +Well, he hoped they would not be disappointed. He was quite aware that +the audience of to-day was a far more intelligent and critical one +than any he had been in the habit of addressing on Sunday evenings on +village greens, and that he would be tested by a very different +standard from any which had heretofore been applied to him. + +The thought, however, did not daunt him in the least, but tended +rather to elate and brace him for the ordeal before him; for Ephraim +had a good measure of that audacity, of that thorough belief in +himself and his powers, which goes so far towards the achievement of +success, whatever may be the line of action on which it is brought to +bear. + +The portion of the service conducted by John Iredale was brought to a +close in due course, and the moment came for Ephraim Judd to take the +place of the latter on the platform. A general but decorous movement +was discernible among the congregation. Some relieved themselves by +coughing, others by blowing their noses, here and there came a putting +together of heads and a low whispering. Mrs. Judd gave her son's hand +a reassuring squeeze. Then Ephraim rose and mounting the three steps +to the platform, he limped slowly across it, his eyes bent on the +ground, till he reached the little reading-desk, where he turned to +face his audience. + +But first he bent his head and covered his face with his hands for a +little while, then he stood upright and gazed calmly around. His face +was a little paler than common, but his lips were firm-set, and his +eyes clear and untroubled. At once he proceeded to give out his text, +which he did in quiet but emphatic tones, so that not a word was +unheard by anyone there. Then came a brief pause, during which his +audience finally settled themselves; and then Ephraim, bending +slightly forward, and grasping the ledge of the desk with both hands, +began as follows: + +"My dear brothers and sisters: we are this morning about to consider, +from what to some of you may seem a peculiar standpoint, one of the +most vital and all-important questions with which, as thinking and +responsible beings, it is competent for us to deal. We are about----" + +Here the speaker came to a sudden pause; then, after a momentary +hesitation, he began his last sentence again. + +Then he faltered, broke down, began afresh in different words, +hesitated, broke down finally, threw an agonizing, appealing glance +round the startled, upturned faces of his auditors, turned deathly +pale, and remained silent. + +In one moment of time his mind had become an utter blank--an utter +blank, that is to say, so far as his intended discourse was concerned. +It was as though a hideous black curtain had been suddenly dropped +between him and that section of his brain in which originated the +thoughts and ideas it had been his intention this morning to expound +and illustrate for, as he had fondly hoped, the spiritual profit of +those who were there to listen to him. But thoughts and ideas were all +gone, and in their place was nothing but an awful blank. Then, deep +down in his heart, he heard a low, clear voice: + +"Impious wretch!" it said. "How dare you stand here to preach to +others a doctrine to which your own life offers so emphatic a lie? You +have perjured yourself--you have accepted the wages of a lie, and have +helped to rob your best friend of his daily bread. You an expounder of +the Word! You a preacher of morality to your fellows! Hide your face, +vile hypocrite! Go down on your knees, and crave forgiveness for your +heinous sin." + +All this and more flashed like a fiery scroll across Ephraim's mental +vision in far less time than it would have taken to speak the words. +He stood dumbfounded and aghast. To the eyes of everyone there he +looked as though he had been seized with a sudden illness, and might +at any moment fall back in a faint. Half the audience rose impulsively +to their feet, while Iredale and a couple of "Elders" hastily made +their way to the platform. + +"What's come over you? Are you ill?" whispered Iredale. + +Ephraim's sole reply was a stare. Then they placed him in a chair, and +someone brought a glass of water. Then John Iredale, after a few words +of apology and a brief prayer, dismissed the congregation. Before this +Mrs. Judd was by her son's side. All Ephraim said was: + +"Take me home, mother--take me away from here." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +POOR JOHN! + + +Miss Brancker had told her brother that, whether he liked it or no, +she should insist on his taking a month's holiday before he even began +to look for another situation, and at the time she quite believed in +her power to make him to do so. It was not as if he could not afford a +holiday, for he had between three and four hundred pounds put away, +which he had saved up month by month, a little at a time, out of his +salary. But John in a situation and John out of one were two very +different people. To have taken a holiday under his present +circumstances would, to his thrifty notions, have seemed both a waste +of time and a waste of money. Instead of enjoying himself he would +simply have "grizzled," to use his own term, and would have come back +worse in health, both of mind and body, then he went. Even Miss +Brancker, after a day or two, was compelled to admit that it would be +useless to press the point further. + +John did not lose much time in setting about looking for something to +do. His first proceeding was to call on Mr. Umpleby, the chief partner +and manager of the Dulminster Bank, to whom he was personally known as +one of Mr. Avison's most trusted officials. + +No one could have received him more kindly than Mr. Umpleby received +him, to whom, of course, all the facts connected with the trial and +verdict were well known. While John went on to unfold, which he did +without reserve, his reasons for sending in his resignation, the +Banker simply interjected an occasional "Ah! yes," or "Just so," or "I +quite understand," but was careful to commit himself to no opinion in +the case either one way or the other. John had told him frankly at the +beginning of the interview with what purpose he had sought him, and +Mr. Umpleby now went on to explain that, highly as he thought of Mr. +Brancker's business abilities, and greatly as he esteemed his personal +character, he was afraid it was out of his power to do anything for +him in the way he, Mr. Brancker, seemed to have half-expected he could +do. In the first place, at the present time there was no vacancy of +any kind in the Bank staff; and, in the second, even had there been a +vacancy worthy of Mr. Brancker's acceptance, it would scarcely have +been right and fair, as Mr. Brancker would doubtless be the first to +admit, not to have filled it up from the ranks of the more subordinate +members of their own staff, among whom, Mr. Umpleby was sorry to say, +the chances of promotion were by no means so frequent as he would have +liked them to be. This latter was a point which it was impossible for +John to contend against: in a similar position he would have acted in +a similar way. He came away with his hopes a little dashed, and +feeling much less sanguine about his future than he had hitherto done. + +The next thing he did was to advertise in the local newspaper for a +situation, but although the advertisement appeared for three +consecutive weeks, it elicited no response whatever. Then John fell +back on the London dailies, or rather, on two of them, in which an +advertisement, drawn up by him, made its appearance day after day +with praiseworthy regularity, while, at the same time, he did not +fail to wade through the daily lists of situations vacant. It was a +heart-wearying task, as hundreds, nay thousands, of others have proved +to their cost. Sometimes he replied to a likely advertisement; +occasionally he received an answer to his own. In the majority of +cases his age and his lack of general commercial experience proved +fatal barriers to success. In other cases, where his acquirements +seemed to be the very things advertised for, and after he had been +asked to furnish his name and address, together with those of his +referees, would come the inevitable question: + +"Are you the person who was lately tried on a charge of murder?" + +On John's replying in the affirmative, the correspondence would +abruptly cease. Heart-wearying work, truly! For the first time in his +life John began to despair. + +Hitherto no one save his sister and his friend, Mr. Kittaway, had been +made the confidants of his many disappointments. The knowledge had +been carefully kept from Hermia. He was unwilling that the sunshine of +her young life should be overshadowed by ever so faint a cloud, if he +could in any way help it. One evening, however, when his heart felt +more than commonly sore, and he and Clement Hazeldine happened to be +alone together, Miss Brancker and Hermia being out shopping, he could +not resist pouring the story of his trials and troubles into the +sympathetic ears of the young surgeon. Sympathy, of course, was all +the latter could give in return, and John asked for nothing more. + +A few days later, Clem made it in his way to call upon his brother at +Beecham. His chief object in doing so was to tell him of his +engagement to Hermia, but he determined to mention John Brancker's +case at the same time, knowing how fully convinced Edward was of the +latter's innocence. + +Clem found Edward in his office, and was glad to see how much better +he was looking than he had looked during the two months immediately +following their father's death. + +After a little conversation, having reference chiefly to Mrs. +Hazeldine and her affairs, Clem said, a faint flush dyeing his cheeks +the while: + +"And now I've an item of news to tell you which may, or may not, +interest you. I am engaged to be married." + +Edward gave vent to a low whistle. "May I ask the lady's name?" + +"Miss Hermia Rivers. I don't think you are acquainted with her, but +you may, perhaps, have heard of her existence. She is niece to John +Brancker, and lives with him at Nairn Cottage." + +Edward Hazeldine's jaw dropped a little, and he sat staring at his +brother for a few moments without speaking. "John Brancker's niece!" +he exclaimed presently, but not as if addressing himself to Clem. + +"What is there to be surprised at, may I ask?" queried the latter, +with just a shade of annoyance in his voice. + +"Has the young lady any dowry--any fortune of her own?" + +"Not one penny," was Clem's emphatic reply. + +"Hum! That's rather a pity, is it not, when there are so many +well-to-do young ladies in Ashdown--you know how scarce eligible men +are in these small provincial towns--among whom, and I say it with no +wish to flatter you, you might have your pick and choice." + +"That may or may not be the case, but seeing that there is not one +among the young ladies in question whom I have any wish to make my +wife, there is no need to drag them into the question." + +"I was not aware that you were in a position to marry," said Edward, +coldly; "that is to say, to marry anyone who has nothing but herself +to bring you." + +"I simply said that I was engaged to be married," rejoined Clem +equably. "I mentioned no date for the ceremony. In all probability it +won't take place for a couple of years at the soonest, by which time I +hope to be in a position which will render my marriage with a +portionless girl not quite such an imprudence as you seem, and perhaps +rightly, to think it would be now. Till that time comes," he added, +smilingly, "I will refrain from asking you to congratulate me." + +Edward sat trimming his nails. His manner implied, or so his brother +seemed to think, that he either did not care, or did not wish to +discuss the matter further, and Clem, on his part, was quite willing +to let it drop. He was too used to his brother's little peculiarities +of temper and manner to feel in the slightest degree offended at the +way his news had been received. He had not deemed it needful to +mention that Hermia was only the adopted niece of John Brancker. He +felt that the secret was not his own to tell. It would be time enough +to reveal it when he and Hermia were man and wife. + +"The mention of what I have just told you," he presently resumed, +"reminds me of something else which I think it only right that you +should be made acquainted with. John Brancker----" + +"What of him?" demanded Edward quickly, his apathy gone in a moment. + +"He is in great trouble and distress of mind, and well he may be." +With that, Clem proceeded to relate all that John in his burst of +confidence had told him a few evenings before. Edward listened with +the deepest attention. When Clem had ended, he said hotly, "It seems a +great shame, an infamous shame, that an innocent man should be so +treated. To have such facts brought home to one is enough to make one +despair of one's fellow creatures." + +"Something ought to be done for him in view of all he has suffered and +gone through, but I must confess that at present I don't see what that +something ought to be," remarked the younger brother. + +"Something must and shall be done," said Edward, emphatically. "Leave +the matter with me to think over. I will either call on you, or drop +you a line as soon as I see my way." + +Although matters with Edward Hazeldine had gone so far well that John +Brancker had been acquitted, while his father's shameful secret +remained unsuspected by anyone, he was far from being a happy man, far +from being able to boast of that peace of mind--untouched by anything +more serious than trivial business annoyances--which had been his +before his father's death. The secret he carried about with him was +the nightmare of his life. Never was there a man less prone than he to +introspective brooding, or the creation of imaginary troubles, yet, +despite his native strength of mind, despite his persistent +reassurances of himself that, after this lapse of time, after the +authorities had apparently given up all expectation of ever being able +to solve the mystery, and now that the whole affair seemed buried out +of sight and done with, anything could ever happen which would reveal +it to the world, and therewith the base and ignoble part played by him +throughout--despite all this, the secret which he hid up in his breast +was like a slow poison working in his blood, unstringing his nervous +system, and to some extent, or so it seemed to him, devitalizing his +brain. It was as if his ambition were paralyzed. He lived in perpetual +dread of he knew not what. Any day, in some mysterious way he could +not even guess at, the secret of his father's death might be brought +to light. The monstrous injustice of which he had allowed John +Brancker to be the victim did not fail to still rankle in his heart, +an unhealed sore for which it seemed hopeless to find a cure. And now, +on the top of all this, came his brother's communication. What was to +be done? + +It had been his intention to propose to Miss Winterton early in the +new year, but with that black shadow keeping him company wherever he +went and refusing to be laid, he had kept putting off the decisive +moment from day to day till, for the time being, the opportunity was +gone. Lord and Lady Elstree had left Seeham Lodge for Torquay, taking +Miss Winterton with them, and the date of their return was uncertain. +Edward Hazeldine, although he would have been loth to confess it, was +not sorry for the reprieve. + +Ten days after their interview, he drove into Ashdown and called on +his brother. He had not let the grass grow under his feet in the +interim. He had been successful in obtaining the promise of a +situation for John Brancker in the office of one of his friends, a +London merchant in an extensive way of business. Mr. Lucas, the +merchant in question, was under certain obligations to Edward +Hazeldine, and had at once acceded to his request to find a stool in +his counting-house for John, who was to present himself there on the +Monday morning next ensuing. Thereupon he handed his brother a note of +introduction, requesting him, at the same time, to see John as soon as +possible and give him the note, together with the writer's best wishes +for his prosperity and success in his new calling. He felt a singular +repugnance to calling in person upon the man to whom his moral +cowardice had been the cause of such unmerited suffering. It seemed to +him as if he should breathe more freely when John was a hundred miles +away. + +John gave expression to his gratitude in warm terms for the service +Mr. Edward had rendered him, and yet--and yet he felt that it would be +very hard to have to break up his little home and sever the many ties +which the habitude of years had worn into his daily life till they +seemed to have become part and parcel of it. But there was no help for +it, and when that is the case to murmur is foolishness. To meet the +inevitable with repinings had never been John's way, and it was not so +now. + +There was no need, however, to make any sudden or immediate change at +the Cottage. John was to go a month on trial, and should everything +prove satisfactory at the end of that time, then would a new home in +one of the metropolitan suburbs have to be looked for and settled upon +and the dreaded change made. Neither by John nor his sister was the +probable change regarded with more apprehension than by Hermia and her +lover. They would be parted; they could only hope to see each other at +infrequent intervals; the thought was infinitely bitter to both, but +it was a bitterness which they kept to themselves and only spoke of to +each other. Not for worlds would they have added to the weight of +regret which Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte had put up with already. + +Monday morning came in due course, and John took his departure for +London by the seven o'clock train. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +ENTER MR. HODGSON. + + +Mention has been made of a certain Mr. Hodgson, as being the +intermediary through whom John Brancker and his sister received into +their charge and keeping the little three-years-old child, Hermia +Rivers. It has also been told how the said Mr. Hodgson was in the +habit of calling upon John once a year, apparently with the object of +satisfying himself that Hermia was alive and well, and that +everything, as far as she was concerned, was progressing +satisfactorily. + +Mr. Hodgson's annual visit, the date of which he made a point of +communicating to John beforehand, had nearly always taken place during +the month of April, but this year he wrote some weeks earlier than +usual to announce that he might be looked for at Nairn Cottage on the +following day. The letter came to hand about a week after John's +departure for London; but Miss Brancker, feeling sure who it was from, +made no scruple about opening it. + +The notice given was so short that there was no time to communicate +with John previously to Mr. Hodgson's arrival, so Miss Brancker, who +had met the lawyer several times already, made up her mind to "tackle" +him single-handed; indeed, she was rather glad than otherwise that on +this occasion her brother happened to be out of the way. More than +once since a certain discussion John had avowed his intention of +turning over the twelve hundred pounds to Mr. Hodgson when next he saw +him, and after explaining to him of what it consisted, telling him in +plain terms that he would have nothing more to do with it. Miss +Brancker, however, had other views in her mind as to the ultimate +destination of the money of which she said nothing to anyone, and she +was determined not to touch on the question with Mr. Hodgson. + +There was one point as to which she decided that it might be advisable +to enlighten her visitor. She would make no secret of Hermia's +engagement to Clement Hazeldine. If the girl had any parents or near +relatives living, it seemed no more than right--their having discarded +her when a child, notwithstanding--that such an important event in her +life should be made known to them, although whether it would receive +their sanction, supposing them to interest themselves in the matter at +all, and what would be the result if it did not, were questions which +the future alone could determine. + +"In any case," said the spinster to herself, "if my telling Mr. +Hodgson results in nothing else, it may, perhaps, have the effect of +bringing to light some facts connected with Hermia's parentage and the +history of her early years. If the knowledge that she is engaged to be +married fails to do so, we may give up all hope of ever learning more +than we know at present." + +Mr. Hodgson presented himself at the Cottage in due course. He was a +thin, dried-up atomy of a man, apparently close on seventy years of +age, with a very remarkably developed aquiline nose--a nose which not +infrequently caused irreverent boys to make rude remarks as he passed +them in the street. Miss Brancker had told Hermia that she was +expecting him, and although the girl's color changed for the moment, +she received the news with a sort of proud indifference, and as though +it were a matter which could be of no possible concern to her. + +"As it happens, Mr. Hodgson, my brother is away in London just now on +important business," said Aunt Charlotte, "and, consequently, will be +unable to see you." + +"Aye, aye; is that so? Well, he could not have left me a more charming +substitute," replied the lawyer, with a touch of old-fashioned +gallantry. "And how is Missy?"--it was the term he had always applied +to Hermia when she was a schoolgirl--"quite well and hearty, I trust." + +"Quite well, sir, I am happy to say. But probably you would like to +see her." + +"For a couple of minutes, if you have no objection, dear madam. I will +not detain her long." + +It had been the practice for Mr. Hodgson to dine at Nairn Cottage on +each recurring annual visit, but John being away, it seemed to Miss +Brancker out of the question that he should do so in the present +instance. She had not, however, forgotten her visitor's fondness for +old port, and a decanter of it, together with a plate of biscuits, was +now brought in; whereupon, in obedience to his hostess's request, the +old gentleman, nothing loth, proceeded to pour out for himself a glass +of wine. + +Then Miss Brancker rang the bell again, and a few seconds later +Hermia, who had been expecting the summons, entered the room. A faint +flush suffused her cheeks, but her manner was perfectly cool and +composed. + +Mr. Hodgson stood up and extended a withered hand, and peered at her +through his gold-rimmed spectacles. "Well, my dear, I trust that I see +you in perfect health," he began; "but, indeed, you cannot be +otherwise, if eyes and cheeks may be believed, and I am not aware that +they are in the habit of telling untruths. Upon my word, you are +vastly improved--you may allow an old man to say so without +offence--vastly improved since I saw you last." + +Hermia murmured something, withdrew her hand, and sat down a little +distance away. + +Then there followed a little conversation, chiefly about the weather +and such-like indifferent topics, in which Hermia took no part, while +Mr. Hodgson indulged in occasional appreciative sips at his wine. Now +that Hermia had been told the object of his yearly visits, she could +not help regarding him with a certain amount of curiosity and +interest. In the brain behind that withered mask of a face lay hidden +the secret of her birth and parentage; those pinched lips, had they +but so willed, could doubtless have told her something about the +mother of whom she retained no faintest recollection, if it were only +her name and whether she was living or dead. But no question on the +subject should ever escape her; the knowledge must come to her +unsought if it were ever to come at all. + +Presently a timid ring at the front door made itself heard. "It is +Mrs. Nokes," said Aunt Charlotte to Hermia. "Will you attend to her, +dear?" + +Mrs. Nokes was one of Miss Brancker's weekly pensioners. Hermia was +glad of an excuse for escaping from the room. + +"There is one circumstance," Mr. Hodgson, "which it may, perhaps, be as +well to mention to you," said Miss Brancker, as soon as they were +alone. "Hermia is engaged to be married." + +The old gentleman fairly jumped in his chair. "Bless my heart! Engaged +to be married? You surprise me, madam--you surprise me greatly! Why +was I not communicated with before now? Why was I not consulted? +Why----?" + +"My dear sir, you seem to forget that you have never favored us with +your address. We know no more today where a letter would find you than +we knew seventeen years ago when my brother and you had your first +interview." + +Mr. Hodgson stroked his chin and coughed. "To be sure--to be sure. For +the moment that little fact had escaped my memory. Still, it is most +unfortunate. Had I dreamed when I was here last that anything of the +sort was likely to happen I would certainly have left you an address +through which you could have communicated with me. But before +discussing the matter further, I should like to be informed who and +what the person is on whom Miss Rivers has seen fit to bestow her +affections." + +Thereupon Miss Brancker proceeded to enlighten him: and one may be +sure that the portrait of Clement Hazeldine which she drew for her +visitor lacked nothing on the score of eulogy. The old lawyer listened +in silence; when she had done, he said: + +"Then, it is your opinion that Miss Rivers is really in earnest in +this affair, and that it is not one of those idle engagements into +which--so I have been given to understand--numbers of young women +drift for want of something better to do; and from which they emerge, +if circumstances run contrary to their wishes, heart-whole and +fancy-free, ready and eager to engage in the fray again, only, of +course, with a different Strephon?" + +"Hermia has nothing in common with the class of young women to whom you +refer. That her affections are very deeply involved I am as certain as +that I am now talking to you, nor have I any hesitation in saying that +were she compelled to break off her engagement with Clement Hazeldine +it would go far towards wrecking her happiness, if not for life, in +any case for a long time to come." + +"Aye, aye!--is that so? Your charming sex, my dear madam, are kittle +cattle to deal with. The particular point at issue is, however, one as +to which at present I can offer no decided opinion. As you will have +surmised long ago, I am not acting in Miss Rivers' affairs for myself +alone. I am merely an instrument, whose function it is to carry out +the instructions deputed to me by others. All I can say just now is, +that you shall hear from me at the earliest possible moment, and that, +till then, matters may as well remain as they are." + +After Mr. Hodgson was gone, Miss Brancker did not fail to call to mind +that he had never once made the slightest allusion to John's +imprisonment and trial; and, furthermore, that the name of Hazeldine +had seemed to awake no echo in his memory of the dread tragedy with +which it had been associated so short a time before. Was his silence +due to the fact that the annals of crime possessed no interest for +him, and that he shunned the reading of them; or was it simply +the result of a failure of memory? Of course, another theory was +possible--that he had read and recollected everything bearing on the +murder and trial, and that he was silent about them of set purpose. In +any case, it was open to Miss Brancker to adopt which of the three +theories might seem most feasible to her. + +Four days later the afternoon post brought Miss Brancker a letter from +Mr. Hodgson, in which she was informed that the engagement between +Miss Rivers and Mr. Clement Hazeldine must at once be broken off, the +young lady's friends having other views and intentions with regard to +her future, which would be made known at the proper time. The writer, +it was added, would feel obliged by an immediate reply assuring him +that the instructions conveyed in his communication had been duly +carried out. + +Aunt Charlotte gave the letter to Hermia to read, and she, as a matter +of course, passed it on to her lover, when he arrived at the Cottage +the same evening. Then Aunt Charlotte left them alone for half an hour +in order to afford them an opportunity of discussing the letter by +themselves. When she re-entered the room, Hermia said at once, + +"We utterly decline, Clement and I, to have our destinies ruled and +controlled by an unknown autocrat, who, for anything we know to the +contrary, may have no legal or moral right whatever to interpose +between us. For my own part--and I want you to tell Mr. Hodgson so--I +altogether refuse to consider the question in any way until I know +clearly for whom he is acting, and the relationship which exists +between the person or persons in question and myself. Until I am +enlightened on those points, matters between myself and Clement will +remain on precisely the same footing that they are on now." + +Then, after a momentary pause, she added, with a heightened color, and +a smile directed at her lover: "Not that it will make the slightest +difference even if Mr. Hodgson chooses to tell me all there is to +tell. I shall be of age in a few months, and my own mistress. The day +has gone by for either Mr. Hodgson, or those who hide themselves +behind him, to interfere with my destiny in any way." + +She spoke with the happy confidence of her sex and age. Experience had +not yet taught her that the threads which unite us to our fellows, +although to all seeming as fine as those of a spider's web, may, any +one of them, prove strong enough to bind us round and round like so +many helpless flies, and with just as little possibility of escape. + +"John will be home on Saturday," said Aunt Charlotte. "He will know in +what terms to answer the letter far better than I." + +The answer was to be addressed to the care of a certain firm of +solicitors in Bedford Row, London. + +John Brancker's month on trial was at an end, and he had written to +his sister to say that she might expect him home in the course of +Saturday afternoon. + +"No doubt he will have to return by the first train on Monday +morning," said Miss Brancker to Hermia when she had read the note. + +As it happened, one of the first people whom John recognized on +alighting at Ashdown station was Edward Hazeldine. They had travelled +by the same train without either being aware of the other's presence. +Edward saw John at the same moment. He was a little surprised at +seeing him there, but at once went up and shook hands with him. + +"Glad to see you, Mr. Brancker," he said, heartily. "Hope you are +getting on all right in your new berth and that the work is to your +liking. I suppose you have come down to spend the week-end with your +people." + +"I've come down for good, Mr. Edward. I'm not going back," answered +John, gravely. + +"Not going back!" echoed Edward, surprised, and it may be, a little +dismayed. "I was certainly under the impression that you were settled +with my friend Lucas for years to come, if not for life. But how has +it come about? What has happened to hinder you from going back?" + +It was merely the old story over again that John had to tell. For a +week or more all had gone well with him. He liked his work and he +liked his fellow clerks, but presently the fact oozed out somehow that +John was the man who had so recently stood his trial for what was +known as "the Ashdown murder," and from that moment his fate was +sealed. First one and then another of the staff declined to associate +with him, or to have anything to do with him beyond what was +absolutely necessitated by the exigencies of business; in point of +fact, poor John was completely boycotted. + +"I couldn't stand another month of it, Mr. Edward; it would kill me," +he said in conclusion in a quavering voice. "It seems no use trying +any more. I must either stay where I am, in the hope of being able to +live down the prejudice against me, or else go right away to the other +side of the world. There appears to be no other choice left me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +EPHRAIM JUDD'S REMORSE. + + +Ephraim Judd's breakdown and collapse on that memorable Sunday morning +was attributed by everyone there, except the unhappy young man +himself, to a sudden attack of illness, and many were the inquiries at +his mother's house later in the day by sympathizing Templetonians, who +were afraid lest his unaccountable seizure might result in something +still more serious. But Ephraim arose next morning and set out for the +Bank at his usual time, to outward seeming as well as ever he had +been, but with an inner consciousness pervading every fibre of his +being, that never again would he be the same man that yesterday +morning had seen him. The "gift" on which he had secretly prided +himself more than on aught else life held for him, had been recalled +without a moment's warning. The fountain of living water had been +suddenly dried up within him. Now that by his own act he had rendered +himself no longer worthy to preach the "Word" to others, the power of +doing so had been withheld from him. He knew as well as if a thousand +voices had dinned the fact into his ears, although others knew it not, +that he stood condemned at the bar of his own conscience, as one who +had wandered from the right path, for whom there was no return +possible, save through the narrow gateway of confession and full +acknowledgment of his grievous fault. His despair, although unseen of +anyone, was none the less profound and abiding. + +That winter was a long and inclement one. About the middle of March, +Ephraim caught a severe cold, which he would probably have got rid of +in the course of a few days--as he had of many previous colds--had he +but taken ordinary care of himself. As it fell out, however, he +neglected to do so, being at the time in one of those moods in which +whether one lives or dies seems a matter of equal indifference. His +cold became worse, and presently developed into an acute attack of +pneumonia. Then, without saying a word to her son, Mrs. Judd sent for +Dr. Hazeldine. + +Ephraim's face flushed suddenly, and then as suddenly paled, when +Clement was ushered into his room. A very brief examination sufficed +to convince the young surgeon that his patient was in a somewhat +critical condition. Ephraim's chest had always been delicate, besides +which, at the best of times, his general health had never been robust; +so that it now became a question whether his constitution would not +succumb to an attack from which a stronger man would have rallied +without much difficulty. There was one point in his favor; he had two +capital nurses in Mrs. Judd and her daughter Eliza, the latter of whom +chanced just then to be at home, while looking out for another +situation. + +Next morning Ephraim was decidedly worse. His bright, feverish eyes, +fixed intently on Doctor Hazeldine's face, did not fail to note the +grave expression which crept over it like a shadow, while listening to +his patient's labored breathing, and counting the quickened beats of +his pulse. Then Ephraim drew his own inference, which was little more +than a confirmation of the doubts--one could scarcely have called them +fears--which had beset him almost from the beginning of his illness. + +"I am going to die," he said to himself, "and Clement Hazeldine knows +it. But, first of all, I've something to say to him." + +"Yes, I had only a poor night," he said aloud, in reply to a question +of Clement; "hour after hour I lay awake, tossing and turning from +side to side. Just now I feel sleepy, and not up to much talking; but +there's one thing I wish you would do for me, Mr. Clement." + +Among the Bank staff Mr. Hazeldine's sons had always been spoken of as +"Mr. Edward" and "Mr. Clement." + +"I shall be glad to do anything for you that I can, Ephraim." + +"I wish you would come and sit with me this afternoon when your busy +time is over, and you have half-an-hour to spare. I shall, perhaps, +feel a bit stronger by that time, and I have something particular that +I am anxious to tell you--something very particular, which I dare not +put off any longer for fear I may not be able to tell it at all." + +"Since it is your wish, I will certainly come and see you this +afternoon," answered Clement. "But you must not allow your spirits to +get depressed. I sincerely trust that to-morrow morning will find you +much better than you are to-day." + +Ephraim smiled faintly. + +"You and I know better than that, Mr. Clement," was all he said, as he +shut his eyes with an air of weariness. + +At four o'clock Clement called again, and was shown by Eliza Judd into +her brother's room. Clem felt nothing more than a very mild curiosity +as to the nature of the confession, or whatever it might prove to be, +which Ephraim was about to impart to him. Sick men have often strange +fancies, and attach a spurious importance to things which are of no +real consequence, although at such times they seem to be. + +Ephraim seemed stronger and brighter than he had been earlier in the +day, but Clement's experienced eyes told him that it was merely a +"flash in the pan"--a condition of things which might change for the +worse at any moment. + +"I must ask you to put anything you have to say to me in the fewest +possible words," he said gently; "indeed, I would much rather you +should defer it entirely till another time." + +"Another time may never come," answered Ephraim, with a sigh. "No, you +must hear me now while a little strength is left me. I will promise to +be as brief as possible." He was breathing hard, and his sentences +were uttered brokenly and with difficulty. After closing his eyes for +a few moments as if to collect his thoughts, he said: "You were at the +trial of Mr. Brancker, were you not, Mr. Clement? You listened to the +evidence right through from beginning to end?" + +"I don't think a single point of the evidence, as sworn to by the +various witnesses, escaped me." + +"You will not have forgotten that one of the facts which told strongly +against Mr. B., and one which he professed himself totally unable to +explain, was that some of the papers in his private drawer were +smeared with blood, and that there was a similar smear on the floor +close by?" + +"I have not forgotten. The circumstance has always struck me as being +a very peculiar one." + +"I am the only person who could have explained it." + +Clem gave vent to an exclamation of surprise, and with that the sick +man went on to relate what is known to the reader already--how, led on +by an insatiable curiosity, he opened the drawer with a duplicate key; +how, while groping among the contents, his hand encountered the blade +of the knife and was cut by it; how the blood spurted out among the +papers, and how it kept dropping on the floor while he stood talking +to Obed Sweet, afraid to stir. + +"And why did you omit to tell all this at the trial?" demanded Clem +sternly, as the other ceased speaking, breathless and exhausted. + +"That you shall learn presently. There's more to tell yet," gasped +Ephraim. + +Clem administered a restorative. Had his patient's revelation had +reference to any matter of lesser importance than the rehabilitation +of John Brancker's good name in the eyes of the world, he would have +positively forbidden him to say another word; but there was no knowing +how he might be on the morrow, and it might prove of vital consequence +that he should tell all he knew while there was still a possibility of +his being able to do so. + +"Both at the inquest and the trial I perjured myself," went on the +sick man. "I was asked whether I saw Mr. Brancker leave the Bank after +he had parted from me, and had entered it with the avowed purpose of +fetching his umbrella. My answer was that I did not see him leave the +Bank. My saying so was a lie. I saw him leave it within four minutes +of the time he entered it. He was there just long enough to enable him +to find his umbrella, but not long enough to commit either murder or +robbery, much less both, even supposing him to have been wishful of +doing so. + +"But what was your object in thus perjuring yourself?" demanded +Clement, with an air of stupefaction. "What end had you to gain by not +speaking the truth?" + +"By telling the truth I should have brought about my own ruin. Mr. +Avison would never have forgiven me had I confessed to opening John +Brancker's drawer with a false key. He would have discharged me on the +spot." + +"I can understand the reasons for your reticence so far as that part +of the case is concerned, but why did you swear that you had not seen +Mr. Brancker leave the Bank?" + +"Because I was a moral coward. When the coroner put the question to me +I was flurried in my mind, and hardly knew what answer I was giving. +My chief thought at the time was to divert suspicion from myself; in +saying what I did I had not the slightest notion that it would tell in +any way against Mr. Brancker, but having once sworn that such was the +truth, I was afraid to go back from it at the trial." Then, after a +little space of silence, he added: "I want you to believe this, Mr. +Clement: if Mr. Brancker had been brought in guilty, I should have +told all I knew, whatever might have been the cost to myself. And that +is the solemn truth." + +Clem was at a loss what reply to make to the strange statement of +which he had been made the recipient. Both reproach and vituperation, +even had he been willing to indulge in either, were out of the +question with a man in his patient's condition. At length he said: + +"I presume you have no objection to my telling Mr. Brancker what you +have just told me, leaving him to act in the matter in whatever way +may seem most advisable to him?" + +"That is exactly what I am desirous you should do; and do not forget, +please, to tell him how sincerely I regret the injury I have done him. +That he will accord me his forgiveness is more than I dare hope." + +Clement rose and took up his hat. + +"I have not quite done yet," said the sick man. "What I am now about +to tell you may seem of little or no consequence to you--in other +words, you may take a different view of it from the one taken by +me--but, in any case, it is only right that you should be told." + +Clement sat down again, and waited in silence till Ephraim was ready +to continue. + +"You may remember," he resumed, "that at the Bank there is a spiral +staircase which gives access to a couple of rooms under the roof, used +chiefly as a storage place for old ledgers and documents of various +kinds connected with the business?" + +Clement nodded. + +"The staircase in question," continued Ephraim, "is exactly opposite +the door of Mr. Hazeldine's room, and anyone going up it, or coming +down it, can, if so minded, obtain a view of the interior of the +office through the fanlight over the door--a fact which my curiosity +had led me to take advantage of on more occasions than one. On the +night of Mr. Hazeldine's death, after John Brancker had gone and I had +put my own work away, led by a vague curiosity, I stole halfway up the +staircase and peered through the fanlight. Mr. Hazeldine's table, with +Mr. Hazeldine seated at it, were clearly visible to me. Sir--Mr. +Clement--while I was looking, I saw your father take out of a drawer +in his table the very knife which was found near him on the floor next +morning, and with which he was said to have been stabbed! He stared at +it for a moment or two and tested its point with his thumb; then he +unbuttoned his waistcoat, and with his left hand seemed to feel for +the exact spot over his heart. Then he let the knife drop, and leaning +forward over the table, he covered his face with his hands. With that, +being not a little scared, I waited to see no more." + +Clement sat with ashen face and horror-fraught eyes, waiting till the +shock which Ephraim's words had caused him should in some measure have +spent its force. + +"You drew an inference of some kind from what you saw through the +fanlight," he at length contrived to say, "What was the inference?" + +"That Mr. Hazeldine came by his death by his own hand," replied +Ephraim in a whisper. + + +When Clement Hazeldine called on his patient next morning he found him +delirious, and on the following day Ephraim died. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +THE BROTHERS. + + +Ephraim Judd's deathbed confession naturally divided itself into two +parts in Clement Hazeldine's afterthoughts, of which the first had +reference exclusively to John Brancker, while the second, which in +Clem's eyes far exceeded the other in importance, concerned almost +wholly his brother and himself. The horror with which he had listened +to the latter portion of Ephraim's narrative toned itself down by +degrees to a feeling of doubt, and from that, by an easy transition, +to one of absolute incredulity. His father commit suicide! The bare +idea of such a thing, to anyone who had known the man, was utterly +preposterous. But supposing for a moment that the case had been as +Ephraim implied, there still remained the robbery of the safe, which +had been a concomitant incident of Mr. Hazeldine's death, to be +accounted for. The truth was that the sick man's mind had wandered in +the course of the previous night, and he had imagined circumstances +which had never really happened. During illness the boundary line +which divides the realm of fancy from that of fact is easily +overpassed, and the weakened mind of the patient is unable to +distinguish between the two. That such was the explanation in +Ephraim's case it seemed impossible to doubt. + +"Yet, if the latter part of his confession has no basis of fact, why +assume that the first part had any more valid claim to credence?" Clem +asked himself this question more than once, but was unable to answer +it to his satisfaction. He could not but admit that that part of the +confession which related to John Brancker seemed to bear upon it the +stamp of truth; the facts, if facts they were, as told by Ephraim, +might very easily have happened; there was nothing intrinsically +improbable about them, as there was about that other statement which +had reference to Mr. Hazeldine. + +Most of us have an easy habit of trying to persuade ourselves that +things are as we wish them to be, and this was what Clement strove to +do in the present instance, but not altogether successfully. The first +portion of Ephraim's confession might be true, and probably was so, he +told himself; but the second part was almost as surely fictitious--a +vision conjured up by the disordered brain of a sick man. + +Clement was anxious to see his brother at the earliest possible +moment, and unburthen his mind to him; but it was not till the day +after Ephraim's death that he found time to go over to Beecham. On +arriving at the Brewery he walked straight into his brother's office +feeling pretty sure that he should find him there. Nor was he +mistaken. Edward, who was busy writing a letter as he entered, looked +up and nodded, and with that Clem sat down to wait till he should be +at liberty. + +"Glad to see you," said Edward, as he applied the blotting-paper to +his letter. "But, you look a bit worried. Anything the matter?" + +"Ned," said the younger brother, leaning forward a little, and fixing +his eyes intently on the other's face, "have you ever had any cause or +reason to suspect that our father, instead of meeting his death at the +hand of another, as everyone believed he did, committed suicide?" + +On the instant every vestige of color fled from Edward Hazeldine's +face; he drew a deep breath that was almost a gasp, and set his teeth +hard. + +"Great heavens! Edward, you do know, or suspect something of the +sort!" cried Clement, staring at his brother's white face and drawn +mouth, and feeling for the moment as if the foundations of his life +were crumbling under him. + +"Yes, I do know," said Edward, after a space of silence, speaking in +cold, and, as it seemed, half-defiant tones. "I have known it all +along. James Hazeldine was not murdered. He died by his own hand, in +order to avert disgrace and ruin from himself and those belonging to +him." + +Then, before Clement could find a word to say, he rose, and crossing +to a safe imbedded in the wall, he unlocked it, and from one of the +drawers drew forth his father's letter. + +"Read and believe," he said with stern brevity, as he pushed the +letter across the table to Clem. + +He had been so taken by surprise; the question so abruptly put to him, +had afforded him no clue as to how much or how little of the truth was +known to his brother, that for the moment his presence of mind had +deserted him, and before he had time to recover himself, Clem had +challenged the truth. + +"Well, he has got the truth now, and much good may it do him," said +Edward, grimly, to himself. "Why should he not share it with me? The +burthen has been a bitter one to bear. It has led me to do things such +as at one time I would have believed no power on earth could have +forced me into doing. Yes, let Clem take his share. He is a grown man; +why should we not halve the secret? I am not sorry that it has come +about as it has. But how and from whom did he obtain the clue?" + +Clem read the letter twice over, the first time quickly, and then +slowly and deliberately, so that the pith and almost the exact words +of each sentence burned themselves indelibly into his memory. Then he +refolded it and passed it back to his brother, and then the two sat +and looked at each other for a little while in sorrowful silence. +Clement was the first to speak. + +"You have known this all along, and yet you never told me," he said, +with an accent of reproach. + +"Where was the need? What good end would it have served? It was enough +that one of us should have to carry such a secret about with him. I +was the elder, and the burden devolved of right upon me. Besides, my +father evidently relied upon my telling no one--not even you." + +"It was my duty and my right to have shared it with you. In any case, +I am glad--if, indeed, one can be glad about anything in connection +with so terrible a secret--that the knowledge has come to me now +instead of later on." + +"Could I have had my way, it would never have come to you. But before +we discuss the matter further, tell me what led you to put that +question to me which you flung at my head, as it were, with such +startling suddenness." + +Thereupon Clement proceeded to enlighten his brother as to all that +had passed between himself and Ephraim Judd. + +"It is a strange story," said Edward, when he had finished; "but I see +no reason for doubting its credibility. All along I have been +possessed by a sort of intuitive certainty that one day the truth +would leap to light in a way the least expected, and now it has done +so. After all, it will be a relief to have someone to share the secret +with." + +"You should have shared it with me from the first. But the question +now is, what ought to be done next?" + +"I scarcely follow you." + +"I mean, as regards John Brancker. Ought he not to be told?" + +"Told what?" + +"What Ephraim Judd told me. It was the last wish of the dying man, as +expressed by him to me, that such reparation should be made as was +still possible." + +"Just so! You would tell John Brancker all about the blood-smears, and +also reveal to him the fact that Judd saw him quit the Bank five +minutes after he had entered it, although at the trial he swore to the +contrary. This you would tell, leaving Brancker to deal with the +statement in whatever way might seem most advisable to him." + +"That is precisely what I have thought of doing. So far everything +seems perfectly clear. But, as regards the latter portion of the +confession--supplemented as it is by our father's letter--that +concerns John Brancker infinitely more than all the rest." + +For the second time the eyes of the brothers met in a long, steady +gaze. + +"John Brancker was tried for a crime of which he was innocent, and was +acquitted," said Edward, in a hard, cold voice. "To-day he is a free +man--as free as you or I." + +"But is that all? You know as well as I that it is not. Think of all +he has suffered and gone through. Consider----" + +"I have considered--for I can foresee all you would urge. I have +thought it over long ago from every possible point of view. It is for +you to consider and to realize that there is an altogether different +way of looking at the affair from the one you have chosen to adopt, +one, too, which concerns you and me very nearly. With your good leave, +I will proceed to make clear to you what I mean." + +He got up, and crossing to a side table, poured out for himself a +glass of water. + +"It was within a couple of hours of hearing of my father's death," +resumed Edward, "that I read the letter which you have seen to-day for +the first time. The news had been broken to me by the very man we have +been talking of--I mean by Judd--and I had just come back from the +Bank after viewing my father's body. I will leave you to imagine the +effect the letter had on me at such a time. Knowing what I did, no one +could have been more surprised than I at the turn taken by the affair +at the inquest, when one little piece of circumstantial evidence after +another cropped up, all tending to bring home the crime to John +Brancker, and it was a great shock to me when he was committed for +trial. Had you been in my place, rather than let him go to prison, in +all probability you would have made public the facts embodied in your +father's letter." + +"I certainly should have done so," said Clement, gravely. + +"I preferred to hold on, taking care, meanwhile, to secure an eminent +advocate for the defense. There were many weak links in the chain of +evidence, and it seemed to me that no jury would convict the prisoner +without something stronger to go upon. The event proved that I was +right in my belief. John Brancker was acquitted." + +"Truly so; but can you even faintly realize the mental torture he must +have suffered meanwhile? Can you----" + +Edward held up his hand. "My dear fellow, I hope you do not for one +moment imagine that I did not feel keenly for Brancker. My heart bled +for him many and many a time. I seemed to myself to have added ten +years to my age during those weeks that he lay in prison. I would +willingly have given half of all I had in the world if by so doing I +could have reversed the verdict of the Coroner's jury. But all that +belongs to the past. What I want you to do now is to realize for +yourself what would have been the effect on the fortunes of those he +left behind him had I made known the contents of my father's letter. +In the first place, your mother and sister would have been reduced to +pauperism, or next door to it." + +"How could that have come about?" demanded Clem, with a startled look. + +"Because, had it become known that my father committed suicide +deliberately and intentionally, and without any mitigating plea of +mental derangement, his life policy of twelve thousand pounds would +have been forfeited; and that, as you are aware, forms nearly the sole +resource of your mother and sister." + +"I had not thought of that," responded Clem. Neither had he. He had +been so shocked at finding that the manner of his father's death had +been known to Edward from the first, and that he had chosen to hush it +up, that for the time being his mind had failed to grasp any of the +consequences, near or remote, on which his brother had based his +action in the affair. + +"That would have been bad enough in all conscience," resumed Edward, +"but worse, much worse, would have followed. Had my father's case been +one of simple suicide, that might have been got over, painful though +it would have been; but his letter has told you what there was in the +background. One would have been only a misfortune, such as might +happen in any family, but the other meant disgrace and social ruin to +everyone connected with him. Could either you or I have ever held up +our heads again in Ashdown? I am quite sure that I could not. I should +have had to give up my position and all my prospects in life, and go +away to some place where the name of Hazeldine had no taint of +disgrace attached to it. Then, again, think what it would have meant +to my mother and Fanny. They, too, would have had to seek some distant +home, with poverty for their abiding companion. It would have gone far +towards breaking my mother's heart, if it did not altogether do so, +and who would knowingly marry the daughter of a man who----? But, +surely, not another word is needed." + +"It is a terrible picture that you have drawn," said Clement, with an +involuntary catching of his breath. In one brief half-hour he felt as +if he had taken leave of his youth forever. + +"Is it in any one respect an overcharged picture? You cannot +conscientiously say that it is." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +WRONG VERSUS RIGHT. + + +It was impossible for Clement Hazeldine to say that the picture +painted by his brother, dark though its colors were, was in any +respect overdrawn. In truth, he knew not what reply to make. He sat +silently revolving in his mind the various features of the case as +they had been presented by Edward, who was now beginning to turn over +the letters and papers on his table in a way which seemed to imply, or +Clement thought so, that the point at issue had been thoroughly +threshed out, and that any further discussion of it would be both +distasteful and a waste of time. In point of fact, Edward was +congratulating himself on having brought a very awkward bit of +business to so satisfactory a conclusion. In all probability Clem +would never allude to it again; it would be a secret between them--one +that must never be breathed to a living soul, but equally one which +they would never care to discuss with each other, nor to reopen in any +way. + +A movement on Clem's part drew Edward's attention to him. A sudden +light had leapt to his eyes, a flush to his cheeks. What awkward +question was he about to put now? + +"Edward, it has just struck me for the first time, that if father +really did put an end to his existence--and I am afraid we must accept +it as the saddest of all sad facts that he did so--we had no right to +claim the amount of his life policy from the Insurance Company." + +It was now the turn of Edward Hazeldine to change color. Two vivid +spots of red flamed out in his cheeks. "Yes," he exclaimed, in a +harsh, strained voice, "I have been wondering whether that would be +one of the points of objection which you would see fit to raise." + +"It is one which failed to strike me till the present moment." + +"What would you have done, I wonder, had you been in my place? That is +a question which you will do well to think over at your leisure. Had a +claim for the twelve thousand pounds not been sent in in due course, +comment would have been aroused, which would inevitably have bred +suspicion, and that, in its turn, would probably have led to inquiry; +and what the latter, when once set afoot, would have led to, you can +judge as well as I. Besides, what excuse could I have made to my +mother and Fannie for not claiming the amount? I could have made no +excuse; everything must have been told them. In addition, as I have +already explained to you, without the twelve thousand pounds they +would only have been a step or two removed from pauperism--in which +case the fact of my not having claimed on the policy must have become +known to everybody. Bah! I might just as well have gone and read out +my father's letter at the market cross." + +"All that in no way alters the character of the transaction," said +Clem, in a low voice. + +"Oh, it was a fraud--a gross and palpable fraud--I fully admit that," +exclaimed the elder brother, with a harsh laugh. "Even to myself I +have never attempted to call it by any other name; only, when you are +weighing it in your thoughts, I should like you to put into the +opposite scale the trifling facts I have just laid before you. To you +they may seem to weigh less than they did with me; but no man can +gauge accurately the force of another's temptations. Enough, however, +of this for the present." He rose with an air of weariness and looked +at his watch. + +It was a palpable hint, and Clem accepted it as such. He, too, rose. +"John Brancker tells me," he said, "that he happened to meet you at +the station on the day of his return from London, and that he +explained to you the reason why he had been compelled to resign the +situation you found for him." + +Edward's face darkened a little. + +"Yes, he gave me his version of the affair; but I can't help saying +that he seems to me to be excessively thin-skinned. I certainly should +not have allowed myself to be put down in the way he seems to have +done." + +"A rather extreme sensitiveness to the opinion of others is as much a +part of John as the color of his hair or the shape of his nose. Think +what it must have been to a man of his temperament to go through all +that he has gone through during the last six months! You and I, who +are of tougher fibre, can but partially realize it. And what is to +become of him in the future? The shadow of a crime with which he had +nothing whatever to do still clings to him, and may do so for years to +come. He is eating his heart out in dumb despair." + +Edward Hazeldine took two or three turns from end to end of his +office, his eyes bent on the ground and his hands buried deep in his +pockets. The whole interview had been inexpressibly galling to him. He +was one of those men to whom it is as wormwood and rue to be called +upon to explain their reasons for any particular course of action, +much more to apologize for it; yet he had felt under the necessity of +doing both to-day, and now a query had been put to him which he would +fain have answered, but could not. What, indeed, was to become of John +Brancker? But before trying in any way to answer that awkward +question, he felt that it behoved him to put himself right with Clem +on one important point, much as it would cost him to do so. + +"That I tacitly allowed John Brancker to be brought in guilty by a +coroner's jury," he said, "that I allowed him to languish in prison +for eight or nine weeks, and be brought to trial, when a dozen words +from me would have made a free man of him--are facts which I have +neither the power nor the wish to gainsay; but if you therefore +imagine that in case the trial had gone against him, I would not then +have spoken out and proclaimed our shame and disgrace to the world, +you were never more utterly mistaken in your life. I was fully +determined to keep my secret--our secret--till the last possible +moment--I have already told you my motives for so doing--but not a +moment longer. Had the second verdict proved a confirmation of the +first, my father's letter would at once have been handed to the judge. +I trust you believe that I am telling you the truth." + +"I do believe it," said Clem, emphatically. + +"You spoke just now of what John Brancker must have suffered during +the weary weeks he lay in prison. I greatly doubt whether his +sufferings were as poignant as mine. He was buoyed up and strengthened +by the consciousness of innocence, while I---- But why pursue the +topic? This only I will say in conclusion, that the last six months +have been the most wretched of my life, and not for ten thousand +pounds would I, of my own free will, go through such an experience +again. + +"I can fully credit that," replied Clem, earnestly, "and although the +result of the trial must unquestionably have lifted a great weight off +your mind, still--if I know anything of you, if you are the man I have +always believed you to be--your burthen is but half removed. You are +far from being clear of it yet." + +Edward threw a quick, suspicious glance at his brother. + +"Excuse me, Clem, if I fail to apprehend your meaning," he said, +coldly. + +"Is it not plain enough? How can you be the same man that you were +before our father's death while you continue to keep to yourself the +knowledge which would clear John Brancker from every iota of +suspicion, and give him back the stainless character, and with it the +happiness, of which you have deprived him? How can you look to regain +that peace of mind which was your dearest possession, although you may +not have known it at the time; how can you look your fellows in the +face with untroubled eyes, knowing, as you do, that as the consequence +of a deliberate act on your part, your mother and sister are living on +the proceeds of a fraud? The fruits of wrong-doing never prove other +than dust and ashes to those who pluck them." + +They had both sat down again without thinking what they were about, +and they now confronted each other across the office table. Clem's +face was paler than ordinary, but never had he looked more like his +brother than at that moment. The determination and quiet energy with +which he had spoken had, for the time being, lent to his face some of +the resolute lines and the firm, set expression which were +characteristic of Edward. + +"So that is your meaning, is it?" demanded the latter, with a sudden +hoarseness in his voice. + +"It is a meaning which has truth at the back of it, as you know full +as well as I can tell you." + +"Whether it has or has not, I certainly have no intention of acting on +it, and that I tell you plainly. You have, so to speak, surprised a +secret which it was my hope to keep from you as much as from the rest +of the world; but your having done so constitutes no reason or excuse +for any interference on your part between me and matters which concern +myself alone." + +"Matters which concern yourself alone, Edward! How can that be? The +terrible wrong of which John Brancker has been the victim concerns me, +as my father's son, at least as much as it does you, and----" + +But at this moment the door was opened, and one of the clerks thrust +his head into the room. + +"Lord Elstree to see you, sir," said the man. + +As his lordship entered by one door, Clement made his way out by +another. + +The mental conflict which he went through in the course of the next +few days was something altogether foreign to his experience. He +recognized to the full the gravity of the reasons by which his brother +had been influenced in acting as he had. In a small town like Ashdown +social ostracism, and that of a most bitter and degrading kind, would +be the inevitable portion of every member of the Hazeldine family +after once the truth should have been avowed. As far as he was +concerned, the practice he had got together by such laborious patience +would be almost wholly ruined, and he would have to begin life afresh +in some far away spot. And, then his mother and sister! To them the +blow would be infinitely worse than either to himself or Edward. + +On the other hand, the thought of John Brancker slowly wearing out his +life under the shadow of a crime which a dozen words from him or his +brother would clear away for ever, was altogether intolerable to him. +"Right is right, and wrong, wrong all the world over," he said to +himself more than once. "There can be no wrong without suffering; but +to knowingly let the innocent suffer for the guilty is worse than the +commission of the wrong itself." + +He arose one morning after a sleepless night. "This shall be put an +end to, come what may," he said, grimly, to himself. + +As soon as he had finished his morning rounds he went straight to +Nairn Cottage. He found John busy in his garden, where much of his +time was spent nowadays. + +"Can you spare me five minutes here in the summerhouse?" said Clem. "I +have something particular to say to you." + +"I can spare you the whole day, Mr. Clement, if it comes to that," +answered John, with rather a dismal smile. There was an unusual +gravity on the young doctor's face which he could not help noticing. +He wondered what further bad news he was about to be told. + +Clem had found himself unable to fix beforehand on any particular form +of words in which to convey to John the startling news he had made up +his mind to tell him. It was a terrible confession for a son to have +to make, and his heart grew faint within him as he followed John into +the summerhouse; but he would not give himself time for further +thought, or for any possible turning back from that which he sternly +determined on going through with to the bitter end. + +Without waiting to sit down, he took one of John's hands in both his, +and grasping it very hard he said, + +"A communication written by my father on the last day of his life, and +addressed to my brother, has come into Edward's hands. In it my father +announces his fixed determination to put an end to his existence. It +seems that, unknown even to my mother, he had long been suffering from +a serious affection of the heart, and had been told by two eminent +physicians that, at the most, his life was only worth a few months' +purchase. That the knowledge of this fact preyed on his mind cannot be +doubted, nor that, in conjunction with certain other circumstances, it +led him to take the desperate resolve which resulted in its fatal +consummation a few hours after the letter in question was written. Do +not ask me to enter into any details--at least, not now. It will be +enough if I assure you that both Edward and I are fully agreed that my +father's tragic end was due to his own rash act, and that no shadow of +blame or suspicion attaches to any other person." + +John stood with blanched face and incredulous eyes like one whom +some sudden shock has bereft of half his senses. Clem stood with +down-dropped eyes, breathing hard and biting his under lip. It was all +he could do to crush down the emotion that was battling within him. + +"But about the robbery? About the missing money?" queried John at +length, in a voice that was hardly more than a whisper. + +"Do not ask me--do not ask me!" cried Clem, in tones full of anguish. +Dropping John's hand, he turned abruptly away, and seating himself on +the bench which ran round three sides of the summerhouse, he rested +his elbows on the little table and covered his face with his hands. +Convulsive sobs shook his frame from head to foot. John, his eyes +streaming with tears, stepped quietly up to him, and laid a hand +gently on his shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +VICTORY. + + +"The pity of it--oh, the pity of it!" were John Brancker's first words +as soon as he was able in some measure to control his feelings. "What +you have told me has both shocked and grieved me as I was never +shocked or grieved before. But do not say a word more about it, Mr. +Clement, either now or at any future time. I would infinitely rather +that you should not, and you may rest assured that I shall never ask +you a single question." + +"You can judge for yourself, Mr. Brancker, what my reasons were for +telling you this," said Clem, whose brief burst of emotion had left +him pale and calm. "Your career in life has been to a great extent +compromised. A certain amount of suspicion in connection with what the +world, in its ignorance of the facts of the case, naturally regards as +a great crime, still clings to you, and to all seeming will continue +to do so for years to come, if not as long as you live. It is now in +your power to dispel that suspicion once and forever, and to clear +away the dark cloud which has lowered over you for so many months. To +do this needs only that you should make known to the world the facts +which I have laid before you to-day." + +"And do you for one moment believe, my dear Mr. Clement, that I should +even dream of doing anything of the kind?" demanded John, with a sort +of sad surprise. "I loved and honored your father. He was my friend at +a time when I had no other friend in the world. He took me by the +hand; he found a situation for me; I owe everything to him. You know +that I am innocent; your brother knows it; that is enough. Perhaps you +won't mind my telling my sister--I have no secrets from her--but not +another creature shall hear it from me. Let the world continue to +suspect me if it thinks well to do so. I can afford to appraise its +doubts and suspicions at their proper value, which is no value at all. +Henceforth I shall despise them, and I think, Mr. Clement, a man can +always afford to live down a thing that he holds in contempt." + +Clem drew a deep breath. The relief which John's words had given him +no one but himself could estimate. Still, in common fairness to this +generous-souled man, he felt bound to protest against a decision so +adverse to his interests. + +"It seems to me, Mr. Brancker," he said, "that you owe it as a sacred +duty to those who are nearest and dearest to you to set yourself right +in the eyes of the world, now that the means of doing so are offered +you, and to resume that place in society which you have forfeited +through no fault of your own." + +"I owe a still more sacred duty to my dear lost friend, as those who +are nearest and dearest to me would be the first to remind me if there +were any danger of my forgetting it. No, Mr. Clement, I have made up +my mind, and in this matter, if in no other, I am determined to have +my way and do that which seems right in my own eyes." + +Clement saw that it would be useless to press the point further. +Indeed, had he wished to do so, he knew of no terms in which he could +have urged his plea. How, in fact, could he have further urged the +doing of a thing, the outcome of which would have been nothing less +than disgrace and misery to him and his? + +"I have something still to tell you," said Clem, presently. "You are, +of course, aware that Ephraim Judd is dead?" + +"Why, of course. It was yourself that brought the news to the Cottage, +when I told you how much I regretted not having called upon him, but +that I had no notion he was so dangerously ill." + +"True! I have had much to think of lately, and had forgotten. Well, +Ephraim made a very strange statement, which he charged me to repeat +to you after he was gone. He had done you a great wrong, and the only +reparation he could make was by confessing it." + +With that Clem went on to detail to John that part of the dead man's +confession which concerned him; but said no word about the latter +portion--that which dealt with what Ephraim had witnessed through the +fanlight. + +"Poor fellow!--poor fellow!" exclaimed John, when the other had come +to an end. "The temptation was a great one, and he was unable to +resist it. He was tried beyond his strength, as it may be the lot of +any of us to be. It was very wrong of him, not merely to keep back +what he knew, but to swear to an untruth; but he is gone where his +faults and his virtues will be weighed in the balances which cannot +err, and Heaven forbid that I should attempt to blacken his memory by +a single word. So, if you please, Mr. Clement, you and I will keep the +poor fellow's confession to ourselves. It could do no possible good at +this late date to make it public." + +Later in the day Clement sought his brother. + +"I have told John Brancker everything, or next to everything," he +began abruptly. "I could no longer reconcile it to my conscience to +keep him in ignorance of what was of such vital concern to him." + +"I felt nearly sure that you would be guilty of some such fool's +trick," was Edward's stern rejoinder. Then he added, with a sneer, "I +hope you will be able to reconcile the article you call your +conscience to the disgrace and ruin which will inevitably result from +your mad action. The thought of your mother and sister might have +restrained you, if nothing else had power to do so." + +"Neither disgrace nor ruin will result from what I have done," +answered Clem, quietly. "John Brancker will make no use of what I have +told him. Except to his sister, he will breathe no word of it to a +living creature." + +Edward looked at him with eyes that expressed nothing but blank +amazement. + +"If it be as you say," he presently remarked, "then is John Brancker +one of the noblest-hearted of men." + +"It is as I say. I have his word for it." + +"Ah!" said Edward, with an indrawing of his breath. "You can hardly +realize what a weight you have lifted off my mind. It meant more to me +than even you are aware of, that both the manner and the cause of our +father's death should never be divulged. You said just now that you +had told John Brancker 'next to everything.' May I ask what you meant +by that particular phrase?" + +"I told him nothing which would lead him to infer that the facts of +the case had become known either to you or me until quite lately. +Then, again, I said nothing to him of what Ephraim Judd saw through +the fanlight." + +Edward nodded approvingly. + +"They were wise omissions on your part." Then, as if he were thinking +aloud, he exclaimed, "A noble-hearted fellow!" + +"What a pity it is that he can get nothing to do," observed Clem. "I +suppose that he and his sister and his niece are living on his +savings; but that is a sort of thing which can hardly go on for ever." + +"An idea has just come to me," replied Edward, "which may or may not +lead to something that will benefit him; but it would be premature to +enter into any particulars till after I have had the chance of a talk +with Lord Elstree." + +"One thing more remains to be done," said Clem, presently. + +"Eh? And what may that be, pray?" + +"The refunding of the twelve thousand pounds insurance money." + +"Good gracious, Clem! Have you taken leave of your senses?" + +"I trust not. I am simply proposing to right a great wrong. I can +quite understand that at the time you accepted the money you saw no +other course open to you without exciting suspicions which you would +have had no means of allaying except by making public a secret which +it seemed to you must be concealed at every risk. It seems to me, +however, that there is a way of getting out of the difficulty, and +that without endangering your--or, as I may now call it, our--secret +in any way." + +"I have no objection to being enlightened," remarked Edward, dryly. +"But pray don't forget that this is a matter in which your mother's +and sister's interests are more deeply concerned than those of anyone +else." + +"That is a point I have by no means overlooked. In the first place, +there need be no difficulty about refunding the money. Let it be +divided into two or three sums, to be forwarded at intervals from +different places. Of course, the sender would remain strictly +anonymous. Then, as regards my mother and Fanny. They need never be +made aware of the return of the money. The income which now accrues to +them from its investment must continue to be paid with the same +regularity as heretofore, the only difference being that you and I +between us must make up the amount." + +Never had Edward Hazeldine felt so taken aback as at that moment. Not +the least odd feature of the affair was the quiet, matter-of-fact tone +in which Clement put forward his proposition; had he been arguing some +disputed point of anatomy with a fellow-student he could not have been +cooler or more self-collected: Mentally and morally the elder brother +felt as if a cold-water "douche" had been suddenly sprung upon him. It +was not till the silence had lasted fully a couple of minutes that he +seemed able to find anything to say. + +"You are, of course, in a position to allow your mother and sister two +hundred and forty pounds a year out of your income, which is about +what your share would come to," he said at length, with a hardly +veiled sneer. + +Clem flushed a little. + +"As circumstances are with me now, it would leave me with a very +narrow margin to live upon," he replied; "but even were it still +smaller, I would gladly make the sacrifice." + +"What about your marriage? I hope you don't forget that the burthen +you propose saddling yourself with is not merely a question of a year +or two, but of the lifetime of your mother, who, we have every reason +to hope and believe, may live for many years to come." + +"As for my marriage, it would have to be put off till more prosperous +times," replied Clem, not without a stifled sigh. + +"Very well; but there is another feature which you may not, perhaps, +have considered. Supposing the twelve thousand pounds to have been +refunded in accordance with your wish, in the case of my mother's +death, how would you propose to make up Fanny's one-third share of it +to which she is entitled by my father's will? She may be married +before that time, in which case the four thousand pounds she supposes +herself to be ultimately entitled to will naturally be considered, +both by her and her husband, as a certainty which nothing can deprive +them of." + +"That is a point which certainly failed to strike me," answered Clem. +"But let me answer your question by asking another. Supposing the +money not to have been refunded, in case of my mother's death would +you be willing to touch your share of an amount to which morally you +have no more right than has any of your clerks who are at work in the +next room?" + +Edward bit his lips. + +"No," he said emphatically, after a pause; "in such a case as you +speak of, not one shilling of the money would be touched by me." + +"I could have vouched for your answer beforehand," said Clem, with a +smile of triumph. "Now that you have confessed thus much, it is +impossible for you to stop there. You are as convinced as I am, my +dear Ned, that the twelve thousand pounds must be refunded. As +honorable men no other course is open to us." He looked at his watch, +and then rose and pushed back his chair. "I find I have not another +minute to spare," he said, as he gripped his brother's hand. "But now +that we are agreed as to the main point at issue, the settlement of +the details can be left till I see you next." + +It was on Edward's lips to say, "I have agreed to nothing," but some +feeling restrained him. + +Clem's words, "As honorable men no other course is open to us," rang +in Edward's ears long after he was left alone. Had he not always +prided himself on being an honorable man, one whose simple word had +been as binding on him as if it had been safe-guarded by all sorts of +legal pains and penalties, till the terrible complication which +originated with his father's death had first planted his feet on that +slippery path which tends downward, ever downward, by such fatally +easy gradations, from which it is nigh impossible to retrace one's +steps? Was it too late for him to retrace his steps? He decided that +it was not. A helping hand--nay, two helping hands, those of John +Brancker and his brother--had been stretched out to him in a way the +least expected, and he had but to grasp them to be dragged back out of +the quicksands in which he had been floundering of late, and set again +on the firm ground where that fatal October night had found him. How +deeply thankful he should be to find himself there again, no one but +himself could more than faintly imagine. + +In the course of next day he wrote and dispatched the following brief +note to his brother: + + +"Dear Clem, + +"It shall be as you wish. + + "Yours, + + "E. H." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +MIXED THREADS. + +Although Edward Hazeldine had made up his mind to refund the twelve +thousand pounds, it was impossible for him to do so at once. The +amount had been invested by him in his mother's name in a certain +undertaking of which Lord Elstree was one of the managing directors, +subject, however, to six months' notice of withdrawal. Consequently, +even if he were to give notice immediately, half a year must elapse +before he should be in a position to carry out the plan as agreed upon +with his brother. One specially awkward feature of the affair was that +he was utterly at a loss what excuse to allege to Lord Elstree for the +withdrawal of the money, which his Lordship would doubtless look upon +as a somewhat extraordinary proceeding. It seemed to him that, in any +case, he would be under the necessity of telling a lie in the matter, +which was a thing he hated doing; but, even so, the lie must be a +feasible one, and, for the life of him, he could not think of one that +would "hold water." He smiled bitterly to himself to think that +matters had come to such a pass with him that he should have to keep +on puzzling his brain for hours over the invention of a plausible +falsehood. Had anyone told him six months before that such would be +the case, he would unhesitatingly have denounced the assertion in much +stronger language than he ordinarily made use of. + +As it fell out, however, he was saved from a hateful necessity by no +less a person than Lord Elstree himself. At their next interview, +which befell a few days later, his Lordship said: + +"By the way, Hazeldine, I think it just as well to inform you, in view +of the fact that you have a very considerable sum invested in the +affair, that I am by no means satisfied with the present policy and +management--mismanagement would be the proper term for it--of it. My +advice is no longer listened to by the Board; my representations are +pooh-poohed behind my back; and, in point of fact, I have good reason +for believing that the Corporation is slowly but surely drifting into +difficulties. In any case, I mean to sever my connection with the +concern as soon as possible, and I should advise you to do the same. +All this, of course, is strictly _entre nous_." + +"I am extremely grateful to your Lordship for your kindness in giving +me the hint"--and so, indeed, he felt himself to be. "I will send in a +notice of withdrawal by this evening's post." + +After that, his Lordship's talk drifted away to an entirely different +topic, but one which, as it happened, had for Edward an interest only +secondary to that of the previous one, and the first result of it was +a brief note, written and dispatched a couple of hours later. + + +"Dear Clem, + +"If possible, come and see me in the course of to-morrow. Yours, + + "E. H." + + +The following afternoon found Clement at the Brewery. + +Edward's first words were: "As regards the twelve thousand pounds, I +have already sent in the notice of withdrawal, but, as you are aware, +unless the fact has escaped your memory, I shall not receive a draft +for the amount till six months from the date of the notice." + +"There is no help for that, of course. After all, half a year is not a +long time to wait, and now that the first and most important step has +been taken, the rest will follow easily and in due course." + +"And now I've another item of news that will please you," said Edward. +"The position of chief bookkeeper at the Hollowdale Smelting Works +happens to be vacant. Lord Elstree is Chairman of the Company, and the +appointment rests with him. At my intercession he has agreed to offer +the post in question to John Brancker, whom he considers to have been +very shamefully treated by Mr. Avison. The salary will be a hundred +and eighty pounds a year to start with, and as the works are only a +dozen miles away, John will be able to go backward and forward morning +and evening by train--that is to say, provided he thinks the post +worthy of his acceptance." + +"I feel nearly sure that I can answer for John's acceptance of the +offer," said Clem, with sparkling eyes. "And then to think what a +weight it will lift off both your shoulders and mine!" + +John Brancker had replied to Mr. Hodgson's somewhat +peremptorily-worded note on the day following that of his return from +London. Miss Rivers, he told him, absolutely declined to break off her +engagement with Mr. Hazeldine, or even to consider the question at +all, unless the command to do so emanated from some one who was +legally entitled to control her actions until she should come of age. +In short, Mr. Hodgson must lift the veil which concealed her +parentage, and prove to her that there was someone still living who +had a right to her obedience, or to so much of it as could be looked +for by anyone who for seventeen years had neglected to put forward the +slightest claim thereto. It was a very outspoken letter, and John +meant it for such. He was heart and soul with the young people, and +totally opposed to their having their fate settled by someone as to +whose identity they knew no more than they did of that of the +proverbial man in the moon. + +But day passed after day without bringing any answer to John's letter. +Hermia shrugged her pretty shoulders, and said it was quite evident +that the information she had asked for was more than Mr. Hodgson was +prepared, or empowered, to furnish her with. Meanwhile she was quite +content to let matters go on as they were at present. + +John had not failed to tell his sister all that had passed at the +momentous interview between himself and Clement, and how he had +resolved to keep the true story of Mr. Hazeldine's death as a sacred +secret to be divulged to no one save her to whom he now told it. It +was a course which received the full approval of Aunt Charlotte. +However much her brother might have suffered in the past, and however +dark the prospect ahead might still be, to have revealed the dead +man's secret, which he had been at such terrible pains to hide from +everyone save his two sons, would have seemed to these worthy souls +almost as much an act of profanation as if they had rifled his grave. + +It was left to Clement to disclose to Hermia as much, or as little, +relating to the affair as he might deem advisable. With what he told +her, or what, in the exercise of a wise reticence, he omitted to tell +her, we have nothing here to do. + +And now came the offer from Lord Elstree. "At last--at last the sun is +breaking through the clouds," exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, with tears of +joy in her eyes when the news was told her. "What will the Ashdown +people think now, dear, when they find that his Lordship has taken you +by the hand?" she added. "There will be no more looking askance at you +in future, I'll warrant. Not one of them but will discover that he, or +she, was quite convinced from the first that you were an innocent man +who had been deeply wronged." + +To Frank Derison life seemed a somewhat tame affair after he had +broken off his engagement to Miss Rivers and had given his word to Mr. +Avison that the billiard table of the "Crown and Cushion" should see +him no more. Now that he had lost Hermia, he felt that he loved her +far more than he had ever loved her before. He could not get her image +out of his thoughts; her face haunted his dreams by night and came +between him and his work by day. He had not even the satisfaction of +knowing that he had made her unhappy. He might and did regret her, but +he had no proof that she regretted him. Evidently she had told him no +more than the truth, although he could not credit it at the time, when +she said in her letter that she should hail the rupture of their +engagement as a relief. The news of her engagement to Clement +Hazeldine had not failed to reach his ears--it had been no +hole-and-corner affair; more than once, in the pleasant spring +evenings, he saw them walking out together, and he ground his teeth +and raged inwardly as he watched them. + +Frank, however, was not without his compensations, although they were +of a kind which he was not the one to value as many in his place would +have done. He was made aware through his mother, who had her +information from the elder Mr. Avison, that he was rising slowly but +surely in his employer's estimation. It was Mrs. Derison's opinion, +and doubtless she had good reasons for giving expression to it, that +if only he were careful to keep on as he had begun, there was nothing +to hinder him from attaining in the course of a few years to a +partnership in the business. Ephraim Judd's death had been the means +of giving him another step upward and another increase of salary. +Already he stood next to Mr. Howes, who had succeeded Mr. Hazeldine as +managing clerk. + +Yet Frank no more liked his work at the Bank now than he had liked it +when a youth of sixteen, although that was a fact which he confided to +no one's ear but his mother's. He hated banking and everything +connected with it, save and except the drawing of his salary at the +close of each month. He was not without a certain amount of surface +cleverness, together with a degree of tact which had in it an element +of cunning; and by the aid of these, in combination with a frankly +audacious manner and a handsome presence, he contrived to throw dust +in the eyes of most people, and to pass for a much cleverer fellow +than he was. He was not brought much into personal contact with Mr. +Avison, who seemed, indeed, for reasons best known to himself, to keep +aloof from him of set purpose; and as to how far his shallow +pretensions to business ability were accurately gauged by Mr. Howes, +was best known by Mr. Howes himself. In any case, the new managing +clerk treated Frank with much consideration, not unmixed with a finely +shaded measure of deference; but it may have been that the astute old +official was not without his suspicions that Master Frank might one +day sit in the curule chair of authority at the Bank. + +Although Mrs. Derison had lived in Ashdown for several years she had +but few acquaintances and no intimates, consequently the virtue of +hospitality was one which she was rarely called upon to exercise. Now +and then one or two lady visitors of her own age would call and would +be invited to stay for tea, but that was all; while it was only on +rare occasions that she visited anywhere herself. Frank had, +therefore, every reason for feeling surprised when his mother said to +him one evening: + +"I want you to give up your bedroom for a few weeks, and change into +the back room. We are about to have a visitor." + +"Good gracious! mother. It must be somebody important, or you would +not want me to budge." + +"It is your half-cousin, Mildred Dixon. I have invited her to stay for +a month, and she has agreed to do so." + +"Wonders will never cease," said the mystified Frank. + +"You have not forgotten her I hope." + +"Not a bit of it, though it must be seven or eight years since I saw +her last. But what is your object in inviting her, if I may make so +bold as to ask?" + +"My object is that you should make love to her, propose to her, and +by-and-bye make her your wife." + +Frank stared aghast at his mother. "Have you taken leave of your +senses, _madre mia?_" he asked, after a pause. + +"I have no reason to think so, my son." + +"I marry Mildred Dixon! The notion is too utterly preposterous. In the +first place she's six years older than I am. Then she's awfully +freckled, and wears spectacles, and has a squat figure. I'd as soon +marry my grandmother, if the old lady were alive." + +"What have either her looks or her age to do with the affair? Miss +Dixon is both accomplished and amiable, and has, in addition, a +fortune of twenty thousand pounds." + +Frank bit his nails for a few moments as if deep in thought; then +looking up, he said: + +"Mother, this thing is not a suggestion of your own. I can pretty well +guess the quarter from whence it emanates." + +"And what then? Is not your welfare at the bottom of the scheme? +People at the head of a prosperous concern don't usually choose a +virtual beggar for their partner; but no one could call a man with +twenty thousand pounds at his back by any such title!" + +So that was how the wind lay! Frank felt that the golden shackles were +being riveted upon him one by one. He had thrown over--like the mean +cur he knew himself to be--the only girl he could ever really love, +and now he was called on to sell his freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +THE DOWNWARD PATH. A PROPOSAL. + + +Frank Derison looked forward to the arrival of his cousin with much +disfavor. Under any circumstances it would have seemed to him bad +enough that his future should be cut-and-dried for him as if he were +still a child in leading-strings, and that a bride should be thrust on +him without as much as a "by your leave," but, as the case stood, it +was rendered still more obnoxious by the fact that Fate had chosen for +him a wife for whom he could never feel even that tepid amount of +affection which seems to be found an amply sufficient capital in the +majority of matrimonial ventures. As a cousin Miss Dixon might be +everything one could wish, but as a wife he felt that before long he +should positively hate her. Frank's affections, fleeting and shallow +as they were, could only be captured by youth and good looks, and +unfortunately Miss Dixon could boast of neither. When he compared her +in his thoughts with sweet Hermia Rivers, and called to mind all that +he had flung away, his heart grew very bitter within him, and he often +felt that he would gladly cast behind him all his chances of worldly +advancement if, by so doing, he could bring back those pleasant +evenings of six months ago when he was a welcome visitant at Nairn +Cottage, and when Hermia ever greeted his coming with a smile, the +like of which for him the world did not hold. Oh, fool--fool that he +had been! + +But Frank was a man of many moods, and there were times when the cold +whispers of worldly prudence fell soothingly on his ear. Twenty +thousand pounds! It was a large sum, but, large as it was, it was only +intended by those who had taken his future into their charge as the +stepping-stone to something larger still. He was as fully assured as +if his mother had told him in so many words, that his marriage with +Miss Dixon was looked upon as a necessary condition, and that, unless +he acceded to it, he need look for no further advancement at the Bank. +The price demanded was a heavy one, or so it seemed to him. He knew +fully a dozen girls, any one of whom (his lingering love for Hermia +notwithstanding) he would willingly have married, even with half of +twenty thousand pounds for a dowry. But Mildred Dixon, with her six +years' seniority, her freckles, her spectacles, and her squat figure! +Poor Frank could not help feeling that fate was treating him very +hardly indeed. + +But there came a reprieve for him almost at the last moment. A couple +of days before Miss Dixon was due to arrive, Mrs. Derison received a +note from her in which she stated that, owing to her mother having +been suddenly attacked with illness, her visit would have to be +deferred. Frank's spirits rose as if by magic. + +"Her visit is only put off for a little while," said Mrs. Derison +coldly, as she refolded the note after reading it aloud. "Nothing is +altered." + +But a respite is a respite all the world over, and Frank's was one of +those mercurial natures which, while they are easily depressed, are +just as easily elated, and have no inclination to meet trouble half +way. He wished old Mrs. Dixon no harm; still, if her illness should +prove to be a lingering one, any profession of sorrow on his part +would be the merest hypocrisy. + +"You never seem to take into account the fact that Mildred might not +care to accept my humble and unworthy self as a partner for life," he +said, with a quizzical smile, to his mother. + +"Mildred is a sensible young woman, and knows what is expected of +her," was the only reply vouchsafed him. + +When Mr. Avison gave Frank plainly to understand that he must turn +over a fresh leaf, and cease frequenting the billiard-room of the +"Crown and Cushion," and such-like places, he at the same time +intimated to him that for some time past his movements after office +hours had been watched by a person who had been employed for that +purpose, and it was the fear lest this secret spy might still be +similarly engaged that kept his footsteps so straight from that time +forward. He had insensibly got into the habit of spending so many of +his spare hours in the billiard-room that he was at a loss how to get +through his evenings with satisfaction to himself now that he no +longer dared be seen there. Now that his fortunes at the Bank were +rising so rapidly, he began to have plenty of invitations to the +houses of well-to-do people, where he met a sufficiency of pleasant +society of both sexes, but where everything was conducted with an +amount of propriety and decorum which to Frank became at times +absolutely depressing. He hated negus and sandwiches, and having to +invent polite nothings for the benefit of a pack of scandal-loving +dowagers. He hated having to dance attendance on a crowd of girls, for +not one of whom he cared a jot. He was a man who loved men's society, +but men out of their evening clothes. He liked the freedom and abandon +of the smoking-room and the tavern parlor. His pipe was dear to him, +and already he had a taste for cold grog, which in the course of time +might develop into a confirmed habit. Thus it will be readily +understood that to Frank Derison, life of late had seemed a somewhat +tame affair. + +It was just about this time that he made the acquaintance of a young +fellow of his own age of the name of Crofts, who was in business with +his father as a solicitor at Dulminster. Mr. Crofts was engaged to an +Ashdown young lady, and used to go over two or three times a week to +see her, and enjoy himself generally at this party, or the other +dance. + +"Beastly poky little hole, Ashdown," said Mr. Crofts one evening, as +he and Frank were indulging in a cigarette in the balcony of a house +where they had happened to meet. "Dulminster is bad enough in all +conscience, but this place is a dozen times worse." + +"What can a fellow do when hard necessity ties one to it?" + +"What, indeed! You haven't even a club in the place, I presume?" + +"Not the ghost of one." + +"Why don't you join ours at Dulminster? Very small and select, and all +that. Say the word, and I'll propose you at the next meeting." + +"Awfully good of you, but this is the first word I've heard about it." + +"Why not run over by the five-thirty train on Friday next, and pick a +bit of dinner with me? We'll go on to the club afterwards, where I'll +introduce you to half a score 'Bons Frères'--that's what we call +ourselves--jolly good fellows one and all!" + +The invitation so frankly given was as frankly accepted. Frank was +introduced to the Club in due course, and was presently proposed and +elected. + +Mr. Crofts had spoken no more than the truth when he said that the +club was small and select. In point of fact it was neither more nor +less than a little coterie of gamblers. There were the usual reading, +smoking, and billiard-rooms, but the card-room was the real focus of +attraction. Frank, who like his father was a born gambler, entered +heartily into the thing, and before long got into the way of spending +three or four evenings a week at the "Bons Frères." The last train +between Dulminster and Ashdown left the former place a quarter of an +hour before midnight, but when Frank chanced to miss it--which he +usually did at least once a week--there was always a bed for him at +his friend's, while the eight o'clock morning train landed him at +Ashdown in ample time for business. + +It was scarcely to be expected that Frank should content himself with +a quiet pool at billiards, while such exciting games as baccarat and +unlimited loo were in progress in the next room. Accordingly his cue +was left to languish on the wall, and he turned his attention wholly +to that other board of green cloth which for him was by far the more +seductive of the two. Occasionally he rose from the table a winner, +but fortune frowned on him far oftener than she smiled. The fact was +that both by nature and disposition Frank was too rash and impulsive +to be evenly matched as against certain cool and cautious habitués of +the club--old hands who look upon the card-table as a regular source +of income, and never throw away a chance. But although he lost and +lost again, his ardor for play in nowise abated; rather, indeed, did +it seem to grow the fiercer with the gradual lightening of his +pockets. + +Mrs. Derison had always insisted on Frank's putting aside a certain +portion of his salary, month by month, in the Ashdown Savings' Bank, +and the amount thus laid by had by this time accumulated to something +like a hundred and fifty pounds. On this fund Frank now began to draw, +of course without his mother's knowledge, in order to enable him to +meet his losses at cards, Five or six weeks sufficed to make a big +hole in his small capital, but still, with the gambler's desperate +recklessness, he kept on his course, convinced from day to day that +"luck" must change in his favor, and fatuously failing to recognize +the fact that he was being quietly but effectually fleeced, and that +without any suspicion of cheating on their part, by men far cleverer +than himself. + + +Now that Edward Hazeldine, urged thereto by his brother, had resolved, +as far as in him lay, to annul the act of wrongdoing to which he had +unwillingly lent himself; now that an intolerable burden had been +lifted off his life and his self-respect had in some measure come back +to him, he resolved, at the earliest opportunity, to carry out his +long-cherished intention of proposing to Miss Winterton. By this time +the family at Seaham Lodge were back from Torquay, but Edward did not +feel that he should be justified in going over there specially and +asking for an interview with Miss Winterton. He must wait till he was +invited by his Lordship, and then make his opportunity as best he +could. As it fell out he had not long to wait. The Earl wanted to see +him on business matters, but being laid up with gout, could not leave +home, consequently Edward must go to the Lodge. It was further +intimated to him that her Ladyship would be pleased for him to stay +and dine. + +Having finished his business with the Earl in good time, Edward went +in search of Miss Winterton. There was a chance of securing a quarter +of an hour alone with her before dinner, but not much likelihood of +being able to do so later on. A servant directed him, and he found her +in the terrace garden. They had not met for nearly four months. + +Miss Winterton gave him her hand with a smile, but seemed so entirely +unembarrassed that he could not flatter himself with the idea that she +had the least suspicion as to the nature of the errand which had +caused him to seek her out. That, however, in nowise served to turn +him from his purpose; and after a little talk on ordinary topics which +helped, as it were, to break the ice between them, he plunged at once +into the subject which just then was paramount with him. He began his +declaration in manly if somewhat commonplace terms, but had not +proceeded far before the stream of his eloquence was arrested by Miss +Winterton placing one of her hands on his sleeve with a gesture which +he could not mistake. + +"Before you say a word more, Mr. Hazeldine, permit me to ask you one +question," she said, speaking with perfect quietude and without a +trace of irritation or annoyance. "Are you, or are you not, aware that +your father was not murdered, as everyone was led to believe, but +that, in point of fact, he put an end to his own existence? Because if +you are aware of it, do you think, taking all the circumstances of the +case into consideration, that, as an honorable man, you are justified +in asking me to become your wife?" + +Had the ground opened at Edward Hazeldine's feet he could not have +been more startled and astounded. He knew not what to say, where to +look, what to do. Had his carefully-guarded secret, which he had +flattered himself was known but to four people, or, at the outside, to +five, become public property? If not, how had Miss Winterton become +possessed of it? But these were vain questions, and what he had now to +consider was the answer it behoved him to give to Miss Winterton. A +moment later he had made up his mind. There should be no more +double-dealing, or fencing with the truth on his part; he had +suffered enough from that sort of thing already. + +"Yes, I am aware of it," he said, with the desperate calmness of a man +who finds himself in a position from which he sees no way of escape. +"I have known it from the first. But I am a moral coward, Miss +Winterton, and the consequences of telling the world what I knew would +have been so grievous to me and mine that I had not the courage to +avow the truth. You are right. I had no justification in speaking to +you as I did. I can only crave your forgiveness for my offence, and +assure you that you need have no fear of a repetition of it." + +He raised his hat, made a more profound bow than ever he had made in +his life, and then turning on his heel, he strode slowly back towards +the house. + +On previous occasions when he had dined at the Lodge it had nearly +always been his lot to take down Miss Winterton, but to-day it was a +relief to him to find himself relegated to Mrs. Wiggins, the wife of +the family lawyer, to whom he paid as much attention during the +progress of the meal as the somewhat confused State of his faculties +would allow of his doing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +CLEMENT'S QUEST. + + +It was only natural that Hermia's thoughts, since "Uncle John" had +revealed to her the story of her adoption, should revert times without +number to the mystery which enshrouded her birth and early years, +challenging it first from one point of view and then from another, but +only to give it up at last baffled and disheartened, and still, to all +seeming, no nearer than before to finding the hidden key. More and +more the possibility that she might still have a mother living became +a dominant factor in her thoughts. Might there not have been a score +of different reasons, she asked herself, why this mother should have +been compelled to put her child out among strangers? And might not the +same or other reasons still have force enough to keep her from +acknowledging her daughter, or even allowing the fact of her own +existence to become known? The more Hermia allowed her mind to dwell +on the image thus conjured up the more clearly did it--unconsciously +to the girl herself--assume by degrees an objective existence in her +thoughts, till at length it needed but little to induce her to +persuade herself that this mysterious parent was a being as real and +tangible as any of those she saw around her. It was strange, she +sometimes thought, that never had she yearned so much for a mother's +love as now, when that other love, so sweet and yet so widely +different, had taken her heart captive and held it beyond all power of +ransom. + +Something of this Hermia confided to Clement in their many walks and +talks together--something, but not all, for in a maiden's heart there +are sacred chambers, the threshold of which, not even to her lover, is +it given to cross. But much of what she did not tell Clement, love's +fine intuition enabled him to divine. For one thing, he could see that +Hermia, without attaching paramount importance to the interdiction +which had been laid upon her, could not help secretly chafing under +it; as also that, in her own despite, the longing to unmask the secret +of her birth was becoming more importunate day by day. Thus it fell +out that, after a little while, Clement began to formulate a certain +scheme in his mind, and when once he saw his way clear, proceeded with +characteristic energy to arrange the preliminary steps for carrying it +out. + +On a certain spring evening, when our two young people were alone +together, Clem said abruptly, and _apropos_ to nothing which had gone +before, "I don't think, dearest, that if you were to try till +to-morrow you could guess what I am going to do next week." + +"In that case it would be foolish of me to try. But, of course, you +will experience a little sense of injury if, after this preliminary +flourish on your part, I omit to ask you what it is that you purpose +doing." + +"On Tuesday next I shall leave home for a fortnight's holiday." + +"Oh!" a little dubiously. "I was not aware that you are out of +health--you don't look it--and if you are fagged or worried with +overwork, you have kept your secret very carefully." + +Clem tugged at his moustache and broke into a laugh. + +"I was never better in my life than at this moment; and as for +overwork, if I had fifty more patients on my hands than I have, you +would not hear a murmur of complaint." + +"But what about such patients as you have on your hands? Are you going +to give them a chance of recovering while you are away?" + +"Not likely; that would never do. A friend of mine, Vallance by name, +who happens just now to be on the lookout for a practice of his own, +has offered to come and physic them during my absence." + +"Well, I hope you will have fine weather and enjoy yourself, although +the majority of people, who, of course, don't know better, generally +defer their holidays till July or August." + +"I am quite aware that you are dying to ask me my reasons for going +away at this time of year, only your pride won't let you do so." + +"The self-conceit of some people is truly amazing. I curious to know +your reasons! What next, pray?" + +"In any case, I'll take pity on you and tell you. Know, then, dearest, +that the first aim and object which I have set before me is to hunt up +that estimable but unaccountable person, Mr. Hodgson." + +"To hunt up Mr. Hodgson?" gasped Hermia. "But for what purpose? What +will you gain by doing that?" + +"Whether I shall gain anything or nothing time alone can tell. In any +case, when I have found him, I intend--metaphorically speaking--to +grip him by the throat, and bid him stand and deliver. In other words, +I mean to see what a personal interview will do towards wresting from +him that secret--or, if not the secret itself, some clue to it, +however faint--which I know you, my dear one, are so anxiously longing +to fathom." + +Hermia did not speak, but her eyes flushed with tears. + +"It is quite possible that the old boy, when I tell him who I am, may +refuse point-blank to discuss the matter with me. In that event I +can't say what I shall do, or what course may seem best for me to +follow. But the first thing to do is to find Mr. H. and tackle him." + +"My poor boy!" replied Hermia, with a pitying smile. "You seem to have +forgotten one important fact, which is, that none of us, not even +Uncle John himself, is acquainted with Mr. Hodgson's address, or has +the remotest notion where to find him. Uncle's letter in reply to his +was simply addressed to the care of a certain firm of solicitors in +London. Of course, it is open to you to go to the firm in question, +and ask them to oblige you with Mr. Hodgson's address; but is it not +rather doubtful whether they would comply with your request?" + +"Very doubtful, indeed," responded Clem, dryly. "So much so, that I +don't think I shall trouble myself to go near them. I've a better plan +than that for arriving at what I want to know." + +Speaking thus he unbuttoned his coat, and from the breast-pocket drew +forth an unsealed envelope, from which he proceeded to extract a small +square of drawing-board, and then handed it to Hermia. On it was a +pen-and-ink sketch of a man's head in profile. + +An exclamation of surprise broke from Hermia the moment she set eyes +on it. + +"Why, it is Mr. Hodgson to the life!" she cried. "Aquiline nose, high +stock, pointed collar and spectacles--the very man himself! How did +this come into your possession, dear?" + +"There's a pretty question to ask! I did think you would have +recognized my handiwork." + +"Yours? You clever darling! Of course, I have known for a long +time--which means for a few months--that you can draw and paint--a +little; but I did not know that you could hit anyone off in this sort +of way." + +"In the case of old Hodgson, you have only to draw his nose and chin +in outline, and you have the man himself." + +"But I had not the least idea that you had ever seen Mr. Hodgson." + +"Neither had I, till the occasion of his last visit. You told me when +he was expected, and I made it my business to look out for him and +have a good stare at him. The moment I got back home I sat down and +made the sketch I have just shown you." + +"The likeness is unmistakable; but I fail to see of what use it will +be in enabling you to trace the original." + +"As soon as I had finished my sketch I hurried off to the railway +station and sought out the station-master, to whom I am well known, +through having attended his wife last winter when she was ill. Handing +him the sketch I said, 'The original of this will leave here by train +in the course of a few hours from now. I want you to ascertain for me +to what station he books himself.' In the course of the evening I made +a point of seeing the station-master again. 'The old gentleman with +the remarkable nose,' he told me, 'had in his possession the second +half of a return ticket between Stavering and Ashdown, of which one of +my men had collected the first half earlier in the day.' Inquiry on my +part, my geographical knowledge being at fault, elicited the +information that Stavering is a small country town on the borders of +Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Having thus got firm hold of what I may call +link number one, I need scarcely inform so perspicacious a young +person as yourself that the first step in the voyage of discovery I +purpose taking will be to book myself to Stavering, and, once +there--as they say in boys' story-books--set to work to track the +miscreant to his lair." + +"It seems to me that you are a dreadfully artful creature, far more +so, in fact, than I had any idea of," said Hermia, with a little toss +of her head; "but I daresay if you were to fail as a doctor, you might +perhaps find a situation on the detective force." But even while her +tongue was thus gently flouting him, her eyes were speaking a +different language, and one which by this time--so assiduous had been +his studies--Clem had learned to read like a book. + +A few more days sufficed to complete Clem's preparations. Titus +Vallance came down from London, and was duly installed as his _locum +tenens_. Neither to his brother nor to John Brancker did he afford the +faintest hint that any object other than the need for change and rest +was taking him from home. + +Next morning he set out for the North. By the last post of the +following day a letter from him reached Hermia. She was surprised and +delighted, not having expected one till next morning. She hurried to +her room, broke the seal, and kissed the enclosure again and again +before reading a single word. + +After a few lines devoted to those sweet nothings which lovers delight +in when they write to each other, the letter went on as follows: + + +"And now, dear, prepare yourself for what will be to you both a +surprise and a disappointment. Mr. Hodgson is dead! + +"It was late yesterday afternoon when I reached Stavering. It is a +town of but a few thousand inhabitants, and on inquiry I was told that +the one good hotel in the place is the 'King's Arms.' As you will see +by the heading of this letter, it is from there that I am now writing +to you. + +"By the time I had done dinner it was nearly dark, and it would +evidently have been useless to set about anything till the morrow. +While turning matters over in my mind, with no company but my cigar, +it struck me that it might not be a bad plan to put a few questions to +the landlord of the hotel. If Mr. Hodgson were at all known in the +town he would be pretty sure to be in a position to supply me with his +address and perhaps, also, to give me some further information about +him, which might or might not prove of service to me. + +"Accordingly, after breakfast this morning, I sought an interview with +mine host--a chatty, communicative middle-aged man, who has lived in +Stavering nearly all his life. It was from him I learned the fact of +Mr. Hodgson's demise; but, in order to make sure that his Mr. Hodgson +was the same as ours, I showed him my pen-and-ink sketch, which I had +taken care to bring with me. He recognized the likeness in a moment. + +"It would appear that Mr. Hodgson was a man of high standing in his +profession, and the legal adviser to a number of the first families in +Stavering and its neighborhood. Further inquiry elicited the +information that he died within a week of the date of his last visit +to Ashdown, which may possibly serve to account for the fact that Mr. +Brancker's letter to him has remained unanswered. Mr. Hodgson had no +partner in his business, nor, so far as is known to my landlord, has +anyone been appointed as his successor. + +"I must confess that I am taken very considerably aback by what has +just been told me, and that for the present I am altogether nonplussed +as to what my next step ought to be. However, I do not despair. +Difficulties are made to be encountered and, if possible, overcome. In +any case, I will write you again in the course of to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +CORRESPONDENCE. + + +_From Clement Hazeldine to Hermia Rivers_. + +"In the course of our many talks together, you have more than once +confided to me certain details of your earliest impressions and +recollections. What I now want you to do is, to shut your eyes and go +back in memory to those early days, and then to write down in detail, +and with careful minuteness, everything you can call to mind about +your childhood previously to your adoption by Uncle John and Aunt +Charlotte. I am afraid that all you can tell me will amount to very +little, but I want the information in question for a certain purpose, +about which I may have more to tell you by-and-bye. Meanwhile, I shall +await your reply with as much patience--or as little--as Providence +has seen fit to endow me with." + + +_From Hermia Rivers to Clement Hazeldine_. + +"You are quite right in your assumption that anything I may be able to +tell you of my earliest recollections will amount to very little. +Until I heard from Uncle John the story of his adoption of me, I had +no absolute knowledge of any existence apart from, or prior to, my +life with him and Aunt Charlotte. It is true that I seemed to remember +certain people and certain incidents with whom or which uncle and aunt +seemed to be in no way mixed up, although there was nothing to prove +to me that I was not living under uncle's roof at the time to which +they referred. Indeed, so shadowy were they that at times there came +over me a doubt as to whether they had any basis of fact whatever; and +in any case they lived in my recollections as so many faded pictures, +which each year that passed tended to render dimmer and more +indistinct; and there is little question that had it not been for what +Uncle John told me they would by-and-bye have vanished utterly from my +memory. + +"Uncle John, as you are aware, had no information to give me beyond +the fact that, after he had arranged to adopt me, I was taken to his +house one evening after dark by a respectable-looking, middle-aged +woman, who, judging from her appearance, might be the wife of a +well-to-do mechanic. Uncle asked no questions and the woman proffered +no statement. She was not more than five minutes in the house, and he +never saw her again. + +"Well, Uncle John's statement threw me back upon myself, so to speak. +Again and again I went over my confused and half-forgotten +recollections, striving to piece them together, and bring them into +clearer relief, but to very little purpose, I'm afraid. However, I +will now proceed to sketch for you in outline the three incidents, if +I may term them such, which stand out most definitely in my memory as +evidently pertaining to a time which I now know must have been +anterior to that of my adoption. + +"Incident the first. I see myself, as a very little girl, seated in a +shut-up carriage in company with a man and a woman, neither of whose +faces I can bring to mind. I am hugging to my breast a gaily-dressed +doll as my dearest earthly treasure. It is a gloomy evening, and the +rain is falling fast. I seem to have been in the carriage a long time, +jolting over the dreary country roads, but as to where I came from and +how I happened to be there at all, I can remember nothing whatever. +Then I seem to wake up from sleep, roused by the sudden stoppage of +the carriage, and, looking out, I see someone open two large iron +gates, which swing slowly back on their hinges. But what takes my +childish attention more than anything else is the fact that on the top +of one of the supporting pillars--I can only see one from where I +sit--there is fixed a strange-looking animal carved in stone, as it +might be a griffin, or a dragon, holding a shield between its paws. +But one half of the shield and one of the creature's paws are broken +away and missing, and I remember thinking how strangely forlorn it +looked in its maimed condition, and how the rain-drops, trickling from +the end of its nose, seemed like tears, so that I felt quite to pity +the poor thing. + +"After that comes a blank. + +"In the next scene of which I retain anything like a clear +recollection--although how long a time elapsed between it and the +preceding one I am unable to say--I am in a gloomy panelled room, the +two high, narrow windows of which look out upon a small, semi-circular +lawn shut in by a tall hedge. A case-clock in one corner ticks slowly +and solemnly. Against the wall on one side of the room stands a tall +bureau of black oak carved with fruit and quaint figures. There is a +large open fireplace, in which a few embers glow faintly red. On two +high, straight-backed chairs sit two angular, straight-backed ladies; +both elderly, both with long, thin faces, both having the same cold, +unsympathetic eyes and the same frozen expression, and so much alike +generally, that I can only now conclude they must have been sisters. +As I stand before them in my white frock and bronze shoes, with my +hands behind my back, I glance timidly from one to the other. They are +talking about me in a language I don't understand; but all the same, I +am quite aware that I am the subject of their conversation. It is +growing dusk, and presently a man--the same, I fancy, that was with me +in the carriage--brings in two lighted candles in silver candlesticks +on a silver tray, and sets them down on the table between the two +ladies. Then one of the ladies takes up the snuffers--also of +silver--and solemnly extinguishes one of the candles. Somehow, I have +an impression, how or whence derived I am quite at a loss to know, +that it is a nightly custom for the manservant to bring in two lighted +candles, and for one of them to be at once put out. + +"The manservant, having raked together the dying embers in the grate, +is on the point of leaving the room, when the same lady who had put +out the candle holds up her hand, covered with a black lace mitten, to +arrest him. 'You may take her away,' she says, evidently alluding to +me. 'I have no wish ever to see her again.' With that, the man leads +me by the hand from the room, and with the shutting of the door +everything becomes a blank again. + +"Next I am in bed, where I am awakened by a kiss on my forehead. I +open two sleepy eyes, to see for a moment a tall figure in white +stealing from the room with a night-light in her hand. I do not see +her face, but something tells me it is one of the two ladies whom I +saw in the panelled room, but not the one who ordered me to be taken +away. + +"Such, dear Clement, are the particulars of three scenes which live +more vividly in my memory than any others of a date prior to my +passing into the charge of Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte. I fail to +see how they can prove of the slightest service to you in the quest +you have undertaken for the sake of one who can but wish herself more +worthy of so much love and devotion." + + +_Clement Hazeldine to Hermia Rivers_. + +"You were altogether wrong, dearest, in assuming that the particulars +which I received from you three days ago would prove of no service to +me, as shall now be demonstrated to you. + +"All along--that is to say, from the time I became aware that Mr. +Hodgson had been practising in Stavering for considerably more than a +quarter of a century--the probability has seemed to me that the person +or persons who employed him as their agent in your case would be +found, if found at all, no great distance away from this place. In any +case, and more especially after the receipt of your letter, I +determined to make Stavering the centre of a systematic process of +search and inquiry, which I at once proceeded to put in execution. +'But a search for what?' I seem to hear you asking. You shall now be +told. + +"The first thing I did was to hire a dog-cart, and in addition secure +the services of a driver who knew every road and lane for a dozen +miles round Stavering. Thus equipped, I began my quest. The object I +set before me first of all was to find a pair of old-fashioned lodge +gates, one of the pillars of which was surmounted by a griffin +rampant, or other heraldic monstrosity, supporting a broken shield, +but minus one of its paws. For two days I scoured the country roads +and byeways, but to no purpose. Plenty of lodge gates I saw, +surmounted, some of them, by one or another design in stone or stucco, +but nowhere the particular one I was in search of. This morning, +however, I was more fortunate. + +"My driver had taken a road which we had not explored before. We had +not gone more than three miles when we came to a pair of lodge gates +of wrought iron, which drew my attention by their ruinous and +neglected condition. The driver stopped at my request and I alighted +in order to examine them more closely. The gates themselves, which +were of an intricate and finely-wrought pattern, and must at one time +have been very beautiful, were now thickly rusted and filthy with the +grime of years, and having fallen forward a little, hung loosely +together as though they were trying to support each other in their +hour of misfortune. The padlock and chain which fastened them seemed +to indicate that they were rarely, if ever, opened. Close by, however, +there was an arched entrance in the wall, evidently intended for +pedestrians, with a rude, unpainted door which formed a fitting +complement to the rusted gates. No figure of any kind crowned the +square freestone pillars on which the gates were hung, yet they seemed +to me to have a bare and unfinished aspect, as though they lacked some +crowning adornment. + +"Pushing open the rude door, which yielded to my hand, I entered +the park. Inside were the remains of what had at one time been a +two-storied lodge, which was now little more than the skeleton of a +house, with huge gaps in its roof and a great part of its flooring +gone, and scarcely a whole pane in its window-frames. Unsightly weeds +and great prickly brambles grew all about, and, in short, the whole +scene was one of melancholy neglect and decay. Stepping backward a +pace or two, while wondering whether it would be worth my while to +sketch the ruined lodge and its surroundings, I caught my foot against +some hard substance in the rank grass, and with difficulty saved +myself from falling. On looking down to ascertain the nature of the +obstruction, my eyes caught sight of something which, as the saying +goes, brought my heart into my mouth. There, half-buried among the +docks and weeds, lay the identical object I had been at such pains to +find--your mutilated griffin to wit, with its broken shield. How it +had come there mattered nothing, but only that it was there. I drew a +long breath, feeling little doubt that I had now in my hands the +second link of the chain of which the first had been the tracing of +Mr. Hodgson. Where shall I find the third? + +"The poor griffin, or whatever it may have been intended to represent, +was lying on its side and looking very forlorn and dirty indeed. The +first thing I did was to raise it into an upright position, then, with +my pocket-knife, I partially cleared a small space around it of weeds +and grass, and then I proceeded to make a sketch of it. That sketch I +now send you for the purpose of verification. It seems to me most +unlikely that there should have been two mutilated griffins and two +broken shields; still, that such may have been the case is by no means +impossible. But be that as it may, do not fail to drop me a line by +return post and let me know whether you recognize the creature as +being anything like the one seen by you that day out of the carriage +window while waiting for the opening of the park gates. + +"As soon as I got back to the dog-cart I began to question the driver, +but all I could elicit from him was that the name of the mansion +inside the park, of which, however, nothing could be seen from the +lodge, is Broome, and that its sole inmate, with the exception of a +few domestics, is a certain Miss Pengarvon, a lady well advanced in +years, whom the fellow described in terse but caustic terms, as being +'a reg'lar old varmint, and no mistake.' + +"To-morrow I shall prosecute my inquiries with regard to the aforesaid +Miss Pengarvon." + + +_Hermia Rivers to Clement Hazeldine_. + +"The sketch you have sent me is an exact counterpart of the sculptured +creature seen by me so many years ago. The sight of it has brought +back the whole scene to my memory as freshly as if it belonged to +yesterday." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +THE QUEST CONTINUED. + + +_From Clement Hazeldine to Hermia Rivers_. + +"Having written and posted my last letter to you, I lost no time in +asking Mr. Gruding, the landlord of the hotel where I am staying, to +again favor me with his company for a short time. It was from him I +had obtained my information about Mr. Hodgson, and it seemed not +unlikely that he might be able to supply me with some particulars +anent Miss Pengarvon, of Broome. + +"Nor was I mistaken. Gruding had much that was interesting to tell me +in answer to the questions I put to him; all of which shall be re-told +you fully when next we meet. + +"The interview with my landlord took place on Saturday. Having decided +upon seeing Miss Pengarvon for myself, I made my way yesterday morning +to the church she is in the habit of attending, which is situated on +the outskirts of the village of Dritton, and within half-a-mile of the +Hall; and there, in a square, old-fashioned pew, shut up by herself in +isolated dignity, sat the last living representative of the old +family. + +"I was fortunate enough to be so placed as to have a good view of Miss +Pengarvon during the progress of the service, and I took care to be +standing close to the porch when she emerged from the church. She was +followed by an old serving man, who limped somewhat, and who carried +his mistress's capacious umbrella and large-print prayer-book. + +"Enclosed is a sketch-likeness of Miss Pengarvon, elaborated from a +rougher sketch which I made seated on a tombstone, as soon as the +congregation had dispersed and I was left alone. + +"Now I want you, dearest, to tell me whether you can detect in the +sketch any resemblance to either of the two ladies whom you saw that +evening in the oak-panelled room, as described by you in your last +letter but one." + + +_Hermia Rivers to Clement Hazeldine_. + +"Without committing myself to a positive statement, I can safely say +that the sketch of Miss Pengarvon, which I received from you this +morning, bears a marked resemblance to the face of the elder of the +two sisters--if sisters they were--as stored up in my memory all these +years. More than that it would not be safe for me to say." + +If Clem had been troubled by any faint doubts before as to whether he +was on the right track, the receipt of Hermia's last note would have +served to finally dissipate them. Being satisfied so far, he was at +once faced by the question, what ought his next step to be? It was a +question hard to answer, because it seemed to him that beyond the +point at which he had now arrived he had no sure ground to go upon. + +As far as he had gone each step he had taken had pointed the way to +the next; but he now found himself, as it were, confronted by a dead +wall. Despite all he had discovered so far, he felt that he had no +sufficient basis of facts to warrant him in going to Miss Pengarvon. +What, indeed, could he say to her if he sought and obtained an +interview? He would simply be showing his hand prematurely, with the +result, in all likelihood, of defeating the very object he had in +view. + +But although he could not see his way to call upon the mistress of +Broome, Clement was by no means minded to give up his quest at the +point to which he had now brought it, and admit his inability to push +it to a further issue. Somewhere in the dark must be hidden another +link of the chain, if only he knew in which direction to put forth his +hands and grope for it. + +Two or three days passed without bringing him any suggestion that +seemed worth following up. Then, on the third forenoon, as he stood +leaning over a gate in a country lane, staring at nothing in +particular in a somewhat disconsolate mood, he said to himself: +"Perhaps if I could obtain access to the old Hall, and were allowed to +go over it, I might chance to light on something which would furnish +me with a hint or a clue to that which I am so anxious to find out." +The course in question seemed such an obvious one that he was +surprised it had failed to suggest itself to him before. + +As soon as he got back to the hotel he sought another interview with +his landlord, who opened his eyes to their fullest extent when told +his guest's object in sending for him. He, Gruding, had never heard of +anybody who wanted to go over Broome. It wasn't a show place, and, as +far as he knew, there was nothing in it worth seeing. But granting +that anyone should want to go over it, he didn't for a moment suppose +that Miss Pengarvon would allow them to do so. Still, he might be +wrong. He had reason to believe that his barmaid's brother was engaged +to a young woman who was in service at Broome, and there was no doubt +the young fellow in question could easily get to know through his +sweetheart whether there was any likelihood of a stranger being +allowed to explore the interior of the Hall. + +At Clement's request a message was sent to Mark Finch--that being the +young fellow's name--asking him to call upon Doctor Hazeldine at the +"King's Arms" as soon as his day's work was over. In due course he +made his appearance, and great was his astonishment when told what he +was wanted for. Like the landlord, he had never heard of anybody who +was anxious to explore the old mansion; nor did he believe they would +be allowed to do so. However he would ask his sweetheart, Lucy Grice, +whom he was going to meet that evening, and would let the gentleman +know her opinion in the matter by breakfast-time next morning. + +Lucy's opinion proved to be merely a confirmation of those already +enunciated by Gruding and Mark Finch, except that it was expressed in +still more emphatic terms. Anybody, she said, who was acquainted with +Miss Pengarvon would know quite well that on no account whatever would +that lady allow a stranger, who could allege the gratification of an +idle curiosity as his only motive for wanting to do so, to set foot +across the threshold of Broome. Many people in Clem's place would have +given up the point as hopeless; but he was composed of more stubborn +stuff. Mark Finch was told to come again in the evening, when he would +have time for a long talk with Dr. Hazeldine. + +Into the details of the conversation that passed between the two it is +not needful that we should enter. Mark and Lucy, it seemed, were +desirous of getting married, and were saving up towards housekeeping +with that end in view. Towards the fund thus being accumulated Clem +offered to contribute five pounds, on condition that Lucy, unknown to +the other inmates, should admit him to the Hall, and show him over +that part of it which was shut up and unoccupied. The girl would be at +his heels the whole time he was inside the house, and would be able to +watch his every movement; while, finally, he engaged that an hour and +a half at most should elapse between the time of his entering the +house and leaving it. + +The temptation proved too strong for the lovers to resist. Lucy +foresaw no difficulty in carrying out her part of the scheme. Once a +month her uncle, Barney Dale, went to Marrowfield, as he had done for +the last quarter of a century, to dispose of the work of his +mistress's needle. Three days hence was his time for going, and Dr. +Hazeldine's exploration must take place while he was away. Breakfast +would be over, and Miss Pengarvon, intent on her work in the Green +Parlor, would hear nothing. As a further safeguard, however, it might +be as well if the young doctor were to wear a pair of list slippers +over his boots. + +As it was arranged so it was carried out. Clement was surreptitiously +admitted at the side entrance about half-an-hour after Barney had +taken his departure. Under the guidance of the girl he tramped +upstairs and down in his list slippers, passing from one unused room +to another, having here a shutter opened for him, so as to let in a +modified daylight, and there a blind partly drawn up. Many of the +rooms were entirely denuded of furniture, while in others what there +was of it was sheeted up in brown holland. Everywhere the dust lay +thick and heavy; the clouded mirrors could but reflect the ghosts, as +it were, of the young man and the girl as they passed in front of +them. Nearly every corner was festooned with huge cobwebs; behind the +wainscoting the mice squeaked and scampered; everything was touched by +the mouldering finger of decay. When Clement and his guide spoke to +each other it was as people speak in the chamber of death. + +Last of all they came to the picture-gallery, where hung some score or +more portraits of dead and gone Pengarvons. A lozenge-paned oriel +window at one end, the upper half of which was filled with painted +glass, suffused the gallery with a faintly-tinted half-light, which +seemed fitly to accord with the place and the throng of dumbly-staring +effigies on its walls. Clem walked up to the oriel and gazed out into +the grounds, while Lucy proceeded to open the shutters of two of the +long windows which fronted the portraits. Presently Clem's eyes came +back to the window, and to a recognition of the fact that sundry names +and initials had been scratched with a diamond here and there on its +panes. Among them he found one which sent a sudden rush of blood to +his heart the moment his eyes lighted on it. Surmounted by a true +lover's knot, and with the date 1649 below, were the two names "Hermia +Moray" and "Rupert Pengarvon." Here was proof positive of one +thing--that "Hermia" was a name not unknown in the Pengarvon annals +upwards of two centuries ago. Clem felt that this discovery alone +amply rewarded him for his exploration of the Hall. Presently he +turned to examine the portraits. One after another his gaze took them +in till the series was exhausted. They comprised both sexes, and some +of the oldest of them, judging from their costumes, seemed to date +back to the time of the First or Second Charles, but apparently none +were more modern than the first decade of the present century. Then +Clement went back to one of the portraits, and stood gazing at it in +silence for a long time. It was the likeness of a girl of nineteen or +twenty, wearing a short-waisted white robe, a broad blue sash, and a +wide-brimmed hat with sweeping plumes over an elaborate arrangement of +curls and loosely-coiled tresses. Taken simply as a work of art, it +was the gem of the gallery, and Clem at once set it down as being from +the brush of either Lawrence or Sir Joshua. But what struck him more +than aught else was the strange, haunting likeness it bore to Hermia. +Not merely was it that the eyes and hair of one and the other +approximated closely in color, and that the features of both might +almost have been cast in the same mould, there was an indescribable +something, a sort of spiritual likeness, so to call it, which brought +them into closer affinity than any mere similarity of physical +attributes would have served to do. Long and earnestly did Clement +gaze at the beautiful face with its hovering smile, and its fathomless +violet eyes which seemed as if they were reading his inmost thoughts. +Lucy, when questioned, could tell him nothing about the original. She +had only been in the gallery once before, and felt anything but +comfortable with all those staring eyes following her every movement. +But it would not do to linger there forever. Clem had brought +sketching materials with him in readiness for any emergency that might +arise, and he now proceeded, with a few bold, swift touches, to secure +the salient points of the likeness which had for him an interest far +exceeding that of all the other portraits put together. + +He left Stavering by the afternoon train that same day, and a few +hours later was back at home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. +ANOTHER LINK. + + +But Clement Hazeldine's business at Stavering was by no means at an +end. A certain purpose, the outcome of his visit to Broome, had taken +him back to Ashdown; but that accomplished to his satisfaction, which +it was in the course of a few days, he lost no time in returning to +the scene of his further operations. + +Among other information for which he was indebted to Lucy Grice, he +had learned that her uncle, Barney Dale, was in the habit of spending +a couple of hours, two or three evenings a week, in the bar-parlor of +the "Chequers" Inn at Dritton, where he smoked his pipe and imbibed +his tankard of ale in the company of sundry cronies whose tastes in +that respect were similar to his own. On inquiry, Clem found that they +had one spare bed at the "Chequers," which he at once engaged, and +there he proceeded to take up his quarters, leaving his portmanteau, +however, in his old lodging at Stavering. Dritton was a tiny hamlet of +some three or four hundred inhabitants, and as there were more than +one good trout stream in the neighborhood, Clem, who had brought his +rod and tackle with him, passed for a disciple of the gentle craft, +and was welcomed as such among the frequenters of the bar-parlor. The +advent of a stranger who was in no way "stuck-up," and not above +hobnobbing with one or another of them, made a pleasant break in the +monotony of their meetings, and freshened up their provincial wits for +the time in a way which surprised no one more than themselves. + +But it was to Barney Dale that Clem paid the most assiduous court, so +contriving matters as to occupy the seat next his, and to engage him +in talk about such subjects as the old man was likely to take an +interest in. He soon found that under a somewhat crabbed and +forbidding exterior, Barney hid a personality at once quaint and +kindly, and, in some respects, of an almost childlike simplicity. On +more than one occasion, as they sat side by side, Clem tried to bring +the conversation round to Broome and its mistress; but Barney became +at once so stolidly dull, and was so evidently disinclined to touch on +the subject in any way, that, for fear of rendering him suspicious as +to his ulterior motives, he felt it best to lead back the talk into +other and less personal channels. + +It was Clem's object to take the old man unawares, in the hope that, +in the first moment of surprise, he might unwittingly let fall some +exclamation or remark which would help to indicate the direction in +which his next step should be taken. + +On a certain evening, after he had been about a week at the +"Chequers," Clem was lounging purposely at the door when Barney, with +the help of his stout blackthorn, came limping slowly up. After +greetings had passed, Clem said: + +"Just come into this room for a moment, Mr. Dale. I have something I +want to show you." + +With that he opened the door of a side room, and, Barney followed him +in. Having shut the door and turned up the gas, Clem took from the +table a "tinted" cabinet-size photograph, and placed it in the old +man's hands. It was Hermia's portrait, which he had that morning +received from an Ashdown photographer. In it she was represented in a +short-waisted white robe, a blue sash, and a grey, broad-brimmed hat +with a feather of the same color; while, under her lover's directions, +her chestnut locks had been arranged after a fashion to which they had +never had to submit before, and in all probability never would again. + +"Put on your glasses, Mr. Dale," said Clem, "and look at this, and +tell me whether you recognize it as the likeness of anyone you have +ever seen or known." + +Putting down the photograph for a moment till he had got his +spectacles astride his nose, Barney took it up again, and moving +closer under the gaslight, brought his eyes to bear upon it. After +staring at it for a full half-minute, his hands began to tremble, and +he turned on Clem a face that was working with suppressed emotion. + +"Whose likeness is this?" he demanded, hoarsely. + +"Do you not recognize it as a photograph of a certain picture in the +gallery at Broome, with which you are doubtless well acquainted?" + +Again the old man turned his gaze on the portrait. "Aye, aye, to be +sure, I know it now," he said; and yet there was an echo of doubt in +his tone. "It's a likeness of Miss Elinor Pengarvon, who lived eighty +or ninety years syne, and was engaged to Lord Doverley, but died a +week afore her wedding-day. I mind me of the picture well. But--but +how did you come by it?" he added glowering at the other with eyes +which had suddenly become charged with a sort of fierce suspicion. + +"It is time to undeceive you," said Clement. "The likeness in your +hands is not that of the Elinor Pengarvon of ninety years ago, but of +another young lady who is alive and well at this moment. It is the +portrait of Miss Hermia Rivers." + +Clement had nothing to go upon as to whether the mention of the name +would wake any dormant echo in Barney's memory. He could only trust to +chance that it might do so. As it proved, his hit was a fortunate one. + +"Of Miss Hermia Rivers!" repeated the old man, in a sort of awed +whisper. "Can the dead come back to life?" Then his eyes went again to +the portrait. "But you say that she isn't dead--that she is alive and +well; is it the truth you are telling me?" + +"I was in the company of Miss Rivers less than a fortnight ago." + +"Thank goodness that she still lives! M'appen, then, it may not be too +late." + +"Too late! What do you mean?" asked Clem. + +But the old man sank into a chair and took no heed of the question. + +"And I to have got it into my doited old head that the darling died +long years ago!" he said presently, with the air of one who is talking +to himself. "To be sure it was the mistress herself that led me to +think so, and how was I to guess that she wanted to hide the truth?" + +Presently he roused himself, and after staring at Clem for a few +moments like one collecting his faculties, he said, laying a finger on +the photograph: + +"And you say, sir, that you know her, and that she is alive and well?" + +"I do say so," answered Clement, in his most impressive tones. + +"Tell me about her--tell me all you know," exclaimed Barney, with +trembling eagerness. + +Accordingly, without going into any superfluous details, Clement +proceeded to give his hearer an outline of Hermia's history from the +date of her adoption by John Brancker onward. He was careful to speak +slowly and distinctly, and as Barney's intelligence took in one point +of the narrative after another, he nodded his head and muttered a word +or two under his breath, but otherwise he kept silent till Clem had +come to an end. + +"And now that I have told you so much, Mr. Dale," continued Clem, +after a pause, "I trust that you, in your turn, will be able to +answer me one or two questions. In the first place, will you be good +enough to inform me what relation Miss Hermia Rivers is to Miss +Pengarvon?" + +Barney blinked at his questioner and sucked in his under-lip for a +moment or two, then he said: + +"I darena tell you aught, and you mustna ask me. Years and years ago +my mistress bound me down by oath, never without her leave to open my +lips about certain things to man, woman, or child. It was a very +solemn oath, and I darena break it." + +Clement was nonplussed. "At least, you can tell me this," he said +presently. "Is either of Miss Rivers's parents still living?" + +"I darena answer, and you mustna ask me," was the old man's dogged +reply. + +Clem made a gesture of annoyance. "Come, then, Mr. Dale," he said, +"you can hardly refuse to tell me what you meant by your remark just +now, that, perhaps, it 'may not be too late.'" + +Barney was sitting with rounded shoulders, resting his chin on his +hands, which were crossed over his stick. For a little while he did +not answer. + +"Bring her down to Stavering," he said, at last, bending a slow look +on the young surgeon, "and I'll contrive for the mistress to see her. +Who can tell what may come of it?" Then for the second time he said: +"And I to have got it into my doited old head that the darling died +ever so many years ago!" + +He rose with a little difficulty, and possessed himself of his hat +which he had taken off on entering the room. Then, laying a hand on +Clem's shoulder, he said, impressively, + +"Eh, but there's a great change come over the mistress! She had a sort +of fit in the night about a week ago, and now the doctor comes to see +her every day. But she's getting round again--oh, yes, she's getting +round; and m'appen, by-and-bye, she'll be just the same as she allus +was. And now, sir, do you listen to this: Don't say a word to a soul +about Miss Hermia, or what brings her to Stavering. The Lord only +knows what'll come of it all, but I'll try my best--I'll try my best." + +In the course of the next day, Clement returned to Ashdown, where a +great surprise awaited him. He reached Nairn Cottage soon after five +o'clock, but found no Hermia there to greet him. Instead, a note was +put into his hand by Aunt Charlotte. + + +"Dear Clement"--it ran. + +"I have had to set off, all in a hurry, for London, where I purpose +staying for the next few days with my friend, Mrs. Wingate, who was a +schoolfellow of mine. I have what seem to me amply sufficient reasons +for taking this step, but I do not feel at liberty to enter into any +particulars until after my return, when I may have much to tell you, +or, on the other hand, very little. Anyway, I hope you won't worry the +least bit about me, because there is really no occasion to do so. I +received your telegram this morning announcing your return, but, under +the circumstances, have thought it better not to wait and see you. I +will explain everything when we meet, which I hope will not be later +than two or three days hence. + + "Yours now and always, + + "Hermia Rivers." + + +Clement, when he had read the note, stared at Aunt Charlotte with an +air of stupefaction. "What does it mean?" he asked. + +"I can tell you very little more than the note tells you," was the +reply. "Yesterday was Hermia's afternoon for visiting among the poor +widows and others whom she is in the habit of calling upon once a +week, and oftener in cases of sickness or necessity. On reaching home +last evening rather later than usual, she told us that Mrs. Varrel, a +widow whom both of us have known for some years, was dead. She was +very quiet during the rest of the evening, and seemed to be deep in +thought. This morning, at breakfast, she announced her intention of +starting for London by the eleven o'clock train. In answer to the +questions John and I naturally put to her, she simply said that we +must forgive her for not telling us anything at present, but that all +should be explained the moment she returned. She assured us that +nothing but a matter of extreme importance would have induced her to +take such a step, but that we might be quite satisfied as to her +safety under the roof of Mrs. Wingate. So you see, my dear Mr. +Clement, that we shall just have to stifle our curiosity as best we +can, till it pleases her ladyship to return and lift us off the +tenterhooks of suspense." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. +THE WIDOW VARREL. + + +Miss Brancker, so far as her means allowed, was one of the most +charitable of women. She had always a number of pensioners on hand, +chiefly elderly spinsters, with whom life was a continual struggle, +and widows left forlorn without son or daughter to help them in their +declining years. + +Miss Brancker had a small--a very small--private income, the whole of +which of late years, since her brother's salary had more than sufficed +for the needs of the little household, she had given away in charity, +not by any means always in the form of money, but in a score of other +ways in which help, judiciously administered, may be made still more +precious to its recipients. As Hermia grew up, she got into the way of +accompanying her aunt on her weekly visits among those whom Miss +Brancker held it to be a part of her duty to call upon at their own +homes. During the last year and a half, however, in consequence of an +affection of the knee-joint, which made much walking painful to Aunt +Charlotte, Hermia had, in the majority of cases, been compelled to do +the visiting alone. + +Among others whom Hermia made a point of calling upon at least once a +week was a' certain poor widow, Mrs. Varrel by name, who was slowly +dying of an incurable malady. She had lost her husband, a retired +sergeant-major with a small service pension, several years before, and +latterly her sole means of livelihood had been a few shillings a week +allowed her by a daughter of her former mistress, for at one time Mrs. +Varrel had been maid to a lady of quality; a fact she was careful to +impress upon all who were brought into contact with her. There had +been a time after her husband's death, a period extending over several +years, when her only son was in a position to help her, and when, in +point of fact, he did help her liberally in accordance with his means. +Then something dreadful had come to pass, and Richard Varrel had been +able to help his mother no more. + +It was this same Richard Varrel who, as the reader may or may not +remember, had been one of the first on the day of the trial to +congratulate John Brancker on his acquittal. He it was who, when John +and those who were with him had settled themselves in the fly in which +they were to be driven home, had pushed his way through the little +crowd of onlookers and laid a detaining hand on the vehicle. "Mr. +Brancker, sir," he said, in a voice coarsened with drink, "if such a +wretch as I maybe allowed to thank heaven for anything, then I thank +it that you are once more a free man. From the first I swore that +whoever else might be guilty of Mr. Hazeldine's death, you were +innocent. As for him--curse him! he hounded me to my ruin, and he +deserved his fate. For him no pity is needed." + +Up to a certain point the fortunes of Richard Varrel and Ephraim Judd +had moved upon almost parallel lines. The mother of each was a widow +in poor circumstances; they had both been educated at the same school, +where they had both been show scholars; the elder Mr. Avison had taken +a fancy to both of them, and had found humble berths for them in the +Bank, where, in the course of time, they had worked themselves up to +positions of trust and responsibility. But there the likeness between +the two had ended, for while Ephraim Judd was a painstaking plodder, +slow but sure, handsome Dick Varrel carried everything with a dash and +a laughing quick-wittedness which made light of every obstacle that +stood in the way of his upward career. There had been a time when he +was one of the most popular young fellows in the town; but it was his +social success and his fondness for company that proved his ruin. In a +moment of weakness, when hard pressed by petty monetary difficulties, +he did a certain thing which rendered him liable to a prosecution for +felony. Detection followed. By this time the elder Mr. Avison had +retired from business, and the younger one was abroad. To the latter +the details of the case were reported by Mr. Hazeldine in due course, +who went as far as he durst venture in his endeavors to induce the +banker to take a lenient view of the affair. But Mr. Avison, while +being a strictly just man, was also an inflexible one, and he sent +positive orders, by return, that Varrel should be proceeded against. +Mr. Hazeldine had no option but to carry out his employer's +instructions, the consequence being that the handsome and popular Dick +Varrel was tried and sentenced to a short term of penal servitude. + +That term had expired about a year before he accosted John Brancker on +the day of the latter's acquittal. How long Varrel had been in the +town prior to that date, and how long he stayed there after it, John +had no means of knowing. In any case, he saw him no more. + +Mrs. Varrel rented a couple of rooms in one of the humblest parts of +the town. Even on her bed of sickness, which she was quite aware that +she should never leave till she had drawn her last breath, she held +herself somewhat proudly aloof from the class of persons around her. +"It is my misfortune to be compelled to live among them," she would +sometimes remark to Hermia, "but I never allow them to consider that +they are in any way my equals." Even with the hand of death upon her, +she could not forget that for five years she had been confidential +maid to Lady Warlingham. How near to breaking her heart her son's +crime and its punishment had gone no one ever knew but herself. At the +time she had in a measure set the world at defiance, by her +protestations that Dick had been convicted on false evidence; and the +world, or that infinitesimal section of it to which she had appealed, +compassionating her as a mother, had made believe (while in her sight +and hearing) to indorse her view of the case. For some time past, +however, no one had heard her mention her son's name. He seemed as one +lost to her for ever. + +Mrs. Varrel always seemed especially glad to see Hermia. "You never +preach at me as nearly all my other lady visitors do, and that's what +I like you for," she would say. "As for them, they can't leave me an +ounce of tea without reminding me that I'm not long for this world--as +if I didn't know it already--and exhorting me to seek forgiveness of +my sins. By the way some of them talk I might be one of the vilest of +sinners. Yet, I suppose, if I were to reply that, so far as I am +aware, I have led just as good a life as they, and stand no more in +need of forgiveness than they do, they would be highly indignant. I +only wish some of them could be made to change places with me for a +single week. It would teach them a lesson they wouldn't forget to +their dying day." + +Hermia was in the habit of taking wine and grapes and whatever else +Aunt Charlotte thought might tempt the sick woman's appetite, or help +to keep up her strength; for during the last few weeks her illness had +made great strides, and day by day it became more evident that the end +could not much longer be delayed. Sometimes Hermia read to her; +sometimes she simply chatted with her, telling her such items of local +gossip as she thought would interest her. Sometimes Mrs. Varrel, when +she felt a little stronger, would talk to the girl about her early +life and things that had happened years before; but never once, till +the end was drawing very near, did she make any mention of her son. + +At length, however, there came a day when, after lying for a little +space with closed eyes, she said: + +"Do you know, Miss Hermy, what the one wish is I have now left in this +world?" + +Hermia smiled and shook her head. + +"I might guess a dozen times without guessing aright. But tell me what +it is you wish, Mrs. Varrel." + +"It is to see my son Richard for the last time--him, you know, that +was said to have gone wrong years ago." + +"Surely that is a wish which ought to be very easily gratified," said +Hermia. "I am, of course, assuming that you know where he may be +found." + +"Where he himself is I cannot say, but when I saw him last he gave me +a certain address in London where he said a letter would always find +him." + +"Then let me write to him in your name," said Hermia, eagerly. "He +cannot be aware how ill you are, or he would have been to see you +before now." + +But it was not till the following day that the widow could be induced +to let Hermia write, and not then till she had given her promise not +to reveal to any one Richard Varrel's address. + +It was just a week before the end came that Hermia wrote, but day +passed after day without bringing a response of any kind. The dying +woman listened with an eagerness painful to witness, for her son's +footfall on the stairs, but listened in vain. + +"Who knows but that he's in trouble again and can't come," she moaned +wearily to herself more than once. + +During those last few days Hermia was a great deal with her. The +person in whose house Mrs. Varrel lodged happened also to be ill at +the time, and could not wait upon her as she had been in the habit of +doing. As the dying woman's weakness increased she began to wander in +her mind, but in all her wanderings her son seemed somehow to be mixed +up. As far as Hermia could make out, he appeared to be always in some +dire trouble from which his mother was vainly trying to extricate him; +but there was nothing coherent about her utterances--they were merely +a jumble of disconnected sentences, the gaps between which her +listener lacked the knowledge needful to enable her to fill up. But, +indeed, Hermia took very little heed of anything that fell from the +widow's lips at such times, but waited patiently till the light of +reason came back to her poor bewildered brain, for such wanderings +were only occasional; the greater part of the time she was as mentally +clear as ever she had been. + +One day, however--it was the third day before she died--while one of +her wandering fits was on her, she gave utterance to a remark which +startled Hermia not a little. "There's blood on the notes!" she +exclaimed. "Why should you want me to have charge of them? Take them +back! I won't touch them!" Then her voice died away in an inarticulate +murmur. After that it was impossible for Hermia to do otherwise than +listen. + +About an hour later, after a long silence, the dying woman cried out +in a voice which sent a shiver through the girl, "No, no, I won't +believe it! What! My boy--my Richard! Anyone but him--anyone but him!" +Then later still, as before, "There's blood on the notes! I won't +touch them!" + +Hermia went home that night in a maze of perplexity and wonder. She +felt as if she were standing on the verge of some dark mystery which +might or might not be presently illumined for her by some unexpected. +flash. She knew not what to think, what to do. What, indeed, could she +do? She told herself nothing. + +Next day Mrs. Varrel was perceptibly weaker, and although her mind +wandered at times, her voice was so faint that it was only now and +then it rose above a whisper. One connected sentence and no more, but +one full of significance, reached the ears of the wondering girl. +"Thirty--forty--fifty bright new sovereigns. Not one of them will I +touch till you have told me where you got them from--not one!" + +Did she fancy she was addressing her son? If not, whom? + +It was an hour or two later. Mrs. Varrel had been asleep. Suddenly she +awoke, and sat up in bed without help, a thing she had not been able +to do for several weeks. The clear light of sanity had come back to +her eyes. Laying a hand on Hermia's wrist, she said in a quavering +voice. "He won't come now. I feel it--I know it. Before it is too +late--and very soon it will be--I have something to give into your +charge, Miss Hermy--something which I want you to promise to send to +my boy after I'm gone, with just a line to say how his mother longed +to see him before she died, but that she loved him to the last in +spite of all." Then, after glancing round, although there was no one +but themselves in the room, she drew Hermia closer to her and +whispered, "It's money--money, my dear Miss Hermy, that I want to give +into your charge." + +"Whatever I can do in the way of helping you to carry out your wishes, +Mrs. Varrel, you may rely upon my doing," replied the girl, in her +most earnest tones. + +Thereupon, by the widow's direction, she searched for and found two +small packets which had been hidden away between the mattress and the +bed. One of them was a stout envelope sealed with red wax, containing +some soft substance, the nature of which Hermia was at a loss to make +out. The other was a small canvas bag full of money. Then, still by +the dying woman's request, she procured paper, and string and made the +two up into one parcel, which she addressed to Richard Varrel, at the +same place to which the letter had been addressed. + +"You will send it to him by post, dear Miss Hermy, after I'm gone, +won't you, with just a line, as you promised?" gasped Mrs. Varrel. + +"But seeing that your son has failed to respond to the note I wrote +him," replied Hermia, "is it not possible that he may have gone away +without informing you; and should that be the case what will become of +the money?" + +"I never thought of that," gasped Mrs. Varrel, with a sudden scared +look. "And yet he must have the money--he must! Tell me--tell me, Miss +Hermy, what is to be done?" + +For a few moments Hermia did not answer--she could not. Her nerves had +just undergone a shock which had left her as white and trembling as if +she had seen a ghost. Drawing a deep breath, and speaking as steadily +as she could force herself to do, she presently said: + +"I will myself take the parcel to London, and if it be anyhow +possible, I will find your son and deliver it into his hands and into +those of no one else." + +The dying woman thanked her and blessed her. It was evident that a +great weight had been lifted off her mind. + +Next day when Hermia went to see her she was unconscious, and a few +hours later she breathed her last. + + +What was it that had so strangely affected Hermia; that had sent the +blood surging round her heart, and had caused the room and its +contents to rock before her eyes as though shaken by an earthquake? + +On the envelope which she had made up into a parcel with the bag of +gold her eye had been caught by these words, written in pencil, "Given +into my charge by my son Richard on the 6th of October." + +The 6th of October was the day on which Mr. Hazeldine had been found +on the floor of his office, stabbed to the heart! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. +A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY. + + +When Hermia, in response to Mrs. Varrel's appeal, had said: "I will +myself take the parcel to London," the answer had sprung to her lips +of its own accord, so to speak, and as if her will had had no part in +the framing of it. + +It was a promise which, having once been given, she felt bound to +fulfil; but, indeed, after consideration showed her no reason why she +should wish to do otherwise than fulfil it. She was determined, in the +first place, to carry out her promise, and, in the second, if it were +by any means possible to do so, to clear up the terrible suspicion +which had taken root in her mind, either by proving that it had no +basis of fact to rest upon, or else, by the accumulation of further +evidence, to put together a case sufficiently strong to warrant her in +placing it in other and more competent hands, leaving it for them to +work out to whatever issue it might lead them. + +In pursuance of this resolution it was that, two days after Mrs. +Varrel's death, and without affording the faintest hint to anyone of +the real object she had in view, Hermia wrote the note, already given, +to her lover; and after bidding Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte a tender +farewell, set out for London on an errand which she herself felt all +but convinced would prove to be nothing more than a bootless errand. + +She drove direct from the London terminus to the house of her friend, +Mrs. Wingate, in Maida Vale. Both Mrs. Wingate and her husband made +Hermia as welcome as it was possible to make anyone. She explained to +them the object of her journey as far as the delivery of the parcel +was concerned, upon which Mr. Wingate kindly offered to keep her +company on her errand, assuring her, after she had told him the +address she wanted to go to, that the neighborhood in question was a +very low one, being infested by loose characters of various kinds, and +that a lady unattended--unless she were a Sister of Mercy, or a +"visitor," and known to be such--could scarcely traverse it without +the risk of being insulted, to say nothing of the further risk she +would run of being hustled and robbed. + +On consideration, Hermia deemed it best to accept Mr. Wingate's offer. +She had not mentioned Richard Varrell's name, and, bearing in mind her +promise to his mother, she determined not to do so. + +Accordingly, they set out about six o'clock the following day, Mr. +Wingate being of opinion that if the person Miss Rivers was in search +of were in any kind of employment she would be more likely to find him +at home in the evening than at any other time. Mr. Wingate had engaged +a hansom, and after what had seemed to Hermia an interminable ride, +but which was none the less strange and fascinating to her untutored +eyes on that account, they were set down opposite a church having a +spire so tall and stately that if it could have been transplanted to +the flat country about Ashdown it would have served as a landmark for +miles around. After skirting the churchyard and leaving behind all the +main thoroughfares of traffic, they found themselves in a maze of +streets, courts and alleys, the like of which Hermia had never dreamed +of before and never wished to see again. The farther they penetrated, +the more squalid and mean became their surroundings. The whole +neighborhood swarmed with life--but such life! Could Hermia ever +forget the dream of baleful faces which passed like a procession +before her that evening; some scowling and sinister, some leering, +some with an ape-like grin upon them, and others verging on the +vacancy of an idiot's, with here and there one bearing the impress of +a wickedness so unfathomable that the girl could but shudder and veil +her eyes? "But the children--oh, my dears, the little children!" as +she said afterwards, when recounting her experience to Uncle John and +Aunt Charlotte, her blue eyes flushed with tears. "It was simply +heartrending to see them and to feel and know that I could do nothing +for them." + +At length, but not till after two or three inquiries on Mr. Wingate's +part, Plumtree Street was found, number sixteen. It was a narrow +street of three-storey tenements, all of them looking unspeakably +squalid and uncared for, with broken windows stuffed with rags and +paper, and in many cases with doors which hardly hung together on +their hinges. Mr. Wingate now gave Hermia the parcel, which he had +hitherto taken charge of, and while he waited on guard, as it were, on +the corner of the street, Hermia made her way to number sixteen, and +not without a little fluttering of the nerves, knocked at the door. +Again and again she knocked, first with her knuckles and then with the +handle of her umbrella--the knocker itself, if there had ever been +one, having apparently been wrenched away long ago--but to no purpose, +although she could hear a woman inside objurgating someone at the top +of her voice. A swarm of children watched her every movement, and +presently, as if by some preconcerted signal, windows were thrown up, +and the doorways near at hand began to fill with the shapes of +slatternly women, and frowsy, disreputable-looking men. + +Hermia began to feel far from comfortable, and she was just +considering whether she had not better go back to Mr. Wingate, when +the door was suddenly opened from within, and she found herself face +to face with Richard Varrel. + +She knew him again at a glance, despite the woeful change which a few +short years had wrought in him. In days gone by, when he was a clerk, +and she a girl of ten or twelve, she used often to meet him on her way +to school, when he had always a smiling "Good-morning" for her. In +those days he was a dandified, good-looking young man, with a facile +smile, and the easy manner of one who was on excellent terms with +himself and the world. + +Hermia had not seen him after his "misfortune," as he termed it, till +the evening of the trial when he spoke to John Brancker through the +cab window, and even then she had been shocked to see the change in +him; but now, when she beheld him again, the change was still more +marked. His hands trembled like aspen leaves, his eyes were bleared +and bloodshot, his face sallow and fallen away to little more than +skin and bone. + +He stood staring at Hermia, holding the open door in his hand, with a +sort of half-gleam of recognition in his furtively suspicious eyes. + +"Mr. Varrel," she said, "I see that you fail to remember me. My name +is Hermia Rivers, and I am the niece of Mr. Brancker, of Ashdown." + +The moment she began to speak his face lighted up with what seemed +like the ghost of his old pleasant smile. + +"What a stupid I must be to have forgotten you even for a moment!" he +exclaimed. "Why of course I remember you, Miss Hermia--remember you +from the time you were no higher than a table. Do you know what I used +to think in those days? But how should you? I used to think that when +you grew up I should like to marry you. Ah, I did, and I was in +earnest about it, too!" + +This was not at all what Hermia wanted, so she made haste to say: + +"Are you not curious, Mr. Varrel, to know why I have come all this way +to find you? But, first of all, why did you neglect to answer the +letter I wrote you to this address more than a week ago?" + +"Letter!--what letter?" he queried, with a half-mazed look, and with +that he pushed back his hat and pressed his hands to his forehead for +a few moments, as if trying to recall something to mind. Then, +half-doubtingly, he thrust his hand into an inner pocket of his coat +and drew from it a letter--the one Hermia had written him, as she saw +at a glance, and still unopened. He stared at it for a space of a +dozen seconds, and then he said, confusedly: + +"I recollect, now, I put it in my pocket when it came--I wasn't very +well at the time--and afterwards I forgot all about it. I did, upon my +honor!" + +"Open it and read it," was all Hermia could say. + +When he had done so, he looked at her with a question in his eyes +which his lips seemed afraid to ask. + +"Your mother died three days ago," said Hermia, "looking to the last +for the son who never came." + +He turned away, and putting up an arm against the door-post, he leaned +his head upon it. The tears that dropped from his eyes made tiny black +dents in the grimy dust into which they fell. + +"I've not one word of excuse, Miss Hermia, to urge for myself," he +said presently. "I put the letter in my pocket, and forgot all about +it. It was all owing to the drink--the cursed drink!" + +Thereupon Hermia proceeded to give him his mother's last message. + +"God bless her! She was a good woman," he said, sorrowfully. "Maybe, +if I had been a different son to her she would have lived for years to +come." + +That he was genuinely moved by the news of his mother's death it was +impossible to doubt. + +"The errand which brought me here is not yet completed," said Hermia, +presently. "Your mother entrusted me with a sum of money to give into +your hands." + +His cheek paled on the instant. "Hush! Not a word about it here," he +whispered, with a quick, apprehensive glance around. "If the wretches +hereabouts once suspected that I had anything more than the merest +trifle in the way of money in my possession, I should be a dead man +before to-morrow morning. Will you come into my room for three +minutes, Miss Rivers? You may safely do so, and I won't detain you +longer." + +Mr. Wingate was still keeping watch and ward at the corner of the +street. "Lead the way and I will follow," was all she said. + +Accordingly, they entered the house, and after Varrel had shut the +door behind them he led the way up a rickety staircase, the handrail +of which had been torn away, into a small back room on the first +floor. Never before had Hermia been in such a room; but the evening +was drawing in by this time, and in the half light its more sordid +features did not seem so obtrusive as they would have done at mid-day. + +"Not a palace, truly, Miss Rivers," he said, with a shrug and a +cynical smile, "but cheerful, homelike, nay, almost luxurious in +comparison with some of its neighbors." + +Hermia's only reply was an involuntary shudder. + +Motioning her to the one chair in the place, he seated himself on the +edge of a box, and cut the string of the parcel, which Hermia had +handed him on entering the room. Before him lay the envelope and its +contents, together with the bag of gold. He looked up, and his and +Hermia's eyes met. + +"This," he said, laying a finger on the envelope, "my mother was to +keep for me until I should choose to reclaim it; but this," shifting +his finger to the bag, "was for her sole use, as I told her when I +gave it her--to buy whatever she wanted, and help to make her +comfortable." + +"Your mother refused to touch it, Mr. Varrel," replied Hermia, looking +him steadily in the face. + +"What do you mean?" he demanded, with startling suddenness. "Who told +you she would not touch it?" + +"She herself. She said there was blood on it--those were her +words--and that she would have nothing to do with it till you had +proved to her how you had come by it." + +He sat for some seconds without speaking or stirring, like one in +doubt what to do or say next. Then he said, sneeringly: + +"Old people when they lie dying often get strange fancies into their +heads, and give expression to all manner of ridiculous things. +Sensible people take no heed of their ravings at such times." + +"On the contrary, it is at such times that secrets long hidden come +unexpectedly to light." + +He bit his lip as if to restrain himself from saying something which +he might afterwards have regretted. Having glanced at the seal, he was +about to put the envelope into his pocket unopened, when Hermia said: + +"Mr. Varrel, have you noticed what is written outside that packet?" + +"No--what is it?" he demanded. + +In the twilight he had overlooked the writing. He now crossed to the +window and read it. Then for a little space he stood stock still, with +eyes that seemed fixed on vacancy. Then, going back to his seat, he +said dryly: + +"My mother's writing, without a doubt, Miss Rivers. But it was +scarcely worth while--was it?--to draw my attention specially to it." + +"You are quite aware of my motive in drawing your attention to it." +responded Hermia. "Those words were written within twenty-four hours +of the time Mr. Hazeldine was found murdered." + +He put down the packet with a sudden movement, as if it had scorched +his fingers. + +"Oh, Mr. Varrel!" cried, the girl, clasping her hands in front of her +bosom, as if thereby to enforce her appeal, "if you know anything +whatever in connection with that terrible crime--if you have any clue, +even the faintest, to the perpetrator of it--I implore you no longer +to conceal it." + +Varrel got up abruptly, and, crossing to the window, stood staring out +of it with his back towards her. Hermia waited till the silence became +all but unbearable. + +"I am quite at a loss, Miss Rivers," he began at length, speaking in a +hard, dry voice, "to know why you should address so singular an appeal +to me, or assume that I know anything more about Mr. Hazeldine's +tragical end than is known to the world at large. A certain remark +made by an old woman--a certain coincidence of date in connection with +a parcel of banknotes--such is the flimsy superstructure round which +you choose to build an imaginary theory, and then appeal to me for +facts to enable you to substantiate it. No, Miss Rivers, it won't do. +Your house of cards has no foundation beyond that which is supplied by +your own vivid imagination. Pray accept my assurance on that score. +The way in which the money, both gold and notes, came into my mother's +hands is easily explained. I had won it over a certain race a few days +before. The gold, as I have already remarked, I gave to her for her +own use. That she did not choose to benefit by it is no fault of mine. +The notes, which were intended by me for a very special purpose, I +asked her to take charge of till the time should come for me to +reclaim them, knowing well, as I did, that if I kept them by me, they +would inevitably disappear after the fashion in which so many of their +kind had disappeared already. The explanation is a simple one. I trust +that you are satisfied." + +He had come back to the table while speaking. Tearing open the +envelope with an air of manifest defiance, he extracted the notes from +it, and proceeded to stuff them unceremoniously into his pocket. + +But Hermia was far from being satisfied. She felt instinctively that +he was prevaricating, and that he knew far more than he cared to tell. +But, in face of his emphatic denial, what was it possible for her to +do more than she had done already? His manner implied that, as far as +he was concerned, the interview was at an end, and, indeed, Hermia +felt that it was high time for her to go. There was upon her a sense +of hopeless bewilderment as she rose and pushed back her chair. She +was like one groping in the mazes of a dark cavern, who, while feeling +sure the daylight is close at hand, vainly strives to find the way +which will lead him to it. She would have to go back to Ashdown no +wiser than she had left it. + +"Before you go, Miss Rivers," said Varrel, "permit me to thank you, +which I do from the bottom of my heart, for all your kindness to my +poor mother." + +He added a little more in the same strain, which it is not needful to +repeat. + +Three minutes later Hermia had rejoined Mr. Wingate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. +HOW AND WHY. + + +Had it not been for the pressure put upon her by Mr. and Mrs. Wingate, +Hermia would have returned to Ashdown by an early train next day, so +disheartened was she by the result of her interview with Richard +Varrel. In deference, however, to the wishes of her friends, she +agreed to extend her stay for three days longer. She had quite made up +her mind that she had seen the last of Varrel; that his path and hers +would never cross each other again. Yet all the while an indefinable +sense of something still to come held her in her own despite. It could +hardly be called a premonition, so shadowy and elusive was it, and yet +it so impressed her that she could not hear a knock at the door +without holding her breath to listen for a summons, for which her +reason told her she might wait till the last day of her life, and +always might be in vain. + +However, strangely enough, the summons did come, and that just +forty-eight hours after she had parted from Varrel. Before leaving him +she had laid a card on the table. "Here is my address, in case you +should at any time be desirous of communicating with me," she had +said. + +His only answer had been a cynical smile. + +Having no cards of her own, she had pencilled her Ashdown address on +the back of one of Mrs. Wingate's cards, which had that lady's address +on the other side, and it was there the messenger came in search of +her. A man of the name of Richard Varrel, who was lying in St. +Gregory's Hospital in a very critical state, earnestly entreated that +Miss Rivers would go to him with the least possible delay, as he had +something of extreme importance to communicate to her. Such was the +message that now reached Hermia. + +A cab was at once ordered, and ten minutes later she was on her way to +the Hospital, accompanied, as before, by Mr. Wingate. + +Before being admitted to the ward Hermia was shown into an ante-room, +where she was presently joined by a middle-aged, ladylike person, with +a strong yet kindly face, dressed in the usual Hospital uniform, whose +name she afterwards found to be Miss Davis. From her Hermia learned +that in the course of the preceding night Varrel had been brought in +by the police, unconscious and apparently in a dying state. His story +when he came to himself, was to the effect that while on his way to +his lodgings he had been set upon by three men, who had somehow +discovered that he had a considerable sum of money about him, and that +in the fight which ensued he had not only been robbed, but stabbed in +three places. His case was an utterly hopeless one, Miss Davis went on +to say; he might possibly linger for two or three days, but should +internal hemorrhage set in the end would come still more quickly. Then +she went on to ask whether Hermia was a relative of the dying man, and +on receiving a reply in the negative, requested her to make her +interview as brief as possible, and especially to avoid all topics +which would be likely in any way to excite the patient. After that she +led the way into the ward, while Mr. Wingate awaited Hermia's return +in the ante-room. + +Varrel's eyes lighted up the moment they rested on Hermia. His face +was the face of one on the verge of the last great change, and the +girl could not keep back her tears. She sat down by the side of his +pallet, after which one of the attendants placed a large screen round +them, so as to shut them in from the other patients. + +"You didn't think to see me so soon again, Miss Hermia, I'll be +bound--nor I you!" began Varrel, with a dim smile, but speaking more +clearly and strongly than Hermia would have thought possible for one +in his condition. "However, here I am, and there's no help for it. It +was the money that was the cause of it--the money you brought me. A +sort of Nemesis. They--the men my life has been mixed up with of +late--found out somehow I had it about me. The wonder is they left any +life in me at all. But it's not for long. I know that I'm booked for +the journey for which no return tickets are issued. Well, I'm not +sorry--on my soul, I'm not!--that the end has come. But it was to talk +about something very different that I sent for you, for since I've +been lying here, I've made up my mind to tell all I know." + +He ceased, and lay for a little while with shut eyes. When he opened +them it was seemingly to fix them on a flickering shadow flung by the +lamplight on the ceiling. Suddenly a hollow voice spoke, + +"Miss Hermia, it was not John Brancker, but the man you see before +you, who killed Mr. Hazeldine." + +Hermia's heart gave a great bound, and she caught her breath with a +gasp like a drowning person. It seemed to her as if an ice-cold wind +blew for a minute across her face. She shuddered, and involuntarily +drew a little farther away from the dying man. + +"I haven't strength enough left me to go into a lot of details," +resumed Varrel, after a pause, "but if I'm not hurried, I think it +will last out till I've told you enough to make the whole business +clear, and--and to lift the last shadow of suspicion off John +Brancker." + +Again he lapsed into silence, and to Hermia it seemed as if he were +struggling against some inward force which would fain have compelled +him, even at this the eleventh hour, to carry his secret unrevealed to +the grave. She waited in a sort of dread expectancy and with nerves +all a-tremble for his next words. + +The statement which follows, although given here in unbroken sequence, +was several times interrupted by a fit of coughing, or by a labored +gasping for breath. More than once, in obedience to his request, +Hermia gave him to drink of a jug of barley-water which stood within +reach of his hand. + +"Yes, mine alone is the guilt. I wanted money; I was desperately hard +up, and I made up my mind to rob the Bank, if it was possible anyhow +to do so. I knew that Thursday night, when the gold had been fetched +from London to pay away to market-day customers, was the best time for +my purpose. I was acquainted with all the ins and outs of the place, +and it was a simple matter for me to push open the swing doors and +steal unseen into the building when the day's business was nearly +over. Then up the spiral staircase and so into the book-room, where +snugly hidden in an empty cupboard, I was safe from observation until +the time should have come for me to take my next step, which was to +make my way to Mr. Avison's office--he was abroad, and I knew that it +was never used during his absence--there to bide my time. To reach it +I should have to pass through Mr. Hazeldine's office, the door which +led into it from the lobby being kept locked. I was aware that for +several weeks past Mr. Hazeldine had been in the habit of working till +a late hour, and I calculated that he would most likely do so on this +particular night. Earlier in the day I had watched him start for +London, and I knew that when he returned he would bring with him the +gold he had been there to fetch. + +"I waited where I was until the general staff had gone for the night, +but I knew that Mr. Brancker and Mr. Judd often worked after hours, +and it seemed not unlikely that they might still be on the premises. +It was absolutely necessary, however, that I should make my way to Mr. +Avison's office before Mr. Hazeldine's return; and this, after a time, +I succeeded in doing without being seen by anyone. As I crept down the +spiral staircase I could hear the murmur of voices in Mr. Brancker's +office. I had not been long in my second hiding-place, before I heard +the well-remembered voice of Mr. Hazeldine as he spoke with Obed Sweet +in the passage. Then he entered his office and turned up the gas, +which had been previously lighted by Sweet; I had left the door +between the two rooms open about an inch, and through the interstice a +portion of the office was visible to me, including the iron door which +gave admittance to the strong room. + +"The first thing Mr. Hazeldine did was to place his black bag, +containing the gold he had brought from London, on a chair, then he +took off his hat and overcoat, and hung them up; and then, presumably, +he seated himself at the table where he worked, but when so seated, he +was out of my line of vision, and on no account durst I open the door +even as much as an inch further. Presently he rose, and having +unlocked the door of the strong-room, went inside. Here was the +opportunity I had been waiting for, which was neither more nor less +than to make a dash from my hiding-place, push to and lock the iron +door, with Mr. Hazeldine on the other side of it, and then make off +with the black bag and its contents. But now the chance was here I was +afraid to take advantage of it. In the passage outside I heard Obed +Sweet's wheezy cough, and as far as I knew, both Mr. Brancker and Mr. +Judd were still at work in the other office. There was nothing for it +but to await a more favorable opportunity. + +"In a minute or two Mr. Hazeldine went back to his seat, leaving the +door of the strong-room wide open. Presently the sound of Obed's voice +reached me from the corridor. Evidently there was someone still at +work. I could only grind my teeth and wait. + +"After what, alone and in the dark, seemed to me an intolerable +time--but which may have been a few minutes only, or may have been an +hour--I heard the reverberation of the front door. There could no +longer be any doubt that Mr. Hazeldine was now the only official, save +Sweet, left in the building. At last my opportunity seemed at hand. + +"Still I waited, hoping minute by minute that Mr. Hazeldine would +again find it necessary to enter the strong room. As I remarked +before, I could not see him, but more than once I heard him groan like +a man in pain. The black bag still remained where he had put it on +coming in. Then, after a time, to my intense surprise, I again heard +the muffled clash of the front door. I could not make it out at all, +neither, apparently, could Sweet, who presently came blundering into +the office without his customary knock, clearly under the impression +that it was Mr. Hazeldine who had just gone, and finely disconcerted +he was on discovering his mistake. 'I shall be about half-an-hour yet, +Sweet, and will let myself out when I'm ready,' said Mr. Hazeldine; +whereupon Sweet made his exit. + +"St. Mary's clock had just chimed the half-hour past ten, Mr. +Hazeldine would leave the office about eleven, the London train by +which I hoped to get away with my booty was due at a quarter past that +hour: what I had to do must be done within the next thirty minutes, or +not at all. I said to myself: 'I will wait till St. Mary's chimes the +quarter to eleven, on the chance of Mr. Hazeldine again going into the +strong-room, when I will spring out and shut him in. If the chance +does not come by then, I will present myself before him, revolver in +hand, and compel him on pain of instant death to do my bidding. When +once he is shut up in the strong-room the rest will be easy. He may +shout himself hoarse, but Sweet below stairs will hear nothing till he +comes on his next round, by which time I and the black bag will be far +away.' It is to be borne in mind that I hated Mr. Hazeldine as I hated +no other man in the world. He it was who at my trial had no word of +mercy to urge in my favor; to him, in a great measure, was due my +sentence of penal servitude. But, for all that, I swear I had no more +thought or intention of taking' his life than I had of taking my own. + +"Chance favored me at the last moment, or seemed to do so. After a +time Mr. Hazeldine rose, and went once more into the strong-room. Not +a moment did I hesitate. Pushing open the door, behind which I had +been in hiding, I sprang out into the lighted office, and made a dash +for the iron door, but midway on the floor lay a pile of ledgers over +which, in my hurry, I stumbled and fell. Before I could recover myself +Mr. Hazeldine was upon me, and when I struggled to my feet it was with +his clutch at my throat. The instant the light fell on my face he +recognized me. 'Richard Varrel!' he exclaimed, as he let go his hold, +and fell back a step or two in sheer amazement. A second later I had +whipped out my revolver, which, however, was not loaded--but of course +he didn't know that. 'Mr. Hazeldine,' I said, 'thanks to you, I'm a +desperate man. I want the money in that bag, and, at whatever cost, +I'm determined to have it. So, if you value your life----' But at that +moment he made a quick stride forward, and knocked the revolver out of +my hand, and before I could recover it he had sprung at me with a +long-bladed knife, which he snatched off the table, but for what +purpose it happened to be there I cannot even guess. His eyes were as +the eyes of a madman; never have I seen such an expression on the face +of anyone. On the instant I closed with him, and then began a +life-and-death struggle, he trying to stab me, and I trying to wrench +the knife from his grasp. How it all happened I shall never know, but +his foot slipped, and as he fell he dragged me to the ground with him, +and all at once I found the knife in my hand. He struggled desperately +to recover himself, then--my God!--somehow the knife----" + +Varrel had been growing weaker for several minutes past, his utterance +more hollow, his breath more labored, and as the last word dropped +from his lips he fainted. + +Hermia at once summoned the nurse, who in her turn summoned Miss +Davis. Restoratives were applied, and in a little while their patient +came round. Hermia was on the point of taking her leave, with the +intention of calling again on the morrow; but Varrel motioned that he +had something to say to her. He could only speak in a whisper, and +Hermia had to bend her ear close to him in order to catch what he +said. + +"Write down what I have told you--now--at once," he gasped, "and I +will sign it." + +So, after a few explanatory words to Miss Davis, Hermia rejoined Mr. +Wingate in the ante-room, and told him as briefly as possible the +particulars she wanted him to set down. Pen, ink, and paper were at +hand, and it did not take him long to draw up a short document, in +which Varrel acknowledged that to him, and him alone, was due the +death of Mr. Hazeldine. When it was finished, Hermia went back to the +ward, accompanied by Mr. Wingate. The statement was read over to +Varrel, who nodded his head in approval of it. Then he was propped up +in bed to enable him to sign it, after which Mr. Wingate and Miss +Davis appended their signatures to the paper as witnesses. + +Hermia did not see Richard Varrel again. At daybreak next morning he +died. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. +THE CLOUD DISPERSED, AND A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. + + +It was on the afternoon of the fifth day after leaving home that +Hermia alighted from the London train at Ashdown station. Clement was +there to meet her. She had written a few lines daily both to him and +to Aunt Charlotte, just enough to allay their anxiety and nothing +more. + +When the train had gone on its way and the platform was clear of +people, Clement drew her into the little waiting-room, which at that +hour they had all to themselves. He had already given John and Miss +Brancker all particulars in connection with his second visit to +Stavering, and it seemed to him that the present would be a capital +opportunity for doing the same by Hermia. Accordingly, he proceeded to +tell her all about his interview with Barney Dale, and how it had +resulted in a promise on his part that Hermia should go to Stavering +as soon as possible, when an opportunity would be found by the old +servitor for introducing her to Miss Pengarvon. Of that which the +girl's heart hungered most to know--whether one or both of her parents +were still alive--Clement could tell her nothing. + +When he had brought his narrative to an end, Hermia cried a little +softly to herself. Why she did so she could not have told anyone, but +at her age so curiously are the emotions intermingled, and so close +akin does joy seem to sorrow, that both alike find their readiest +outlet in tears. + +Presently Clement said, + +"And now, darling, have you nothing to tell me in return? All of us, +your uncle and aunt equally with myself, have been on the tenterhooks +of suspense ever since you left home with such mysterious suddenness. +I hope we may congratulate you on having achieved the object of your +journey, whatever it may have been." + +"You may, indeed you may," she exclaimed, turning on him an April-day +face in which smiles and tears were exquisitely blended. "I have +succeeded beyond my wildest hopes. I have much, very much to tell +you--a surprise in store for you all such as none of you dreams of. +But Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte must be there when I relate my +adventures, such as they are, because, you see, dear, what I have to +tell concerns them equally with yourself, and I want one telling to be +enough for everybody. So, not a word more about it till evening." + +They parted at the gate of Nairn Cottage. Clem, who was in a state of +utter mystification, was to return at half-past seven. + +At that hour they were all assembled--John, his sister, Hermia, and +Clement, in the little sitting-room at the Cottage. + +There to her wondering listeners did Hermia her tale unfold. + +Over the congratulations and felicitations that were exchanged between +one and another of them, when at length she had come to the end of her +recital, it needs not that we should linger. The dark cloud, in the +shadow of which they had dwelt for so long a time, had lifted at last +and vanished into thinnest air. Their mood, however, was less one of +jubilation than of reverent thankfulness. If Hermia had not been dear +to Clement before, that night would not have failed to make her so. +But, indeed, it was not possible for him to love her more than he did +already. + +"It seems a thousand pities," said John Brancker, who for some minutes +had been lost in thought, "that Richard Varrel should have gone to his +grave without having had his mind disabused of the belief that he owed +it to Mr. Hazeldine, and not to Mr. Avison himself, that he was +brought to trial and the charge against him pressed sternly home. In +point of fact, Mr. Hazeldine did everything that lay in his power with +the view of extenuating Varrel's crime; but Mr. Avison's orders in the +matter were imperative, and he had no option but to carry them out. +Had Varrel but known this at the time many things might perhaps have +fallen out differently; but of course it was nobody's business to +enlighten him, and to his hand was due the death of the man who had +done his utmost to befriend him." + +"There are two points," said Clem, presently, "which I should +certainly like to be enlightened upon. In the first place, I should +like to know the sum total pocketed by Varrel as the proceeds of his +crime; and, in the second, what his object was in entrusting the +parcel of notes to his mother's keeping. + +"Those were two points as to which Mr. Wingate was equally curious +with yourself," replied Hermia, "and he did not fail to question +Varrel upon them during the few minutes we were allowed to stay with +him after he had signed the confession. As soon as Varrel had realized +that Mr. Hazeldine was dead, it was only natural that he should be +desirous of getting away from the scene of his crime as speedily as +possible. He must seize whatever he could lay hands on at once and +decamp. To his intense amazement, the black bag in which he expected +to find the gold Mr. Hazeldine was supposed to have brought from +London, proved to be empty. All that his hurried search enabled him to +lay hands on was a bag containing a hundred sovereigns and a parcel of +notes of the value of five hundred pounds. The gold he divided with +his mother before setting out for London; but Mrs. Varrel, as we have +seen, refused to touch her portion of it. The notes he left in her +charge because he felt sure their numbers were known, and that any +attempt on his part to change them would simply have led to his +arrest." + +Late as the hour was when Clement Hazeldine left Nairn Cottage, he +felt that he could not sleep until he had seen his brother and told +him the news. A brisk walk of half-an-hour brought him to Beecham. + +He found Edward sitting in slippered ease over a volume of +Montesquieu--as one who hoped some day to help in framing the laws of +his country--and a cigar. Ten minutes sufficed him to give his brother +the pith of Hermia's narrative. He had brought Varrel's confession, +and he finished his recital by producing it and handing it to the +other. + +Never was a man more astounded than Edward Hazeldine was at the news +told him by his brother. To think, to realize as a fact that, after +all, his father's death was not due to his own act! It seemed almost +too incredible to be true. Of course, the fact remained, and could in +no wise be gainsaid, that Mr. Hazeldine had fully intended to take his +own life, and would undoubtedly have done so had not fate intervened +and brought about the same end after a different fashion; but even so, +the relief to Edward Hazeldine was more than he could find words to +give expression to. It took him some time to recover himself; the +cool, almost frigid, self-possession which was one of his most salient +attributes had for the time being deserted him. One of his first +remarks, after his wonder had in some measure spent itself, was, + +"Thank Heaven! there will now be no need to refund the twelve thousand +pounds--for, of course, the confession will have to be made public." +Then presently he added, "Do you mean to say, Clem, that this fellow +Varrel made no allusion to the fact that the large amount of money +which was proved to be missing from the Bank's coffers had not been +taken by him?" + +"It would certainly seem that he did not. As I have already told you, +he fainted before having come to the end of what he had evidently +intended to say, and he died a few hours later. What further +revelations he would have made had he lived a little while longer, it +is now, of course, impossible to say." + +"A lucky thing for us he died when he did!" said Edward, more to +himself than to his brother. "The world will not fail to saddle him +with the double crime." + +As the brothers shook hands at parting, by which time it was past +midnight, Edward said: + +"By the way, Clem, that girl of yours must be one in a thousand. I +hereby retract every word in her disparagement that I have ever given +utterance to. I shall be proud to be introduced to her." Then more +earnestly, and with what for him was an unwonted display of feeling: +"In such a business as we have been discussing it is only a part of +the selfishness of human nature that we should think of ourselves +first, but I hope you'll believe me when I say that not the least +portion of the happiness your news has caused me is due to the fact +that the last shred of suspicion, which for so long a time has clung +to that noble-hearted creature, John Brancker, will now be torn away, +and his good name be given back to him as pure and unsullied as, in +reality, it has been from the first!" + +In the course of the following afternoon, Miss Brancker, Hermia, and +Clement arrived at Stavering, and, under the guidance of the latter, +proceeded to take up their quarters at the "King's Arms" Hotel. + +A few hours later, Clement walked over to the "Chequers Inn," at +Dritton, in search of Barney Dale, whom he found seated among his +cronies in his usual corner. Drawing the old man aside, Clement said. +"Miss Hermia Rivers is in Stavering--at the 'King's Arms' Hotel. How +soon can you make it convenient to call and see her?" + +"And have you brought her--the bonnie darling?" exclaimed Barney. +"Well, well, I suppose I must do what I promised. But the mistress +grows queerer every day, and what the upshot will be when I bring 'em +together, I canna as much as guess. But I'll be there to-morrow some +time in the afternoon, and maybe--but I mun think it all over between +now and then;" and with that Barney went back to his pipe and tankard +of ale. + +Next morning Clement hired a conveyance, and drove Aunt Charlotte and +Hermia as far as the park entrance to Broome, where they all alighted. +Everything remained as when Clement had been there last. Leading the +way through the door in the wall, he brought the ladies to where the +mutilated griffin, which he had sketched, lay unheeded among the weeds +and grass. Hermia sighed as she looked at it. + +"How vividly the sight of it brings back that wet and gloomy +afternoon," she said, "when the carriage came to a halt at those very +gates, and I sat staring out of the window, more tired than curious. +So tired out, indeed, was I, that I felt utterly indifferent as to +where I was being taken, or what was going to be done with me. It +seems to me, however, that I have to thank the old griffin for a good +deal. But for it we might not have been here to-day." + +After that they strolled along the grass-grown drive as far as a point +whence they could obtain a view of the front of the Hall. Clem, on +whose arm Hermia was leaning, felt her shiver involuntarily. + +"It gives me quite an eerie feeling to look at it, even by broad +daylight," she said. "What it must look like when the shades of +evening are closing round it, or by the dim light of a clouded moon, I +dare scarcely imagine. I shall dream about it more than once in time +to come." + +"Were I a story writer, and wanted to describe a haunted house, I +should come to Broome," remarked Aunt Charlotte, sententiously. + +She also felt the influence of the place and scene. + +"It is a sort of feeling that would wear off upon further +acquaintance," said Clem. "If, now, one could give a free hand to a +London upholsterer, not forgetting the landscape-gardener, and if +after they had done their best, one could fill the old house with a +party of gay young people, with the addition of half-a-dozen romping +children, what a transformation should we behold!" + +Hermia shook her head. + +"Broome as it appeals to the imagination, but Broome as Clem would +have it would be----" + +"As commonplace as himself," interrupted the latter, with a laugh. +"That was a spot of rain, we had better be getting back to the +landau." + +Barney Dale reached the hotel about half-past five, and Clem, who was +on the look-out for him, at once took him into the sitting-room where +Hermia was awaiting his arrival. Then he left them together. Hermia +advanced with a blush and a smile, and yet with a strange trembling of +her limbs, and held out her hand. + +"I cannot express to you how happy it makes me to see you again, Mr. +Dale," she said, in soft, emotional tones, which fell like music on +the old man's ears. + +"Again! How again?" he asked, as he peered closely into her face. +"When might you have seen me last, missy?" Then half-aloud, but +evidently thinking himself unheard, "The likeness! the likeness! The +same eyes and hair--the very marrow of the other!" + +"As far as my memory serves, I saw you last on the day you brought me +to Broome," answered Hermia. "I had a long, long ride in a carriage +with you and someone else--a woman. But come, let us sit, and then we +can talk more comfortably." + +He loosed the hand he had been holding, and let her lead him to a +sofa, where they sat down, side by side. + +"Then a little later," resumed Hermia, "I can call to mind being in a +room--a very gloomy room--in which sat two ladies, very stately and +upright, but, to my childish eyes, very, very awful-looking. I stood +before them with my hands behind my back, while they talked to each +other about me in French or Italian. Then, after a little while, you +came into the room carrying two candlesticks, with lighted candles in +them, on a silver tray, whereupon Miss Pengarvon--for she it must have +been--at once extinguished one of the candles, after which you were +bidden to take me away. I have a good memory, have I not, Mr. Dale?" + +Barney's eyes were fixed intently on her face as if he were still +tracing, feature by feature, the likeness between it and some other +face which dwelt in his memory. He did not heed her question. His lips +moved, but no sound came from them; he was talking silently to +himself. + +"And now, Mr. Dale," resumed Hermia, presently, "I want you to tell me +what the relationship is between Miss Pengarvon and myself--for that +we are related in some way I feel as sure as that I am sitting here." + +"You munna ask me, Miss Hermy," answered the old man with a long, slow +shake of his head. "I darena answer any questions. My mistress bound +me by an oath not to speak a word to a soul about--about the matter +that is between her and me till she gives me leave to do so." + +Hermia drew a little nearer to him, and took one of his gnarled and +withered hands between her soft palms. + +"At least you cannot refuse to tell me this," she said, her blue eyes +luminous with a sort of yearning pathos. "You cannot refuse to tell me +whether my father and mother are still living?" + +Then, as the old man did not answer: + +"Think, think what it must be not to know even as much as that," she +added pleadingly. "In so far, I am worse off--Heaven help me!--than +the meanest beggar's child that tramps the streets." + +"Let the mistress blame me, I dunna care. She shall be told," muttered +Barney, half-aloud. Then he cleared his voice, and squeezing one of +the little hands that held his, he said, "My bonnie darling, I never +knew your father--never even heard his name, and canna tell you aught +about him. But your mother--ah! Your mother!" He paused, and Hermia +saw a tear shining in the corner of either eye. + +"Yes--what of her?" she asked, with a catching of her breath, for her +heart but too truly presaged what she was about to be told. + +"She died a few weeks after you were born." + +Hermia dropped the old man's hand, and turning, bowed her head and +covered her face with her hands. Silently she wept; Barney's tears +brimmed over and trickled down his worn cheeks. In a little while he +wiped them away with his cotton handkerchief, and rising, went softly +out of the room. He found Clement outside. "Go in and comfort the poor +child," he said. "She needs it sorely, and your own heart will teach +you how best to do it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. +AN INTERVIEW AND ITS SEQUEL. + + +Evening was beginning to close in--the evening of the day following +that of the interview between Barney Dale and Hermia--when the latter, +accompanied by Aunt Charlotte and Clement, alighted from a fly at the +gates by the ruined lodge, and walked through the park to Broome, +where they were admitted by Barney at the side entrance. It had been +deemed best by the old man that Hermia should be introduced to Miss +Pengarvon when he took in the lighted candles, which of itself made a +little interruption, sufficing to break the current of his mistress's +sombre meditations and bringing her back, if only for a few minutes, +to a sense of time and place. + +Since the fit, or seizure, of which Barney had made mention to +Clement, although to all seeming she was now as well bodily as she had +previously been, her nervous system had become even more acutely +irritable than before her attack. She seemed to live almost entirely +in the past, and to talk more and more with the shadows that kept her +company in the Green Parlor--Sir Jasper, Lady Pengarvon, Miss Letitia, +and Isabel, with others whom Barney was unable to identify with anyone +whom he had known. + +Barney trembled inwardly for the result of the experiment he was about +to venture upon, but having once given his promise, he was determined +to abide by it, come what might. + +So, when the proper moment had come, Barney, carrying the stately +silver candlesticks, opened the door of the Green Parlor and went in, +followed by Hermia, who was bareheaded and dressed with quaker-like +simplicity, in a gown of some softly-clinging grey material. Even the +two candles scarcely sufficed to dissipate the shadows which seemed to +have their natural gathering-place in the gloomy old room; but when +Miss Pengarvon proceeded to extinguish one of them, which she did at +once, a number of the shadows came trooping back on the instant, as +though they had known beforehand what she would do, and were only +waiting for it. Hermia could readily have fancied that the intervening +years were nothing but a dream, and that she was standing there again, +a three-year-old mite, with her hands behind her, only she had then +been confronted by two stern-faced ladies, whereas now there was only +one. But there, close to the table, in the place where it had stood +when she was alive, was the empty chair of the dead and gone Miss +Pengarvon--she who had crept into Hermy's room at midnight and had +kissed her in her sleep. + +Despite the changes which eighteen years had brought about, Hermia +knew Miss Pengarvon at once. The chilly, unsympathetic, blue-grey +eyes, and the heavy brows were there as of old, but the once dark +locks were now nearly snow white, and although her face had always +been long and thin, the bones now stood out with startling prominence, +with the shrunken, yellow-ivory skin stretched tightly over them. But +in the steel-cold eyes there now shone something which caused Hermia's +heart to beat faster even than it had beat on entering the room. It +was the gleam of incipient insanity which she saw there, although she +knew it not. + +Notwithstanding the warmth of the weather, a few embers were burning +in the grate, and it was not till Barney moved aside and proceeded to +rake them together that Miss Pengarvon's eyes fell on Hermia. Not even +by as much as the flicker of an eyelid did she evince the slightest +surprise at sight of the girl. + +"So you have come at last," she said, speaking in the hard, measured +tones of an icy displeasure. "How many times have I had to tell you of +late that I will not have you wandering in the park at this late hour +of the afternoon? You see, Letitia, how utterly unbiddable the girl +is." Here she was evidently addressing the unseen occupant of the +vacant chair. "You choose to plead for her, and to urge this and that +in her favor, although I have told you over and over again that +Isabel's is one of those disobedient and ungrateful dispositions on +which kindness is absolutely thrown away." Then, turning to Hermia, +she added, frowningly, "I have nothing more to say to you. Go to your +room, and stay there till I give you permission to leave it." + +Who was the Isabel for whom Miss Pengarvon evidently mistook her? +Hermia could not help asking herself; could it be her mother? + +But it was not a time to ask questions. Advancing a step or two she +said, "My name is not Isabel, Miss Pengarvon. I am Hermia Rivers. Do +you not remember seeing me here when I was a little girl?" + +"Hermia Rivers!" echoed Miss Pengarvon, in a whisper loud enough for +the others to hear, as a person at the moment of waking might repeat +with a kind of frightened surprise some name which, spoken in his ear, +had been enough to break his sleep. "And who, pray, may Hermia Rivers +be?" she demanded next moment, as she rose slowly and not without +difficulty from her chair and drew herself up to her full height. "No +such person is known to me." Then, turning abruptly on the trembling +Barney, she said, "How many times have I given you my orders that, on +no pretence whatever, should you introduce any one into my presence +without having first obtained my permission to do so? Take this young +woman away at once--at once, I say--and never let me see her face +again! She is an intruder. I know her not!" With an imperious gesture +she pointed to the door. The old man beckoned sorrowfully to Hermia, +and the two left the room without a word more. + +Barney's experiment had resulted in failure; but for that the old man +was in no way to blame. He had done his best to bring about an +explanation between Miss Pengarvon and her niece, and that he had not +succeeded was no fault of his. Saddened and disheartened, our trio +went back to Stavering. + +Not knowing at what hour they should be back, they had left the +question of dinner till their return, and they now separated, pending +its preparation. As Hermia passed up the staircase on her way to her +room, she encountered a middle-aged, military-looking man, with a grey +mustache, who happened to be coming down at the same moment. The lamp +at the head of the staircase shone full on Hermia, and as they passed +each other the stranger, whose eyes had been fixed on her face, gave a +palpable start, and at the same instant made a clutch at the balusters +as if to keep himself from falling. Then he turned and gazed after +Hermia's retreating figure; and then, instead of keeping on his way +down stairs, he re-ascended them and went back to his room with the +air of a man who was at once puzzled and disturbed in his mind. He was +none other than Major Strickland. He who, but a month or two before, +had met with such a decided rebuff at the hands of Miss Pengarvon. He +had come down to Stavering again in the hope that Miss Pengarvon, who +in the meantime would have had ample time to think over and review +certain particulars which he had then laid before her, might now see +fit to accord him the information she had then refused him, which, so +far as he could judge, it would be hopeless for him to seek elsewhere. + +Accordingly, on the morning of the day when we meet him for the second +time, the Major had again walked over to Broome and had sent in his +card by the hand of Barney Dale, whom he now saw for the first time. +It had been brought back to him two minutes later, torn in half by +Miss Pengarvon, who refused absolutely to see him, and ordered Barney +to shut the door in his face--an order, however, which the latter +chose to interpret in his own way. Then had the Major returned to +Stavering, disheartened and sad at heart, even as, a few hours later, +three other persons had come back from Broome. + +On returning to his room after being so startled by the vision he had +encountered on the stairs, Major Strickland opened his portmanteau and +took from it a miniature painted on ivory, in an oval case. Opening +it, he gazed long and earnestly at the likeness inside, which was that +of a very beautiful young woman, apparently not more than about twenty +years of age. + +"The resemblance is certainly most extraordinary," he soliloquized +aloud. "But for the changed fashion of dress and the different +arrangement of the hair, it seems to me that each of them might sit +for the other's portrait. Who can she be? Gruding may be able to tell +me something about her. I will seek him at once." + +"The name of the young lady is Miss Hermia Rivers--at least, that's +the name entered in the register," said the landlord, when found and +questioned by the Major ten minutes later. "But you are ill, sir. What +can I get you? What can I do for you?" + +"It is nothing--nothing at all. I shall be better in a minute or two." +Then to himself he added: "It is she--it must be she! The name alone +is enough to prove it. How strange and unaccountable are the ways of +Providence!" He seemed lost in thought for a few moments, then rousing +himself, he said: "From the fact that Miss Rivers is staying under +your roof, I presume that, like myself, she is only a visitor here?" + +"That is all, sir. They arrived yesterday--the three of them--though +the young gentleman was here before, about a fortnight since." + +"I have no wish to be thought inquisitive," resumed the Major, "but I +must confess that I am extremely desirous of ascertaining the nature +of the business which has brought Miss Rivers to Stavering. My motive +is a very different one from idle curiosity." + +"Well, sir, as far as I can make out," answered Gruding, "the business +of the party seems to be much of a muchness with that of yourself, if +you'll excuse my saying so." + +"As how?" demanded the Major, quickly. + +"Why, sir, they only arrived yesterday afternoon, and yet they have +been twice to Broome already, and when the young gentleman--Doctor +Hazeldine is his name--was here before, he had no end of questions to +ask me about Miss Pengarvon; just like yourself, sir." + +"A proof the more, had any been needed," said the Major, under his +breath. Then, after a minute's thought, he added aloud: "I must see +Miss Rivers this evening. Find out, if you can, when the best time +will be for me to ask for an interview." + +"They were rather late in getting back from Broome and have not yet +dined," said Gruding. "Suppose I send you word, sir, when dinner is +over and the things cleared away." + +"Do so," replied the Major; and with that he rose and went back to his +room. + +The Major had not been gone more than three or four minutes when +Gruding was buttonholed by Doctor Hazeldine. + +Hermia, while on their way back from Broome, had not failed to recount +to Aunt Charlotte and Clem how Miss Pengarvon had addressed her by the +name of Isabel, evidently mistaking her for someone else. This fact +had greatly impressed Clem. Who was the unknown Isabel to whom Hermia +bore a likeness so striking as to cause Miss Pengarvon to mistake one +for the other? It was with a view of solving this question that he now +sought the landlord. + +"Mr. Gruding," he began, "when I was here last you were able to tell +me a great deal about Broome and the Pengarvon family. Do you happen +to know, or have you ever heard, of any member of the family in +question whose name was Isabel?" + +"Why, to be sure, sir. Miss Isabel was the present Miss Pengarvon's +youngest sister by the late Sir Jasper's second wife. She ran away +from Broome some twenty-one or two years ago, with a young gentleman +as had been staying at this house for a couple of months or more, +fishing and sketching, and such like. It was in everybody's mouth at +the time, I can tell you, sir." + +"And what became of Miss Isabel afterwards?" + +"That's more than anybody seems to know, sir, unless it's Miss +Pengarvon herself. Anyhow, she was never heard of in these parts +again, as far as I know." + +"And what was the name of the young gentleman?" + +"Ah, now you puzzle me, sir. I've been trying of late to bring it to +mind, but, for the life of me, I can't. You see, sir, it's such a long +time ago; and one's memory, as one gets on in life, ain't as ready as +it used to be." + +Here was food for thought! Dinner was announced a few minutes later, +and Clement decided that, for the present, he would keep what Gruding +had just told him to himself. + +It was a balmy evening in early summer. The room in which dinner had +been served overlooked a bowling-green at the back of the hotel, set +round with borders of old-fashioned flowers. A faint shimmer of +moonlight lay over everything. Clem was smoking on the balcony; Miss +Brancker and Hermia were seated by the window. A shaded lamp stood on +a centre table. There was a tap at the door, and in came the waiter +carrying a card on a salver, which he presented to Miss Rivers with +one of his most deferential bows. Hermia took it with a little +surprise, and crossing to the lamp, read the name on it aloud: + +"Major Strickland." + +"The gentleman desires to see Miss Rivers on very particular +business," said the man. + +A slight sound caused them to turn their heads, and there stood Major +Strickland, hat in hand, in the doorway. As he came forward the waiter +went out and shut the door. + +"Pardon this intrusion," said the Major, his eyes fixed intently on +the startled girl; "have I the pleasure of addressing Miss Hermia +Rivers?" + +"That is my name, sir." + +"Mine is on the card you are now holding. But from this hour I hope +you will know me by another and a very different name. My dear young +lady, in me you see your grandfather; in you I behold the daughter of +my only son!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL. +A STORY OF THE PAST AND DEPARTURE. + + +Had a bomb burst in the room it might have caused more alarm, but it +could scarcely have been the cause of more astonishment than was the +Major's sudden announcement. + +It was half-an-hour later. The first access of wonder had in some +measure subsided. There had been question and answer on both sides. +The Major told how, in the first place, he had been struck by Hermia's +extraordinary likeness to the miniature in his possession, and, in the +second, by her surname (his son's full name had been Warren Rivers +Strickland); and how, when he found that only that very day she had +been to Broome to seek an interview with Miss Pengarvon, he had at +once come to the conclusion that it was not possible that she could be +anyone other than the granddaughter he had sought for so long a time, +but had hitherto sought in vain. + +Then came the Major's turn to be told the story of Hermia's adoption +by John Brancker and his sister, followed by an account of Mr. +Hodgson's visits to Ashdown, which naturally led up to the particulars +of Clement's quest and what had resulted therefrom, the whole ending +with an account of what had passed at the interview between Miss +Pengarvon and Hermia only a few hours before. + +But something more remained to be told, to wit, the story of the +ill-fated young couple, Warren Strickland and Isabel Pengarvon. This +the Major now proceeded to narrate as far as the facts connected +therewith were known to him. The following summary of what he had to +tell is all that need be given here: + +At the time young Warren Strickland went down to Stavering for the +purpose of trout-fishing, he had just passed his final army +examination and was awaiting his commission and appointment. While at +Stavering he met Isabel Pengarvon, fell in love with her, and +persuaded her to agree to a secret marriage. He was very poor, Isabel +had not a farthing of her own, and on both sides the marriage was an +act of the maddest imprudence. Young Strickland kept the affair a +profound secret from all his friends and connections, and when he +received his commission and was ordered to Aldershot, he established +Isabel in lodgings in London, and ran up to see her there as often as +he could get away. In those lodgings Hermia was born. + +One day, when Isabel had been about a year married, a strange woman +called upon her and announced herself as Warren Strickland's first +wife, producing in proof of her claim what purported to be a +certificate of marriage at a registrar's office, which anyone less +ignorant of such matters than Isabel would at once have seen to be an +impudent forgery. That Warren, when scarcely more than a boy--indeed, +he was hardly more than that when he married--had been entangled in +the toils of the woman, who was some half-dozen years his senior, and +in a moment of infatuation had promised her marriage, there was little +reason to doubt. Finding herself jilted, and Warren married to +another, she had determined on the scheme of revenge described above. +Unfortunately Isabel chose to believe the woman's tale, so plausibly +was it told, and backed up by such apparent proofs; and without +waiting to question Warren, she at once quitted her lodgings, taking +her child with her, and leaving behind her a note in which she told +her husband that she had left him for ever and the reason why, and +begging of him, if he had any love for her still left, to make no +attempt to find her. + +It was not till three or four days after Isabel had gone that the blow +fell. Warren had run up to town to bid his wife a hurried farewell. +His regiment was ordered to India, where a frontier war had just +broken out, and he was due to embark at Portsmouth forty-eight hours +later. For a few hours he was like a man bereft of reason; then the +necessity for immediate action of some kind forced him, in his own +despite, to face the facts of the case with some degree of outward +calmness. At length he decided to adopt the only course which seemed +to hold out any prospect of success. To have himself set about any +search for his wife with only a few hours at his command would have +been the sheerest folly. Having contrived, by means best known to +himself, to raise a hundred pounds, he went to a Private Inquiry Agent +and placed the whole of the facts in his hands, giving the man an +address in India to write to. Little as it seemed at the time, it was +all he could do, and a few hours later he went aboard ship. + +Whether the agent used his best endeavors to trace Isabel and failed +in the attempt, or whether he quietly pocketed his fee and satisfied +his conscience by making a few perfunctory but futile inquiries was a +point as to which nothing was ever known, nor ever would be now, the +man himself having died a few months later. In any case no +communication from him ever reached Warren Strickland. As it fell out, +however, the young soldier came by his death within a year after +landing, having been mortally wounded in a skirmish with some of the +hill tribes. He lived long enough to enable him to dictate a letter to +his father--who was himself in India at the time, but a thousand miles +away from where his son lay dying--in which he told him all about his +marriage and the flight of Isabel; making it his last request that on +his father's return to England, he should use every endeavor to find +his daughter-in-law and her child, and prove to Isabel how terribly +mistaken she had been in acting as she had. With his letter the dying +man enclosed his marriage certificate. For reasons which need not be +detailed, Major Strickland had been precluded from doing anything +towards the fulfilment of his son's last wishes till a month or two +before his first call on Miss Pengarvon. + +"There is one question," said the Major, in conclusion, addressing +himself directly to Hermia, "which I have refrained from asking till +after I had told you all there is to tell, as far as I am concerned. +It is about your mother, my dear. Is she still living? Is she----?" +Something in the girl's face bade him pause. + +"Not till yesterday did I know who my mother was, or anything about +her," replied Hermia, in broken accents. "But she is dead--so I am now +told. She died when I was only a few weeks old." + +"Is that indeed so?" said the Major, with a sigh. "Then the hope of +finding her, and of proving to her the utter falsity of the charge +made by that vile woman against my poor boy must now be abandoned for +ever. But had it not been for my endeavors to trace her, I should not +have found you. For that, my dear child, I can never be sufficiently +thankful. I have no one but you in the world, and already I feel that +you are very dear to me." + +They were sitting on the sofa side by side. The Major moved a little +nearer to the girl, and taking her head gently between his hands, he +drew it towards him and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. Then +Hermia's arms were wound round his neck, and with her cheek resting +against his shoulder, her overcharged heart found its natural relief +in tears. Aunt Charlotte rose, and beckoning to Clem, they left +grandfather and granddaughter together. + + +The ladies had retired for the night, and the Major and Clem were +sitting over a final weed. + +"It seems to me," said the former, after they had smoked awhile in +silence, "now my granddaughter and I have been brought together in a +way so strange and unexpected, that we ought to make Miss Pengarvon +acquainted with what has come to pass, and give her one last +opportunity of acknowledging her niece. If, after that, she still +persists in the course she has hitherto followed, I do not think that +either Hermia or I will care to trouble her in time to come. But what +is your opinion, Dr. Hazeldine?" + +It may here be remarked that the relation in which Clement and Hermia +stood towards each other had been duly explained to Major Strickland +in an "aside" by Aunt Charlotte, although he had probably guessed the +truth by the time he had been ten minutes in their company; whereupon +he had at once shaken hands heartily with Clem, and had declared +laughingly, that he was sincerely glad to hear that the task of +finding a husband for his granddaughter had been taken off his hands, +and that the arrangement met with his entire approbation. + +Doctor Hazeldine was quite of the Major's opinion, that a final appeal +ought to be made to Miss Pengarvon. "It has seemed to me, when +considering the matter," he went on to observe, "that possibly there +may have been a doubt lurking in Miss Pengarvon's mind all these +years, as to whether her sister was really married, in which case one +can readily understand her determination to keep everything connected +with the affair a profound secret. She comes of a stock which have +always been known round about as 'the Proud Pengarvons,' and of which +the family motto is, 'Pride I Cherish.' This seems to me a factor in +the affair which ought not to be overlooked. May I ask whether you +happen to have your son's marriage certificate by you?" + +"It is in my portmanteau upstairs. I brought it with me, thinking that +I might possibly be called upon to produce it." + +"Then, if you will allow me to say so, why not take it with you to +Broome to-morrow? In your place, I should insist on seeing Miss +Pengarvon, and on laying the certificate before her as evidence which +not even she can doubt or cavil at. If, after that, she should still +persist in maintaining her present attitude, I agree with you in +thinking that nothing more can be done." + +"What you urge is certainly worthy of a trial," said the Major, "and +to-morrow shall see it put to the test." + +Barney Dale had happened to mention that since her late attack Miss +Pengarvon seldom rose before noon, so it was not till between four and +five o'clock the following afternoon that Major Strickland, his +granddaughter and Clement found themselves at Broome. Miss Brancker, +feeling that she might perhaps be in the way, had stayed behind, and +Clement would have followed her example had not the Major insisted on +his accompanying them. + +Earlier in the day, Clem had sent Barney a note by messenger, so that +he was prepared for their arrival. This time they drove up to the +front entrance, and, in response to the Major's summons, Barney flung +open the massive oaken door, which since Sir Jasper's death had so +rarely turned on its hinges to admit anyone. + +"This young lady is my granddaughter and Miss Pengarvon's niece," said +the Major. "We are about to leave Stavering in the course of a few +hours, but are desirous of seeing Miss Pengarvon before doing so. Be +good enough, please, to lead the way to her room, and announce our +arrival to her." + +At any other time Barney would have refused admittance to the Major +until he had obtained his mistress's permission, but Clem in his note +had told him the object of their visit--it was "all for Hermia's +sake," he had written--so now he simply bowed and held wide the door +for them to enter. Then having shut the door, he motioned to them to +follow him, all without a word, and led the way to the Green Parlor. +The Major and Hermia obeyed his mute directions, but Clement stayed +behind in the entrance hall. + +Barney--the Major and Hermia a little way behind him--knocked with his +knuckles on the door of the Green Parlor, and bent his ear for the +familiar summons to enter. But none came. Presently he knocked again, +louder than before. Still no response. The only sound that broke the +strained silence was the fluting of a blackbird somewhere outside the +Hall. Then, after a scared look at the others, Barney opened the door +and made one step forward into the room. Next moment a cry that was +half a wail broke from the old man's lips; the Major, followed by +Hermia, hurried into the room. + +There, in her high-backed chair, with its empty fellow chair facing +her on the opposite side of the table, with her glazed eyes staring +straight before her, and a look of awe unutterable on her ashen-grey +face, sat Miss Pengarvon, stone dead. On the table in front of her +were scattered a number of yellow, time faded letters, which she had +apparently been engaged in looking over at the moment the Great +Captain touched her suddenly on the shoulder, and beckoned her to +follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. +"GOOD-BYE TO ONE AND ALL." + + +Immediately on the discovery of what had happened, Clement was +summoned by the Major, who then conducted Hermia to another room. A +brief examination sufficed to prove that Miss Pengarvon must have been +dead a couple of hours at the least. When Doctor Bland arrived a +little later he seemed in no way surprised. His patient had been +suffering from heart disease for years, and in no case could a fatal +termination have been much longer delayed. + +At last Barney Dale's lips were unsealed; his mistress's death had +absolved him from his oath. He was now as willing to tell all he knew +as before he had been obstinately dumb. With what degree of interest +his narrative was listened to may readily be imagined. + +On that snowy December night, now more than twenty years ago, poor +Isabel was all but dead when carried into the house by Barney and his +wife. She never recovered consciousness, nor even as much as opened +her eyes, but presently breathed three or four faint sighs and was +gone. Her infant, lying warmly against its mother's bosom, had +suffered but little harm. There was no wedding-ring on Isabel's +finger, but one was found suspended by a ribbon round her neck. On the +child's clothes a third name had been carefully erased, the words +"Hermia Rivers" being alone left. Miss Pengarvon had at once leaped to +the conclusion that her sister had not been married. It would never do +to let the world know that the family honor of the "Proud Pengarvons" +had been smirched. At any and every cost Isabel and her fault must be +hidden away. Barney Dale had a nephew in Stavering, a carpenter by +trade; this man secretly made an oak coffin, and conveyed it to Broome +after nightfall. Exactly below the Green Parlor, and hollowed out of +the soft sandstone on which the Hall was built, was an underground +room which had been used as a hiding-place in the old, bad days of +religious intolerance and persecution, and was known as the "Priest's +Chamber." Access to it was obtained by means of a narrow stairway in +the thickness of the wall, hidden by a sliding panel behind the old +bureau. + +The secret of the Chamber had always been carefully confined to +members of the family, and not even Barney had known of its existence +until Miss Pengarvon revealed to him her design, which was to make it +the last resting-place of her sister. Accordingly, in the dead of +night, a portion of the flooring of the Green Parlor was taken up by +Barney and his nephew, and the coffin and its inmate lowered into the +vault below--Miss Letitia, on her knees, weeping and praying silently, +while Miss Pengarvon stood by, frowning and dry-eyed. The flooring was +then replaced, and a month later, Barney's nephew, who had long been +desirous of emigrating, had his passage to the States paid by Miss +Pengarvon, and in addition, a sum of money given him to enable him to +make a fair start in life when he got there. + +Hermia was brought up by a sister of Barney, who lived at a distance, +until she was three years old, at which age she passed into the +keeping of John Brancker and his sister. + + +Next day Clement Hazeldine went back home and got into harness again +without an hour's delay. Hermia, Miss Brancker, and the Major stayed +at Broome over the funeral. It was a double funeral, for Miss +Pengarvon and the sister whom living she had so cruelly treated were +laid to rest in one grave. No will could be found; neither, so far as +could be ascertained, had Miss Pengarvon ever made one. Broome, and +the two small farms pertaining to it, together with the accumulated +savings of the two sisters during a long course of years, all devolved +upon Hermia as next of kin. She was the last of the old race. + + +It was only natural that Edward Hazeldine's thoughts should turn again +in the direction of Miss Winterton, now that Varrel, by his +confession, had absolved the elder Mr. Hazeldine's memory of the +charge of self-murder. The confession had been published in the +newspapers, and the facts of the case were now known to the world at +large. Sometimes Edward told himself that he would tempt fortune once +again at the very first opportunity which should offer itself; at +other times he said to himself, "Although my father's memory has been +cleared, nothing can do away with the fact that I proposed to Miss +Winterton at a time when I had every reason to believe that he had +committed suicide, trusting to her and the world's ignorance of that +fact for the successful issue of my suit. How is it possible that she +should ever forgive me?" + +Whether or no he would ever have summoned up courage enough to urge +his suit again may well be doubted, had not the lady herself, after a +fashion which it would be futile for one of the opposite sex to +attempt to describe, contrived to make him aware that his chance of +success might not, perhaps, be quite so hopeless as in his more +desponding moods he was inclined to believe it to be. In any case, he +did propose, and was accepted. + +It was not till some time after she had made him happy that he +ventured to ask Miss Winterton for an explanation of one point which +had always been a mystery to him, namely, by what means she had been +led to believe that his father had committed suicide. Her explanation +was a very simple one. + +It has been mentioned that Ephraim Judd had two sisters, one of whom, +at the time of his illness and death, was in service at Seaham Lodge, +while the other, Eliza by name, was at home, waiting till she could +obtain another situation. Eliza, who had a large measure of the +curiosity which was so marked a trait of her brother's character, was +penetrated by a strong desire to ascertain what it was Ephraim had to +say to Doctor Hazeldine which no one else must be allowed to hear. +Ephraim's room was divided from the next room by a pair of folding +doors, behind which Eliza took up a position as listener, the next +time Doctor Hazeldine called. She could not hear all that passed, but +she heard what she took for a positive statement by her brother that +Mr. Hazeldine's death was the result of his own act. Like Ephraim, she +was close of tongue, and she spoke of what she had heard to no one but +her sister. This sister was a favorite of Miss Winterton, filling +among other duties, those of maid to her, and she it was who repeated +the story Eliza had told her. As a consequence, Miss Winterton at once +sent for Eliza, and then bound both the girls to secrecy; and, so far +as was known, neither of them had broken the promise they had then +given her. At the same time that Miss Winterton told all this to +Edward, she led him to understand that, had he frankly confided to her +when he first proposed what at that time he believed to be the truth +about his father, her answer might have been a different one. It had +been his secrecy in the matter, not the manner of his father's death, +which, for the time being, had turned her against him. + + +To Frank Derison a few parting words are due. + +As week by week his balance at the Ashdown Savings Bank kept +on melting away, he vowed to himself, not once but a hundred +times--generally when on his way home with empty pockets--that he +would never cross the threshold of the "Bons Frères" again. But by the +time next evening, or the evening after that, had come round, he was +again under the influence of the fatal fascination, so that even while +telling himself he would not go, his feet would lead him, almost as it +seemed in his own despite, in the direction of the railway station; +and when once he got as far as that he knew there was no going back +for him. At length the day came when he drew his last sovereign out of +the Bank, yet even then he lacked the strength of mind to put his foot +down and say resolutely to himself: "Not a single step further will I +advance on the pleasant but delusive path which has already led me to +the brink of ruin." Instead of that, he began to borrow money here and +there among his many friends and acquaintances, but chiefly from Mr. +Howes. Mr. Howes was a bachelor, and a thrifty man to boot, and had a +pleasant little banking-account of his own. He made no demur about +lending Frank a few pounds now and again, being careful to take his +I.O.U. in return. In all probability the young man would one day be +taken into partnership, and Mr. Howes calculated that whatever sums he +might now disburse in the way of loans would be repaid him many times +over, if not in one form then in another, after that event should have +come to pass. It is to be said in his favor that, although he +sometimes wondered why Frank stood in need of such frequent loans, he +had not the remotest suspicion of the purpose to which the money was +really put. Since Mr. Avison had spoken to him, Frank had to all +seeming developed into one of the most sober and steady-going of Bank +officials. As already stated, all his gambling was done at Dulminster. + +But by this time the "Bons Frères" Club had acquired for itself a very +unenviable reputation among the more staid circles of Dulminster +society. More than one promising young man had ruined himself, or had +been ruined by others--it came to the same thing in the end--in that +cosy octagon room built out at the back of the Club, where so many +pleasant fellows forgathered night after night. By-and-bye it began to +be whispered about that the place was little better than a den of +thieves. Thus it came to pass that one day an information was sworn +against the Club by the father of a youngster who had come to grief +within its walls, the consequence of which was that the same night the +police made a raid on the premises, and not content with seizing the +whole of the gambling plant, they marched everyone they found there to +the police-station, where names and addresses were taken down, and a +summons handed to each delinquent to appear next morning before the +magistrates. Among those thus taken red-handed was Frank Derison. From +that moment, as he knew full well, his career at the Bank was at an +end. Such an escapade was one of those things which Mr. Avison was the +last man in he world to overlook; indeed, Frank never went near him +afterwards. Two days later, without saying a word to anyone, he took +the train for London and enlisted. + +This little affair of Frank's happened about a fortnight before +Richard Varrel's confession was made public. When Mr. Avison read the +confession in his morning paper, he saw the way open to him for an act +of reparation, which he had been longing for some time to carry into +effect, but which his pride--in this instance, surely, a very foolish +sort of pride--had hitherto kept him from doing. Now, however, he +wrote a very gracious note to John Brancker, in which the latter was +asked to call upon the Banker without delay. It will be sufficient to +record the result of the meeting, which was that John was asked to +accept the position of junior partner in the firm. + +But little more remains to be told. + +It was a great mortification to poor Mrs. Hazeldine, and one which it +took her some time to recover from, to find that both Lady Glendoyle +and the Hon. Mrs. Gore-Bandon, after calling twice upon her--their +carriages and liveried servants waiting for them at the door +meanwhile--dropped her as easily and quietly as they had taken her up. +Whether their calls in the first instance had originated in a feeling +of sympathy for her in her great affliction, not unmixed, it may be, +with a hardly acknowledged wish to ascertain the particulars of the +late tragedy at the fountain-head, or whether they discovered certain +qualities in Mrs. Hazeldine which seemed to render it desirable that +they should not cultivate her further, were points best known to +themselves, and as to which they took nobody into their confidence. In +any case, the fact remained the same--the widow saw them no more. + +After a time--that is to say, when her husband had been dead about +half a year--Mrs. Hazeldine, at Fanny's prompting and instigation, +began to receive such of her friends and acquaintances as chose to +favor her with their company to five o'clock tea. It was a species of +mild dissipation, such as she would not have ventured upon during her +husband's lifetime; but she was not long in discovering that it +imparted a zest to existence undreamed of before. + +Mrs. Hazeldine could not afford to keep a carriage, and being +naturally indolent, she had a great distaste for walking exercise, +while she was one of those women who have a perpetual craving for +society, and whose mental exigencies, so to call them, are not +satisfied without an ample supply of gossip--not for the world would +one call it scandal--and a knowledge of all that is happening within +the limited round of their acquaintance, from the arrival of Mrs. A.'s +latest baby to the appearance at church of Mrs. Z. in a new and +ultrafashionable bonnet. + +As matters were now arranged, she could enjoy herself to her heart's +content without the necessity of setting foot across her own +threshold. To be expensively dressed--and mourning can be made very +expensive, as some of us know to our cost--and to receive a constant +succession of visitors in your own drawing-room, who are just as ready +to tell you everything there is to tell--with, it may be, a few more +or less fanciful additions of the narrator's own incorporated here and +there--as you are to listen to it, and yet who neither put you to too +much outlay in return, nor stay long enough to bore you--can anything +be more delightful? + +To Fanny Hazeldine the first three or four months after her father's +death were the dreariest she had ever known. The dreadful nature of +the tragedy which had overshadowed her own and her mother's life had +the effect of intensifying their bereavement in the eyes of the world, +and, for the time, of isolating them more completely than if Mr. +Hazeldine's death had resulted from natural causes. + +That Fanny doffed her "horrid crape" at the earliest possible date +goes without saying. She was fully alive to the fact that the soft +semi-tones of half-mourning became her admirably; and before long she +began to plume herself for further conquests. + +But, indeed, when she came once more to cast her eyes around, the +prospect was a most disheartening one; for where is the use of a young +Amazon donning her armor and going forth on conquest bent, when with +every year that passes it becomes a more difficult matter to find +anyone on whom it is worth while to try one's prowess? And that such +is becoming the case in Ashdown can no longer be denied. More and more +the young men, while not yet out of their teens, take to turning their +back on their provincial homes, going to fight the battle of life, and +find wives for themselves elsewhere. + +Well may Fanny Hazeldine, as one birthday comes treading on the heels +of another, begin to feel a touch of despair. In years gone by she was +an arrant flirt, having entered the lists at an early age, and in pure +recklessness, and because she loved the game too well to bring it +willingly to a close, spurned two or three really excellent offers. +Now it seems as if the Fates are about to avenge themselves, as they +have a way of doing, sooner or later, by allowing her--dreadful +phrase!--to be "left on the shelf." + +Hermia and Clement were married about three months after Miss +Pengarvon's death, by which time Clement had succeeded to a great part +of the practice of Doctor Finchdown, whom advancing years had +compelled to retire. A tenant was found for Broome in the person of a +wealthy manufacturer. Even had her husband been a man of independent +means, instead of a hard-working country Doctor, Hermia would have +shrunk from making the old house her home. It was associated in her +mind with too many painful episodes in connection with her mother for +her ever to have felt happy under its roof. At her wish, the entrance +to the "Priest's Chamber" was bricked up, and the Green Parlor +panelled afresh. + +Barney Dale, liberally pensioned by Hermia, took up his abode with his +niece and her husband. Twice a year he spends a week with Mr. and Mrs. +Hazeldine at Ashdown, on which occasions the old man is made much of +and petted to his heart's content. + +Major Strickland, who is fond of his club, fluctuates between London +and Oaklands, which is the name of Doctor Hazeldine's new house, where +his room is always kept in readiness for him, so that he can come and +go as the whim takes him, which is just what he likes to do. + +The latest news anent Edward Hazeldine is to the effect that he has at +length definitely made up his mind to offer himself to the electors of +Ashdown as a candidate at the next General Election. In this he is +encouraged by his wife, who has her ambitions; and as Lord Elstree, +who has considerable influence in the borough, has promised to back +him up in every legitimate way possible, there seems a fair chance of +success for him, more especially in view of the fact that the present +member has contrived to render himself thoroughly obnoxious to a large +number of his supporters. + +When, in due course, a son and heir made his appearance at Oaklands, +at the christening Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte acted as sponsors for +the child. When Master Hazeldine woke up in his cot after the +christening guests had gone and made his voice heard in the land, his +mother, on going to him, was surprised to find that his chubby fingers +were firmly grasping a piece of paper. This, on being examined, was +found to be a cheque for the twelve hundred and odd pounds about which +we know something already. It was Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte's gift +to their godson. + +Should you chance to walk past Nairn Cottage almost any Friday evening +between eight and ten o'clock, the strains of music proceeding +therefrom will be pretty sure to greet your ears, for the old +quartete parties have by no means been allowed to fall into +desuetude. There, as of old, Mr. Kittaway's puckered face stares at +you over his high cravat, what time, with an antiquated flourish of +his bow arm, he evokes the resonant accents of his beloved 'cello, +which at his bidding seems to do everything but speak. John with his +flute, and Clement with his fiddle, play as if they had one soul +between them, while Hermia at the piano with deft fingers blends the +whole into one rich, full, harmonious volume of sound. Dear Aunt +Charlotte with a kitten on her lap and a piece of crewel-work in her +hands, which, however, progresses but slowly, listens and looks on, +placidly happy in the happiness of those she loves. Stretched at full +length on the hearthrug may be seen a sturdy urchin intent on putting +together a more than usually intricate puzzle picture, and thereby +proving to all and sundry what a clever and important personage he is. +But, as far as his mother and his Aunt Charlotte are concerned, no +such proof is needed. They have been fully convinced of the fact long +ago. + + + + +FINIS. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Heart of a Mystery, by T. W. Speight + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57311 *** |