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diff --git a/57944-0.txt b/57944-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6654ed --- /dev/null +++ b/57944-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7374 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57944 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: + https://books.google.com/books?id=prZLAQAAMAAJ + (The University of Chicago Library) + + + + + + +BURGO'S ROMANCE + + + +BY +T. W. SPEIGHT +AUTHOR OF "BACK TO LIFE," "HOODWINKED," ETC. + + + +_AUTHORIZED EDITION_ +-------------------- + + + +PHILADELPHIA +J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY +1894 + + + + + +AUTHORIZED EDITION + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + I. YOUNG MAN ABOUT TOWN. + II. CAPTAIN CUSDEN'S REPORT. + III. CUT ADRIFT. + IV. "OLD GARDEN." + V. A HUMBLE FRIEND. + VI. A LAST INTERVIEW. + VII. BURGO IN A NEW CHARACTER. + VIII. UNCLE AND NEPHEW. + IX. BURGO'S VIGIL. + X. A SLEEP AND AN AWAKING. + XI. A CLUE. + XII. FOUND. + XIII. HELPLESS. + XIV. IN DURANCE VILE. + XV. DACIA ROYLANCE. + XVI. DACIA EXPLAINS. + XVII. A DOOR BETWEEN. + XVIII. IN WHICH THE UNEXPECTED COMES TO PASS. + XIX. THE CAPTAIN OF THE "NAIAD." + XX. RESCUED. + XXI. A SURPRISE FOR BURGO. + XXII. A MYSTERY SOLVED. + + + + + +BURGO'S ROMANCE + + + + +CHAPTER I. +A YOUNG MAN ABOUT TOWN. + + +A dark handsome face bent close to a fair and glowing one, a trembling +white hand clasped in a sinewy brown one, two black eyes aflame with +the light of love, two blue eyes cast down in a sweet confusion and +shaded by long brown lashes. + +The scene was the conservatory at the back of Mrs. Mordaunt's London +house. It was a wilderness--that is to say, a wilderness where art +reigned supreme--of shrubs, ferns, mosses, and sweet-smelling tropical +flowers. Here and there a shaded lamp glowed with chastened radiance +through the greenery; here and there a Chinese lantern hung suspended +in mid-air like some huge transparent insect of many colours; here and +there a statue gleamed snow-white through the leafage. Some one in the +drawing-room was playing a dreamy waltz; in the breaks of the music +the low silvery plash of a hidden fountain made music of another kind. + +Time and the place conspired. The dark, handsome face bent closer, the +lean brown fingers tightened their grasp, two hearts fluttered as they +had never fluttered before. Then the words which one was dying to say +and the other one dying to hear, broke forth in accents low, eager, +and impassioned: + +"Clara, darling, you must know that I love you. You must know that I +have loved you ever since that day when----" + +In smooth, clear accents a voice behind them broke in: + +"Clara, love, I have been looking for you everywhere. I want you +particularly. Mr. Brabazon, will you kindly open that slide a few +inches? I can't think what Stevens has been about; the temperature is +perfectly unbearable." + +Burgo Brabazon was brought back to mundane matters with a shock as +though a stream of ice-cold water had been poured down his back. He +dropped Miss Leslie's trembling fingers and turned in some confusion +to obey Mrs. Mordaunt's behest. Before doing so however, he contrived +to whisper the one word "To-morrow." + +By the time he had arranged the slide, Mrs. Mordaunt and her niece had +disappeared. He muttered an execration under his breath, for Mr. +Brabazon was by no means an exemplary young man. + +Ten minutes later he left the house without saying "Good-night" to +anybody. + +As he made his way through the drawing-room he saw Miss Leslie sitting +a little apart from the general company in a recessed window. By her +side, and playing with her fan, sat young vacuous-faced Lord +Penwhistle--vacuous-faced, but enormously rich. "Ah-ha! _chère +madame_, so that's your little game, is it?" muttered Burgo to +himself. + +A group of three or four men with whom he was slightly acquainted were +talking on the stairs. They became suddenly silent when they saw him +coming down, and each of them greeted him with a solemn nod as he +passed. Burgo felt vaguely uncomfortable, he hardly knew why. + +A hansom took him quickly to his club, and there, over a cigarette and +a bottle of Apollinaris, he sat down to meditate. + +Burgo Brabazon at this time was within a month of his twenty-sixth +birthday. He might have been a lineal descendant of Coleridge's +_Ancient Mariner_, seeing that, like him, he was "long and lank and +brown"; but his was the lankiness of perfect health, of a frame +trained to the fineness of a greyhound's, which had not an ounce of +superfluous flesh about it. He had a long oval face and clear-cut +aquiline features; he had dark, steadfast-looking eyes, with a fine +penetrative faculty about them which gave you the impression that he +was a man who would not be easily imposed upon; his hair and his small +moustache were jet black. He was seldom languid, and still more rarely +supercilious, while occasionally inclined to be cynical and +pessimistic (in which respect he was by no means singular); but those +were qualities of which he could disembarrass himself as easily as he +could of his overcoat. He dressed fastidiously, but had nothing +whatever of the latter-day "masher" about him, he was far too manly +for that. Finally, no one could have had a more frank and pleasant +smile than Burgo Brabazon, so that it was almost a pity he was not +less chary of it. + +It is certainly unpleasant when, after much effort and inward +perturbation, a man has succeeded in screwing up his courage to ask a +certain question which has been trembling on his lips for weeks, to +find himself baulked at the very outset--to be, as it were, dragged +ignominiously back to earth when another moment would have seen him +soaring into the empyrean. It is more than unpleasant--it is +confoundedly annoying. + +Till this evening Burgo had had no reason to suppose that Mrs. +Mordaunt regarded him with unfavourable eyes. His evident liking for +her niece had certainly not escaped the observation of that vigilant +matron, and if she had not openly encouraged him, she had certainly +given him no reason to suppose that any advances he might choose to +make would meet with an unfavourable reception at her hands. + +Miss Leslie was no heiress; her sweet face was her only fortune. Her +father had been a country rector, and had bequeathed her an income +which just sufficed to save her from the necessity of joining the +great army of governesses. For a young lady so slenderly endowed with +the good things of this world Burgo Brabazon might be looked upon as a +very fair catch in the matrimonial fishpond--for was he not his +uncle's heir? + +"It's all that confounded little Penwhistle," he muttered to himself. +"He's evidently entêté with Clara, and Mrs. M. will do her best to +hook him. But I flatter myself I'm first favourite there, and if that +is so, by Jove! no other man shall rob me of my prize. I'll call +to-morrow, and again and again, till I can get five minutes alone with +her. I never cared for any one as I care for that girl." + +He was still deep in thought when some one touched him on the +shoulder. It was Tighe, a club friend, to whom he had lost a hundred +or so at cards during the course of their acquaintance. + +"You have heard the news, of course?" said the latter. + +"No; what is it?" asked Burgo languidly, with a half-smothered yawn. +Just then he did not care greatly about either Tighe or his news. + +For reply Tighe handed him an evening paper, his thumb marking a +certain passage. The passage in question ran as under: + +"At Nice, on the 12th inst., Sir Everard Clinton, Bart., to Giulia, +relict of the late Colonel Innes." + +Burgo stared at the paper for some moments as if his mind were unable +to take in the announcement. + +Then he gave it back to Tighe. "What an ancient idiot!" he said in his +usual impassive tone. "He'll never see his sixtieth birthday again. +But he always was eccentric." And Burgo lighted another cigarette. + +But truth to tell, although he took the matter so coolly, he was much +perturbed inwardly. The two lines he had just read announced a fact +which might have the effect of altering all his prospects in life. + +"I wonder whether Mrs. Mordaunt had heard the news when she carried +off Clara?" was one of the first questions he asked himself. "And +those fellows on the stairs?" Already he began to feel in some +indefinable sort of way that he was no longer quite the same Burgo +Brabazon in the eyes of the world that he had been a couple of hours +previously. + +All his life he had been led to believe that he would be his uncle's +heir. The title, together with such portion of the property as was +entailed, would go to his other uncle, Denis Clinton, the baronet's +younger brother. He, Burgo, was the only son of Sir Everard's +favourite sister. Both his parents dying when he was a child, his +uncle had at once adopted him, and from that time to the present had +treated him as if he were his own son. When his education was +finished, and Burgo hinted to his uncle that the time had now arrived +for deciding upon his future profession in life, Sir Everard had only +laughed in his quiet way and put the question aside as a piece of +harmless pleasantry; and when Burgo had ventured to broach the subject +on two or three subsequent occasions, it had met with no response from +the elder man. + +Burgo, who had no wish to lead an idle life, would fain have gone into +the army, but his uncle was unaccountably prejudiced against a +military career, and there had been no hope in that direction. + +Thus it fell out that month after month had drifted by without +anything being finally arranged, till Burgo had gradually settled down +into the groove of a young man about town, with no more serious +employment in life than to contrive how his liberal quarterly +allowance could be made productive of the greatest amount of +enjoyment. And that he did enjoy himself there could be no reasonable +doubt. He belonged to two or three pleasant clubs; he knew no end of +nice people who were glad to see him, or professed themselves to be +so; and when the shooting season began he had the pick and choice of a +dozen country houses. In short, Burgo was one of the spoiled darlings +of Society, and he was quite aware of the fact, although how much of +the favour accorded him was due to his own merits and how much to the +reflected radiance of his uncle's prospective thousands, was one of +those problems of which it would be invidious to attempt the solution. + +Of his uncle during these latter years Burgo had seen but little. The +English climate disagreed with the baronet's health, or so he averred, +and three-fourths of his time was spent abroad. He was a confirmed +numismatist and an inveterate _bric-à-brac_ hunter. He was said to +have one of the finest collections of coins in the three kingdoms, and +his house at Oaklands overflowed with curios picked up from every +country under the sun. That such a man at the mature age of +sixty-three should fall a victim to the shafts of Dan Cupid was one of +the last things which any one who was acquainted with Sir Everard +Clinton would have predicated of him. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +CAPTAIN CUSDEN'S REPORT. + + +In the _Times_ newspaper of the following morning Burgo read a +confirmation of his uncle's marriage. "There's a suspiciously Italian +flavour about the bride's baptismal name," he muttered to himself; +"but who was the late Colonel Innes, I wonder?" + +In the course of the afternoon he knocked at Mrs. Mordaunt's door. + +"Not at home, sir." + +Many an afternoon had he called there, but never before had such a +missile been flung at his head. His face flushed a little when he saw +Lord Penwhistle's miniature brougham being driven slowly up and down +the street. + +Two days later he called again, only to be repulsed with the same +polite fiction. + +Each afternoon he lingered in the Park till the last moment, in the +hope of catching a glimpse of Clara's sunny face; but all his +lingering was in vain. A week later he heard through a mutual +acquaintance that Mrs. Mordaunt and Miss Leslie had started for the +Continent. + +But before this took place the cards of the newly-wedded pair had +reached Burgo. He tore them up in a pet and threw them into the fire. +The same day, in sheer recklessness, he drove down to Richmond with +some club acquaintances who belonged to a faster set than he +habitually consorted with. There he drank more champagne and smoked +more cigars than was good for him, and awoke next morning with a +splitting headache. + +It has been remarked before that he was by no means an exemplary young +man. + +It was during these days he got the notion into his head that the +world was already beginning to look askance at him, that the greetings +of his acquaintances were scarcely so cordial as they used to be, that +there was a chilliness in the social atmosphere such as he had never +experienced before. + +All this was probably due to some touch of morbid fancy on his part. +One unpleasant fact there was, however, which he found it impossible +to ignore: he rarely opened his morning's letters nowadays without +finding among them one or more bills, most of them containing a +pressing request for an early settlement. To poor Burgo it seemed as +if the air was full of portents. + +If he had ever thought much about the matter--which, to give him his +due, he never had--he would have said that it was impossible he could +have owed so much money. Yet here was account after account tumbling +in, embodying items not one of which, when he came to look at them, +was he in a position to dispute. And when, one morning, he found +courage to take a sheet of paper and a pencil and total up the lot, he +was astounded at the magnitude of the result. It was not the first +time he had floundered into a similar quagmire. His uncle had already +paid his debts on two previous occasions--not without a little +grumbling, for Sir Everard was somewhat penuriously inclined, and +living well within his own income, considered that everybody should do +the same--and, under ordinary circumstances, Burgo would have appealed +to him for the third time, and would have felt confident that the +appeal would not have been in vain. But now the door was shut in his +face, at least for the time being. Until he should know what kind of +woman this new aunt should prove to be, he felt that it would be +impossible for him to appeal to his uncle as he should otherwise have +done. It was a capital thing, he said to himself, that quarter-day was +so close at hand. + +When those important epochs came round, it was Burgo's practice to +charter a hansom, and be driven into the City, to the office of Mr. +Garden, his uncle's lawyer, have ten minutes' chat and a glass of dry +sherry with him, pocket the cheque which was always waiting for him, +give a receipt in due form, and then lounge back westward, with a fine +glow of satisfaction such as he had not been conscious of half-an-hour +before. "You have heard the news, I presume," said Mr. Garden on the +present occasion, as he shook hands with the young man. + +"I have; and very much surprised I was. Were not you also surprised?" + +"I have lived too long, and have seen too much of human nature, to be +greatly surprised at anything. Still I must confess that I never +looked upon Sir Everard as a marrying man." + +"I should think not, indeed." + +"Let us hope that the step he has taken will in no way interfere with +your prospects in life." + +"It is pretty sure to do that," responded Burgo a little ruefully. + +"I don't see why it should. Sir Everard always gave me the impression +of being a very just-dealing man. Of course you are aware that a fresh +will will now have to be drawn up?" + +"Does that follow as a matter of course?" + +"As a matter of necessity. Sir Everard's marriage annuls any will he +may have executed prior to that ceremony." + +"Oh!" + +"I may tell you in confidence, that up to the present I have received +no instructions in the matter. By the way, do you know anything of the +lady who has now the privilege of calling you her nephew?" + +"Nothing whatever. I had never heard of her existence before I read +her name in the newspaper." + +"Well, we can only hope for the best. It is a poor philosophy which +anticipates troubles that may never come to pass." + +Then Mr. Garden handed Burgo a certain narrow slip of paper, for which +the latter gave a receipt in the usual form. Then he rose to go. + +"Sit down for a minute or two, Mr. Brabazon. I have not quite done +with you yet," said the old lawyer. Burgo, wondering a little, did as +he was told. + +"In a certain communication which I received from your uncle a few +days ago," resumed Mr. Garden, "among other matters he requested me to +obtain from you a full and complete schedule of any debts that may be +owing by you at the present time, and forward the same to him as early +as possible. I presume," added Mr. Garden blandly, as he stared at +Burgo over his spectacles, "that you young gentlemen about town are +nearly always in debt?" + +"By Jove! I believe you are right there," answered Burgo, with a short +laugh; "at least, I know that in my case the complaint has almost become +chronic. But what can be the dear old boy's reason for making such a +request?" + +"That is more than I can say; but one may be permitted to hazard a +guess." + +"He has paid my debts twice already." + +"Who should know that fact better than I? But is it not the accepted +creed among you young gentlemen of the town that rich fathers and +uncles are sent into the world by a kind Providence expressly for that +purpose?" + +Burgo laughed a little uneasily. "The distribution of capital is said +to conduce to the national well-being," he replied, with a quizzical +glance at the staid face opposite him. + +"A very bad argument for getting into debt, my dear Mr. Brabazon. +However, you will let me have the document asked for by your uncle as +early as convenient." + +"When you see the sum total it will frighten you." + +"It won't frighten _me_; but I can't answer for the effect it may +have on Sir Everard." + +"You shall have it in the course of to-morrow; but I shall be deucedly +uneasy, I can tell you, till I know the result." + +"Were you ever 'deucedly uneasy' about anything, Mr. Brabazon for more +than a few hours at a time?" + +"Upon my word, I don't think I ever was," laughed Burgo. "By-the-by, +have you any idea when my uncle is coming home?" + +"Not the remotest." + +With that Burgo took his leave. + +Next day the schedule of his liabilities was duly made out and +despatched, after which Burgo did his best to dismiss the subject from +his mind. + +Clara Leslie dwelt much in his thoughts about this time. He never +smoked a pipe alone in his rooms without seeming to see her face +shining on him through the smoke wreaths. That he was deeply in love +with her he had not the slightest doubt, but he was not quite so +certain how much she cared for him in return. True, there had not been +wanting tokens which told him that he was not wholly indifferent to +her, but between liking and love there is often a wide chasm, and +although that chasm may be, and often is, bridged over, it is not +always so; and in this case the cold winds of absence would doubtless +do their best to extinguish any tiny flame of love which might +perchance have been kindled in Miss Leslie's bosom. Among hundreds of +strange faces and a perpetual change of scene, how could he hope that +his image would continue to dwell in her memory? And yet--and yet she +had not repulsed him that evening when he took her hand and spoke +certain words to her in the conservatory; there had even been +something in her manner, or he dreamed so, which led him to believe +that, had they not been interrupted at that particular moment, no +repulse need have been feared by him. This thought it was, and this +alone, that made sweet his solitary musings. + +About a fortnight after his visit to Mr. Garden, Burgo received a note +from that gentleman informing him that the whole of his debts, as +specified in the schedule rendered by him, had been paid in full. +Burgo gave vent to a sigh of satisfaction as he laid down the lawyer's +note. A great weight had been lifted off his mind. He hesitated as to +whether he ought not to write a few words of thanks to his uncle, but +ultimately decided that he would await Sir Everard's arrival in town, +and then thank him in person. It was characteristic of him that next +day he should call upon his tailor and his bootmaker, and one or two +other tradesmen, and thoroughly replenish his wardrobe. It was not so +much that there was any real necessity for his doing so, as that the +novelty of being out of debt caused him to feel slightly +uncomfortable. He had not been used to it, and it did not seem right +somehow. Besides, how is it possible for tradespeople to live unless +they are liberally patronised? + +One morning, as he was skimming through the newspapers at his club, +Burgo was accosted by a voice which he had not heard for several +months. There was no mistaking the rasping tones of Captain Cusden. +"We have lost sight of you for several months," said Burgo, as soon as +he had shaken hands with the new-comer--a man of fifty-five, who did +his best to keep up an assumption of juvenility by consorting as much +as possible with men thirty years younger than himself. + +"Been trotting about the Continent with Aunt Jane, dear boy," answered +Cusden, who wanted no encouragement to talk, as he drew a chair up. +"Expectations and all that, you know. Must do one's duty. Awful hard +work I found it, dear boy. Had to be on parade every morning at eight +to the tick. Wonderful old lady! If I had to explore one church with +her, I had to explore five hundred; if I was expected to admire one +picture, I was expected to admire five thousand. Did it ever occur to +you, dear boy, what a remarkable chap that Rubens must have been? Must +have turned out a fresh picture every week of his life, by Jove if the +catalogues are not telling flams. At last we got away from the Low +Countries--very properly so called, dear boy--and when I found myself +at Chamonix I began to breathe again. It was there, by the way, that I +had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a certain venerated +relative of yours." + +Burgo knocked the ash off his cigarette; then he said, quietly: "My +uncle, I suppose, you mean?" + +"Right you are, dear boy. Sir Everard and his bride." Here Cusden gave +vent to a snigger, followed by a sharp sidelong glance at his +companion; but that impassive individual was not so easily caught. + +"They had been married in Italy a few weeks before and were on their +way home, doing the thing by easy stages. Of course you are aware that +the bride is at the very least thirty years younger than the +bridegroom?" + +"I believe I have been told something of the sort," answered Burgo. +Although, in point of fact, he had been told nothing of the kind. + +"A famous catch for her, I should imagine, considering--hem!--her +antecedents," remarked the Captain with an expressive shrug. + +For the moment Burgo felt a strong desire to fling his companion out +of the window, but he reflected in time that, were he to do so, he +might perhaps remain for ever in ignorance of the antecedents to which +Cusden had alluded, and he had his reasons for not wanting to do that. +So he merely lighted another cigarette, and said in his drawling way: +"She had antecedents, then?" + +"No woman of thirty is without 'em, particularly when she comes to +marry her third husband." + +"I should not wonder if you are right there," was all Burgo +condescended to remark in reply to this somewhat startling piece of +intelligence. + +"Her first husband is said to have been an Italian who held some sort +of Government post," resumed Cusden. "_Entre nous_, I believe she +herself is half an Italian. He left her with one boy, who is said to +be now at school somewhere in Switzerland. Her second husband, Colonel +Innes, was an old East Indian without any liver to speak of. He is +said to have died under somewhat mysterious circumstances at the end +of a couple of years, and there were some queer rumours afloat at the +time, but I suppose they came to nothing. By all accounts that second +marriage must have proved a rank failure as far as she was concerned, +seeing that the Colonel lost nearly all he was worth by a bank smash +within a year of their becoming man and wife." + +"You seem to have picked up a lot about her in the course of your +travels," remarked Burgo. + +"People _will_ talk, you know, dear boy, and one can't help hearing +what is said in society. However, you'll probably have the pleasure of +making Lady Clinton's acquaintance before long. Ta-ta for the +present." + +There was cold comfort for Burgo in what Cusden had just told him. "I +hope to heaven the dear old boy has not fallen into the hands of some +scheming adventuress," he muttered. + +But he was obliged to admit that circumstances looked very much like +it. + +A week later the following note reached him:-- + +"22 Great Mornington Street, W. + +"Will Mr. Brabazon have the goodness to call here at four o'clock +to-morrow." + + +The writing was that of a lady. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +CUT ADRIFT. + + +Burgo Brabazon had many pleasant recollections associated in his mind +with his uncle's house in Great Mornington Street. He had nearly +always spent his holidays there when a lad, and very jolly times +they had generally been. But, on the present occasion, when once the +front door was shut behind him, he found himself in an unknown +country. Everything was changed. The sober, substantial, thoroughly +English-looking furniture, which seemed to match so well with the +dingy Georgian mansion, had all been swept away and the art +upholsterer, with his latest fads, had had full scope given him to +work his own bizarre will. + +Burgo was ushered into the back drawing-room--a pleasant, home-like +room it had been in the old days, where he and his uncle had played +many a game of backgammon; but now it was transmogrified out of all +recognition, and a chill came over the young fellow's spirits as he +looked around. It had been more like home to him than any other place +in the world, and now he knew it no longer. + +Presently the door opened and a tall, dark, handsome woman, whose age +might be anything between thirty and forty, came slowly forward. + +"Mr. Brabazon, I presume." + +"At your service, Lady Clinton," answered Burgo, as for a moment he +bent over the rather large, but beautifully shaped hand which was +extended for his acceptance. + +"I have heard much of you, and am glad to see you. Pray be seated." +Her tones were clear and incisive, like those of a person in the habit +of giving orders and of having them obeyed. + +When he had sat down, Burgo was enabled to observe her more at his +leisure. + +Notwithstanding that the bloom and freshness of youth had left her for +ever, she was still a very handsome and presentable woman, and had +nothing of the typical adventuress in her appearance, as Burgo was +fain at once to concede. + +Her complexion was dark--a clear, dark olive--without being in the +least degree sallow. (Burgo called to mind that Cusden had said +something about her being of semi-Italian parentage, and he could well +believe it) She had a plentiful mass of jet black silky hair, and +rather thick but finely-curved eyebrows. But the eyes themselves, +which in colour matched her hair, Burgo did not like. They seemed to +him cold, watchful, almost cruel. Her mouth was rather large and her +lips were ripe and full--a little too ripe and full some people deemed +them, while there were others who counted them as one of the most +attractive features of a more than ordinarily attractive physiognomy. +For so do opinions differ. + +She looked best when she smiled and displayed her splendid teeth, and +she was quite aware of the fact. + +There was a little pause after they had seated themselves, which Burgo +was the first to break. + +"I trust that my uncle is quite well, Lady Clinton?" he said. + +"I am sorry to say that dear Sir Everard is far from well. We had a +rough passage across, and it seems to have upset him considerably." + +"When may I hope to have the pleasure of paying my respects to him?" + +"That is more than I can say, in the present state of his health." + +"But surely----" began Burgo, and then he stopped. He had been about +to say, "But surely he will see _me_, even although he may not be able +to see any one else," when he suddenly remembered that between himself +and his uncle there now interposed a barrier which all his wishes +might perchance prove powerless to overpass. + +"It will, I trust, Mr. Brabazon, be sufficient if I state that at the +present time my husband is not in a condition to see any one--any one +at all." She laid a marked emphasis on the words "my husband." + +The young man bent his head gravely. "I am sorry to hear you say that, +madam--very sorry indeed. I trust, however, that you will not fail to +convey my love and dutiful respects to my uncle, who has, indeed, been +both father and uncle to me for the last eighteen years." In Burgo's +voice there was an unwonted tremor. + +"I will not fail to give your message to Sir Everard," said Lady +Clinton, with a half-smile which just showed the pearly line of her +teeth. + +Burgo, watching her, said to himself, "This woman is my enemy." + +He was at a loss to know whether he was now expected to rise and take +his leave. Had he been summoned to Great Mornington Street simply to +be told that his uncle was ill and declined to receive him? + +But Lady Clinton did not leave him long in doubt. + +"Pardon me, Mr. Brabazon," she went on after a momentary pause, "but +did you really come here to-day with the expectation that your uncle +would receive you with the same degree of cordiality and affection +which he has accorded you on so many previous occasions?" + +"I certainly did, and I fail to see in what way such an expectation +was unreasonable." + +"Excuse me again; but for the moment you seem to have forgotten the +sacrifice--for I can call it by no other term--which, only a few weeks +ago, Sir Everard was called upon to make for you." + +"I presume your ladyship refers to the payment of my debts?" + +Her ladyship gravely inclined her head. + +"My uncle was not called upon by me to make any such sacrifice, as you +term it. I was asked to supply a list of my debts, and I did so." + +"May I ask whether you were in a position to have paid them yourself?" + +For the life of him, Burgo could not help colouring up to the very +roots of his hair. "That I certainly was not," he replied +unhesitatingly. + +"Then it was perhaps as well that your uncle should pay them for you, +were it only to save the family credit." + +"Confound this woman! I begin to hate her as much as she hates me," +muttered poor Burgo under his breath. + +"This is not the first occasion, I believe, on which Sir Everard has +had to relieve you from the burden of your extravagances." + +Burgo writhed helplessly on his chair. + +"Twice previously my uncle has had the melancholy satisfaction of +discharging my liabilities." + +"Just so. And yet you come here to-day, and tell me coolly that you +expected to be received on precisely the same terms as if nothing had +happened!" + +"Oh, madam!" cried the young man, a fine flame of indignation burning +in his eyes; "I have known my uncle all my life, and I judge him by a +different--a very different--standard from that which you seem to +judge him by. That he would have grumbled, that he would have scolded +me a little, as most fathers and uncles have a way of doing under such +circumstances, I was quite prepared to expect; but that he would +refuse to see me I would never have believed--never!" His voice broke +a little as he finished, and he turned away his head for a moment, +ashamed to think that he should have been so moved. + +Lady Clinton sat regarding him with her coldly-critical half-smile. + +She was one of those people who seem to derive a sort of semi-sensuous +enjoyment from witnessing the mental tortures and anguished +heart-throbs of their more susceptible fellow mortals. Such people +have keen powers for analysing in others a certain class of emotions +of the existence of which in themselves they have no cognisance. + +Lady Clinton gave Burgo a few moments to recover himself, and then she +said in her clear, incisive tones: "May I ask, Mr. Brabazon, what your +plans for the future are?" + +"My plans for the future!" he echoed, looking at her with unmitigated +astonishment. "Upon my word, madam, I am not aware that I have any." + +"That is rather sad, is it not? And rather singular, too, if I may +venture to say so--considering your age." + +"I fail to understand why your ladyship should see anything either sad +or singular in such a state of things. I have always left my fortunes, +both present and to come, in the hands of my uncle--as it has been his +invariable wish that I should do." + +"Such being the case, may I assume that any wishes or desires your +uncle may choose to give expression to will be regarded as obligatory +by you?" + +Burgo paused before answering. Then he said: "If my uncle himself had +put such a question to me three months ago, I should have answered +'Yes' unhesitatingly; but, seeing that it is your ladyship who puts +the question to me to-day, I am somewhat at a loss what to reply." + +Burgo's barb pricked her. Her eyes dilated a little; two red-hot spots +flamed out for a moment on her cheeks and then vanished. + +"If I have taken upon myself, Mr. Brabazon, to question you with +regard to your plans for the future, I have done so at your uncle's +special request. He presumes that, at your age, your future career +cannot be altogether a matter of indifference to you, and he is +desirous of knowing what views and wishes you may have formed with +regard to it." + +"It seems somewhat strange, madam, that my uncle should all at once +profess to be so anxious about my future. On more than one occasion, +some four or five years ago, I acquainted him with my wishes in the +matter, but he chose quietly to set them aside as of no moment, and +since that time I have never troubled myself in the affair?" + +"Even granting that such may have been the case at the period you +speak of," said her ladyship, "you can readily understand, Mr. +Brabazon, that certain circumstances which have happened since then +may have modified Sir Everard's views in many matters, and in the +particular one under consideration among the rest." + +"Oh yes, I can quite understand that," answered Burgo, not without a +spice of bitterness. + +"While fully aware that, in all probability, such would be the case, +you have not, to quote your own words, troubled yourself further in +the affair?" + +"I have not--as I said before. When I left college, as I did not fail +to impress upon my uncle at the time, I was desirous of entering the +army, but it is too late to think of that now. Then it was that my +uncle took the responsibility of my future into his own hands, and in +his hands it still remains." + +Lady Clinton did not at once reply, but sat gazing through the window +like one deep in thought. + +Presently Burgo spoke again. + +"Your ladyship will pardon me, but, from what you have already said, I +can only presume that when you asked me to come here to-day, it was +because you were in a position to impart to me some information, or to +put before me some definite proposition on my uncle's part with +respect to my future. If such be the case, I shall be glad to listen +to whatever message you may be charged with, with as little further +preface as may be." + +It was an audacious speech, and her ladyship felt it to be such; +indeed, to her it seemed nothing less than a piece of consummate +impertinence. She stared at him for a moment in icy surprise, but he +met her gaze unflinchingly. Evidently there was more in this young man +than she had given him credit for. + +"When you were requested to call here to-day, Mr. Brabazon, it was not +in order to obtain your assent to some proposition which I had been +commissioned to lay before you (_that_ would have been too +ridiculous), but to inform you of the decision which your uncle has +come to in respect of matters between yourself and him." + +"That is the point, madam, about which I am anxious to be +enlightened." + +"Very well. Here is Sir Everard's decision in a nutshell. The +allowance which his lawyer has been in the habit of paying you +quarterly will cease from to-day, and in lieu thereof, and further, as +a quittance in full of any imaginary claim which you may have assumed +yourself to have on your uncle's pecuniary resources, he requests your +acceptance of this cheque for one thousand guineas." + +As her ladyship ceased speaking, she opened her _porte-monnaie_, which +she had held clasped in one hand all this time, and extracted +therefrom a narrow folded slip of paper, and rising, laid it on the +table close by where Burgo was sitting. Then she resumed her seat. + +It is not too much to say that Burgo was literally stunned. He +repeated her ladyship's words automatically to himself before he could +feel sure that he had heard aright. For a moment or two he saw +everything through a haze, as one sees things in a half-dream, and +when the film had cleared away it was to leave him conscious that Lady +Clinton's eyes were fixed on him with a cynical and, as he fancied, +somewhat contemptuous smile. The sight acted on him like an ice-cold +douche, and brought him at once to himself. + +"So," he said, speaking not without an effort, "the statement I have +just heard from your ladyship's lips embodied my uncle's ultimatum, so +far as I am concerned?" + +"It is Sir Everard's ultimatum--the word is your own, Mr. Brabazon." + +"And it is you, madam, whom I have to thank for it." + +Lady Clinton set her lips tight, but did not reply. + +Burgo rose, and taking up the cheque opened it, and let his eyes rest +for a moment or two on the familiar signature. + +"This is my answer to the offer of which you are the bearer," he said, +looking her straight in the face; and with that he deliberately tore +the cheque in four, and dropped the pieces on the table. "Never will I +touch another shilling of my uncle's money as long as I live." + +He turned and took up his hat. "I need not detain you further, Lady +Clinton," he said. "But I cannot go without complimenting you on the +thoroughly businesslike way in which you have carried out the task you +set yourself to do. Madam, I have the honour to wish you a very good +day." + +He swept her a low bow, and as he did so his eyes crossed fire with +hers. There was no flinching on either side. They both felt that +henceforth it was a duel _à outrance_ between them. But already Lady +Clinton had drawn "first blood." + +She rose as the door closed behind Burgo, and drew a deep breath. "So +far the day is mine," she said, "but I shall be greatly surprised if I +have seen the last of Mr. Burgo Brabazon. If I ever read mischief in +anybody's eyes, I read it in his. I would give something to know what +step he meditates first. In any case, it will be nothing dastardly, +nothing underhand. Any one not a gentleman would have taken that +cheque and have remained my enemy just the same. I am glad I have seen +him; under other circumstances I feel that I could both like and +admire him--and yet I must brush him from my path. He is the one great +obstacle I have to contend against, and he _must_ be sacrificed. If +only he would have contented himself with the thousand guineas, and +have given no further trouble! And now to give Sir Everard my own +version of the interview," she added, as she took up the portions of +the cheque and tore them into still smaller fragments. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +"OLD GARDEN." + + +When the door of No. 22 Great Mornington Street clashed behind Mr. +Brabazon, instead of at once proceeding about his business, whatever +that might be, he paused on the topmost step and stared first up the +street and then down it, like a man whose faculties for the time being +had gone wool-gathering. But it was not so much that as it was the +strange, sudden sense of homelessness which had come over him, for No. +22 might be said to be the only home he had known since he was quite a +child, although during the last few years, since his uncle had taken +to living so much abroad, he had crossed its threshold but seldom. + +As he stood there he found it hard to realise that, in all likelihood, +the old familiar door had closed behind him for the last time, and +that the tie between himself and his uncle, which had been one of +strong if undemonstrative affection, was severed for ever. And he owed +it all to the woman he had just left! He ground his teeth together and +went through a brief, but forcible form of commination, which it was, +perhaps, just as well that Lady Clinton was not there to hear. + +But he could not stand on the step all day. A passing hansom inspired +him with a sudden resolution. He would go and see "old Garden," and +give him an account of the interview between himself and her ladyship. + +He was fortunate enough to find the lawyer at home. + +The old man listened to him with kindly patience, and did not +interrupt his recital by a word. When Burgo had finished, he said: "It +would seem from what you tell me that you and her ladyship have not +only begun by being at daggers-drawn, but are likely to remain so." + +"Whose fault is that? Not mine assuredly. But how is it possible for +me to regard her otherwise than as my enemy? Think how she must have +worked upon my uncle's mind before she succeeded in obtaining his +consent to an act of such gross injustice! Knowing the dear old boy as +I do, it is inconceivable to me how he was ever persuaded to agree to +such a thing. Putting aside his affection for me, I never knew a man +with a stronger sense of justice; besides which, he had always a will +of his own, and knew how to assert it." + +The lawyer shook his head with a smile and a pursing out of his lips. +"My experience has taught me that it is often the most unlikely men, +to all seeming, who succumb the soonest and the most completely to +feminine influence. It is your smooth, slippery, softly good-natured +sort of men--men with no angles or corners to speak of--whom the +ladies find it most difficult to grasp and hold. Now you Mr. Burgo (if +you will allow me to say so), with all your fine assertiveness (which, +mind you, I like to see in one of your years), and that dash of +Hotspur in your composition, are just the kind of man whom a certain +kind of woman could twist round her little finger with the utmost +ease, and that without allowing you to suspect that you were anything +but very much your own master." + +Burgo laughed, as if to cover the dusky flush that mounted to his +cheeks. Would it be anything but happiness, he asked himself, to be, +as old Garden put it, twisted round the little finger of Clara Leslie, +even although he should be fully cognisant of the mode in which he was +being practised upon? But, for that matter, was Clara at all the kind +of girl to try to twist any man round her finger? From what he had +seen of her, he felt sure she was not. + +Mr. Garden coughed, and put on his gravest professional air. "To +return to the interview between Lady Clinton and yourself," he said. +"This seems likely to prove a very awkward business for you." + +"Awkward is not the word. It simply means ruination." + +"And yet you refused the cheque for a thousand guineas!" + +"Under the circumstances would you have had me take it? I feel sure +that had I done so you would have thought considerably worse of me +than you do; which," he added, as if to himself, "it is quite needless +that you should." It was an assertion the lawyer made no attempt to +refute. + +"Of course you have not yet had time to decide upon anything as +regards your future," he observed. + +"There's one point as to which I'm quite clear--that I must earn my +living by hook or by crook." + +"And a very good thing for you that you should be compelled to do so, +if I may be permitted to say so. You have led an idle life far too +long, Mr. Brabazon." + +"There I am at one with you. But whose is the fault? Not mine. As you +are aware, several years ago I pestered my uncle to send me to +Sandhurst; but he would not hear of it, nor of anything else which, in +time, might have helped to make me independent of his purse-strings. +As far as I see at present, there's only one thing left me to do, and +that is to enlist as a full private in one of Her Majesty's regiments +of dragoons." + +"I hope you will do nothing so rash and ill-advised. A private +soldier, indeed! Tut-tut!" + +"Why not? I don't see that I'm fit for anything else. And sure I am +that I would enlist to-morrow if I could make certain of being sent to +India, or somewhere where there was a chance of a brush with the black +fellows." + +"I am glad to think there's no such chance open to you, for, as far as +I am aware, we have not even a little war on hand just now. It is just +possible--hem!--that _I_ might be able to do something for you--of +course in a very humble way--in the City, or elsewhere." + +Burgo smiled a little bitterly. "Thank you all the same, Mr. Garden, +but when you say that, you don't know what a rank duffer I am--you +don't really. I should not be a bit of use in an office of any +kind. I'm not built that way. I declare I would rather carry a +sandwich-board about the streets, or break stones for a bob a day, +than be perched on a stool, with a pen in my fist and a big ledger in +front of me, for six hours out of the twenty-four, even if by so doing +I could rake in five hundred a year, which is utterly absurd, even as +a supposition." + +"In any case, my serious advice to you is to do nothing in a hurry, +nothing rashly. Who knows but that your uncle, when he has had more +time to think over the affair, may come to the conclusion that he has +dealt too hardly by you; and remembering that you are his sister's +son, and that he has always taught the world to look upon you as his +heir, will award you that measure of justice, and restore to you that +measure of affection, of which, I trust, you have only been +temporarily deprived?" + +Burgo shook his head. "That his affection for me is just as strong as +it ever was, I firmly believe. But so long as he remains in the power +of that woman--so long as she retains her influence over him--so long +shall I continue to be (for aught he will know to the contrary) the +outcast and pauper I know myself to be at this moment." + +Mr. Garden rubbed the side of his nose thoughtfully with his +forefinger. + +"You remember what I said to you the other day," he presently +remarked, "about the necessity which now exists for a fresh will?" + +Burgo nodded. + +"Of course, as Sir Everard's legal adviser, I am not justified in +mentioning the fact, but in this instance I will take upon myself the +responsibility of doing so. The fact to which I refer is this--that, +up to the present time, I have been favoured with no instructions from +your uncle for the drawing up of another will." + +"That seems somewhat singular, does it not?" + +"I was inclined to think so before to-day." + +"And now?" + +"Now I am inclined to look at the affair from an altogether different +point of view. After what you have told me about Lady Clinton, I am +disposed to think that she is sufficiently--I don't like to say +artful, especially where a lady is concerned----" + +"There need be no hesitation on your part in applying the term to her +ladyship," interpolated Burgo with a short laugh. + +"Well, then, we will say sufficiently wide-awake to persuade her +husband into engaging a fresh lawyer to draw up the all-important +document." + +"But why on earth should she be at the trouble of doing that?" + +"Knowing, as she probably does, that I have been Sir Everard's +confidential adviser ever since he succeeded to the property, that +his previous wills--he has made some half-dozen in all at different +times--have been drawn up by me, and also, perhaps, being aware that +you and I have been brought into frequent contact, she may have deemed +it advisable for various reasons that the new will should be entrusted +to a stranger, more especially should her husband have been induced, +as seems by no means unlikely, to constitute her his sole legatee, to +the exclusion of every one else who might be supposed to have some +claim to be remembered by him." + +"By Jove! I shouldn't wonder if you are right." + +"At present we are only dealing with suppositions. It is quite +possible that I may have a letter by the next post asking me to wait +upon Sir Everard to-morrow morning." + +"By the way," said Burgo, "may I ask whether you know anything about +my dear aunt's antecedents?" + +"I know nothing whatever about them, except that she is said to have +been the widow of a certain Colonel Innes." + +"Then I am in the position of being able to tell you a little more +than that about her." Whereupon he proceeded to recount to Mr. Garden +the information which had been retailed to him by Captain Cusden at +the club. "Of course it's as plain as a pikestaff that the woman is +nothing more than an adventuress," he finished up by saying. + +The old lawyer protruded his under lip. "Is not that rather a sweeping +assertion to make on no better authority than the gossip of a club +acquaintance?" + +"Does not what I have told you to-day with regard to myself go far to +prove it? Do you suppose the dear old boy would have coldshouldered me +as he has done had it not been for her? No, you know better than that. +She's thirty years younger than he, and a remarkably handsome woman +(there's no denying that); for what else, then, can she have married +him save for his money and his position?" + +"What then? Don't we hear of such unions every day? I presume your +uncle knew what he was about when he married the handsome widow, and +we have no right to suppose that he is otherwise than perfectly +satisfied with his share of the bargain. All of which, Mr. Brabazon," +added the old man, with a kindly inflection of the voice, "makes your +case no whit the less hard." + +There was a little space of silence. Burgo, with a pencil he had +picked up, was idly sketching the profiles of his uncle and Lady +Clinton on the blotting-pad in front of him. + +"I wonder," said Mr. Garden musingly, as he proceeded to polish his +spectacles with the silk handkerchief he kept by him for that purpose, +"I wonder whether Lady Clinton is aware of the large sum of money +which will accrue to her husband--should he live till then--some time +in October next?" + +Burgo paused in his sketching. "To what particular sum of money do you +refer, Mr. Garden?" + +"To the fifteen thousand pounds conditionally bequeathed Sir Everard +by his cousin, the late Mrs. Macdona." + +"What were the conditions, Mr. Garden? I have more than once heard +some vague talk about such a legacy, although it was a subject my +uncle always seemed to fight shy of; but nobody ever told me the real +ins and outs of the affair." + +"As there's nothing about the affair to make a secret of, there can be +no harm in my telling you what I know of it," replied the lawyer. +"Mrs. Macdona was Sir Everard's cousin on his mother's side. When no +longer in the bloom of youth she married a man a great deal older than +herself, who was a sleeping partner in one of our big London +breweries. At his death she succeeded to the greater portion of his +wealth, amounting to nearly a quarter of a million. She outlived her +husband a score years, but never married again. She had no family, and +by her will, among numerous other legacies with which we are not +concerned, she bequeathed to each of her five cousins, your uncle +Everard being one of them, the sum of fifteen thousand pounds, which, +however, was in no case to be paid till he or she should have reached +the age at which the testatrix quitted this world for a better one, +which happened to be within a day or two of her sixty-fourth birthday. +Should any of the legatees die before attaining that age, the fifteen +thousand pounds which would otherwise have come to him or her was to +be divided among certain specified charities. + +"So eccentric was the will deemed that it was seriously debated by +some of the legatees whether an attempt should not be made to have it +set aside by a court of law. But Mrs. Macdona was known to have been +such a clear-headed, shrewd, businesslike woman, that wiser counsels +prevailed, and the will was left undisputed. To make a long story +short, of the five cousins who were legatees, two died before reaching +the age of sixty-four; one, your aunt, Mrs. Fleming, of whom you can +have no recollection, seeing that she married and went with her +husband to America nearly a quarter of a century ago, had the +pleasure, two years since, of succeeding to her legacy; while the +remaining two cousins, of whom your uncle Everard is the elder, and +your uncle Denis the younger, have not yet arrived at the required +age. But, as I have already remarked, next October will bring Sir +Everard's sixty-fourth birthday, and with it his long-deferred legacy +of fifteen thousand pounds." + +"It will be fifteen thousand pities if he should live to succeed to it +merely that it may ultimately help to enrich that she-cormorant his +wife! Not but what her nest will be pretty well feathered without +that, should she outlive my uncle." + +"Yes; although not especially wealthy for a man of his rank and social +position, Sir Everard is a long way from being a pauper. As I happen +to know, he has always made a point of living well within his income, +although what he will do, or be persuaded into doing, now that he is +married, it might be dangerous to prophesy. His only extravagance, if +such a term may be applied to it, has been that he could rarely +or never resist a 'bargain' in the way of curios, coins, or +_bric-à-brac_; which, however, he looks upon as a judicious investment +of capital, his contention being that after his death his collection +will sell for far more than it originally cost him--which may, or may +not, prove to be the case. At any rate, whatever money he has put away +(whether it be hundreds or thousands, is no concern of ours) is +invested in sound English stock which pays a fair rate of dividend. +Yes, if Lady Clinton should outlive her husband and succeed to all he +has to leave, the world will deem her a very fortunate woman." + +Mr. Brabazon rose and took possession of his hat. He felt that the +interview, without having been productive of any positive benefit to +him, or having served in any way to modify the facts of his position, +had yet done him good. It was something to have secured the sympathy +and goodwill of the kind-hearted old man; and that, however +undemonstrative his manner might be, or however guarded his +utterances, he had secured them he felt fully assured. The cloud had +lifted in some measure, and his heart felt lighter, he knew not why, +than it had felt an hour before. + +The lawyer also rose. There were two or three people in the outer +office waiting to see him. + +"Don't forget my advice," he said. "Do nothing rashly, or in a hurry. +Remember that the chapter of accidents may nearly always be counted on +as a big asset, especially when one is still as young as you are. I +have your present address by me, but should you change your venue, let +me know. Also, don't forget to advise me should there be any change in +the present relations between your uncle and yourself. But, for that +matter, I don't know why you shouldn't come and look me up as often as +you feel inclined. One can say in five minutes more than one can +convey in half a dozen sheets of foolscap, and you know without my +telling you that I shall always be glad to see you. And now one last +word"--here he laid a kindly hand for a moment on the young man's +shoulder. "I don't suppose you are very flush of cash--it would be +rather an uncommon state of affairs with you if you were, wouldn't it? +Well, seeing that one source of supplies has run dry, it behoves you +to look out for another. Let me be that other, Mr. Brabazon; let me be +your banker till brighter fortunes dawn upon you. I have a tidy little +balance lying idle at the bank, and if----" + +Burgo caught him suddenly by the hand and gripped it hard, very hard. +"My dear Mr. Garden--my dear old friend," he said, and then he had to +pause for a moment before he could go on, "not a word more of this +just now. I have still a few pounds by me, and by the time they are +gone I hope to have settled on something definite as regards my +future. But should it ever be my fortune, or misfortune, to be +stone-broke (which is by no means an unlikely thing to happen), and to +find myself without a shilling to pay for my night's lodging, then I +promise you that you shall be the first of whom I will ask that help +which I can no longer do without." + + + + +CHAPTER V. +A HUMBLE FRIEND. + + +Two days later Burgo Brabazon knocked at the door of No. 22 Great +Mornington Street. Although Lady Clinton had distinctly told him his +uncle was too ill to see anybody, that only made it all the more +imperative that he should call and ascertain for himself whether the +dear old boy was better or worse. + +To the servant who responded to his summons--moderated for fear of +annoying the sick man--he said, while handing him his card, "Take this +to Lady Clinton with my compliments, and tell her that I have called +to inquire about my uncle's health." + +It was a curious and by no means a pleasant sensation to Burgo to find +himself left standing on the mat in the entrance-hall of the house +which, nearly ever since he could remember, he had regarded in the +light of home, and to realise that he was now looked upon as nothing +more than an alien and an outcast. + +The man was not gone more than a couple of minutes. "Lady Clinton begs +to inform Mr. Brabazon," he said, "that Sir Everard is neither better +nor worse than usual." + +Could anything be more vague and unsatisfactory? But that it was so of +set purpose he felt fully assured. Then, before he knew what had +happened, he found his card back in his fingers. Although the man did +not say so, her ladyship had evidently refused to receive it. It was +plain that she was bent on insulting him as often as he should afford +her an opportunity of doing so. He had to set his teeth hard in order +to keep back the imprecation that rose to his lips as he tore the card +in a dozen pieces and flung the fragments from him. + +Three days later he called again. This time he sent in no card, but +contented himself with a verbal message. The answer brought him was in +precisely the same terms as before: "Sir Everard is neither better nor +worse than usual." This time he was more sad than angry when he turned +away from Great Mornington Street. + +He felt that it would be hard, very hard, to be compelled to break +entirely with his uncle. Not once, but fifty times, he said to +himself: "This is not his doing, but hers. He would never treat me so +of his own accord. I durst wager twenty to one he has never been told +that I called; and even were I to write to him, the chances are that +my letter would not reach him. Still, it's worth the attempt, for I +want him to know that, although he has thought well to cast me adrift, +my affection for him is robust enough to survive all the shocks of +chance and change. He may, if he so choose, sever the chain which +binds him to me, but he cannot, against my will, sever the one which +binds me to him!" + +A few days later Burgo wrote to Sir Everard as under: + +"My dear Uncle,--You will, I hope, need no assurance on my part that I +was extremely grieved to hear from Lady Clinton that since your return +from abroad your health has been in such an unsatisfactory state. + +"Since my interview with her ladyship I have called twice in Great +Mornington Street, but only to be told that there was no improvement +in your condition. + +"I had hoped on one or the other occasion of my calling to have been +permitted to see you, if only for a few minutes, and that I, your +sister's son, to whom for the last eighteen years you have filled a +father's part, should be debarred from doing so seems indeed hard to +credit. + +"That I have done anything to forfeit a continuance of your affection +and esteem I am wholly unaware, and in conclusion I can but assure you +that the dearest hope I have is that the bond which has so long +existed between us should remain intact and wholly unaffected by any +extraneous circumstances whatever. + + "Ever your affectionate Nephew, + + "Burgo Brabazon." + + +Epistolary composition was not much in Burgo's line, and the missive +to his uncle was written and altered and rewritten at least a dozen +times before the final fair copy was made and despatched, and even +then he was far from satisfied with it. + +But after all it proved to be so much labour in vain. By the first +post next morning his letter came back to him enclosed in an envelope +addressed in a feminine hand, but without an added word of any kind +inside. It had been opened, and that might be taken as proof positive +that it had been read--but by whom? Had it ever reached his uncle? In +view of her husband's invalid condition might not Lady Clinton have +taken upon herself to open and attend to his correspondence? Nothing +seemed more likely. In any case, whether Sir Everard had read the +letter or whether he had not, he, Burgo, was powerless to do more than +he had done in the way of bringing himself and his uncle together +again. He had been baulked at every turn. A resolute and unscrupulous +woman had come between them, and against her poisoned arrows he was +helpless. As he stood up and tore his letter across and across before +flinging it into the fire he cursed Lady Clinton in his heart. + +A few days later, as he was taking one of those long solitary rambles +after nightfall into the habit of which he had fallen of late, finding +himself; without any intention on his part, close by Great Mornington +Street, he turned into it and strolled slowly along till he came +opposite his uncle's house. Unlike several neighbouring houses, it was +almost in darkness. There was a light in the entrance hall, but beyond +that only one window in the whole frontage of the house was illumined +from within, and that Burgo knew to be the window of a cosy little +sitting-room known as "the study," and in bygone days sacred to his +uncle's own use. Of course it was quite possible, and indeed most +probable, that the back drawing-room and other rooms which faced the +opposite way were lighted up, but regarded from the street, No. 22 +looked distinctly dismal and forbidding. Still, there was nothing +funereal about it, as his first glance at it told him, and the same +moment his heart gave a great throb of relief. There had been a +certain vague dread upon him as he came slowly--almost reluctantly +down the street. What if when he got opposite the house, he should +find it staring out at the night with sightless eyes, its every blind +drawn down, telling of the presence within of that dread visitant who +comes to each of us in turn! Why that dread should have haunted him +to-night more than at another time, he did not know. + +"Fact is, I'm hipped--off colour," he said to himself, "and am getting +all sorts of ridiculous notions into my head. It's high time for me to +buckle to work of some kind. Nothing like work, I've been told, for +curing the blues. Well, I suppose I shall have every chance of testing +the remedy as soon as I've succeeded in finding work of some kind to +do." + +He had been standing staring at the house for some two or three +minutes, and he now turned to go back up the street. A dozen yards +brought him to a lamp, and he was full in the light reflected from it +when an exclamation from a man who had been on the point of passing +him arrested his attention. The man came to a dead halt and +involuntarily Burgo did the same. + +"Sakes alive! if it ain't Mr. Brabazon!" exclaimed the other. "I +thought I couldn't be mistaken," and the same instant Burgo recognised +the speaker. + +It was Benny Hines, who, many years before, had been Sir Everard's +coachman, till a fall which broke his right wrist had disabled him for +driving. From that date he had been permanently pensioned by the +baronet, the only duty exacted in return being that he and his wife +should act as caretakers of the mansion in Great Mornington Street +whenever Sir Everard was abroad, or after those families to whom it +was occasionally let for the London season had, with the coming of +autumn, winged their flight elsewhere. + +It was Benny who had taught Burgo to "handle the ribbons" when the +latter was a lad, and his memory was stored with reminiscences of many +pleasant hours spent in the old man's company. + +"Why, Benny, old friend, and how are you after all this long time?" +said Burgo, as he gave the ex-coachman's hand a cordial grip. "It must +be quite four years since you and I parted last." + +"Four years and eight months, Mr. Burgo." + +"So long as that! Yes, it must be. I remember it was just before my +uncle took it into his head to go and live abroad. You look as perky +as a redbreast on a snowy morning, and not a day older than when I saw +you last. Missis quite well?" + +"Better in health than temper, sir. As I tell her, she has too much of +her own way, and that's allus bad for a woman. I made a foolish start, +sir; I began by indulging her over much, and now--well, well!" He +sighed and pulled down his waistcoat with an air of comic martyrdom. + +Burgo laughed. "If I remember rightly, the boot's on the other leg, +Benny. I believe you're a regular Bluebeard at home, and that you +frighten that little wife of yours half out of her wits." + +There was a humorous twinkle in Benny's eye. "It's them little mites +o' women like my wife, Mr. Burgo, as are allus the most difficult to +manage. Talk about tempers--lor! Now, if I had only married some big, +strapping, grenadier-kind of woman----" + +"You would have had the life thrashed out of you years ago. But we +need not stand here. You were going this way. I'll take a turn with +you. To me one road's the same as another." Then after a pause, as +they paced slowly along side by side: "Have you seen anything of my +uncle and his bride since their arrival home?" + +"Very little, sir. You see, they don't either of them go out much. Sir +Everard, I'm sorry to say, seems to be slowly breaking up. But no +doubt you have observed that for yourself, sir, and think it's like my +imperance to speak of it." + +Thereupon Burgo proceeded to enlighten the old man to some extent with +regard to the relations which now existed between himself and the +inmates of No. 22. + +Benny gave vent to a prolonged whistle. "Excuse my saying so, Mr. +Burgo, but I'm afraid it was a bad day's work for you, sir, when your +uncle brought home a wife." + +Burgo shrugged his shoulders. + +"I would give much to know how my uncle really is," he said, +"and--and, in point of fact, to learn how affairs in general are going +on at No. 22." + +"Then, sir, you have lighted on the very person who can tell you a +good deal of what you want to know." + +"Do you mean to say that you are that person, Benny?" + +"I am, sir." + +"You astonish me. But how do you happen to be able to do what you +say?" + +"It's very simple, sir. My wife's niece is parlour-maid at No. 22. She +pops in on us most Sunday evenings, if it's only for a half-hour, and +being in her way as sharp as a needle, there ain't much as escapes +her, or that we don't hear about." + +"Then can you tell me this: Is my uncle really as ill as her ladyship +gives me to understand he is?" + +"As I said before, sir, my old master seems to be gradually breaking +up. It's not that he's in any pain, or has even a bad cough, or has to +keep to his room. It's just, as far as I can make out from what Polly +tells us, as if he was slowly fading away--gradually dying out, as a +lamp does when the oil begins to run low. All his old go and energy +seem to have left him; he's as mild as milk, and could hardly say 'Bo' +to a goose. Another bad sign is that nothing seems to tempt his +appetite. Polly says, and I suppose she has heard the butler say so, +that he doesn't eat as much in the twenty-four hours as a man in +fairish appetite will eat at one meal." + +"Has he any medical advice?" + +"Bless you, yes, sir. Dr. Hoskins calls every day." + +"Does he never go out of doors?" + +"When the weather is very fine, the brougham or barouche is ordered +round about four o'clock, and her ladyship and he go out together. Sir +Everard is dropped at his club, while her ladyship shows herself in +the Park for an hour. Then Sir Everard is picked up and they drive +back home. Other days the baronet never crosses the doorstep." + +"Has my uncle any nurse, or any regular attendant besides his valet?" + +"He has no nurse but her ladyship, and, by all accounts, he couldn't +have a better. She seems to think nothing a trouble. She it is that +allus gives Sir Everard his medicine and things, and orders this or +the other little dainty to be got ready for him by way of a surprise, +and just to tempt his appetite. Day or night, it seems all one to her, +she's allus on the spot." + +After this they walked on for some time in silence, while Burgo strove +to digest what had just been told him. It was certainly one of the +last things he would have looked to be told about Lady Clinton, that +she made an affectionate wife and a devoted nurse to a man whom it was +hardly conceivable she should have married for anything save his money +and his rank. + +"You remember, Mr. Burgo," resumed Benny after a time, "what a man the +guv'nor used to be for having his own way?" + +"I have not forgotten." + +"Allus very quiet--never any bluster--but his own way he would have. +He was one of them men as can't abear opposition. His own way seemed +better to him than anybody else's--not, mind you, sir, that it allus +was. I could have often proved him in the wrong if he would have +listened to argyment, but that was just what he wouldn't do." + +"Well, what then?" + +"Merely this, sir, that if what I hear is true--and I've no call to +doubt it--then a mighty change must have come over Sir Everard. +Nowadays he's no will about anything; her ladyship keeps it for him +under lock and key. Her will is her husband's will and her own too. +Everything's done through her. Sir Everard daren't--or if he dare he +won't--give an order direct to any of the servants. What he does is to +say, 'My dear, don't you think that such-and-such a thing ought to be +done?' or, 'What is your idea, love, about so-and-so?' And then her +ladyship decides, and whichever way she decides, it seems all one to +Sir Everard. And they do say that his eyes follow her about for all +the world as if he was frightened of her, and dared hardly call his +soul his own. Oh lord! oh lord!" groaned the old fellow, "what a +change to have come over a man, and all the doing of one woman!" + +Burgo could have groaned in unison. + +"And yet you say that, as a nurse, no one could be kinder or more +attentive than she is?" he presently remarked. + +"Begging your pardon, Mr. Burgo, but that may be only part of her +artfulness. Some women, sir, are the very----" A discreet cough +finished his sentence. + +Before Burgo and the old man parted they exchanged addresses. Benny +was exhorted to encourage the gossiping proclivities of his wife's +niece anent those matters in which Burgo was interested. He, Burgo, +would not fail to look him up from time to time, and draw upon his +budget of news. Should any information of an alarming kind, bearing on +Sir Everard's health, reach him, Mr. Brabazon was to be communicated +with without loss of time. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +A LAST INTERVIEW. + +But there was another matter besides the one he had discussed with +Benny Hines, which at this period of his career might not unreasonably +be supposed to seriously ruffle that serenity of mind which Mr. +Brabazon had heretofore been so successful in cultivating, and that +was his love affair with Miss Leslie. + +With his uncle's discarding of him, all his hopes in that direction +had been irremediably blighted. As a pauper--for he was no more than +that now--all thought of love-making was out of the question for years +to come, if not for ever. It was true that he had won no promise from +Clara, but he had so far declared himself to her at the moment of Mrs. +Mordaunt's interruption that he felt it due to both of them that he +should find an opportunity of explaining to Miss Leslie that, if he +wished her to consider as unsaid the impassioned words he had poured +into her ear on that never-to-be-forgotten occasion, it was not +because his feelings towards her had undergone the shadow of a change, +but because circumstances outside his control had rendered it +impossible for him, as an honourable man, to press his suit to an +issue. Bitter, very bitter to him, would such a confession be. During +the last few months he had dreamt so many dreams of which Clara was +the central figure, his imagination had indued her with so many +precious attributes, and so full of happy confidence had he been but a +little while before, that to find himself at one fell blow robbed of +everything, even of hope for the future, had, taken in conjunction +with that other stroke of fate, the effect, for the time being, of +numbing all his faculties of thought and feeling. For hours he would +lie on his back with shut eyes, his senses too dulled to allow of his +suffering acutely, while yet what might be termed a slow fever of +misery seemed to be eating his very life away. + +Among all Mr. Brabazon's acquaintances, and they were more numerous +than he could readily have counted, there was not one, perhaps, +who would have credited him with the possession of more than that +limited--mostly very limited--range of feeling and sensibility with +which a somewhat parsimonious Providence has seen fit to endow your +average young man about town. Indeed, it is only fair to assume that +Burgo himself had no suspicion that there lay dormant within him such +heights and depths of passionate but restrained emotion as those which +now revealed themselves for the first time. But he was essentially a +man of action, and before long he roused himself, although not without +an effort, and shook off him a torpor which could not well be +otherwise than enervating, and which seemed to him nothing less than a +slur on his manhood. And with that his courage came back to him in +full measure, and he set himself to confront the future with resolute +eyes. + +A wild, nay, nothing less than an insane notion, had more than once +caught him by the throat, as it were, and for a little while had made +his breath come thick and fast. What, he said to himself--what if, +when he should tell Clara he was a ruined man, and that she must +strive to forget he had ever spoken to her as he had, she were to +reply that to her his loss of fortune meant nothing, that her heart +was his and ever would be; that she loved him not one jot less now +that he was poor than when all the world accepted him as his uncle's +heir It was a madman's dream; yet he had read and been told of such +things; and there were times when it refused to be scouted, and would +"sweetly creep into his study of imagination." But even granting for a +moment that such a thing were to come to pass, what then? The +circumstances of the case would in no wise be altered. To tie any girl +down to his broken fortunes would be both a cruelty and a wrong. It +would be very, very sweet to listen to such a confession from the lips +he loved--but--_après_? + +Every morning he skimmed the columns of arrivals and departures in the +_Morning Post_ in quest of a notification of the return to town of +Mrs. Mordaunt and her niece, for he was quite aware that to the elder +lady life would have seemed scarcely worth living had her comings and +goings failed to be duly recorded in that organ of the elect. At +length he found what he was looking for. Mrs. Mordaunt and Miss Leslie +had arrived from Paris at No. 6 Cantelupe Gardens. Then, a few days +later, in one of the weekly society papers he came across an +announcement of the engagement of Miss Leslie and Lord Penwhistle. + +It was only what he had been expecting to hear for some time past, and +yet the blow, when it did fall, seemed scarcely the less hard to bear +on that account. Well, all was at an end now. Whatever faint but +altogether illusory hopes had lurked unbidden in the most secret +chamber of his heart that Clara might possibly rise superior to the +prejudices of her station--might even rise to the height of a great +sacrifice, and insist upon throwing in her lot with his--withered and +fell dead before that fatal announcement. + +On one point he was determined: he would see Clara and speak with her +for the last time. After what had passed between them, after what he +had said to her on the occasion of their last meeting, he felt that +some justification of himself might not improbably be looked for by +her. At any rate, it was due to himself to impress upon her that, +although fickle fortune had left him in the lurch, there was no change +in the sentiments with which he regarded her--that he still loved her +as devotedly as ever he had done. No less than that and no more would +he say to her. + +More clearly, as time went on, was Burgo made to feel that he was +being coldshouldered and quietly dropped by numbers of those with whom +he had heretofore been on terms of intimacy, and who had always +accepted him as one of themselves. Already his cards and invitations +had dwindled by fifty per cent. People whom he had been in the habit +of visiting for years seemed of late to have unaccountably forgotten +his existence. Mothers with marriageable daughters no longer smiled on +him so sweetly as they had been wont to do, indeed, they often forgot +to smile on him at all; and the daughters themselves, or so he +fancied, had become more shy and distant--in some cases positively +chilling--and no longer evinced the readiness to dance with him or to +allow him to escort them to the supper-room, to which they had +accustomed him. Even at his club he detected a difference. There was a +frigidity in the atmosphere such as he had never been conscious of +before. Men who had always made a point of shaking hands with him, now +satisfied themselves with a nod and a curt "How-de-do?" It was a +lesson in life the value of which Burgo would recognise later on, but +which at present he could only face in a spirit of proud, bitter +indifference. + +It is not to be presumed that among the circle of Mr. Brabazon's +friends and acquaintances any knowledge of the fact that his uncle had +discarded him had as yet leaked out. It was enough for society to know +that Sir Everard Clinton had taken to himself a wife not more than +half his own age, and that, as a consequence, his nephew's prospects +had gone down nearly, if not quite, to zero. Henceforward Mr. Brabazon +would be relegated to the great army of detrimentals. + +But not all people are alike, and the Hon. Mrs. Dovering was one of +those who never turned her back on any one whom she liked simply +because fortune had chosen to frown on him or her. Yet Mrs. Dovering +moved in very select circles indeed. Thus it came to pass that one day +a card for her forthcoming garden party reached Burgo. He at once made +up his mind to accept the invitation, for he knew that Mrs. Dovering +and Mrs. Mordaunt were friends of long standing, and it seemed to +him very likely that the latter, accompanied, of course, by Miss +Leslie, would be at the party. If so, he might be able to secure his +wished-for opportunity of speaking with Clara for the last time. + +Twysden Court, the country house of the Hon. Mrs. Dovering, was about +a dozen miles up river. When the day of the party arrived Burgo timed +himself so as not to reach there till after the majority of the +company would have assembled. The great attraction of the afternoon +was to be a lawn-tennis match, in which two of the most accomplished +amateur players were to take part. + +After shaking hands with his hostess, who greeted him with a +cordiality in no wise impaired by the recent change in his prospects, +of which she had been duly informed, he sauntered off, keeping well on +the fringe of the crowd--and it was a crowd, for there must have been +quite a couple of hundred people present--which, just then, was, or +professed to be, intensely interested in a critical point of the game, +but not failing to keep a wary look-out for Mrs. Mordaunt and her +niece. At length he caught sight of them, not among the mob round the +players, but forming part of a thin outer fringe of people for +whom tennis had no special charm, who were scattered about in little +groups of three or four--the ladies seated, the gentlemen mostly +standing or strolling from one group to another--in the welcome shade +of some "immemorial elms." He saw them, but he was nearly sure that +neither of them had recognised him, and as Mrs. Mordaunt was somewhat +short-sighted, there was not much fear of that matron doing so so long +as he kept outside her limited range of vision. They were seated on a +couple of rustic chairs, and now and again one or another of the men +would lounge up, chat for a couple of minutes, and then retire to make +way for some one else. At length he saw his hostess approach them, say +something to Mrs. Mordaunt, and presently carry that lady off in the +direction of the conservatory. The fact was that, just at that time, +the Hon. Mrs. Dovering's pet craze--she had a fresh one every year, +sometimes two--was the cultivation of orchids, and as Mrs. Mordaunt, +who dabbled a little in most things, but had no enthusiasms (they were +too expensive, she said, and she was not overburdened with means), had +on a recent occasion expressed a strong desire to see her hostess's +collection, her wish was now about to be gratified. + +Miss Leslie was left alone. + +Here was Burgo's opportunity, and he was not slow to avail him self of +it. + +He made a little detour on purpose, and so took the girl unawares. She +gave a great start as he stood suddenly before her, and caught her +breath quickly. Then the hot colour surged up and dyed throat and face +alike, but only, a few seconds later, to ebb as swiftly as it had +come, leaving her paler than before. Burgo, on his part, was perhaps a +trifle paler than ordinary, but perfectly self-possessed and +unembarrassed. + +"Good afternoon, Miss Leslie," he said in his blandest tones, as he +smilingly raised his hat. "It seems a long time since I had the +pleasure of seeing you last. As an old acquaintance, I trust it won't +be deemed a liberty if I venture to congratulate you on a certain +auspicious event which, I am told, may shortly be expected to take +place." Then, with an almost startling change of voice and manner, he +added: "For, of course, it is true that you are going to marry Lord +Penwhistle." + +"Yes, Mr. Brabazon, it is quite true," replied Clara in a timid little +voice. + +"In that case, pray accept my best wishes for your happiness," he +said, as he dropped into the chair by her side. His voice had +recovered its smoothness, his face was a mask. Only for a moment had +he betrayed himself, and, if he could anyhow help it, it should not +happen again. + +"On the one side youth and beauty," he continued, "on the other a +title and a rent-roll of thirty thousand a year, with Love himself, +young, fresh, and pure as the dawn, to pipe before the glowing hours +as they pass! It will, indeed, be an ideal union--one of those +marriages (alas, that they should be so few in number!) which are said +to be made in heaven itself." + +"You are very cruel, Mr. Brabazon," murmured Clara, with a tear in the +corner of either eye. + +"Am I? I did not mean to be," he said; and some of the hardness melted +out of his eyes as he looked at her. + +She was not regarding him, but looking straight before her. How lovely +she looked, with her delicate clear-cut profile, her fresh purity of +complexion, her long brown upcurved lashes, which half veiled the +violet orbs beneath them, and that half-opened rosebud of a mouth +which seemed made purposely for kisses--and, perhaps, for sugar-plums! +Burgo, as his eyes devoured her, was possessed by an almost +irresistible longing to put his strong arms around her and strain her +to his heart. How was he to know that beneath that lovely exterior +there fluttered the soul of a butterfly (if butterflies possess +souls), at once vain, frivolous, and shallow--incapable of constancy, +or of any depth of affection, and infected by a certain mercenary +quality which would grow and develop into something hateful as years +went on, and had already instilled its first great lesson into her +mind--that a girl's primary duty to herself; more especially if she be +a girl without a "tocher," is to make a wealthy marriage? + +Of all the men to whom she had been introduced since her aunt had +taken her in hand and brought her out, she liked Burgo Brabazon best. +His good looks were of a kind which took her fancy captive. As a rule +she did not care for fair men--and yet, little Lord Penwhistle had +straw-tinted hair, eyes of the colour of skim milk, and a faint, +fluffy moustache, like the down on the breast of a very young +chicken--while Brabazon, the first time she saw him, seemed to her +her own embodiment of Byron's _Corsair_, a poem which she had lately +read for the first Lime; or the hero of one of those very sentimental +milk-and-water novels, to a perusal of which a large share of her +leisure hours was devoted. But although Burgo's personality appealed +so strongly to the romantic side of her character, she would never +have devoted a second serious thought to him (for one can be at once +romantic and mercenary-minded) had he been nothing more than (say) a +banker's clerk, instead of the nephew and heir of a wealthy baronet. + +Mrs. Mordaunt had made it her business to ascertain as much about Mr. +Brabazon's family history as it concerned her to know, and she was +quite satisfied that he would make as good a match for her niece as +that charming but impecunious young woman could reasonably look for. +At any rate, unless something better should presently offer itself, he +must by no means be allowed to slip through Clara's fingers, for +although Mr. Brabazon had not yet spoken, his infatuation was as plain +as a pikestaff to that astute matron. Therefore the _mot d'ordre_ was +passed to Clara, much to her delight. She was to lead him gently on as +by a silken thread, but never, if possible, to let him suspect that +her fingers had fast hold of the other end of it. It ought not to be a +difficult matter to bring him to book, Mrs. Mordaunt opined, "for, +unless I am very much mistaken, the bandage is over his eyes already." + +Nobody, therefore, could have been more astonished than Miss Leslie +was that evening when, Mr. Brabazon having been brought to declare +himself, her aunt (who had known quite well where to find them) bore +down upon them just in time to prevent her from accepting him, and, +with a request to Mr. Brabazon to rearrange the conservatory slides, +carried her off from under the nose of her would-be lover. + +But Clara comprehended when, a few minutes later, her aunt said to +her: "Mr. Brabazon's uncle has got married somewhere abroad. I've just +heard the news. It may--nay, it must--make a great difference as +regards the young man's prospects. The safest plan will be to give him +his _congé_. Besides, Lord Penwhistle, with whom you danced twice the +other night, has been asking for you. He's very rich. If you play your +cards judiciously, there's no knowing what may come to pass." + +Miss Leslie cried a good deal in the course of the next few days in +the solitude of her chamber. She disliked Lord Penwhistle as much as +she liked Burgo; indeed, it might be said that she loved the latter as +much as her shallow little heart was capable of loving any one. But +she was a good girl, and thoroughly amenable to her aunt's dictates. +No thought of rebellion ever entered her mind. Besides, if Mr. +Brabazon was going to be a poor man it was far better that they should +not marry. She had seen and understood enough of the horrors of +genteel poverty when a child at home. It had been the perpetual worry +about sordid details and the long, hopeless struggle to free himself +from debt, which had worn out her father years before his time. Even +now the recollection of it made her shudder. + +No, there was no help for it. Fate was very unkind, but she and Mr. +Brabazon must part. And when--her birthday falling about a week +later--Lord Penwhistle requested her acceptance of a ruby and sapphire +bracelet, she felt still more convinced that all must be considered at +an end as between Burgo and herself. + +"I am glad to have secured this opportunity, Miss Leslie, for a little +quiet talk with you," resumed Mr. Brabazon after a pause which to +Clara was fast becoming intolerable. The dying embers of her love for +Burgo had been fanned afresh into a flame by his presence. Never had +Lord Penwhistle seemed so odious to her as at that moment. "After +to-day, however, you need have no fear that I shall trouble you again. +On a certain occasion I took the liberty of saying certain things to +you, but was interrupted before I had got more than half-way through. +Your aunt broke in upon us and carried you off--for what reason is now +plain enough. She had just heard that my uncle, whose heir I was +supposed to be, had taken to himself a wife, and that, consequently, +my eligibility as a _parti_ for her niece had suddenly gone down to +vanishing point. Is my statement very wide of the mark, Miss Leslie?" + +"No, it is not, Mr. Brabazon," replied Clara without hesitation. Just +then she felt that she hated Mrs. Mordaunt. She would save her nothing +in the way of exposure. "My aunt had heard the news you speak of, and +she told me that as between you and me everything must at once come to +an end." + +"And you?" said Burgo quietly. + +"What could I do? When you called, we were not at home. A few days +later my aunt carried me off to Paris, and from the date of that +evening in the conservatory till now you and I have never met." + +"That has been owing to no remissness on my part, I assure you. I was +most anxious to meet you. I wanted to tell you that, although I was +unfortunately no longer in a position to ask you to become my wife, my +sentiments towards you had in no wise changed--that it was not I, but +circumstances, that were to blame." + +He paused till a burst of clapping and cheering from the crowd round +the players had died away. + +"I am glad to have been able to tell you this at last," he went on. +"But if fortune has behaved scurvily by me, she has dealt kindly by +you. If you had conceded me that which I was on the point of asking +you for when Mrs. Mordaunt appeared so inopportunely on the scene, you +would have made me a happy man, but think what you would have lost +yourself!" + +"I fail to understand you. Pray explain yourself, Mr. Brabazon," said +Clara a little uneasily. + +"'Tis plain enough. Had you given your hand to me, you would never +have had the happiness of becoming Lady Penwhistle." + +A faint "Oh!" was Clara's sole reply. Why was he so bitter? He must +have loved her very much to talk as he did. + +"So that you see everything has happened for the best as far as you +are concerned," resumed Burgo in his soft drawling tones. "Indeed, I +think that you ought to be very thankful for your escape--probably you +are. The Penwhistle family diamonds are said to be superb, and rumour +has it that his lordship is disposed to behave most liberally in the +way of settlements. You are a very fortunate young woman, Miss +Leslie." + +Clara's heart, such as it was, was full to bursting. "Oh! if you knew +all," she exclaimed; "if you knew how I was pestered and badgered into +accepting Lord Penwhistle, you would pity me instead of sneering at +me! If you think I like him, you are mistaken. I don't. There! And I +don't care who knows it." For once she was carried out of herself. + +"Pestered and badgered, indeed! Is that all? Why should any young +woman allow herself to be pestered and badgered by anybody into +marrying a man for whom she does not care? What a confession of +weakness is here!" + +"As I said before, you don't know my aunt--as I know her." + +"No--thank heaven!" murmured Burgo. + +"But all this talk is to no purpose, Mr. Brabazon," said Clara +hastily. She already regretted her little outburst. "In fact, I ought +not to have listened to it. It is enough that I have promised to marry +Lord Penwhistle, and I am not going to run away from my promise." + +"Of course you are not," assented Burgo with that exasperating smile +of his. "You would regret it to the last day of your life if you did." + +"Ah, here comes my aunt," said Clara with a sigh of relief. + +Burgo stood up as Mrs. Mordaunt drew near. Her face became charged +with thunder the moment she recognised him. But that in no wise +discomposed our friend. "Delighted to see you again, Mrs. Mordaunt," +he said, as he raised his hat. "It seems ages since I parted from you +last. I have just been felicitating Miss Leslie upon a certain event +which, I hear on good authority, is to take place very shortly. I +suppose, if it would not be considered presumptuous on my part, that I +ought also to congratulate you, Mrs. Mordaunt, for affairs of this +sort, to be successfully carried through, necessitate delicate +manipulation and diplomatic talent of a very special kind. Yes, I am +quite sure you ought to be congratulated. Penwhistle's a decent little +chap enough, though they _did_ blackball him at the Corinthian. Still, +I don't think it can be true that the reason they 'chucked' him was +because his grandfather is said to have been a marine-store dealer in +Auld Reekie. No man can help his grandfather, can he? And when a +fellow is worth thirty thousand a year, it would not matter a button +even if one of his ancestors was hanged for sheep-stealing." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +BURGO IN A NEW CHARACTER. + + +Burgo Brabazon had made up his mind beforehand that if he should be +successful in meeting Miss Leslie at Twysden Court, and should find an +opportunity of unburdening his mind to her of that which he wanted to +say, he would take therewith his farewell of the pomps and vanities of +London society. Well, he had succeeded in seeing her, and in having +his say into the bargain, and as he passed out of the gates of Twysden +Court he murmured to himself with a bitter smile: "Good-bye, proud +world. From this day forth you and I are strangers. I choose to cut +you, rather than afford you the chance of cutting me." + +For, indeed, it was high time for him to think seriously of putting +his hand to the plough, only, at present, he was not quite sure in +which direction to look for that useful implement, or rather, for its +latter-day equivalent. + +He had been going into the question of his finances, and had found +that in hard cash he was worth a matter of between forty and fifty +pounds, that sum representing the balance of his last quarter's +allowance. He had a tolerable stock of jewellery and trinkets, which +would always fetch something should the worst come to the worst. His +uncle had discharged all his liabilities, so that his calculations +were not disturbed by any question of what he owed to others. It was +true that in the interim he had run up various little accounts with +his tailor, his bootmaker, and so on. But such trifles were not worth +a second thought. He had always accustomed his tradespeople to +waiting, and he had no wish to hurt their feelings by offering them +ready money. It was with a clear conscience that he said to himself, +"When a fellow finds himself in a fix such as I'm in now, there's +really a sort of sweet satisfaction in knowing that he doesn't owe a +shilling to a soul." + +But fifty pounds, even if doled out with the most cheeseparing +economy, will not last for ever, and when the end of it should be +reached, what then? He had not forgotten "old Garden's" offer to be +his banker till brighter days should dawn; but he was by no means +inclined to accept it. "As he said, a spell of hard work will do me +good, and I'll work my fingers to the bone before I'll apply to him." + +Evidently the first thing to be done was to get rid of his rooms, +which were within fifty yards of New Bond Street, and move into +lodgings which would accord better with the exiguity of his resources. +But it was requisite that he should either find a fresh tenant or give +a month's notice. Fortunately he knew a fellow who was dissatisfied +with his own "diggings," and would jump at the chance of securing his. + +In the interval between his last interview with Mr. Garden and his +afternoon at Twysden Court he had had ample time to turn over a score +of different projects in his mind, each of which, however, when he +came to consider it in detail, proved to be either more or less +impracticable, or else to have certain features in connection with it +against which his somewhat fastidious taste revolted. He had spoken to +the lawyer about enlisting, but when he came to reckon up all that he +had seen and been told about life in barracks (several of his +acquaintances were military men), and to call to mind the class of +persons from whom three-fourths of the British army is recruited, the +prospect seemed to him the reverse of alluring. Could he have made +sure of being at once despatched on active service, where there would +have been a chance of promotion, he would have enlisted without +hesitation; but the thought of a dull, inglorious life in barracks and +all that was implied thereby, appalled him. + +Had he but possessed the requisite capital, he would have gone out to +the States, or Australia, and after serving a couple of years to the +business, would have bought a cattle ranch or a sheep run, and have +sunk or swum by the venture. But, as we have seen, his worldly fortune +amounted to the preposterously inadequate sum of fifty pounds, all +told. + +Sometimes a great longing would come over him when he thought of these +things, and a voice would seem to whisper in his ear, "What a +consummate ass you must have been to tear up your uncle's cheque! +Think of all you might have done with it. Think of----" + +But at this point Burgo would jump up and begin to stamp about the +room, swearing softly to himself as he did so. + +No, not if it would have made him the owner of a dozen cattle ranches, +would he have accepted Sir Everard's cheque with the conditions +attached to it. + +Far rather would he starve. + +It was no more than natural that at times his thoughts should revert +to his other uncle, Mr. Denis Clinton, who was only two and a half +years the junior of Sir Everard. To Burgo he was little more than a +name. Uncle and nephew had never met since the latter was quite a +child. Mr. Denis Clinton was a bachelor and a misogynist, and a miser +to boot. He had no belief in the claims of relationship, more +especially in the case of relatives to whom fortune had not proved +over kind. And that had been the hap of his sister Elinor--Burgo's +mother--who, against the wishes of her relatives, had persisted in +marrying a naval lieutenant of good family, but with no pecuniary +resources except his pay, and a private income of a hundred a year. +When, a few years later, Lieutenant Brabazon died, after a long +illness, and deeply in debt, and when his widow found it imperative on +her to appeal to her relatives for help, Denis Clinton had contented +himself with sending her a twenty pound note, coupled with an +intimation that she must not look to him for any further aid. He would +not have been the man he was if at the same time he had not told her +in the plainest possible terms that she had no one to thank for her +indigent condition but herself, and that she had brought it all on by +her own headstrong folly. + +Between Sir Everard and his brother there was no love lost. They were +in every way so wholly the opposite of each other, and had been from +their boyhood, they looked at life from two such different +standpoints, that there seemed no common ground of unity between them. +They had neither seen nor held any communication with each other for +nearly a score years, nor had they any desire to do so. + +Mr. Denis Clinton was the owner of a large but not very productive +property on the borders of Yorkshire and Lancashire, attached to which +was an old manor house, in which he lived a secluded and penurious +life, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot." As matters stood at +present he was next heir to the title and entailed estates. + +But although, in his many musings over his position, Burgo's thoughts +did occasionally revert to his Uncle Denis, it was never with any +serious intention of applying to him for the pecuniary help needed to +give him, Burgo, a fair start in life. Even if he could have +sufficiently humbled his pride to ask him--which he knew to be an +impossibility--he felt sure that his application would have been met +by a refusal. All he used to say to himself was: "If my Uncle Denis +had been a different kind of man from what he is, if he had been +another Uncle Everard, then, perhaps, I might have made known my need +to him, in which case, if he had chosen to hold out a helping hand, I +should not have turned away." + +As matters fell out, his choice of a profession was ultimately +determined by accident. + +One night, about eleven o'clock, as he was strolling along the Strand, +he came upon a crowd of men and boys at the corner of a side street, +congregated round a hansom cab and a couple of stalwart policemen. +Burgo was not fond of street crowds, and was proceeding to push his +way through the fringe of this one, when he heard one man say to +another, "What's the bloomin' row?" "A cabby wot's fell off his box in +a fit, and cut his 'ead open," replied the other. Then a third man +joined in, apparently a stranger to the others: "It's one of old +Hendry's 'ansoms," he said. "All that's wanted is for the cabby to get +inside his own flycatcher, and let some cove drive him home." + +Burgo shouldered his way through the crowd till he had reached the +heart of it. + +"What's the matter, Robert?" he inquired of one of the policemen, as +he slipped a shilling into his hand. + +The man carried a finger to his helmet, but could tell him no more +than he knew already. + +"You are sure his fall was not the result of drink?" queried Mr. +Brabazon. + +"Sure of that, sir. I and my mate both know the man. He's a very +decent sort of fellow, and a teetotaler." + +"Is he much hurt?" + +"Oh, no, sir; nothing to speak of. A little bit dazed-like, as you may +see for yourself, but nothing more. Still, it's hardly safe to let him +get on the box; he might be took like it again before he got to the +yard." + +"Certainly. I see that this is one of my friend Mr. Hendry's cabs, so +I tell you what you had better do. Put the man inside, and I will +drive him home to the yard." And with that he handed the constable his +card. + +The police were only too glad to be thus relieved of a difficulty +which was detaining them from their more regular duties. Accordingly +the man was bundled inside, while Burgo mounted to the perch behind; +then the crowd divided to let him through, while somebody called out +for a cheer for the "toff," which was heartily responded to. + +Mr. Tobias Hendry was a jobmaster and cab proprietor, well known to +Burgo, who, in the course of his career, had had many a "trap" from +him on hire--an elastic term which must be understood as including +vehicles of various kinds. The only two horses Burgo had ever owned +had been bought for him by Mr. Hendry, and when hard compulsion, in +the shape of certain racing liabilities which he found a difficulty in +meeting, had compelled him to part from them, it was "Toby H."--as he +was generally called among his intimates--who, succeeded in disposing +of them for him at a not too ruinous loss. + +Mr. Hendry happened to be in the yard when Burgo drove in, but when +the flaps of the hansom were flung back and Joey Bunch, with his +ensanguined visage, stumbled out of the interior, and when, by the +light of the lamp over the stable door, he recognised the driver, his +face put on such an expression of comic perplexity that Burgo could +not help laughing aloud. + +"Been up to some of your little games, Mr. Brabazon, I reckon," said +the jobmaster dryly. He was an elderly, wiry, rather undersized man, +with iron-gray hair and short side whiskers to match. + +"For once you are mistaken, Mr. Hendry," replied Burgo. And therewith +he proceeded, as briefly as possible, to put the other in possession +of the facts of the case. + +"I'm really very much obliged to you, Mr. Brabazon," said the +jobmaster. "It isn't every gentleman that would put himself to the +trouble you have. As for Bunch, he's the most steady-going driver I +have. I hope there's nothing serious the matter with him, but, of +course, I must have him seen by a doctor before I can let him go out +again. Yes, Mr. Brabazon, I'm _very_ much obliged to you." + +"But, as it happens, it is I who want to be obliged to you, Mr. +Hendry." + +"In what way can I serve you, sir?" + +"If your office is empty, let us go in there for a few minutes." A +sudden resolution (at the time it seemed to him almost like an +inspiration) had come to him while he was driving Joey Bunch home. + +The jobmaster led the way, and as soon as the office door was shut +behind them Burgo said: "I don't know whether you are aware that my +uncle, Sir Everard Clinton, has discarded me--cast me off--will have +nothing more to do with me. But such is the unpleasant fact. It's not +because I have kicked over the traces, or done anything to offend him, +but simply because he has taken to himself a wife half his own age +who, to serve some purpose of her own, has succeeded in poisoning his +mind and setting him against me. Now, as I have very little money, and +can't live on air, it's evident I must find work of some kind. The +worst of it is that I've been brought up to nothing, and have no +aptitude or gift of any kind. Under those circumstances what is a man +to do? That is a question, Mr. Hendry, which, if I've put to myself +once, I have a hundred times. At length I have decided that there are +only two things I can do with any degree of credit to myself or +others, and those are, riding and driving. But where's the good of +either of them to a fellow who has neither a horse nor a trap to call +his own?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure, Mr. Brabazon, unless he makes use of the horses +and traps of his friends. And a good many young men do that, sir, who +are in the same predicament as yourself." + +"True for you, Mr. Hendry, but I've no inclination to add one more to +their number. No, sir, what I've decided upon doing is to try to earn +my living as a hansom-cab driver, and I have come to you, Mr. Hendry, +as a man whom I've known for a number of years, to ask you to give me +a start; in other words, as our friend Joey would say, to 'put me on +the job.'" + +Hendry stared at him open-mouthed for a second or two. Then he said: +"You don't seriously mean what you say, Mr. Brabazon?" + +"Most seriously I do. I was never more in earnest in my life." + +"Well, sir, you're not the first broken-down swell--if you'll excuse +the term--that I've known take to driving a hansom for a living, but +they have mostly been of a different quality from you. Still, needs +must when a certain person drives. I don't suppose starving's any +pleasanter to a man that's had a college education, than to one who +can neither read nor write. If you like to look me up at eleven +to-morrow forenoon, Mr. Brabazon, I may have something to say to you." + +Burgo did not fail to keep the appointment, and the result was that on +the following Monday morning, having in the interim taken out a +license in due form at Scotland Yard, he started in his new career. It +appeared that Mr. Hendry had just become the owner of a hansom which +had been the property of a medical man. It was what the jobmaster +himself termed "a real elegant turn-out," and he was only too pleased +to have secured such a man as Mr. Brabazon to drive it. Into its +shafts he put a half-blood mare, which he had bought a bargain, +because she had once come down on her knees when her former owner, a +very nervous old gentleman, was taking his constitutional in the Park. +By this time Burgo had vacated his rooms off New Bond Street for a +much more unpretentious domicile no great distance from Mr. Hendry's +yard. He had written Mr. Garden a half-cynical, half-humorous note, +telling him what he had decided upon doing, and advising him of his +changed address. He had also looked up Benny Hines, partly for the +same purpose, and partly to ascertain whether the old man had anything +fresh to communicate with reference to Sir Everard. But it appeared +that affairs in Great Mornington Street were going on much as they had +for the last two months. If it could not be averred that the baronet +was any worse in health, there seemed to be no visible signs of +improvement. Dr. Hoskins continued to call three or four times a week, +and his patient still went for a drive on most fine afternoons. But +with a man of the baronet's years such a state of things could not go +on much longer. If there was no improvement, it seemed inevitable that +he must gradually, although it might be almost imperceptibly, become +weaker. That they saw no company at No. 22, and went nowhere, was +sufficiently accounted for by the state of Sir Everard's health. + +And now for Burgo began a new life indeed, one which, as he presently +found, tended to expand his ideas in directions never thought of +before, and to alter his views of many things in a quite remarkable +way. The "passing show," as seen from the perch of a hansom, wore for +him an aspect very different from that which it had assumed when +looked at from the box-seat of Lord Ockbrook's drag. It seemed to have +undergone a quite kaleidoscopic transformation between whiles. But, as +he told himself, what he saw now was the real thing--was the great +throbbing pulse of London, with some at least of its complex workings +and amazing contrasts laid bare for his inspection; while here and +there he obtained glimpses of its multifarious undercurrents of joy, +hope, fear, misery, and despair, and of a poverty so extreme that it +grinds the life out of some of its victims, while transforming others +into the semblance of brute beasts. To live for six months the life of +a London "cabby" is, for a man with eyes to see and a mind susceptible +of receiving and retaining impressions, an education of itself--but +what an education! + +Various reports were current in those clubs of which Mr. Brabazon had +been a member, as to the cause of his sudden disappearance, for, so +far as was known, he had gone without saying a word to anybody. +Although somewhat reserved and stand-offish except with a chosen few, +he had been by no means unpopular; but none, even among his most +intimate friends, was in a position to furnish any authentic tidings +of his whereabouts, or to account definitely for his continued +absence. Some had it (for with your club gossip fact and invention +very often go hand in hand) that he had gone on an exploring +expedition among the wilds either of Africa or Asia, they were not +sure which. Others averred that he had got so deeply into debt, by no +means for the first time, as to have offended his uncle beyond +forgiveness, and that, as a consequence, he had been expatriated, with +the understanding that his allowance would cease the moment he should +set foot on English soil without leave being given him to do so. Nor +were these the only fables promulgated which found a more or less +ready credence in this or the other smoking-room. But when, on +different occasions, two men came forward and averred that they had +seen Burgo Brabazon driving a swell hansom for hire in the West End, +their statements were received either with polite incredulity or +unconcealed derision. Of course the explanation was simple enough. It +was merely one case the more of mistaken identity. + +The only change in his appearance made by Burgo, except that he had +taken into regular wear his very oldest suit of tweeds, was that he +had shaved off his moustache, and had begun to cultivate an inch of +side whisker. But this, to an ordinary club acquaintance, or any one +who had not been on intimate terms with him, was enough to alter his +aspect almost beyond casual recognition. Then, his face had sunken +somewhat of late, thereby bringing his cheek bones into greater +prominence; and because his features were thinner, they looked longer +and older. That several of his whilom acquaintances should see him +without recognising him was scarcely to be wondered at. Indeed, more +than one of them had engaged his cab, and been driven by him to +wherever they had wanted to go, and had paid him at the end of the +journey, without having the slightest suspicion as to the driver's +personality. But on such occasions Burgo always spoke in a feigned +voice, and had a trick, which he had picked up when a boy, of treating +his fare to a very pronounced squint of his left eye. + +But, as a rule, he saw old acquaintances without seeing them. He +neither turned away his face, nor let his eyes rest on them. To him +they were as the most absolute strangers--people on whom he had never +set eyes before, and, for anything he knew or cared, might never do so +again. + +There came an afternoon when, in a temporary jam of vehicles, just +outside the Marble Arch, Burgo, perched aloft on his cab, found +himself close to Mrs. Mordaunt's barouche. For a couple of minutes or +more there was no possibility of turning a wheel. Seated with her back +to the horses, and facing her aunt and another lady, was Clara Leslie. +Her eyes and Burgo's met. She gave a little start, bit her lip, and +then bent forward as if to assure herself that it was really he. A +second look convinced her. He sat as if carved out of stone, his +features as devoid of expression as those of some old Egyptian deity. +But however changed he might be in other ways, she knew him by his +eyes. For her there were no such eyes in the world. Her own seemed to +dilate as she looked, while every trace of colour fled her face. Busy +discussing the latest morsel of scandal, neither Mrs. Mordaunt nor her +friend saw anything. Then the crowd parted as if by magic--the magic +brought to bear by the police on duty--and Burgo's mare, obedient to +its driver's signal, dashed forward. The same instant there was a +little cry from Mrs. Mordaunt. Miss Leslie had fainted. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +UNCLE AND NEPHEW. + + +As a cab-driver Burgo was a decided success, earning, as he did, +considerably more money for Mr. Hendry than any other driver in the +yard. But he was not conceited enough to take the merit thereof in any +way to himself, but rightly put it down to the superior attractiveness +of the vehicle driven by him. His hours were long, but he was glad of +that; less time was left him for brooding over the past and all it had +robbed him of. Mr. Hendry and he remained on the best of terms. If the +jobmaster's treatment of him differed in many respects from that which +he usually accorded his men, it was no more, perhaps, than might be +expected under the circumstances; at any rate, it was a state of +things on which Burgo never presumed. He knew his place, and he was +careful never to cross the line he had laid down for himself when he +accepted it. Without associating with his brother cabbies more than +was absolutely necessary, he was on pleasantly free-and-easy terms +with them. In the way of jokes he could give and take with the best, +and when the occasion demanded he could drop into the vernacular, or +hold his own in a slanging match, after a fashion which would have +considerably astonished his uncle had he happened to overhear him. + +When in after days Burgo came to look back on this episode in his +career he could recognise that it had not been a wholly unhappy time +with him. He was at an age when it is impossible for a man worth +calling a man to be actively miserable for any length of time. Fate +had smitten him hardly; both Love and Fortune had turned their backs +on him; the gilt had been rubbed off his gingerbread with a vengeance; +and yet, as time went on, he was surprised to find that he was by no +means so wretched as he deemed himself to have a right to be. When the +discovery dawned upon him he could not resist a certain sense of +disappointment, and was inclined to be savage with himself. But +presently it seemed much better to laugh at, rather than be angry +with, himself, and to regard the whole affair with philosophical +indifferentism as from the standpoint of an outsider. He would be at +once both actor and spectator of his own little tragi-comedy. + +Summer was on the turn; Goodwood was a thing of the past till another +year; wearied legislators were anxiously speculating as to the +proximate prorogation of Parliament; and the prospects of the coming +grouse season were being eagerly discussed by those interested in such +matters, when, on a certain sunny afternoon, Burgo Brabazon, who had +just set down a fare, and was making his way back in leisurely fashion +to the rank from which he usually plied, was hailed by the porter +of the Mastodon Club. As he drew up by the kerb the man said: "Old +gent--hot weather--fainting-fit--come round again all right--won't +wait for his carriage--wants to be taken home in a keb." + +Scarcely had the last words left the man's lips before Burgo beheld +coming slowly and feebly down the club steps, and leaning heavily on +the arm of another member, none other than his uncle, Sir Everard +Clinton. + +But what a change there was in him since Burgo had seen him last +He looked the mere wreck of his former self. He had been a tall, +robust-looking, well-set-up man, as upright in figure as a military +martinet, with the fine healthy colour (although he had a way of +fancying himself out of sorts when there was nothing more serious the +matter with him than a mild attack of dyspepsia) of one who habitually +spent much of his time in the open air. Now he had all the appearance +of a man who was slowly but surely dying of some incurable disease. +His face, which wore the pallor of old ivory, had shrunken till there +seemed little left of it besides skin and bone. His eyes had lost all +their old-time brightness and clear fixity of regard. His figure was +bowed as might be that of a man a century old, and so attenuated and +worn away that it seemed hard to believe his clothes had not been made +for some one half as big again as himself. Burgo felt a great wave of +commingled love, grief, compassion, and rage surge over his heart as +he watched his uncle descending the club steps. + +His friend, having helped Sir Everard into the cab and taken leave of +him, said to Burgo: "No. 22 Great Mornington Street," adding in a +lower voice, "Ring and summon some of the servants as soon as you get +there and see that he is properly helped out of the cab." + +Burgo drove very steadily. Ten minutes brought them to their +destination. As soon as he had drawn up he leapt to the ground, ran up +the steps of the house, and gave a mighty tug at the bell. Then going +back to the cab, he leant forward, and looking Sir Everard straight in +the face, said: "Uncle, won't you let me help you to alight?" + +The old man started at the sound of his voice; then he began +to tremble, and staring hard at him, he said: "Who are you? +Surely--surely you can't be my nephew, Burgo Brabazon?" + +"But, indeed, I can be, and am Burgo Brabazon, and you are my Uncle +Everard. You used to say I had my mother's eyes. Have you forgotten +what they were like, uncle?" + +"Ah! now I recognise you; now I know you are speaking the truth. +Still, you are changed somehow. For that matter"--with a deep +sigh--"are we not all changed? But--but what's this? It was you who +drove me here, and--and you are wearing a badge. What is the meaning +of it?" + +"Simply, sir, that I am endeavouring to earn an honest livelihood by +driving a cab." + +"My God! and has it come to that? My nephew--poor, hardly done by +Josephine's son! Ah, dear shade, while on earth so dearly loved, +forgive me--forgive!" The last words were spoken half under his +breath. + +By this a couple of footmen had appeared on the scene, but not with +any unseemly amount of haste. In their opinion, it was a piece of +"confounded cheek" on the part of a common cabby to ring the bell as +this one had done. But their faces changed at sight of their master. +Waving them aside, Sir Everard said in a low voice to Burgo: "Don't +let those fellows come near me. Help me yourself into the house, +but--but put that horrid badge out of sight!" + +So Burgo, having first beckoned a near-at-hand crossing-sweeper to +take charge of his horse and cab, helped his uncle to alight, and then +gave him his arm up the steps and into the house. + +"You must not leave me, my dear boy--not on any account," said Sir +Everard emphatically, as soon as the servants had been sent about +their business. "Her ladyship will probably want to get rid of +you--nay, she is sure to do so--but promise me not to leave me, +promise me not to allow yourself to be turned out of doors by her." + +"If it is your wish, uncle, that I should remain here I will certainly +do so." + +"It is my wish, my most earnest wish." Then, with a ghost of his old +authoritative manner, he added: "In point of fact I order you to +stay." + +"In that case, I had better send my horse and cab home as soon as +possible. Have you anyone whom I can entrust them with?" + +"Grimes, the stable-help, is your man. Ring for him." + +So, presently Grimes drove off with the horse and cab, being also the +bearer of a message from Burgo to Mr. Hendry. + +"And now assist me upstairs to my own room," said Sir Everard, when +the man was gone. + +It had been a room well-known to Burgo of old, and perhaps was the +only one in the house which had not been more or less transmogrified +by Lady Clinton. Its furniture was dark, substantial, and +old-fashioned. Two of its sides were lined with mahogany cases crammed +with coins, medals, and curios of various kinds. Of late, however, Sir +Everard seemed to have lost all interest in his old pursuits. On the +floor stood a couple of unopened boxes containing purchases forwarded +to him by one of his agents from abroad, but as yet he had not had the +heart to open them. It was a fact which proclaimed more eloquently +than words the pass to which he had been brought. As soon as the +baronet had been relieved of his overcoat, and established in his own +particular chair, he said: "You see a great change in me, don't you, +my boy?" + +"I do indeed, sir." + +"You, too, are altered, I hardly know how, but there's a difference. +It seems to me that you get more like your mother every time I see +you." + +"It's a long time since you saw me last, uncle." + +"So it is--more's the pity. How long? But never mind now. If her +ladyship wants to bundle you out, you will refuse to go, eh?" + +"You already have my promise, sir. Here I am, and here I will stay +till you yourself order me to begone." + +"With you here, Burgo, I shall have nothing to be afraid of." + +"But what have you to be afraid of at any time, uncle?" + +He cast his eyes slowly around as if to make sure that they were +alone. Then leaning forward, he said in a whisper: "Sometimes--God +help me!--I fear for my life." + +Burgo started. Was it because Sir Everard's words had sufficed to give +a definite shape and consistency to certain half-fledged suspicions of +his own? + +He did not reply, not, indeed, knowing what to say, but waited to hear +more. "Then, again, there are times," resumed the baronet, "when I +cast the fear--the thought--the suspicion (call it what you will) from +me as utterly unworthy of me--wholly degrading--nay, far worse than +degrading to _her_; times when I tell myself that old age is creeping +upon me, that my constitution is breaking up (a few years earlier, +maybe, than at one time I thought it would), and that, the +circumstances being such as they are, I ought to deem myself one of +the most fortunate of mortals, seeing that in Giulia I have secured +one of the most devoted of nurses and the most affectionate of wives." + +Burgo felt that it was expected of him to say something; and yet, on +so delicate a topic, and one about which he knew so little, would it +not be an impertinence on his part to venture on an opinion of any +kind? + +"I presume, sir, that you have not gone all this time without seeking +medical advice?" was his diplomatic remark. + +"Certainly not. I had only been three days at home when I sent for +Hoskins, who knows my constitution, if anybody does. He's attending me +still; but, if a frequent change of physic may be taken as any +criterion, he's puzzled what to make of me; though, of course, he +would be the last man in the world to admit it. In fact, I've tried to +pin him down more than once to a definite opinion, but there's nothing +to be got out of him save vague generalities." + +Not for some weeks had he talked so much in so short a time. The +excitement of meeting his nephew had lent him a fictitious strength, +but the effort now told upon him. "Pour me out three-parts of a +wine-glassful of that green stuff," he said, indicating a bottle on a +side table, "and then fill it up with water." + +Having swallowed the cordial, he lay back for a little space with +closed eyes. But presently he roused himself, and looked at his watch. +"Her ladyship is past her time," he said; "she may be here at any +moment." + +A curiously apprehensive expression showed itself in his eyes, and +Burgo seemed to detect a distinct note of timidity in his voice when +he spoke next. + +"I'm not sure that I've done right, Burgo, in pressing you to stay," +he said; "she won't approve of it--I'm certain she won't approve of +it." + +"I presume, uncle, that you are master in your own house," said Burgo, +with a touch of sternness in his voice. + +The old man looked at him for a moment or two in silence. Then he +said: "I used to be master in my own house, wasn't I, my boy?" + +"No man more so, sir." + +"Ah I well, I'm not now. How it's all come about would take too long +to tell. Indeed, I'm by no means sure that I'm clear about it myself. +It's all due to my breakdown in health, I suppose. I'm not like the +same man I used to be. The days come and go, I hardly know how, nor do +I greatly care. Giulia has relieved me of all worry and +responsibility; she has taken everything into her own hands." Then, +after a momentary pause, he added: "And to-day I'm a cipher in my own +house." + +His chin sank forward on his breast, and for a minute or two he seemed +lost in thought. Then, lifting his head, and speaking with an echo of +his old energy, he said: "But whether Giulia approves of your being +here or no, you must stay, Burgo--you have promised me that." + +"As I have said already, not till you bid me go will I budge an inch." + +"But the worst of it is that I'm by no means sure of myself from one +hour to another. Such is her influence over me that she seems able to +make me say and do whatever she chooses. It's a shameful confession +for a man to make, but it's the truth. As I remarked before, she's the +most devoted of nurses, the most affectionate of wives; and yet, for +all that, there are occasions when, for some inscrutable reason, my +soul rises in revolt against her. Sometimes, when I wake up in the +dark hours, and see her by the dim light of the night-lamp standing by +my bedside, and holding in her hand the potion she has mixed for me, a +chill horror comes over me--an unreasoning dread of I know not what. +It is as though I had just succeeded in breaking the fetters of some +dreadful nightmare, but still felt its influence upon me. Happily for +me, such moments come but seldom. When I look up into Giulia's +beautiful eyes the nightmare feeling leaves me, I swallow my draught, +and sink back on my pillows, feeling profoundly grateful that I am +blessed with so loving a wife. Ah! that must be the barouche." + +Burgo rose, crossed to the window, and looked out. "It is her +ladyship," he said quietly. + +"Quick--give me a little more of that cordial before she comes +upstairs," said Sir Everard. + +As Burgo took back the glass he gripped him by the hand. "Courage, +uncle!" he said; "remember that you are the master of your own +actions, and that under this roof no one has either the right or the +power to act in any way whatever in opposition to your wishes." + +But Sir Everard scarcely seemed to hear him; his eyes were bent +apprehensively on the door. Burgo groaned inwardly. He felt that if it +came to a contest with Lady Clinton, both he and his uncle would be +ignominiously defeated, simply because the latter would not have +enough strength of will to hold his own against her. + +The door opened and her ladyship entered the room. + +She had been later than usual in reaching the club on her return from +the Park, having had to call at her dressmaker's _en route_. When told +by the hall-keeper at the Mastodon that, as a consequence of a slight +attack of indisposition, Sir Everard had already gone home, she drove +there as quickly as possible. The report of Vallance, Sir Everard's +man, reassured her in some measure. His master on his return seemed in +no way worse than when he had left the house with her ladyship, but +the strangest part of the affair was that the cabman who had brought +him home had not only been allowed to assist him into the house, but +was actually closeted with Sir Everard at that moment. Vallance had +only been about a year in the baronet's service, and had never set +eyes on Mr. Brabazon before that day. + +Consequently it was with no ordinary feelings of curiosity that her +ladyship opened the study door. Who could this mysterious cabman be +who had been shut up with her husband for the last half-hour or more? +One glance at his face was enough. Despite the change in his +appearance, she recognised Burgo on the instant. Her ebon brows came +together for a second or two while she stood holding the open door, +and her eyelids contracted in a curiously feline manner. She drew a +single long breath, and next moment her face became illumined with one +of her sunniest smiles. Closing the door behind her, she went slowly +forward. + +"My dear," Sir Everard made haste to begin, speaking in an anxious, +hurried voice, "this is my nephew, Burgo Brabazon, whom, if I mistake +not, you have met on one occasion already. I came over a little queer +at the club this afternoon--a mere nothing, due entirely, I believe, +to the heat of the weather--and Burgo being fortunately at hand, was +enabled to convey me home. He has fallen upon evil days, Giulia, +having actually been compelled to drive a cab in order to keep himself +from starving. My sister's son--the boy whom I promised his dying +mother I would act a father's part by! It is nothing less than +shocking, and I feel myself greatly to blame that things should have +been allowed to come to such a pass with him. But all that must be +altered from to-day. Meanwhile, until I have time and strength to +think matters over and decide what had best be done, I have requested +him to take up his abode under my roof, which he has agreed to do. So +long as he is here he will be able to attend to my little needs, +especially at night time, and so divide with you a burden which, +although you refuse to admit it, is really beyond your strength, and +cannot fail before long to become altogether intolerable." + +"Intolerable! my dear Everard, as if anything could be that to me +which in the slightest degree concerns your dear self!" exclaimed her +ladyship in her clear vibrant tones. "You must not say such things +unless you wish both to hurt and offend me" Then turning to Burgo, she +added: "All the same, Mr. Brabazon, I am very pleased to see you here, +and I trust that your presence and company will help to cheer up your +uncle and do him more good than all Dr. Hoskins's prescriptions." +Speaking thus, she crossed to him, and smilingly offered her hand. +"This house, I have been told, was your home for many years in your +youth; why should it not be the same again?" + +The baronet heaved a deep sigh of relief, and his face brightened +perceptibly. + +Burgo took her ladyship's hand and bowed over it. "Thank you very +much, Lady Clinton, for your kindly welcome," was all he could find to +say. For once in a way he felt thoroughly nonplussed. His eyes met +hers, but in them he read nothing aggressive, nothing defiant; they +were brilliant, as they could not help being, but beyond that, +expression they had none. He noticed, however, that the smile which +wreathed the full ruddiness of her lips did not extend beyond them. + +Her ladyship turned to her husband. "Do you feel well enough, dear, +after your indisposition of this afternoon, to come down to dinner? +Yes--I see that you do. Your nephew's presence has done you good +already. There is only just time for me to dress. By-the-by, which +room have you assigned Mr. Brabazon?" + +"Room? He had better have the one that used to be his years ago. I +don't believe it has been slept in since. It will seem to you like old +times come back again, Burgo, my boy." He was evidently in the +cheeriest of spirits. + +"I am afraid I must ask your ladyship to excuse my presence at dinner +to-day," said Burgo, evidently a trifle discomposed. "I have no +clothes here but these which I am wearing, and----" + +"My ladyship is prepared to excuse all shortcomings on that score," +she broke in with a short laugh. "And so is Sir Everard. Are you not, +dear?" + +"Of course, of course. What does it matter for once?" + +Scarcely had the door closed behind Lady Clinton before it opened to +admit Vallance. He had come to assist Sir Everard to his room. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +BURGO'S VIGIL. + + +Sir Everard, leaning on Vallance's arm, came down to dinner in due +course, looking, Burgo thought, even more frail and feeble in his +dress clothes than in the morning suit he had worn earlier in the day. +His appetite was of the poorest, and it was evidently more by way of +keeping the others company than for anything he partook of himself +that he sat down at table. Greatly to the relief of Burgo, who began +to fear that he might be condemned, later in the evening, to a +_tête-à-tête_ with Lady Clinton (who, not improbably, was beset by a +similar fear), the party was made up at the last moment to a quartette +in the person of Signora Dusanti, the widow of a well-known musical +conductor. The signora, who herself was no mean musician, and had +been a popular teacher before her marriage, was now a middle-aged, +plain-featured woman, but with an expression of amiability and good +sense which at once impressed Mr. Brabazon in her favour. It appeared +that she and Lady Clinton had known each other in years gone by, and +that the signora had come to stay for a couple of days in Great +Mornington Street previously to her final departure for Italy. + +After dinner it was a matter of course that there should be music in +the drawing-room; indeed, the evening was given up to it, her ladyship +being evidently bent on utilising her friend's talents to the utmost +while the opportunity of doing so was afforded her. It may here be +remarked that, while merely a third-rate but facile executant, Lady +Clinton had a cultivated voice, and sang with taste and _brio_. It was +the only accomplishment for which she cared, or professed to care. + +At ten o'clock Sir Everard retired. As he told his nephew with a +smile, he had not sat up till so late an hour he hardly knew when. It +had already been proposed by the baronet, and assented to by Lady +Clinton in the most amiable manner possible, that, so long as Burgo +should remain in Great Mornington Street, or so long as the necessity +should continue, he should take on himself the task of watching by his +uncle during the night, which her ladyship had heretofore refused to +delegate to anybody. It was not that there was any occasion to sit and +watch by Sir Everard's bedside throughout the night; he was not so ill +as to necessitate any such service; it was merely that Dr. Hoskins +considered it essential that his medicine should be administered to +him at certain stated hours, provided he were not asleep at the time, +in which case the dose must be given him as soon as he should have +awakened of his own accord. Lady Clinton smilingly admitted to Burgo +that the duty had at length become so automatic to her that she could +sleep "like a top" between whiles, and yet always wake up within five +minutes of the time her services were required. + +Mr. Brabazon having bidden good-night to Lady Clinton and the signora +(her ladyship had made it a special request that he should not wait up +on their account), was introduced by Vallance to his new quarters. The +baronet's bedroom was a spacious apartment with three doors, the first +opening into the corridor, the second into a commodious dressing-room, +and the third giving access to Lady Clinton's apartments. In the +bedroom was a couch, and in the dressing-room a chair bedstead, Burgo +having the choice of either, on which to take such rest as he might +feel inclined for. On an occasional table near Sir Everard's bed were +placed his medicines, a _carafe_ of water, and a small decanter of +brandy, together with sundry glasses of different shapes and sizes. +Should he be awake at those times, his medicine was to be given him at +one, four, and seven o'clock respectively. A night-light burnt on the +chimney-piece, making the room a home for grotesque shadows, and +imparting to the features of the sleeping man the waxen wanness of +those of a corpse. Indeed, so startled was Burgo when his eyes first +rested on his uncle's face that he bent over him and listened for his +breathing before he could satisfy himself that he was really alive. + +The dressing-room, which also had a door opening into the corridor, +was lighted with gas, and Burgo noted with satisfaction the presence +of a big easy-chair which seemed made on purpose to lounge in and read +novels. The nights were too warm for there to be any need for a fire. +In the course of the evening he had sent to his lodgings for his +dressing-case and a portmanteau of linen and clothes, and having +selected two or three volumes from the library before coming upstairs, +as soon as he could get rid of Vallance, he proceeded to settle +himself for the night. He had discarded his boots for a pair of canvas +shoes, and had put on an old shooting-coat, and in place of a stiff +collar had swathed his throat with a soft shawl. By this it was a +quarter-past eleven, so that he had still nearly two hours to wait +before it would be time for Sir Everard to take his first draught. +After satisfying himself that his uncle still slept, he turned up the +gas in the dressing-room, and settled himself with a book in the +easy-chair. But he found it impossible to read. So many strange things +had happened to him in the course of the day that he could not help +going over them again one by one with the object of arranging them +more coherently in his mind than he had yet found an opportunity of +doing. He was still engaged thus when he became aware of a low tapping +at the door which gave access to the corridor. He crossed to it on +tiptoe, opened it, and found himself face to face with Lady Clinton. +She was no longer resplendent in heliotrope velvet, with necklace and +tiara of diamonds and pearls, but swathed in an ample pale blue +_peignoir_ of soft Indian silk, trimmed with swansdown, and it +would have puzzled Burgo to decide in which of the two she looked +the more _ravissante_. In either case she was what he termed her to +himself--"a splendid creature." + +"I hope I have not disturbed you," she whispered. "I tried to tap as +gently as possible, and if you had not heard me I should at once have +gone back to my room. I thought I should like to satisfy myself before +finally retiring that dear Sir Everard is likely to have a good night, +for you must know, Mr. Brabazon, that there are nights when he is very +restless, and tosses and turns for hours together." All this was +spoken in a low and rapid whisper. + +"I am happy to inform you, madam, that my uncle is still sleeping +soundly, as he was at the time Vallance left him in my charge," +replied Burgo in a voice little raised above her own. + +"In that case I am satisfied. I leave him in your hands with every +confidence. And so, for the second time, _buona notte_. It would be +absurd to wish you pleasant dreams, because I understand that you +propose to yourself to keep awake throughout the night." + +"That is certainly my intention." + +"You shall tell me in the morning whether Morpheus did not succeed in +taking you unawares, as he has a trick of doing with all of us. +Vallance has instructions to relieve you at seven o'clock." And with a +smile and a nod she was gone. + +His thoughts turned persistently to Lady Clinton, to the exclusion +of everything else, after she was gone. Her manner of receiving him, +her smiling cordiality, her instant acquiescence in everything +proposed by her husband, had evidently been as great a surprise to the +latter--possibly a greater--as it had been to him. No simple maiden in +her teens could have been more seemingly candid and ingenuous than was +this woman of three husbands. But was she not overdoing it somewhat? +Did not her very persistence in posing as a woman who had no will of +her own, as one to whom her husband's whims were law, lay her open to +suspicions which might never have germinated had she not accepted what +to her, metaphorically speaking, could seem nothing less than a slap +on the face, with the manner of one wholly unconscious that she had +received a slight at her husband's hands? Was it not a little "too +thin," Burgo asked himself? He felt, in his own despite, that to a +certain extent she fascinated him, and now that he had seen more of +her, seen her in one of her more gracious and captivating moods, he no +longer wondered greatly that his uncle should have succumbed to her +witcheries. It seemed to him that very few men whom she might +deliberately set herself to captivate would be able to hold out +against her in the long run, even although they might have been +prejudiced against her in the beginning. If he credited himself with +being one of the few on whom her fascinations would have been wasted, +it merely goes to prove that he had not yet gauged the extent of his +own fallibility where a charming and determined woman was concerned. +Just then he felt a little bitter against the sex, and was inclined to +believe that the experience he had lately gone through would serve him +as armour of proof against their sorceries for all time to come. + +And yet, while admitting to the full Lady Clinton's powers of +fascination, he told himself, almost in the next breath, that there +was an indefinable something about her which had for him a certain +repellent force. Nor did he fail to call to mind that on the first +occasion of his seeing her there was an expression in her eyes which +at once served to warn him against her. The same expression had struck +him unpleasantly again to-day, only to-day it was far less markedly +observable than before. It was as though it had been temporarily +veiled with a shining film of amiability and smiling good humour, +which, however, could not wholly hide a sinister something which lay +darkling below. + +Now that he was no longer under the influence of her ladyship's +presence, now that he could harden himself against her by calling to +mind all that he had lost and gone through as the result of her +machinations against him, and when his uncle's ominous words recurred +to him: "Sometimes--God help me!--I fear for my life," he felt it +impossible to come to any other conclusion than that her ladyship was +a very dangerous woman, and that he would be a fool to allow himself +for one moment to be hoodwinked by her. Judging from what had gone +before, it seemed clear that the chief object she had in view was to +create an irreparable breach between himself and his uncle, and if for +the moment, and that only by a pure accident, her scheme had been +foiled, it would be nothing less than fatuous to imagine she had +therefore given it up. "The more she smiles, and the more amiable she +looks, the more she is to be feared," was Burgo's final summing-up of +the affair. + +One o'clock came almost before he was aware of it. So far the time had +passed swiftly, and yet he had not read a page. He got up and passed +lightly into the other room. He had done so twice before, each time to +find his uncle still sleeping as calmly as a little child. Nor was he +yet awake. But while Burgo was still standing by his bedside, looking +down upon him and saying to himself: "Is this mysterious illness, this +sudden break-up of his constitution, due to natural causes, or is +there a hidden hand at the bottom of it?" Sir Everard opened his eyes. + +For a moment or two he stared up at Burgo as he might have done at a +stranger; then there came a flash of recognition. "You! my boy," he +exclaimed. "I've been dreaming about you. So glad!--so glad!" Then he +held out both his bands. "Help me to sit up," he added. + +No sooner had he been helped into a sitting position than he began to +cast apprehensive glances, first on one side of the bed, and then on +the other. "You are sure she is not in the room?" he whispered. + +"Who--her ladyship?" Sir Everard nodded. "No; there is no one here but +our two selves," replied Burgo. + +"No one behind the curtains, eh?" The bed was of the kind termed +Arabian, with a canopy and curtains at the head of it. + +"You and I are alone in the room, uncle, I assure you." + +"And that door is close shut?" pointing to the one which led to his +wife's apartments, the _portière_ covering which, just then, was only +half drawn. + +Burgo crossed the room and satisfied himself on the point. Half hidden +as it was by the _portière_, it might have been open for the space of +an inch or two without his being aware of it. He pressed it lightly +with his hand. "It is close shut," he said, as he went back, and +therewith he proceeded to pour into a glass his uncle's prescribed +dose of medicine and add to it the requisite quantity of water. Sir +Everard drank it off without a word, but not without the silent +protest of a wry face. + +After that he lay back for a little while with closed eyes, his lips +moving silently as though he were communing with himself. Then opening +his eyes and seeing Burgo standing by his bedside, he took hold of one +of his hands and pressed it in both his own. "Do you know, my boy," he +said, "I feel stronger, better, and brighter in every way to-night +than I have any time during the last three weeks." + +"I need scarcely assure you, uncle, how glad it makes me to hear you +say so. From what you tell me, I presume that your worst times are +during the night." + +"It is nearly always at night that my attacks come on--not every +night, mind you--no, no--if they did I should soon have to be measured +for my coffin, but it may be three or four times in the course of a +week." + +"Do you suffer much pain at those times?" + +"The attacks are of two kinds. But it's not the painful bouts I dread +most." + +"What is the nature of your other attacks?" + +"A feverish restlessness which effectually banishes sleep. Hour after +hour I toss and turn, trying first one position and then another, +seeking rest, but nowhere finding it. At such times I have no absolute +pain. It is as if a slow fire were smouldering in my veins and +gradually drying up every drop of moisture in my body. When morning +breaks I feel as weak and helpless as a newborn child, and at such +times I say to myself, 'I hope I shall not live to see another dawn.'" + +"This is terrible. And such nights as those you speak of are +interspersed with others of a more painful kind?" + +"That is so. But, as I said before, although the cramp spasms are +pretty stiff at times, I contrive to bear them with tolerable +equanimity. They don't exhaust me nearly so much as the other attacks +do." + +"Would it not be more satisfactory (pardon the question) if you were +to seek further medical advice--a second opinion, I mean?" + +"It will be time enough to do that when Hoskins himself suggests it. +No man stands higher in his profession than he, and I have every +confidence in him." + +"That may be, sir, but the simple question remains--does he understand +your case?" + +"I am inclined to believe that there are certain features about it +which puzzle him in some measure." + +"Then why not----?" + +"No, no, my boy, not another word on that score. Did I not say that I +was satisfied? If Hoskins can't do me any good, nobody can." + +For a little space silence reigned in the room. Sir Everard was still +holding Burgo's hand, which the latter took as a sign that he did not +want him to go, or to be left alone. + +"My brain must be softening," resumed the sick man after a time. "I +seem to be continually losing my reckoning. Your memory is doubtless +better than mine. What day of the week and month is this?" + +Burgo told him. + +"So! I thought the year was at least a fortnight older than that. I +shall not die till after the 12th of October. I shall live to see my +sixty-fourth birthday." He spoke the words as if to himself. Burgo +felt nearly sure that his uncle was unaware he had spoken aloud. + +Nothing more was said. A minute later Sir Everard's hold of his +nephew's hand relaxed. He had dropped off to sleep. Burgo went back to +his easy-chair in the dressing-room. + +Six Everard's last words, uttered half unconsciously, had struck a +chill to his heart. What did they portend? What meaning save one could +they have? He had by no means forgotten what "old Garden" had told +him--that if his uncle should live to see his sixty-fourth birthday, +he would inherit the legacy of £15,000 bequeathed him by his cousin, +the eccentric Mrs. Macdona. Coupling this fact with the words last +spoken by his uncle, it seemed to Burgo that but one conclusion could +be deduced therefrom, to wit, that the baronet, unknown to his own +lawyer, had made a will in which the whole, or the greater part of +whatever he might die possessed of, was left to his wife, and that, +consequently, if he outlived his sixty-fourth birthday, Mrs. Macdona's +legacy would come into the settlement. Therefore was there a very +potent reason why his lamp of life, however low it might now seem to +burn, should not be allowed to flicker out till the 12th of October +should have come and gone. After that, who could say what might not +happen? Even now was not the ground being prepared? Was not the plot +developing itself slowly but surely towards a preordained end? Were +not his uncle's mysterious illness and gradually growing feebleness +but the skilfully arranged stepping-stones to a conclusion long +determined on, so that, when at length the end came, it would seem to +all concerned merely the natural, but inevitable outcome of all that +had gone before? Oh, if it were indeed so, as Sir Everard's own words +seemed to clearly imply, it was horrible--horrible! + +What was to be done? What could be done? As far as Burgo could +see--nothing. It was true that he was here, under his uncle's roof, +and that unlimited access to the sick man had been granted him by Lady +Clinton, with an absence of any apparent _arrière pensèe_, which, +considering the circumstances, was in itself suspicious; but what +then? He could not be by his uncle's side through every hour of the +day and night. Sir Everard must be waited on and have his medicine +measured out for him by other hands than those of his nephew, and +whatever nefarious design might be afoot, could be persevered in and +carried out to the tragic finale despite all Burgo's vigilance. His +hands were tied; he was bound and helpless; and Lady Clinton knew it +far better than he. When she found that circumstances had brought +uncle and nephew together again, she had doubtless seen her way to +treat the circumstance as one of little or no consequence--perhaps +even to turn it to account for her own purposes. Should Sir Everard +die, it might be to her advantage to be able to point to the fact that +his nephew had helped to nurse him; besides which, Mr. Brabazon would +be one witness the more to her own untiring devotion in the dual rôle +of wife and nurse. + +All these things Burgo Brabazon apprehended clearly, but what he did +not discern was a way by which his uncle could be extricated from the +deadly net which too evidently was being woven about him. To broach +the subject to him was out of the question so long as he had nothing +but vague suspicions wherewith to back up his words. Neither could he +repeat to his uncle those last words which the latter had let fall +before dropping asleep, and ask him the meaning of them. It was quite +evident that they had not been intended for his, Burgo's, ear. +Clearly, it would be the height of folly to imperil his position under +his uncle's roof by speaking of things about which he was supposed to +know nothing, and which, it was just possible, might, after all, have +no real basis of fact. All he could do just now was to watch and wait +and keep a close tongue, while being especially careful not to give +Lady Clinton any cause for suspecting that he saw more under the +surface than it was intended he should see. Meanwhile he had time +before him. Sir Everard himself had averred that his life was safe +till the 12th of October should have come and gone. + +At four o'clock the sick man was still sleeping. Burgo did not disturb +him, but sat by his side and waited. It was nearly an hour later +before he awoke. "I seem to have overslept my time," he said with a +smile as he glanced at the clock on the chimney-piece, the figures of +which were large enough for him to read as he lay in bed. "It's not +often I do that. The difficulty with me is to get more than about half +as much sleep as I should like. It seems strange to see you here, +Burgo, my boy," he added, while the latter proceeded to pour out his +medicine. "I'm so used to being waited upon through the night by my +wife, that for a second or two after opening my eyes I could not put +this and that together. Ugh! awfully nasty stuff this last mixture +Hoskins has sent me," he added, as he gave the glass back to his +nephew. + +Lying back on his pillow, and speaking in the quiet, contemplative way +of a man whose dictum is open to no dispute, he presently went on: "I +think I have already told you what an affectionate wife and devoted +nurse Giulia is. Yes. What would have become of me through all this +wearying illness had it not been for her loving care and untiring +sacrifice of herself to the needs and whims of her sick husband! But +for her I should not be here now. It is she who has kept me alive. +From the first she refused to let any hireling come between herself +and me. How much I owe her I alone could tell." + +Burgo stared, as well he might. What was he to think? What believe? +Which mood of his uncle represented the real man? Could it be that his +mind was failing him?--that no weight ought to be attached to anything +he might give utterance to, and that his moods, in whatever direction +they pointed, were merely those of the passing moment? Burgo found +himself in a position at once perplexing and unsatisfactory. + +But while he was asking himself these questions his uncle's eyelids +drooped and closed, and a minute later his low regular breathing told +that he was asleep. + +As Burgo turned to leave the room he involuntarily started. He saw, or +believed that he saw, a slight movement of the inner door, as though +it might have been open for an inch or two, and suddenly closed at the +instant he turned. He took no further notice, but walked straight out +of the bedroom into the dressing-room. But, trivial as the incident +was, he could not get it out of his mind. Had her ladyship been an +unseen auditor of what had just passed between his uncle and himself? +It was a question which, although he had no means of answering it, led +up to another and a much more startling one: Had his uncle--for the +senses of sick people are often almost preternaturally acute--become +in some way aware that his wife was making an unseen third at the +interview? and had he said what he did in praise of her with the +deliberate intention that it should be overheard by her, and so serve +to lull to sleep any suspicions which his nephew's presence under his +roof might otherwise have given birth to? + +Here was food enough for cogitation to last him till seven o'clock or +longer, on the stroke of which hour the punctual Vallance knocked at +the dressing-room door, and brought his first night's vigil to an end. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +A SLEEP AND AN AWAKING. + + +Burgo had not got as far as his own room before he was accosted by one +of the servants. "Lady Clinton's compliments, and would Mr. Brabazon +like a little light breakfast at once?" + +Mr. Brabazon was much obliged to her ladyship, and, if it was quite +convenient, he would like a cup of coffee and a rusk. + +In five minutes they were brought him. + +After that he tumbled into bed, slept like a top for four hours, got +up, tubbed and dressed, after which, in his own parlance, he felt "as +fresh as a daisy." He had ascertained overnight that his uncle never +made his appearance downstairs before luncheon, and very often not +then. So, without saying a word to any one, or troubling himself about +breakfast, he quietly left the house on his way to the "yard" in +search of Mr. Hendry. The jobmaster expressed himself as being very +sorry for his own sake that things had turned out as they had; "but, +of course, I'm very glad for your sake, Mr. Brabazon, that you and Sir +Everard have come together again." + +"For anything I can tell to the contrary," said Burgo--"for one can +never be sure what turn affairs will take--you may see me back at the +yard, with nothing to do, before either of us is very much older." + +"You will always be welcome, sir, and I'll engage to find you a job at +any time, should you be in need of one." + +With that the two men shook hands and parted. + +Burgo got back to Great Mornington Street just as luncheon was served. +His uncle was downstairs, and certainly looking no worse than on the +previous day. + +There, too, were her ladyship and Signora Dusanti, and the signora's +little daughter, a child of ten. Conversation was general during the +meal, personal topics being avoided as if by common consent. Even Sir +Everard was quite chatty, and once or twice laughed heartily at some +remark of Tina, who seemed a most precocious child for her years. +Burgo found it had been already arranged that he and his uncle should +go for a drive in the barouche, while Lady Clinton and the signora +went shopping in the brougham. + +At the last moment her ladyship said to her husband: "If you have no +objection, dear, I should like Tina to go with you and Mr. Brabazon. +I'm afraid the poor child would find shopping very tiresome, and I am +sure a good blow in the Park would do her far more good." + +The corners of the baronet's mouth dropped for a moment; the next he +said quite heartily: "Of course--of course. Let the child go with us, +by all means." + +A little later Burgo could not help asking himself whether Tina might +not have been purposely sent with them in order to act as a check upon +any confidential talk which might otherwise have passed between his +uncle and himself in the course of the drive. At any rate, if that was +her ladyship's intention, it proved thoroughly successful. The girl +was such a shrewd little thing, and had so evidently been schooled +into making good use of her ears, that both the men felt convinced +that everything which might be said by them would be retailed to the +signora, and would doubtless be passed on in due course to the person +chiefly concerned. Consequently the talk was merely of such a kind as +might have been overheard by the world at large. One remark which his +uncle made gratified Burgo immensely. "Hoskins found a marked +improvement in me this morning," he said; adding, with a laugh, "of +course he gives all the credit of it to the particularly nauseous +stuff I'm taking just now. But, and I would, I could tell him +different from that." + +Sir Everard shrank from the publicity of the Row. "I've only been once +in it since my return," he said, "and on that occasion, if I was +commiserated by one person on the score of my health, I was by twenty. +It's an ordeal I don't care to face again. Let us take a quiet drive +down Kensington way." + +The rest of the day and evening passed as the preceding ones had done. +After dinner came music and singing, and the baronet went so far as to +indulge in one game of backgammon with his nephew. "It seems like old +days come back," he remarked to Burgo, adding in a lower voice, "if +only it will last! if only it will last!" + +Soon after half-past nine he retired. + +Burgo's second vigil was arranged on precisely the same lines as the +first. His uncle slept well, only waking twice at irregular intervals, +both times to find Burgo seated within a couple of yards of his bed, +waiting patiently for him to open his eyes. In the course of this +second night no conversation of what might be termed a private nature +passed between them. More than once, when Sir Everard was sitting up +in bed, Burgo saw him glance half-apprehensively, half-suspiciously at +the door which opened into his wife's apartments, or rather, at the +_portière_, which to-night was drawn completely across it. But +whatever his thoughts or suspicions might be, he kept them to himself. + +Next forenoon Dr. Hoskins's report was again a favourable one. "A few +more days like this, my clear sir, and you will have made a big stride +on the road to recovery," he said. + +After luncheon her ladyship and the signora again went out together, +ostensibly for shopping purposes, and again Sir Everard and Burgo, +with little Tina for eavesdropper, went for a long suburban drive. + +The third night of Burgo's sitting up was merely a repetition of the +two previous ones. It was diversified by no incident worth recording, +and again, as on the second night, the invalid confined such talk as +passed between himself and his nephew to matters of little or no +moment. It was evident to Burgo that he felt far from sure they were +really alone, but he was doubtless unwilling to expose his wife to the +ignominy of discovery, should it be a fact that she was playing the +part of an unseen auditor. + +Burgo did not feel himself at liberty to try the door as on the first +night, unless requested by his uncle to do so; but, although since +then his eyes had glanced at it times innumerable, after that first +occasion he had seen nothing to lead him to suppose that it was +otherwise than closely shut; still, so long as it remained half hidden +by the _portière_, a doubt would inevitably make itself felt. + +All this time Lady Clinton's amiability and graciousness towards Burgo +had been eclipsed by no faintest shadow of change. She treated him as +if he were there of right as a member of the family. That first +interview between them might have had no existence, save in Burgo's +imagination, for any hint or allusion to it which escaped her lips. +Did she wish him to forget it? Was it her desire that he should +consider the breach between his uncle and himself not merely as +healed, but as if it had never arisen? It certainly seemed so, and +under ordinary circumstances, no other conclusion would have been +logically possible. But in this case the circumstances were not +ordinary ones. There was his uncle's mysterious illness to be taken +into account, and, above all, certain things which his uncle had said +to him--phrases, as it seemed to him, charged with a terrible meaning. +These were facts which it was impossible to ignore, or to put lightly +aside as of little import. Then, again, some still, small, inner voice +seemed to warn him against Lady Clinton. He mistrusted her +instinctively, and in such cases he knew how useless it is to ask the +why and the wherefore. Our likes and dislikes have their springs +deeper than we can plumb, and constitute a part of that mysterious Ego +which each of us calls Myself--which is at once our slave and our +master, and which, even at the end of the longest life, we have only +partially learned to know. + +There was one very pertinent question which Burgo did not fail to put +to himself, namely, "What change is there in me, what have I done +between the date of my first interview with her ladyship and now, to +cause her so radically to reverse her tactics towards me? She was as +undoubtedly hostile to me then as she undoubtedly wishes me to believe +her my friend now. Why this extraordinary _volte-face?_ There must be +a motive at the bottom of it; what is that motive?" He could only +shake his head, and murmur, "_Ma chère tante_, what your little game +is I don't in the least profess to know, but I believe you to be a +snake in the grass, and a venomous one to boot, and I decline to trust +you farther than I can see you." + +He had time enough and to spare in which to turn these and sundry +other matters over in his mind during his long hours of watching. + +On this third morning he found his coffee and rusks waiting for him as +usual on reaching his own room. The rusks he left untouched, but the +coffee he drank off almost at a draught. It was nearly broad daylight +outside, but the curtains were closely drawn so as to exclude it, and +a couple of candles were alight on the dressing-table. After +swallowing his coffee he sat down to smoke "just one" cigarette before +turning in. As he lay back in his chair watching the grey spirals of +smoke curl slowly upward, his thoughts reverted to a subject which had +engaged them more than once already. Not a word had escaped Sir +Everard with reference to that first interview between his nephew and +Lady Clinton, and yet it was absurd to suppose that the arrangement +was not of his own making, although probably due to his wife's +instigation, or that the result of it had not been made known to him +in due course. The cheque had been of his own making out, and that it +had been scornfully rejected and torn up by his nephew was a feature +of the affair which there could be little doubt her ladyship would be +only too pleased to paint for his behoof in the most exaggerated +colours. And yet he had never so much as alluded to the affair. It +could not be that he had forgotten it. For anything Burgo had seen to +the contrary his memory was nearly as good as ever it had been. What, +then, could be the reason of his silence? Was it possible that her +ladyship had stated the case as against Burgo in far blacker terms +than the facts warranted, and that as a consequence Sir Everard was +waiting for his nephew to apologise? But Burgo, feeling that he had +nothing to apologise for, and that, in point of fact, he was the +person chiefly aggrieved, had already made up his mind that if the +subject were to be broached at all, his uncle must be the one to take +the initiative. Perhaps, in the course of a day or two, Sir Everard +might bring himself to speak of it. Well, in that case he, Burgo, +would be quite prepared to--what was it he would be prepared to do? +(The thread of his argument had unaccountably escaped him.) Why, to +defend his own action in the--in the what? (How stupid of him!) Why, +in the affair, of course. Yes, yes--that was it. He would be quite +prepared to---- + +Where was he? What had come over him? His eyelids felt as if they +were being pressed down by invisible fingers; every limb seemed +weighted with lead; a deadly numbness had taken hold on all his +faculties--never had he felt like it before. Was he going to be ill? +Had some fever got a grip of him? Was he--was he----But at this point +his brain refused to do his further bidding. He rose to his feet +somehow and stood for a few moments with his hands pressed to his +head, swaying about like a drunken man. Then, with his arms +outstretched, as though to help him to balance himself, he staggered +across the floor, and falling prone along the bed, remembered nothing +more. + + +When he awoke to consciousness he knew neither where he was nor what +had happened to him. The first thing he was aware of, and it probably +helped to recall him fully to himself, was that he had a splitting +headache. It was a dull continuous throbbing, as though some piece of +clockwork in his brain were marking off each second as it passed. He +strained his eyes and he strained his ears, but the darkness and +silence were intense--profound. He stretched out his arms and cast +about with his fingers, and presently made out that he was lying fully +dressed on his back on a bed--so much was certain. He must take that +as a starting-point and work mentally backward. What was the last +thing he could remember? It was a question not to be answered +off-hand, more especially when a man's skull seemed to be opening and +shutting twenty times a minute. When he tried to think he seemed to be +groping in a fog as thick as wool. The last thing he---- Ah! now he +had it. It was---- No, it had escaped him. He shut his eyes tight and +pressed his burning head between his hands, which, strange to say, +were cold and clammy. He lay thus immovable for some minutes, chasing +through vacant caverns and tortuous passages a will-o'-the-wisp which +still eluded him. + +The last thing he could remember! He kept murmuring the words under +his breath. And then suddenly it was revealed to him in a dazzling +flash, and the same instant he sprang up in bed. Yes, every incident, +down to the most trifling, arranged itself in order before him. He saw +himself, as though it were another he was looking at, leave his +uncle's room and make his way yawningly, and with hands deep buried in +his pockets, to his own room. The curtains were drawn, the candles +alight, his coffee and rusks in readiness for him. The latter he did +not touch; but he was thirsty, and he swallowed the coffee gratefully +at one long draught. He called to mind that the bed had looked very +inviting, but that the temptation of a cigarette had proved too much +for him. Then, a few minutes later, there had crept over him a strange +leaden numbness and lethargy, both of mind and body, the like of which +he had never experienced before. He had stood up, dazed and stupified, +had staggered across the floor, and flung himself on the bed, and then +had followed an absolute blank. + +Yes, he saw it all now. His coffee had been drugged! No other +explanation was possible. Of what devilish plot had he been made the +victim? And what black purpose lurked at the bottom of it? + +He stood up, feeling faint and giddy, and had to steady himself for a +few moments by gripping the ironwork of the bedstead, before he durst +venture to stir. Then he groped his way carefully and slowly, like a +blind man, till he reached the window and drew aside the curtains. In +the street outside the darkness was absolute; a thick fog pressed +softly against the window, and wholly absorbed the light from the lamp +over the way. + +"It was seven o'clock in the morning when I quitted my uncle's room," +muttered Burgo, "so that I must have slept through one day, and far +into the next night." Then he took out his watch and put it to his +ear. It had stopped for want of winding up. Evidently the thing most +needed was a light. He called to mind that after lighting his +cigarette, he had placed his silver matchbox on the table close by +where he was sitting. He now groped his way from the window to the +table in search of the box, but nowhere could he find it. Then he +proceeded to search his pockets, but to no avail. Had the box been +purposely removed in case he should wake up in the dark and want to +strike a light? Nothing seemed more likely. + +He now made his way to the door, only to find that he was locked in; +but, judging from what had happened to him already, he had expected +nothing less. He had been drugged, and was now a prisoner; all he +could do was to wait with such patience as was possible to him for the +break of day. + +He felt chilled in every limb, only his head still throbbed and +burned; but, happily, the pain was less poignant than before. Drawing +a counterpane off the bed, he wrapt it round him, and sat down by the +window. Both inside the house and out the silence for some time +remained unbroken, but by-and-by there came to Burgo's ear a faint +rumble of wheels from the busy thoroughfare into which Great +Mornington Street debouches at its upper end; then, before long, the +sounds became more frequent, and, after a little longer, almost +continuous. Then he knew that the dead time of the night was past, and +that he should not have much longer to wait for the first signs of +day. + +But already he had become far less concerned about his own predicament +than about what it might possibly portend to his uncle, for that Lady +Clinton was at the bottom of the business he never for a moment +doubted. That it had been conceived and carried out with the view of +bringing about a climax, or a breach of some kind in the new and +cordial relations between his uncle and himself, seemed, on the face +of it, hardly open to question. + +And yet, for the life of him, he could not see in what way drugging +him, or making a prisoner of him for four-and-twenty hours (for, of +course, it was absurd to suppose that he would allow himself to remain +locked up there after daylight had fairly set in), could in any way +conduce to whatever end her ladyship might have in view. But, in the +absence of any foundation on which to build, surmise and speculation +were futile, and the merest waste of time. He would put them +resolutely aside, and indulge in them no more. It was an easy enough +promise to make, but a difficult one to keep. + +After what to Burgo seemed an interminable time, a faint ghostly light +began to broaden in the reaches of the upper sky, and the silver lamps +of night to be extinguished one by one, for with the coming of dawn +the fog had vanished. And now Burgo began to listen for some signs and +tokens of reviving life in the household below stairs. But time went +on, and the daylight broadened, but all his listening remained in +vain. Within doors no faintest sound broke the silence. It was +unaccountable. How long should he wait before he rang the bell and +summoned some one? What, however, if there was no one to summon? "But +that's absurd," he told himself, with a shrug. "If the servants are +not down already, they can't be long now. I'll wait another half-hour, +and then----" His eyes had wandered to the bell-pull, or, rather, to +the place where it ought to have been, for it was no longer there. It +had been severed within a foot of the ceiling. As Burgo's eyes took in +the fact, the blood for a moment or two seemed to curdle round his +heart. More than all that had gone before it served to strike him with +a chill dismay. + +But it was no time for inaction. Not a moment longer would he sit +there waiting for he knew not what. By this time daylight was +sufficiently advanced to enable him to discern everything in the room. +With Burgo necessity was the mother of contrivance. What he now did +was to take off his braces, separate them at the joining, and tie them +end to end. + +Then, having dragged his bed, which ran on castors, into position, he +placed a chair on it, and having climbed on to the latter, he found +that he could just reach to knot one end of his braces to the severed +bell-pull. Then, having descended from his somewhat insecure perch, he +gave a vigorous tug at his improvised rope, and awaited the result. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +A CLUE. + + +Burgo crossed to the door and stood listening with bated breath and +one ear pressed against it, but the silence indoors remained unbroken. +After waiting for full two minutes, but which seemed to him nothing +short of a quarter of an hour, he went back and gave a longer and a +still more vigorous tug at the rope. Then he listened again, and +presently he was rewarded by hearing the banging of a door somewhere +in the lower parts of the house, followed by a peculiar thumping +sound, faint at first, but which gradually came nearer as it quitted +the flagged hall and advanced slowly up the oaken staircase, its +approach being marked by a distinct tap on each stair, twenty-six in +all. Burgo had counted them many a time when a boy, just as he had +slidden many a time down the broad, polished oaken balusters. + +As he stood listening his heart beat a little faster than common, and +he told himself that had that sound broken upon his ear in the dead of +night, he could scarcely have heard it without a shudder. Nearer it +came till it stopped opposite the door of his room. Then the key was +turned, and the door flung roughly open, and to Burgo's astonished +eyes there stood revealed a short, thickset, blear-eyed old man, with +what seemed to him a most unprepossessing cast of face, whose chief +garment was a greasy, much-worn overcoat, which reached nearly to his +heels. He was lame, and it was the tapping of the heavy iron-shod +stick which he used to aid him in walking that had so puzzled Burgo. + +For a few seconds the men stared at each other in silence. Then Burgo +said: "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" + +"Didn't you ring, sir?" asked the man. Burgo nodded. "Very well, +then, ain't I come to let you out?" + +"Who told you to come and let me out, as you term it?" + +"My leddy." + +"And where is her ladyship?" + +"Gone." + +"Gone! And where is Sir Everard? + +"Gone too--they're all gone." + +For a moment or two Burgo's brain reeled, and he had to steady himself +against the doorpost. He was weak from want of food, and he had not +yet recovered from the effects of the narcotic. + +"And when did Sir Everard and Lady Clinton take their departure?" was +his next question. + +"Between seven and eight o'clock last night." + +"Bound for where!" + +The fellow favoured Burgo with a cunning grin. "It's none o' my +business to answer that question, sir. Maybe I know, and maybe I +don't, but if you ask no questions, you'll be told no lies." + +Burgo smothered the execration that rose to his lips. To have vented +his temper on such a fellow would have been absurd. Besides, he had +not done with him. + +"And who may you be, my friend, if the question is not an impertinent +one?" he asked. + +"I'm the caretaker appointed by her leddyship. Me and my old woman +have got to look after the house while the family's out of town." + +"What has poor Benny Hines done to be turned adrift?" queried Burgo to +himself. Then aloud he said: "And so you were told by her ladyship to +come and let me out when I rang, were you?" + +Again the man grinned. "What I was told was, that there was a young +gentleman upstairs what had taken more to drink than was good for him, +and that he was sleeping it off, and that when he rang I was to go +upstairs and unlock the door." + +Mr. Brabazon laughed aloud; but it was not a pleasant laugh to hear. +"Oh, ma chère tante, que je vous aime beaucoup!" he exclaimed. The man +was to come when I rang the bell, but care had been taken by robbing +him of his matchbox and cutting the bell rope to delay the summons as +long as possible. + +For a few moments he stood considering, then drawing half a sovereign +from his pocket and balancing it on the end of his forefinger, he said +with a meaning look at the man: "Come now, I have no doubt that if you +chose you could tell me where the luggage which the family took with +them was addressed to." + +The man glanced from the coin to Burgo's face, and then back again +with a cunning leer. Then drawing a step or two nearer, he said in +something between a whisper and a croak: "I don't mind telling you, +sir, that I did make it my business--and why not, hey?--to see where +her leddyship's big trunk was directed for.", + +"Yes," said Burgo. + +"Brussels was the word I read, sir, in letters a inch long." + +Burgo tossed him the coin. The information was well worth it. + +Half an hour later a hansom deposited him and his portmanteau at the +door of his lodgings. + +When he had had a bath and some breakfast he felt more like himself +again. Then he lighted a pipe and sat down to consider. + +His distrust of Lady Clinton, which not all her smiles and all her +amiability had sufficed to eradicate, had proved to be but too well +grounded. When she had found him, as the result of an accident, +reinstated in Sir Everard's good graces she accepted the situation +like the clever woman she was, but it had only made her all the more +determined to carry out her own schemes, and she had done so with a +boldness and a decision which gave Burgo a far higher opinion of her +powers than he had held before. She had brushed him from her path +after a fashion which not one woman in a thousand would have had +either the brain to plan or the courage to carry out. Once more she +had Sir Everard under her sole control, and there was no one to say +her nay. What had heretofore lurked in the background of Burgo's +mind as nothing more than a sinister shadow now took shape and +consistency--grew and spread till it overshadowed him like a huge +funereal pall, on which an invisible finger traced in letters of +molten flame the one word _Murder_. Burgo faced the word while he +shuddered at it. By what purpose save one had she been actuated from +the beginning?--and recent events clearly proved that she was still as +firmly bent on carrying it out as ever she had been. What that end was +it seemed to him there was no longer any need to ask. + +One solitary gleam of comfort came to him, and one only. It was +derived from his uncle's words: "I shall not die till after the 12th +of October." Meanwhile he had been spirited away--whither? + +"If her ladyship thinks she has finally choked me off she will find +herself very considerably mistaken," said Burgo to himself with a grim +smile, as he knocked the ashes out of his pipe. "Ten o'clock to-morrow +morning will find me in Brussels." + +There were two people whom he told himself he should like to see +before leaving town--to wit, Mr. Garden and old Benny Hines. So, +leaving the packing of his portmanteau till later in the day, he now +sallied forth with the intention of calling on the latter of the two +first. He had not forgotten that the old man's niece was parlour-maid +at No. 22, and it seemed to him, seeing how unlikely it was that Lady +Clinton should have taken any of the servants with her, unless it were +her own maid and her husband's valet, that he might be able to obtain +indirectly, through Benny, some information with regard to the +proceedings of the day before, which would prove serviceable to him. + +On reaching the house he found there both Benny and the old man's +niece, and as the latter had already exhausted her budget of news as +far as her uncle and aunt were concerned, she was only too glad to +have another listener, and that one a handsome young man, to what she +could tell about the doings at No. 22. + +It appeared that no sooner was breakfast over on the previous day than +Lady Clinton summoned all the servants into the morning-room, with the +exception of her maid and her husband's valet, and there told them +that, in consequence of Dr. Hoskins having ordered Sir Everard to quit +London with the least possible delay, the establishment would be +broken up that very day, that they, the domestics, would be paid a +month's wages each in lieu of notice, and that they must one and all +be ready to quit by five o'clock that same afternoon. After that she +(Polly) had been employed all the morning in packing trunks under her +mistress's supervision. About mid-day the Signora Dusanti and her +little girl had taken their departure. Somewhat later the servants had +all been summoned again to the morning-room and paid what was due to +them, with a little present to each over and above their wages. By six +o'clock there was no one left in the house save her ladyship, Sir +Everard, the maid, and the valet. And that was all Miss Polly had to +tell. + +Burgo, without in the least doubting the girl's good faith, was +somewhat sceptical on the latter point. Details which to her might +seem of no importance might be of vital consequence to him. + +"And did nobody trouble to wonder what had become of me, Polly?" he +smilingly asked, "nor why I had so mysteriously disappeared?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, Mr. Vallance told us at breakfast that you had been +called away in the course of the night to attend the deathbed of a +near relation." + +"Ah, then Vallance _is_ one of her ladyship's tools, as I suspected +all along," was Burgo's unspoken comment. "My uncle probably suspected +it too, which would account for his unconcealed dislike of the +fellow." What he said aloud was, "It was a statement which reflected +great credit on Mr. Vallance's powers of invention." + +"Was it not true, then, sir?" asked Polly, with wide-open eyes. + +"Not one word of it. But never mind that now. I suppose you did not +see Sir Everard again before you left the house?" + +"Oh, yes, I did, sir. The poor gentleman was much worse yesterday, and +before Dobson, the butler, left, her ladyship asked him to help +Vallance to carry Sir Everard downstairs into the drawing-room." + +"To carry him down! Do you mean to say that he could no longer come +downstairs with the help of Vallance's arm on one side and the +balusters on the other, as he had lately been in the habit of doing?" + +"He had to be carried down, sir, by the two men between them. As +Dobson said, 'He couldn't put one foot before the other.' I just +caught a glimpse of him and it was enough to make my heart ache. His +face looked more like that of a corpse than of a still breathing man." + +Burgo's heart ached too, but the grief he felt was largely leavened +with indignation. That his uncle in the course of a few short hours +should have changed so radically for the worse was to his mind +consistent with one theory, and one only. Sir Everard had had some +drug, or pill, or potion administered to him which had brought on a +sudden relapse, and had thereby incapacitated him for protesting +against, or offering any opposition to, whatever arrangements his wife +might choose to make. Burgo cursed her ladyship in his heart as he sat +there. + +A minute or two passed before he could control himself sufficiently to +question Polly further. + +Then he said: "I suppose you didn't happen to overhear for what +place her ladyship was bound? It would most likely be some place +abroad--perhaps in Italy or the South of France." + +"The label on her ladyship's trunk was directed to some place--it was +a queer name, and I can't quite call it to mind--'near Oakbarrow +station.'" + +"What!" exclaimed Burgo, with a burst of amazement. "Are you sure of +that, Polly?" + +"I read it with my own eyes, sir." + +"This is news indeed! Was the name of the place you can't quite call +to mind Garion Keep?" + +Polly considered for a moment or two with a finger pressed to her +lips. Then she said with an air of conviction, "Yes, sir, that was +it--I'm sure of it now--Garion Keep; and a very funny name I thought +it." + +"That old scoundrel at No. 22 lied to me in order to put me off the +scent," said Burgo to himself; "whether of his own accord or by her +ladyship's instructions does not matter now." + +After a few more questions Burgo took his leave. Polly had nothing +more of consequence to tell him. + +From there he drove to Mr. Garden's office, only to learn, to his +great disappointment, that the lawyer had gone for a brief holiday. He +felt that he had never stood more in need of his counsel than just +then. After a call on Mr. Hendry, the jobmaster, he made his way back +to his lodgings. + +The information furnished him by Polly with regard to Lady Clinton's +destination had simplified matters for him exceedingly. Instead of +following his uncle and her to Brussels--supposing them to have gone +there--all he had now to do, so as at once to bring himself into +proximity with them, was to book himself for Oakbarrow station by the +night mail from Euston. + +Burgo had been at Garion Keep for a couple of days with his uncle +about six years previously, and only a short time after the latter had +succeeded to the property--such as it was. It had been a bequest to +him from a dear friend, an old bachelor without kith or kin, and he +had run down from town, taking his nephew with him, to look at the +place. It was an old-fashioned ramshackle structure, in a great state +of disrepair, fronting the sea, and situated on a bleak and desolate +reach of the Cumberland coast. Unfortunately the weather had been very +cold and stormy during the time they were there, and Sir Everard, +after a stay of forty-eight hours, during which he had never ceased to +shiver, had been glad to turn his back on the place and to hurry +southward again as fast as steam could carry him. + +Now, it was quite conceivable to Burgo why Lady Clinton should be +desirous of carrying off her husband to the Keep. There she would be +able, so to speak, to immure him; there he would be lost to the world; +there, without a creature to interfere with her, she would be able to +slowly consummate her fell design. But what he could not understand +was how her ladyship had become acquainted with the place and its +suitability for her purpose. He could hardly believe that Sir Everard +would have suggested it of his own accord, and yet Lady Clinton must +surely have known something, nay, a good deal, about it before +venturing with her invalid husband on so long a journey. From what +Burgo had seen of her he took her pre-eminently for a woman who +calculated each step before she took it, and made sure there was firm +ground for her foot to rest upon. + +As we have seen, it had been Burgo's intention to leave Euston that +same evening by the mail train; but, in the course of the afternoon, +in the act of leaping off a bus, he slipped and sprained his ankle so +severely that for the next ten days he was a prisoner to his room, and +compelled to divide his time between bed and sofa. + +It was merely one instance more of _l'homme propose_. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +FOUND. + + +Mr. Brabazon did not make the most patient or sweet-tempered of +invalids, if a man may be termed an invalid who is laid up with +nothing more serious than a sprained ankle. As it happened, he had no +one but himself and his landlady to vent his ill-humour on, and as the +latter was in the habit of bursting into tears on the slightest +provocation, he kept her at arm's length as much as possible. What +made him especially savage was that his accident should have happened +at a time when every hour was, or seemed to him, of infinite +consequence. What might not be happening at Garion Keep--to what +straits might not his uncle be reduced--while he, Burgo, was lying on +his back, a helpless log, unable to walk across the floor without +exquisite pain? A score times a day he ground out maledictions between +his teeth at the untoward fate which had thus scurvily laid him by the +heels. + +Nor was his amiability increased when he one day read in the _Times_ +an announcement of the marriage of Miss Leslie to Lord Penwhistle. +That Mrs. Mordaunt would hurry on the match he knew full well, and for +some time he had never opened a newspaper without half expecting to +see the announcement, yet for all that, now it had come, it was like a +sudden stab. That Clara was fickle, mercenary, and altogether lacking +in stability of character, he had long ago made up his mind; indeed, +there had not been wanting times when he had told himself he ought to +thank his stars that, at whatever cost to himself, he had been +hindered from uniting his fate with hers. Still, despite all this, it +was inevitable that he should feel a lingering _tendresse_ for one +around whom, only such a little while before, his imagination had +woven the golden tissues of the fairest day-dreams his life had yet +known. + +Sadly and bitterly sped the next few days for Burgo. There was nothing +for him to do, there was nothing he could do, save lie on his back and +think--think--think. And what a pleasant and profitable occupation +that is when we are possessed at once with a sense of our helplessness +and a burning anxiety to be up and doing, some of us may unfortunately +have learnt to our cost. + +Still, despite his anxiety to follow up with the least possible delay +the clue which Benny Hines's niece had furnished him with, he +recognised how useless and foolish it would be to do so till he should +be able to move about with some measure of activity. Consequently it +was not till upwards of a fortnight from the date of his accident that +he finally found himself _en route_ for Oakbarrow station, and even +then he was not able to walk more than a few yards without the help of +a stout malacca. + +Oakbarrow station is between two and three miles inland. On reaching +there Burgo hired a fly to convey himself and his portmanteau to Crag +End, an insignificant fishing hamlet about a mile and a half from the +Keep, which lived in his memory as a spot where he and his uncle had +been caught in a thunder-storm on the occasion of their visit six +years before. There was only one tolerable inn in the place, and there +Burgo alighted. Yes, they would be glad to accommodate him in their +humble way, said the landlord. He could have a bedroom, and also the +use of the upstairs sitting-room, except on market days, when the +country folk and their wives looked to have the run of the house. +Burgo, who was never exacting in minor matters, professed himself as +being quite satisfied; and as things turned out he had every reason +for being so. + +Knowing how curious people in little country places are with regard to +the names and business of strangers, Burgo wisely determined to supply +the needful information about himself before curiosity had time to be +hatched. His name was Lumsden, he told Tyson, the landlord; he was +from London, and was by profession an artist. He had journeyed all the +way to Cumberland partly in the hope of benefiting his health, and +partly with the view of taking a series of sketches of the scenery and +objects of interest in the neighbourhood for one of the illustrated +papers. As it happened, he could sketch fairly well for an amateur, +and he had been careful that his luggage should include the needful +drawing materials, together with a portfolio containing sundry studies +in chalks and pencil several years old. + +His intention had been to take a quiet stroll with the help of his +malacca in the dusk of evening in the direction of the Keep and +reconnoitre it from a distance. + +He wanted to familiarise himself with the features of the old place, +with regard to some of which his memory was rather uncertain. But +towards four o'clock the weather changed and it began to rain heavily, +nor did it cease till night had fairly set in. It was undeniably +annoying, but there was no help for it. "Mr. Lumsden" must perforce +remain indoors till the morrow. + +But it seemed to him that if he could not make use of his time in the +way he had designed, he might perhaps be able to do so in another way. +There were many things he was still ignorant of, many things which, +figuratively speaking, he was dying to know, and he thought it not +unlikely that his landlord might be able to enlighten him with regard +to some of them. Tyson, if not a man of much education, was +intelligent and well-mannered, and had nothing of the provincial boor +about him. In his younger days he had been a gentleman's servant and +had travelled--a fact which he was careful to impress upon all who +were brought into contact with him. In that simple little community it +gave him a certain _cachet_, and enabled him to speak with an air of +authority on many subjects about which in reality he knew next to +nothing. His trained eye had at once detected that "Mr. Lumsden" was +not _quite_ what he professed to be--that there was far less of the +wandering artist than of the West End _flâneur_ about him. Dress, +voice, manner, and that elusive something which makes its presence +felt but defies definition, all betrayed him. + +"Don't tell me!" said Mr. Tyson to his wife, who had not spoken for +the last five minutes; "he's a swell to his finger-tips, and I think I +ought to know one when I see him. He's doing the artist dodge for a +lark, or because he's quarrelled with his governor, or because his +young woman's given him the go-bye. Anyhow, it's no business of ours, +and if Mr. Lumsden thinks he has thrown dust in my eyes he's quite +welcome to his opinion. Only, as I said before, I know a real swell +when I see one." + +It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that when Mr. Lumsden, after +the candles had been lighted, complained of feeling a little lonely, +and requested as a favour that the landlord would keep him company +over a bottle of "John Jameson" (what wine there was in the house he +had found wholly unthinkable), and some of Burgo's own cigars, that +worthy should have complied with alacrity. + +Burgo had the knack, when he chose to exercise it, which was not +always by any means, of putting those who, in no offensive sense, +might be termed his inferiors, at their ease, and in five minutes Mr. +Tyson felt himself quite at home, while at the same time perfectly +aware that there was an invisible line drawn between himself and the +man seated opposite him which he must on no account attempt to +overpass. But the landlord was one of the last men to have attempted +anything of the kind. + +A turf fire had been lighted which, if it did not throw out much heat, +imparted an air of cheerfulness to the homely sitting-room, for in +September on the Cumberland seaboard the nights often strike +sojourners from the South as being unpleasantly chilly. On this +particular evening a cold rain was falling outside, and the incoming +tide had brought with it a wind which tore in fitful gusts down the +village street and smote each diamond-paned window with a watery lash +in passing. A couple of wax candles, reserved by Mrs. Tyson for very +special occasions, in brass candlesticks of amazing brilliancy, stood +on the oaken three-legged table, together with all the appliances for +the manufacture of toddy after the most approved recipe. + +When the landlord, at Mr. Lumsden's request, had mixed a couple of +steaming jorums, the first thing he did was to drink his guest's +health, and the second to help himself to a cigar from the latter's +case. A comfortable hassock had been supplied Burgo on which to rest +his lame ankle, and as he basked in front of the little fire he told +himself that the "Golden Owl" was a bird of which he should retain a +pleasant recollection as long as he lived. + +"And which is the most picturesque and interesting mansion, castle, or +ruin within an easy walk of Crag End, Mr. Tyson?" queried Burgo, after +having duly tested the quality of his grog. + +"Well, sir, I'm afraid we're rather destitute hereabouts of the things +you speak of. After you've sketched Garion Keep you'll find nothing +worth looking at nearer than Kippsley Castle, eight miles away." + +"And this Garion Keep that you speak of, is it a ruin, or does any one +live in it? + +"It had been in a partially ruinous condition for longer than I +remember it till about a year ago, when the present owner, Sir Everard +Clinton, took into his head to have it thoroughly restored and made +fit to live in." + +"With the usual result, I suppose, of spoiling its old-time +picturesqueness. But I seem to know the name of Sir Everard Clinton. +Was he not married a few months ago to a lady much younger than +himself?" + +"The same man, sir. Report has it that he's a good bit over sixty, +whereas the lady looks young enough to be his daughter." + +"So I have been told: such things get talked about in London. And are +Sir Everard and his wife now in residence at the Keep?" + +"They came down about a fortnight ago, all in a hurry--at least +they never sent word to Farmer Jellicoe, who had the keys and the +looking-after of the place, that they were coming, and so, of course, +nothing had been got ready for them. Next day, however, half a dozen +or more servants followed them from London, though why the servants +couldn't have been sent on first and have got things shipshape for +their master and mistress is what I for one don't profess to +understand." + +But Burgo understood. + +Polly's information had proved to be correct; his uncle had been +brought to the Keep, and at that moment he, Burgo, was less than a +mile away from him. For a few moments, although he seemed to be +puffing placidly at his cigar, he was too inwardly agitated to trust +himself to speak. + +It was the landlord who first broke the silence. + +"They do say there's no finer air anywhere than our Cumberland air," +he remarked; "so let us hope it'll do the poor gentleman good and help +to set him on his legs again." + +"Sir Everard was ill when he arrived at the Keep, was he?" + +"Mortal bad, sir. At Oakbarrow station he had to be carried from the +railway carriage to Jim Wilson's fly--the same that brought you, +sir--by Jim and his valet, and from the fly into the house when they +reached the Keep." + +"That was a fortnight ago. Do you know whether Sir Everard's health +has improved in the meanwhile?" + +The landlord shook his head. "They're very close up at the Keep--for +one thing, perhaps, because the servants are all stuck-up Londoners, +and very little news is allowed to leak out. It seems certain that the +poor gentleman has never been outside the house since he was carried +into it; but there's a roomy lawn between the house and the edge of +the cliff, and a sea-wall with a sheltered walk behind it, and mayhap +on fine days he might be found out there, if one really knew." + +"Has he no medical man attending him?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, Dr. Rapp was sent for the very day after Sir Everard +arrived, and every morning he jogs over from Oakbarrow on his brown +mare, passing here again on his way back about three-quarters of an +hour later." + +"But even if poor Sir Everard is too ill to leave the house, that +seems no reason why his wife should not be seen out of doors now and +then." + +"She is seen out of doors now and then, sir; I never said she wasn't. +The family brought neither horses nor carriages with them, but her +ladyship has hired a barouche and pair from the King's Arms' at +Oakbarrow, in which she and Miss Roylance take the air on most fine +afternoons." + +Mr. Brabazon pricked up his ears. "Miss---- I didn't quite catch the +young lady's name." + +"Miss Roylance, sir, who is said to be her ladyship's ward, or niece, +or something of that kind. She arrived at the Keep a couple of days +after the family, and has been staying there ever since." + +Burgo had never heard Miss Roylance's name before which was scarcely +to be wondered at. + +"Almost on the heels of Miss Roylance another visitor, a gentleman +this time, made his appearance at the Keep," resumed the landlord, "so +like her ladyship both in features and expression, only that he must +be several years the elder of the two, that one hardly needed to be +told he was her brother. His name, sir, did you say? It's a foreign +one; they say her ladyship is a foreigner born, though she speaks +English as well as you or I. He calls himself Siggnor--Siggnor--hang +me if I can remember the name! nor, if I did, am I rightly sure how to +pronounce it. Anyhow, he's a fine-looking man, nobody can deny that, +but with something in his face that made me say to myself the first +time I clapped eyes on him: 'If you owed me a grudge, you're not the +sort I should care to meet face to face in a lonely road, and you with +a dagger hidden about you.' But of course that was merely a foolish +fancy on my part; for no doubt the gentleman's as harmless as my pet +canary. He seems fond of taking long walks on the cliffs, or across +the moors, his only companions at such times being two big, fierce +dogs of some foreign breed, which, carefully muzzled, follow him about +wherever he goes. At night, however--so I've been told--they are +unmuzzled and turned loose in the courtyard." + +After this the men smoked awhile in silence. + +It seemed clear to Burgo that he had picked up a lot of information +which, even if it should ultimately prove of little real value, had at +all events served to put him _au courant_ with affairs at the Keep so +far as outsiders had any cognisance of them. + +"You said just now," he presently remarked aloud, "that Sir Everard +Clinton had caused the Keep to be put in thorough repair, but I +suppose all that was arranged for some considerable time before his +marriage?" + +"Oh, yes, sir. It was some time in the spring of last year that he +wrote to a firm in Whitehaven specifying what he wanted doing to the +old house; but it was not till after he was married, that is to say, +about three months ago, that he was at the trouble to come and see +whether his orders had been carried out in a way to satisfy him. He +and his bride--I heard they had only been married two or three weeks +before--came down from London, staying a couple of nights at +Oakbarrow, and driving over to the Keep during the day. It was then +that the Baronet gave orders about the laying out of the grounds and +the furnishing and fitting up of the old place, so that it seemed only +natural to suppose he intended to make it his home for at least a part +of the year." + +Here was a point cleared up which had puzzled Burgo more than enough. +When Lady Clinton decided upon bringing her husband to Garion Keep she +had known quite well what she was about. That two days' visit had made +her sufficiently acquainted with the place to enable her to judge how +far it could be utilised for the furtherance of her secret designs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +HELPLESS. + + +Rain and wind passed away in the course of the night, and next morning +the sun shone softly brilliant. After a hastily demolished breakfast +Burgo took his stick and portfolio--the latter in his assumed _rôle_ +of a wandering artist--and sallied forth. He retained sufficient +recollection of the geography of the place to know in which direction +Garion Keep lay, and thereby spare himself the necessity of an appeal +to a native. But, first of all, he strolled down the one straggling +street of the village to the little harbour, with its miniature +jetty, at the extreme end of which was a tiny wooden erection, the +harbour-master's office, to wit, surmounted by a lamp which turned a +blood-red eye seawards during the dark hours. Everything was on a +small scale, for Crag End was one of those places which never grow. As +it was now so it had been as far back as the memory of its oldest +inhabitant could stretch, and so it would continue to be. This morning +the little harbour wore quite a deserted look, for its boats had gone +northward, following in the wake of the herrings, and were not +expected back for an uncertain time to come. + +The hamlet nestled cosily in its narrow valley, which, in point of +fact, was nothing more than a gully, or break in the sea frontage of +the line of low cliffs which shut it in on the north and south. It was +to the south cliff that Burgo presently addressed himself, climbing it +by means of a zigzag footway which led almost directly from the +harbour. Scarcely had he set foot on the short and slippery turf which +crowned its summit when he saw looming before him, at a distance of a +mile and a half, the grey weather-worn tower, scarred with the storms +of more winters than men could reckon, because its age was known to +none, which was all that now remained of the ancient Border +stronghold, of which at one time it had formed a component part, known +as Garion Keep. + +As his eyes fell on it Burgo paused, less to gather breath after his +climb than because he could no longer delay answering a certain +awkward question which till now he had found no difficulty in putting +aside. The question which thus intrusively thrust itself to the front +was: "And now that I am here, within a mile of my uncle, what am I to +do next? In what way am I nearer him than I was when I stood at the +door of his London house and was refused admittance? Lady Clinton, +having once succeeded in getting rid of me, will take very good care +that I am never allowed to cross my uncle's threshold again, either in +town or country." He had told himself that when he should once have +succeeded in finding his uncle, he must let himself be guided by +circumstances as to what his future course should be. But what if +there were no circumstances to guide him? It would be the easiest +thing in the world for Lady Clinton to set him and all his plans and +schemes at defiance. Never had he realised his helplessness so clearly +as at that moment. + +He strolled slowly on in the direction of the Keep in a thoroughly +downcast mood, till he was within a quarter of a mile of it. There, on +a big rounded boulder, half embedded in the soil, and not improbably a +relic of the ice period, he sat down to rest, for his ankle still +pained him. From where he now was he had not only a near-at-hand view +of the tower itself, but also of the more modern building (said to +date no further back than the era of William and Mary), which was +divided from it by a space of, some fifty or sixty yards, and had +lately been renovated and made habitable by Sir Everard's orders. + +Although the two structures were entirely distinct from each other +they were both classed together, and had never been known by any other +title than that of Garion Keep. + +The modern building, which was long and low, being only two storeys in +height, was constructed of large, roughly-hewn blocks of a stone +indigenous to the district. The walls were of great thickness, and the +high-pitched roof was covered with what looked less like slates than +heavy flagstones; but on that coast the winter storms are often +terrific in their force and fury, and people are wise enough to build +accordingly. Although to an outsider it presented a somewhat gloomy +and repellent appearance, Burgo called to mind that the interior, even +as it was when he saw it, had pleased him far better than the +exterior, and there was no doubt that only taste and the means were +needed in order to convert it into a very charming home during the +summer months. What it would be like as a dwelling-place in winter was +another matter. On the landward side the house was shut in by a high +wall with wrought-iron gates, enclosing a gravelled carriage sweep and +a court paved with small round pebbles, and ornamented with a number +of laurels and rhododendrons in green tubs. On the opposite side, +between the drawing-room windows and the edge of the cliff, from which +the house stood some way back, there stretched a pleasant space of +lawn, interspersed with fancifully-shaped beds of the gayest flowers. +Sir Everard's improvement to-this part of the house was a bow window +with glass doors opening directly on the lawn. + +Burgo was still seated on the boulder, trying in vain to hit upon some +means of communicating with his uncle, his eyes bent vacantly on a +distant steamer, when, happening to turn his head, he saw, to his +surprise, the landlord of the "Golden Owl" advancing along the +footpath over the cliff as if coming direct from the inhabited part of +the Keep. In one hand he carried a small basket. + +"Good-morning, sir," he said to Burgo, carrying a finger to his +forehead as he came up. "Going to sketch the old tower, I presume. +Never a summer goes by without somebody doing the same thing. There +must be a lot of likenesses of it up and down the country. I've just +left the Keep, sir. Her ladyship is glad to take all the eggs I can +coax my hens into laying. My boy Teddy brings 'em over every morning, +only to-day he happens to be a bit out of sorts, which is the reason +you see me here, sir, when I ought to be doing my cellar work at +home." + +He paused to take off his hat and dab his forehead with his +handkerchief. + +"Talking about the Keep," he presently went on, "reminds me that when +I was telling you about it last night I forgot to mention one curious +circumstance, which is, that while the workmen were engaged on the +repairs I told you about, they came across an underground passage +right through the body of the cliff, connecting what is now commonly +called the Keep with the old tower. Nobody seems to know not merely +when the passage was made, or why, but when and by whom it was ordered +to be bricked up. However, Sir Everard caused it to be opened up +afresh, and had a strong oak door fixed at either end--not, I suppose, +that the passage will ever be made use of from one year's end to +another." + +"There must have been a use for it once on a time," said Burgo, "when +people did not live such quiet lives as we do. By the way, I suppose +the interior of the tower is in an altogether ruinous condition?" + +Both his uncle and he had contented themselves with an outside view of +it on the occasion of their brief visit some years before. + +"No, sir, it's not quite as bad as that," replied Tyson; "and as I've +been over it on two occasions, I ought to know. It is, I believe, a +fact that Mr. Josselyn, who owned the tower before it came into the +hands of Sir Everard, never made any use of it, but _his_ uncle--so +I've heard say, for it was before my time--used, if all accounts of +him are true, almost to live in it. It seems that he was a great man +for chemistry and experiments of various kinds, and a bit of an +astronomer into the bargain. So he had the place fitted up to suit +himself, and would shut himself up in it for weeks at a time--his +meals being brought him from the Keep by his old housekeeper--among +all the queer things he had got about him to help him in what he +wanted to find out. Report has it that the country folk were afraid of +him, and that's the reason why, even nowadays, they as often as not +speak of the place as the 'Wizard's Tower.' The end of it was that the +old man was found dead on the floor of the upper room, and the story +goes that he was choked by the fumes of some deadly mixture he had +been trying experiments with. Anyhow, there are his rooms to this day, +pretty much, I daresay, as he left them, except, of course, that all +his rubbish has been carted away long ago!" + +"But how are the rooms lighted?" queried Burgo. "Two sides of the +tower are visible from where we are, but there are no windows in +either of them." + +"There is only one window to each room, and they all front the sea." + +"If you are going towards home, I think I will turn and walk with +you," said Burgo, presently. "My ankle is rather painful this morning, +and I'm in no humour for sketching." + +"Pleased to have the pleasure of your company, sir," was the +landlord's reply. + +They had reached the village, and were slowly making their way up the +hilly, badly-paved street in the direction of the "Golden Owl," when +Tyson, in a guarded tone, suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! here comes the +siggnor with his dogs--her ladyship's brother--him that I told you +about last night." + +They were going up the street and he was coming down, carrying a +dog-whip in one hand, while his two muzzled brutes ranged close upon +his heels. As he passed them he bent on Burgo a keenly persistent +stare. It was not the stare either of idle curiosity or of covert +insolence; rather what it seemed to convey was, that, whensoever or +wheresoever he might see Burgo again, he should not fail to recognise +him. + +But the latter did not fail to eye him closely in return. Tyson's +account of him had excited his curiosity; but Burgo's stare was that +of the trained man of the world which reveals nothing and implies +nothing, which seems to take note of nothing while yet allowing +nothing to escape it. + +Burgo at once detected the Italian's marked likeness to his sister of +which Tyson had made mention, coupled with a certain something at once +sinister and malign, which, in her case, was merely latent, peeping +out at odd times in her glance or her smile, but which in his had +acquired the stamp of permanence. To those who had eyes to discern, it +revealed him--that is to say, his inner self--after a fashion of which +he was wholly unconscious. But how many of us, without being aware of +it, reveal ourselves to our fellows in much the same way! + +Said Tyson, half a minute later, after a backward glance: "By Jove! +Mr. Lumsden, if the siggnor ain't standing stock still and staring +after you. It must be after you, because he's seen me many a time +afore--as if--well, as if you might just have escaped out of a +menagerie, sir." + +"He's welcome to stare as long as he likes," remarked Burgo, lightly. +"There's no charge for the show." But the landlord's remark had the +effect of opening up a new and disturbing train of thought. + +What if Lady Clinton, suspicious that, notwithstanding all her +precautions, she might be traced and followed, had described him, +Burgo, to this brother of hers, with a request to him to keep a sharp +look out, and at once report his arrival on the scene to her ladyship? +If such were not the case, why should the mere sight of a stranger in +the village have betrayed the Italian into such an excess of +curiosity? It had been altogether contrary to his wishes and designs +that Lady Clinton should become aware of his presence at Crag End. She +would be more on her guard than ever, and even more determined than +before, if such a thing were possible, that all channels of access to +his uncle should be hopelessly barred against him. He felt +unequivocally annoyed, but that in no wise altered the facts of the +case. + +From that time he felt nearly sure that he was being watched and his +footsteps dogged wherever he went. There was a shabbily-dressed, +slouching fellow, who looked half labourer and half fisherman, but who +probably was something very different from either, of whom he caught +glimpses in the distance a dozen times a day; who seemed never wholly +to lose sight of Burgo in whichever direction his walks might take +him, and who, when the latter was indoors, would lounge by the hour +together at the corner of a side alley half-way down the street, +whence he could take note of every one who entered or left the tavern +of the "Golden Owl." The fellow never ventured within talking +distance, and whenever Burgo made as though he would approach him, he +slunk away more or less rapidly, never failing to maintain a +respectful distance between himself and the dark, stern-faced young +man, who looked fully capable of administering the thorough thrashing +which he probably felt that he richly deserved. + +By the time Burgo had been three days at Crag End it was impossible +for him any longer to doubt that he was being "shadowed." + +In the interim he had seen nothing further of the Italian. + +Meanwhile day was succeeding day without advancing him one iota nearer +the attainment of the object which had brought him so far; neither, +cudgel his brains as he might and did by day and night, was any scheme +or suggestion forthcoming which would serve to help him a single step +on the way he wanted to go. For anything he could see to the contrary, +he might just as well take the next train back to town. His journey +had been utterly futile of results. His uncle was beyond the power of +any help from without. He (Burgo) had no grounds for interference. +Such evidence as he could have brought to bear against her ladyship +was wholly inferential, and would certainly never have been accepted +by any one in authority as sufficient to warrant the arm of the law +in intervening between husband and wife. No; his uncle was a doomed +man--doomed to slowly fade and grow weaker day by day, till at length +the flame of life, reduced to a mere glimmer, would flicker out of its +own accord. He was at the mercy of a vampire, who knew not the meaning +of the word, and who would never let go her hold on him while there +was a breath left in his body. Burgo's consciousness of his +helplessness half maddened him. It was as an ever-present nightmare +from which it was hopeless to rid himself. It tortured him during the +dark hours, and mocked him when the sun was high. There were times +when he was so wrought up that it would have been bad for her ladyship +to be within reach of his hands. At such moments he could have +strangled her without compunction. And by this time the 12th of +October was drawing ominously near. + +The afternoon of the fifth day brought heavy rain, but with the rising +of the moon the wind rose and swept the heavier clouds out to sea, +leaving nothing but a thin filmy lacework where they had been, as +though in their hurried flight they had left a portion of their +garments behind them. Burgo felt stifled indoors. The lower part of +the tavern was filled with men drinking and smoking rank tobacco, the +fumes of which seemed to permeate every corner of the place. Taking up +his hat and stick, he went quietly downstairs, and let himself out by +the side door unknown to any one, leaving the candles alight in his +sitting-room. Taking no heed which way he was going, he found himself +before long, after climbing out of the hollow in which the village was +built, at a point where the road from Oakbarrow station debouched into +the Coast Road, as it was called, which latter, a little way further +on, left Garion Keep a hundred yards or more on its right, and keeping +a tolerably straight course for several miles further, finally lost +itself in the outskirts of a town of some importance. + +After pausing for a moment at the sign-post, Burgo decided on keeping +to the Coast Road. He would stroll on as far as the Keep, and see how +the old house looked by moonlight. It was between nine and ten +o'clock, and at that hour the country road was as lonely as a +churchyard. Since leaving the last house of the village he had neither +met nor seen a creature, and yet more than once it had seemed to him +as if he were being dogged at a distance by some one who was desirous +of remaining unseen. When, however, he turned to look, it was only to +see the empty road behind him as in front; but the moonlight was too +faint and diffused to permit of his distinguishing anything at a +greater distance than twenty or thirty yards. All he could do was to +shrug his shoulders and keep on his way, while telling himself that if +anybody was following him, it must be that "skulking hound" whom he +had already detected watching him, and who had doubtless been set on +purposely to spy and report on all his comings and goings. + +A little way further, and he came in full view of the Keep, that is to +say, of the land front of it. As already stated, it stood somewhat +back from the road, a short carriage drive, fringed on either side by +an ornamental plantation of young firs and larches, leading up to the +wrought-iron gates which gave admission to the courtyard. + +It was the first time since his arrival at Crag End that Burgo had +been so close to the Keep, his previous points of view having been +from the cliff beyond the tower, but his memory retained a good +general recollection of the outward appearance of the house during +the years which had intervened since he had seen it last. He had +strolled up the drive, which was open to the high road, and was gazing +through the scroll-work of the gates, trying in the indistinct light +to make out the different features of the building, when the sudden +deep-mouthed baying of a couple of dogs warned him that his presence +had become known to those faithful guardians. Without a doubt they +were the dogs he had seen following the Italian, which Tyson had told +him were always left loose and unmuzzled during the night. + +As it seemed unlikely that they would cease their baying so long as he +remained where he was, and as he had no desire to disturb the +household, he turned and began slowly to retrace his steps. In the +press of other thoughts he had forgotten all about his notion that he +was being followed, nor, now that he had turned to go back, was there +anything to recall it to his mind. At the point where the drive merged +into the high road he halted, while he took one last look at the Keep. +Dark, gloomy, and forbidding it looked, fit home for the slow tragedy +which, he could hardly doubt, was at that very moment advancing by +stealthy, but imperceptible degrees, to its preordained catastrophe. +His heart bled for the old man who was being gradually done to death +behind those sombre walls; yet here stood he, Burgo Brabazon, burning +to rescue him, but as powerless to do so as a newborn babe. Oh, it +was horrible, horrible! + +A groan broke from his lips, he flung up his arms for a moment as if +appealing to Heaven, then his head drooped forward on his open palms. +"Is there no way--none?" he cried aloud, despairingly. + +He was standing with his back to one of the plantations which lined +the drive. So absorbed was he that he did not hear the sound of +stealthy footsteps behind him, nor was he aware of two figures which +crept out from the shadows of the trees, till the hard breathing of +one of them betrayed their presence. He turned quickly, but it was too +late. In the very act of doing so, he fell headlong to the ground, +struck down by a crashing blow on the back of his skull. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +IN DURANCE VILE. + + +It was daylight when Burgo next opened his eyes, and asked himself +what had happened to him and where he was. He tried to satisfy himself +on the latter point first, because not to have done so would have +involved an effort of memory such as just then he scarcely felt equal +to. So without attempting to move hand or foot, he proceeded to stare +about him, his eyes wandering from side to side, and taking in one +detail after another of the unfamiliar quarters in which he now found +himself. + +Imprimis, he was stretched at full length on a couch which he +afterwards found to be made of mahogany, with old-fashioned cushions +and a pillow of horsehair considerably the worse for wear. The only +other furniture comprised a small octagonal table, and a couple of +straight-backed chairs of unpolished oak, apparently of some +antiquity. Stay, though; in one corner was placed a common washstand +and toilet service, such as in middle-class households are reserved +for servants' cubicles. The room itself was neither very large nor +very lofty, but it was undeniably bare-looking, walls and ceiling +being alike washed a dull creamy white. The room was lighted by one +long, narrow window, with leaded lozenge-shaped panes of thick +greenish glass, but placed so high up in the wall that a man had need +to be full six feet high for his eyes to be on a level with its lowest +panes. As the room had but one window, so it had but one door, which, +like the table and the chairs, seemed to be of substantial oak. + +But although he had satisfied himself as to the kind of place in which +he was, that did not help him to solve the question of where he was. +His ears were filled with a long, low, murmurous wash, which now +struck his consciousness for the first time. He at once recognised it +for what it was. "It is the noise of the incoming tide," he said to +himself. "And this place? Is it--can it be that I have been brought to +the Wizard's Tower?" + +Everything was clear to him now, without any mental groping backward, +up to the moment when he was struck down as he stood by the edge of +the plantation. He had been the object of a foul and cowardly attack, +and it was not difficult to guess to whose instigation he owed it. +More than ever did he realise at that moment with how resolute and +unscrupulous an antagonist he had to deal. + +But why was he lying there? At once he sprang to his feet, but as he +did so an involuntary "Ah!" escaped him, and the same instant he +clapped both his hands to the back of his head. He had not known till +then that he was wounded. But with the change in his position the pain +made itself sharply felt, and presently his fingers informed him that +the hair round the wound had been cut away, and the place itself +covered with strips of sticking-plaster. To such an extent had he been +tended and cared for. Just then, however, his wound was a matter of +quite secondary importance. Having, as he believed, rightly guessed to +what place he had been conveyed while unconscious, the all-important +question at once put itself to him: "Am I a prisoner?" + +His heart foreboded the answer but too surely. He crossed to the door +and turned the handle. It was enough. + +While he stood staring at the door like a man half dazed, he noticed +that in the upper half of it there was a panel, about a couple of feet +square, which looked as if it were movable, and on trying it with his +hand he found that it slid back in a groove, leaving an aperture of +its own size, of which Burgo at once proceeded to avail himself as a +peep-hole. But what he could discern through it scarcely repaid him +for his trouble--merely another space of whitewashed wall, as it might +be that of a landing, with the two topmost steps of a flight of stone +stairs leading to unknown regions below. Then it struck Burgo that the +aperture might perchance be available for another purpose. Putting one +arm through it up to the shoulder he proceeded to search for the bolt +or key which held him prisoner, but neither one nor the other could he +find. Whoever had locked him in had been careful to remove the key. +Well, he had hardly expected anything else. + +He now bethought himself to look at his watch. It was close on seven +o'clock. It had been somewhere about ten o'clock when he was struck +down, so that his unconsciousness had lasted for nearly nine hours. No +wonder that his head smarted as it did. + +It was not till later, when he had ample leisure for thinking things +over, that there seemed to come over him a sort of dim consciousness +that in the course of the night something had been given him to +swallow, and that in his ears there had been a faint, confused murmur +of voices, as of people talking a long way off; but it had all been so +vague and unreal that he could never feel sure it was aught but a +dream. + +Having pushed the sliding panel back into its place, he crossed to the +window, and found that, after stretching himself to his fullest +height, his eyes were just on a level with the lowermost panes. It was +evident that by standing on a chair his range of vision would be +considerably enlarged, and that was what he at once proceeded to do. +As he had quite expected it would, the window looked directly on the +sea, and on nothing else. Whichever way he turned his eyes not a strip +of land was visible. He could no longer doubt that he was shut up in +the Wizard's Tower. Now that he had, as it were, explored his tiny +domain, he sat down to think, but as yet his brain was so crowded with +impressions, all more or less vivid, which involved the putting of so +many more or less unanswerable questions, that to attempt to evolve +therefrom any definite and consistent line of thought was for the +present an impossibility. + +Not long had he sat before his attention was caught by a faint grating +noise, as it might be the turning of a rusty key, which was presently +followed by the sound of shuffling footsteps ascending the stone +stairs from below. Then the sliding panel was thrust back, and, framed +by the aperture, Burgo beheld the yellow, wrinkled visage of a very +old and very unprepossessing female, who stood for some seconds, +gazing at him with weak and watery eyes, before she spoke. + +"If you please, sir, I've brought you your breakfus," she said at +length in a thin quavering treble, "so, m'appen you'll please to take +the things as I hands 'em to you." + +Burgo crossed to the door, and from the tray the old lady had brought +with her, which she had placed on the floor before opening the slide, +she handed to him, one by one, the various concomitants of a fairly +good and substantial breakfast. + +"And now, mother, if you will tell me what place this is, I shall be +much obliged to you," said Burgo, as, last of all, he took from her +hand a small coffee-pot. + +The old woman favoured him with what to most people would have seemed +a cunning leer, but which she may have intended for an amiable grin. +"I can tell by the motion of your lips as you're a-talking to me," she +piped; "but I couldn't hear a word you say, no, not even if you +shouted ever so. I've been stone deaf for the last dozen years. I'll +fetch the breakfus things away when I brings your dinner." And, with a +parting nod, she shut the slide and shuffled her way downstairs. Then +came a muffled sound, as it might be the shutting of a heavy door, +followed by the same grating noise as before. + +Burgo was hungry, and was glad to be able to stay his appetite. He had +a few cigarettes left in his case, and it may be that he enjoyed +smoking a couple of them after breakfast none the less because his +fortunes just then were at such a desperate pass. It was over his +second cigarette that he came to the sensible conclusion to no longer +badger his brains with a lot of vain surmises and questions which he +had no means of answering, but rather to await the course of events +quietly, and with such philosophy as he could summon to his aid. Any +other course would be both futile and unmanly. Lady Clinton had got +him into her power, and for the present he could but submit to that +which it was out of his power to help. + +In pursuance of this more cheerful way of looking at things he +presently stretched himself on the sofa, and before long was fortunate +enough to forget all his anxieties in sleep. + +It was noon when he awoke. After a stare round he rose and shook +himself. "I'm neither a Monte Cristo nor a Jack Sheppard," he said, +"but I may as well satisfy myself whether there is or is not the +remotest chance of my being able to escape from this confounded hole." +So he again turned his attention to the door. It was very heavy and +strong, and, judging from appearances, could not have been less than a +century old, while, although the lock was probably of a very simple +kind, it would obviously be impossible for him to pick it without +adequate tools. He had a pocket-knife with three blades, which +fortunately had not been taken from him. Would it be possible by its +means to cut away sufficient of the woodwork round the lock--it was of +tough old oak--to allow of his forcing the bolt? But even should he +prove so far successful, what then? At the foot of the stairs he would +find himself confronted by another door, most likely by two, for he +had not forgotten what Tyson had told him about the opening up of the +underground passage from the Keep. Nor had he forgotten what the door +which opened from the tower on to the cliff was like. It was twice as +massive, and would prove twice as formidable an obstacle to overcome +as the door of his chamber. Not much hope of escape could he perceive +that way. Still, the subject was one which might repay careful thought +by-and-by--for he had already concluded that the tower would have to +be his home for some time to come--when he should have become familiar +with the daily routine of his prison life, and knew for how many hours +he could depend upon being left unvisited by any one. + +The window as a possible means of escape proved hopeless from the +first. It was narrow to begin with, and was rendered altogether +impassable for any one bigger than a child of six by a couple of +massive upright bars. In one corner of the room was an open fireplace +with a chimney, but when Burgo stared up the murky throat of the +latter, he felt that he would have to be reduced to very desperate +straits indeed before he ventured to explore it. + +At half-past two the same old woman brought him his dinner, passing +the dishes to him one by one as before, and receiving in return the +breakfast things left from morning. "If you please, sir," she said, "I +was to tell you that if there's anything you specially want, would you +write it down on a piece of paper and give it to me." Thereupon she +handed him through the aperture pen, ink, and a couple of sheets of +paper. + +Burgo gave vent to a low whistle of surprise. Then, after considering +for a few moments, he sat down and wrote as under: + +"If it be your intention to detain me here for any length of time, you +may, if you please, add to the burden of my obligations by letting me +have my portmanteau and contents, which will be found at the inn of +the 'Golden Owl,' in Crag End. If, at the same time, you will settle +my little bill there, I will recoup you the amount. + +"I enclose a note to the landlord authorising him to give up my +chattels to whomsoever you may send for them." + +The note to Tyson which he enclosed was signed "Burgo Lumsden." + +The old woman took the notes, favoured him with another leer, and +went. + +As Burgo sat eating his dinner to the accompaniment of an excellent +bottle of claret, having agreed to thrust his cares aside for a while, +his thoughts went wandering hither and thither as they listed, +touching now on things serious and now on others which were just as +trivial. Among other matters which thus casually claimed his thoughts +he found himself wondering again what purpose the sliding panel in the +door had been originally intended to serve. But after a time a light +broke on him. "This must have been one of the rooms occupied by the +old fellow Tyson told me about, who used to shut himself up in the +tower for weeks at a time, and it was doubtless put to the same use by +him that it is put to now. His laboratory was sacred ground; no foot +save his own must cross its threshold; and his food was handed to him +through the aperture as mine is to-day." In the lack of all +possibility of getting at the facts of the case, it seemed as likely +an explanation as could have been arrived at. + +Burgo got through the afternoon as he best could. He spent a +considerable portion of the time resting his elbows on the +window-sill, his head supported by his hands, gazing out at the +heaving expanse of water which bounded the whole visible line of his +horizon, watching with his eyes, while far away in thought, an +occasional moving pennon of smoke on the line where sky and water +seemed to meet, or the gleam of a white sail in the offing. In his +ears was the soft, murmurous thunder of the tide, for ever either +coming or going. A portion of the lower half of the window formed a +casement which was now flung wide open. The autumn airs blew soft and +sweet; in their caresses lingered a memory of departed summer. + +As he stood thus he could not help telling himself that all which had +befallen him since he left the "Golden Owl" at nine o'clock the +previous night was more like a fragment of some distempered dream than +the grim reality it had proved itself to be. That he should have been +assaulted, kidnapped, and locked up in an old border tower was an +incident such as might well have happened even as lately as a hundred +years ago, but which seemed an anachronism, and altogether out of +keeping with the prosaic realities of the last quarter of the +nineteenth century. And yet, incredible as it might be deemed, it had +happened to him. He was there a prisoner, and when or in what way his +imprisonment would end, he could guess no more than the man in the +moon. It might be that the design was to keep him safe under lock and +key till his uncle's illness should have terminated in the only way it +was intended it should terminate, and that, he felt sure, would not be +till after the 12th of October. Or, again, it might be that even then +steps were being taken to remove his uncle still further away, perhaps +to some place abroad, where no helping hand would avail to reach him. +It seemed monstrous to imagine that such a hellish plot could be +carried out with impunity at this time of day, and all the safeguards +which the law has devised against wrong-doing quietly ignored and +treated as if they had no existence. Yes, it did indeed seem +monstrous; but, as most of us have learnt to our cost, facts are +stubborn things. + +It was nearly dark before the old woman made her appearance for the +third time. Following the unlocking of the door, somewhere below +stairs came the sound of a dog's deep baying, mingled with a man's +voice addressing some one in imperative accents. Although it was not +yet seven o'clock the old lady had brought Burgo his supper. He had +not been used to such a primitive arrangement of his meals, but it +would have been folly to complain. When he had exchanged his empty +dishes for full ones, the woman said: "I've a lot o' things downstairs +for you--a lamp, and a couple o' blankits, and a piller, and your +porkmantle--which I'll now fetch up; but afore I open the door and +give 'em to you, you must pass me your sacred word of honour not to +try to leave the room. I can't hear a word, as you know, but if you're +ready and willing to swear not to try to escape, sinnify the same by +holding up your right hand." + +A moment's thought convinced Burgo that no other course was open to +him, so up went his right hand. + +The old woman leered and nodded; then, beckoning him to go nearer, she +said: "Besides, where would be the use of your trying to get away? +_He's_ down there"--with a jerk of her thumb over her shoulder--"on +the watch with one of his big dogs. Eh! but they're dangerous brutes, +and he's a dangerous man, and he would think nothing of letting the +beast loose to fly at your throat." + +With the last word she was gone. But presently she reappeared, +dragging Burgo's portmanteau up the stairs, after which she fetched up +in turn a couple of blankets, a pillow, and a lamp. Then, not without +some difficulty she succeeded in unlocking the door, after which she +took in the things, Burgo meanwhile discussing his supper quietly at +the table. + +"And now, sir, I'll wish you a very good-night and pleasant dreams," +said the old girl presently, "for I shan't trouble you any more till I +bring your breakfus in the morning." Then in rapid whisper, and with +another jerk of her thumb: "He's a devil, that's what he is--a devil!" + +Half a minute later the key was turned in the lock, the slide shut, +and Burgo was left alone for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +DACIA ROYLANCE. + + +Time went on till a week had gone by without anything occurring to +break the monotonous tenor of Burgo's life in the Wizard's Tower. + +His meals were supplied to him in the way already described, and as +they were plentiful and good, he had nothing to complain of on that +score. + +Once a day old Mrs. Sprowle--for that was her name, she told him-- +unlocked the door and entered the room in order to do such humble +_chores_ as were requisite, at which times "that devil," as she +persistently termed the Italian, always kept watch and ward below +stairs in company with one of his ferocious hounds. Him Burgo never +saw, but more than once, as he lay awake, after putting out his lamp, +he was conscious of a stealthy footfall on the stairs, and it seemed +to him as if the slide were pushed softly back; but what the Italian's +motive could be for acting thus--for he did not fail to set it down to +him--he was unable to conceive, unless the latter were anxious to +satisfy himself that his captive was not utilising the dark hours in +an attempt to escape. On the first and second occasions Burgo lay +still and made no sign, but the third time he heard the footsteps on +the stairs, followed by the faint creak of the sliding panel, impelled +by a sudden impulse, he put out his hand, grasped his boot, and aimed +it as straight as he could in the dark at the aperture in the door. +There was a muttered exclamation--or execration--in a man's voice, and +then a sound of retreating footsteps. Burgo broke into a burst of +genuine laughter. He could hardly remember the time when he had +laughed last, it seemed so long ago. + +Among the contents of his portmanteau were a meerschaum pipe and a +pound packet of Latakia. He had been a smoker for years, and what such +things could do towards solacing his imprisonment, they did. Another +treasure was a volume containing some half-dozen of Shakespeare's +plays, which he had brought with him as a refuge against _ennui_ in +case of bad weather, or when he could not sleep of nights. Under +similar circumstances a French novel would have recommended itself to +the majority of Mr. Brabazon's friends. But in many ways Burgo was +unlike the majority of his friends, and in none more, perhaps, than in +his love of reading. It was true that hardly any one ever saw him with +a book in his hands, but he was one of those men who can do with very +little sleep, and, notwithstanding his multifarious engagements as a +man about town, he generally contrived to devote at least a couple of +hours out of the twenty-four to good solid reading. It was a fact +which would have greatly surprised his club friends had they been told +it, which they never were; and yet therein lay the answer to a +question which young Hylton propounded one night in the smoking-room +after Burgo had just gone: "Can any of you chappies tell me how it is +that Brabazon seems to know such a lot about such a lot of things, you +know?" But the chappies, one and all, shook their heads. They admitted +ungrudgingly that Brabazon did know a lot, but that how he came by his +knowledge was a mystery. + +That Burgo should have crammed a volume of the Bard into his +portmanteau before leaving town vouches something for his taste and +quality. + +When Mother Sprowle brought him his breakfast on the third morning of +his incarceration, she brought with her a _Times_ newspaper two days +old, and each morning afterwards she did the same thing. It was a boon +for which Burgo felt sufficiently grateful, enabling him, as it did, +to while away many an hour--for, barring a few matters as to which he +found it impossible to feign the most tepid interest, he read it from +beginning to end--which, but for it, would probably have proved +tedious in the extreme. He could not but regard it as a proof that +there was an unspoken but clearly implied desire on the part of some +one to render his captivity as little irksome to him as possible. Was +that some one her ladyship, or whom? + +But oh--but oh, to be free! + +It was the eighth dinner Mother Sprowle had brought him, and Burgo, +whose appetite was beginning to fail him for lack of fresh air and +exercise, took the dishes from her languidly, like a man who would +just as lief have sent them back untasted as not. But when, last of +all, the old dame thrust under his nose a tiny envelope addressed +"Burgo Brabazon, Esq.," in a feminine hand, there came a flash into +his eyes and a look into his face which seemed to make another man of +him. Seizing the note, he tore it open, saying to himself in a +breathless whisper: "From her ladyship, of course. What can she have +to write me about? Not----" + +But the note was not from her ladyship, as his first startled glance +at it sufficed to tell him. + +"Miss Dacia Roylance presents her compliments to Mr. Brabazon," it +ran, "and begs to inform him that she purposes calling upon him +(unless unforeseen circumstances should intervene) between eight and +nine o'clock this evening, as for some time past Miss Roylance has +been extremely desirous of making Mr. Brabazon's acquaintance." + +Burgo read the note twice over, so dumfounded was he, before he could +feel sure that he had taken in the sense aright. Then he held up a +finger to the old woman, who was regarding him with one of her +equivocal leers, as a signal that she was to remain, after which he +stood for a long two minutes with his eyes bent on the floor. + +He remembered the name of Dacia Roylance as that of a young lady of +whom Tyson had made casual mention as being her ladyship's ward or +niece, and as having made her appearance at Garion Keep a few days +after the arrival of the family. Since then she had scarcely found a +moment's place in his thoughts. She was nothing to him, nor he to her; +they had never even met; he had felt neither curiosity about her, nor +the wish to meet her. Now, however---- + +The old woman coughed; a hint, evidently, that he must not keep her +waiting much longer. + +Surely so polite a note necessitated an answer similar in kind. He had +still the pen and ink which had been brought him the first day, and in +his portmanteau were paper and envelopes. Getting together his +materials without another moment's delay, he cleared a space on the +table and wrote as under: + +"Mr. Brabazon presents his compliments to Miss Roylance, and in reply +to her note just received begs to assure Miss Roylance that it will +afford him infinite pleasure to be waited upon by her at whatever hour +may best suit her convenience." + +Then he put the note into an envelope, fastened it up, addressed it, +and gave it to Mrs. Sprowle, who took it with a nod as one who knew. + +It is almost needless to say that to Burgo the afternoon seemed to +drag its wearisome length along even more slowly than usual. He waited +the coming of evening with impatience, asking himself meanwhile a +hundred questions, although fully aware of the futility of doing so, +seeing that to none of them was any answer forthcoming. By-and-by the +afternoon shadows began to lengthen, and then a great bank of cloud +crept down from the middle sky, and shut out as with a curtain the +flaming splendours of the western heavens. And therewith twilight came +at a bound. + +Then Burgo lighted his lamp, and sat down resolutely to read--and +wait. But for once Shakespeare's magic proved of no avail. He read a +page and turned over to the next, but, although his eyes mechanically +took in the words, his mind remained a blank as far as their meaning +was concerned. At length he flung the volume aside, and began to pace +the room as he had paced it hundreds of times before, glancing every +few minutes at his watch, while sneering cynically at himself for +being so weak-minded. "I might be a big school-girl waiting for her +first ball-dress to be brought home," he muttered contemptuously; and +then he looked at his watch again. + +Mother Sprowle had brought him his supper--which he did not touch--and +had gone again, and night had settled down in earnest, before Burgo's +alert ear heard the key turned in the lock belowstairs. He drew +himself up, his eyes brightened, and a dark flush mounted to his +cheeks. What was he about to see? Some "vision beatific," or some +ordinary "young person," the bearer it might be, of some message from +Lady Clinton? That Miss Roylance should dare to visit him of her own +initiative, and without the consent or sanction of her ladyship, was +too much to expect. Still, youth sometimes abounds with sweet +audacities. + +He listened without moving to the sound of nearing footsteps as they +climbed the stairs one by one. These were certainly not the flying +footsteps of a young girl. They were slow and somewhat laboured, with +a peculiar tapping accompaniment which at once brought to Burgo's mind +that morning in his uncle's house, when he had been puzzled by a +somewhat similar sound, which proved to be the tap-tap of the crippled +caretaker's stick on the oaken stairs as he ascended from the regions +below. Burgo had pushed back the slide some time ago. Drawing nearer +to it he now stood with his eyes fixed intently on the black square in +the door. The tapping became more audible, and then the darkness +outside the door was illumined by a faint light, which began to +creep up the whitewashed wall of the landing, and a second or two +later there appeared a white hand holding aloft a small shaded +lamp--involuntarily Burgo drew a step or two nearer--and then a face +came into view, and so, by degrees, the figure to which it pertained. +Then, with a thrill, Burgo saw that this dark-robed young woman, who +had thus strangely elected to visit him, was supported under her left +arm by a slender crutch, as also that she was slightly humpbacked, and +that one shoulder had the appearance of being somewhat higher than the +other. A great wave of pity swept over him as these things forced +themselves, as it were, on his notice. + +Miss Roylance's face broke into a smile, then the smile merged into a +musical laugh as her eyes met those of Burgo fixed so intently on her. +"Confess, now, Mr. Brabazon, that my note took you considerably by +surprise, and that my audacity in coming, under such circumstances, to +see a young man who is an utter stranger to me, has surprised you +still more. But, to be sure, there is a locked door between us." Her +voice was a low rich contralto. + +"In any case, the surprise is a charming one," responded Burgo, +reciprocating her smile. "I have been here so long without a soul to +speak to, that I intended to begin spouting Shakespeare aloud +to-morrow, so as to keep my tongue from getting rusty." + +"I am glad you did not try to make me believe that you were not +surprised, because that shows a quite uncommon degree of candour on +the part of so young a man, and I like candour, even although I may +not always be able to practise it myself. In any case, Mr. Brabazon, +you can't be nearly as much surprised at me as I am at myself. 'And +yet she is here!' you are saying to yourself. I feel sure of it." + +"Then, for calm, Miss Roylance, your perspicacity is at fault," +retorted Burgo, laughingly. "Just then my thoughts were far +differently engaged, I assure you." + +She knew that as well as he--she had read it in his eyes--but she was +not going to let him think so. "Perhaps, as there is no place to stand +it on but the floor, you will take charge of my lamp for me during the +very few minutes to which my stay must be limited." + +This brought them closer together than they had yet been, and so +enabled Burgo to scan more clearly the features of his fair visitor, +framed as they now were by the aperture in the door. + +And fair she undoubtedly was, her complexion by that half-light giving +her features the appearance of being carved out of ivory; but never, +except in some rare moments of excitement, did more than the faintest +tinge of colour glow through the clear pallor of her cheeks. But it +was the pallor of perfect health, as no one with eyes to see could +doubt, although Miss Roylance did walk with a crutch. + +She had blue-gray eyes, large and luminous, in which, sometimes as in +a mirror, her every changing mood and emotion would be faithfully +reflected--but only sometimes. Hard necessity--the atmosphere of +falsehood and double-dealing, in which a considerable part of her +young life had been spent--had taught her how to discharge her eyes of +all expression without detracting in any degree from their brilliancy. +At such times they betrayed nothing. An impalpable film seemed to have +been drawn over their inner depths. You gazed into them, and you +beheld there--yourself. + +Miss Roylance's hair, of which she had a great quantity, was of the +colour of dead gold. There were some people who went so far as to +call it red, which merely went to prove, either that they were +partially colour-blind, or else that they belonged to that +unpleasant but numerous class of people with whom envy and detraction +go hand-in-hand. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were some shades darker +than her hair--of the darkest chestnut they might be termed--and +claimed to be clearly-defined items in the _ensemble_ of her features. + +But of her face, as a whole, what shall be said? Merely that it owed +whatever charm it possessed--and for many people it had a quite +peculiar charm--less to any chiselled contour of features, or to any +depth and glow of colour, than to its expression of mingled sweetness +and decision, and to the conviction which forced itself upon you that +here was a nature at once tender and strong, into whose safe keeping a +man might entrust his heart (if only she could be persuaded into +accepting it) with the absolute certainty that his trust would never +be betrayed. And yet there were times, and those by no means +infrequent, when the spirit of mirth played round her lips, and the +spirit of mischief peeped out of her eyes. She was only twenty, and +although her experience had been a rather uncommon one, she was still +in some things a mere girl. Finally, her figure was tall and slender, +and but for the deformity of which mention has been made, would have +been deemed more than ordinarily graceful. + +There was one reason far outweighing all others which had caused Burgo +to look forward with a mixture of longing and anxiety to Miss +Roylance's promised visit, and he could now keep back no longer the +question which sprang to his lips. "I hope, Miss Roylance, that you +have brought me some news of my uncle," were his first words after he +had taken the lamp from her hand. "Is he better, or is he worse? I +cannot convey to you how anxious I am to hear how he is progressing." + +Her face at once became charged with sympathy. "I am afraid, Mr. +Brabazon, that such news of your uncle as I can give you is not of a +very encouraging kind. I have now been nearly a month at Garion Keep, +and although I do not think that Sir Everard is any worse than he was +the first time I saw him, unless it be that he is a shade weaker, I +cannot conscientiously say that he seems to me any better. But then he +fluctuates so from day to day that it is difficult to tell. Some days +he is comparatively brisk and cheerful, and will be wheeled about the +grounds in his chair, or sit out on the lawn, for a couple of hours at +a time; while there are other days on which he never leaves his room." + +"It is that slow, sure, yet all but imperceptible access of weakness +which is to be dreaded more than anything. By-and-by a day will come +when--but I will say no more on that point. I have no doubt Lady +Clinton continues to be what she has been all along--the most +attentive and devoted of nurses." + +There was something in the way he spoke the last words which caused +her eyes to meet his for a couple of seconds. "As far as my experience +goes, no one could be more so," she contented herself with saying. + +"And the doctor who attends my uncle----?" + +"Is an old woman. Yet, no; I malign my sex by calling him such, +because some old women are both clever and delightful, and I am quite +sure that Dr. Rapp is neither one nor the other. He is what I should +term an elderly beau, still foppish in his dress, and still addicted +to posing in various absurd attitudes. He ogles Lady Clinton, who is +very gracious to him, and I have no doubt he thinks her one of the +most charming of women; but I don't believe he understands Sir +Everard's case one bit." + +It was an immense relief to Burgo to find that, so far as he could +judge, his uncle was not so very much worse than when he left London. +But the 12th of October would not be here for another fortnight, and +till that date should have come and gone his life was a precious +possession to Lady Clinton. + +So far Miss Roylance had said nothing by way of enlightening him as to +the motive of her visit, for that something special lay at the back of +it he could scarcely doubt. Perhaps she was waiting for him to +question her; perhaps some motive which he could not be expected to +fathom kept her dumb. She had told him distinctly that her visit could +last but a very few minutes; it was no time for shilly-shallying; at +the risk of offending her he would put to her a question which he was +burning to have answered. + +"Pardon the question, Miss Roylance," he said, "but may I ask whether +you are the bearer of a message of any kind from Lady Clinton?" + +The silence had been of the briefest, merely while he turned aside to +regulate the lamp; but the shuttle of Burgo's brain worked swiftly, +and his hesitations never lasted long. + +A lovely flush suffused the lilies of Dacia's cheeks, but her answer +was prompt and decided. "No, Mr. Brabazon, I am the bearer of no +message of any kind from Lady Clinton; indeed, I would not for a great +deal that her ladyship should become aware of my visit. I am here +altogether surreptitiously." Then, with a little catch in her voice, +she added quickly: "I am here, Mr. Brabazon, to ask you whether there +is anything that I can do by way of helping you to escape--for I +presume you have no wish to remain here an hour longer than you are +compelled to do." + +"To help me to escape? Oh! Miss Roylance!" The transformation that +came over his face as he gave utterance to these words startled her. + +She went on hurriedly. + +"I am sadly afraid it is very little, if, indeed, anything that I can +do to help you. But before another word is said on that point, I must +explain to you the reasons which have influenced me in taking a step +so unconventional, and, perhaps, I ought to add, so unladylike, only +that the latter word is one which I detest. You must know, then----" +She stopped suddenly and held up her hand. + +"Hist! hist! Miss Dacia, he's waking up!" came a voice from below. +Burgo thought he recognised the thin acrid tones of Mother Sprowle. + +"I must go at once, I dare not stay another moment," exclaimed Miss +Roylance. "Give me my lamp, please." Then, as Burgo passed it to her +through the aperture, she said with a smile and a meaning look: +"To-morrow evening about the same time, if the coast is clear. If not, +I will send you a message by Mrs. Sprowle. Till then, _addio_." + +She adjusted her crutch under her left arm and turned and went slowly +down, her sheaf of red-gold hair falling in a dull shimmer over her +shoulders being the last Burgo saw of her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +DACIA EXPLAINS. + + +Not much sleep visited the pillow of Burgo Brabazon that night. The +mere thought that a possibility of escape seemed to be opening itself +out before him would alone have been enough to break his rest. +Supposing that when he saw her next Miss Roylance should ask him in +what way she could help him best, ought he not to be ready with an +answer to her question? And what ought that answer to be? But at this +point he was confronted by a puzzle of which no solution was +forthcoming. If Miss Roylance was so far mistress of the situation +that neither bolts nor bars sufficed to hinder her from penetrating as +far as the outside of his prison door, what was there to prevent her +from opening the door itself and so setting him at liberty? It was a +perplexing question, and as futile as perplexing, which was just the +reason why it kept putting itself to him again and again. And yet he +had only to wait patiently to have both this and other things made +plain to him; but that is what most of us find it so hard to do. + +The spell which Dacia Roylance had unwittingly thrown over him was not +broken with her own evanishment. It possessed him and would not let +him go. Some magnetic chord of his being had been struck which no one +had ever sounded before, and of the existence of which he had been +wholly ignorant, and its subtle vibrations thrilled him as he had +never been thrilled before. It was not love, it had no touch of +passion in it, it was an experience altogether fresh and strange. "I +am bewitched, and that's the simple fact," he said to himself. "I +never believed in 'possession' before; I do now." And yet he seemed in +no way put about, but probably in a process of that sort everything +depends upon the sorceress. In any case, Burgo found himself longing, +as he had rarely longed for anything, for the time when he should see +Dacia Roylance again. + +From the first day of Burgo's imprisonment till now there had been no +break in the weather. The sun had shone in an all but unclouded sky, +the nights had been soft and balmy, the winds hushed. Hour after hour +had Burgo spent at the window of his prison watching the tide as it +seethed creamily up the sands and broke in softest foam or else its +slow recession as wave by wave it was drawn backward by a force it was +powerless to resist. To-night, however, had brought a change. The sun +had set in a gorgeous cloud-pageant, like some conqueror with torn +ensigns and blood-stained banners marching through tottering +battlements and ruined towers into some great city's flaming heart. +Later the wind had begun to rise, and by midnight it was blowing half +a gale. At high-water every minute or two some thunderous pulsation of +the tide would smite the face of the cliff with such terrific impact +as for a time to almost deafen Burgo. More than once the old tower +seemed to quiver to its foundations. Even if Burgo had had nothing out +of the ordinary to occupy his thoughts, it would have been next to +impossible for him to sleep. + +Forming, as it were, a separate note of the elemental diapason +outside, while yet being in full accord with it, was a sound which +Burgo long lay listening to without being able to satisfy himself +whence or how it originated. It was something between a rush and roar +and a sort of Titanic gurgle, and seemed to reach his ear, not from +without, but as if it ascended through the floor of his room. Then all +at once he said to himself, "Can it be that the tower is undermined, +and that what I hear is the noise of the tide as it is being +alternately forced into and sucked out of some natural hollow or +opening in the face of the cliff?" The longer he pondered this +explanation the more satisfied he became that it was the real one. + +But when at length sleep came to him he was not thinking of any weird +cavern in the cliff, haunted by mermaid or siren, but of the young +witch with her red-gold hair and wonderful eyes who had cast a spell +over him, the potency of which was already beginning to make itself +felt. + +In the course of the forenoon the wind went down, but there was a +heavy sea running for hours to come. + +Breakfast and dinner came in due course, but with the latter meal a +letter was handed to Burgo, the address of which--simply his own +name--he at once recognised as being in the calligraphy of Miss +Roylance. He opened it with a sinking of the heart. Had she written to +say that something had intervened, and that she would not be able to +visit him as promised? He motioned to Mrs. Sprowle to remain till he +had read it. There might be something in it which would necessitate an +answer. + +"I was about to explain to you yesterday, when interrupted," it began +abruptly, "the reasons by which I was actuated in seeking an interview +in the way I did, with one who was a complete stranger to me. To you, +I have no doubt, it seemed a bold and unmaidenly thing to do, and only +under very special circumstances could such a step be at all +excusable. That the circumstances in this case are of a very special +kind you will, I trust, be ready to admit by the time you have read to +the end of what is here written. + +"For various reasons I have deemed it best to put my explanation in +writing, the chief one being that at present I am far from sure I +shall be able to see you again this evening; indeed, it is by no means +unlikely that I may be unable to do so at all. You will understand why +when you have read further. + +"I must ask you to bear with me while I jot down, as briefly as may +be, a few details of my early history which are needful for the due +understanding of what follows. I will try not to weary you over-much. + +"I was born in India, where my father was in the Civil Service, and +was sent to Lausanne at an early age to be educated. My mother died +when I was too young to remember her, and I lost my father when I was +about twelve years old. Of the two guardians appointed by my father, +one is a London solicitor whom I have never seen, the other being +Colonel Innes, my mother's brother. To finish this part of my +explanation, I may add that when I am twenty-one I shall come into a +fortune of ten thousand pounds, and that I am debarred from marrying +before that age (I am now just turned twenty) without the consent of +my guardians--or rather, of the one who is still living, for my uncle, +Colonel Innes, died a year and a half ago. + +"When my uncle Innes retired from the army he came to Europe, and, +after spending some months in England, he settled down for the winter +at Nice. It was there I joined him on leaving school, for his home, he +said, was henceforth to be my home; and it was there he met La Signora +Offredi, whom he shortly afterwards married, and who is now known to +the world as the wife of Sir Everard Clinton. + +"The courtship was a very brief one, for my uncle was simply +infatuated. His marriage was to make no difference to me; my home was +to be still with him--an arrangement which his wife most cordially +seconded. Indeed, from the hour I was introduced to her, Lady +Clinton--to give her the title by which she is now known--accorded me +an amount of affection which my more frigid temperament made it +impossible for me to reciprocate in anything like an equivalent +degree. On two occasions she took me with her on her visits to her +son, a boy of twelve, who was at school also at Lausanne. + +"When my uncle had been married about eighteen months a great +misfortune befell him. He lost nearly the whole of his fortune by a +bank failure. No doubt it preyed deeply on his mind, and a few weeks +after the news came he broke down completely. He never rallied, but +lingered on for three months, growing gradually weaker, and then died, +his wife having scarcely left his side during the whole of his +illness. On his deathbed he exacted from me a promise to remain with +her, and to be guided by her in everything, in any case till I should +come of age. I gave the promise without a thought of any possible +consequences which it might entail. + +"Very shortly after my uncle's death I went to stay for a time with +some relatives, who, having settled some years before in New Zealand, +were now over in England on a visit. Circumstances kept them in this +country for more than a year, and when they finally went back, and +I--having no other home--returned to the shelter of Lady Clinton's +roof, for she had been married again in the interim, it was to Garion +Keep that I came. + +"Although I had heard of the existence of such a person, it was not +till then that I made the acquaintance of Signor Sperani, her +ladyship's brother, who had arrived at the Keep two or three days +later than I. + +"The first knowledge I had of your existence, Mr. Brabazon, was when +your insensible body was brought into the house late one night by +Signor Sperani and Jared Sprowle, the latter being the son of the old +woman who waits on you, and the man, as I learnt afterwards, who had +been employed to dog your footsteps for days before. I happened to be +crossing the gallery at the moment when they brought your body in and +laid it on the hall table. A single lamp was burning below, the +gallery was in gloom, and from where I stood I could look down on all +that passed, myself unseen. + +"Apparently the first thing Sperani did was to satisfy himself that +you were not dead (I have learnt since that he was brought up to the +medical profession, as was his father before him), after which he went +in search of her ladyship, who came back with him two minutes later. +Then a hurried consultation was held between the two, Sprowle standing +somewhat apart meanwhile, but they spoke so guardedly that not a word +of what they said reached me. Then her ladyship went, and the two men, +carrying the body between them--your body, please bear in mind, Mr. +Brabazon--disappeared with it down one of the corridors which diverge +from the hall, but not down the one which leads to her ladyship's and +Sir Everard's rooms, which, I may here remark, are on the ground +floor, in order that the latter may be spared the necessity of going +up and down stairs. + +"To what place they had taken you, Mr. Brabazon, I could not in the +least imagine, but from the air of hurried secrecy with which the +affair seemed to be invested, I concluded that it would most likely be +to some part of the house with which the servants have little or +nothing to do, for in the north wing alone there are several rooms +which are always kept locked, and which nobody ever seems to enter. At +that time I had no knowledge of the underground passage which leads +from the house to the tower. + +"I need scarcely tell you that the scene I had witnessed from the +gallery took a powerful hold of my imagination. I could not get it out +of my thoughts; but I felt that I durst not ask a question of any one +about it--indeed, there was no one but her ladyship to ask, and I was +quite sure the affair was one I was supposed to know nothing about. In +the house everything went on as usual; there was nothing in the +demeanour of the servants to indicate that they were aware of anything +unusual having occurred; the shut-up rooms in the north wing were +still shut up; what then had become of the insensible body of the +young man which I had seen carried away by Sperani and his accomplice? +That he was not dead I had seen enough to satisfy myself, and yet it +seemed impossible that he should be hidden away in the house without +the servants being cognisant of the fact; for, when all is said, the +Keep has only a limited number of rooms, and the servants are passing +backward and forward almost continually. + +"But you know already, Mr. Brabazon, how it was that, as far as I was +concerned, you had so unaccountably vanished. It was either on the +third or fourth evening after the scene in the hall that, as I chanced +to be passing a certain door on what may be called the cellar floor of +the house, to which I had never ventured to penetrate before, it was +opened from the other side, and I found myself face to face with Mrs. +Sprowle. The woman was evidently far more disconcerted than I, indeed, +it is not too much to say that she looked thoroughly terrified. I was +about to pass on, but she took a couple of strides forward and +clutched me by the sleeve. 'Not a word to anybody, miss, that you have +seen me here, she said in my ear, or it will be worse for both of us.' +I nodded and passed on, asking myself what hidden meaning lay behind +her words. Could it be that I had lighted on the clue for which during +the last three days I had been so anxiously searching? + +"In the course of next forenoon I made it my business to secure a +private interview with Mrs. Sprowle. As you are doubtless aware, she +is stone deaf--at least, she passes for such, but I think it just +possible that her affliction may not be quite so extreme as it is her +policy to make people believe. But be that as it may, my intercourse +with her is carried on through the medium of the finger alphabet, an +accomplishment which I picked up while at school I had had little or +nothing to do with Mrs. Sprowle before. She and her son had lived at +the Keep in the office of caretakers previously to the arrival of Sir +Everard and her ladyship. Now that I had got her to myself it did not +take me long to discover that her one great passion or failing, or +whatever one chooses to term it, is greed--the love of money--and that +if I would only pay her sufficiently, and, as she termed it, pass her +my word never to 'split' on her, she would answer all my questions +truthfully and to the best of her ability. She had a further incentive +to do so, had any been needed, in her hatred of Sperani, who had +nearly frightened her into a fit one day by making believe to egg on +one of his big brutes to worry her. It was a piece of sport for which +she never forgave him. + +"Well, you may be sure that the old lady and I were not long in coming +to terms. And in such fashion it was, Mr. Brabazon, that I learnt you +were Sir Everard Clinton's nephew; that, for some reason unknown, her +ladyship had a great spite against you; that as soon as it was known +you had made your appearance at Crag End, a watch was set upon your +movements; that you were murderously attacked in the dark; and that, +finally, you were now a prisoner in the old tower on the cliff, to +which place your meals were taken you by the woman who told me all +this. From that moment I made up my mind to help you to escape should +it anyhow be possible for me to do so. + +"But the more I thought over the affair, the more beset with +difficulties it seemed. Sperani was ever on the watch--he and his +dogs. I was helpless; I could do nothing. But there is no need to +trouble you with all I thought and felt. It is enough to say that I +was beginning to despair, and that I had said to myself more than +once: 'It is useless; I can do nothing,' when chance--if there be such +a thing--came to my aid in a way the most surprising. Yesterday +morning Signor Sperani was called away to London on some business of +importance, the nature of which I am ignorant of. The time of his +return was uncertain; he might be back within thirty-six hours, or he +might be detained considerably longer; that part of the affair was +discussed between him and her ladyship over breakfast, and in my +presence. Before starting for the station, he interviewed both Sprowle +and his mother (so Mrs. S. informed me later), and gave them their +instructions. The key of the room--your room--he took with him; he +would not entrust it to anybody; but the key which opens the two doors +of the underground passage, one at either end, he was compelled to +leave, otherwise you would have had to starve till his return. The +latter key he gave into the custody of Sprowle, who was to let his +mother have it for the time being as often as your meal times came +round, with strict injunctions not to quit the Keep end of the passage +till he had received it from her again on her return from the tower. + +"All this Mrs. Sprowle took an early opportunity of telling me. Now, +if ever--that is to say, while Sperani was away--was my chance of +communicating with you. But with Sprowle constantly on the watch, how +was it to be managed? I laid my difficulty before the old woman, who +had already proffered to do anything for me which did not tend to +implicate herself, and before long she found the means of solving it +for me. It appears that her son, whenever money and opportunity +combine, is in the habit of taking more to drink than is good for him. +Sperani's presence had compelled him to be abstemious for a +considerably longer time than he was used to, and his mother felt +absolutely sure that 'her boy' would take advantage of the Italian's +temporary absence to indulge in his favourite weakness. It was in +consequence of what she said that my preliminary note to you was +written. She was fully justified by the event. In the course of the +afternoon her son drank himself stupid, and wound up by falling fast +asleep. Then the astute old woman picked his pocket and brought me the +key. + +"His mother assures me that he will repeat the process to-day should +news come to hand that Sperani need not be expected back till +to-morrow or later. + +"You will doubtless have asked yourself long before you have read thus +far, why I have been at the trouble of writing all this, and imposing +on you the wearisome task of its perusal. My answer is very simple. I +felt the need of justifying myself for what I have done in thrusting +my presence upon you unsought and unasked. If I have succeeded in +doing so, nothing more need be said on the point; if I have not +succeeded, you have only to return these lines by the bearer, and I +shall know what to do. + +"When I had written thus far I went downstairs to luncheon. While the +meal was in progress a messenger from Oakbarrow station arrived with a +telegram. It was from Signor Sperani to his sister, announcing that +the business which has taken him to London will detain him there till +to-morrow or next day. + +"Should I, therefore, receive no message from you to the contrary, and +should Sprowle, with his mother's connivance, indulge to-day after the +same fashion that he did yesterday--as to which there seems no +reasonable doubt--then may you look to see me outside your door in the +course of the evening. + +"Let me impress upon you once more that in acting as I am, one desire +alone has influenced me throughout--that of being able to help you to +escape; but it rests with you to determine, now that you know what the +difficulties are which stand in your way, whether that desire is +capable of being worked out to a practical issue. + +"Devise the means, and if you need the help of Dacia Roylance it will +be most ungrudgingly given. + +"Do not forget to burn this as soon as read. + + "D. R." + + +The first thing Burgo did after a rapid perusal of the foregoing was +to scribble a line in reply, for it was not desirable that Mrs. +Sprowle should be detained longer than was absolutely necessary. + +"A thousand thanks. You are indeed kind. I shall look to see you this +evening without fail--B. B." + +Then he read Miss Roylance's communication again, and at his leisure. +Then, in accordance with the writer's express request, but not without +a certain amount of regret on his part, he set light to the paper and +watched it slowly consume to ashes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +A DOOR BETWEEN. + + +Dacia's first words to Burgo were: "Have you burnt my scrawl?" + +"I have." + +"That is well. Seeing that one can't foretell what may happen from day +to day, and that what I wrote was intended for your eyes alone, it was +better it should be burnt. And now tell me, have you devised any plan +of escape?" + +"After turning over in my mind some half-dozen more or less +impracticable schemes, I can only think of one which seems to hold out +a tolerable prospect of success." + +"And that is----?" + +"To file through the two bars which guard the window of my prison, +force out the glass-work, and then by means of a rope lower myself to +the ground outside." + +"An admirable scheme, and I see no reason why it should not succeed. +Tell me, in what way can I help you to carry it out?" + +"By procuring for me a couple of files and a sufficient length of +rope." + +"I will drive to Oakbarrow to-morrow and obtain them, after which they +shall be conveyed to you either by Mrs. Sprowle or myself." + +"How can I ever thank you sufficiently?" + +"Your success--and you will not fail, I feel assured--will far more +than repay me. But to file through the bars will be a matter of time, +will it not?" + +"It will; probably a matter of three or four days, but I can't speak +positively. I don't think I have mentioned before that now and then +Signor Sperani takes it into his head to pay me a stealthy visit in +the middle of the night, probably with the view of satisfying himself +that I am not engaged in any nefarious attempt to escape." + +"I can well believe it. From what I have seen of him he seems to me to +abound with underhand ways, and to distrust every one. He is one of +those men who regard their own shadow with suspicion. But so far, Mr. +Brabazon, I am altogether in the dark (and should you have any reason +for wishing me to remain in it, pray don't hesitate a moment to tell +me so), and utterly fail to understand how it happens that you, a +nephew of Sir Everard Clinton, should have been assaulted as you were +in your uncle's grounds, and be here a prisoner under your uncle's +roof. I may tell you that I am indebted to Mrs. Sprowle for my +knowledge of the relationship between you and Sir Everard. Doubtless +it had come to her from her son, but in what way the latter learnt it +I have no means of knowing." + +"It will afford me very great pleasure, Miss Roylance," replied Burgo, +"to explain in the fewest possible words what, doubtless, does seem to +you a most inexplicable state of affairs." + +He took a turn or two in silence, as if revolving in his mind in what +terms he could best begin that which he wanted to say. + +Dacia followed him with her eyes--those wonderful blue-gray eyes, +which by some lights, when half veiled by their dark lashes, seemed +almost black, and could, when she so willed, look as cold and +fathomless as a mountain tarn. Just now, however, they shone with the +light of eager expectancy, and with something more than Dacia was +aware of--something deeper, which sprang from another source than +that. To-day its name was sympathy; what it might be six months hence +it would not have been safe to prophesy. + +She was standing just as she had stood the night before, her face +framed by the aperture in the door, and her long slender hands, with +their interlocked fingers, resting on the little shelf outside. + +And so Burgo began his story, telling her in a condensed form +everything, so far as it related to his uncle, Lady Clinton, and +himself, all of which is already known to the reader. Of Clara +Leslie's name he made no mention, it was not necessary to his purpose +that he should do so; neither did he repeat much of what had passed +between his uncle and himself in the course of his last brief sojourn +in Great Mornington Street. That he was not without his suspicions of +foul play in the case of Sir Everett, Miss Roylance, if she chose to +do so, might infer from certain of his remarks, but he was especially +careful that not so much as the shadow of a definite charge should be +formulated by him against Lady Clinton. + +"Thank you, Mr. Brabazon," said Dacia, when he ceased speaking. "If my +determination to help you to escape had needed any stimulus before, it +certainly does not after what you have told me. As I gather from your +narrative, the one great object to which you still adhere is to obtain +access to your uncle?" + +"That is so, most certainly." + +"Then--pardon my saying so--even should your--or our--plan of escape +prove successful, you will only, as it seems to me, be in precisely +the same position as before you were brought here, that is to say, you +will not be a step nearer the attainment of your object." + +"I admit it--sorrowfully. But the recovery of my liberty will give me +one advantage--it will enable me to devise and, as I trust, carry into +effect some other scheme for rescuing my uncle from the clutches of +that----" He stopped abruptly, and bit his lip. + +Miss Roylance smiled. "You need not mince your phrases, as far as I am +concerned, where Lady Clinton is in question," she said. + +"You don't like her ladyship?" he queried, with an ambiguous smile. + +"I hate her!" was Dacia's emphatic reply, as her dark eyebrows came +together for a moment. "Any milder term would be a euphemism." Then +her face broke into a smile. "And yet, you must know, Mr. Brabazon, +that to all outward seeming, she and I are the best of friends. But +that is the way we women are made." + +"In your note you told me that the illness which carried off Colonel +Innes, like my uncle's, was a lingering one." + +"Yes, and to me one of the strangest features of the affair is, that +Sir Everard's symptoms seem almost precisely similar to my uncle's." + +Burgo drew a long breath. "Is that indeed so?" he said. + +For a moment or two they gazed into each other's eyes, Dacia's slowly +dilating the while, reading there, perchance, what neither of them +cared to express in words. + +"Then you can no longer wonder, Miss Roylance," continued Burgo, "at +my burning anxiety to rescue my uncle from the fate which, as it seems +to me, is but too surely overtaking him." + +"I did not wonder from the first," she said gently. "It is only of +late that my eyes have begun to open by degrees to certain things. And +even now I can scarcely believe that---- No, no; it is altogether too +terrible for belief!" + +For a little space she covered her face with her hands, and Burgo +could see that her shoulders were heaving with suppressed emotion. He +made believe to be busying himself with the lamp, while giving her +time to recover her composure. + +"Does it not seem a strange thing, Mr. Brabazon," said Dacia, +presently, "that all through my uncle's illness, which lasted over +three months, I was never allowed to help in nursing him, although +again and again I begged to be let do so? An old woman, an Italian, +and her ladyship that is now (I never have, and I never will call her +'aunt'), took it in turns to watch by him, and would not permit me to +go near him unless one or other of them was in the room at the time. +And now it is the same in the case of Sir Everard. I would so gladly +help to wait upon him, and do all that lies in my power to relieve the +others. But, as before, I am thrust aside, and except her ladyship and +Vallance no one is allowed to go near him." + +"It is nothing fresh to me to be told that Lady Clinton is the most +devoted of nurses," said Burgo, meaningly. "I heard the same thing +from my uncle's own lips. I am afraid, Miss Roylance, that you fail to +sufficiently appreciate her affectionate solicitude in not permitting +you to risk your health by tending the bedside of a sick old man. But +about this Signor Sperani--what object has brought _him_ to Garion +Keep?" + +"To me his object is plain enough, although up till now neither he nor +his sister have so much as hinted at it. It is neither more nor less +than to gradually ingratiate himself with me, with the ultimate view +of persuading me to become his wife. Oh, I am neither so blind nor so +simple as they take me to be!" + +"What a vile plot!" was Burgo's sole comment. Indeed, he hardly knew +what to say. + +"Of course, Sperani cares nothing about me for myself," resumed +Dacia; "he would not give a second thought to me--a cripple and a +hunchback--were it not for the prospective thousands I shall inherit a +year hence, when I come of age." + +"And this is your only home! It cannot be a happy one for you--pardon +my presumption in saying so." + +"No, it is not a happy home, but such as it is I am bound to make the +best of it. It is the only home I have, or can have, till I am of age. +Then I shall be my own mistress, and---- But that is nothing to the +purpose." She paused for a moment, then, with a bitterness which was +not without a touch of pathos, she added: "A happy home! To me it is a +phrase without meaning, so far as I myself am concerned. But enough of +all this. We are wandering from the point at issue. _Revenons, s'il +vous plait_. From what you said a little while ago I gathered that, +even if you should succeed in regaining your freedom, you would still +be at a loss what step to take which would serve to give you access to +your uncle, or in any way tend to bring you and him together again." + +"That is just my difficulty. Those who are in charge of him are +evidently determined to go to every extreme in order to keep my uncle +and me apart. Even if, when I regain my freedom, I were to enter an +action for false imprisonment, what then? I could not prove that her +ladyship was in any way a party to the attack upon me and what +followed, while as for Sperani, he would simply have to disappear from +this part of the country and there would be an end of the affair. But +let us not count our chickens before they are hatched," he continued +more gaily. "These four walls still hold me fast." + +Miss Roylance hardly seemed to be heeding him. Her brows were knit, +her eyes bent on vacancy. She came back with a start and a half smile. + +"Supposing," she said--"and I want you to bear in mind that it is only +supposition--that Lady Clinton could be got out of the way for a short +time, that is to say, that she could not merely be induced to quit her +husband's side, but to leave the Keep itself for a few days, would her +absence help your scheme in any way?" + +"It would help it in every way, Miss Roylance," said Burgo eagerly, +his black eyes flashing a sudden light. "Lady Clinton is the one and +only obstacle between my uncle and me. So long as she remains by his +side I see no possibility of being able to approach him. Remove her, +and my way is easy." Then, after a pause, as he drew a step or two +nearer, for he had always maintained a respectful distance between +himself and her: "You would not ask me such a question, Miss Roylance, +unless there was some motive at the back of it. Can it be possible +that you have thought of some plan whereby----" + +"Here is my plan without further preface, Mr. Brabazon; you can give +me your opinion afterwards as to its feasibility or otherwise. If +there is one person in the world whom Lady Clinton loves it is her +son, young Carlo Offredi, a boy of fourteen, who, as I have already +told you, is at school at Lausanne. Now, as it happens, my dearest +friend--we were schoolmates for a number of years--is married to a +professor in the same town. Marie would do anything for me, and my +idea is, to write to her and ask her, immediately on receipt of my +letter, to telegraph to Lady Clinton to the effect that her son is +dangerously ill, and that her immediate presence is earnestly +requested. I have not forgotten the name of Carlo's _lycée_, and the +message would of course be represented as coming from there. That her +ladyship will at once respond to it I do not doubt. Meanwhile," she +added, with a smile, "that is to say, during the time which would have +to elapse before the message could reach her, you would be slowly and +laboriously filing your way to liberty." + +Burgo's chest rose and fell. "Miss Roylance, I know not what to say; I +feel far more than I am able to convey in words. Such a scheme, if +duly carried out, would not merely be the means of bringing my uncle +and me together again, but of defeating one of the most abominable +conspiracies that ever was hatched." + +"But consider into what a maze of duplicity I shall be venturing!" +said Miss Roylance with a half-smile. "The message I shall have to ask +my friend to send will not have a single word of truth in it." + +"In fighting a woman like Lady Clinton one cannot choose one's +weapons; one is bound to take the first that comes to hand. If ever a +lie was excusable, it is surely in a case like this, where nothing +less than the existence of a helpless old man is at stake." + +"I would do more, far more than that to save the life of Sir Everard +Clinton!" said Dacia, with a thrill in her rich, low tones to which +some responsive chord in Burgo vibrated. "But here comes Mrs. +Sprowle," she continued, "to tell me that her precious son is about +waking up, and that I must not stay a minute longer. I will write to +my friend before I sleep, and will post the letter myself before +breakfast. The cord and the files I will make into a parcel and send +you by Mrs. Sprowle in the course of to-morrow. And now my lamp, if +you please, Mr. Brabazon." + +"Will you not bring the parcel yourself, Miss Roylance?" asked Burgo, +and his voice had a supplicatory ring in it, or so it seemed to Dacia. + +Her sensitive under-lip trembled for a moment. "Perhaps," she said +with a smile such as she had not bestowed on Burgo before, and the +radiance of which struck him dumb. "But it is never wise to promise +more than one is sure of being able to perform." + +As she put forth her hand for the lamp, Burgo took it in one of his, +and bending over it, touched it with his lips. "In any case, God bless +you!" he fervently exclaimed. + +Her only answer, as she turned from him, was the delicate flush which +suffused alike her throat and face. + +He watched her with lingering eyes as she went slowly and carefully +down the stairway, the protuberance on her left shoulder throwing a +clearly-defined shadow on the whitewashed wall; nor did he turn away +till the last faint tap-tap of her crutch had died in the distance. + +"What a pity, what an unspeakable pity it is," he said wit a sigh, +"that a creature so incomparable in every other respect should be the +victim of a deformity which nothing can remedy or obviate!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +IN WHICH THE UNEXPECTED COMES TO PASS. + + +Never had Burgo passed so wearisome a day as that which followed Miss +Roylance's second interview with him. He was burning for the moment to +come when he should see her again, but the hours seemed to mock him, +and the slow afternoon to drag itself out indefinitely. It was not +merely because he looked forward to being able, with her help, to +achieve his freedom that he so longed to see her again; it was quite +as much, even more perhaps, for her own sake, and because she had cast +over him a spell of enchantment which he had neither the will nor the +power to struggle against. He had set eyes on her but twice, and yet +already he was her slave manacled and helpless. "I thought in my +ignorance that I loved Clara Leslie," he said to himself as he paced +his prison from end to end, "but I didn't know the meaning of the +word. I know it now." And yet this woman to whom he had yielded up his +heart without a struggle was both a cripple and a hunchback, and three +days before he had never as much as set eyes on her! It was one of +those riddles which Love takes a mischievous delight in propounding, +but of which it is the merest waste of time to try to find a +reasonable and common-sense solution. + +At length the afternoon deepened into dusk, and Burgo lighted his +lamp, knowing that the longed-for moment could not be much longer +delayed. Mrs. Sprowle had been in the habit of bringing him the meal +which with her went by the name of supper some time between seven and +eight o'clock, and Dacia's two visits had been timed about an hour +later. To-night, however, not a little to Burgo's surprise, Miss +Roylance followed close on the old lady's heels. His first glance at +her face told him that she had important news of some kind to +communicate to him--indeed, she hardly waited for Mrs. Sprowle to hand +in her plates and dishes and make room at the aperture before she +began. + +"This is the last opportunity I shall have of seeing you here, and my +visit must be limited to a very few minutes. Signor Sperani returns by +the last train to-night, and will no doubt at once take charge of the +key of the underground passage. Sprowle has been sent by her ladyship +on an errand into the village, and has entrusted the key to his mother +meanwhile, otherwise you would not have seen me at all. And now, here +is a parcel for you, containing a couple of files and a length of +rope. Oh dear! oh dear! Never did I think that I should come to be +mixed up with such an adventure as this!" + +"The service you have done me, Miss Roylance, is one I can never hope +to be able to repay." + +The words were of the simplest, but there was something in the way +they were spoken which brought a flush to Dacia's cheek, and caused +her to turn her eyes another way. + +"Pray don't think me too presumptuous," resumed Burgo, "but there was +a certain letter which you promised to write." + +"It was written last night, and my own hands posted it before ten +o'clock this morning. And now, Mr. Brabazon, as time is so short," she +went on, bringing back her eyes to face his, "let us go in for a +little supposition. Suppose, then, that my letter has the desired +effect--or rather, that the telegram which will result from it, will +have the effect of taking Lady Clinton all the way to Lausanne on a +fictitious errand; and suppose, further, that you succeed in effecting +your escape--what then?--what is supposed to follow?" + +"With myself at liberty, and Lady Clinton temporarily out of the way, +the course I propose to myself is a very simple one. In her ladyship's +absence there will be no one with either the right or the power to +refuse me access to my uncle." + +"It seems to me that even if Lady Clinton be got rid of, you will +still have to reckon with Sperani and his dogs." + +"As for the dogs, a couple of revolver shots may be counted on to give +them their quietus; while as regards Sperani, I trust that man to man, +I should pretty well prove a match for him." + +Dacia shook her head. "There must be no shooting," she said, "and no +unseemly struggle. A far better plan will be for you and me to +communicate with each other through Mrs. Sprowle--I to let you know +when her ladyship has set out for Lausanne, and you to inform me when +all is in readiness for your escape. After that it can be easily +arranged for me to admit you to the house unknown to any one." + +"That two heads are better than one I shall never doubt for the +future," said Burgo with a smile. + +"But, assuming that you are successful in reaching your uncle, what is +to follow? Is it your intention to stay by his side, and be found +there by Lady Clinton on her return?" + +"Certainly not. My first object will be to endeavour to induce my +uncle at once to leave the Keep, of course in my charge, and I don't +think the dear old boy will need much persuasion. Where he may choose +to go, whether back to London, or abroad, or elsewhere, will, of +course, rest with himself; but if I have any voice whatever in the +matter, it will be to some place to which Lady Clinton will be denied +admittance. When once my uncle has been rescued from her clutches, he +must never be allowed to fall into them again." + +"She is a very determined woman, Mr. Brabazon." + +"As I have ample reason to know. Still, I hope to be able to set her +at defiance. When my uncle gets clear away from her he will be a +different man; and if he will only hold fast to his determination not +to see her, and to communicate with her only through his lawyer, she +will be helpless. That he will be prepared to make her a liberal +allowance, I do not doubt; but the question is not one of money only, +but of life and death." + +"Your last words, Mr. Brabazon, remind me of a singular dream I had +the other night. I was in some place, I don't know where, among a +number of figures, each of whom, except myself; wore a domino and +mask. Each figure came up to me in turn, and having whispered in my +ear the same words from Shakespeare: 'A deed without a name,' passed +on. By-and-by there was only one figure left, but his whisper was +different from the others: 'If you would know why I am not still among +the living, ask _her_, was what he said. Then for a moment he drew his +mask aside, and I saw the face of my Uncle Innes, as I saw it for the +last time, when he lay in his coffin. And then with a cry I awoke. But +there is Mrs. Sprowle calling to me from the foot of the stairs. I +have overstayed my time. On no account must her son come back and find +me here. Good-bye, Mr. Brabazon, till I meet you again, a prisoner no +longer. You may rely upon hearing from me as soon as I have anything +to tell you." + +To-night she gave him her hand as frankly as she might have done had +he been her brother; nor did her colour come, nor did she suffer her +eyes to drop before the steadfast flame of his. But, as she made her +way downstairs half a minute later her heart was throbbing +tumultuously, and she felt as if she were aflame from head to foot. + +In the early hours of next morning, long before daylight, Burgo set to +work with one of the files Dacia had brought him. The height of the +window compelled him to stand on a chair while he worked. He found +that he would have to file through both the bars with which the window +was guarded, and even then the aperture would be none too large to +allow of the passage of his body. Judging from the fact that the bars +were very little corroded by time or weather, Burgo concluded that +they bad been a comparatively modern addition to the old building. He +calculated that it would take him quite three or four days of stiff +work, with a few hours of the night thrown in, before he reached the +end of his task. Although he had no reason whatever to distrust Mrs. +Sprowle, he decided that it might be advisable to keep her in +ignorance of what he was about. The grating of the key in the lock +below stairs always gave him due warning of her approach. + +It was on the evening of the third day after his last interview with +Dacia that Mrs. Sprowle handed Burgo the following note when she +brought him his supper: + +"Telegram to hand this forenoon. Lady C. started on her way to +Lausanne by the four o'clock train. She will get through to London in +time to catch the Continental Express to-morrow morning. It is left to +me and Vallance to look after Sir Everard during her absence. Let me +know by return how you are progressing, and when you will be ready to +take _the next step_. + + "D. R." + + +To which Burgo replied: + +"Everything going admirably. Shall be ready for next step to-morrow +night. Let me know in course of to-morrow _the hour and the place_. + + "B. B." + + +He had been hard at work with his file during a great part of the day, +and after he had eaten his supper he lighted his pipe and began the +slow constitutional pacing from end to end of his prison chamber in +which he spent some hours of each day. Yes, everything would be ready +by to-morrow night, he told himself. One bar was filed completely +through and removed and hidden behind his portmanteau, while five or +six more hours of hard work would enable him to treat the other in the +same way. But although he could not help exulting as he thought of +what a few more hours would bring to pass, he was yet conscious of +something tugging at his heartstrings which was far removed from +exultation or gladness of any kind. He could not forget--it was a +thought which haunted him waking or sleeping--that with the quitting +of Garion Keep by his uncle and himself would be severed the solitary +strand which for a little while had served to bind Miss Roylance and +him so strangely together. Yes, they must part, and it was impossible +to say whether they should ever meet again. Yet a voice within him +whispered that they _must_ meet again, that neither fate nor chance +could avail to sunder them for ever. Already it seemed to him as if +this girl had become an inalienable part of himself; he could no +longer conceive of his future as wholly dissevered from her. He had +seen her for the first time less than a week ago, and yet he felt as +if he had known her for a century. It was as though he and she had +been united in some prior state of existence, and that Destiny had +once more brought them together. In her he felt assured that his life +had found its complement. It was true that she was deformed and walked +with the help of a crutch, but what of that? When he had won her for +his wife, as he fully meant to do, his love and protecting care would +have one claim on them the more: that was all. + +On one point he assured himself--that on no account would he part from +her till he had revealed to her something of that which lay so close +to his heart--till he had drawn from her, if it were possible for man +to do so, a promise that their parting should be anything rather than +a final one. + +When he had smoked the last pipe to which he had allowanced himself, +for by this time his stock of tobacco was running low, he opened wide +the casement and stood there for some time, inhaling the salt coolness +of the night air, in which there was a faint tang of seaweed, and +staring into the infinitude of darkness outside his window, which +to-night was unillumined by either moon or stars. The tide was coming +in with a low monotonous thunder, which rose and fell rhythmically as +it drew forth and back in unceasing repetition. It would be high-water +about an hour after midnight. Presently Burgo would put out his lamp +and turn in, to wake up long before daybreak and resume work with his +file. Again and again he murmured exultingly to himself: "To-morrow +night I shall be a free man!" + +But although the main current of his thoughts was still with Dacia, he +was not so oblivious of things external to him as not to be aware of +an occasional gleam of light which came and went like a firefly within +a certain limited space of darkness, and nearly in a direct line with +his window. He recognised it at once for what it was--some one with a +lantern moving on board the steam yacht which for the last three days +had lain at anchor opposite the tower, about a hundred yards beyond +low-water mark. Burgo had spent some of his unoccupied hours in +watching it, and wondering as to the nature of the business which had +brought it to that remote part of the coast, and kept it there for so +long a time. But to wonder was all that was permitted him. Had he been +free to question the landlord of the "Golden Owl" on the point, he +would have learnt that the yacht's name was the _Naiad_, that its +owner was an Irishman of the name of Marchment, that it had put into +Crag End while certain slight repairs were effected in its machinery, +and in order to obtain a supply of fresh provisions; and that Mr. +Marchment, after having lian for one night in the little harbour, had +declared its odours at low water to be unbearable, and had thereupon +steamed out to the position which the yacht had since occupied. Such +was the sum and substance of what was known about the _Naiad_ at Crag +End. Its crew came and went, and were hail-fellows with the +inhabitants, while the very liberal prices paid by its owner for such +country produce as he required had raised him in the course of a few +hours to the height of popularity. + +Burgo watched the light with indifferent eyes while it moved to and +fro, but at the end of a few minutes it went suddenly out, and was +seen no more. But for the shifting light he would not have known that +the yacht was still there. On such a night from where he stood it was +wholly invisible. + +Burgo could not tell how long he had been asleep, for it was still +pitch dark, both inside the tower and out, when he was awakened by a +dull, heavy hammering noise which sounded at once remote and near at +hand, as though it were close by, and yet divided from him by some +intervening substance, which had the effect of partially deadening the +sound. To be thus awoke in the dead of night was sufficiently +startling, and Burgo sprang to his feet on the instant. After +listening for the space of a few seconds, as the noise still +continued, he struck a match and lighted his lamp. A glance at his +watch told him that the time was twenty minutes past one. + +Crossing to the door, he pushed back the slide and listened. The sound +now reached him much more clearly than before, showing that it +proceeded from some point inside the building--a dull, heavy, +continuous thump--thump, as though someone or something were hammering +a way into or out of the tower. Whence did it proceed? What could be +the meaning of it? Utterly confounded, Burgo could do nothing but +stand and listen. + +Then, after a few minutes, which he had employed in partly dressing +himself, there came a crash, and a fall as of some heavy body, +followed by a confused murmur of voices. This was succeeded by a sound +of many footsteps crowding up the stone stairway. Burgo drew back a +few paces and waited, his eyes fixed on the aperture. + +First of all the darkness of the staircase was illumined, and then a +hand appeared holding on high a ship's lantern, followed by the head +and figure of the man to whom the hand belonged, crowding on whose +heels came three more men, each of whom carried a revolver, while one, +apparently the leader, was further armed with a drawn cutlass. This +last personage it was--a fair, good-looking man of thirty, with a +short reddish beard and moustache, and wearing a pea-jacket and a +peaked cap with a gold band--who, bringing his face into proximity +with the opening, proceeded to take silent stock of Burgo and his +surroundings. That what he saw filled him with surprise was evident +enough from his expression. After satisfying himself that the door was +locked and the key missing, he said, addressing himself to Burgo: +"Pardon the question, sir, but may I ask whether you are here as a +prisoner?" + +"That, sir, is my unfortunate position." + +"May I inquire for how long a time you have been shut up in this +place?" + +"For somewhere about a fortnight." + +"But during the last few days you have been busy in trying to +accomplish your escape?" + +Burgo started. "It is quite true, but I should like to know by that +means you have become aware of the fact." + +The stranger smiled. "The explanation is a very simple one. I am the +owner and captain of the steam yacht which you have doubtless remarked +during the last few days as being anchored off shore, nearly opposite +your window. Now, after having been distinctly given to understand by +some of the natives, whom I questioned on the point--for I am a bit of +an archaeologist, and such matters interest me--that the tower was in +a semi-ruinous condition, and had been uninhabited for the last fifty +years, it was certainly somewhat startling to see each evening the +window lighted up from within till close on midnight, as also during +several hours of each day to behold a human figure perched close +against the panes, and engaged in some mysterious occupation which, +for a time I was wholly puzzled to make out. At length, with the help +of my binocular, I came to the conclusion that the figure was that of +a man at work with a file, or some other instrument, on one of the two +upright bars which safeguarded the window on its inner side. It is as +a result of the knowledge thus obtained by me that you see me here at +this moment." + +He spoke rapidly, and with a clear decisiveness of tone and manner, +like one who was accustomed to imposing his orders upon others, and +looked to have them obeyed. + +"And now, sir," he resumed, "if after what I have told you, you choose +to confide your name to me, and also to inform me to what +circumstances your incarceration in this place is owing, it may be +that I shall find myself in a position to give you back your freedom +in a much readier way than your own unaided efforts would allow of +your achieving it." + +Thereupon he turned and spoke a few words in a low voice to one of his +followers, with the result that all three of them proceeded to tramp +downstairs, one after the other, leaving the captain of the _Naiad_ +standing outside the door alone. + +By this time Burgo, whose conclusions in moments of emergency were +rapidly arrived at, had made up his mind to tell enough of his story +to this new-found friend to enlist the latter's sympathies, and +thereby insure his own proximate release. He was taken with the +stranger's manner and expression; they were manly and straightforward, +although not without a touch of imperiousness. You had only to look +into his eyes to feel assured that treachery or double-dealing and he +were far as the poles asunder. + +"My name is Burgo Brabazon," he began, "and I am the nephew of Sir +Everard Clinton, who----" + +It was now the stranger's turn to start. "Stop," he said abruptly, +before Burgo could utter another word. "Tell me your name again, +please. I am not sure I caught it aright." + +Burgo told him. + +"Are you, may I ask, a son of the late Lieutenant Godfrey Brabazon of +the Royal Navy, who served at one time on board the _Arcturus?_" + +"My father's name was Godfrey Brabazon, and he was a naval lieutenant, +but he died when I was little more than a child; and as to whether he +ever served on the vessel you speak of I have no knowledge." + +"Perhaps, then, you can tell me where he was born, or maybe, I ought +rather to say, where he lived for several years as a youth." + +"My father was a Tiverton man, born and bred." + +"That does away with the last shadow of a doubt. Mr. Brabazon, I am +especially glad to make your acquaintance, and still more pleased that +it is in my power to be of some slight service to you." + +Before more could be said, one of the men came pack, and after +whispering something to him, to which he replied by a curt nod, +disappeared once more. + +Turning again to Burgo, the captain of the _Naiad_ said: "I am called +away, but you may rely upon seeing me again in less than an hour. A +few minutes after that, Mr. Brabazon, you will be a free man." + +He nodded, turned away, and was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +THE CAPTAIN OF THE "NAIAD." + + +Burgo stood staring at the door without stirring for quite two minutes +after the captain of the _Naiad_ had disappeared down the staircase, +his brain in such a maze of stupefaction and bewilderment that more +than once he caught himself saying aloud, "Yes, it is really a fact +that I'm awake." + +Hitherto he had only been half dressed, and he now proceeded in an +automatic way to finish his toilet, after which he went on to cram and +strap his portmanteau so that everything might be in readiness when +the promised moment of his deliverance should have arrived. + +"As my old nurse used to be so fond of remarking, it never rains but +it pours," he said to himself with a philosophic shrug. "If I could +only have foreseen what was going to happen, I might have spared +myself all my drudgery with the file. And yet it has done me no harm. +It has helped to divert my thoughts and to while away the time. +Besides, had I not been seen from the yacht while at work at the +window I should have been left to effect my escape alone as best I +could. In any case, I shall regain my freedom twenty-four hours before +I expected to do, which, circumstanced as I am, may prove an +invaluable boon. As for this remarkable stranger--why he should be so +eager to do me a service; why he and his fellows, if they are nothing +more than peaceful yachtsmen, should be going about at midnight armed +to the teeth, and why, by some means at present unknown to me, they +should have forced their way into the tower for no apparent purpose +except that their leader might be able to satisfy an apparently idle +curiosity--are conundrums all which I should be no nearer solving at +the end of a year than I am now. Let us hope that my friend with the +cutlass will solve them satisfactorily before we part. He said he +would be back in an hour. Will he keep his promise? Yes; I have faith +in him." + +When all was done that there was to do, Burgo sat down and lighted a +cigarette. Now that he had nothing to distract his attention he became +conscious of certain vague diffused sounds which had not obtruded them +selves on him before. What he heard was like a low confused murmur of +several voices, broken now and then by the clear imperative ring of +one voice, as though some one were giving orders to the others. Then +the murmur ceased, and he heard what seemed to him like the faint +plash of muffled oars. Impelled by a vague curiosity he crossed to the +window, but an unbroken pall of darkness was all that met his gaze. If +the steam yacht were still at her moorings opposite the tower, she was +apparently showing no light either fore or aft, which was a piece of +highly culpable negligence on the part of those in command. Burgo went +back to his chair more puzzled than before. + +He now gave himself up to a consideration of what steps it behoved him +to take first when he should have regained his liberty, and he had +arrived at no clear decision on the point when he became once more +aware of footsteps on the stairs. Then the captain of the _Naiad_ +appeared, followed by a man carrying a mat-basket containing tools of +various kinds. "I have not failed to keep my promise, Mr. Brabazon," +said the captain with a nod and a smile. Then to the man, "I want you +to force the lock of this door, and be as handy about it as you can." + +He stood aside while the man went to work, and nothing more was said. +In something less than five minutes the lock was forced, and the door +flung open, whereupon the man took up his bag and went. + +Then the captain strode forward into the room and grasped Burgo by the +hand. "Let me be the first, Mr. Brabazon, to congratulate you on the +recovery of your liberty," he said. + +"It is you whom I have to thank for it. Will you not let me know to +whom I am so greatly indebted?" + +"To be sure I will. I was just on the point of introducing myself. My +name is Felix Marchment, and, as I think I have already remarked, I +am, among other things, both owner and captain of the _Naiad_. But +even now that I have told you this I suppose you are still at a loss +to comprehend why I should have expressed myself as being so +especially glad to have met you, and still more gratified, as I +undoubtedly am, that it has been in my power to render you some slight +service." + +"A very signal service, Mr. Marchment. But, as you observe, I am still +awaiting enlightenment." + +"Then you shall not wait a minute longer. But what I have to say must +be said quickly, for to-night I have serious business on hand. Even +now the _Naiad_ is getting up steam, and with the first streak of +daylight we shall trip anchor and away." + +He drew a chair up and seated himself astride it, while Burgo perched +himself on a corner of the table. + +"You must know, then," resumed Marchment, "that your father and mine +were midshipmen together on board the _Arcturus_, and that it was +young Mr. Brabazon's good fortune to save my dad's life, or my dad's +good fortune to have his life saved by him; put it which way you like. +Anyhow, it was a very heroic action. My dad, who couldn't swim a +stroke, had fallen overboard while carrying out some orders aloft, and +your dad at once plunged after him, although the water was known to be +swarming with sharks, and succeeded in keeping him afloat till a +boat's crew picked them both up. A few months afterwards, when the +ship was paid off, the two middies parted, never to meet again. But my +father, sir, was a man who never forgot an obligation--in that +respect, I am sorry to say, hardly resembling the majority of his +fellows--and I have often heard him express his regret that in the +chances and changes of life he should have so wholly lost sight of his +preserver." + +"My father, Mr. Marchment, died while still quite a young man." + +Marchment bowed gravely. "In that case one can understand how it was +they never met again. But even when on his deathbed my father did not +forget what he owed to Lieutenant Brabazon (as he had become when he +last heard of him), and he laid it on me as a sacred charge that, +should I ever find myself face to face with him, or any of his kin, +and should it be in my power to do him, or them, a service of any +kind, no matter at what cost to myself, I should not fail to do it. +His words have lived in my memory, and to-day, by rare good luck, I +have been enabled to repay to the son some small portion of the debt +originally owing to the father." + +He paused for a moment while he looked at his watch. + +"And now, Mr. Brabazon, I have said my say. The door is open, and you +are a free man. But before we part, tell me frankly whether there is +anything more I can do for you. If there is, you may command me to +the full extent of my ability. The circumstances under which I find +you here are exceptional, to say the least"--this with a frank +smile--"consequently, without the slightest hankering to pry into +matters which do not concern me, I may perhaps be allowed to say _Me +voici à votre service, cher monsieur!_" + +Few people could have helped being touched by an offer so frankly and +spontaneously tendered, and Burgo was not one of those few. + +"Mr. Marchment, for what you have already done for me I thank you from +the bottom of my heart," he said in a tone which carried conviction +with it. "But whether you can help me further is another matter, and +one which it will rest with yourself to determine when you have been +told to what circumstances I owe my enforced detention in this place. +I don't forget that your time is precious, and three or four minutes +will suffice for what I have to say." + +"My best attention is yours, Mr. Brabazon." + +"Again, thanks. In the first place, then, you must know that Sir +Everard Clinton, the owner of this tower and of the house known as +Garion Keep, which stands some threescore yards away from it, and +between which and it there is an underground communication, is my +uncle. He came from London to the Keep several weeks ago--he and his +wife, the latter being an Italian by birth and a woman half his own +age. Unknown to either, I followed them, somewhat later, and took up +my quarters in the village. I had very cogent reasons for believing +that my uncle was being slowly done to death, and my object was to +rescue him from the hands of those in whose power he was. Only by +stratagem could this be effected, because the evidence in my +possession was not of a kind which admitted of my invoking the aid of +the law. But before I could do anything my presence in the village was +discovered, and one night I was murderously set upon, struck down, and +brought here in a state of unconsciousness. Here I have been ever +since, and no doubt the intention was to keep me under lock and key +till the last act of the tragedy should have been consummated. But a +certain person came to my help, who supplied me with a couple of files +and a length of rope to enable me to effect my escape by way of the +window; while, by means of a stratagem, Lady Clinton was temporarily +got rid of. My hope was that to-morrow night would see me at liberty, +when I should at once make my way to my uncle, explain to him for what +purpose I was there, and induce him to leave the Keep with me before +his wife's return. That once accomplished, I felt sure we should be +able to set Lady Clinton at defiance, and--and in short, my dear old +uncle would have been rescued from the jaws of death." + +"And you had planned to carry this out in the course of to-morrow +night?" + +"I had." + +"Well, and now that you find yourself at liberty twenty-four hours +before you expected----?" + +"I shall do--or attempt to do--to-night what I should otherwise have +been obliged to defer till to-morrow night." + +"Can I assist you in any way to carry out your scheme?--although, as I +have already remarked, the time at my command is limited." + +"If you can let me have a couple of your fellows to help me while I +get my uncle out of the house, I shall be grateful. There is a +truculent fellow there, Lady Clinton's brother, who will be pretty +sure to give some trouble, and he has a couple of ferocious brutes of +dogs. Then there is Vallance, my uncle's valet, who----" + +"My dear Brabazon, not another word. I will go with you myself and +take four of my men, all well armed. _Allons_. We have no time to +lose." He stepped to the door, and was in the act of putting a whistle +to his lips when an exclamation on Burgo's part arrested him. + +"Good heavens!" cried the latter as he smote his forehead with his +open palm; "what can I have been thinking of? My uncle is an all but +helpless invalid. Even when I shall have succeeded in getting him out +of the house, what then? He is unable to walk more than a dozen yards, +and at this hour of the morning, and in this lonely corner of the +world there will be no possibility of obtaining a conveyance of any +kind. Had it been to-morrow night I should have had my arrangements +made beforehand." + +His intention had been to let himself down from the window of the +tower as soon as his supper had been brought him, to make his way to +Crag End, enlist the services of Tyson, and through him obtain the +loan of a vehicle of some kind; hurry back to the Keep, and, a little +later, drive away in triumph with his uncle, with, perchance (oh, +blissful possibility!), Dacia Roylance to make up a happy trio. But +to-night, without any vehicle to which to transfer the sick man, with +Dacia unadvised of what had happened within the last couple of hours, +and with the Keep shut up back and front, and all its inmates abed, it +was a wholly different matter. Burgo was utterly nonplussed. + +"Then I seem to have done you an ill turn rather than a good one," +said Mr. Marchment, but still quite pleasantly. "Is there no way in +which I can remedy it? You can't very well stay here till to-morrow +night, because my rascals have broken open the door, and been guilty +of some further trifling damage downstairs, which cannot fail to be +discovered in the course of the next few hours." + +"No, most certainly I will stay here no longer than I can help," +answered Burgo. "Instead of waiting till to-morrow night before +attempting to see my uncle--when some one would have been prepared to +admit me to the house unknown to the rest of the inmates--I will make +a bold dash about breakfast-time to-morrow or rather, to-day, for we +are now in the small hours--and try whether I can't effect my purpose +by a coup de main." + +Somehow, he was unable to divest himself of an uncomfortable notion +that Lady Clinton might return unexpectedly at any moment, and he was +determined, now the opportunity had come to him, to lose no time +before making his grand attempt. + +Marchment took a turn across the floor and back. + +Then taking Burgo by the lapel of his coat, and looking him straight +between the eyes, he said: "I suppose that neither you nor your uncle +would object to a short voyage in my yacht if you and I together could +succeed in getting Sir Everard clear away?" + +The question almost took Burgo's breath. He stared, but for the moment +words refused to come. + +"I can read in your face that I have found a way out of the +difficulty," laughed Marchment. "And now every minute is precious." + +This time he blew his whistle, but by no means shrilly. It was +responded to so promptly that Burgo could only conclude the man had +been in waiting at the foot of the stairs. + +"Take this portmanteau and have it put into the boat," said Marchment. +Then turning to Burgo: "One last word, my dear Brabazon," he went on, +with a sudden added gravity of tone and manner. "You will probably +have gathered from what I have let fall already that my errand here is +of a somewhat peculiar kind; indeed, I may add that it is of a very +serious kind, and not without a spice of danger. But when I have told +you that, I have told you as much as it is good for you to know, and +as much as I am at liberty to reveal. Anything out of the ordinary +which may come under your notice while you and I are together, I must +ask you to see, as the children say, with your eyes shut, and to +forget as quickly as possible. In acting as I have decided to do, I +feel assured that I am running no risk whatever, because I am trusting +myself into the hands of a man of honour, and not myself alone, but +interests which are dearer to me than life. And now that we understand +each other, no more need be said." + +Burgo held out his hand, which the other gripped. + +"My dear Marchment, you have my word of honour that whatever I may +chance to see or hear while with you will be as sacred as if it were +confided to the dead." + +"I feel sure of it. Let us go." + +As Burgo glanced for the last time round the room which had been his +prison for so many days and nights, a sigh sprang involuntarily to his +lips. He felt that for long to come he should revisit it in his +dreams. For him it would ever be haunted with memories--some of them +unspeakably precious, others very much the reverse. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +RESCUED. + +A man standing on one of the lowermost stairs with a lantern lighted +Burgo and Mr. Marchment on their way down. + +Burgo now found himself on the ground-floor of the tower. He had been +unconscious when brought there, and he looked about him with some +measure of curiosity. There were a couple of doors facing each other, +the larger and more substantial of which he rightly conjectured to be +the one which gave admittance to the tower from the outside, and that +the other led down to the underground passage. What, however, struck +him most was a hole in the wall, where the masonry, which lay in a +confused heap on the floor, had been knocked away, leaving a gaping +chasm large enough for a man to pass through. But he had only just +time to note these things before the sailor with the lantern led the +way through the gap in the wall. As Marchment beckoned Burgo to follow +him, he said laughingly: "You can see for yourself that I and my +fellows were put to some little trouble before we could get at you. +But you were such a puzzle to us--some of my men would have it the +tower was haunted, and you the ghost--that we couldn't rest till we +had found out all about you." + +Burgo had vaguely expected that on stepping through the gap he should +find himself in the open air, instead of which he was in a tiny +chamber, just big enough to hold three men, built in the thickness of +the wall, with a narrow flight of steps at his feet, apparently +leading down into the foundations of the tower. But there was no time +to wonder: down the steps they went in single file, slowly and +carefully, coming before long to a larger chamber, measuring about +twenty feet by twelve, hollowed out of the body of the cliff on which +the tower was built. Burgo could now plainly hear the plash and beat +of the tide, which sounded close at hand. + +As before, however, there was only just time to glance around, for the +man with the lantern was still leading the way. There was still +another flight of steps to descend, much broader and of rougher +construction than the first, with a massive _grille_, or open-work +iron door, at the bottom of them, now wide open, and beyond that a +cavern of some spaciousness open to the sea, with, a little lower than +the _grille_, a sort of rude causeway formed of big, slippery sea-worn +slabs, which reached nearly to the mouth of the cave, and was +evidently washed over by every tide. Not far from the end of this +landing-place, the tide being now on the turn, a boat was waiting with +a couple of men in her. The one with the lantern held out his hand to +Burgo to help him over the slippery footway, Marchment followed, and a +couple of minutes later the boat was pushed off, and the oars +unshipped. As they swept out of the cavern on the summit of a reflex +wave, the light of the lantern was extinguished. The oars were +muffled, and the men pulled almost without a sound. The night was dark +and moonless, canopied with heavy clouds which would probably shed +themselves in rain before many hours were over. Not a word above a +whisper was spoken till they pulled up under the lee of the _Naiad_, +which showed like some huge black monster of the deep, with not a +single gleam of light anywhere visible. + +"All well?" demanded a voice softly from out the darkness. + +"All well!" responded a voice from the boat. + +"Await my return," whispered Marchment to Burgo. + +Then everybody left the boat save Burgo and one of the men. But barely +five minutes had passed before Marchment was back, and one by one four +men followed him. They began at once to give way, and, as nothing was +said to them, they had doubtless had their orders beforehand. +Marchment seated himself in the stern and took the tiller; but first +he passed a revolver to Burgo, whispering as he did so: "One never +knows what may happen, and it is just as well to be prepared for +eventualities." + +Burgo took no heed in which direction they were steering, his mind was +full of other things; and, indeed, just then he had much to think of. +In all probability the next hour would prove one of the most eventful +of his life. He was roused from his reverie by the grating of the +boat's keel on the sandy beach. + +"Here we are," said Marchment in a low voice. + +"Where _is_ here?" queried Burgo. + +"We are opposite a gully, or break in the cliff, about half a mile to +the west of Garion Keep. This we shall ascend, and then make our way +back along the summit of the cliff till we reach the Keep, after which +we shall put ourselves in your hands and obey implicitly whatever +instructions you may choose to give us." + +About twenty minutes later the little party were gathered under the +garden wall of the Keep, which on that side was about six feet high. +As they were coming along Burgo imparted his plan to Marchment, so +that there was now no loss of time. One of the sailors, a sturdy, +broad-set fellow, proceeded to make what schoolboys call a "back" +against the wall, as if for a game of leap-frog, thus serving as a +sort of stepping-stone for the others to the top of the wall, whence +one after another they dropped to the ground on the other side. They +were now in the shrubbery which fringed the lawn on the cliff side of +the Keep. Sperani's dogs, as it may be remembered, were turned loose +at night in the courtyard which shut in the Keep on the landward side. +Two facts had been borne in mind by Burgo--one, that his uncle had +caused a bow window with centre glass doors to be built out on the +cliff side, and the other that he, Sir Everard, slept on the ground +floor. It was in the direction of the bow window, the position of +which he could pretty well guess at, that Burgo now led the little +party in silence across the lawn. It seemed to him that there would be +found the most vulnerable point for gaining admittance to the Keep. + +His surmise proved to be correct. When the bow window was found it did +not take one of the men--the same who had forced the door of Burgo's +prison, and who had been apprenticed to a locksmith before he ran away +to sea--very many minutes to effect an entrance. The party now found +themselves in a room which had been appropriated by Lady Clinton for +her own especial use, from which they made their way into the main +corridor of the house. A couple of dark lanterns had already been +produced, and their light flashed around. So far everything had +succeeded almost beyond Burgo's expectations. Turning to him, +Marchment now said: "What is our next proceeding, _mon ami?_" and +Burgo was about to answer: "To find my uncle's bedroom," when he was +spared the necessity of replying by the unexpected appearance of +Vallance, who issued from a room half-way down the corridor. He had +been lying, half-dressed and half-asleep, on the couch in Sir +Everard's dressing-room, ready to attend on his master at a moment's +notice, when he had been disturbed by a noise for which he could not +account, and had ventured into the corridor in his desire to ascertain +the origin of it. + +"Seize that man," cried Burgo, the moment his eyes fell on him; and +before the valet could gather his scattered wits he had not merely +been seized, but bound hand and foot by two of the seamen, one of whom +said gruffly to him: "Look here, my hearty, if you don't want a bullet +in your gizzard, you'll keep a still tongue in your head." Then by +Burgo's orders he was thrust into an empty room, and the key turned on +him. + +Another of the men meanwhile, by Marchment's directions, had lighted +the Argand lamp which hung from the ceiling at one end of the +corridor. + +Burgo had at once concluded that Vallance was in attendance on his +uncle, and he lost not a moment in passing through the door which the +valet had left open, and so from the dressing-room into the bedroom +beyond, in both of which a light was burning. There he found his +uncle, who was sitting up in bed, and who had already with his +enfeebled voice called twice for Vallance without avail. + +His mind was clear, his memory unclouded, and he recognised Burgo on +the instant. A low cry broke from his lips. "Oh, my boy, my boy!" he +exclaimed, "why did you leave me? Where have you been all this weary +time? They told me--but it matters nothing what they told me. It was +all lies--lies! They thought to deceive me, but they were mistaken. +But you have come back to me at last, and you won't leave me again, +will you, my boy?" His voice quavered and broke as the last words left +his lips. + +"Never, so help me Heaven!" exclaimed Burgo fervently as he bent and +touched his uncle's forehead with his lips. "But we will talk about +the past another time. I have come to take you away from here--and to +take you away from her. I have good friends outside to help me. But +there is no time to lose. Come--let me help you to dress." + +There was a decanter on the table containing brandy. He mixed a +portion of it with some water, and at his request Sir Everard drank it +off. + +The baronet comprehended that a crisis had come, and he wasted no time +in asking questions. He let Burgo help him to dress; indeed, he was +quite as eager to be gone as his nephew was to get him away. + +It was evident that he was very weak, but excitement had lent him a +fictitious strength, which, however, would presently evaporate for +lack of stamina to back it up. His face, too, had grown greyer and +more haggard in the interval since Burgo had seen him last, and his +hair was now as colourless as driven snow. + +As Burgo was helping his uncle to put on his fur-lined overcoat, he +said; "Do you think, sir, that Miss Roylance would leave here in your +charge? It would be a thousand pities--would it not?--to leave her +behind." + +"It would indeed. She is a good girl, a noble girl, and--and I'm +afraid she is not very happy here. She ought to go with us by all +means." It never struck him to ask how it happened that his nephew was +acquainted with Dacia Roylance. + +After placing his uncle in an easy-chair, and administering a little +more brandy-and-water, he left the room in order to speak to +Marchment. Although not more than a quarter of an hour had elapsed +since they set foot inside the Keep, he knew that the latter would be +growing impatient. And yet to go and to be compelled to leave Dacia +behind, and that without the chance of a parting word between them, +was a prospect which wrung his heart with anguish of a kind such as +heretofore he had not known. If only he could have seized upon Mother +Sprowle, or one of the female domestics, and have sent a message to +Dacia that he wanted to see her without loss of time But there was no +one to send. Except Vallance and his uncle, no one in the house +appeared to have been disturbed, for the servants slept in another +wing. What to do he knew not. + +Marchment and his men were gathered in the entrance-hall out of which +the corridor led. The captain of the _Naiad_ had seated himself on one +of the lower stairs, and was smoking a cigarette with an air of the +utmost _sang-froid_. + +"I hope I have not altogether exhausted your patience," said Burgo as +he came up. "My uncle is now ready, and----" + +He stopped like one suddenly stricken dumb. His eyes had caught a +glimpse of something white on the stairs. Looking up, he beheld Dacia +coming slowly down, her crutch under her left arm, and her right hand +gliding over the balusters, but on the soft carpet her crutch made no +sound. Late as the hour was, she had not gone to bed, and on hearing a +murmur of strange voices in the hall she had quitted her room and +crept to the darkest corner of the gallery, whence she could see all +that went on below without any risk of discovery. Alarmed, and utterly +at a loss to account for the presence of armed strangers in the house, +who yet had something about them which seemed to mark them out from +common burglars, she had not known what to do. But the moment she saw +Burgo emerge from the corridor in which his uncle's bedroom was +situated she hesitated no longer. So long as he was there, everything +must be right. + +Marchment had sprung to his feet, and his eyes had followed the +direction of Burgo's when the latter's speech stopped suddenly short. +At sight of that white-robed figure coming down he flung his cigarette +away, and drew somewhat aside. + +Dacia was always pale, but to-night, in her white _peignoir_, and by +the dim light of the solitary lamp, she looked more like a phantom +than a creature of flesh and blood. + +"Oh, Mr. Brabazon," she cried with a sort of breathless eagerness, "I +am so glad you are here--so glad to have an opportunity of telling you +I won't stop now to ask you how it is I find you here; you can tell me +that another time. What I want to say is, that in the course of +yesterday afternoon (for this is Wednesday morning) Signor Sperani +received a telegram, which I am nearly sure, although not able to +speak positively, was sent by Lady Clinton. In any case, he has taken +the landau and driven to the junction, a dozen miles away--the night +mail does not stop at Oakbarrow--and although he has not yet returned, +he may be here at any moment. My intention was to have sent you a +message by Mrs. Sprowle, but I found that Sperani had taken the key of +the underground passage with him." + +"Then we may yet be in time to get clear away before his return," said +Burgo. "For my uncle's sake I would fain avoid a scene, if it be +possible to do so. I shall have much to tell you, Miss Roylance, later +on. This is my friend, Mr. Marchment, to whose good offices I owe it +that I am here. I was wondering how I could best find, the means of +communicating with you, when you appeared. Fortune sometimes does one +a good turn unexpectedly. Miss Roylance, my uncle will quit this roof +within ten minutes from now, under the charge of Mr. Marchment and +myself, and it is his most earnest wish that you should accompany +him." + +"I! Oh, Mr. Brabazon!" It was as though she had been suddenly +transformed from some dim crepuscular phantom into a rosy young +goddess of the dawn. + +"Consider--think what it will be for you to stay on here alone, with +Sperani and her ladyship, after my uncle is gone! He would plead with +you himself were he not so feeble and our minutes here so few. But he +has sent me to plead for him--would that I could do it with more +eloquence, more fervour!" He paused, and drew a deep breath. His eyes +were luminous with a love unconfessed in words. "You _must_ go with +us, indeed you must! I ask it for his sake--and my own." + +She was trembling a little, but her eyes met his bravely; to Burgo it +seemed as if they were searching his very soul. There was a pause long +enough for half a dozen heart-beats, then Dacia said very gently: +"Tell dear Sir Everard, please, that, since it is his wish, I will go +with him. Five minutes at the most will see me ready to start." + +As she turned to go back upstairs she had a glimpse of her lover's +face--for that he was her lover now it would have been folly to deny. +It was as the face of one transfigured. Her equable pulses were +stirred as they had never been stirred before; the blood in her veins +seemed to have been changed into wine--the wine of youth and love and +happiness. She felt how good a thing it was to be alive. + +Five minutes later everything was in readiness for a start. Marchment +had been introduced to Sir Everard, and warmly greeted by him. Dacia +had reappeared, habited in blue serge, and with no other luggage than +a handbag, a waterproof, and an umbrella; and the baronet, with one of +her hands clasped in his tenuous fingers, had said, with a tremulous +smile: "My child, you have made me very happy by consenting to keep me +company in my exile." Burgo and Marchment had drawn aside to consult +as to the best mode of transporting Sir Everard from the house to the +boat, for that he would have to be carried was a matter of course. +Marchment had just said, with a smile: "There will be nothing for it +but for Sir Everard to put his dignity in his pocket, and allow my +fellows to carry him pick-a-back, turn and turn about. They are as +strong as bulls, and will think nothing of it," when all there were +startled into vivid life by a burst of deep hoarse-mouthed baying, +intermixed with short, sharp barks and savage growls. It was the +Italian's dogs, on guard in the courtyard, who had suddenly given +tongue. But the clamour died down almost as quickly as it had arisen, +as if the brutes had discovered that they had made a mistake. Then the +sound of wheels was audible on the pebbled sweep, followed by the +sudden pulling-up of some vehicle at the front door. + +The eyes of Burgo and Dacia met. "It is Signor Sperani come back," +said the girl in a low voice. Upon all present there was a sense as if +something unforeseen were about to happen. + +A few seconds later there was a cautious knocking at the door, which +it was doubtless intended that Vallance should have responded to, +instead of which it was Mr. Brabazon who now stepped forward and flung +wide the door. On the threshold stood Sperani and her ladyship. They +made a couple of steps forward and then paused--thunderstruck. + +On her arrival in Paris, Lady Clinton, finding herself with a couple +of hours to spare before the departure of the express for Pontarlier, +as most fond mothers would have done, telegraphed to Lausanne, +requesting to be informed whether her son was better or worse. In +about an hour's time came the reply: "Cannot understand purport of +your message. Young Offredi in most robust health. Has not suffered an +hour's illness since his arrival at Lausanne." + +Lady Clinton let the express go without her. One or two more messages +passed between herself and the head of the _lycée_, and then she set +her face homeward, satisfied that for once in her life she had been +outwitted, and a prey to fears such as turned her soul faint within +her. Who was the unknown enemy that had lured her from home by a +fictitious telegram? And by what hidden motive had he, or she, been +influenced? What might not have happened during her absence from the +Keep? Above all, what might not have been _discovered?_ + +As she stood for a few seconds just within the doorway, white, +haggard, travel-soiled, nothing of her seeming alive save her eyes, +and as she took in the picture before her--her husband, supported on +one side by Mr. Brabazon and on the other by Miss Roylance, with a +group of armed strangers in the background--she could not but +recognise that the game for which she had played so high and so +desperately, and had risked so much, was lost almost beyond +redemption. Still, she was a woman of an indomitable courage and +resource, and she would have one final throw. If that should fail, +then----! + +All in an instant her face changed. It was as if a mask had suddenly +fallen aside, leaving exposed to view the living, breathing, +palpitating woman which it had hidden; while the cold, hard light of +her eyes became veiled, as it were, with a luminous haze, through +which she gazed at her husband with an expression of imploring +tenderness, the power of which she was not now testing for the first +time. + +"What is the meaning of all this, Everardo mio?" she said in Italian, +and with an unwonted thrill in her full, rich tones. "What business +has brought these strangers here? And why are you out of bed at this +hour of the night?" + +She moved quickly forward as if to join him, but an imperious gesture +on the part of Sir Everard arrested her mid-way. + +"It means, Giulia," said the baronet, his left hand clasped firmly +within his nephew's arm, "it means that here--now--to-night I leave +you for ever. Never will I willingly set eyes on you again. By what +reasons I have been actuated in coming to this resolve, you do not, I +am sure, need to be told. Who should know them better than yourself? +When one touches, as you and I do at this moment, one of the supreme +crises of life, mere words seem idle and irrelevant. Therefore I leave +you, without saying more, to the keeping of whatever conscience may +still be existent within you. Madam, my lawyer will communicate with +you in the course of a few days. Burgo, I am ready." + +He had spoken with such a cold, sustained dignity, and with a manner +so magisterial and aloof--as though he were a judge addressing some +criminal in the dock--that the last faint ray of hope which her +ladyship might have cherished was, there and then, quenched for ever. +Her features stiffened into an expression of ineffable scorn, hate, +and baffled rage. Her eyes blazed, and could looks have killed, few +there would have been left alive. As Sir Everard and the others +advanced she drew aside, not without dignity, so as not to impede +their going. "And you too, Dacia?" she murmured, as Miss Roylance +passed her. + +"And I too, madam," responded the girl. + +Sperani had disappeared, like the coward that he was. He had scented a +possible scrimmage, and it had seemed to him that he would be better +out of the way. + +No thought of quitting the house except by way of the front door had +occurred to Sir Everard, nor had it struck him to ask by what means +Burgo and the rest had gained admittance to the Keep at that hour of +the night. There, by a fortunate chance, they found the landau which +had brought back Sperani and his sister still waiting. Nobody had +given the driver any instructions, and there he was. Sperani's first +act on alighting had been to chain up his dogs. There was no longer +any question of how Sir Everard should be got to the boat. He and Miss +Roylance were assisted into the carriage, and the little procession +set off at a walking pace. + +The front door of the Keep had been left open, and Burgo, glancing +back, could discern a tall, black-clothed figure--which, as it stood +framed by the doorway, with the lamp-light thrown on it from behind, +looked as if it might be chiselled out of black marble--staring +straight out into the night. Then, as the carriage passed out of the +gates, which one of the sailors had hurried forward to open, Burgo +beheld the figure fling up its arms and then fall forward on the +flagged floor. + +Already the first tentative pencillings of the dawn were visible in +the eastern sky. + +As Burgo paced along by the side of the landau he called to mind that +that day week would be the 12th of October. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +SURPRISE FOR BURGO. + + +Sir Everard Clinton had gone through so much, both physically and +mentally, in the course of the preceding two hours that as soon as he +found himself on board the yacht, the inevitable reaction set in. Mr. +Marchment gave up his own cabin to him, and that he lacked nothing +in the way of nursing and attention on the part of Dacia and Burgo +goes without saying. He was terribly weak and low, but beyond that, +there seemed nothing chronically amiss with him. "All that I need is +rest--rest," he murmured more than once. It was rest of mind as much, +or more perhaps, than rest of body that he stood in need of. There was +nothing now to debar him of it. At length he knew that he was safe, +and in that fact everything was implied. + +The _Naiad_ had weighed anchor at daybreak, and the forenoon was well +advanced when Burgo went on deck to stretch his legs and enjoy a +smoke. By that time they were out of sight of land. True to the +promise he had given, Burgo asked no questions. To him it mattered not +at all where they were, or for what port they were bound. He had +achieved all that he wanted. He had rescued his uncle from the fate +which had too surely threatened him, and the girl he loved was here on +board with him. What more could any reasonable being long for? He felt +that he would have been quite content to go on voyaging in the _Naiad_ +for an indefinite period. To-day he was more like the Burgo Brabazon +of other days than he had been since the date of that memorable +meeting in Great Mornington Street when he and Lady Clinton crossed +weapons for the first time. + +By-and-by Miss Roylance came on deck. Sir Everard was sleeping +soundly, and might be left for a little while. + +Marchment had a deck chair brought for her, and she sat for upwards of +an hour, drinking in the briny life-giving air and enjoying the +novelty of the scene and its surroundings. + +In the afternoon the long-threatened rain began to fall, and they +seemed to have got into one of those cross seas which are apt to make +non-sailors feel somewhat qualmish. Marchment and the crew had donned +their oilskins. + +In the dusk of the afternoon Burgo again went on deck and found a +sheltered nook abaft the funnel where his pipe would not be put out by +the rain. They were now well within sight of land again, and in point +of fact were leisurely skirting, at a distance of three or four miles, +a rocky picturesque-looking coast which stretched as far as the eye +could reach nearly due north and south of their course. + +Some hours later, long after night had fallen, the screw of the +_Naiad_ ceased to revolve, an intermission which Miss Roylance, at any +rate, did not fail to appreciate. Then presently (as it appeared to +those below) a boat seemed to put off from the yacht and other boats +to put out to her from the shore. There was the tramp of many +footsteps and a confused murmur of many voices, and to Burgo it seemed +as if the contents of the hold, or part of them--whatever they might +consist of--were being brought up by degrees and transferred to the +boats; yet all was done with such an evident caution and such an +absence of more noise than was absolutely unavoidable, that if there +had been some one on board _in extremis_ greater care could scarcely +have been used. In less than an hour and a half the last boat left the +yacht, and then, after a few minutes' interval, the screw began slowly +to revolve. + +While this mysterious business had been going forward all lights below +deck had been extinguished. Marchment had apologised, almost humbly, +for the necessity he was under of asking his guests to so far oblige +him; but, as Mr. Brabazon told him, his guests would only have been +too glad had they been called upon to oblige him in some matter of far +greater moment than that. + +When Burgo went on deck at an early hour next morning the _Naiad_ was +again out of sight of land. Presently he was joined by Marchment, who +said, "I got rid of my business last evening, and am now my own +master. Perhaps you will ask Sir Everard in the course of the morning +what his programme is, provided he has one. If he would like a few +days' cruise in the yacht, I and it are wholly at his service. On the +other hand, if he would prefer to be landed at some port within, say, +a couple of hundred miles of where we are, we are equally at his +command." + +"Marchment, you are weighing us down with obligations which we can +never repay. But may I be permitted to ask whereabouts on the map of +Europe we are just now?" + +"It will perhaps be near enough to satisfy you if I tell you that we +are within a score miles of the Mull of Galloway." + +When the subject was mentioned to the baronet and he had taken time to +think it over, he said that if it would not be inconveniencing Mr. +Marchment too much, he should like to be landed at Ardrossan. He had +an old friend living within a dozen miles of that place whom he had +not seen for years, and who had lately acquired some very rare +Byzantine coins which he, Sir Everard, was particularly desirous of +examining. + +Accordingly the yacht's head was put about and Ardrossan made in due +course. There Marchment and his new-found friends took leave of each +other, not without many expressions of hearty goodwill on both sides, +one may be sure. As for Burgo and Marchment, they by no means intended +to lose touch of each other in time to come. + + +It was three weeks later. Sir Everard, Miss Roylance, and Burgo were +still at Hazeldean, where the Marrables had accorded them the +heartiest of welcomes, and with that large-hearted hospitality for +which they were noted, would not hear of their leaving short of a +month at the very soonest. Besides, Sir Everard was "picking up +wonderfully," as Mrs. Marrable termed it The bracing Scotch air had +proved the finest of tonics, and it would be a thousand pities for him +to quit Hazeldean with his cure only half accomplished. + +But although the baronet and Burgo were going to stay on a while +longer, the eve of Miss Roylance's departure was come. A cousin of her +mother, a widow lady of mature years, of whose existence Dacia had +hardly been aware, had found her out quite by accident, and had +written her such a pressing invitation to go and visit her in +Edinburgh, where she resided, and stay with her for as long as she +liked, that, under the circumstances in which she was placed, the girl +felt she had no option but to accept the offer. She and Burgo had +spent a very happy time together; the more they saw of each other the +stronger became the bond of attraction between them. Although no word +of love had been spoken, each knew the other's secret. They had been +happy from day to day, as children are happy, and had not troubled +themselves about the future. But such halcyon moments could not last +for ever, and this sudden summons must necessarily bring them to an +end. + +It was not likely, however, that Burgo would consent to let Dacia go +without coming to an understanding with her. But indeed, whether she +stayed or went, he told himself that further silence on his part might +be construed into a proof of dilatoriness, and that was one of the +last of a lover's crimes which he would willingly have had imputed to +him. + +So now, on the eve of Dacia's departure--she was to start almost +immediately after breakfast next morning--he sought his opportunity +and found it. + +It was a mild November afternoon, overcast for the most part, yet with +now and then a passing gleam of pallid sunshine. Not a breath of air +fluttered the last poplar leaves which still hung, ragged and forlorn, +on the two tall trees that fronted the house. There seemed a hush over +all things; it was as though the dying year lay with shut eyes and +folded hands awaiting its end. Sir Everard, together with his host and +hostess, had gone in the brougham to visit some archaeological remains +a dozen miles away. Our young people had the house to themselves. It +was possible that kind-hearted Mrs. Marrable had had some hand in this +arrangement. She was a born matchmaker, and had quite early seen how +the land lay as between Burgo and Dacia, while it was equally a matter +of course that her husband should not have seen anything. + +The grounds at Hazeldean were extensive, and Dacia, hampered as she +was with her crutch, found them quite ample enough to wander about in. +She and Burgo had been strolling about for half an hour or more, when +they came to a seat fixed at a point from which an especially fine +view was to be had. Here they sat down as they had many times before. +It was not often that Burgo was absent-minded, but he had been so +to-day, and for the last ten minutes he had hardly spoken a word. +Dacia had made no attempt to break his spell of silence, but had +glanced at him once or twice a little timorously. Had she any +prevision of what it was he was about to say to her? + +He had been staring straight before him for some little time, but +seeing nothing save some inner vision of his own. Suddenly he turned, +and bending his glowing eyes full upon her, said: "And so you are +going to leave us to-morrow; but for how long, Dacia?--that is the +question, for how long?" + +It was not the first time by several that he had called her by her +baptismal name, and she did not seem to resent the liberty. + +"You know what my cousin, Mrs. Croxford, said in her letter," she +replied in a low voice. "She virtually offers me a home. Although we +have never met, she is my nearest living relative, and I have no +option but to go to her." + +"But not to stay with her long, Dacia--oh, no!--not to stay with her +long. I love you, Dacia--that you have known for days and weeks; it +needed no words on my part to tell you that--and I want you to be my +wife. My uncle knows and approves. During the last few weeks you have +become very dear to him. He loves you as if you were his own child--I +have his word for it--and he has charged me to tell you that the +dearest wish left him in life is that you should--well, become the +wife of his good-for-nothing nephew." + +"Dear Sir Everard! I would do much to please him," said Dacia, softly. + +"But you must not think I am trying to make love by proxy," continued +Burgo. "It is on my own account I woo you--that you know full well. If +I could only make love to you more pleadingly, and in softer fashion! +but I can't. I know that in such things I am as uncouth as a bear; +Nature has made me so; but, trust me, dearest, the bear knows how to +love! Dacia, will you, dare you, take me with all my imperfections on +my head? Search the world over, and nowhere will you find a truer, +more devoted love than mine, nowhere a man who will strive harder than +I to make you happy! O Dacia!--dearest!--what can I say more? I know +my words must sound terribly trite and commonplace, but for once my +tongue has turned traitor. Before I opened my lips I thought I was +going to be eloquent in a way I had never been before, and the result +is a thin, feeble trickle of words which seem to carry no conviction +with them. It is most pitiable. Still, Dacia, it all comes to this: I +love you!--I love you!" + +To Dacia it seemed as if his words were lacking neither in eloquence +nor passion; but then, no one had ever spoken to her in such fashion +before; while there was such a fervour of sincerity in his utterances +that even had she not been predisposed in his favour, her heart could +scarcely have failed to be touched. It was her turn now to gaze +straight before her. She durst not let her eyes meet his; she felt +that they would have betrayed her in her own despite, and the moment +for surrender had not yet come. + +There was no coyness about Dacia, no shilly-shallying; she had a way +of speaking straight to the point which was sometimes eminently +disconcerting to others. She was unconventional, and she knew it. + +"You ask me, Mr. Brabazon, whether I _dare_ accept you," she said, +trying her best to speak without any trace of emotion, but not quite +succeeding. "I dare do a number of things; but when you further ask me +whether I _will_ accept you, your question becomes one which can only +be met by a straightforward and categorical answer. My answer to it +is, No--for your own sake." + +"No--for my own sake!" gasped Burgo. "I wholly fail to apprehend your +meaning." + +"Have you considered, have you thought seriously, of all that is +involved in your proposal to wed a girl who is both a cripple and a +hunchback? No, you cannot have done so. You are letting a temporary +infatuation (which before long will seem to you nothing more than am +foolish dream which it were wise to forget as quickly as possible) +blind you to the consequences of a step which you would soon see cause +to bitterly rue that you had ever taken. I should be a clog and an +incubus to you all your life, or at least till death stepped in and +severed the tie between us. When you took me into society, which you +would very quickly tire of doing, think of the lifted eyebrows and the +meaning glances that would be shot from one to another, and of the +whisperings behind your back! 'A cripple and a hunchback! what _could_ +he have been thinking about?' How you would writhe in your impotence +and turn hot and cold by turns! And then your love for me would +inevitably cool, and by-and-by it would change into positive dislike. +Oh, I seem to see it all! Therefore, Mr. Brabazon, my answer is, No." + +"But it is an answer which I utterly refuse to accept," he retorted +impetuously. "If you have nothing to urge against my suit but that, +you might just as well have left it unsaid for any effect it has upon +me. Such an objection I brush away as the flimsiest of cobwebs. As for +the hobgoblins you have tried to conjure up, they are the merest +futilities, and you yourself would be the first to despise a man who +did not laugh them to scorn. On that score you shall not despise me. +For me the world holds no other woman than you, and that is enough. +Dacia, you are mine!" + +His arms enfolded her, he drew her to him, he kissed her again and +again. His masterful style of love-making deprived her of all further +power of resistance. But indeed her heart had been his long before. + +Once she murmured while his arms were still round her, her eyes +searching his the while, "Oh, but to think of it! a cripple and----" +but she could not say more for the kiss that sealed her lips. + +When they got back to the house an hour later--and it was an hour +which neither of them would ever forget--Sir Everard and the others +had not yet returned. They went together into the library, which was +one of the cosiest rooms in the house, as befitted the purpose to +which it was devoted. A cheerful fire was burning in the grate by way +of antidote to the dull November afternoon. "Sit down here," said +Dacia to her lover, indicating a big easy-chair, "while I go and take +off my outdoor things. I shall not be gone more than a few minutes." + +Burgo was quite content to wait. He had won her, she was his, and a +few minutes more or less were of no consequence. + +Whether he had sat there five minutes or half an hour he could not +afterwards have told, so pleasantly had his thoughts been occupied, +when the sound of the opening door, which faced him at the other end +of the room, caused him to lift his eyes. On the threshold stood +Dacia, looking at him with an enigmatic smile. She had changed her +heavier outdoor dress for one of pale blue corded silk which fitted +her to perfection. While Burgo was still staring at her she dropped +him an elaborate curtsey; then, still with that strange smile, she +came a little way nearer and dropped him a second curtsey; and then +she ran--yes, actually ran--across the room and sank on her knees by +the side of his chair. Burgo could hardly believe the evidence of his +eyes. + +"What has become of your crutch?" he asked in a half-dazed kind of +way. + +"Gone." + +"And--and your----?" He could not bring himself to utter the hateful +word. + +"My hump, I suppose you mean? Gone too--both gone for ever." + +He drew a deep breath. "You altogether bewilder me," he said. +"Is there anything real about you?" laying a hand on one of her +shoulders--"or may I look to see you vanish piecemeal and leave not a +wrack behind?" + +She sprang to het feet with a happy musical laugh. "No," she replied, +"you will be burdened with the residue of me--and serve you right, +after what you said and did this afternoon--for the term of your +natural life." And thereupon she proceeded to waltz gravely round him +some half-dozen times. + +"And to whom are you, or I, or both of us, indebted for this miracle?" +he asked when she had brought her gyrations to an end and was again +kneeling by the side of his chair. + +"Why, you dear old simpleton, who should be the miracle-monger but +myself? It is one of the most annoying traits of your sex that you +always want so many explanations. You must know, then, most high and +mighty seigneur, that once on a time--that is to say, somewhere about +a year ago--I met with an accident which necessitated my walking with +a crutch for several months afterwards; and even after I was well +enough to cast it aside there were odd times and seasons when a return +of the old pain compelled me to again seek its help for a day or two, +so that I continued to keep it by me like an old servant whom one +cannot afford to discard. Well, sir, when I first conceived the +audacious scheme of seeking an interview with you I said to myself, +'What if he should get the notion into his head that I have forced +myself upon him simply in the hope that he may fall in love with me?' +The thought was intolerable so I determined to make your acquaintance +in a guise which would--as I fondly imagined--effectually dispose +of any such idea should even the germ of it have found lodgment in +your mind. Hence it was that I called my old crutch into requisition +and manufactured an artificial hump for myself. But alas, and +alack-the-day! my labours were all in vain, my good intentions were +utterly thrown away. There are some people who cannot be made to +see when they are well off, and if they _will_ persist in taking on +themselves a lot of unnecessary burdens simply because they are, as +they term it, in love--well, one can afford to pity them, but that +will hardly make their punishment easier to bear." + +"I, at any rate, am prepared to undergo my punishment without the +ghost of a grumble. But tell me this, you young deceiver, how did you +contrive to impose upon my uncle? He, at least, must have known +that----" + +"Oh! I took dear Sir Everard into my confidence. He promised not to +betray me, and of course he didn't." + +"And simple-minded, kind-hearted Mr. and Mrs. Marrable--you have +deceived them?" + +Dacia hung a contrite head, or pretended to do so. "I am very sorry, +but I couldn't help it," she whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +A MYSTERY SOLVED. + + +Spring had come round again, the spring of the year succeeding that in +which the events recorded in these pages took place. + +It was about the middle of May when Sir Everard Clinton, to whom any +long stay in London had always been distasteful, suddenly made up his +mind to revisit Garion Keep. It was a matter of course that his nephew +and his nephew's wife should accompany him, for Burgo and Dacia had +been married early in the new year, and had spent a short honeymoon in +the Riviera. Sir Everard's home, wherever it might be--and he had +always been of a somewhat roving disposition--was theirs also. He +liked to have Burgo under the same roof with him; only then did he +feel safe, only then could he rid himself of an uneasy fear that at +some unexpected moment he might be confronted by his wife, who, he +seemed to think, was ever on the watch--lying perdu, like a spider in +a corner of its web--to take him unawares. What might or would have +happened in case such an eventuality had come to pass, he did not try +to imagine. The bare possibility of such a thing was enough to scare +him. + +But indeed there seemed no valid reason for anticipating any such +unwelcome proceeding on her ladyship's part. She seemed to have +vanished as completely beyond the horizon of Sir Everard's life as if +she had never existed. After their parting that night at the Keep, so +far as was known, she made no attempt to trace his whereabouts; +neither, later on, when he was back in Great Mornington Street, if she +knew he was there, did she make any effort to intrude herself on his +presence. One token, and one only, of her existence was forthcoming in +due course. A lawyer, instructed by her, waited one day upon Mr. +Garden with the view of ascertaining the nature of the baronet's +pecuniary intentions towards his client. That they proved to be +satisfactory may be taken for granted, seeing that no complaint to the +contrary was ever lodged with Mr. Garden. From certain private +information which reached Mr. Brabazon some time later, he had reason +to believe that her ladyship had taken up her permanent abode in +Florence, the English colony of which delightful city was greatly +exercised in its mind as to whether it ought to welcome her with +effusion as an unquestionable acquisition, or quietly turn towards her +that shoulder which is termed cold. + +Sir Everard's sixty-fourth birthday came and went in due course. It +was kept by him, not as a festival, but rather as an occasion for +devout thankfulness, as on the part of one who had providentially +escaped a great danger. When, a little later, Mrs. Macdona's legacy of +fifteen thousand pounds was paid over to him, he at once gave +instructions for the whole amount to be transferred from his own +banking account to one which he caused to be opened in the name of his +nephew. When telling Burgo what he had done, he added: "Had it not +been for you, my boy, I verily believe my span of life would have run +out by now. In no case would the money have come to me: it would have +gone to her, and after that--_Mais parlous d'autres choses_. I want +you to regard the money as a thank-offering from your old uncle--a +very inadequate one, he admits, considering all he owes you. Besides, +you are a married man now." + +Mr. Garden had been right in his supposition that Sir Everard had +engaged another lawyer to draw up the fresh will rendered necessary by +his marriage, in which, with the exception of a legacy of five +thousand pounds to his nephew (which he had made a point of insisting +upon) everything he might die possessed of was bequeathed to his wife. +But Sir Everard had not been many hours at Hazeldean before he +telegraphed to Mr. Garden to join him there, and next day a final will +was drawn up, the provisions of which were widely different from those +of the previous one. + +So Sir Everard, together with his nephew and niece, journeyed down to +Cumberland. + +But Burgo had not been more than a couple of hours at the Keep when he +received a telegram from Mr. Garden which recalled him south without +delay. Mr. Denis Clinton was dead. He had died at Worthing, whither +his doctors bad ordered him some months before. Mr. Brabazon, as a +legatee under his uncle's will, was invited to the funeral, as also to +the subsequent reading of the will. The dead man's lawyer, not knowing +where a letter would find Mr. Brabazon, had communicated with Mr. +Garden. + +Sir Everard was not invited to the funeral, and he decided not to +attend it. His brother and he had virtually been strangers to each +other for the last twenty years or more, and he saw no reason why he +should undertake a journey of three hundred and fifty miles--and the +same distance back--in order to be present at the obsequies of a man +who had shown no brotherly regard for him while alive. So Burgo went +alone. + +Greatly to his surprise, when the will came to be read he found +himself a legatee to the tune of five thousand pounds. The reason +given by his uncle for thus remembering him was an eccentric one; +"Because he has never sought me out to flatter me, or sponge on me," +ran the clause, "and because he has never asked me to lend him a +sixpence." With the way in which the remainder of the property was +left we are not concerned. + +The demise of Mr. Denis Clinton left Burgo Sir Everard's direct heir +both to the title and the entailed estates. + +Burgo got back to the Keep late at night after Sir Everard had +retired. At breakfast next morning, after he had pretty well exhausted +his budget of news, he said; "By the way, sir, have you been over the +Wizard's Tower since you came down here?" + +The baronet shook his head. "My exploring days are over," he said. +"Still, I have heard so much about the place, that I should not object +to go over it with somebody who knows the ins and outs of the old +pile; in short, if I visit it at all, I must be personally conducted." + +"Then I'm the man for the job, sir, for who should know more about it +than I? Indeed, if you will go over it after breakfast this morning +with Dacia and me I shall be glad. I have a special reason for wishing +you to do so." + +Accordingly the three of them presently set out for the tower by way +of the underground passage. When they emerged from it into what might +be termed the entrance-hall of the tower, where, it may be remembered, +was the door by which admittance was gained from the outside, Burgo, +having pointed out the gap in the wall made by Marchment's men, +conducted his uncle and Dacia upstairs to the room which had served +for his prison. Everything apparently was just as he had left it. One +of the window-bars lay on the floor; the other, nearly filed through, +was still in its place. The crockery, containing the remnants of the +last meal Mrs. Sprowle had brought him, was still on the table. And +there were the few poor sticks of furniture, and the oaken door with +its sliding panel and broken lock. The eyes of Burgo and his wife met +more than once. What memories the room and its contents brought back +to them Sir Everard was intensely interested in everything. + +Then they went back downstairs. But first Burgo pointed out another +flight of stairs, which doubtless led to a room over the one he had +occupied; but they left the exploration of that for another time. + +"And now," said Burgo, when they were once more on the ground-floor, +as he proceeded to light a hand-lamp he had brought with him, "I must +ask you to follow me through this hole in the wall, which is at the +head of a flight of steps leading down to a cavern open to the sea. +There can be no reasonable doubt, as it seems to me, that the +underground passage leading to the Keep and this other passage leading +to the cavern were bricked up, and all traces of them as far as +possible obliterated, at one and the same time; but by whom, and for +what purpose, it would now be useless to inquire." + +Having passed through the gap, Burgo led his uncle slowly and +carefully down the steps--for since his illness Sir Everard had not +been so active on his feet as he had been before it--while Dacia +brought up the rear, till they came to the chamber of which mention +has been already made as being hollowed out of the body of the cliff. +But this chamber, as Burgo proceeded to prove to the others, was but +the ante-room to another nearly twice as spacious. "I think," he said, +as he held his lamp aloft, "that it is not difficult to guess as to +the use this place was put to in bygone days. At all events, I can +come to no other conclusion than that it was used as a storage place +for smuggled goods." + +"You axe right, my boy; it could have been intended for nothing else," +said the baronet emphatically. + +"In that case," remarked Dacia, "bearing in mind that this place had +an opening into the tower, and that there was an underground passage +from the latter to the Keep, it would almost seem as if the owners or +tenants of the Keep, whoever they may have been, must themselves have +been in the smuggling line of business." + +"By Jove!" laughed the baronet, "you seem to have hit the right nail +on the head, my dear. But I believe that in those days smuggling was +regarded as a very venial offence, whether indulged in by gentle or +simple. Probably, if we had lived a hundred years ago, we should have +been tarred with the same brush ourselves." + +Burgo now led the way down the remaining flight of steps which led +directly into the cavern. The iron grille was still open as he had +seen it last. + +It had been night when Burgo was there before. It was now broad +daylight outside, and the cavern was pervaded by a faint yellowish +twilight which might be in part a reflection from the sandy floor. It +widened out from a narrow mouth, but was neither very large nor very +lofty, and probably its existence was due in part to Nature and in +part to man's handiwork. It was nearly ebb tide, and from the mouth of +the cavern to low-water mark there intervened a stretch of yellow +shining sand. Noticing this, Sir Everard said: "The smugglers, if such +they were, can hardly have considered their hiding-place a very secure +one, seeing that whenever the tide was out it must have been open for +any one to enter it from the beach." + +"It seems to be so, but it was not so in reality, neither is it now," +replied Burgo. "That beautiful, innocent looking stretch of beach on +which the sun just now is shining its brightest, is neither more nor +less than a treacherous quicksand which would inevitably engulf any +one who might be rash enough to attempt to reach the cavern by way of +it when the tide is out. Many a grim secret lies buried in its +unfathomed depths." + +Dacia shuddered. + +"All this is news to me," said the baronet. "Dacia, my dear, you were +talking the other day about going for a ramble along the sands, but +after what your husband has told us about them I hope you will think +twice before doing so." + +"I shall indeed, uncle." Then, turning to Burgo, she said, "You have +told us a great deal about this old building and the uses to which it +was put in days gone by. I suppose you will be telling us next that +Mr. Marchment was a smuggler?" + +Burgo laughed. "That's just what he was, my dear--after a fashion. +Singularly enough, Marchment and I tumbled across each other yesterday +at the London terminus. He had half an hour to spare and we spent it +together. Now, when I said this morning that I had a special object in +asking you to explore the tower with me, it was that I might tell you +here on the spot, in order that you might be able to realise the facts +more clearly, that which he told me yesterday. Of course it was he who +introduced the subject, not I. He began by asking after each of you, +and he did not fail to congratulate me on my marriage. Then he went on +to say that doubtless we had often wondered and speculated as to the +nature of the business in which he was engaged at the time he made our +acquaintance after so singular a fashion. Although the affair was +still a secret from the world and would continue to be so, the +necessity for the same amount of secrecy no longer existed--at least, +as far as we three were concerned although he was desirous that +whatever he might confide to us should go no further. It appears, +then, that the _Naiad's_ errand at Crag End was to take on board, +secretly of course, a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition +which for some time past had been stored up in that chamber in the +cliff which I showed you just now, awaiting Marchment's arrival." + +"Arms and ammunition! God bless my heart!" ejaculated Sir Everard. + +"I may say at once that he did not tell me by whose or what agency the +arms and ammunition had first been stored in the chamber, nor did I +conceive it my business to ask him. His part of the affair was to +convey the articles in question to some pre-arranged point on the +Irish coast and there land them with the same amount of secrecy with +which he had taken them on board." + +"But why couldn't he do all that quite openly? demanded Dacia. + +"Because it is forbidden to land arms and ammunition in Ireland except +at certain specified ports, and then only with the knowledge and +sanction of the Customs officials. As Marchment explained, they were +needed for the 'Cause'--whatever the term may mean--and could only be +obtained secretly and surreptitiously." + +"We owe a great deal to our friend Marchment, Burgo, my boy," said Sir +Everard, "but for all that I shall consider it my duty to take such +steps as will secure the tower from being used as a depot for the +storage of any kind of contraband goods in time to come." + +"I hope you made Mr. Marchment promise to come and see us when we get +back to town?" said Dacia. + +"At the present moment, my dear, Marchment is _en route_ for South +America. He is longing for a little quiet fighting, he says, and he +thinks there's a chance of his meeting with it there." + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Burgo's Romance, by T. W. Speight + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57944 *** |