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diff --git a/58346-0.txt b/58346-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48f3e6e --- /dev/null +++ b/58346-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10413 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58346 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: Google Books + https://books.google.com/books?id=0nrlugEACAAJ + (the Bavarian State Library) + + + + + + +COLLECTION +OF +BRITISH AUTHORS + +TAUCHNITZ EDITION. + +VOL. 1271. +WITHIN THE MAZE BY MRS. HENRY WOOD. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. II. + + + + + + +WITHIN THE MAZE. +A NOVEL. + + +BY +MRS. HENRY WOOD, +AUTHOR OF "EAST LYNNE," ETC. + + +_COPYRIGHT EDITION_. + + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. II. + + + + +LEIPZIG +BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ +1872. + +_The Right of Translation is reserved_. + + + + + + +CONTENTS +OF VOLUME II. + +CHAPTER + I. The Maze invaded. + II. Recognised. + III. A new Lodger in Paradise Row. + IV. Nurse Chaffen on Duty. + V. Watching the House. + VI. At Afternoon Service. + VII. At Lawyer St. Henry's. + VIII. Another Kettledrum. + IX. Only a Night Owl. + X. One Day in her Life. + XI. Mrs. Chaffen disturbed. + XII. Baffled. + XIII. At Scotland Yard. + XIV. Ill-omened Chances. + XV. Ann Hopley startled. + XVI. Up the Spouts and down the Drains. + XVII. Taken from the Evil to come. + XVIII. News for Mr. Tatton. + XIX. Mrs. Cleeve at Fault. + XX. At the Red Dawn. + XXI. Laid to his Rest. + XXII. Repentance. + XXIII. Only a Man like other Men. + Conclusion. + + + + + + +WITHIN THE MAZE. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. +The Maze invaded. + + +The previous night's black cloud had culminated in a thunder-storm, +and the morning air felt fresh and cool; but the blue sky was clear, +the sun as bright as ever. + +Lucy came down with sad eyes and a pale face. Her night had been one +of mental pain. She was wondering how much longer she could keep up +this mask of cheerfulness--which she would especially have to wear +that day; and she knew that she could not have done it at all, then or +at any other time, but for the very present help of God. Karl, waiting +in the breakfast-room, turned to shake hands with her. But for their +being alone, he would not have ventured on this eminently suggestive +action. + +"How are you to-day, Lucy?" + +"Oh, quite well, thank you. Did you hear the storm?" + +"Yes. It has cleared away some of the sultry heat. We shall have a +lovely day." + +The Lloyds were expected from Basham. When at the flower-show the +previous day, Lucy had remarked that some of the hot-house plants were +not as fine as those at Foxwood: upon that, the General and one of his +daughters had simultaneously expressed a wish to see those at Foxwood. +Lucy at once gave the invitation; and it was arranged that they should +spend the next day at the Court. She had told her husband of this +while Captain Lamprey was present; but it had not been alluded to +afterwards. She spoke again now, while she and Karl were waiting +breakfast for Miss Blake, who was at Matins at St. Jerome's. + +"I could not do less than ask them," she observed. "I hope you are +not vexed." + +"You did quite right, Lucy," he cheerfully answered. "I shall be glad +to see them." + +"I don't know how many will come. Perhaps all; except Mrs. Lloyd, who +never goes out anywhere. I hope Theresa will give up St. Jerome's for +the rest of the day, and stay at home to help me entertain them." + +Karl smiled. "To make sure of that you should invite Mr. Cattacomb." + +"But you would not like that, would you?" + +"No. I was only joking, Lucy. Here she is." + +The Lloyds had said they would come early, and Karl strolled out to +meet the eleven o'clock train, leaving his wife decorating her +drawing-room with flowers. Unhappy though Lucy was, she was proud of +her home, and pleased that it should find admiration in the eyes of +the world. + +As Karl was passing Clematis Cottage, he saw Mr. Smith seated at the +open window, leisurely enjoying the freshened air, and smoking a +cigar. Karl had been wanting to take a close, observant view of him; +and he turned in on the spur of the moment. The asking for something +which he really required afforded an excuse. Mr. Smith rose up to +receive him graciously, and threw his half-smoked cigar out at the +window. + +"I think you have the plan of the out-lying lands of the estate, Mr. +Smith, where the new cottages are to be built? Will you spare it to me +in the course of the day? I will send Hewitt for it." + +"Certainly, Sir Karl; it is at your service. Won't you take a seat? +The bit of a breeze at this open window is quite refreshing." + +Karl sat down. Mr. Smith's green glasses lay on the table, and he +could enjoy as clear a view of him as he pleased. The agent talked +away, all unconscious no doubt that notes were being taken of his face +and form. + +"It is his own hair," mentally spoke Karl. "'Very dark brown,' they +said; 'nearly black.' Just so. At the time of the escape Salter had +neither whiskers nor beard nor moustache: the probability being, they +thought, that he had now a full crop of all. Just so, again. Eyebrows: +thick and arched, Grimley said: these are not thick; nor, what I +should call, arched: perhaps there may be some way of manipulating +eyebrows, and these have undergone the process. Eyes brown: yes. Face +fresh and pleasant: yes. Voice and manners free and genial: yes. +Age?--there I can't make the two ends meet. I am sure this man's +forty. Is it Salter, or is it not?" finally summed up Karl. "I don't +know, I _think_ it is: but I don't know." + +"Truefit the farmer spoke to me yesterday, Sir Karl," broke in Mr. +Smith on his musings. "He was asking whether you and Lady Andinnian +viewed this new farce on his grounds with approbation. That's what he +called it--farce. Meaning St. Jerome's." + +"I suppose he does not like it," observed Karl. + +"I fancy he does not really care about it himself, one way or the +other, Sir Karl; in fact, he signified as much. But it seems his +better-half, Mrs. Truefit, has taken a prejudice against it: calling +the ceremonies 'goings-on,' and 'rubbish,' and 'scandal,' and all +sorts of depreciating things. It is a pity Mr. Cattacomb can't confine +himself to tolerable common-sense. The idea of their hanging that bell +outside over the door, and pulling it perpetually!" + +"Yes," said Karl. "So much nonsense takes all solemnity away." + +"They are going to dress Tom Pepp in a white garment now, while he +rings it, with a red cross down the back. It's that, I fancy, that has +put up Mrs. Truefit. I told the farmer that I believed Sir Karl and +Lady Andinnian did not favour the place: at least, that I had never +seen them attend it." + +"And you never will," returned Karl, as he rose. + +There was nothing to stay for; his observations were taken, and he +departed, having to walk quickly to be in time at the station. Had he +been free in mind the matters connected with St. Jerome's might have +vexed him more than they did: but all annoyances were lost sight of in +his one great care. + +The train came in, and the party arrived by it; six of them. Captain +Lloyd, who was at home on leave; two Miss Lloyds; a married sister and +her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Panton, at present staying on a visit; and +the General. + +Karl had expressed pleasure at his wife's invitation; perhaps had felt +it; but he could not foresee the unlucky contretemps that the visit +was to bring forth. To his unbounded astonishment, his inward +confusion, no sooner had his guests entered Foxwood Court, than they +expressed a wish to see the place called the Maze, and requested Sir +Karl to conduct them to it. + +"I was telling Panton about the Maze last night--talking of the Court +and its surroundings," observed the General. "Panton does not believe +it possible that one could lose oneself in any maze whatever: so I +promised him he should have a try at it. You will afford us the +opportunity of seeing it, Sir Karl." + +"I--I am not sure," stammered Karl, utterly taken aback, while his +wife's face flushed a burning red. "I hardly think it is in my power, +General. The lady who inhabits it desires to keep herself so very +quiet, that I should not feel justified in intruding upon her. She is +not in strong health, I believe." + +"But we would not think of disturbing the lady," called out all the +voices together. "We only wish to see the maze of trees, Sir Karl: not +the dwelling-house. What's her name?" + +"Grey." + +"Well, we shall not hurt her. Does she live by herself?" + +"While her husband is abroad. I am sure she will not choose to be +intruded upon." + +Sir Karl might as well have talked to the winds. All opposed him. Of +course there was no suspicion that _he_ had any personal objection; +only that he wished to respect the scruples of his lady-tenant. At +length, the General declared he would go over to Mrs. Grey, ask to see +her, and personally prefer the request. Poor Karl was at his wits' +end. He saw that he should not be able to stem the storm--for he dared +not be resolute in the denial, so fearful was he always of arousing +any suspicion of there being a mystery in the place--and he was fain +to yield. He would take them over, he said; but not before he had sent +a note to say that they were coming. This he insisted on; it would be +but common politeness, he urged; and they all agreed with him. + +Hastily writing a few words to Mrs. Grey in his own room, he called +Hewitt to take the note over, and gave him at the same time a private +message to deliver to Ann Hopley. Of course Karl's object was to warn +his brother to keep out of sight--and Mrs. Grey too. Hewitt looked +more scared than his master. + +"To think of their wanting to go over _there!_" he exclaimed in a low +tone of covert fear. + +"It can't be helped, Hewitt. Go." + +A few minutes, and Hewitt came back with a message: which he delivered +to his master in public. Mrs. Grey's compliments to Sir Karl +Andinnian, and he was at liberty to bring his friends within her gates +if he pleased. So they all started; Lucy with them. + +Lucy with them! + +The ladies had assumed it to be so much a matter of course that +their hostess should accompany them, that Lucy, timid in her +self-consciousness, saw not her way clear to any plea of excuse. And +it might be that, down deep in her woman's frail heart, there was a +hankering longing to see the inside of that place which contained her +rival. In the midst of her indecision she glanced at Karl and +hesitated. But he saw not the look or the hesitation: for all the sign +he gave out, she was as welcome to go to the place as these guests +were. It is true that Miss Blake fixed her eyes upon her, and Lucy +coloured under it; but perhaps the very fact only served to speed her +on the way. + +The party started, passing out at the grand gates of Foxwood. Between +that spot and the Maze, short though it was, they encountered Mr. +Cattacomb. Miss Blake took upon herself to introduce him, and to ask +him to accompany them, saying they were going to see that renowned +show-place, the Maze. + +"I did not know we had a show-place in the neighbourhood," drawled Mr. +Cattacomb in his affectation. + +"Neither have we," curtly rejoined Sir Karl, who would willingly have +pitched Mr. Cattacomb over a mile elsewhere, but did not see an excuse +for doing it. "The Maze was never constituted a show-place yet, Miss +Blake. I feel anything but comfortable at intruding there to-day, I +assure you. Between my wish to gratify my friends, and my fear that it +may be objectionable to the occupant of the Maze, I am in a blissful +state of uncertainty," he added in a laughing kind of way, for the +general benefit, fearing he might have spoken too pointedly and shown +that he was really ill at ease. + +"Sir Karl is ultra-sensitive," remarked Miss Blake--and a keen +observer might have fancied there was some sarcasm in her tone. + +Karl rang the clanging bell--which might be heard far and wide; and +Ann Hopley appeared, the key of the gate in her hand. She curtsied to +the company as she admitted them. + +"My mistress desires me to say, Sir Karl, that she hopes the +gentle-people will see all they wish to see," cried the woman aloud, +addressing the rest as much as she did Sir Karl. "Mrs. Grey begs they +will pardon her not appearing to welcome them, but she is not well +to-day, and has to keep her room." + +"Mrs. Grey is very kind," returned Sir Karl. "We shall be cautious not +to disturb her." + +They filed of their own accord into the maze. The old trees had not +been so beset with gay tongues and laughter for many a day. One ran +here, another there; they were like school boys and girls out for a +holiday. Ann Hopley was about to follow them in when the clanging bell +at the gate once more sounded, and she turned back to open it. Karl, +never at rest--as who could be, knowing what he knew--looked after her +while he talked with the rest; and he saw that the visitor was a +policeman. + +His heart leaped into his mouth. Careless, in the moment's terror, of +what might be thought of him, he broke off in the middle of a sentence +to the General, and returned to the gate. His face was never very +rosy, but every vestige of colour had forsaken it now. At a collected +moment, he would have remembered that it was not in _that_ way his +brother would have been sought out--in the person of one solitary +unarmed policeman--but fear scares probability away: as Rose had +observed to him only the previous evening. Worse than all, the rest +came flocking to the gate after him. + +"Grey, ain't it?" the policeman was saying to Ann Hopley. He had a +paper in his hand and a pencil. + +"Mrs. Grey," replied the servant. + +"Mrs. Grey. There ain't no husband, I think?" + +"No." + +"What's her Chris'en name?" + +A warning glance shot from Sir Karl's eyes, cautioning Ann Hopley to +be on her guard. In truth it was not needed: the woman was caution +itself, and had her ready wits at hand always. Karl saw what it +was--some parish paper about to be left--and was recovering his inward +equanimity. + +"My mistress's Christian name? Mary." + +"Mrs. Mary Grey," repeated the policeman, writing down the name on the +paper. "You'll please to give it her," he added, handing the paper in. +"It have got to be attended to." + +"All tax-papers for Mrs. Grey must come to Foxwood Court," interposed, +Sir Karl. "Mrs. Grey takes the house furnished, and has nothing to do +with the taxes." + +"Beg pardon, Sir Karl, but that there's a voting-paper for a poor-law +guardian," said the man, touching his hat. + +"Oh, a voting-paper. Let it go in then," concluded Sir Karl. Mrs. Grey +had no more to do with voting than she had with taxes; but Sir Karl +let it pass. + +They were in the maze again; Ann Hopley having wound herself out of +sight with the paper. Mr. Panton, the disbeliever, wound _himself_ in +and out of the trees and about the paths; but the voices always guided +him back again. + +"What a delightful place, Sir Karl!" cried Mrs. Panton. "Quite like a +Fair Rosamond's Bower." + +Sir Karl laughed in reply. And--as Miss Blake noticed--there was not a +trace of shame in his face. Lucy's colour, though, rose painfully. + +"Let me see! it was a silken thread, was it not, that guided Queen +Eleanor to her rival?" continued Mrs. Panton. "A cruel woman! I wonder +whether she carried the bowl of poison in her hand?" + +"I wonder if the woman who destroyed the Queen's happiness, had any +forewarning in her dreams of the fate in store for her?" retorted Miss +Blake, sharply--for she was thinking of another case, very near to +her, that she judged to be analogous. "For her punishment, it is to be +hoped she had." + +"Oh, but you know she was so lovely, poor thing! One can but pity her; +can we, Lady Andinnian?" + +"I know nothing of it," spoke Lucy, in so chafed a tone that Karl +turned to look at her. + +"My opinion is, that the King should have taken half the bowl," said +Miss Blake. "That would have been even justice, Mrs. Panton." + +"Well, well, judge it as you will, Fair Rosamond was very beautiful; +and her fate was shocking. Of course the Queen was incensed; +naturally: and the crime of poisoning in those days was, I suppose, +looked upon as no crime at all. I have always wished the Queen had +been lost in the maze and the poison spilt." + +"Suppose we get lost in this one!" + +It was Miss Lloyd who spoke, hurriedly and somewhat anxiously. It +brought most of them around her. + +"There is no danger here, is there? Sir Karl, you know the way out, I +suppose?" + +Karl evaded the question. "If the worst come to the worst, we can set +on and shout," he observed. + +"But _don't_ you know the clue? Is there not a clue? There must be!" + +"I see nothing of the kind," returned Karl. "You forget that I am +almost a stranger in the neighbourhood. We shall be all right. Don't +fear." + +How Lucy despised him for his deceit! She felt that he must have the +clue: why else need he let himself within the gate with his key--at +least, with any purpose of finding his way further in after it? Miss +Blake caught her eye; and Lucy turned away, sick at heart, from the +compassion Miss Blake's glance wore. + +Sir Karl's "Don't fear" had been reassuring, and they dispersed about +the Maze and lost themselves in it, very much as Miss Blake had once +done. Mr. Cattacomb kept asking questions about the mistress of the +Maze: why she lived there alone, where her husband was: for all of +which Sir Karl could have struck him. He, Karl, would have contrived +to keep them from the boundaries near the house: but they were as nine +to one, and went whither they would: and, as had been Miss Blake's +case, they got within view of it at last. + +"What a pretty place!" was the involuntary exclamation from more than +one. + +It did look pretty: pretty and very cheerful. The windows of the house +were open; the door of the porch was fastened back, as if to invite +entrance. Not a sign or symptom existed of there being any cause for +concealment. + +So far good, and Karl felt satisfied. But, as his eyes went ranging +far and wide in their longed-for security, there was no doubt that he +somewhere or other caught sight of his imprudent brother; for his face +changed to an ashy paleness, and he groaned in spirit. + +"Adam is surely mad," was his mental cry. + +Ann Hopley, who had probably been waiting about, stepped up at this +moment, and asked with much civility if they would like to walk +indoors and rest. Sir Karl, looking at his friends, as if for +acquiescence in his denial, declined. "We have _no right_ to intrude," +he whispered: and the General said so too. + +"This might really do for a Rosamond's Bower!" cried Mrs. Panton. "It +is a sweetly pretty place." + +The lawn was level as a bowling-green; the flowers and shrubs +surrounding it were well-kept, fragrant, and blooming. Mounted on a +ladder, nailing some branches against a wall that probably belonged to +a tool-house, was the toothless old gardener, his knees swollen and +bent, his white smock frock rolled up around him. + +"That's the gardener at his work, I suppose?" observed the General, +whose eyes were dim. + +"Yes, that's Hopley," said Karl. + +"What d'ye call his name; Sir Karl?" + +"Hopley. He is the woman's husband." + +"I had a servant once of that name when I was quartered at Malta. A +good servant he was, too." + +"That man yonder looks ill," remarked Mrs. Panton. + +"I fancy he is subject to rheumatism," said Sir Karl. "How is your +husband?" he enquired of Ann Hopley. + +"Pretty middling, sir, thank you," she answered. "He is getting in +years you see, gentlefolks, and is not as strong as he was." + +"Will you be so good as precede us through the Maze and let us out," +said Karl to her. "I think it is time we went," he added to the +others: "we have seen all there is to see." + +Ann Hopley, key in hand, went winding through the Maze, in and out of +the numberless paths. It seemed to those following, her that they only +went round and round--just as it had seemed to Miss Blake that former +day; and it took some time to get through it. The Reverend Mr. +Cattacomb called it "a pilgrimage." + +She was crafty, that faithful woman. Just as she had led Miss Blake a +needlessly roundabout way, so she led them now. Had she taken them +direct through, who knew but they might have caught some inkling of +the clue? While opening the gate, General Lloyd would have put +half-a-crown into her hand. She would not take it. + +"I'd rather not, sir; I've done nothing to merit it. Our mistress pays +us both well. Thank you, sir, all the same." + +"A good, respectable, honest servant, that," remarked the General, +slipping the money into his pocket again. + +Crossing the road from the Maze, the party came right in view of +Clematis Cottage and Mr. Smith, who was leaning over the gate of it +and staring with all his might. He raised his hat to the ladies +generally, and then accosted Sir Karl, saying he had taken the plan, +asked for, to the Court. + +"Thank you," replied Karl. + +"Who _is_ that man?" cried Captain Lloyd with some energy as they went +on. "I am sure I know him." + +"His name's Smith," replied Karl. "He is a sort of agent on my +estate." + +"Smith--Smith! I don't recollect the name. His face is quite familiar +to me, though. Where can I have seen it?" + +Karl longed in his heart to ask whether the face had ever belonged to +the name of Salter; but he did not dare. There had been a peculiar +expression in Mr. Smith's eyes as he spoke to him just now, which Karl +had read rightly--he was sure Smith wanted to speak to him privately. +So, after the rest had entered the home gates, he turned back. The +agent had not stirred from his place. + +"What have those people been doing there, Sir Karl?" he asked, with a +peremptory action of his hand towards the Maze. + +Karl explained. He did not dare do otherwise. Explained in full. + +"Curious fools!" cried the man angrily. "Well, no harm seems to have +been done, sir. Seeing you all come out of the gate, I could not +believe my eyes, or imagine what was up." + +"I fancied you wished to speak to me, Mr. Smith." + +"And so I do, Sir Karl. The letters were late this morning--did you +know it? They've only just been delivered. Some accident, I suppose." + +"I only know that none came to Foxwood Court this morning." + +"Just so. Well, Sir Karl, I've had one; ten minutes ago. I wrote to +make inquiries about that paragraph, in the newspaper, and this letter +was the answer to mine. It is as I thought. There's nothing known or +suspected at all at headquarters; neither at Scotland Yard nor +Portland Island. It was the work of the penny-a-liner, hang +him!----just an invention, and nothing else." + +"To whom did you write?" + +"Well, that's my business, and I cannot tell you. But you may rely +upon what I say, Sir Karl, and set your mind at rest. I thought you'd +like to know this, sir, as, soon as possible." + +"Thank you," replied Karl. + +He went back to his guests, his brain busy. Was this true, that Smith +said? Who then was Smith that he could get this information? Or, was +it that Smith was saying it for a purpose? + + + + +CHAPTER II. +Recognised. + + +The buff-coloured blinds were down before Mr. Burtenshaw's windows in +the Euston Road, shutting out the glare of the afternoon sun, and +throwing an unwholesome kind of tint over the rooms. In one of them, +the front room on the first floor, sat the detective himself. It was +indeed a kind of office as well as a sitting-room: papers strewed the +table; pigeon holes and shelves, all filled, were ranged along the +walls. + +Mr. Burtenshaw had a complicated case in hand at that period. Some +fresh information had just come in by a private letter, and he was +giving the best attention of his clear mind to it: his head bent over +the table; his hands resting on the papers immediately before him. +Apparently he arrived at some conclusion: for he nodded twice and then +began to fold the papers together. + +The servant-maid, with the flaunty cap tilted on her head, entered the +room, and said to her master that a gentleman had called and was +requesting to see him. + +"Who is it?" asked Mr. Burtenshaw. + +"He gave no name, sir. It's the same gentleman who called twice or +thrice in one day about a fortnight ago: the last time late at night. +He's very nice-looking, sir; might be known for a gentleman a mile +off." The detective carried his thoughts back, and remembered. "You +can show him up," he said. "Or----stay, Harriet," he suddenly added, +as the girl was leaving the room. "Go down first of all and ask the +gentleman his name." + +She went as desired; and came up again fixing her absurd cap on its +tottering pinnacle. + +"The gentleman says, sir, that you don't know him by name, but his +solicitors are Messrs. Plunkett and Plunkett." + +"Ay. Show him up," said Mr. Burtenshaw. "He has a motive for +withholding his name," mentally added the detective. + +The reader need not be told that it was Karl Andinnian who entered. +The object of his visit was to get, it possible, some more information +respecting Philip Salter. + +Day by day and week by week, as the days and weeks went on, had served +to show Karl Andinnian that his brother's stay at the Maze was growing +more full of risk. Karl and Mrs. Grey, conversing on the matter as +opportunity occurred, had nearly set it down as a certainty that Smith +was no other than Salter. She felt sure of it. Karl nearly so. And he +was persuaded that, once Smith's influence could be removed, Adam +might get safely away. + +The question ever agitating Karl's brain, in the midnight watches, in +the garish day, was--what could he do in the matter?--how proceed in +it at all with perfect security? The first thing of course was to +ascertain that the man was Salter; the next to make a bargain with +him: "You leave my brother free, and I will leave you free." For it +was by no means his intention to deliver Salter up to justice. Karl +had realized too keenly the distress and horror that must be the +portion of a poor fugitive, hiding from the law, to denounce the worst +criminal living. + +The difficulty lay entirely in the first step--the identification of +Smith with Salter. How could he ascertain it? He did not know. He +could not see any means by which it might be accomplished with +safety. Grimley knew Salter--as in fact did several of Grimley's +brotherhood--but, if he once brought Grimley within a bird's-eye view +of Smith (Smith being Salter) Grimley would at once lay his grasping +hands upon him. All would probably be over then: for the chances were +that Salter in revenge would point his finger to the Maze, and say +"There lives a greater criminal than I; your supposed dead convict, +Adam Andinnian." + +The reader must see the difficulty and the danger. Karl dared not +bring Grimley or any other of the police in contact with Smith; he +dared not give them a clue to where he might be found: and he had to +fall back upon the uncertain and unsatisfactory step of endeavouring +to track out the identity himself. + +"If I could but get to know Burtenshaw's reason for thinking Salter +was in England," he exclaimed to himself over and over again, "perhaps +it might help me. Suppose I were to ask Burtenshaw again--and press it +on him? Something might come of it. After all, he could but refuse to +tell me." + +Just as Karl, after much painful deliberation, had determined to do +this, there arrived at Foxwood a summons for his wife. Colonel Cleeve +was attacked with sudden illness. In the first shock of it, Mrs. +Cleeve feared it might prove fatal, and she sent for Lucy. Karl took +her to Winchester and left her, and at once took up his own abode for +a few days in London. The Court had none too much attraction for him +as matters stood, and he did not care to be left to entertain Miss +Blake. So long as his wife stayed away, he meant to stay. + +The following afternoon saw him at the detective's. Mr. Burtenshaw had +thought his unknown visitor looking ill before: he looked worse now. +"A delicate man with some great care upon him," summed up the officer +to himself. + +Karl, opening his business, led up to the question he had come to ask. +Would Mr. Burtenshaw confide to him the reason for his supposing +Philip Salter to be still in England? At first Mr. Burtenshaw said No; +that it could not, he imagined, concern him or anyone else to hear +it. Karl pleaded, and pleaded earnestly. + +"Whatever you say shall be kept strictly sacred," he urged. "It cannot +do harm to any one. I have a powerful motive for asking it." + +"And a painful one, too," thought the detective. Karl was leaning +forward in his chair, his pale face slightly flushed with inward +emotion, his beautiful grey eyes full of eager entreaty, and a strange +sadness in their depths. + +"Will you impart to me, sir, your motive for wishing to know this?" + +"No, I cannot," said Karl. "I wish I could, but I cannot." + +"I fancy that you must know Salter's retreat, sir--or think you know +it: and you want to be assured it is he before you denounce him," +spoke the detective, hazarding a shrewd guess. + +Karl raised his hand to enforce what he said, speaking solemnly. "Were +I able to put my finger this moment upon Salter, I would not denounce +him. Nothing would induce me. You may believe me when I say that, in +asking for this information, I intend no harm to him." + +The detective saw how true were the words. There was something in Karl +Andinnian strangely attractive, and he began to waver. + +"It is not of much consequence whether I give you the information or +whether I withhold it," he acknowledged, giving way. "The fact is +this: one of our men who knew Salter, thought he saw him some three or +four months ago. He, our man, was on the Great Western line, going to +Bath; in passing a station where they did not stop, he saw (or thought +he saw) Salter standing there. He is a cool-judging, keen-sighted +officer, and I do not myself think he could have been mistaken. We +followed up the scent at once, but nothing has come of it." + +Karl made no answer: he was considering. Three or four months ago? +That was about the time, he fancied, that Smith took up his abode at +Foxwood. Previous to that, he might have been all over England, for +aught Karl could tell. + +"Just before that," resumed the detective, "another of the men struck +up a cock-and-bull story that Salter was living in Aberdeen. I forget +the precise reason he had for asserting it. We instituted inquiries: +but, like the later tale, they resulted in nothing. As yet, we have no +sure clue to Salter." + +"That is all you know!" asked Karl. + +"Every word. Has the information helped you?" + +"Not in the least degree." + +There was nothing else for Karl to wait for. His visit had been a +fruitless one. "I should have liked to see Grimley once again," he +said as he rose. "Is he in town?" + +"Grimley is in the house now. At least, he ought to be. He is engaged +in a case under me, and was to be here at three o'clock for +instructions. Will you see him?" + +"If you please." + +It had occurred to Karl more than once that he should like to describe +Smith accurately to Grimley, and ask whether the description tallied +with Salter's. He could do it without affording any clue to Smith or +his locality. + +Mr. Burtenshaw rang, and told the maid to send up Grimley, if he had +come. In obedience to this, Grimley, in his official clothes, +appeared, and another officer with him. + +"Oh, I don't want you just yet, Watts," said Mr. Burtenshaw. "Wait +down stairs." + +"Very well, sir," replied the man. "I may as well give you this, +though," he added, crossing the room and placing a small box the size +of a five-shilling-piece on the table. Mr. Burtenshaw looked at it +curiously, and then slipped it into the drawer at his left hand. + +"From Jacob, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The man left the room. Karl, after a few preliminary words with +Grimley, gave an elaborate and close description of Smith's figure and +features. "Is it like Salter?" he asked. + +"If it isn't him, sir, it's his twin brother," was Grimley's emphatic +answer. "As to his looking forty, it is only to be expected. Nothing +ages a man like living a life of fear." + +Karl remembered how Adam had aged and was ageing, and silently +acquiesced. He began to think he saw his way somewhat more clearly; +that the man at Foxwood was certainly Salter. Handing over a gratuity +to Grimley, and taking leave of Mr. Burtenshaw, he departed, leaving +the other two talking of him. + +"He has dropped upon Salter," remarked Grimley. + +"Yes," said Mr. Burtenshaw. "But he does not intend to deliver him +up." + +"No!" cried the other in amazement. "Why not, sir?" + +"I don't know," said Mr. Burtenshaw. "He said he had no intention of +the kind--and I am sure he has not. It seemed to me to be rather the +contrary--that he wants to screen him." + +"Then he told you, sir, that he _had_ found Salter?" + +"No, he did not. We were speaking on supposition." + +"Who is this gentleman, sir?" + +"I don't know who he is. He keeps his name from me." + +Mr. Grimley felt anything but satisfied with the present aspect of the +affair. What right had this stranger, who wanted to know all about +Salter, to refuse to denounce him? Once more he asked Mr. Burtenshaw +if he did not know who he was, but the latter repeated his denial. +During the discussion, the man Watts entered the room again, and heard +what passed. He looked at Mr. Burtenshaw. + +"Are you speaking of the gentleman just gone out, sir? I know him." + +"Why, who is he?" asked Mr. Burtenshaw, who had taken out the little +box again, and was opening it. + +"Sir Karl Andinnian." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the detective, aroused to interest. For Sir Karl +Andinnian, brother to the criminal who had made so much stir in the +world, was a noted name amongst the force. + +"It is," said Watts. "I knew him the minute I came in. I was present +at the trial in Northampton, sir, when his brother was condemned to +death; this gentleman sat all day at the solicitors' table. I had gone +down there on that business of Patteson's." + +"No wonder he has a sad look," thought the detective. "Adam +Andinnian's was a mournful case, and his death was mournful. But what +interest can Sir Karl have in Salter?" + +There was one, at least, who determined to ascertain, if possible, +what that interest was--and that was Mr. Policeman Grimley. A shrewd +man by nature, a very shrewd one by experience, he drew his own +deductions--and they were anything but favourable to the future +security of some of the inhabitants of Foxwood. Could Karl Andinnian +have seen what his morning's work had done for him, he would have been +ready to sit in sackcloth and ashes, after the manner of the mourners +of old. + +"Sir Karl's living at Foxwood Court with his young wife," ran Mr. +Grimley's thoughts: "I know that much. Wherever this Salter is, it's +not far from him, I'll lay. Hid in Foxwood, and no mistake! I'll get +him unearthed if it costs me my place. Let's see; how shall I set +about it?" + +As a preliminary step, he gently sounded Mr. Burtenshaw; but found he +could get no help from him: it was not the detective's custom to stir +in any matter without orders. Mr. Grimley then slept a night upon it, +and in the morning had resolved to strike a bold stroke. Obtaining a +private interview with one who was high in the force at Scotland Yard, +he denounced Salter, telling of Sir Karl Andinnian's visits to +Burtenshaw, and their purport. + +"Salter is in hiding at Foxwood, or somewhere in its neighbourhood, +sir, as sure as that my name's Dick Grimley," he said. "I want him +took. I don't care about the reward--and perhaps it would not be given +to me in any case, seeing it was me that let the fellow go--but I want +him took. He's a crafty fox, sir, mark you, though; and it will have +to be gone about cautiously." + +"If Salter be retaken through this declaration of yours, Grimley, I +daresay you'll get some of the reward," was the consoling answer. "Who +knows the man? It will not do for you to go down." + +"No, it wouldn't," acquiesced Grimley. "He knows me; and, once he +caught sight of me, he'd make off like a rat sneaking out of a sinking +ship. Besides, sir, I couldn't leave that other thing Mr. Burtenshaw +has in hand." + +"Well, Who knows Salter, I ask?" + +"Tatton does, sir; knows him as well as I do; but Salter does not know +Tatton. Tatton would be the best man for it, too. Burtenshaw himself +can't manage a case as Tatton does when it comes to personal acting." + +There was a little more conversation, and then Grimley withdrew, and +Tatton was sent for. The grass could not be let grow under their feet +in the attempt to retake that coveted prize, Philip Salter. + +This Tatton had begun life as an ordinary policeman: but his talents +raised him. He was smart in appearance and manner, had received a +fairly good education, conversed well on the topics of the day, could +adapt himself to any society he might happen to be in, from that of a +gentleman to a shoeblack, and was found to possess the rare prudence, +the certain tact, necessary to undertake the conduct of delicate +cases, and bring them to a successful conclusion. Grimley was correct, +in judging that Tatton would be the right man to put on the track of +Philip Salter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +A New Lodger in Paradise Row. + + +The sun was drawing towards the west, and the summer's afternoon was +waning, for the days were not so long as they had been a month or two +ago, when a gentleman, slight and rather short, with light eyes, fair +curly hair, and about thirty years of age, alighted from the London +train at Foxwood station. He had a black bag in his hand and a +portmanteau in the van, and enquired of the porter the way to Foxwood. + +"Do you mean Foxwood proper, sir; or Foxwood, Sir Karl Andinnian's +place?" returned the porter. + +"Foxwood proper, I suppose. It is a village, is it not?" + +"Yes, sir. Go down the road to the left, sir, then take the first +turning on your right, and it will bring you into Foxwood." + +"Thank you," said the gentleman, and slipped a small silver coin into +the porter's hand. He knew, nobody better, the value of a silver key: +and the chances were that he might shortly get gossiping with this +station porter about the neighbourhood and its politics. + +Bag in hand, and leaving his portmanteau at the station, he speedily +found himself in the heart of Foxwood. Casting about his eyes on this +side and that, they settled on Paradise Row, on which the sun was +shining, and on a white embossed card hanging in the first-floor +window of the middle house, which card had on it, in large letters, +"Apartments furnished." + +At the open entrance-door of the same house stood a widow woman in a +clean cap and smart black silk apron. Mrs. Jinks was en grande +toilette that afternoon. + +"It looks likely," said the stranger to himself. "Madame there will +talk her tongue sore, I see, once prompted." And going up to the door, +he politely took off his hat as he might to a duchess. + +"You have apartments to let, I think, madam?" + +"Good gracious!" cried the Widow Jinks, taken by surprise--for she was +only looking out for the muffin-boy, and the slanting rays of the sun +were dazzling her eyes, so that she had not observed the traveller. "I +beg pardon, sir; apartments, did you say? Yes, sir, I've got my +drawing-room just emptied." + +It happened that an elderly lady from Basham and her grand-daughters +had been lodging there for a month, the young ladies being ardent +disciples of Mr. Cattacomb; but they had now left, and the +drawing-room was ready to be let again. Mrs. Jinks went on to explain +this, rather volubly. + +"I will go up and look at it, if you please," said the stranger. + +The widow ushered him along the passage towards the stairs, treading +softly as she passed the parlour door. + +"I've got a Reverend Gent lodging in there," she said, "minister of +the new church, St. Jerome's. He has a meeting every Thursday evening, +for Scripture reading, or something of that--exercises, I think they +call it. This is Thursday, and they be all expected. But he wants his +tea first, and that there dratted muffin-boy's not round yet. The +Reverend Gent have dropped asleep on three chairs in his shirt +sleeves, while he waits for it.----This is the drawing-room, sir." + +The stranger liked the drawing-room very much; the sun made it +cheerful, he said; and he liked the bedroom behind it. Mrs. Jinks +rather hesitated at letting the two rooms alone. She generally let the +bedrooms at the top of the house with them. + +"How long shall you be likely to stay, sir?" questioned she. + +"I do not know. It may be a week, it may be a month, it may be more. I +am seeking country air and rest to re-establish my health, ma'am, and +want a quiet place to read in. I shall not give you much trouble." + +Mrs. Jinks agreed to let him have the rooms at last, demanding a few +shillings over the usual terms for the two: a bird in the hand, she +thought, was worth two in the bush. Next she asked for references. + +"I cannot refer you to any one here," he said, "for I don't know a +soul in the place, and not a soul in it knows me. I will pay you every +week in advance; and that I presume will do as well as references." + +He laid down the sum agreed upon and a sovereign beside it. "You will +be so good as to get in for me a few things to eat and drink, Mrs. +Jinks. I should like to have some tea first of all, if convenient, and +one of those muffins you spoke of. Well buttered, if you please." + +"Yes, sir; certainly, sir. We get muffins at Foxwood all the year +round, sir, on account of there being company in the place at summer +time: in other towns, Basham, for instance, they are only made in +winter. Buttered muffins and cress, sir, is uncommonly good together." + +"Are they? I'll have some cress too." + +Telling her, as well as he could remember, what articles he should +want besides butter and muffins, and bidding her to add anything else +that she thought he might require, he picked up his black bag to take +it into the bedroom. Mrs. Jinks in her politeness begged him to let +her take it, but he said certainly not. + +"Is it all the luggage you've got, sir, this?" + +"My portmanteau is at the station. I could not order it on until I +knew where I should be or, in fact, whether I should stay at Foxwood +at all. Had I not found lodgings to my mind, ma'am, I might have gone +on somewhere else." + +"Foxwood's the loveliest, healthiest spot you can find, sir," cried +the widow, eagerly. "Sweet walks about it, there is." + +"So I was told by my medical man. One wants nice rural walks, Mrs. +Jinks, after reading hard." + +"So one does, sir. You are reading up for college, I suppose? I had a +young gent here once from Oxford. He got plucked, too, afterwards. +There's the muffin-boy!" added Mrs. Jinks, in delight, as the fierce +ring of a bell and the muffin-call was heard beneath. "Oh, I beg +pardon, sir, what name?" + +The gentleman, who had his head and hands just then in his bag, merely +responded that he was a stranger. Mrs. Jinks, in the hurry to be gone, +and confused with the ringing and the calling below, caught up the +answer as "Strange." + +"A Mr. Strange," she said to herself, going down with the money in her +hand. "And one of the nicest gents I've ever come across. 'Put plenty +o' butter,' says he. _He_ ain't one as'll look sharp after every crumb +and odd and end, as too many of 'em does, and say where's the rest of +this, that it don't come up, and where's the remainder of that." + +Mrs. Jinks had a young help-mate when she was what she considered in +"full let;" a young damsel of fourteen, who wore her hair in a pink +net. Sending the girl flying to the general shop for various things, +she set on to toast the muffins; and tea was speedily served in both +rooms. She took in the clergyman's first. Mr. Cattacomb was asleep on +the three chairs, in his shirt sleeves. He was beginning to find his +work somewhat hard. What with the duties in the church, the services, +and sermons, and confessions, and the duties out of church connected +with little boys and girls, and with those anxious Christians who +never left him alone, the young ladies, Mr. Cattacomb was often +considerably fatigued; and it was under consideration whether his +former coadjutor, the Reverend Damon Puff, should not be summoned to +assist him. + +"Here's your tea, sir," said Mrs. Jinks, "and a beautiful hot muffin. +I couldn't get it up afore, for the muffin-boy was late." + +"My tea, is it, Mrs. Jinks?" replied Mr. Cattacomb, slowly rising. +"Thank you, I am dead tired." + +And, perhaps in consequence of the fatigue, or that Mrs. Jinks was not +worth any display, it might have been observed that the affectation, +so characteristic of the reverend gentleman when in society, had +entirely disappeared now. Indeed, it seemed at this undress moment +that Mr. Cattacomb was a simple-mannered, pleasant man. + +"I've been in luck this afternoon, sir, and have let my drawing-room +floor," continued the widow, as she settled the tea-tray before him. +"It's a Mr. Strange, sir, that's took it; a gent reading for Oxford, +and out of health. His doctor have ordered him into the country for +change, and told him he'd find quiet air and nice walks at Foxwood. +You may hear his boots walking about overhead, sir. He seems to be as +nice and liberal a gent as ever I had to do with." + +"Glad to hear it," said Mr. Cattacomb, beginning upon his muffin +vigorously. "We shall want more chairs here presently, you know, Mrs. +Jinks." + +The tea-tray had scarcely disappeared, and Mr. Cattacomb put on his +coat and his fascinating company manners, before the company began to +arrive. On these Thursday evenings Mr. Cattacomb gave at his own home +a private lecture, descriptive of some of the places mentioned in holy +Scripture. The lectures were attended by all his flock at St. Jerome's +and by several young ladies from Basham. Of course it necessitated a +great many seats; and the new lodger above was yet at his tea, when +Mrs. Jinks appeared, her face redder than usual with running about, +and begged the loan of "Mr. Strange's" chairs, explaining what they +were wanted for. + +"Oh, certainly: take them all, Mrs. Jinks," replied he, in the most +accommodating manner possible. "I can sit upon the table." + +Mrs. Jinks considerately left him one, however, and went down with the +rest. He found out she had taken up the notion that his name was +"Strange," and laughed a little. + +"Some misunderstanding, I suppose, on her part when I said I was a +stranger," thought he. "All right; I'll not contradict it." + +While the bumping and thumping went on, caused by the progress of +chairs down from the chambers and up from the kitchen, and the knocker +and the bell kept up a perpetual duet, Mr. Strange (we will call him +so at present ourselves) put on his hat to go round and order his +portmanteau to be sent from the station. As he passed the parlour door +it stood open; no one was looking his way; he had a good view of the +interior, and took in the scene and the details with his observant +eyes. A comfortable room, containing a dozen or two charming and +chattering ladies, surrounded by a perfect epitome of tasty and +luxurious objects that had been worked by fair fingers. Cushions, +anti-macassars, slippers, scrolls, drawings enshrined in leather +frames, ornamental mats by the dozen, cosies for tea-pots, lamp tops +and stands, flowers in wax under shades, sweet flowers from hothouses +in water, and other things too numerous to mention. + +"A man beset, that clergyman," thought Mr. Strange, with a silent +laugh, as he bent his steps towards the railway. "He should get +married and stop it. Perhaps he likes it, though: some of them do who +have more vanity than brains." + +So he ordered his portmanteau to No. 5, Paradise Row, contriving to +leave the same impression at the station that he had given Mrs. +Jinks--a reading man in search of quiet and health. + +Mrs. Jinks presided at the arrival of the portmanteau, and saw some +books taken out of it in the drawing-room. While her lodger's back was +turned, she took the liberty of peeping into one or two of them; and +finding their language was what she could not read, supposed it to be +Greek or Latin. Before the night was over, all Paradise Row, upwards +and downwards, had been regaled with the news of her new lodger, and +the particulars concerning his affairs. + +"A scholar-gent, by name of Strange, who had come down to read and get +up his health, and had brought his Greek and Latin books with him." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +Nurse Chaffen on Duty. + + +How short a period of time may serve to bring forth vital chances and +changes! Sir Karl and Lady Andinnian were absent only a week, yet +before they returned a stranger had taken up his abode at Foxwood, +indirectly brought to it by Karl himself; and something had happened +at the Maze. + +Lucy was out amidst her plants and shrubs and flowers the evening of +her return, when the shadows were lengthening on the grass. Karl was +writing letters indoors; Miss Blake had hurried up from dinner to +attend vespers. In spite of the estrangement and misery that pervaded +the home atmosphere, Lucy felt glad to be there again. The meeting +with her husband, after the week's entire separation, had caused her +pulses to quicken and her heart to bound with something that was very +like joy. Colonel Cleeve was out of all danger; was nearly well again. +It had been a sharp but temporary attack of sickness. The Colonel and +his wife had pressed Lucy to prolong her stay, had asked Sir Karl to +come and join her; and they both considered it somewhat unaccountable +that Lucy should have persisted in declining. Theresa was alone at +Foxwood, was the chief plea of excuse she urged: the real impediment +being that she and Karl could not stay at her mother's home together +without risk of the terms on which they lived becoming known. So Karl, +on the day appointed, went from London to Winchester, and brought Lucy +home. + + +For the forbearance she had exercised, the patient silence she had +maintained, Lucy had in a degree received the reward during this +sojourn with her father and mother. More than ever was it brought home +to her conviction then, that she would almost rather have died than +betray it. It would have inflicted on them so much pain and shame. It +would have lowered herself so in their sight, and in the sight of +those old and young friends who had known her in her girlhood, and who +whispered their sense of what her happiness must now be, and their +admiration of her attractive husband. "Martyrdom rather than that!" +said Lucy, clasping her hands with fixed resolution, as she paced the +grass, thinking over her visit, on this, the evening of her return. + +Karl came up to her with two letters in his hand. She was then sitting +under the acacia tree. The sun had set, but in the west shone a flood +of golden light. The weather in the daytime was still hot as in the +middle of that hot summer, but the evenings and nights were cool. +Lucy's shawl lay beside her. + +"It is time to put it on," said Karl--and he wrapped it round her +himself carefully. It caused her to see the address of the two letters +in his hand. One was to Plunkett and Plunkett; the other to Mrs. +Cleeve. + +"You have been writing to mamma!" she exclaimed. + +"She asked me to be sure and let her have one line to say you got home +safely. I have given your love, Lucy." + +"Thank you, Karl. And now you axe going to the post." + +"And now I am going to the post. And I must make haste, or I shall +find the box shut." + +He took his hand from her shoulder, where it had momentarily rested, +and crossed the grass, Lucy looking after him. + +"How thoughtful and kind he is!" she soliloquised. "It is just as +though he loved me." And her imagination went off wandering at random, +as imagination will. Once more she reverted to that former +possibility---of condoning the past and becoming reconciled again. It +was _very_ good of him, and she felt it so, to have stayed that week +in London. She fancied he had done it that she might know he did not +spend his time at the Maze in her absence. And so, the evening shadows +came on, and still Lucy sat there, lost in her dreams. + +Miss Blake, it has been said, had hurried from dinner, to go to +vespers. As she turned into the road from the Court, she saw a boy a +little in advance of her on the other side, his basket on his arm. It +was the doctor's boy, Cris Lumley, against whom Miss Blake had a +grievance. She crossed over and caught him up just as he rang at the +Maze gate. + +"Now, Cris Lumley, what have you to say for yourself! For three days +you have not appeared at class." + +"'Tain't my fault," said Cris Lumley, who was just as impudent as he +looked; a very different boy indeed from civil-natured Tom Pepp. "It +be master's." + +"How is it your master's?" + +"What master says is this here: 'I be to attend to him and my place; +or I be to give it up, if I wants to kick up my heels all day at +school.'" + +"I don't believe you," said Miss Blake. "I shall speak to Mr. Moore." + +"Just do then," said the independent boy. + +"The fact of the case is no doubt this, Cris Lumley--that you play +truant for half the day sometimes, on the plea of being all that while +at school." + +"Master said another thing, he did," resumed the young gentleman, +ignoring the last accusation. "He said as if Parson Sumnor warn't no +longer good enough for me to learn religion from, he'd get another boy +in my place, that he was good enough for. There! you may ask him +whether he said it or not." + +Declining to bandy further words with him until she should have seen +the surgeon, Miss Blake was hastening on, when the fringe of her +mantle caught against his medicine basket. It reminded her that some +one must be ill. Battling for a moment with her curiosity, but not for +long, she condescended to inquire who was ill at the Maze. + +"It be the missis," replied Cris. + +"The mistress! Do you mean Mrs. Grey?" + +Mr. Lumley nodded. + +"What is the matter with _her?_" + +"Got a baby," said the boy shortly. + +For the instant Miss Blake felt struck into herself, and was dumb. She +did not believe it. + +"He were born yesterday," added the boy. "This be some physic for him: +and this be the missis's." + +Throwing back the lid of one end of his basket, Miss Blake saw two +bottles, done up in white paper. The larger one was addressed "Mrs. +Grey," the small one "Mrs. Grey's infant." + +She turned away without another word, feeling ready to sink with the +weight of the world's iniquity. It pressed upon her most unpleasantly +throughout the evening service at St. Jerome's, and for once Miss +Blake was inattentive to the exhortations of the Rev. Guy. Looking at +the matter as Miss Blake looked at it, it must be confessed that she +had just cause for condemnation. + +To return to Lucy. It grew dusk and more dusk; and she at length went +indoors. Karl came in, bringing Mr. Moore, whom he had overtaken near +the gate: and almost close upon that, Miss Blake returned. The sight +of the doctor, sitting there with Karl and Lucy, brought back all Miss +Blake's vexation. It had been at boiling-point for the last hour, and +now it bubbled over. The wisest course no doubt would have been to +hold her tongue: but her indignation--a perfectly righteous and proper +indignation, as she deemed it--forbade that. The ill-doing of the boy, +respecting which she had been about to appeal to Mr. Moore, was quite +lost sight of in this ill-doing. There could be no fear of risking +Jane Shore's sheet of penance in repeating what she had heard. It was +her duty to speak: she fully believed that: her duty to open Lucy's +obtuse eyes--and who knew but Sir Karl might be brought to his +senses through the speaking? The surgeon and Lucy were sitting +near the window in the sweet still twilight: Karl stood back by the +mantel-piece: and they were deep in some discussion about flowers. +Miss Blake sat in silence, gathering her mental forces for the combat, +when the present topic should have died away. + +"I--I have heard some curious news," she began then in a low, +reluctant tone: and in good truth she was reluctant to enter on it. "I +heard it from that boy of yours, Mr. Moore. He says there's a baby at +the Maze." + +"Yes," readily acquiesced Mr. Moore. "A baby boy, born yesterday." + +And Miss Blake, rising and standing at angles between the two, saw a +motion of startled surprise on the part of Karl Andinnian. Lucy looked +up; simply not understanding. After a pause, during which no one +spoke, Miss Blake, in language softened to ambiguousness, took upon +herself to intimate that, in her opinion, the Maze had no business +with a baby. + +Mr. Moore laughed pleasantly. "That, I imagine, is Mrs. Grey's +concern," he said. + +Lucy understood now; she felt startled almost to sickness. "Is it Mrs. +Grey who has the baby?" was on the point of her tongue: but she did +not speak it. + +"Where is Mrs. Grey's husband?" demanded Miss Blake, in her most +uncompromising tone. + +"In London, I fancy, just now," said the doctor. "_Has she one at +all_, Mr. Moore?" + +"Good gracious, yes," cried the hearty-natured surgeon, utterly +unconscious that it could be of particular moment to anybody present +whether she had or not. "I'd answer for it with my life, nearly. She's +as nice a young lady as I'd ever wish to attend; and good too." + +"For Lucy's sake, I'll go on; for his sake, standing there in his +shame," thought Miss Blake, in her rectitude. "Better things may come +of it: otherwise I'd drop the hateful subject for ever." + +"Mr. Moore," she continued aloud, "Why do you say the husband is in +London?" + +"Because Mrs. Grey said something to that effect," he answered. "At +least, I understood her words to imply as much; but she was very ill +at the moment, and I did not question further. It was when I was first +called in." + +"It has hitherto been represented that Mr. Grey was travelling +abroad," pursued Miss Blake, with a tone and a stress on the "Mr. +Grey." + +"I know it has. But he may have returned. I am sure she said she had +been up to London two or three weeks ago--and I thought she meant to +imply that she went to meet her husband. It may have been a false +conclusion I drew; but I certainly thought it." + +Sir Karl took a step forward. "I can answer for it that Mrs. Grey did +go up," he said, "for I chanced to travel in the same carriage with +her. Getting into the up-train at the station one day, I found Mrs. +Grey seated there." + +Lucy glanced towards him as he spoke. There was no embarrassment in +his countenance; his voice was easy and open as though he had spoken +of a stranger. Her own face looked white as death. + +"You did!" cried the doctor. "Did she tell you she was going up to +meet Mr. Grey?" + +"No, she did not. I put her into a cab at the terminus, and that's all +I know about it. It was broiling hot, I remember." + +"Well," resumed the doctor, "whether it was to meet her husband or +whether not, to London she went for a day or two in the broiling +heat--as Sir Karl aptly terms it--and she managed to fatigue herself +so much that she has not been able to recover it, and has been very +unwell ever since. This young gentleman, who chose to take upon +himself to make his appearance in the world yesterday, was not due for +a good couple of months to come." + +Lucy rose and left the room, she and her white face. Karl followed her +with his eyes: he had seen the whiteness. + +"Is it a healthy child?" he asked. + +"Quite so," replied the surgeon; "but very small. The worst of these +little monkeys is, you can't send them back again with a whipping, +when they make too much haste, and tell them to come again at proper +time. Mrs. Grey's very ill." + +"Is she?" cried Karl. + +"Yes. And there's no nurse and no anything; matters are all at sixes +and sevens." + +"I hope she'll do well!" breathed Karl. + +"So do I." + +Miss Blake looked at the two speakers. The one seemed just as open as +the other. She thought what a finished adept Karl Andinnian was +getting to be in deception. + +"I am going to the Maze now," said the doctor: "was on my way to it +when you seduced me in here, Sir Karl. Good evening, Miss Blake." + +He took his departure hastily as he spoke. He was, as he told them, on +his way to the Maze then. Karl went with him to the outer gate, and +then paced the lawn in the evening twilight. + +"After all, it is well it's over," ran his thoughts. "This expected +future illness was always putting itself in view when I was planning +to get away Adam. Once Rose is well again, the ground will be, so far, +clear. But good heavens! how it increases the risk! Here's Moore going +in at any hour of the day or night, I suppose--and Adam so incautious! +Well, I think he will take care of himself, and keep in seclusion for +his own sake. And for myself--it brings more complication," he added +with a sigh. "The child is the heir now instead of me: and the whole +property must eventually come to him. Poor Lucy! I saw she felt it. +Oh, she may well be vexed! Does she quite comprehend, I wonder, who +this baby is, and what it will take from us?--Foxwood amidst the rest? +I wish I had never married! I wish a merciful heaven had interposed to +prevent it." + +When Mr. Moore, some eight-and-forty hours previously, received a +hurried visit from Mrs. Grey's servant, Ann Hopley, at the dusk of +evening, and heard what she had to say about her mistress, he was +excessively astonished, not having had the slightest idea that his +services were likely to be wanted in any such way at the Maze. It is +possible that some doubts of Mrs. Grey's position crossed his mind at +the moment: but he was a good man, and he made it a rule never to +think ill if he could by possibility think good; and when he came to +see and converse with Mrs. Grey, he felt sure she was all she should +be. The baby was born on the following morning. Since then the doctor, +as Karl expressed it, had been going in at all hours: Ann Hopley +invariably preceding him through the Maze, and conducting him out of +it again at his departure. As he marched on to the Maze tonight after +the above conversation at the Court, he wondered what Miss Blake had +got in her head, and why she should betray so much anger over it. + +Three or four days went on. The doctor passed in and out in the care +of his patient, and never a notion entered his head that the Maze was +tenanted by any save its ordinary inmates, or that one under a ban was +lying there in concealment. Ann Hopley, letting her work go how it +would, attended on her mistress and the baby; the old gardener was +mostly busy in his garden as usual. On the fifth or sixth day from the +commencement of the illness, Mr. Moore, upon paying his usual morning +visit, found Mrs. Grey worse. There were rather dangerous symptoms of +fever. + +"Has she been exciting herself?" he privately asked of Ann Hopley. + +"She did a little last night, sir," was the incautious admission. + +"What about?" + +"Well, sir--chiefly talking." + +"Chiefly talking!" repeated the doctor. "But what were you about, to +let her talk?" he demanded, supposing Ann Hopley to be the only other +inmate of the house. "What possessed you to talk to her?" + +Ann was silent. She could have said that it was not with her Mrs. Grey +had talked, but with her husband. + +"I must send a nurse in," he resumed. "Not only to see that she is +kept quiet, but to attend to her constantly. It is not possible that +you can be with her always with your housework to do." + +But all of this Ann Hopley most strongly combated. She could attend to +her mistress, and would, and did attend to her, she urged, and a nurse +she would not have in the house. From the first, this question of a +nurse had been a bone of contention: the doctor wanting to send one +in; Ann Hopley and also Mrs. Grey strenuously objecting. So once more +the doctor yielded, and let the matter drop, inwardly resolving that +if his patient did not get better during the day, he should take +French leave to pursue his own course. + +Late in the afternoon he went in again. Mrs. Grey was worse: flushed, +restless, and slightly delirious. The doctor said nothing; but when he +got home, he sent a summons for Mrs. Chaffen. A skilled nurse, she; +and first cousin to the Widow Jinks, both in respect to kin and to +love of gossip. + +That same evening, after dark, when Adam Andinnian was sitting in his +wife's room, and Ann Hopley was concocting something in a saucepan +over the kitchen fire, the gate bell clanged out. It had been nothing +unusual to hear it these last few days at any hour; and the woman, +putting the saucepan on the hob for safety, went forth, key in hand. + +No sooner had she unlocked the gate than Mr. Moore brushed past her, +followed by a little thin woman with a bundle. Ann Hopley stared: but +never a word said he. + +"Keep close to me, and you won't lose yourself," cried he to the +little woman; and went tearing off at a double-quick pace through the +intricacies of the maze. + +Ann Hopley stood like one bewildered. For one thing, she had not +possessed the slightest notion that the surgeon knew his way through, +for he had given no special indication of it, always having followed +her. He could have told her that he had learnt the secret of the maze +long before she came to Foxwood. It had been shown to him in old Mr. +Throckton's time, whom he had attended for years. And, to see a second +person pass in, startled her. All she could do was to lock the gate, +and follow them. + +On went the doctor; the little woman keeping close to his coat tails: +and they were beyond the maze in no time. Mr. Moore had no private +motive for this unusual haste, except that he had another patient +waiting for him, and was in a hurry. In, at the open portico, passed +he, and made direct for the stairs, the woman after him. Ann Hopley, +miles behind, could only pray in agony that her master might escape +their view. + +But he did not. The doctor had nearly reached the top of the +staircase, when a gentleman, tall, and in evening dress, suddenly +presented himself in front, apparently looking who it might be, coming +up. He drew back instantly, strode noiselessly along the corridor, and +disappeared within a door at its extreme end. It all passed in a +moment of time. What with the speed, and what with the obscurity of +the stairs and passages, any one, less practical than the doctor, +might have questioned whether or not it had happened at all. + +"That's Mr. Grey, come down," thought he. "But he seems to wish not to +be noticed. Be it so." + +Had he cared to make any remark upon it to Mrs. Grey, he could not +have done so, for she was quite delirious that night. And, as he saw +no further sign of the gentleman at any subsequent visit, he merely +supposed that Mr. Grey had come down for a few hours and had gone +again. And the matter passed from his mind. + +It did not so pass from the nurse's. Mrs. Chaffen had distinctly seen +the gentleman in evening attire looking down the stairs at her and the +doctor; she saw him whisk away, as she phrased it, and go into the +further room. In the obscure light, Mrs. Chaffen made him out to +be a very fine-looking gentleman with beautiful white teeth. She had +keen eyesight, and she saw that much: she had also a weakness for +fine-looking men, and felt glad that one so fine as this should be in +the house. It could not make much difference to her; but she liked +gentlemen to be in a dwelling where she might be located: they made it +lively, were pleasant to talk to; and were generally to be found more +liberal in the offers of glasses of wine and what not than the +mistresses. Like the doctor, she supposed this was Mrs. Grey's +husband, come down at last. + +She neither saw nor heard more of the gentleman that night, though she +sat up with her patient. Neither did she on the following day--and +then she began to think it somewhat odd. At dusk, when Mrs. Grey and +the baby were both sleeping, she went down stairs. + +When Ann Hopley found the nurse installed there and that she was +powerless to prevent it, she had to make the best of the unfortunate +occurrence--and most unfortunate it was destined to turn out in the +end. She gave the nurse certain directions. One of them was, "Ring for +everything you want, and I will bring it up." The woman's meals also +were brought to her punctually: Ann's object of course being to +prevent her going about the house. But nurses are but human. Mrs. +Chaffen was longing for a word of social gossip, and downstairs she +went, this night, and made her way to the kitchen. Ann Hopley was in +it, ironing at a table under the window. + +"What do you want?" cried she, in a quick startled tone, as the nurse +appeared. + +"I thought I'd get you to give me a sup o' beer, Mrs. Hopley," was the +answer. "I'm a'most faint, stopping so long in that there room with +its smell of ether about." + +"Why could you not have rung? I'll bring it up to you." + +In the very teeth of this plain intimation, Mrs. Chaffen sat herself +down on a chair by the ironing board, and began fanning her face with +a corner of her white apron. "The missis is asleep," she said: "she's +a sight better to-night; and I shall stop here while I drink the beer +for a bit of relief and change." + +Ann took a small jug that was hanging on the dresser shelves, went +down in the cellar, brought up the beer and poured it into a tumbler. +Mrs. Chaffen took a good draught and smacked her lips. + +"That ain't bad beer, is it, Mrs. Hopley?" + +"Not at all," said Ann Hopley. "Drink it up." + +She would not go on with her ironing, lest it might seem an excuse for +the nurse to linger; she stood by the fire, waiting, and evidently +wanting the nurse gone. + +"Your husband's a-taking of it easy out there!" + +Ann glanced from the window, and saw the gardener seated amongst a +heap of drying weeds, his back against the tool house, and a pipe in +his mouth. + +"He has done his work, I suppose, for the day," she said. + +"And he knows his missis's eyes can't be upon him just now," added the +nurse, taking another draught. "He don't hardly look strong enough to +do all this here big garden." + +"You couldn't offend Hopley worse than by telling him that. His +mistress says nothing about it now, it puts him up so. Last May, when +he was laid up in bed with the rheumatis, she ordered a gardener in +for two or three days to clear up some of the rough work. Hopley was +not at all grateful: he only grumbled at it when he got about again." + +"It's just like them good old-fashioned servants that takes pride in +their work," said the nurse. "There's not many of the young uns like +'em. The less work they have to do the better it pleases _them_. Is +that a hump now, or only a stoop of the shoulders?" continued she, +ignoring good manners in her sociability. + +"It used to be only a stoop, Mrs. Chaffen. But those things, you know, +always get worse with years." + +Mrs. Chaffen nodded. "And gardening work, when one has a natural +stoop, is the worst sort of work a man can take to." + +"True," assented Ann. She had spoken absently all along, and kept +glancing round and listening as though ill at ease. One might have +fancied she feared a ghost was coming down the staircase. + +"What be you a-harkening at?" asked Mrs. Chaffen. + +"For fear the baby should cry." + +"The baby's in a sweet sleep, he is. I wonder whether he'll get +reared, that baby?--he's very little. Where's the gentleman?" abruptly +inquired Mrs. Chaffen, after a pause. + +"What gentleman?" + +"Mrs. Grey's husband. Him we saw here last night." + +If Ann Hopley had been apathetic before, she was fully aroused to +interest now, and turned her eyes upon the nurse with a long stare. + +"Why what is it that you are talking of?" she asked. "There has been +no gentleman here. Mrs. Grey's husband is abroad." + +"But I saw him," persisted the nurse. "He stood right at the head of +the staircase when me and Dr. Moore was a-going up it. I saw him." + +"I'm sure you didn't." + +"I'm sure I did." + +Then they went on, asserting and re-asserting. Nurse Chaffen +protesting, by all that was truthful, that she did see the gentleman: +Ann Hopley denying in the most emphatic language that any gentleman +had been there, or could have been. Poor woman! in her faithful zeal +for her master's safety; in her terrible inward fear lest this might +bring danger upon him, she went so far as to vow by heaven that no +living soul had been in the house or about it, save her mistress and +the infant, herself and Hopley. + +The assertion had its effect. Nurse Chaffen was not an irreligious +woman, though she did indulge in unlimited gossip, and love a glass of +beer when she could get it; and she could not believe that a thing so +solemnly asserted was a lie. She felt puzzled to death: her eyes were +good and had never played her false yet. + +"Have ye got a ghost in the house?" she asked at length, edging a +little nearer to the ironing board and to Ann Hopley. + +"I have never seen or heard of one." + +"It's a rare old place this house. Folks said all kinds of queer +things about it in Miser Throckton's time." + +"He left no ghost in it, that I know of," repeated Ann. + +"Well I never! I can't make it out. You might a'most as soon tell me +to believe there's no truth in the Bible. He stood atop o' the stairs, +looking down at me and the doctor. It was dusk, I grant; a'most dark; +but I saw him as plain as plain could be. He had got white teeth and a +suit of black on; and he went off into that door that's at the fur end +of the passage." + +A keen observer might have detected a sleeping terror in Ann Hopley's +eyes; but she was habitually of calm manner and she showed perfect +calmness now, knowing how much was at stake. A great deal had all +along depended upon her ready presence of mind, her easy equanimity in +warding off suspicion: it depended more than ever on her at this +trying time, and she had her wits at hand. + +"Your eyes and the dusk must have misled you, Mrs. Chaffen," she +quietly rejoined. "Is it possible--I put it to yourself--that any +gentleman could be in this house, and me and Hopley not know it? That +night I had run down from my mistress's room, where she was lying off +her head with the fever, and the baby asleep in its little bed by the +fire, and was making a drop of gruel in the kitchen here, when the +ring at the gate came. I had a great mind to send Hopley to open it: I +heard him out yonder putting up his tools for the night: but I should +have had to go close up to make him understand, for he's as deaf as a +post; and his knees would have been a long while making their way +through the maze. So I went myself: it seemed less trouble; and I let +in you and the doctor. As to any soul's having been in the place, save +me and Hopley and the missis and baby, it's a moral impossibility; and +if necessary I could swear to it." + +"Where do that there end door lead to?" questioned Mrs. Chaffen, only +half-convinced and that half against her will. + +"It leads to nowhere. It's a sitting-room. Mrs. Grey does not often +use it." + +"Well, this beats everything, this do. I'm sure I could have swore +that a gentleman was there." + +"It was quite a mistake. Hark! there _is_ the baby." + +Nurse Chaffen flew up the stairs. Ann Hopley went on with her ironing; +her face, now that she was alone, allowing its terror scope. + +"It is so foolish of my master to run risks just at this time, when +the house is liable to be invaded by strangers!" she ejaculated +wearily. "But who was to foresee the doctor would come bursting in +like that? Pray Heaven master doesn't show himself again like that +while the woman's here!" + +Mrs. Chaffen sat in the sick-room, the awakened baby occupying her +lap, and the problem her mind. Never in all her life had she felt to +be in so entire a mist. Ann Hopley she could not and would not +disbelieve: and yet, in her reasoning moments she was as fully +persuaded that a gentleman had been there, and that she had seen him, +as that the sun shone in the sky. + +A day or two went on; and the subject was never out of the woman's +mind. Now leaning to this side of the question, now wavering to that, +she could not arrive at any positive conclusion. But, taking one thing +with another, she thought the house was rather a strange house. Why +did Ann Hopley want to keep her for ever in that one room?--as she +evidently did want to--and prevent her from moving freely about the +house? An unfortunate doubt took possession of her--was there a +gentleman in the house after all; and, for some reason or other, +keeping himself concealed? Unfortunate, because it was to bear +unpleasant fruit. + +"Be whipped if it is not the most likely solution o' the matter I've +thought of yet!" cried she, striking her hand on the tall fender. "But +how do he manage to hide himself from Ann Hopley?--and how do he get +his victuals? Sure-_ly_ she can't have been deceiving of me--and as +good as taking oaths to an untruth! She'd not be so wicked." + +From that time Mrs. Chaffen looked curiously about her, poking and +peering around whenever she had the opportunity. One morning in +particular, when Mrs. Grey was asleep, and she saw Ann go out to +answer the bell, and Hopley was safe at the end of the garden, for she +could hear him rolling the path there, Mrs. Chaffen made use of the +occasion. She went along the passage to the door where the gentleman +had disappeared, and found herself in a dull sitting-room wainscoted +with mahogany, its wide, modern window looking to the maze. Keenly +Mrs. Chaffen's eyes darted about the room: but there was no other +outlet that she could see. The dark paneling went from the door to the +window, and from the window round to the door again. After that, she +made her way into the small angular passages that the house seemed to +abound in: two of them were bedrooms with the beds made up, the others +seemed to be out of use. None of them were locked; the doors of most +of them stood open; but certainly in not one of them was there any +trace of a hidden gentleman. + +That same day when she had finished her dinner, brought up to her as +usual, she hastily put the things together on the tray and darted off +with it down stairs. Mrs. Grey feebly called to her; but the nurse, +conveniently deaf, went on without hearing. The staircase was angular, +the turnings were short, and Mrs. Chaffen, as she went through the +last one, gave the tray an inadvertent knock against the wall. Its +plates rattled, its glasses jingled, betraying their approach: and--if +ever she had heard a bolt slipped in her life, she felt sure she heard +one slipped inside the kitchen door. + +"It's me, Mrs. Hopley, with the tray," she called out, going boldly +on. "Open the door." + +No answer. No signs of being heard. Everything seemed perfectly still. +Mrs. Chaffen managed to lodge the tray against the door-post and hold +it steady with one hand, while she tried the door with the other. But +she could not open it. + +"Mrs. Hopley, it's me with the tray. Please open." + +It was opened then. Ann Hopley flung it wide and stood there staring, +a saucepan in her hand. "What, have you brought the things down!" she +exclaimed in a voice of surprise. "Why on earth couldn't you have let +them be till I came up?" + +The nurse carried her tray onwards, and put it on the board under the +window. At the table, not having been polite enough to his wife to +take off his flapping straw hat in her presence, sat the gardener, +munching his dinner as toothless people best can, his back to the +light. + +"Why did you keep me waiting at the door?" asked the nurse, not +pleased. + +"Did you wait?" returned Ann Hopley. "I was in the back place there, +washing out the saucepans. You might have come in without knocking." + +"The door was bolted." + +"The door bolted!--not it," disputed Ann. "The latch has got a nasty +trick of catching, though." + +"This is fine weather, Mr. Hopley!" said the nurse, leaving the point +uncontested, and raising her voice. + +He seemed to be, as Ann had formerly expressed it, as deaf as a post. +Neither turning his head nor answering, but keeping on at his dinner. +Ann bent her head to his ear. + +"The nurse, Mrs. Chaffen, spoke to you, Hopley. She says what fine +weather it is." + +"Ay, ay, ma'am," said he; "fine and bright." + +What more might have passed was stopped by the ringing of Mrs. Grey's +bell; a loud, long, impatient peal. The nurse turned to run. + +"For pity's sake don't leave her again, Mrs. Chaffen!" called out Ann +Hopley with some irritation. "If you do, I shall complain to Mr. +Moore. You'll cause the fever to return." + +"I could be upon my oath that she slipped the bolt to keep me out," +thought the nurse, hurrying along. "Drat the cross-grained woman! Does +she fear I shall poison her kitchen?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. +Watching the House. + + +Mrs. Jinks's new lodger, Mr. Strange, was making himself at home, not +only at Mrs. Jinks's, but in the village generally, and gradually +getting familiar with its stories and its politics. Talking with the +men at the station one hour, chatting to the field labourers the next; +stepping into the shops to buy tobacco, or paper, or lozenges, or what +not, and staying a good twenty minutes before he came out again: Mr. +Strange was ingratiating himself with the local world. + +But, though he gossiped freely enough without doors and with Mrs. +Jinks within, he did not appear anxious to cultivate intimacy with the +social sphere; but rather avoided it. The Rev. Mr. Cattacomb, relying +on the information that the new lodger was a gentleman reading for +Oxford, had taken the initiative and made an advance to +acquaintanceship. Mr. Strange, while receiving it with perfect +civility, intimated that he was obliged to decline it. His health; he +said, left him no alternative, and he had come to the country for +entire quiet. As to his reading for Oxford, it was a mistake he +hinted. He was reading; but not with a view of going to any college. +After that, the gentlemen bowed when they chanced to meet in the +passages or out of doors, exchanged perhaps a remark on the fine +weather; and there it ended. + +The reader has not failed to detect that this "Mr. Strange," the name +caught up so erroneously by Mrs. Jinks, was in reality the shrewd +detective officer sent down by Scotland Yard in search of Philip +Salter. His instructions were, not to hurry matters to an abrupt +conclusion and so miss his game, but to track out Salter patiently and +prudently. A case on which he had been recently engaged _had_ been +hurried and lost. Circumstances connected with it had caused him to +lose sight of his usual prudence: he thought he was justified in doing +what he did, and acted for the best: but the result proved him to have +been wrong. No fear, with this failure on his mind, and the caution of +his masters in his ears, that he would be in over much hurry now. In +point of fact he could not if he would, for there was nothing to make +hurry over. + +For some time not a trace of any kind could Mr. Strange find of Philip +Salter. People with whom he gossipped talked to him without any +reserve; he was sure of that; and he would artfully lead the +conversation and twist it the way he pleased; but he could hear +nothing of any one likely to be Salter. The man might as well never +have been within a hundred miles of Foxwood; for the matter of that, +he might as well never have had existence, for all the trace there was +left of him. Scotland Yard, however, was sure that Salter was to be +found not far off, and that was enough: Mr. Strange, individually, +felt sure of it also. + +Knowing what he had been told of the visits of Sir Karl Andinnian to +Detective Burtenshaw, and their object, Mr. Strange's attention was +especially directed to Foxwood Court. Before he had been three days in +the place, he had won the heart of Giles the footman (much at liberty +just then, through the temporary absence of his master and mistress) +and treated him to five glasses of best ale at different times in +different public-houses. Giles, knowing no reason for reticence, +freely described all he knew about Foxwood Court: the number of +inmates, their names, their duties, their persons, and all the rest of +it. Not the least idea penetrated his brain that the gentleman had any +motive for listening to the details, save the whiling away of some of +the day's idle hours. There was certainty no one at the Court that +could be at all identified with the missing man; and, so far, Mr. +Strange had lost his time and his ale money. Of course he put +questions as to Sir Karl's movements--where he went to in the day, +what calls he made, and what he did. But Giles could give no +information that was available. Happily, he was ignorant of his +master's visits to the Maze. + +In short--from what Mr. Strange could gather from Giles and others, +there was no one whatever in or about Foxwood, then or in time past, +that at all answered to Philip Salter. He heard Mr. Smith spoken +of--"Smith the agent, an old friend of the Andinnian family"--but it +did not once occur to him to attempt to identify him with the +criminal. Smith the agent (whom by the way Mr. Strange had not chanced +yet to see) was living openly in the place, going about amid the +tenants on the estate, appearing at church, altogether transacting his +business and pursuing his course without concealment: that is not how +Salter would have dared to live, and the detective did not give Smith +a suspicious thought. No: wherever Salter might be he was evidently in +strict concealment: and it must be Mr. Strange's business to hunt him +out of it. + +In the meantime, no speculation whatever had been aroused in the +village as to Mr. Strange himself. He had taken care to account for +his stay there at the first onset, and people's minds were at rest. +The gentleman in delicate health was free to come and go; his +appearance in the street, or roads, or fields, excited no more +conjecture or observation than did that of the oldest inhabitant. The +Reverend Mr. Cattacomb was stared at whenever he appeared, in +consequence of the proceedings of St. Jerome's: Mr. Strange passed +along in peace. + +Still, he learnt nothing. Sir Karl and Lady Andinnian had returned +home long and long ago; he often saw them out (though he took care +they should not see him), together or separately as might be, Sir Karl +sometimes driving her in a beautiful little pony-chaise: but he could +learn no trace of the man he was sent after. Sir Karl heard that some +young student was in the village, out of health and reading for +Oxford; he somehow caught up the notion that it was only a lad, and as +he never chanced to see him, thought no more of him. And whether Mr. +Strange might not have thrown up the game in a short time for utter +lack of scent, cannot be told. A clue--or what he thought was a +clue--arose at last. + +It arose, too, out of a slight misfortune that happened to himself. +Entering the house one evening at dusk before the passage lamp was +lighted, he chanced to put his foot into a tray of wine-glasses, that +the young maid had incautiously placed on the floor outside the +parlour-door. In trying to start back and save the glasses, Mr. +Strange slipped, went down with his right hand upon the tray, broke a +glass or two, and cut his hand in three or four places. Miss Blake was +there at the time, helping to catechise some young children: she +felt really sorry for the mishap, and kindly went upstairs to the +drawing-room to see its extent. The hand was in a bowl of warm water, +and Mrs. Jinks was searching for linen to bind it up. + +"Why do you put it into warm water, Mr. Strange?" she asked. "It will +make it bleed all the more." + +"Some bits of glass may have got in," he replied. + +"Will you have Mr. Moore?" + +But he laughed at the notion of sending for a doctor to cut fingers, +and he bound up the hand himself, saying it would be all right. The +next day, in the afternoon, Miss Blake made her appearance in his room +to inquire how the damage was progressing, and found Mrs. Jinks in the +act of assisting him to dress it with some precious ointment that she +vowed was better than gold, and would not fail to heal the cuts in a +day or two. + +Miss Blake had previously a speaking acquaintanceship with Mr. +Strange, having often met him going in and out. She sat down; and the +three were chatting amicably when they were pounced in upon by little +Mrs. Chaffen. Happening to call in to see her cousin, and hearing from +the maid downstairs what Mrs. Jinks was then engaged upon--dressing +the gentleman's hand--the nurse ran up to offer her more experienced +services. + +She took the hand out of Mrs. Jinks's into her own, and dressed it and +bound it up as well as Mr. Moore himself could have done. It was +nearly over when, by a curious coincidence--curious, considering what +was to come of it--the conversation turned upon _ghosts_. Upon ghosts, +of all things in the world! Some noise had been heard in the house the +previous night by all the inmates--which noise had not been in any way +accounted for. It was like the falling down of a piece of heavy +furniture. It had awoke Mr. Cattacomb; it had awoke Mrs. Jinks; it had +startled Mr. Strange, who was not asleep. The history of this was +being given to Miss Blake, Mr. Strange gravely asserting it could have +been nothing but a ghost--and that set Mrs. Chaffen on. She proceeded +to tell them with real gravity, not assumed, that she did believe a +ghost, in the shape of a gentleman in dinner dress, haunted the Maze: +or else that her eyes were taking to see visions. + +It should be mentioned that after a week's attendance on Mrs. Grey, +Nurse Chaffen had been discharged. The patient was then going on quite +well: and, as Mr. Moore saw that it worried her to have the nurse +there--for whom she seemed to have conceived an insurmountable +dislike--he took her away. The summary dismissal did not please the +nurse: and she revenged herself by reporting that the Maze had a ghost +in it. As a rule, people laughed at her, and thought no more about it: +this afternoon her tale was to bear different fruit. + +She told it consecutively. How she had been quite flurried by being +called out by Dr. Moore all on a sudden; how he had taken her straight +off to the Maze without saying where it was she was going till she got +to the gate; how she and the doctor had seen the gentleman at the top +of the stairs (which she took it to be the sick lady's husband), and +watched him vanish into an end room, and had never seen the least sign +of him afterwards; how the servant, Mrs. Hopley, had vowed through +thick and thin that no gentleman was, or had been, or could have been +in the house, unbeknown to her and Hopley. + +Nurse Chaffen talked away to her heart's content, enlarging upon +points of her story. Not one of them interrupted her: not one but +would have listened with interest had she run on until midnight. Mrs. +Jinks from her love of marvellous tales; the detective because he +believed this might be the clue he wanted to Philip Salter; and Miss +Blake in her resentful condemnation of Sir Karl Andinnian. For, that +the "gentleman in dinner dress" was no other than Sir Karl, who had +stolen in on one of his secret visits, she could have staked her life +upon. + +"A tall gentleman with dark hair, you say it looked like?" questioned +Mr. Strange indifferently. + +"Tall for certain, sir. As to his hair, I don't know; it might have +been darkish. I see he had nice white teeth." + +"Salter had good teeth," was the mental comment of the detective. "_I +have found him_." + +"And in dinner dress?" added Miss Blake with a cough. + +"So it looked like, ma'am. The sort of coat that gentlefolks wears in +an evening." + +"And you mean to say you never see him after; never but that there one +time?" tartly interposed the Widow Jinks. + +"Never at all. The rooms was all open to daylight while I was there, +but he wasn't in never a one of 'em." + +"Then I tell you what, Betsey Chaffen; it was a ghost, and you need +not hesitate to stand to it." + +"Well, you see he didn't look like a ghost, but like an ordinary +gentleman," confessed Mrs. Chaffen. "What came over me, and what I +can't make out, was Ann Hopley's standing it out that neither ghost +nor gentleman was there: she said she'd take her oath to it." + +"Thank you, you've done my hand up beautifully, Mrs. Chaffen," said +the patient. "I should give my credence to the spirit theory. Did Mr. +Moore see the appearance of this ghostly gentleman?" + +"Yes he did, sir. I'm sure he did. For he lifted his head like at the +gentleman, and stood still when he got to the top of the stairs, +staring at the room he had vanished into. I told him a day or two +afterwards that Mrs. Hopley denied that any one had been there, and +the doctor quietly said, 'Then we must have been mistaken.' I did not +like to ask whether he thought it was a ghost." + +"Oh I think you may depend upon the ghost," returned Mr. Strange, +biting his lips to prevent a laugh. + +"Well, sir, queer stories was told of that Maze house in the late +tenant's time. My cousin Jinks here knows that well enough." + +"It was haunted by more than one ghost then, if all folks told true," +assented Mrs. Jinks. "Mr. Throckton's son--a wild young blade he +was--hung hisself there. I was but a girl at the time." + +"Ah, one of the old ghosts come back again; not been laid yet," +solemnly remarked the detective, staring at Mrs. Chaffen. "Did the +lady herself seem alarmed?" + +"Well, sir, I can't say she did then, because she couldn't have seen +it, and was too ill besides. But she had got a curious manner with +her." + +"Curious?" questioned Mr. Strange. + +"Yes, sir, curious. As if she was always frightened. When everything +was as still as still could be, she'd seem to be listening like, as +though expecting to hear something. Now and then she'd start up in bed +in a fright, and cry out What was that?--when there had been no noise +at all." + +"Feverish fancies," quietly remarked Mr. Strange, with a cough. + +By and by, the party separated. As Nurse Chaffen was descending to the +kitchen, leaving Mrs. Jinks putting the room straight, Miss Blake, who +had gone down first, put forth her hand and drew the nurse into Mr. +Cattacomb's parlour; that reverend man being absent on some of his +pastoral calls. + +"I have been _so much_ interested in this that you have been telling +us, nurse," she breathed. "It seems quite to have taken hold of me. +What was the gentleman like? Did he resemble any one you know--Sir +Karl Andinnian, for instance?" + +"Why, ma'am, how can I tell who he resembled?---I didn't get enough +look at him for that," was the answer. "I saw his head and the tails +of his coat when he turned--and that was all. Except his teeth: I did +see them." + +"And they were white teeth--good teeth?" + +"Oh, beauties. White and even as a die." + +"Sir Karl's teeth are white and even," nodded Miss Blake to herself. +"Had Mrs. Grey any visitors while you were there, nurse?" + +"Never a one. Never a soul came inside the gates, good or bad, but the +doctor. I don't fancy the lady has made friends in the place at all, +ma'am. She likes to keep herself to herself, Ann Hopley thinks, while +Mr. Grey's away." + +"Oh, naturally," said Miss Blake. And she dismissed the woman. + +The Widow Jinks had a surprise that night. Mr. Strange, hitherto so +quiet and well conducted, asked for the latch-key! She could not +forbear a caution as she gave it him; not to stay out too late on +account of his health. He laughed pleasantly in answer; saying he +expected a friend down by the last train from London, and might stay +out late with him. + +But he never went near the station, and he met no friend. Keeping as +much in the shades of night as the very bright moon allowed him to do, +Mr. Strange arrived by a roundabout way at the gate of the Maze, and +let himself in with a master-key. + +"The dolt I was, never to have suspected this shut-in place before!" +he exclaimed. "Salter is lying here in concealment: there can be no +doubt of it: and if his career's at an end he may thank his own folly +in having allowed himself to be seen by the woman, Chaffen. Wonder who +the sick lady is? Perhaps his wife: perhaps not. And now--how to get +through this maze that they talk of? Knowing something of mazes, I +daresay I shall accomplish it without trouble." + +And he did. His keen intelligence, sharpened no doubt by experience, +enabled him, if not to hit upon the clue, at least to get through the +maze. A small compass was hanging to his watch-guard, and he lighted a +match frequently to consult it. So he got through. He regarded the +house from all points; he penetrated to the outer path or circle, and +went round and round it: he made, so to say, the outer premises his +own. Then he went through the maze to reconnoitre the house again. + +It lay quiet, steeped in the moonlight. He stood at the back of the +lawn, against the laurel trees that were beyond the flower beds, and +gazed at it. In one of the rooms a night-light was burning faintly, +and he fancied he could hear the continuous wail of an infant. To make +sure whether it was so, or not--though in truth it mattered not to +him, and was a very probable thing to happen--he stood forward a +little on the lawn: but as that brought him into the moonlight, he +retreated into the shade again. Most of the windows had blinds or +curtains drawn before them; the only one that had none was the +casement over the portico. Mr. Strange stood there as if rooted to the +spot, making his silent observations. + +"Yes; that's where my gentleman is lying concealed, safe enough! Safe +enough as _he_ thinks. There may be some difficulty in as safely +unearthing him. He'd not dare to be here without facilities for +guarding against surprise and for getting away on the first sound of +the alarm bugle. This is a queer old house: there may be all kinds of +hiding places in it. I must go to work cautiously, and it may be a +long job. Suppose I look again to the door fastenings?" + +The moon was beginning to wane when the detective officer with his +false key got out again; and he thought he had his work tolerably well +cut out to his hand. + +The faint wailing had not been fancy. For the first week or two of the +child's life it had seemed to thrive well, small though it was; but, +after that, it began to be a little delicate, and would sometimes +wail as though in pain. On this night the child--who slept with its +mother--woke up and began its wail. Ann Hopley, whom the slightest +noise awoke, hearing that her mistress did not seem to be able to +soothe it, left her own bed to try and do so. Presently, in going to +fetch some medicine-cordial for the child, she had to pass the +casement window in the passage; the one that was uncurtained. The +exceeding beauty of the night struck her, and she paused to look out +upon it, the old black shawl she had thrown on being drawn closely +round her. The grass shone in the moonlight; some of the leaves of the +laurels flickered white in its rays. At that self-same moment, as the +woman looked, some movement directed her attention to these very +laurels: and to her utter horror she thought she saw a man standing +there, apparently watching the house. + +The sickness of intense fear seized upon her as she drew aside--but +the black shawl and the small diamond panes of the casement window had +prevented her from being observed. Yes: she was not mistaken. The man +came forth for an instant into the moonlight, and then went back +again. Ann Hopley's fear turned her heart to sickness. Her first +impulse was to rush on through the passages and arouse Sir Adam +Andinnian. Her second impulse was to wait and watch. She remembered +her master's most dangerous fiery temperament, and the pistols he kept +always loaded. This intruding man might be but some wretched night +marauder, who had stolen in after the fruit. Watching there, she saw +him presently go round in the direction of the fruit-trees, and +concluded that her surmise was correct. + +So she held her tongue to her master and mistress. The latter she +would not alarm; the former she dared not, lest another night he +should take up his stand at the window, pistol in hand. Two things +puzzled her the next morning: the one was, how the man could have got +in; the other, that neither fruit nor flowers seemed to have been +taken. + +That same day, upon going to the gate to answer a ring, she found +herself confronted by a strange gentleman, who said he had called from +hearing the house was to let, and he wished to look at it. Ann Hopley +thought this rather strange. She assured him it was a mistake: that +the house was not to let: that Mrs. Grey had no intention of leaving. +When he pressed to go in and just look at the house, "in case it +should be let later," she persisted in denying him admittance, urging +her mistress's present sick state as a reason for keeping out all +visitors. + +"Is Mr. Grey still at home?" then asked the applicant. + +"Mr. Grey has not been at home," replied Ann Hopley. "My mistress is +alone." + +"Oh, indeed! Not been here at all?" + +"No, sir. I don't know how soon he may be coming. He is abroad on his +travels." + +"What gentleman is it, then, who has been staying here lately?" + +Ann Hopley felt inwardly all of a twitter. Outwardly she was quietly +self-possessed. + +"No gentleman has been here at all, sir. You must be mistaking the +house for some other one, I think. This is the Maze." + +"A lady and gentleman and two servants, I understand, are living +here." + +"It is quite a mistake, sir. My mistress and us two servants live +here--me and my husband--but that's all. Mr. Grey has not been here +since we came to the place." + +"Now that's a disappointment to me," cried the stranger. "I have lost +sight of a friend of mine, named Grey, for the past year or two, and +was hoping I might find him here. You are sure you don't know when Mr. +Grey may be expected?" + +"Quite sure, sir. My mistress does not know, herself." + +The stranger stepped back from the gate to take his departure. In +manner he was a very pleasant man, and his questions had been put with +easy courtesy. + +"And you are equally sure the house is not about to be vacated?" + +"I feel sure of this, that if Mrs. Grey had thoughts of vacating it, +she would have informed me. But in regard to any point connected with +the house, sir, you had better apply to the landlord, Sir Karl +Andinnian." + +"Thank you; yes, that may be the best plan. Good morning," he added, +taking off his hat with something of French civility. + +"Don't think she is to be bribed," thought he as he walked away. "At +least not easily. Perhaps I may in time work my way on to it." + +Ann Hopley, locking the gate with double strength--at least, in +imagination--pushed through the maze without well knowing whether she +was on her head or her heels, so entirely had terror overtaken her. In +the height and shape of this man, who had been thus questioning her, +she fancied she traced a resemblance to the one who was watching the +house in the night. What if they were the same? + +"The end is coming!" she murmured, clasping her faithful hands. "As +sure as my poor master is alive, the end is coming." + +Not to her master or his wife, but to Karl Andinnian, did she impart +all this. It happened that Karl went over to the Maze that evening. +Ann Hopley followed him out when he departed, and told him of it +amidst the trees. + +It startled him in a more painful degree even than it had startled +her: for, oh, what were her interests in the matter as compared with +his? + +"Inside the grounds!--watching the house at night!" he repeated with a +gasp. + +"Indeed, indeed he was, sir!" + +"But who is it?" + +"I don't know," said Ann; "I hoped it was only some thief who had come +after the fruit: I thought he might have got over from the fields by +means of a high ladder. That would have been nothing. But if the man +who came to the gate to-day is the same man, it must mean mischief." + +"You have not told my brother?" + +"How could I dare to tell him, sir? He might watch for the man; and, +if he came another night, shoot him. That would make things worse." + +"With a vengeance," thought Karl. What was there to do? What could he +do? Karl Andinnian went out, the question beating itself into his +brain. Why, there seemed nothing for it but to wait and watch. He took +off his hat and raised his bare head to the summer sky, in which some +stars were twinkling, wishing he was there, in that blessed heaven +above where no pain can come. What with one tribulation and another, +earth was growing for him a hard resting-place. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +At Afternoon Service. + + +The still quietness of the Sabbath morning shed its peace over +Foxwood. Within the Court of that name--where the lawns were green and +level, and the sweet flowers exhaled their perfume, and a tree here +and there was already putting on its autumn tints--the aspect of peace +seemed to be more especially exhaled. + +The windows of the rooms stood open. Inside one of them the breakfast +was on the table yet, Miss Blake seated at it. Matins at St. Jerome's +had been unusually prolonged; and Sir Karl and Lady Andinnian had +taken breakfast when she got home. The Reverend Damon Puff had now +come to help Mr. Cattacomb; imparting to St. Jerome's an additional +attraction. + +While Miss Blake took her breakfast, Lucy went out amidst her flowers. +The scent of the mignonette filled the air, the scarlet of the +geraniums made the beds brilliant. Lucy wore one of her simple +muslin dresses; it had sprigs of green upon it--for the weather was +still that of summer, though the season was not, and the nightingales +were no longer heard of an evening. Trinity church boasted a set of +sweet-toned bells, and they were ringing on the air. When the +Sacrament was administered--the first Sunday in each month--they +generally did ring before service. This was the first Sunday in +September. Lucy stooped to pick some mignonette as she listened to the +bells. She was getting to look what she was--worn and unhappy. Nothing +could be much less satisfactory than her life: it seemed to herself +sometimes that she was like a poor flower withering for lack of +sunshine. For the first time for several weeks she meant, that day, to +stay for the after-service: her mind had really been in too great a +chaos before: but this week she had been schooling herself in +preparation for it, and praying and striving to feel tranquil. + +Karl came round the terrace from his room and crossed the lawn. In his +hand he held a most exquisite rose, and offered it to her. She thanked +him as she took it. In manner they were always courteous to one +another. + +"What a lovely day it is?" she said. "So calm and still." + +"And not quite so hot as it was a few weeks ago," he replied. "Those +must be Mr. Sumnor's bells." + +"Yes. I wish they rang every Sunday. I think--it may be all fancy, but +I can't help thinking it--that people would go to church more heartily +if the bells rang for them as they are ringing now, instead of calling +them with the usual ding-dong." + +"There is something melancholy in the ringing of bells," observed +Karl, in abstraction. + +"But, when the heart is in itself melancholy, the melancholy of the +bells brings to it a feeling of soothing consolation," was Lucy's +hasty answer. And the next moment she felt sorry that she had said it. +Never, willingly, did she allude to aught that could touch on their +estrangement. + +"Talking of church, Lucy," resumed Karl, in a different and almost +confidential tone, "I am beginning to feel really annoyed about that +place, St. Jerome's. They are going too far. I wish you would speak a +word of caution to Theresa." + +"I--I scarcely like to," answered Lucy, after a pause, her delicate +cheek faintly flushing, for she was conscious that she had not dared +to talk much on any score with Theresa lately, lest Theresa might +allude to the subject of the Maze. Fearing that she avoided her when +she could, so as to give no opportunity for private conversation. "She +is so much older and wiser than I am--" + +"Wiser!" interrupted Karl. "I think not. In all things, save one, you +have ten times the good plain sense that she has. That one thing, +Lucy, I shall never be able to understand, or account for, to my dying +day." + +"And, moreover, I was going to add," continued Lucy, flushing deeper +at the allusion, "I am quite sure that Theresa would not heed me, +whatever I might say." + +"Well, I don't know what is to be done. People are mocking at St. +Jerome's and its frequenters' folly more than I care to hear, and +blame me for allowing it to go on. I should not like to be written to +by the Bishop of the Diocese." + +"_You_ written to!" cried Lucy in surprise. + +"It is within the range of possibility. The place is on the Andinnian +land." + +"I think, were I you, I would speak to Mr. Cattacomb." + +Karl made a wry face. He did not like the man. Moreover he fancied--as +did Lucy in regard to Miss Blake--that whatever he might say would +make no impression. But for this he had spoken to him before. But, now +that another was come and the folly was being doubled, it lay in his +duty to remonstrate. The whole village gossiped and laughed; Sir Adam +was furious. Ann Hopley carried the gossip home to her master--which +of course lost nothing in the transit--and he abused Karl for not +interfering. + +They went to church together, Karl and his wife. It was a thinner +congregation than ordinary. Being a grand field-day at St. Jerome's +with procession and banners, some of them had gone off thither as to a +show. Kneeling by her husband's side in their pew, Lucy felt the +influence of the holy place, and peace seemed to steal down upon her. +Margaret Sumnor was opposite, looking at her: and in Margaret's face +there was a strange, pitying compassion, for she saw that that other +face was becoming sadder day by day. + +It was a plain, good sermon: Mr. Sumnor's sermons always were: its +subject the blessings promised for the next world; its text, "And God +shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The tears rose to Lucy's +eyes as she listened. Karl listened too, wrapt in the words. Just for +the quarter of an hour it lasted--the sermons were always short the +first Sunday in the month--both of them seemed to have passed beyond +their cares into Heaven. It almost seemed to matter little what the +trouble of this short span on earth might be, with that glorious +fruition to come hereafter. + +"I am going to stay," whispered Lucy, as the service ended. A hint to +him that he might depart without her. + +Karl nodded, but made no other answer. The congregation filed out, and +still he sat on. Lucy wondered. All in a moment it flashed upon her +that he also must be going to stay. Her face turned crimson: the +question, was he fit for it, involuntarily suggesting itself. + +He did stay. They knelt side by side together and received the +elements of Christ's holy Ordinance. After that, Karl was on his knees +in his pew until the end, buried as it seemed in beseeching prayer. It +was impossible for Lucy to believe that he could be living an ill life +of any kind at that present time--whatever he might have done. + +He held out his arm as they quitted the church, and she took it. It +was not often that she did. Thus they walked home together, exchanging +a sentence or two between whiles. Karl went at once to his room, +saying he should not take anything to eat: he had a headache. Miss +Blake had "snatched a morsel," and had gone out again to hear the +children's catechism, Hewitt said. One thing must be conceded--that +she was zealous in her duties. + +And so Lucy was alone. She took a "morsel" too, and went to sit under +the acacia tree. When an hour or so had passed, Karl came up, and +surprised her with tears on her cheeks. + +"Is it any new grief?" he asked. + +"No," she answered, half lost in the sorrow her thoughts had been +abandoned to, and neglecting her usual reticence. "I was but thinking +that I am full young to have so much unhappiness." + +"We both have enough of that, I expect. I know I have. But yours is +partly of your own making, Lucy; mine is not." + +"Not of his own making!" ran her thoughts. "Of his own planning, at +any rate." But she would not say a word to mar the semi-peace which +pervaded, or ought to pervade, their hearts that day. + +"That was a nice sermon this morning," he resumed, sitting down by her +on the bench. + +"Very. I almost forgot that we were not close to Heaven: I forgot that +we had, speaking according to earth's probabilities, years and years +and years to live out here first." + +"We shall have to live them out, Lucy, I suppose--by Heaven's will. +The prospect of it looks anything but consolatory." + +"I thought you seemed very sad," she remarked in a low tone. "I had no +idea you were going to stay." + +"_Sad!_" He laid his hand upon her knee, not in any particular +affection, but to give emphasis to his word. "Sad is not the term for +it, Lucy. Misery, rather; dread; despair--the worst word you will. I +wished, with a yearning wish, that I was in Mr. Sumnor's heaven--the +heavens he described--if only some others could go before me, so that +I did not leave them here." + +Lucy wondered of whom he spoke. She thought it must lie between +herself and Mrs. Grey. Karl had been thinking of his poor proscribed +brother, for whom the glad earth could never open her arms freely +again. + +"I think what Mr. Sumnor said must be true," resumed Lucy. "That the +more sorrow we have to endure in this world, the brighter will be our +entrance to the next. I am sure he has a great deal of sorrow himself: +whenever he preaches of it he seems to feel it so deeply." + +Karl appeared not to hear. He was gazing upwards, a look of patient +pain on his pale face. There were moments--and this was one--when +Lucy's arms and heart alike yearned to encircle him, and ask for his +love to be hers again. She cared for him still--oh, how much!--and +wished she could awake to find the Maze, and all the trouble connected +with it, a hideous dream. + +They sat on, saying nothing. The birds sang as in spring, the trees +waved gently beneath the blue sky, and the green grass was grateful +for the eye to rest upon. On the handsome house lay the glad sun: not +a sound of every-day labour, indoors or out, broke the stillness. All +was essentially peace. Except--except within their own wearied +breasts. + +The bell of Trinity church rang out for service, arousing Lucy from +her reverie. She said she should like to attend it. + +"What! this afternoon?" exclaimed Karl. "You are not accustomed to go +in the afternoon." + +That was true. The heat of the summer weather had been almost +unbearable, and Lucy had not ventured to church in it more than once a +day. + +"It is cooler now," she answered. "And I always like to go if I can +when I have stayed for the communion." + +But Karl held back from it: rather, Lucy thought, in an unaccountable +manner, for he was ever ready to second any wish of hers. He did not +seem inclined to go forth again, and said, as a plea of excuse, that +he preferred to retain the impression of the morning's sermon on his +mind, rather than let it give place to an inferior one. His head was +aching badly. + +"I do not ask you to come," said Lucy, gently. "I should like to go +myself, but I can go quite well alone." + +When she came down with her things on, however, she found him ready +also; and they set off together. + +It may be questioned, though, whether Lucy would have gone had she +foreseen what was to happen. In the middle of the service, while the +"Magnificat" was being sung, a respectable, staid woman entered the +church with an infant in her arms. A beautifully dressed infant. Its +long white robe elaborately embroidered, its delicate blue cloak of +surpassing richness, its veil of lace dainty as a gossamer thread. The +attire, not often seen at Foxwood, caught Lucy's eye, and she wondered +who the infant was. It seemed to her that she had seen the nurse's +face before, and began to ransack her memory. In an instant it flashed +on her with a shock--it was the servant at the Maze. + +She turned her eyes on her husband: not intentionally, but in an +uncontrollable impulse. Karl was looking furtively at the woman and +child--a red flush dyeing his face. Poor Lucy's benefit in the +afternoon service was over. + +The baby had come to be baptised. Ann Hopley sat down on a bench to +which she was shown, just underneath the Andinnian pew. Towards the +close of the second lesson, the clerk advanced to her, and entered on +a whispered colloquy. Every word of which was distinct to Karl and +Lucy. + +"Have you brought this infant to be christened?" + +"To be baptised," replied Ann Hopley. "Not christened." + +The clerk paused. "It's not usual with us to baptise children unless +they are so delicate as to render it necessary," said he. "We prefer +to christen at once." + +"But this child is delicate," she answered. "My mistress, who is +herself still very ill, has got nervous about it and wishes it done. +The christening must be left until she is better." + +"It's the baby at the Maze, I think?" + +"Yes. Mrs. Grey's." + +The second lesson came to an end. Mr. Sumnor's voice ceased, and he +stepped out of the reading desk to perform the baptism. Ann Hopley had +drawn away the veil, and Lucy saw the child's face; a fair, sweet, +delicate little face, calm and placid in its sleep. + +The congregation, a very small one always in the afternoon, rose up, +and stood on tiptoe to see and hear. Mr. Sumnor, standing at the font, +took the child in his arms. + +"Name this child." + +"Charles," was the audible and distinct reply of Ann Hopley. And Lucy +Andinnian turned red and white; she thought it was, so to say, named +after her husband. As indeed was the case. + +The child was brought back to the bench again; and the afternoon +service went on to its close. There was no sermon. When Lucy rose from +her knees, the woman and baby had gone. Karl offered her his arm as +they quitted the church, but she would not take it. They walked home +side by side, saying never a word to each other. + +"_That_ was the reason why he wanted to keep me away from church this +afternoon!" was Lucy's indignant thought. "And to dress it up like +that! How, how shall I go on, and bear?" + +But Lucy was mistaken. Karl had known no more about it than she, and +was struck with astonishment to see Ann Hopley come in. It arose +exactly as the woman had stated. During the night the child had seemed +so ill that its mother had become nervously uneasy because it was not +baptised, and insisted upon its being brought to church that +afternoon. + +Meanwhile Ann Hopley had hurried homewards. Partly to get out before +the rest and avoid observation, partly because she wanted to be back +with her mistress. After passing the Court gates, in traversing the +short space of road between them and the Maze, she encountered Miss +Blake coming home from St. Jerome's. Miss Blake, seeing a baby +sumptuously attired, and not at the moment recognizing Ann Hopley in +her bonnet, crossed the road to inquire whose child it was. Then she +saw it was the servant at the Maze: but she stopped all the same. + +"I should like to take a peep at the baby, nurse." + +"It's asleep, ma'am, and I am in a hurry," was the answer, given in +all truthfulness, not in discourtesy; for it must be remembered than +Ann Hopley had no grounds to suspect that this lady took any special +interest in affairs at the Maze. "It slept all through its baptism." + +"Oh it has been baptised, has it! At Mr. Sumnor's church!" + +"Yes, at Mr. Sumnor's. There is no other church in the place but +that," added the woman, totally ignoring St. Jerome's, but not +thinking to give offence thereby. + +Miss Blake put aside the lace and looked at the sleeping baby. "What +is its name, nurse?" + +"Charles." + +"Oh," said Miss Blake, the same notion striking her, as to the name, +that had struck Lucy. "It is Mr. Grey's name I suppose--or something +like it." + +"No, it is not Mr. Grey's name," replied the woman. + +"Who is the baby considered like!" went on Miss Blake, still regarding +it. "Its father or its mother!" + +"It's not much like anybody, that I see, ma'am. The child's too young +to show any likeness yet." + +"I declare that I see a likeness to Sir Karl Andinnian?" cried Miss +Blake, speaking partly upon impulse. For, in looking whether she could +trace this likeness, her fancy seemed to show her that it was there. +"What a strange thing, nurse!" + +With one startled gaze into Miss Blake's eyes, Ann Hopley went off in +a huff. The suggestion had not been palatable. + +"If he's like Sir Karl, I must never bring him abroad again, lest by +that means suspicion should come to my master," she thought, as she +took the gate key from her pocket and let herself in. "But I don't +believe it can be: for I'm sure there's not a bit of resemblance +between the two brothers!" + +"How plain it all is!" sighed Miss Blake, meekly regarding the cross +upon her ivory prayer-book as she went over to the Court. "And that +ridiculously simple Lucy does not see it! Bartimeus was blind, and so +is she. He could see nothing until his eyes were opened: her eyes have +been opened and yet she will not see!" + +No, Miss Blake, neither could the self-righteous Pharisee see, when he +went into the Temple to thank God that he was better than other men, +and especially than the poor publican. + +St. Jerome's was prospering. It had taken--as Tom Pepp the bell-ringer +phrased it--a spurt. A rich maiden lady of uncertain age, fascinated +by the Reverend Guy Cattacomb's oratory and spectacles, came over once +a day in her brougham from Basham, and always put a substantial coin +into the offertory-bag during the service. + +The Reverend Damon Puff found favour too. He had a beautiful black +moustache, which he was given to stroke lovingly at all kinds of +unseasonable times, his hair was parted down the middle carefully, +back and front, and he had an interesting lisp: otherwise he was a +harmless kind of young man, devotedly attentive to the ladies, and not +overburdened with brains. Mr. Puff had taken up his abode for the +present at Basham, and came over in the omnibus. Two omnibus-loads of +fair worshippers arrived now daily: there was frightful scuffling +among them to get into the one that contained the parson. + +But, flourishing though St. Jerome's was, people were talking about it +in anything but a reverend manner. Sir Karl Andinnian was blamed for +allowing it to go on unchecked--as he told his wife. Had Karl been a +perfectly free man, unswayed by that inward and ever-present dread, he +had certainly put a stop to it long ago, or obliged Farmer Truefit to +do so; but as it was, he had done nothing. Not a single male person +attended the services; and most of the ladies who did so were in their +teens, or not much beyond them. Karl felt that this was not as it +should be: but he had made no move to alter it. The sensitive fear of +making enemies swayed him. Not fear for his own sake, but lest it +should in some way draw observation on the Maze and on him whom it +contained. When the mind is weighed down with an awful secret, danger +seems to lie in everything, reasonable and unreasonable. But Karl +found he must do something. + +A comic incident happened one day. There came a lady to Foxwood Court, +sending in her card as "Mrs. Brown" and asking to see Sir Karl +Andinnian. Sir Karl found she was from Basham. She had come over to +pray him, she said with tears in her eyes, that he would put a stop to +the goings-on at St. Jerome's and shut up the place. She had two +daughters who had been drawn into its vortex and she could not draw +them out again. Twice and three times every day of their lives did +they come over to Foxwood, by rail, omnibus, or on foot; their whole +thoughts and days were absorbed by St. Jerome's: by the services, by +cleaning the church, by Mr. Cattacomb's lectures at home, or in +helping Mr. Puff teach the children. Sir Karl replied that he did not +know what he could do in the matter, and intimated very courteously +that the more effectual remedy in regard to the Miss Browns would be +for Mrs. Brown to keep the young ladies at home. They would not be +kept at home, Mrs. Brown said with a burst of sobs; they had learnt to +set her at defiance: and--she begged to hint to Sir Karl--that in her +opinion it was not quite the right thing for a young girl to be +closeted with a young man, for half an hour at a time, under plea of +confession, though the man did write himself priest. What on earth had +they got to confess, Mrs. Brown wanted to know, becoming a little +heated with the argument: if they'd confess how undutiful they were to +her, their mother, perhaps some good might come of it. + +Well, this occurred. Sir Karl got rid of Mrs. Brown; but he could not +shut his ears to the public chatter; and he was conscious that +something or other ought to be done, or attempted. He could not see +why people should expect that it lay in his hands, and he certainly +did not know whether he could effect anything, even with all the good +will in the world. Mr. Cattacomb might civilly laugh at him. Not +knowing whether any power lay with him, or not, he felt inclined to +put the question to the only lawyer Foxwood contained--Mr. St. Henry. + +But oh, what was this petty grievance to the great trouble ever lying +upon him? As nothing. The communication made to him by Ann Hopley, of +the night watches she had seen, of the stranger who afterwards +presented himself at the Maze gate with his questions, was so much +addition to his tormenting dread. Just about this time, too, it came +to his knowledge through Hewitt, that inquiries were being made as to +the Maze. Private, whispered inquiries, not apparently with any +particular object; more in the way of idle gossip. Who was putting +them? Karl could not learn. Hewitt did not know who, but was sure of +the fact. The story told by Mrs. Chaffen, of the gentleman she had +seen at the Maze the night she entered it, and "which it was at her +wits' end to know whether he were a ghost, or not," was circulating +round the village and reached Karl's ears, to his intense annoyance +and dismay. Added to all this, was the doubt that lay within himself, +as to whether Smith the agent was Philip Salter, and what his course +in the matter should be. In his own mind he felt persuaded that it was +Salter, and no other; but the persuasion was scarcely sufficiently +assured to induce him to act. He felt the danger of speaking a word of +accusation to Smith wrongfully--the danger it might bring on his +brother--and therefore he, in this, vacillated and hesitated, and did +nothing. + +Do not reproach Karl Andinnian with being an unstable or vacillating +man. He was nothing of the kind. But he was living under exceptional +circumstances, and there seemed to be risk to his unfortunate brother +on the left hand and on the right. If discovery should chance to +supervene through any rash step of his, Karl's, remorse would never +cease from racking him to the end of his bitter life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +At Lawyer St. Henry's. + + +Lawyer St. Henry sat at his well-spread breakfast table. He was a +little man with a bald head and good-natured face, who enjoyed his +breakfast as well as all his other meals. Since his nieces had +considered it necessary to their spiritual welfare to attend matins at +St. Jerome's, the lawyer had been condemned to breakfast alone. The +sun shone on the street, and Mr. St. Henry sat in a room that faced +it. Through the wire blinds he could see all the passings and +re-passings of his neighbours; which he very well liked to do; as well +as the doings of Paradise Row opposite. + +"Hallo!" he cried, catching sight of a face at Mrs. Jinks's parlour +window, "Cattacomb's not gone out this morning! Puff must have come +over early to officiate. Thinks he'll take it easy, I suppose, now +he's got an underling: no blame to him, either. The girls will be +dished for once. Nobody goes down with 'em like Cattacomb." + +Laughing a little at the thought, he helped himself to a portion of a +tempting-looking cutlet surrounded with mushrooms. This being nearly +despatched, he had leisure to look abroad again and make his mental +comments. + +"There goes the doctor: he's out early this morning. Going to see old +Etheredge, perhaps: wonder how the old fellow is. And there's Mother +Jinks taking in a sweetbread. Must be for the parson's breakfast. +Sweetbreads are uncommonly good, too: I'll have one myself to-morrow +morning if it can be got. Why, here comes Sir Karl Andinnian! _He_ is +out early, too. That young man looks to me as though he had some care +upon him. It's a nice countenance; very: and if--I declare he is +coming here! What on earth can he want?" + +Sir. Karl Andinnian was ringing the door-bell. It has been already +said that the lawyer's offices were in Basham, for which place he +generally started as soon as breakfast was over. Therefore, if any +client wished to see him at Foxwood, it had to be early in the morning +or late in the evening. This was known and understood. + +Sir Karl was shown in, Mr. St. Henry glancing at his breakfast-table +and the three or four dirty plates upon it. He had finished now, and +they sat down together at the window. Sir Karl, not to detain him +unnecessarily, entered at once upon the question he had come to +ask--Had he, or had he not, power to do anything with St. Jerome's? +And the lawyer laughed a little; for St. Jerome's afforded him fun, +rather than otherwise. + +"Of course, Sir Karl, if Truefit choose to warn them off the land, he +could do it," was the lawyer's reply. "Not without notice, though, I +think: I don't know what the agreement was. As to yourself--well I am +not clear whether you could do anything: I should like to see +Truefit's lease before giving an opinion. But, if they were shut out +of St. Jerome's to-day, they'd contrive to start another place +to-morrow." + +"That is quite likely," said Karl. + +"My advice to you is this, Sir Karl: don't bother yourself about it," +said the easy-going lawyer. "People expect you to interfere? Never +mind that: let them expect. The thing will die away of itself when +winter comes. Once the frost and snow set in, the girls, silly +monkeys, won't be trapesing to St. Jerome's; neither will they come +jinketing over by omnibusfuls from Basham. Wait and shut it up then. +If you attempt to do it now, you will meet with wide opposition: by +waiting, you may do it almost without any." + +"You really think so?" + +"I am nearly sure so," said the hearty lawyer. "There's nothing like +bad weather for stopping expeditions of chivalry. But for having had +the continuous sunshine the summer has given us, St. Jerome's would +not have been the success it is." + +"They have dressed Torn Pepp in a conical cap, and put a red cross all +down his back outside," said Sir Karl. + +The lawyer burst into a laugh. "I know," he said. "I hear of the +vagaries from my nieces. It's fun for me. They go in for them +wholesale, and come home with their heads full." + +"But it is not religion, Mr. St. Henry." + +"Bless me, no. Religion? The girls may give it that name; and perhaps +one or two among them may be earnest enough in thinking it so; the +rest are only after Cattacomb." + +"There's another one now, I hear. One Puff." + +"And a fine puff of wind _he_ is. Got no more brains than a gander. +I'll see Truefit and inquire what agreement it was he made with them, +if you like, Sir Karl; but I should certainly recommend you to leave +the matter alone a little longer." + +Sir Karl thought he would accept the advice; and got up to leave. He +often saw Truefit about the land, and could take an opportunity of +questioning him himself. As he stood for a moment at the window, there +passed down the middle of the street a stranger, walking slowly; that +is, a stranger to Karl. It was Mr. Strange. + +Now it happened that Karl had never yet seen this man--at least, he +had never noticed him. For the detective, being warned by Grimley that +Sir Karl had, or seemed to have, some reason for screening Salter--had +kept out of Sir Karl's way. He thought it would not conduce at all to +his success to let Sir Karl know he was down there on the scent. +Therefore, whenever he had observed Sir Karl coming along--and he had +kept his eyes sharply open--he had popped into a shop, or drawn behind +a hedge, or got over a style into another field. And Karl, in his +mind's abstraction--for it nearly always was abstracted, lost in its +own fear and pain--had not thought of looking out gratuitously for +strangers. But, standing up at the lawyer's window, the street close +before him, he could not fail to observe those who passed up and down: +and his attention was at once drawn to this man. + +"Who is that?" he asked. + +"That! oh, that's a Mr. Strange," said the lawyer, laughing again--and +in his laugh this time there was something significant. "At least, +that's his name _here_." + +"And not elsewhere?" + +"I fancy not." + +"Is he staying at Foxwood? What is he doing here?" + +"He is certainly staying at Foxwood. As to his business, I conclude it +is something in the private detective line, Sir Karl." + +Mr. Strange, whose attention in passing had been directed to some +matter on the other side of the way and not to the lawyer's window, +consequently he did not know that he was being watched, had halted a +little lower down to speak to the landlord of the Red Lion. All in a +moment, as Karl looked at him, the notion flashed into his mind that +this man bore a strong resemblance to the description given by Ann +Hopley of the man who had invaded the Maze. The notion came to him +in the self-same moment that the words of the lawyer fell on his +ears--"His business, I conclude, is something in the private detective +line." What with the notion, and what with the words, Karl Andinnian +fell into a confused inward tumult, that caused his heart's blood to +stop, and then course wildly on. Business at Foxwood, connected with +detectives, must have reference to his brother, and to him alone. + +"A slight-made gentleman with a fair face and light curly hair, +looking about thirty," had been Ann Hopley's description; it answered +in every particular to the man Karl was gazing at; gazing until he +watched him out of sight. Lawyer St. Henry, naturally observant, +thought his guest stared after the man as though he held some peculiar +interest in him. + +"Do you know who that man really is, Mr. St. Henry?" + +"Well, I'll tell you, Sir Karl. No reason why I should not, for I have +not been told to keep it a secret. Some little time back, my nieces +grew full of the new lodger at Mrs. Jinks's; they were talking of him +incessantly: A gentleman reading divinity----" + +"Why, that's Mr. Cattacomb," interrupted Sir Karl. "He lodges at Mrs. +Jinks's." + +"Not that ladies' idiot," cried the lawyer, rather roughly. "I beg +your pardon, Sir Karl, but the Reverend Guy sometimes puts me out of +patience. This man has the upper rooms, Cattacomb the lower----" + +"But I--I thought that was a boy: a lad at his studies," reiterated +Karl, in some perplexity. "I assumed him to be a pupil of +Cattacomb's." + +"It is the man you have just watched down the street, Sir Karl. Well, +to go on. My nieces were always talking of this new gentleman, a Mr. +Strange, who had come to Foxwood to get up his health, and to read up +for some divinity examination. That was their account. They said so +much about him that I got curious myself: it was a new face, you see, +Sir Karl, and girls go wild over that. One morning when I was starting +for the office, the gig at the door, Jane ran out to me. 'Uncle,' she +said, 'that's Mr. Strange coming down Mrs. Jinks's steps now: you can +see him if you look.' I did look, Sir Karl, and saw the gentleman you +have just seen pass. His face struck me at once as one that I was +familiar with, though at the moment I could not tell where I had seen +him. Remembrance came to me while I looked--and I knew him for an +officer connected with the detective force at Scotland Yard." + +Karl drew a long breath. He was listening greedily. + +"About a year ago," resumed the lawyer, "my agent in London, Mr. +Blair, had occasion to employ a detective upon some matter he was +engaged in. I was in London for a few days at that time, and saw the +man twice at Blair's--and knew him again now. It was this same Mr. +Strange." + +"And you say Strange is not his right name?" + +"No, it's not." + +"What is the right one?" + +"Well, I can't tell you the right one, Sir Karl, for I cannot remember +it. I am sure of one thing--that it was not Strange. It was a longer +name, and I think rather a peculiar name; but I can't hit upon it. He +must be down here on some private business, and has no doubt his own +reasons for keeping incog. I recollect Blair told me he was one of the +astutest officers in the detective force." + +"Has he recognised you?" + +"He could not recognise me," said Mr. St. Henry, "I don't suppose he +ever saw me to notice me. Each time that he called on Blair, it +happened that I was in the front office with the clerks when he passed +through it. He was not likely to have observed me." + +"You have not spoken to him, then?" + +"Not I." + +"And--you don't know what his business here may be." + +"Not at all. Can't guess at it. It concerns neither you nor me, Sir +Karl, and therefore I have not scrupled to tell _you_ so much. Of +course you will not repeat it again. If he chooses to remain unknown +here, and pass himself off for a student of divinity--doubtless for +sufficient reasons--I should not be justified in proclaiming that he +is a London detective, and so possibly ruin his game." + +Sir Karl made a motion of acquiescence. His brain was whirling in no +measured degree. He connected the presence of this detective at +Foxwood with the paragraph that had appeared in the newspaper touching +the escaped convict from Portland Island. + +"Would there--would there be any possibility of getting to know his +business?" he dreamily asked. + +"Not the slightest, I should say, unless he chooses directly to +disclose it. Why? You cannot have any interest in it, I presume, Sir +Karl, whatever it may be." + +"No, no; certainly not," replied Sir Karl, awaking to the fact that he +was on dangerous ground. "One is apt to get curious on hearing of +business connected with detectives," he added, laughing; "as +interested as one does in a good novel." + +"Ay, true," said the lawyer, unsuspiciously. + +"At Mrs. Jinks's he is lodging, is he?" absently remarked Karl, +turning to depart; and inwardly marvelling how he could have caught up +the notion that the person there was only a lad, a pupil of +Cattacomb's. + +"At Mrs. Jinks's, Sir Karl; got her drawing-room. Wonder how the Rev. +Guy would feel if he knew the man over his head was a cute detective +officer?" + +"I suppose the officer cannot be looking after _him_," jested Sir +Karl. "St. Jerome's is the least sound thing we know at Foxwood." + +The lawyer laughed a hearty laugh as he attended Sir Karl to the door; +at which Mr. St. Henry's gig was now waiting to take him into Basham. + +It was not a hot morning, but Karl Andinnian took off his hat +repeatedly on the way home to wipe his brow. The dreadful catastrophe +he had been fearing for his unfortunate brother seemed to be drawing +ominously near. + +"But for that confounded Smith, Adam might have been away before," he +groaned. "I know he might. Smith----" + +And there Karl stopped; stopped as though his speech had been suddenly +cut off. For a new idea had darted into his mind, and he stayed to +ponder it. + +Was this detective officer down here to look after Philip Salter?--and +not after Adam at all? + +A conviction, that it must be so, took possession of him; and in the +first flush of it the relief was inexpressibly great. But he +remembered again the midnight watcher of the Maze and the morning +visit following it; and his hopes fell back to zero. That this was the +same man who had watched there could remain no doubt whatever. + +Passing into his own room, Karl sat down and strove to think the +matter out. He could arrive at no certain conclusion. One minute he +felt sure the object was his brother; the next, that it was only +Salter. + +But, in any case, allowing that it was Salter, there must be danger to +Adam. If this cunning London detective were to get into the Maze +premises again and _see_ the prisoner there, all would be over. The +probability was, that he was personally acquainted with the noted +criminal Adam Andinnian: and it might be, that he had gained a +suspicion that Adam Andinnian was alive. + +One thing Karl could not conceal from himself--and it brought to him a +rush of remorse. If the detective had come down after Salter, he--he, +Karl--must have been the means of bringing him there. + +But for that unpleasant consciousness he would have gone straight off +to Smith the agent, and told him of the trouble that was threatening +Adam, and said, "What shall we do in it; how screen him?" But he did +not dare. He did not dare to make a move or stir a step that might +bring Smith and the detective in contact. He could not quite +understand why, if Smith were really Salter, the detective had not +already pounced upon him: but he thought it quite likely that Smith +might be keeping himself out of sight. In short, the thoughts and +surmises that crossed and recrossed Karl's brain, some probable +enough, others quite improbable, were legion. Not for the world, if he +could help it, would he aid--further than he had perhaps unhappily +aided--in denouncing Salter; and knowing what he had done, he could +not face the man. He had never intended to harm him. + +So there Karl was, overwhelmed with this new perplexity, and not able +to stir in it. He saw not what he could do. To address the detective +himself, and say whom are you after, would be worse than folly; of all +people he, Karl Andinnian, must keep aloof from him. It might be that +there was only a _suspicion_ about Adam's being alive, that they were +trying to find out whether it was so or not. For him, Karl, to +interfere or show interest, would help it on. + +But this suspense was well nigh intolerable. Karl could not live under +it. Something he must do. If only he could set the question at rest, +as to which of the two criminals the detective was after, it would be +a good deal gained. And he could only do that by applying to Mr. +Burtenshaw. It was not sure that he would, but there was a chance that +he might. + +Lady Andinnian was in her little sitting-room upstairs, when she heard +Sir Karl's footstep. He entered without knocking: which was very +unusual. For they had grown ceremonious one with another since the +estrangement and knocked at doors and asked permission to enter, as +strangers. Lucy was adding up her housekeeping bills. + +"I am going to London, Lucy. Some business has arisen that I am very +anxious about, and I must go up at once." + +"Business with Plunkett and Plunkett?" she asked, a slight sarcasm in +her tone, though Karl detected it not, as she remembered the plea he +had urged for the journey once before. + +"No, not with Plunkett and Plunkett. The business, though, is the same +that has been troubling my peace all the summer. I think I shall be +home tonight, Lucy: but if I cannot see the person I am going up to +see, I may have to wait in town until to-morrow. Should the last train +not bring me down, you will know the reason." + +"Of course your movements are your own, Sir Karl." + +He sighed a little, and stood looking from the window. The first train +he could catch would not go by for nearly an hour, so he had ample +time to spare. Lucy spoke. + +"I was going to ask you for some money. I have scarcely enough, I +think, for these bills." + +"Can you wait until I return, Lucy? I have not much more in the house +than I shall want. Or shall I give you a cheque? Hewitt can go to the +bank at Basham and cash it." + +"Oh I can wait quite well. There's no hurry for a day or two." + +"You shall have it to-morrow in any case. If I stay away as long as +that I shall be sure to return during banking hours, and will get out +at Basham and draw some money." + +"Thank you." + +"Goodbye, Lucy." + +She held out her hand in answer to his, and wished him goodbye in +return. He kept it for a minute in his, stooped and kissed her cheek. + +It brought a rush of colour to her face, but she said nothing. Only +drew away her hand, bent over her figures again, and began adding them +up steadily. He passed round to his chamber, putting a few things in a +hand-bag in case he had to stay away the night. + +Then he went down to his room and penned a few lines to Adam, +entreating him to be unusually cautious. The note was enclosed in an +outer envelope, addressed to Mrs. Grey. He rang the bell for Hewitt, +and proceeded to lock his desk. + +"I want you to go over to the Maze, Hewitt," he said in a low +tone--and had got so far when, happening to raise his eyes, he saw it +was Giles and not Hewitt who had entered. Karl had his wits about him, +and Hewitt came in at the moment. + +"Hewitt, I want you to step over to the Maze and inquire whether the +plumbers have been there yet. There's something wrong with a drain. +Ask the servants at the same time how their mistress is getting on. +And----" + +Giles had stood gaping and listening. Karl broke off to bid him look +for his umbrella. + +"No message, Hewitt, and no answer," breathed his master, as he handed +him the note. "Put it in your pocket." + +"All right, sir," nodded Hewitt, and was away before Giles came back +with the umbrella. And Karl got off at last. + +Perhaps Mr. Burtenshaw was astonished, perhaps not, to see Sir Karl +Andinnian enter that same afternoon. He, the detective, was poring +over his papers, as usual, but he turned from them to salute his +visitor. + +"Will you take a seat, Sir Karl, for two minutes. After that, I am at +your service." + +"You know me, then, Mr. Burtenshaw!" exclaimed Karl. + +"The man who happened to come into the room with Grimley, the last +time you were here, sir, said you were Sir Karl Andinnian," replied +the officer without scruple. "Take a seat, sir, pray." + +Mr. Burtenshaw placed four or five letters, already written, within +their envelopes, directed, and stamped them. Then he quitted the room, +probably to send them to the post, came in again, and drew a chair in +front of Karl. "He is looking worse than ever," was the mental summary +of the detective--"but what a nice face it is!" + +Ay, it was. The pale, beautiful features, their refined expression, +the thoughtfulness in the sweet grey eyes, and the strange sadness +that pervaded every lineament, made a picture that was singularly +attractive. Karl had one glove off; and the diamond and opal ring he +always wore in remembrance of his father flashed in the sunlight. For +the buff blinds were not down to-day. He had wished to give the ring +back to his brother, when he found he had no right to it himself, but +Adam had insisted upon his keeping it and wearing it, lest "the world +might inquire where the ring was gone." Another little deceit, as it +always seemed to Karl. + +"I have called here, Mr. Burtenshaw, to ask you to answer me a +question honestly. Have you--stay though," he broke off. "As you know +me, I presume you know where I live?" + +"Quite well, Sir Karl. I was at the Court once in Sir Joseph +Andinnian's time." + +"Ay, of course you would know it. Now for my question. Have you sent a +detective officer down to Foxwood after Philip Salter?" + +"I have not," replied Mr. Burtenshaw, with, Karl thought, a stress +upon the "I." + +"But you know that one is there?" + +"Why do you ask me this?" cried Mr. Burtenshaw, making no immediate +reply. + +"Because I have reason to believe, in fact to know, that a detective +officer is at Foxwood, and I wish to ascertain what he is there for. I +presume it can only be to search after Philip Salter." + +"And what if it were?" asked Mr. Burtenshaw. + +"Nothing. Nothing that could in any way affect you. I want to +ascertain it, yes or no, for my own private and individual +satisfaction." + +"Well, you are right, Sir Karl. One of our men has gone down there +with that object." + +Karl paused. "I suppose _I_ have led to it," he said. "That is, that +it has been done in consequence of the inquiries I made of you." + +"Of those you made of Grimley, sir, not of me. I had nothing to do +with sending Tatton down----" + +Karl caught at the name. "Tatton, do you call him?" he interrupted. +And Mr. Burtenshaw nodded. + +"He calls himself 'Strange' down there." + +"Oh, does he? He knows what he is about, Sir Karl, rely upon it." + +"Who did send him down?" + +"Scotland Yard. It appears that Grimley, taking up the notion through +you that he had found a clue to the retreat of Salter, went to +Scotland Yard, announced that Salter was in hiding somewhere in the +neighbourhood of Foxwood, and asked that a search should be set on +foot for him." + +Karl sat thinking. If the man Tatton went down after Philip Salter, +what brought him within the grounds of the Maze, watching the house at +night? Whence also that endeavour to get in by day, and his questions +to Ann Hopley? Was it Tatton who did this?--or were there two men, +Strange and Tatton? + +"What sort of a man is Tatton?" he asked aloud. "Slight and fair?" + +"Slight and fair; about thirty years of age, Sir Karl. Curly hair." + +"They must be the same," mentally decided Karl. "I presume," he said, +lifting his head, "that Tatton must have started on this expedition +soon after I was here last?" + +"The following day, I think." + +"Then he has been at Foxwood over long. More than long enough to have +found Salter if Salter's there, Mr. Burtenshaw." + +"That depends upon circumstances, Sir Karl," replied the detective, +with a wary smile. "I could tell you of a case where an escaped man +was being looked after for twelve months before he was unearthed--and +he had been close at hand all the while. They have as many ruses as a +fox, these fugitives." + +"Nevertheless, as Tatton has not yet found Salter, I should consider +it a tolerably sure proof that Salter is not at Foxwood." + +Mr. Burtenshaw threw a penetrating gaze at his visitor. "Will you +undertake to give me your word, Sir Karl, that you do not _know_ +Philip Salter to be at Foxwood?" + +"On my word and honour I do not know him to be there," said Karl, +decisively. "I should think he is not there." + +He spoke but in accordance with his opinion. The conviction had been +gaining upon him the last few minutes that he must have been in error +in suspecting Smith to be the man. How else was it, if he was the man, +that Tatton had not found him? + +"Salter _is_ there," said the detective--and Karl pricked up his ears +to hear the decisive assertion. "We have positive information from +Tatton that he is on his trail:--I am not sure but he has seen him. +For the first week or two of Tatton's sojourn there, he could discover +no trace whatever of the man or his hiding-place; but accident gave +him a clue, and he has found both: found his hiding-place and found +him." + +"Then why does he not lay his hands upon him?" returned Karl, veering +round again to the impression that it must be Smith. + +"It is only a question of time, Sir Karl. No doubt he has good reasons +for his delay. To _know_ where a man is hiding may be one thing; to +capture him quite another. Too much haste sometimes mars the game." + +"Tatton is going to remain at Foxwood, then?" + +"Until the capture is accomplished, certainly." + +Karl's heart sunk within him at the answer. While Tatton was delaying +his capture of Smith, he might be getting a clue to another escaped +fugitive down there--Adam Andinnian. Nay, had he not already the clue? +Might not this very delay be caused by some crafty scheme to take both +criminals at once--to kill two birds with one stone? He asked one more +question. + +"Mr. Burtenshaw, how was it that suspicion was directed at all to +Foxwood?" + +"Grimley took up the notion after your second visit here, Sir Karl, +that you had a suspicion of Salter yourself. I thought you understood +this. Grimley fancied you were in the habit of seeing some one whom +you believed, but did not feel quite sure, might be Salter. And he +judged that the individual, whether it was Salter or not, must be in +hiding near your dwelling-place--Foxwood." + +Ay; Karl saw how it was. _He_ had done this. He and no other, had +brought this additional danger upon his ill-fated brother, whom he +would willingly have given his own life to shield. + +There was nothing more to be asked of Mr. Burtenshaw: he had learnt +all he came to hear. And Sir Karl with his load of care returned to +Foxwood by the evening train. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +Another Kettle-Drum. + +Commotion at Mrs. Jinks's. Another afternoon kettle-drum on a grand +scale. The two pastors, and more guests than could squeeze into the +parlour. All the Foxwood ladies and an omnibus load or two from +Basham. + +Mr. Strange at in his drawing-room, on a three-legged stool; the one +that supported Mrs. Jinks's tub on washing days. His chairs had been +borrowed. He had good-naturedly given up every one: so Mrs. Jinks +introduced the wooden stool. These crowded meetings below had amused +him at first; but he was getting a little tired with the bustle and +the noise. Every time the street door was knocked at, it shook his +room; the talking below could be heard nearly as plainly as though he +were taking part in it. Still it made a little diversion in Mr. +Strange's solitary existence, if only to watch the arrival of the +articles needed for the feast, and to smell the aroma of the coffee, +made in the kitchen in a huge kettle. The supplies did not concern Mr. +Cattacomb; his gentle flock took that on themselves, cost and all. +There was no lack of good things, but rather a superabundance: since +the Rev. Mr. Puff had come to augment the clerical force, the +contributions had been too profuse. So that every one connected with +the entertainment was in the seventh heaven of enjoyment and good +humour; except Mrs. Jinks. + +Perched on the hard stool, Mr. Strange, for lack of other employment, +had noted the dainties as they came in. The wisest of us must unbend +sometimes. A basket of muffins full to the brim; eleven sorts of +jam--since it was discovered that the Reverend Guy loved preserves to +satiety, the assortments had never failed; thirteen kinds of biscuits, +trays of cake, glass pots of marmalade and honey, ripe rich fruits of +all tempting colours, chocolate creams, candied oranges, lovely +flowers. + +Mr. Strange grew tired of looking; his head ached with the noise, his +eyes with the splendour of the ladies' dresses. For the company was +arriving now, thick and threefold. + +There had arisen a slight, a very slight, modicum of displeasure at +Mr. Cattacomb. That zealous divine had been met four or five times +walking with Mr. Moore's third daughter, Jemima: at the last lecture +he had distinctly been seen man[oe]uvring to get the young lady next +to him. It gave offence. While he belonged to them all, all adored +him; but let him once single out one of them for favour more than the +rest, and woe betide his popularity. "And that little idiot of a +Jemima Moore, too, who had not two ideas in her vain head!" as Jane +St. Henry confidentially remarked. However, the Reverend Guy, upon +receiving a hint from Miss Blake that he was giving umbrage, vowed and +protested that it was all accident and imagination--that he hardly +knew Miss Jemima from her sisters. So peace was restored, and the +kettledrum grew out of it. + +"I must have my chop all the same, Mrs. Jinks," said Mr. Strange to +the widow; who had come upstairs to ask the loan of his sugar tongs, +and looked very red and excited over it. + +"In course, sir, you shall have it. It might be ten minutes later, +sir, than ord'nary, but I do hope you'll excuse it, sir, if it is. You +see how I'm drove with 'em." + +"I see that there seems to be a large company arriving." + +"Company!" returned Mrs. Jinks, the word causing her temper to +explode; "I don't know how they'll ever get inside the room. I shall +have to borrow a form from the school next door but one, and put it in +the passage for some of 'em; and, when that and the chairs is filled, +the rest must stand. Never as long as I live, will I take in a +unmarried parson-gent again, if he's one of this here new sort that +gets the ladies about him all day in church and gives drums out of it. +Hark at the laughing! Them two parsons be in their glory." + +"The ladies must be fond of drums, I should think, by their getting +them up so frequently," remarked Mr. Strange. + +"Drat the huzzies! they'd be fond of fifes too if it brought 'em round +Cattakin," was the widow's uncomplimentary rejoinder. "Better for 'em +if they'd let the man alone to drink his tea in quiet and write his +sermons--which I don't believe ever does get writ, seeing he never has +a minute to himself. Hark at that blessed door!" she continued; and +indeed the knocking was keeping up a perpetual chorus. "If they'd only +turn the handle they could come in of theirselves. I said so to the +Miss St. Henrys one cleaning day that I had been called to it six +times while scrubbing down the kitchen stairs, and the young ladies +answered me that they'd not come in to Mr. Cattakin's without +knocking, for the world." + +"I suppose not," said Mr. Strange, slightly laughing. + +"Hang that knocker again. There it goes! And me with all the drum on +my shoulders. You should see the muffins we've got to toast and butter +downstairs, sir; your conscience 'ud fail you. Betsey Chaffin has come +in to help me, and she and the girl is at it like steam. I'm afeared +that there stool's terrible hard for you, Mr. Strange, sir!" broke off +the widow, in condolence. + +"It's not as soft as velvet," was the reply. "But I'm glad to oblige: +and I am going out presently. Get my chop and tea up when you can." + +Mrs. Jinks disappeared; the hum continued. Whether the two parsons, as +Mrs. Jinks surmised, felt "in their glory," cannot be told: the ladies +were certainly in theirs. These kettledrums at Mr. Cattacomb's were +charmingly attractive. + +When Mr. Strange did not return home for his chop at midday, he took +it with his tea. His tray was yet before him when the kettledrum +trooped out to attend vespers. At least, the company who had formed +the drum. The two reverend gentlemen hastened on together a little in +advance; Miss Blake led the van behind; and curious Foxwood ran to its +windows to see. + +Mr. Strange, who had nothing particular on his hands or mind that +evening, looked after them. Example is infectious. He felt an +inclination to follow in their wake--for it had not been his good +fortune yet to make one of the worshippers at St. Jerome's; he had +never indulged himself with as much as a peep inside the place. +Accordingly, Mr. Strange started, after some short delay, and gained +the edifice. + +The first object his eyes rested on, struck him as being as ludicrous +as an imp at the play. It was Tom Pepp in a conical hat tipped with +red, and a red cross extending down his white garmented back. Tom Pepp +stood near the bell, ready to tinkle it at parts of the service. It +may as well be stated--lest earnest disciples of new movements should +feel or take offence--that the form and make of the services at St. +Jerome's were entirely Mr. Cattacomb's own; invented by himself +exclusively, and not copied from any other standard, orthodox or +unorthodox. The description of it is taken from facts. Mr. Strange, +standing at the back near to Tom Pepp, enjoyed full view of all: the +ladies prostrate on the floor, _actually prostrate_, some of them, the +Reverend Guy facing them with the whites of his eyes turned up; Damon +Puff on his knees, presenting his back to the room and giving every +now and then a surreptitious stroke to his moustache. The detective +had never seen so complete a farce in his life, as connected with +religion. He thought the two reverend gentlemen might be shut up for a +short term as mutinous lunatics, by way of receiving a little +wholesome correction: he knew that if he had a daughter, he would shut +_her_ up as one, rather than she should make a spectacle of herself as +these other girls were doing. + +The services over, Tom Pepp set on at the bell to ring them out with +all his might--for that was the custom. Most of them filed out; as did +Mr. Damon Puff; and they went on their way. A few of them stopped in, +for confession to Mr. Cattacomb. + +It was growing dusk then. A train was just in, and had deposited some +passengers at the station. One of them came along, walking quickly, as +if in haste to get home. Happening to turn his head towards St. +Jerome's as he passed it, attracted by the bell, he saw there, +rather to his surprise, standing just outside the door, Mr. Moore's +strong-minded sister. She peered at him in the twilight; she was no +longer so quick of sight as she had been; and recognized Sir Karl +Andinnian. + +"What, is it you, Miss Diana!" he cried, stopping to hold out his +hand. "Have you gone over to St. Jerome's?" + +"I'd rather go over to Rome, Sir Karl," was the candid answer. "I may +lapse to St. Jerome's when I get childish perhaps, if it lasts so +long. There's no answering for any of us when the mind fails." + +Sir Karl laughed slightly. He saw before him the receding crowd +turning down towards Foxwood village, and knew that vespers must be +just over. The ringing of Tom Pepp's bell would have told him that. It +was clanging away just above Miss Diana's head. + +"You have been to vespers, then," remarked Sir Karl again, almost at a +loss what to say, and unable to get away until Miss Diana chose to +release his hand. + +"Yes, I have been to what they call vespers," she rejoined tartly; +"more shame for a woman of my sober years to say it, as connected with +this place. Look at them, trooping on there, that Puff in the midst, +who is softer than any apple-puff ever made yet!" continued Miss +Diana, pointing her hand in the direction of the vanishing +congregation. "_They_ have gone; but there are five staying in for +confession. Hark! Hark, Sir Karl! the folly is going to begin." + +A sweet, silvery-toned bell rang gently within the room, and the +clanging bell of Mr. Pepp stopped at the signal. The Reverend Guy had +gone into the confessional box, and all other sounds must cease. + +"I should think they can hardly see to confess at this hour," said Sir +Karl jestingly. + +"They light a tallow candle, I believe, and stick it in the vestry," +said Miss Diana. "Five of them are staying to-night, as I told you: I +always count. They go in one at a time and the others wait their turn +outside the vestry. Do you think I am going to let my nieces stay here +alone to play at that fun, Sir Karl? No: and so I drag myself here +every confessional night. One of them, Jemima, is always staying. She +is a little fool." + +"It does not seem right," mused Sir Karl. + +"Right!" ejaculated Miss Diana in an angry tone, as if she could have +boxed his ears for the mild word. "It is wrong, Sir Karl, and doubly +wrong. I do not care to draw the curb-rein too tightly; they are not +my own children, and might rebel; but as sure as they are living, if +this folly of stopping behind to confess is to go on, I shall tell the +doctor of it. I think, Sir Karl--and you must excuse me for saying so +to your face--that you might have done something before now, to put +down the pantomime of this St. Jerome's." + +"Only this very morning I was with St. Henry, asking him what I could +do," was the reply. "His opinion is, that it will cease of itself when +the cold weather comes on." + +"_Will_ it!" was the sarcastically emphatic retort. "Not if Cattacomb +and the girls can help it. It's neither cold nor heat that will stop +them!" + +"Well, I am not sure about the law, Miss Diana. I don't know that St. +Henry is, either." + +"Look here, Sir Karl. If the law is not strong enough to put down +these places, there's another remedy. Let all the clergy who officiate +at them be upwards of fifty years old and _married_. It would soon be +proved whether, or not, the girls go for the benefit of their souls." + +Sir Karl burst into a laugh. + +"It is these off-shoots of semi-religious places, started up here and +there by men of vanity, some of whom, I venture to say it, are not +licensed clergymen, that bring the shame and the scandal upon the true +church," concluded Miss Diana. "There: don't let us talk of it +further. Have you come from the train?" + +"Yes. I had to run up to London for an hour or two to-day." + +"Then I daresay you are tired. Give my love to your wife," added Miss +Diana, as she wished Sir Karl good evening and turned into St. +Jerome's again to watch over her niece Jemima. + +Sir Karl strode onwards. He had just come home from his interview with +Mr. Burtenshaw. Miss Diana Moore and her sentiments had served to +divert his mind for a moment from his own troubles, but they were soon +all too present again. The hum of the voices and sound of the +footsteps came back to him from the crowd, pursuing its busy way to +the village: he was glad to keep on his own solitary course and lose +its echo. + +Some one else, who had come out of St. Jerome's but who could not +be said properly to pertain to the crowd, had kept on the solitary +road--and that was Mr. Strange. He knew the others would take the +direct way to the village and Mrs. Jinks's, and perhaps that was the +reason why he did not. But there was no accounting for what Mr. +Strange did: and one thing was certain--he had been in the habit +lately of loitering in that solitary road a good deal after dusk had +fallen, smoking his cigar there between whiles. + +Sir Karl went on. He had nearly reached the Maze, though he was on the +opposite side, when at a bend of the road there suddenly turned upon +him a man with a cigar in his mouth, the end of it glowing like an +ember. The smoker would have turned his head away again, and passed +on, but Sir Karl stopped. He had recognized him: and his mind had been +made up on the way from London, to speak to this man. + +"I beg your pardon. Mr. Tatton, I think." + +Mr. Tatton might possibly have been slightly taken to at hearing +himself addressed by his own name: but there was no symptom of it in +his voice or manner. + +"The same, sir," he readily answered, taking the cigar from his mouth. + +"I wish to say a few words to you," pursued Sir Karl. "As well perhaps +say them now as later." + +"Better, sir. No time like the present: it's all we can make sure of." + +"Perhaps you know me, Mr. Tatton?" + +"Sir Karl Andinnian--unless I am mistaken," replied the detective, +throwing away his cigar. + +Sir Karl nodded, but made no assent in words. He would have given a +portion of his remaining life to discern whether this man of law, whom +he so dreaded, knew, or suspected, that he had not a right to the +title. + +"I have just come from London," pursued Sir Karl. "I saw Mr. +Burtenshaw there to-day. Finding that you were down here, I wished to +ascertain whether or not you had come here in search of one Philip +Salter. And I hear that it is so." + +The officer made no remark to this. It might be, that he was uncertain +how far he might trust Sir Karl. The latter observed the reticence: +guessed at the doubt. + +"We may speak together in perfect confidence, Mr. Tatton. But for me, +you would not have been sent here at all. It was in consequence of a +communication I made myself, that the suspicion as to Salter reached +Scotland Yard." + +"I know all about that, Sir Karl," was the reply. "To tell you the +truth, I should have made my presence here at Foxwood known to you at +once, and asked you to aid me in my search; but I was warned at +Scotland Yard that you might possibly obstruct my work instead of +aiding it, for that you wished to screen Salter." + +"Scotland Yard warned you of that!" exclaimed Sir Karl. + +"Yes. They had it from Grimley." + +"The case is this," said Sir Karl, wishing with his whole heart he +could undo what he had done. "Some short while back, I had a reason +for making some enquiries respecting Philip Salter, and I went to my +solicitors, Plunkett and Plunkett. They could not give me any +information, and referred me to Mr. Burtenshaw. Burtenshaw introduced +Grimley to me, and I saw them both twice. But I most certainly never +intended to imply that Salter was in this neighbourhood, or to afford +just grounds for sending down to institute a search after him." + +"But I presume that you do know Salter is here, Sir Karl." + +"Indeed I do not." + +The officer was silent. He thought Sir Karl was intending to deceive +him. + +"I can tell you that he is here, Sir Karl--to the best of my belief. I +could put out my hand at this minute and almost touch the dwelling +that contains him." + +They were nearly opposite the Maze gates, close upon the gate of +Clematis Cottage. Karl wondered, with an anxiety, amounting to agony, +_which_ of the two dwellings was meant. It would be almost as bad for +this man to take Salter as to take Adam Andinnian, since the capture +of the former might lead to that of the latter. + +"You say to the best of your belief, Mr. Tatton. You are not sure, +then?" + +"I am as sure as I can be, Sir Karl, short of actual sight." + +"Good night, Sir Karl." + +The interruption came from Mr. Smith, who was leaning over his gate, +smoking a pipe. Karl returned the salutation and passed on. + +"He seems to have a jolly kind of easy life of it, that agent of +yours, Sir Karl?" remarked the officer. "Do you know him?" questioned +Karl. + +"Only by sight. I have seen Mr. Smith about on the land; and I took +the liberty this afternoon, meeting him by chance near the Brook +field, of asking him what the time was. The spring of my watch broke +last night as I was winding it." + +Karl's heart was beating. Had he been mistaken in supposing Philip +Smith to be Philip Salter? Had he been nursing a foolish chimera, and +running his head--or, rather, his poor brother's head--into a noose +for nothing? God help him, then! + +"You seem to know my agent well by sight," he breathed, in a tone kept +low, lest its agitation should be heard. + +"Quite well," assented the officer. + +"Is he--does he bear any resemblance to Salter?" + +"Not the slightest." + +Karl paused. "You are sure of that?" + +Tatton took a look at Sir Karl in the evening dusk, as if not able to +understand him. "He is about the height of Salter, and in complexion +is somewhat, similar, if you can call that a resemblance," said he. +"There is no other." + +Karl spoke not for a few moments: the way before him was darkening. +"You knew Salter's person well, I conclude?" he said presently. + +"As well as I know my own brother's." + +Another pause; and then Karl laid his hand upon the officer's arm, +bespeaking his best attention. + +"I am sorry for all this," he said; "I am vexed to have been the cause +of so much trouble. Your mission here may terminate as soon as you +will, Mr. Tatton, for it is Smith that I was suspecting of being +Salter!" + +"No!" cried Tatton in surprised disbelief. + +"On my solemn word, I assert it. I suspected my agent, Smith, to be +Salter." + +"Why, Sir Karl, I can hardly understand that. You surely could not +suppose it to be within the bounds of probability that Philip Salter, +the fugitive criminal, would go about in the light of day in England +as your agent goes--no matter how secluded the spot might be! And five +hundred pounds on his head!" + +How a word of ridicule, of reason even, will serve to change our +cherished notions! Put as the cool and experienced police officer put +it, Karl seemed to see how poor and foundationless his judgment had +been. + +"The whole cause of the affair was this," he said, hoping by a candid +explanation to disarm the suspicions he had raised. "A circumstance--I +own it was but a slight one--put it into my head that Philip Smith, of +whom I had known nothing until he came here a few months ago as my +agent, might be the escaped prisoner Philip Salter. The idea grew with +me, and I became anxious--naturally you will say--to ascertain whether +there were any real grounds for the suspicion. With this view I went +up to see if Plunkett's people could give me any information about +Salter or describe his person; and they referred me to Mr. +Burtenshaw." + +"Well, sir?" interposed Tatton, who was listening attentively. + +"I am bound to say that I obtained no corroboration of my suspicions, +except in regard to the resemblance," continued Sir Karl. "Burtenshaw +did not know him; but he summoned the man who had let him escape, +Grimley. As Grimley described Salter, it seemed to me that it was the +precise description of Smith." + +"There is a kind of general resemblance, I admit, Sir Karl, and the +description of one might perhaps sound like that of the other. But if +you knew the two, you would see how unlike they are." + +"Grimley's description seemed to me to be that of Smith," went on +Karl. "I came back here, strengthened in my opinion: but not fully +confirmed. It was not a satisfactory state of things, and the matter +continued to worry me. I longed to set it at rest, one way or the +other; and I went up again to town and saw Grimley and Mr. Burtenshaw. +When I came back once more, I felt nearly as sure as a man can feel +that it was Salter." + +"And yet you did not denounce him, Sir Karl. You would never have done +it, I suppose?" + +"I should not," admitted Karl. "My intention was to tax Smith with it +privately, and--and send him about his business. Very wrong and +illegal of me, no doubt: but I have suffered too severely in my own +family by the criminal law of the land, to give up another man +gratuitously to it." + +At this reference to Sir Adam Andinnian, Mr. Tatton remained silent +from motives of delicacy. He could understand the objection; +especially as coming from a refined, sensitive, and merciful natured +man, as Sir Karl appeared to be. + +"Well, sir, I can only say for myself that I wish your agent had been +Salter," he resumed: "my hands would have been upon him before +to-night. But is it true that you have no other suspicion, Sir Karl?" + +"What suspicion?" + +"That the real Salter is in hiding at Foxwood." + +Karl's heart beat a shade faster. "So far from having any suspicion of +that kind, I am perfectly certain, now that you have proved to me +Smith is not Salter, that he is not at Foxwood. I know every soul in +the place and around it." + +"Were you acquainted with the real Salter, Sir Karl?" + +"No." + +"You take no interest in him, I presume?" + +"None whatever." + +During the conversation they had been slowly pacing onwards, had +passed the Court gates, and were now fairly on the road to Foxwood. It +seemed as if Sir Karl had a mind to escort Mr. Tatton to his home. + +"By the way," he said, "why did you call yourself Strange down here?" + +"I never did," answered Tatton, laughing slightly. "The widow Jinks +gave me that name: I never gave it myself. I said to her I was a +stranger, and she must have misunderstood me; for I found afterwards +that she was calling me Mr. Strange. It was rather convenient than +otherwise, and I did not set it right." + +Karl strolled on in silence, wondering how all this would end and +whether this dangerous man--dangerous to him and his interests--was +satisfied, and would betake himself to town again. A question +interrupted him. + +"Do you know much of a place here called the Maze, Sir Karl?" + +"The Maze is my property. Why?" + +"Yes, I am aware of that. What I meant to ask was, whether you knew +much of its inmates." + +"It is let to a lady named Grey. Her husband is abroad." + +"That's what she tells you, is it? Her husband is there, Sir Karl, if +he be her husband. _That_ is where we must look for Philip Salter." + +Something born of emotion, of sudden fear, seemed to flash across +Karl's eyes and momentarily blind him. A wild prayer went up for +guidance, for help to confront this evil. + +"Why do you say this?" he asked, his voice controlled to a calm +indifference. + +"I have information that some gentleman is living at the Maze in +concealment, and I make no doubt it is Salter. The description of his +person, so far as I have it, answers to him. Until to-night, Sir Karl, +I have believed that it was to the Maze your own suspicions of Salter +were directed." + +"Certainly not--on my word of honour as a gentleman," was the reply. +"I feel sure you are mistaken; I know you are. Mrs. Grey lives alone +at the Maze, save for her servants: two old people who are man and +wife." + +"I am aware the general belief is that she lives alone. It's not true, +though, for all that, Sir Karl." + +"Indeed it is true," returned Karl, calmly as before, for he did not +dare to show too much zeal in Mrs. Grey's cause. "I have been over +there pretty often on one matter or another--the house is an old one, +and no end of repairs seem to be wanted to it--and I am absolutely +sure that no inmate whatever is there, save the three I have +mentioned: the lady, and the man and woman. I do not count the +infant." + +"Ay; there; the infant. What does that prove?" + +"Nothing--as to your argument. Mrs. Grey only came to the place some +five or six months ago. Not yet six, I think." + +"Rely upon it, Sir Karl, the lady has contrived to blind you, in spite +of your visits, just as she has blinded the outside world. Some one is +there, concealed; and I shall be very much surprised if it does not +turn out to be Salter. As to the two old servants, they are bound to +her interests; are of course as much in the plot as she is." + +"I know you are mistaken. I could stake my life that no one else is +there. Surely you are not going to act in any way on this idea!" + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Tatton, with inward craft. "Time enough. +Perhaps I may get some other information before long. Should I require +a search-warrant to examine the house, I shall apply to you, Sir Karl. +You are in the commission of peace, I believe." + +Sir Karl nodded. "If you must have one, I shall be happy to afford +it," he said, remembering that if it came to this pass, his being able +to avert the Maze privately beforehand, would be a boon. And with that +they separated: the detective continuing to pace onwards towards +Paradise Row, Sir Karl turning back to his own house. + +But the events, of the evening, as concerning the Maze interests, were +not altogether at an end. Miss Blake was the last to come out of the +confessional, for the rest had taken their turn before her. It was +tolerably late then; quite dark; and both Aunt Diana and Tom Pepp were +rampant at being kept so long. They all turned out of St. Jerome's +together, including Mr. Cattacomb; and all, save Miss Blake and the +boy, went in the direction of the village. Tom Pepp, having locked up +and doffed his bell-ringing garments, proceeded the other way, +accompanied by Miss Blake. + +She was going to visit a sick woman who lived next door to Tom's +mother. Miss Blake had her good points, though she was harsh of +judgment. This poor woman, Dame Bell, was dying of consumption; the +end was drawing near, and Miss Blake often went to sit by and read to +her. The boy had told her at vespers that night that it was thought +she could hardly live till morning: hence the late visit. She found +her very ill, and stayed to do what she could. + +It was striking ten when Miss Blake quitted the cottage: she heard the +quarters and the strokes told out from the distant church at Foxwood. +The night was a still one. Tom Pepp, waiting outside, gallantly +offered to attend her home. She accepted the escort readily, not +caring to go alone, as it was so late. + +"But I fear it will be keeping your mother up, Tom," she said, in +hesitation. "I know you go to bed early." + +"That's nothing, um," said Tom. "Mother have got her clothes from the +wash to fold to-night. She telled me I was not to let you go back +alone. It have been a rare good day for drying." + +So they set off together, talking all the way, for Tom was an +intelligent companion, and often had items of news to regale the +public with. When they came within view of the Maze gates and Clematis +Cottage, the loneliness of the way was over, and Miss Blake sent the +lad back again, giving him a three-penny-bit. + +She was on the Maze side of the way, not having crossed since leaving +Mrs. Bell's cottage. And she had all but reached the gates, when the +sound of advancing footsteps grew upon her ear. Drawing back amidst +the trees--not to watch for Sir Karl Andinnian as she had watched at +other times, for she believed him to be in London, but simply to +shield herself from observation, as the hour was so late--Miss Blake +waited until the footsteps should have gone by. + +The footsteps did not go by. They halted at the gate: and she, peeping +through the leaves, saw it was Sir Karl. He took the key from his +pocket as usual, opened the gate, locked it after him, and plunged +into the maze. Miss Blake heaved a sigh at man's inventions, and kept +still until there was no fear that her rustling away would be heard. +Then she moved. + +She had never been in all her life so near screaming. Taking one step +forward to depart, she found herself right in the arms of somebody who +had coat sleeves on; another watcher like herself. + +"I beg your pardon, ma'am." + +"Good gracious, Mr. Strange, how you frightened me!" she whispered. +"Whatever are you doing here?" + +"Nay, I may ask what you were doing," was the smiling retort. "On your +way home, I take it. As for me, I was smoking my cigar, and it has +gone out. That was our friend, Sir Karl Andinnian, I fancy, who let +himself in there." + +"Oh yes, it was Sir Karl," was the contemptuous answer, given as they +walked on together. "It is not the first night by a good many he has +been seen stealing in at those gates." + +"Paying his court to Mrs. Grey!" returned Mr. Strange, really speaking +without any sinister motive, and his mind full of Salter. + +Miss Blake, in the honest indignation of her heart, and lately come +from the upright exhortations of the Reverend Guy, allowed her +sentiments their play. Mr. Strange's remark, made in all innocence, +had seemed to show her that he too knew of the scandal. + +"It is shameful!" she said. "Doubly shameful in Sir Karl, a married +man." + +Mr. Strange pricked up his ears. He caught her meaning instantly. + +"Nonsense!" said he. + +"I wish it was nonsense," said Miss Blake. "When the woman, Betsy +Chaffen, was telling the tale in your rooms that day, of the gentleman +she saw, and whom she could never see afterwards, I could hardly +contain myself, dear sir, knowing it was Sir Karl." + +"And--and--do you mean--do you think that there's no Mr. Grey +there--no gentleman inmate, I would say?" cried the detective, +surprised for once. + +"Mr. Grey!" she repeated, scoffingly. "The only 'Mr. Grey' that exists +is Sir Karl Andinnian; I have known it a long while. One or two others +here know it also. It is a scandal." + +She wished him good night with the last words, crossed the road, and +let herself into the grounds of the Court by one of the small gates, +leaving Mr. Strange looking after her like a man in a dream, as he +tried to solve the problems set a-working in his brain. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +Only a Night Owl. + + +The wide window of the upper sitting-room at the Maze was thrown open +to the night air. Gazing forth from it, stood Sir Adam Andinnian and +his wife. He was in his usual evening dress, that he so obstinately +continued to persist in assuming in the teeth of remonstrance: she +wore a loose white robe and a blue cashmere shawl over it. She looked +delicately fragile, very weak and ill still; and this was the first +day that she had left her chamber for any length of time. There was no +light in the sombre room: before light was allowed to come in, the +window would be closed and the shutters shut for the night. + +Not a word was being spoken between them. She had not long come into +the room. A great terror lay on both their hearts. At least, it did on +hers: and Sir Adam had grown to feel anything but easy. The +suspicions, that appeared to be attaching themselves to the Maze +outside the walls, were producing their effects on the comfort of the +inmates within: and perhaps these suspicions were feared all the more +because they did not as yet take any tangible or distinct form. That a +detective officer was in the neighbourhood looking about, Adam had +heard from his brother; and that it was the same man who had been seen +by Ann Hopley watching the house in the moonlight and who had boldly +presented himself at the gate the next day demanding permission to +enter, Sir Adam had no doubt whatever of. Karl, too, was taking to +write him notes of caution. + +Brave though he was, he could not feel safe. There was not a moment of +the day or night but he might see the officers of justice coming in to +look for him. His own opinion was, that he should be able to evade +them if they did come; to baffle their scrutiny; but he could not feel +quite as easy as though he were on a bed of rose-leaves. In +consequence of this apprehension, the ears of himself and his wife +were ever on the alert, their eyes rarely went off the watch, their +conscious hearts never lost the quick beat of fear. It was enough to +wear them both out. + +Can the reader really realize, I wonder, what the situation was? +Can he only imagine one single hour of its terrors, or picture its +never-ceasing, prolonged doubt and agony? I think not. It cannot be +adequately told of. Behind and before there was the awful vista of +that dreadful Portland Island: look which way they would, nothing else +presented itself. + +A gentle breeze suddenly arose, stirring the trees outside. Never an +unexpected sound, however faint, was heard, but it stirred their +beating hearts; stirred them to a fast, fluttering, ugly throbbing. It +was but the wind; they knew it was only that: and yet the emotion did +not subside quickly. Rose had another great anxiety, separate and +apart: perhaps he had it also in a degree, but he did not admit it. It +was on the score of her husband's health. There could be no doubt that +something or other was amiss, for he had occasional attacks of pain +that seemed to arise without any explainable cause. Ann Hopley, who +considered herself wise in ailments, declared that he ought to see a +doctor. She had said it to her master ineffectually; she now began to +say it to her mistress. Sir Adam laughed when his wife was present, +and ridiculed her advice with mocking words of pleasantry; but Ann +Hopley gave nothing but grave looks in return. + +The fact was, she knew more than Rose did: more than Sir Adam intended +or would allow his wife to know. One day, going to a part of the +grounds where she knew she should find her master, she discovered him +on the ground amidst the trees in a fainting-fit, his face of a +bluish-white. Some acute pain, or spasm, sharper than he had ever felt +before, had caused him to lose consciousness, he said, when he +recovered; and he threatened the woman with unheard of pains and +penalties if she breathed a word to her mistress. Ann Hopley held her +tongue accordingly: but when Rose was about again she could see that +Adam was not well. And the very impossibility of calling in a medical +man to him, without arousing curiosity and comments that might lead to +danger, was tormenting her with its own anxiety. + +"The baby sleeps well to-night, Rose." + +"He has slept better and has been altogether easier since he was +baptised," was her answer. "It is just as though he knew he had been +made a little Christian, and so feels at rest." + +"Goose!" smiled Sir Adam. "Don't you think you are sitting up too +late, you young mamma?" + +"I am not tired, Adam. I slept well this afternoon." + +"It is later than perhaps you are aware of, Rose. Hard upon ten." + +"Would you like to have lights!" she asked. + +"No. I'd rather be without them." + +She also would rather be without them. In this extended cause for fear +that was growing up, it seemed safer to be at the open window looking +out, than to be shut up in the closed room where the approaches of +danger could neither be seen nor heard. Perhaps the same kind of +feeling was swaying Sir Adam. + +"You are sure you are well wrapped up, Rose?" + +"Certain. And I could not take cold in this weather. It is like summer +still." + +All around was quiet as death. The stars shone in the sky: the gentle +breeze, that had ruffled the trees just before, seemed to have died +away. Breaking just then upon the stillness, came the sound of the +church clock at Foxwood, telling its four quarters and the ten strokes +of the hour after it. The same quarters, the same strokes that Miss +Blake also heard, emerging from Dame Bell's cottage. The husband and +wife, poor banned people, stood on again side by side, they hardly +knew how long, hushing the trouble that was making a havoc of their +lives, and from which they knew there could be no certain or complete +escape so long as time for him should last. Presently he spoke again. + +"Rose, if you stay here longer I shall close the window. This night +air, calm and warm though it is, cannot be good for you----" + +She laid her warning hand upon his arm. The ears of both were quick, +but he was speaking at the moment, and so she caught the sound first. +A pause of intense silence, their hearts beating almost to be heard; +and then the advance of footsteps, whether stealthy ones or not, might +be distinctly traced, coming through the maze. + +"Go, Adam," she whispered. + +But, before Sir Adam could quit the room, the whistle of a popular +melody broke out upon the air, and they knew the intruder was Karl. It +was his usual advance signal. Ann Hopley heard it below and opened the +heavily barred door to him. + +"You are late to-night, sir." + +"True. I could not come earlier, Ann: it was not safe." + +Poor Karl Andinnian! Had he but known that it was not safe that night, +later as well as earlier! That is, that he had not come in unwatched. +For, you have understood that it was the night mentioned at the close +of the last chapter, when his interview with Mr. Strange had taken +place on his return from London, and the detective and Miss Blake had +subsequently watched him in. + +"Now then, Karl," began Sir Adam, when the room was at length closed +and lighted, and Ann Hopley had gone down again, "what was the +precise meaning of the cautionary note you sent me to-day?" + +"The meaning was to enjoin extra caution upon you," replied Karl, +after a moment's hesitation, and an involuntary glance at Rose. + +"If you have anything to say and are hesitating because my wife is +present, you may speak out freely," cried the very _un_-reticent Sir +Adam. Rose seconded the words. + +"Speak, Karl, speak," she said, leaning towards him with a painful +anxiety in her tone. "It will be a relief to me. Nothing that you or +any one else can say can be as bad as my own fears." + +"Well, I have found out that that man is a London detective," said +Karl, deeming it best to tell the whole truth. "He is down here +looking after an escaped fugitive. Not _you_, Adam: one Salter." + +"One Salter?" echoed Sir Adam, testily, while Rose started slightly. +"Who's he? What Salter? Is there any Salter at Foxwood?" + +"It seems that the police in London have been suspecting that he was +here and they sent this detective, who calls himself Strange, to look +after him. Salter, however, cannot be found; there's no doubt that the +suspicion was altogether a mistake; but, unfortunately, Strange has +had his thoughts directed to the Maze, and is looking after it." + +"After me?" cried Adam. + +"No. I do not believe there exists the smallest suspicion that you are +not in the family vault in Foxwood churchyard. He fancies some one is +concealed here, and thinks it must be Salter." + +"But why on earth should his suspicions be directed to the Maze at +all?" demanded Sir Adam, with a touch of his native heat. + +"Ah, why! We have to thank Moore for that, and your own incaution, +Adam, when you allowed yourself to be seen the night he brought Nurse +Chaffen in. It seems the woman has talked of it outside; telling +people, and Strange amid the rest, that it was either a real gentleman +in dinner attire, or a ghost in the semblance of one. Some have taken +unhesitatingly to the ghost theory, believing it to be a remnant of +the Throcton times; but detectives are wiser men." + +"And so this man is looking after the Maze!" + +"Just so. He is after Salter, not after you." + +Sir Adam made no immediate observation. Rose, listening eagerly, was +gazing at Karl. + +"Is it _sure_ that Salter is not in the place?" she asked in a low +tone. "That he has not been here?" + +"Quite sure, Rose. The idea was a misapprehension entirely," replied +Karl, returning her meaning glance. "Therefore, you see," he added, by +way of giving what reassurance he could, "the man you have so dreaded +is not on the track of Adam at all; but on the imaginary one of +Salter." + +"One scent leads to another," broke forth Sir Adam. "While the fellow +is tracking out Salter, he may track out me. Who's to know that he has +not a photograph of Adam Andinnian in his pocket, or my face in his +memory?" + +"I should like to ask him the question, whether he knew Sir Adam +Andinnian personally; but I fear I dare not," remarked Karl. "A +suspicion once awakened would not end. Your greatest security lies in +their not knowing you are alive." + +"My only security," corrected Sir Adam. "Well, Karl, if that man has +his eyes directed to the Maze, it puts an end to all hope of my trying +to get away. Little doubt, I suppose, but he is watching the outer +walls night and day; perhaps with a dozen comrades to help him." + +"For the present, you can only stay where you are," acknowledged Karl. +"I have told you all this, Adam, to make you doubly careful. But for +your reckless incaution I would have spared you the additional +uneasiness it must bring." + +"Even though the man does know me, the chances are that he would not +find me if he came in," mused Sir Adam aloud. "With my precautions, +the task would be somewhat difficult. You know it, Karl." + +"Yes, but you are not always using your precautions," returned Karl. +"Witness you here, sitting amidst us openly this evening in full +dress! _Don't_ do in so future, Adam! conceal yourself as you best +can--I beseech it of you for the love of Heaven. When this present +active trouble shall have subsided--if in God's mercy it does so +subside--why then you may resume old habits again. At least, there +will not be so much risk: but I have always considered them +hazardous." + +"I'll see," assented Sir Adam. Which was a concession from _him_. + +"Be on your guard day and night. Let not one moment of either season +find you off it, or unready for any surprise or emergency. Strange +talked about applying for a search-warrant to examine the house. +Should he do so, I will warn you of it, if possible. But your safer +course is to be looking for the enemy with every ring that the bell +gives, every breath that stirs the trees in the labyrinth, every sound +that vibrates on the air." + +"A pretty state of things!" growled Adam. "I'm sure I wish I never had +come here!" + +"Oh that you had not!" returned Karl. + +"It's my proper place, though. It is. My dear little son, heir to all, +ought to be brought up on his own property. Karlo, old fellow, that +remark must have a cruel ring on your ear: but I cannot put the child +out of his birthright." + +"I should never wish you to do it, Adam." + +"Some arrangement shall be made for the far-off future; rest assured +of that, and tell your wife so. In any case, Foxwood will be yours for +one-and-twenty years to come, and the income you now enjoy, to keep it +up with. After the boy shall be of age----" + +"Let us leave those considerations for the present," interrupted Karl. +"All of us may be dead and buried before then. As for me, I seem not +to see a single step before me, let alone a series of years." + +"Right, Karl. These dreams lay hold of me sometimes, but it is worse +than silly to speak of them. Are you going?" + +"Yes. It is late. I should not have come in to-night, but for wishing +to warn you. You will try and take care of yourself, Adam?" he +affectionately added, holding out his hand. + +"I'll take care of myself; never fear," was Sir Adam's light answer as +he grasped it. "Look here, brother mine," he resumed, after a slight +pause, and his voice took a deeper tone. "God knows that I have +suffered too heavily for what I did; He knows that my whole life, from +the rising up of the sun to its going down, from the first falling +shade of night's dark curtain to its lifting, is one long, unbroken +penance: and I believe in my heart that He will in His compassion +shield me from further danger. There! take that to comfort you, and go +in peace. In your care for me, you have needed comfort throughout more +than I, Karl." + +Retaining his brother's hand in his while Karl said good night to +Rose, Adam went down stairs with him, and beyond the door after Ann +Hopley had unbarred it. It was only since the advent of the new fears +that these extra precautions of barring up at sunset had been taken. + +"Don't come out," urged Karl. + +"Just a step or two." + +Karl submitted: he felt secure enough against active danger to-night. +But it was in these trifles that Adam's natural incaution betrayed +itself. + +"Karl, did you tell all you knew?" he began as they plunged into the +maze. "Was there more behind that you would not speak before the +wife?" + +"I told you all, Adam. It is bad enough." + +"It might be worse. Suppose they were looking after me, for instance, +instead of this fellow Salter! I shall baffle them; I don't fear." + +"Adam, you shall _not_ come farther. If the man got in one night, he +may get in another. Goodbye." + +"Goodbye, dear old anxious fellow!" + +"Go in, and get the door barred." + +"All right. A last good night to you!" + +Karl walked on, through the intricacies of the maze. Adam stood +listening for a moment, and, then turned to retrace his steps. As he +did so, the sharp dart of pain he was growing accustomed to went +through him, turning him sick and faint. He seized hold of a tree for +support, and leaned against it. + +"What on earth can be the matter with me?" ran his thoughts after it +had subsided, and he was getting out his handkerchief, to wipe from +his brow the cold drops of agony that had gathered there. "As Ann +Hopley says, I ought to see a doctor: but it is not to be thought of; +and less than ever now, with this new bother hanging over the house. +Hark! Oh, it's only the wind rustling the leaves again." + +He stayed listening to it. Listening in a dreamy kind of way, his +thoughts still on his malady. + +"I wonder what it is? If the pain were in a different direction I +might think it was the heart. But it is not _that_. When my father was +first taken ill of his fatal illness, he spoke of some such queer +attacks of agony. I am over young for his complaint, though. Does +disease ever grow out of anxiety, I wonder? If so----" + +A whirl and a rustle just over his head, and Sir Adam started as +though a blow had struck him. It was but a night owl, flying away from +the tree above with her dreary note and beating the air with her +wings; but it had served to startle him to terror, and he felt as sick +and faint again as he did just before from the physical pain. What +nerves he possessed were on the extreme tension to-night. That Adam +Andinnian, the cool-natured equable man, who was the very opposite of +his sensitive brother Karl, and who had been unable to understand what +nerves were, and to laugh at those who had them--that he could be thus +shaken by merely the noise of a night bird, will serve to show the +reader what his later life had been, and how it had told upon him. He +did not let this appear, even to those about him; he kept up his old +rôle of cool carelessness--and in a degree he was careless still, and +in ordinary moments most incautious from sheer want of thought--but +there could be no doubt that he was experiencing to the full all the +bitter mockery, the never ceasing dread and hazard of his position. In +the early days, when the attempted escape from Portland Island was +only in contemplation, Karl had foreseen what the life must be if he +did escape. An existence of miserable concealment; of playing at hide +and seek with the law; a world-wide apprehension, lying on him always, +of being retaken. In short, a hunted man who must not dare to approach +the haunts of his fellowmen, and of whom every other man must be the +necessary enemy. Even so had it turned out: Adam Andinnian was +realizing it to the full. A great horror lay upon him of being +recaptured: but it may be questioned whether, had the choice been +given him, he would not rather have remained a prisoner than have +escaped to this. Even as he stood there now, in the damp still night, +with all the nameless, weird surroundings of fancy that night +sometimes brings when the spirit is in tune for it, he was realizing +it unto his soul. + +The glitter of the stars, twinkling in their dusky canopy, shone down +upon him through the interstices of the trees, already somewhat +thinning their leaves with the approach of autumn; and he remained on, +amid the gloom, lost in reflection. + +"I should be better off _there_," he murmured, gazing upwards in +thought at the Heaven that was beyond; "and it may be that Thou, O my +God, knowest that, in Thy pitiful mercy. As Thou wilt. Life has become +but a weary one here, full of pains and penalties." + +"Master!" came to him in a hushed, doubtful voice at this juncture. +"Master, are you within hearing? My mistress is feeling anxious, and +wants the door bolted." + +"Ay, bolt and bar it well, Ann," he said, going forward. "But barred +doors will not keep out all the foes of man." + +Meanwhile Karl had got through the maze; and cautiously, after +listening, let himself out at the gate. No human being, that he could +discern, was within sight or hearing; and he crossed the road at once. +Then, but not before, he became aware that his agent, Mr. Smith, was +in that favourite spot and attitude of his, leaning his arms on the +little garden gate, his green glasses discarded--as they generally +were after sunset. + +"Goodnight," said Karl in passing. But some words of the agent's +served to arrest his progress. + +"Would you mind stepping in for one moment, Sir Karl? I wanted to say +just a word to you, and have been watching for you to come out." + +"Is it anything particular?" asked Karl, turning in at the gate at +once, which Mr. Smith held open. + +"I'll get a light, sir, if you will wait an instant." + +Karl heard the striking of a match indoors, and Mr. Smith reappeared +in the passage with a candle. He ushered Karl into the room on the +left-hand; the best room, that was rarely used. + +"This one has got its shutters closed," was the explanatory remark. "I +generally keep the others open until I go to bed." + +"Tell me at once what it is you want," said Karl. "It is late, and I +shall have my household wondering where I am." + +"Well, Sir Karl, first of all, I wish to ask if you are aware that you +were watched into the Maze tonight?" He spoke in the lowest whisper; +scarcely above his breath. The agent's one servant had been in bed at +the top of the house long before: but he was a cautious man. + +"No. Who watched me?" + +"Two people, sir. One was Miss Blake, the lady staying with you at the +Court; the other was a confounded fellow who is at Foxwood for no +good, I guess, and is pushing his prying nose on the sly into +everything." + +"Do you mean Mr. Strange?" + +"That's the name: a lodger at Mother Jinks's. He and the lady watched +you in, Sir Karl; they stood close by the gate among the trees; and +then they walked off down the road together." + +Karl's pulses beat a shade more quickly. "Why should they have been +watching me? What could be their motive?" + +"Miss Blake did not intend to watch--as I take it. I saw her coming +along with a sharpish step from the direction of that blessed St. +Jerome's, late as it was--Cattacomb may have been treating his flock +to a nocturnal service. When she was close upon the Maze she must have +heard your footsteps, for she drew suddenly behind the trees to hide +herself. After you were in, she came out of her shelter, and another +with her--the man Strange. So he must have been hidden there +beforehand, Sir Karl: and, I should say, to watch." + +Karl was silent. He did not like to hear this. It seemed to menace +further danger. + +"I went in to warn Sir Adam against this man," he observed; "to tell +him never to be off his guard, day or night. He is a London +detective!" + +"What--Strange is?" exclaimed the agent, with as much astonishment as +his low tones allowed him to express. "A London detective, Sir Karl?" + +"Yes, he is." + +Mr. Smith's face fell considerably. "But--what is he doing down here?" +he inquired. "Who's he after? _Surely_ not Sir Adam?" + +"No, not Sir Adam. He is after some criminal who--who does not exist +in the place at all," added Karl, not choosing to be more explicit, +considering that it was the man before him whom he had suspected of +being the said criminal, and feeling ashamed of his suspicions now +that they were dispelled, and he had to speak of it with him face to +face. "The danger is, that in looking after one man the police may +come upon the track of another." + +The agent nodded his head. "But surely they do not suspect the Maze?" + +"They do suspect the Maze," replied Karl. "Owing to the tattling of +the woman Mr. Moore took there--Nurse Chaffen--they suspect it." + +Mr. Smith allowed a very unorthodox word to issue through his closed +teeth, applied not only to the lady in question, but to ladies in +general. + +"The man Strange has been down here looking after some one whom he +can't find; who no doubt is not in the neighbourhood at all, and never +has been," resumed Karl. "Strange's opinion, however, was--and +is--that the man is here, concealed. When he heard Chaffen's tale of +the gentleman she saw in evening dress at the Maze, but whom she never +saw again and therefore concluded he was hidden somewhere about the +house not to show himself to her, he caught up the notion that it was +the man he was after. Hence his suspicions of the Maze, and his +watchings." + +"It's a very unfortunate thing!" breathed the agent. + +"You see now, Mr. Smith, how much better it would have been if Sir +Adam had never come here. Or, being here, if he had been allowed to go +away again." + +"He can't attempt it now," was the quiet retort of the agent. "With a +detective's eyes about, it would be only to walk straight into the +lion's mouth." + +"Just so. We all know that." + +"I wish to heaven I _could_ get him away!" spoke the agent +impulsively, and it was evident that his heart was in his words. +"Until now I believed he was as safe here as he could be elsewhere--or +safer. What the devil brings a confounded detective in this quiet +place? The malignant fiend, or some implacable fate must have sent +him. Sir Karl, the danger is great. We must not shut our eyes to it." + +Alas, Karl Andinnian felt that, in a more cruel degree than the agent +could. It was _his_ work; it was he who had brought this hornet's nest +about his unfortunate brother's head. The consciousness of it lay +heavily upon him in that moment; throat and tongue and lips were alike +parched with the fever of remorse. + +"May I ask you for a glass of water, Mr. Smith?" broke next from the +said dry lips. + +"I'll get it for you in a moment, sir," said the agent, rising with +alacrity. + +Karl heard another match struck outside, and then the steps of the +agent retreating in the direction of the pump. In his restlessness of +mind he could not sit still, but rose to pace the room. A small set of +ornamental book-shelves, hanging against the wall, caught his +attention: he halted before it and took down a volume, mechanically, +rather than with any motive. + +"Philip Salter. From his loving mother." + +The words met Karl's eyes as he opened the book. + +Just for a moment he questioned whether his sight was deceiving him. +But no. There they were, in a lady's hand, the ink dry and faded with +time. It was Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." + +"_Is_ it Salter, after all?" mentally breathed Karl. + +Mr. Smith came in again with the glass of water as the doubt was +running through Karl's mind. Thanking his agent for the water, he +drank it at a draught, and sat down with the book in his hand. + +"I have been amongst your books, you see, Mr. Smith. A sound old +volume, this." + +"So it is, Sir Karl. I dip into it myself now and then." + +"Did you know this--this Mr. Philip Salter?"--holding the book open at +the words. + +For answer the agent threw his eyes straight into Karl's face, and +paused. "Did _you_ know him, Sir Karl?" + +"I never knew him. I have heard somewhat about him." + +"Ay, few persons but have, I expect," returned the agent, with a kind +of groan. "He was my cousin, sir." + +"Your cousin!" echoed Karl. + +"My own cousin: we were sisters' sons. He was Philip Salter; I am +Philip Smith." + +Karl's eyes were opened. In more senses than one. + +"The fool that Philip Salter showed himself!" ejaculated Philip +Smith--and it was evident by the bitter tone that the subject was a +sore one. "I was in his office, Sir Karl, a clerk under him; but he +was some years younger than I. He might have done so well: none of us +had the smallest idea but what he was doing well. It was all through +private and illegitimate speculation. He got into a hole where the +mire was deep, and he used dangerous means when at his wits' end to +get himself out of it. It did for him what you know, and it ruined me; +for, being his cousin, men thought I must have known of it, and my +place was taken from me." + +"Where is he now?" asked Karl. + +"I don't know. Sometimes we think he is dead. After his escape, we had +reason to believe that he got off to Canada, but we were never made +certain of it, and have never heard from him in any way. He may be in +some of the backwoods there, afraid to write." + +"And this was his book?" + +"Yes. Most of his small belongings came into my hands. The affair +killed his mother: broke her heart. He was all she had, save one +daughter. Sir Karl, do you know what I'd do if I had the power?" +fiercely continued Smith. "I would put down by penal laws all these +cursed speculators who, men of straw themselves, issue their plausible +schemes only to deceive and defraud a confiding, credulous public; all +these betting and gambling rogues who lay hold of honest natures to +lure them to their destruction. But for them, Philip Salter had been +holding up his untarnished head yet." + +"Ay," assented Karl. "But that will never be, so long as the greed of +gold shall last. It is a state of affairs that can belong only to a +Utopian world; not to this." + +He put out his hand to Philip Smith when he left--a thing he had never +done voluntarily before--in his sensitive regret for having wronged +the man in his heart: and went home with his increased burden of +perplexity and pain. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +One Day in her Life. + + +Life was to the last degree dreary for Lucy Andinnian. But for the +excitement imparted to her mind from that mysterious building, the +Maze, and the trouble connected with it, she could scarcely have +continued to go on, and bear. It was not a healthy excitement: no +emotion can be that, which has either jealousy or anger for its +origin. Let us take one day of her existence, and see what it was: the +day following the one last told of. + +A mellow, bright morning. The pleasant sun, so prolific of his +bounties that year, was making the earth glad with his renewed light, +and many a heart with it. Not so Lucy's: it seemed to her that never a +gleam of gladness could illumine hers again. She sat in her room, +partly dressed, after a night of much sleeplessness. What sleep she +had was disturbed, as usual, by dreams tinged with the unpleasantness +of her waking thoughts. A white wrapper enfolded her, and Aglaé was +doing her hair. The woman saw how weary and spiritless her mistress +was becoming; but not a suspicion of the true cause suggested itself, +for Lucy and her husband took care to keep up appearances, and guarded +their secret well. Aglaé attempted to say a word now and again, but +received no encouragement: Lucy was buried in a reverie. + +"We are growing more estranged day by day," ran her thoughts. "He went +to London yesterday, and never said why; never gave me the least +explanation. After he came home at night, and had taken something to +eat, he went out again. To the Maze, of course." + +"Will my lady please to have her hair in rolls or in plats this +morning?" + +"As you please, Aglaé." And, the weary answer given, her thoughts ran +on again. + +"I fancy Theresa had seen him go there. I can't help fancying it. She +had all her severe manner on when she came in last night, but was so +pityingly kind to me. And I could bear all so much better if she would +not be pitiful. It was past ten. That poor Mrs. Bell is likely to die, +and Theresa had been to read to her. I kept hoping she would go to +bed, and she did not. Is it wrong of _me_ to sit up, I wonder, to see +what time he comes in--would Margaret say it was? She got her silks +and her work about, and I had mine. He has hardly ever been so late as +last night. It was half-past eleven. What right has she to keep him, +or he to stay? He said, in a light, indifferent kind of tone, by way +of excuse, that he had been talking with Smith, and the time slipped +by unheeded. Theresa drew in her lips till she seemed to have none at +all, and gave him just one scornful glance. Yes: she had certainly +seen him go in elsewhere, and she knew that the excuse was not true. I +took my candle, and came up here--and have had one of my most wretched +nights again--and neither I nor Aglaé could find that book that +comforts me. It was very cruel of Karl to marry me: and yet--and +yet--would I be unmarried if I could? Would I break even from this +distressing life, if it involved a separation for ever? I fear not. +The not seeing him day by day would be a worse fate even than this +is." + +"Did my lady think to ask Sir Karl whether he had put away that book +that is missing?" interposed Aglaé, quite unconscious that her lady +had not seen Sir Karl since the book was missed, any more than she +herself had: and moreover that he was not likely to see it. + +"I have not asked him yet. Perhaps I took it downstairs yesterday." + +"Which robe, my lady?" + +"The Swiss muslin." + +Aglaé left her when she was ready, and Lucy took her Bible for a few +minutes, and said her prayers. Never did prayers ascend from a more +wrung or troubled heart. The book she had mislaid was one of those +little gems of consolation that can only be estimated in _need_. It +had been given to Lucy by Miss Sumnor. + +She stood a few minutes at the open window, gazing at the sunny +morning. The variegated leaves of the changing trees--getting, alas! +bare as Lucy's heart felt--the smooth lawn, which Maclean was rolling, +the still bright flowers, the sunlight glittering on the lodge. All +these fair things were hers; and yet, she could enjoy them not. + +She went down: putting away all the sadness from her face that she +could put, and looking in her pretty dress as fair as the sunshine. +Hewitt came in with the coffee, and Lucy took her place at table. They +never waited for Miss Blake. St. Jerome's was exacting, and Mr. +Cattacomb somewhat uncertain as to the precise time at which he let +out his flock. Hewitt went across the lawn to tell his master, who was +talking to Maclean, that the breakfast was ready. + +Karl came in through the open doors of the window. She glanced up and +hid her eyes again: the more attractive he looked--and he always did +look attractive--the greater her sense of pain. The fresh air was +sweet and pleasant, and a good fire burnt in the grate. + +"Good morning, Lucy." + +She put down the sugar-tongs to give him her hand, and wished him good +morning in a tone that no eavesdropper could have found fault with. +They were quite civil to each other; nay, courteous; their intercourse +much like that of true friends, or a brother and sister. After playing +so long at this for the sake of keeping up appearances to their +household and the world, it had become quite easy--a thing of habit. + +"What shall I give you?" he asked. + +"An egg, please." + +"Maclean thinks that fir-tree is dying." + +"Which fir-tree?" + +"The large one by the ferns. He wants to root it up and make a bed +there. What do you think?" + +"I don't mind how it it. Is your coffee sweet enough?" + +"Yes." + +Hewitt appeared with the letters. Two for Miss Blake, one for Lady +Andinnian, none for Sir Karl. Lucy read hers; glad of the help it +afforded to occupation: for she did but toy with her breakfast, having +little appetite now. + +"It is from mamma," said Lucy. "She is going to stay with my aunt in +London. I suppose you did not call on Lady Southal yesterday?" + +"I? No." + +"You have promised to do so for some time past." + +"But I have not been able. When the mind is harassed with worry and +business, social calls get put aside. Is Mrs. Cleeve well?" + +"Yes, and papa better. He is going to stay at home himself. They +desire to be remembered to you." + +Karl bent his head in acknowledgment. And thus, talking indifferently +of this and that, the meal came to an end. Karl asked his wife if she +would go out to look at the fir-tree, and hear what Maclean said--he +was always scrupulous in consulting her wishes as the Court's +mistress. She brought her parasol at once. + +Karl held out his arm, and she took it. As they went down the steps, +Miss Blake appeared. They waited to greet her, and to shake hands. + +"You must want your breakfast, Theresa. There are two letters for you +on the table. Oh, and I have heard from mamma. She is going to stay +with Aunt Southal in London." + +Lucy took Karl's arm again, and they went off with the gardener. Miss +Blake probably did want her breakfast; but she spared a minute or two +to look after them. + +"I wonder if anyone was ever so great a hypocrite?" ran her comment. +"And to think that I once believed him to be the most noble and best +of men. He dared to speak disparagingly of that pure saint, Mr. +Cattacomb, the other day. Good patience! what contrasts there are in +the world! And the same Heaven made them both, and permits both! One +cannot understand it here. As to Lucy--but I wash my hands of _her_." + +Lucy was soon back again. Miss Blake had but read her letters, and +begun her breakfast. Karl had passed into his own room. + +The morning wore on. Theresa went out again; Karl was shut up and then +he went out; Lucy was left in the house alone. It was usually so. She +had given her orders, and no earthly thing else remained to do--save +let her heart prey upon itself. When she had gone pretty nearly out of +her mind, she put her bonnet on, and betook herself to Mrs. Whittle, +the widow of the man who had died suddenly at the station in the +summer. Passing out at the extreme gate of the Court, Lucy had but to +skirt the wood, and in three minutes was at the cottage: one of a row. + +She had taken to come here when she was very particularly +miserable--as she felt this day. For the lesson it read to her was +most salutary, acting as a kind of tonic. That this poor woman was +slowly dying, there could not be much doubt of. She had been in ill +health before her husband's death, and the blow struck too severely on +the weakened frame. But for Karl and his wife the family must have +taken refuge in the workhouse. Lucy went in and sat down on a low +wooden stool. Mrs. Whittle, about to-day, was in the easy-chair, sent +to her from the Court, her three little girls around her, the eldest +eight years of age. Two younger children, boys, played on the floor. + +"I am teaching them to sew, ma'am," she said to Lucy. "Bessy has got +her hand pretty well into it; but the other two haven't. When I lie +awake at nights, my lady, and think how little it is they know of any +sort of labour yet, and how soon I may be taken from them, and be able +to teach no more, my heart fails me. I can only set on to cry, and to +pray God to forgive me all my short-comings." + +The tears had come into her eyes, and were falling down her hectic +cheeks. She had been very pretty once, but the face was wasted now. +Lucy's eyelashes were wet. + +"But I think you look better, Mrs. Whittle. And as to +short-comings--we all might own to those." + +"It seems to me that I could have brought them on better if I'd known +what was coming, ma'am. Until that night when my husband was carried +home on a shutter, I had not had a thought of death, as being likely +to concern any of us at home here. And now the time seems to be coming +to an end, and I'm leaving them, and they know nothing." + +"I hope you will get better yet," said Lucy. + +"I don't think so, ma'am. I should like to if I could. The very +distress that is upon me about my children seems as if it kept me +back. Nobody can know what it is to leave a family of young children +to the world, till they come to it themselves. There's a dreadful +yearning upon me always, my lady, an aching like, at the thought of +it. Mr. Sumnor, he is very good and kind, and he comes here, and tells +me about heaven, and how free from care I shall be, once I get to it. +But oh, ma'am, when I must leave these little ones here, with nobody +to say a word to keep them from the world's bad ways, how do I know +that _they_ will ever get to heaven?" + +The woman had never spoken out as she was speaking to-day. Generally +she had seemed calm and resigned--to get well, or to die. Lucy was +intensely sorry for her. She would take-herself to task for being so +miserable with this real distress close at hand, and for at least the +rest of the day allow it to read her a salutary lesson. + +Passing in at the small gate again, she made her way to the acacia +tree and sat down under it, letting her parasol fall to the ground. +Karl, who was at home again, could see her from his window, but he did +not attempt to go to her. And so she idled away the morning in +weariness. + +Theresa appeared at luncheon; but Sir Karl did not. Lucy remembered +that a parcel she was expecting from London ought to be at the station +(only an autumn mantle) and thought she would go in the pony-chaise +for it. Anything for a change for a break in her monotonous life. So +the chaise was ordered, and the groom to drive it. It came round, and +she was getting in when Karl approached. + +"Are you going to drive yourself, Lucy?" + +"Oh no. Robert is coming." + +"I will go, then. We shall not want you, Robert." + +"But I was only going to the station," she said. + +"To the station?" + +"I think my new mantle may be there." + +He drove off, turning towards the station. The mantle was not there: +and Karl continued his drive as far as Basham. They said very little +to one another. Just a remark on the scenery, or on any object +passing: nothing more. Karl pulled up at the saddler's shop, to give +some direction about a set of harness they were making for him. Just +as he got into the chaise again, somebody passed and took off his hat, +with a "Good afternoon, Sir Karl." + +It was Mr. Tatton. Karl wondered what he was doing in Basham. Of +course, the detective might be there for fifty things, totally +unconnected with his profession: but nevertheless the sight of him +awoke uneasiness in Karl's mind. When a heavy dread lies upon us, the +most trifling event will serve to stir up suspicion and augment fear. + +Karl drove home again, and Lucy went up to her little sitting-room. +She was owing a letter to Mrs. Cleeve, but held back from writing it. +Great though her affection was for her mother, she hated now to write. +It was so impossible to fill up a letter--as it seemed to Lucy--and +yet guard her secret. She could not say "Karl and I are doing this;" +or "Karl and I are doing the other:" and yet if she did not say +something of this kind of their home life, or mention his name, her +fancy suggested that it would look strange, and might arouse doubt. +Conscience makes us cowards. She might have sent a letter that day, +saying, "I have just got home from a drive with Karl;" and "Karl and I +decided this morning to have that old fir-tree by the rocks dug up;" +and it would be quite true: but Lucy in her strict integrity so +disliked the deceit the words would imply, that she shrank from +writing them. + +Footsteps on the gravel below: _his_ footsteps: and she went to the +window to glance out. Yes, he was going straight down the gravel walk, +and through the large gates. Going where? Her heart beat a little +quicker as the question crept in. To the Maze? The query was always +suggesting itself now. + +He turned that way--and that was all she could tell, for the trees hid +the road from her view. He might be going to his agent's; he might be +going to some part or other of his estate; but to Lucy's jealous mind +the probability seemed perfectly clear that his destination was that +shut-in house, which she had already begun to hate so much. And +yet--she believed that he did not go in by day-time. Lucy wondered +whether Fair Rosamund, who had disturbed the peace of her queen, was +half as fair as this Rosamund, now turning her own poor heart to +sickness. + +More footsteps on the gravel: merry tongues, light laughter. Lucy +looked out again. Some of the young ladies from the village had called +for Theresa, and they were now going on to St. Jerome's. For laughter +such as that, for the real lightness of heart that must be its +inevitable accompaniment, Lucy thought she would have bartered a +portion of her remaining life. + +Aglaé came in, her hands and arms full of clouds of tulle and blue +ribbon. + +"Look here, my lady--these English modistes have no taste at all. They +can't judge. They send this heavy satin ribbon, saying it is the +fashion, and they put it in every part of the beautiful light robe, so +that you cannot tell which is robe, the tulle, or the ribbon. My lady +is not going to wear that, say I; an English modiste might wear it, +but my young lady never. So I take the ribbons off." + +Lucy looked round listlessly. What did all these adornments matter to +her? Karl never seemed to see now what she was dressed in: and if he +had seen, he would not have cared. + +"But what is it you are asking me, Aglaé?" + +"I would ask my lady to let me put just a quarter of as much ribbon +on: and silk ribbon, not satin. I have some silk in the house, and +this satin will come in for a heavier robe." + +"Do whatever you like, Aglaé." + +"That's well," said Aglaé. "But I wish my lady would not show herself +quite so indifferent," added the woman to herself as she withdrew. +"She could not care less if she were the old grandmother." + +The afternoon passed to its close, Lucy reading a bit and working a +bit to beguile the time. Whether the book or the work lay before her, +her mind was alike far away, brooding over the trouble that could +never leave it. Then she went down to dinner in her evening dress of +silk. No stranger was present: only herself, Karl, and Theresa. It was +generally thus: neither she nor he had spirits to bring guests about +them often. Theresa told them of a slight accident that had happened +at the station that afternoon, and it served for a topic of +conversation. Dinner was barely over when Miss Diana Moore called in. +She was not given to time her visits ceremoniously; but she was always +welcome, for Karl and Lucy both liked her. Miss Diana generally gave +them the news of the place, and she began now. In some inexplicable +manner the conversation turned on the Maze. At least, something was +said that caused the place to be incidentally mentioned, and it served +to draw Miss Diana's thoughts to what they might otherwise not have +reverted to. + +"The senseless geese that people are!" she cried. "Did you hear of +that ghost story that arose about the Maze?" + +Karl bit his lip. Lucy looked at Miss Diana: she had heard nothing. + +"Mother Jinks told me to my face the other day that there could not be +a doubt it was Mr. Throcton's son haunting it. My brother--Mr. +Moore--had seen it, she said, as well as Nurse Chaffen: a gentleman in +evening dress, who appeared to them and vanished away again. She +believed it, too." + +"I fancy it has been rather more materially accounted for," put in +Miss Blake, not at all sorry of the opportunity to give a side fling +at Sir Karl. + +"Well, what I hear people have found out now is, that the ghost was +only Sir Karl Andinnian, who had called in there after or before his +dinner," said Miss Diana, laughing. "What do you say to it, Sir Karl?" + +Sir Karl did not know what to say. On the one hand it was most +essential to do away, if possible, With the impression that any +strange gentleman had been at the Maze; on the other, he did not care +to admit that he paid evening visits there. Of the two evils, however, +the last was the least. + +"It may have been myself, Miss Diana. I cannot say, I'm sure. I +remember I went over one evening, and stayed a few minutes." + +"But it was while Mrs. Grey was ill with fever." + +"Just so. I went to enquire after her." + +"Well, I suppose it was you, then: I asked William about it, but he is +as close as wax when he likes, and professed not to know what I was +talking of. One thing is clear, that he could not have recognised you, +Sir Karl. It was nearly dark, I believe. That little baby at the Maze +is very delicate." + +"By the way, Miss Diana, talking of such people, what does Mr. Moore +think of poor Whittle's widow?" asked Sir Karl. "My wife says she is +very ill." + +The conversation was turned--Sir Karl's object in speaking. Miss Diana +talked of Mrs. Whittle, and then went on to other subjects. + +But it will be readily seen how cruelly these and similar incidents +tried Lucy Andinnian. Had an angel come down from heaven to assure her +the gentleman in evening attire was _not_ Sir Karl, she would have +refused to believe it. Nay, he had, so to say, confessed it--in her +presence. + +Miss Diana departed. Karl went out with her, and did not come in +again. Lucy knew he had gone to the Maze. She went up to her room, and +stood there in the dark watching for his return. It was nearly ten +when he appeared: he had been spending all that time with her rival! + +Even so. Sir Karl had spent it at the Maze. As the autumn evenings +grew darker, he could go over earlier and come away earlier. Lucy +wondered whether this state of things was to last for ever, and how +much longer she could continue to bear and make no sign. + +To her weary bed again went she. To the anguish of her outraged heart; +to her miserable, sleepless hours, and her still more miserable +dreams. Jealousy as utterly mistaken and foundationless has too often +inflicted torment lively as this. + +It is a "green-eyed monster, which doth make the food it feeds on." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +Mrs. Chaffen disturbed. + + +We have now to return to Mr. Strange. That eminent detective was, to +tell the truth, somewhat puzzled by his interview with Sir Karl +Andinnian, held in the road; thrown, so to say, slightly on his beam +ends. The earnest assurances of Sir Karl--that the individual he had +been suspecting was the agent Smith, and that there was not, and could +not be, any gentleman residing at the Maze--had made their due +impression, for he saw that Sir Karl was a man whose word might be +trusted. At the same time he detected, or thought he detected, an +undue eagerness on Sir Karl's part to impress this upon him; an +eagerness which the matter itself did not justify, unless Sir Karl had +a private and personal motive for it. Musing on this, Mr. Strange had +continued to walk about that evening instead of going on to his +lodgings; and when Miss Blake surprised him underneath the trees at +the Maze gate--or, rather, surprised herself by finding him there--he +had not sought the spot to watch the gate, but as a shelter of +seclusion while he thought. The stealthy entrance of Sir Karl +Andinnian with a key taken from his pocket, and the whispered +communication from Miss Blake, threw altogether another light upon the +matter, and served to show what Sir Karl's personal motive might be. +According to that lady's hints, Sir Karl was in the habit of stealing +into the Maze, and that it was no one but Sir Karl himself who had +been seen by Nurse Chaffen. + +Mr. Detective Strange could not conceal from his acute brain that, if +this were true, his own case was almost as good as disposed of, and he +might prepare to go back to town. Salter, the prey he was patiently +searching out, was at the Maze or nowhere--for Mr. Strange had turned +the rest of the locality inside out, and knew that it contained no +trace of him. If the gentleman in the evening dress, seen by Nurse +Chaffen, was Sir Karl Andinnian, it could not have been Philip Salter: +and, as his sole motive for suspecting the Maze was that worthy +woman's account of him she had seen, why the grounds of suspicion +seemed slipping from under him. + +He thought it out well that night. Well and thoroughly. The tale was +certainly likely and plausible. Sir Karl Andinnian did not appear to +be one who would embark on this kind of private expedition; but, as +the detective said to himself, one could not answer for one's own +brother. Put it down as being Sir Karl that the woman saw, why then +the mystery of her not having seen him again was at an end: for while +she was there Sir Karl would not be likely to go to the Maze and show +himself a second time. + +The more Mr. Strange thought it out, the further reason he found for +suspecting that this must be the true state of the case. It did not +please him. Clear the Maze of all suspicion as to Salter, and it would +become evident that they had been misled, and that so much valuable +time had been wasted. He should have to go back to Scotland Yard and +report the failure. Considering that he had latterly been furnishing +reports of the prey being found and as good as in his hands, the +prospect was mortifying. This would be the second consecutive case in +which he had signally failed. + +But it was by no means Mr. Strange's intention to take the failure for +granted. He was too wary a detective to do that without seeking for +proof, and he had not done with Foxwood yet. The first person he must +see was Mrs. Chaffen. + +Somewhat weary with his night reflections and not feeling quite so +refreshed as he ought, for the thing had kept him awake till morning, +Mr. Strange sat down to his breakfast languidly. Watchful Mrs. Jinks, +who patronized her easy lodger and was allowed to visit his tea, and +sugar, and butter, and cheese with impunity, observed this as she +whipped off the cover from a dish of mushrooms that looked as though +it might tempt an anchorite. + +"You've got a headache this morning, Mr. Strange, sir. Is it bad?" + +"Oh, very bad," said Mr. Strange, who did not forget to keep up his +rôle of delicate health as occasion afforded opportunity. + +"What things them headaches are!" deplored Mrs. Jinks. "Nobody knows +whence they come nor how to drive 'em away. Betsey Chaffen was nursing +a patient in the spring, who'd had bilious fever and rheumatis +combined; and to hear what she said about that poor dear old +gentleman's head----" + +"By the way, how is Mrs. Chaffen?" interrupted Mr. Strange, with scant +ceremony, and no regard to the old gentleman's head. "I have not seen +her lately." + +"She was here a day or two ago, sir; down in my kitchen. As to how she +is, she's as strong as need be: which it's thanks to you for +inquiring. _She_ never has nothing the matter with her." + +"Is she out nursing?" + +"Not now. She expects to be called out soon, and is waiting at home +for it." + +"Where is her home?" + +"Down Foxglove Lane, sir, turning off by Mr. Sumnor's church. Bull, +the stonemason, lives in the end house there, and she have lodged with +'em for years. Bull tells her in joke sometimes that some of 'em ought +to be took ill, with such a nurse as her in the house. Which they +never are, for it's as healthy a spot as any in Foxwood." + +Mr. Strange had a knack of politely putting an end to his landlady's +gossip when he pleased, and of sending her away. He did so now: and +the widow transferred herself and her attentions to Mr. Cattacomb's +parlour. + +People must hold spring and autumn cleanings, or where would their +carpets and curtains bel Mrs. Chaffen, though occupying but one humble +room (with a choice piece of furniture in it that was called a +"bureau" by day, and was a bed by night) was not exempt from the +general sanitary obligations. Mrs. Bull considered that she instituted +these periodical bouts of scrubbing oftener than there was occasion +for: but Betsey Chaffen liked to take care of her furniture--which was +her own--and was moreover a cleanly woman. + +On this self-same morning she was in the thick of it: her gown turned +up about her waist, her hands and arms bare to the elbow, plunged into +a bucket of soapsuds, herself on her knees, and the furniture all +heaped together on the top of the shut-up bureau in the corner, when +one of the young Bulls came in with the astounding news that a +gentleman was asking for her. + +"Goodness bless me!" cried the poor woman, turning cold all over, "it +can't be that I'm fetched out, can it, Sam?--and me just in the middle +of all this mess!" + +"He said, was Mrs. Chaffen at home, and could he see her," replied +Sam. "He's a waiting outside:" + +Mrs. Chaffen sat back on her heels, one hand resting on the bucket, +the other grasping the wet scrubbing-brush, and her face the very +picture of consternation as she stared at the boy. She had believed +herself free for a full week to come. + +"Is it Mr. Henley himself, Sam?" + +"It ain't Mr. Henley at all," said Sam. "It's the gentleman what's +staying at Mrs. Jinks's." + +"What the plague brings him here this morning of all others, when I've +got the floor in a sop and not a chair to ask him to set down upon!" +cried the woman, relieved of her great fear, but vexed nevertheless to +be interrupted in her work, and believing the intruder to be Mr. +Cattacomb, come on one of his pastoral visits: for that excellent +divine made no scruple, in his zeal, of looking in occasionally on Mr. +Sumnor's flock as well as his own. "Parsons be frightful bothers +sometimes!" + +"'Tain't the parson; it's the t'other one?" said Sam Bull. + +Mrs. Chaffen rose from her knees, stepped gingerly across the wet +floor, and took a peep through the window. There she saw Mr. Strange +in the centre of a tribe of young Bulls, dividing among them a piece +of lettered gingerbread. Sam, afraid of not coming in for his share of +the letters, bolted out of the room. + +"Ask the gentleman if he'll be pleased to step in, Sam, and to excuse +the litter," she called after the boy. "I don't mind _him_," she +mentally added, seizing upon a mop to mop the wet off the floor, and +then letting down her gown, "and he must want something particular of +me; but I'd not have cared to stand Cattakin's preaching this busy +morning." + +Mr. Strange came in in his pleasant way, admiring everything, from the +room to the bucket, and assuring her he rather preferred wet floors to +dry ones. While she was reaching him a chair and dusting it with her +damp apron, he held out his hand, pointing to where the cuts had been. + +"Look here, Mrs. Chaffen. I have been thinking of coming to you this +day or two past, but fancied I might see you in Paradise Row, for I'd +rather have your opinion than a doctor's at any time. The hand has +healed, you see." + +"Yes, sir; it looks beautiful." + +"But I am not sure that it has healed properly, though it may look +'beautiful,'" he rejoined. "Feel this middle cut. Here; just on the +seam." + +Mrs. Chaffen rubbed her fingers on the same check apron, and then +passed them gently over the place he spoke of. "What do you feel?" he +asked. + +"Well, sir, it feels a little hard, and there seems to be a kind of +knot," she said, still examining the place. + +"Precisely so. There's a stiffness about it that I don't altogether +like, and now and then it has a kind of a prickly sensation. What I +have been fancying is, that a bit of glass may possibly be in it +still." + +But Mrs. Chaffen did not think so. In her professional capacity she +talked nearly as learnedly as a doctor could have talked, though not +using quite the same words. Her opinion was that if glass had remained +in the hand it would not have healed: she believed that Mr. Strange +had only to let it alone and have a little patience, and the symptoms +he spoke of would go away. + +It is not at all improbable that this opinion was Mr. Strange's own; +but he thanked her and said he would abide by her advice, and gave her +a little more gentle flattery. Then he sat down in the chair she had +dusted, as if he meant to remain for the day, in spite of the disorder +of affairs and the damp floor, and entered on a course of +indiscriminate gossip. Mrs. Chaffen liked to get on quickly with her +work, but she liked gossip better; no matter how busy she might be, a +dish of _that_ never came amiss; and she put her back against another +chair and folded her bare arms in her apron, and gossiped back again. + +In a smooth and natural manner, apparently without intent, the +conversation presently turned upon the gentleman (or ghost) Mrs. +Chaffen had seen at the Maze. It was a theme she had not tired of yet. + +"Now you come to talk of that," cried the detective, "do you know what +idea has occurred to me upon the point, Mrs. Chaffen? I think the +gentleman you saw may have been Sir Karl Andinnian." + +Nurse Chaffen, contrary to her usual habit, did not immediately reply, +but seemed to fall into thought. + +"Was it Sir Karl?" + +"Well now that's a odd thing!" she broke forth at last. "Miss Blake +asked me the very same question, sir--was it Sir Karl Andinnian?" + +"Oh, did she. When?" + +"When we had been talking of the thing in your rooms, sir--that time +that I had been a dressing of your hand. In going down stairs, +somebody pulled me, all mysterious like, into the Reverend Cattakin's +parlour: I found it was Miss Blake, and she began asking me what the +gentleman looked like and whether it was not Sir Karl." + +"And was it Sir Karl?" + +"Being took by surprise in that way," went on Mrs. Chaffen, +disregarding the question, "I answered Miss Blake that I had not had +enough time to notice the gentleman and could not say whether he was +like Sir Karl or not. Not having reflected upon it then, I spoke +promiscuous, you see sir, on the spur of the moment." + +"And was it Sir Karl?" repeated Mr. Strange. "Now that you have had +time to reflect upon it, is that the conclusion you come to?" + +"No, sir; just the opposite. A minute or two afterwards, if I'd only +waited, I could have told Miss Blake that it was not Sir Karl. I +couldn't say who it was, but 'twas not him." + +This assertion was so contrary to the theory Mr. Strange had been +privately establishing that it took him somewhat by surprise. + +"Why are you enabled to say surely it was not Sir Karl?" he +questioned, laughing lightly, as if the matter amused him. + +"Because, sir, the gentleman was taller than Sir Karl. And, when I +came to think of it, I distinctly saw that he had short hair, either +lightish or grayish: Sir Karl's hair is a beautiful wavy brown, and he +wears it rather long." + +"Twilight is very deceptive," remarked Mr. Strange. + +"No doubt of that, sir: but there was enough light coming in through +the passage windows for me to see what I have said. I am quite +positive it was not Sir Karl Andinnian." + +"Would you swear it was not?" + +"No, sir, I'd not swear it: swearing's a ticklish thing: but I am none +the less sure. Mr. Strange, it was not Sir Karl _for certain_," she +added impressively. "The gentleman was taller than Sir Karl and had a +bigger kind of figure, broader shoulders like, and it rather struck me +at the time that he limped in his walk. That I couldn't hold to, +however." + +"Just the description of what Salter would most likely be now," mused +the detective, his doubts veering about uncomfortably. "He would have +a limp, or something worse, after that escapade out of the railway +carriage." + +"Well, if you are so sure about it, Mrs. Chaffen, I suppose it could +not have been Sir Karl." + +"I can trust my sight, sir, and I _am_ sure. What ever could have give +rise to the thought that it was Sir Karl?" continued she, after a +moment's pause. + +"Why, you must know, Mrs. Chaffen, that Sir Karl Andinnian is the only +man in Foxwood who is likely to put on evening dress as a rule. And +being a neighbour of Mrs. Grey's and her landlord also, it was not so +very improbable he should have called in, don't you see?" + +Thus enlightened, Mrs. Chaffen no longer wondered how the surmise had +arisen. She reiterated her assertion that it was not Sir Karl; and Mr. +Strange, gliding into the important question of soda for cleaning +boards, versus soap, presently took an affable leave. + +There he was, walking back again, his thoughts almost as uncertain as +the wind. Was Miss Blake's theory right, or was this woman's? If the +latter, and the man was in truth such as she described him, taller +and broader than Sir Karl, why then he could, after all, have staked +his life upon the Maze being Salter's place of concealment. What if +both were right? It might be. Sir Karl might be paying these stealthy +visits to Mrs. Grey, and yet be totally ignorant that any such person +as Salter was at the Maze. They would hardly dare to tell him; and +Salter would take care to conceal himself when Sir Karl was there. At +any rate, he--Mr. Strange--must try and put the matter to rest with +all speed, one way or the other. Perhaps, however, that resolution was +more easy to make than to carry out. As a preliminary step he took a +walk to the police station at Basham, and was seen in the street there +by Sir Karl Andinnian. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +Baffled. + + +The Maze, in all its ordinary quietness, was lying at rest under the +midday sun. That is, as regards outward and visible rest: of inward +rest, the rest that diffuses peace in the heart, there was but little. +It was the day following the expedition of Mr. Strange to the house of +Bull the stonemason. + +Mrs. Grey's baby was lying in its cot. Mrs. Grey, who had been hushing +it to sleep, prepared to change her morning wrapper for the gown she +would wear during the day. A bouquet of fresh-cut flowers lay on the +dressing-table, and the chamber window stood open to the free, fresh +air. Ann Hopley was in the scullery below, peeling the potatoes for +dinner, and the old man servant was out somewhere over his work. As +the woman threw the last potato into the pan, there came a gentle ring +at the gate bell. She turned round and looked at the clock in the +kitchen. + +"Who's that, I wonder? It's too early for the bread. Any way, you'll +wait till I've got my potatoes on, whoever you may be," concluded she, +addressing the unknown intruder. + +The saucepan on, she went forth. At the gate stood an +inoffensive-looking young man with a large letter or folded parchment +in his hand. + +"What do you want?" asked Ann Hopley. + +"Is this the Maze?" + +"Yes." + +"Does a lady named Grey live here?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I've got to leave this for her, please." + +Taking the key from her pocket, Ann Hopley unsuspiciously opened the +gate, and held forth her hand to take the parchment. Instead of giving +it to her, the man pushed past, inside; and, to Ann Hopley's horror, +Mr. Strange and a policeman suddenly appeared, and followed him. She +would have closed the gate upon them; and she made a kind of frantic +effort to do so: but one woman cannot effect much against three +determined men. + +"You can shut it now," said Mr. Strange, when they were inside. "Don't +be alarmed, my good woman: we have no wish to harm you." + +"What do you want?--and why do you force yourselves in, in this way?" +she inquired, frightened nearly to death. + +"I am a detective officer belonging to the London police force," said +Mr. Strange, introducing himself in his true character. "I bring with +me a warrant to search the house called the Maze and its out-door +premises"--taking the folded paper from the man's hand. "Would you +like me to read it to you before I go on?" + +"Search them for what!" asked Ann Hopley, feeling angry with herself +for her white face. "I don't want to hear anything read. Do you think +we have got stolen goods here?--I'm sure you are enough to scare a +body's senses away, bursting in like this!" + +Mr. Strange slightly laughed. "We are not looking for stolen goods," +he said. + +"What for then!" resumed the woman, striving to be calm. + +"For some one whom I believe is concealed here." + +"Some one concealed here! Is it me?--or my mistress?--or my old +husband?" + +"No." + +"Then you won't find anybody else," she returned with an air of +relief. "There's no soul in the place but us three, and that I'll vow: +except Mrs. Grey's baby. And we had good characters, sir, I can tell +you, both me and my husband, before Mrs. Grey engaged us. Would we +harbour loose characters here, do you suppose?" + +It was so much waste of words. Mr. Strange went without further parley +into the intricacies of the Maze, calling to the policeman to follow +him, and bidding the other--who was a local policeman also in plain +clothes: both of them from Basham--remain near the gate and guard it +against anybody's attempted egress. All this while the gate had been +open. Ann Hopley locked it with trembling fingers, and then followed +the men through the maze, shrieking out words of remonstrance at the +top of her voice. Had there been ten felons concealed within, she made +enough noise to warn them all. + +"For goodness sake, woman, don't make that uproar!" cried the +detective. "We are not going to murder you." + +The terrified face of Mrs. Grey appeared at her chamber window. Old +Hopley was gazing through the chink of the door of the tool-house, +which he was about to clean out. The detective heeded nothing. He went +straight to the house door and entered it. + +"Wait here at the open door, and keep a sharp look round inside and +out," were his orders to the policeman. "If I want you, I'll call." + +But Ann Hopley darted before Mr. Strange to impede his progress--she +was greatly agitated--and seized hold of his arm. + +"Don't go in," she cried imploringly; "don't go in, for the love of +heaven! My poor mistress is but just out of her confinement and the +fever that followed it, and the fright will be enough to kill her. I +declare to you that what I have said is true. There's nobody on these +premises but those I've named: my mistress and us two servants, me and +Hopley. It _can't_ be one of us you want!" + +"My good woman, I have said that it is not. But, if it be as you +say--that there's no one else, no one concealed here--why object to my +searching?" + +"For her sake," reiterated the agitated woman; "for the poor lady's +sake." + +"I must search: understand that," said Mr. Strange. "Better let me do +it quietly." + +As if becoming impressed with this fact, and that it was useless to +contend further, Ann Hopley suddenly took her hands off the detective, +leaving him at liberty to go where he would. Passing through the +kitchen, she began to attend to her saucepan of potatoes. + +Armed with his full power, both of law and of will, Mr. Strange began +his search. The warrant had not been obtained from Sir Karl Andinnian, +but from a magistrate at Basham: it might be that he did not feel +sufficiently assured of Sir Karl's good faith: therefore the Maze was +not averted beforehand. + +It was not a large house; the rooms were soon looked into, and nothing +suspicious was to be seen. Three beds were made up in three different +chambers: the one in Mrs. Grey's room and two others. Was one of these +occupied by Salter? The detective could not answer the doubt. They +were plain beds in plain rooms, and it might be that the two servants +did not sleep together. Knocking at the door, he entered Mrs. Grey's +chamber: the baby slept in its cot: she stood at the glass in her +dressing-gown, her golden hair falling about her. + +"I beg your pardon; madam; I beg your pardon a thousand times," said +the detective, with deprecation, as he removed his hat. "The law +sometimes obliges us to do disagreeable things; and we, servants of +it, cannot help ourselves." + +"At least tell me the meaning of all this," she said with ashy face +and trembling lips. And he explained that he was searching the house +with the authority of a search-warrant. + +"But what is it you want? _Who_ is it?" + +Again he explained to her that they were looking after an escaped +fugitive, who, it was suspected, might have taken refuge in the Maze. + +"I assure you, sir," she said, her gentle manner earnest, her words +apparently truthful, "that no person whatever, man or woman, has been +in the Maze since I have inhabited it, save myself and my two +servants." + +"Nevertheless, madam, we have information that some one else has been +seen here." + +"Then it has been concealed from me," she rejoined. "Will you not at +least inform me who it is you are searching for? In confidence if you +prefer: I promise to respect it." + +"It is an escaped criminal named Salter," replied the officer, knowing +that she would hear it from Sir Karl Andinnian, and wishing to be as +civil to her as he could. + +"Salter!" returned Mrs. Grey, showing the surprise that perhaps she +did not feel. "Salter! Why Salter--at least if it is Salter--is the +man who lives opposite these outer gates, and goes by the name of +Smith. Salter has never been concealed here." + +The very assertion made by Sir Karl Andinnian. Mr. Strange took a +moment to satisfy his keen sight that there was no other ingress to +this room, save by the door, and no piece of furniture large enough to +conceal a man in, and was then about to bow himself out. But she spoke +again. + +"On my sacred word of honour, sir, I tell you truth. Sir Karl +Andinnian--my landlord--has been suspecting that his agent, Smith, +might turn out to be Salter: I suspected the same." + +"But that man is not Salter, madam. Does not bear any resemblance to +him. It was a misapprehension of Sir Karl's." + +"And--do I understand that you are still looking for him here--in the +Maze? I do _not_ understand." + +"Not looking for that man Smith, madam, but for the real Salter. We +have reason to think he is concealed here." + +"Then, sir, allow me to affirm to you in all solemnity, that Salter is +not, and never has been concealed here," she said with dignity. "Such +a thing would be impossible without my knowledge." + +He did not care to prolong the conversation. He had his work to do, +and no words from her or anyone else would deter him from it. As he +was quitting the room, he suddenly turned to ask a question. + +"I beg your pardon, madam. Have you any objection to tell me whether +your two servants, Hopley and his wife, occupy the same room and bed?" + +For a moment or two she gazed at him in silence, possibly in surprise +at the question, and then gave her answer almost indifferently. + +"Not in general, I believe. Hopley's cough is apt to be troublesome at +night, and it disturbs his wife. But I really do not know much about +their arrangements: they make them without troubling me." + +The detective proceeded on his mission. He soon discovered the +concealed door in the evening sitting-room, and passed into the +passage beyond it. Ah, if Salter, or any other criminal, were in +hiding within its dark recesses, there would be little chance for him +now! The passage, very close and narrow, had no egress on either side; +it ended in a flight of nearly perpendicular stairs. Groping his way +down, he found himself in a vault, or underground room. Mr. Strange +was provided with matches, and lighted one. It was a bare place, the +brick walls dripping moisture, the floor paved with stone. Here he +discovered another narrow passage that led straight along, it was hard +to say how far, and he had need to strike more than one match before +he had traversed it. It ended in a flight of stairs: which he +ascended, and--found himself in a summer-house at the extreme boundary +of the garden. + +So far the search had not realized his expectations. On the contrary, +it was so unsatisfactory as to be puzzling to his experienced mind. +There had been no tracks or traces of Philip Salter; no indication +that the passages were ever used; and the doors had opened at his +touch, unsecured by bolt or bar. + +Taking a look round him while he strove to solve more than one +problem, the detective slowly advanced along the garden. All the +garden ground surrounding the house, it must be understood, whether +useful or ornamental, was _within_ the circle of the maze of trees. +Turning a corner, after passing the fruit trees and vegetables, he +came in view of the lawn and of the green-house; also of Ann Hopley, +who was plucking some thyme from the herb bed. + +"Have you found what you were looking for, sir!" she asked, every +appearance of animosity gone, as she raised her head to put the +question when he came near. + +"Not yet." + +"Well, sir, I hope you are satisfied. You may take my word for it that +you never will." + +"Think not?" he carelessly said, looking about him. + +"Any way, I am not sorry that you have been through them subterranean +places underground," she resumed. "My mistress and I have never +ventured to look what was in them, and she has not much liked the +thought of their being there. We got Hopley to go down one day, but +his shoulders stuck in a narrow part, and he had to force 'em back and +come up again." + +The detective stepped into the green-house, and stood a moment +admiring the choice flowers and some purple grapes ripening above. Ann +Hopley had gathered her herbs when he came out, and stood with them in +her hand. + +"If you'd like to take a few flowers' sir, I'm sure Mrs. Grey would +not wish to object. Or a bunch of grapes. There's some ripe." + +"Thank you, not now." + +He pulled open the tool-house door, only partly closed, and looked in +on Hopley. The old man was cleaning it out. Sweeping the floor with a +besom and raising a cloud of dust enough to choke a dozen throats, he +was hissing and fizzing over his work. + +Hopley looked very decrepid to-day: his swollen knees were bent and +tottering: his humped back was all conspicuous as he stood; while his +throat was enveloped in some folds of an old scarlet comforter. + +"Mr. Hopley, I think," said the detective, politely. "Will you please +tell me the name of the gentleman that's staying here?" + +But Hopley, bent nearly double over his work, took no notice whatever. +His back was towards the detective; and he kept on his hissing and +fizzing, and scattering his clouds of dust. + +"He does not hear you, sir," said Ann Hopley, advancing. "He's as deaf +as a post, and can make out no voice but mine: especially when he has +one of his sore throats upon him, as he has to-day. For my part, I +think these bad throats have to do with the deafness. He is always +getting them." + +Stepping into the midst of the dust, she shook her husband by the arm +somewhat roughly, and he raised his head with a start. + +"Here, Hopley, just listen a minute," she screamed at the top of her +voice. "This gentleman is asking you to tell him the name of the +gentleman who is staying here--that's it, is it not, sir?"--and Mr. +Strange nodded acquiescence. "The name, Hopley, the name." + +"I've never see'd no lady here but the missis," said old Hopley at +length, in his imperfect articulation, caused by the loss of his +teeth, as he touched his broad-brimmed hat respectfully to the +stranger, and looked up, leaning on the besom. + +"Not a lady, Hopley; a gentleman," bawled Ann. + +"I've see'd no gentleman here at all." + +"He is rather stupid as to intellect, is he not?" cried the detective +to the wife. + +She resented the imputation. "Not at all, sir; no more than deaf +people always seem to be." + +"What gentleman be it?" asked Hopley. "Smith the agent comes for the +rent at quarter-day, and Sir Karl Andinnian came over one morning +about the well." + +"Neither of those," roared out Mr. Strange. "The gentleman that's +hiding here." + +"Not them, Hopley," called Ann in his ear. "The gentleman that's +hiding here, he says." + +"Hiding where?" asked Hopley. "In them underground places? I never +know'd as anybody was hiding in 'em." + +"Ask him if he'll swear that no man whatever is in hiding here, Mrs. +Hopley." + +"The gentleman says will you swear that no man is in hiding here at +the Maze?" repeated Ann, somewhat improving upon the question. + +"I'll swear that there's neither man nor woman in the place, sir, to +my knowledge, hiding or not hiding, but us two and the missis," was +the answer, given directly to Mr. Strange, and as emphatically as his +utterly toothless mouth allowed. "I swear it to my God." + +"And you may trust him, sir," said Ann quietly. "I don't believe he +ever told a lie in his life: much less took an oath to one. Hopley's +honest and straightforward as the day, though he is a martyr to +rheumatism." + +Mr. Strange nodded his head to the man and left him to his sweeping. +The work and the hissing began again before he was clear of the door. +In both the tool-house and the green-house no possible chance was +afforded of concealment--to ascertain which had doubtless been the +chief motive for the detective's invasion of them. + +"I don't believe the old man knows about it," ran his thoughts; "but +the woman _does_." + +Ann Hopley carried her herbs indoors, and began picking them. Mr. +Strange, calling the policeman to his aid, made as thorough a search +out of doors as the nature of the premises and the puzzling maze of +trees allowed. There was a closed-in passage of communication through +the labyrinth, between the back of the house and the outer circle: but +it was built solely with a view to convenience--such as the bringing +in of coals or beer to the Maze; or, as Ann Hopley expressed it, the +carrying of a coffin out of it. The detective had its doors unbolted +and unbarred, and satisfied himself that it afforded no facility for +concealment. Borrowing a candle of her, he went again to the secret +passages underground, both policemen with him, to institute a more +minute and thorough examination. + +There ensued no result. And Mr. Detective Strange withdrew his men and +finally departed himself; one mortifying word beating its +unsatisfactory refrain on his brain: + +"BAFFLED." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +At Scotland Yard. + + +Once more on his weary way to London went Karl Andinnian, on the same +weary business that he had gone before; but this time he was +proceeding direct to the place he had hitherto shunned--Scotland Yard. + +The extreme step, taken by the detective Tatton, in searching the +Maze, had alarmed Karl beyond measure. True, the unfortunate fugitive, +hiding there, had managed to elude detection: but who could say that +he would be able to do so another time, or how often these men of the +law might choose to go in? The very fact of their not being actually +in search of Sir Adam, but of a totally different individual, made it +seem all the more unbearably cruel. + +In Mrs. Grey's dire distress and perplexity, she had sent that same +night for Karl--after the search--and he heard the whole that had +taken place. Adam confessed he did not know what was to be done, or +how avert the fate--recapture--that seemed closely impending; and Rose +almost fell on her knees before Karl, imploring him with tears to try +and save her husband from the danger. Karl took his remorse home with +him: remorse arising from the knowledge that _he_ had brought all this +about, he, himself, in his insane inquiries after Salter: and, after +much anxious consideration, he resolved to go on the morrow to +Scotland Yard. + +It was past noon when he reached his destination. After he had stated +confidentially the nature of his business--that it was connected with +the search after Philip Salter, then being carried on at Foxwood by +Detective Tatton--he was told that it was Mr. Superintendent Game who +must see him upon the point: but that at present the superintendent +was engaged. Karl had to wait: and was kept waiting a considerable +time. + +Could Karl's eyes have penetrated through two walls and an intervening +room, he might have been greatly astonished to see the person with +whom the superintendent was occupied. It was no other than Tatton +himself. For the detective, taking a night after the search to think +over matters, just as Karl had done, had come to the determination of +placing the history of his doings at Foxwood before his superiors, and +to leave with them the decision whether he should go on with his +search, or abandon it. Accordingly, he also had proceeded to London +that morning, but by an earlier train; and he was now closeted with +Mr. Superintendent Game--who had given him his original instructions, +and had, specially, the Salter affair in hand--and was laying before +him a succinct narration of facts, together with his various +suspicions and his bafflings. Before the interview was over, the +superintendent was as well acquainted with the Maze, its rumours and +its mysteries and with sundry other items of Foxwood gossip, as Tatton +himself could be. + +"A gentleman waiting--had been waiting some time--to see Mr. Game on +the Foxwood business," was the interruption that was first brought to +them: and both Mr. Game and Tatton felt somewhat surprised thereby. +What gentleman could be engaged on the Foxwood business, except +themselves? + +"Who is it?" asked the superintendent. And a card was handed in. + +"Sir Karl Andinnian." + +A moment's pause to revolve matters, and then the superintendent +issued his fiat. + +"See him in five minutes." + +The five minutes were occupied with Tatton; but, he was safely away +ere they had expired, carrying with him his orders to wait; and Sir +Karl Andinnian was shown in. The superintendent and the visitor met +for the first time, and glanced at each other with some curiosity. The +officer saw, in the brother of the noted and unfortunate criminal, a +pale, refined, and essentially gentlemanly man, with a sad but +attractive face that seemed to tell of sorrow; the other saw a spare +man of middle height, who in age might have been his father, and whose +speech and manners betokened a cultivation as good as his own. + +Taking the seat offered him, Karl entered at once upon his business. +Explaining shortly and truthfully the unfortunate suspicion on his own +part, that had led to his inquiries about Salter of Mr. Burtenshaw, +and to the subsequent dispatch of Tatton to Foxwood. He concealed +nothing; not even the slight foundation for those suspicions--merely +the having seen the name of Philip Salter in a pocket-book that was in +the possession of Philip Smith; and related his recent explanation +with Smith; when he learnt that he and Salter were cousins. Karl told +it all: and the officer saw, and believed, that he was telling it +truly. Karl then went on to relate how he had himself sought an +interview with Tatton on his last return from London--whither he had +gone to try and convince Mr. Burtenshaw that it was not Salter; that +he had learnt from Tatton then that his suspicions were directed to a +house called the Maze, as the place of Salter's concealment, and that +he, Sir Karl, had assured Tatton on his word of honour as a gentleman +that it was altogether a mistaken assumption, for that Salter was not +at the Maze, and never had been there. He had believed that Tatton was +convinced by what he said: instead of which, he had taken the extreme +and, under the circumstances, most unjustifiable step of proceeding to +the house with a search warrant and two policemen, to the terror of +the lady inhabiting it, Mrs. Grey, and her two old servants. It was to +report this to Tatton's superiors at headquarters that he had now +come up from Foxwood, Sir Karl added; not, he emphatically said, to +complain of Mr. Tatton or to get him reprimanded, for no doubt the +man, in doing what he had done, had believed it was but his duty: but +to request that instructions might be given him to leave Mrs. Grey in +tranquillity for the future. She, feeling much outraged and insulted +by the suspicion that she could have a common criminal like Philip +Salter concealed in her home, had sent for him, Sir Karl, as her +landlord, to beg him to protect her if in his power, and to secure her +from further molestation. + +Mr. Superintendent Game listened to Sir Karl's narrative as +attentively and with as much apparent interest as though it comprised +information that he had never in all his life heard of: whereas, in +point of fact, Tatton had just been going over the same facts with +him, or nearly the same. He admitted to Sir Karl that it no doubt did +seem to Mrs. Grey an unjustifiable step, an unaccountable intrusion; +if indeed Salter were not concealed there and she knew nothing of him. + +"I assure you, as I assured Tatton, that she does not," spoke Karl, +with almost painful earnestness. "There is not an iota of foundation +for supposing Salter ever was at Foxwood; certainly he was never at +the Maze." + +"Tatton is an experienced officer, Sir Karl. You may depend upon it +that he had good reasons for what he did." + +"That he fancied he had: I admit that. But they were utterly +groundless. I should have thought that had any one lady, above +another, been exempt from suspicion of any kind, it was Mrs. Grey. She +lives a perfectly retired life at the Maze during her husband's +absence, giving offence to none. To suppose she would allow the +fugitive Salter, a man whom she never knew or saw, to be concealed +within her domains is worse than preposterous." + +"It is hazardous to answer so far for any one, Sir Karl," was the +rejoinder--and Karl thought he detected a faint smile on the speaker's +lips. "Especially for a woman. The best of them have their tricks and +turns." + +"I can answer for Mrs. Grey." + +Mr. Superintendent Game, whose elbow as he faced Sir Karl was leaning +on a desk-table, took it off and fell to pushing together some papers, +as though in abstraction. He was no doubt taking time mentally to fit +in some portions of Karl's narrative with the information possessed by +himself. Karl waited a minute and then went on. + +"I am sure that this lady would be willing to make a solemn affidavit +that she knows nothing of Salter; and that he is not, and never has +been, concealed there; if by so doing it would secure her exemption +from intrusion for the future." + +"Yes, no doubt," said the officer somewhat absently. "Sir Karl +Andinnian," he added, turning briskly to face him again after another +pause, "I assume that your own part in this business was confined to +the sole fact of your entering on the misapprehension of taking your +agent Smith to be Salter." + +"That's all. But do you not see how I feel myself to be compromised: +since it was my unfortunate endeavour to set the doubt at rest, by +applying to Burtenshaw, that has originated all the mischief and +brought the insult on Mrs. Grey!" + +"Of course. But for that step of yours we should have heard nothing of +Salter in connection with Foxwood." + +Karl maintained a calm exterior: but he could have ground his teeth as +he listened. It was too true. + +"Then, with that one exception, Sir Karl, I am right in assuming that +you personally hold no other part or interest in this affair, as +regards Salter?" + +"As regards Salter? None whatever." + +"Well now," resumed the superintendent, in a confidential kind of +tone, "we can talk at our ease for a minute. Does it not strike you, +Sir Karl, as an impartial and impassioned looker-on, that there is +something rather curious in the affair, taking one thing with +another?" + +"I fail to catch your meaning, sir," replied Karl, gazing at the +superintendent. "I confess no such idea has occurred to me. Curious in +what way?" + +"We shall come to that. Philip Smith has been your agent about six +months, I believe." + +"About that." + +"Whence did you have him? Where did he live before?" + +"I really do not know. My mother, the late Mrs. Andinnian, who was +occupying Foxwood Court during my absence abroad, engaged him. She +became ill herself, was unable to attend to anything, and deemed it +well to employ someone to look after my interests." + +"Report runs in Foxwood--all kinds of gossip have come up to me from +the place." The superintendent broke off to add--"that Smith is only +your honorary agent, Sir Karl; that he gives it out he is an old +friend of the Andinnian family." + +"I can assure you that Smith is my paid agent. He has a house to live +in, and takes his salary quarterly." + +"The house is exactly opposite the Maze gates?" + +"Yes," said Karl, beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable at the +drift the conversation appeared to be taking. + +"Is there any truth in the statement that your family knew him in +earlier days? You will see in a minute, Sir Karl, why I ask you all +this. I conclude there is not." + +"I understood my mother to imply in her last illness that she had +known something of him: but I was not sure that I caught her meaning +correctly, and she was too ill for me to press the question. I had +never heard of any Smith myself, and the chances were that I +misunderstood her. He makes himself useful about the estate, and that +is all I have to look to." + +"Report says also--pardon me for recurring to it, Sir Karl--that he +makes himself a very easy kind of agent; seems to do as he likes, work +or play, and spends most of his time smoking in his front garden, +exchanging salutations with the passers-by and watching his +neighbour's opposite gate." + +Had it been to save his life, Karl Andinnian could not have helped the +change that passed over his countenance. What was coming? He strove to +be cool and careless, poor fellow, and smiled frankly. + +"I fancy he is rather idle--and given to smoke too much. But he does +well what he has to do for me, for all that. Mine is not a large +estate, as you may be aware, and Sir Joseph left it in first-rate +condition. There is very little work for an agent." + +"Well, now, I will ask you a last question, Sir Karl. Do you think +Smith's residence at Foxwood is in any way connected with the Maze!" + +"Connected with the Maze!" echoed Sir Karl, his face never betraying +the uneasiness that his beating and terrified heart was beginning to +feel all too keenly. + +"That is, connected with its tenants." + +"In what way would it be possible?" + +"Look here. Philip Smith presents himself at Foxwood Court about +six months ago, soliciting the agency of your estates from Mrs. +Andinnian--as there is little doubt he did so present himself to her, +and solicit. Now it was a very singular thing for him to do, +considering that his previous life (as I happen to know) had in no way +whatever qualified him for the situation. He knew no more of land or +the duties of a land-agent than does this inkstand on my table. Why +did he attempt to take such a place?" + +"For the want of something else to do, probably," replied Karl. "He +told me himself the other day, that his cousin's fall ruined him also, +by causing him to be turned from his situation. As to the duties he +has to perform for me, a child might be at home in them in a week." + +"Granted. Let us go on. Mr. Smith's installation at your place as +agent was closely followed by the occupancy of the Maze, Mrs. Grey and +her servants arriving as its tenants. Was it not so, Sir Karl?" + +"I--think it was," assented Karl, appearing to be recalling the past +to his memory, and feeling himself in a bath of horror as he saw that +the all-powerful man before him, powerful to know, to rule, and to +act, was quite at home behind the scenes. + +"Well, I cannot help thinking that the one may have been connected +with the other; that Smith's appearance at your place, and the +immediately-following occupancy of the Maze, may have been, so to say, +connecting links in the same chain," continued the superintendent. "A +doubt of it was floating in my mind before I had the honour of seeing +you, Sir Karl: but I failed to detect any adequate cause; there was +none on the surface. You have now supplied that, by telling me who +Smith is--Salter's relative." + +"Indeed I cannot understand you," said Karl, turning nevertheless from +hot to cold. + +"The Maze is a place--what with its surrounding labyrinth of trees and +its secret passages and outlets--unusually favourable for concealment. +A proscribed man might hide himself there for years and years, and +never be discovered unless suspicion were accidentally drawn on him. I +think the chances are that Salter is there; and that his cousin, +Smith, is keeping guard over him for his protection, while ostensibly +fulfilling only the duties of your agency. They may have discovered in +some way the desirable properties of the Maze and laid their plans to +come to it accordingly." + +It was so faithful a picture of what Smith was really doing at +Foxwood--though the one he was watching over was a very different man +from Salter--that Karl Andinnian almost thought some treacherous +necromancy must have been at work. All he could do was, to speak +forcibly against the view, and to declare that there could not be any +foundation for it. + +"That is only your opinion against mine, Sir Karl," observed the +superintendent courteously. "You may rely upon it, I think, that the +fact of Salter's being there would be kept from you, of all people." + +"Do you forget the slur you would cast on Mrs. Grey?" + +"As to that, Salter may be some relative of hers. Even her +husband--even her brother. I remember it was said, at the time his +case fell, that he had one sister. In either case, of course Mrs. +Grey--the name she goes under--would not allow the fact of his +concealment there to transpire to you." + +How could Karl meet this? Sitting there, in his perplexity and pain, +he could not see a step before him. + +"You have forgotten that Tatton has searched the Maze from roof to +basement, Mr. Superintendent." + +"Not at all. It tells nothing. There are no doubt other hidden places +that he did not penetrate to in that first search. At best, it was but +a superficial one." + +That "first" search. Was all security slipping from Karl's feet, inch +by inch? + +"Believe me, you are wrong," he said; "your notion is an utterly +mistaken one. I assure you on my word of honour, as truly and solemnly +as I shall ever testify to any fact in this world, that Salter is not +within the Maze, that he never has been. Mind you, sir, I _know_ this. +I go over occasionally to see poor Mrs. Grey in her loneliness, and am +in a position to speak positively." + +An unmistakable smile sat on the officer's face now. "Ay," he said, "I +have heard of your occasional nocturnal visits to her, Sir Karl. The +young lady is said to be very attractive." + +At the first moment, Sir Karl did not detect the covert meaning. It +came to him with a rush of indignation. The superintendent had rarely +seen so haughty a face. + +"No offence, Sir Karl. 'Twas but a joke." + +"A joke I do not like, sir. I am a married man." + +"Est-ce que cela empêche"--the other was beginning: for the conclusion +he had drawn, on the score of Sir Karl's evening visits, was a very +decided one; but Karl put a peremptory stop to the subject. He deemed +the superintendent most offensively familiar and unwarrantably +foolish; and he resented in his angry heart the implied aspersion on +his brother's wife, the true Lady Andinnian, than whom a more modest +and innocent-natured woman did not exist. And it never entered into +the brain of Karl Andinnian to suspect that the same objectionable +joke might have been taken up by people nearer home, even by his own +wife. + +The interview came to an end. Karl went away, uncertain whether he had +made sufficient impression, or not, to ensure the Maze against +intrusion for the future. The superintendent did not say anything +decisive, one way or the other, except that the matter must be left +for his consideration. It might all have been well yet, all been well, +but for this new complication, this suspicion rather, touching Smith +and Salter jointly! He, Karl, had given the greatest rise to this, he +and no other, by stating that day that the men were cousins. He asked +himself whether Heaven could be angry with him, for whatever step he +took for good only seemed to lead to mischief and make affairs worse. +One assurance he did carry away with him: that the young lady at the +Maze might rest content: her peace personally should not be molested. +But that was not saying that the house should not be. + +After Sir Karl's departure, the superintendent's bell rang and Tatton +was recalled. A long conversation ensued. Matters known were weighed; +matters suspected were looked at: and Mr. Tatton was finally bidden +back to Foxwood. + +Karl had gone direct from Scotland Yard to take the train. A fast one, +which speedily conveyed him home. He walked from the station, and was +entering his own gates when Hewitt--who seemed to have been gossiping +at the lodge with the gardener's wife, but who had probably been +lingering about in the hope of meeting his master--accosted him; and +they went up the walk together. + +"I am afraid something is amiss at the Maze, sir," began the man, +looking cautiously around and speaking in a low tone. + +"Something amiss at the Maze!" echoed Karl, seized with a terror that +he did not attempt to conceal. + +"Not _that_, sir; not the worst, thank Heaven! Sir Adam has been taken +ill." + +"Hush, Hewitt. No names. Ill in what way I How do you know it?" + +"I had been to carry a note for my lady to old Miss Patchett, Sir +Karl. Coming back, Ann Hopley overtook me; she was walking from the +station at a fine rate. Her master had been taken most alarmingly ill, +she said; and at any risk a doctor must be had to him. They did not +dare to call in Mr. Moore, lest he might talk to the neighbours, and +she had been to the station then to telegraph for a stranger." + +"Telegraph where!" + +"To Basham, sir. For Dr. Cavendish." + +Karl drew a deep breath. It seemed to be perplexity on perplexity: and +he saw at once how much danger this step must involve. + +"What is the matter with him, Hewitt? Do you know?" + +"It was one of those dreadful fainting-fits, sir. But they could not +get him out of it, and for some time thought he was really dead. Mrs. +Grey was nearly beside herself, Ann said, and insisted on having a +doctor. He is better now, sir," added Hewitt, "and I think there's +no need for you to go over unless you particularly wish. I went +strolling about the road, thinking I might hear or see something more, +and when Ann Hopley came to the gate to answer a ring, she told me he +was quite himself again but still in bed. It was the pain made him +faint." + +"I cannot think what the pain is," murmured Karl. "Has the doctor +been?" + +"I don't think he has yet, Sir Karl." + +Karl lifted his hat to rub his aching brow. He saw his wife sitting +under one of the trees, and went forward to join her. The wan, weary +look on her face, growing more wan, more weary, day by day, struck on +him particularly in the waning light of the afternoon. + +"Do you do well to sit here, Lucy?" he asked, as he flung himself +beside her, in utter weariness. + +"Why should I not sit here?" + +"I fancy the dew must be already rising." + +"It will not hurt me. And if it did--what would it matter?" + +The half reproaching, half indifferent accent in which it was uttered, +served to try him. He knew what the words implied--that existence had, +through him, become a burden to her. His nerves were strung already to +their utmost tension; the trouble at his heart was pressing him sore. + +"Don't _you_, by your reproaches, make matters worse for me, Lucy, +to-day. God knows that I have well-nigh more than I can bear." + +The strangely-painful tone, so full of unmistakable anguish, aroused +her kindly nature. She turned to him with a sigh. + +"I wish I could make things better for both of us, Karl." + +"At least, you need not make them worse. What with one thing and +another--" + +"Well?" she said, her voice softened, as he paused. + +"Nothing lies around me, Lucy, but perplexity and dread and pain. Look +where I will, abroad or at home, there's not as much as a single ray +of light to cheer my spirit, or the faintest reflection of it. You +cannot wonder that I am sometimes tempted to wish I could leave the +world behind me." + +"Have you had a pleasant day in town?" she asked, after a little +while. + +"No, I have had an unsatisfactory and trying day in all ways. And I +have come home to find more to try me: more dissatisfaction _here_, +more dread abroad. 'Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards.' +Some of us are destined to realise the truth in ourselves all too +surely." + +He looked at his watch, got up, and walked indoors without another +word. Lucy gazed after him with yearning eyes; eyes that seemed to +have some of the perplexity he spoke of in their depths. There were +moments when she failed to understand her husband's moods. This was +one. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +Ill-omened Chances. + + +Karl Andinnian was tempted bitterly to ask of his own heart whether he +could have fallen under the displeasure of Heaven, so persistently did +every fresh movement of his, intended for good, turn into an increased +bank of danger. Poor Sir Adam had more need to question it than he; +for nothing but ill-omened chances seemed to pursue him. + +It is quite probable that when Ann Hopley and her flurried mistress +decided to telegraph for Dr. Cavendish of Basham, they had thought, +and hoped, that the doctor would come back by train, pass quietly on +foot into the Maze, so pass out again, and the public be none the +wiser. Dr. Cavendish, however, who was out when the telegram arrived, +drove over later in his gig; and the gig, with the groom in it, paced +before the Maze gate while the doctor was inside, engaged with his +patient. + +Just then there occurred one of those unhappy chances. Mr. Moore, the +surgeon, happened to walk by with his daughter, Jemima, and saw the +gig--which he knew well--waiting about. It took him by surprise, as he +had not heard that anyone was ill in the vicinity. The groom touched +his hat, and Mr. Moore went up to him. + +"Waiting for your master, James? Who is he with? Who is ill?" + +"It's somebody down yonder, sir," replied the man, pointing back over +his shoulder to indicate the Maze; but which action was not +intelligible to the surgeon. + +"Down where? At the Court?" + +"No, sir. At the Maze." + +"At the Maze! Why, who can be ill there?'" cried Mr. Moore. + +"I don't know, sir. Master had a telegram, telling him to come." + +At that moment Dr. Cavendish was seen to leave the gate and come +towards his gig. Mr. Moore walked quickly forward to meet him, and the +gig turned. + +"I suppose you have been called to Mrs. Grey, doctor," observed the +surgeon, as he shook hands. "Has she had a relapse? I wonder she did +not send for me. I have but just given up attending her." + +"Mrs. Grey!" returned the Doctor. "Oh, no. It is a gentleman I have +been called to see." + +"What gentleman?" asked the surgeon in surprise. "There's no gentleman +at the Maze." + +"One is there now. I don't know who it is. Some friend or relative of +the lady's, probably. Ah, Miss Jemima! blooming as ever, I perceive," +he broke off, as the young lady came slowly up. "Could you not give +some of us pale, over-worked people a receipt for those roses on your +cheeks?" + +"What is it that's the matter with him?" interposed the surgeon, +leaving his daughter to burst into her giggle. + +Dr. Cavendish put his arm within his friend's, led him beyond the +hearing of Miss Jemima, and said a few words in a low tone. + +"Why, the case must be a grave one!" exclaimed Mr. Moore aloud. + +"_I_ think so. I don't like the symptoms at all. From some cause or +other, too, it seems he has not had advice till now, which makes it +all the more dangerous." + +"By the way, doctor, as you are here, I wish you would spare five +minutes to see a poor woman with me," said Mr. Moore, passing from the +other subject. "It won't hinder you much longer than that." + +"All right, Moore. Who is it?" + +"It's the widow of that poor fellow who died from sun-stroke in the +summer, Whittle. The woman has been ailing ever since, and very grave +disease has now set in. I don't believe I shall save her; only +yesterday it crossed my mind to wish you could see her. She lives just +down below there; in one of the cottages beyond Foxwood Court." + +They got into the gig, the physician taking the reins, and telling his +groom to follow on foot. Miss Jemima was left to make her own way +home. She was rather a pretty girl, with a high colour, and a quantity +of light brown curls, and her manners were straightforward and +decisive. When the follies and vanities of youth should have been +chased away by sound experience, allowing her naturally good sense +to come to the surface, she would, in all probability, be as +strong-minded as her Aunt Diana, whom she already resembled in many +ways. + +The autumn evening was drawing on: twilight had set in. Miss Jemima +stood a moment, deliberating which road she should take; whether +follow the gig, and go home round by the Court, or the other way. Of +the two, the latter was the nearer, and the least lonely; and she +might--yes, she might--encounter Mr. Cattacomb on his way to or from +St. Jerome's. Clearly it was the one to choose. Turning briskly round +when the decision was made, she nearly ran against Mr. Strange. That +gentleman had just got back from London, sent down again by the +authorities at Scotland Yard, and was on his way from the station. The +Maze had become an object, of so much interest to him as to induce him +to choose the long way round that would cause him to pass its gates, +rather than take the direct road to the village. And here was another +of those unfortunate accidents apparently springing out of chance; for +the detective had seen the gig waiting, and halted in a bend of the +hedge to watch the colloquy of the doctors. + +"Good gracious, is it you, Mr. Strange?" cried the young lady, +beginning to giggle again. "Why, Mother Jinks declared this afternoon +you had gone out for the day!" + +"Did she? Well, when I stroll out I never know when I may get back: +the country is more tempting in autumn than at any other season. That +was a doctor's gig, was it not, Miss Jemima?" + +"Dr. Cavendish's of Basham," replied Miss Jemima, who enjoyed the +honour of a tolerable intimacy with Mrs. Jinks's lodger--as did most +of the other young ladies frequenting the parson's rooms. + +"He must have come over to see some one. I wonder who is ill?" + +"Papa wondered, too, when he first saw the gig. It is somebody at the +Maze." + +"Do you know who?" + +"Well, they seemed to talk as if it were a gentleman. I did not much +notice." + +"A gentleman?" + +"I think so. I am sure they said 'he' and 'him.' Perhaps Mrs. Grey's +husband has arrived. Whoever it is he must be very ill, for I heard +papa say the case must be 'grave,' and the doctor called it +'dangerous.' They have gone on together now to see poor Hannah +Whittle." + +Not since he had had the affair in hand had the detective's ears been +regaled with so palatable a dish. That Philip Salter had been taken +ill with some malady or another sufficiently serious to necessitate +the summoning of a doctor, he fully believed. Miss Jemima resumed. + +"I must say, considering that papa is the medical attendant there, +Mrs. Grey might have had the good manners to consult him first." + +"It may be the old gardener that's ill," observed the detective +slowly, who had been turning his thoughts about. + +"So it may," acquiesced Miss Jemima. "He's but a poor, creaky old +thing by all accounts. But no--they would hardly go to the expense of +telegraphing for a physician for him with papa at hand." + +"Oh, they telegraphed, did they?" + +"So the groom said." + +"The girl is right," thought the detective. "They'd not telegraph for +Hopley. It is Salter. And they have called in a stranger from a +distance in preference to Mr. Moore close by. The latter might have +talked to the neighbourhood. You have done me a wonderful service, +young lady, if you did but know it." + +Mr. Strange did not offer to attend her home, but suffered her to +depart alone. + +Miss Jemima, who was rather fond of a little general flirtation, +though she did perhaps favour one swain above all others, resented the +slight in her heart. She consoled herself after the manner of the fox +when he could not reach the grapes. + +"He's nothing but a bear," said she, tossing her little vain head as +she tripped away in the deepening gloom of the evening. "It is all for +the best. We might have chanced to meet Mr. Cattacomb, and then he +would have looked daggers at me. Or--my goodness me!--perhaps Aunt +Diana." + +Mr. Strange strolled on, revolving the aspect of affairs in his +official mind. His next object must be to get to speak to Dr. +Cavendish and learn who it really was that he had been to see. Of +course it was not absolutely beyond the cards of possibility that the +sick man was Hopley. It was not impossible that Mrs. Grey might have +some private and personal objection to the calling in again of Mr. +Moore; or that the old man had been seized with some illness so +alarming as to necessitate the services of a clever physician in +preference to those of a general practitioner. He did not think any of +this likely, but it _might_ be; and only Dr. Cavendish could set it at +rest. + +Perhaps some slight hope animated him that he might obtain an +immediate interview with Dr. Cavendish on the spot, as he returned +from Mrs. Whittle's cottage. If so, he found it defeated. The gig came +back with the two gentlemen in it, and it drove off direct to the +village, not passing Foxwood Court at all, or the detective; but the +latter was near enough to see it travel along. Mr. Moore was dropped +at his own house, and the groom--who had been sent on there--taken up; +and then the gig went on to Basham. + +"I must see him somehow," decided the detective--"and the less time +lost over it, the better. Of course a man in the dangerously sick +state this one is represented to be, cannot make himself scarce +as quickly as one in health could; but Salter has not played at +hide-and-seek so long to expose himself unnecessarily. He would make +superhuman efforts to elude us, and rather get away dying than wait to +be taken. Better strike while the iron is hot. I must see the doctor +to-night." + +He turned back to the station; and was just in time to watch the train +for Basham go puffing out. + +"That train has gone on before its time!" he cried in anger. + +After reference to clocks and watches, it was found that it had gone +on before its time by more than a minute. The station-master +apologised: said the train was up three or four minutes too early; +and, as no passengers were waiting to go on by it, he had given the +signal to start rather too soon. Mr. Strange gave the master in return +a bit of his mind; but he could not recall the train, and had to wait +for the next. + +The consequence of this was, that he did not reach Basham until past +nine o'clock. Enquiring for the residence of Dr. Cavendish, he was +directed to a substantial-looking house near the market-place. A boy +in buttons, who came to the door, said the Doctor was not at home. + +"I particularly wish to see him," said Mr. Strange. "Will he be long?" + +"Well, I don't know," replied the boy, indifferently; who, like the +rest of his tribe, had no objection to indulge in semi-insolence when +it might be done with safety. "Master don't never hardly see patients +at this hour, None of 'em cares to come at night-time." + +"I am not a patient. My business with Dr. Cavendish is private and +urgent. I will wait until he comes in." + +The boy, not daring to make objection to this, ushered the visitor +into a small room that he called the study. It had one gaslight +burning; just enough to illumine the book-shelves and a white bust or +two that stood in the corners on pedestals. Here Mr. Strange was left +to his reflections. + +He had plenty of food for them. That Salter was at the Maze, he felt +as sure of as though he had already seen him. Superintendent Game +had informed him who Smith the agent had acknowledged himself to +be--Salter's cousin--and stated his own views of the motives that +induced his residence at Foxwood. This was an additional thread in the +web of belief Mr. Strange was weaving; a confirmatory link that seemed +all but conclusive. In the short period that elapsed between his +interview with Nurse Chaffen, chez elle, and his run up to London, he +had seen his friend Giles, the footman, and by dint of helping that +gentleman to trace days back and recall events, had arrived at a fact +that could neither be disputed nor controverted--namely, that it could +not have been Sir Karl Andinnian who was seen at the Maze by her and +the surgeon. On that evening, Sir Karl, his wife, and Miss Blake had +gone to a dinner party at a few miles distance. At the self-same +minute of time that the event at the Maze took place, they were seated +with the rest of the company at the dinner table, Mr. Giles himself +standing behind in waiting. This was a fact: and had Miss Blake taken +a little trouble to ascertain from Nurse Chaffen _which_ evening it +was the mysterious gentleman had presented himself to view, and then +recalled the day of the dinner, she would have discovered the fallacy +of her belief in supposing him to have been Sir Karl. + +Mr. Strange had, however, discovered it, and that was unfortunately +more to the purpose. Whatever might be the object of Sir Karl's +private visits to the Maze--and upon that point Mr. Strange's opinion +did not change, and he had laughed quietly over it with the +superintendent--it was not Sir Karl who was seen that night. It was a +great point to have ascertained: and the detective thought he had +rarely held stronger cards at any game of chance than were in his +hands now. That Mrs. Grey would prove to be Salter's sister, he +entertained no doubt of. + +But the waiting was somewhat weary. Ten o'clock. Unless Dr. Cavendish +made his appearance shortly, Mr. Strange would lose the last train, +and have the pleasure of walking all the way from Basham. He was +standing before one of the busts--the late Sir Robert Peel's--when the +door opened, and there entered a quiet lady-like woman, with cordial +manners and-a homely face. It was Mrs. Cavendish. + +"I am so sorry you should have to wait so long for my husband," she +said. "If I knew where he was gone, I would send to him: but he did +not happen to tell me before he went out. Your business with him is of +importance, I hear." + +"Yes, madam: of importance to myself. Perhaps he will not be much +longer now." + +"I should think not. Will you allow me to send you in a glass of +wine?" + +He thanked her, but declined it; and she went away again. A short +while, and a latch-key was heard in the house door, denoting the +return of its master. Some few words were exchanged in the hall +between Dr. Cavendish and his wife--and the former entered: a short, +quick-speaking man, with grey whiskers. + +As a matter so much of course that it hardly needs mentioning, the +detective had to be no less crafty in conducting this interview than +he was in some other matters. To have said to Dr. Cavendish, "I want +from you a description of the patient you were called to see to-day, +that I may ascertain whether it be indeed an escaped criminal of whom +I am in search," would have been to close the doctor's mouth. It was +true that he might open his cards entirely and say, "I am Detective +Tatton from Scotland Yard, and I require you in the name of the law to +give me all the information you can about the patient;" and, in that +case it was possible that the doctor might deem himself obliged to +give it. But he preferred to keep that master-stroke in hand, and try +another way. + +He possessed pleasant manners, and had a winning way with him--it has +been already said; he spoke as a gentleman. Sitting down close to the +doctor, he began enquiring in an earnest tone after the new patient at +the Maze, and spoke so feelingly about patients in general, that he +half gained the physician's heart. + +"You are some close friend of the gentleman's?" observed Dr. +Cavendish. And the word "gentleman" set the one great doubt at rest. + +"I am most deeply interested in him," said the detective: and the +unsuspicious doctor never noticed the really sophistical nature of the +answer. + +"Well, I am sorry to tell you that I think him very ill. I don't know +what they can have been about not to call in advice before." And in a +few short words he stated what disease the symptoms seemed to +threaten. + +It startled the detective. He was sufficiently acquainted with surgery +to know that it was one of difficulty and danger. + +"Surely, Dr. Cavendish, he is not threatened with _that?_" + +"I fear he is." + +"Why, it will kill him! It is not curable, is it?" + +"Rarely, if ever, when once it has certainly set-in." + +"And it kills soon." + +"Generally." + +Mr. Strange looked very blank. To hear that his prize might escape him +by death--or might die close upon his capture, was eminently +unsatisfactory. It would be a termination to the great affair he had +never thought of; would tarnish all the laurels in a business point of +view: and he was, besides, not a hard-hearted man. + +"He is very young for that kind of thing, is he not, doctor?" + +"Yes. Rather so." + +"What brings it on, sir, in general?" + +"Oh, various causes." + +"Will trouble induce it?--I mean _great_ trouble; anxiety; care?" + +"Sometimes. Especially if there should be any hereditary tendency to +it in the system." + +"Well, I did not expect to hear this." + +"Are you his brother?" asked the Doctor, seeing how cut-up the visitor +looked. "Not that I detect any likeness." + +"No, I am not his brother; or any other relative. Do you consider it a +hopeless case, Dr. Cavendish?" + +"I have not said that. I should not be justified in saying it. In +fact, I have not yet formed a positive opinion on the case, and cannot +do so until I shall have examined further into it. All I say at +present is, that I do not like the symptoms." + +"And--if the symptoms turn out to be what you fear; to threaten the +malady you speak of--what then?" + +"Why then there will be very little hope for him." + +"You are going over to him again, then?" + +"Of course. To-morrow. He is not in a state to be left without medical +attendance." + +"How long do you think it has been coming on, doctor?" + +"I cannot tell you that. Not less than a twelvemonth, if it be what I +fear." + +Mr. Strange played with his watch-chain. He wanted the description of +the man yet--though, in fact he felt so sure as hardly to need it, +only that detectives do not leave anything to chance. + +"Would you mind telling me what you think of his looks, Dr. +Cavendish?" + +"Oh, as to his looks, they are the best part about him. His face is +somewhat worn and pallid, but it is a very handsome face. I never saw +a nicer set of teeth. His hair and short beard seem to have gone grey +prematurely, for I should scarcely give him forty years." + +"He is only five-and-thirty," spoke the detective, thinking of Salter. +And that, as the reader may recall, was also about the age of Sir +Adam. + +"Only that? Then in looks he has prematurely aged." + +"In his prime, say two or three years ago, he was as good-looking a +man as one would wish to see," observed the detective, preparing to +give a gratuitous description of Salter. "A fine, tall, upright +figure, strongly-built withal; and a pleasant, handsome, frank face, +with fine dark eyes and hair, and a colour fresh as a rose." + +"Ay," acquiesced the physician: "I only saw him in bed, and he is now +much changed, but I should judge that would be just the description +that once applied to him. You seem to hint at some great trouble or +sorrow that he has gone through: he gives me just that idea. Of what +nature was it?--if I may ask." + +"It was trouble that was brought on by himself--and that is always the +most trying to bear. As to its nature--you must pardon me for +declining to particularise it, Dr. Cavendish, but I am really not at +liberty to do so. Do not put the refusal down to discourtesy. It is +not yet over: and the chances are that you will certainly hear all +about it in a day or two." + +Dr. Cavendish nodded. He assumed the words to imply that the patient +himself would enlighten him. As to the detective, his mission was +over; and well over. He had learnt all he wanted: what he had +suspected was confirmed. + +"That beautiful young woman, living alone at the Maze--what relative +is she of his?" asked the doctor, as his visitor rose and took up his +hat. + +"His sister," was the rather hazardous answer. + +"Oh, his sister. Mr. Moore could not make out who the patient was. He +thought it might be the husband who had returned. When I asked his +name, to write a prescription for the chemist, Mrs. Grey said I might +put it in hers--Grey." + +"I thank you greatly for your courtesy, Dr. Cavendish." + +"You are welcome," said the doctor. "Mind, I have not expressed any +certain opinion as to his non-recovery. Don't go and alarm him. What I +have said to you was said in confidence." + +"You may depend upon me. Good night." + +Mr. Detective Strange had to walk from Basham, for the last train was +gone and his return half-ticket useless. Basham police station was +nearly opposite the doctor's, and he stepped in there to leave a +message on his way. In the satisfaction his visit had afforded him, he +did not at all mind the night-walk: on the morrow, the long-sought-for +Salter, who had dodged them so vexatiously, would be in their hands, +the prey would have fallen. A satisfaction, however, that was not +without alloy, in the damping circumstances that encompassed the man's +state of health. And for that he could but feel compassion. + +Midnight was chiming from the clock at Foxwood as he reached the +Maze--for he preferred to take that roundabout way. Halting at the +gate, he looked about and listened for a minute or two. Then he let +himself in with his master-key, and went through the labyrinth. + +The house lay in silence. All seemed still as the grave. There was no +light, no sound, no token of illness inside; no, nor even of inmates. +He gently put the said key in the entrance-door to see if it would +yield. No: the door was not only locked but bolted and barred. He went +to the summer-house, leading up from the underground places, and found +the trapdoor there also bolted and barred within. All was as secure as +wary hands could make it. + +"And it is welcome to remain so until to-morrow," breathed the +detective as he turned to thread his silent steps back through the +maze; "but then, Mr. Philip Salter, you are mine. Neither bolts nor +bars can save you then." + +And he finally let himself out again at the gate with that ingenious +instrument, the key. To be polite, we will apply a French name to it, +and call it a passe-partout. + +But Dr. Cavendish, reflecting afterwards upon the interview, rather +wondered who the stranger was, and whence he had come; and remembered +then that he had totally omitted to ask his name. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +Ann Hopley startled. + + +The morning sun was chasing the dew from the grass: and the lawn at +the Maze, glittering so brightly in the welcome rays, told no tales of +the strange feet that had, unbidden and unsuspected, trodden it in the +night. Mrs. Grey, looking wondrously pretty and delicate in her white +morning gown, with her golden hair as bright as the sunshine, sat at +breakfast in a little room whose window was beside the entrance porch. +Her baby, wide awake, but quiet and good, lay covered up on the sofa +in its night-dress. She was talking to it as she eat her breakfast, +and the wide-open little eyes were turned to her as if it understood. + +"Good little darling! Sweet, gentle baby! It does not scream and fight +as other babies do: no never. It is mamma's own precious treasure--and +mamma is going to dress it presently and put on its pretty worked +robe. Oh, baby, baby!" she broke off, her mood changing, and the +distress at her heart rising to the surface, above the momentary +make-believe dalliance, "if we could but be at rest as others are! We +should be happier than the day has hours in it." + +The accession of illness, attacking Sir Adam on the previous day, the +great risk they ran in calling in a doctor to him, had shaken poor +Rose's equanimity to the centre. She strove to be brave always, for +his sake; she had been in the habit of keeping-in as well as she could +the signs of the dread that ever lay upon her, and she had done so in +a degree yesterday. But in the evening when the doctor had safely +gone, and the day and its troubles were over, she had yielded to a +sudden fit of hysterical weeping. Her husband came into the room in +the midst of it. He partly soothed, partly scolded her: where was the +use of fretting, he asked; better take matters as they came. With +almost convulsive efforts she swallowed her sobs and dried her eyes; +and turned the tables on him by gently reproaching him with getting +up, when Dr. Cavendish had peremptorily enjoined him to stay in bed. +Sir Adam laughed at that: saying he felt none the worse for his +fainting fit, or whatever it was, and was not going to lie abed for +all the doctors in Christendom. + +The cheery morning sun is a great restorer--a gladdening comforter: +and Rose felt its influence. During her sleepless night, nothing could +be more disheartening, nothing more gloomy than the view pervading her +mind: but this morning, with that glorious light from heaven shining +on all things, she and the earth alike revived under it. One great +thing she felt incessant thankfulness for; it was a real mercy--that +that miserable visitation of the detective and his policemen had not +been delayed to the day of Sir Adam's illness. Had they caught him in +bed, no earthly power, she thought, could have saved him. Karl, +stealing over for a few minutes at night, to see for himself what this +alarm of increased illness of his brother's could mean, had warned +them both to be prepared, for he had reason to fancy the search might +be repeated. + +"This spot is getting more dangerous day by day," murmured Rose to +herself, pouring out another cup of tea. "Oh, if we could but get away +from it! London itself seems as though it would be safer than this." + +She proceeded with her meal very slowly, her thoughts buried in +schemes for their departure. Of late she had been ever weaving a web +of possibility for it, a cunning plan of action: and she thought she +had formed one. If necessary _she_ would stay on at the Maze with her +baby--oh, for months--for years even--so that Adam could but get away. +Until this man the detective--more feared by her, more dreadful to +contemplate than any man born into the world yet--should take his +departure from the place, nothing might be attempted: they could only +remain still and quiet; taking what precautions they could against +surprise and recapture, and she praying always that her husband might +be spared this last crowning calamity: beyond which, if it took place, +there would never more be anything in this world but blank despair. + +Ann Hopley was upstairs, making the beds, and attending to matters +there generally. Until her room was ready, and the fire had burnt up +well to dress the baby by, Mrs. Grey would stay where she was: +consequently she was at full liberty to linger over her breakfast. +There was something in the extreme quietness of the little child, and +in its passive face, that to a more experienced eye might have +suggested doubts of its well-being: a perfectly healthy infant is apt +to be as troublesome as it can be. Mrs. Grey suspected nothing. It had +improved much since its baptism, and she supposed it to be getting +strong and healthy. A soft sweet plaintive note escaped the child's +lips. + +"Yes, my baby. Mamma has not forgotten you. The room will soon be +warm, and baby shall be dressed. And then mamma will wrap it up well +and wrap herself up, and sit out of doors in the sunshine. And +papa----" + +The words broke off in a low wail of horror; her heart seemed to die +away in the faintness of sick despair. Something like a dark cloud had +passed the window, shutting out for a moment the glad sunshine on the +grass. It was Mr. Detective Strange: and, following closely on his +heels, were the two same policemen, both of them this time in official +clothes. They had come through the maze without warning, no doubt by +the help of the passe-partout, and were making swiftly for the +entrance-door--that lay open to the morning air. Her supposition was +that they had fathomed Adam's system of concealment. + +"God help us! God save and protect us!" breathed the poor wife, +clasping her hands, and every drop of blood going out of her ashy +face. + +Mr. Strange, who had seen her through the window, was in the room +without a moment's delay. He was courteous as before; he meant to be +as considerate as the nature of his mission allowed him to be: and +even before he had spoken a word, the keen, practised eye took in the +visible signs. The small parlour affording no possibility for the +concealment of Salter; the baby on the sofa; the breakfast, laid for +one only, of which Mrs. Grey was partaking. + +He was very sorry to be obliged to intrude upon her again: but he had +orders once more to search the Maze, and could but obey them. And he +begged her to believe that she herself, individually, should be +subjected to no annoyance or restraint. + +She made no answer: she could collect neither thoughts nor words to do +so in her terrible fear. Mr. Strange retreated with a bow and closed +the door again, making a mental comment upon her evident distress, her +ghastly looks. + +"There's no mistake, I think, that he is ready to our hands this time: +her face alone would betray it. The curious thing is--where was he +before?" + +Ann Hopley had finished the rooms, and was kneeling before the fire in +her mistress's chamber, coaxing an obstinate piece of coal to burn, +and blowing at it with her lips with all her might, when a slight +noise caused her to turn. There stood Mr. Strange, a policeman at his +elbow. She had not heard the entrance. Up she got, and stood staring; +unable to believe her eyes, and startled almost into screaming. But +she knew how much lay upon her--almost life or death. + +"Goodness bless me!" cried she, speaking freely, as she strove to +brave it out, and shaking inwardly. "Whatever brings you folks here +again?" + +"We have to go through the house once more." + +"How did you get in?" + +"Quite legally," replied Mr. Strange. "I have to do my duty." + +So entirely was she unprepared for this, and perhaps fearing that in +her state of dismayed perplexity she might let fall some dangerous +word of admission, feeling also that she could do no good to her +master by staying, but might do harm, Ann Hopley withdrew, after +giving the fire a gentle lift with the poker, and went down to the +kitchen with a cool air, as if resolved not to let the affair +interrupt her routine of work. Taking up a small basket of what she +would have termed "fine things," recently washed, consisting of caps +and bits of lace, and such like articles pertaining to the baby, she +carried it out of doors beyond the end of the lawn, and began putting +the things on gooseberry bushes to dry. Old Hopley was pottering about +there, doing something to the celery bed. The policeman left on guard +below, and standing so that his sight could command all things, +surveyed her movements with a critical eye. She did not go out of his +sight, but came back with the basket at once. While spreading the +things, she had noted him watching her. + +"I daresay I'm a kind of genteel prisoner," ran her thoughts. "If I +attempted to go where those ugly eyes of his couldn't follow me, he +might be for ordering me back, for fear I should be giving warning to +the master that they are here. Well, we can do nothing; it is in +Heaven's hands: better they came in to-day than yesterday!" + +Mr. Detective Strange had rarely felt surer of anything than he was +that he should find Philip Salter in bed, and capture him without the +slightest difficulty in his sick state. It was not so to be. Very much +to his amazement, there appeared to be no sign whatever of a sick man +in the place. The rooms were all put in order for the day, the beds +made; nothing was different from what it had been at the time of his +previous entrance. Seek as he would, his practised eye could find no +trace--nay, no possibility--of any hidden chamber. In fact, there was +none. + +"Where the deuce can the fellow be?" mused Mr. Strange, gazing about +him with a thoughtful air. + +The underground places were visited with as little success, though the +search he made was minute and careful. He could not understand it. +That Salter had not been allowed time to escape out of doors, so rapid +was their first approach, he knew; but, nevertheless, the trees and +grounds were well examined. Hopley lifted his poor bent back from his +work in the celery-bed--from which, as the watching policeman could +have testified, he had not stirred at all--to touch his straw hat when +the detective passed. Mr. Strange answered by a nod, but did not +accost him. To question the deaf old man would be only waste of time. + +There was some mystery about all this; a mystery he--even he--could +not at present fathom. Just one possibility crossed his mind and was +exceedingly unwelcome--that Salter, alarmed by the stir that was being +made, had in truth got away. Got away, in spite of the precautions +that he, Strange, in conjunction with the police of Basham, had been +for the past day or two taking, secretly and unobserved. + +He did not believe it. He did not wish to believe it. And, in truth, +it seemed to him not to be possible, for more reasons than one. A man +in the condition of health hinted at by Dr. Cavendish would be in no +state for travelling. But still--with the Maze turned, as he honestly +believed, inside out, and showing no signs or trace of Salter, where +was he? + +This took up some time. Ann Hopley had got her preparations for dinner +forward, had answered the butcher's bell and taken in the meat: and by +and by went across the garden again to cut two cauliflowers. She was +coming back with them in her apron, when Mr. Strange met her, and +spoke. + +"I have a question or two to put to you, Mrs. Hopley, which I must +desire of you to answer--and to answer correctly. Otherwise I shall be +obliged to summon you before the magistrates and compel your answers +on your oath. If you are wise you will avoid giving me and yourself +that trouble." + +"As far as answering you goes, sir, I'd as soon answer as be silent," +she returned, in a temperate but nevertheless injured tone. "But I +must say that it puts my temper up to see an innocent and inoffensive +young lady insulted as my poor mistress is. What has she done to be +signalled out for such treatment? If she were not entirely unprotected +here, a lone woman, you'd not dare to do it. You told her the other +day you were in search of one Salter: and you know that you looked in +every hole and corner our house has got, and must have satisfied +yourself that no Salter was here. And yet, here you come in, searching +again!" + +"It was not Salter, I suppose, who was ill yesterday; for whom Dr. +Cavendish was telegraphed?" rejoined Mr. Strange, significantly, +having allowed her speech to run on to its end. "Perhaps you will tell +me that?" + +"Salter! That I'll take my oath it was not, sir." + +"Who was it, then?" + +"Well, sir, it was no one that you could have any concern with." + +"I am the best judge of that. Who was it? Remember, I ask you in the +name of the law, and you must answer me." + +"That gentleman came down on a short visit to my mistress, and was +taken ill while he stayed. It frightened us out of our senses; it was +a fainting-fit, or something of that sort, but he looked for all the +world like a man dead; and I ran off and telegraphed for a doctor." + +The detective's eyes were searching Ann Hopley through and through. +She did not flinch: and looked innocent as the day. + +"What has become of him?" + +"He went away again last night, sir." + +"Went away, did he!"--in a mocking tone of incredulity. + +"He did, sir. After the doctor left he got up and dressed and came +down, saying he was better. He didn't seem to think much of his +illness; he had been as bad, he said, before. I confess I was +surprised, myself, to hear he was going away, for I thought him not +well enough to travel. But I believe he was obliged to go." + +"What was his name?" + +"I did not hear it, sir. He was here but a few hours in all." + +"Look here, Mrs. Hopley: if you will tell me where that gentleman came +from, and what his name is, I will give you five sovereigns." + +Her eyes opened, apparently with the magnitude of the offer. + +"I wish I could, sir. I'm sure I should be glad to earn all that, if +it were in my power; for I don't believe Hopley will be able to work +over-much longer, and we are laying up what little we can. I think he +came from London, but I am not sure: and I think he's going off to +some foreign country, for he and my mistress were talking of the sea. +She wished him a good voyage and a safe landing. I heard her." + +The detective paused. Was this true or false? "What was his name? +Come, Mrs. Hopley?" + +"Sir, I have said that I did not hear his name. He came without our +expecting him, or I might have heard beforehand. My mistress called +him Edward: but of course that must be his Christian name. I +understood him to be some relation of hers." + +"I wonder what Hopley could tell me of this?" cried the detective, +looking at her. + +"Hopley could tell you nothing--but of course you are welcome to ask +him if you please. Hopley never saw him at all, as far as I know; and +I did not say anything to the old man about it. If you question +Hopley, sir, I must help you--you'd be a month making him hear, +yourself." + +"How is it that you keep your husband in ignorance of things?--as you +seem to do." + +"Of what things, sir?" rejoined the woman. "I'm sure I don't keep +things from him: I have no things to keep. It's true I didn't tell him +of this. I was uncommonly tired last night, for it had been a trying +day, and full of work besides; and it takes no little exertion, I can +testify, to make Hopley understand. One can't gossip with him, as one +can with people who have got their hearing." + +This was no doubt true. The detective was frightfully at fault, and +did not conceal from himself that he was. The woman seemed so honest, +so open, so truthful; and yet he could have staked his professional +fame that there lay mystery somewhere, and that the sick man had not +gone away. Instinct, prevision--call it what you will--told him that +the man was lying close to his hand--if he could only put that hand +out in the right direction and lay it on him. Bending his head, he +took a few steps about the grass: and Ann Hopley, hoping she was done +with, went into the kitchen with her cauliflowers. + +Letting them fall on to the dresser out of her apron, she gave a sharp +look around, indoors and out. The detective was then conversing with +his two policemen, whom he had called up. Now was her time. Slipping +off her shoes--though it was not likely her footsteps could be heard +out on the lawn--she went across the passage, and opened the door of +the little room: from which Mrs. Grey, in her fear and distress, had +not dared to stir. + +"Mistress," she whispered, "I must give you the clue of what I have +been saying, lest they come and ask you questions too. It would never +do for us to have two tales, you one and me another. Do you mind me, +ma'am?" + +"Go on, Ann. Yes." + +"The sick gentleman came unexpectedly yesterday, and was taken sick +here. You and me got frightened, and sent telegraphing off for a +doctor. He got up after doctor left--said he was better--didn't seem +to think much of his illness, said he had been as bad before. Went +away again at night; had to go; was going off to sea, I thought, as I +heard you wish him a good voyage and safe landing. I didn't know his +name, I said; only heard you call him Edward: thought it was some near +relation of yours.--Can you remember all this, ma'am?" + +"Oh yes. You had better go back, Ann. If they see you talking to +me--oh, go back! Ann, I--I feel as though I should die." + +"Nay, but you must keep up," returned the woman in a kind tone. "I'll +bring you in a beat-up egg with a drop of wine in it. And, ma'am, you +might say he was your brother if they come to close questioning: or +brother-in-law. Don't fear. I'd lay all I'm worth they won't light +upon the master. Twice they went within a yard or two of him, but----" + +There was some noise. Ann Hopley broke off, closed the door softly, +stole back again, and slipped her feet into her shoes. In less than a +minute, when one of the men sauntered up, throwing his eyes through +all the windows, she was in the scullery pumping water over her +cauliflowers with as much noise as she could make. + +Ann Hopley had judged correctly. Mr. Strange went to the little room, +knocking for permission to enter, and there held an audience of its +mistress. The baby lay on her lap now, fast asleep. His questions were +tended to get a confirmation--or contradiction--of the servant's ready +tale. Mrs. Grey, though in evident tremor, and looking only fit for a +ghost, had caught the thread of her lesson well, and answered +correctly. Some particulars she had to improvise; for his questions +were more minute than they had been to Ann Hopley. + +His name?--Grey. What relation?--Brother-in-law. What did he come down +for?--To say goodbye before embarking for Australia. Where would he +take ship?--She did not know; forgot: oh, now she remembered, it was +Gravesend. Was she in the habit of seeing him?--Not often. He was +never long together in one place, always travelling about. But was he +in a fit state to travel? She did not know. She had thought he looked +very ill and begged him to remain at least until to-day, but he said +he could not as he might lose his ship. Did he come down to Foxwood by +train?--Oh yes, by train: there was no other way. And go up by train +I--To be sure. _Which_ train?--One of the evening trains: thought it +was past eight when he left the Maze. + +"It's the time for my mistress to take her egg," interposed Ann Hopley +at this juncture, entering the room with the said egg in a tumbler. "I +suppose she's at liberty to do it." + +To this last little fling Mr. Strange answered nothing. Ann Hopley put +the tumbler on the table and withdrew. Poor Mrs. Grey looked too weak +and ill to lift it to her lips, and let it stay where it was. + +"Can it possibly be true that you are still in search of Philip +Salter?--here?" she asked, raising her troubled eyes to the +detective's. + +"It is quite true," he replied. + +"And that you really believe him to be concealed here?" + +"Madam, I could stake my life upon it." + +She shook her head in feeble impotence, feeling how weak she was to +combat this fixed belief. It was the old story over again. +Nevertheless she made one more effort. Mr. Strange was watching her. + +"Sir, I do not know what to say more than I said before. But I declare +to you once again, as solemnly as I can ever speak anything in this +life, as solemnly as I shall one day have to answer before my Maker, +that I know nothing of Philip Salter. He never was here at all to my +knowledge, later or earlier. Why will you not leave me in peace?" + +Mr. Detective Strange began to think that he should have to leave her +in peace. Twice had he carried this fortress by storm to search at +will its every nook and corner: and searched in vain. Armed with great +power though he was, the law would not justify these repeated forcible +entries, and he might be called to account for exceeding his duty. But +the man was there--as surely as that the sun was in the heavens: and +yet he could not unearth him. He began to think there must be caves +underground impenetrable to the eye of man, with some invisible subtle +entrance to them through the earth itself--and perhaps a subterranean +passage communicating with Mr. Smith's abode opposite. + +And so, the second search ended as the first had done--in signal +failure. Once more there was nothing left for the detective but to +withdraw his men and himself, and to acknowledge that he was for the +time defeated. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +Up the Spouts and down the Drains. + + +Turning his face towards the railway station after quitting the Maze, +with the view of making some enquiries, as to what passengers had +alighted there the previous day and had gone back again--not that he +believed one syllable of the tale told him--Mr. Strange encountered +the gig of Dr. Cavendish bowling down. The physician recognised him +and pulled up. + +"What's this I hear, sir, about my patient's having gone off again?" +cried the doctor in a sharp tone. + +"I have heard the same," replied Mr. Strange. "But I don't believe +it." + +"Oh then--you are not privy to it? You did not send him?" + +"Not I, Dr. Cavendish. I went to the Maze betimes this morning to--to +pay him a visit; and I was met with a tale that the bird had flown." + +"I can tell you, sir, that he was in a _most unfit_ state to travel," +said the doctor with angry emphasis. "I don't know what the +consequences will be." + +"Ay, if he had gone. But it's all moonshine." + +"What do you mean by 'moonshine?' Has he gone, or has he not?" + +"They say at the Maze he has; but I am sure he has not," was the +answer. "There was a motive for his being denied to me, Dr. Cavendish; +and so--and so--when I went in this morning they concocted an +impromptu tale of his departure. That's what I think." + +"They must have concocted it last night then," said the doctor. "The +letter, informing me of the circumstance, was posted last night at +Foxwood--and therefore must have been written last night." + +"Did they write to tell you he had gone?" asked the detective, after a +slight pause. + +"Mrs. Grey wrote. I got it by the post this morning. She would not +trouble me to come over again, she said, as Illy patient had found +himself obliged to leave last night. But I _have_ troubled myself to +come," added the doctor, wrathfully, "and to see about it; for, of all +mad acts, that man's getting up from his bed yesterday, and starting +off by a shaking railway train was the maddest. Drive on, James." + +The groom touched the horse at the short command, and the animal +sprang forward. Mr. Strange thought he would let the station alone for +a bit, and loiter about where he was. This letter, written last night, +to tell of the departure, somewhat complicated matters. + +A very short while, and the doctor came out again. Mr. Strange +accosted him as he was about to step into his gig. + +"Well, Dr. Cavendish, have you seen your patient?" + +"No, I have not seen him," was the reply. "It is quite true that he is +gone. I find he is embarking on a sea voyage, going off somewhere to +the other end of the world, and he had to go up, or forfeit his +passage-money." + +"They told you, then, what they told me. As, of course, they _would_," +he added inwardly. + +"But there's something in it I don't altogether understand," resumed +the doctor. "Not a syllable was spoken by the patient yesterday to +denote that he was on the move, or that he had been on the move, even +only to journey down from London. On the contrary, I gathered, or +fancied I gathered, from the tenor of his remarks that he had been for +some time stationary, and would be stationary for an indefinite period +to come. It was when I spoke to him about the necessity of keeping +himself quiet and free from exertion. What I don't understand is why +he should not candidly have told me that he had this voyage before +him." + +Mr. Strange did not answer. Various doubts were crowding upon him. +_Had_ the man got away? in disguise, say? But no, he did not think it. + +"By the way, you did not tell me your name," said the doctor, as he +took his seat in the gig. + +"My name! oh, did I not? My name is Tatton." + +Dr. Cavendish bent down his head and spoke in a low tone. His groom +was adjusting the apron. + +"You hinted last night at some great trouble that this gentleman was +in, Mr. Tatton. I have been wondering whether that has to do with this +sudden departure--whether he had reasons for being afraid to stay?" + +"Just the question that has occurred to me, Dr. Cavendish," confessed +the detective. "If he has gone away, it is fear that has driven him." + +The gig bowled onwards. Mr. Strange stood still as he looked after it: +and had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Philip Smith smoking his long pipe +at his own window, and regarding the landscape with equanimity. He +went on the other way. + +"Good morning, Mr. Tatton." + +Mr. Tatton turned on his heel and saluted Sir Karl Andinnian, who had +followed him up. There was a degree of suppressed indignation in +Karl's face rarely seen. + +"Is this true that I have just heard, Mr. Tatton," he began, calling +the man by his true name--"that you have been again searching the +Maze? My butler informs me that he saw you and two policemen quit it +but now." + +"It is true enough, Sir Karl. Salter is there. At least, he was there +yesterday. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the sick man to +whom Dr. Cavendish was called was Salter. I obtained a description of +him from the doctor, and should have recognized it anywhere." + +What was Karl to say? He could not attempt to deny that a sick man had +been there. It was an unfortunate circumstance that Sir Adam, in +regard to height and colour of hair, somewhat answered to the +description of Philip Salter. + +"Sir Karl, you must yourself see that there's a mystery somewhere," +resumed the detective, who (having taken his clue from Superintendent +Game) honestly believed that the baronet of Foxwood Court cared not a +rap for Salter, and had no covert interest in the matter, beyond that +of protecting his tenant at the Maze. "Some one, who is never seen by +the public, is living at the Maze, that's certain; or, at any rate, +dodging us there. Remember the gentleman in evening attire seen by the +surgeon and nurse; and now there's this gentleman sick abed yesterday. +These men could not be myths, Sir Karl. Who, then, are they?" + +From sheer inability to advance any theory upon the point, lest he +should do mischief, Karl was silent. These repeated trials, these +shocks of renewed dread, were getting more than he knew how to bear. +Had they come upon Adam this morning? He did not dare to ask. + +"As to the tale told me by the woman servant and Mrs. Grey--that the +sick gentleman was a relative who had come down by train and left +again, it will not hold water," contemptuously resumed the detective. +"Men don't go out for a day's journey when they are as ill as he +is--no, nor take long sea voyages. Why, if what Dr. Cavendish fears is +correct, there cannot be many weeks of life left in the man he saw +yesterday; neither, if it be so, can the man himself be unconscious of +it." + +Karl's heart stood still with its shock of pain. + +"Did Dr. Cavendish tell you that, Mr. Tatton?" + +"Yes. Well, now, Sir Karl, that man is at the Maze still--I am +convinced of it; and that man is Salter." + +"What did you find this morning?" + +"Nothing. Nothing more than I found before. When I spoke of the sick +man, and asked where he was, this cock-and-bull tale was told me, +which, of course, they had got up among themselves." + +"As I said before, Mr. Tatton, I feel certain--I am certain--that you +will never find Salter at the Maze; from the simple fact that he is +not there to find--I am sure of it. I must most earnestly protest +against these repeated annoyances to my tenant, Mrs. Grey; and if you +do not leave her alone for the future, I shall see whether the law +will not compel you. I do not--pray understand--I do not speak this in +enmity to you, but simply to protect her." + +"Of course I understand that, Sir Karl," was the ready answer. +"There's no offence meant, and none taken. But if you could put +yourself in my place, you'd see my difficulty. Upon my word, I never +was so mystified before. _There Salter is_. Other people can see him, +and have seen him; and yet, when I search I find no traces of him. A +thought actually crossed my mind just now, whether there could be a +subterranean passage from the Maze to Clematis Cottage, and that +Salter makes his escape there to his cousin on occasion. I should like +to search it." + +"Come and do so at once," said Karl, half laughing. "Nothing convinces +like ocular demonstration. I give you full permission, as owner of the +cottage; I doubt not Smith will, as its tenant. Come and ask him." + +The detective was in earnest, and they crossed over. Seeing them +making for the gate, Mr. Smith came out of his house, pipe in hand. It +was one of those long churchwardens. Karl spoke a few words of +explanation. Mr. Detective Tatton suspected there might be secret +rooms, or doors, or fugitives hidden in Clematis Cottage, and would +like to search it. After the first momentary look of surprise, the +agent remained unruffled. + +"Pass on, sir," said he, extending the thin end of his pipe to +indicate the way. "You are welcome. Go where you please: search into +every nook and corner; up the spouts and down the drains. If you +surprise old Betty, tell her you're the plumber." + +Mr. Strange took him at his word. Karl and the agent waited in the +sitting-room together. + +"Is it after Sir Adam, sir?" breathed the agent. + +"No. No suspicion of him. It's after the other I told you of. Hush! +Better be silent." + +The agent put his pipe away. Karl stood at the open window. Old Betty, +the ancient servant, came in with a scared face. She was a little +deaf, but not with a deafness like Hopley's over the way. + +"It's all right, Betty," called out her master. "Only looking to the +drains and spouts." + +Satisfied in one sense of the word--for in truth it was readily seen +by the most unprofessional eye that there were no means afforded for +concealment in the shallow-built cottage--the officer soon joined them +again. He had not had really a suspicion of the cottage, he said by +way of apology: it was merely a thought that crossed him. Mr. Smith, +however, did not seem inclined to take the matter quite indifferently +now, and accosted him. + +"Now that you are satisfied, sir, perhaps you will have no objection +to tell me who the individual may be, that you have fancied I would +harbour in my house. I heard before from Sir Karl that you were after +some one." + +From the tone he spoke in, a very civil tone, tinged with mockery, the +detective caught up the notion that Smith already knew; that Sir Karl +must have told him: therefore he saw no occasion for observing any +reticence. + +"When you know that we are looking for Philip Salter, you need not be +so much surprised that we have cast a thought to this house as +Salter's possible occasional refuge, Mr. Smith." + +The very genuine astonishment that seized hold of Smith, pervading his +every look, and word, and gesture, was enough to convince those who +saw it that he was unprepared for the news. + +"Philip Salter!" he exclaimed, gazing from one to the other, as if +unable to believe. "_Philip Salter!_ Why, is he here? Have you news +that he is back in England?" + +"We have news that he _is_ here," said the detective blandly. "We +suspect that he is concealed at the Maze. Did you not know it, Mr. +Smith?" + +Mr. Smith sat down in the chair that was behind him as if sitting came +easier than standing, in his veritable astonishment. + +"As Heaven is my judge, it is a mistake," he declared. "Salter is not +at the Maze; never has been. We have never heard that he is back in +England." + +"Did you know that he left England?" + +"Yes. At least, we had good reason to believe that he got away shortly +after that dangerous escape of his. It's true it was never confirmed; +but the confirmation to his family lies in the fact that we have never +since heard of him, or from him." + +"Never?" + +"Never. Were he in England we should have been sure to have had some +communication from him, had it only been an application for aid--for +he could not live upon air; and outlets of earning are here closed to +him. One thing you and ourselves may alike rest assured of, Mr. +Detective--that, once he got safely away from the country he would not +venture into it again." + +What with one disappointment and another, the detective almost +questioned whether it were not as Smith said; and that Salter, so far +as Foxwood was concerned, would turn out to be indeed a myth. But +then--who was this mysterious man at the Maze? He was passing out with +a good day when Mr. Smith resumed. + +"Have you any objection to tell me what gave rise to your suspicion +that Salter was at Foxwood? Or in England at all?" + +But the officer had tact; plenty of it; or he would not have done for +his post; and he turned the question off without any definite answer. +For the true originator of the report, he who had caused it to reach +the ears of Great Scotland Yard, was Sir Karl Andinnian. + +Very conscious of the fact was Karl himself. He raised his hat from +his brow as he went home, to wipe away the fever-damp gathered there. +He remembered to have read somewhere of one of the tortures devised by +inquisitionists in the barbarous days gone by. An unhappy prisoner +would be shut in a spacious room; and, day by day, watched the walls +contracting by some mysterious agency, and closing around him. It +seemed to Karl that the walls of the world were closing around him +now. Or, rather, round one who had become dearer to him in his dread +position than himself--his most ill-fated brother. + +At home or abroad there was not a single ray of light to illumine or +cheer the gloom. Abroad lay apprehension; at home only unhappiness, an +atmosphere of estrangement that seemed to have nothing homelike or +true in it. Karl went in, expecting to see the pony-chaise waiting. He +had been about to drive his wife out; but, alarmed by the report +whispered to him by Hewitt, and unable to rest in tranquillity, he had +gone forth to see about what it meant. But the chaise was not there. +Maclean was at work on the lawn. + +"Has Lady Andinnian gone!" he enquired, rather surprised--for Lucy had +not learned to drive yet. + +"My leddy is somewhere about the garden I think, Sir Karl," was the +gardener's answer. "She sent the chay away again." + +He found his wife sitting in a retired walk, a book in her hand, +apparently reading it. Lucy was fading. Her face, worn and thin, had +that indescribable air of pitiful sadness in it that tells of some +deep-seated, ever-present sorrow. Karl was all too conscious of it. He +blamed her for her course of conduct; but he did not attempt to +conceal from himself that the trouble had originated with him. + +"I am very sorry to have kept you waiting, Lucy," he began. "I had to +go to Smith's on a little matter of business. You have sent the chaise +away." + +"I sent it away. The pony was tired of waiting. I don't care to go out +at all to-day." + +She spoke in an indifferent, almost a contemptuous tone. We must not +blame her. Her naturally-sweet temper was being sorely tried: day by +day her husband seemed to act so as to afford less promise of any +reconciliation. + +"I could not help it," was all he answered. + +She glanced up at the weary accent. If ever a voice spoke of +unresisted despair, his did then. Her resentment vanished: her +sympathy was aroused. + +"You look unusually ill," she said. + +"I am ill," he replied. "So ill that I should be almost glad to die." + +Lucy paused. Somehow she never liked these semi-explanations. They +invariably imbued her with a sense of self-reproach, an idea that she +was acting harshly. + +"Do you mean ill because of our estrangement?" + +"Yes, for one thing. That makes all other trouble so much worse for me +that at times I find it rather difficult to put up with." + +Lucy played with her book. She wished she knew where her true duty +lay. Oh how gladly, but for that dreadful wrong ever being enacted +upon herself, would she fall upon his arm and whisper out her +beseeching prayer: "Take me to you again, Karl!" + +"Should the estranged terms we are living on, end in a total and +visible separation, you will have the satisfaction of remembering in +your after life, Lucy, that you have behaved cruelly to me. I repeat +it: cruelly." + +"I do not wish to separate," murmured Lucy. + +"The time may soon come when you will be called upon to decide, one +way or the other; when there will be nothing left to wait for; when +all will be known to the world as it is known to us." + +"I cannot understand you," said Lucy. + +"Let it pass," he answered, declining as usual to speak openly upon +the dreaded subject; for, to him, every word, so spoken, seemed +fraught with danger. "You can guess what I mean, I daresay: and the +less said the better." + +"You seem always to blame me, Karl," she rejoined, her voice softening +almost to tears. + +"Your own heart should tell you that I have cause." + +"It has been very hard for me to bear." + +"Yes; no doubt. It has hurt your pride." + +"And something besides my pride," rejoined Lucy, with a faint flush of +resentment. + +"What has the bearing and the pain for you been, in comparison with +what I have had to bear and suffer!" he asked with emotion. "I, at +least, have not tried to make it worse for you, Lucy, though you have +for me. In my judgment, we ought to have _shared_ the burden; and so +made it lighter, if possible, for one another." + +Ay, sometimes she had thought that herself. But then her womanly sense +of insult, her justifiable resentment, would step in and scatter the +thought to the winds. It was too bad of Karl to reflect on her +"pride." + +"Is it to last for ever?" she asked, after a pause. + +"Heaven knows!" he answered. "Heaven knows that I have striven to do +my best. I have committed no sin against you, Lucy, save that of +having married you when--when I ought not. I have most bitterly +expiated it." + +He spoke like one from whom all hope in life has gone; his haggard and +utterly spiritless face was bent downwards. Lucy, her love all in +force, her conscience aroused, touched his hand. + +"If I have been more harshly judging than I ought, Karl, I pray you +and heaven alike to forgive me." + +He gave no answer: but he turned his hand upwards so that hers lay in +it. Thus they sat for some time, saying nothing. A singing bird was +perched on a tree in front of them; a light cloud passed over the face +of the blue sky. + +"But--you know, Karl," she began again in a half whisper, "it has not +been right, or well, for--for those to have been at the Maze who have +been there." + +"I do know it. I have repeatedly told you I knew it. I would almost +have given my life to get them out. It will not be long now; I fear, +one way or the other, the climax I have been dreading seems to be +approaching." + +"What climax?" + +"Discovery. Bringing with it disgrace and pain and shame. It is when I +fear that, Lucy, that I feel most bitterly how wrong it was of me to +marry. But I did not know all the complication; I never anticipated +the evils that would ensue. You must forgive me, for I did it +three-parts in ignorance." + +He clasped her hand as he spoke. Her tears were gathering fast. Karl +rose to depart, but she kept his fingers in hers, her tears dropping +as she looked up at him. + +"I ask, Karl, if we are to live this kind of life for ever?" + +"As you shall will, Lucy. The life is of your choosing, not of mine." + +One long look of doubt, of compassion, of love, into each other's +eyes; and then the hand-clasp that so thrilled through each of them +was loosed; the fingers fell apart. Karl went off to the house, and +Lucy burst into a storm of sobs so violent as to startle the little +bird, and stop its song. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +Taken from the Evil to come. + + +Dreadful commotion at Mrs. Jinks's. Young ladies coming in, all in +excitement; the widow nearly off her head. Their pastor was ill. + +On a sofa before his parlour fire, he lay extended, the Reverend Guy; +his head on a soft pillow, his feet (in embroidered slippers) on an +embroidered cushion. The room was quite an epitome of sacred +decorations, crosses lay embedded amid ferns; illuminated scrolls +adorned the walls. Something was wrong with the reverend gentleman's +throat: his hands and brow were feverish. Whether it was merely a +relaxed throat, or a common soreness, or a quinsy threatening him +could not be decided in the general dismay. Some thought one way, some +another; all agreed in one thing--that it must be treated promptly. +The dear man was passive as any lamb in their ministering hands, and +submitted accordingly. What rendered the case more distressing and its +need of recovering treatment all-urgent, was the fact that the morrow +would be some great day in the calendar, necessitating high services +at St. Jerome's. How were they to be held when the chief priest was +disabled? Damon Puff was all very well; but he was not the Reverend +Guy Cattacomb. + +The Widow Jinks, assuming most experience by reason of years, and also +in possessing a cousin who was a nurse of renown, as good as any +doctor on an emergency, had recommended the application of "plant" +leaves. The ladies seized upon it eagerly: anything to allay the +beloved patient's sufferings and stop the progress of the disorder. +The leaves had been procured without loss of time; Lawyer St. Henry's +kitchen garden over the way having had the honour of supplying them; +and they were now in process of preparation in the ladies' fair hands. +Two were picking, three boiling and bruising, four sewing, all +inwardly intending to apply them. The Widow Jinks had her hands full +below: gruel, broth, jelly, arrow-root, beef-tea, custard puddings, +and other things being alike in the course of preparation over the +kitchen fire: the superabundant amount of sick dainties arising from +the fact that each lady had ordered that which seemed to her best. +What with the care of so many saucepans at once, and the being called +off perpetually to answer the knocks at the front door, the widow felt +rather wild; and sincerely wished all sore throats at Jericho. For the +distressing news had spread; and St. Jerome's fair worshippers were +coming up to the house in uninterrupted succession. + +It fell to Miss Blake to apply the cataplasm. As many assisting, by +dint of gingerly touching the tip of the reverend gentleman's ears or +holding back his shirt collar as could get their fingers in. Miss +Blake, her heart attuned to sympathy, felt stirred by no common +compassion. She was sure the patient's eyes sought hers: and, +forgetting the few years' difference in their ages, all kinds of +flattering ideas and sweet hopes floated into her mind--for it was by +no means incumbent on her to waste her charms in wearing the willows +for that false renegade--false in more ways than one--Karl Andinnian. +Looking on passively, but not tendering her own help amid so many +volunteers, sat Jemima Moore in a distant chair, her face betokening +anything but pleasurable ease. There were times when she felt jealous +of Miss Blake. + +The leaves applied, the throat bound up, and some nourishment +administered in the shape of a dish of broth, nothing remained to be +essayed, save that the patient should endeavour to get some sleep. To +enable him to do this, it was obvious, even to the anxious nurses +themselves, that he should be left alone. Miss Blake suggested that +they should all make a pilgrimage to St. Jerome's to pray for him. +Eagerly was it seized upon, and bonnets were tied on. A thought +crossed each mind almost in unison--that one at least might have been +left behind to watch the slumbers: but as nobody would help another to +the office, and did not like very well to propose herself, it remained +unspoken. + +"You'll come back again!" cried the reverend sufferer, retaining Miss +Blake's hand in his, as she was wishing him goodbye. + +"_Rely_ upon me, dear Mr. Cattacomb," was the response--and Miss Blake +regarded the promise as sacred, and would not have broken it for +untold gold. + +So they trooped out: and Mr. Cattacomb, left to himself and to quiet, +speedily fell into the desired sleep. He was really feeling ill and +feverish. + +The time was drawing on for the late afternoon service, and Tom Pepp +stood tinkling the bell as the pilgrims approached. Simultaneously +with their arrival, there drove up an omnibus, closely packed with +devotees from Basham, under the convoy of Mr. Puff. That reverend +junior, his parted hair and moustache and assumed lisp in perfect +order, conducted the service to the best of his ability; and the +foreheads of some of his fair hearers touched the ground in humility +when they put up their prayers for the sick pastor. + +The autumn days were short now; the service had been somewhat long, +and when St. Jerome turned out its flock, evening had set in. You +could hardly see your hand before you. Some went one way, some +another. The omnibus started back with its freight: Mr. Puff, however +(to the utter mental collapse of those inside it) joined the pilgrims +on their return to Mr. Cattacomb's. Miss Blake went straight on to +Foxwood Court: for, mindful of her promise to the patient, she wished +to tell Lady Andinnian that she should not be in to dinner. + +Margaret Sumnor was staying with Lucy: her invalid sofa and herself +having been transported to the Court. The rector and his wife had been +invited to an informal dinner that evening; also Mr. Moore and his +sister: so Miss Blake thought it better to give notice that she should +be absent, that they might not wait for her. Jemima Moore, a very +good-natured girl on the whole, offered to accompany her, seeing that +nobody else did; for they all trooped off in the clerical wake of Mr. +Puff. As the two ladies left the Court again, they became aware that +some kind of commotion was taking place before the Maze gate. It was +too dark to see so far, but there was much howling and groaning. + +"Do let us go and see what it is!" cried Miss Jemima. And she ran off +without further parley. The irruption into the Maze of Mr. Detective +Tatton--who was by this time known in his real name and character--had +excited much astonishment and speculation in Foxwood; the more +especially as no two opinions agreed as to what there was within the +Maze that he could be after. The prevailing belief amid the juvenile +population was, that a menagerie of wild beasts had taken up its +illegitimate abode inside. They collected at hours in choice groups +around the gate, pressing their noses against the iron work in the +hope of getting a peep at the animals, or at least of hearing them +roar. On this evening a dozen or two had come down as usual: Tom Pepp, +having cut short the ringing out, in his ardour to make one, had +omitted to put off the conical cap. + +But these proceedings did not please Sir Karl Andinnian's agent at +Clematis Cottage. That gentleman, after having warned them sundry +times to keep away, and enlarged on the perils that indiscriminate +curiosity generally brought to its indulgers, had crossed the road +to-night armed with a long gig-whip, which he began to lay about him +kindly. The small fry, yelling and shrieking, dispersed immediately. + +"Little simpletons!" cried Miss Jemima Moore, as the agent walked back +with his whip, after explaining to her. "Papa says the police only +went in to take the boundaries of the parish. And--oh! There's Tom +Pepp in his sacred cap! Miss Blake, look at Tom Pepp. Oh! Oh, if Mr. +Cattacomb could but see him!" + +Miss Blake, who never did things in a hurry, walked leisurely after +the offending boy, intending to pounce upon him at St. Jerome's. In +that self-same moment the Maze gate was thrown open, and Mrs. Grey, +her golden hair disordered, herself in evident tribulation, came forth +wringing her hands, and amazing Miss Jemima more considerably than +even the whip had amazed the boys. + +What she said, Jemima hardly caught. It was to the effect that her +baby was in convulsions; that she wanted Mr. Moore on the instant, and +had no one to send. + +"I'll run for papa," cried the good-natured girl. "I will run at once; +I am his daughter. But you should get it into a warm bath, instantly, +you know. There's nothing else does for convulsions. I would come and +help you if there were any one else to go for papa." + +In answer to this kind suggestion, Mrs. Grey stepped inside again, and +shut the gate in Miss Jemima's face. But she thanked her in a few +heartfelt words, and begged her to get Mr. Moore there without delay: +her servant was already preparing a bath for the baby. + +Jemima ran at the top of her speed, and met her father and aunt +walking to Foxwood Court. The doctor hastened to the Maze, leaving his +sister to explain the cause of his absence to Sir Karl and Lady +Andinnian. + +Dinner was nearly over at the Court when the doctor at length got +there. The baby was better, he said: but he was by no means sure that +it would not have a second attack. If so, he thought it could not +live: it was but weakly at the best. + +As may readily be imagined, scarcely any other topic formed the +conversation at the dinner-table. Not one of the guests seated round +it had the slightest notion that it was, of all others, the most +intensely unwelcome to their host and hostess: the one in his dread to +hear the Maze alluded to at all; the other in her bitter pain and +jealousy. The doctor enlarged upon the isolated position of Mrs. Grey, +upon her sweetness and beauty, upon her warm love for her child, and +her great distress. Sir Karl made an answering remark when obliged. +Lucy sat in silence, bearing her cross. Every word seemed to be an +outrage on her feelings. The guests talked on; but somehow each felt +that the harmony of the meeting had left it. + +Making his dinner of one dish, in spite of the remonstrances of Sir +Karl and the attentions of Mr. Giles and his fellows, the doctor drank +a cup of coffee, and rose to leave again. His sister, begging Lady +Andinnian to excuse her, put on her hat and shawl, and left with him. + +"Are you going over to the Maze, William?" she asked, when they got +out. + +"I am, Diana." + +"Then I will go with you. That's why I came away. The poor young thing +is alone, save for her servants, and I think it only a charity that +some one should be with her." + +The surgeon gave a grin of satisfaction in the darkness of the night. +"Take care, Diana," said he, with assumed gravity. "You know the +question the holy ones at St. Jerome's are raising--whether that +lovely lady is any better than she should be." + +"Bother to St. Jerome's," independently returned Miss Diana. + +"If the holy ones, as you call them, would expend a little more time +in cultivating St. Paul's enjoined charity, and a little less in +praying with those two parsons of theirs, Heaven might be better +served. Let the lady be what she will, she is to be pitied in her +distress, and I am going to her. Brother William!" + +"Well?" + +"I cannot think what is the matter with Lady Andinnian. She looks just +like one that's pining away." + +The evening went on at the Court. Miss Blake came back, bringing the +news that the Reverend Mr. Cattacomb's throat was easier, which was of +course a priceless consolation. At ten o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Sumnor +took their departure, Sir Karl walking with them as far as the lodge. +Lost in thought, he had gone out without his hat: in returning for it +he saw his wife at one of the flower beds. + +"Lucy! Is it you, out in the damp? What do you want?" + +"I am getting one of the late roses for Margaret," was the answer. +"She likes to have a flower to cheer her when she lies awake at night. +She says it makes her think of heaven." + +"I will get it for you," said Karl. And he chose the best he could in +the starlight, and cut it. + +"Lucy, I am going over the way," he resumed in a low tone, as they +turned to the steps, "and I cannot tell when I shall be back. Hewitt +will sit up for me." + +Of all audacious avowals, this sounded about the coolest to its poor +young listener. Her quickened breath seemed to chafe her; her heart +beat as though it would burst its bounds. + +"Why need you tell me of it?" she passionately answered, all her +strivings for patience giving way before the moment's angry pain. + +Karl sighed. "It lies in my duty to do what I can, Lucy: and as I +should have thought you might see and recognize. Should the child have +a relapse in the course of the night, I shall be there to fetch Moore: +there's no one else to go." + +Lucy let fall the train of her dress, which she had been holding, +gathered round her, and swept across the hall; vouchsafing back to him +neither look nor word. + + +The chamber lay in semi-light: with that still hush pervading it, +common to rooms where death is being waited for, and is seen visibly +approaching. Mr. Moore's fears had been verified. The infant at the +Maze had had a second attack of convulsions, and was dying. + +It lay folded in a blanket on its mother's lap. The peaceful little +face was at rest now; the soft breathing, getting slower and slower, +alone stirring it. Miss Diana, her hat thrown off, sat on her heels on +the hearth-rug, speaking every now and then a word or two of homely +comfort: the doctor stood near the fire looking on; Ann Hopley was +noiselessly putting straight some things in a corner. + +With her golden hair all pushed from her brow, and her pretty face so +delicate and wan, bent downwards, she sat, the poor mother. Save for +the piteous sorrow in the despairing eyes, and a deep sobbing sigh +that would arise in the throat, no sign of emotion escaped her. She +knew the fiat--that all hope was over. The doctor, who saw the end +getting nearer and nearer, and was aware that such ends are sometimes +painful to see, even in an infant--the little frame struggling with +the fleeting breath, the helpless hands fighting for it--had been +anxious that Mrs. Grey should resign her charge to some one else. Miss +Diana made one more effort to bring it about. + +"My dear, I know you _must_ be tired. You'll get the cramp. Let me +take it, if only for a minute's relief." + +"Do, Mrs. Grey," said the doctor. + +She looked up at them with beseeching entreaty; her hands tightening +involuntarily over the little treasure. + +"Please don't ask me," she piteously said. "I must have him to the +last. He is going from me for ever." + +"Not for ever, my dear," corrected Miss Diana. "You will go to him, +though he will not return to you." + +The door softly opened, and some one came gently in. Absorbed by the +dying child though she was, and by the surroundings it brought, Mrs. +Grey glanced quickly up and made a frantic movement to beckon the +intruder back, her face changing to some dread apprehension, her lips +parting with fear. She thought it might be one who must not dare to +show himself if he valued life and liberty: but it was only Karl +Andinnian. + +"Oh Karl, he is dying!" she cried in the hasty impulse of the +moment--and the dry eyes filled with tears. "My darling baby is +dying." + +"I have been so sorry to hear about it, Mrs. Grey," returned Karl, who +had his wits about him if she had not, and who saw the surprise of the +doctor and Miss Diana, at the familiarity of the address. "I came over +to see if I could be of any use to you." + +He fell to talking to Mr. Moore in an under-tone, giving her time to +recover her mistake; and the hushed silence fell on the chamber again. +Karl bent to look at the pale little face, soon to put on immortality; +he laid his hand lightly on the damp forehead, keeping it there for a +minute in solemn silence, as though breathing an inward prayer. + +"He will be better off there than here," whispered he to the mother, +in turning to leave the chamber. "The world is full of thorns and +care, as some of us too well know: God is taking him from it." + +Pacing a distant room like a caged lion, was Sir Adam Andinnian. He +wheeled round on his heel when his brother entered. + +"Was ever position like unto mine, Karl?" he broke out, anger, pain, +impatience, and most deep emotion mingling together in his tone. "Here +am I, condemned to hide myself within these four walls, and may not +quit them even to see my child die! The blackest criminal on earth can +call for his friends on his death-bed. When are that offensive doctor +and his sister going?" + +"They are staying out of compassion to Rose," spoke Karl, in his quiet +voice. "Oh, Adam, I am so sorry for this! I feel it with my whole +heart." + +"Don't talk," said Adam, rather roughly. "No fate was ever like my +fate. Heaven has mercy for others: none for me. Because my own bitter +punishment was not enough, it must even take my son!" + +"It does seem to you cruel, I am sure. But God's ways are not as our +ways. He is no doubt taking him, in love, from the evil to come. When +we get up above there ourselves, Adam, we shall see the reason of it." + +Sir Adam did not answer. He sat down and covered his face with his +hand, and remained in silence. Karl did not break it. + +Sounds by and by. The doctor and his sister were departing, escorted +by Ann Hopley--who must see them out at the gate and make it fast +again. Adam was bursting from the room: but his brother put his arm +across the entrance. + +"Not yet, Adam. Not until Ann is in again, and has the door fast. +Think of the consequences if you were seen!" + +He recognised the good sense, the necessity for prudence, fierce as a +caged lion though his mood indeed was. The bolts and bars were shot at +last, and Adam went forth. + +In its own crib lay the baby then, straight and still. The fluttering +heart had ceased to beat; the sweet little peaceful face was at rest. +Rose knelt by her own bed, her head muffled in the counterpane. Sir +Adam strode up to his child and stood looking at it. + +A minute's silence deep as that of the death that was before him, and +then a dreadful burst of tears. They are always dreadful when a man +sheds them in his agony. + +"It was all we had, Karl," he said between his sobs. "And I did not +even see him die!" + +Karl took the strong but now passive hands in his. His own eyes were +wet as he strove to say a word of comfort to his brother. But these +first moments of grief are not best calculated for it. + +"He is happier than he could ever have been here, Adam. Try and +realize it. He is already one of God's bright angels." + +And my young Lady Andinnian, over at Foxwood Court, did not choose to +go to bed, but sat up to indulge her defiant humour. Never had her +spirit been so near open rebellion as it was that night. Sir Karl did +not come in: apparently he meant to take up his abode at the Maze +until morning. + +"_Of course_ he must be there when his child is dying!" spoke she to +herself, as she paced the carpet with a step as impatient and a great +deal more indignant than those other steps that had paced, that night. +"Of course _she_ must be comforted! While I----" + +The words were choked by a flood of emotion. Bitter reflections +crowded on her, one upon another. The more earnestly and patiently she +strove to bear and _for_bear, the more cruelly seemed to rise up her +afflictions. And Lucy Andinnian threw herself down in abandonment, +wondering whether all pity had quite gone out of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +News for Mr. Tatton. + + +What Mr. Detective Tatton's future proceedings would have been, or to +what untoward catastrophe, as connected with this history, they might +have led had his stay at Foxwood been prolonged to an indefinite +period, cannot here be known. He remained on. Social matters had +resumed their ordinary groove. The Maze was left undisturbed; Mr. +Cattacomb was well again; St. Jerome's in full force. + +It might be that Mr. Tatton was waiting--like a certain noted +character with whom we all have the pleasure of an acquaintance--for +"something to turn up." That he was contemplating some grand coup, +which would throw his prize into his hands, while to the world and +Mrs. Jinks he appeared only to be enjoying the salubrious Kentish air, +and amusing himself with public politics generally, we may rest pretty +well assured of. But this agreeable existence was suddenly cut short. + +One morning when Mr. Tatton's hopes and plans were, like Cardinal +Wolsey's greatness, all a-ripening, he received a communication from +Mr. Superintendent Game at Scotland Yard, conveying the astounding +intelligence that the real Philip Salter had not been in Foxwood at +all, but had just died in Canada. + +Mr. Tatton sat contemplating the letter. He could not have been much +more astonished had a bombshell burst under him. Of the truth of the +information there could be no question: its reliability was +indisputable. One of the chief officers in the home police force who +was in Canada on business, and had known Salter well, discovered him +in the last stage of a wasting sickness, and saw him die. + +"I've never had such a fool's game to play at as _this_," ejaculated +Mr. Tatton when sufficiently recovered to speak; "and never wish to +have such another. What the deuce, then, is the mystery connected with +the Maze?" + +Whatever it might be, it was now no business of his; though could he +have afforded to waste more time and money, he would have liked very +well to stay and track it out. Summoning the Widow Jinks to his +presence, he informed her that he was called away suddenly on +particular business; and then proceeded to pack up. Mrs. Jinks +resented the departure as quite a personal injury, and wiped the soft +tears from her eyes. + +On his way to the station he chanced to meet Sir Karl Andinnian: and +the latter's heart went up with a great bound. The black bag in Mr. +Tatton's hand, and the portmanteau being wheeled along beside him, +spoke a whole volume of hope. + +"Good morning, Sir Karl. You have misled us finely as to the Maze." + +"Why, what do you mean, Mr. Tatton?" asked Karl. + +"Salter has turned up in Canada. Or, one might perhaps rather say, +turned down; for he is dead, poor fellow." + +"Indeed!" + +"Indeed and in truth. One of our officers is over there, and was with +him when he died. It was too bad of you to mislead us in this way, Sir +Karl." + +"Nay, you misled yourselves." + +"A fine quantity of time I have wasted down here! weeks upon weeks; +and all for nothing. I never was so vexed in my life." + +"You have yourself to blame--or those who sent you here. Certainly not +me. The very first time I had the honour of speaking to you, Mr. +Tatton, I assured you on the word of a gentleman that Salter was not +at Foxwood." + +"Well, come, Sir Karl--what is the secret being enacted within the +place over yonder?" pointing his finger in the direction of the Maze. + +"I am not in the habit of enquiring into the private affairs of my +tenants," was the rather haughty answer. "If there be any secret at +the Maze--though I think no one has assumed it but yourself--you may +rely upon it that it is not in any way connected with Salter. Are you +taking your final departure?" + +"It looks like it, Sir Karl"--nodding towards the luggage going +onwards. "When the game's at the other end of the world, and dead +besides, it is not of much use my staying to search after it in this. +I hope the next I have to hunt will bring in more satisfaction." + +They said farewell cordially. The detective in his natural +sociability; Karl in his most abundant gratitude for the relief it +would give his brother. And Mr. Detective Tatton, hastening on in the +wake of the portmanteau, took the passing up-train, and was whirled +away to London. + +A minute or two afterwards Karl met his agent. He was beginning to +impart to him the tidings about Salter, when Smith interrupted him. + +"I have heard it, Sir Karl. I got a letter from a relative this +morning, which told me all. The information has taken Tatton off the +land here, I expect: I saw you speaking to him." + +"You are right." + +"As to poor Salter, the release is probably a happy one. He is better +off than he ever could have been again in this world. But what on +earth put Scotland Yard on the false scent that he was at Foxwood, +will always be a problem to me. Tatton's gone for good, I suppose, +sir!" + +"He said so." + +"And Sir Adam is, in one sense, free again. There will be less danger +in his getting away from Foxwood now, if it be judged desirable that +he should go." + +Karl shook his head. There was another impediment now to his getting +away--grievous sickness. + +That Sir Adam Andinnian, the unfortunate fugitive, hiding in peril at +the Maze, had some very grave disorder upon him could no longer be +doubtful to himself or to those about him. It seemed to develop itself +more surely day by day. Adam took it as calmly as he did other evils; +but Karl was nearly out of his mind with distress at the complication +it brought. Most necessary was it for Adam to have a doctor; to be +attended by one; and yet they dare not put the need in practice. The +calling in of Dr. Cavendish had entailed only too much danger and +terror. + +The little baby, Charles Andinnian, was lying at rest in Foxwood +churchyard, within the precincts consecrated to the Andinnian family. +Ann Hopley chose the grave, and had a fight over it with the clerk. +That functionary protested he would not allot it to any baby in the +world. She might choose any spot except that, but that belonged to the +Foxwood Court people exclusively. Ann Hopley persisted the baby should +have that, and no other. It was under the weeping elm tree, she urged, +and the little grave would be shaded from the summer's sun. Sir Karl +Andinnian settled the dispute. Appealed to by the clerk, he gave a +ready and courteous permission, and the child was laid there. Ann +Hopley then paid a visit to the stonemason, and ordered a little +white marble stone, nothing to be inscribed on it but the initials +"C. A." and the date of the death. Poor Rose had only her sick husband +to attend to now. + +He was not always sick. There were days when he seemed to be as well, +and to be almost as active, as ever; and, upon that would supervene a +season of pain and dread, and danger. + +One afternoon, when Karl was driving his wife by in the pony-chaise, +Ann Hopley had the gate open, and was standing at it. It was the day +following the departure of Mr. Tatton. Something in the woman's +face--a kind of mute, appealing anguish--struck Karl forcibly as she +looked at him. In the sensation of freedom and of safety brought by +the detective's absence, Karl actually pulled up. + +"Will you pardon me, Lucy, if I leave you for one moment? I think Ann +Hopley wants to speak to me." + +He leaped out of the little low chaise, leaving the reins to Lucy. Her +face was turning scarlet. Of all the insults he had thrust upon her, +this seemed the greatest. To pull up at that very gate when _she_ was +in the carriage! Mr. Smith and his churchwarden-pipe were enjoying +themselves as usual at Clematis Cottage, looking out on the world in +general, and no doubt (as Lucy indignantly felt) making his private +comments. + +"He is very ill again, sir," were the few whispered words of Ann +Hopley. "Can you come in? I am not sure but it will be for death." + +"Almost immediately," returned Karl; and he stepped back to the chaise +just in time. Lucy was about to try her hand at driving, to make her +escape from him and the miserable situation. + +Since the night of the baby's death, Karl and his wife had lived a +more estranged life than ever. Lucy avoided him continually. When he +spoke to her, she would not answer beyond a monosyllable. As to any +chance of explanation on any subject, there was none. It is true he +did not attempt any; and if he had, she would have waived him away, +and refused to listen to it. This day was the first for some time that +she had consented to let him drive her out. + +It had happened on their return. Lucy's eminently ungracious manner as +he took his seat again would have stopped his speaking, even if he had +had a mind to speak; but he was deep in anxious thought. The resentful +way in which she had from the first taken up the affair of his +unfortunate brother, served to tie his tongue always. He drove in, +stood to help her out--or would have helped, but that she swept by +without touching him--left the pony to the waiting groom, and walked +back to the Maze. + +Adam was in one of his attacks of pain, nay, of agony. It could be +called nothing less. It was not, however, for death; the sharpness of +the paroxysm, with its attendant signs, had misled Ann Hopley. Rose +looked scarcely less ill than her husband. Her most grievous position +was telling upon her. Her little child dead, her husband apparently +dying, danger and dread of another sort on all sides. More like a +shadow was she now than a living woman. + +"Do you know what I have been thinking, Rose?" said Karl, when his +brother had revived. "That we might trust Moore. You hear, Adam. I +think he might be trusted." + +"Trusted for what?" returned Adam; not in his sometimes fierce voice, +but in one very weak and faint. + +He was lying on the sofa. Rose sat at the end of it, Karl in a chair +at the side. + +"To see you; to hear who you are. I cannot help believing that he +would be true as steel. Moore is one of those men, as it seems to me, +that we might trust our lives with." + +"It won't do to run risks, old fellow. I do not want to be captured in +my last hours." + +Karl believed there would be no risk. Mr. Moore was a truly good man, +sensible and benevolent. The more he dwelt on the idea, the surer grew +his conviction that the surgeon might be trusted. Rose, who was almost +passive in her distress, confessed she liked him. Both he and his +sister gave her the impression of being, as Karl worded it, true as +steel. Ann Hopley was in favour of it too. She put the case with much +ingenuity. + +"Sir, I should think there's not a doctor in the world--at least, one +worthy the name--who would not keep such a secret, confided to him of +necessity, even if he were a bad man. And Mr. Moore's a good one." + +And the decision was made. Karl was to feel his way to the confidence. +He would sound the surgeon first, and act accordingly. + +"Not that it much signifies either way," cried Sir Adam, his careless +manner reviving as his strength and spirits returned. "Die I soon +must, I suppose, now; but I'd rather die in my bed here than on a +pallet in a cell. So, Karlo, old friend, if you like to see what +Moore's made of, do so." + +"I wish it had occurred to me before," cried Karl. "But indeed, the +outer dangers have been so imminent as to drive other fears away." + +"It will never matter, bon fère. I don't suppose all the advice in the +kingdom could have saved me. What is to be will be." + +"Master," put in Ann Hopley, "where's the good of your taking up a +gloomy view of it, all at once? _That's_ not the way to get well." + +"Gloomy! not a bit of it," cried Sir Adam, in a voice as cheery as a +lark's on a summer's morning. "Heaven is more to be desired than +Portland Prison, Ann." + +So Karl went forth, carrying his commission. In his heart he still +trembled at it. The interests involved were so immense; the stake was +so heavy for his unfortunate brother. In his extreme caution, he did +not care to be seen going to the surgeon's house, but sent a note to +ask him to call at the Court. + +It was the dusk of evening when Mr. Moore arrived. He was shown in to +Sir Karl in his own room. Giles was appearing with two wax-lights in +massive silver candlesticks, but his master motioned them away. + +"I can say what I have to say better by this light than in a glare," +he observed to the doctor: perhaps as an opening preliminary, or +intimation that the subject of the interview was not a pleasant one. +And Giles shut them in alone. Karl sat sideways to the table, his +elbow leaning on it; the doctor facing him with his back to the +window. + +"Mr. Moore," began Karl, after a pause of embarrassment, "did it ever +occur to you to have a secret confided to your keeping involving life +or death?" + +Mr. Moore paused in his turn. The question no doubt caused him +surprise. He took it--the "life or death"--to be put in a professional +point of view. A suspicion came over him that he was about to be +consulted for some malady connected with the (evident) fading away of +Lady Andinnian. + +"I do not suppose, Sir Karl, there is a single disease that flesh is +heir to, whether secret or open, but what I have been consulted upon +in my time." + +"Not disease," returned Karl hastily; finding he was misunderstood. "I +meant a real, actual secret. A dangerous secret, involving life or +death to the individual concerned, according as others should hold it +sacred or betray it." + +A longer pause yet. Mr. Moore staring at Karl through the room's +twilight. + +"You must speak more plainly, Sir Karl, if you wish me to understand." +And Karl continued thoughtfully, weighing every word as he spoke it, +that it might not harm his brother. + +"The case is this, Mr. Moore. I hold in my keeping a dangerous secret. +It concerns a--a friend: a gentleman who has managed to put himself in +peril of the law. For the present he is evading the law; keeping +himself, in fact, concealed alike from enemies and friends, with the +exception of one or two who are--I may say--helping to screen him. If +there were a necessity for my wishing to confide this secret to you, +would you undertake to keep it sacred? Or should you consider it lay +in your duty as a conscientious man to betray it?" + +"Goodness bless me, no!" cried the doctor. "I'm not going to betray +people: it's not in my line. My business is to heal their sickness. +You need not fear me. It is a case of debt, I suppose, Sir Karl?" + +Karl looked at him for a moment steadily. "And if it were not a case +of debt, but of crime, Moore? What then?" + +"Just the same. Betraying my fellowmen, whether smarting under the ban +of perplexity or of sin, does not rest in my duty, I say. I am not a +detective officer. By the way, perhaps that other detective--who turns +out to be named Tatton, and to belong to Scotland Yard--may have been +down here looking after the very man." + +Mr. Moore spoke lightly. Not a suspicion rested upon him that the sad +and worn gentleman before him held any solemn or personal interest in +this. Karl resumed, his voice insensibly taking a lower tone. + +"An individual is lying in concealment, as I have described. His +offence was not against you or against me. Therefore, as you observe, +and as I judge, it does not lie even in our duty to denounce him. I am +helping to screen him. I want you to undertake to do the same when you +shall know who he is." + +"I'll undertake it with all my heart, Sir Karl. You have some motive +for confiding the matter to me." + +"The motive arises out of necessity. He is grievously ill; in urgent +need of medical care. I fear his days are already numbered: and in +that fact lies a greater obligation for us to obey the dictates of +humanity." + +"I see. You want me to visit him, and to do what I can for him. I am +ready and willing." + +"He is--mind, I shall shock you--a convicted felon." + +"Well?--he has a body to be tended and a soul to be saved," replied +the surgeon, curiously impressed with the hush of gravity that had +stolen over the interview. "I will do my best for him, Sir Karl." + +"And guard his secret?" + +"I will. Here's my hand upon it. What would my Maker say to my +offences at the Last Day, I wonder, if I could usurp His functions and +deliver up to vengeance my fellowman?" + +"I may trust you, then?" + +"You may. I perceive you are over anxious, Sir Karl. What more +assurance can I give you? You may trust me as you trust yourself. By +no incautious word or action of mine shall his peril be increased, or +harm come nigh him: nay, I will avert it from him if I can. And +now--who is he? The sick man at the Maze--to whom Dr. Cavendish was +called? Taking one thing with another, that Maze has been a bit of a +puzzle in my mind lately." + +"The same." + +"Ay. Between ourselves, I was as sure as gold that some one was there. +Is it Mr. Grey? The poor young lady's husband; the dead baby's +father?" + +"Just so. But he is not Mr. Grey." + +"Who is he, then?" + +Karl glanced around him, as though he feared the very walls might +contain eaves-droppers. Mr. Moore saw his dread. + +"It is a most dangerous secret," whispered Karl with agitation. "You +will keep it with your whole heart and life?" + +"Once more, I will, I will. You cannot doubt me. Who is it?" + +"My brother. Sir Adam Andinnian." + +The doctor leaped to his feet. Perhaps he had a doubt of Karl's +sanity. He himself had assisted to lay Sir Adam in his grave. + +"Hush!" said Karl. "No noise. It is indeed my most unfortunate +brother." + +"Did he come to life again?--Did Sir Adam come to life again?" +reiterated the wondering surgeon in his perplexity. + +"He did not die." + + +They went together to the Maze after dark, Karl letting the doctor in +with his own key. The whole history had been revealed to him. Nothing +was kept back, save a small matter or two connected with the means of +Sir Adam's daily concealment: of those no living soul without the Maze +was cognisant, save three: Karl, Hewitt, and Smith the agent. Mr. +Moore was entrusted with it later, but not at first. During the +lifetime of a medical man, it falls to his lot to hear some curious +family secrets, as it had to Mr. Moore; but he had never met with one +half so strange and romantic as this. + +Sir Adam had dismissed the signs of his illness, and--it will hardly +be credited--attired himself in evening dress. With the departure of +Mr. Tatton, old habits resumed their sway, with all their surrounding +incaution. Mr. Moore saw the same tall, fine man, with the white and +even teeth, that he had caught the transient glimpse of in the +uncertain twilight some weeks before. The same, but with a difference: +for the face was shrunken now, little more than half the size it had +been then. In the past week or two he had changed rapidly. He met them +when they entered--it was in the upstairs sitting-room: standing at +the door erect, his head thrown back. Mr. Moore put out his hand; but +the other did not take it. + +"Do you know all, sir?" he asked. + +"All, Sir Adam." + +"And you are not my enemy?" + +"Your true friend, Sir Adam. Never a truer one shall be about you than +I." + +Their hands met then. "But I am not Sir Adam here, you know; I am Mr. +Grey. Ah, doctor, what a life it has been!" + +"A life that has done its best to kill him," thought the doctor, as he +sat down. "Why did you not call me in before?" he asked. + +"Well, we were afraid. You would be afraid of everybody if you were in +my place and position. Besides, this disease, whatever it may turn out +to be, has developed itself so rapidly that but little time seems to +have been lost. I do not see how you will come in now, if it is to be +a daily visit, without exciting the curiosity of the neighbourhood." + +"Oh, nonsense," said the surgeon. "Mrs. Grey has a renewal of illness +and I come in to see her. The curious neighbours will understand if +they are exacting upon the point. Or old Hopley, your gardener--I'm +sure his rheumatism must need a doctor sometimes." + +Sir Adam laughed. "Hopley will do best," he said. "And then you know, +doctor, if--if the worst comes to the worst; that is, the worst so far +as sickness is concerned, I can be carried out as Hopley." + +"What do you think of him, Mr. Moore?" enquired Karl gravely when the +interview was over. + +"I will tell you more about it when I have seen more of him," was the +surgeon's answer. But his face and tone both assumed, or seemed to +Karl to assume, an ominous shade as he gave it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +Mrs. Cleeve at Fault. + + +Mrs. Cleeve was at Foxwood. She had been staying in London with her +sister, Lady Southal, and took the opportunity to come down to see her +daughter. Lucy's appearance startled her. As is well known, we are +slow to discern any personal change either for the better or the worse +in those with whom we live in daily intercourse: it requires an +absence of days or weeks, as the case may be, to perceive it in all +its naked reality. Mrs. Cleeve saw what none around Lucy had seen--at +least, to the extent--and it shocked and alarmed her. The face was a +sad, drawn face; dark rims encircled the sweet brown eyes; the whole +air and bearing were utterly spiritless. + +"What can be the matter with you, my dear?" questioned Mrs. Cleeve, +seizing on the first opportunity that they were alone together. + +"The matter with me, mamma!" returned Lucy, making believe not to +understand why the question should be put: though her face flushed to +hectic. "Nothing is the matter with me." + +"There most certainly is, Lucy; with your health or with your mind. +You could not be as you are, or look as you do unless there were." + +"I suffered a great deal from the heat," said poor Lucy. + +"My dear--you are suffering from something else; and I think you +should enlighten me as to its nature. After that fever even you did +not look as you are looking now." + +But not an iota of acknowledgment from her daughter could Mrs. Cleeve +obtain. Lucy would not admit that aught was amiss in any way; at +least, that she was conscious of it. Mrs. Cleeve next appealed to Miss +Blake. + +But that young lady, absorbed by her own pursuits and interests; by +the Reverend Mr. Cattacomb and the duties at St. Jerome's, had really +not been observant of Lucy's fading face. She could be regardful +enough in a contemptuous sort of way of Sir Karl's delinquencies, and +of what she looked upon as his wife's blind infatuation; she did not +omit to note the signs of trouble and care too evidently apparent in +him, and which she set down as the result of an uneasy conscience: but +she had failed to note them in Lucy. One cause of this perhaps was, +that in her presence Lucy invariably put on an air of lightness, not +to say gaiety: and Miss Blake was rarely at home, except at meals; if +she did get an hour there she was up to the ears in silks and church +embroidery. What with Matins and Vespers, and the other daily +engagements at St. Jerome's; what with looking after St. Jerome's +pastors; what with keeping the young fry in order, including Tom Pepp, +and seeing to the spiritual interests of their mothers, Miss Blake had +so much on her hands that it was no wonder she was not very observant +of Lucy. + +"I do not think there is anything particular the matter with Lucy," +was the answer she made to Mrs. Cleeve. + +"You must see how ill she looks, Theresa." + +"She is not ill. At least, that I know of. She eats her dinner, and +dresses, and goes out, and has company at home. I really had not +observed that she was looking ill." + +"She talks of the heat," continued Mrs. Cleeve; "but that is all +nonsense. Extreme heat may make a person thin, but it cannot make them +sad and spiritless." + +"Lucy is neither sad nor spiritless--that I have noticed." + +"Perhaps you have not noticed, Theresa. You have so many out-of-door +pursuits, you know. I suppose," continued Mrs. Cleeve, with some +hesitation, and lowering her voice to a confidential tone as she put +the question, "I suppose there is nothing wrong between her and her +husband?" + +"Wrong in what way, do you mean?" rejoined Miss Blake. + +"Any misunderstanding or unpleasantness." + +"I should say _not_," returned Miss Blake, with some acrimony. "It is +rather the other way. Lucy is blindly, absurdly infatuated with Sir +Karl. If he boxed her on the one ear, she would offer him the other." + +"It cannot be that, then," sighed Mrs. Cleeve. "I only thought of it +because there was nothing else I could think of. For I cannot help +fancying, Theresa, that the malady is on her spirits, more than on her +health. I--I wonder whether that ague-fever left unsuspected +consequences behind it that are developing themselves now?" + +Theresa, her attention given to the employment in her hand--a cross +she was working in gold thread to adorn some part or other of Mr. +Cattacomb's canonicals--a great deal more than it was given to the +conversation, allowed the doubt to pass undiscussed. Mrs. Cleeve had +always been accustomed to worry herself over Lucy: Theresa supposed it +was the habit of mothers to do so, who had only one daughter. So the +subject of Lucy's looks dropped for the time. + +"What is that for?" resumed Mrs. Cleeve, directing her attention to +the small gold cords. + +"This? Oh, a little ornament I am making. Please don't touch it, Mrs. +Cleeve, or you will entangle the threads." + +Thus rebuked, Mrs. Cleeve sat for some moments in silence, inhaling +the fresh air through the open window, and the perfume of the late +flowers. The mignonette, in its large clusters, seemed as though it +intended to bloom on until winter. + +"Theresa, how much longer do you intend to remain here?" she suddenly +asked. "Your stay has been a very long one." + +Theresa was aware of that. She was slightly suspicious that Sir Karl +and his wife had begun to think the same thing, though in their +courtesy they were not likely to let it appear. In truth the matter +was causing her some little reflection: for she would willingly have +made the Court her permanent home. While Mr. Cattacomb remained at St. +Jerome's, _she_ should remain. It might have been somewhat of a +mistake to institute St. Jerome's, and to bring Mr. Cattacomb to it: +Miss Blake could recognise it now: but as that step had been taken, +she could only abide by it. + +"I am not likely to leave at present," she replied. "It would be very +dull for Lucy to be here without me. As the winter weather comes on, +my out-door duties will be somewhat curtailed, and I shall be able to +give her more of my time. Lucy would be lost by herself, Mrs. Cleeve. +She was always rather given to moping." + +Yes. There was no doubt Lucy did "mope." Mrs. Cleeve sighed deeply. A +cloud lay on Foxwood Court, and she could not trace out its source. + +The cloud, she thought, lay on Sir Karl as well as on Lucy. That is, +his sadness, his weary face, and his evident preoccupation were quite +as visible to Mrs. Cleeve as were her daughter's. But for Theresa's +emphatic assurance to the contrary, she might still have doubted +whether the cloud did not lie between _them_. She was a single-minded, +kind-hearted, simple-natured lady, not given to think ill, or to look +out for it: but in this case she did try to observe and notice. She +could not help seeing how seldom Karl and his wife were together. Karl +would drive Lucy out occasionally; but as a rule they saw but little +of him. He was generally present at meals, and always sociable and +kind, and he would come into the drawing-room when visitors called, if +at home; spending his other time chiefly in his own room, and in +walking out alone. Late in the evenings he would usually be absent: +Mrs. Cleeve noticed that. She had seen him walk across the lawn in the +gloom to one of the little gates; she had seen him come in again after +an hour or two's interval; and she wondered where he went to. + +The truth was, Karl was obliged to go to the Maze more frequently +than he used to go, or than was at all prudent. Mr. Moore had +not yet pronounced the fatal fiat on Sir Adam that Dr. Cavendish +had--doubtfully--imparted to Mr. Detective Tatton; but he concealed +from none of them that the case was one of extreme gravity; ay, and of +danger. That Sir Adam grew more attenuated might be seen almost daily; +he himself assumed that he had but a short span left of life; and he +would not allow Karl to be for one single evening absent. Sometimes in +the day Karl also went there. The conviction that Adam would not be +long among them lay on every heart more or less: and it will be +readily understood that Karl should sacrifice somewhat of caution to +be with him while he might. + +"Karlo, brother mine, you'll come over to-morrow morning?" Sir Adam +would say, when their hands met for the evening farewell--and he would +keep the hand until the answer should be given. + +"If I can, Adam." + +"That won't do. You must. Promise." + +"I will, then. I will, if I can do it with safety." + +And of course he had to go. Under other and happier circumstances, he +would never have quitted the invalid night or day. + +The lack of what Karl considered "safety," as he spoke it in his +answer, would have consisted in the highway before the Maze gates +being peopled; in his being seen to enter. It was so very unfrequented +a road that not a soul would pass up or down for a quarter of an hour +together; nay, for half one; and, as a rule, Karl was safe. But he +exercised his precaution always. He would saunter towards the gate, as +though merely taking a stroll on the shady side path; and then, the +coast being clear, ring--for by day-time he never used his own key. +His ears and eyes alike on the alert; he, if by mal-chance some +solitary passenger should appear, would saunter over to Mr. Smith and +talk to him: and then slip in when the intruder should have passed, +Ann Hopley having the door by that time ready to open. Karl would use +the same precaution coming out: and hitherto had escaped observation. + +It was not always to be so. + +The time passed on: Sir Adam fluctuating, some days fearfully ill, +some days feeling well and hearty; and Mrs. Cleeve continuing at +Foxwood, for she could not bear to leave Lucy. + +Karl went across one morning soon after breakfast. His brother had +been very ill indeed the evening before: so ill that Karl had brought +most unpleasant thoughts away with him. He was ringing at the gate +when it suddenly opened; Ann Hopley was letting out Mr. Moore. + +So far as _his_ visits went, there had been no trouble. Foxwood had +taken care to inform itself as to what patient at the Maze it was that +Mr. Moore was again in regular attendance upon, and found it to be +Hopley the gardener. The old man had caught an attack of rheumatic +fever, or some other affection connected with age and knee +joints--said the Miss Moores to the rest of the fair flock going to +and from St. Jerome's. There was neither interest nor romance +attaching to the poor old man; so the doctor was at liberty to pass in +and out at will without the slightest thought being given to it. In +the doctor's day-book the patient, was entered as "James Hopley, Mrs. +Grey's servant" The doctor's assistant, a fashionable young man from +London, who wore an eye-glass stuck in his eye, could have the +pleasure of reading it ten times a day if he chose. + +"How is he?" asked Karl of Mr. Moore. + +"Oh, better this morning--as I expected he would be," was the +surgeon's answer. "But I have ordered him to lie in bed for the day. +This time I think he will obey me, for he feels uncommonly weak." + +"Every fresh attack makes him weaker," observed Karl. + +"Why of course it does: it must do so. I don't half like the +responsibility that lies on me," continued the doctor. "We ought to +have another opinion." + +"How can it be had?" remonstrated Karl. + +"There it is--how? I wish he could be in London under the constant +care of one of its practised men." + +"We wish this, and wish the other, Mr. Moore," said Karl, sadly, "and +you know how impossible it is for us to do more than we are doing. +Answer me truly--for I think you can answer. Would there be a fair +chance of his recovery if we had other advice than yours? Would there +be any better chance of it?" + +"Honestly speaking I do not think there would. I believe I am doing +for him all that can be done." + +Ann Hopley drew the gate open again, and the doctor went out. Karl +passed on through the labyrinth. + +Sir Adam liked to use his own will in all respects, and it was the +first time he had made even a semblance of obeying Mr. Moore's orders +of taking rest by daytime. He looked very ill. The once handsome face +seemed shrunk to nothing; the short hair was almost white; the +grey-blue eyes, beautiful as Karl's, had a strangely wistful, patient +look in them. + +"I thought you would be here, Karlo. I have wanted you ever since +daylight." + +"Are you feeling better, Adam? Free from pain?" + +"Much better. Quite free from it." + +"Moore has been saying he wishes we could get you to London, that you +might have more skilled advice." + +"What nonsense!" cried Adam. "As if any advice could really avail me! +He knows it would not. Did it avail my father, Karl?" + +Karl remained silent. There was no answer he could make. + +"Sit down, old fellow, and tell me all the news. Got a paper with +you?" + +"The papers have not come yet," replied Karl, as he drew a chair to +the bedside. + +"Slow coaches, people are in this world! I shall get up presently." + +"No, Adam, not to-day. Moore says you must not." + +"Good old man! he is slow too. But he won't keep me in bed, Karl, when +I choose to quit it. Why should I not get up?" continued Sir Adam, his +voice taking a tone of its old defiance. "I am the best judge of my +own strength. If I lay here for a month of Sundays, Karl, it would not +add a day to my life." + +Perhaps that was true. At any rate, Adam was one whom it was of no use +to urge one way or the other. + +"What's the old adage, Karlo?--'a short life and a merry one?' Mine +has not been very merry of late, has it?" + +"I wish we could get you well, Adam." + +"Do you? We are told, you know, that all things as they fall, are for +the best. The world would say, I expect, that this is. I wonder +sometimes, though, how soon or how late the enemy would have shown +itself, had my life continued smooth as yours is." + +Smooth as yours is! The unconscious words brought a pang to Karl's +heart; they sounded so like mockery. Heaven alone knew the distress +and turbulence of his. + +"I got Moore into a cosy chat the other day," resumed Sir Adam: "the +wife was safe away, trimming the plants in the greenhouse--Rose is +nearly as good a gardener as I am, Karl." + +"I know she is fond of gardening." + +"Ay, and has been amidst it for years, you see. Well--I led Moore on, +saying this, and asking the other, and he opened his mind a bit. The +disease was in me always, he thinks, Karl, and must have come out, +sooner or later. It was only a question of time. I have said so myself +of late. But I did not look to follow the little olive branch quite so +quickly." + +"We may keep you here a long while yet, Adam. It is still possible, I +hope, we may keep you for good. Moore has not said to the contrary." + +"You think he knows it, though?" + +Karl was really not sure. His own opinion was this--that Adam had less +chance of getting well where he was than he would have had under those +of the London faculty, whose specialty embraced that class of disease. + +"Shall you put on mourning for me, old fellow? It will be a risk, +won't it? I shan't care to be held up to the world as Adam Andinnian, +dead, any more than I do, alive. You'll not care to say, either, 'This +black coat is worn for that brother of mine: the mauvais sujet who set +the world all agog with his scandal.'" + +What kind of a mood was Sir Adam in this morning? Karl's grave eyes +questioned it. One of real, light, careless mockery?--or was it an +underlying current of sadness and regret making itself too uneasily +felt in his heart? + +"Don't, Adam. It jars on every chord and pulse. You and I have cause +to be at least more sober than other men." + +"What have I said?" cried Sir Adam, half laughing. "That you may have +to put on mourning for me. It is in the nature of things that the +elder should go before the younger. You look well in black, too, Karl; +men with such faces as yours always do." + +"I hope it will be a long while before I have to wear it," sighed +Karl, perceiving how hopeless it was to change his brother's humour. + +"I'd bet Foxwood with you that it will be before Christmas." + +"Adam, is it right to speak in this way?" + +"Is it particularly wrong?" + +"Why do you do it?" + +"Need of change, I suppose. I have had a solemn night of it, old +fellow: and I hardly know yet whether I was asleep or awake. It was +somewhat of both, I expect: but I thought I was amidst the angels. I +can see them now as they looked; a whole crowd of them gathered about +my bed. And, Karlo, when a man begins to dream of angels, and not to +be able to decide afterwards whether it be a dream or a shadowed +reality, it is a pretty sure sign, I take it, that no great time will +elapse before he is with them." + +Before Karl left, Adam had talked himself into a doze. With his worn +and haggard face turned to the wall, he slept as peacefully as a +child. Karl stole away, and went into the greenhouse. Rose was there +amid the plants; the sunlight shining on her beautiful hair turned it +into threads of gold. She lifted her white face, with its sad +expression. + +"I knew you were with him, Karl, so I did not come in. Don't you think +he looks very, very ill this morning." + +"Yes, he certainly does. He is asleep now." + +"Asleep! In the daytime!" + +"He had a bad night, I fancy." + +"Do you think there's hope, Karl?" she piteously asked--almost as if +all hope had left herself. + +"I don't know, Rose. Mr. Moore has not told me there is none." + +"Perhaps it is that he will not say," she rejoined, resting her elbow +on the green steps amid the plants, and her cheek on her hand. "I seem +to see it, Karl; to see what is coming. Indeed, you might tell me the +truth. I shall not feel it quite so much as I should had our +circumstances been happier." + +"I have told you as far as I know, Rose." + +"There's my little baby gone: there's my husband going: all my +treasures will be in the better world. I shall have nothing to do but +live on for, and look forward to, the time when I may go to them. Six +months ago, Karl, had I known Adam must die, I think the grief would +have killed me. But the apprehension we have undergone the last few +weeks--Adam's dread, and my awful fear for him--has gone a great way +to reconcile me. I see--and I think he sees--that Death would not be +the worst calamity. Better for him to be at rest than live on in that +frightful peril night and day; each moment as it passes one of living +agony, lest the next should bring the warders of Portland Island to +retake him. No wonder it is wearing him out." + +Karl went away echoing the last sentence; every word she had spoken +leaving its echo of pain on his heart. No: it was no wonder that fatal +illness had seized on Adam Andinnian before its time. + +Well, on this day Karl was not to escape unnoticed so easily. Ann +Hopley unlocked the gate, and then both of them stood listening +according to custom. Not a sound broke the stillness, save the furious +chirping somewhere of two quarrelsome sparrows: not a step could be +heard awaking the echoes or the ground. Ann Hopley drew back the half +of the gate, and Karl went forth. + +Went forth to find himself, so to say, in the very arms of Mrs. Cleeve +and Miss Blake. They were standing quite still (which fact accounted +for their footsteps not being heard) gazing at these same two +fighting birds in the hedge. What with Karl's naturally nervous +organization, and what with the dread secret he had just left, every +drop of blood went out of his face. But he did not lose his presence +of mind. + +"Looking on at a fight, Mrs. Cleeve!" he exclaimed in a light tone. +"Birds have their hasty passions as well as men, you see. You wicked +combatants! Let one another's heads alone. They'll not look any the +better without feathers." + +One of the noisy birds, as if in obedience, flew away to a distant +tree; the other followed it. Karl stayed talking for a minute with the +ladies; heard that they had come out for a little walk; and then he +went on to his home. Mrs. Cleeve, as she continued her way, glanced +inquisitively at the iron gate in passing. + +"Do the same people live there still, Theresa? Let me see--a Mrs. +Grey, was it not?" + +"Oh yes, she lives there," slightingly returned Miss Blake. "She had a +baby at the close of summer, but it died." + +"A baby! Why, she was a young widow? Stay--no--what was it?--Oh, her +husband was abroad. Yes, I remember now. Has he come home yet?" + +"As much as he ever will come, I expect," observed Miss Blake. "The +girl has just as much a husband as I have, Mrs. Cleeve." + +"Why, what is it that you would imply?" cried Mrs. Cleeve, struck with +the words and the tone. + +"I once, quite accidentally, heard her sing, 'When lovely woman stoops +to folly?' You know the song? It was, in one sense of the word, sung +in character." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Mrs. Cleeve! "But--but what does Sir Karl do there?" + +"Sir Karl? Oh--he is her landlord." + +The taunting kind of way in which Miss Blake said it, turned Mrs. +Cleeve's delicate cheeks to a rosy red. All kinds of unpleasant +thoughts began crowding into her mind. + +"Theresa, what do you mean?" she asked, her voice dropping with its +own dread. "_Have_ you any meaning?" + +And the chances were--taking into consideration the love of gossip and +of scandal so inherent in woman--that Theresa Blake would there and +then have disclosed that she had a meaning, and what the meaning was: +but in that self-same moment she happened to turn her eyes on Mr. +Smith, the agent. He was leaning over his garden gate, playing with a +bunch of late roses; and he gravely lifted his hat to Miss Blake as +she looked at him. + +There was something in the grave look, or in the sight of the man +himself, or in the roses, telling of summer, that recalled most +vividly to Miss Blake's mind the private conversation she had once +held with Mr. Smith, and the caution he had given her. At any rate, +Jane Shore and the lighted taper, and the white sheet, and all the +other accessories, rose up before her mental vision as plainly as one +can see into a mirror. The penance looked no more palatable to Miss +Blake now than it had then. As well keep clear of such risks, great +and small. She changed her tone. + +"I really don't know anything about the young woman, Mrs. Cleeve. Pray +do not take up a mistaken notion. She is Sir Karl's tenant; that is +all." + +"But if she is not--quite--quite circumspect in her conduct, it must +be rather unpleasant to have her close to the Court," said Mrs. +Cleeve. + +"Oh, she lives a perfectly retired life." + +"She is very pretty, I think?" + +"Beautiful as an angel." + +Nothing more passed. The two sparrows came flying to a proximate tree, +and began fighting again. But an uneasy impression was left on Mrs. +Cleeve's mind; for she could not forget the strangely-significant tone +in which Miss Blake had spoken, and its too sudden change to cautious +indifference. + +Karl was pacing one of the broad paths that evening, in his grounds, +when he found himself joined by Mrs. Cleeve. She had thrown a warm +shawl over her grey silk evening dress. He gave her his arm. The +shadows were deepening: the evening star was already twinkling in the +clear sky. + +"I want to tell you of a little plan I have formed, Sir Karl, and get +your assent to it. It cannot have escaped your notice that Lucy is +looking very ill." + +"I have seen it for some time," he answered. + +"And I should have spoken to you of it before," resumed Mrs. Cleeve, +"only that Lucy herself seems so much annoyed when I allude to it, +telling me that nothing is the matter with her, and begging me not to +take up fancies. Are you aware of anything being wrong with her +general health?" + +"No, I am not: there is nothing wrong with it that I know of," +returned Karl, unpleasantly conscious that he was not likely to know +more about his wife's general health than any other of the Court's +inmates. + +"Well, what I wish to do is this: to take Lucy to town with me when I +leave, and let some physician see her." + +"But you are not leaving us yet?" + +"Not just yet, perhaps; but when I do go. In fact, I really must take +her. I could not be easy to go back home and leave Lucy looking as she +is, without having some good medical opinion. Have you any objection +to this?" + +"Not the slightest. I do not fancy any physician could do much good to +Lucy--she has certainly, as I believe, no specific disease--but I +think change of air and scene may be of much benefit to her. I am glad +that she should go." + +"Well, now that I have your permission, Sir Karl, I shall know how to +act. Lucy has been telling me that she does not need a physician, and +will not see one; and that she does not care to go to London. But that +we have never had consumption in our family, I should fear it for +Lucy." + +Karl was silent. That Lucy had taken the unfortunate secret to heart +in a strange manner, and that it was telling upon her most +unaccountably, he knew. + +"It is rather ungrateful of her to say she does not care to go to +London, considering that she has never stayed with her aunt since that +time of illness at Winchester," resumed Mrs. Cleeve. "Though, indeed, +Lucy seems to have no energy left, and her cheerfulness appears to me +more sham than reality. Lady Southal is anxious for her to go up with +me." + +"Are you intending to stay again with Lady Southal yourself?" + +"I shall now; as long as Lucy does. And, armed with your authority, I +shall insist on Lucy's going up with me. I wish you would come too, +Sir Karl: my sister would be so glad to see you." + +With his unfortunate brother dying at the Maze, it was not possible +for Karl to quit Foxwood. But he was exceedingly glad that Lucy should +be absent for a time. It would leave him more at liberty. At least, in +spirit. With Lucy's intense contempt and hatred for the Maze and its +troubles, Karl never went there but he was conscious of feeling +something like a school-boy, who is in mischief away from home. + +"I cannot leave home just now," said Karl. "But you must tell Lady +Southal that I shall be most happy to take a future opportunity of +paying her a visit." + +"Are you busy, that you cannot leave?" + +"My Uncle Joseph's papers are not arranged yet; I am anxious to get on +with them," he said, by way of excuse. And in truth that, so far, was +so. In his mind's terrible distress the sorting of the papers had been +much neglected. + +"At least, you will come to town to fetch Lucy home." + +"Of course I will." + +The affair decided, they strolled the whole length of the walk in +silence. Karl's thoughts were no doubt busy: Mrs. Cleeve was wishing +to say something else, and did not quite know how to begin. + +"What a nice evening it is!" cried Karl. "How fair the weather +continues to be!" + +"Yes. But the hedges are showing signs of winter. I noticed it +particularly when I was out with Theresa this morning. That was the +Maze, I think, that we saw you coming out of." + +Karl assented. There was no help for it. + +"Does the young lady live there alone still?" + +"She has her servants with her." + +"But not her husband." + +"Mr. Grey, it is understood, spends a good deal of his time in +travelling." + +"Sir Karl, I think I must ask you plainly. I have been wanting to ask +you," she said, taking courage. "Is there any reason for supposing +that this lady is not--is not quite what she ought to be?" + +"Why, what do you mean?" returned Karl, standing still in his +surprise. "Are you speaking of Mrs. Grey?" + +"It is almost impossible to avoid attaching some doubt to a young and +lovely woman, when she lives so unaccountably secluded a life," +returned Mrs. Cleeve, calling up the most plausible excuse she could +for her suspicions. + +"The very fact of her keeping herself so secluded ought to absolve +Mrs. Grey from it," said Karl warmly. "She is a good and honourable +lady." + +"You feel sure of that?" + +"I am sure of it. I know it. Believe me, dear Mrs. Cleeve, that Lucy +herself is not more pure and innocent than that pure lady is," he +added, taking Mrs. Cleeve's hands in his earnestness, in his anxiety +to convince her. "She has had great trouble to try her; she may be +said to live in trouble: but heaven knows how good she is, and how +persistently she strives to be resigned, and endure." + +Mrs. Cleeve kept the sensitive hands in hers; she saw how worthy of +trust he was in his earnestness; and every doubt went out of her. + +"I am very glad to hear it. I hope she and you will pardon my foolish +thoughts. You go to see her sometimes, I believe?" + +"When I think I can be of any use, I go. Her husband was once my dear +friend: I go there for his sake." + +"Why does he not live here with her?" + +"He cannot always do just as he would. Just now he is in bad health." + +"And she lost her baby, I hear." + +"Yes. It was a great grief to both of them." + +The sounding of the dinner-gong stopped the questioning. We may be +assured Karl lost no time in conducting Mrs. Cleeve to the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +At the Red Dawn. + + +Foxwood was going on quietly with the approach of winter. Mrs. Cleeve +had gone to London with her daughter; leaving Miss Blake to keep house +at the Court. Some ladies, fearing the world's chatter, might have +objected to remain with so young and attractive a man as Sir Karl +Andinnian; Miss Blake was a vast deal too strong-minded for any +thought of the kind. She was busy as ever with St. Jerome's and its +offices; but she nevertheless kept a tolerably keen look-out on the +Maze and on Sir Karl's movements as connected with it. He went there +more than he used to do: by day now as well as by night: and she +wondered how long the simple neighbourhood would keep its eyes closed +to facts and figures, that, to her, were so offensively plain. + +There had been a sharpish frost in the night, but the glorious morning +sun had chased its signs away. At midday it was shining hotly; and +Karl was almost glad of the thin screen of leaves left in the +labyrinth as he made his way through it. Some days had passed now +since Adam had had any sharp amount of illness: he was wasting away +rapidly, and that was the worst outward sign. But his will in these +intervals of ease was indomitable, and it imparted to him a fictitious +strength. + +As Karl came in view of the lawn, he saw Rose standing by one of the +distant beds, talking to Hopley. The old man was digging; and had bent +himself nearly double over his work. Karl crossed over, a reprimand on +his lips. + +"Adam, you should not. You promised me you would not again take a +spade or other gardening implement in your hand. Your strength is not +equal to it, and it must do you harm." + +"Just hark at him, Rose. It would not be Karlo if he did not find +fault with me. What shall you do for somebody to croak at, brother +mine, when I am gone?" + +Was it Hopley who spoke?--or was it Sir Adam? The falling-in mouth and +the speech, the crooked back, the tottering and swelling knees, the +smock-frock and the red comforter and the broad straw hat, all were +Hopley's. But the manner of speech and the eyes too, now you came to +see them as he looked up at Karl, were Sir Adam's. + +Yes. They were one and the same. Poor old Hopley the gardener was but +Sir Adam in disguise. With the padded knees and the false hump he had +managed to deceive the world, including Mr. Detective Tatton. He might +not perhaps have so surely deceived Mr. Tatton had the latter been +looking after Sir Adam Andinnian and been acquainted with his person. +But the decrepid gardener bore no resemblance to Philip Salter: and, +that fact ascertained, it was all that concerned Mr. Tatton. + +It may be remembered that when Mrs. Andinnian was staying at Weymouth, +she and her servant, Ann Hopley, were in secret communication with one +of the warders of Portland Prison: in point of fact, they were +negotiating with him the possibilities of Sir Adam's escape. This man +was James Hopley; a warder--as Karl had taken him to be, and also +Ann's husband. In the scuffle that took place the night of the escape, +the man really killed was the other prisoner, Cole: and it was he who +was taken to Foxwood and lay buried in its churchyard. Hopley was +drowned. + +At that period, and for some little time before it, Philip Smith was +at Portland Prison. Not as a prisoner: the man had never in his life +done aught to merit incarceration: but seeking employment there, +through the interest of one of the chief warders who was a friend of +his--a man named O'Brian. From the date of the frauds of Philip +Salter, Philip Smith had been--as he considered it--a ruined man: at +any rate he was unable to obtain employment. A ruined man must not be +fastidious, and Smith was willing and was anxious to become a warder +if they would make him one. It was while he was waiting and hoping for +the post, and employed sometimes as an assistant, and thoroughly +trusted, that the attempted escape of the prisoners occurred. Smith +was one of those who put off in the boat after the fugitives: the +other two being Hopley and O'Brian. In the scuffle on the Weymouth +shore, Sir Adam was wounded and left for dead. O'Brian saw him lying +there apparently dead, and supposed him to be so. O'Brian, however, +afterwards received a blow that stunned him--for the night was dark, +and friends and foes fought indiscriminately--and Smith contrived to +get Adam away into a place of concealment. It is very probable that +Smith foresaw in that moment how valuable a prize to him the living +and escaped Sir Adam might become. O'Brian really believed him to be +dead, and so reported him to the authorities. A dead man is worthless: +and Sir Adam was allowed to be retained by his friends for interment: +the beaten and disfigured Cole, shot in the face, being looked upon as +Sir Adam. + +After that, the path was easy. Sir Adam, very badly injured, lay for +many weeks hidden away. Smith continued at Portland Prison keeping his +own counsel, and unsuspected, visiting Sir Adam cautiously at +intervals. As soon as it was practicable for him to be moved, the step +was ventured on. He was got away in safety to London, and lay in +retirement there, in a house that had been taken by Smith: his wife +(formerly Rose Turner) coming up to join him; and Ann Hopley, faithful +to Sir Adam's fortunes through all, waiting on them. She had no one +else left to be faithful to now, poor woman. Smith managed everything. +He had withdrawn himself from Portland Island, under the plea that he +could no longer, in consequence of his disabled arm, aspire to a +wardership--for his arm had been damaged that fatal night, and it was +thought he would never have the full use of it again. The plea was +unsuspiciously recognised by the prison authorities; Smith retained +his friendship with O'Brian, and occasionally corresponded with him, +getting from him scraps of useful information now and then. From that +time his services were devoted to Sir Adam. It was he who communicated +between Sir Adam and his mother; for, letters they did not dare to +transmit. It was he who first disclosed to Mrs. Andinnian the fact +that Miss Rose Turner was her son's wife; it was he who made the +arrangements for Sir Adam's taking up his abode at the Maze, and +provided the disguise to arrive at Foxwood in, as the decrepid old +husband of the servant, Ann Hopley. To do Mr. Smith justice, he had +fought against the scheme of coming to the Maze; but Mrs. Andinnian +and Adam were both bent upon it; and he yielded. Adam and his wife had +stayed in London under the name of Mrs. Grey, and she retained it. + +Amidst the injuries Sir Adam received was one to the mouth and jaw. It +destroyed those beautiful front teeth of his. After his recovery he +sought the services of a clever but not much known dentist named +Rennet, went to the pain of having the rest of his teeth extracted, +and an entire set of false ones made. Two sets, in fact. The journey +Rose took to London, when Miss Blake espied her with Karl, was for the +purpose of getting one of these sets of teeth repaired, Sir Adam +having broken the spring the night before. The teeth had to be +conveyed personally to Mr. Rennet and brought away; for they were too +cautious to entrust him with their address. + +And now it will be seen how Sir Adam had concealed himself at the +Maze. In the daytime he was the toothless, hump-backed, infirm old +Hopley, working at his garden with enlarged knees and tottering steps: +as soon as dusk came on, his false padding was thrown of with his +smock frock and coarse clothes, and he was the well-bred gentleman, +Sir Adam Andinnian, in his evening attire and with his white and even +teeth. His assumed role was maintained always during the day; his +meals were taken in the kitchen to be safe in case of any possible +surprise, Ann attending upon him with all respect. The delay in +admitting Nurse Chaffen, kept waiting once on the wrong side of the +kitchen door, was caused by "Hopley's" taking out his set of teeth and +putting on his broad-brimmed hat: for it was convenient to assume the +teeth during the short period devoted to dinner. The deafness was of +course assumed as an additional precaution. Thus he had lived, in a +state of semi-security, tending his flowers and occupied with the care +of his garden generally, an employment that he loved so well. The day +that General Lloyd's party went in, Karl was transfixed with +apprehension and amazement to see Hopley showing himself. Adam enjoyed +it: it was so like him to brave things; and he feared no danger from a +pleasure party like that. + +Well, I think that is all that is needed in the way of explanation; +and we can go on. Karl was looking at the digging with regretful eyes. + +"You ought to be glad to see me at work again, Karl, instead of +groaning over it," cried Sir Adam. + +"And so I should be, Adam, only that I fear you will feel its effects +unpleasantly by and by." + +"I asked him not to do it, but he only laughed at me," said Rose. + +"Somebody must do it. I can't see the garden quite neglected. Besides, +if I am well enough to work there's no reason why I should not. I am +not sure, Karl, but I shall cheat you now." + +"Cheat me?" + +"By getting well. What should you say to that?" + +"Thank heaven for it: and do my best to get you away to a place of +safety." + +"By George, old fellow, I don't know that I shan't. I am feeling as +blithe as a bee. Rose, take yourself a trifle further off; out of the +mould." + +He was throwing about the spadefuls almost as well as he had ever +thrown them in his strength. Rose was cheated into something like +hope, and her face for the moment lost its sadness. + +"I wish to goodness I had a draught of beer," cried Adam. "Where's +Ann, I wonder." + +Karl went to fetch it. Ann Hopley shook her head at the idea of hope, +when Karl spoke of it as she gave him the beer. + +"You never saw any person, who was to live on, have the look in his +face that he has, sir." + +"He looks fairly well to-day." + +"And so he will at times to the last, as it strikes me. I have had a +good deal of experience in illness, sir. As to his talking about +getting well--why, sir, you know what he is: saying this and that +without meaning it. There's no doubt he feels pretty sure himself how +it will be." + +Karl sighed as he went back with the beer. Yes, there was no real +hope. + +That same night--or rather on the following morning, for the dawn was +more than glimmering--Karl in his bed began to dream that he was out +in a shower of hail. It seemed to be falling with great violence: so +much so that a sharper crash awoke him. Lying awake for a moment and +questioning where he was, he found the noise to be reality. The hail +was beating on the chamber windows. + +_Was_ it hail? Scarcely. It was crashing but on one window, and only +came at intervals. It sounded more like gravel. Karl rose and opened +the window. Smith the agent stood underneath. A prevision of evil +shook Karl as he leaned out. + +"He is very ill indeed, sir," said Smith in the lowest whisper +possible to be heard, and extending his finger to indicate the Maze. +"Mr. Moore's there and thinks it will be for death. I thought you +would like to know it." + +"How did you hear it?" asked Karl. + +"Ann Hopley ran over and knocked me up, that I might go for the +doctor." + +"Thank you," replied Karl. "I'll be there directly." + +Now it so happened that for some purposes of cleaning--for the Court +was not exempt from those periodical visitations any more than the +humble dwelling of Mrs. Chaffen--Miss Blake's chamber had been +temporarily changed to the one next to that recently occupied by Lady +Andinnian. Miss Blake was in the habit of sleeping with her window +open; and, not being asleep at the time, she had heard Mr. Smith's +footsteps and the crashes at Sir Karl's window. Of course she was +curious as to what could cause the noise, and at first thought of +housebreakers. Had Mr. Smith chanced to turn his head in the right +direction during the colloquy with Sir Karl, he might have seen an +elaborately night-capped head peeping forth cautiously. + +"Why, it is Mr. Smith!" thought Miss Blake, as he walked away. "What +an extraordinary thing! He must have been calling up Sir Karl." + +Listening inside as well as out, Miss Blake heard the bell that was in +Hewitt's chamber ring gently; and, after a minute or two, the latter +proceeding to his master's room. Then they both went down together, +and Hewitt let Sir Karl out at the hall door, and came upstairs again. +Miss Blake, after a good deal of self-puzzling, arrived at the +conclusion that the affair must be in some way connected with +poachers--who had been busy on the land latterly--and returned to her +bed. + + +With death on his face, and a look of resignation than which nothing +could be more peaceful, lay Sir Adam for the last time. His weary +life, with all its bitter turmoil, was nearly at an end; night _here_ +was closing, morning _there_ was opening. Karl's grey eyes were wet as +he bent over him. + +"Don't grieve too much," said Adam with a smile, as he put his cold +hand into Karl's clasp. "You know how much better off I shall be. Rose +knows it." + +"You were so full of hope yesterday, Adam." + +"Was II It cheated the wife into a few hours of pleasantness, and did +its mission. I did not think I took _you_ in. Why, Karlo, I have just +been waiting from day to day for what has now come: moreover, I have +seen how much best it all is as it _is_ than anything else would be. I +would not accept life if you'd give it to me, unless the whole time +since that Midsummer Eve could be blotted out." + +Karl swallowed a sob. + +"You don't know what it has been, Karl. No one can know what it is to +live under a hanging sword, as I have, unless they experience it. And +few in this world can do that. It was all a mistake together. The +shooting of Scott when I ought to have horsewhipped him; the escape +from Portland; the taking up my abode here; everything: and these +mistakes, Karl, have to be worked out. I have paid for mine with +life." + +Karl did not answer. He was only nervously pressing the wasted hand in +his. + +"It is all, I say, for the best. I see it now. It was best that the +little lad should go; it is best that I should; it is best that you +should be the true owner of Foxwood. It would have been too much of a +complication otherwise. The boy could never have put forth a claim to +it while I lived; and, after that, people might but have pointed their +scornful finger at him as the son of a convict. I thank God for taking +him." + +"Should you talk so much, Adam?" + +"I don't know. A man in my condition, about to leave the world behind, +prefers to talk while he can. You will take care of my wife, Karl. +There was no settlement, you know, and----" + +"I will take care of her to the best of my power, Adam," came the +earnest interruption. "She shall have a proper and suitable jointure +as the widowed Lady Andinnian." + +"No, Karl; not that. She and I have talked over the future at odd +moments, and we do not wish it. Rose does not mean to acknowledge her +marriage with me, or to live in any kind of state in accordance with +it. She will be Mrs. Grey to the end. Unless, indeed, any occasion +were to arise, such as a tarnishing breath of scandal brought against +this past period of her life. Then, of course, the truth must be +declared, and you, Karl would have to come forward and testify to it. +I leave that in your hands." + +"With every surety," assented Karl. + +"A few hundreds a year, say four or five, are all that she will want +from you, or take. Her late uncle's money must come to her sometime, +and that of itself would be almost enough. She purposes to live a +retired life with her aunt; and I think it will be the happiest for +her. In my desk, Karl, you will find a paper in my handwriting, +setting forth all these wishes of hers and mine; it will serve as a +direction for you.--No," he went on, after a pause, "for her own +peace, the world must never know her as Lady Andinnian. She dreads it +too much. See you not the reason? She would have to stand before the +public convicted of perjury. That past trial is rarely out of her +mind, Karl--when she appeared falsely as Miss Rose Turner. The foolish +things people do in their blindness! It was my fault. _Her fault_ lay +only in obeying me: but your charitable people would not accept that +as an excuse. Be it as it may, Karl, Rose's life henceforth will be +one of modest position and strict retirement. Ann Hopley goes with +her." + +Looking at the matter from all points of view, it might be, as Sir +Adam said, for the best. + +"And you will be Sir Karl in reality as well as in seeming, brother +mine; and Foxwood will be your true home and your children's after +you. That is only justice. When you arranged to marry Lucy Cleeve, you +deemed yourself to be the inheritor, and she deemed it. My death will +set all right. And now about Smith, Karl. The man did me a great +service, for I should have been retaken but for him; and he has been +faithful to me since. I should like you to allow him something in the +shape of an annuity--a hundred and fifty pounds a year, or so. Not the +cottage: he will not stay in this neighbourhood when I am gone. It was +through me that his arm got injured: which, of course, partly +incapacitates him for work; and I think I am bound to provide for +him." + +"It shall be done," said Karl. "Ungrudgingly." + +"I have mentioned it in the paper, and the sum. He--he--he--" + +Sir Adam's hesitation was caused by faintness. He broke down, and for +the time said no more. Nor did he recur to the subject again. + +The day went on, Adam partially sleeping through it. At other times he +lay in a kind of stupor. Mr. Moore attended at intervals; but nothing +further could be done. At dusk Hewitt came over for a last sight of +his old master; for a last farewell: and he sobbed bitterly as he said +it. + +Karl did not go home--at which Miss Blake was in much private wonder. +Discarding the poacher theory, she shrewdly suspected now that he must +be at the Maze, taking the opportunity of his wife's absence to play +the gay bachelor away from home. She asked Hewitt, she questioned +Giles; Giles knew nothing, Hewitt fancied Sir Karl, might be "detained +at Basham" on some business. + +And so, the night set in. When quite awake Adam had the full +possession of his senses, and exchanged a few words, sometimes with +his wife, sometimes with Karl. About three o'clock he fell into a calm +sleep. Karl watched on; Rose, weak and sick and weary, dropped into a +doze in a distant chair. Ann Hopley was in the kitchen below. + +Save for the faint sighing of the wind as it swept round the house, +stirring the branches of the trees, there was no sound to be heard. +Stillness reigned unbroken in the dying chamber. How many of us have +kept these watches! But who has kept them as this was being kept by +Karl Andinnian! + +With that bitter aching of the heart known but to few, and which when +felt in its greatest intensity is the saddest pain the troubles of the +world can give, Karl sat gazing on his brother. In his love for him, +every pang endured by Adam in the past was a sting for him, every +hazard run had reflected on him its dread apprehension. He sat +thinking of what might have been; looking on what was: and an awful +regret, than which nothing like unto it could be ever again +experienced, tore at his heart-strings for the wasted life, cut short +ere it had reached its prime. More than willingly in that moment would +Karl have given his own remaining days to undo what his brother had +done, and to restore to him freedom and honour. It might not be. +Adam's course was run: and he was passing away in obscurity from the +world in which he had virtually no longer a place. Never for a moment +did the immunity from perplexity it would bring to himself or the +release from the false position he had been compelled to assume, occur +to Karl; or, if it did, it was not dwelt upon: all of self and +self-interest was lost in the regret and grief for his brother. He saw +Adam living at Foxwood Court with his wife; its master; held in repute +by men; he saw himself settled near with Lucy; his fortunes advanced +by his brother's aid to a position not unacceptable to Colonel Cleeve; +he saw his mother alive still and happy: a united family, enjoying +comfort the one with the other. This might have been. His mother dead +of a broken heart; Adam, dying before his eyes, an escaped fugitive; +his own life blighted with pain and sorrow unutterable for Adam's +sake, his wife estranged from him--this was what was. Be you very sure +that no earthly pang could be keener than that despairing heart-ache +felt by Karl Andinnian. + +How many a night at that still hour had Adam lain in his terror, +listening to this moaning wind with supernaturally quick ear, lest it +should be only covering other sounds--the approach of his deadly +enemies! How many times in a night had he quitted his bed, his heart +beating, and stolen a cautious peep beside the blind to see whether +they might not be there, in battle array, waiting until the dawn +should come and they might get in to take him! Ah, it was all at an +end now; the fever, and the fear, and the wasting restlessness. Why! +if the men were drawn up round his bed, they would not care to touch +him. But the terror from force of habit stayed with him to the last. + +He started up. How long he had slept, and how the night was going, +Karl in his abstraction hardly knew. Adam's eyes looked somewhat wild +in the shade of the night-light, and he put up his feeble hand. + +"What is it?" asked Karl gently. + +"I thought they were here, Karl; I saw them in the room,"--he +whispered--and his eyes went round it. "They had muskets I think. Was +it a dream?" + +"Nothing but a dream, Adam. I am with you. Rose is asleep in the +arm-chair." + +"Ay. I have not dreamt of them for a week past. Stay by me, Karlo." + +Karl would have risen to administer some cordial: but Adam was holding +his hand in a tight grasp; had shut his eyes, and seemed to be +dropping asleep again. + +He slept about half-an-hour, and Karl's imprisoned arm went from a +state of pins and needles into the cramp. When Adam awoke, there was a +smile on his face and a peaceful rest in his eyes. He was quite +collected. + +"Karl, I dreamt of them again: but they had turned to angels. They +were here, all about my bed. Oh Karl, I wish you could see them as I +saw them! you'd never be afraid of anything more in this world. What's +that?" + +Karl turned round: for Adam's eyes were fixed on something or other +behind him. He could see nothing save a streak of light, herald of the +dawn, that came in at the side of the blind. + +"Do you mean the light, Adam? It's the dawn breaking." + +"Ay. _My_ dawn. Draw up the blind. Karl." + +Softly, not to awake Rose, Karl drew it up. Rose-coloured clouds, +heralds of a beauteous sunrise, flooded the East. Adam lay and gazed +at it, the smile on his face changing to a rapt look that seemed to +speak of heaven, more than of earth. + +"It will be better there than here, Karl. For me." + +"Better for all of us." + +"I am very happy, Karl. The world is fading from me: heaven opening. +Forgive me all that I have cost you." + +Karl's heart and eyes were alike full. + +"Just as the men who had troubled me were changed into angels, so my +fear has changed to rest. The angels are about the bed still, Karl; I +know they are; waiting for me. The same lovely light shone on them +that is shining yonder; and they told me without words that they were +come to bear me up to God. I read it in their tender faces--so full of +pitying love for me. It won't be so very long, Karl: you'll come +later." + +Karl's tears were falling on the up-turned face. + +"I should like to have seen your wife, Karl; just once. Tell her so, +with my love. Ask her to forgive me the worry I know I have caused +her." + +"I will, I will." + +"Oh, Karl, it has been a dreadful life for me; you know it has. I +began to think that God had forgotten me--how foolish I was! He was +full of mercy all the while, and kept me here in safety, and has now +changed it all into peace. Listen, Karl! there's a sound of sweet +music." + +Karl could hear nothing but the wind. + +"It is the angels singing," whispered Adam, a smile of ineffable +beauty on his face. "They sing on the journey, you know. Goodbye, +Karl, goodbye!" + +Karl bent his face, his tears streaming, his heart aching. These +partings are too bitter to be told of. This was most essentially so. + +"Where's Rose, Karl?" + +She was already by Karl's side. He yielded his place to her, and went +down to Ann; and there sobbed over the kitchen fire as a woman might +have done. + +But in the midst of it all, he could say as his brother had done, +"Thank God." If ever a poor sinful weary man had need to rejoice that +he was removed to that better world, it was Adam Andinnian. + +Rose's bell called Karl up again. The last moment was at hand. Ann +Hopley followed: and they all stood round the bed and saw him die. The +red clouds had dispersed; the sun was just showing itself above the +verge of the horizon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Laid to his Rest. + + +Foxwood heard the news. Mrs. Grey's shakey old gardener was dead, +James Hopley. Mr. Moore, when applied to for particulars, went into a +learned dissertation on chronic rheumatism, and said that he was not +able to save him. + +Ann Hopley astonished the undertaker. She gave orders for three +coffins: and they must be of the best, she said, if it cost her a +hundred pounds. Her poor husband and she had saved money, and she +should like to spend it on him. + +There was again a battle with the clerk. It had been bad enough when +Ann Hopley chose the ground for Mrs. Grey's little child, within the +precincts of that belonging to the Andinnian family; but to insist +upon it that her own husband, a servant, should also lie there, was a +piece of presumption the equal of which the clerk had never before +heard of. However, Sir Karl, not waiting to be appealed to this time, +called on the clerk, and said the woman might bury her husband there +if she pleased; he did not think it right in people to assume +exclusiveness after death, whatever they might do in life. The clerk +lifted his hands when Sir Karl's back was turned: radical notions such +as these would tend to demoralize the best conservative community. + +It was while his brother was lying dead, that Sir Karl--truly Sir Karl +now--heard from his wife. She was ready to come to Foxwood, as Mrs. +Cleeve was about to return to Winchester, and she appointed the +following day, Tuesday, for Sir Karl to fetch her. It happened to be +the day fixed for the funeral, and Karl wrote back to say that he +could not leave home that day, but would fetch her on the Wednesday +instead. To this he received no reply; and he of course intended to +abide by it. + +Tuesday came. About twelve o'clock in the day the funeral turned out +of the Maze gates; sundry curious ones amid the juveniles being +assembled to witness the exit. A funeral was not an every-day event at +Foxwood: and, besides, the Maze had been exciting interest of late. It +was a simple funeral. The plumed hearse and one mourning coach; the +undertaker and carriers walking. In the coach went Ann Hopley, +smothered in a hood, with Hewitt to bear her company. Foxwood said it +was very neighbourly and civil of the butler: but Miss Blake felt sure +he had received private orders from Sir Karl, and she wondered what +Sir Karl was coming to. + +Now Lucy, Lady Andinnian, looking at things as she had been looking, +poor wife, for some time past, was very resentful that Sir Karl would +not fetch her on the day she named. She reasoned with herself that his +refusal must arise from one of two causes: either he was neglectfully +indifferent; or else he had some engagement with Mrs. Grey: for, of +deterring occupation, she believed he possessed none. Proudly angry, +she determined to take her own way, and return home without him. + +Accordingly, on the Tuesday she started with her maid from London. +But, like many a one who does things in off-hand inexperience, she +made a mistake, and took the wrong train. That is, she took one that +did not stop at Foxwood. Lucy discovered this after she was in the +carriage, and found they must get out at Basham. Leaving Aglaé and the +luggage to wait for the next train, which would not be up for two +hours, Lucy took one of the waiting flies, and drove on. + +Lucy was full of thoughts and anticipations. She wondered where her +husband was, what she should find him doing, and what excuse he would +make. It lasted her all the way: and they were close on Foxwood +village before anything occurred to arouse her. She woke up to find +the driver, who was a Foxwood man, had come very nearly to a +standstill, and was staring at a funeral procession just then entering +the churchyard. + +The first object that caught Lucy's eye was Hewitt. Hewitt attired as +a mourner, and following the coffin. For a moment Lucy's heart beat +quicker, and her gaze was strained: who could it be that was inside +Gradually her eyes took in the whole of the scene: the spectators +collected in the distance, watching; the person enveloped in a silk +hood and cloak at Hewitt's side: Mr. Sumnor in his surplice. + +All in a moment, as it seemed, just as the clergyman began to read, +springing she could not tell from whence, there advanced Sir Karl +Andinnian. He was in black attire, but wore neither crape band nor +scarf; and it might have been thought he was only an ordinary +spectator. Hewitt, however, drew a step back to give his master the +place of precedence, as though out of proper respect, as did Ann +Hopley: and Sir Karl took off his hat and stood there, close to the +coffin, his head bent low. + +"How very strange it is!" thought Lucy. "Who can be in the +coffin?--and who is the woman in the black silk cloak and hood? There +is Mr. Smith, the agent, too!--he is standing near with his hat off +now." + +"Lucy! Can it be you? We did not expect you until to-morrow." + +The voice was Miss Blake's. St. Jerome's devotees were no more free +from curiosity than their inferiors; and a few of them had chanced to +be taking a walk past the churchyard just at the critical moment; of +whom Miss Blake was one. + +"I thought I would come to-day, and not give Sir Karl the trouble of +fetching me," replied Lucy. "Aglaé is coming on from Basham by the +next train with the luggage. How are you, Theresa? Will you come +inside?" + +Miss Blake's answer was to open the fly door, seat herself by Lady +Andinnian, and turn her gaze on the churchyard. The scene bore a charm +for her as well as for Lucy. + +"Why, that's Sir Karl there!" she exclaimed in surprise, the +spectators' heads having intercepted her view while on the ground. + +"Yes," assented Lucy. "And there's Hewitt--and Sir Karl's agent--and a +mourner with her face hidden. Who is it that is being buried, +Theresa?" + +"Why, it's only the old gardener at the Maze. As to Hewitt, I suppose +he had to go to keep the woman in countenance. The old man was her +husband, you know." + +"But what should bring Sir Karl there?" + +"And standing first, as though he were chief mourner!" commented Miss +Blake, devouring the scene with her condemning eyes, and giving the +reins to her thoughts. "_I_ don't know why he is there, Lucy. There +are several things that I have not attempted to understand for some +time past." + +"Is not that the part of the churchyard where the Andinnians lie?-- +where their vault is?" + +"It is. But Hopley is being buried there, you see: and that infant, +that you know of, was buried there. The clerk is in a fine way over +it, people say: but Sir Karl ruled that it should be so." + +Thoughts connected with Mrs. Grey, and the inexplicable manner in +which Sir Karl seemed to yield to her humours, even to the honouring +of her servants, flashed into Lucy's brain. It did not tend to appease +her previous anger against him. + +"Why could not Sir Karl come for me to-day, Theresa?" + +"It is of no use to ask me, Lucy. Sir Karl does not explain his +motives to me. This funeral perhaps kept him," added Miss Blake, +sarcastically, unconscious how very near she was to the truth. "After +you left he seemed almost to live at the Maze. Last week he was there, +as I believe, for a whole day and a whole night. I _must_ speak, Lucy. +Out of regard to decency that girl ought to quit the Maze, or you quit +Foxwood." + +"Drive on," cried Lucy to the coachman, in a tone as though the world +and all things in it were grating on her. And the man did not dare to +disobey the sharp command. + +But Miss Blake preferred to get out; and did so. She had said what she +did say from good motives: and she took credit for not making worse of +the account--as she might have done. Not a word would she say about +his being called up in the night--and she knew now that it was to the +Maze he was summoned. With her whole heart she pitied Lucy. + +"May I be forgiven if my duty ought to lie in silence!" she muttered +as she joined the Miss St. Henrys and others in the crowd. "Lucy seems +to have no friend about her in the World but me." + +The interment was over. The procession--what was left of it--went its +way back again, Hewitt and Ann Hopley side by side in the coach. Sir +Karl strolled away over the fields, and presently found himself joined +by Mr. Smith. + +"So your mission at Foxwood is over," he sadly cried to the latter. "I +have no more need to make believe I want an agent now." + +"Ay, it's over, Sir Karl. Better for him almost that he had fallen in +the fray off Weymouth; that I had never saved him; than have lived to +what his life has since been." + +"Better for him had he never come to the Maze," rejoined Sir Karl. + +"It was none of my doing. As you know, sir." + +"No: but you opposed his leaving it." + +"As he was here, I did. I had but his interest at heart, Sir Karl: +although I know you have thought the contrary. The chances were that +he could not have got away in safety. In his own person he dared not +have risked it; and a decrepid figure like Old Hopley's must have +attracted attention. But for that detective's pitching upon Foxwood to +make a hunting place of, I believe Sir Adam would have been most +secure here." + +"Well, it is over, with all its risks and chances," sighed Karl. "He +did not forget you when he was dying. His wish was that you should +enjoy a moderate annuity during your life: which I have undertaken to +pay." + +The agent's thanks, and they appeared very heartfelt and genuine, were +cut short by the approach of Mr. Moore. He joined them as they walked +along; and the conversation fell on the illness of the deceased. + +"There was no real hope from the beginning, once the disease had set +fairly in," cried the surgeon. "There never is. In Sir Adam's case, +the terrible anxiety he endured day and night brought it on, and +caused it to develop with unusual rapidity: there was not a shadow of +chance for him." + +"You did not tell me that," said Karl. + +"I was not quite sure of it myself at first: though I suspected it. I +did not tell you, you say, Sir Karl: well, no, not in so many words: +but your own eyes might have seen it as its progress went on. Sir Adam +knew it himself, I fancy, as surely as I." + +"Do you remember saying you wished he could have further advice?" +asked Karl. "Did not that prove that you had hope!" + +"I wished it chiefly for the satisfaction of those connected with him. +All the advice in the world could not--as I suspected then, and soon +saw--have availed to save his life. We sometimes say of people, death +has been a happy release for them. In his case, Sir Karl, it has been +most unquestionably so: he is at rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +Repentance. + + +Down on her knees, in self-abasement, the tears of contrition raining +from her eyes, her face scarlet in its agony of shame, cowered Lucy +Andinnian at her husband's feet. She would not let him raise her. It +seemed to her that a whole lifetime of repentance could never wash out +her sin. + +The elucidation of the misunderstanding that had kept them apart for +months was taking place. + +On the day after the funeral, Karl sought his wife in the +dressing-room to tell her of what had occurred. She had scarcely +spoken a word to him since her return, or allowed him to speak one to +her. Very briefly, in half a dozen words, he informed her his brother +was dead, and delivered the message Adam had left for her. For a few +minutes Lucy's bewilderment was utter; and, when she did at length +grasp somewhat of the truth, her confusion and distress were pitiable. + +"Oh, Karl, Karl, do you think you will ever be able to forgive me? +What can I do?--what can I do to atone for it?" + +"You must get up, Lucy, before I say whether I forgive you or not." + +"I cannot get up. It seems to me that I ought never to get up again. +Your _brother_ at the Maze!--your brother's wife! Oh, what must you +have thought of my conduct? Oh, Karl, why do you not strike me as I +lie?" + +Sir Karl put forth his arms and his strength, and raised her to the +sofa. She bent her face down on its pillow, to weep out her tears of +shame. + +"Come, Lucy," he said, when he had waited a few minutes, sitting +beside her. "We shall not arrive at the end in this way. Is it +_possible_ that you did not know my brother was alive?" + +"How could I know it, Karl?" she asked, amid her streaming tears. "How +was I likely to know it?" + +"You told me you knew it. You said to me that you had discovered the +secret at the Maze. I thought you were resenting the fact of his being +alive. Or, rather, of my having married you, knowing that he was." + +"Why should I resent it? How could you think, so? Was _that_ the +secret you spoke of in Paris the night before our wedding?--that Adam +was alive." + +"That, and no other. But I did not know then that he was married--or +suspect that he ever would marry. I learnt that fact only during my +mother's last illness." + +"Oh, Karl, this is dreadful," she sobbed. "What must you have thought +of me all this time? I almost wish I could die!" + +"You still care for me, then; a little?" + +With a burst of anguish she turned and hid her face upon his breast. +"I have only loved you the better all the while," she whispered. + +"Lucy, my dear, I say we shall not get to the end in this way. Look +up. If you were in ignorance of my brother's existence, and of all the +complications for you and for me that it involved, what then was it +that you were resenting?" + +"Don't ask me, Karl," she said, her face growing scarlet again. "I +could not tell you for the very shame." + +He drew a little away, making a movement to put her from him. Never +had his countenance been so stern to her as it was now; never could he +be so little trifled with. + +"If there is to be an explanation between us, Lucy, it must be full +and complete. I insist upon its being so. If you refuse to give it +now--why, I shall never ask you for it again. Do you not think you owe +me one?" + +Again she bent her face upon him. "I owe you everything, Karl; I owe +you more reparation than I can ever pay. Never, as long as our lives +shall last, will I have a secret from you again, heaven helping me. If +I hesitate to tell you this, it is because I am ashamed for you to +know how foolish I could be, and the wicked thoughts I could have." + +"Not more foolish or wicked, I dare say, than I was for making you my +wife. Speak out, Lucy. It must be so, you see, if there is to be a +renewal of peace between us." + +Keeping her head where it was, her face hidden from him, Lucy +whispered her confession. Karl started from her in very astonishment. + +"Lucy! You could think that! Of me!" + +She put up her hands beseechingly. "Oh, forgive me, Karl; for the sake +of the pain, forgive me! It has been killing me all the while. See how +worn and thin I am." + +He put his arm out and drew her to his side. "Go on, my dear. How did +you pick up the notion?" + +"It was Theresa." And now that the ice was broken, anxious to tell all +and clear herself, Lucy described the past in full: the cruel anguish +she had battled with, and her poor, ever-to-be renewed efforts to +endure patiently, for his sake and for God's. Karl's arm involuntarily +tightened around her. + +"Why did you not speak to me of this at once, Lucy?" he asked, after a +pause. "It would have cleared it up, you see." + +"I did speak to you, Karl; and you seemed to understand me perfectly, +and to accept it all as truth. You must remember your agitation, and +how you begged me not to let it come to an exposure." + +"But I thought you alluded to the trouble about my poor brother; that +it was the fact of his being alive you had discovered and were +resenting. _That_ was the exposure I dreaded. And no wonder: for, if +it had come, it would have sent him back to Portland Island." + +Lucy wrung her hands. "What a miserable misapprehension it has +been!--and how base and selfish and cruel I must have appeared to you! +I wonder, Karl, you did not put me away from you for ever!" + +"Will you go now?" + +She knew it was asked in jest: she probably knew that neither would +have parted from the other for the wealth of the world. And she +nestled the least bit closer to him. + +"Karl!" + +"Well?" + +"Why did you not tell me about your brother when you found I knew +nothing, and was resenting it. If I had but known the real truth, we +never should have been at issue for a day." + +"Remember, Lucy, that I thought it was what you knew, and spoke of. I +thought you knew he was alive and was at the Maze with his wife. When +I would have given you the whole history from the first, you stopped +me and refused to hear. I wished to give it; that you might see I was +less to blame than you seemed to be supposing. It has been a wretched +play at cross-purposes on both sides: and neither of us, that I see, +is to blame for it." + +"Poor Sir Adam!" she cried, the tears again falling. "Living in that +dreadful fear day after day! And what must his poor wife have +suffered! And her baby dying, and now her husband! And I, instead of +giving sympathy, have thought everything that was ill of her, and +hated her and despised her. And Karl--why, Karl--_she_ must have been +the real Lady Andinnian." + +He nodded. "Until Adam's death, I was not Sir Karl, you see. The day +you came with her from Basham, and they told her the fly waiting at +the station was for Lady Andinnian, she was stricken with terror, +believing they meant herself." + +"Oh, if I had known all this time!" bewailed Lucy. "Stuck up here in +my false pride and folly, instead of helping you to shield them and to +lighten their burthen! I cannot hope that you will ever quite forgive +me in your heart, Karl." + +"Had it been as I supposed it was, I am not quite sure that I should. +Not quite, Lucy, even to our old age. You took it up so harshly and +selfishly, looking at it from my point of view, and resented it in so +extraordinary a fashion, so bitter a spirit----" + +"Oh don't, don't!" she pleaded, slipping down to his feet again in the +depth of her remorse, the old sense of shame on her burning cheeks. +"Won't you be merciful to me? I have suffered much." + +"Why, my darling, you are mistaking me again," he cried tenderly, as +he once more raised her. "I said, 'Looking at it from my point of +view.' Looking at it from yours, Lucy, I am amazed at your gentle +forbearance. Few young wives would have been as good and patient as +you." + +"Then do you really forgive me?" she asked, raising her eyes and her +wet cheeks. + +"Before I answer that, I think I must ask whether you forgive my +having married you--now that you know all." + +"Oh, Karl!" + +She fell upon his shoulder, her arms round his neck. Karl caught her +face to his. He might take what kisses he chose from it again. + +"Karl, would you please let me go to see her?" she whispered. + +"See whom?" asked Karl, in rather a hard tone, his mind pretty full +just then of Miss Blake. + +"Poor Lady Andinnian." + +"Yes, if you will," he softly said. "I think she would like it. But, +my dear, you must call her 'Mrs. Grey' remember. Not only for safety, +but that she would prefer it." + + +They went over in the afternoon. Miss Blake, quite accidentally this +time, for she was returning home quietly from confession at St. +Jerome's--and a wholesale catalogue of peccadilloes she must have been +disclosing, one would say, by the length of the hearing--saw them +enter. It puzzled her not a little. Sir Karl taking his wife _there!_ +What fresh ruse, what further deceit was he going to try? Oh but it +was sinful! Worse than anything ever taken for Mr. Cattacomb's +absolution at St. Jerome's. + +Lucy behaved badly: without the slightest dignity whatever. The first +thing she did was to burst out crying, and kiss Mrs. Grey's hand: as +if--it really seemed so to Mrs. Grey--she did not dare to offer to +kiss her cheek. Very sad and pretty she looked in her widow's +mourning. + +It was a sad interview: though in some respects a soothing and +satisfactory one. Lucy explained, without entering into any details +whatever, that she had not known who it was residing at the Maze, or +she should have been over before, Karl and Sir Adam permitting her. +Rose supposed that for safety's sake Karl had deemed it well to keep +the secret intact. And there the matter ended. + +"You will come and stay with me at the Court before you leave," +pleaded Lucy. + +Rose shook her head. "It is very kind of you to wish it, Lady +Andinnian; very kind indeed under the circumstances; but it could not +be. I shall not pass through these gates until I pass through them +with Ann Hopley for good. That will be very soon." + +"At least, you will come and stay with us sometime in the future." + +"I think not. Unless I should get a fever upon me to see the spot once +more that contains my husband and child. In that case, I might +trespass on you for a day or two if you would have me. Thank you very +much, Lady Andinnian." + +"You will let me come over again before you leave?" + +"Oh, I should be pleased--if Sir Karl has no objection. Thank you, +Karl," she added, holding out her hands to him, "thank you for all. +You have been to us ever the most faithful friend and brother." + +The church bell at Foxwood was ringing for the late afternoon service +as they quitted the Maze--for Mr. Sumnor, in spite of his +discouragement and nonattendance, kept on the daily service. The +ting-tang was sounding from St. Jerome's, and several damsels, who had +come round by the Court to call for Miss Blake, were trooping past. +Lucy bowed; Karl lifted his hat: he had ceased to care who saw him +going in and out of the Maze gate now. + +"Karl," said Lucy, "I should like to go to prayers this evening. I +shall take no harm: it is scarcely dusk yet." + +He turned to take her. Mr. Sumnor and the clerk were in the church; +hardly anybody else--just as it had been that other evening when Lucy +had crept in. Even Miss Diana was off to St. Jerome's, in the wake of +her flighty nieces. Lucy went on to her own pew this time. + +Oh, what a contrast it was!--this evening and that. Now she was +utterly still in her rapt thankfulness; then she had lain on the +floor, her heart crying aloud to God in its agony. What could she do +to show her gratitude to Him, who had turned the darkness into this +radiant light? She could do nothing. Nothing, save strive to let her +whole life be spent as a thank-offering. Karl noted her excessive +stillness, her blinding tears; and he probably guessed her thoughts. + +While he was talking with Mr. Sumnor after the service, Lucy went in +to the vicarage. Margaret, lying in the dusk, for the room was only +lighted by its bit of fire, could not see who had entered. + +"Is it you, Martha?" she said, thinking it was her sister. "You are +back early." + +"It is I--Lucy," said Lady Andinnian. "Oh, Margaret, I was obliged to +come to you just for a minute. Karl is outside, and we have been to +church. I have something to tell." + +Margaret Sumnor put out both her hands in token of welcome. Instead of +taking them, Lucy knelt by the reclining board, and brought her face +close to her friend's, and spoke in a hushed whisper. + +"Margaret, I want to thank you, and I don't know how. I have been +thinking how impossible it will be for me ever to thank God: and it +seems to be nearly as impossible ever to thank you. Do you remember +what you once said to me, Margaret, about bearing and waiting? Well, +but for you, I don't think I _could_ have borne or waited, even in the +poor way I have; and--and--" + +She broke down: sobs of emotion checked her utterance. + +"Be calm, my dear," said Margaret. "You have come to tell me that the +trouble is over." + +"Yes: God has ended it. And, Margaret, I never need have had a shade +of it: I was on a wrong track all the while. I--I was led to think ill +of my husband; I treated him worse than any one will ever know or +would believe: while he was good and loyal to the core in all ways, +and in the most bitter trouble the world can inflict. Oh, Margaret, +had I been vindictive instead of patient--I might have caused the most +dire injury and tribulation, and what would have been my condition +now, my dreadful remorse through life? When the thought comes over me, +I shiver as I did in that old ague fever." + +A fit of shivering took her actually. Miss Sumnor saw how the matter +had laid hold upon her. + +"Lucy, my dear, it seems to me that you may put away these thoughts +now. God has been merciful and cleared it to you, you say; and you +ought to be happy." + +"Oh, so merciful!" she sobbed. "So happy! But it might have been +otherwise, and I cannot forget, or forgive myself." + +"Do you remember, Lucy, what I said? That some day when the cloud was +removed your heart would go up with a bound of joyous thankfulness?" + +"Yes. Because I did--and have done--as Margaret told me; and endured." + +The affair had indeed laid no slight hold of Lucy. She could not +forget what might have been the result, and quite an exaggerated +remorse set in. + +A few nights afterwards Karl was startled out of his sleep by her. She +had awakened, it appeared, in a state of terror, and had turned to him +with a nervous grasp as of one who is drowning. Shaking, sobbing, +moaning, she frightened her husband. He would have risen for a light, +but she clung to him too tightly. + +"But what has alarmed you, Lucy--what is it?" he reiterated. + +"A dream, Karl; a dream," she sobbed, in her bitter distress. "I am +always thinking of it by day, but this time I dreamt it; and I awoke +believing it was true." + +"Dreamt what?" he asked. + +"I thought that cruel time was back again. I thought that I had not +been quiet and patient, as Margaret enjoined, leaving vengeance to +God, but had taken it into my own hands, and so had caused the Maze's +secret to be discovered. You and Adam had both died through it; and I +was left all alone to my dreadful repentance, on some barren place +surrounded by turbid water." + +"Lucy, you will assuredly make yourself ill." + +"But, oh Karl, if it had been true! If God had not saved me from it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +Only a Man like other Men. + + +They stood together in the north parlour: Sir Karl Andinnian and Miss +Blake. In the least severe terms he knew how to employ, Sir Karl was +telling her of her abuse of his hospitality--the setting his wife +against him--and intimating that her visit to them had better for the +present terminate. + +It took Miss Blake by surprise. She had remarked a difference in their +behaviour to one another, in the past day or two. Lucy scarcely left +Sir Karl alone a minute: she was with him in his parlour; she clung to +his arm in unmistakable fondness in the garden; her eyes were for ever +seeking his with a look of pleading, deprecating love. "They could not +have been two greater simpletons in their honeymoon," severely thought +Miss Blake. + +Something else had rather surprised her. Walking past the Maze on this +same morning, she saw the gate propped open, and a notice, that the +house was to let, erected on a board. The place was empty; the late +tenants of it, the lady and her maid, had departed. Turning to ask Mr. +Smith the meaning of this, she saw a similar board at his house: Mr. +Smith was packing up, and Clematis Cottage was in the market. + +"Good gracious! Are you going to leave us, Mr. Smith?" she asked, she +asked, as that gentleman showed himself for a moment at the open +window, with an armful of books and papers. + +"Sorry to say that I am, madam. Business is calling me to London." + +"I hear that Mrs. Grey has left, too. What can have taken her away?" + +"Don't know," said Mr. Smith. "Does not care to stop in the house, +perhaps, after a death has taken place in it. Servants must die as +well as other people, though." + +Without another word to her, he went to the back of the room with his +load, and began stuffing it into a trunk with his one arm. Miss Blake +summed up the conclusion in her mind. + +"Sir Karl must have summarily dismissed him." + +Little did she foresee that Sir Karl was about, so to say, summarily +to dismiss herself. On this same day it was that he sought the +interview. When the past was touched upon by Karl, and her part in it, +Miss Blake, for once in her life, showed signs that she had a temper, +and her face turned white. + +"You might have done me incalculable mischief, Miss Blake: mischief +that could never be repaired in this world," he said, standing to face +her. "I do not allude to the estrangement that might have been caused +between myself and my wife, but evil of a different nature. What could +possibly have induced you to take up so outrageous a notion in regard +to me?" + +Miss Blake, in rather a shrill tone--for she was one of +those unfortunate individuals whose voices grow harsh with +annoyance--ventured upon a disparaging word of Mrs. Grey, but evaded +the true question. Karl did not allow her to go on. + +"That lady, madam," he said, raising his hand with a kind of +solemnity, "was good and pure, and honourable as is my own wife; and +my dear wife knows it now. She was sacred to me as a sister. Her +husband was my dear and long-tried friend; and he was for some months +in great trouble and distress. I wished to do what I could to +alleviate it: my visits there were paid to _him_." + +"But he was not living there," rejoined Miss Blake, partly in hardy +contest, partly in surprise. + +"Indeed he was living there. He had his reasons for not wishing to +make any acquaintance in the place, and so kept himself in retirement; +reasons in which I fully acquiesced. However, his troubles are at an +end now; and--and the family have ceased to be my tenants." + +Whether Miss Blake felt more angry or more vexed, she was not +collected enough at the moment to know. It was a very annoying +termination to her long and seemingly well-grounded suspicions. She +always wished to do right, and had the grace to feel somewhat ashamed +of the past. + +"What I said to Lucy I believed I had perfectly good grounds for, Sir +Karl. I had the interests of religion at heart when I spoke." + +"Religion!" repeated Sir Karl, his lips involuntarily curling. +"Religion is as religion does, Miss Blake." + +"After all, she did not heed me; so, if it did no good, it did no +harm. Lucy is so very weak-minded--" + +"Weak-minded!" interposed Sir Karl. "If to act as she did--to bear +patiently and make no stir under extreme provocation, trusting to the +future to right the wrong--if this is to be weak-minded, why I thank +God that she is so. Had she been strong-minded as you, Miss Blake, the +result might have been terribly different." + +Miss Blake was nettled. Her manner froze. + +"I see what it is, Sir Karl; you and your wife are so displeased with +me that I feel my presence in your house is no longer welcome. As soon +as I can make arrangements I will quit it--thanking you both for your +hospitality." + +She paused. Sir Karl paused too. Perhaps she had a faint expectation +that he would hasten to refute the decision, and request her to stay +on. But he did nothing of the kind. On the contrary, he, in a word or +two of politeness, acquiesced in the proposal of departure, as though +it admitted of no question. + +"I should not have trespassed on you so long--in fact, I should not +have stayed at all after your first return here with Lady Andinnian, +but for St. Jerome's," she rejoined, her temper getting up again, +while there ran in her mind an undercurrent of thought, as to whether +she could find suitable lodgings in Foxwood. + +"You will not have to regret that, in leaving," he observed. "I am +about to do away with St. Jerome's." + +"To do away with St. Jerome's!" + +"In a week's time from this it will be shut up, and all the nonsense +within its walls cleared away." + +"The nonsense!" shrieked Miss Blake. + +"Why you cannot call it sense--or religion either. To tell you the +truth, Miss Blake, the place has been an offence to me for some time. +It has caused a scandal--" + +"For shame, Sir Karl Andinnian! Scandal, indeed!" + +"And this little bit of fresh scandal that has arisen now, people +don't like at all," quietly persisted Sir Karl. "Neither do I. So, to +prevent the bishop coming down upon us here, Miss Blake, I close the +place." + +Miss Blake compressed her lips. She could have struck him as he stood. + +"What do you mean by a 'fresh' scandal, pray?" + +"Well, the story runs that Mr. Cattacomb was seen to kiss one of the +young ladies in the vestry." + +Miss Blake started, Miss Blake shrieked, Miss Blake wondered that the +very ceiling did not drop down upon the bold false tongue. To do her +justice, she believed St. Jerome's pastor was by far too holy a man +for any wickedness of the sort. Not to speak of restraining prudence. + +"Sir Karl, may you be forgiven! Where do you expect to go to when you +die?" + +"To the heaven, I hope, that our merciful God has provided for us," he +answered, meeting the query solemnly and with some emotion. "Some of +those dearer to me than life have gone on thither to wait for me." + +At which Miss Blake drew up her pious head, and intimated that she +feared it might be another kind of place, unless he should mend his +manners. And Sir Karl closed the interview, leaving her to understand +that she had received her congé. + +The circumstance to which he alluded was this. A day or two before, +some prying boys, comrades of Tom Pepp's, were about St. Jerome's as +usual. For, ever since its establishment, the place had been quite a +point of attraction to these young reptiles; and keep off they would +not. On the morning in question, hovering around the vestry window and +the walls generally, a slight inlet of view was discovered, in +consequence of the blinds being accidentally drawn somewhat aside. Of +course as many eyes were applied to the chink as could find space; and +they had the pleasure of seeing the parson steal a kiss or two from +the blushing cheek of Miss Jemima Moore. Rare nuts for the boys to +crack! Before the day had closed, it was being talked of in Foxwood, +and reached the ears of Miss Diana. She handed the case over to the +doctor. + +Down he went to St. Jerome's on the following morning, and caught Mr. +Cattacomb alone in the vestry, just getting into his sheep-skin. Mr. +Moore wasted no time in circumlocution or superfluous greeting. + +"You were seen to kiss my daughter, yesterday, young man." + +To be pounced upon in this unprepared manner is enough to try the +nerves of almost any hero; what must it have been then for a modest +young clergyman, with a character for holiness, like Guy Cattacomb? He +stammered and stuttered, and blushed to the very roots of his scanty +hair. The tippet itself turned of a rosy hue. + +"No equivocation, sir. Do you acknowledge it, or do you not?" + +Gathering up his scared wits, and a modicum of courage, in the best +way he could, the Reverend Guy virtually acknowledged it to be true. +He added that he and Miss Jemima were seriously attached to each +other; that he hoped sometime to win her for his wife; and that a +sense of his utter want of means had alone prevented his speaking to +the doctor. + +"Now, look here," said the surgeon, after a pause of consideration, +perceiving from the young man's earnest manner that this was the +actual state of the case, "I say _No_ to you at present. It lies with +yourself whether I ever say yes. If you and she care for one another, +I should be the last to stand in your way, once you have proved +yourself worthy of her. Get rid of all the rubbish that's filling up +your foolish brain;"--and he gave his hand a sweep around--"become a +faithful, honest clergyman of the Church of England, serving your +Master to the best of your power; and then you may ask for her. A +daughter of mine shall never tie herself to a vain fop. No; though I +had to banish her to the wilds of Kamschatka." + +"I'll do my best, sir, to become what you will approve of," returned +the parson humbly, "if you will only give me hope of Miss Jemima." + +"It is because I think you have some good in you, that I do give you +hope, Mr. Cattacomb. The issue lies with you." + +Now, this was what Sir Karl alluded to. When it fell to Miss Blake's +lot to find it was true and to hear the particulars, she thought, in +her mortification, that the world must be drawing to an end: at least, +it was signally degenerating. That adored saint to have turned out to +be only a man after all--with all a man's frail nature! All Miss +Blake's esteemed admirers seemed to be slipping from her one by one. + +She and the congregation generally were alike incensed. Mr. Cattacomb, +lost to any future hopes, fell in their estimation from fever-heat +down to zero: and they really did not much care, after this, whether +St. Jerome's was shut up or not. So Sir Karl and Farmer Truefit found +their way was made plain before them. + +"What a heap of silk we have wasted on cushions and things for him?" +cried Charlotte St. Henry, in a passion. "And all through that sly +little cat, Jemima Moore!" + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +A sweet calm day in early spring, Sir Karl and his wife stood on the +steps of their house, hand in hand, ready to welcome Colonel and Mrs. +Cleeve, who were driving up to pay a long visit. Lucy had recovered +all her good looks; Karl's face had lost its sadness. + +Things had been getting themselves straight after the dark time of +trouble. Some pleasant neighbours were at the Maze now; Clematis +Cottage was occupied by Margaret Sumnor. There was a new vicar of +Foxwood. Mr. Sumnor, who had not been without his trials in life, had +died in the winter. His widow and second family went to reside in +London; Margaret, who had her own mother's fortune now--which was just +enough to live upon quietly--removed to Clematis Cottage, to the +extreme delight of Lady Andinnian. St. Jerome's had been converted +into a schoolroom again: its former clergyman had retired into private +life for a season, and no more omnibus-loads of young ladies came over +from Basham. Sir Karl was earning popularity everywhere. Caring +earnestly for those about him, actively promoting the welfare +of all unceasingly and untiringly, generous in aiding, chary of +fault-finding, Sir Karl Andinnian was esteemed and beloved even more +than Sir Joseph had been. Nothing educates and softens the human heart +like the sharp school of adversity. + +"Lucy, you are a puzzle to me," said Mrs. Cleeve, when she had her +daughter to herself up stairs. "In the autumn you were so ill and so +sad; now you are looking so well and so radiantly happy." + +"I am quite well, mamma, and happy." + +"But what was the cause of your looking so ill then?" + +Lucy did not answer, evading the question in the best way she could. +That past time would be ever sacred between herself and her husband. + +"Well, I cannot understand it," concluded Mrs. Cleeve. "I only hope +you will continue as you are now. Sir Karl looks well, also; almost as +he did when we first knew him at Winchester, before his brother +brought that trouble on himself and all connected with him. To tell +you the truth, Lucy, I thought when I was last here that you were both +on the high road to consumption. Now you both look as though you were +on the road to--to----" + +"A fine old age," put in Lucy, as her mother broke down for want of a +simile. "Well, mamma, I hope we are--if God shall so will it." + +"And--why you have made this into a dressing-room again!" cried Mrs. +Cleeve, as Lucy took down her hair, and rang for Aglaé. + +"Yes; I wanted it as one when I went back to my own room." + +"What do you do with the other room--the one you slept in?" questioned +Mrs. Cleeve, throwing open the door as she spoke--for she had a great +love of seeing into house arrangements. "You have had the bed taken +away!" + +"The room is not being used at present," replied Lucy. +"Karl--Karl----" + +"Karl--what?" asked Mrs. Cleeve, wondering at the sudden timidity, and +looking round. Lucy's sweet face was blushing. + +"Karl thinks I shall like to make it the day nursery." + +"Oh, my dear! I am glad to hear _that_." + +Lucy burst into tears of emotion. A very slight occurrence served +still to bring back the past and its repentance. + +"Mamma, you do not know, you can never know, how good God has been to +me in all ways; and how little I deserved it." + + +And so we leave all things at peace. The dark storms had rolled away +and given place to sunshine. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Within the Maze, Vol. 2 (of 2), by Mrs. Henry Wood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58346 *** |