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diff --git a/59366-0.txt b/59366-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dd6acb --- /dev/null +++ b/59366-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17031 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59366 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + 1. Page scan source: Web Archive + https://ia801701.us.archive.org/19/items/ + 15553140.2979.emory.edu/15553140_2979.pdf + (Emory University) + + + + + + + +RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. + +A Novel, + + +BY +EDMUND YATES, +AUTHOR OF "BLACK SHEEP," "KISSING THE ROD," ETC. + + +FORTITER--FIDELITER--FELICITER. + + + +New Edition. + + + +LONDON: +GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, +THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. +NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET. +1867. + + + + + + +------------------------------ +JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. + + + + + + +TO + +NICHOLAS HERBERT HARRINGTON, + +OLD COMRADE AND TRIED FRIEND. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAP. + + + I. NEWS. + II. MORE NEWS. + III. AT THE PARTHENIUM. + IV. IN THE SMOKING-ROOM. + V. GEORGIE. + VI. THE GRAYS. + VII. WHAT HAD DETAINED SIR CHARLES. + VIII. KISMET. + IX. MR. EFFINGHAM'S PROCEEDINGS. + X. SOUVENT FEMME VARIE. + XI. DOWN AT REDMOOR. + XII. DRAWING COVER. + XIII. SIR CHARLES'S VISIT. + XIV. IN THE TOILS. + XV. EGREMONT PRIORY. + XVI. CHECK. + XVII. COUNTERCHECK. + XVIII. IN THE DRAWING-ROOM. + XIX. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. + XX. CHECKMATE. + XXI. COLONEL ALSAGER'S COUNSEL. + XXII. KNOCKHOLT PARK. + XXIII. LORD DOLLAMORE'S COUNSEL. + XXIV. MR. EFFINGHAM'S PROGRESS. + XXV. A CRISIS AT REDMOOR. + XXVI. MR. WUFF'S "NEW STAR." + XXVII. LOVE AND DUTY. + XXVIII. SIR LAURENCE'S LETTER. + XXIX. A "TERCEL GENTLE." + XXX. NATURE AND ART. + XXXI. AMONG THE SPRINGS. + XXXII. REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. + XXXIII. LAST WORDS. + + + + + + +RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +NEWS. + + +Throughout the length and breadth of this London of ours there were +few legal firms, no matter of how old standing, doing a better, larger +ready-money business than that of Moss and Moss of Cursitor Street, +Chancery Lane. Looked down upon? Well, one could hardly say that. Old +Mr. Trivett, of the firm of Trivett, Coverdale, and Trivett of Bedford +Row, who had the secrets of half the first families in England locked +up in his dusty japanned boxes; young Mr. Markham, who, besides being +nominally a solicitor, was a high-bailiff somewhere, and had chambers +in the Albany, and rode a very maney and taily light chestnut cob in +the Row; and a few others,--might shrug their shoulders when the names +of Moss and Moss were mentioned; but that did no harm to Moss and +Moss, who, on the whole, were very well respected throughout the +profession. At Mrs. Edward Moss's Sunday-evening parties in the +Regent's Park were to be met many people whose names were pleasantly +familiar to the public. Mr. Smee, Q. C., known as "Alibi Smee" from +his great success in proving that his clients never had been within +fifty miles of the spot where the crime with which they were charged +was committed; Mr. Sergeant Orson; Mr. Tocsin, who bullied a witness +admirably, but who gave more trouble to Edward Moss than any other man +at the bar, wanting perpetual cramming and suggestions, and having the +face of brass and the lungs of steel and the head of wool; Mr. +Replevin, the most rising junior at the O.B.; and others, amongst +them. Gilks, the marine painter, some of whose choicest bits adorned +Mrs. Moss's walls; Kreese, the editor of the great sporting, literary, +and theatrical Sunday print, _The Scourge_; O'Meara of the Stock +Exchange; and actors, actresses, and singers too numerous to mention. +These last were invited through Mr. Marshall Moss, Edward's brother +and junior partner, who was a bachelor, and who, though he gave +occasional excellent Greenwich and Richmond dinners, yet had no house +of his own to entertain in. Marshall Moss attended to the more +convivial portion of the clients; the actors who had differed from +their managers; the ladies who wanted certain settlements arranged; +the sporting publicans who wanted "the screw put upon certain +parties;" the fast young gents requiring defence from civil +process,--were shown up to Marshall's room on the first-floor, a +comfortable room with several armchairs, and a cupboard never without +sherry and soda-water; a room where some of the best stories in London +were from time to time told, and which was fenced off with thick +double doors, to prevent the laughter caused by them penetrating to +Edward's sanctum downstairs. + +For Edward attended to the real clients of the house--those for whom +it was originally established--those by whom its fame had been made. +And these were--thieves. Yes, there is no blinking the word. If a +burglar were "in trouble," if a forger had been apprehended, if some +very heavy turf-robbery had come to light, Edward Moss's busy brain +was at work, and Edward Moss's hours of sleep were ruthlessly +curtailed. He did not care about the heaviest kind of business, though +two or three murderers unquestionably owed their necks to his skill +and forethought; and he refused all petty cases of magsmen, +skittle-sharps, and card-swindlers. They would have longed to have +him; but they knew it was impossible. He did not like their style of +business, and, above all things fatal to a chance of their engaging +him, he never did anything on spec. When a man was "in trouble" he +knew that it was no use sending for Mr. Moss without being able to +tell him that at such-and-such a tavern or lodging-house he would find +a landlord willing and ready to advance the fee for the prisoner's +defence. Then Mr. Moss would step into the first hansom outside the +station, and hie away to St. Luke's, Cripplegate, Drury Lane, or any +other locality indicated, and returning with the money in his +pocket, would hear all that the prisoner had to say, and +straightway--determine on the line of defence. A wonderful little man, +Edward Moss! wonderful to look at! without the smallest sign of colour +in his shrunken, baggy, parchmenty face, with small gray eyes under +overhanging bristly brows, with a short stubbly head of gray hair, a +restless twitching mouth, thin wiry figure, and dirty hands with +close-bitten dubby nails. In these respects a very different man from +his brother Marshall, who was a by-no-means bad-looking Hebrew, with a +handsome beard and moustache, full scarlet lips, prominent brown eyes, +and in face and figure showing a general liking for the flesh-pots and +other good things of this life. Where Edward Moss wore dirt, Marshall +Moss sported jewelry, and each brother was sufficiently vain of his +display. Each knew his business perfectly, and neither interfered with +the other. Marshall's clients drove up in broughams or rattled in +hansoms to the front-door, went up the broad staircase to the +first-floor, and either passed straight into the presence, or beguiled +the necessary interval in the perusal of the daily papers handed to +them by obsequious clerks. Edward's clients sneaked in through a +narrow door up a side-court; had their names and business wrung from +them by the most precocious and most truculent of Jew boys; were left +to rub their greasy shoulders up and down the whitewashed walls of a +ghastly waiting-room until "Mithter Edward" chose to listen to the +recital of their distress and wishes. + +Occasionally, however, visitors to Mr. Edward Moss came in at the +large front-door, and afterwards made the best of their way to his +sanctum. They were generally people who would not have been regarded +with much favour by the greasy-shouldered clients in the court. This +was one of them who entered Cursitor Street on a warm June afternoon, +and made straight for the front-door blazing with the door-plate of +"Moss and Moss." A middle-sized fattish man, ill-dressed in an +ill-fitting blue frock-coat and gray trousers, and a very +innocent-looking small hat with a black mourning-band; a sodden-faced +sleepy-looking man with mild blue eyes and an undecided mouth; a man +like a not very prosperous publican; a man, who, with a fresher +complexion, and at another time of year, might have been taken for a +visitor to the Cattle Show; who looked, in fact, anything but what he +was--chief officer of the City detectives and the terror of all the +evil-doers of the East-end. He walked through the hall, and, leaving +the staircase leading to Mr. Marshall Moss's rooms on his right, +passed to the end of the passage and tapped at a door on which was +inscribed the word "Private" in large letters. It must have been a +peculiar knock which he gave, for the door was immediately opened +merely wide enough to admit him, and closed as he passed through. + +"Ah, ah!" said a little man in an enormous pair of spectacles; "ah, +ah! 'ith you, inthpector! The governor'th been athkin' after you +to-day. Let'th have a look," he continued, lifting a corner of a +green-baize curtain; "ah! he'th jutht shakin' off that troublethome +perjury. Now I'll give him your name." + +This was Mr. Amedroz, Edward Moss's right-hand man, who knew all his +master's secrets, and who was so reticent that he never opened his +mouth where he could convey as much by writing. So Mr. Amedroz +inscribed "Stellfox" in large round-text on a slip of paper, laid it +before his principal, and, receiving an affirmative nod, ushered the +inspector into the presence. + +"Morning, Stellfox," said Mr. Edward, glancing up from a mass of +papers in front of him; "report?" + +Inspector Stellfox, unbuttoning his blue frock-coat, produced from his +breast-pocket a thick notebook, and commenced: + +"Sorry to say, nothing new about Captain Congreve, sir. We've tried--" + +"Now look here, Stellfox," interrupted Mr. Moss; "you've had that +business in hand a fortnight. If you don't report by Wednesday, I'll +give that to Scotland Yard. Your men are getting lazy, and I'll try +what Sir Richard Mayne's people can do. What next?" + +Crestfallen, Inspector Stellfox continued,--"Slimy William, sir." + +"Well," said Mr. Moss keenly, "what of him?" + +"I think that's all right, sir. We've found out where his mother +lives,--Shad's Row, Wapping, No. 3; bill up in the window, 'a room to +let.' If you've no objection, one of my men shall take that room, sir, +and try and work it that way." + +"No," said Mr. Moss; "must put a woman in there. Don't you know a +woman up to that sort of thing?" + +"There's Hodder's wife, sir, as helped us in Charlton's case; she'd +do." + +"I recollect; she'll do well. Furnished or unfurnished?" + +"Unfurnished room, sir." + +"All right; hire some furniture of the broker. Tell Mrs. Hodder to get +in at once. Widow; or husband employed on railway in the country. Must +keep a gin-bottle always open, and be generous with it. Old lady will +talk over her drink; and Mrs. Hodder must find out where Slimy William +is, what name he's going under, and must notice what letters old lady +receives. Tell her to take a child with her. Has she got a child?" + +"Not of her own, sir." + +"Never mind; must get one of some one else's. Must see you, or one of +your men, every morning. Child will want air--excuse for her taking +him out. If Slimy William is coming home on the sudden, child must be +taken ill in the middle of the night; she can take it to the doctor, +and come down to you." + +"Right, sir. Now about Coping Crossman." + +"Well?" + +"Markham will have him to-night, sir. That girl 'Liza Burdon blew his +gaff for him last night. He's a comic singer, he is. Goes by the name +of Munmorency, and sings at the Cambridge Music-hall." + +"Good! What of Mitford?" + +"Well, nothing yet, sir. You're hard upon me, Mr. Moss, and that you +are. We've only had that case three days, and you're expecting +information already." + +"Stellfox," said Mr. Moss rising, and taking a sonorous pinch of +snuff, "you detectives are mere shams. You've been spoilt by the penny +press, and the shilling books, and all that. You think you're +wonderful fellows, and you know nothing--literally nothing. If I +didn't do your work as well as my own, where should we be? Don't +answer; listen! Mitford has been three times within the last week to +the Crown coffee-house in Doctors' Commons. There's very little doubt +that he'll go there again; for it's a quiet house, and he seems to +like it. You've got his description; be off at once." + +Inspector Stellfox had transacted too much business with Mr. Edward +Moss to expect any further converse, so he took up the child's hat and +quietly bowed and departed. + + +To say that of all the intensely-quiet and respectable houses in that +strange portion of the City of London known as Doctors' Commons the +Crown coffee-house is the most quiet and respectable, is making a +strong assertion, but one which could yet be borne out by facts. It is +a sleepy, dreamy neighbourhood still, although its original intense +dulness has been somewhat enlivened by the pedestrians who make Paul's +Chain a passage to the steamboats calling at Paul's Wharf; and the +hansom cabs which find a short cut down Great St. Andrew's Hill to the +South-Western Railway. But it is still the resort of abnormal +individuals,--ticket-porters, to wit; plethoric individuals in +half-dirty white aprons and big badges like gigantic opera-checks, men +whose only use seems to be to warn approaching vehicles of the +blocking-up of the narrow streets; and sable-clad mottled-faced +proctors and their clerks. There are real green trees in Doctors' +Commons; and flies and butterflies--by no means bad imitations of the +real country insect--are seen there on the wing in the sultry summer +days, buzzing round the heads of the ticket-porters, and of the strong +men who load the Bottle Company's heavy carts, and who are always +flinging huge fragments of rusty iron into the capacious hold of the +Mary Anne of Goole, stuck high and dry in the mud off Paul's Wharf +before mentioned. Life is rampant in the immediate vicinity,--in +enormous Manchester warehouses, perpetually inhaling the contents of +enormous Pickford's vans; in huge blocks of offices where the +representatives of vast provincial firms take orders and transact +business; in corn-stores and iron-companies; in mansions filled from +basement to roof with Dresden china and Bohemian glass in +insurance-offices and banks; and in the office of the great journal, +where the engines for six days out of the seven, are unceasingly +throbbing. But in the Commons life gives way to mere existence and +vegetation. The organ-man plays unmolested on Addle Hill, and the +children's shuttlecocks flutter in Wardrobe Place; no Pickford's vans +disturb the calm serenity of Great Knightrider Street; and instead of +warehouses and offices, there are quaint old dumpy congregationless +churches, big rambling old halls of City Companies, the forgotten old +Heralds' College with its purposeless traditions, a few apparently +nothing-doing shops, a number of proctors' offices into which man is +never seen to enter, and two or three refreshment-rooms. Of these the +Crown is the oldest and the dirtiest. It was established--if you may +trust the half-effaced legend over its door--in 1790, and it has ever +since been doing the same quiet sleepy trade. It cannot understand +what Kammerer's means by it. Kammerer's is the refreshment-house at +the corner, which has long since escaped from the chrysalis state of +coffee-shop, and now, resplendent with plate-glass and mahogany bar, +cooks joints, and draws the celebrated "Crm Grw" Llangollen ale, and +is filled with a perpetual stream of clattering junior clerks from the +adjacent warehouses. The Crown--according to its proprietor, in whose +family its lease has been vested since its establishment--don't do +nothin' of this sort, and don't want to. It still regards chops and +steaks as the most delicious of human food, and tea and coffee as the +only beverages by which their consumption should be accompanied. +Across its window still stretches an illuminated blind representing an +Italian gentleman putting off in a boat with apparently nothing more +serviceable for navigation purposes than a blue banjo; and it still +makes a gorgeous display of two large coffee-cups and saucers, with +one egg in a blue egg-cup between them. Its interior is still cut up +into brown boxes with hard narrow seats, on which you must either sit +bolt upright, or fall off at once; its narrow old tables are scarred +and notched and worm-eaten; and it holds yet by its sawdusted floor. + +About seven o'clock in the evening of the same day on which Inspector +Stellfox had consulted Mr. Moss, the green-baize door of the Crown was +gently swung open, and a man slinking in dived into the nearest box +then vacant. He was a young fellow of not more than three-and-twenty, +with well-cut regular features, and who would have been handsome had +not his complexion been so sallow and his cheeks so pinched. His gaunt +attenuated frame, thin hands, and eyes of unnatural brightness and +restlessness, all told of recent illness; and though it was summer +time his threadbare coat was tightly buttoned round his throat, and he +shivered as he seated himself, and looked hungrily at the cooking-fire +burning in the kitchen at the other end of the shop. After furtively +glancing round him he beckoned the proprietor, gave him an order for +some small refreshment, and then taking down an old volume of the +_Gentleman's Magazine_ from a neighbouring shelf, began to turn over +its pages in a listless, purposeless manner. While he was thus +engaged, the green-baize door swung open again, admitting a portly man +with a child's hat perched on the top of his round head, who, walking +into the middle of the shop, ordered from that post of vantage "a +large cup of coffee and a rasher," then looked round the different +boxes, and finally settled himself with his back to the light in that +box where the last arrival was seated. The portly man made the other +visitor a very polite bow, which was scarcely returned, and the first +comer bent more earnestly over his book and shrouded his face with his +hand. But the portly man, who was no other than Inspector Stellfox, +had been too long in his profession not to know his business +thoroughly, and so he hung up the child's hat on a peg immediately +over his friend's head, and he took hold of a newspaper which lay +directly under his friend's elbow; and taking advantage of each +opportunity to look his friend over and over, saw that he was on the +right track, and thoroughly made up his mind what to do when the +chance arrived. The chance arrived simultaneously with the refreshment +ordered by the haggard man: he had to put down his hand to reach the +tray, and in so doing his eyes met those of the inspector, who at once +winked and laid his finger on his lip. + +"Mr. Mitford?" said he in a fat voice; "ah! I thought so. No, you +don't, sir," he continued, pushing back the man, who had attempted to +start up; "it's all right; that little matter at Canterbury's been +squared up long since. I wanted to see you about something else. Look +here, sir;" and the inspector took from his pocketbook a printed slip +of paper, and handed it across the table to his companion, who read as +follows: + + +"FATAL AND APPALLING ACCIDENT. + +"We (_Bridgewater Mercury_) deeply regret to hear that a telegram has +been received from Malta stating that Sir Percy Mitford of Redmoor +near this town, and his two sons, aged twelve and nine, were drowned +by the upsetting of a little boat in which they were proceeding to Sir +Percy's well-known yacht Enchantress, then anchored off Valetta. By +this dreadful accident the title and estates pass into another branch +of the family; the heir being Sir Percy's nephew, Mr. Charles +Wentworth Mitford, now studying abroad." + + +"There, sir! there's news for you!" said Inspector Stellfox; "we know +what studying abroad means, don't we? We knows--" but Inspector +Stellfox stopped suddenly; for his companion, after glaring at him +vacantly for an instant with the paper outstretched in his rigid hand, +fell forward in a fit. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +MORE NEWS. + + +Twenty years ago the Maecenas Club, which is now so immensely popular, +and admission to which is so difficult, was a very quiet unpretending +little place, rather looked down upon and despised by the denizens of +the marble palaces in Pall Mall and the old fogies in St. James's +Street. The great gaunt stuccoed mansion, with the bust of Maecenas in +the big hall, then was not; the Club was held at a modest little +house, only differing from a private residence in the size of its +fanlight, in the fact of its having a double flight of steps +(delicious steeple-chase ground for the youth of the neighbourhood), +and from its hall-door being always open, typical of the hospitality +and good-fellowship which reigned within. Ah! a glorious place in +those days, the Maecenas! which, as it stated in its prospectus, was +established "for the patronage of literature and the drama, and the +bringing together of gentlemen eminent in their respective circles;" +but which wisely left literature, the drama, and the eminent gentlemen +to take care of themselves, and simply brought together the best and +most clubbable fellows it could get hold of. There was something in +the little M., as the members fondly abbreviated its name, which was +indescribably comfortable and unlike any other club. The waiters were +small men, which perhaps had something to do with it; there was no +billiard-room, with noisy raffish frequenters; no card-room, with +solemn one-idea'd fogies; no drawing-room for great hulking men to +lounge about, and put up their dirty boots on yellow satin sofas. +There was a capital coffee-room, strangers'-room, writing-room, +reading-room, and the best smoking-room in London; a smoking-room +whence came three-fourths of the best stories which permeated society, +and whither was brought every bit of news and scandal so soon as it +was hatched. There was a capital _chef_ who was too true an artist to +confine himself to made-dishes, but who looked after the joints and +toothsome steaks, for which the M. had such a reputation; and there +was a capital cellar. Furthermore, the members believed in all this, +and believed intensely in one another. + +That a dislike to clubs is strongly rooted in the female breast is not +a mere aphorism of the comic writer, but is a serious fact. This +feeling would be much mitigated, if not entirely eradicated, one would +think, if women could only know the real arcana of those much-loathed +establishments. Life wants something more than good _entrées_ and +wine, easy-chairs, big waiters, and a place to smoke in: it wants +companionship and geniality--two qualities which are very rare in the +club-world. You scowl at the man at the next table, and he scowls at +you in return; the man who wants the magazine retained by your elbow +growls out something, and you, raising your arm, growl in reply. In +the smoking-room there is indeed an attempt at conversation, which is +confined to maligning human nature in general, and the acquaintance of +the talkers in particular; and as each man leaves the room his +character is wrested from him at the door, and torn to shreds by those +who remain. + +It was its very difference from all these that made the Maecenas so +pleasant. Everybody liked everybody else, and nobody objected to +anybody. It was not too pleasant to hear little Mr. Tocsin, Q.C., +shrieking some legal question across the coffee-room to a brother +barrister; to have your mackerel breathed over by Tom O'Blather, as he +narrated to you a Foreign-Office scandal, in which you had not the +smallest interest; to have to listen to Dr. M'Gollop's French jokes +told in a broad-Scotch accent, or to Tim Dwyer's hunting exploits with +his "slash'n meer;" but one bore these things at the M., and bore them +patiently. How proud they were of their notable members in those days; +not swells, but men who had distinguished themselves by something more +than length of whisker and shortness of head--the very "gentlemen +eminent in their respective circles" of the prospectus! They were +proud, and justly so, of Mr. Justice Ion, whose kindly beaming face, +bright eye, and short-cropped gray hair would often be seen amongst +them; of Smielding and Follett, the two great novelists of the day, +each of whom had his band of sworn retainers and worshippers; of +Tatterer, the great tragedian, who would leave King Lear's +robes and be the delight of the Maecenas smoke-room; of Gilks the +marine-painter; of Clobber, who was so great in cathedral interiors; +and Markham, afterwards the great social caricaturist, then just +commencing his career as a wood-draughtsman. The very reciprocity of +regard was charming for the few swells who at that time cared for +membership; they were immensely popular; and amongst them none so +popular as Colonel Laurence Alsager, late of the Coldstream Guards. + +By the time that Laurence Alsager was gazetted as captain and +lieutenant-colonel, he had had quite enough of regimental duty, quite +enough of transition from Portman Barracks to Wellington Barracks, +from Winchester to Windsor; quite enough of trooping the guard +at St. James's and watching over the treasures hidden away in the +Bank-cellars; of leaning out of the little window in the old Guards +Club in St. James's Street; quite enough of Derby drags and _ballet_ +balls, and Ryde pier and Cowes regatta, and Scotch moor and Norway +fishery, and Leamington steeple-chase and Limmer's, and all those +things which make up the life of a properly-regulated guardsman. The +younger men in the Household Brigade could not understand this "having +had quite enough." They thought him the most enviable fellow in the +world. They dressed at him, they walked like him, they grew their +whiskers as nearly like his as they could (mutton-chop whiskers were +then the fashion, and beards and moustaches were only worn by foreign +fiddlers and cavalry regiments), they bragged of him in every possible +way, and one of them having heard him spoken of, from the variety of +his accomplishments, as the Admirable Crichton, declared that he was +infinitely better than Crichton, or any other admiral that had ever +been in the sister service. The _deux-temps_ valse had just been +imported in those days, and Alsager danced it with a long, quick, +swinging step which no one else could accomplish; he played the cornet +almost as well as Koenig; while at Windsor he went into training and +beat the Hammersmith Flyer, a professional brought down by the envious +to degrade him, in a half-mile race with twelve flights of hurdles; he +was a splendid amateur actor; and had covered the rough walls of the +barrack-room at Windsor with capital caricatures of all his brother +officers. He knew all the mysteries of "battalion drill" too, and had +been adjutant of the regiment. When, therefore, he threw up his +commission and sold out, everybody was utterly astonished, and all +sorts of rumours were at once put into circulation. He had had a +quarrel with his governor, old Sir Peregrine Alsager, some said, and +left the army to spite him. He was bitten with a theatrical mania, and +going to turn actor ("Was he, by G--!" said Ledger, the light comedian, +hitherto his warmest admirer; "we want none of your imitation +mock-turtle on the boards!"); he had got a religious craze, and was +going to become a Trappist monk; he had taken to drinking; he had lost +his head, and was with a keeper in a villa in St. John's Wood. All +these things were said about him by his kind friends; but it is +probable that none of them were so near the mark as honest Jock +M'Laren, of the Scots Fusiliers, a great gaunt Scotchman, but the very +best ferret in the world in certain matters; who said, "Ye may depen' +upon it there's a wummin in it. Awlsager's a deevil among the sax; and +there's a wummin in it, I'll bet a croon." This was a heavy stake for +Jock, and showed that he was in earnest. + +Be this as it may, how that Laurence Alsager sold out from her +Majesty's regiment of Coldstream Guards, and that he was succeeded +by Peregrine Wilks (whose grandfather, _par parenthèse_, kept a +ham-and-beef shop in St. Martin's Court), is it not written in the +chronicles of the _London Gazette?_ Immediately after the business had +been settled, Colonel Alsager left England for the Continent. He was +heard of at Munich, at Berlin, at Vienna (where he remained for some +considerable time), and at Trieste, where all absolute trace of him +was lost, though it was believed he had gone off in an Austrian +Lloyds' steamer to the Piraeus, and that he intended travelling +through Greece, the Holy Land, and Egypt, before he returned home. +These were rumours in which only a very few people interested +themselves; society has too much to do to take account of the +proceedings of its absent members; and after two years had elapsed +Laurence Alsager's name was almost forgotten, when, on a dull January +morning, two letters from him arrived in Loudon,--one addressed to the +steward of the Maecenas ordering a good dinner for two for the next +Saturday night at six; the other to the Honourable George Bertram of +the Foreign Office, requesting that distinguished public servant to +meet his old friend L. A. at the Maecenas, dine with him, and go with +him afterwards to the Parthenium Theatre, where a new piece was +announced. + +Honest Mr. Turquand, the club steward, by nature a reticent man, and +one immersed in perpetual calculation as to ways and means, gave his +orders to the cook, but said never a word to any one else as to the +contents of his letter. George Bertram, known among his colleagues at +the Foreign Office as "Blab Bertram," from the fact that he never +spoke to anybody unless spoken to, and even then seldom answered, was +equally silent; so that Colonel Alsager's arrival at the Maecenas was +thoroughly unexpected by the members. The trimly-shaved old gentlemen +at the various tables stared with wonder, not unmixed with horror, at +the long black beard which Alsager had grown during his absence. They +thought he was some stranger who had entered the sacred precincts by +mistake; some even had a horrible suspicion that it might be a +newly-elected man, whose beard had never been mentioned to the +committee; and it was not until they heard Laurence's clear ringing +voice, and saw his eye light up with the old fire, that they +recognized their long-absent friend. Then they crowded round him, and +wanted to hear all his two-years' adventures and wanderings told in a +breath; but he laughingly shook them off, promising full particulars +at a later period; and went over to a small corner-table, which he had +been accustomed to select before he went away, and which Mr. Turquand +had retained for him, where he was shortly joined by George Bertram. + +It is probable that no man on earth had a greater love for another +than had George Bertram for Laurence Alsager. When he saw his old +friend seated at the table, his heart leapt within him, and a great +knot rose in his throat; but he was a thorough Englishman, so he +mastered his feelings, and, as he gripped Laurence's outstretched +hand, merely said, "How do?" + +"My dear old George," said Laurence heartily, "what an age since we +met! How splendidly well you seem to be! A little stouter, perhaps, +but not aged a day. Well, I've a thousand questions to ask, and a +thousand things to tell you. What the deuce are you staring at?" + +"Beard!" said Mr. Bertram, who had never taken his eyes off Laurence's +chin since he sat down opposite to him. + +"O, ah, yes!" said Laurence. "That's a relic of savage life which I +shall get rid of in a few days; but I didn't like to have him off +suddenly, on account of the change of climate. I suppose it shocks the +old gentlemen here; but I can't help it. Well, now, you've got oceans +of news to tell me. It's full a twelvemonth since I had letters from +England; not a line since I left Jerusalem; and--ah, by Jove! I've +never told you how I happened to come in such a hurry. It's horribly +absurd and ridiculous, you know; I hadn't the least idea of returning +for at least another year. But one sultry evening, far up the Nile, as +I was lying back in my kandjia,--boat, you know,--being towed up by +three naked chaps, pulling away like grim death, we met another +kandjia coming down. In it were two unmistakable Englishmen; fellows +in all-round collars and stiff wideawakes, with puggerees put on all +the wrong way. They were chattering to each other; and I thought, +under that burning sky and solemn stillness, and surrounded by all the +memorials of the past, they would probably be quoting Herodotus, or +Gardner Wilkinson, or, better than all, Eothen; but, just as they +passed me, what do you think I heard one of them say to the other? +'No, no, Jack,' said he, 'you're wrong there: it was Buckstone that +played Box!' He did, by Jove! Under the shadow of the Pyramids, and +close by the Sphinx, and the vocal Memnon, and Cheops and Cephrenes, +and all the rest of it, to hear of Buckstone and _Box and Cox!_ You +can't tell the singular effect it had on me. I began to feel an awful +longing for home; what the Germans call _Heimweh_ came upon me at +once. I longed to get back once more, and see the clubs and the +theatres, and all the old life, which I had fled from so willingly; +and I ordered the Arabs to turn the boat round and get me back to +Cairo as quickly as possible. When we got to Cairo, I went to +Shepherd's, and found the house full of a lot of cadets and fellows +going out; and one of them had a _Times_, and in it I saw the +announcement of the new piece at the Parthenium; and, I don't know +why,--I fixed upon that as a sort of date-mark, and I said, I'll be +back in England to see that first night;' and the next day I started +for Alexandria. And on board the P.-and-O. boat I made the +acquaintance of the post-office courier in charge of the Indian mail, +a very good fellow, who, when he found my anxiety to get on, took me +with him in his _fourgon_, brought me through from Marseilles to +Calais without an instant's delay; let me come on board the special +boat waiting for him, and landed me at London Bridge last night, +having got through my journey wonderfully. And I'm in time for the +first night at the Parthenium; and--now tell me all your news." + +"Blab" Bertram had been dreading the command, which he knew involved +his talking more in twenty minutes than he was in the habit of doing +in a month. He had been delighted to hear Laurence rattling on about +his own adventures, and fondly hoped that he should avoid any +revelations for that night at least. But the dread edict had been +issued, and George knew his friend too well not to obey. So he said +with a sigh, drawing out a small notebook, "Yes, I knew you'd be +naturally anxious to hear about people, and what had happened since +you've been away; and so, as I'm not much good at telling things, I +got Alick Geddes of our office--you know him, Lord M'Mull's +brother--to put down some notes, and I'll read them to you." + +"That'll do, George," said Laurence, laughing; "like the police, 'from +information you have received,' eh? Never mind, so long as I hear +it.--Mr. Turquand, they've not finished that bin of Thompson and +Crofts' 20 during my absence? No. Then bring us a bottle, please. +--And now, George, fire away!" + +For the purposes of this story it would be needless to recount all the +bits of scandal and chit-chat, interesting and amusing to those +acquainted with the various actors in the drama, but utterly vapid to +every one else, which the combined memories of Messrs. Alexander +Geddes and George Bertram, clerks in the Foreign Office, and gentlemen +going a great deal into all kinds of society, had furbished up and put +together for the delectation of Colonel Alsager. It was the old, old +story of London life, known to every one, and, _mutatis nominibus_, +narrated of so many people. Tom's marriage, Dick's divorce, and +Harry's going to the bad. Jack Considine left the service, and become +sheep-farmer in Australia. Little Tim Stratum, of the Treasury, son of +old Dr. Stratum the geologist, marrying that big Indian widow woman, +and becoming a heavy swell, with a house in Grosvenor Square. Ned +Walters dead,--fit of heart disease, or some infernal thing,--dead, by +Jove; and that pretty wife of his, and all those nice little children, +gone--God knows where! Lady Cecilia married? Oh, yes; and she and +Townshend get on very well, they say; but that Italian chap, Di +Varese, with the black beard and the tenor voice, always hanging about +the house. Gertrude Netherby rapidly becoming an old woman, thin as a +whipping-post, by George! and general notion of nose-and-chinniness. +Florence Sackville, as lovely and as jolly as ever, was asking after +you only last night. These and a hundred other little bits of gossip +about men in his old regiment, and women, reputable and disreputable, +formerly of his acquaintance, of turf matters and club scandals, +interspersed with such anecdotes, seasoned with _gros sel_, as +circulate when the ladies have left the dinner-table, did Laurence +Alsager listen to; and when George Bertram stopped speaking and shut +up his notebook, he found himself warmly complimented on his capital +budget of news by his recently-arrived friend. + +"You've done admirably, old fellow," said Laurence. "'Pon my oath I +don't think there's hardly any one we know that you haven't had +something pleasantly unpleasant to say about. Now," taking out his +watch, "we must be off to the theatre, and we've just time to smoke a +cigarette as we walk down there. You took the two stalls?" + +"Well--no," replied George Bertram, hesitating rather suspiciously; "I +only took one for you; I--I'm going-that is--I've got a seat in a +box." + +"George, you old vagabond, you don't mean to say you're going to +desert me the first night I come back?" + +"Well, I couldn't help it. You see I was engaged to go with these +people before you wrote; and--" + +"All right; what people are they?" + +"The Mitfords." + +"Mitfords? _Connais pas_." + +"Oh, yes; you know them fast enough; Oh, I forgot--all since you left; +only just happened." + +"Look here, George: I've had quite enough of the Sphinx during the +last six months, and I don't want any of the enigma business. _What_ +has only just happened?" + +"Mitford--and all that. You'll give me no peace till I tell you. You +recollect Mitford? with us at Oxford--Brasenose man, not Christ +Church." + +"Mitford, Mitford! Oh, I recollect; big, fair man, goodish-looking. +His father failed and smashed up; didn't he? and our man went into a +line regiment. Oh, by Jove, yes! and came to grief about mistaking +somebody else's name for his own, and backing a bill with it; didn't +he? at Canterbury, or somewhere where he was quartered?" + +"Same man. Had to leave service, and came to awful grief. Ran away, +and nothing heard of him. His uncle, Sir Percy, and two little boys +drowned off Malta, and title came to our man. Couldn't find him +anywhere; at last some Jew lawyer was employed, put detectives on, and +hunted up Mitford, nearly starved, in some public in Wapping, or +somewhere in the East-end. When he heard what a swell he'd become, he +had a fit, and they thought he'd die. But he's been all square ever +since; acted like a gentleman; went down to the place in Devonshire +where his people lived before the smash; married the clergyman's +daughter to whom he had been engaged in the old days; and they've just +come up to town for the winter." + +"Married the clergyman's daughter to whom he had been engaged in the +old days, eh? George Bertram, I saw a blush mantle on your ingenuous +cheek, sir, when you alluded to the lady. What is she like?" + +"Stuff, Laurence! you did nothing of the kind. Lady Mitford is a very +delightful woman." + +"_Caramba_, Master George! If I were Sir Mitford, and heard you speak +of my lady in that earnest manner, I should keep a sharp eye upon you. +So you've not improved in that respect." + +George Bertram, whose _amourettes_ were of the most innocent +description, but to accuse whom of the wildest profligacy was a +favourite joke with his friends, deeper than ever, and only uttered an +indignant "Too bad, too bad!" + +"Come along, sir," said Laurence: "I'll sit in the silent solitude of +the stalls while you are basking in beauty in a box." + +"But you'll come up and be introduced, Laurence?" + +"Not I. thank you; I'll leave the field clear for you." + +"But Sir Charles Mitford would be so glad to renew his old +acquaintance with you." + +"Would he? Then Sir Charles Mitford must reserve that delight for +another occasion. I shall be here after the play, and we can have a +further talk if you can descend to mundane matters after your +felicity. Now come along." And they strolled out together. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +AT THE PARTHENIUM. + + +The Parthenium Theatre at the time I write of was a thing by itself. +Since then there have been a score of imitations of it, none of them +coming up to the great original, but sufficiently like to have dimmed +the halo surrounding the first attempt, and to have left the British +public undecided as to whom belonged the laurels due to those who +first attempted to transform a wretched, dirty, hot building into an +elegant, well-ventilated, comfortable _salon_. It was at the +Parthenium that stalls were first introduced. Up to that time they had +been only known at the Opera; and it was the triumph of the true +British playgoer,--the man who had seen Jack Bannister, sir, and +Munden and Dowton, and all those true performers who have never had +any successor, sir,--that he always sat in the front row of the pit, +the only place in the house whence the performance could be properly +seen. When Mr. Frank Likely undertook the lesseeship of the +Parthenium, he thought he saw his way to a very excellent improvement +founded on this basis. He hated the true British playgoer with all his +heart. In the style of entertainment about to be produced at the +Parthenium, he had not the smallest intention of pandering to, or even +propitiating, the great historic character; but he had perfect +readiness to see that the space immediately behind the orchestra was +the most valuable in the theatre; and so he set carpenters at once to +work, and uprooted the hard black deal pit-benches, and erected in +their stead rows of delicious _fauteuils_ in crimson velvet, broad +soft padded-backed lounges with seats which turned upon hinges, and +left a space underneath for your hat and coat; charming nests where +you could loll at your ease, and see and hear to perfection. The true +British playgoer was thus relegated to a dark and dismal space +underneath the dress-circle, where he could see little save the +parting of the back-hair of the swells in the stalls, and the legs, +from the knee downward, and feet of the people on the stage; where the +ceiling seemed momentarily descending on him, as on the prisoner +in the story of the "Iron Shroud;" and where the knees of the +orange-sellers dug him in the back, while their baskets banged him in +front. It is needless to say that on the Saturday after the opening of +the Parthenium under the new regime, the columns of the _Curtain_, the +_Thespian Waggoner_, and the _Scourge_ were found brimming over with +stinging letters from the true British playgoer, all complaining of +his treatment, and all commencing, "By what right, sir, I should like +to know." But Mr. Frank Likely cared little enough for this, or for +anything else indeed, so long as he could keep up his villa at +Roehampton, have his Sunday parties, let his wife dress like a +duchess, have two or three carriages, and never be compelled to pay +anybody anything. Not to pay was a perfect mania with him. Not that he +had not the money. Mr. Humphreys, the treasurer, used to come round +about half-past ten with bags of gold and silver, which were duly +deposited in Mr. Likely's dressing-room, and thence transferred to his +carriage by his dresser, a man whose pound-a-week wages had been due +for a month; but if ever he were to ask for a settlement Mr. Likely +would look at him with a comic surprise, give a short laugh, say, +"He, he! you don't mean it, Evans; I haven't a fourpenny-piece;" and +step into the brougham to be bowled away through the summer night to +lamb-cutlets and peas and Sillery Mousseux at the Rochampton villa, +with a prime cigar on the lawn or under the conservatory afterwards. +He took the money, though he never paid any one, and no one knew what +became of it; but when he went through the Court the Commissioner +complimented him publicly, as he gave him his certificate, and told +him in his private room that he, the Commissioner, had experienced +such pleasure from Mr. and Mrs. Likely's charming talent, that he, the +Commissioner, was really glad it lay in his power to make him, Mr. +Likely, some little return. + +It is, however, only in his position as lessee of the Parthenium +Theatre that we have to do with Mr. Frank Likely, and therein he +certainly was admirable. A man of common-sense and education, he saw +plainly enough that if he wished to amuse the public, he must show +them something with which they were perfectly familiar. They yawned +over the rage of Lear, and slept through Belvidera's recital of her +woes; the mere fact of Captain Absolute's wearing powder and breeches +precluded their taking any interest in his love affairs; but as soon +as they were shown people such as they were accustomed to see, doing +things which they themselves were accustomed to do, ordinarily +dressed, and moving amongst ordinary surroundings, they were +delighted, and flocked in crowds to the Parthenium. Mr. Likely gave +such an entertainment as suited the taste of his special visitors. The +performances commenced at eight with some trifle, during the acting of +which the box-doors were perpetually banging, and early visitors to +the stalls were carefully stamped upon and ground against by the +club-diners steadily pushing their way to their seats. The piece of +the evening commenced about nine and lasted till half-past ten; and +then there came forty minutes of a brilliant burlesque, with crowds of +pretty coryphées, volleys of rattling puns and parodies, crackling +allusions to popular topics, and resplendent scenery by Mr. +Coverflats, the great scenic artist of the day. When it is recollected +that though only two or three of the actors were really first-rate, +yet that all were far above the average, being dressed under Mr. +Likely's eye, and taught every atom of their "business;" that the +theatre was thoroughly elegant, and unlike any other London house in +its light-blue-and-gold decorations and airy muslin curtains, and that +its _foyer_ and lobbies were happy meeting-grounds for wits and men of +fashion,-no wonder that "first-nights" at the Parthenium were looked +forward to with special delight. + +On the occasion on which Colonel Alsager and Mr. Bertram were about to +be present, a more than ordinary amount of curiosity prevailed. For +some weeks it had been vaguely rumoured that the new comedy, _Tried in +the Furnace_, about to be produced, was written by Spofforth, that +marvellous fellow who combined the author with the man of fashion, who +was seen everywhere, at the Premieress's receptions, at the first +clubs, always associating with the best people, and who flavoured his +novels and his plays in the most piquante manner with reproductions of +characters and stories well known in the London world. It was rumoured +that in _Tried in the Furnace_ the plot strongly resembled the details +of a great scandal in high life, which had formed the _plat de +résistance_ of the gossips of the previous season; and it was also +said that the hero, an officer in the Guards, would be played by Dacre +Pontifex, who at that time had turned all women's heads who went +regularly into society, and who, to a handsome face and figure and a +thoroughly gentlemanly bearing, seemed to add great natural histrionic +genius. + +All these reports, duly set afloat in the various theatrical journals, +and amongst the particular people who think and talk of nothing else +but the drama and its professors,--a set permeating every class of +society,--had whetted the public appetite to an unparalleled amount of +keenness; and long before its representation, all the retainable +stalls, boxes, and seats generally, for the first night of _Tried in, +the Furnace_ had been secured. The gallery-people were certain to come +in, because Mugger, the low comedian, had an exceedingly humorous +part, and the gallery worshipped Mugger; and the diminished area of +the pit would probably be thronged, as it had been whispered in the +columns of the _Scourge_ that the new play was reported to contain +several hits at the aristocracy, invariably a sure "draw" with the +pittites. It was only of the upper boxes that the manager felt +doubtful; and for this region he accordingly sent out several +sheaves of orders, which were duly presented on the night by wild +weird-looking women, with singular head-dresses of scraps of lace and +shells, dresses neither high nor low, grimy gloves too long in the +fingers, and bonnets to be left with the custodian. + +It was a great night; there could be no doubt of that; Humphreys had +said so, and when Humphreys so far committed himself, he was generally +right. Humphreys was Mr. Likely's treasurer, confidential man, +factotum. He stood at the front of the theatre to receive the +important people,--notably the press,--to settle discord, to hint what +was the real strength of the forthcoming piece, to beg a little +indulgence for Miss Satterthwaite's hoarseness, or for the last scene +of the second act, which poor Coverflats, worn off his legs, had +scarcely had time to finish. He knew exactly to whom to bow, with whom +to shake hands. He knew exactly where to plant the different +representatives of the press, keeping up a proper graduation, yet +never permitting any critic to think that he was not sufficiently +honoured. He knew when to start the applause, when to hush the house +into silence. Better than all, he knew where to take Mr. Likely's +acceptances to get them discounted; kept an account of the dates, and +paid the renewal fees out of the previous night's receipts. An +invaluable man Humphreys; a really wonderful fellow! + +When Laurence Alsager flung away the end of his cigarette under the +Parthenium portico, and strolled leisurely into the house, he found +Humphreys standing in exactly the same position in which he had last +seen him two years since; and he almost quailed as, delivering up his +ticket, he returned the treasurer's bow, and thanked him for his +welcome. "Glad to see you back, Colonel. Something worth showing to +you to-night!" and then Laurence laughed outright. He had been away +for two years; he had seen the Sphinx and the Pyramids, and all the +wonders of the East, to say nothing of the European continent; and +here was a man congratulating himself that in a three-act tinpot play +they had something worthy of his observation. So he nodded and +laughed, and passed on into the theatre. Well, if there were no change +in Humphreys, there was little enough in any one else. There they +were, all the old set: half-a-dozen newspaper critics dotted over the +front rows of the stalls; two or three attached to the more important +journals in private boxes; celebrated author surrounded by his family +in private box; other celebrated author scowling by himself in +orchestra stall; two celebrated artists who always came to +first-nights amusing themselves by talking about art before the +curtain goes up; fat man with vulgar wife with wreath of roses in her +head,--alderman, wholesale stationer, said to be Mr. Frank Likely's +backer, in best stage-box; opposite stage-box being reserved by Jewish +old party, landlord of the theatre, and now occupied by the same, +asleep and choking. Lady Ospringe of course, with (equally of course) +the latest lion of the day by her side--on this occasion a very little +man, with long fair hair, who, as Laurence afterwards learned, had +written a poem all about blood and slaughter. The Duke and Duchess of +Tantallan, who are mad about private theatricals, who have turned the +old northern feudal castle into an uncomfortable theatre, and whose +most constant guests are little Hyams (the costumier) and Jubber +('heavy old man') of the Cracksideum Theatre, who 'gets up' the duke's +plays. Sir Gerald Spoonbill and Lord Otho Faulconbridge, jolly old +boys, flushed with hastily-eaten dinner at Foodle's, but delighting in +the drama; the latter especially having inherited taste for it, his +mother having been--well, you know all about that. That white +waistcoat which glistens in the stalls could belong to no one but Mr. +Marshall Moss, next to whom sit on either side Mr. Gompertz, the +stockjobber, and Mr. Sergeant Orson, the last-named having entertained +the other gentlemen at a very snug little dinner at the Haresfoot +Club. Nor was pipe-clay wanting. The story of the plot, the intended +character to be assumed by Mr. Pontifex, had been talked over at +Woolwich, at Brompton,--where the sucking Indian heroes, men whose +names long afterwards were household words during the Mutiny +campaigns, were learning soldiering,--at the Senior and the Junior, +and at the Rag, the members of which, awaiting the completion of their +present palatial residence, then occupied a modest tenement in St. +James's Square. There was a boxful of Plungers, big, solemn, heavy +men, with huge curling moustaches, conspicuous among whom were Algy +Forrester and Cis Hetherington of the Blues; Markham Bowers of the +Life Guards, who shot the militia-surgeon behind the windmill at +Wimbledon; and Dick Edie of the 4th Dragoon Guards--Dick Edie, the +solicitor's son, who afterwards ran away with Lady Florence Ormolu, +third daughter of the house of Porphyry; and on being reconciled and +introduced to whom on a future occasion, the Dowager Countess of +Porphyry was good enough to make the remark that she "had no idea the +lower orders were so clean." + +Where are ye now, lustrous counts, envied dandies of that bygone time? +Algy Forrester, thirty-four inches round the girth, has a son at +Oxford, breeds fat sheep, and is only seen in London at cattle-show +time. Cis Hetherington, duly heralded at every outlawry proclamation, +lies _perdu_ in some one of the barren islands forming the Hebrides +cluster. Markham Bowers fell in the Balaklava charge, pierced through +and through by Cossack spearmen; and Major-general Richard Edie, M.P., +is the chief adviser and the trusted agent of his mother-in-law, the +Dowager Countess of Porphyry. In the next box, hiding behind the +muslin curtains, and endeavouring to hide her convulsions of laughter +behind her fan, sat little Pauline Désirée, _première danseuse_ at the +Opera Comique, with Harry Lindon of the Coldstreams, and Prothero of +the Foreign Office, and Tom Hodgson the comic writer; none of them one +atom changed, all of them wonder-struck at the man in the big beard, +all of them delighted at suddenly recognizing in him an old friend, +not much thought of perhaps during his absence, as is the way of the +world, but certainly to be welcomed now that he was once more among +them. + +Not one atom changed; all of them just the same. What were his two +years of absence, his wanderings in burning solitudes, or amongst +nomadic tribes? His sudden rushing away had been undertaken with a +purpose; and whether that purpose had been fulfilled was known to +himself alone. He rather thought it had, as, without an extra +heart-beat, he looked into a box on the pit-tier, and his grave face +flashed into a sardonic grin as his eyes lit on the bald forehead +and plaited shirt-frill of an elderly gentleman, instead of the +light-chestnut bands and brilliant bust which once reigned dominant +there on every "first night." But all the others were just the same; +even the people he did not know were exactly like those whom he had +left, and precisely answered to those whom he should have expected to +find there. No, not all. The door of a box on the grand tier next the +dress-circle opened with a clang, and a lady whom he had never seen +before, coming to the front, settled herself opposite the corner in +the stage. The noise of the door attracted the attention of the house; +and Ventus, then playing his celebrated cornet-solo in the overture, +cursed the interruption; a whisper ran round the stalls; the arrival +was telegraphed to the Guards' box: this must be some star that had +risen on the horizon since Laurence's absence. Ah, there is Blab +Bertram at the back of the box! This, then, must be Lady Mitford! + +She was apparently about twenty, and, so far as could be judged from +her sitting position, tall and slight. Her complexion was red and +white, beautifully clear,--the white transparent, the red +scarlet,--and her features regular; small forehead, straight Grecian +nose, very short upper-lip, and mouth small, with lips rather thin +than pouting. Her dark-brown hair (fortunately at that time it was not +considered necessary for beauty to have a red head), taken off behind +the ears in two tight bands, showed the exquisite shape of her head, +which was very small, and admirably fitted on the neck, the only fault +of which was its excess in length. She was dressed entirely in white, +with a green necklace, and a tiny wreath of green ivy-leaves was +intertwined among the braids into which her hair was fastened at the +back of her head. She took her seat gracefully, but looked round, as +Laurence noticed, with a certain air of strangeness, as though +unaccustomed to such scenes; then immediately turned her eyes, not on +the other occupants of the theatre, not on the stage, nor on George +Bertram, who, after some apparent demur, took the front seat opposite +to her, but towards a tall man, who relieved her of her cloak, and +handed her a fan, and in whom Alsager recognized the Charles Mitford +of his Oxford days. A good realization of Tennyson's Sir Walter +Vivian,-- + + + "No little lily-handed baronet he; + A stout broad-shouldered genial Englishman,"-- + + +was Sir Charles Mitford, with strongly-marked, well-cut features, +bright blue eyes, curling reddish-brown hair, large light breezy +whiskers, and a large mouth gleaming with sound white teeth. The sort +of man who, you could tell at a glance, would have a very loud hearty +laugh, would grip your hand until your fingers ached, would be rather +awkward in a room, but who would never flinch across country, and +never grow tired among the turnips or over the stubble. An +unmistakable gentleman, but one to whom a shooting-coat and gaiters +would be more becoming than the evening-dress be then wore, and who +evidently felt the moral and physical restraint of his white choker, +from the way in which he occasionally tugged at that evidence of +civilization. Shortly after they had settled themselves, the curtain +went up, and all eyes were turned to the stage; but Laurence noticed +that Lady Mitford was seated so as to partly lean against her husband, +while his left hand, resting on her chair-back, occasionally touched +the braids of her hair. George Bertram seemed to be entirely +overlooked by his companions, and was able to enjoy his negative +pleasure of holding his tongue to the fullest extent. + +They were right who had said that Spofforth had put forth all his +power in the new piece, and had been even more than usually personal. +The characters represented were, an old peer, wigged, rouged, and +snuff-box bearing, one of those wonderful creations which have never +been seen on the English stage since Farren left it; his young wife, a +dashing countess, more frequently in a riding-habit than anything +else, with a light jewel-handled whip, with which she cut her male +friends over the shoulders or poked them in the ribs,--as is, we know, +the way of countesses in real life; a dashing young cavalry-officer +very much smitten with the countess, excellently played by Dacre +Pontifex, who admirably contrived to do two things at the same +time--to satisfy the swells by his representation of one of their +class,--"Doosid good thing; not like usual dam cawickachaw," they +said,--and simultaneously to use certain words, phrases, and tones, to +fall into certain attitudes and use certain gestures, all of which +were considered by the pittites as a mockery of the aristocracy, and +were delighted in accordingly. It being an established fact that no +play at the Parthenium could go down without Mugger the low comedian, +and there being in the "scandal in high life," which Spofforth had +taken for his plot, no possible character which Mugger could have +portrayed, people were wondering what would be done for him. The +distribution of the other characters had been apparent to all ever +since it was known that Spofforth had the story in hand: of course +Farren would be the marquis, and Miss Amabel the marchioness +(Spofforth had lowered his characters one step in rank, and removed +the captain from the Guards to the cavalry--a great stroke of genius), +and Pontifex the military lover. But what could be done for Mugger? +The only other character in the real story, the man by whom the +intrigue was found out, and all the mischief accidentally caused, was +a simple old clergyman, vicar of the parish close by my lord's country +estate, and of course they could not have introduced a clergyman on to +the stage, even if Mugger could have played the part. This was a +poser. At first Mugger proposed that the clergyman should be turned +into a Quaker, when he could appear in broad-brim and drab, call +everybody "thee," and snuffle through his nose; but this was +overruled. At last Spofforth hit upon a happy idea: the simple old +clergyman should be turned into a garrulous mischief-making physician; +and when Mugger appeared at the back of the stage, wonderfully "made +up" in a fluffy white hat, and a large shirt-frill protruding from his +waistcoat, exactly like a celebrated London doctor of the day, whose +appearance was familiar to all, the shouts of delight rose from every +part of the house. This, with one exception, was the hit of the +evening; the exception was when the captain, in a letter to his +beloved, writes, "Fly, fly with me! These arms once locked round you, +no blacksmith shall break them asunder." Now this was an expression +which had actually been used by the lover in the "scandal in high +life," and had been made immense fun of by the counsel in the trial +which ensued, and by the Sunday newspapers in commenting on that +trial. When, therefore, the phrase was spoken by Pontifex in his most +telling manner, it created first a thrill of astonishment at the +author's daring, then a titter, then a tremendous roar of laughter and +applause. Mr. Frank Likely, who was standing at the wing when he heard +this, nodded comfortably at Spofforth, who was in the opposite +stage-box anxiously watching the effect of every line; and the latter +shut up his glass, like the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, and felt +that the battle was won. "It was touch-and-go, my boy," Likely said to +the author afterwards; "one single hitch in that speech, and the whole +thing would have been goosed off the stage." + +There were, however, a few people in the theatre who were not so +intensely delighted with Mr. Spofforth's ingenuity and boldness. +Laurence Alsager, whose absence from England had prevented his hearing +the original story, thought the whole play dreary enough, though he +appreciated the art of Pontifex and the buffoonery of Mugger; but the +great roar of delight caught him in the middle of a yawn, and he +looked round with astonishment to see how a very silly phrase could +occasion such an amount of laughter. Glancing round the house, his +eyes fell upon Lady Mitford, and he saw that her cheeks were flushed, +her looks downcast, and her lips compressed. She had been in the +greatest wonderment, poor child, during the whole of the piece: the +manners of the people represented were to her as strange as those of +the Ashantees; she heard her own language and did not understand it; +she saw men and women, apparently intended to be of her own nation and +station, conducting themselves towards each other in a manner she had +never heard of, much less seen; she fancied there had been a laxity of +speech and morals pervading the play, but she only knew it when the +roar of welcome to Mr. Pontifex's hint about the blacksmith fell upon +her ear. She had never heard the origin of the phrase, but her natural +instinct told her it was coarse and gross; she knew it from the manner +in which her husband, unable to restrain a loud guffaw, ended with +"Too bad, too bad, by Jove!" She knew it by the manner in which Mr. +Bertram studiously turned his face away from her to the stage; from +the manner in which the ladies all round endeavoured to hide their +laughter behind their fans, oblivious of the betrayal afforded by +their shaking shoulders; she knew it from the look of intense disgust +in the face of that curious-looking bearded man in the stalls, whose +glances her eyes met as she looked down. + +Yes, Laurence Alsager was as thoroughly disgusted as he looked, and +that was saving much; for he had the power of throwing great +savageness of expression into his bright eyes and thin lips. Here had +a sudden home-sickness, an indescribable longing, come upon him, +and he had hurried back after two years' absence; and now within +half-a-dozen hours of his arrival he had sickened at the change. He +hated the theatre, and the grinning fools who laughed at the immodest +rubbish, and the grinning fools who uttered it; he hated the +conventionality of dress and living; he could not stand going in with +a regular ruck of people again, and having to conform to all their +ways. He would cut it at once; go down to Knockholt to-morrow, and +stay a couple of days with Sir Peregrine just to see the old governor, +and then be off again to South America, to do prairies and bisons and +that sort of thing. + +As he made this resolution, the curtain fell amidst a storm of +applause, and rose again to show the actors in a row, bowing +delightedly with their hands on their waistcoats; Spofforth "bowed his +acknowledgments from a private box," and kissed his hand to Alsager, +who returned the salute with a very curt nod, then rose and left the +theatre. In the lobby he met the Mitford party, and was quietly +slipping by when Sir Charles, after whispering to Bertram, touched his +shoulder, saying, "Colonel Alsager, let me renew our old +acquaintance." There was no escape from this big man's cheery +manner and outstretched hand, so Laurence, after an instant's +admirably-feigned forgetfulness, returned the grasp, saying, "Ah, +Mitford, I think? of Brasenose in the old days?" + +"Yes, yes, to be sure! All sorts of things happened since then, you +know." + +"O yes, of course; though I've only been in England six hours, I've +heard of your luck and the baronetcy. George Bertram here is such a +terrific talker, he couldn't rest until he had told me all the news." + +This set Sir Charles Mitford off into one of his great roars again, at +the finish of which he said, "Let me introduce you to my wife; she's +just here with Bertram.--Here, Georgie darling, this is Colonel +Alsager, an old acquaintance of mine." + +Of any one else Mitford would have said "an old friend;" but as he +spoke he glanced at Laurence's stern, grave expression, and changed +the word. Perhaps the same feeling influenced Lady Mitford, as her bow +was constrained, and her spirits, already depressed by the +performance, were by no means raised by the introduction to this +sombre stranger. + +Sir Charles tried to rally. "Hope we shall see something of you, +Alsager, now you're back. You'll find us in Eaton Place, and--" + +"You're very good; but I shall leave town to-morrow, and probably +England next week." + +Probably no man had ever been more astonished than was George Bertram +as he stood by and heard this; but, true to his creed, he said never a +word. + +"Leave England!" said Sir Charles. "Why, you've only just come back. +You're only just--All right; we're coming!" This last in answer to +roars of "Lady Mitford's carriage!" surging up the stairs. "Thank you +if you'll give my wife your arm." + +Lady Mitford accepted this courtesy very frigidly, just touching +Laurence's arm with the tips of her fingers. After she had entered the +brougham, Alsager stood back for Sir Charles to follow; but the latter +shut the door, saying, "Goodnight, Georgie dear; I shan't be late." + +"Oh, Charley, are you not coming with me?" she said. + +"No, dear, not just yet. Don't put on such a frightened face, Georgie, +or Colonel Alsager will think I'm a perfect Blue-beard. I'm going to +sup with Bligh and Winton; to be introduced to that fellow who acted +so well,--Pontifex, you know. Shan't be late, dear.--Home, Daniell's." + +And as the carriage drove off, Sir Charles Mitford, forgetting to +finish his civil speeches to Laurence, shook hands with him and +Bertram, and wishing them goodnight, walked off with his companions. + +"Chaff or earnest," said Mr. Bertram, when they were left alone, +"going away again?" + +"I don't know yet; I can't tell; I've half a mind to--How horribly +disappointed that little woman looked when that lout said he was going +out to supper! He is a lout, your friend, George." + +"Cubbish; don't know things yet; wants training," jerked out Mr. +Bertram. + +"Wants training, does he? He'll get it soon enough if be consorts much +with Bligh and Winton, and that set. They'll sharpen him." + +"Like Lady Mitford?" said Bertram, interrogatively. + +"I think not; I don't know. She seems a little rustic and missish at +present. Let's come to the Club; I want a smoke." + +But as they walked along, Laurence wrung some further particulars +about Lady Mitford from his friend; and as they ascended the +club-steps, he said, "I don't think, if I had a pretty wife like that, +I should leave her for the sake of passing my evening with Winton and +Bligh, or even of being introduced to Mr. Pontifex. Would you, +George?" + +"Can't say. Never had one," was Mr. Bertram's succinct reply. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +IN THE SMOKING-ROOM. + + +Among the advantages upon which I have not sufficiently dilated, the +Maecenas Club had a smoking-room, of which the members were justly +proud. Great improvements have been lately made; but in those days the +smoking-room was a novel ingredient in club-comfort, and its necessity +was not sufficiently recognized. Old gentlemen, generally predominant +in clubs, were violently opposed to tobacco, save in the shape of the +club snuff; regarded smoking as a sure sign of dissipation, if not of +entirely perverted morality, and combined together in committee and +out of committee to worry, harass, and annoy the devotees of the +cigar. Consequently these last were in most clubs relegated to a big +gaunt room at the top of the house, which had palpably been formed by +the removal of the partition between two servants' attics, a room +with bare walls, an oil-cloth-covered floor, like a hair-dresser's +cutting-room, a few imitation-marble-topped tables, some windsor +chairs, and a slippery black-leather ottoman stuck against the wall. +Thither, to that tremendous height, the waiter, humorously supposed to +be devoted to the room, seldom penetrated; and you sat and smoked your +cigar, and sipped your gin-and-seltzer when you were lucky enough to +get it, and watched your neighbour looming through a fog of his own +manufacture in solemn silence. It required a bold man to penetrate to +such howling wildernesses as the smoking-rooms of the Retrenchment, +the True Blue, and the No Surrender in those days; nor were they much +better off at the Rag, save in summer, when they rigged up a tent in +the back-yard, and held their _tabagie_ under canvas. At the Minerva +they had no smoking-room; the bishops, and other old women in power +there, distinctly refusing to sanction a place for any such orgies. +But at the Maecenas the smoking-room was _the_ room in the house. None +of your attics or cock-lofts, none of your stair-climbing, to get into +a bare garret at the end of your toil. At the Maecenas you went +straight through the hall, past all the busts of the eminent +gentlemen, through a well-lit stone passage, where, if you were lucky, +you might see, in a little room on the right, honest Mr. Turquand the +steward brewing a jorum of that gin-punch for which the Club was so +renowned; past the housekeeper's room, where Mrs. Norris sat +breast-high in clean table-linen, and surrounded by garlands of lemons +and groves of spices; past the big refrigerator, into which Tom +Custance threatened to dip little Captain Rodney one night, when that +peppery light-weight had had too much of the Club claret; and then, +built over what should have been the garden, you found the pride of +the little M. A big square room, lit by a skylight in summer, or +sun-burner in winter, with so much wall paper as could be seen of a +light-green colour, but with the walls nearly covered with sketches in +oil, crayon, and water-colour, contributed by members of the Club. +From mantel-shelf to ceiling had been covered by Gilks, in distemper, +with "Against Wind and Tide"--a lovely bit of seascape, to look at +which kept you cool on the hottest night; opposite hung Sandy +Clobber's hot staring "Sphinx and Pyramids;" Jack Long's crayon +caricature of "King Jamie inditing the Counterblast" faced a charming +sketch of a charming actress by Acton, R.A.; and there were a score of +other gems of art. Such cosy chairs and luxurious lounges; such +ventilation, watched over specially by Fairfax, the oldest and perhaps +the jolliest member of the Club; such prime cigars and glorious +drinks, and pungent anecdote and cheerful conversation, were to be had +nowhere else. + +The room was full when Laurence and Bertram entered, and the former +was immediately received with what dramatic critics call "an ovation;" +that is, the men generally shook hands with him, and expressed +themselves glad to see him back. + +"And I see by your dress that you've no sooner arrived than you've +plunged into the vortex of society, Colonel," said old Fairfax from +his post of honour in the chimney-corner. + +"Not I, Mr. Fairfax," replied Laurence, laughing; "I've only been to +the play." + +"What! not to Spofforth's,-not to the Parthenium?" + +"Why not? is there any harm? is it a riddle? what is it? Let me know at +once, because, whatever it is, I've been there." + +"No, no; only there's been a difference of opinion about the new +piece. Billy Gomon thinks it capital, and gave us a flaming account of +it; but since then Captain Hetherington has come in and spoken very +strongly against it. Now, Colonel, you can act as umpire between these +two referees." + +"Not at all, not at all," said Mr. Gomon, a mild baldheaded little +gentleman who did Boswell to Spofforth, and was rewarded for +perpetually blowing his idol's trumpet by opera-ivories and +first-night private boxes, and occasional dinners with pleasant +theatrical people. "I merely said that there was--ah, an +originality,--a cleverness,--and--a--above all a gentlemanly tone in +the piece such as you never find in any one's writings but +Spofforth's." + +Most of the men sitting round laughed heartily as Billy Gomon uttered +his sentiments in the mildest, most deprecatory manner, and with the +pleasantest smile. + +"Well, that's not bad to begin with; and now, Cis, what have you got +to say?" + +A big man, half sitting, half lolling on an ottoman at the other side +of the room, wholly occupied in smoking a very large cigar, staring at +the ceiling and pulling his long tawny moustaches, looked up at the +mention of his name and said: + +"Well, look here, Alsager I'm not clever, and all that sort of thing, +you know; I'm not particularly sweet on my own opinion; of course, +being a Plunger, I can't spell or write, or pronounce my _r_'s +'cordin' to _Punch_ and the other funny dogs, and so I've no doubt +Billy Gomon's right; and it's doosid clever of Mr. Spofforth, a +gentleman whose acquaintance I've not the pleasure of possessing--and +don't want, by Jove, that's more!-doosid clever of Mr. Spofforth to +rake up a dunghill story out of the newspapers when it had been +forgotten, and to put the unfortunate devils who were concerned in it +on to the stage, and bring back all the old scandal. I've no doubt +it's doosid clever; and I'm sure it's a very gentlemanly thing of Mr. +Spofforth to do; so gentlemanly that, if any of my people had been +mixed up in it, I'd have tried the strength of my hunting-crop over +Mr. Spofforth's shoulders!" And having concluded, Cis Hetherington +leant back lazily, and resumed his contemplation of the ceiling. + +There was a pause for a moment, and then Bertram said: + +"Quite right, Hetherington; horrible piece, dreary and dirty. D--d +unpleasant to think that one can't go to the theatre with a modest +woman without having innuendoes and _doubles entendres_ thrown at +you." + +"By Jove, a second edition of the miraculous gift of tongues!" said a +man seated on Laurence's right. "I never heard the Blab so charmingly +eloquent. You were with him at the theatre, Alsager; who was the lady +whom he so deliciously described as a 'modest woman' that he +escorted?" The speaker was Lord Dollamore, a man of good abilities and +position, but a confirmed Sybarite and a renowned _roué_. + +"Bertram escorted no one; he merely had a seat in a box with Lady +Mitford and her husband," said Laurence coldly. He hated Lord +Dollamore. As he himself said, he "didn't go in to be strait-laced; +but Dollamore was a cold-blooded ruffian about women, and, worse +still, a boaster." + +"Ah, with Lady Mitford!" said Lord Dollamore, slowly expelling a +mouthful of smoke; "I have the pleasure of her acquaintance. She's +very nice, Alsager!" + +There was a succulence in the tone in which these last words were +spoken that sounded unpleasantly on Laurence's ear; so he said +shortly, "I saw Lady Mitford for the first time to-night." + +"Oh, she's very nice; a little too classical and statuesque and +Clite-like for my taste, which leans more to the _beauté-du-diable_ +order; but still Lady Mitford's charming. Poor little woman! she's +like the young bears, with all her troubles before her." + +"Her troubles won't be many, one would think," said Laurence, +who was growing irritated under his companion's half-patronizing, +half-familiar tone in speaking of Lady Mitford. + +"Won't they?" said Lord Dollamore, with another slow expulsion of +smoke; this time in the shape of rings, which he dexterously shot one +through the other. + +"I can't see how they should. She has beauty, wealth, and position; a +young husband who dotes on her,--Oh, you needn't grin; I saw him with +her in the box." + +"Yes, and I saw him without her, but with Bligh and Winton, the two +Clarks, who are _coryphées_ at Drury Lane, and Mdlle. Carambola from +the cirque at Leicester Square, turning in to supper at Dubourg's. +Now, then, what do you say to that?" + +"Nothing. Mitford told his wife he was going to supper with Bligh and +Winton. I heard him." + +"Very likely; but you didn't hear him mention the female element. No, +of course not." + +"Sir Charles Mitford being, I presume, a gentleman, that suggestion is +simply absurd." + +"Pardon me, my dear Colonel Alsager, I never make any suggestion that +can be called 'simply absurd.' The fact is, Alsager, that though I'm +only, I suppose, five or six years older than you, I've seen a deal +more of life." + +"Of which side of it?" + +"Well, the most interesting,--the worst, of course. While you've been +mounting guard and saluting colours, and teaching bullet-headed +recruits to form square, and all that kind of thing, I've been +studying human nature." + +"How delightful for human nature!" + +"That may or may not be," said Lord Dollamore calmly, and without the +smallest sign of irritation; "but this I know, that all boy-and-girl +marriages invariably come to grief. A man must have his fling some +time or other; if he does not have it before his marriage, he will +after. And between ourselves, Alsager, this Mitford is a devilish bad +egg. I've known of him all his life. He had a fast turn when he was a +mere boy, and didn't stick at trifles to raise money, as you may have +heard." + +"I know all about that; but--" + +"And do you think that, now that he has plenty of money and health and +position, he won't go in for that style of pleasure which he formerly +risked everything to obtain? Nonsense, my dear Alsager; _cela va sans +dire_. Lady Mitford will have to run the gauntlet of society, as do +most married women with loose husbands; and will certainly be more +successful than most of her competitors." + +Laurence put down his cigar, and looking steadily at his companion, +said, "I don't envy the man who could be blackguard enough to attempt +to throw a shadow on such a woman's life." + +"Don't you?" said Lord Dollamore, as steadily returning the glance; +"of course not." Then, in a somewhat lighter tone, he added, "By the +way, have you seen the Hammonds lately?" + +A flush, noticeable even through the red bronze, rose on Laurence's +cheeks; but before he could speak, a man who was sitting on the other +side of Lord Dollamore cut into the conversation by saying, "Oh, by +the way, there was a brother of Percy Hammond's dining here last week; +Prothero asked me to meet him. He's a sporting parson, and a +tremendous character. He told us he always knew when woodcock came in +by the lesson for the day." + +"I know him," said Cis Hetherington, who had lounged up and joined the +party; "Tom Hammond, a thundering big fellow. His vicarage, or +rectory, or whatever it is, is close by Dursley; and at the last +election Tom seconded my brother--Westonhanger, you know--for the +county. The Rads brought over a lot of roughs, navvies and fellows who +were working at the railway close by; and whenever Tom spoke these +fellows kept yelling out all sorts of blackguard language. Tom roared +to them to stop it; and when they wouldn't, he quietly let himself +drop over the front of the hustings, right into the middle of 'em. +He's a splendid bruiser, you know; and he let out--one two, one +two--right and left, and sent half-a-dozen of 'em flying like +skittles. Then he asked if any more was wanted, carefully settled his +clerical white choker, and went back to the hustings again." + +"He owed your brother a good turn after the way in which he astonished +your governor a year or two ago, Cis," said Lord Dollamore. + +"What was that? Did he pull the Duke up for coming late to the church, +or for not hunting the county? The last most likely, I should think." + +"Not at all. You all know what a tremendous swell Cis's brother, the +Duke, is,--you know it, Cis, as well as anybody,--wants all the +pavement to himself in St. James's Street, and finds the arch on +Constitution Hill not quite high enough for his head. Well, a year or +two ago Tom Hammond had a splendid roan horse which he used to drive +in a light Whitechapel to cover. The Duke saw this animal, and thought +it would make a splendid match for a roan of his; so he sent his +coachman over to Tom's little place to ask if he'd sell. Tom saw the +coachman, heard what he had to say, and then told him he never spoke +to grooms, except to give them orders; if the Duke wanted the horse, +he must come himself. I can't think what message the man can have +given to his master; but two days after, the Duke's phaeton pulled up +at the parsonage door, and the Duke himself bowed to Tom, who ran to +the window with his mouth full of lunch. Tom's account of the +interview was delicious. He imitates the Duke's haw-haw manner to +perfection,--you don't mind, Cis? He asked him in, and told him that +the Stilton was in prime cut; but the Duke declined, and said, I +understand you wish to sell your roan, Mr. Hammond.' 'Then your grace +understands a good deal more than I gave you credit for,' said Tom. +'Then you don't want to sell the horse? I want him particularly for a +match-horse.' 'No,' said Tom, 'I won't sell him. I'm a poor parson, +and I wouldn't take three hundred for him; but I'll tell you what I'll +do, your grace. I'm always open to a bit of sporting; and _I'll toss +your grace for the pair_; or, if that's not exciting enough, I'll get +my curate to come in--he's only next door--and we'll go the odd man, +the best of three. That's what I'll do.' Tom says he thought the Duke +would have had a fit. He never spoke a word, but drove straight away, +and has never looked at Tom since." + +After the laugh which this story raised had ceased, Lord Dollamore +said, "Did Tom say anything about his brother Percy the day he dined +here?" + +"O yes," said the man who had first spoken; "they're coming back at +once. Mrs. Hammond finds Florence disagrees with her." + +"Perhaps she'd find Laurence agree with her better," said Dollamore +_sotto voce_; then aloud, "Ah! and so of course poor Percy is to be +trotted back again. By Jove, how that woman rules him! She has only to +whistle, and he comes to her at once. I should like to see a woman try +that on me,--a woman that I was married to, I mean.--By the way, you +haven't seen Mrs. Hammond since her marriage, have you, Alsager?" + +"No; I left England just previously." + +"Ah! she's as pretty as ever, and infinitely more wicked--I beg your +pardon, though; I forgot we had turned purist since our Oriental +experience." + +"At all events we have learned one thing in our Oriental experience, +Lord Dollamore." + +"And that is--?" + +"To keep our temper and--hold our tongue. Goodnight." + +And as he said these words, Laurence Alsager rose from his seat and +left the room; Bertram had previously taken his departure; so that +Laurence walked off alone to his hotel, pondering on all he had seen +and heard. + +"So she's coming back," he said to himself as he strolled along; +"coming back to bring back to me, whenever I may happen to meet her, +all the sickening recollections of the old times, the heart-burnings, +the heart-breaking, to escape from which I rushed away two years ago. +She won the day then, and she'll be as insolent as she can be on the +strength of her victory now, though she knows well enough that I did +not shoot my best bolt then, but keep it in my quiver yet. It's +impossible to fight with a woman; they can descend to so many dodges +and meannesses where no man worthy of the name could follow them. No; +I'll seek safety in flight. I'll be off again as soon as I've seen the +governor; and then--And yet what a strange interest I seem to take in +that girl I saw to-night! Poor little child! I wonder if Dollamore's +right about her husband. Well, I'll wait a few days, and see what +turns up." + +While these thoughts were passing through Laurence Alsager's mind, Sir +Charles Mitford was leaning against the jambs of the door leading from +his dressing-room into his wife's bed-room. He had one boot off, and +was vainly endeavouring to discover the hole in the bootjack in which +to insert the other foot. The noise which he made in this operation +awoke Lady Mitford, who called out, "Oh, Charley, is that you?" + +"Course, my dear," said Sir Charles in a thick voice; "who should it +be this time o' night? not that it's late, though," he said, +correcting himself after a moment's reflection; then looking vacantly +at her, added in a high-falsetto key, "quite early." + +"You are not ill, Charley?" she asked, looking anxiously at him. + +"Not I, my darling; never berrer.--Off at last, are you?" this last +observation addressed to the conquered boot. "But you, what's marrer +with you? Look all flushed and frightened like." + +"I've had a horrid confused dream about the theatre, and people we saw +there, and snakes, oh so dreadful! and that grave man, Colonel +Somebody, that you introduced me to, was just going to rescue me. Oh, +Charley, I feel so low and depressed, and as though something were +going to happen. I'm sure we shan't be happy in London. Let's go away +again. + +"Nonsense, Georgie;--nonsense, my love! Very jolly place for--good +supper,--Colonel Snakes;" and with these intelligible murmurings Sir +Charles Mitford slipped into the land of dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER V +GEORGIE. + +If, twelve months before the production of Mr. Spofforth's play (which +necessarily forms a kind of Hegira in this story), you had told +Georgie Stanfield that she was destined to be the wife of a baronet, +the mistress of a house in one of the best parts of London, the +possessor of horses and carriages, and all the happiness which a very +large yearly income can command, your assertions would have been met, +not with ridicule--for Georgie was too gentle and too well-bred for +that--but with utter disbelief. Her whole life had been passed in the +little Devonshire village of which her father was vicar, and it seemed +to her impossible that she could ever live anywhere else. To potter +about in the garden during the summer in a large flapping straw hat +and a cotton gown, to tie up drooping flowers and snip off dead +leaves; to stand on the little terrace dreamily gazing over the +outspread sea, watching the red sails of the fishing-smacks skimming +away to the horizon, or the trim yachts lying off the little port--the +yachts whose fine-lady passengers, and gallant swells all blue +broad-cloth and club-button, seen at a distance,--were Georgie's sole +links with the fashionable world; to visit and read to the bed-ridden +old women and the snuffling, coughing old men; to superintend the +preparation of charitably-dispensed gruel and soup; to traverse +Mavor's Spelling-book up and down, up and down, over and over again, +in the company of the stupid girls of the village-school; to read the +_Cullompton Chronicle_ to her father on Thursdays, and to copy out his +sermon on the Saturday evenings,--these had been the occupations of +Georgie Stanfield's uneventful life. + +She had not had even the excitement of flirtations, a few of which +fall to the lot of nearly every girl, be she pretty or plain, rich or +poor, town or country-bred. The military depots are now so numerous +that it is hard, indeed, if at least a couple of subalterns cannot be +found to come over any distance in the rumbling dog-cart hired from +the inn in the provincial town where they are quartered; and though in +Georgie's days there was no croquet,--that best of excuses for social +gathering and mild flirtation,--yet there were archery-meetings, +horticultural shows, and picnics. Failing the absence of the military, +even the most-out-of-the-way country village can produce a curate; and +an intending flirt has merely to tone-down certain notions and expand +others, to modify her scarlets and work-up her grays, and she will +have, if not a very exciting, at all events a very interesting, time +in playing her fish. But there were no barracks within miles of +Fishbourne, nor any temptations there to have attracted officers from +them, if there had been. There were no resident gentry in the place, +and the nearest house of any importance--Weston Tower, the seat of old +Lady Majoribanks--was twenty miles off, and old Lady Majoribanks kept +no company As for the curates, there was one, certainly; but Mr. Lucas +had "assisted" Georgie's father for the last eighteen years, was fifty +years old, and had a little wife as slow and as gray as the old pony +which he used to ride to outlying parts of the parish. + +Besides, if there had been eligible men in scores, what had they to do +with Georgie Stanfield, or she with them? Was she not engaged to +Charles Mitford?--at least, had she not been so affianced until that +dreadful business about something wrong that brought poor Charley into +disgrace? and was that sufficient to permit her to break her plighted +word? Mr. Mitford, Charles's father, had been a banker and brewer at +Cullompton, and had had a country cottage at Fishbourne, a charming +little place for his family to come to in the summer; and Mr. +Stanfield had been Charley's tutor; and when the family were away at +Cullompton in the winter, Charley had remained at the vicarage; and +what so likely as that Charley should fall in love with Georgie, then +a tall slip of a girl in short petticoats and frilled trousers and +very thin legs, with her hair in a net; or that Georgie should have +reciprocated the attachment? Both the fathers were delighted at the +arrangement; and there was no mother on either side to talk of extreme +youth, the chance of change, or to interpose other womanly objections. +There came a time when Charley, then a tall handsome fellow, was to go +up to Oxford; and then Georgie, to whom the outward and visible frill +period was long past, and who was a lovely budding girl of sweet +seventeen, laid her head on his breast on the night before he went +away, and promised never to forget him, but to be his and his alone. + +Ah, those promises never to forget--those whispered words of love +breathed by lips trembling under the thick cigar-scented moustache +into delicate little ears trellised by braids fresh from the fingers +of the lady's-maid! They are not much to the Corydons of St. James's +Street, or the Phyllises of Belgravia. By how many different lips, and +into how many different ears, are the words whispered and the vows +breathed in the course of one London season! I declare I never pass +through any of the great squares and streets, and see the men +enclosing the balconies with striped calico, that I do not wonder to +myself whether, amongst all the nonsense that has been talked beneath +that well-worn awning-stuff, there has been any that has laid the +foundation for, or given the crowning touch to, an honest simple +love-match, a marriage undertaken by two people out of sheer regard +for each other, and permitted by relatives and friends, without a +single thought of money or position to be gained on either side. If +there be any, they must be very few in number; and this, be it +observed, not on account of that supposed favourite pastime of +parents--the disposal of their daughters' hands and happiness to the +highest bidder, the outcry against which has been so general, and is +really, I believe, so undeserved. The circumstance is, I take it, +entirely ascribable to the lax morality of the age, under which a girl +engages herself to a man without the slightest forethought, often +without the least intention of holding to her word, not unfrequently +from the increased opportunities such a state of things affords her +for flirting with some other man, and under which she can break her +engagement and jilt her lover without compromising herself in the +least in the eyes of society. Besides, in the course of a London life +these vows and pledges are tendered so often as to be worn almost +threadbare from the number of times they have been pledged; and as +excess of familiarity always breeds contempt, the repetition of solemn +phrases gradually takes from us the due appreciation of their meaning, +and we repeat them parrot-wise, without the smallest care for what we +are saying. + +But that promise of love and truth and remembrance uttered by Georgie +Stanfield on the sands at Fishbourne, under the yellow harvest-moon, +with her head pillowed on Charles Mitford's breast and her arms +clasped round his neck, came from a young heart which had known no +guile, and was kept as religiously as was Sir Galahad's vow of +chastity. Within a year after Charley's departure for Oxford, his +father's affairs, which, as it afterwards appeared, had long been in +hopeless confusion, became irretrievably involved. The bank stopped +payment, and the old man, unable to face the storm of ignominy by +which he imagined he should be assailed, committed suicide. The smash +was complete; Charles had to leave the University, and became entirely +dependent on his uncle, Sir Percy Mitford, who declined to see him, +but offered to purchase for him a commission in a marching regiment, +and to allow him fifty pounds a year. The young man accepted the +offer; and by the same post wrote to Georgie, telling her all, and +giving her the option of freeing herself from the engagement. It Was a +gentlemanly act; but a cheap bit of generosity, after all. He might +have staked the fifty pounds a year his uncle had promised him, on the +fidelity of such a girl as Georgie Stanfield, more especially in the +time of trouble. Her father, too, with his old disregard of the +future, entirely approved of his daughter's standing by her lover +under the circumstances of his altered fortune; and two letters--one +breathing a renewal of love and trust, the other full of encouragement +and hope--went away from Fishbourne parsonage, and brought tears into +the eyes of their recipient, as he sat on the edge of a truckle-bed in +a whitewashed room in Canterbury Barracks. + +The vow of constancy and its renewal were two little epochs in +Georgie's quiet life. Then, not very long after the occurrence of the +last,--some six months,--there came a third, destined never to be +forgotten. There had been no letter from Charley for some days, and +Georgie had been in the habit of walking across the lawn to meet the +postman and question him over the garden-wall. + +One heavy dun August morning, when the clouds were solemnly gathering +up together, the air dead and still, the trees hushed and motionless, +Georgie had seen the old man with a letter in his hand, and had +hastened, even more eagerly than usual, across the lawn, to be +proportionately disappointed when the postman shook his head, and +pointing to the letter, said, "For the master, miss." The next minute +she heard the sharp clang of the gate-bell, and saw her father take +the letter from the postman's hand at his little study-window. Some +inward prompting--she knew not what--kept Georgie's eyes on her +father. She saw him take out his spectacles, wipe then, and carefully +adjust them; then take the letter, and holding it at nearly arm's +length, examine its address; then comfortably settling himself in his +armchair at the window, prepare to read it. Then Georgie saw the old +man fall backward in his chair, his hand dropping powerless by his +side, and the letter fluttering from it to the ground. Without +uttering a cry, Georgie ran quickly to the house; but when she reached +the study, Mr. Stanfield was sitting upright in his chair, and had +picked the letter from the floor. + +"Papa dearest," said Georgie, "you gave me such a fright. I was +watching you from the garden, and I thought I saw you faint. O papa, +you _are_ ill! How white and scared you look! What is it, papa +darling?--tell me." + +But to all this Mr. Stanfield only murmured, gazing up into his +daughter's face, "My poor child! my poor darling child!" + +"What is it, papa? Oh, I know--it's about Charley! He's not--" and +then she blanched dead-white, and said in a scarcely audible voice, +"He's not dead, papa?" + +"No, Georgie, no. It might be better if he were,--be better if he +were." + +"He's very ill, then?" + +"No, darling,--at least--there; perhaps you'd better read it for +yourself; here, read it for yourself;" and the old man, after giving +her the letter, covered his face with his hands and sobbed aloud. + +Then Georgie read in Sir Percy Mitford's roundest hand and stiffest +style, how his nephew Charles, utterly ungrateful for the kindness +which he, Sir Percy, had showered upon him, and regardless of the fact +that he had no resources of his own nor expectations of any, had +plunged into "every kind of vice and debauchery, notably +gambling"--(Sir Percy was chairman of Quarter-Sessions, and you might +trace the effect of act-of-parliament reading in his style)-how he had +lost large sums at cards; and how, with the double object of paying +his debts and retrieving his losses, lie had at length forged Sir +Percy's signature to a bill for £200; and when the document became due +had absconded, no one knew where. Sir Percy need scarcely say that all +communication between him and this unworthy member of--he grieved to +say--his family was at an end for ever; and he took that opportunity, +while informing Mr. Stanfield of the circumstance, of congratulating +him on having been lucky enough to escape any matrimonial connection +with such a rogue and a vagabond. + +Mr. Stanfield watched her perusal of the letter; and when she had +finished it, and returned it to him calmly, he said: + +"Well, my dear! it's a severe blow, is it not?" + +"Yes, papa, it is indeed a severe blow. Poor Charley!" + +"Poor Charley, my dear! You surely don't feel the least compassion for +Charles Mitford; a man who has--who has outraged the laws of his +country!" + +"Not feel compassion for him, papa? Who could help it? Poor Charley, +what a bitter degradation for him!" + +"For him! degradation for him! Bless my soul, I can't understand; for +us, Georgina,--degradation for us, you mean! However, there's an end +of it. We've washed our hands of him from this time forth, and +never--" + +"Papa, do you know what you're saying? Washed our hands of Charles +Mitford! Do you recollect that I have promised to be his wife?" + +"Promised to be his wife! Why, the girl's going mad! Promised to be +his wife! Do you know that the man has committed forgery?" + +"Well, papa." + +"Well, papa! Good God! I shall go mad myself! You know he's committed +forgery, and you still hold to your engagement to him?" + +"Unquestionably. Is it for me, his betrothed wife, to desert him now +that he is in misery and disgrace? Is it for you, a Christian +clergyman, to turn your back on an old friend who has fallen, and who +needs your sympathy and counsel now really for the first time in his +life? Would you wish me to give up this engagement, which, perhaps, +may be the very means of bringing Charles back to the right?" + +"Yes, my dear, yes; that's all very well," said the old +gentleman,--"all very--well from a woman's point of view. But you see, +for ourselves--" + +"Well, papa, what then?" + +"Well, my dear, of course we ought not to think so much for ourselves; +but still, as your father, I've a right to say that I should not wish +to see you married to a--a felon." + +"And as a clergyman, papa?-what have you a right to say as a +clergyman?" + +"I--I: decline to pursue the subject, Georgina; so I'll only say +this--that you're my daughter, and you're not of age yet; and I +command you to break off this engagement with this--this criminal! +That's all." + +Georgie simply said, "You know my determination, papa." And there the +matter ended. + +This was the first quarrel that there had ever been between father and +daughter, and both felt it very much indeed. Mr. Stanfield, who had +about as much acquaintance with human nature, and as much power of +reading character, as if he had been blind and deaf, thought Georgie +would certainly give way, and laid all sorts of palpable traps, and +gave all sorts of available opportunities for her to throw herself' +into his arms, confess how wrong she had been, and promise never to +think of Charles Mitford again. But Georgie fell in with none of these +ways; she kissed her father's forehead on coming down in the morning, +and repeated the process on retiring at night; but she never spoke to +him at meal-times, and kept away from home as much as possible during +the day, roaming over the country on her chestnut mare Polly, a +tremendous favourite, which had been bought and broken for her by +Charley in the old days. + +During the whole of this time Mr. Stanfield was eminently +uncomfortable. He had acted upon the ridiculous principle vulgarly +rendered by the phrase, cutting off his nose to spite his face. He had +deprived himself of a great many personal comforts without doing one +bit of good. For a fortnight the _Cullompton Chronicle_ had remained +uncut and unread, though he knew there was an account of a bishop's +visitation to the neighbouring diocese which would have interested him +highly. For two consecutive Sundays the parishioners of Fishbourne had +been regaled with old sermons in consequence of there being no one to +transcribe the vicar's notes, which, save to Georgie, were +unintelligible to--the world in general and to their writer in +particular. He missed Georgie's form in the garden as he was +accustomed to see it when looking up from his books or his writing; he +missed her sweet voice carolling bird-like through the house, and +always reminding him of that dead wife whose memory he so tenderly +loved; and notwithstanding the constant horse-exercise, he thought, +from sly glances which he had stolen across the table at her during +dinner, that she was looking pale and careworn. Worst of all, he was +not at all sure that the position he had taken up was entirely +defensible on moral grounds. He was differently placed from that +celebrated character in the _Critic_, who "as a father softened, but +as a governor was fixed." As a father he might object to the +continuance of an engagement between his child and a man who had +proved himself a sinner not merely against religious ordinances, but +against the laws of his country; but he was very doubtful whether, as +a Christian and a clergyman, he was not bound to stretch out the hand +of forgiveness, and endeavour to reclaim the penitent. If Mr. +Stanfield had lived in these days, and been sufficiently before the +world, he would probably have had "ten thousand college councils" to +"thunder anathema" at him for daring to promulgate the doctrine that +"God is love;" but in the little retired parish where he lived, he +taught it because he believed it; and he felt that he had rather +fallen away from his standard in endeavouring to coerce his daughter +into giving up Charles Mitford. + +So one morning, when Georgie came down to breakfast looking flushed +and worried, and very little refreshed by her night's sleep, instead +of calmly receiving the frontal kiss, as had been his wont during the +preceding fortnight, the old man's arms were wound round her, his lips +were pressed to hers, while he murmured, "Oh, Georgie! ah, my darling! +ah, my child!" and there was a display of _grandes eaux_ on both +sides, and the reconciliation was complete. At a later period of that +day Mr. Stanfield entered fully upon the subject of Charles Mitford, +told Georgie that if the scapegrace could be found, he should be +willingly received at the parsonage; and then the old gentleman +concocted a mysterious advertisement, to the effect that if C. M., +formerly of Fishbourne, Devon, would call on Mr. Stevens of Furnival's +Inn, Holborn, London, he would hear something to his advantage, and be +received with hearty welcome by friends who had forgiven, but not +forgotten, him. + +This advertisement, duly inserted through the medium of Mr. Stevens, +the lawyer therein named, in the mystic second column of the _Times_ +Supplement, appeared regularly every other day during the space of a +month; and good old Mr. Stanfield wrote twice a week to Mr. Stevens. +inquiring whether "nothing had come of it;" and Mr. Stevens duly +replied (at three shillings and sixpence a letter) that nothing had. +It must have been two months after the concoction of the +advertisement, and one after its last appearance in the columns of +the _Times_, that there came a letter for Georgie, written in the +well-known hand, and signed with the well-known initials. It was very +short, merely saying that for the second time the writer felt it due +to her to leave her unfettered by any past engagement existing between +them; that he knew how he had disgraced and placed himself beyond the +pale of society; but that he would always cherish her memory, and +think of her as some pure and bright star which he might look up to, +but to the possession of which he could never aspire. + +Poor little Georgie was dreadfully touched by this epistle, and so was +Mr. Stanfield, regarding it as a work of art; but as a practical man +he thought he saw a chance for again working the disruption of the +engagement-question--this time as suggested by Charles himself; and +there was little doubt that he would have enunciated these sentiments +at length, had he not been abruptly stopped by Georgie on his first +giving a hint about it. Despairing of this mode of attack, the old +gentleman became diplomatic and machiavelian; and I am inclined to +think that it was owing to some secret conspiracy on his part, that +young Frank Majoribanks, staying on a desperately-dreary three-weeks' +visit with his aunt and patroness, Lady Majoribanks, took occasion to +drive one of the old lady's old carriage-horses over to Fishbourne in +a ramshackle springless cart belonging to the gardener, and to accept +the vicar's offer of luncheon. He had not been five minutes in the +house before Georgie found he had been at Oxford with Charley Mitford; +and as he had nothing but laudatory remarks to make of his old chum +(he had heard nothing of him since he left college), Georgie was very +polite to him. But when, after his second or third visit, he +completely threw aside Charley as his stalking-horse, and began to +make running on his own account, Georgie saw through the whole thing +in an instant, and treated him with such marked coldness that, being a +man of the world, he took the hint readily, and never came near the +place again. And Mr. Stanfield saw with dismay that his diplomacy +succeeded no better than his threats, and that his daughter was as +much devoted to Charles Mitford as ever. + +So the two dwellers in the parsonage fell back into their ordinary +course of life, and time went on, and Mr. Stanfield's hair grew +gradually more gray, and his shoulders gradually more rounded, and the +sweet girl of seventeen became the budding woman of twenty. Then one +Thursday evening, in the discharge of her weekly task of reading to +her father the _Cullompton Chronicle_, Georgie suddenly stopped, and +although not in the least given to fainting or "nerves," was obliged +to put her hand to her side and wait for breath. Then when a little +recovered she read out to the wondering old gentleman the paragraph +announcing the fatal accident to Sir Percy Mitford and his sons, and +the accession of Charles to the title and estates. Like Paolo and +Francesca,--though from a very different reason,--"that night they +read no more," the newspaper was laid by, and each sat immersed in +thought. The old man's simple faith led him to believe that at length +the long-wished-for result had arrived, and that all his daughter's +patience, long-suffering, and courage would be rewarded. But Georgie, +though she smiled at her father's babble, knew that throughout her +acquaintance with Charley he had gone through no such trial as that to +which the acquisition of wealth and position would now subject him; +and she prayed earnestly with all her soul and strength that in this +time of temptation her lover might not fall away. + +A fortnight passed, and Mr. Stanfield, finding not merely that he had +not heard from the new baronet, but that no intelligence of him had +been received at Redmoor, at the town house, or by the family lawyers, +determined upon renewing his advertisement in the _Times_. By its side +presently appeared another far less reticent, boldly calling on +"Charles Mitford, formerly of Cullompton, Devon; then of Brasenose +College, Oxford; then of the 26th regiment of the line;" to +communicate with Messrs. Moss and Moss, Solicitors, Cursitor Street, +Chancery Lane, and hear something to his advantage. To this +advertisement a line was added, which sent a thrill through the little +household at the parsonage: "As the said Charles Mitford has not been +heard of for some months, any one capable of legally proving his death +should communicate with Messrs. M. and M. above named." Capable of +legally proving his death! Could that be the end of all poor Georgie's +life-dream? Could he have died without ever learning all her love for +him, her truth to him? No! it was not so bad as that; though, but for +the shrewdness of Edward Moss and the promptitude of Inspector +Stellfox, it might have been. A very few hours more would have done +it. As it was, little Dr. Prater, who happened to be dining with +Marshal Moss at the Hummums when Mitford was brought there by the +inspector, and who immediately undertook the case, scarcely thought he +should pull his patient through. When the fierce stage of the disorder +was past, there remained a horrible weakness and languor, which the +clever little physician attacked in vain. "Nature, my dear +sir,--nature and your native air, they must do the rest for you; the +virtues of the pharmacopoeia are exhausted." + +So one autumn evening, as Mr. Stanfield sat poring over his book, and +Georgie, her hope day by day dying away within her, was looking out +over the darkening landscape, the noise of wheels was heard at the +gate; a grave man in black descended from the box of a postchaise, a +worn, thin, haggard face peered out of the window; and the next +instant, before Mr. Stanfield at all comprehended what had happened, +the carriage door was thrown open, and Georgie was hanging round the +neck of the carriage occupant; and kiss, kiss, and bless, bless! and +thank God! and safe once more! was all the explanation audible. + +Dr. Prater was quite right; nature and the patient's native air +effected a complete cure. By the end of a month--such a happy month +for Georgie!--Sir Charles was able to drive to Redmoor to see the men +of business from London; by the end of two months he stood at the +altar of the little Fishbourne church, and received his darling from +the hands of her father; the ceremony being performed by the old +curate, who had learned to love Georgie as his own child, and who wept +plentifully as he bestowed on her his blessing. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +THE GRAYS. + + +When Laurence Alsager awoke the next morning, he did not regard life +with such weariness, nor London with such detestation, as when he went +to bed. He had slept splendidly, as would naturally fall to the lot of +a man who for two years had been deprived of that greatest of +earthly comforts--an English bed. Laurence had bounded on French +spring-mattresses; had sweltered beneath German feather-lined +coverlets; had cramped himself up in berths; had swung restlessly in +hammocks; had stifled behind mosquito curtains; and had passed many +nights with his cloak for his bed, and his saddle-bags for his pillow, +with the half-naked forms of dirty Arabs dimly visible in the +flickering firelight, and the howls of distant jackals ringing in his +ears. He had undergone every description of bed-discomfort; and it is +not to be wondered at that he lingered long in that glorious nest of +cleanliness and rest provided for him at his hotel. As he lay there at +his ease, thoroughly awake, but utterly averse to getting up, he began +to think over all that had happened during the previous evening; and +first he thought what a charming-looking woman Lady Mitford was. + +The Scotch gentleman who had remarked that Colonel Alsager was "a +deevil among the sax" had some foundation for his observation; for it +was a fact that, from the days when Laurence left Eton and was +gazetted to the Coldstreams, until he sold his commission and left +England in disgust, his name had always been coupled by the gossips +with that of some lady well known either in or out of society. He was +a mere boy, slim and whiskerless, when the intense admiration which he +excited in the breast of Mdlle. Valentine, combined with what she +afterwards termed the "coldly insular" manner in which he treated her, +gave that charming danseuse such a _migraine_ as rendered her unable +to appear in public for a week, and very nearly caused Mr. Lumley to +be favoured with a row equal to the celebrated Tamburini riot in the +days of M. Laporte. He was not more than twenty when "Punter" Blair +told him that his goings-on with Lady Mary Blair, the Punter's +sister-in-law, were the talk of the town; and that if her husband, the +Admiral, was blind, he, the Punter, wasn't, as he'd let Alsager pretty +soon know. Laurence replied that the Punter had better mind his own +business,--which was "legging" young boys at _écarté_ and +blind-hookey,--and leave his brother's wife alone; upon which Punter +Blair sent O'Dwyer of the 18th with a message; and there must +inevitably have been a meeting, had not Blair's colonel got a hint of +it, and caused it to be intimated to Mr. Blair that unless this matter +with Mr. Alsager were arranged, he, the colonel, should have to take +such notice of "other matters" affecting Mr. Blair as would compel +that gentleman to send in his papers. + +So in a score of cases differing very slightly from each other. It was +the old story which was lyrically rendered by Dr. Watts, of Satan +being always ready to provide congenial occupation for gentlemen with +nothing to do. There is not, I believe, very much martial ardour in +the Household Brigade just now. That born of the Crimean war has died +out and faded away, and the officers have taken to drive off _ennui_, +some by becoming district visitors, and others by enjoying the honest +beer and improving conversation of the firemen in Watling Street. But +even now there is infinitely more enthusiasm, more belief in the +profession as a profession, more study of strategy as a thing which a +military man should know something of, than there was before the +Crimean expedition. The metropolitan inhabitants had little care for +their gallant defenders in those days. Their acquaintance with them +was limited to the knowledge that large red men were perpetually +discovered in the kitchens, and on discovery were presented as +relatives of the servants; or that serious, and in some cases fatal, +brawls occurred in the streets, when the pleasant fellows laid about +them with their belts, or ran amuck amongst a crowd with their +bayonets. An occasional review took place in the Park, or a field-day +at Woolwich; but no cordial relations existed between the majority of +the Londoners and the household troops until the news came of the +battle of the Alma. Then the public learned that the Guards' +officers were to be heard of in other places than ball-rooms and +divorce-courts, and that guardsmen could fight with as much untiring +energy as they had already displayed in feeding on householders and +flirting with cooks. + +Not much worse, certainly not much better, than his compeers was +Laurence Alsager in those days, always having "something on" in the +way of feminine worship, until the great "something" happened, which, +according to Jock M'Laren and one or two others, had occasioned the +great change in his life, and caused his prolonged absence from +England. But in all his experience he had only known women of a +certain kind; women of the world, ready to give and take; women, in +his relations with whom there had been no spice of romance save that +spurious romance of the French-novel school, so attractive at first, +so hollow, and bad, and disgusting, when proceeded with. It is not too +much to say that, varied as his "affaires" had been, he had not known +one quiet, pure-minded, virtuous woman; and that during his long +foreign sojourn he had thought over this, and often wondered whether +he should ever have a wife of his own, or, failing this, whether he +should ever have a female friend whom at the same time he could love +and respect. + +Yes, that was the sort of woman, he thought to himself as he lay +calmly reflecting. What a good face she had! so quiet and calm and +self-possessed. Naturally self-possessed; not that firm disgusting +imperturbability which your hardened London coquette has, he thought; +like that horrible M'Alister, who puts her double eye-glass up to her +eyes and coolly surveys women and men alike, as though they were +slaves in the Constantinople market, and she the buyer for the Sultan. +There certainly was a wonderful charm about Lady Mitford, and, good +heavens! think of a man having such a wife as that, and going off to +sup with Bligh and Winton, who were simply two empty-headed _roué_ +jackasses, and Pontifex, who--Well, it was very lucky that people +didn't think alike. Yes, that man Mitford was a lout, a great +overgrown-schoolboy sort of fellow, who might be led into any sort of +scrapes by--By Jove! that's what Dollamore had said with that horribly +cynical grin. And Lady Mitford would have to run the gauntlet of +society, as did most women whose husbands went to the bad. + +Laurence Alsager was a very different man from the Laurence Alsager of +two years ago. He wanted something to fill up his leisure time, and he +thought he saw his way to it. Dollamore never spoke at random. From +his quietly succulent manner Alsager knew that his lordship meant +mischief, probably in his own person, at all events hinted plainly +enough that--Ah! he would stop all that. He would pit himself against +Dollamore, or any of them, and it would be at least a novelty to have +a virtuous instead of a vicious end in view. Mitford might be a fool, +his wife weak and silly; but there should be no disastrous +consequences. Dollamore's prophecy should be unfulfilled, and he, +Laurence Alsager, should be the active agent in the matter. + +Simultaneously with this determination he decided upon deferring his +visit to his father, and settling himself in London for a time. He +would be on the spot; he would cultivate the acquaintance which +Mitford so readily held out to him; he would have the garrison well +under surveillance in order carefully to observe the enemy's approach; +and--The shower-bath cut short his reflections at this point. + +He dressed and breakfasted; despatched his servant to see if his old +rooms in Jermyn Street were vacant; lit a cigar and strolled out. He +had at first determined to brave public opinion in every shape and +form, to retain his beard, to wear the curious light coats and +elaborately puckered trousers which a Vienna Schneider had a year +before turned out as prime specimens of the sartorial art. But even to +this determination the night's reflection brought a change, and he +found himself turning into Poole's, and suffering himself to be suited +to the very latest cut and colour. Then he must get a hack or two from +Saunderson in Piccadilly; and as the nearest way from Poole's in +Saville Row to Saunderson's in Piccadilly is, as every one knows, down +Grosvenor Place and through Eaton Place, that was the way that +Laurence Alsager walked. + +Eaton Place is not a very cheerful thoroughfare at the best of times. +Even in the season, when all the houses are full of the domesticity of +parliament-members, furnished at the hebdomadal rate of twenty +guineas, there is a stuccoey and leading-to-not-much thoroughfares +depression about it; but on a January morn, as Laurence saw it, it was +specially dull. Sir Charles Mitford had mentioned no number, so that +Laurence took a critical survey of each house as he passed, +considering whether the lady in whom he had suddenly taken so paternal +an interest resided there. He had, however, passed a very few doors +when at the other end of the street he saw a low pony-carriage with a +pair of iron-gray ponies standing at a door; and just as he noted +them, a slight figure, which he recognized in an instant, came down +the steps and took up its position in the phaeton. It was Lady +Mitford, dressed in velvet edged with sable, with a very little +black-velvet bonnet just covering the back of her head (it was before +the days of hats), and pretty dogskin driving-gloves. She cast a timid +glance at the ponies before she got in (she had always had horsy +tastes down at Fishbourne, though without much opportunity of +gratifying them), and was so occupied in gathering up the reins, and +speaking to the groom at the ponies' head, as scarcely to notice +Laurence's bow. Then with a view to retrieve her rudeness, she put out +her hand, and said cordially: + +"How do you do, Colonel Alsager? I beg your pardon; I was taking such +interest in the ponies that I never saw you coming up. They're a new +toy, a present from my husband; and that must be my excuse." + +"There is no excuse needed, Lady Mitford. The ponies are charming. Are +you going to drive them?" + +"O yes; why not? Saunderson's people say they are perfectly quiet; +and, indeed, we are going to take them out to the farm at Acton, just +to show Mr. Grieve the stud-groom how nicely they look in our new +phaeton." + +"You're sure of your own powers? They look a little fresh." + +"Oh, I have not the least fear. Besides, my husband will be with me; +I'm only waiting for him to come down, and he drives splendidly, you +know." + +"I've a recollection of his prowess as a tandem-whip at Oxford, when +the Dean once sent to him with a request that he'd 'take the leader +off.' Well, _au plaisir_, Lady Mitford. I wish you and the two ponies +all possible enjoyment." And he took off his hat and went on his way. +Oh, he was perfectly right; she was charming. He wasn't sure whether +she hadn't looked better even this morning than last night, so fresh +and wholesome. And her manner, without the slightest suspicion of an +_arrière pensée_, free, frank, and ingenuous; how nicely she spoke +about her husband and his driving! There could be no mistake about a +woman like that. No warping or twisting could torture her conduct into +anything assailable. He'd been slightly Quixotic when he thought to +give himself work by watching over and defending her; he--"Good +morning, Mr. Spurrier. Recollect me? Mr. Saunderson in?" Revolving all +these things in his mind, he had walked so quickly that he found +himself in Piccadilly, and in Mr. Saunderson's yard, before he knew +where he was. + +"Delighted to see you back, Colonel. Thought I caught a glimpse of you +at the theatre last night, but was doubtful, because of your beard. +No; Mr. Saunderson's gone up to the farm to meet a lady on business; +but anything I can do I shall be delighted." Mr. Spurrier was Mr. +Saunderson's partner, a very handsome, fresh-coloured, cheery man, who +had been in a light-cavalry regiment, and coming into money on the +death of a relation, had turned his bequest and his horsy talents to +account. There were few such judges of horseflesh; no better rider +across country than he. "Thought you'd be giving us a call, Colonel, +unless you'd imported a few Arabs; and gave you credit for better +judgment than that. Your Arab's a weedy beast, and utterly unfit for +hacking." + +"No, Spurrier, I didn't carry my orientalism to that extent. I might +have brought back a clever camel or two, or a dromedary, 'well suited +for an elderly or nervous rider,' as they say in the advertisements; +but I didn't. I suppose you can suit me with a hack." + +Mr. Spurrier duly laughed at the first part of this speech, and +replied in the affirmative, of course, to the second. "You haven't +lost much flesh in the East, Colonel," said he, running him over with +his eye,--"I should say you pull off twelve stone still." Then Mr. +Spurrier, as was his wont, made a great show of throwing himself into +a fit of abstraction, during the occurrence of which he was supposed +by customers to be mentally going through the resources of his +establishment; and roused himself by calling the head-groom, and +bidding him tell them to bring out the Baby. + +The Baby was a bright bay with black points, small clean head, short +well-cut ears, and a bright eye, arching neck, and, as she showed when +trotted up the yard with the groom at her head, splendid action. When +she was pulled up and stood in the usual position after the "show" had +been given, Laurence stepped up, eyed her critically all over, and +passed his hand down her legs. Spurrier laughed. + +"All right there, Colonel. Fine as silk; not a sign of a puff, I'll +guarantee, and strong as steel. Perfect animal., I call her, for a +park-hack." A horse was never a "horse," but always an "animal" with +Mr. Spurrier, as with the rest of his fraternity. "Will you get on +her, Colonel? Just give her a turn in the Park.--Here, take this mare +in, and put a saddle and bridle on her for Colonel Alsager." + +It was a bright sunny winter's day, and the few people in town were +taking their constitutional in the Row. As Alsager rode round by the +Achilles statue he heard ringing laughter and saw fluttering habits, +which, associated with the place in his mind with his last London +experiences, brought up some apparently unpleasant recollection as he +touched the mare with his heel, and she after two or three capricious +bounds, settled down into that long swinging gallop which is such +perfect luxury. He brought her back as quietly as she would come, +though a little excited and restless at the unaccustomed exercise, and +growled a good deal to himself as he rode. "Just the same; a little +more sun, and some leaves on the trees then, and a few more people +about; that's all. Gad! I can see her now, sitting square, as she +always used, and as easy on that chestnut brute that pulled so +infernally, as though she were in an armchair. Ah! enough has +happened since I was last in this place." And then he rode the Baby +into the yard, asked Mr. Spurrier her price agreed, to take her, told +Spurrier he wanted a groom and a groom's horse, and was sauntering +away when Mr. Spurrier said, "You'll want something to carry you to +hounds, Colonel?" + +"I think not; at all events not this season." + +"Sorry for that, as I've got something up at the farm that would suit +You exactly." + +"No, thank you; where did you say?" + +"At our farm at Acton. You've been there, you know." + +"The farm at Acton,"--that was where Lady Mitford said she was going +to drive. She must be the lady whom Mr. Saunderson had gone to meet. +Spurrier saw the irresolution in his customer's face and acted +promptly. + +"Let me take you out there; we sha'n't be twenty minutes going and this +is really something you ought not to miss. He's so good, that I give +you my word I wouldn't sell him to any but a workman. You will? All +right!--Put the horses to." + +Within three minutes Laurence Alsager was seated by Mr. Spurrier's +side in a mail-phaeton, spinning along to Mr. Saunderson's farm and +his own fate. + + +There were few whips in London who drove so well or so fast as Mr. +Spurrier, and there were none who had better horses, as may be +imagined; but Laurence did not find the pace a whit too fast. He had +asked Mr. Spurrier on the road, and ascertained from him that it was +Lady Mitford who was expected. "And a charming lady too, sir; so +gentle and kind with every one. Speaks to the men here as polite as +possible, and they're not over-used to that; for, you see, in business +one's obliged to speak sharp, or you'd never get attended to. Don't +think she knows much of our line, though she's dreadfully anxious to +learn all about it; for Sir Charles is partial to horseflesh, and is a +good judge of an animal. He's been a good customer to us, and will be +better, I expect, though he hasn't hunted this season, being just +married, you see. That's the regular thing, I find. 'You'll give up +hunting, dear? I should be so terrified when you were out.' 'Very +well, dear; anything for you;' and away go the animals to +Tattersall's; and within six months my gentleman will come to me and +say, 'Got anything that will carry me next season, Spurrier?' and at +it he goes again as hard as ever." + +"I saw the ponies at the door this morning," said Laurence, for the +sake of something to say; "they're a handsome pair." + +"Ye-es," replied Mr. Spurrier; "I don't know very much of them; +they're Mr. Saunderson's buying. I drove 'em once, and thought they +wanted making; but Sir Charles is a good whip, and he'll do +that.--Ga-a-te!" And at this prolonged shout the lodge-gates flew +open, and they drove into the stable-yard. + +Mr. Saunderson was there, but no Lady Mitford. Mr. Saunderson had his +watch in his hand, and even the look of gratification which he threw +into his face when he greeted Colonel Alsager on his return was very +fleeting. There was scarcely a man in London whose time was more +valuable, and he shook his head as he said, "I'll give her five +minutes more, and then I'm off.--What are you going to show the +Colonel, Spurrier?" + +"I told them to bring out Launcelot first." + +Mr. Saunderson shook his head "Too bad, Spurrier, too bad! I told you +how the Duke fancied that animal, and how I'd given his Grace the +refusal of him." + +"Well, we can't keep our business at a standstill for dukes or any one +else. Besides, we've known the Colonel much longer than the Duke." + +"That's true," said Mr. Saunderson with a courteous bow to Laurence. +"Well, if Colonel Alsager fancies the animal, I must get out of it +with his Grace in the best way I can." + +It was a curious thing, but no one ever bought a horse of Mr. +Saunderson that had not been immensely admired by, and generally +promised to, some anonymous member of the peerage. + +"Easy with him, Martin, easy! Bring him over here.--So, Launcelot, so, +boy." + +Launcelot was a big chestnut horse, over sixteen hands high, high +crest, long lean head, enormous quarters, powerful legs, and large +broad feet. He looked every inch a weight-carrying hunter, and a scar +or two here and there about him by no means detracted from his beauty +in the eyes of the knowing ones. Martin was the rough-rider to the +establishment, bullet-headed, high-cheek-boned, sunken-eyed, with +limbs of steel, and pluck which would have made him ram a horse at the +Victoria Tower if he had had instructions. As Mr. Spurrier patted the +horse's neck, Martin leant over him and whispered, "I've told one o' +them to come out on Black Jack, sir. This is a 'oss that wants a lead, +this 'oss does. Give 'im a lead, and he'll face anythink." + +"All right," said Spurrier, as another man and horse came out; "here +they are. Go down to the gate in the tan-gallop, will you? put up the +hurdles first.--Now, Colonel, this way, please; the grass is rather +wet even now." + +They walked across a large meadow, along one side of which from end to +end a tan-gallop had been made. Midway across this some hurdles with +furze on the top had been stuck up between two gate-posts, and at +these the boy on Black Jack rode his horse. A steady-goer, Black Jack; +up to his work, and knowing exactly what was expected of him; comes +easily up to the hurdles, rises, and is over like a bird. Not so +Launcelot, who frets at starting; but moves under Martin's knees and +Martin's spurs, gives two or three bounds, throws up his head, and is +off like a flash of lightning. Martin steadies him a bit as they +approach the leap, and Jack's rider brings his horse round, meets +Martin half-way, and at it they go together. Jack jumps again, exactly +in his old easy way, but Launcelot tears away with a snort and a rush, +and jumps, as Mr. Spurrier says, "as though he would jump into the +next county." + +"Now the gate!" says Mr. Spurrier; and the hurdles were removed, and a +massive five-barred gate put up between the posts. + +"You go first, boy," said Spurrier; and Black Jack's rider, who was +but a boy, looked very white in the gills, and very tight in the +mouth, and galloped off. But Jack was not meant for a country which +grew such gates as that, and when he reached it, turned short round, +palpably refusing. Knowing he should get slanged by his master, the +boy was bringing him up again, when he heard a warning shout, and +looking round, cleared out of the way to let Launcelot pass. +Launcelot's mettle was up; he wanted no lead this time. Martin, with +his face impassably set, brought his whip down heavily on him as he +lifted him; but Launcelot did not need the blow; he sprang three or +four inches clear of the leap in splendid style. + +"By George, that's a fine creature!" said Laurence, who had all a +sportsman's admiration for the feat. "I think I must have him, +Spurrier, if his figure's not very awful. But I should first like to +take him over that gate myself." + +"All right, Colonel; I thought he'd, take your fancy.--Get down, +Martin, and let down those stirrups a couple of holes for the Colonel, +will you?--And you, boy, tumble off there. I'll see whether that old +vagabond will refuse with me.--Ah, you're a sly old scoundrel, Jack; +but I think we'll clear the gate, old boy!" + +Alsager was already in the saddle, and Spurrier was tightening the +girths, when the former heard a low rumbling sound gradually growing +more distinct. + +"What's that?" he asked his companion. + +"What?" asked Spurrier, with his head still under the saddle-flap; but +when he stood upright and listened, he said, "That's a runaway! I know +the sound too well; and--and a pair! By the Lord, the grays!" + +They were standing close by the hedge which separated the meadow from +the road. It was a high quickset hedge, with thick post-and-rail +fence running through it, and it grew on the top of a high bank with a +six-foot drop into the road. Standing in his stirrups and craning over +the hedge, Laurence saw a sight which made his blood run cold. + +Just having breasted the railway-bridge, and tearing down the incline +at their maddest pace, came the grays, and in the phaeton, which swung +frightfully from side to side, sat Lady Mitford--alone! A dust-stained +form gathering itself up out of the road in the distance looked like a +groom; but Sir Charles was not to be seen. Lady Mitford still held the +reins, and appeared to be endeavouring to regain command over the +ponies; but her efforts were evidently utterly useless. + +Mr. Spurrier, who had mounted, comprehended the whole scene in a +second, and roared out, "Run, Martin! run, you boy! get out into the +lane, and stop these devils! Hoi!" this to the grooms in the distance, +to whom he telegraphed with his whip. "They don't understand, the +brutes! and she'll be killed. Here, Colonel, to the right-about! Five +hundred yards off there's a gate, and we can get through and head +them. What are you at? you're never going at the hedge. By G--, you'll +break your neck, man!" + +All too late to have any effect were his last words; before they were +uttered, Laurence had turned Sir Launcelot's head, taken a short sharp +circling gallop to get him into pace, and then crammed him straight at +the hedge. Spurrier says that to his dying day he shall never forget +that jump; and he often talks about it now when he is giving a +gentleman a glass of sherry, after a "show" just previous to the +hunting season. Pale as death, with his hat over his brows, and his +hands down on the horse's withers, sat Laurence; and just as Sir +Launcelot rose at the leap, he dealt him a cut with a heavy whip which +he had snatched out of Spurrier's hand The gallant animal rose +splendidly, cleared posts and rails, crashed through the quickset, and +came thundering into the lane below. Neither rider nor horse were +prepared for the deep drop; the latter on grounding bungled awkwardly +on to his knees; but Laurence had him up in an instant, and left him +blown and panting, when at the moment the grays came in sight. Lady +Mitford was still in the carriage, but had apparently fainted, for she +lay back motionless, while the reins were dragging in the road. + +Laurence thought there was yet a chance of stopping the ponies, upon +whom the pace was evidently beginning to tell severely, but, as they +neared a gate leading to a portion of the outbuildings, where on their +first purchase by Mr. Saunderson they had been stabled, the grays, +recollecting the landmarks, wheeled suddenly to the left and made for +the gate. The carriage ran up an embankment and instantly overturned; +one of the ponies fell, and commenced lashing out in all directions; +the other, pulled across the pole, was plunging and struggling in wild +attempts to free itself. The men who had been signalled to by Spurrier +were by this time issuing from the lodge-gates, and making towards the +spot; but long before they reached it, a tall man with a flowing black +beard had sprung in among the _débris_, regardless of hoofs flying in +all directions, and had dragged therefrom the senseless form of Lady +Mitford. + + +"What is the matter? Where am I?" + +"You're at my farm, Lady Mitford," said Mr. Saunderson, advancing with +that old-fashioned courtesy which he always assumed when dealing with +ladies; "and there's nothing the matter, thank God! though you've had a +bad accident with the ponies, which seem to have run away; and I may +say you owe your life to Colonel Alsager, who rescued you at the peril +of his own." + +She looked round with a faint smile at Laurence, who was standing at +the foot of the sofa on which she lay, and was about to speak, when +Laurence lifted his hand deprecatingly: + +"Not a word, please, Lady Mitford; not a single word. What I did was +simply nothing, and our friend Mr. Saunderson exaggerates horribly. +Yes, one word--what of Sir Charles?" + +"He has not heard of it? He must not be told." + +"No, of course not. What we want to know is whether he started for the +drive with you." + +"Oh no; he could not come,--he was prevented, thank God! And the +groom?" + +"Oh, he's all right; a little shaken, that's all." + +Laurence did not say that the groom had been _not_ a little shaken by +Mr. Spurrier, who caught the wretched lad by the collar, and holding +his whip over him told him mildly that he had a great mind to "cut his +life out" for his cowardice in throwing himself out of the trap, and +leaving his mistress to her fate. + +Then it was arranged that Mr. Saunderson should take Lady Mitford +home, and explain all that had happened to Sir Charles. She took +Laurence's arm to the carriage, and when she was seated, gave him her +hand, saying frankly and earnestly, "I shall never forget that, under +Providence, I owe my life to you, Colonel Alsager." + +As they drove back to town together, Mr. Spurrier said to his +companion "I shall have to book Sir Launcelot to you, Colonel. I've +looked at his knees, and though they're all right, only the slightest +skin-wound, still--" + +"Don't say another word, Spurrier," interrupted Laurence; "I wouldn't +let any one else have him, after to-day's work, for all the money in +the world." + +Laurence spoke innocently enough; but he noticed that during the rest +of the drive back to town Mr. Spurrier was eyeing him with great +curiosity. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +WHAT HAD DETAINED SIR CHARLES. + + +The arrangement for the trial of the ponies had been one of some +standing between Sir Charles and his wife, and one to which he fully +intended to adhere. It is true that on waking after the supper with +Messrs. Bligh, Winton, Pontifex, and their companions, he did not feel +quite so fresh as he might have wished, and would very much have liked +a couple of hours' additional sleep; yet so soon as he remembered the +appointment, he determined that Georgie should not be disappointed; +and by not having the "chill" taken off his shower-bath as usual, he +was soon braced up to his ordinary good condition. Nevertheless, with +all his good intentions, he was nearly an hour later than usual; and +Georgie had gone up to dress for the drive when Sir Charles descended +to the breakfast-room to discuss the second relay of broiled bone and +devilled kidney which had been served up to tempt his sluggish +appetite. He was making a not very successful attempt to eat, and +between each mouthful was reading in the newspaper Mr. Rose's +laudatory notice of Mr. Spofforth's play, when his servant, entering, +told him that a "person" wanted to speak to him. There is no sharper +appreciator of worldly position than your well-trained London servant, +and Banks was a treasure. + +"What is it, Banks?" asked Sir Charles, looking up. + +"A person wishing to see you, Sir Charles," replied Banks. + +"A person! is it a man or a woman?" + +"The party," said Banks, varying his word, but not altering the +generic appellation,--"the party is a man, sir." + +"Do I know him?" + +"I should say certainly not, Sir Charles," replied Banks in a tone +which intimated that if his master did know the stranger, he ought to +be ashamed of himself. + +"Did he give no name?" + +"I ast him for his name, Sir Charles, and he only says, 'Tell your +master,' he says, 'that a gentleman,' he says, 'wants to see him.'" + +"Oh, tell him that he must call some other time and send in his +business. I can't see him now; I'm just going out for a drive with +Lady Mitford. Tell him to call again." + +"There was a time, and not very long ago either," said Sir Charles, +taking up the paper as Banks retired, "that if I'd been told that a +man who wouldn't give his name wanted to speak to me, I should have +slipped out the back-way and run for my life. But, thank God, that's +all over now.--Well, Banks, what now?" + +"The party is very arbitrary, Sir Charles; he won't take 'no' for an +answer; and when I told him you must know his business, he bust out +larfin' and told me to say he was an old messmate of yours, and had +sailed with you on board the Albatross." + +A red spot burned on Sir Charles Mitford's cheek as he laid the +newspaper aside and said, "Show this person into the library, and deny +me to every one while he remains. Let your mistress be told I am +prevented by business from driving with her to-day. Look sharp!" + +Mr. Banks was not accustomed to be told to "look sharp!" and during +his three-months' experience of his master he had never heard him +speak in so petulant a tone. "I'd no idea he'd been a seafarin' gent," +he said downstairs, "or I'd a never undertook the place. The tempers +of those ship-captains is awful." + +When Banks had left the room Sir Charles walked to the sideboard, and +leant heavily against it while he poured out and drank a liqueur-glass +of brandy. + +"The Albatross!" he muttered with white lips; "which of them can it +be? I thought I had heard the last of that cursed name. Banks said a +man; it's not the worst of them, then. That's lucky." + +He went into the library and seated himself in an armchair facing the +door. He had scarcely done so when Banks gloomily ushered in the +stranger. + +He was a middle-sized dark man, dressed in what seemed to be a seedy +caricature of the then prevailing fashion. His coat had once been a +bright-claret colour, but was now dull, threadbare, and frayed round +the edges of the breast-pocket, out of which peeped the end of a +flashy silk handkerchief. He had no shirt-collar apparent; but wore +round his neck a dirty blue-satin scarf with two pins, one large and +one small, fastened together by a little chain. His trousers were of a +staring green shawl-pattern, cut so as to hide nearly all the boot and +tightly strapped down, as was the fashion of those days; and the +little of his boots visible was broken and shabby. Sir Charles looked +at him hard and steadily, then gave a sigh of relief. He had never +seen the man before. He pointed to a chair, into which his visitor +dropped with an easy swagger; then crossed his legs, and looking at +Sir Charles, said familiarly, "And how are _you?_" + +"You have the advantage of me," said Sir Charles. + +"I think I have," said the man grinning; "and what's more, I mean to +keep it too. Lord, what a precious dance you have led me, to be sure!" + +"Look here, sir," said Mitford "be good enough to tell me your +business, and go. I'm engaged." + +"Go! Oh, you're on the high jeff, are you? And engaged too! Going to +drive your missis out in that pretty little trap I saw at the door? +Well, I'm sorry to stop you; but you must." + +"Must!" + +"Yes, must. 'Tain't a nice word; but it's the word I want. Must; and +I'll tell you why. You recollect Tony Butler?" + +Sir Charles Mitford's colour, which had returned when he saw that his +visitor was a stranger to him, and which had even increased under the +insolence of the man's manner, fled at the mention of this name. His +face and lips were quite white as he said, "I do indeed." + +"Yes, I knew you would. Well, he's dead, Tony is." + +"Thank God!" said Sir Charles; "he was a horrible villain." + +"Yes," said the man pleasantly; "I think I'm with you in both those +remarks. It's a good job he's dead; and he _was_ a bad 'un, was Tony, +though he was my brother." + +"Your brother!" + +"Ah! that's just it. We never met before, because I was in America +when you and Tony were so thick together. You see I'm not such a swell +as Tony was; and they--him and father, I mean--were glad to get me out +of the country for fear I should spoil any of their little games. When +I came back, you had given Tony a licking, so far as I could make out, +though he'd never tell exactly, and your friendship was all bust up, +and he was dreadfully mad with you. And that's how we never came to +meet before." + +"And why have we met now, pray?" said Sir Charles. "What is your +business with me?" + +"I'm coming to that in good time. Tony's last words to me were, 'If +you want to do a good thing for yourself, Dick,' he says, 'find out a +fellow named Charles Mitford. He's safe to turn up trumps some day,' +says Tony, 'he's so uncommonly sharp; and whenever you get to speak to +him, before you say who you are, tell him you sailed in the +Albatross.' Lord bless you! I knew the lot of 'em-Crockett, and Dunks, +and Lizzie Ponsford; they said you and she used to be very sweet on +each other, and--" + +The door opened suddenly, and Lady Mitford hurried into the room; but +seeing a stranger, she drew back. Sir Charles went to the door. + +"What do you want, Georgie?" said he sharply. + +"I had no idea you had any one here, Charles, or I wouldn't have +disturbed you. Oh, Charley, send that horrid man away, and come and +drive me out." + +She looked so pretty and spoke so winningly that he patted her cheek +with his hand, and said in a much softer voice, "I can't come now, +child. This man is here on special business, and I must go through it +with him. So goodbye, pet, and enjoy yourself." + +She made a little _moue_ of entreaty, and put her hands before his +face in a comic appeal; but he shook his head, kissed her cheek, and +shut the door. + +"Pretty creechur, that!" said his companion; "looks as well in her +bonnet as out of it; and there's few of 'em does, I think." + +"When did you ever see Lady Mitford before, sir?" asked Sir Charles +haughtily. + +"Ah! that's just it," replied Mr. Butler with a sniggering laugh. "I +told you you'd led me a precious dance to find you, and so you had. +Tony told me that you had regularly come to grief since you parted +with him, and I had a regular hunt after you, in all sorts of +lodging-houses and places. There are lots of my pals on the lookout +for you now." + +"Upon my soul, you're devilish kind to take all this trouble about me, +Mr.--Butler. What your motive was I can't imagine." + +"You'll know all in good time; I'm coming to that; and not 'Butler,' +please: Mr. Effingham is my name just now; I'll tell you why by and +by. Well, I couldn't get hold of you anyhow, and I thought you'd gone +dead or something, when last night, as I was standing waiting to come +out of the Parthenium, I heard the linkmen outside hollering 'Lady +Mitford's carriage!' like mad. The name strikes on my ears, and I +thought I'd wait and see her ladyship. Presently down came the lady +we've just seen, leaning on the arm of a cove in a big black beard +like a foreigner. 'No go,' says I, 'that's not my man;' and I says to +a flunkey who was standing next to me, 'He's a rum 'un to look at, is +her husband.' 'That's not her husband,' he says; 'this is Sir Charles +coming now.' The name Charles and the figure being like struck me at +once; so I took the flunkey into the public next door, and we had a +glass, and he told me all about the old gent and his kids being +drowned, and your coming in for the title. 'That's my man,' says I to +myself; and I found out where you lived, and came straight on here +this morning." + +"And now that your prying and sneaking has been successful and you +have found me, what do you want?" + +"Ah! I thought you'd lose your temper; Tony always said you was +hotheaded. What do I want! Well, to be very short and come to the +point at once--money." + +"I guessed as much." + +"Yes, there's no denying it; I'm regularly stumped. I suppose you were +surprised now to hear I wasn't flush, after seeing me so well got-up? +But it's a deal of it dummy. These pins now,--Lowther Arcade! No +ticker at the end of this guard; nothing but a key-look!" And he +twitched a key out of his waistcoat-pocket. "My boots too are +infernally leaky; and my hat has become quite limp from being +perpetually damped and ironed. Yes, I want money badly." + +"Look here, Mr.----" + +"Effingham." + +"Mr. Effingham, you have taken, as you yourself admit, an immense deal +of trouble to hunt me up, and having found me you ask me for money, on +the ground of your being the brother of an infernal scoundrel whom I +had once the ill-luck to be associated with--don't interrupt me, +please. It wasn't Tony Butler's fault that I didn't die on a dunghill, +or that I am not now--" + +"In Norfolk Island," said Mr. Effingham, getting in his words this +time. + +Sir Charles glared fiercely at him for an instant, and then continued: +"Now I expected I should have to encounter this sort of thing from the +people who pillaged me when I was poor, and would make that an excuse +for further extortion, and I determined not to accede to any +application. But as you're the first who has applied, and as you've +neither bullied nor whined, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you, +on condition I never see or hear of you again, this five-pound note." + +Mr. Effingham laughed, a real hearty laugh, as he shook his head, and +said: "Won't do: nothing like enough." + +Sir Charles lost his temper, and said: "Stop this infernal tomfoolery, +sir! Not enough! Why, d--n it, one would think you had a claim upon +me!" + +"And suppose I have, Sir Charles Mitford, what then?" said Mr. +Effingham, leaning forward in his chair and confronting his companion. + +"What then? Why--pooh, stuff! this is a poor attempt at extortion. You +don't think to get any money out of me by threatening to tell of my +connection with the Albatross crew? You don't think I should mind the +people to whom you could tell it knowing it, do you?" + +"I don't know; perhaps not; and yet I think I shall be able before +I've done to prove to you I've a claim on you." + +"What is it?" + +"All tiled here, eh? Nobody within earshot? That sleek cove in black +that wouldn't let me see you, not listening at the door, is he?" + +"There is no one to hear," said Sir Charles, who was getting more and +more uncomfortable at all this mystery. + +"All right, then. Sorry to rake up disagreeables; but I must. You +recollect making a slight mistake about your Christian name once, +fancying it was Percy instead of Charles; writing it as Percy across a +stamped bit of paper good for two hundred quid, and putting Redmoor as +your address after it?" + +"Well, what if I do?" His lips were so parched he could hardly frame +the words. + +"It would be awkward to have anything of that sort brought up just +now, wouldn't it?" + +Sir Charles hesitated for an instant, then gave a great sigh of relief +as he said: "You infernal scoundrel! you think to frighten me with +that, do you? To make that the ground for your extortion? Why, you +miserable wretch, I myself burnt that--that--document in Moss's +office!" + +"How you do run on, Sir Charles! I just mentioned something about a +little bill, and you're down upon me in a moment. I guessed that was +destroyed; at all events I knew it was all safe; and Sir Percy's dead, +so it don't much matter. But, Lord! with your memory you must surely +recollect _another_ little dockyment,--quite a little one, only +five-and-twenty pound,-where you mistook both your names that time, +and accepted it as Walter Burgess:--recollect?" + +The pallor had spread over Mitford's face again, and his lips quivered +as he said: "That was destroyed--destroyed by Tony Butler long +since--before the other one was done." + +"Yes, yes, I know this was the first,--a little one just to get your +hand in. But it ain't destroyed. It's all right, bless you! I can see +it now with a big black 'FORGED' stamped across it by the +bank-people." + +"Where is it?" + +"Oh, it's in very safe keeping with a friend of mine who scarcely +knows its value. Because, though he knows its a forgery, he don't know +who done it; now, you see, through my brother Tony, I do know who done +it; and I do know that Walter Burgess is alive, and is a large +hop-factor down Maidstone way, and owing you a grudge for that +thrashing you gave him in the billiard-rooms at Canterbury, which he's +never forgotten, would come forward and prosecute at once." + +"You--you might prove the forgery; but how could you connect me with +it?" + +"Not bad, that. But I'm ready for you. People at the bank will prove +you had the money; and taken in connection with the other little +business, which is well known, and which there are lots of people to +prove, a jury would convict at once." + +Sir Charles Mitford shuddered, and buried his face in his hands. Then, +looking up, said: "How much do you want for that bill?" + +"Well, you see, that's scarcely the question. It's in the hands of a +man who don't know its value, and if he did he'd open his mouth pretty +wide, and stick it on pretty stiff, I can tell you. So we can let him +bide a bit. Meantime I know about it, and, as Tony told me, I intend +to make it serve me. Now you want to get rid of me, and don't want to +see me for some little time? I thought so. I'm not an extravagant +cove; give me fifty pounds." + +"Until that bill is destroyed, you will wring money from me when you +choose." + +"If you refused me money and I cut up rough, the bill should be +produced, and you'd be in quod and Queer Street in a jiffy! Better do +as I say--give me the fifty, and you shan't see me for a blue moon!" + +Whether Sir Charles was stimulated by the period named or not, it is +certain he sat down at his desk, and producing his cheque-book, began +to write. Mr. Effingham looked over his shoulder. + +"Make it payable to some number--295, or anything--not a name, please. +And you needn't cross it. Lord! you didn't take much trouble to +disguise your fist when you put Walter Bur--, beg pardon! quite forgot +what I was saying. Thank you, Sir Charles. I'll keep my word all +right, you shall see. I'm not an idle beggar; I'm always at something; +so that I shan't depend entirely on this bit of gray paper; but it'll +ease my springs and grease my wheels a bit. Good-day to you, Sir +Charles. Never mind ringing for that solemn cove to let me out; I +ain't proud. Good-day." + +Mr. Effingham gave a very elaborate bow, and departed. As the door +shut upon him, Sir Charles Mitford pulled his chair to the fire, and +fell into a deep reverie, out of which he did not rouse himself until +his wife's return. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +KISMET. + + +It was not because Laurence Alsager had been for a twelvemonth in the +East that he believed in the Mohammedan doctrine of fatalism. That had +been an unacknowledged part of his creed long before the +disappointment which sent him flying from the ordinary routine of life +had fallen upon him. Even under that disappointment he allowed the +power of the wondrous "to be," and, bowing to its influence, accepted +his exile with far greater equanimity than many others would have done +under similar circumstances. He had suffered his plans--undecided +when he left England--to be entirely guided by chance; had +followed suggestions for his route made by hotel-landlords or +conveyance-advertisements; had dallied over one part of his journey +and hurried over another, simply in obedience to the promptings of the +feeling of the moment; and had finally decided on returning to be +present at the first night of Spofforth's play at the Parthenium in +the haphazard spirit which had prompted all his movements. + +His belief in Kismet had been enormously strengthened since his +return. It was "arranged" that Lady Mitford should be present on the +occasion in question; that he should be presented to her after trying +to avoid her and her party; that Lord Dollamore should be at the Club, +and should give utterance to those sentiments which had aroused so +deep a disgust in Laurence's breast. As to the events of the next +day,--the visit to Saunderson's, the drive to Acton, the trial of Sir +Launcelot and its consequences,--therein was the most marvellous +illustration of the doctrine of Kismet that ever he had yet seen. + +He thought of all this as he woke the next morning; and clearly saw in +an instant that it would be running directly contrary to his fate to +go down to see his father just then. He felt impelled to remain in +London, and in London he should stay. He felt--Ah, how beautiful she +looked as he dragged her out from amidst the _débris_ of the carriage +and the plunging hoofs of the ponies, though her face was as pale as +marble, and the light of her eyes was quenched beneath the drooping +lids! It was Kismet that had kept that handsome oaf, her husband, at +home, and prevented his interfering with the little romance. Not that +Sir Charles Mitford was by any means an oaf; he was a man of less +worldly experience, of less polish, of social standing, higher in +rank, but decidedly lower in reputation, than Laurence; and so +Laurence regarded him as an oaf, and, since the pony-carriage +adventure, began to find a little hatred mingling with the contempt +with which he had previously regarded the latest addition to the +baronetage. + +This last feeling may have been in accordance with the rules of +Kismet, but it certainly was not in accordance with the practice of +the world. There were many men in his old regiment, and generally +throughout the brigade of Guards,--men who, as professedly _coureurs +des dames_, held that, for the correct carrying out of a flirtation +with a married woman, an intimacy of a certain kind with the lady's +husband was almost indispensable. And, though not good at argument, +had they been put to it, they could have indorsed their _dicta_ with +plenty of examples. They could have told of picnics improvised solely +for the pleasure of madame's society, when monsieur was of the +greatest assistance, the life and soul of the party, opening +champagne, finding salt, cracking jokes; the only man who could induce +the gathered leaves to burst into a fire for kettle-boiling purposes; +the first to volunteer to sit in the rumble with the captain's valet +on the journey homewards. They could have told of visits paid in +opera-boxes at a time when it was certain that monsieur was just +smacking his lips over something peculiar in claret at a dinner at the +Junior, specially given by the captain's brother-officer, the major. +They could have told of capital fishing and excellent shooting +obtained by them for monsieur with a tendency in that direction; +stream or lake, moor or stubble, always happening to be at a very +remote distance from monsieur's family abode. There were even some of +them who for the time being would thoroughly interest themselves in +monsieur and his affairs, would bear with his children, would listen +to his stories, would, on rare occasions, be seen about with him, and +would, when very hard hit, invite him to the Windsor mess, or give him +a seat in the Derby drag. + +But that sort of thing did not do for Laurence Alsager. Such a line of +conduct might have suited him once; but it would have been years ago, +and with a very different style of wife and husband from Lady Mitford +and Sir Charles. He could not think of her with any feeling that was +not deeply tinged with respect, and that in itself was sufficient to +remove this new passion from the category of his past loves. His new +passion? Yes; he could not deny it to himself; he felt a singular +interest in this woman; there was an attraction in her such as he had +never experienced in any one else. He smiled as he recollected how in +the bygone times he would have called her "cold" and "statuesque;" how +he would have despised her slight figure, and thought her manners +rustic, if not _gauche_. How he had sneered at love, as distinguished +from intrigue, when he was a mere boy; and now, at thirty, after +thirteen years of hard life of all kinds--traces of which might be +seen in a few lines round the eyes and on the forehead--he was lapsing +into the calf-love which boys at school feel for the master's +daughter. He laughed; but he knew it was all true, nevertheless. + +He must see her that day, of course; at least, he must call--mere +politeness required so much after the events of the previous day. +Meanwhile he would go down to the club, to read the papers and get +some luncheon, and kill time. + +There were several men in the morning-room at the club, some of whom +he had seen on the first night of his arrival, others whom he met now +for the first time since his return. + +Lord Dollamore was there, his legs up on a sofa, reading a newspaper, +with a very peculiar grin upon his face. + +"Here he is!" he said, looking towards the door as Laurence entered +the room; "here's the man himself! Why don't we have a band to play +'See the conquering'?" + +"So we ought, by Jove!" said Cis Hetherington. "Hallo, Laurence, old +boy! no sling or anything?" + +"Looks well after it, don't he?" said another; while several old +gentlemen looked up from their newspapers, partly in admiration, +partly in awe. + +"Fire away, gentlemen!" said Laurence. "Be as funny as you please; +it's all lost upon me. What the deuce do you mean by 'sling,' Cis?" + +"He's been so long away, that he's forgotten the English language," +sneered Dollamore. + +"O no, he hasn't, Lord Dollamore, as he'd quickly show you, were there +the least occasion," said Laurence. "But," added he more quietly, +"what is the joke? I give you my honour I don't know what you're +talking about." + +"A lovely lady and a gallant knight! Bring forth the steed! The +accident; the leap; the rescue! Ha, ha! she's saved! Slow music and +curtain! Stunnin' draymer it would make. I can introduce you to +several enterprising managers if you'd like to tour in the provinces," +said jolly Mr. Wisconsin, who spent nearly all his time and +two-third's of his income amongst theatrical people. + +"Why, how on earth did that story get here?" asked Laurence, on whom +the truth was beginning slowly to dawn. + +"Here! why, it's all over town--all over England by this time. It's in +the papers." + +"In the papers! Ah, you're selling me." + +"Take it, and read for yourself," said Wisconsin. "Open the paper, and +knock it back with your hand--that's the legitimate business." + +"Doosid well Alsager pretends to be astonished, don't he, considering +he put that in the paper himself?" + +"No, he didn't do it himself; he got Cis Hetherington to do it." + +"Cis couldn't have spelt it," said Lord Dollamore. "There are some +devilish long words, over which Cis would have come a cropper." + +While his friends were thus pleasantly discussing him, Laurence was +reading a remarkably full-flavoured and eloquent description of a +"Serious Accident and Gallant Conduct," as the paragraph was headed, +in which Lady Mitford's name and his own figured amongst the longest +adjectives and most difficult adverbs. How the wildly excited steeds +dashed away at a terrific pace; how the grasp of the lovely charioteer +gradually relaxed, and how her control over the fiery animals was +finally lost; how the attendant groom did everything that strength and +science in equine matters could suggest, until he was flung, stunned +and breathless, into the mire; and how finally, the gallant son of +Mars, mounted on a matchless barb, came bounding over the hedge, and +extricated the prostrate and palpitating form of the lovely member of +the aristocracy from utter demolition at the hoofs of the infuriated +animals. All this was to be found in the newspaper paragraph which +Laurence was reading. This paragraph originated in a short story told +by the groom in the bar of a public-house close to the mews, whither +he had gone to solace himself with beer after the indignities he had +suffered at Mr. Spurrier's hands, and where he had the satisfaction of +repeating it to a broken-down seedy man, who "stood" a pint, and who +took short notes of the groom's conversation in a very greasy +pocketbook. + +Laurence was horribly disgusted, as could be seen by the expression of +his face, and the nervous manner in which he kept twisting the ends of +his moustache. The amusement of the other men was rather increased +than diminished at his annoyance, and was at its height when Cis +Hetherington asked: + +"What the doose is a 'matchless barb,' Alsager? I've seen all sorts of +hacks in my time, but never met with one of that kind." + +"What do you mean by hacks?" said another. "A barb is a fellow that +writes plays, ain't it? They call Shakespeare the immortal barb." + +"Ah, but they call him a Swan, and all kinds of things. There's no +making out what a thing is by what they call him." + +Meanwhile Lord Dollamore had risen from the couch, and strolled over +to the rug in front of the fire, where Laurence was standing. + +"You've begun your duties quickly, my dear Alsager. There are few +fellows who get the chance of falling into their position so rapidly." + +"What position?" + +"That of champion of beauty in distress." + +"Position! I declare I don't follow you, my lord." + +"My dear Alsager, surely the East has not had the effect of rendering +obtuse one of the keenest of men. Don't you recollect our talk the +other night?" + +"Perfectly." + +"When I then expressed my opinion that Lady Mitford would have to go +through the usual amount of danger, of course I meant moral, not +actual, peril. However, the actual seems to have come first." + +"Ye-es. A smashed carriage and plunging horses may, I suppose, be +looked upon as actual danger." + +"Ah, she'll have worse things than those to contend against and +encounter. You were lucky enough to save her from a fractured skull; I +suppose we shall see you doing the 'sweet-little-cherub' business, and +watching over her generally, henceforth." + +"You seem to forget that Lady Mitford has a husband, Lord Dollamore." + +"Not for an instant, my good fellow. But so has--well, Mrs. +Hammond--and so have lots of women; but then the husbands are +generally engaged in taking care of somebody else. Well, well, to +think that _you_ should become a sheep-dog,--you whose whole early +life was spent in worrying the lambs!" + +"Whose whole _early_ life--that's it! _Quand le diable est vieux il se +fait ermite!_" + +"Ye-es; but if I were the husband of a very pretty young wife, I doubt +whether I should particularly like you being her father confessor." + +"You need not alarm yourself, my lord; I'm not going in for the +position." + +"_Qui a bu, boira_, my dear Alsager. I distrust sudden conversions, +and have no great reliance on sheep-dogs whose fangs are scarcely +cleared of wool." + +Laurence might have replied somewhat sharply to this, had he heard it; +but he was off on his way to the coffee-room to his luncheon, which +had been announced by the waiter; that finished, he started off for +Eaton Place. + +He had sufficient matter for reflection on his walk. This preposterous +story which had crept into the papers would of course form a splendid +subject of gossip for all those who had nothing better to do than to +talk about such things. There was already a certain amount of interest +attaching to the Mitfords from the fact of Sir Charles having +inherited the baronetcy in a singular and unlooked-for manner, and +from his wife's having had the audacity--although sprung from an +unknown family--to have a beautiful face and agreeable manners. For +this presumption Alsager felt that a terrible retribution was in store +for her, poor child, when the regular season came on, and the dowagers +brought up their saleable daughters to the market. Then the notion +that a common country parson's daughter had been beforehand with them, +and had carried off an unexceptionable _parti_ before he had been +regularly advertised as ready for stalking, would drive these old +ladies to a pitch of rankling and venomous despair which would find +vent in such taunts, hints, insinuations, and open lies as are only +learnt in the great finishing-school of London society. Lady Mitford's +beauty, style, and position were in themselves quite sufficient to +render her an object of dislike to nine-tenths of the other women in +society, who would eagerly search for something against her, however +slight it might be. Had not that unfortunate accident and its result +given them this "something"? Laurence had been too long amongst the +ranks of _nous autres_ not to recognize the meaning of the grins and +winks which went round the assembled circle of club-men when the +newspaper paragraph was read, not fully to understand every sneering +inflexion of Lord Dollamore's voice. Thus was the sin of his youth +visited on him in later life, with a vengeance. Hundreds of other +men might have done exactly as he had--an act simply of manly +impulse--without anything having been said about it save praise; but +with him, that infernal reputation for gallantry, of which he was once +so proud, and which he now so intensely loathed, would set shoulders +shrugging and eyebrows lifting at once. The old story! Laurence +Alsager again! What else could be expected? For an instant, as all +these thoughts came rushing through his mind, he stopped short, +wondering whether it would not be better to retrace his steps to the +hotel, and to fulfil his first-formed resolution of paying a hurried +visit to his father, and then quitting England at once. Yes; it would +be much better; it would save any chance of scandal or talk, and--And +yet he did not like to miss the chance of being thanked by those sweet +eyes and that soft voice. He had thought so much of how she would +look, not as he had hitherto seen her in full evening-dress or in her +bonnet, but in that simple morning-costume in which all charming women +look most charming. Besides, it was his duty as a gentleman to call, +after the events of the previous day, and see whether she was +suffering from any result of her accident, or from any fright which +might have arisen from it. Yes; he would first call and see her, and +then go away;--at least, he was not quite certain whether he would go +away or not. He was not sure that it would not be far more advisable +that he should stay in England, and be on the spot to put a stop at +once to any preposterous talk that might arise; and especially to +watch over her in case of any attempts which might be made by men of +the Dollamore class. Lord Dollamore was a most dangerous fellow, a man +who would stick at nothing to gain his ends; and what those ends were, +it was, to a man of Alsager's experience, by no means difficult to +imagine. Besides, he was merely the type of a class; and if all he had +stated about Sir Charles Mitford were really true, if the baronet were +a man of dissolute tastes and habits, and utterly unable to withstand +the temptation which his wealth and position would at once open up to +him, it was absolutely necessary that some one should be there to +prevent his wife's falling a prey to the numerous libertines who would +immediately attempt to take advantage of her husband's _escapades_, +and ingratiate themselves into her favour. + +When the wish is father not merely to the thought, but to the +subsequent argument, it is by no means difficult to beat down and +utterly vanquish the subtlest and most logical self-reasoning. Three +minutes' reflection and balancing served to show Laurence how wrong he +had been in thinking of absenting himself at such a critical time; and +though for a moment the "still small voice" ventured to insinuate a +doubt of the soundness of his argument, yet he felt that leaving +future events to take such course as they might ultimately fall +into--it was at least his bounden duty to go then and inquire after +Lady Mitford; and onwards he proceeded. + +Lady Mitford was at home. In a charming drawing-room--everything in it +bearing evidence of exquisite womanly taste,--he found her, dressed, +as he expected, in the most lovely of morning-costumes--a high +violet-silk dress with a simple linen collar and cuffs; her hair +perfectly plain, showing the small classic head in all its beauty: she +looked to him the loveliest creature he had ever seen. She rose at the +announcement of his name, and came forward with a pleasant smile on +her face and with outstretched hand Laurence noticed--not, perhaps, +without a little disappointment--that there was not the smallest sign +of a blush on her cheek, nor the slightest tremor in her voice. + +"I'm so glad to see you, Colonel Alsager," she said frankly; "I'm sure +I've thought a hundred times since we parted of my _gaucherie_ in not +thanking you sufficiently for the real service you did me yesterday." + +"Pray don't say another word about it, Lady Mitford; it was a simple +duty which merits no further mention." + +"Indeed, I don't think so. It was a very gallant act in itself, and +one which, so far as I'm concerned, renders me your debtor for life." + +"The acknowledgment cancels the obligation. I only trust you are none +the worse for the mishap." + +"Thank you, not in the least.. I was a little shaken and unstrung by +the fall, and rather stupid yesterday evening, I'm inclined to think; +but the night's rest has set me perfectly right. You know I'm +country-bred, and therefore what my husband would call in good +condition; and I've had so many tumbles off ponies, and been upset so +many times in our Devonshire lanes by papa,--who, I'm afraid, is not a +very good whip, bless him!--that I'm not entirely unused to such +accidents." + +"That accounts for your pluck, then. I never saw any one go through +what--now it's over--I may say was a very ugly runaway, with more +perfect calmness." + +"Ah, that's what I wanted to ask you. I lost my head just as we +started down that descent, and knew nothing afterwards. I do so hope I +didn't scream." + +"You may make yourself thoroughly easy on that score. You were +perfectly mute." + +"I _am_ delighted at that!" she laughed out with childish glee. +"Charley asked me the very first thing whether I hadn't 'yelled out,' +as he called it; and I told him I thought not. It was very weak of me +to faint, and I fought against it as long as I could; but I felt it +must come, and it did." + +"You would have been more than woman if you could have deprived +yourself of that treat," said Laurence "How is Sir Charles?" + +"Well, not very well. I fancy that this accident has upset him very +much, poor fellow. I think he blames himself for having allowed me to +go without him; and yet he couldn't come, as he had some horrid man +here on business. But he's been very dull and preoccupied ever since. +He'll be annoyed at having missed you, as he went out specially to +call and thank you for your great kindness. We did not know your +address, and he went down to Mr. Bertram's office to get it from him." + +"Oh, Bertram is a very old friend of mine. It was from him I first +heard of you." + +"Yes, he knew Charley at Oxford. He is a kind gentle creature, I +should think; a man that it must be impossible for any one to dislike. +And really his silence is sometimes anything but disagreeable--at a +theatre, you know, and that sort of thing." + +"Silence! I can assure you, Lady Mitford, that when you are the theme +of his discourse, he is a perfect Demosthenes. 'The common mouth, so +gross to express delight, in praise of her grew oratory,' as Tennyson +says.. He is one of your stanchest admirers." + +Lady Mitford looked uncomfortable and a little vexed, as she said, +"Indeed!" then smiled again as she added, "You also have the effect of +loosening the dumb man's tongue. In Mr. Bertram you have the loudest +of trumpeters. In fact, ever since he heard from you of your intended +return, we have grown almost tired of hearing of your good qualities." + +"I hope you won't banish me, as the Athenians did Aristides for the +same reason. Old George is one of the best fellows living. Do you know +many people now in town, Lady Mitford?" + +"No, indeed. Our Devonshire neighbours have not come up yet, and will +not, I suppose, until Parliament meets. And then Sir Charles having +been--been away for some time, and I not having lived in society, we +scarcely know anybody yet; at least, I mean--I--some of Charley's old. +friends have found us out. Mr. Bertram, Captain Bligh and Major +Winton, and Lord Dollamore." + +"Ah, Lord Dollamore! yes, to be sure. And what, if it's a fair +question, do you think of Lord Dollamore?" + +Georgie laughed. "It certainly is _not_ a fair question, and if +Charley were here, I should not be allowed to answer it; but I don't +mind telling you, Colonel Alsager, that I have a great horror of Lord +Dollamore." + +Laurence smiled grimly, but with the greatest inward satisfaction, as +he said, "Poor Dollamore! And will you tell me why you have a horror +of him, Lady Mitford?" + +"I can scarcely say. I'm sure I ought not to bare it, as he is always +studiously polite to me; but there is something strange to me in his +manner and in his conversation, something such as I have never met +with before, and which, though I don't comprehend it, rouses my +antipathy and makes me shudder. I never know what to say to him +either, and he always seems to be watching every word that you speak. +Now you're laughing at me, Colonel Alsager; and I can't explain what I +mean." + +Her cheeks flushed as she said this, and the heightened colour added +to her beauty. Laurence found himself staring mutely at her, in sheer +wonderment at her loveliness; then roused himself and said, "Indeed, I +was not laughing, and I can fully comprehend you. Now tell me; the +ponies are none the worse for their race?" + +"Not much. One has a cut fetlock, and both have had a good deal of air +rubbed off; but nothing to signify. I was round in the stables the +first thing this morning, and came in great glee to tell Charley how +little harm had been done to them. But he's dreadfully angry about it, +and declares they shall both be sent away. And all because I was too +weak to hold them." + +"Well, I should like to be on your side; but I don't think your +husband is very far wrong in the present instance. They are plainly +unfit for any lady's driving, unless she is what no lady would like to +be,--undeniably horsey, and masculine, so far at least as her wrists +are concerned." + +"Ah, and your horse; that splendid fellow that took the tremendous +leap,--Mr. Saunderson told me this; I knew nothing of it at the +time,--what of him?" + +"Oh, he's wonderfully well. He landed splendidly; but just heeled over +for a second and touched his knees,--the merest graze, and that all +through my clumsiness; but I was too much excited at the time to +attend to him. But it's a mere hair-scratch, and he'll be as right as +ever in a week or two." + +"Well, the whole thing seems to me like a dream; but a dream from +which I should never have woke, had it not been for your promptitude +and presence of mind. Those I have said I shall never forget; and--Now +here comes Charley to indorse my gratitude." + +As she spoke, a heavy tread was heard on the staircase; the door +opened, and Sir Charles Mitford entered, full of life and radiant with +happiness. Any preoccupation or anxiety, for which his wife had +prepared her visitor, seemed entirely to have disappeared. He advanced +with open hand, and in his cheeriest manner said, "My dear Alsager, +delighted to see you! A thousand thanks, my dear fellow,--much more +than I can express,--for your conduct yesterday! I've heard all about +it, and know how much I owe to you. Tremendous pluck! O yes, I know; +you needn't pretend to be modest about it. I've been round to +Saunderson's, and seen Spurrier; and he tells me that it was just one +of the pluckiest things ever done. You staked the horse, or did +something damaging to him, didn't you? so of course I told Spurrier to +enter him in my account." + +"You're very good; but you're a little late, Sir Charles. I bought him +on the spot, and would not part with him for treble his price." + +Laurence could not resist stealing a glance at Lady Mitford as he said +this. Her eyes were downcast; but a bright red spot burned on her +cheeks, and her brows were contracted. + +"Well, you've the right of refusal, and you know a good fencer when +you see one, Alsager, I know. I only wished to have the horse as a +memento of the day." + +Laurence muttered something inaudible. + +"I went down to call upon you, to thank you for all your kindness to +my wife," continued Sir Charles; "and then finding I didn't know your +address, I looked up Bertram at the Foreign Office; and after being +handed about from one room to another, I found him, and he took me to +your hotel. Don't seem to have much to do, those fellows at the +Foreign Office. Bertram had only just arrived; but he left immediately +when I told him I wanted him to come with me." + +"I'm very sorry I was not at home." + +"Well, so was I partly, and partly not. Of course I should have wished +to have given you my thanks for your kindness the very first thing; +but then of course you understand that I meant all that. When a man +rescues another man's wife from tremendous danger, of course he +understands that her husband is tremendously thankful to him, unless +it's in a book or play, or that kind of thing, where husbands wish +their wives were dead. And then again, if you had been in, I should +have missed being introduced to such a charming woman." + +"To such a what, Charley?" asked Lady Mitford. + +"Oh, don't you be frightened, dear; it's all square and above-board. +She asked me if she might call upon you; and she'll be here to-morrow +or the next day; so mind you're at home to receive her." + +"Her? who?" + +"O yes, I forgot. I'll tell you all about it. When we found Alsager +was not at his hotel, Bertram evidently didn't want to go back to his +office, so he proposed a stretch round the Park. I said I was quite +agreeable, and off we started; right round the Oxford Street side, +back by the powder-magazine, and so into the Drive. When we got there, +there was not a single trap to be seen--not one, I give you my +honour; but as we stumped along, and Bertram--most delightful +companion!--never opened his mouth, I saw a pair of bright chesnuts in +black harness come whirling a low pony-phaeton along; and as it +passed, Bertram took off his hat to the lady driving. She pulled up, +and we went to the trap, and Bertram introduced me. She was a very +pretty little woman, and had a sable cloak;--you must have a sable +cloak, Georgie; I'll find out where she got hers;--and there was +another woman whom I could not see--kept her veil down, and looked +like companion or something of that sort-sitting by her. She certainly +drove splendidly. I couldn't help thinking if she'd had those grays of +yours yesterday, Georgie, she'd have mastered them." + +"I sincerely wish she had," said Lady Mitford with a little petulance; +"I can't say I entirely relish the adventure, even though it called +forth Colonel Alsager's assistance." ["That's a thorough woman's blow," +thought Laurence, listening.] "But you haven't told us the name of +this charming Amazon." + +"I don't know anything about Amazon or not," said Sir Charles, who +began to be a little bit nettled; "the lady's name is Hammond--Mrs. +Hammond, wife of a man who was something in the government service. +Ah, you know her, Alsager. Yes, by the way, I recollect her asking +Bertram whether you had come back." + +The mention of Mrs. Hammond's name seemed to throw rather a damp upon +the conversation. Lady Mitford did not appear in the least to share +her husband's rhapsodies,--as how should she, being ignorant of their +object?--and Colonel Alsager's expression was moody, and his voice +silent. But when he rose to take his leave the expressions of +gratitude were renewed both by husband and wife, each in their +peculiar manner--Sir Charles was boisterously hearty; Lady Mitford +quietly impressive. + +"We shall see a good deal of you now, I hope, Alsager; you won't stand +on any ridiculous ceremony, or anything of that sort, but come in and +out just as you like. There's no one who will be more welcome here, +and no one who's earned the right so much, for the matter of that. It +rests with you now entirely how far you pursue the acquaintance." + +"Goodbye, Colonel Alsager," said Lady Mitford with a sweet smile; +"and I'll promise, when you do come to see us, not to give you so much +trouble as I did yesterday." + +Laurence was equally averse to commonplaces and to committing himself, +so he bowed and smiled, and went away. + +"Kismet," he muttered to himself as he strode down the +street,--"Kismet in full force. Laura Hammond back in England, and an +acquaintance formed between her and Mitford already. Taken with her, +he seemed too. She's just the woman that would fetch such a man as he. +Well, let Kismet do its worst; I shall stand by and see the play." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +MR. EFFINGHAM'S PROCEEDINGS. + + +When Mr. Effingham found himself with fifty pounds in his pocket +outside the bank where he had changed Sir Charles Mitford's cheque, he +could scarcely contain his exultation. His dealings with bankers had +been few, and not always satisfactory. He had had cheques in his +possession which he had been too bashful to present in his own proper +person, but had employed a little boy to take to the counter while he +waited round the corner of an adjacent street; he had had cheques +which he had presented himself, but the proceeds of which, when asked +"how he would have," he had always taken in gold, as a more convenient +and untraceable medium. On the present occasion, however, he had +walked boldly in; had rapped on the counter, to the horror and dismay +of the old gentleman behind banking-firm, passing through the public +office on his way to the private parlour, peered at Mr. Effingham. +under his bushy-grey eyebrows curiously; but Mr. Effingham did not +mind that. The porter sitting on a very hard stool just inside the +swing doors rubbed his nose and winked significantly at the policeman +in plain clothes stationed just outside the swing-doors, whose duty +was to help rich old-lady customers in and out of their carriages. +Both porter and policeman stared very hard at Mr. Effingham, and Mr. +Effingham returned the stare with all the eye-power at his command +What did he care? They might call him back and inspect the cheque if +they liked, and then they would see what they would get for attempting +to molest a gentleman. + +In his character of gentleman, Mr. Effingham felt that his costume was +scarcely so correct as it might have been; in fact, that in the mere +quality of being weather-tight it was lamentably deficient. So his +first proceeding was to visit an outfitter's, and then and there to +procure what he termed "a rig-out" of the peculiar kind most in +accordance with his resonant taste. The trousers were of such an +enormous check pattern that, as the Jew tailor humorously remarked, +"it would take two men to show it;" the hat shone like a bad +looking-glass; the coat, though somewhat baggy in the back, was +glossy, and had a cotton-velvet collar; and the Lowther-Arcade jewelry +glistened in the midst of a bird's-eye scarf of portentous height and +stiffness. + +His outer man satisfied, Mr. Effingham thought it time to attend to +his inner; and accordingly turned into a City chop-house of renown, +where his elegant appearance made an immense impression on the young +stockbroking gents and the junior clerks from the banks and +Mincing-Lane houses, who commented, in no measured tones, and with a +great deal of biting sarcasm, on the various portions of his costume. +Either not hearing or not heeding this banter, Mr. Effingham ordered a +point steak and potatoes and a pint of stout; all of which he devoured +with an appearance of intense relish. An old gentleman sitting in the +same box opposite to him had a steaming glass of fragrant punch, the +aroma of which ascended gratefully into Mr. Effingham's nostrils and +almost impelled him to order a similar jorum; but prudence stepped in, +and he paid his bill and departed, Not that he did not intend to +indulge in that after-dinner grog, which was customary with him +whenever he had the money to pay for it himself, or the luck to get +anybody to pay for it for him; but he wished to combine business with +pleasure; and so started off for another tavern nearer the West End, +where he knew the combination could be accomplished. + +The chosen place of Mr. Effingham's resort, though properly designated +the Brown Bear, was known to all its frequenters as "Johnson's," from +its proprietor's name. It was a commonplace public-house enough, in a +street leading out of the Strand, and sufficiently near the large +theatres and newspaper offices for its parlour to be the resort of +actors and press-men of an inferior grade. The more eminent in both +professions "used" the Rougepot in Salad Yard, a famous old place that +had been a house of call for actors, wits, and men-of-letters for +generations, and where strangers seldom penetrated. The _habitués_ of +"Johnson's" were mostly young men just affiliated to their +professions, and not particularly careful as to their associates; so +that you frequently found in Johnson's parlour a sprinkling of +questionable characters, men who hung on to the selvage of theatrical +life, betting-book keepers, and card-sharpers. The regular frequenters +did not actually favour these men, but they tacitly allowed their +presence, and occasionally would join in and listen to their +conversation, from which they gleaned new notions of life. + +When Mr. Effingham pushed open the parlour-door and looked into the +room on the afternoon in which he had conducted his banking operation +with such signal success, the place was almost deserted. The large +corner-boxes by the fire, where the professional gentlemen usually +congregated, were empty; but at a table in the far end of the room +were seated two men, at sight of whom Mr. Effingham's face brightened. +They were flashily-dressed, raffish-looking men, smoking rank cigars, +and busily engaged in comparing betting-books. + +"Hollo!" said one of them, looking up at the noise made by the opening +of the door; "I'm blessed if here ain't D'Ossay Butler! And the +regular D'Ossay cut too--sprucer than ever; might pass for the Count +himself, D'Ossay!" + +"What's happened to the little cove now, I wonder?" said the other, a +thin man with a shaved face and a tall hat, which he had great +difficulty in keeping on his head; "what's happened to him now? Has he +stood-in on a steeple-chase, or robbed a bank? Look at his togs! What +a slap-up swell he is!" + +Mr. Effingham received these compliments with great equanimity, sat +down by his friends, and seeing their glasses empty, said: "Any lap? +I'm game to stand anything you like to put a name to;" rang the bell +for the waiter, and ordered three nines of brandy hot. + +"What an out-and-out little cove it is!" repeated the first man with +great admiration. "Well, tell us, D'Ossay, all about it. How did it +come off? What was it?" + +"Come off!" said Mr. Effingham; "what do you mean? Nothing's come off +that I know of; at least nothing particular. You know that gentleman +in the City that I told you of, Griffiths?" he asked, with a private +wink at the man in the high hat. + +"I know him fast enough," replied that worthy with a nod, partly +confirmatory, partly to keep the tall hat on his head. "Did he pull +through in that matter?" + +"Pull through!" said Mr. Effingham; "he won a lot of money; and as I'd +given him the office, and put him on a good thing, he said he'd behave +handsome; and he didn't do amiss, considerin.'" + +"What did he part with?" asked the first man. + +"A tenner." + +The first man's eyes glistened, and he instantly made up his mind to +borrow half-a-sovereign if he could get it---five shillings if he +could not---of Effingham before they parted. + +"Ah, and so you went and rigged yourself out in these swell togs, +D'Ossay, did you, at once? You always had the notions of a gentleman, +and the sperrit of a gentleman, that's more. I wish you'd put me on to +something of that kind; but, there, it wants the way to carry it out; +and I haven't got that, I know well enough." + +While this speech was in progress, Mr. Effingham had caught the eye of +the tall man, and winking towards their friend, pointed over his +shoulder at the door. The tall man repeated the nod that did the +double duty, and after looking up at the clock, said, "You'd better be +off Jim; you'll be just in time to catch that party down at Peter +Crawley's, if you look sharp." + +Jim, thus admonished, finished his grog and took his leave, asking Mr. +Effingham if he could have "half a word" with him outside; which +half-word resulted in the extraction of a half-sovereign, as Jim had +predetermined. + +"Now for it," said Griffiths, as soon as Effingham returned, "I'm +death to hear all that's happened, only that fool wouldn't go. Wanted +something, of course, outside, eh? Ah, thought so. What did you square +him for?" + +"Half-a-couter." + +"You appear to be making the shiners spin, Master D'Ossay; that swell +at the West End must have bled pretty handsome. Tell us all about it. +What did he stand?" + +"Well, I won't try and gammon you. He stood fifty." + +"What, on the mere gab? without your showing him the stiff, and only +telling him you knew about it? Fifty quid! that's a cow that'll give +milk for many a long year, Master D'Ossay, if only properly handled. +Come, hand us over what you promised for putting you on. By George!" +he added, as Effingham drew a bundle of notes from his pocket, "how +nice and crisp they sound!" + +"There's your termer," said Effingham, selecting a note from the roll +and handing it to his friend; "I'm always as good as my word. That +squares us up so far." + +"No fakement about it, is there?" said Mr. Griffiths, first holding +the note up to the light, then spreading it flat on the table, and +going carefully over it back and front. "I've been dropped in the hole +too often by flimsies not to be precious careful about 'em. No. +Matthew Marshall--all them coily things in the water-mark and that; +all right. I think you ought to make it a little more; I do, indeed." + +"Make it a little more! I like that. Why, what the devil could you +have done without me? It's true you first heard of the coppered stiff +from Tony; but you didn't trouble a bit about it. Who set all the boys +to hunt up this cove? who found him at last? and who walked in as bold +as brass this morning, and checked him out of fifty quid without a +stitch of evidence? Why, you daredn't have gone to his crib, to start +with; and if you had, he'd never have seen you; the flunkey would have +kicked you out for an area-sneak or a gonoph. Why, even I had some +bother to get in; so what would have become of you?" + +Mr. Effingham was only a little man, but he swelled so with +self-importance as, in the eyes of his companion, to look very big +indeed. He bounced and swaggered and spoke so loud as quite to quell +the unfortunate Griffiths, who began, with due submission, to +apologize for his own shortcomings and deprecate his friend's wrath. + +"Well, I know all that fast enough, and I only just hinted; but you're +down upon a cove so. However, it's a fine thing for us both, ain't it? +He'll be as good as a bank to us for years to come, will this swell." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Mr. Effingham thoughtfully. + +"How do you mean, not so sure of that?" asked Griffiths. + +"Well, you see, he's a long way off being a fool; he's not half so +soft as Tony led us to believe. He downed on me once or twice as quick +as lightning; and I think it was only my way of putting it, and his +being taken sudden on the hop, that made him shell out." + +"You think that after he's thought the matter over he'll fancy he's +been a flat?" + +"Well, not exactly that. You see the higher a fellow climbs the worse +it is when he falls. This Mitford wouldn't have cared a cuss for this +thing in the old days; he'd have stood the racket of it easy. But it's +different now; he's a big swell; its 'Sir Charles' and 'my Lady,' +pony-phe-aton and 'orses and grooms, nice wife, and all that. He'd +come an awful smasher if anything was to trip him up just now, and he +knows it. That's our hold upon him." + +"And that's what will make it easy for us to squeeze him." + +"No, not entirely. That very fear of being blown upon, of having to +bolt or stand a trial--my eye! how blue he turned when I mentioned +Norfolk Island to him!--that very fear will make him most anxious to +get rid of every chance of coming to grief, to prevent any one being +able to lay hold of him." + +"There's only one way for him to do that, and that's to burn the +bill." + +"Yes; but he must get it first, and that's what he'll want, you may +take your oath. The next time I go to him, it'll be, 'Where is it? let +me see it! name your outside price, and let me have it!' That's what +he'll say." + +"Likely enough; and what'll you say then?" + +"Cussed if I know!" said Mr. Effingham ruefully. "If I say I haven't +got it, he'll stop the supplies until I bring it; if I say I can't get +it, not another mag from him." + +"You must fall back on the bounce, like you did to-day, and tell him +you know of there bein' such a thing, and that you won't keep your +mouth shut unless you're paid for it." + +"Oh, you're a leery cove, Griffiths, you are!" said Mr. Effingham with +great disgust. "You never heard of attemptin' to extort money, did +you? You don't think he'd ring the bell and send for a bobby, do you?" + +"No, I don't. He wouldn't have the pluck." + +"Oh, but I do though; and as you see it's me that the bobby would lay +hold of, I'm rather pertickler about it. Besides, it's not such a +pleasant thing finding yourself at Bow Street; for even if one could +square this Mitford and get him not to prosecute, there'd be heaps of +bobbies there to prove previous convictions. Clark of the G's getting +up: 'Known as D'Ossay Butler, your worship. I had him for passing base +coin in '43;' and all that kind of game. No, no, Griffiths! bounce +won't do, my boy; won't do a bit." + +"What will do, then? what shall we try? Shall we shy up the sponge and +think ourselves lucky to have got this fifty, and never try him any +more? That seems hard lines with such a chance." + +"It would be; and we won't do it. No; there's only one thing to be +done--we must go the whole hog; we must have the bill." + +"Ah! and we must have lamb and green peas in Febooary; and a patent +shofle cab to ride in, so as not to tire ourselves; and pockets full +of 'alf-bulls to toss with! We _must;_ but you see we 'aven't, +D'Ossay, my boy! And as for getting' that bill, we're done at the very +first step: we don't know who's got it." + +"You fool! if we did know who'd got it we'd have it, fast enough. +There ain't many of 'em that could keep it away from me!" + +"You are a plucked 'un!" said Griffiths, regarding him with +admiration; "I can't help sayin' so, though you do lose your temper +and call your friends ugly names. No; I don't think there is many as +could keep you off it if you knew where it was. But how we're ever to +find that I can't tell." + +"Let's go over the business all again," said Effingham. "It was Tony +that always had a fancy for that bit of stiff. He stuck to it when it +wasn't worth more than the stamp and the paper it was wrote on; but he +always thought something would come of this Mitford, and then it would +be a first-class screw to put on him, and make him do as Tony liked. +But you see he died before anything turned up; and though he told you +about the stiff, he didn't say where it was." + +"He wouldn't. I asked him scores of times; but he always said 'Time +enough for that,' he says, or 'That'll keep;' he says. He was a +mistrustful cove was Tony,--always suspecting people." + +"Ah, he'd seen a good deal of the world, Griffiths. What an infernal +nuisance I hadn't got back from Yankeeland before he popped off! I'd +have had it out of him. Who took his traps after his death?" + +"Well, old Lyons had 'em, I think. There wasn't much; two or three +boxes and a little dressin'-case,--for Tony, though not such a swell +as you, D'Ossay, was always natty and spruce,--and a walkin'-stick or +two. Old Lyons had lent Tony money, and stood in with him generally; +and after he stepped it, old Lyons cleared off the things." + +"Do you know where to find old Lyons?" + +"Reethur! Why?" + +"We'll go there next week when I come back to town. You may take your +oath he's got the bill; and if he's heard nothing about Mitford's +fortune, we may get it for next to nothing." + + + + +CHAPTER X. +SOUVENT FEMME VARIE. + + +No; Laurence Alsager was certainly not best pleased at all he heard +about Mrs. Hammond. Mrs. Hammond, a pretty little woman, coming to +call upon you--great Heaven! Is that the way that that oaf Mitford +talked of her who two years ago was Laura Molyneux, the mere mention +of whose name caused Alsager to thrill to his finger-tips; and whose +low _trainante_ voice, long steady passionate glances, and rippling +shoulders could have led him to destruction? Drove her chestnuts well, +eh? Yes, by Jove! there were few women could touch her either in +riding or driving, and--Laurence laughed grimly to himself as he +strode along. What was it Dollamore had said about Mitford's readiness +to go to the bad, to shake a loose leg, to enjoy those advantages of +health, wealth, and position which had before been denied to him? Why, +here was the very woman to ensnare him, to act as his evil genius, the +very counter-charm of Lady Mitford's quietude and girlish grace; a +woman of the world, bright, sharp, active, and alert; with plenty of +_savoir fair_, an enormous talent for flirtation, and not the smallest +scrap of heart to throw into the balance against any of her whims. No, +by George, not a scrap. Laurence bethought him of a certain December +morning in Kensington Gardens, and the whole scene rose vividly before +him. The trees all stripped and bare, and stridently clanging in the +bitter wind; the thick dun clouds hanging over the horizon; the +greatcoated park-keeper stamping vigorously over the gravel, and +banging himself with his arms with vague notions of generating +calorie; and he himself pacing up and down by Laura Molyneux's side. +The arguments he had used, the very phrases which he had employed to +induce her to reconsider the determination then announced to him, were +ringing in his ears. He recollected how he had humbled himself, how he +had implored her to reconsider her decision, how even he had begged +for time, and how he had been met with one stern pitiless refusal; and +how he had gone away to weep bitter tears of mortified pride, and +rejected love, and savage disappointment; and how she had stepped into +the neat little brougham waiting for her at the gate, and been whirled +off to accept the hand and heart of Mr. Percy Hammond, a retired +civil-servant from India, a widower with one daughter, who had shaken +the pagoda-tree to some purpose and returned to England with a +colossal fortune. + +That was the then finale of the intimacy between Laura Molyneux and +Laurence Alsager. In the course of the next week he started on his +tour; in the course of the next month St. George's, Hanover Square, +was the scene of her marriage,--a bishop welding the chains. And now +two years had elapsed, and he was back in London, pretty much the same +as if he had never left it; and she was asking whether he had +returned, and he had begun to feel a great interest in Lady Mitford; +and Sir Charles Mitford evidently thought Mrs. Hammond a most +delightful person, and every thing was _à tort et à travers_, as it +has been, is, and always shall be, in the great world of London. + +_Nil admirari_ is the motto on which your precocious youth piques +himself; but which is adopted in all due seriousness and sobriety by +the calm student of life. Who wonders at anything?--at the peevishness +of your wife; at the ingratitude of the child for whom you have +pinched and slaved; at the treachery of the one familiar friend; at +the enormous legacy left you by the uncle whose last words to you were +that you were a jackanapes, and, so far as he was concerned, should be +a beggar? The man of the world is surprised at nothing; he is not +_l'homme blasé_ of the caricaturist; he is not an atom astonished at +finding nothing in anything; on the contrary, he finds plenty of +novelty in every variety of life; but nothing which may happen to him +excites the smallest wonderment on his part. So that when Colonel +Alsager walked into the Guards club to dinner, and received from the +hall-porter a small note with an address in a handwriting perfectly +familiar to him, he was not in the least surprised. + +But he looked at the note, and twisted it between his fingers, and +even put it into his waistcoat pocket, as he walked up to the table +whereon stood the framed _menu_, and left it there while he walked +round and spoke to two or three men who were already at dinner; and it +was not until he was comfortably seated at his little table, and had +eaten a few mouthfuls of soup, that he took it from his pocket, +leisurely opened it, and bringing the candle within range, began to +read it. Even then he paused for a moment, recollecting with what +heart-throbs of anxiety and sensations of acute delight he used to +read the previous epistles from the same source; then, as with an +effort, he set himself to its perusal. + +It was very short. + + +"I shall be at home to-morrow at three, and hope to see you. I hear +all sorts of rumours, which you alone can solve. _Chi non sa niente +non dubita di niente!_ It will be for you to read the riddle. L." + + +He smiled outright as, after reading it and restoring it to his +pocket, he said to himself, "The old story; she always made a mystery +when there was no other excitement; but I'll go, for all that." + +During his wildest times, Laurence had always been a punctual man; and +even the irregular manner of his life during the two last years had +not altered him in this respect. On the next afternoon, as the clock +was striking three, he presented himself at Mrs. Hammond's door, and +was immediately admitted and shown into her presence. + +He was apparently a little too punctual; for a tall young woman, +looking half lady, half nursery-governess, was standing by her and +listening respectfully. Mrs. Hammond rose at the announcement of the +Colonel's name, and coming forward, pressed his cold motionless hand +with a tight grasp. + +"Pray excuse me for one instant, Colonel Alsager," said she; "the +doctors have said that we were all wrong in leaving Florence; that +it's impossible Mr. Hammond can remain in London during this awful +weather, and that he must go at once to Torquay. So I'm sending Miss +Gillespie down there to get a house for us, and arrange matters before +we go down.--Now, Ruth," turning to her, "I don't think there's any +more to say. Not facing the sea, recollect, and a six-stall stable and +double coach-house. You know all about the rest,--bed-rooms, and those +sort of things,--and so goodbye." + +Miss Gillespie touched lightly the outstretched tips of Mrs. Hammond's +fingers, bowed gracefully to Laurence, and departed. + +Mrs. Hammond watched the door close again, and obviously ill at ease, +turned to Laurence, and said: "Miss Gillespie is the most invaluable +person. She came at first as governess to Miss Hammond; but she has +really made herself so useful to me, that I don't know what I should +do without her. Housekeepers and all regular servants are so stupid; +and I hate trouble so." + +She stopped, and there was a dead silence. Mrs. Hammond coloured, and +said: "Have you nothing to say, Colonel Alsager?" + +"On the subject of Miss Gillespie, nothing. If you sent for me to +expatiate to me on Miss Gillespie's virtues, I am sorry; for my time +could have been better employed." + +"Than in coming to see me? You did not think so once." + +"Then we didn't talk about Miss Gillespie. Your note said that you had +heard rumours, or riddles, which you wanted me to explain. What have +you heard?" + +"In a word, nothing. I wrote the first thing that came into my mind +because I wanted to see you, Laurence Alsager. Because I have hungered +to see you for two years; to hear your voice, to--You were at Vienna? +at Ischl? and at Trieste?" + +"I was at all three--some little time at each." + +"You saw the _Times_ occasionally on your travels?" + +"While I remained in Europe, frequently. O yes, Laura, I received all +your letters at the places you mention; and I saw the advertisement in +the _Times_, under the signature and with the ciphers by which we used +to correspond in the old days." + +"And why did you take no notice?" + +"Because my love for you was gone and dead; because I was tired of +being dragged about and shown-off, and made to display the abject +state of docility to which you had reduced me. I told you all this +that January morning in Kensington Gardens; I said to you, 'Let us +finish this scheming and hiding; let our engagement be announced, and +let us be married in the spring.' And you apparently assented; and +went home and wrote me that letter which I have now, and shall keep to +my dying day, declaring that you had been compelled to accept an offer +from Mr. Hammond." + +"You knew, Laurence, that my mother insisted on it." + +"I knew you said so, Mrs. Hammond.--When I was acquainted with Mrs. +Molyneux she was not much accustomed to having any influence with her +daughter. Then I went away; but at first not out of the reach of that +London jargon which permeates wherever Englishmen congregate. I heard +of your marriage, of your first season, of the Richmond _fête_ given +for you by the Russian Prince, Tchernigow. I heard of you that autumn +as being the reigning belle of Baden, where Tchernigow must have been +at the same time, as I recollect reading in _Galignani_ of his +breaking the bank. Before I went to the East I heard of you in a +score of other places; your name always connected with somebody else's +name--always '_la belle Hammond, et puis_--' I never choose to be one +in a regiment; besides--" + +"Besides what?" + +"Well, my time for that sort of thing was past and gone; I was too old +for it; I had gone through the phase of existence which Tchernigow and +the others were then enjoying. I had offered you a steadfast honest +love, and you had rejected it. When I heard of the Tchernigow +alliance, and the various other _passe-temps_, I must say I felt +enormously grateful for the unpleasantness you had spared me." + +"I cannot say your tour has improved you, Colonel Alsager," said Mrs. +Hammond calmly, though with a red spot burning on either cheek. "In +the old days you were considered the pink of chivalry, and would have +had your tongue cut out before you would have hinted a sneer at a +woman. You refuse to believe my story of compulsion in my marriage; +but it is true--as true as is the fact that I rebelled then and there, +and, having sold myself, determined to have as much enjoyment of life +as was compatible with the sale." + +"I never denied it, Mrs. Hammond; I simply told you what I had heard." + +"Then tell me something more, Laurence Alsager," said Mrs. Hammond, +flushing brilliantly, and looking him, for the first time during their +interview, straight in the face; "is it to be war between us two, or +what?" + +She looked splendidly beautiful just at that moment. She was a +bright-looking little woman, with deep-gray eyes and long dark lashes, +shining chestnut hair, a _retroussé_ nose, a wanton mouth, and a +perfect, trim, tight, rounded small figure. As she threw out this +verbal challenge, her eyes flashed, she sat erect, and every fibre +within her seemed quivering with emotion. + +Laurence marked her expression, and for an instant softened, as the +recollection of the old days, when he had seen her thus wilfully +petulant only to make more marked the subsidence into placidity and +devotion, rose before him; but it faded rapidly away, had utterly +vanished before, no less in reply to her peering gaze than to her +words, he said, "No, not war; neighbours who have been so nearly +allied should never quarrel. Let us take another strategic phrase, and +say that we will preserve an armed neutrality." + +"And that means--?" + +"Well, in our case that means that neither shall interfere with the +other's plans, of whatever kind, without due warning. That once given +and disregarded, there will be war to the knife; for I think under +present circumstances neither will be inclined to spare the other." + +"Your anticipations are of a singularly sombre character, Colonel +Alsager. I think that--ah!" she exclaimed, suddenly clapping her +hands, "I see it all! my eyes are opened, and the whole map lies +patent before me." + +"What has caused this happy restoration of sight?" + +"Remembering a story which was told me a day or two ago by a little +bird. The story of a _preux chevalier_ and a lady in distress; of a +romantic adventure and a terrific leap; of plunging hoofs and +fainting-fits, and all the necessary ingredients of such a scene. _Je +vous en félicité, Monsieur le Colonel_." + +Laurence's brow grew very dark as he said, "You are too clever a +woman to give a leg-up to a manifestly limping story, however much it +might temporarily serve your purpose. Of that story as it stands, +turned, twisted, perverted as it may be, nothing can be made. The +scandal-mongers don't know what they have taken in hand. They might as +well try to shake the Rock of Gibraltar as that lady's good name." + +Mrs. Hammond laughed a short bitter laugh and said, "You have even +lost that grand virtue which you possessed--the power of concealing +your emotions. With the gravity, you have attained the simplicity of +the Oriental; and you now--" + +She was interrupted by the servant's throwing open the door and +announcing, "Sir Charles Mitford." + +That gentleman entered immediately on the announcement of his name, +with a certain air of _empressement_ which vanished so soon as he saw +Colonel Alsager's broad back. Laura Hammond prided herself on never +having been taken unawares. When speaking to Alsager her face had been +curling with sneers, her voice harsh and strident; but before Sir +Charles Mitford had crossed the threshold, she had wreathed her mouth +in smiles, and as she shook hands with him, though aloud she only +uttered the ordinary commonplaces, in a lower tone she said, "I +thought you would come to-day." + +Alsager heard her say it. That was a singular property of his--that +gift of hearing anything that might be said, no matter in how large a +party, or how earnestly he might be supposed to be talking. It had +saved his life once; and he had assiduously cultivated it ever since. +Mitford heard it too, but thickly. He had not had as much experience +in the cadences of the _demi-voix_ as Laurence. + +"How are you, Alsager? We seem to be always tumbling over each other +now, don't we? and the oftener the better, I say.--How d'ye do, Mrs. +Hammond? I say, what's all this that you've been saying to my wife?" + +Laurence started, and then reverted to the album which lay on his +knees. Mrs. Hammond saw the start, and the means adopted for hiding +it, and smiled quietly. + +"I don't know what I said in particular to Lady Mitford; nothing to +frighten her, I hope," said Mrs. Hammond; "I was congratulating myself +that she and I had got on so very well together." + +"O yes, so you did, of course," said Sir Charles,--"sisters, and all +that kind of thing. But I mean what you said to her about leaving +town." + +"Oh, that's perfectly correct. Mr. Hammond has seen Sir Charles Dumfunk +and Dr. Wadd, and they both concur in saying that he ought not to have +left Florence until the spring; and that he must leave London +forthwith." + +"And they have recommended Torquay as the best place for him; at least +so my wife tells me." + +"Quite right; and in obedience to their commands I have sent Miss +Gillespie off this very day to take a house, and make all necessary +arrangements." + +"Who's Miss Gillespie?" + +"My-well, I don't know what. I believe _factotum_ is the Latin word +for it. She's Miss Hammond's governess (my stepdaughter, you know), +and my general adviser and manager. I don't know what I should do +without her, as I told Colonel Alsager, who, by the way, did not pay +much attention." + +Laurence grinned a polite grin, but said never a word. + +"She was with me in the pony-carriage the first day Mr. Bertram +introduced you to me, Sir Charles. Ah, but she had her veil down, I +recollect; and she asked all about you afterwards." + +"Very civil of her to take any interest in me," said Sir Charles. "I +recollect a veiled person in the pony-carriage; but not a bit of +interest did I take in her. All that concentrated elsewhere, and that +sort of thing;" and he smiled at Mrs. Hammond in a manner that made +Laurence's stern face grow sterner than ever. + +"Well, but about Torquay," continued Sir Charles. "I thought at first +it was a tremendous nuisance your having to go out of town; but now +I've got an idea which does not seem so bad. Town's horribly slow, you +know, utterly empty; one does not know what to do with oneself; and so +I've been suggesting to Georgie why not go down to Redmoor--our +country place in Devon, you know--close to Torquay,--and one could +fill the house with pleasant people, and you could come over from +Torquay, and it would be very jolly indeed." + +He said it in an off-hand manner, but he nevertheless looked earnestly +up into Mrs. Hammond's face, and Laurence Alsager's expression grew +sterner than ever. + +Mrs. Hammond returned Sir Charles's glance, and said, "That would be +thoroughly delightful! I was looking forward with horror, I confess, +to a sojourn at Torquay. Those dreadful people in respirators always +creeping about, and the stupid dinner-parties, where the talk is +always about the doctor, and the quarter in which the wind is. But +with you and Lady Mitford in the neighbourhood it would be quite +another thing." + +"O yes, and we'd get some jolly people down there.--Alsager, you'd +come?" + +"I don't think I'd come, and I'm anything but a jolly person. I must +go to my father's at once." + +"Gad, Alsager, you seem to keep your father always ready to bring +forward whenever you want to be misanthropical. You were to have gone +to him a week ago." + +"Circumstances alter cases," said Mrs. Hammond with a short laugh; +"and Colonel Alsager finds London more tolerable than he expected. Is +it not so, Colonel?" + +"'Very tolerable, and not to be endured,' as Dogberry says, since I am +about to leave it," said Laurence. ("She would like to draw me into a +semi-confidence on that subject; but she sha'n't," thought he.) + +"No; but really, Alsager, do try and come, there's a good fellow; you +can hold over your father until you want an excuse for not going to +some place where you'll be bored. Now we won't bore you; we'll take +down a rattling good team Tom Charteris and his wife--she plays and +sings, and all that kind of thing, capitally; and Mrs. Masters, who's +quiet to ride or drive--I don't mean that exactly, but she's available +in two ways,--as a widow she can chaperon, and she's quite young and +pretty enough to flirt on her own hook; and the Tyrrells--nice girls +those; and Bligh and Winton,--Oh, and Dollamore! I'll ask Dollamore; +he'd be just the man for such a party." + +"O yes, you must have Lord Dollamore," said Mrs. Hammond; "he has such +a delightfully dry way of saying unpleasant things about everybody; +and as he never shoots or hunts, he is a perfect treasure in a country +house, and devotes himself to the ladies." She shot one hasty glance +at Laurence as she said this, which he duly perceived. + +"O yes," said Sir Charles, "Dollamore's sure to come. And you, +Alsager,--come, you've changed your mind?" + +"Upon my word, the temptation you offer me is so great, that I'm +unable to resist it. Yes, I'll come." + +"I thought you would," said Sir Charles carelessly. + +"I knew you would," said Mrs. Hammond in an undertone; then aloud, +"What, going, Colonel Alsager? Goodbye; I'm so pleased to have seen +you; and looking so well too, after the climate, and all the things +you've gone through." + +Laurence shook hands with Mitford and departed. + +Yes, there was not much doubt about it: Sir Charles was tolerably well +"on" in that quarter. An old poacher makes the best gamekeeper, +because he knows the tricks and dodges of his old profession; and +there was not one single move of Sir Charles Mitford's during the +entire conversation which Laurence Alsager did not recognize as having +been used by himself in bygone days. He knew the value of every look, +knew the meaning of each inflexion of the voice; and appreciated to +its full the motive-power which had induced the baronet suddenly to +long for the country house at Redmoor, and to become disgusted with +the dreariness of London. Determined to sit him out too, wasn't he? +Lord! how often he, Laurence, had determinedly sat out bores for the +sake of getting ten words, one hand-clasp, from Laura after they were +gone! Yes, Mitford was getting on, certainly; making the running more +quickly even than Dollamore had prophesied. Dollamore! ah, that +reminded him: Dollamore was to be asked down to Redmoor. That, and the +manner in which Mrs. Hammond had spoken of him and his visit, had +decided Laurence in accepting Mitford's invitation. There could not be +anything between them which--no; Dollamore could never have made a +_confidante_ of Laura and imparted to her--O no! Laura had not too +much conscience in any case where her own passion or even her own whim +was concerned; but she would shrink from meddling in an affair of that +kind. And as for Lord Dollamore, he was essentially a man of _petits +soins_, the exercise of which always laid those who practised them +open to misunderstanding. He had a habit of hinting and insinuating +also, which was unpleasant, but not very noxious. As people said, his +bark was probably worse than his bite, and-- + +And at all events Laurence was very glad that he had accepted the +invitation, and that he would be there to watch in person over +anything that might happen. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +DOWN AT REDMOOR. + + +Just on the highest ridge of the great waste of Redmoor, which is +interspersed with dangerous peat-bogs and morasses, and extends about +ten miles every way, with scarcely a fence or a tree, stands Redmoor +House, from time immemorial--which means from the reign of Edward +III.--the home of the Mitford family. Stands high and dry, and looking +warm and snug and comfortable, with its red-brick face and its quaint +gables and queer little mullioned windows. It is a house the sight of +which would put spirit into a man chilled and numbed with looking over +the great morass, and would give some vestige of credibility to the +fact, that the sluggiest little stream born in the middle of the moor, +and winding round through the gardens of the house, from its desolate +birthplace flows down--as can be traced from the windows--through a +land of plenty, of park and meadow, of orchard and cornfield, by the +old cathedral-city, to the southern shore. + +A grand old house, with a big dining-hall like St. George's Chapel at +Windsor on a small scale, without the stalls, but with the knightly +banners, and the old oak, and the stained glass, and the solemn air of +antiquity; with a picture-gallery full of ancestors, beginning with +Sir Gerard, temp. Henry VIII., painted by Holbein, a jolly red-bearded +swashbuckler, not unlike _his_ royal master, and ending with the late +lamented Sir Percy, painted by Lawrence, with a curly head of hair, a +fur collar to his coat, a smile of surprising sweetness, and +altogether not unlike _his_ royal master. There were drawing-rooms in +blue and amber; a charming bow-windowed room hung with tapestry, and +commanding a splendid view over the cultivated landscape, which, in +the housekeeper's tradition, had been a boudoir for Sir Percy's lady, +who died within three years of her marriage; a grand old library, the +bookcases in black oak, and nearly all the books in Russia leather, +save those bought under the auspices of the late baronet,--Hansard's +Debates, and a legal and magisterial set of volumes all bound in calf +and red-lettered at the back. There is a grand terrace in front of the +house, and all kinds of gardens stretch round it: Dutch gardens, +formal, quaint, and solemn, with a touch of old-world stiffness like +the Mynheers; Italian gardens, bright and sunny and gaudy, very +glittering and effective, but not very satisfactory after all, like +the Signori; English gardens, with ample space of glorious +close-shaved lawn, and such wealth of roses as to keep the whole air +heavy with their fragrance. Great prolific kitchen-gardens at the +back, and stables and coach-houses which might be better; but the late +baronet cared for nothing but his quarter-sessions and his yacht; and +so long as he had a pair of horses to jolt with him to join the +judge's procession at assize-times, troubled himself not one jot how +the internal economy of the stables was ordered. + +This is all to be altered now. It was not very bright in Sir Percy's +time, and it has been deadly-lively indeed since his death; but the +Sleeping Beauty herself was never more astonished by the arrival of +the prince than was Mrs. Austin, the old housekeeper at Redmoor, by +the advent of a tall hook-nosed gentleman, who announced himself as +Captain Bligh, and who brought a letter from Sir Charles Mitford, duly +signed and sealed with the family arms, which Mrs. Austin knew so +well, ordering implicit obedience to whatever orders the bearer might +choose to give. With him came a sleek-looking man with close-cut hair +and a white cravat, whom Mrs. Austin at first took for a clergyman, +until she discovered, he was the stud-groom. This person inspected the +stables, and the remnant of the late Sir Percy's stud, and reported to +Captain Bligh that the stables was pigsties, and as for the hanimals, +he should think they must be the 'osses as Noah put into the hark. + +A fresh _régime_ and fresh work to be done by everybody under it. No +more chance for Tummus coachman and Willum helper to just ride harses +to ex'cise and dryaive 'em out in trap whenever wanted to go crass to +races or market, or give missus and young 'uns a little change. No +more chance for Dawniel Todd the Scotch gardener to make his market of +all the fruits, flowers, and vegetables, selling them to Mrs. Dean or +Miss Archdeacon, or to the officers up in barracks. Not much chance +for the head-keeper and his two under-trappers, who really had all +their work to do to keep the game down after Sir Percy's death, so +strictly had that terror of poachers preserved; though they thought +they saw their way to balancing any loss which they might sustain from +being unable any longer to supply the poulterers of the county town, +in a house full of ardent sportsmen, with innumerable heavy tips after +battue-days, and an occasional dog to break or to sell. The old +lodge-gates had begun to grow rusty from disuse; but they are +constantly on the stretch now, for carts with ladders and +scaffolding-poles, and men in light linen blouses daubed with paint, +were streaming in and out from morning till night. There is a new roof +being put on the stables, and the outhouses are being painted and +whitewashed throughout; and the mastiff, who has been bred on the true +English principle of "keeping himself to himself," has been driven +quite mad at the influx of new faces, and has shown such a convincing +set of teeth to the painter's men, that they have declined proceeding +with their work until he has been removed. So Tummus coachman and +Willum helper have removed his big kennel to the back of the stables; +and here Turk lies, with nothing but his black nose visible in the +clean straw, until he catches sight of a painter or a tiler pursuing +his occupation high up in mid-air, and then with one baleful spring +Turk bounds out of his kennel, and unmistakably expresses his fervent +wish to have that skilled labourer's life's-blood. + +Captain Bligh too sits heavy on the lodge-keeper's soul. For the +captain, after a cursory inspection of the vehicles at Redmoor louse, +has sent down to Exeter for a dog-cart, and has duly received thence +the nearest approach which the Exeterian coachbuilder had on hand. It +is not a bad tax-cart, of the kind known as "Whitechapel," has a very +big pair of wheels, and behind a long chestnut mare--which the captain +found in a loose box in the corner of the yard, and which it seemed +Tummus the coachman used to reserve for his special driving-runs +remarkably well and light. In this tax-cart Captain Bligh drives to +and from the station, where he is occupied watching the disembarkation +of furniture coming direct from Gillow's--ottomans for the +smoking-rooms, and looking-glasses for my lady's boudoir; to and from +the market-town, where the painters and other workpeople are to be +hunted up; to and from the barracks, where he has found that +hospitality and good-fellowship which are invariable characteristics +of the service. From the barracks the Captain is not unfrequently very +late in returning, yelling out, "Ga-a-ate!" in the early hours of the +morning, and frightening the lodge-keeper from peaceful dreams; and as +the painter's men arrive at six, and the railway-van did not leave +till eleven, the lodge-keeper begins to feel, on the whole, that life +is not all beer and skittles, and rather wishes that the late baronet +had never been drownded. + +Now things begin to look a little straighter, and rumours are rife +that it won't be long before the new baronet brings his wife down, +and, regularly takes possession. The old stables have been re-tiled +and touched up, four new loose boxes, "wi' sla-ate mangers and brass +foxes' heads a-holdin' the pillar-reins," have been erected, the +coach-houses have been cleaned and enlarged. The stud-groom, under +whose directions all these alterations have been made, has watched +their completion, and has then started for London, returning with a +whole string of splendid creatures, all in the most perfect-fitting +hoods and cloths embroidered with Sir C. M.'s initials and bloody +hand, railed down to the nearest station, and brought over thence in +charge of three underlings, also sleek-headed, tight-trousered, and +white-cravated. Not in income, but in status do Tummus coachman and +Willum helper feel the change. They are to be retained on the +establishment at the same rate of wages; but they are simply to make +themselves generally useful in the stables, and to have no particular +duties whatsoever. + +Very busy indeed has been Captain Bligh; but his labours are drawing +to an end now, and he begins to think that he has been very successful +He has been good in generalization, he thinks; there's nothing that +any one could find particular fault with, looking at the materials he +had to work upon, and the time he had to do it in. But there are two +things about which he knows in managing for other people you should be +particular. Take care that both the men and the women have a stunning +good room of their own. You know the library is generally considered +the men's room; but Charley ain't much of a bookworm; the _Times_ of a +day, and _Bell_ of a Sunday, and that kind of thing; and the library's +an infernal big room, with all sorts of plaster-casts of philosophic +classic parties grinning at you off the tops of the shelves. Charley +won't like that; so Bligh has fitted him up this little crib, next to +his dressing-room, cosey and comfortable, good-drawing stove, little +let-down flap for his grog, whip-rack, pipe-rack, and all snug--don't +you think so? Bollindar and Smyth, of the 26th Cameronians, to whom +the question is put, think so--rather! and look all round the room +and nod their heads sagaciously, and clap Bligh on the back and tell +him what a knowing hand he is, and then go off to try the new +billiard-table which Thurston has just sent from London. That Lady +Mitford's special room should also be something to be proud of, is +also a desideratum with the Captain; but there he mistrusts his own +taste. The late Mrs. Bligh had been a barrack-master's daughter, and +having lived in barracks both before and after her marriage, had been +accustomed, as her husband recollected, to think highly of any place +where the doors would shut and the windows would not rattle. But the +old campaigner recollected that Mrs. Barrington the widow, daughter of +the Dean and Deaness, and then living at home with her parents in the +Close, had, during the two happy years of her marriage to George +Barrington, private secretary to Lord Muffington when keeper of the +Gold Fish to her Majesty, lived in very decent society in London; and +it was after Mrs. Barrington's idea that the bow-windowed boudoir had +its bow-window filled with plate-glass, and a light chintz paper and +maple furniture. Sipping a glass of '20 port with her lunch-biscuit +(the cellars at Redmoor were splendidly stocked, and wanted no +renovation), Mrs. Dean declared that the room was perfect; and poor +pale peaky little Mrs. Barrington, looking round at the elegance and +comfort, was reminded of the days when she was something more than a +dependent on her parents' bounty, and when she had a husband whose +chiefest delight was the fulfilment of her every wish. + +So the Captain wrote up to his principal, and reported all in +readiness; and the day for Sir Charles and Lady Mitford to come down +was agreed upon. There was some talk of having a public reception; but +the Captain did not think Sir Charles would care particularly about +that, and so the scheme was given up. However, when the carriage which +fetched them from the station dashed through the lodge-gates, the +tenantry, some mounted on their rough little Redmoor ponies, some on +foot, but all in their best clothes, were drawn up on either side of +the avenue, and greeted their new landlord with reiterated cheers. +They are an impressible people, these Devonians; and they were much +gratified by the frank, hearty, sporting appearance of Sir Charles, +"so different from Sir Percy, as were all dried-up like;" they liked +the jolly way in which he stood up and waved his hat to them; while as +for Lady Mitford, the impression she created was something +extraordinary. The men raved about her, and the women seemed to feel +the greatest gratification in repeating that she was "a pure Devon +lass, as any one could tell by her skin." + +Sir Charles had wished to bring all their friends down to Redmoor at +the same time as they themselves came; but Georgie, who, ever since +the visit to the ancestral home had been determined upon, had found +her mistress-of-the-house position weighing on her mind, begged that +they might be there for at least a day or two by themselves, that she +might settle with Mrs. Austin the disposal of the various rooms, and +the general arrangement of the household. To this Sir Charles agreed, +and they came alone. + +The "day or two" spent by themselves were very happily passed by +Georgie. The whole of the first day was consumed in going from room to +room with Mrs. Austin, listening to the family history, and thoroughly +examining all the pictures, tapestry, and curios. The old lady was +enchanted with her new mistress, who took so much interest in +everything, and who, above all, was such an excellent listener. Then +Georgie, whose housekeeping tastes had not had much opportunity for +display in the parsonage at Fishbourne, under Mrs. Austin's guidance +went "through the things," absolutely revelling in snowy linen and +spotless damask, in glorious old china and quaint antique glass, in +great stores of jams and preserves, and all Mrs. Austin's household +treasures. She did not take so much interest in the display of plate, +though it was really very handsome and very valuable; not the least +effective among the trophies being several splendid regatta-prizes won +by the late baronet's celebrated yacht. With the boudoir Georgie was +delighted; and when she heard from Captain Bligh that, feeling his +utter ignorance in the matter, he had consulted Mrs. Barrington, after +whose taste the room had been prepared, Georgie declared that Mrs. +Barrington must be a very nice woman to have such excellent taste, +would probably prove a delightful neighbour, and certainly should be +called upon as soon as possible. + +You see, if Georgie "gushed" a little at this period of her life, it +was not unnatural, and was certainly excusable. She had been brought +up very quietly, and had had, as we have seen, her little trouble and +had, borne it with great pluck and determination; and now, as she +imagined, she was thoroughly happy. Husband's love, kind, friends, +wealth and position, were all hers; and as she was young and +impulsive, and thoroughly appreciative of all these blessings, she +could not help showing her appreciation. In those days, even more than +in the present, it was considered in the worst taste to be in the +smallest degree natural; a dull uncaring acceptance of events as they +occurred, without betraying the least astonishment or concern, was +considered the acme of good breeding; so that unless Georgie altered a +great deal before the London season, she would be voted very bad _ton_ +by Lady Clanronald and the Marchioness of Tappington, those sovereigns +of society. But there is some little time yet before the commencement +of the season, and Georgie may then have become as unappreciative and +as undemonstrative as the other women in her position. Just now she is +thoroughly happy with Mrs. Austin and the contents of the linen and +china-rooms. + +Whether, as the woman is the lesser man, the feminine mind is much +more easily amused than the masculine, or whether there was much more +absolute novelty to Lady Mitford in her position than to Sir Charles +in his (he had seen something of the external life of fashionable +people, and, like most military men, had acquired a veneer of swelldom +while in the army), it is difficult to determine; but it is certain +that the "day or two" to be spent before the arrival of their friends +seemed like a day or twenty-two to Sir Charles Mitford. He had gone +over every room of the house, thoroughly examined the new stables and +loose boxes, had out all the horses and critically examined them, had +tried two new pairs and spent an hour or two in breaking them, had +pulled the old mastiff's ears until the dog growled, had then kicked +him for growling, had put all his whips and all his pipes into their +respective racks, had smoked more than was good for him, had whistled +every tune he could remember, and was utterly and horribly bored. + +He was like the little boy in the child's story-book: he wanted +somebody to come and play with him. Captain Bligh had been obliged to +leave for London directly his friends arrived, and was coming down +again with the first batch of visitors. And Sir Charles hated being +alone; he wanted somebody to smoke with him, and to play billiards +with him. He used to put a cigar in his mouth and go and knock the +balls about, trying various new hazards; but it did not amuse him. He +could not ask the officers of the neighbouring garrison to come over, +as his plea to his friends had been the necessity for preparation in +the house. He grew very cross towards the close of the second day; and +after dinner, as he was going to smoke a sulky pipe in his own +room, Georgie came up to him, and put her arm through his, and looked +at and spoke to him so affectionately, that his conscience gave him a +little twinge as he thought how lately he had let his fancy run on +eyes and hair of a different colour from his wife's. + +"What is it, Charley? You're all wrong, I see; not ill, are you, +darling?" + +"No, Georgie, not ill; only confoundedly bored." + +"Bored?" + +"Yes, bored! Oh, I know it's all very well for you, who have your +house to look after and Mrs. Austin to attend to, and all that kind of +thing--that passes the time. But I've had nothing to do, and nobody to +speak to, and I'm regularly sick of it. If this is the kind of thing +one's to expect in country life, I shall go back to town to-morrow." + +"Oh, you won't feel it when your friends come down, Charley; they'll +be here the day after to-morrow. It's only because you're alone with +me--and I'm not much of a companion for you, I know--that you're +moped. Now let us see, what can you do to-morrow? Oh, I have it,--why +not drive over and see your friends the Hammonds at Torquay?" + +He had thought of that several times, but had not mentioned it +because--well, he did not know why. But now his wife had started the +subject; so of course it was all right. Still he hesitated. + +"Well, I don't know--" + +"Now I think it a capital idea. You can drive over there, and they'll +most probably ask you to stop to dinner, and you'll have a fine +moonlight drive back. And then the next day all the rest of the people +will come down." + +After this Sir Charles did not attempt, however faintly, to interpose +an objection, and was in a very good temper for the remainder of the +evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +DRAWING COVER. + + +It was part of the crafty policy of the tall-hatted Mr. Griffiths to +keep his employer Mr. Effingham in good humour, and to show that he +was worth seeing occasionally; and it was with this end in view that +Mr. Griffiths had spoken so confidently of Mr. Lyons's undoubted +knowledge of the whereabouts of the forged bill and of his +(Griffiths's) intention of seeking an immediate interview with Lyons. +But, in sober truth, Mr. Griffiths merely had a faint notion that +Lyons, from his previous connection with Tony Butler and his general +acquaintance with the shady transactions of the deceased, might +possibly give a guess as to the hands in which the bill then was, +while he had not the remotest idea where to find the redoubtable Mr. +Lyons himself, with a view to obtain from him the necessary +information. + +For Mr. Lyons, as is the case with many gentlemen of his persuasion, +did not confine his energies to the exercise of one calling, but +dabbled in a great many. To some men he was known as a jeweller and +diamond-merchant; to others as an importer of French clocks, whistling +bullfinches, and German mustard; to some he was known in connection +with the discounting of stamped paper; to others as a picture-dealer, +a cigar-merchant, a vendor of _objets d'art_ of a very peculiar kind. +He had no residence--that is to say, he had a great many, but none +particularly tangible or satisfactory. He would write to you dating +from a number in Clement's Inn; and when you called there, you would +find the name of Mr. Glubb over the door, with a painted square of tin +by the letter-slit announcing that Mr. Glubb had removed to Great +Decorum Street, and that letters for him were to be left with the +porter; and lower still you would find a dirty scrap of paper, with +"M. Lyons" faintly traced upon it; and on the door being opened, +you would find M. Lyons in a room with one chair, one table, a +blotting-pad, pen and ink, and a cheque-book. He was in the habit of +making appointments at coffee-houses and taverns; and when he sent the +clocks or the bullfinches, the cigars or the _objets d'art_, to their +purchasers, they arrived at night, being left at the door by +mysterious boys, to whom they had been given, with the address and +twopence, by a man whom they had never seen before, but who was just +round the corner. There was, it was said, one permanent address which +Mr. Lyons had kept up for a great number of years; but this was known +only to those with whom in their relation with Mr. Lyons a melting-pot +was associated, and these were very few in number. + +Mr. Griffiths was getting desperate, for the last half-crown out of +the ten pounds lay in his pocket, and his principal Mr. Effingham had +already spoken to him rather sharply on the matter. He had been to all +Mr. Lyons's known haunts; he had spoken to a dozen people who were +known to be of his intimates; but he could obtain no tidings of him. +Some thought he might be at Amsterdam, where the diamond-sale was +going on; others had heard him mention his intention of visiting +Frankfort about that period; some laughed, and wondered whether old +Malachi had heard of the plate-robbery, "thalvers ath big round ath a +cart-veel, and thpoonth, all new, not a bit rubbed!" which had lately +taken place. But no one could give any precise information. And time +was going on, and Mr. Effingham's patience and Mr. Griffiths's stock +of ready-money were rapidly becoming exhausted. + +One night, going into "Johnson's" as usual, Mr. Griffiths saw his +principal seated at one of the tables, and not caring to confront him +just then, was about quietly withdrawing as much of his tall hat as he +had already protruded through the swing-door, when he was espied and +called to by Mr. Effingham. + +"Come in, there; don't think I didn't see you, because I did. What a +slimy cove you are, Griffiths!--that's what I complain of; nothing +fair and above-board in you." + +"Who's to be fair and above-board," growled Mr. Griffiths, "if they're +to be everlastingly growled at and badgered? What I come here for is +to be quiet and 'ave a little peace, not to be worritted and downed +upon. D'rectly I see you sittin' here, I knowed it'd be, 'Well, and +wot's up?' and 'Ain't you got no news?' and 'Wot a feller you are, not +to 'ave learned somethink!' so, as I didn't seem to care about that, I +was goin' away agen." + +"Poor feller," said Mr. Effingham with great contempt, "don't like +being worried or having to work for your livin', don't you? I wonder +you didn't get yourself a government berth, where pokin' the fire and +whistlin' tunes is what they do when they're there, which is only the +three winter months of the year. So you've brought no news?" + +"Not a stiver, not a ha'porth, not a blessed word. There, you may as +well take it all at once!" said Griffiths in desperation. + +"And you've been everywhere likely?" + +"Everywhere,--in every gaff and crib where there was the least chance +of hearin' of the old boy; but not a word." + +"Now you see what a thing luck is," said Mr. Effingham sententiously; +"I believe that old City cove who said he couldn't afford to know an +unlucky man was right after all; and I'm not at all sure I'm right, +Master Griffiths, in not dropping your acquaintance, for certingly +you're an unlucky buffer, if ever there was one." + +"Well, p'raps I am, D'Ossay," said Griffiths, who began to see how the +land lay; "perhaps I am in some things; but it ain't only luck,--I'm +as lucky as most of 'em; but it's the talent as does it--the talent; +and there's none of us has got that like you, D'Ossay, my boy." + +"Well, luck or talent, or whatever it is," said Effingham, pulling the +bell, "it helps me on.--Bring some brandy and hot water here.--I come +in here to have a mouthful o' bread and cheese and a glass o' ale +about two this afternoon, and Pollock was in here; Jack Pollock they +call him,--the fellow that writes the plays, you know." + +Mr. Griffiths, over his first gulp of brandy-and-water, nodded his +head in acquiescence. + +"Things is going on rather bad at the Garden," continued Mr. +Effingham; "I don't know whether you've heard. Their pantomime's been +a reg'lar failure this year, and Wuff's paper's beginning to fly +again. I suppose old Lyons is in that swim, for Pollock says to me, +'Didn't I hear you askin' after Mr. Lyons?' he says. 'I did,' I says. +'I thought so,' he says; 'and I told him so when I saw him just now in +Wuff's room at the Garden. And he says, "I've just come back from +abroad, and I don't reckleckt Mr. Effingham's name," he says; "but if +he's one of the right sort, he'll find me among the lemons on Sunday +morning."' So I thanked Pollock, and winked my eye, and nodded my +head, and made believe as though I knew all about it; but I don't." + +"You don't?" + +"Not a bit of it; I'm as far off as ever, save for knowing that the +old man's in England." + +"You ain't fly to what's meant by 'among the lemons,' eh?" + +"Not a bit of it, I tell you. What are you grinning and chuckling away +at there, Griffiths? That's one of your disgustin' ways,--crowin' over +me because you know something which I don't." + +"Don't be riled, D'Ossay; don't be riled, old feller. It's so seldom +that I get a chance of findin' anything that you don't know, young +though you are, that I make the most of it, I confess." + +"Well, there, all right. Now do you know what he meant by 'among the +lemons'?" + +"Of course I do." + +"And what does it mean?" + +"'Among the lemons' is magsman's patter for 'Houndsditch.' There's a +reg'lar gatherin' of sheenies there every Sunday mornin', where they +have a kind of fair, and sellin' all sorts of things,--clothes, and +books, and pictures, and so on." + +"Well, but old Lyons is a cut above all that sort of thing." + +"I should think he was." + +"He wouldn't be found there." + +"Well, not sellin' anything; but he might be on the lookout for some +magsmen as work for him, and who may have had the office to be about +there. But if he's not there, I'd know where to lay hands on him, I'd +take my oath." + +"Where's that?" + +"At the Net of Lemons, a public where sheenies of all +kinds--diamond-merchants, fences, all sorts--meet on the Sunday." + +"Do you know the place?" + +"Know it! I should think so, and Mr. Eliason as keeps it; as +respectable an old gent as walks." + +"They'd let you in?" + +"Ah, and you too, if I squared it for you." + +"Very well, then; we'll hunt up old Lyons on Sunday morning." + +Mr. Effingham was so pleased with his chance of success, that Mr. +Griffiths thought he might borrow half-a-sovereign; and what is more, +he got it. + + +On the following Sunday morning Mr. Effingham found himself by +appointment opposite Bishopgate Church as the clock struck ten, and +Mr. Griffiths there waiting for him. As he approached, Mr. Effingham +took stock of his friend's personal appearance, and mentally +congratulated himself that it was at the East and not at the West end +of London that they were to be seen in company together; for those +mysterious means by which Mr. Griffiths went through "the fever called +living" had not been very productive of late, and his wardrobe was +decidedly seedy. The tall hat shone so as to give one the idea that +its owner had forgotten to remove it when he applied the morning +macassar to his hair, and the suit of once-black clothes looked as if +they had been bees-waxed. Mr. Effingham must have allowed his thoughts +to be mirrored in his expressive countenance, for Mr. Griffiths said +as he joined him: + +"Looking at my togs, D'Ossay? Well, they ain't as nobby as yours; but +you see, I don't go in to be a 'eavy swell. They'll do well enough for +the caper we're on to-day, though; better perhaps than your gridironed +kickseys." + +At another time Mr. Effingham might have shown annoyance at thus +having his check trousers sneeringly spoken of; but something which +Griffiths had said had rather dashed him, and it was with a little +hesitation that he asked: + +"They--they ain't a very rough lot that we're going amongst, are +they?" + +"Well, there's more rough nor smooth hair among 'em; but they won't do +you no harm; I'll look after you, D'Ossay. Shovin you won't mind, nor +elbers in every part of your body at once. Oh, and I say, don't leave +any-think in your 'ind-pockets, and put your fogle in your 'at. Like +this, look. I carry most things in my 'at." + +And Mr. Griffiths whipped off the tall hat, and showed in it a +handkerchief, a greasy parcel suspiciously like a ham sandwich, a +pocket comb, and a paper book with the title "The Olio of Oddities, or +the Warbling Wagoner's Wallet of Wit and Wisdom." + +Mr. Effingham took his friend's advice, and transferred all his +portable property from the tail-pockets of his coat to other less +patent recesses, and the pair started on their excursion. + +Crossing Bishopgate, and turning short round to the right up a street +called Sandy's Row, past a huge black block of buildings belonging to +the East India Company, and used as a store-house for costly silks, +round which seethed and bubbled a dirty, pushing, striving, fighting, +higgling, chaffering, vociferating, laughing mob, filling up the +narrow street, the small strips of pavement on either side, and what +ought to have been the carriage-way between them. It was Sunday, and +may have been observed "as such" elsewhere, but certainly not in +Sandy's Row or Cutler's Row. There were shops of all kinds, and all at +work: tool-shops,--files, saws, adzes, knives, chisels, hammers, and +tool-baskets displayed in the open windows, whence the sashes had been +removed for the better furtherance of trade; hatters', hosiers', +tailors', bootmakers' shops, the proprietors of which had left the +calm asylum of their counters and stood at the doors, importuning the +passers-by with familiar blandishments; for in the carriage-way +through which Effingham and Griffiths slowly forced a passage, were +peripatetic vendors of hats, hosiery, clothes, and boots,--hook-nosed +oleaginous gentry with ten pairs of trousers over one arm, and five +coats over the other, with enormous boots, a few hats, and a number of +cloth caps. Mr. Effingham soon learned the value of his friend's +advice, for there were thieves of all kinds in the motley crowd; big +burly roughs, with sunken eyes and massive jaws, sulkily elbowing +their way through the mass, and "gonophs" or pickpockets of fourteen +or fifteen, with their collarless tightly-tied neckerchief, their +greasy caps, and "aggerawater" curls. Delicate attention was paid to +Mr. Effingham before he had been five minutes amongst them. The +hind-pockets of his coat were turned inside out, and he was "sounded" +all over by a pair of lightly-touching hands. Whether Mr. Griffiths +was known, or whether his personal appearance was unattractive and +promised no hope of adequate reward, is uncertain; but no attempt was +made on him. + +While Mr. Effingham was vaguely gaping about him, staring at +everything and thoroughly impressed with the novelty of his situation, +Griffiths had been taking stock of the crowd, and keeping a strict +lookout for Mr. Lyons. Jews were there in shoals, and of all kinds: +the grand old Jewish type, dignified and bearded, than which, when +good, there is nothing better; handsome sensual-looking men, with +bright eyes, and hook-noses, and scarlet lips; red frizzy-headed Jews, +with red eyelids, and shambling gait, and nasal intonation; big +flat-headed, stupid-looking men, with thick lips, and tongues too +large for their mouths, and visibly protruding therefrom;--all kinds +of Jews, but Mr. Lyons not among them. + +So they pushed on, uncaring for the chaff of the mob, which was very +facetious on the subject of Mr. Effingham's attire, saluting him as a +"collared bloke," in delicate compliment to his wearing a clean shirt; +asking whether he was a "Rooshan;" whether he were not "Prince +Halbut's brother," and other delicate compliments,--pushed on until +they arrived at the Clothes-Exchange, a roofed building filled round +every side and in the centre with old-clothes stalls. Here, piled up +in wondrous confusion, lay hats, coats, boots, hob-nailed shoes, satin +ball-shoes, driving-coats, satin dresses, hoops, brocaded gowns, +flannel jackets, fans, shirts, stockings with clocks, stockings with +torn and darned feet, feathers, parasols, black-silk mantles, blue-kid +boots, belcher neckerchiefs, and lace ruffles. More Jews here; +salesmen shrieking out laudations of their wares, and frantically +imploring passers-by to come in and be fitted: "Here'th a coat! plue +Vitney; trai this plue Vitney, ma tear." "Here'th a vethkit for you, +thir!" shouted one man to Effingham; "thuch a vethkit! a thplendid +vethkit, covered all over with blue-and-thilver thpright." Mr. +Effingham cast a longing eye at this gorgeous garment, but passed on. + +No Lyons here, either among sharp-eyed vendors or leering buyers. Mr. +Griffiths was getting nonplussed, and Mr. Effingham growing anxious. +"We must find him, Griffiths," he said; "we must not throw away this +chance that he's given us; he may be off to the Continent, Lord knows +where, to-morrow. Why the devil don't you find him?" + +Mr. Griffiths intimated that so far as eye-straining could be gone +through, he had done his best; and suggested that if the man they +sought were not there, all the energy in the world would not discover +him. "But there's the Net of Lemons yet," he said; "that's, after all, +the safest draw, and we're more likely to hit upon him there than +anywhere else." + +So they pushed their way through the steaming, seething, struggling +crowd, and found themselves in a quiet dull little square. Across +this, and merely glancing at several groups of men dotted here and +there in its midst, loudly talking and gesticulating with energy which +smacked more of the Hamburg Börsenhalle or the Frankfort Zeil than the +stolid reticence of England, Mr. Griffiths led his companion until +they stopped before the closed door of a public house, aloft from +which swung the sign of "The Net of Lemons." At the door Mr. Griffiths +gave three mystic raps, at the third of which the door opened for +about a couple of inches, and a thick voice said, "Who is it?" + +"All right, Mr. Eliason. Griffiths, whom you know. Take a squint, and +judge for yourself." + +Mr. Eliason probably followed this advice, and finding the inspection +satisfactory, opened the door to its extent, and admitted the pair; +but raising his bushy brows in doubt as to Mr. Effingham, Griffiths +said, "A friend of mine--come on partickler business, and by +appointment with Mr. Lyons. Is he here?" + +The reference was apparently satisfactory, for Mr. Eliason, a fat +good-looking big man in a soft wideawake hat, said, "You'll find him +inside;" and shut the door behind them. + +Mr. Effingham walking through, and following his conductor, found +himself in a low-roofed, square-built, comfortable room, round three +sides of which were ranged tables, and on these tables were placed +large open trays of jewelry. There they lay in clusters, thick gold +chains curled round and round like snares; long limp silver chains +such as are worn by respectable mechanics over black-satin waistcoats +on Sundays; great carbuncle pins glowing out of green-velvet cases; +diamond rings and pins and brooches and necklaces. The best emeralds +in quaint old-fashioned gold settings nestled by the side of lovely +pale opals; big finger-rings made up after the antique with cut +cornelian centrepieces; long old-fashioned earrings; little heaps of +rubies, emeralds, and turquoises set aside in the corners of the +trays; big gold and silver cups and goblets and trays and tazzas; here +and there a clumsy old epergne; finger-rings by the bushel, pins by +the gross; watches of all kinds, from delicate gold Genevas to the +thick turnipy silver "ticker" of the schoolboy; and shoals of +watchworks without cases. On this Tom Tidler's ground were crowds of +customers, smoking strong cigars, walking about without let or +hindrance, and examining--ay, and handling--the jewels without +creating the least consternation in the breasts of their vendors. + +There was a slight movement among the company at the entrance of the +new-comers; but Griffiths seemed to be known to a few, with whom he +exchanged salutations, and the appearance of Mr. Eliason with them +settled any wandering doubts which might have arisen in the minds of +the others. As for Mr. Effingham, he began to think he was in the cave +into which Aladdin descended to get the lamp at the bidding of the +magician; and he went moving round, gazing first on one side, then on +the other, lost in wonder. But Mr. Griffiths, to whom the scene was +tolerably familiar, went at once to business, scrutinizing with keen +glance the buyers and sellers, poking his nose into the groups of +domino-players in the corners, hunting about with admirable patience +and forbearance, but for a long time with no result. + +At last he stopped before a group of three. One of these was an old +Jewish gentleman, with strongly-marked features, overhanging bushy +eyebrows, hooked nose, and long white beard. He held in his hand a +blue paper, such as generally contains seidlitz-powders, but its +contents were diamonds. These were being carefully inspected by the +other two men, each of whom had a bright steel pair of pincers, with +which he selected a specimen from the glittering heap, breathed upon +it, watched it carefully, and in most instances finally laid it on one +side for purchase. When this transaction had been gone through and was +at an end, the old gentleman folded up his paper with such diamonds as +remained in it, placed it in his waistcoat-pocket, and was calmly +walking away, when Griffiths touched him on the arm, saying +interrogatively, "Mr. Lyons?" + +The old man turned in an instant, and threw a sharp look of inquiry +over his interlocutor, as he said: "Yes, ma tear sir, that's mai name; +not ashamed to own it any veres. Vot might you vant with me?" As he +spoke he had covered his waistcoat-pocket with his hand, and stood +prim and spry. + +"This gentleman--Mr. Effingham--has been looking for you some little +time. You told a friend of his--Mr. Pollock--that you would be here +to-day, and we've come on purpose to meet you." + +"Effingham! Pollock!" said the old man, musing. "O yes, Pollock, who +writes those funny burlesques for my friend Wuff; O yes--Effingham," +he said. "How do you do, ma tear? Now vot is it? A leetle advance, or +something you've got that you don't know how to get rid of, and think +I might fancy it, eh?" + +"Well, it ain't either, Mr. Lyons," said Effingham. "Its a little +information you're in possession of that you might be inclined to give +us, and--" + +"You're not traps?" asked Mr. Lyons, turning pale. + +"Not a bit of it, Mr. Lyons," said Griffiths, striking into the +conversation. "Quite different from that. You and I have done business +before. I was with--" and here he whispered into Lyons's ear. + +"Ah, I reckleckt," said the old gentleman. "That vos a very good +plant, and bothers them all in Scotland Yard to this day. Ha, ha! I +reckleckt. Now vot did your friend say? Information? Veil, you know, I +never _give_ information." + +"No, no, of course not," said Griffiths, winking at Effingham. + +"O no, sir," said that worthy. "I'm prepared to pay, of course, +anything reasonable for what I require." + +"Vell, vell, ma tear, let's know vot it is." + +"You were great pals with my brother, I believe?" + +"No. Effingham? No;--never heard the name." + +"No, no; not Effingham. That's merely--you understand?" + +"O ah! O yes! I qvite understand; but vot _is_ the name?" + +"Butler! You knew Tony Butler well?" + +"Knew him vell; I should rather think I did. A good fellow; a clever +fellow; oh, a very clever fellow, ma tear." + +"Yes; well, I'm his brother." + +"Not like him," said Mr. Lyons. "More dressy, and not so +business-like. A rare fellow for business, Tony." + +"That may or may not be," said Effingham, slightly offended. "Now, +when he died, you cleared off his traps." + +"Only a few sticks; very poor sticks. Ah, ma tear, vot I lost by that +transaction! Vy, there vosn't enough to clear me in a sixth part of +vot I'd advanced to Tony." + +"Well, I'm not here to enter into that--that was your lookout. But +amongst what you took away there was a desk." + +"Vos there? 'Pon my soul I can't reckleckt; not that I'm goin' to +gainsay you. Vos there a desk, now?" + +"And in it," continued Effingham, not seeming to heed him, "there was +an overdue bill for twenty-five pounds accepted by Walter Burgess." + +"Lord now! Vos there indeed?" + +"Look here, Mr. Lyons. If you don't know anything, all right. We won't +waste our time or our money, but we'll go to those who can help us." + +"Vot a headstrong boy it is! Who said I couldn't help you? Go on +now,--a bill accepted by Walter Burgess?" + +"Exactly. Now that bill's no use to any one, and we want you to give +it to us." + +"Ha, ha! clever boys, clever boys! Vot large-hearted fellows too, to +want to buy a bill that ain't of any use to any vun! O, vot generous +boys!" + +"It's no use, Griffiths," said Effingham angrily; "he either don't +know or won't say anything about it." + +"Steady," said Griffiths. "Come, Mr. Lyons, say you've got the stiff, +and name your price." + +"Accepted by Walter Burgess, eh?" said the old gentleman; "yes, I +reckleckt that bill; O yes, I reckleckt him." + +"Well now, bring your recklecktion into something practical, and +I'll give you this for that bill," said Mr. Effingham, producing a +five-pound note. + +The old Jew's eyes glistened at the sight of the money; and then his +face fell, and he looked horribly disappointed. + +"You should have it for that," said he; "you should have it for that, +and velcome; only there's vun little reason vy I can't make it over to +you." + +"What's that?" cried Effingham. + +"Vell, it's a strong reason, as you'll allow ven I tell it to you. I +can't let you have the bill, because--because I haven't got it +myself." + +Mr. Effingham swore a sharp oath, and even Mr. Griffiths looked +disconcerted. + +"Come along," said the former,--"we've wasted time enough with the +pottering old fool, who's only selling us, and--" + +"Vait a minute," said Mr. Lyons, laying his hand on the other's +arm,--"vait a minute, ma tear. Though I haven't got the leetle bill +myself, perhaps I know who has." + +"That's likely enough," said Griffiths, "well, who has?" + +"Ah, that's tellings, ma tear. I shall vant--just a leetle something +to say." + +"I'll give this," said Effingham, producing a sovereign. + +"Vell, it ain't enough; but you're such headstrong fellows. There!" +said Mr. Lyons, slipping it into his pocket; "now do either of you +know a gal who was under Tony Butler's thumb at vun time, but who +hated him mortal, and vos very sveet on vun of Tony's friends?" + +"I do!" cried Griffiths; "Lizzie Ponsford." + +"That's the same; a fine gal too, a reg'lar fine gal. Vell, I'd no +sooner got Tony's traps over at my place than that gal comes to me, +and she says, 'You've got a desk that b'longed to Tony Butler,' she +says. And ven I says 'yes,' she offered me a pound for it. It vosn't +vuth five shillings; so I knew there vos something in it she vanted, +though I'd hunted it through and found nothin' but old diaries and +memorandums and such-like. 'I von't sell it,' I says. 'May I look at +it?' she says. 'You may,' I says; and vith that I fetched it down; and +ven she see it, she touched a spring, and out flew a secret drawer +vith this bill in it. 'Hands off,' I says, for she vos going to clutch +it at vunce. 'Let me have it,' she says; 'I'll pay for it.' So I +looked at it, and saw it had been overdue eighteen months, and +reckleckted hearin' it was all wrong; so I says, 'Vot'll you give?' 'A +sovereign,' she says. 'Make it two, and it's yours,' I says. So, after +a little, she give me two skivs, and she took the bill and valked away +vith it." + +Mr. Effingham looked at Griffiths, and the latter returned the glance. + +"It would be almost worth another crown to know if these are lies you +are telling us, old gentleman," said the former; "but it sounds +something like truth. Now one question more. Where is Lizzie +Ponsford?" + +"Ah, that beats me. A reg'lar clever gal; nice-looking and reg'lar +clever. I'd have given something to find out myself; but it vos all of +no use. She vent avay from all the old haunts, and hasn't been heard +of for a long time. I've all sorts of people about, and they'd tell +me, bless you, if she'd ever show'd up. But she's gone, and no vun can +find her." + +"Very good," said Effingham; "now you take this commission from me. If +you hear of her within the next month, and can let me know where she +is, find out Griffiths at Johnson's, and it'll be a fiver in your +pocket. You understand?" + +Mr. Lyons made no verbal reply, but struck his forefinger against his +nose and looked preternaturally sagacious. + +"All right! now goodbye;" they shook hands and parted. + +When they got into the street again Mr. Effingham said, "So Lizzie +Ponsford has the bill. What the deuce made her want it? unless some +day to revenge herself on Mitford. But she's not likely to have heard +of his having turned up such trumps. Now, Mr. Griffiths, our pursuit +begins again. Lizzie Ponsford has that bill. Your business and mine is +to find out Lizzie Ponsford, and by some means or other--no matter +what--get that bill from her." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +SIR CHARLES'S VISIT. + + +Sir Charles Mitford was up betimes the next morning, for he had a +twenty-miles' drive before him. The weather was bright, clear, and +frosty; Sir Charles's spirits were high; he was radiant and buoyant, +and thoroughly in good temper with himself and everybody else. He was +specially kind and affectionate to Georgie, and after breakfast +insisted upon seeing her commence her day of work before he started on +his day of pleasure; and he complimented Mrs. Austin on the progress +her pupil had made under her directions, and on the care, cleanliness, +and order observable throughout the house, and by his few words made a +complete conquest of the old lady, who afterwards told Georgie that +though Sir Percy had been an upright man and a good master, it was all +in a strait-laced kind of way, and no one had ever heard him say a kind +word to herself, let alone any of the servants. And then when the +chestnuts had been brought round in the mail-phaeton, and were +impatiently pawing at the gravel in front of the hall-door, and +champing at their bits, and flecking with foam their plated harness +and their sleek sides, Sir Charles gave his wife an affectionate kiss +and drove away in great glee. + +Mrs. Austin's instruction of her mistress was shortened by full five +minutes that morning--five minutes during which Lady Mitford was +occupied in leaning out of the window and watching her husband down +the drive. How handsome he looked! in his big heavy brown driving-coat +with its huge horn buttons, his well-fitting dogskin gloves, and his +natty hat--wideawakes had not then been invented, but driving-men +used to wear a hat low in the crown and broad in the brim, winch, +though a trifle slangy, was in some cases very becoming. The sun shone +on his bright complexion, his breezy golden whiskers, and his +brilliant teeth, as he smiled his adieu; and as he brought the +chestnuts up to their bearings after their first mad plunges, and +standing up got them well in hand and settled them down to their work, +Georgie was lost in admiration of his strong muscular figure, his +pluck and grace. It was a subject on which she would have been +naturally particularly reticent, even had there been any one to "gush" +to; but I think the tears of pleasure welled into her eyes, and +she had a very happy "cry" before she rejoined Mrs. Austin in the +still-room. + +And Sir Charles, what were his thoughts during his drive? Among all +the wonderful revelations which the publication of the Divorce-Court +trials has made public, the sad heart-rending misery, the brutal +ruffianism, the heartless villany, the existence of which could +scarcely have been dreamed of, there is one phase of life which, so +far as I have seen--and I have looked for it attentively,--has never +yet been chronicled. The man who leaves his wife and family to get on +as they best can, while he revels in riot and debauchery; the man who +is the blind slave of his own brute passions, and who goes headlong to +destruction without any apparent thought save for his own +gratification; the man who would seem in the iteration of his share of +the marriage-service to have substituted "hate" for "love," and who +either detests his wife with savage rancour, or loathes her with deep +disgust, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and +in health, until the Judge-Ordinary does them part; the respectable +man, so punctual in the discharge of his domestic duties, so +unswerving in the matter of family-prayers, whose conjugal comfort is +one day wrecked by the arrival of a clamorous and not too sober lady +with heightened colour and blackened eyelids:--with all these types we +are familiar enough through the newspaper columns; but there is +another character, by no means so numerously represented, nor so +likely to be brought publicly under notice, who yet exists, and with +specimens of which some of us must be familiar. I mean the man who, +with great affection for his wife and strong desire to do right, is +yet so feeble in moral purpose, so impotent to struggle against +inclination, such a facile prey to temptation, as to be perpetually +doing wrong. He never grows hardened in his vice, he never withdraws +his love from its proper object--for in that case it would quickly be +supplanted by the opposite feeling; he never even grows indifferent: +after every slip he inwardly upbraids himself bitterly and vows +repentance; in his hour of remorse he institutes comparisons between +his proper and improper attractions, in which the virtues of the +former are always very bright and the vices of the latter always very +black; and then on the very next occasion his virtuous resolutions +melt away like snow, and he goes wrong again as pleasantly as +possible. + +Sir Charles Mitford was of this class. He would have been horrified if +any one had suggested that he had any intention of wronging his wife; +would have said that such an idea had never crossed his mind--and +truthfully, as whenever it rose he immediately smothered it; would +have declared, as he believed, that Georgie was the prettiest, the +best, and the dearest girl in the world. But he was a man of strong +passions, and most susceptible to flattery; and ever since Mrs. +Hammond had seemed to select him for special notice, more especially +since she had assumed the habit of occasionally looking pensively at +him, with a kind of dreamy languor in her large eyes, he had thought +more of her, in both senses of the phrase, than was right. He was +thinking of her even then, as he sat square and erect in his phaeton, +before he passed out of Georgie's gaze; thinking of her large eyes and +their long glances, her full rounded figure, a peculiar hand-clasp +which she gave, a thrill without a grip, a scarcely perceptible +unforgettable pressure. Then his horsey instincts rose within him, and +he began to take coachman's notice of the chestnuts; saw the merits +and demerits of each, and almost unconsciously set about the work of +educating the former, and checking the latter; and thus he employed +himself until the white houses of Torquay came within sight, and +glancing at his watch he found he should have done his twenty miles in +an hour and forty minutes. + +Mrs. Hammond had told him that he would be sure of finding their +address at the Royal Hotel; so to the Royal Hotel he drove. The +chestnuts went bounding through the town, attracting attention from +all the valetudinarians then creeping about on their shopping or +anteprandial walks. These poor fellows in respirators and high shawls, +bending feebly on sticks or tottering on each other's arms, resented +the sight of this great strong Phoebus dashing along with his spinning +chariot-wheels. When he pulled up at the door of the Royal, a little +crowd of invalids crept out of sunny nooks, and sheltered corners, +where they had been resting, to look at him. The waiter, a fat greasy +man, who used to let the winter-boarders tear many times at the bell +before he dreamt of answering it, heard the tramp of the horses, and +the violent pull given to the door-bell by Sir Charles's groom, and in +a kind of hazy dream thought that it must be summer again, and that it +must be some of the gents from the yachts, as was always so noisy and +obstreperous. Before he could rouse himself sufficiently to get to the +door, he had been anticipated by the landlord, wit° had scarcely made +his bow, before Dr. Bronk, who had noticed the phaeton dashing round +the corner, fancied it might be a son or a nephew on the lookout for +quarters--and medical attendance--for some invalid relative, came into +the portico, and bestowed the greatest care in rubbing his shoes on +the hall-mat. + +Mr. Hammond? No, the landlord had never heard the name. Constant +change of faces renders landlords preternaturally stupid on this +point, they can never fit names to faces or faces to names. Hammond? +no, he thought not. John! did John know the name of Hammond? But +before John could sufficiently focus his wits to know whether he did +or not, Dr. Bronk had heard all, had stepped up to the side of the +phaeton, had made a half-friendly, half-deferential bow, and was in +full swing. + +Mr. Hammond? a middle-aged gentleman,--well, who perhaps might be +described as rather elderly, yes. Bald,--yes. With a young daughter +and a very charming wife? Yes, O yes; certainly he knew them; he had +the honour of being their medical attendant,--Dr. Bronk of the +Paragon. Lately had come down to Torquay, recommended to him by +his--he was proud to say--old friend and former fellow-pupil, Sir +Charles Dumfunk, now President of the College of Physicians. Where +were they? well, they had been really unfortunate. Torquay, my +dear sir, every year rising in importance, every year more sought +after,--for which perhaps some little credit was due to a little +medical brochure of his, _Torquay and its Climate_,--Torquay was so +full that when Mrs. Hammond sent down that admirable person, Miss +Gillespie,--whom of course the gentleman knew,--there was only one +house vacant. So the family had been forced to content themselves with +a mansion--No. 2, Cleveland Gardens, very nice, sheltered, and yet +with a charming sea-view. Where was it? Did the gentleman see the +bow-windowed shop at the corner? Second turning to the right, just +beyond that--"Se-cond turn-ing to the right!" This shouted after Sir +Charles, who, with a feeling that the chestnuts were too rapidly +cooling after their sharp drive, had started them off the minute he +had obtained the information. + +The second turning to the right was duly taken, and No. 2, Cleveland +Gardens, was duly reached. It was the usual style of seaside-house, +with stuccoed front and green veranda, and the never-failing creeper +which the Devonians always grow to show the mildness of their climate. +The groom's thundering knock produced a smart waiting-maid, who +acknowledged that Mrs. Hammond lived there; and the sending in of Sir +Charles Mitford's card produced a London flunkey, on whom the country +air had had a demoralizing influence, so far as his outward appearance +was concerned. But he acknowledged Sir Charles's arrival with a +deferential bow, and begging him to walk in, assured him that his +mistress would come down directly. So the groom was sent round, to put +up his horses at the stables of the Royal, and Sir Charles followed +the footman into the drawing-room. + +It was not an apartment to be left alone in for long. No doubt the +family of the owner, a younger brother of an Irish peer, found it +pleasant and airy when they were down there in the summer, and the +owner himself found the rent of it for the spring, autumn, and winter, +a very hopeful source of income; but it bore "lodging-house" on every +scrap of furniture throughout it. Sir Charles stared round at the bad +engravings, at the bad old-fashioned artists on the walls; looked with +concentrated interest on a plaster-model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, +and wondered whether the mortar shrinking had warped it; peeped into +two or three books on the table; looked out of the window at the +promenading invalids and the green twinkling sea; and was relieved +beyond measure when he heard a woman's step on the staircase outside. + +The door opened, and a woman entered--but not Mrs. Hammond. A tall +woman, with sallow cheeks and great eyes, and a thickish nose and +large full lips, with a low forehead, over which tumbled waves of +crisp brown hair, with a marvellous lithe figure and a peculiar +swinging walk. Shifty in her glance, stealthy in her walk, cat-like in +her motions, her face deadly pale,--a volcano crumbled into ashes, +with no trace of its former fire save in her eyes,--a woman at once +uncomfortable, uncanny, noticeable, and fearsome,--Miss Gillespie. + +The family of the younger brother of the Irish peer owning the house +prided themselves immensely on certain pink-silk blinds to the +windows, which happened at that moment to be down. There must have +been some very peculiar effect in the tint thrown by those blinds to +have caused Sir Charles Mitford to stare so hard at the new-comer, or +to lose all trace of his ordinary colour as he gazed at her. + +She spoke first. Her full lips parted over a brilliant set of teeth as +with a slight inclination she said, "I have the pleasure of addressing +Sir Charles Mitford? Mrs. Hammond begs me to say that she is at +present in attendance upon Mr. Hammond, who is forbidden to-day to +leave his room; but she hopes to be with you in a very few minutes." + +A polite but sufficiently ordinary speech; certainly not in itself +calculated to call forth Mitford's rejoinder--"In God's name, how did +you come here?" + +"You still keep up that horrid habit of swearing! _Autre temps, autres +moeurs_, as I teach my young lady from the French proverb-book. What +was it you asked?" + +"How did you come here? what are you doing here?" + +"I came here through the medium of the Ladies' Association for +Instructors, to whom I paid a registration-fee of five shillings. What +am I doing here? Educating youth, and making myself generally useful. +I am Miss Gillespie, of whom I know you have heard." + +"You have seen me before this, since--since the old days?" + +"I don't know what is meant by 'old days.' I was born two years ago, +just before Mrs. Hammond married, and was christened Ruth Gillespie. +My mother was the Ladies' Association for Instructors, and she at once +placed me where I am. Except this I have no past." + +"And your future?" + +"Can take care of itself: sufficient for the day, &c.; and the present +days are very pleasant. There is no past for you either, is there? so +far as I am concerned, I mean. I first saw Sir Charles Mitford when I +was sitting in Mrs. Hammond's phaeton in the Park with my Shetland +veil down, I recollect; and as I had heard the story of the romantic +manner in which he had succeeded to the title and estates, I asked +full particulars about him from--well--my mistress. I learned that he +had married, and that his wife was reported to be very lovely--oh, +very lovely indeed!" she almost purred as she said this, and undulated +as though about to spring. + +"Be good enough to leave my wife's name alone. You say there is no +past for either of us. Let our present be as wide asunder as +possible." + +"That all rests with you." + +"I wonder," said Sir Charles, almost below his breath, "what infernal +chance has sent you here!" + +"If 'infernal' were a word to be used by a lady--I doubt whether it +should be used in a lady's presence; but that is a matter of taste--I +should reiterate your sentiment; because, if you remark, you are the +interloper and intruder. I am going on perfectly quietly, earning my +living, giving every satisfaction to my employers,--living, in fact, +like the virtuous peasant on the stage or in the penny romances,--when +chance brings you into my line of life, and you at once grumble at me +for being there." + +"You can understand fast enough, I suppose," said Sir Charles, +sulkily, "that my associations with my former life are not such as I +take great pleasure in recalling." + +"If a lady _might_ say such a word, I should say, upon my soul I can't +understand any such thing. Though I go quietly enough in harness, and +take my share of the collar-work too, they little think how I long +sometimes to kick over the traces, to substitute Alfred de Musset for +Fénelon in my pupil's reading, or to let my fingers and voice stray +off from _Adeste Fideles_ into _Eh, ioup, ioup, ioup, tralala, lala!_ +How it would astonish them! wouldn't it?--the files, I mean; not Mrs. +Hammond, who knows everything, and I've no doubt would follow on with +_Mon père est à Paris_ as naturally as possible." + +Sir Charles was by no means soothed by this rattle, but frowningly +asked, "How long do you mean to remain here?" + +"How long? Well, my movements are of course controlled by Mrs. +Hammond. It is betraying no confidence to say that I know she is +expecting an invitation to Redmoor (you see I know the name of your +place); and as this house is not particularly comfortable, and your +hospitality is boundless, I conclude, when once we get there, we shall +not leave much before we return to town for the season." + +"We!" exclaimed Sir Charles; "why, do you mean to say that _you_ are +coming to stay at my house?" + +"Of course I am. Mrs. Hammond told me that she gave you distinctly to +understand that she must bring Miss Gillespie with her when she came +to stop at Redmoor." + +"True; but then--" + +"Then you did not know Miss Gillespie. Well, you'll find she's not a +bad fellow, after all." + +"Look here," said Mitford with knitted brows and set teeth: "there's a +point to which you may go, but which you sha'n't pass. If you dare to +come into my house as my guest, look to yourself; for, by the Lord, it +shall be the worse for you!" + +"The privileges of the salt, monseigneur!" cried Miss Gillespie, with +a crisp laugh; "the salt, 'that sacred pledge, which once partaken +blunts the sabre's edge.' You would never abuse the glorious rites of +hospitality?" + +"You were always fond of d--d stage-jargon; but you ought to have +known me long enough to know that it would have no effect on me. Take +the warning I've given you in good part, and stay away." + +"And take the warning I give you in good part and in good earnest, +Charles Mitford," said Miss Gillespie, with a sudden change of voice +and manner; "I've been tolerant to you hitherto for the sake of the +old times which I love and you loathe; but don't you presume upon +that. I could crush you like a snail: now this is no stage-jargon, but +simple honest fact. You'll recollect that though perhaps a little +given to rodomontade, in matters of business I was truthful. I can +crush you like a snail; and if you cross me in my desires,--which are +of the humblest; merely to be allowed to continue my present mode of +life in peace,--so help me Heaven, I'll do it!" + +All claws out here. + +"You mean war, then? + +"Hush! not a word; here's Mrs. Hammond coming down. I _do_ mean war, +under circumstances; but you won't drive me to that. Yes, as you say, +Sir Charles, it is the very place for an invalid." + +As she spoke Mrs. Hammond entered the room, looking very fresh and +pretty; her dark-blue merino dress with its close-fitting body +displaying her round figure, and its sweeping skirts, and its tight +sleeves, with natty linen cuffs. She advanced with outstretched hand +and with a pleasant smile, showing all her fresh wholesome teeth. + +"So you've come at last," she said; "it's no great compliment to say +that we have anxiously expected you--for anything like the horror of +this place you cannot imagine. Everybody you meet looks as if that day +were their last, and that they had just crawled out to take farewell +of the sun. And there's not a soul we know here, except the doctor +who's attending Mr. Hammond, and he's an odious little chatterbox. And +how is dear Lady Mitford? and how did you find the house? and did +Captain Bligh make the arrangements as nicely as we thought he would? +Come, sit down and tell me all about it." + +It was at this period, and before they seated themselves, that Miss +Gillespie said she thought she would go and see what Alice was doing. +And Mrs. Hammond asked her to tell Newman that Sir Charles Mitford +would dine with them; and that as he had a long drive home, they had +better say six-o'clock dinner. And charged with these messages, Miss +Gillespie retired. + +Then Mrs. Hammond sunk down into a pleasant ottoman fitted into a +recess close by the glowing fire, and Sir Charles Mitford, looking +round for a seat, obeyed the silent invitation conveyed to him in her +eyes and in the movement of her dress, and seated himself by her side. + +"Well, you must have a great deal to tell me," she commenced. "I saw +in the _Post_ that you had left town, and therefore imagined that +Captain Bligh's arrangements were concluded. And how do you like +Redmoor?" + +"It's a glorious place, really a glorious place, though I've been +rather bored there for the last two or three days--wanted people +there, you know, and that sort of thing. But the place itself is +first-rate. I've chosen your rooms. I did that the first day." + +"Did you?" said she, her eyes sparkling with delight; "and where are +they?" + +"They are in the south wing, looking over the civilized side of the +country, and are to my thinking the very best rooms in the house." + +"And you chose them for us, and thought of us directly you arrived! +How very, very kind of you! But suppose we should be unable to come?" + +"What! unable to come! Mrs. Hammond, you're chaffing me, eh?" + +"No, indeed. Mr. Hammond's health is in that wretched state, that I +doubt whether Dr. Bronk would sanction his being moved, even to the +soft air and all the luxuries of Redmoor." + +"Oh, do him good, I'm sure; could do him no possible harm. He should +have everything he wanted, you know; and the doctor could come +spinning over there every day, for the matter of that. But at any rate +_you_ won't disappoint us?" + +"I don't think my not coming would be keenly felt by many." + +"It would by me," said Mitford in a low voice. + +She looked him full in the face for an instant. "I believe it would," +said she; "frankly I believe it would;" and she stretched out her hand +almost involuntarily. Sir Charles took it, pressed it, and would have +retained it, but she withdrew it gently. "No, that would never do. +Mrs. Grundy would have a great deal to say on the subject; and +besides, my place is at his side." If "his side" were her husband's, +Mrs. Hammond was far more frequently out of place than in it. "My +place is by his side," she repeated. "Ah, Sir Charles, you've no idea +what a life I lead!" + +He was looking at her hand as she spoke, was admiring its plumpness +and whiteness, and was idly following with his eye the track of the +violet veins. There is a something legible in the back of a hand, +something which chiromancy wots not of, and Sir Charles Bell has left +unexplained. Mitford was wondering whether he read this problem aright +when the last words fell on his ear; and feeling it was necessary that +he should reply, said, "It must be dull, eh?" + +"Dull! you've no conception how dull. And I often think I was meant +for something different,--something better than a sick-man's nurse, to +bear his whims, and be patient under his irritability. I often +think--But what nonsense I'm talking!--what are my thoughts to you?" + +"A great deal more than you know of. Go on, please." + +"I often think that if I had been married to a man who could +understand me, who could appreciate me, I should have been a very +happy and a good woman. Good and happy! God knows very different from +what I am now." + +With her right hand she touched her eyes with a delicate little +handkerchief. In her left hand she had held a small feather fan, with +which she had screened herself from the fire; but the fan had fallen +to the floor and lay there unnoticed, while the hand hung listlessly +by her side close by Sir Charles. Gradually their hands touched, and +this time she made no effort to withdraw hers from his clasp. + +There was silence for a few moments, broken by her saying, "There, +there is an end of that! It is but seldom that I break down, and +show myself in my true colours; but there is something in you +which--inexplicably to myself--won my confidence, and now I've bored +you with my troubles. There, let me go now, and I'll promise never to +be so silly again." She struggled to free her hand, but he held it +firmly. + +"Leave it there," said he; "you have not misplaced your confidence, as +you know very well. Oh, you needn't shake your head; you know that I +would do anything to serve you." + +He spoke in a low earnest voice; and as she looked up at him with one +of her long deep dreamy looks, she saw a sudden thrill run through +him, and felt his hand which held hers tremble. + +"I _do_ know it," she said; "and we will be the best, the very best of +friends. Now let us talk of something else." + + +He was with her the whole of that day in a state of dreamful +happiness, drinking in the music of her voice, watching her graceful +motions, delighted with a certain bold recklessness, a contempt for +the conventional rules of society, a horror of obedience to prescribed +ordinances, which now and then her conversation betrayed. They saw +nothing more of Miss Gillespie, save at dinner, when Mitford noticed +that Mrs. Hammond made no alteration in her manner towards him, unless +indeed it was a little more _prononcé_ than when they had been alone. +Miss Gillespie did not appear to remark it, but sat and purred from +time to time in a very amiable and pleasant manner. She retired after +dinner, and then Sir Charles's phaeton was brought round, and it was +time to say adieu. + +He said it in the little library, where the brother of the Irish peer +kept his boots and his driving-whips, as he was lighting a cigar for +which Mrs. Hammond held a cedar-match. As he bent over her, he felt +her breath upon his face, and felt his whiskers touch her scented +hair. He had not been inattentive to some Burgundy, which the invalid +upstairs had specially commended to him in a message, and his blood +coursed like fire through his veins. At that moment Miss Gillespie +appeared at the open door with a glove which she had found in the +hall, and with her dark-green eyes gleaming with rage. So Sir Charles +only took Mrs. Hammond's hand, whispering "Friends?" receiving a long +pressure and "Always!" for answer; and passing with a bow Miss +Gillespie, whose eyes still gleamed ferociously sprang into his +phaeton and drove off. + +That last pressure of Mrs. Hammond's hand was on his hand, that last +word of hers rung in his ear all the way home. All the way home his +fevered fancy brought her image alluringly before him--more +frequently, more alluringly than it had been in his morning's drive. +But there was another figure which he had not thought of in the +morning, and which now rose up;--the figure of a woman, green-eyed, +pale-faced, cat-like in her motions. And when Sir Charles Mitford +thought of her, he stamped his foot savagely and swore. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +IN THE TOILS. + + +Sir Charles Mitford had not been guilty of any exaggeration when he +announced his intention of filling his house at Redmoor with a very +pleasant set of people. If a man have a kindly genial temper, a sense +of humour, a desire to be pleasant to his fellow-creatures, such +qualities, however they may have hitherto been concealed, will make +themselves felt during a sojourn at a friend's well-filled +country-house. There the heavy man, who has sat by one at a dozen +dinner-parties during the season and never opened his mouth except to +fill it, is discovered to be full of antiquarian erudition about the +old castles and abbeys in the neighbourhood; and imparts his +information, pleasantly studded with quaint anecdote and pungent +remark. There Lady Katherine gives up her perpetual simper, and rests +her aching lips, and occasionally covers her gleaming teeth. There +Mrs. Phillimore mixes for a while with people in her own rank of life, +and temporarily denies herself the pleasure of hunting orphans into +asylums, and dealing out tea and Bibles to superannuated crones. +Grinsby would have gone through life despised as a cockney +_littérateur_,--indeed, they intended to have immense fun out of him +at the Duke's,--if he had not knocked over that brace of woodcock, +right and left barrel; if, in fact, he had not made better shooting +than any other man of the party; and Tom Copus would never have given +that delicious imitation of little Mr. Loudswell, the blatant +barrister, had it not been coaxed out of him during the private +theatricals at Eversholt Park. What glorious flirtations, what happy +marriages, what fun, enjoyable at the time, and lasting source of +retrospective enjoyment for long after, have arisen from the +gatherings in country-houses! In these days of imitation it is also +gratifying to know that country-house society is essentially English. +Monseigneur le Duc de Hausse et Baisse has a gathering at his _terre_, +or the Graf von Hasenbraten fills his ancestral castle at Suchverloren +with intending assistants at a _treibejagd_: but the French people are +very unhappy; they long to be back in Paris, and they seek consolation +in dressing and behaving exactly as if they had never quitted that +city; while the manner of life among the Germans alters never;--to +shoot a very little, to eat and drink a great deal, and the "sooner +it's over the sooner to sleep,"--such are the simple conditions of +Teutonic happiness. + +The party at Redmoor was large and well constituted. Captain and Mrs. +Charteris, whom everybody knew, were there. Tom Charteris had been in +the Enniskillens; had run through all his money, and was in daily +expectation of being sold up, when his uncle, the senior partner in a +large distillery, died, leaving Tom such a share in the business as +would bring him in an excellent income, on the sole condition that he +should leave the army, and personally attend to the management of the +distillery. It is probable that Tom would have been sufficiently +idiotic to refuse compliance with these conditions; but, fortunately, +he had taken to himself a wife, a young lady who was the daughter of +the church-organist in a little town where the Enniskillens had been +quartered, and who gave lessons in music and singing to the resident +gentry. She was a pretty _piquante_ little person; and Tom, lounging +out of the barrack-window while he smoked his after-breakfast pipe, +had seen her tripping to and fro, always neat, active, and sprightly, +and always displaying a remarkably pretty foot and ankle. Admiration +of pretty feet and ankles was among Tom's weaknesses, and he watched +the little music-mistress with great interest, and began to look +forward to her daily appearance with delight. Then he got an +introduction to her,--without any definite end or aim, for good or for +bad, but simply to amuse himself; then he became fascinated by her, +and finally he married her. It was Mrs. Tom who insisted upon big +jolly old Tom giving up the army and taking to the distillery and the +money. She was a funny little woman, and would make her intimates +shout with laughter at her imitation of Tom striding about the +counting-house among the clerks (he never could get rid of his +dragoon-swagger), and talking a haw-haw to the publicans who came to +borrow money or beg for time. They had a pretty little house in +Clarges Street, whence Tom would bowl away every morning at 9.30 to +the distillery in Barbican, remaining there till half-past four, when +Mrs. Tom would call for him in the brougham, and air him in the park +till dinner-time. Everybody knew them, and hats were bobbing off over +the iron-railings all down the Drive as they passed. Whenever a +stoppage occurred Tom had to stand a running fire of chaff, being +asked what it was a quartern, whether he'd like a drop of something +short, with other jokes, in which the phrases "white tape" and "blue +ruin" played conspicuous parts. The little house in Clarges Street was +a great resort for a select few after the Opera, and many well-known +men would drop in to have the claw of a lobster and a glass of +champagne, or to smoke a final cigar whilst listening to Mrs. Tom's +brilliant playing--till two A.M., when Tom turned his guests out, +declaring he was a poor tradesman, and had to be up early to business. +The house was a pleasant one, where there was a certain amount of +_laissez-aller_ freedom, but where Tom took care that his wife was +thoroughly respected. + +Then Mrs. Masters, always spoken of as "pretty Mrs. Masters," or "the +pretty widow," was of the party,--a tall handsome woman with large +eyes and masses of floating light brown hair, relict of old Dr. +Masters, who had left her a capital income, which she seemed +determined to keep to herself. Not more than eight-and-twenty, and +eminently attractive, she was a source of wonder to her friends, who +could not understand why she did not marry again. She had numbers of +visitors, male and female; she went into society constantly, and did +her due share of dancing and flirtation; but the latter was so mild in +kind, and so general in its nature, that no man's name had ever been +coupled with hers. Her most intimate enemies raised a report that she +was at one time madly in love with Colonel Alsager; but if there was +any truth in the rumour, she managed her madness so admirably as never +to show a trace of it. She was invaluable in a country-house, for she +was thoroughly good-tempered, entered heart and soul into everything +that was proposed, and was a great bait for vain bachelors, whose +vanity was specially piqued at her long resistance to the charms of +their sex. With Mrs. Masters came her cousins, two young ladies named +Tyrrell, whose father was a judge in India, who were of the ordinary +stamp of pretty, pert, self-satisfied twenty-year-olds. + +The other ladies in the house do not call for description. Chief +amongst the men was Captain Bligh, who, as he walked about and +inspected the alterations which had been made under his directions, +wondered whether his old father would ever relent, and whether he +should have a chance of putting the old hall down in Norfolk in order +for himself; or whether he should go on betting and billiard-playing +and steeplechase-riding until he "went a tremendous mucker," and +either blew his brains out or levanted. And there was Major Winton, +who, dressed in a pair of enormous thigh-boots, a dreadnaught, and a +sou'-wester, and accompanied by a keeper, went away every morning at +dawn to lie out in the marshes for snipe and wild-fowl, and who did +not return till dinner-time; immediately after which meal he was +accustomed to retire to his bed-room, where a case-bottle of brandy, a +jar of Cavendish tobacco, a huge meerschaum-pipe, and the adventures +of the Chevalier Faublas, were awaiting him; and with these he would +occupy himself until he went to bed. Laurence Alsager was at Redmoor +also, though his visit to his father was yet unpaid; and so was Lord +Dollamore. The officers of the garrison had called, and the officers +of the frigate cruising off Torquay, and the neighbouring gentry; and +the whole party seemed to enjoy themselves except Sir Charles +Mitford,--whose happiness was not to be long delayed, for the Hammonds +were expected on a certain day, which now dawned upon the impatient +master of Redmoor. + +He had returned home after luncheon, leaving the shooting party under +the charge of Captain Bligh, and had been in a state of undisguisable +anxiety all the afternoon, unable to settle himself to anything; now +playing a stroke or two at billiards, and looking on at Tom Charteris, +who was practising certain hazards preparatory to a match with Bligh; +now strolling through the drawing-room, where Alsager was talking to +Lady Mitford and Mrs. Masters; now interrupting Lord Dollamore, who +was stretched out in an easy-chair in the library reading Montaigne. +Sir Charles's impatience and restlessness was not unobserved by any of +these. Tom Charteris supposed he was already sick of the quiet of the +country, and contemplated recommending him a turn in the distillery by +way of a cure. Lady Mitford could not understand his restlessness, and +feared Charley had been annoyed about something. Mrs. Masters ascribed +it to want of _savoir faire_ on the Baronet's part, Only Colonel +Alsager and Lord Dollamore guessed its real cause. The former frowned +portentously as he watched his host; and the latter vas considerably +amused. + +"This is positively a very delicious experience of life," thought +Dollamore, as he laid aside his book; "I could not have had a more +charming field for study. So many different characters too! There is +that remarkably uncouth person our host, who is so horribly raw and +undisciplined as to be unable to behave himself decently when +expecting the last object of his calf-love, And there's that modern +Bayard, Alsager, who has undoubtedly a _tendresse_ for our hostess, +and who as undeniably wore Laura Hammond's colours a little time ago, +and bolted because of some inexplicable row with her. And there's +Laura Hammond herself--delicious creature--with a newly-caught mouse +in her mouth; and yet her eye constantly roving over the late captive +playing round her, lest he should escape beyond possibility of +recapture. There's that good-looking widow, too, who is as cold as +ice, but who is supposed to have thawed a little once in Bayard's +favour. And then there's Lady Mitford herself, who is worth all the +rest of the women put together. What grace, what beauty, what +thoroughly unsophisticated charms and real naturalness of manner! By +Jove! compared to her, the widow is a giraffe, and the Hammond a +dairy-maid. Talk of their birth and breeding! why this country-parson's +daughter has the air and manner of a duchess. They will try and set +upon her when she comes to town,--that old Clanronald, who looks like a +cook, and the Tappington with her three daughters like grenadiers in +petticoats; but if she has any pluck--and I think she has, under all +that quietude--she'll ride them down right and left; and she'll have +all the men on her side, though I don't know that that's any pull. +Meantime this oaf is entertaining an angel unawares, and neglecting +her,--is standing at the door of his tent ogling the daughters of the +Cities of the Plain. So much the better for Bayard and--and for others. +But the _imbroglio_ is delightful, and I couldn't wish for better fun +than to stand by and watch the play; cutting-in of course when I see a +chance of holding winning cards." + +And then Lord Dollamore rubbed his hands with great gusto, and applied +himself with renewed delight to his volume of French philosophy. + +At length the noise of wheels on the hard drive was heard, and +Sir Charles rang the bell and summoned the servants, and, had the +hall-door thrown open, and stood on the steps ready to receive his +guests in person. Drawn by four horses at full gallop, Mr. Hammond's +carriage came thundering along the drive, and ere it pulled up at the +door Lady Mitford had joined her husband, prepared to echo his words +of welcome. With her came Colonel Alsager,--carrying in his hand a +light shawl, which he pressed upon her acceptance when he saw the door +open, and felt the rush of the cold air, which sent the flames roaring +up from the great open fireplace,--and also Lord Dollamore, who smiled +placidly to himself as he saw this act of attention. "None but your +regular Bayard would have done that," said he to himself; "wonderfully +thoughtful fellows they are, by Jove!" He suffered under a slight +lameness, and always carried a Malacca cane, with an ivory +crutch-handle, declared by the men at the club to be his familiar, the +recipient of his confidence, and the suggester of many of his +iniquities. He carried it now, and rapped it against his teeth, and +laid it to his ear, as though he were listening to its counsel. + +"There they are," he continued, "in a close carriage of course, +because of my husband's health; but I'm at the open window, and +remarkably well I look. Blue always became me, and my eyes are bright, +and I've got a high colour. How do you do? My hand out at the window, +and a very palpable squeeze to the oaf, who is blushing, by Jove, like +a great schoolboy,--a very palpable squeeze. Steps down now, and, +leaning heavily on his arm, out we jump, and--O yes, dear Lady +Mitford! Kiss, kiss--you she-Judas!--and--hallo! rather astonished at +seeing Bayard, eh? How do you do, Colonel Alsager? I scarcely thought +you would be here. No, of course not; one string too many for her bow. +Now for me!--Needn't ask you how you are, Mrs. Hammond; never saw you +looking more charming.--And she smiles and passes on. Lord help us! is +this Percy Hammond, this unfortunate object that they are helping out +now? Why, he's only a year or two older than I; left Haileybury while +I was at Eton; but what an awful wreck he is! What on earth made him +marry a second time,--especially such a woman as this! Hallo! who have +we here? Tall young woman; severely got up, but a neat figure, and a +good stepper too. Very cold bow from Sir Charles; little hand-shake +from my lady. Must be the governess. O yes, that's it; and there's the +child. Now, then, all the characters are assembled; ring up the +curtain--the play's begun." + +Lord Dollamore was right; it had been a palpable hand-squeeze, +palpable to him, palpable to Laurence Alsager, palpable to her from +whom it should have been specially hidden--Lady Mitford. She saw it, +but could scarcely believe she had seen aright; but then she noticed +the manner in which Mrs. Hammond leaned on Sir Charles's arm, and a +certain look which passed between them as she alighted. The next +instant her guest had caught hold of both her hands, and was embracing +her with effusion; but just before Georgie had had time to steal one +glance at Laurence Alsager's face, and to read in the lowering brow +and compressed lips that he too had noticed the _empressement_ of the +meeting. The whole thing was so thoroughly strange to her, so utterly +unexpected, that she did not know how to act. Her first impulse was to +drag herself out of Mrs. Hammond's embrace, to call her a false bad +woman, and to go off in a flood of tears; but fortunately she did not +attempt this experiment. She did the very best thing under the +circumstances, and that was--nothing. She freed herself from her +visitor's embracing arms when she had unresponsive received her kiss, +and murmured a few commonplaces about her delight at seeing her; and +then she went forward to say a passing word of kindness to Mr. Hammond +as he was helped past her by his servants, to exchange salutations +with Miss Gillespie, and to kiss the child's forehead. By this time +she was perfectly ready to do the honours of her house, and to follow +her husband, on whose arm Mrs. Hammond was already leaning, to the +suite of rooms prepared for the guests. These were, as Sir Charles had +said, the best in the house; and as they entered them, Georgie +remembered how he had specially reserved them for the Hammonds, and +she winced as her eye lighted on a splendid bouquet of hot-house +flowers arranged in a vase on the writing-table. The fires burned +brightly, and there was a sufficient air of comfort to justify Mrs. +Hammond in clasping her hands and exclaiming, "How very, very +charming! Everything in such exquisite taste; and oh, what lovely +flowers, Lady Mitford! you know my passion for flowers, and have +indeed taken pains to gratify it. Georgie bowed in an icy manner, and +Sir Charles glowed from his head to his feet. + +"It's too late to look out now, but I've no doubt that the prospect's +delightful." + +"Looks towards the south. Good for Hammond, and that kind of thing," +said Sir Charles, explanatorily. + +"We'll leave you now, Mrs. Hammond; the first dinner-bell has just +rung," said Georgie, moving towards the door. + +"Anything you want you've only to ring for, you know; so find out +something to ask for by dinner-time. Do! you know you've only to ask +and have in this house." + +Georgie did not hear this last remark. She was hurrying as quickly as +she could towards her own room; and on reaching it she flung herself +on a sofa, and burst into tears. + +It was the custom at Redmoor to assemble previous to the announcement +of dinner in the library,--a large room, rather solemn with its dark +oak bookcases, and when lighted only by two or three moderator-lamps, +placed on small tables. Such was Sir Charles's whim; he had a notion +that the removal from darkness to light awoke a corresponding +cheerfulness; and though it had been often combated by Georgie, on +this occasion she was grateful for any respite from the public gaze, +and every opportunity of recovering her wonted calmness. Clang! goes +the gong. "Dinner is served." Through the indistinct gloom Mrs. +Hammond is seen sailing away on the arm of Sir Charles. Alsager +has the widow for his companion, and feels a thrill run up his +coat-sleeve, to which the arm within his coat-sleeve does not respond. +There are officers from the garrison, who file off with the Tyrrell +girls and with the young ladies, members of the neighbouring families; +and the procession is closed by Lady Mitford, escorted by Lord +Dollamore, who takes the opportunity of saying, "Charming woman Mrs. +Hammond; so frank, ingenuous, and open! So devoted to her poor invalid +husband--don't you think so?" And when Lady Mitford responds, "Yes, O +yes, quite so," Lord Dollamore lifts the ivory crutch-handle of his +Malacca cane to his mouth, and seems whispering to it untellable +jokes. + +The dinner was very good; but that was more due to Bligh than to any +one else, even to Lady Mitford. The _chef_ who had been let to the +Mitfords with the house in Eaton Place had stuck to his bargain, and +refused to go into the country. He had his club, his _menus plaisirs_, +and he declined to leave them. So the jolly Captain looked about, took +Mrs. Austin the housekeeper into confidence, and found out from her +that there was a woman who had lived as kitchen-maid in the first +families, and who had always thought of bettering herself, but never +had the chance, and was then at Sir John Rumbold's, hard by. This +person was fetched over, and directed to try her prentice-hand at +cooking a steak and a potato for Captain Bligh, that achievement +being, as he opined, the great touchstone of the culinary art; and +having been thoroughly successful, she was borrowed for a few days and +further tried, and finally engaged. The dinner was so good that every +one enjoyed it, even poor Percy Hammond, who had roused himself +sufficiently to come to table, and whose eyes brightened under the +influence of a bottle of the celebrated old Madeira placed at his +side. It was not the old Madeira which caused Mrs. Hammond's eyes to +brighten, but they had never shone more brilliantly, and her spirits +had never been higher. She talked incessantly, addressing her +conversation chiefly to her host, on whose right hand she was seated. + +"I suppose you have some charming old places about here, Sir +Charles?--abbeys, and ruins, and castles," said she after a pause. + +"I daresay there are, but as I have only just come here, you know, I +can't say. Major Maxse, no doubt, can tell you; they've been quartered +in the neighbourhood for the last twelve months, and know every inch +of it.--Maxse, Mrs. Hammond asks whether there are any old ruins, +castles, abbeys, that sort of thing, in the neighbourhood. I tell her +she should inquire of you, a the likeliest person to know." + +Major Maxse, the gentleman addressed, a good-looking middle-aged +man, replied, "Well, I really think I might earn an honest livelihood +by setting up as guide to this region. Though we've been here little +more than a twelvemonth, I've been so horribly bored that I think I +have explored every nook and corner of the country within a circle of +fifty miles; and I am very happy to tell Mrs. Hammond that there are +all sorts of ruins for her to choose from, with all sorts of +architecture, and all sorts of legends attached. For example, there's +Egremont Priory." + +"That's Boscastle's place, isn't it?" said Lord Dollamore, from the +other end of the table; "who made the legend about that? one of the +family probably; for there never was a Boscastle yet who was known to +speak truth, even by accident." + +"First-rate place for wild-ducks," said Major Winton: "don't send any +confounded picnic people there, Maxse; they'll scare the birds." + +"Even at the risk of being considered confounded picnic people, if +it's a pretty place, and has a good story attached to it, I propose +that we make a party and go," said Georgie. + +She was a little astonished at herself when she had said this, but she +had said it purposely. She was wondering what it was that had +attracted her husband in Mrs. Hammond which she herself did not +possess; and she thought perhaps it was a certain dash and verve, to +which she had never pretended, but which her rival undoubtedly +displayed. Poor Georgie felt that perhaps she had been a little too +tame and sedate; and this speech was her first attempt in the opposite +direction. + +"Charmingly said, Lady Mitford; the very thing," said Mrs. Hammond. +"And I think we could go, even if there were no story at all--" + +"There's round tower which is occupied by an old woman, who'll boil +potatoes, and lay the cloth, and that kind of thing--all under +shelter, you know," said Captain Bligh, who was of an eminently +practical turn. + +"O no; but we must have the legend," said Lord Dollamore. "Come, Major +Maxse, you don't get off telling us the Boscastle legend." + +"Oh, it's the old story with the usual ingredients--love and a ghost," +said Major Maxse. + +"Yes; but what love? whose ghost?" asked Mrs. Hammond. "You promised +to tell me, Major Maxse, and we're all attention." + +"It is simply this. After the Restoration Roger Boscastle, who had +been serving with the Royalists from the beginning of the war, and who +had had to fly the country after Naseby, came back to his estates and +to his wife, who during her husband's absence had been living with her +own family, strict Parliamentarians. Lady Boscastle was a very lovely +woman; but a little strict and rigid, and scarcely suited to a +rollicking swashbuckler like her husband. One day there arrived at +Egremont Priory a troop of horse escorting a beautiful lady and her +father, both foreigners, who had done the king much service in time of +need, and who had known Roger Boscastle when abroad. Roger seemed very +much surprised to see them, and so did Lady Mildred; the latter more +especially when first the old nobleman threw his arms round Roger's +neck and exclaimed, 'Mon fils!' and then the young lady did ditto and +exclaimed, 'Mon amour!' but they were neither of them so astonished as +were the old gentleman and the young lady when Roger led Lady Mildred +forward and presented her as his wife. They were thoroughly taken +aback, and the young lady muttered to Roger under her breath something +which Lady Mildred could not catch, but which, by the expression of +her eyes, must have been very unpleasant. However, they took up their +abode in the castle, whither they had been commended by the king; and +they were very polite, especially the lady, to Mildred, who hated her +with such hatred as is only felt by a woman who suspects another of +carrying on with her husband." + +"Bravo, Maxse!" interrupted Lord Dollamore; "gad, that's really quite +graphic,--that last sentence. You've mistaken your profession, Maxse; +you ought to have been an author." + +"I'm afraid the last sentence was cribbed from the _Guidebook_ to the +county. However, to cut my story short, one night Lady Mildred +overheard a conversation between her husband and Pepita (that was the +foreign lady's name), from which it was pretty clear that Roger had +represented himself as a single man when abroad, and had actually +married Pepita. Then Mildred had a stormy interview with Roger, and +told him of her intention to leave him the next day and go to her +brother. But the next morning she was found dead, stabbed to the heart +with a dagger, round the handle of which was a scrap of paper, +inscribed 'In a Spaniard's way;' and Pepita, her father, and Roger +Boscastle were all gone. The latter came back when quite an old man, +but was found dead in his bed the morning after his arrival; +frightened, it is supposed, by the ghost of Lady Mildred, which in +stormy weather duly walks the castle, wringing its hands and waving +the bloody dagger in the air." + +"No, I don't like the last bit," said Lord Dollamore; "too much like +Richardson's show. All the rest very good and dramatic; don't you +think so, Lady Milford?" + +"Oh, very good indeed--thoroughly interesting; and, as usual, the only +innocent person in the story was punished." + +"That was because she was innocent," said Lord Dollamore; "there must +have been eligible persons, even among her Roundhead friends; how very +much better to have consoled herself with--" + +"As usual, you miss the point of the story, Lord Dollamore," said +Alsager, hotly interrupting; "surely it would have been better to have +been the murdered than the murderess in such a case." + +"It's very lucky there are not any such cases now-a-days," said Sir +Charles. "No woman would put a knife into another now." + +"Into any one who stood between me and my love I would, for one," said +Mrs. Hammond under her breath; and she looked for a moment so fierce, +that Mitford said, "Gad, I believe you!" in a similar tone. + +When the ladies had left the room Laurence Alsager said to Lord +Dollamore: "You had heard that story before?" + +"What story, my dear Alsager?" + +"The legend of Egremont Priory." + +"Had I? Not unlikely. You know I'm a very eccentric reader, and +delight in odd stories." + +"It's a pity you did not save Maxse the trouble of telling it again." + +"Do you think so? Well, do you know I can't agree with you? Its +recital seemed to bring out the character of some of our friends in +the highest degree; and if there is anything I delight in, it is the +study of character." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +EGREMONT PRIORY. + + +Lady Mitford's proposition of a visit to Egremont Priory, though +originally made in a kind of bravado, was remembered by most of her +guests--notably by Mrs. Hammond, who saw in it a better chance of +flirtation than she had had since her arrival at Redmoor. Ever since +Georgie had noticed the warm lingering hand-pressure exchanged between +her husband and her visitor on that occasion, she had been thoroughly +on the _qui vive_, and, like most young women ignorant of the world's +ways, had imagined that the best way to nip a flirtation in the bud +was by being perpetually observant of all that took place, and by +letting the guilty persons know that their conduct was watched. It +requires considerable experience before a woman discovers that--so +long as the affair is confined within certain bounds--totally to +ignore its existence is her very best policy; a policy which saves her +from infinite domestic discomfort, and is besides the only possible +method of galling her rival. + +But Georgie was not only young, but country-bred,--which means a great +deal, for London girls at seventeen know more of the world than +country girls at five-and-twenty,--and had had scarcely any +experience. So she went to work naturally, and betrayed her anger in +the plainest manner,--in perpetual supervision, in lip-bitings and +hand-clenchings, in occasional tears, which _would_ come welling up +into her eyes, however far back she might hold her head, and were +perfectly visible, however hastily brushed away. To Mrs. Hammond, who +was a practised duelist, all this behaviour was delightful; she took +it as a tribute to her own powers of fascination, and was +proportionately pleased. Flirtation, in its strongest sense, was +absolutely necessary to her existence; but she never condescended to +boys, and she regarded officers, when merely officers and nothing +more, as very small game. She liked to entangle men of position and +celebrity, no matter how grave or how old (she had perfectly charmed a +bachelor bishop; and the enemies of one of our greatest physicians +declared that his wife rendered his home unbearable on account of his +attentions to Mrs. Hammond); and the latest literary, artistic, or +theatrical lion was usually to be found hovering about her. But far +beyond anything else she liked a flirtation with the husband of an +acknowledged pretty woman; and the more beautiful the wife, the more +bent was Laura Hammond on captivating the husband That gave her +greater _éclat_ than anything else, and she liked _éclat_. She liked +being talked about,--up to a certain point; she liked women to express +their wonder at what men could see in her to rave about; she liked to +have repeated to her what men said at clubs: "'Str'ord'nary little +woman the Hammond! There's Cosmo Gordon been everywhere with her, +leaving that lovely wife of his all by herself, by Jove! What the +doose can there be in her?" and other speeches of a like nature. She +also liked to be on good terms with the wives of her admirers--a thing +by no means so difficult as might be imagined by the inexperienced. +There are women so spaniel-like in their nature that they will fawn on +those who injure them; and some of these consorted with Mrs. Hammond +with a vain idea of propitiating her by their forbearance, and thus +inducing her to give up the chase. She had at first thought that +Georgie Mitford might be of this order; but she was by no means +disappointed to find her otherwise. She gloried in a contest out of +which she could come victorious, and despised all easy triumphs; there +was pleasure in captivating a man whose position or celebrity +reflected lustre on his enslaver; but there was tenfold pleasure when +he, in his blind infatuation, set the rules of society at defiance, +and openly neglected the wife whose beauty had hitherto been his +greatest pride. + +So Mrs. Hammond reminded Sir Charles that dear Lady Mitford had +expressed a wish that they should go over in a party to Egremont +Priory, and suggested that he had better see about it at once. Of +course Sir Charles saw about it immediately; told Bligh to have some +luncheon sent over the next day, and to mind that they had a big fire +in the keep, for it was anything but picnic weather; wrote a line to +Major Maxse and other officers to join them; and proceeded to poll his +visitors as to how they would go over to the spot. How would Mrs. +Hammond go? How? Oh, wouldn't dear Lady Mitford ride over with her on +horseback? they could get some gentlemen to escort them; and it would +be delightful. Dear Lady Mitford was much obliged, but would rather +not. Mrs. Hammond could ride over on horseback if she chose, and +doubtless would find plenty of cavaliers; but Lady Mitford would drive +in a pony-phaeton. Ah, of course! Mrs. Hammond had forgotten Lady +Mitford's charming experience of pony-phaetons; and as she said this +she looked round with a light and pleasant smile at Colonel Alsager, +who was pulling his black beard, and glowering horribly close by. Sir +Charles Mitford had no objection to Georgie's going in a phaeton--no +objection to her driving, for the matter of that; but since that +accident, it would be better, he thought, to have some one reliable in +coachmanship sitting by her: Lord Dollamore, for instance? But +Dollamore declared he was the worst whip in the world; his horrible +rheumatism had crippled his hands; and why should not that tremendous +fellow Alsager, who had already earned the medal of the Humane +Society--why should not he go? Ay, Alsager was the very man, Sir +Charles thought; and Laurence, though he saw every atom of the play on +Dollamore's part, and felt himself completely jockeyed into the +position, could discern no way out of it, and assented with apparent +delight. He was not too pleased to see a certain look of terror which +had pervaded Lady Mitford's face when Dollamore was proposed as +charioteer fade away when the other arrangement was finally decided +upon. Many men would have taken the change as a compliment; but +Laurence had had experience, and thought otherwise. Lord Dollamore, +Tom and Mrs. Charteris, one of the Tyrrell girls, and Captain Bligh, +might post over in the break; in which also went the luncheon-hampers. +Fred Aspen, Ellen Tyrrell, and Major Winton, would ride. So the +stud-groom had his orders, and all was arranged. Sir Charles had not +said how he intended to go to Egremont Priory, and yet no one was +surprised, when the cavalcade was on the point of setting out, to see +his big horse Tambour Major brought out by the stud-groom, who was +closely followed by a helper leading Lady Jane--a very dark iron-gray +mare--with a lady's saddle on her. No one doubted for an instant for +whom the lady's horse was intended. A bright red spot burned on Lady +Mitford's cheek; and as she settled herself in the phaeton by +Laurence's side, she said in a loud and marked tone, "I hope, Colonel +Alsager, I shall not have occasion to-day to increase the debt of +gratitude I already owe to you." + +Mrs. Masters raised her eyebrows as Lord Dollamore assisted her into +the break, and afterwards had two minutes' confidential whispering +with Miss Tyrrell; and Mrs. Charteris had scarcely time to frown down +old Tom, who was always full of his _gaucheries_, before he had +ejaculated, "Making the running early, eh? ah, haw, haw!" + +Sir Charles Mitford saw nothing of this little performance; but Mrs. +Hammond, whose eyes and ears were everywhere at once, lost not one +single scrap of it. So, just before the word for starting was given, +while Mrs. Masters was doing her whispering, and Lady Mitford was +burning with anger, and Captain Bligh was peering into the various +hampers to see that nothing had been forgotten; while Sir Charles +himself, intoxicated with her wonderful piquancy (she never looked to +such advantage as in her riding-habit), was coming across to mount +her, she turned calmly round, and said in a voice which could be heard +by all round, "No,--thanks, Sir Charles--I won't trespass on your +attention. As host you have all sorts of things to look after and to +do.--Major Winton, if that chestnut will stand for half a +minute--here, boy, look to his head!--I'll get you to mount me, and if +you'll permit me I'll join your party. I'm the best of chaperons, +Major; and when it's required, my talent for admiring the landscape is +enormous." + +This last was uttered _sotto voce_, and with a quick side-glance +towards Ellen Tyrrell. It was a clever move; and though by no means +convincing, had some effect on all the party. Sir Charles bowed, +sprang on Tambour Major, and rode away with disgust plainly visible in +every feature; Lady Mitford looked disconcerted; so did Alsager, +though he understood it all; Dollamore took his familiar stick in +consultation, and whispered to it that she was a devilish clever +little woman; Tom Charteris winked quietly at his wife; and Major +Winton was delighted. He told some friends afterwards, in the freedom +of barrack-room conversation, that he didn't go in for women's society +and that sort of thing, you know, and he'd no idea he was so d--d +nice. + +So they went on. The party in the break was very humorous; they kept +up a running fire of jokes against Bligh about something being +forgotten, and compelled him (naturally a nervous man, and very proud +of his arrangement of such matters) to dive frequently to the bottom +of hampers and return with the supposed missing article in his hand, +his face purple with stooping and triumph combined. Captain Bligh was +not a humorist, but he retorted with several broad allusions to Tom +Charteris's distillery; and, a flash of old sporting experience having +suddenly revealed to him that there was an affinity of meaning between +the words 'gin' and 'snare,' he dilated thereon after a fashion that +Mr. George Cruikshank might have envied. They were very quiet in the +pony-phaeton, for Georgie was annoyed at having so plainly shown her +anger; and Laurence, finding that his few remarks about the weather +and the scenery only gained monosyllabic answers, soon lapsed into +silence. Sir Charles was seen going across country at a great pace, +apparently comforting himself by taking it out of Tambour Major, and +clearing everything in first-rate style. The mounted party seemed to +enjoy themselves most of all; Major Winton was in the seventh heaven, +for Mrs. Hammond did all the talking, requiring him only to throw in +an occasional word, and she looked so fascinating that he devoted +himself to her during the ride, entirely neglecting Ellen Tyrrell--to +that young lady's great gratification, be it said, as she regarded the +Major as a fogie, and was infinitely better pleased with the +attentions of one of the officers who joined the cavalcade just as it +emerged on the Redmoor. + +The winter picnic passed off much more pleasantly than might have been +augured from its commencement. During the drive Georgie had had time +deliberately to examine herself, and to arrive at the conclusion that +what she was doing was very foolish, and more than that, she was +afraid, very wrong. It might be that her own jealousy had jaundiced +her ideas; it might be that the pressure of the hand from which her +misgiving first dated, was entirely imaginary. What right had she to +suspect Charley of fickleness? Had he not proved his truth in the +noblest way, by coming back to her in the time of his prosperity and +raising her to her present position? Was it likely, then, that he +would so suddenly change? Yes, she had been very wrong to permit the +growth of such horrible suspicions, and she would make up for it to +Charley by tenfold warmth and affection. Georgie's already-suffused +face deepened in hue as she remembered what, in the bitterness of her +spirit, she had said to Colonel Alsager on taking her seat in the +phaeton. What could he have thought of her? Whatever he may have +thought, nothing could be gathered from the calm grave expression of +his face. Very likely he guessed what was passing through his +companion's mind; for from the little he had seen of Georgie, he +believed her to possess more commonsense than is given to the average +woman, and he was certain she could show it in no better way than by +totally ignoring this business, at all events in its present stage. +Laurence saw plainly enough Mrs. Hammond's intentions. There was not a +point in her system of strategy which he did not comprehend; and he +also saw that Mitford was morally weak, and obviously flattered by her +attentions. In the present stage of affairs, however, for Lady Mitford +to show herself annoyed was the very worst policy she could adopt; and +while she kept silence Laurence guessed she was arguing the question +within herself, and earnestly hoped she would come to the right +decision. He knew she had done so when, just as they were nearing +their destination, she looked up with a bright smile and said, "I have +been a very dull companion, I am afraid, Colonel Alsager! but the +truth is I was full of thought." + +"A bad thing to bring out to a picnic, Lady Mitford. I should advise +you to discard it as speedily as possible." + +"I fully intend to do so, and hope every one else will follow your +advice. By the way, I may say, 'Physician, heal thyself;' for you've +been most sedate ever since we started." + +"I was wondering," laughed Laurence, "among other things, what the +groom seated behind us could think of us. He's young, I see, and may +possibly therefore imagine that silence is a sign of good breeding." + +"In that case, in his opinion we must be perfect aristocrats, for +we've not exchanged a word. Ah, here comes the cavalcade; how well +Mrs. Hammond looks!--doesn't she? and how perfectly she sits her +horse!" + +"Yes, she rides admirably, and--ah, I thought so; she has just +discovered we were looking at her, or she would not have done that." + +"That" was to put her horse at a bit of bank and hedge bordering the +grass-meadow, on which she and her party were cantering. She cleared +it admirably, and drew rein close by the phaeton. As her horse jumped, +Mrs. Hammond caught Laurence's eye, and her own lighted up with a +saucy triumph; the exercise had done her good, and she was in great +spirits. + +"Well, dear Lady Mitford, I hope you've enjoyed your drive; no +accident this time, I see. But Colonel Alsager is a good whip.--I've +heard your praises sung often by men who really understand the +subject, Colonel Alsager. They say you have the very hand for a +restive animal--light, but firm." + +"They get away from me sometimes, though, Mrs. Hammond," said +Laurence, looking up. + +"Ah, that happens with every one," she replied; "but you always +conquer at last, don't you?" + +"Always; and when I get them in hand again, I make them remember their +freaks, and pay for them." + +"You're quite right," said she carelessly. "Ah, here is Major Winton. +I assure you, Lady Mitford, the Major is the most perfect escort; full +of talk and fun, he never suffers you to be dull for an instant. And +there's the break arrived, and that energetic Captain Bligh managing +everything as usual. What very large hampers! And I declare there's +Sir Charles arrived before any of us, and superintending the laying of +the cloth in that romantic-looking old tower." + +Lady Mitford caught sight of her husband at the same time, and hurried +off to him. She was full of penitence, and wanted to set herself right +with him at once. + +"Ah, and there's Lady Mitford off at the mere sound of his name. Look +at that, Colonel Alsager, and--will you have the kindness to help me +to dismount, Colonel Alsager?--No, thank you, Major, I won't trouble +you; the Colonel is already on the ground. There, Laurence Alsager," +she whispered, as she sprang from the saddle, "that is what I pine +for,--domestic love;" and she heaved a little sigh, and tapped the +ground with the delicate little riding-boot, which the lifting of her +habit had exposed. + +For an instant Laurence was taken off his guard, and said bitterly, +"When you might have had it, you spurned it;" then recovering himself, +he added, "However, we have had that out once, and--" + +"And here is Major Winton," said Mrs. Hammond in her airiest manner. +"Luncheon already, eh? then you shall give me your arm, Major, for +this turf-hill is awkward to climb, especially in a habit." + +Meanwhile Georgie had hurried away to where her husband was standing +watching the laying of the cloth in the one room of the keep, by the +old châtelâine and her granddaughter. Georgie made her way up to him, +and with the tears rising in her eyes, said, "Oh, Charley, I'm so glad +I have found you; I wanted to speak to you." + +"Did you, little woman?" said he, looking down at her in great +astonishment; "what about? Nothing left behind, is there?" + +"No; that is--at least--I don't know; it was not about that I wanted +to speak." + +"What was it, then? Nothing the matter with the ponies?--not another +accident, eh?" + +"No, O no; I only wanted to say that I hoped you would not be annoyed +at--at anything I did when we started from home to-day--about the way +in which the party was divided, I mean." + +"Why, you silly little woman, of course not; you had nothing to do +with it. If Winton chose to make himself ridiculous, it wasn't your +fault. There, come, dry your eyes, Georgie, and let's go and look +after the people." + +So, then, he had not noticed her anger or her foolish speech at all. +Georgie hardly knew whether to be pleased or vexed at the discovery. + +The indefatigable Captain Bligh had now brought his arrangements to a +head, and all was ready for luncheon. A large fire burned in the great +open fireplace of the old room, lighting up the grim old walls, and +flickering through the narrow slips and embrasures, whence in old days +the archers had done good service. Lady Mitford headed the table, with +Lord Dollamore and Major Maxse, who had ridden over with some of his +brother officers, on either side. Mrs. Masters was delighted to find +herself next to Colonel Alsager; Tom Charteris was placed opposite the +largest piece of cold beef, and told to go on carving it until +somebody stopped him; Mrs. Charteris was acting as a kind of female +aide-de-camp to Captain Bligh; and if Mrs. Hammond found Major Winton, +who was on one side of her, unusually talkative, she could make no +such complaint of Sir Charles Mitford, who sat on the other side, and +was unusually silent. + +The meal went off with great success. Everybody was hungry, and nearly +everybody was good-tempered; there was abundance of champagne, and the +officers and the young ladies had a great deal of laughter; and then +they set out to explore the ruins, and there was that charming story +of the murdered lady, and the spot where she appeared was pointed out +by the old housekeeper, who told the legend in a deliciously-funny +manner; and Tom Charteris hid himself behind a buttress, and at its +conclusion bounced out among them with a great roar, clanking a +dog-chain which he had picked up. All the ladies screamed, and Ellen +Tyrrell was so frightened that she nearly fainted, and had to be +supported by Frank Somers, the officer who had ridden with her from +Redmoor; and even when she recovered she was so weak as to be +compelled to walk very slowly, so that she and her companion were some +distance behind the rest of the party. + +With this exception they all kept together; and Georgie had the +satisfaction of engaging her husband's arm during the greater portion +of their stay. When the time came for their return, the only change +made was, that Mrs. Masters had manoeuvred so successfully as to +induce Lady Mitford to change places with her,--Georgie returning in +the break, and Laurence driving the widow in the phaeton. But this +time the equestrians all started together. Sir Charles did not tear +away on Tambour Major; for though still annoyed with Mrs. Hammond, he +had by this time got his temper under control. It was a trying time +for Tambour Major, who hated being held back, and pushed and jumped so +as to be very disagreeable company at close quarters. He was very +disagreeable indeed to Major Winton, who had eaten a large lunch and +wanted to digest it quietly; and equally disagreeable to Frank Somers +and Ellen Tyrrell, who were engaged in a conversation which compelled +them to keep their horses at a walking-pace. The only person who was +really pleased was Mrs. Hammond, who in Tambour Major's struggles and +plunges saw her way to the end which she had all along intended to +accomplish. + +"That's more show than business, I'm thinking, Sir Charles," said she, +pointing with her whip to the horse as he gave a tremendous plunge. + +"How do you mean 'show,' Mrs. Hammond? I only know it's all I can do +to hold him steady." + +"Let him have his head, then; he looks as if he would rush his fences, +and had not the least notion of steady jumping." + +"You should have seen him this morning; he--" + +"You took good care I should not, by running away from us." + +"He'd do just the same going home. I can take you the way I came, over +some of the prettiest jumps you have ever seen," said Mitford, getting +nettled about his horse. "Come, who'll follow?" + +"I, for one," said Mrs. Hammond; but no one else spoke. + +"They only want a lead; come, let us show them the way;" and as he +spoke, Sir Charles turned his horse out of the high-road up a short +sloping embankment on to a broad stretch of moorland, and with Mrs. +Hammond close by his side, was away at full gallop. The rest of the +riding party looked after them, but did not attempt to follow. Major +Winton, finding himself decidedly _de trop_, lit a cigar, and jogged +lazily along by himself, while the others continued their +conversation. + +Away go the big black horse and the dark iron-gray, side by side, +flying over the purple moorland, Lady Jane holding her own well with +her companion, let him tear and struggle as he may to shake her off. +Now far away to the right looms dark the first obstacle, which Sir +Charles points out with his whip, and at sight of which Mrs. Hammond +rings out a merry little laugh. As they approach, it developes itself +as a double line of posts and rails, good stiff oak timber, which must +either be cleared or declined, through which there is no scrambling. +Tambour Major sees it already, and rushes at it with a great snort of +triumph, clearing it at a bound. Nor is the gray to be balked; +scarcely has he alighted, foam-flecked and trembling, in the field +beyond, than Lady Jane is by his side. + +"That's number one," said Sir Charles; "the next we shall find just at +the end of--" but Mrs. Hammond laid her whip upon his arm. She had +previously looked round and marked that they were far out of the range +of observation by their late companions. + +"Quite enough," she said; "I am satisfied with Tambour Major's +performances, and own I did him grievous injustice. From the manner in +which he went at that, I am certain he could do anything. Besides," +she added, bending forward and patting Lady Jane's neck with her +pretty dogskin gauntlet, "I wanted to speak to you." + +"To me, Mrs. Hammond?" + +"Yes, to you--to you, alone. You are angry with me?" + +"I--angry? 'Pon my word I can assure you--I--" + +"Ah, don't deny it." Her voice dropped into its most musical and +softest key. "Do you think I am not quick to read any change in your +manner?" + +"No, but really--I haven't the least right to--" + +"The least right! I thought you had promised to be my friend,--my +firm, steadfast, constant friend. Ah, if you knew how I have longed +for such a friend,--one in whom I could confide, and who would advise +me!" + +She dropped her head on her breast as she said this, and the red rays +of the dying sun touched the tight braids of her chestnut hair with +gold. + +"Such a friend you will find in me," said Mitford; "I meant it when I +said it--I mean it now." + +"No," said Laura plaintively, "no; you have other ties and other +claims upon you, and it must not be. The world cannot understand such +confidence as I would give and receive; it is too pure and too earnest +for worldly comprehension.--Already--but I won't speak of that." + +"Finish your sentence, please." + +"No, it was nothing, really nothing." + +"Then tell me, or I shall fancy it was something. Tell me." + +"How you compel me to obey you! I was going to say--it's excessively +silly of me; very probably it was only my own foolish notion, but I'm +so nervous and anxious about anything which concerns--my friends; I +thought that Lady Mitford seemed a little annoyed at your obvious +intention of riding with me this morning." + +She stole a look at him under her hat to see how he received this +shot. + +"Who? Georgie! annoyed? Oh, you must have been mistaken. I should have +noticed it in an instant if that had been the case." + +"You think so! Well, then, very likely it was my mistake. And I was so +frightened, so fearful of causing any misunderstanding between you, so +terrified at the thought of getting you into trouble, that I at once +called that odious Major Winton into my service, and have suffered him +to bore me with his _niaiseries_ throughout the day." + +"Oh, _that_ was the reason that you flirted with Winton, then! I +thought--" + +"Thought what? Ah, I've caught you! You were angry then?" + +"Well, perhaps,--just a little." + +"I should have been deeply hurt if you had not been; it would have +showed that you had no real interest in me, and that would be +dreadful. Just before I knew you, I held my life as utterly valueless, +the daily repetition of a dull dreary task,--nothing to live for, +nobody to care for. And this morning, when I thought you were really +angry with me, that feeling came back so hopelessly--oh, so +hopelessly! I think I should die if I had no one to take interest in +me now." + +She moved her hand towards the little pocket in her saddle-flap for +her handkerchief, but he stopped it in its descent and held it in his +own. + +"While I live," said he, "you will never have cause to make that +complaint." + +And their eyes met,--hers soft and dreamy, his fierce and eager. A +delicious interchange of glances to the persons concerned, but perhaps +not so pleasant to a looker-on. Apparently very displeasing to the +only one then present--a tall slim woman, picking her way in a very +cattish manner across the adjoining meadow; who stopped on catching +sight of the equestrians, frowned heavily as she watched them, and +crouched under the shadow of the hedge until they had passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +CHECK. + + +The day after the winter picnic Sir Charles Mitford sat in that little +snuggery next his dressing-room, which had been so deftly fitted up +for him by Captain Bligh, in the enjoyment of a quiet after-breakfast +pipe. Breakfast was on the table at Redmoor from nine to twelve. Each +guest chose his own time for putting in an appearance; rang for his or +her special teapot, special relay of devilled kidney, ham, kipper, +eggs, or bloater; found his or her letters placed in close proximity +to his or her plate; breakfasted, and then went away to do exactly as +he or she liked until luncheon, which was the real gathering hour of +the day. On the morning in question everybody had been late, except +Major Winton, who, deeply disgusted with the proceedings of the +previous day, had routed up one of the under-keepers at daybreak, and +trudged away to his usual shooting-ground. Sir Charles had turned out +at ten, but had found no one in the breakfast-room save Captain Bligh, +deep in the perusal of the newly-arrived copy of _Bell's Life_. So Sir +Charles read his letters, which were of a prosaic business-like +character, and ate his breakfast, which he rather enjoyed, and then +went up to his room, taking the _Times_ with him. Not, however, for +the purpose of reading it--Charley seldom resorted to that means of +passing time; he never could understand what fellows saw to read in +the papers; for beyond the police intelligence and the sporting-news +and the advertisements of horses to be sold, all that enormous sheet +of news, gathered with such care and expense, was utterly blank to +him. To-day he did not even want to read his usual portion of the +paper; he took it up with him half-unconsciously; he wanted to smoke +and to think--to smoke a little and to think a great deal. + +So he sat before the cheerful fire in the cosey little room, the +firelight glancing on the red-flock paper, and illumining the "Racing +Cracks" and the "Coaching Recollections;" pictures which the Messrs. +Fores furnished for the delectation of the sporting men of those days, +and which are never seen in these. They were better and healthier in +tone than the studies of French females now so prevalent, and +infinitely more manly and national. The smoke from his pipe curled +round his head, and as he lay back in his chair and watched it +floating in its blue vapour, his thoughts filled him with inexpressible +pleasure. He was thinking over what had happened the day before, and to +him the picnic was as nothing. He only remembered the ride home. Yes; +his thoughts were very, very pleasant; his vanity had been flattered, +his fur had been stroked the right way. This was his first experience +of flirtation since his marriage; and he stood higher than usual in his +own opinion when he found that he had attracted the notice of--to say +the least of it--a very pretty woman. Very pretty; no doubt about that! +By Jove! she looked perfection in that tight-fitting robe. What a +splendid figure she had,--so round and plump, and yet so graceful; and +her general turn-out was so good--such natty gloves and jolly little +white collars and cuffs, and such a neat riding-whip! And that lovely +chestnut hair, gathered into that gleaming coil of braids under her +chimney-pot hat! How beautifully she rode too! went at those posts and +rails as calmly as though she had been cantering in the Row. He watched +her as the mare rose at them; and but for a little tightening of the +mouth, not a feature of her face was discomposed, while most women +would have turned blue through sheer fright, even if they would have +had pluck to face such a jump at all, which he doubted. + +It was uncommonly pleasant to think that such a woman was interested +in him; would look forward to his presence, would regret his absence, +and would associate him with her thoughts and actions. What an +earnest, impulsive, sensitive creature she was! She had seen in an +instant what had annoyed him yesterday! Not like Georgie--he felt a +slight twinge of conscience as he thought of her--not like Georgie, +who had supposed he was vexed at something she had said, poor child! +No; that other woman was really wonderful--so appreciative and +intelligent. How cleverly she had befooled that hard-headed old Winton +for the sake of keeping things square! Winton was like a child in her +hands; and though he could not bear ladies' society, and was supposed +to be never happy except when shooting or smoking, had cantered by her +side and tried to make civil little speeches, and bowed and smiled +like a fellow just fresh from Eton. And how cleverly she had managed +that business about their getting away when she wanted to speak to +him! Poor little thing, how frightened she was too at the idea of his +being angry, as though one could be angry with a creature like that! +And how pretty she looked when her eyes filled with tears and her +voice trembled! Gad! she must feel something stronger than interest in +him for her to show all that. Yes, by Jove!--there was no use in +denying it to himself any longer,--this little woman was thoroughly +fascinated. He recalled the events of that homeward ride--the talk, +the looks, the long, long hand-clasp, the passionate manner in which, +just before they reached the house, she had implored him to remember +that she counted on him, and on him alone, for advice and aid in the +troubles of her life. By the way what were the troubles of her life? +She had dwelt very much upon them generally, but had never thought it +necessary to go into detail. She spoke frequently of being tied to an +invalid husband, of having been intended originally for something +better than a sick man's nurse; but that could not prey upon her mind +very much, as she was scarcely ever with her husband, or if it did, it +was not a case in which any advice or any aid of his would be of much +use to her. No; the advice and aid, and the intimate friendship, were +devices by which she was endeavouring to blind herself and him to the +real state of the case, to the fact that she was deeply, madly in love +with him, and that he--well, he--What was that? a rustle of a dress in +the passage outside, a low tap at the door. Can it be she? + +The door opened, and a woman entered--not Mrs. Hammond, but Miss +Gillespie. Sir Charles Mitford's heart had beat high with expectation; +its palpitation continued when he recognized his visitor, though from +a different cause. He had risen, and remained standing before the +fire; but Miss Gillespie made herself comfortable in a velvet +_causeuse_ on the other side of the snug fireplace, and pointing to +his chair, said: + +"You had better sit down again. I shall be some time here." + +As though involuntarily, Mitford re-seated himself. He had scarcely +done so when she said: + +"You did not expect me? You don't seem glad to see me?" + +"Are you surprised at that?" he sneered. "I should be glad never to +set eyes on you again." + +"Exactly; as we used to say in the old days, 'them's my sentiments.' I +reciprocate your cordial feelings entirely. And I can't conceive what +adverse fate drove you to come with a pack of swaggering, sporting, +vulgar people, into a part of the country where I happened to be +quietly and comfortably settled; for, as I pointed out to you at our +last interview, I was the original settler, and it is you who have +intruded yourself into my territory." + +"You did not come here to repeat that, I suppose?" + +"Of course not; and that's exactly a point I want to impress upon +you--that I never repeat. I hint, I suggest, I command, or I +warn--once; after that I act." + +"You act now, you're always acting, you perpetually fancy yourself on +the boards. But it does not amuse me, nor suit me either, and I won't +have it. What did you come here for?" + +"Not to amuse you, Sir Charles Mitford, you may be certain, nor to be +amused myself; for a heavier specimen of our landed gentry than +yourself is not, I should hope for the credit of the country, to be +found. You were never much fun; and it was only your good looks, and a +certain soft manner that you had, that made you get on at all in our +_camaraderie_. No; I came here on business." + +"On business! Ah, it's not very difficult to imagine what kind of +business. You want money, of course, like the rest of them." + +"I want money, and come to _you_ for it! No, Charles Mitford; you +ought to know me better than that. You ought to know that if I were +starving, I would steal a loaf from a child, or rob a church, rather +than take, much more ask for, a single penny from you. Like the rest +of them, did you say? So they have found you out and begun to bleed +you!--the pitiful curs!" + +"Well, what do you want, then? My time's precious." + +"It is indeed, my friend; if you did but know all, you'd find it very +precious indeed. But never mind that; now for my business. I want you +to do something." + +"And that is--" + +"To give up making love to Mrs. Hammond. Now, be quiet; don't put +yourself in a rage, and don't try those uplifted eyebrows, and that +general expression of injured astonishment, on me, because it won't +do. I was not born last week, and my capacity for gauging such matters +is by no means small. Besides, I happened yesterday to be taking my +walks abroad in a meadow not far from the western lodge of Redmoor +Park, the seat of Sir Charles Mitford, Bart., and I happened to +witness an interview of a very tender and touching kind, which took +place between a lady and a gentleman both on horseback. I imagined +something of the kind was going on. I saw something when you were +leaving the house that night at Torquay which would have surprised any +one who had not learned as much of Mrs. Hammond as I had during the +time I had been with her. But since we have been here my suspicions +have been confirmed, and yesterday's proceedings left no doubt upon my +mind So I determined to speak to you at once, and to tell you that +this must not and shall not be!" + +Mitford's face grew very dark as he said: + +"And suppose I were to ask you how the flirtation which you allege +exists between me and--and the lady you have named,--which I utterly +and entirely deny,--suppose I were to ask how this flirtation affects +you, and, in short, what the devil business it is of yours?" + +"How it affects me? Why--no, but that's too preposterous. Not even +you, with all your vanity, could possibly imagine that I have in my +own mind consented to forget the past, that I have buried the hatchet, +that I have returned to my _premier amour_, and am consequently +jealous of your attentions to Mrs. Hammond." + +"I don't suppose that. But I can't see what other motive you can +possibly have." + +"You can't, and you never shall. I don't choose to tell you; perhaps I +have taken compassion on your wife, who is very pretty--of her +style--and seems very good and all that, and very fond of you, poor +silly thing! and I don't choose her to be tormented by you. Perhaps I +want that poor wretched invalid to die in peace, and not to have his +life suddenly snuffed out by the scandal which is sure to arise if +this goes on. Perhaps--but no matter! I don't intend to give my +reasons, and I've told you what I want." + +"And suppose I tell you--as I do tell you--I won't do what you want, +and I defy you! What then?" + +"Then I will compel you." + +"Will you? Do you think I don't know the screw which you would put on +me? You'd proclaim all about my former life, my connection with that +rascally crew, of whom you were one--" + +"Who brought me into it?" + +"No matter;--of whom you were one! You'd rake up that story of the +bill with my uncle's name to it. Well, suppose you did. What then? It +would be news to nobody here--they all know of it." + +"No, they don't all know of it. Lord Dollamore does, and so does that +good-looking man with the beard, Colonel Alsager, and perhaps Captain +Bligh. But I doubt if one of the others ever heard of it: these things +blow over, and are so soon forgotten. And it would be very awkward to +have the story revived here. Why, the county families who have called, +and are inclined to be civil--I heard you boasting of it the other +day--would drop you a like red-hot coal. The officers quartered in the +barracks would cut you dead; the out-going regiment would tell the +story to the in-coming regiment; you would never get a soul over here +to dinner or to stop with you, and you would be bored to death. That's +not a pleasant lookout, is it?" + +He sat doggedly silent until she spoke again. + +"But that is not nearly all. I have it in my power to injure your +position as well as your reputation; to compel you to change that +pretty velvet lounging-coat for a suit of hodden gray, that +meerschaum-bowl for a lump of oakum, this very cheery room for--But +there's no need to dilate on the difference: you'll do what I ask?" + +"And suppose I were to deny all your story." + +"Ah, now you're descending to mere childishness. How could you deny +what all the men I have mentioned know thoroughly well? They are +content to forget all about it now, and to receive you as a reclaimed +man; but if they were asked as men of honour whether or not there had +been such a scandal, of course they would tell the truth. Come, you'll +do what I ask?" + +She had won the day; there was no doubt about that. Any bystander, had +one been there, could have told it in a moment; could have read it in +his sullen dogged look of defeat, in her bright airy glance of +triumph. + +"You'll do what I ask?" + +"You have me in your hands," he said in a low voice. + +"I knew you would see it in the right light," she said, "You see, +after all, it's very little to give up; the flirtation is only just +commencing, so that even you, with your keen susceptibility, cannot be +hard hit yet. And you have such a very nice wife, and it will be +altogether so much better for you now you are _rangé_, as they say. +You'll have to go to the village-church regularly when you're down +here, and to become a magistrate, and to go through all sorts of other +respectabilities with which this style of thing would not fit at all. +Now, goodbye;" and she turned to go. + +"Stay!" he called out; "when may I expect a repetition of this threat +for some new demand?" + +"That rests entirely with yourself. As I have said from the first, I +did not seek you; you intruded yourself into my circle. I like my +present mode of life--for the present--and don't want to change it. +Keep clear of me, and we shall never clash. Again, goodbye." + +She made a pretty little bow and, undulating all over, left the room +as quietly as she had entered it. + +When she had closed the door Mitford rose from his chair with a long +sigh of relief, loosened his cravat, and shook his fist. + +"Yours to-day, my lady--yours to-day; but my chance will come, and +when it does, look out for yourself." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +COUNTERCHECK. + + +Mr. Effingham began to think that the position of affairs was growing +serious. A month had elapsed since his interview with old Mr. Lyons at +the Net of Lemons, and he had not gained one scrap of information as +to the whereabouts of the holder of the forged bill, which was to be +held _in terrorem_ over Sir Charles Mitford for money-extracting +purposes, and which was finally to be given up for an enormous round +sum. Not a single scrap; and worse than all, he had so devoted himself +to this one scent, that his other chances of money-getting were +falling into disuse. Not that there was much to be done elsewhere; it +was the off-racing season, so that his trade of tipster and tout, with +occasional sallies into the arena of welching, could not have been +turned to very profitable purpose. The Bank authorities had lately +been terribly wideawake; several packets of slippery greasy +half-crowns, and many rolls of soft sleezy bank-notes, lay hid in +their manufacturer's and engraver's workshops, waiting a better time +for their circulation. There had been some notable burglaries both in +town and country. Gentlemen with blackened faces who wore smock-frocks +over their ordinary clothes had done some very creditable work in +out-of-the-way mansions and London houses whose owners were +entertaining company in the country, and the melting-pots of old Mr. +Lyons and others of his fraternity were rarely off the fire. But this +branch of trade was entirely out of Mr. Effingham's line. "He's a good +'un at passing a half-bull or at spinning a flash fiver. There's a air +about him that goes down uncommon. He's fust-rate for that, is D'Ossay +Butler; but as rank a little cur as ever waddled. When he thinks traps +is on, he's off; and as to my cracksman's business, or anything where +pluck's wanted, Lor' bless you, you might as well have a girl in +highstrikes as D'Ossay." That was what his companions said of him, and +it was pretty nearly true. Where a little swaggering bantam-cock +demeanour was of use, D'Ossay succeeded; but where anything like +physical courage or physical force was required, he was no good at +all. + +When the lion is on short commons, the jackal is generally in a +very bad way. If Mr. D'Ossay Butler was hard up, the condition of +tall-hatted Mr. Griffiths was necessarily frightful. That worthy +member of society was financially at the lowest ebb, and had resorted +to a trade which he reserved for the depths of despair, a mild +cardsharping--a "three, two, and vun" game, in which it was an +impossibility for the bystander to point out the exact position of the +king--at low public-houses. During all his wanderings, however, he +kept his eyes open to the necessity of obeying his instructions from +D'Ossay Butler, to the necessity of discovering the whereabouts of +Lizzy Ponsford, the holder of the bill. There was no slum that he +visited; no public-house, where he first propitiated the landlord by +the purchase of half-a-pint of ale, and then proceeded to suggest to +the notice of the two or three sawney-looking men at the bar a "curous +little game he had there, at which 'atfuls of money had been von, and +which was the favourite recreation of the horficers of the Queen's +Life-Guards at the Windsor Barracks, where he'd 'ad the pleasure of +introducin' it 'imself;" no pedestrian ground, no penny-gaff, where he +did not get into conversation with somebody connected with the +premises, and try to worm out that all-important secret. But all was +of no avail. Many of the persons he spoke to knew or had heard of Tony +Butler, and paid many handsome compliments to the deceased--"a +vide-avake vun and no mistake," "a feller as vould take your coat off +your back on to his own," &c.; but very few had known Lizzie Ponsford, +and those had not seen or heard of her for a considerable time. + +So Mr. Griffiths began to keep clear of Mr. Effingham. There was +nothing to be got from his employer but abuse, and that was an article +of which Mr. Griffiths perhaps had a surfeit, especially after he had +picked up a few stray eighteenpences from the frequenters of the Pig +and Whistle, at the noble game of the "three, two, and vun." But one +night, finding himself in the neighbourhood of the Strand, and having +had rather a successful evening,--he had won fifteen shillings from a +sailor, at a public-house in Thames Street; a sailor who paid him +rigidly, and then cursed him for an adjective swab and kicked him into +the street,--Mr. Griffiths thought he would take a little refreshment +at Johnson's. On presenting the crown of his hat within the +swing-doors, that article was immediately recognized by Mr. Effingham, +seated moodily in the nearest box, and its owner hailed in the nearest +approach to a voice of thunder which that small gentleman could +accomplish. + +"Come in; I see you!" called out the little man. "I've been wondering +what had become of you all this time. I thought you'd gone to stay +with some swell in the country for the hunting-season. I was goin' to +ask if they had got your address at the _Morning-Post_ office, that I +might write you a line and see if you could find it convenient to lend +me a trifle." + +"You must be in luck to have such spirits, D'Ossay,--you must," said +Mr. Griffiths sententiously. "Out of collar and out at elbows--that's +what I've been out of. Look at my coat," pointing to his arms; +"shining like bees-wax. Look at my crabshells," pointing to his boots; +"as leaky as an old punt, reg'larly wore down to the sewin', and all +through elberin' and cadgin' my way into every crib where I thought +there was a chance of my comin' at what we wanted to know." + +"And what good have you done with all that tremenduous exertion?" + +"No good,--not a scrap. I suppose you've been at the same game? How +have you got on?" + +"About the same as you have. Just as 'ealthy my lookout is." + +"Well, I'll tell you what I intend to do. I've worked high and low, +here and there, like a blessed black slave, to find out where this gal +is, and I've had no luck no more than you have. And I intend to cut +it. I'm sick of all this dodgin' and divin', and askin' everybody +after somebody that nobody knows. I intend to cut it. That's what I +intend!" + +"And let it go altogether, after all the trouble we've had; +after-- Not such a flat, Griffiths; don't you fear. Look here, my boy," +said Mr. Butler, putting his hand into his waistcoat-pocket, and +producing therefrom two sovereigns; "do you see that couple of quid? +That, with a shilling and a fourpenny bit, is all that remains to your +friend D'Ossay of the current coin of this realm--the real business, I +mean, and no fakement. But these two simple skivs shall be turned into +fifty or a hundred before the end of the week. And to show you that I'm +not boasting, I'll stand a drink. Here, waiter!--brandy hot, two!" + +Mr. Griffiths gazed in double admiration at his friend's generosity +and pluck; but low as he was, he really admired the latter, from which +he might possibly derive ultimate benefit, more than the former, from +which he was about to receive immediate advantage. After the first sip +of his grog he said-- + +"And how's it coming off?" + +"I don't mind telling you," said D'Ossay. "There's nothing to +hide--why should there be? I'm going to try it on again with our +friend the Bart." + +"Without the bill?" + +"Of course, without the bill, considering that neither you nor I have +been able to get hold of it. But didn't I raise a fiftier out of him +without the bill before, and why shouldn't I do that, or double that, +now?" + +"Ah, why indeed?" said Mr. Griffiths, who always coincided when he did +not know what else to do, and there was nothing to lose by so doing. + +"You see, I thought he might down upon me with the extortion dodge, +and hand me over to a bobby. But there's no bobbies where he is now; +he couldn't ring the bell and send out that sleek-looking vally, and +have me in Vine Street in a brace of shakes. He's down in the country +ever so far away. I called at Eaton Place to-day, and they gave me his +address." + +"And how do you mean to get at him? Not by writin'? Don't trust your +fist on paper." + +"Teach your grandmother, Griffiths! How do I mean to get at him? Why, +by paying one of those yellow-boys to a booking-clerk at 6.30 +to-morrow morning, and going down by the Great-Western parliamentary +to Torquay, which is close by the swell's place." + +"And then?" + +"Then I shall put up at some quiet crib, and go over the next morning +and take him on the bounce--just as I did before." + +"And suppose he shows fight and won't part?" + +"Then I must send up a line to you, and you must get up a friendly +lead, or something of that kind, and work me back to town." + +"And you'll chance all that?" + +"I'd chance a mile more than that for such stakes, where there's no +knockin' about or head-punchin' business, Griffiths. I've not got what +they call animal courage, which means I don't like being hurt. Some +people do, I suppose, and they have animal courage. Now, let's settle +where I'm to write to you, and all the rest of the business." + + +Mr. Effingham spoke thus cheerily, and seemed thoroughly determined on +his undertaking and confident of his success, as he sat, late at +night, in a warm brilliantly-lit tavern-parlour, with the odours of +tobacco and hot spirituous drinks fragrant to him floating pleasantly +about. He took quite another view of the subject when he turned out +between five and six the next morning into a bald blank street, swept +by torrents of rain, in which no one was visible but the policeman and +the few vagrants huddling round the early-breakfast stall at the +corner. Mr. Effingham wrapped himself up as best he might in his +fifteen-shilling pea-jacket, and under cover of a big gingham +umbrella, borrowed from his landlady, made the best fight he could +against the wind and the rain, which, however, had so far the best of +it that he was tolerably damp by the time he reached the Paddington +station. + +He took his ticket, and seated himself on the shelf in one of those +wooden boxes which benevolent railway directors set aside for the +conveyance of parliamentarians. His companions were two navvies, who +had not slept off the effects of last night's drunkenness, and whose +language made Mr. Effingham--albeit not unused to listening to "tall +talk"--shrink with disgust; an old woman with steaming black garments, +and an umbrella which would not stand up in any corner and would not +lie under the seat, and got itself called most opprobrious names for +its persistence in leaning against the nearest navvy; and a young +woman with a swollen face tied up in a check cotton handkerchief. Mr. +Effingham made an effort to let the very small window on his side +down, but the young woman with the toothache had it up in an instant; +while the aperture on the other side was constantly stuffed with the +body of one or other of the drunken navvies, who fought for the +privilege of leaning half out of the carriage, and running the chance +of being knocked to pieces against arches and tunnel-walls. So the +navvies fought and swore, and the old woman sniffed and took little +snatches of sleep, waking with a prolonged snort and start; and the +young woman moaned and rubbed her face, until Mr. Effingham was nearly +mad. Circumstances were almost too much for him; he grew first +desponding, and then desperate. He wished he had never started on his +journey; he would get out at the next station at which the train +stopped (and as the parliamentary duly stopped at every station, he +would not have had to wait long); he would go back to London. No, he +would not do that; he had boasted about his intention to Griffiths, +and would lose all authority over that satellite if he did not show at +least the semblance of a fulfilment of his purpose. He would get out +at the next station, and wait at a public-house in the village until +the next day, and then go back and tell Griffiths he had seen Sir +Charles Mitford, and had found it impossible to get any money out of +him. And then, just as the whistle shrieked out and the engine reduced +its particularly slow pace to a slower still, preparatory to pulling +up, Mr. Effingham's hands strayed into his waistcoat-pocket, where he +found only a half-sovereign and a few shillings remaining--the extent +of his earthly possessions. That decided him; he would go on, come +what might! Such a state of impecuniosity nerved him to anything; +and--the absence of policemen in rural districts still pleasantly +remembered--he determined upon pursuing his original idea and of +continuing his journey. + +The next day Sir Charles Mitford, who had been compelled to devote the +morning to dry details of business connected with his estate--details +to which he listened conscientiously, over which he shook his head +visibly, and which he did not in the least understand--had got rid of +the man of business from the library about noon, and was just thinking +he would go and see what Mrs. Hammond was doing, when Banks entered, +and closing the door after him in a secret and mysterious manner, +announced "That party, sir." + +"What 'party,' Banks?" + +"The party that called in Heaton Place, Sir Charles, and ast to see +you, and you wouldn't see at first, but did afterwards, Sir Charles." + +"I don't know yet whom you mean, Banks." + +"The naval party, Sir Charles; though lookin' more like after the +coats and humbrellas in the 'all. The naval party as served with you +on board some ship, Sir Charles." + +"Oh," said Mitford hurriedly, "I recollect now; one of--one of my +sailors from my old yacht--yes, yes, of course. You can show him into +my own room, Banks. I'll go up there at once." + +"'Sailor,'" said Mr. Banks to himself as he walked down the passage, +"'from my hold yacht,' did he say? Why, if what they say at the Club +is right, the honly naval concern which he knew of before comin' in +for the title was the Fleet Pris'n! This is a queer start about this +feller, this is. I wonder why he wants to see Mitford, and why Mitford +can't refuse hisself to him?--This way, young man." And he beckoned +haughtily to Mr. Effingham, and preceded him to his master's room. +Sir Charles had already arrived there, and was seated in his large +armchair when the visitor was shown in. + +Ah, what a different visitor from the Mr. Effingham who called in +Eaton Place! Then full of vulgar confidence and brazen audacity; now, +flinching, slouching, cowardly. His dress bedraggled from the previous +day's wretched journey, his manner downcast from the preconceived +notion of failure in his mission, and the impossibility of enforcing +his previous demands. A very wretched specimen of humanity was Mr. +Effingham as he stood before Sir Charles Mitford, shifting his limp +hat from hand to hand, and waiting to be asked to sit down. + +When Banks had retired and closed the door, Sir Charles looked up +quietly and steadily at his visitor, and said, "Well, Mr.--I forget +your name--you've broken your promise, as I expected, and come to try +and extort money from me again!" + +"Extort, Sir Charles! that's not the word, sir; I--" + +"That _is_ the word, sir! Sheer barefaced robbery and +extortion--that's what has brought you down here; deny it if you can! +Have you come to ask me for money, or have you not?" + +"Well, Sir Charles, I--that is--" + +"No shuffling, sir! no prevarication! Have you or not?" + +"Well, suppose I have?" + +"Suppose you have! And suppose that I, as a justice of the peace and +magistrate for the county, make out a warrant for your committal to +prison as a rogue and vagabond? We're a long way from London, and +justice's law is to be had down in these parts. Besides, how could you +appeal? to whom could you refer? I've made a point of having a few +inquiries made about you since you last did me the honour of a call, +and I find that if not a regular gaol-bird, you could at all events be +recognized by the police as a swindler and an utterer of base coin. +What do you think of that Mr.--Butler?" + +What did he think of it? The realization of his worst fears, the +overthrow of his strongest hopes! He ought to have relied on the +presentiment which had told him that the man would take this course, +though not so promptly or so strongly. He thought he would try one +more bit of bounce, and he shook himself together and put as much +impudence as he could command into his look as he said, + +"How do you know I've not got that forged bill in my pocket?" + +"By your face, sir! I can see that as plainly as if it were written +there in big black letters! Ah, I knew I was right! Now, what have you +got to say to this, Mr. Butler?" + +Mr. Effingham fairly collapsed. "Nothing, Sir Charles," he stammered. +"I've nothing to say-only have mercy, Sir Charles! I have not brought +the bill with me, but I know where it is, and could lay my hand on it +at any time, Sir Charles. And as to what you said about committing me +as a rogue and a vagabond, O Lord! don't do it, Sir Charles! pray +don't! I'm a poor miserable devil without a rap; but if you'll only +let me go, I'll find my way back to town, and never intrude on you +again, Sir Charles; I--" + +All this time Mr. Effingham had been backing, and with his hand behind +him feeling for the handle of the door. Having secured it, he was +about to vanish, when Sir Charles called out to him "Stop!" and he +stopped at once. + +"You say you're hard-up, Mr. Butler?" + +"I'm positively stumped, Sir Charles." + +"Then you'd be glad to earn a little money?" + +"If I could do so--" Mr. Effingham was about to say "honestly," but he +thought this would be a little too glaring, so he finished his +sentence by substituting "without incurring any danger, I should be +delighted." + +"There would not be the slightest danger--" + +"By danger I mean, punching of heads and that kind of thing." + +"Precisely; there would be nothing of that. The only person with whom +you would be brought into contact would be a woman." + +Mr. Effingham's barometrical mercury rose as quickly as it fell. "A +woman!" he said, as he settled his limp collar and gave a pull at his +dirty wristbands,--"a woman, Sir Charles! Oh, then, I've no fear." + +"Wait and hear what you're required to do, sir, before you give an +opinion. The person to whom I allude is at the present moment in this +house. She is therefore, although not invited by me, to a certain +extent my guest, and it would be impossible for me to appear in the +matter. You comprehend me?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Especially as she is to be got rid of at once and for ever. When I +say 'got rid of,' I don't mean it in the slang phrase of the penny +romances--I don't mean that the woman is to be killed; but simply that +she is to be told that she must remain here no longer, and the danger +of doing so must be strongly pointed out to her." + +"Exactly, je twig! Now will you please to tell me the name of this +good lady, and what reason I'm to give for insisting on her leaving +such a very swell and pleasant crib as this appears to be?" + +"She is called here Miss Gillespie," said Sir Charles; "but You will +have heard of her under a very different name--Lizzie Ponsford." + +"What!" exclaimed Mr. Effingham, leaping from his chair; "Lizzie +Ponsford here! She whom I've been--" + +"Well, sir?" asked Sir Charles in astonishment. + +"Whom I've been hearing so much about!" said Mr. Effingham, recovering +himself. "Lizzie Ponsford here!" he continued, going off again. +"Well, that is a rum start!" + +"Be good enough to attend to me, sir. She is here, and she is in my +way. Her presence worries me, bringing back all sorts of hideous +associations that I thought I had got rid of, and never want to have +revived. You must see her, talk to her, and get her to go at once; +once gone, I could so arrange matters as to leave little chance of her +returning." + +"I see!" said Mr. Effingham. "Now the question is, how to work her out +of this. What would be the best way to frighten her and get her under +your thumb?" + +"What is your notion on that point?" + +"I scarcely know yet! It will want a little thinking over, but I've no +doubt I shall be able to hit upon something. Is she pretty comfortable +where she is--likely not to give it up without a struggle?" + +"You may take your oath she will not move unless compelled--it is for +you to find the something that will compel her." + +"Exactly. Well, I don't think that there will be much difficulty about +that--at least," said he, correcting himself, for he feared that +comparative facility might lessen the reward--"at least, not much +difficulty for a man whose head's screwed on the right way. Now about +the payment?" + +Sir Charles opened a drawer in his desk, and from a little _rouleau_ +of gold counted out ten sovereigns. The chink of the money sounded +deliciously in Mr. Effingham's hungry ears. + +"I will give you these ten sovereigns now," said Sir Charles; "and if +you succeed in carrying out all I have told you, I will give you fifty +more." + +"Will you? Well, I always say what I think, and I say that's liberal. +Now look here! Very likely I shan't see you again; perhaps I shall +have to step it with her, in order to be sure she's safe off, and not +dodging, or likely to walk back again. So when you find she's really +gone, just you send a cheque for the fifty, made payable to bearer, +mind, and not crossed, to this address;" and bending down over the +table he took a pen and scrap of paper and wrote: Mr. Effingham, Mr. +Johnson's, The Brown Bear, Shakespeare Street, Strand, London. "Will +you do that?" + +"I will." + +"Having said so as an honourable gent, I know you'll keep your word. +Now how am I to see her?" + +"She walks out every day at three o'clock with her pupil--" + +"Her pupil! Lizzie Ponsford's pupil! My eye!" + +"With her pupil," repeated Sir Charles sternly, "in the chestnut +avenue leading from the lodge-gate. A tall woman with very large eyes, +and crisp wavy °hair over her forehead; a peculiar-looking woman--you +couldn't mistake her." + +"All right! As I go out of the lodge-gate now, I'll just say a few +words to the old lady that keeps it, that she may know me again--don't +you see?--and not be surprised at my coming in and out. And now, as I +shall probably have to hang about here for two or three days, where +can I put up?" + +"You mustn't remain here in the house--" + +"Lor' bless you, that would never do! isn't there a public near?" + +"There is the Mitford Arms, within a quarter of a mile of the lodge." + +"I saw it; the carrier's-cart which brought me over from Torquay +stopped there. That'll do. I'll be a littery gent gettin' up +information about the old county families, or an artist +sketchin'--that'll do. Now give me a week clear: if nothing's done by +then, you'll have spent ten pound very badly, and I shall have lost my +time. But if within that time--and it might be to-morrow or any +day--you find she's clean gone, you've got the address, and you'll +send the cheque to it?" + +"You may rely on me." + +"I do thoroughly. Now how am I to get out? It wouldn't do for you to +be seen with me--my togs, though just the sort of thing for the +littery gent, ain't very swell." + +"You can go down this staircase," said Sir Charles, leading him to a +landing; "it guides on to the garden, take the first to the right, and +you'll come at last to the avenue." + +Mr. Effingham put his finger to the limp brim of his hat and departed. + +But when he arrived in the chestnut avenue, and had looked carefully +round, and found that he was out of sight of any one in the house, and +that there was no one near enough to observe his conduct, he rubbed +his hands together, and almost cut a caper in the air with delight. + +"To think of it!" he said. "There never, never was such luck! D'Ossay, +my boy, you've got the trick of it somehow. What will Griffiths say +now? To think that I've been hunting for this woman all this time, and +that she's now placed in my hands--and by this very swell too! Two +birds with one stone now. Oh, there's a much bigger game than the +Bart.'s cheque for fifty! But it'll take a deal of thinking over and +planning; and if there's any one to do that, it's you, D'Ossay, my +boy, and no one else!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +IN THE DRAWING-ROOM. + + +What was Laurence Alsager doing at Redmoor? He was beginning to ask +himself that question very frequently. And that question led to +another--why had he come down there at all? He had "done" +country-houses and their amusements and had tired of them years +before; he had not the slightest liking for any of the guests; he had +a vague dislike of the host. Why, then, had he come? He was a man who +rarely tried to deceive himself; and when he put this question +point-blank to himself the answer was, Why? Why, because you take a +certain interest in Lady Mitford--no, I allow that perfectly; nothing +dishonourable, nothing which at present could even be described as a +love-passion; but a certain interest. You think from all you have seen +that she is not merely very charming in her innocence and simplicity, +but really good; and you expect from certain signs which you detect, +and with the nature of which you are familiar, that she will have to +pass through a very perilous ordeal. It is obvious to you that in +society, as it is now constituted, a woman of Lady Mitford's personal +attractions and position must incur a very great deal of temptation. +This, of course, would be to a great extent avoided if she were secure +in the affections and certain of the attentions of her husband; but in +the present instance you are constrained to admit, contrary to the +opinion which you once publicly expressed, that Sir Charles Mitford is +a weak, silly, vain person, who has fallen a victim to the wiles of a +thoroughly heartless coquette, and who appears to be going from bad to +worse as rapidly as possible. So that your certain interest has +brought you down here to watch over the lady. Quixotic and +ultra-romantic, is it not? You do not mean it to be so, I know--I give +you full credit for that; but still that is the designation it would +probably receive from any of your friends. The truth is, that this--I +was almost going to call it parental, but we will say fraternal--this +fraternal regard for a very handsome woman is a novelty to you; and +hence your enjoyment of it. I said expressly a very handsome woman, +because I don't believe that the fraternal sentiment could possibly +blossom for an ugly one. Beware of it, my friend, if you please! it's +the trickiest, most treacherous elf, this fraternal friendship, that +exists; it goes on for a certain period perfectly steadily and +properly, and then one morning you find it has deserted you, and left +in its place a hot flaming riotous passion that scorches you into +tinder, makes you miserable, takes away your appetite, and, in fact, +possesses all the qualities which, at one time, you knew so well. + +Such was the result of Laurence Alsager's self-examination, and he +fully admitted its truth. It was the interest which he took in Lady +Mitford that had induced him to visit Redmoor; it was the same feeling +which kept him lingering there. Then the interest must have increased; +for the necessity for his self-imposed task of protection and +supervision had certainly diminished. The actual fact which had +decided his coming was the announcement that Lord Dollamore was to be +among the guests. He had always had his own opinion of Lord +Dollamore's morality; and the way in which that nobleman had spoken of +Lady Mitford in the smoking-room of the Maecenas had jarred horribly +on Alsager's nerves. There was something too in Laura Hammond's look +and in the tone of her voice when she spoke of the probability of +Dollamore's being left constantly with the ladies, at which Laurence +had taken alarm. But Lord Dollamore seemed to be perfectly innocuous. +Laurence had watched him narrowly from the first, and, as in the +case of the drive to Egremont Priory, he seemed rather to avoid +than to seek opportunities of being in Lady Mitford's company +_en tête-à-tête_, and, judging from that and one or two other +instances, was apparently desirous of keeping in the background, and +of pushing Laurence forward. Could he--? No; he was a man utterly +without principle where women are concerned; but he would never +attempt such a game as that, more particularly if he, Laurence +Alsager, were involved in it. Certainly Sir Charles was going to the +bad more rapidly than Alsager had anticipated; but then it was to be +said for him that he clearly had fallen into able hands. There had +been few such adepts in the art of flirtation in Europe as Laura +Molyneux; and she seemed to have become even more fertile in resources +and skilful in their development since her marriage. Anything like the +manner in which she had flirted with Mitford during the first few +clays of her visit to Redmoor, Laurence, in all his experience, had +never seen; and he thought at the time of the Egremont Priory +expedition that things were coming rapidly to an end. Lady Mitford had +evidently noticed something that day, some _tendresse_ between her +husband and Mrs. Hammond, which had annoyed her very much; so much +that she had almost called her friends' attention to her disgust. But +the sweetness of her disposition had come to the rescue. Laurence +knew, as well as if he had been able to read her thoughts, all that +had passed in her mind during that drive in the pony-phaeton; he saw +how she had reasoned with herself, and how she had finally determined +that she had been hasty, inconsiderate, and in the wrong. He had seen +her, immediately on alighting, slip away to join her husband; and he +could fully understand that she had made silent atonement for what she +imagined to be an outburst of groundless jealousy. + +An extraordinary change had come over Mitford within the last few +days. Before the picnic, and at the picnic, he had been enthralled, +_entêté_, eagerly waiting for Mrs. Hammond's every look, every word, +and scarcely able to behave with decency to anybody else. Since then +he had acted quite differently. Had his conscience smitten him for +neglecting his wife? No; Laurence did not believe in sudden +conscience-smites with such men as Sir Charles Mitford; and he had +further noticed that though there was no open flirtation, there was +plenty of eye-telegraphy of a very peculiar and significant kind. They +had come to some understanding evidently, for Mrs. Hammond now seldom +addressed her conversation to her host, but kept her hand in by +practising on the susceptible heart of Major Winton, or by coquetting +with some of the officers who were invariably to be found dining at +Redmoor. She had tried to _réchauffer_ a little of the old story with +Laurence, but had encountered something so much more marked than mere +disinclination, that she suspended operations at once. + +However, be this as it might, the necessity for Alsager's stay at +Redmoor, even judged by his own peculiar notions, was at an end. The +Dollamore question never had been mooted; the Hammond difficulty +seemed entirely in abeyance. What further need was there for him to +keep watch and ward over the Redmoor household? He could be back in +town as soon as they could, go where they might; _something_ would +occur during the season, he thought, and he might as well be there on +guard; but that was a matter of only a few hours from wherever he +might happen to be. + +Whither should he go, then? Not back to London--that was impossible. +The week or two he had passed there had thoroughly sickened him of +London for some time to come. Paris? No, he thought not! The _bals +d'opéra_ would be on then,--Frisotte and Rigolette, Celestine and +Mogador, Brididi and the Reine Pomaré--O yes, he knew it all; it was a +very long time since those exercitations of the _cancan_, rebuked by +the _sergents-de-ville_ in a low grumble of "_Pas si fort! pas si +fort! point du télégraphe!_" had afforded him the slightest pleasure. +Leicestershire? No, though he had purchased Sir Launcelot, and from +merely that short experience of him at Acton, felt sure that he would +"show them the way"--no, not Leicestershire this year, he thought, nor +anywhere else, unless he went down to Knockholt to see his father. +Yes, by Jove! he ought to have done that long since, and now he would +do it at once. + +He settled this in his own mind as he was dressing for dinner about a +week after the winter picnic. Settled it not without long deliberation +and a little sleep, for he began to give the matter his careful +consideration after returning from a long day's shooting; and it was +not until he had steamed and lathered himself in a warm bath, had +pulled the little sofa in front of the fire, and was contemplating his +evening clothes neatly arranged on an adjacent chair, that he began to +consider the question. His deliberation involved the putting up of his +feet on the sofa, and that proceeding caused him at once to drop +helplessly off to sleep, only to be roused by the loud clanging of the +second dinner-bell. + +An addition accrued to the dinner-party that day, in the persons of +Sir Thomas Hayter, a country neighbour, his wife and daughter. Sir +Thomas was a hearty old Tory country squire, who during his one season +in London had been captivated by and had married her ladyship; at the +time of her marriage a _passée_ beauty, now a thin chip of an old +woman, still affecting girlish airs. Miss Hayter was a fine, fresh, +dashing, exuberant girl, inclined to flirting, and fulfilling her +inclination thoroughly. They infused a little new life into the party; +for though Sir Thomas did not talk a great deal, he listened to +everything that was said, and threw in an occasional "Ha! dear me!" +with great vigour and effect, while Lady Hayter chirped away to Sir +Charles Mitford, asking him about all sorts of London people of whom +he had never heard, and quite bewildering him with her volubility. She +succeeded better with Mr. Hammond, whose health was fast improving in +the soft Devon air, and who, in spite of the strongly-expressed +opinion of his wife, had come down to dinner that day. He was seated +next to Lady Hayter; and shortly after dinner commenced, he found out +that he had known her before her marriage, when she was Miss +Fitzgibbon; "used to have the pleasure of meeting you at the +Silvesters' in South Audley Street;" and then they entered upon a very +long conversation about the acquaintances of their youth, while all +the time each was stealing covert glances at the other, and wondering +how it was possible--she, that that cadaverous, parchment-faced, bent +invalid could be the handsome boy who in those days had just come up +from Haileybury, and was going to India with such good prospects; he, +that the old woman with the palpably-dyed purple hair, the scraggy +neck, and the resplendent teeth--the gold springs of which were so +very visible--could have been Emily Fitzgibbon, about whose beauty +every one was raving in '25. Miss Hayter too was very happy; she was +immensely taken by Laurence Alsager, next to whom she was seated. She +had heard of him often; and two years before, when she was in London, +he had been pointed out to her at the Opera; and she, then a young +lady of seventeen, had gone home and written about him in her diary, +and drawn portraits of him in her blotting-book, and thought him the +handsomest creature in the world. She told him this, not of course in +so many words, but with that charming quiet way of paying a compliment +which some well-bred women possess; and she had also heard of the +catastrophe with the ponies at Acton, and of his gallant conduct. + +"For it was very gallant, you know, Colonel Alsager; any one could see +that, even through that ridiculous newspaper report; and it was a +splendid jump too. I was talking about it the other day to my cousin +Fred Rivers, who knows you, I think; and he said he'd seen the place, +and Mr. ----, I forget his name; the head man up there--said it was as +fine a thing as ever was done in Leicestershire; and Fred said he +thought so too; 'bar none,' he said, in that sporting way, don't you +know, which he has of talking." + +"You make a great deal too much of it, Miss Hayter," said Laurence, +smiling; "I've seen Fred Rivers take many such jumps himself, for a +better horseman never crossed country." + +"Ah, yes, during a run, I daresay; but this was in cold blood, wasn't +it?--not that I wonder at your doing anything for Lady Mitford. Isn't +she lovely? I declare I never saw such a perfect face in my life." + +Alsager was about to answer, when Major Maxse spoke from the other +side of the table, "Oh, by the way, Colonel Alsager, what Miss Hayter +was saying reminds me that you ought not to have driven that day we +went to Egremont; you should have gone on horseback. There's a very +neat country if you do but know it." + +"Did you _drive_ over, Colonel Alsager?" asked Miss Hayter in +astonishment. + +"Yes; I drove Lady Mitford in her pony-phaeton." ("Oh!" in a subdued +tone from Miss Hayter.) "Sir Charles was the only one who rode." + +"And Mrs. Hammond,--I beg your pardon, and Mrs. Hammond!" said Major +Winton, the first words he had spoken since he sat down to dinner. "I +too was on horseback, but I can scarcely be said to have ridden. But, +coming back, they went away splendidly. I never saw anything better +than the manner in which the first fence was cleared by them both. I +daresay it was as good all over the course; but they got away after +the first, and we never saw any more of them." + +And Major Winton sipped his first glass of post-prandial claret with +great gusto. He had paid off Mrs. Hammond for using him on the +picnic-day, and throwing him off when she no longer required him. It +was to be presumed, however, that Mrs. Hammond had not heard this +remark; at least she gave no signs of having done so, being occupied in +conversation with Captain Bligh. Sir Charles Mitford grew very red; +Miss Hayter looked round, enjoying the fun; and an awkward pause +ensued, broken by old Sir Thomas Hayter. + +"Didn't I hear you say you were over at Egremont the other day, +Mitford?" + +"Yes, Sir Thomas; we went over there, and had a kind of winter +picnic." + +"You didn't see anything of Torn Boscastle, I suppose?" + +"No; we only went to the ruins, and lunched in the keep. Besides, I +don't know him." + +"Ah! you wouldn't have seen him if you had known him. He keeps quite +to himself just now." + +"What's the matter? is he ill?" + +"No, not ill in body, you know. What's that we used to learn in the +Latin grammar--'_magis quam corpore, aegrotat_'--his mind, you know." + +"That's bad; what has brought that about?" + +"Well, you see, he's got a son, a wild extravagant fellow, who has run +through I can't tell how much money, which poor Tom could very ill +afford, as we all know; and the last thing the vagabond did was to get +hold of his father's cheque-book, and forge his name to a terrible +amount." + +Had Sir Thomas been a gentleman of quick perception--a charge which +had never been brought against him--he would have been very much +astonished at the effect of his anecdote. Sir Charles Mitford turned +deadly white. Colonel Alsager frowned heavily, and glanced towards +Lady Mitford, who, pale as her husband, looked as if she were about to +faint; Lord Dollamore glanced sharply at Sir Thomas Hayter, to see +whether he had spoken innocently or with malice prepense. Mrs. Hammond +was the only one who seemed to keep her wits thoroughly about her. She +glanced at Lady Mitford, and then pushing her chair back sharply, as +though obeying a signal from her hostess, rose from the table, +followed of course by all the other ladies. + +After their departure, and so soon as the door closed behind them, +Lord Dollamore addressed himself to Sir Thomas, asking him if he had +heard the report that the Whig Ministry intended to impose a new duty +on cider--a subject which he knew would engross the old gentleman's +attention, to the exclusion of Tom Boscastle and every one else. And, +as Lord Dollamore said afterwards, it was an illimitable subject, for +he himself invented the report as a herring across the scent; but +under old Hayter's fostering care it grew into a perfect +Frankensteinian monster. While they were talking, Sir Charles Mitford +filled a bumper of claret, and after swallowing half of it, looked +round the table to see the extent of the calamity. Then, for the first +time, he acknowledged to himself how right the girl Lizzie Ponsford +had been in what she had said. Dollamore evidently knew the story, and +Alsager--perhaps Hammond, who was leaning back in his chair, enjoying +his Madeira; but he could tell in an instant, by the expression of +their faces, that none of the others had heard it. Another link had +been forged this evening in the chain of his attachment to that +charming Mrs. Hammond! how nobly she had behaved! Poor Georgie had +lost her bead of course, and had very nearly made a mess of it by +fainting, or screaming, or something; but that other woman did just +exactly the right thing at the right time. And all for him! He was +more infatuated with her than ever. He wondered whether he should ever +have the chance of telling her so. He wondered how Butler was +progressing in his mission. + +By the time the gentlemen arrived in the drawing-room, all trace of +the little awkwardness at the dessert-table had passed away. Indeed, +Miss Hayter was the only one of all the ladies who had noticed +Georgic's uneasiness, and she had not attributed it to its right +cause. Now Lady Mitford was looking as serenely lovely as ever, +listening to Mrs. Charteris warbling away at the piano; and she looked +at her husband with such loving solicitude as he entered the room, +that he could not refrain from going up to her, smiling kindly, and +pressing her hand, as he whispered, "All right! quite blown over." + +Then Sir Charles went in search of Mrs. Hammond. She was sitting in a +low chair near the fire, with a little table bearing a shaded lamp +close by her hand, and was amusing herself by turning over an album of +prints. She never gave herself the smallest trouble when left alone +with women; she did not care what they thought of her, and, save under +peculiar circumstances, she made no effort to please them. She wished +to stand well with Lady Mitford, but she considered she had done +enough to that end for one day by executing the masterly retreat from +the dinner-table. So she sat there idly under the shade of the lamp, +and Sir Charles Mitford thought he had never seen her to such +advantage. Her rounded figure showed to perfection in her +violet-velvet dress trimmed with soft white lace; her head reclined +lazily on the back of her chair, and her eyes rested with calm +indifference on the pages of the album--indifference which was +succeeded by bright vivacity as she raised them and marked her host's +approach. + +He dropped quietly into a chair close by hers and said, "You have +increased my debt of gratitude to you a thousand-fold." + +"Have I?" she replied; "it has been very easily increased. So easily +that I don't know how it has been done." + +"Don't you? Then your natural talent is wonderful. I should think +there were few better or more useful stratagems in warfare than the +diversion of the enemy's attention from your weak point." + +"Oh," she said, "that is not worth remembering; certainly not +worth mentioning again. I am so glad," she added, dropping her +voice, "to see you by my side again. I have gone through all kinds of +self-examination, imagining that I had in some way offended you; going +over in my own mind all that I had said or done since that delicious +ride home from Egremont, and I could not tax myself with having +wittingly given you any cause for offence. But you seemed to avoid me, +to shrink from me, and I cannot tell you how I felt it." + +Voice very low here, looks downcast, and general depression. + +"Don't speak in that way," said Sir Charles in the same tone; "you +don't understand my position. I could explain, and I will some time or +other when I have the chance; not now, because--Yes, you are quite +right, Mrs. Hammond, Sir Thomas is a thorough specimen of the good old +English--" + +"Very sorry to interrupt so pleasant a talk, specially when on so +charming a subject as Sir Thomas Hayter," said Lord Dollamore, +approaching; "but I come as a deputation from the general company to +beg that Mrs. Hammond will sing to us." + +"Mrs. Hammond would be charmed," said that lady; "but to-night she is +out of voice, and really cannot." + +"Do, Mrs. Hammond; as a matter of mere charity, do," said Lord +Dollamore. "That delightful person Mrs. Charteris,--most delightful, +and kind, and all that,--has been trilling away every evening until +one is absolutely sick of her thin little voice. Do, for pity's sake, +change the note, and let us have a little of your contralto. Do." + +"You're very polite, Lord Dollamore; and 'as a matter of mere charity' +I should be delighted to help you, but really I am out of voice and +cannot. Stay; the old rule in convivial societies was, or I am +mistaken, that one should sing or find a substitute. Now I think +I can do the latter. Miss Hammond's companion, governess, what you +will,--Miss Gillespie,--sings charmingly. If Lady Mitford will permit +me, I will send for her." + +Georgie, appealed to, was only too well pleased to secure such an aid +to the evening's entertainment; so a message was sent to Miss +Gillespie, and she was requested to "bring some songs;" Miss Hayter +filling up the interval by playing, sufficiently brilliantly, a +_pot-pourri_ of dance-music. + +Towards the end of this performance the door opened and Miss Gillespie +entered. All eyes were instantly turned towards her, and--in the case +of all the men at least--the casual glance grew into a lengthened +gaze. She was a very striking-looking woman, with her sallow cheeks, +her large eyes, her brown hair rolling in crisp waves on her +forehead. She was dressed in a tight-fitting brown-silk dress with +handsomely-worked collar and sleeves, and in her hand she carried a +roll of music, of which Lord Dollamore stepped forward to relieve her; +but she thanked him with a slight bow and sat down on the chair close +to the door, still retaining her roll of music in her hand. + +When Miss Hayter had ceased playing, Lady Mitford crossed the room and +shook hands with Miss Gillespie, offered her refreshment, thanked her +very sweetly for the promptitude with which she had acceded to their +request, and told her that Mrs. Hammond had already raised their +expectation very high. Then Sir Charles Mitford came up somewhat +stiffly, and offered his arm to Miss Gillespie and led her to the +piano; and there, just removing her gloves, and without the smallest +hesitation or affectation, she sat down, and with scarcely any prelude +plunged at once into that most delightful of melodies, "Che faró senza +Eurydice," from Glück's _Ofeo_. Ah, what a voice! clear, bell-like, +thrilling, touching not merely the tympanum of the ear, but acting on +the nerves and on the spinal vertebrae. What melody in it! what +wondrous power! and as she poured out the refrain, "Eurydice, +Eurydice!" what deep passionate tenderness! The company sat +spell-bound; Lord Dollamore, an accomplished musician himself, and one +who had heard the best music everywhere, sat nursing his knee and +drinking-in every note. Laurence Alsager, rapt in admiration, had even +been guilty of the discourtesy of turning his back on Miss Hayter, +whose chatter began to annoy him, and was beating time with his head +and hand. Tom Charteris had crept behind his wife, who, far too good a +little woman to feel professional jealousy, was completely delighted; +and the big tears were rolling down Lady Mitford's face. She was still +a child, you see, and had not gone through the Clanronald furnace, +where all tears are dried up for ever. + +When the song was ended, there came a volley of applause such as is +seldom heard in drawing-rooms, and far different from the usual +languid "Thank you," which crowns the failure of the amateur. Miss +Gillespie looked round elated, as though the sound was pleasant and +not unfamiliar to her, and was about to rise from her seat, when +Laurence Alsager, who was nearest the piano, advanced, and begged she +would remain--he was sure he spoke in the name of all present. So Miss +Gillespie, after looking him hard in the face, made him a little bow, +and remained at the piano, this time starting off into one of Louis +Puget's charming French ballads, "Ta main," which she sung with as +much fire and _chic_ as if she had never quitted Paris. + +At the conclusion of the second song, Lady Mitford came across to the +piano to thank the singer, and she was followed by Mrs. Charteris and +Mrs. Masters. Mrs. Charteris was in the highest delight--a feeling; +not at all decreased when Miss Gillespie assured her that she had +frequently listened to her, Mrs. Charteris's, singing, and had often +envied that lady her correct musical education. Mrs. Masters said her +little complimentary say about the song, but was principally taken up +by Miss Gillespie's costume. She was one of those women who never see +anything new worn by any other woman without taking private mental +notes of its every detail; thus setting at defiance any attempted +extension of the Patent laws in regard to female apparel. So, with her +eyes devouring Miss Gillespie's dress, Mrs. Masters said to her "Yes, +so charming that Glück! so full of depth and power!--(Wonderfully good +silk; stands by itself like a board!)--And the little French +_chansonnette_, so sparkling and melodious, and--(O yes, certainly +French I should think! no English house could--) may I ask you where +you got that collar and those cuffs, Miss--Miss Asplin? They are most +peculiar!" + +"My name is Gillespie, madam; and the collar and cuffs I worked +myself." After which Mrs. Masters bowed, and went back to her seat. + +During this examination Laurence Alsager, who had seated himself next +to Miss Hayter, in the neighbourhood of the piano, was conscious that +Miss Gillespie's looks constantly strayed towards him. It is very odd. +There was nothing coquettish in the regard, he knew every one in that +category of glances of old; but these were strangely earnest looks, +always averted when she found they were remarked. While they were full +upon him, Miss Hayter, in reply to something he had said about his +delight in ferns, expressed a hope that they would see him at her +father's place, the Arme Wood, where there was a splendid fernery. +Laurence, in reply, thanked her, and said how happy he would have been +to go, but that he feared it would be impossible, as he intended to +leave Redmoor in a day or two. He must be a dutiful son, and visit his +father, whom he had not seen since his return to England. As he said +this Miss Gillespie's eyes were full on him. + + +They were very singular eyes, he thought, as he undressed himself +lazily before the fire in his bed-room. Very singular eyes; so large, +and dark, and speaking. What on earth made the woman look at him so +perpetually! He was growing too old to inspire love at first sight, he +felt, smiling grimly as he inspected himself in the looking-glass; +besides, she was not the style of woman for any such folly. How +magnificently she sung! what depth and pathos there was in her voice! +"Eurydice, Eurydice!"--those notes were enough to go through any man's +soul; those notes were enough to--hallo, what's this? + +He had strolled across to the dressing-table, and taken up a small +sealed Dote, addressed in a thin fine female hand to Colonel Alsager. + +He broke the seal and read: + + +"I heard you talk of leaving Redmoor. If not impossible I pray you to +stay. Your presence will be a check upon two people, who, liberated +from that, will go headlong to ruin, _dragging down a third in their +fall_. For the welfare of this third person both you and I are +solicitous. But it seems probable that my sphere of usefulness is +ended; so all devolves upon you. Remember this, and for her sake, stay +on." + + +"Ah!" said Laurence Alsager when he had perused this mysterious note +for the second time--"there's no doubt that my anonymous correspondent +is the handsome woman with the eyes and voice. What she means I'll +find out in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. + + +On the morning after the day when Miss Gillespie had made so +successful a debut among the company assembled at Redmoor, Mr. +Effingham, lounging quietly up the road from the Mitford Arms, rang at +the lodge-gate, and after a few minutes' conversation with the old +portress, passed up the avenue. His conversation was purely of a +pleasant character; there was no inquiry as to who he was, or what he +wanted,--all that had been settled long ago. He was a gentleman from +London, who was writing a book 'bout all the old fam'ly houses, and +was going to put our place into it. He knew Sir Charles, and had his +leave to come and go when he liked. A civil-spoken gentleman he was, +and talked most wonderful; never passed the lodge without stopping to +say something. Perhaps of all Mr. Effingham's peculiarities, this +impressed the old woman the most; for, like all country people of her +class who live a solitary and quiet life, she was thoroughly reticent, +and it is questionable whether, beyond the ordinary salutations to +those with whom she was brought in contact, she uttered more than a +dozen sentences in a week. But Mr. Effingham's light airy chatter was +very welcome to the old lady, and, combined with the politeness which +he always exhibited, had rendered him a great favourite. + +A considerable alteration had been effected in Mr. Effingham's outward +man since his first visit to Redmoor. As in the former instance, his +first step on receiving the ten pounds from Sir Charles was to +purchase a new suit of clothes. He bought them at the neighbouring +town, and in pursuance of his intention to assume a literary or +artistic character, he had endeavoured to render his apparel suitable, +or, as he called it, "to make up for the part." So he now wore a large +slouch felt wideawake hat, a dark velveteen jacket, long waistcoat, +gray trousers, and ankle-jack boots. Had he carried out his own views +of literary attire, he would have adopted a long dressing-gown and +Turkish trousers, such as he had seen in the portraits of celebrated +authors; but he felt that these would be out of place in the country, +and might attract attention. He, however, armed himself with a large +notebook and a pencil of portentous thickness, with which he was in +the habit of jotting down visionary memoranda whenever he found +himself observed. By the initiated and the upper classes this +last-described act may have been recognized as an indisputable +literary trait; but by the lower orders Mr. Effingham was regarded as +a mystic potentate of the turf, whose visit to the Mitford arms had +mysterious connection with the proximity of Sir Danesbury Boucher's +stables, where Lime-juice, the third favourite for the Derby, was in +training; while the entries of the memoranda were by the same people +ascribed to the exercise of a process known to them as the booking of +bets. + +The March morning was so splendid in its freshness and bright +glittering sunlight, that Mr. Effingham, although little given to +admiring the beauties of nature, could not resist occasionally +stopping and looking round him. The old elms forming the avenue were +just putting forth their first buds; far away on either side stretched +broad alternations of turf in level, hill, and glade, all glistening +with the morning dew; while on the horizon fronting him, and behind +the house, could be seen the outline of the great Redmoor. The jolly +old house stood like some red-faced giant, its mullioned windows +winking at the sunlight, the house itself just waking into life. From +the stable-yard came a string of rugged and hooded horses for +exercise. The gardeners were crossing from the conservatory bearing +choice flowers for the decoration of the rooms. At the porch was +standing the head-keeper, accompanied by two splendid dogs; a groom on +horseback, with the swollen post-bag slung round him, passed Mr. +Effingham in the avenue; everywhere around were signs of wealth and +prosperity. + +"Yes," said Mr. Effingham to himself, as he stopped and surveyed the +scene, "this is better than my lodgings in Doory Lane, this is! No end +better! And why should this fellow have it, and not me--that's what I +want to know? I could do it up pretty brown, here, I'm thinkin'; not +like him--not in the same way, that is, but quite as good. There +mighn't be so many nobs, but there'd be plenty of good fellers; and as +for the nobs, Lord bless you, when they found there was plenty of good +grub and drink, and good fun to be had, they'd come fast enough. I +should just like to try it, that's all; I'd show him. And why +shouldn't I try it? Not in this way, perhaps--not to cut it quite so +fat as this, but still reg'lar comfortable and nice. A nice little box +at Finchley or Hampstead, with a bit o' lawn, and a pony-trap, and +chickens, and a spare bed for a pal,--that's my notion of comfort! And +why shouldn't I have it, if I play my cards properly? Damme, I will +have it! I'm sick of cadgin' about from hand to mouth, never knowin' +what's goin' to turn up next. This bit o' stiff ought to be worth +anything to me--anything in reason, that is to say. So, when I've once +got it from our friend here, and that won't be just yet,--I must get +her away from here, and have her well under my thumb, before I try +that on,--when I once get, that docyment, I'll take it straight +to Sir Charles, and let him have it for a sum down--must be a big sum +too--and then I'll cut the whole lot of 'em, and go and live somewhere +in the country by myself! That's what I'll do!" + +_L'appétit vient en mangeant_. When Mr. Effingham was utterly +destitute he accommodated himself to his position, and lived on, from +hand to mouth, in the best way he could. He retired to the back-ways +and slums then, and seeing very few people much better off than he was +himself, his envy and jealousy were not excited. Sir Charles's ten +pounds had disturbed the little man's mental equilibrium; the +readiness with which they melted in his grasp showed him how easily he +could get rid of a hundred, of a thousand, of ten thousand. The sight +of the comfort and luxury of Redmoor contrasted horribly with the +wretchedness of his own lodging, and lashed him into a storm of rage. + +"It's too bad!" said he, striking his stick against the tree by which +he was standing,--"it's too bad that there should be all this lot of +money in the world, and that I should have none of it, while this cove +here--O yes, if you please, my horses goin' out with the grooms; my +gardeners a bringin' pines and melons and all the rest of it; my +keeper a-waitin' to know how many pheasants I'm going to kill to-day! +Damme, it's sickening!" Mr. Effingham struck the tree again, pushed +his hat over his eyes, and started off in his walk. When he had +proceeded about half-way up the avenue, he climbed the iron fence, and +started off to the right over the park, until he reached a little +knoll, on the top of which were two magnificent cedars. On the other +side of these cedars, and completely hidden by them from the house, +was a carved rustic seat. On reaching the top of the knoll, Mr. +Effingham looked round, and seeing nobody, sat down, put his feet up, +and made himself most comfortable. + +A lengthened contemplation of the cedars, however, instead, as might +have been expected, of bringing calm to his perturbed soul, served +only to remind him that they, in common with all the surroundings, +were the property of somebody else, and that on that somebody else he +had a tremendous hold, provided he went properly to work. + +"And I'll do it!" said he, taking his feet off the bench, and +pushing the felt wideawake hat into all kinds of shapes in his +excitement,--"I'll do it too! Now, let me see! My friend will be here +presently--let me just run through what's to be done. Quiet's the game +with her, I think; no bullyrag and bluster--quiet and soft. No +connection with any one here--never even heard the name--sent by the +other parties--I'm so innocent. Yes, I think that will do; then, when +we've once started together, I can make my own terms.--How late she +is! She must be awfully down on her luck at being spotted down here, +and she must suspect something by the quick way in which she agreed to +meet me here when I spoke to her yesterday as she was walkin' with the +young 'un,--made no bones about it at all. She won't fail me, I +suppose." + +Oh no, she would not fail him. There she was, crossing the park +apparently from the back of the stables, and making straight for the +cedars. Could it be she? A figure bent nearly double, dressed in an +old-fashioned black-silk cloak and a poke-bonnet, and leaning on a +thick umbrella. It was not until she was well under the shadow of the +cedars, that she straightened herself, pushed back her bonnet, and +stood revealed as Miss Gillespie. + +"Good-morning," said she, so crisply and blithely that Mr. Effingham, +who had expected she would adopt a very, different tone, was quite +astonished; "I'm afraid I'm a little late, Mr. ----; you did not +favour me with your name; but the fact is, as you probably know, I am +not my own mistress, and my services were required just as I was about +to start." + +"All right, miss," said Mr. Effingham, taking off his hat, and making +a bow as near as possible after the manner of walking-gentlemen on the +stage--a proceeding with which the limpness of the wideawake's brim +interfered considerably; "my name's Effingham." + +"Indeed! what a pretty name! so romantic. You would not mind my +sitting down, would you? No; that's all right. And now, Mr. Effingham, +I suppose you want something of me, don't you, after that mysterious +communication which you made to me yesterday when I was walking with +my pupil? Poor child! she's been in a state of wonderment ever since; +and I've had to invent such stories about you. And what is it you +want, Mr. Effingham?" + +Mr. Effingham scarcely liked the tone; he felt he was being "chaffed;" +so he thought he would bring matters to a crisis by saying, "My name's +not Effingham--at least, not more than yours is Gillespie." + +"Oh, I perceive," said she with a little nod. + +"My name's Butler as much as yours is Ponsford. Now d'ye see?" + +"O yes; now I see perfectly. Butler, eh? Any relation of a man named +Tony Butler who is now dead?" + +"Yes--his brother. He may have spoken to you of a brother in America." + +"In America! ay, ay. Well, Mr. Butler," she continued with a bright +smile, "now I know that you're the brother of Tony Butler, there's +scarcely any need of repeating my question whether you wanted +anything; for--pardon me--you could hardly belong to that interesting +family without wanting something. The question is, what do you want? +Money? and if so, how much?" + +"No; I don't want money--" + +"That's very unlike Tony Butler. I shall begin to discredit your +statements," said she, still with the pleasant smile. + +"At least not yet, nor from you. But I do want something." + +"Ye-es, and that is--" + +"I want you to go away from here with me at once." + +"To go away from here! O no. _Connu_, my dear Mr. Butler; I see the +whole of the play. This is not your own business at all, dear sir. You +dance, and kick your legs and swing your arms very well; but you are a +puppet, and the gentleman who pulls the strings lives over yonder;" +and she pointed with her umbrella to Redmoor House. + +"I can't make out what you mean." + +"O yes, you can. 'A master I have, and I am his man.' You are Sir +Charles Mitford's man, Mr. Butler; and he has set you on to tell me +that I must leave this place and rid him of my influence. Now, you may +go back to Sir Charles Mitford, your master, and tell him that I set +him utterly at defiance; that I won't move, and that he can't make me. +Do you hear that, my dear Mr. Butler?" + +She had risen from her seat, and stood erect before him, looking very +grand and savage. Her companion knew that the success of his scheme +depended wholly upon the manner in which he carried out the next move, +and accordingly he threw all his power into the acting of it. + +"You're one of those who answer their own questions, I see," said he +with perfect calmness. "I've met lots o' that sort in my travels, and +I never found 'em do so much good as those that waited. All you've +been saying's Greek to me. Who's Sir Charles Mitford? I've heard of +him, of course, as the swell that lives in that house. They've never +done talking of him at the Mitford Arms and all about there. But +what's he to do with you? I suppose it don't matter to him who his +friends' governesses is. He's not sweet on you, is he? If so, he +wouldn't want you to go away. And what's he to do with me? and how's +he likely to hear of my having been in the place? I haven't left my +card upon him, I promise you," said Mr. Effingham with a grim humour. + +Miss Gillespie looked at him hard, very hard. But his perfect command +of feature had often stood Mr. Effingham in good stead, and it did not +desert him now. The saucy laughter on his lips corresponded with the +easy bantering tone of his voice; he sat swinging his legs and sucking +his stick, the incarnation of insolence. So far he was triumphant. + +She waited a minute or two, biting her lips, and turning her plans in +her mind. Then she said, "Granting what you say--and it was rather a +preposterous proposition of mine, I admit--you are still a puppet in +somebody's hands. You had no knowledge of my previous life, and yet +you come to me and say I must come away at once with you. Why must I +come away?" + +"Because you're wanted." + +"And by whom?" + +"By the crew of the Albatross. Ah, I thought you wouldn't be quite so +much amused and so full of your grins when I mentioned them." + +"Oh," said she, recovering herself, "I can still grin when there's +anything to amuse me. But we seem to have changed places; now _you_'re +talking riddles which I cannot understand." + +"Can't you? then I must explain them for you. If what I'm told is +right--but it's very little I know--you belonged to that crew yourself +once. My brother Tony was one of them, I understand; and though he's +dead now, there's several of 'em left. Old Lyons, for instance,--you +recollect him? Crockett, Griffiths--" + +"Suppose, to avoid giving you further trouble, I say I do recollect +them, what then?" + +"You're angry, although you smile; I can see that fast enough. But +what's the good of being angry with me? You know when a feller gets +into their hands what chance he has. You know that fast enough, or +ought to. Well, I'm in their hands, and have to do what they order +me." + +"And they've ordered you to come down to me?" + +"They found out where you were, and sent me after you." + +"Ha! And what on earth can have induced them, after a certain lapse of +time, to be so suddenly solicitous of my welfare?" said Miss +Gillespie, laughingly. "There was never any great love between any of +those you have named and myself. I have no money for them to rob me +of, nor do I see that I can be of any great use to them." + +"I don't know that," said Mr. Effingham, laying his forefinger +knowingly alongside his nose. "You see, you're a pretty gal, and +you've rather got over me--" + +"Flattered, I am sure," said Miss Gillespie, showing all her teeth. + +"No, it ain't that," said he, with a dim perception that his +compliment was not too graciously received; "it ain't that; but I +do like a pretty girl somehow. Well, you see, they don't let me much +into their secrets--don't tell me the reason why I'm told to do so +and so; they only tell me to go and do it. But I don't mind tellin' +you--taking an interest in you, as I've just said--that, from what +they've let drop accidentally, I think you _can_ be of great use to +them." + +"Indeed! have you any notion how?" + +"Well, now look here. I'm blowin' their gaff to you, and you know what +I should get if they knew it; so swear you'll never let on. From what +I can make out, there's certain games which you used to do for them +that they've never been able to find anybody to come near you in. I +mean the Mysterious Lady, the fortune-tellin', and the electro-biology +business." + +Some scenes recalled to her memory by these words seemed to amuse Miss +Gillespie, and she laughed heartily. + +"But that's 'general work,'" continued Mr. Effingham; "what they want +you particularly for just now is this. Some swell, so far as I can +make out, came to grief early in life, and made a mistake in putting +somebody else's name to paper; what they call forgery, you know." + +She nodded. + +"Old Lyons has got hold of this paper, and he wants to put the screw +on the swell and make him bleed. Now there's none of the lot has half +your manner, nor, as they say, half your tact; and that's why, as I +believe, is the reason they want you back in town amongst them." + +"Ah! to--what did you say?--'to put the screw on a swell and make him +bleed,' wasn't it? How very nice! Well, now you've obeyed your orders, +and it's for me to speak. And suppose--just suppose for the fun of the +thing--I were to hold by my original decision and declare I would not +come, what would you do?" + +"I should go back to town and tell 'em all that had passed." + +"And they?--what would they do?" + +"I can tell you that, because that was part of my instructions. Old +Lyons put that very plain. 'If she rides rusty,' he says,--'and she's +got a temper of her own, I can tell you,--just let her know from me +that I'll ruin her. I'll never leave her; she knows me of old; it +won't be merely,' he says, 'her being turned away in disgrace out of +where she is now; but I'll never leave her. She may go where she +likes, but I've found her out once, and I'll find her out again; I'll +foller her up, and I'll be the ruin of her,' he says, 'so sure's her +name's what it is.'" + +He looked up to see the effect of his speech, but Miss Gillespie was +looking full at him with an expression of great interest and a very +pleasant smile, as if she were listening to the narration of a +thrilling story with which she had no connection save that of +listener. + +"Did he indeed say all that?" said she, after a pause. "Oh, he's a +most terrible old man, and whatever he determines on, he never fails +of carrying out. However, I think I won't put him to much trouble this +time." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Well, do you know I've a strong mind to save you any further worry, +and to crown you with glory by allowing you to carry me back in +triumph." + +"You don't say so! but this is too sudden, you know. I don't put much +trust in such sudden conversions." + +"Mine is not the least sudden. I generally act on the impulse of the +moment. That now urges me to go back to my old life. The shackles of +this respectability are beginning to strain a little. I feel cramped +by them occasionally, and I suppose I have originally something of the +Bohemian in my nature, for you have fired me with au ardent longing +for freedom and irresponsibility." + +"That's right!" cried Mr. Effingham, delighted at the success of his +scheme; "that's just as it should be. It's all very well for those +swells to live on here, and go on their daily round. They've got the +best of it, so far as they know; but they haven't seen as much as we +have. They don't know the pleasure of--well, of pitting your wits +against somebody else who think themselves deuced sharp, and beating +them, do they?" + +"No," said Miss Gillespie, with her crispest little laugh; "of course +they don't." + +"Well, now," said Mr. Effingham, "you know what old Lyons is, reg'lar +man of business; want's everything done at once, right off the reel. +When will you be ready to start?" + +"What a practical man you are, Mr. Butler!" cried she, still laughing; +"it will be quite delightful to get back again into the society of +practical people after all this easy-going _laissez-aller_ time. But +you must not be too hard upon me at first. I've several things to do." + +"You won't be saying 'goodbye' to anybody or anything of that sort?" + +"O no, nothing of that sort, you may depend." + +"That's right; you mean putting your things together, eh?" + +"Yes; packing and getting ready to start." + +"Well, twenty-four hours will be enough for that, I should think. +Suppose we say to-morrow at noon?" + +"Ye-es, give me a little longer: say two in the afternoon, then I +shall be perfectly ready." + +"And where shall we meet?" + +"We must get across to the rail at once. Not to Torquay; there's a +small station nearer here, where they won't think of looking for us. +Not that I suppose they'd take any trouble of that kind when they find +I'm once gone. However, it's best to be prepared. Can you drive?" + +"I should think so!" said Mr. Effingham with a chuckle. "I've driven +most things, from a shofle-cab in town to the mail-sleigh in Canada!" + +"How very nice!" said she; "that will do beautifully, then. You must +get a gig or a dog-cart, or something light, from some place in +Torquay. I shall have very little luggage, and have it all ready at a +little side-gate of the park, which you can see--over there," again +bringing the umbrella into requisition. "That gate is invisible from +the house; it's perfectly quiet and unfrequented, and I have a key of +it. That once closed behind me I'm thoroughly safe." + +"And there's no chance of our being met, and you being recognized?" + +"Not the very smallest. The people staying in the house will all be at +luncheon; the gardeners and stable-people, should we come across any, +will all be in that state of comatose repletion which succeeds the +after-dinner tobacco. Besides, very few of them know me by sight; and +the road which I have pointed out skirts the Redmoor, and is very +little frequented." + +"That'll do! that will be first-rate! Now, let me see if all's +understood. A dog-cart to be ready to-morrow at yon gate of the park, +at two o'clock sharp. There you'll be and your luggage--eh? By the by, +how's that to get there?" + +"I told you it would be very little; and there's a boy devoted to my +service, who will carry it." + +"All right,--I only wanted to know. Two o'clock to-morrow, then." He +put out his hand, and as she lightly touched it with the tips of her +fingers, offered to seize hers and convey it to his lips; but she slid +it through his clumsy fist, and had pulled the poke-bonnet over her +face, resumed the bent walk and the clumsy umbrella, and was making +her way back across the park almost before he had missed her. + + +"And if ever a man did a good day's work, I've done one this blessed +morning," said Mr. Effingham, as he strolled quietly back through the +avenue. "They may talk about great genius, if they please. Great +genius means getting hold of a good idea at the right minute, and +strikin' while the iron's hot. That's great genius! and they was two +great ideas which I've worked just now! That pretendin' to know +nothin' of the Bart., and gammonin' her that old Lyons sent me after +her, was first-rate! I thought old Lyons's name would bring her round. +They're all afraid of him, it seems. Now when we've got some distance +on the road, I'll tell her the truth, or, at least, as much as I +choose, and just sound her about the bill. D'Ossay, my boy, you've +done a good day's work, and can afford to go into Torquay and dine +like a swell to-night!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +CHECKMATE. + + +Mr. Effingham fulfilled his design of going into Torquay and dining +well. In his singular costume he created quite a sensation among +the invalids on the Parade, who would have severely resented the +healthy and sporting tone of his ankle-jacks if it had not been +mitigated by his slouch wideawake hat and black jacket. As it was, +they merely regarded him as an eccentric person staying at one of the +country-houses in the neighbourhood, and they pardoned his not being +consumptive on the score of his being probably either rich or +distinguished. So he "did" the town and all the lions to his great +satisfaction, and, as affording them subject-matter for conversation +over their valetudinarian dinners, to the satisfaction of those whom +he encountered. He made an excellent dinner at the hotel, and then was +driven out of his rural lodgings in a fly, having given orders for a +dog-cart to be in readiness for him at the particular gate of Redmoor +Park which he described at two o'clock the next day. + +It was a brilliant starlight night, and Mr. Effingham had the head of +the fly opened; he was well wrapped up, and the air being very mild, +he wished to enjoy the beauties of nature and the flavour of his cigar +simultaneously. As he lay back puffing the smoke out before him, his +thoughts again reverted to his morning's work, and again he found +every reason for self-gratulation. There would be the fifty pounds +from Sir Charles--that was safe to start with; he should go up and +give him notice in the morning, that that cheque might come up by the +evening's post. That would help him to tide over any delay there might +be in getting this woman to give up the bill. What a funny one she +was! what a regular lively one! how she kept on laughing! and how sly +she looked when she said that she was tired of that humdrum +respectability, and would like to run away to the old adventurous +life! Not one to be trifled with, though; none of your larks with her; +regular stand-offish party. Well, never mind; that did not matter; +what he was about now was business, and she seemed thoroughly up to +that. He did not think he should have much trouble in making her see +what advantage to them both could be got out of a proper use of the +forged bill. One point, on which he at one time had had some doubt, +the interview of that morning had satisfactorily set at rest. She had +been spoony on Mitford--so Griffiths told him--and he feared that the +old feeling might still remain, and she would refuse to take any steps +about the bill lest she might injure her old flame. But, Lord! he +could see plainly enough she did not care a snuff of a candle for +Mitford now; rather more t'other might be judged from the flash in her +eyes and the sneer on her lips when she spoke of him. That was all +right, so--Ah! perhaps her shrewd notions of business might lead her +to seeing the value of the bill and to driving a hard bargain for it. +He must be prepared for that; but when he got her up to London she +would be much more in his power. The bill must be had somehow, by fair +means or foul; and if she resisted--well, there would not be very much +trouble in stealing or forcing it from her. + +As the reflections passed through his mind the carriage in which he +sat reached the top of a height, whence was obtained a view of Redmoor +House; its outline standing black and heavy against the sky, its lower +windows blazing with light. The sight turned Mr. Effingham's thoughts +into a slightly different current. + +"O yes! go it; that's your sort," he said to himself with a certain +amount of bitterness; "fine games goin' on there, I've no doubt; the +best of drink, and coves with powdered heads to wait on you; game o' +billiards afterwards, or some singin' and a dance with the women in +the droring-room. That's the way to keep it up; go it while you're +young. But, my friend the Bart., you'd sing another toon and laugh the +wrong side o' your mouth, and cut a very different kind o' caper, if +you knew what was so close to you. I've heard of a cove smokin' a pipe +and not knowing that what he was sittin' on was a powder-barrel; and +this seems to me very much the same sort o' thing. To think that close +under his nose is the dockyment that would just crop his 'air, put him +into a gray soot, Cole-Barth Fields, Milbank, and Portland, +and that cussed stonequarryin' which, from all I've heard, is the +heart-breakin'est work. To think that he's been payin' me to get the +bill, and I've been employin' Griffiths and givin' skivs to old Lyons +and settin' half Doory Lane at work to hunt up the gal, and that there +she was under his roof, the whole time--it's tremenjous!" + +And Mr. Effingham laughed aloud, and lit a fresh cigar, and pulled the +rug tighter over his legs. + +"She's a rum 'un, she is. I wonder which of them lights is in her +room. There's one a long way off the rest, up high all by itself; +that's it, I shouldn't wonder. She's not fit company for the swells +downstairs, I suppose. Well, perhaps not, if they knew everythin'! But +what a blessin' it is people don't know everythin'! Perhaps if they +did, some of 'em wouldn't be quite so fond of sittin' down with the +Bart. I wonder what she's doin' just now. Packin' her traps ready for +our start, I shouldn't wonder. What a game it will be! Yes, D'Ossay, +my boy, this is the best days work you ever did in your life; and your +poor brother Tony little thought what a power of good he was doin' you +when he first let you into the secret of Mr. Mitford and his little +games." + +And with these reflections, and constantly-renewed cigars, Mr. +Effingham beguiled the tedium of his journey to the Mitford Arms. + +He was up betimes the next morning, making his preparations for +departure. His very small wardrobe--its very smallness regarded by +the landlady of the inn as a proof of the eccentricity of literary +genius--was packed in a brown-paper parcel. He discharged his modest +bill, and began to fidget about until it was time to give his employer +a final and fancy sketch of how he had accomplished his mission. +Entirely fictional was this sketch intended to be, as widely diverging +from fact as possible. Mr. Effingham knew well enough that so long as +the removal of Miss Gillespie, or Lizzie Ponsford, had been effected, +Sir Charles Mitford would care very little indeed about the means by +which it had been accomplished. And as Mr. Effingham was playing a +double game, it would be necessary for him to be particularly cautious +in making any statement which might reveal the real state of the case +to Sir Charles. These reflections, bringing clearly again before him +the great fact of the entire business,--that he was being paid for +communicating with a person, to communicate with whom he would have +gladly paid a considerable sum of money had he possessed it,--put Mr. +Effingham into the most satisfactory state of mind, and caused the +time, which would otherwise have hung heavily on his hands, to pass +pleasantly and quickly. + +He knew that there was little use in attempting to see Sir Charles +before eleven o'clock; so about that time he made his way up the +avenue, on this occasion cutting short the old portress, who, contrary +to the usual custom, was beginning to enter into some little story. It +was Mr. Effingham's plan--and one which is pretty generally adopted in +this world, especially by the lower order of Mr. Smiles's friends, the +"self-made" men,--to kick down the ladder after he had landed from its +top; and as Mr. Effingham thought he should be able to make no more +use of this old woman, he did not choose to be bored by her +conversation. So he cut her short with a nod, and walked up the avenue +with a swaggering gait, which she had never known before, and which +very much astonished her. He met no one on his way; and when he +reached the house he went modestly round to a side-door leading to the +billiard-room, through the window of which he observed no less a +personage than Mr. Banks, Sir Charles's man, who was by himself, with +his coat off and a cue in his hand trying a few hazards. Mr. Effingham +gave a sharp tap at the glass, which made Mr. Banks start guiltily, +drop his cue, and resume his garment; but when he looked up and saw +who had caused him this fright, he waxed very wroth and said, "Hallo! +is it you? what do you want now?" + +His tone did not at all suit Mr. Effingham, who replied sharply, "Your +master; go and tell him I'm here." + +"He ain't up yet," said Mr. Banks. + +"Did you hear what I said? Go and tell him I'm here." + +"Did you hear what _I_ said, that Sir Charles ain't stir-run'?" + +"It'll be as much as your place is worth, my man, if you don't do what +I tell you. Have I been here before, or 'ave I not? Have I been let in +to him at once before, or 'ave I not? Does he see me d'rectly you tell +him who's waitin', or does he not? Now--go." + +This speech had such an effect upon Mr. Banks, who remembered that the +little man only spoke the truth in his statement of the readiness with +which Sir Charles always saw him, that he opened the door, showed Mr. +Effingham into the billiard-room (which was decorated with empty +tumblers, fragments of lemon-peel, tobacco-ash, and other remnants of +the preceding night, and smelt powerfully of stale tobacco), suggested +that he should "knock the balls about a bit," and went up to tell his +master. + +When he returned he said, "He's just finished dressin', and I'm to +take you up in five minutes. You seem quite a favourite of his." + +Mr. Effingham laughed. "Yes," he said; "he and I understand one +another." + +Mr. Banks looked at him for a moment, and then said, "Was you ever in +the Pacific?" + +"In the what?" + +"The Pacific." + +Mr. Effingham changed colour. He did not half like this. He thought it +was the name of some prison, and that the valet had found him out. But +he put a bold face on and said, "What's the Pacific?" + +"Ocean," said Mr. Banks. + +"No," said Mr. Effingham, "certainly not--nothing of the sort." + +"Not when you and he," pointing to the ceiling, "was together?" + +"Certainty not." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Banks, "kept at home, I suppose; it ain't so dangerous +or such hard work at home, is it?--Portsmouth and round there?" + +"It's hard enough at Portsmouth, from what I've heard," said Mr. +Effingham; "that diggin' away at Southsea's dreadful work." + +"Diggin' aboard ship!" said Banks in astonishment. + +"How do you mean 'aboard ship'?" said the other. + +"Why, I'm talkin' of when you and him was on board the--what was +it?--you know--Albatross." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Effingham, greatly relieved, and bursting into a fit of +laughter; "we went everywhere then. And that's where I learned +something I don't mind teaching you." + +"What's that?" + +"Never to keep Sir Charles waiting. The five minutes is up." + +Mr. Banks looked half-annoyed, but his companion had already risen, so +he made the best of it, pretended to laugh, and showed Mr. Effingham +into Sir Charles Mitford's private snuggery. + +Sir Charles was drinking a cup of coffee. He looked eagerly at Mr. +Effingham, and when Banks had closed the door, said: + +"By the expression of your face I should say you bring good news. In +two words--do you, or do you not?" + +"In two words--I do." + +Mitford set down his cup. Through his mind rushed one thought--the spy +over his flirtation with Mrs. Hammond was removed! henceforward he +could sit with her, talk to her, look at her, with the consciousness +that his words would reach her ear alone, that his actions would not +be overlooked. His face flushed with anticipated pleasure as he said: + +"How was it managed? Did she make much resistance?" + +"Well, it wasn't a very easy job, and that's the fact. I've seen many +women as could be got over with much less trouble. You see the party +seems to be in very comfortable quarters here,--all right to eat and +drink, and not too much to do, and that sort of thing." + +"Well, what then?" + +"Why, when parties are in that way they naturally don't like movin'. +Besides, there's another strong reason I've found out why that young +woman don't want to go." + +"And that is--" + +"She's uncommon fond, of you. Ah, you may shake your head, but I'm +sure of it." + +"If she made you believe that, Mr. Effingham," said Sir Charles with a +very grim smile, "I'm afraid she's got the better of you altogether." + +"Has she, by Jove! No, no. The proof of the puddin's in the eatin', +Sir Charles; and whether I've done the trick or not you'll find out +before I've finished. Any how, I'm satisfied." + +"Well, as you say that, and as the payment of the fifty pounds depends +upon the 'trick being done,' as you call it, I suppose before you've +finished your story I shall be satisfied too." + +"What was I saying? Oh, about her being nuts on you still,--O +yes,--and I had to talk to her about that, and tell her it wouldn't do +now you was married, and, in fact, that that was one of the great +reasons for her to go, as parties had observed her feelin's. That +seemed to touch her,--for her pride's awful,--and she began to give +way, and at last, after a long palaver, she said she'd go, though not +before I--" + +"Beg your pardon, Sir Charles," said Banks, opening the door; "Mrs. +Hammond, Sir Charles, wishes to speak to you, Sir Charles: she's here +at the door." + +"Show her in, by all means," said Mitford, turning to Effingham and +laying his finger on his lips; then to him, _sotto voce_, "Keep your +mouth shut!" + +"I'm very sorry to trouble you, Sir Charles," said Mrs. Hammond, +entering hurriedly, with a slight bow to the stranger and a glance of +astonishment at his appearance; "but I will detain you only an +instant. Have you heard anything of Miss Gillespie?" + +"Of Miss Gillespie? I, Mrs. Hammond? Not a word. What has happened?" + +"Of course you haven't, but the most extraordinary thing! This morning +Miss Gillespie did not come into Alice's room as usual; so the child +dressed by herself, and went to Miss Gillespie's room. She tried +the door, and found it fast; so, concluding that her governess was +ill,--she's subject to headaches, I believe,--Alice went down to +breakfast. Afterwards she tried Miss Gillespie's door again, but with +no better success; and then she came to me. I sent for Gifford, Mr. +Hammond's man, you know; and after calling out once or twice, he burst +the door open; we all rushed in, and found the room empty." + +"Empty!" cried Sir Charles. + +"The devil!" burst out Mr. Effingham. "I beg your pardon! What an odd +thing!" + +"Empty," repeated Mrs. Hammond. "The bed hadn't been slept in; her +boxes were open, and some of the things had been taken out; while on +the dressing-table was this note addressed to me." + +She handed a small slip of paper to Sir Charles, who opened it and +read aloud: + + +"You will never see me again. Search for me will be useless. + +"R. G." + + +"Yes," said Mrs. Hammond, "she's gone. 'Search for me will be +useless.' So provoking too; just the sort of person one liked to have +about one; and I had got quite accustomed to her and all that. 'Never +see me again;' I declare it's horribly annoying. Now, Sir Charles, I +want to ask your advice: what would you do? Would you have people sent +after her in all directions, eh?" + +"Well, 'pon my word, I don't see how you can do that," said Sir +Charles. "She hasn't taken anything of yours, I suppose,--no, of +course not,--so, you see, she has a right to go away when she likes. +Needn't give a month's warning, eh?" + +"Right to go away! Well, I don't know,--I suppose she has--and I +suppose I haven't any right to stop her; but it is annoying; and yet +it's highly ridiculous, isn't it?" "What on earth can have driven her +away? Nobody rude to her, I should think; she wasn't that sort of +person. Well, I won't bore you any more now about it, particularly as +you're busy. We shall meet at luncheon, and then we can talk further +over this unpleasant affair." And with a smile to Sir Charles, and +another slight bow to Mr. Effingham, she left the room. + +"Well, you certainly have done your work excellently, Mr. Effingham," +said Sir Charles, as soon as the door had closed; "in the most +masterly manner!" + +"Yes, it ain't bad, I think," said Mr. Effingham, with a ghastly +attempt at a grin; "I told you it was all square." + +"Yes; but I had no notion it would come about so quickly." + +"Why, I hadn't half time to tell you about it. However, there it is, +done, cut, and dried,--all finished except the payment; and I'm ready +for that whenever you like." + +"Our agreement was, that the cheque was to be sent to London, to an +address which you gave me--" + +"Yes, but as I'm here, I may as well take it myself. You haven't got +it in notes or gold, have you? It would be handier." + +"No, not sufficient; but they would change my cheque at the bank in +Torquay, I've no doubt." + +"No, thank you, never mind, it ain't worth the trouble. I shall have +to go to town, I suppose, and I shan't want it till I get there--that +is, if you can lend me a couple of sovereigns just to help me on my +way. Thank you; much obliged. Now, you've got my address, and you know +where to find me when you want me; and you may depend on not seein' me +for a very long time. Good morning to you." + +He took the cheque and the sovereigns and put them in his +waistcoat-pocket, made a clumsy bow, and was gone. Then Sir Charles +Mitford rose from his chair and walked to the window, radiant with +delight. It was all clear before him now; the incubus was removed, and +he was free to carry out his projects. + +Mr. Effingham strode down the avenue, switching his stick and +muttering: + +"Done! sold! swindled!" he exclaimed; "regularly roped,--that's what I +am! It was lucky I kept my face before the Bart., or I should never +have collared the cheque; but that's all right. So far he thinks it +was my doin', and forked out accordin'. That's the only bright part of +it. To think that a yellow-faced meek-lookin' thing like that should +have taken me in to that toon! What can her game be? To get clear of +the lot of us?--that's it! Pretendin' to be all square with me, and +then cuttin' and runnin' and shakin' it all off! Oh, a deep 'un, a +regular deep 'un! Now what's my game? After her as hard as I can. +Where will she make for? London, I should think,--try hidin' +somewhere. Ah! if she does that, I'll ferret her out. It'll be a quiet +place that I don't hunt her up in, with the means I have for workin' a +search. Here's two skivs to the good from the Bart. I'll meet the +dog-cart and get down to Torquay, and go up at once by the express. +Hallo! gate, there!" + +"Why, you are in a hurry, sir!" said the old portress, coming out; +"mist as pressed as the young woman as knocked me up at day-dawn this +morning." + +"Ah! what was that?" said Mr. Effingham stopping short. + +"I would have told you this morning when you came in; but you were so +short and snappish!" said the old lady. "She came down wi' a little +passel in her hand, and knocked at my door and ast for the key. And I +got up to let her out, and there were a fly outside--Mullins's fly, +and young Mullins to drive; and she got in, and off they went." + +"Ay, ay where does Mullins live?" + +"Just close by Mitford Arms. His father were wi' my father--" + +"Yes, yes; thank you! all right! goodbye!" and Mr. Effingham rushed +off up the by-lane to where he knew the dog-cart was waiting. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +COLONEL ALSAGER'S COUNSEL. + + +When Laurence Alsager awoke the morning after Miss Gillespie's +piano-performance, his thoughts immediately turned to the mysterious +note which he had received on the previous evening, and he stretched +out his hand and took it from the dressing-table, where he had placed +it just before dropping off to sleep. He read it again and again, and +each perusal strengthened his belief. It was written by Miss +Gillespie--of that he had little doubt--and was intended to convey a +warning of proximate danger to Lady Mitford, and counsel to him to +avert this danger if possible, by remaining at Redmoor. It seemed +further to imply that some protection which had hitherto been extended +over her would necessarily be withdrawn, and that his presence was +consequently more than ever needful. At this conclusion Laurence +arrived; it was but a lame and impotent one, after all, and he +determined to seek the solution at an interview with Miss Gillespie as +soon as possible. + +He was the earliest in the breakfast-room, and found a batch of +letters lying in his accustomed place. They were of all +kinds,--foreign letters from men whose acquaintance he had made +abroad, and the gist of whose correspondence lay in an endeavour to +tempt him to come out to them again; a business letter or two about +the investment of some spare cash; a line from Blab Bertram, wondering +when L. A. was coming to town, and "what was the use of leaving Egypt +if you stuck down in Devon?" and a thick old-fashioned letter, on +yellowish gilt-edged paper, sealed with a large seal, and directed in +a bold yet tremulous hand--his father's. Alsager's conscience pricked +him as he came upon this letter at the bottom of the little pile; he +had been two months in England, after two years' absence, and had not +yet found time to visit his father. They had been always very good +friends; indeed when Laurence was at Eton, the tie between them was of +the strongest, and they were more like brothers than father and son. +With the young man's life at Oxford their relations were a little less +intimate; Laurence was beginning to see life with his coevals, and +found Sir Peregrine's society a check and hindrance on his enjoyment. +The father perceived this, and weakly allowed himself to be annoyed at +it. He was hurt and jealous at his son's preference of younger +companions, at his own inability to amuse or interest his son's +friends; and from that time forth there was a slight estrangement +between them. Laurence had the enjoyment of his mother's fortune on +coming of age, so that he was perfectly independent of his father; +and his joining the Guards was entirely his own doing, and to a +certain extent against his father's wish. Sir Peregrine was of that +old-fashioned school which abhorred London and its ways, and thought a +country gentleman ought to live entirely on his own estate, in +superintending which, and in joining the sports of the field, he would +find plenty of amusement and occupation. Their ideas and tastes being +thus different, it was tacitly felt by both that they were best apart, +and during the last few years they had not met a dozen times. Sir +Peregrine's annual visit to London was generally made in the winter, +when Laurence was staying with country friends; and Laurence found +little attraction in the dozy, prosy county-magistrate society which +the old gentleman gathered round him at Knockholt. + +But his conscience pricked him when he saw the old gentleman's letter, +which had been forwarded to him from his club--pricked him sharply +after he had opened it and read as follows: + + +"Knockholt, Friday. + +"My Dear Lance,--If you have not any very particular engagements, I +think it would be as well if you were to come down here for a day or +two. There are some things I want to talk over with you, and I think +the sooner our business is done the better. I had a nasty fall a +fortnight ago, when I was out with Lord Hawkshaw's pack; and though +Galton says it's nothing, I was a good deal shaken at the time, and +feel it has jarred me more than they think; for I have an odd kind of +all-overish pain, which I can't explain to them, and can't account for +to myself. Not that I am going to die, that I know of; but one does +not fall lightly when one weighs fifteen stone, nor get over a cropper +quickly when one is sixty-seven years old. So, my dear Lance, put up +with the old house and the old man for a few days, and come. I have a +surprise for you.--Your affectionate father, P. A. + +"P.S.--Captain Freeman saw you looking out of the club-window when he +was in London in January. He says you had a beard like a billy-goat. +For God's sake, my dear Lance, go to a barber before I see you! I hate +all such foreign affectations. P. A." + + +Laurence looked grave over the letter, but could not help smiling at +the postscript, so characteristic of his father. He did not at all +like the aspect of affairs at Knockholt; his father was evidently far +more hurt than either the doctors imagined or he himself would allow. +His ward, Miss Manningtree, and her governess, resided with the old +gentleman; but Laurence knew too little of either to feel confidence +in their capacity, their care, or their judgment in the matter of +medical advice. They might think Galton all-sufficient and infallible; +he didn't. He would go down at once, at least as soon as he had +learned from Miss Gillespie what really was meant by her mysterious +letter. He had been too long dallying at Capri; but now that duty +called him away, he would obey cheerfully. By the time he had finished +his letter and formed his resolution, Captain Bligh had entered the +room, and had plunged deeply into his breakfast, which he took +standing, now making a dive at the toast-rack, now impaling a bloater, +now walking round and pouring out a cup of tea; for there were no +ladies present, and the captain was in a hurry, having much business +on hand. + +"Morning, Alsager," said the Captain, when Laurence looked up. "Queer +start this, isn't it?" + +"What? I'm only just down; I've seen nobody and heard nothing." + +"Oh, about that girl that sung last night,--Mrs. Hammond's governess. +What's her name?" + +"Miss Gillespie?" + +"Ah, that's she! Wouldn't have thought it of her--would you?" + +"What's she done?" + +"Done! Bolted, that's all!--bolted slick away, no one knows where!" + +"What on earth for?" + +"No one knows that either. Rummest thing is, that she hasn't taken +anything with her--anything of anybody else's, I mean. Now, if she'd +walked off with some of that little Hammond woman's swell clothes, or +jool'ry, one could understand it; but she's left a lot of her own +behind." + +"Did she give no hint of this? Has she left no explanation?" + +"Well, I don't know about explanation. She's left a note for Mrs. +Hammond, which I've got in my pocket. Mrs. Hammond gave it to Mitford, +and he sent for me and handed it over, and asked me what I thought of +it." + +"It's not private, I suppose. May I look at it?" + +"By all means--nothing private about it. Can't conceive why Mitford +gave it to me. I can do nothing with it." So saying Captain Bligh took +out the little scrap of paper from his waistcoat pocket, and handed it +to Alsager. + +There was no longer the least doubt about Laurence's mysterious +correspondent. Both notes were in the same handwriting. + + +At luncheon that day Miss Gillespie's disappearance was the principal +theme of conversation, and many and various were the comments it +evoked. Lady Mitford seemed a little scandalized at the circumstance; +but Mrs. Hammond, her first astonishment over, treated it very +lightly. She had always thought Miss Gillespie a "curious person," she +said; there was always something "odd" about her. Very likely, when +they got back to town, they would find she would return to them. +Perhaps, after all, the reason of her flight was that she was a little +bored in the country. And then Mrs. Hammond forgot all about Miss +Gillespie in her delight at having Sir Charles Mitford sitting next +her again, at finding him paying her little attentions and +compliments, talking to her in a dropped voice, and regarding her with +deep tender glances, just as he had done in the first days of her +visit to Redmoor. She delighted in all this, and her delight was +increased when she marked the grave gloom on Laurence Alsager's face, +as she shot a glance of saucy triumph across at him. Then he guessed +the meaning of Miss Gillespie's note more thoroughly than he had yet +done. She had had some hold either on Mrs. Hammond or on Sir Charles; +that was gone, and he alone was left to do his best to keep them in +check. And what could he do? Any overt act of his would be +misconstrued by Mrs. Hammond, and turned to her own purposes, while +over Mitford he had not the smallest power. What could he do? Had Lord +Dollamore given any sign of intending to persecute Lady Mitford with +his attentions, Laurence thought that his staying in the house might +be of some use; but Dollamore had hitherto been perfectly respectful. +So Alsager determined that he would remain a couple of days longer, +and then start off for Knockholt. + +After luncheon a proposal was made to go and see some new horses which +Captain Bligh had inspected when last in Torquay, and which he thought +might be obtained as bargains. So most of the party adjourned to the +stable-yard, where these horses had been brought; and the visit ended +in a pair of them being put to, and Sir Charles and Mrs. Hammond +mounting the phaeton to which they were harnessed. The horses were +young and fresh, and plunged a great deal at starting; but Sir Charles +had them well in hand, and with his companion by his side and a groom +in the back-seat, went flying down the avenue. It was full an hour +before they returned, and Sir Charles's verdict on the pair was that +they were too hot to hold. He had had all his work, he said, to keep +them at all within bounds. Mrs. Hammond looked flushed and elated; but +she went straight up to Lady Mitford, and told her how she had enjoyed +the drive, and was full of praises of Sir Charles's powers of +coachmanship. + +That evening Sir Charles took Mrs. Hammond in to the dining-room, and +addressed his conversation principally to her. He drank a great deal +of wine both with and after dinner, and was in more boisterous spirits +than any of his friends had yet seen him. When they went into the +drawing-room he made straight for Mrs. Hammond's chair, and there he +remained the whole evening, talking to her in a lowered tone, and +regarding her with glances the fire of which had by no means been +subdued by the quantity of claret he had drunk. Poor Georgie! The +events of this day, culminating as they were, had totally upset her, +and had reduced her very much to the same condition as when she begged +Alsager to be her charioteer to Egremont Priory. There could be no +mistake about it now. Surely it was a flagrant case; and the colour +flushed in her cheeks as she saw Mrs. Masters's shoulder-shrugs and +marked Lord Dollamore's ill-disguised cynical manner. Poor Georgie! +She asked Mrs. Charteris to sing, and sat and listened to her as +usual, and thanked her at the end of the performance; and she chatted +with the Tyrrell girls, and she took the deepest interest in Mrs. +Masters's embroidery,--and all the time her heart was sick within her, +and she kept stealing glances at the couple seated in the embrasure of +the window, with their heads so nearly touching. All present noticed +her state of mind; but no one understood it or pitied it like Laurence +Alsager, who began to confess to himself that what Dollamore had +prophesied at the club was undoubtedly coming true, so far as Mitford +was concerned; and did, not the wife's future, even in Lord +Dollamore's prophecy, hinge upon the husband's conduct? It was a most +horrible shame; but how on earth was he to protest against it? He had +no position to enable him to do anything of the kind. There was only +one thing that he could do, and that was to speak to Laura Hammond. He +could do that; it might not be of much use, but he would do it. + +So, accordingly, the next morning after breakfast Colonel Alsager +sent to Mrs. Hammond a polite little note, in which he presented +his compliments, and requested the pleasure of a few minutes' +conversation; and to which a verbal answer was returned to the effect +that Mrs. Hammond would be delighted to see Colonel Alsager, if he +could come up at once. He followed the lady's-maid, and found Mrs. +Hammond in the boudoir, dressed in her habit and hat. She received him +with great cordiality. + +"I am so sorry to have sent what may have seemed a peremptory message, +Colonel Alsager," she said; "but the fact is, Sir Charles has been +round here just now, and we have arranged a little riding-party,--he +and I, and Emily Tyrrell, and Captain Bligh, and Mr. Somers, and one +or two more; and I promised to be ready by eleven." + +"Make no excuses, pray," said Laurence, in a hard dry tone. "I won't +detain you, as your time's valuable, by any preamble. I will simply +ask, are you determined to persist in your present course?" + +"In what course, my dear Colonel Alsager?" + +"In bringing destruction on a household, Laura Hammond! In blighting +the happiness of a young wife, and spreading snares for a foolish +husband! In rendering yourself conspicuous, and your host +contemptible! Do I speak plainly enough?" + +"Scarcely," said she with a little smile; "for though you insult me, +and give way to your own rage, you do not condescend to--or you dare +not--explain your motives. Don't think that I am weak enough to +imagine that you are jealous of me, Laurence. I know you too well for +that. I know that whatever command I may have had over you is past and +gone. But perhaps the passion, the _caprice_ that I had for you--call +it what you will--continues. Suppose it does? Suppose the sight of +you, the meeting with you after so long a separation, has renewed the +dormant flame? You scorn me, and I see you prostrate at the feet of a +sweetly pretty piece of propriety and innocence--don't interrupt me, +please--who then becomes my rival? Revenge is sweet, especially to +women, you know. This child of the fields makes herself my rival,--I +make myself hers! I show to you and others, that if you care for me no +longer, there are others who will. I show to her and others, that if +she is preferred to me by one I--yes, I love,--I am preferred to her +by one she loves. As yet I have never run second for anything for +which I've entered, Colonel Alsager, and I don't intend to do so now." + +"You are arguing on utterly false premises,--you are talking worse +than nonsense. Between me and the lady to whom you allude there is +nothing. You need not smile in that way. I swear it! She is as pure +as--" + +"Oh, pray spare me! Don't fall into raptures about her +purity,--there's a good creature. Dear me, dear me! this must be a +very bad case, when a man like Colonel Alsager takes a poetical view +of his lady-love, and talks about her purity." + +"I came to ask you to abandon this shameless flirtation, Laura +Hammond, for the sake of our old friendship,--as an act of kindness to +me. Your reply is mockery and ridicule. I may use other means to bring +about what I want." + +"Ah, you threaten! Then I shall certainly get Mr. Hammond to fight +you! He was out once at Nusserabad, or Hylunjee, or some such place, +I believe. And we can prop him up on his crutches, and get his man +to hold him, and I've no doubt he'd be strong enough to fire a +pistol.--No," she added, suddenly changing her tone, "don't threaten, +and don't thwart me; else let our innocent young friend look to +herself. I'll break her heart, and then I'll spoil her name,--that's +all. And now, I really must run away. Sir Charles will have been +waiting for me full ten minutes." She touched the brim of her hat, in +salute, with the handle of her riding-whip, gathered up her habit with +her other hand, and left the room. + +"And that is the woman," said Laurence, looking after her, "for whom I +nearly broke my heart; whose rejection of my suit caused me to leave +England,--intending, hoping, never to return. Great Heavens! once in +that state, what idiots we become! Think of this fool flinging away a +pearl of price, reputation, decency,--and all for _that!_ Think of +that poor child his wife having pinned her faith and her affections on +to such a shallow oaf! There can be no doubt about Miss Gillespie's +meaning now; no doubt that, partly from innate devilry, partly from +pique, Laura Hammond will pursue her scheme to the very end. And I am +powerless to interfere." + +He went down to the library with the intention of writing a letter to +his father announcing his immediate arrival; but as he entered the +room, he saw through the deep bay-window fronting him, which looked +down upon the terrace, the cavalcade departing down the avenue. At +some considerable distance behind the others rode Sir Charles Mitford +and Mrs. Hammond; and he was bending towards her, and talking in an +apparently impressive manner. + +Laurence shrugged his shoulders and turned away in disgust; +but he had not reached the writing-table before he heard a +deep sigh, succeeded by a passionate sobbing, and turning +quickly round, saw Lady Mitford leaning against the window +and half-hidden by the heavy curtains,--her face buried in her +hands, her whole frame convulsed with the violence of her grief. +Laurence would have retreated from the room, but his footsteps had +attracted her attention; and as she looked their eyes met. He at once +approached her, saying, "You will believe me when I say that it was +quite by chance I entered the room, Lady Mitford,--without the least +idea that you were here; but I am glad now that I came, for you are, I +fear, very unwell; and--" + +"It is nothing," she said, with a strong but ineffectual effort to +resume her usual calmness; "it is nothing, indeed, Colonel Alsager; a +little silly woman's weakness--nothing more. I am over-tired, I think; +we have been up later the last few nights, you know, and I am so +totally unused to dissipation even of the mildest kind." + +"You will be better when you return to London, perhaps," said +Laurence; "I have a strong notion that the marsh on this great Redmoor +is anything but a sanitary adjunct to the property. I should really +advise your getting back to town as soon as possible, now Parliament +has met; and soon everybody will be there." + +In London, Laurence thought, Mrs. Hammond will at all events be out of +the house, and in other gaiety there might be a chance of Mitford's +getting rid of his infatuation. + +"Oh, I'm frightened at the very thought of returning to town; and yet, +down here, there are--I mean--it's--how very silly of me!--you must +excuse me, Colonel Alsager, I am anything but strong;" and poor +Georgie's tears began to flow again. + +"So I see," said Laurence, in a very gentle tone. She had seated +herself in one corner of a low brown morocco-leather couch that stood +across the window. Hitherto he had been standing, but he now placed +himself at the other end of the sofa. + +"I think," said he, bending forward, and speaking in the same low +earnest voice,--"I think, dear Lady Mitford, that you will be disposed +to give me credit for taking a deep and friendly interest in you." + +She looked at him through the tears that still stood in her splendid +eyes--a frank, trusting, honest glance; and as he hesitated, she said, +"I know it--I have proved it." + +"Then, though your sex is taught to believe that mine is thoroughly +selfish and heartless,--never moving without some end for its own +benefit in view,--you still believe that what I am about to say to you +is dictated simply by the hope to serve you, the desire to see you +happy?" + +She bowed her head, but did not speak this time. Her tears were gone, +but there was a painful look of anxiety in her eyes, and the spasmodic +motion of the muscles of the mouth betrayed her agitation. + +"You are very young," he continued, "and wholly unacquainted with the +world. I am certainly past the freshness of youth, and I should think +there are not many of my age more thoroughly versed in the world's +ways. And one of its ways, dear Lady Mitford, one of its never-failing +and most repulsive ways, is to rob life of the glamour with which +youth invests it; to lift up a corner of the silken curtain of the +fairy temple and show the rough bare boards and wooden trestles behind +it; to throw stumbling-blocks in the paths of happiness, and to drag +down those now falling to a lower depth; to poison truth's well, to +blacken innocence, and to sow distrust and misery broadcast,--these +are among the world's ways. To be pure, noble, and beloved, is at once +to provoke the world's hatred. Is it any wonder then that some of its +emissaries are plotting against _you?_" + +A faint blush overspread her cheeks as she said, "I have done nothing +to provoke them." + +"Pardon me," said Laurence, "you have offended in the three ways I +have just pointed out: there are few who offer such a combination of +offences. And the world will have revenge for all. To besmirch your +purity, to lower the nobleness of your nature, are tasks which as yet +it dare not attempt. But to prevent your being beloved,--by those +whose love you have a right to claim,--is apparently, not really, far +more easily done." + +"It is, indeed," cried poor Georgie, mournfully; "it is, indeed." + +"I said apparently, not really," continued Laurence. "To defeat such +an attempt as this is the easiest thing in the world, if you only have +the _savoir faire_, and will use the weapons in your armoury. Even in +the most purely pastoral times, love in marriage was not all that was +requisite for happiness. If Phyllis had done nothing but sit at +Corydon's feet and worship him--if she had not been his companion and +friend as well as his wife,--now talking to him about the crop in the +forty-acre pasture, now telling him of the pigs eating the beech-nuts +under that wide-spreading tree where that lazy Tityrus used to lie in +the summer; moreover, if Corydon had not had his farm and flock to +attend to,--he would at a very early period of their married life have +left her solitary, while he sported with Amaryllis in the shade, or +played with the tangle of Neaera's hair." + +He stopped as he marked her half-puzzled, half-frightened look. "Dear, +dear Lady Mitford," he continued, "let me drop parable and mystery, +and speak plainly to you. I am going away to-morrow or the next day, +and should probably have left with this unsaid; but the accidental +sight of your sorrow has emboldened me to speak, and--and you know I +would say nothing which you should not hear." + +At the last words she seemed reassured, and with a little effort she +said, "Speak on, pray, Colonel Alsager; I know I can trust you +entirely." + +"Thank you," he said, with a very sweet smile; "I am very proud of +that belief. Now listen: you married when you were a child, and you +have not yet put away childish things. Your notion of married life is +a childish romance, and you are childishly beginning to be frightened +because a cloud has come over it. In his wife a man wants a companion +as well as a plaything, and some one who will amuse as well as worship +him. Your husband is essentially a man of this kind; his resources +within himself are of the very smallest kind; he cares very little for +field-sports, and he conjugates the verb _s'ennuyer_ throughout the +entire day. Consequently, and not unnaturally, he becomes readily +charmed when any one amuses him and takes him out of himself,--more +especially if that some one be pretty and otherwise agreeable. Why +should not you be that some one? Why should not you, dropping--pardon +me for saying it--a little of the visible worship with which you now +regard him,--why should not you be his constant companion, riding with +him, making him drive you out, planning schemes for his amusement? If +you once do this, and get him to look upon you as his companion as +well as his wife, there will be no more cause for tears, Lady Mitford, +depend upon it." + +"Do you think so?--do you really think so? Oh, I would give anything +for that!" + +"And get him to London quickly, above all things. You are to have your +opera-box, I heard you say; and there is the Park; and in this your +first season you will never be allowed to be quiet for an instant." + +"Yes; I think you're right. I will ask Charley to go back to town at +once. There will be no difficulty, I think. The Charterises are gone; +Mrs. Masters and the Tyrrells go to-morrow; and Captain Bligh is going +to Scotland to look at some shooting-quarters for Charley in the +autumn. There are only--only the Hammonds." + +"I really do not think it necessary to take them into account in +making your arrangements," said Laurence. "Besides, unless I'm very +much mistaken, when Mrs. Hammond finds the house emptying, Mr. +Hammond's bronchitis will either be so much better that there will be +no harm in his going to town, or so much worse that there will be +imperative necessity for his consulting a London physician." + +"And now, Colonel Alsager, how can I sufficiently thank you for all +this kind advice?" said Georgie hesitatingly. + +"By acting up to it, dear Lady Mitford. I hope to hear the best +account of your health and spirits." + +"To hear! Will you not be in London?" + +"Not just at present. I am at last really going to my father's, and +shall remain there a few weeks. But I shall hear about you from +Bertram, and when I return I shall come and see you." + +"There will be no one more welcome," said she, frankly putting out her +hand. + +Just at that moment the door opened, and Mr. Banks advanced and handed +a closed envelope to Alsager, saying, "From the railway, Colonel." + +It was a telegraphic message; and as such things were rare in those +days, Laurence's heart sunk within him before he broke the envelope. +It was from Dr. Galton at Knockholt, and said, + +"Lose no time in coming. Sir Peregrine has had a paralytic stroke." + + +Half an hour afterwards Laurence was in a phaeton spinning to the +railway. His thoughts were full of self-reproach at his having +hitherto neglected to go to his father; but ever across them came a +vision of Georgie Mitford in the passion of her grief. "Ah, poor +child," he said to himself, "how lovely she looked, and what a life +she has in prospect! I am glad I have left her, for it was beginning +to grow desperate--and yet how I long, oh how I long to be at her side +again!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +KNOCKHOLT PARK. + + +The old home which Laurence Alsager had so long slighted, and to which +his heart suddenly turned with a strange wild longing, almost powerful +enough, he thought, to annihilate the space between it and Redmoor, +had seen many generations of Alsagers beneath its peaked and gabled +roof. The house stood in a fine park, and occupied a commanding +situation on the slope of a well-wooded hill. The features of the +scenery were such as are familiar in the midland counties: rich and +fertile beauty, with uplands ankle-deep in meadow-grass, tall +patriarchal trees, which stood in solemn unending conclave, group by +group or singly, with benignant outstretched arms, and wide-spread +mantle of green and russet; bright shallow streams, flashing under the +sunbeams, and rippling darkly in the shade. All the land about the +picturesque and irregular old house was laid out, partly by nature and +partly by art, on ornamental principles; and away to the right and +left stretched a wide expanse of farm-lands, whose aspect suggested a +practical knowledge of the science of husbandry, and a satisfactory +return in profit. The house was surrounded by a broad stone-terrace, +bounded by a low balustrade, and flanked at each of the corners by a +large stone-vase containing flowers, which varied with the season, but +were never missing from these stately _jardinières_. These vases were +tended, in common with the formal flower-garden and the particular pet +parterre which she called "her own," by Helen Manningtree, the orphan +ward of Sir Peregrine Alsager, whom Laurence remembered as a quiet +pretty little girl, who had been frank and free with him in her +childhood, timid and reserved when he had last seen her, just before +he had been driven abroad by the furies of disappointment and wounded +pride, and whom he was now to meet again, a graceful, gracious, +well-disciplined, and attractive woman. + +Knockholt Park was one of those rare places which present a perfect +combination of luxury and comfort to the beholder, and impress the +latter element of their constitution upon the resident visitor. _Bien, +être_ seemed to reign there; and the very peacocks which strutted upon +the terrace, and tapped at the dining-room window as soon as Sir +Peregrine had taken his accustomed seat at the head of the long table, +seemed less restless in their vanity and brighter in their plumage +than their _confrères_ of the neighbouring gentlemen's seats. The +brute creation had fine times of it at Knockholt Park, except, of +course, such of their number as came under the denomination of vermin; +and those Sir Peregrine was too good a farmer, to say nothing of his +being too enthusiastic a sportsman, to spare. Horses were in good +quarters in the stables and the paddocks of Knockholt Park; and +well-to-do dogs were to be found everywhere, the kennel and the +dining-room included. Sir Peregrine had the liking for animals to be +observed in all kindly natures which are solitary without being +studious, and which affords to such natures a subtle pleasure, a +sympathy which does not jar with their pride, a companionship which +does not infringe upon their exclusiveness. + +Sir Peregrine Alsager was essentially a solitary man, though he hunted +pretty regularly and shot a little; though he fulfilled the duties of +county hospitality with resignation, which county perceptions mistook +for alacrity; and though he associated as much as most resident +country gentlemen with the inmates of his house. These inmates were +Helen Manningtree and her _ci-devant_ governess, Mrs. Chisholm, a +ladylike accomplished person, and a distant relative of Sir Peregrine, +who had offered her a home with him when the charge of Helen had +devolved upon him, almost simultaneously with the death of Mrs. +Chisholm's husband,--an overworked young curate, who had fallen a +victim to an epidemic disease, in consequence of the prevalence of +which in the parish his rector had found it necessary to remove +himself and his family to a more salubrious climate, but had not found +it necessary to procure any assistance for the curate. They were +pleasant inmates, but scarcely interesting,--would hardly have been so +to a younger man; and there was a certain reserve in Sir Peregrine's +manner, though it never lacked kindness, and was distinguished for its +courtesy and consideration, which maintained their relative positions +quite unchanged. A young girl would have been an unintelligible +creature to Sir Peregrine, even if she had been his own daughter; and +he contented himself with taking care that all Helen's personal and +intellectual wants were amply supplied, and all her tastes consulted +and gratified: he left the reading of the enigma to others, or was +content that it should remain unread. + +Life at Knockholt Park had rolled on very smoothly on the whole, until +the accident which recalled his son to his neglected home had befallen +Sir Peregrine; and if the master of the fine old house and the fine +old estate had had a good deal of loneliness, some bitterness, not a +little wistful haggard remembrance and yearning regret, a sense of +discordance where he longed for harmony, with a disheartening +conviction that he had not the faculties requisite for setting it +right, and would never find them in this world, among his daily +experiences, the decent and decorous mantle of pride had hidden these +discrepancies in the general order of things from every perception but +his own. If the hale old gentleman, on whom every eye looked with +respect, and who had filled his place with honour all the days of his +life, had unseen companions in those walks shared visibly by his dog +alone; if the handsome stately library where he sat o' nights, and +read all that a country gentleman is ever expected to read, was +haunted now and then by a shadowy presence, by a beckoning hand; if +the gentle whisper of a voice, whose music was heard in its full +melody among the angels only, came oftener and more often, as "the +tender grace of a day that was dead" receded more and more into the +past, and stirred the slow pulses of the old man's heart,--he was all +the happier, with such solemn happiness as remembrance and +anticipation can confer, and no one was the wiser. + +If "county society" in those parts had been brighter as a collective +body, or if the individuals who composed it had had clearer notions of +military life, and the obligations of a lieutenant-colonel, the long +absence of Laurence Alsager from his father's house might have been +made a subject of ill-natured and wondering comment; but the +particular county to which Knockholt and its master belonged was +rather remarkable for obtuseness, and there was a certain something +about the old baronet which rendered it impossible to say unpleasant +things in his presence, and difficult even to say them in his absence; +and so Laurence Alsager escaped almost scot-free. Helen Manningtree +felt some indignant wonder occasionally at the only son's prolonged +absence from his father--indignant, be it observed, on Sir Peregrine's +account, not on her own. Helen was very sensible, and as little vain +as it was possible for a nice-looking and attractive girl to be, +without attaining a painful height of perfection; and so she did not +wonder that Laurence Alsager had not been induced by curiosity to see +her--of whom Sir Peregrine had doubtless frequently spoken to him--to +visit his old home. Her life had been too simple and well regulated to +enable her to comprehend an estrangement between father and son +arising from diversity of sentiment alone; but it had also been so +devoid of strong affections, of vivid emotions, that she was not +likely to regard Laurence Alsager's conduct from a particularly +elevated point of view. It was wrong, she thought, and odd; but if +Laurence had gone to Knockholt at stated periods, and had conformed +outwardly to filial conventionalities, Helen would have been the last +person in the world to perceive that anything was wanting to the +strength and sweetness of the relationship between Sir Peregrine and +his only son. + +Mrs. Chisholm-a woman who had known love and bereavement, struggle and +rest, but who was childless, and in whom, therefore, that subtlest +instinct which gives comprehension to the dullest had never been +awakened--felt about it all much as Helen did; but she expressed less, +and the little she permitted herself to say was cold and vague, +Coldness and vagueness characterized Mrs. Chisholm, because sorrow had +early chilled her heart, and no one whom she loved had ever addressed +himself to the awakening of her intellect. The curate had not had +time, poor fellow; he had had too much to do in persuading people to +go to church who would not be persuaded; and his Sophy had been so +pretty in the brief old time, so cheerful, so notable, so lovable and +beloved, that it had never occurred to him that her mind might have +been a little larger and a little stronger with advantage. The time +was brief, and the curate died in the simple old faith, leaving +his pretty Sophy to outlive him, his love, and her prettiness, but +never to outlive his memory, or to cease to glory in that +unutterably-precious recollection, that her husband had never found +fault with her in his life. On the whole, then, Laurence Alsager was +gently judged and mildly handled by the worthy people who had the best +right to criticise his conduct; and perhaps the knowledge that this +was the case added keenness to the pang of self-reproach, which made +his self-inflicted punishment, with which he read the brief but +terrible news flashed to his conscious heart along the marvellous +electric wire. + +Evening had fallen over stream and meadow, over upland and forest, at +Knockholt. It had come with the restless and depressing influence +which contrasts so strangely with the calm and peace it brings to the +fulness of life and health, into the lofty and spacious chamber where +Sir Peregrine lay, prostrate under the victorious hand of paralysis. +The mysterious influence of serious illness, the shadow of the wings +of the Angel of Death, rested heavily upon the whole of that +decorously-ordered house; and the watchers in the chamber of +helplessness, it may be of pain,--who can tell? who can interpret +the enforced stillness, the inexorable dumbness of that dread +disease?--succumbed to its gloom. Mrs. Chisholm and Helen were there, +not, indeed, close by the bed, not watching eagerly the motionless +form, but gazing alternately at each other and at the doctor, who kept +a vigilant watch over the patient. This watch had, if possible, +increased in intensity since sunset, at which time Dr. Galton had +perceived a change, visible at first to the eye of science alone. The +dreadful immobility had certainly relaxed; the rigidity of the +features, blended with an indescribable but wofully-perceptible +distortion of the habitual expression, had softened; the plum-like +blueness of the lips had faded to a hue less startlingly contrasted +with that of the shrunken and ashy features. + +"He will recover from this attack, I hope--I think," said the doctor +in answer to a mute question which he read in Helen's eyes, as he +stood upright after a long and close investigation of the patient. +"Yes, he will outlive this. I wish Colonel Alsager were here." + +"We may expect him very soon," Mrs. Chisholm said; "he would start +immediately of course, and we know the telegraph-message would reach +him in time for him to catch the up-train." + +As she spoke, wheels were heard on the distant carriage-drive. Sir +Peregrine's room was on the north side, that farthest from the +approach; and immediately afterwards a servant gently opened the +door--ah, with what needless caution!--and told Mrs. Chisholm that the +Colonel had arrived, and desired to see her. There was more +awkwardness than agitation in Mrs. Chisholm's manner as she hurriedly +rose to comply with this request, but was interrupted by Dr. Galton, +who said: + +"No, no, my dear madam,--I had better see him myself; I can make him +understand the necessary care and caution better than you can." + +Mrs. Chisholm returned to her seat in silent acquiescence; and for the +ensuing half-hour she and Helen sat sadly looking at the helpless form +upon the bed, and occasionally whispering to one another their several +impressions of how Laurence Alsager "would bear it." + +What Laurence Alsager had to bear, and how he bore it, was not for any +one to see. He held himself aloof even from the gentle scrutiny he had +so little reason to dread. In half-an-hour Dr. Galton reentered Sir +Peregrine's room, looking very grave, and requested Mrs. Chisholm and +Helen to withdraw. + +"I am going to let Colonel Alsager see his father," he said; "and I +think there should be no one else by. We can never know exactly how +much or how little the patient feels, or knows, or is affected in +eases like these; but one at a time is an admirable rule." + +"He will find us in the long drawing-room when he wishes to see us," +said Mrs. Chisholm; and then she and Helen left the room, and went in +silence along the wide corridor, and down the broad flat staircase of +fine white stone, with its narrow strip of velvet-pile carpeting and +its heavy, carved balustrade, terminated by a fierce figure in armour +holding a glittering spear, with a mimic banderol blazoned with the +device of the Alsagers. The wide stone hall, at the opposite extremity +of which the door of the long drawing-room stood open, the heavy +velvet _portière_ withdrawn, was hung with trophies of the chase and +of war. Tiger-skins, buffalo-horns, the _dépouilles_ of the greater +and the lesser animals which man so loves to destroy, adorned its +walls, diversified by several handsome specimens of Indian arms, and a +French helmet, pistol, and sabretache. Four splendid wood-carvings, +representing such scenes as Snyders has painted, were conspicuous +among the orthodox ornaments of the hall. They were great favourites +with Sir Peregrine, who had bought them in one of the old Belgian +cities on the one only occasion when he had visited foreign parts--an +awful experience, to which he had been wont to allude with mingled +pride and repugnance. Helen glanced at them sadly as she crossed the +hall; then turned her head carelessly in the direction of the great +door, which stood open, and before which a huge black Newfoundland lay +at full length upon the marble steps. At the same moment the dog, +whose name was Faust, rose, wagged his tail, twitched his ears, and +cantered down the steps, and across the terrace in an oblique +direction. + +"Who is that, Helen?" asked Mrs. Chisholm, as she caught sight of +Faust's swift-vanishing form. "Some one is coming whom the dog knows." + +"It is only Mr. Farleigh," answered Helen; but her reply must have +been made quite at random, for she had not advanced another step in +the direction of the door, and could not possibly have seen, from her +position in the hall, who was approaching the house at that moment. + +Mrs. Chisholm had a natural and spontaneous inclination towards +curates. She respected--indeed, she admired all the ranks of the +hierarchy and all their members, and she never could be induced to +regard them as in any way divided in spirit or opinions. They were all +sacred creatures in her eves, from the most sucking of curates to the +most soapy of bishops; but the curates had the preëminence in the +order of this remarkably unworldly woman's estimation. Her Augustine +had been a curate; he might, indeed, have become a bishop in the +fulness of time, and supposing the order of merit to have been +attended to by the prime minister _in posse_; but fate had otherwise +decreed, and his apotheosis had occurred at the curate-stage of his +career. For this perfectly laudable and appreciable reason Mrs. +Chisholm liked the Reverend Cuthbert Farleigh, and would have liked +him had he been the silliest, most commonplace, most priggish young +parson in existence--had he had weak eyes and a weak mind, Low-Church +opinions, and a talent for playing the flute. But the Reverend +Cuthbert had none of these things. On the contrary, he was a handsome +manly young fellow, who looked as if he possessed an intellect and a +conscience, and was in the habit of using both; who had a tall +well-built figure, fine expressive dark eyes, and an independent, +sensible, cheerful manner, which few people could have resisted. Helen +Manningtree had never made any attempt at resisting it. She had known +Cuthbert Farleigh for eighteen months, and she had been in love with +him just twelve out of the number. She was not aware of the +circumstance at first, for she had had no experience of similar +feelings; she had had none of the preliminary feints and make-believes +which often precede the great passion of such persons as are +calculated to feel a great passion, and the tepid sincerity of such as +are not. Helen had never experienced a sensation of preference for any +one of the limited and not very varied number of young country +gentlemen whom she had met since she "came out" (the term had a +restricted significance in her case); and when she did experience and +avow to herself such a sentiment in the instance of the Reverend +Cuthbert Farleigh, she readily accounted for it to herself by +impressing on her own memory that, however young he might look and be, +he was her spiritual pastor and master--and, of course, that occult +influence affected her very deeply--and by making up her mind that he +preached beautifully. And Cuthbert? What was the young lady with the +brown eyes, and the brown curls, and the fresh healthful complexion; +the young lady who was not indeed strictly beautiful, nor, perhaps, +exactly pretty, but who was so charming, so graceful, so thoroughly +well-bred; such an innate lady in thought, word, and deed, in accent, +in gesture, in manner;--what was she to him? He had asked himself that +same question many a time; he asked it now, as he came up to the open +door--rarely shut at Knockholt Park, save in the rigorous depths of +winter--and he came to the conclusion, as he thought of the manifest +luxury and elegance in whose enjoyment Helen had been reared, and of +the probable fortune which she would possess, that he had better +postpone answering it until he should have become a bishop. + +Helen, who did not try to analyze her own perturbations, and was +wholly unconscious of Cuthbert's, received him with her accustomed +gentle sweetness, but with a sedate and mournful gravity adapted to +the circumstances. When the ladies had brought their lengthy and +minute narrative to a close--a narrative which embraced only the +history of twenty-four hours, for Cuthbert was a regular and attentive +visitor--he inquired about Colonel Alsager. Had he been informed? had +he been sent for? had he come? + +"Yes, to all your questions, Mr. Farleigh. Colonel Alsager is now in +the house, in Sir Peregrine's room; but as yet we have not seen him." + +The sensitive and expressive face of the curate was clouded by a look +of pain and regret. He and Colonel Alsager had never met; but the +young clergyman knew Sir Peregrine better, perhaps, than any other +person knew him, and respected him deeply. He could not regard +Laurence's conduct so lightly, he could not acquit him as easily, as +others did. He blamed him heavily, as he sat and listened to the +women's talk; and with the blame keen compassion mingled; for he knew, +with the mysterious insight of a sympathetic nature, all that he must +suffer in realizing that regret must be in vain, must be wasted now, +must be _too late_. + +The occasion was too solemn to admit of so trivial a feeling as +curiosity; but had it not been so, that feminine sentiment would +undoubtedly have predominated among the emotions with which Mrs. +Chisholm and Helen Manningtree received Colonel Alsager, when, after a +lengthened interval, he made his appearance in the long drawing-room. +As it was, their mutual greetings were kindly but subdued. The +presence of illness and danger in the house superseded all minor +considerations, and Colonel Alsager might have been a guest as +familiar as he was in reality strange, for all the emotion his +presence excited. Mrs. Chisholm introduced Cuthbert Farleigh, and +added to the usual formula a few words to the effect that he was a +favoured guest with Sir Peregrine, which led Alsager to receive the +introduction warmly, and to prosecute the acquaintance with zeal. The +curate thawed under the influence of the Colonel's genial manner,--so +warm and attractive, with all its solemn impress of regret, fear, and +uncertainty. After a little while the women went away again to resume +their dreary watch; and Dr. Galton came down to make his report, and +to join Alsager at his late and much-needed dinner. A telegraphic +message had been sent to London to seek further medical assistance; +but the great man, who could do so little, could not reach Knockholt +before the morning. In the mean time there was little change in the +state of the patient; but Dr. Galton adhered to the hopeful opinion he +had formed at sunset. Cuthbert Farleigh went away from the Park, and +sat down to the preparation of his Sunday's sermon with a troubled +mind. "What a capital good fellow Alsager is," he thought, "with all +his faults! What a number of questions he asked about _her!_ He takes +a great interest in her. Well, _it_ would be a very natural and a very +nice thing." It is granted, is it not, on all hands, that the +abandonment of proper names and the substitution of pronouns--which, +whether personal or impersonal, are at all events demonstrative--is a +very suspicious circumstance in certain cases? + + +Sir Peregrine Alsager did not die, as Laurence had thought, and +dreaded that he was to die, with the silence between them unbroken, +the estrangement unremoved. Nothing could undo the past, indeed; but +the present was given to the father and son; and its preciousness was +valued duly by them both. In a few days after Laurence's arrival the +paralysis loosened its grasp of his father's faculties; and though he +still lay in his bed shrunk, shrivelled, and helpless, he could see, +and hear, and speak. Sometimes his words were a little confused, and a +slight but distressing lapse of memory caused him to pause and try +painfully first to recall the word he wanted, and next to accomplish +its utterance; but gradually this difficulty wore away, and the old +man spoke freely, though little. He was greatly changed by his +illness--was most pathetically patient; and his face, a little +distorted by the shock, and never more to wear the healthy hue of his +vigorous age, assumed an expression of tranquil waiting. The supremacy +of his will was gone with the practical abolition of his authority. He +let it slip unnoticed. He cared little for anything now but the +presence of his son and the progress of the mornings and the evenings +which were making the week-days of his life, and wearing towards the +dawn of the eternal Sabbath. He loved to have Helen with him, and +would regard her with unwonted interest and tenderness,--keenest when +she and Laurence met beside his couch, and talked together, as they +came gradually to do, very often at first for his sake, and +afterwards, as he hoped, as he never doubted, for their own. Yes, the +keen anxiety, the foresight, the intensifying of former mental +attributes which characterize some kinds of physical decay in persons +of a certain intellectual and moral constitution and calibre, showed +themselves strongly in Sir Peregrine Alsager, and centred themselves +in his son. He had asked nothing, and had heard little of his +wandering and purposeless life; but that little had made the old +man--held back now, on the brink of the eternal verity, by no scruples +of coldness, of pride, of pique, or of scrupulosity--very anxious that +his son should marry, and settle down to live at Knockholt Park at +least a fair proportion of the year. With that considerate, but +perhaps, after all, beautiful, simplicity which restores to age the +faith of youth, and builds her shrines for all the long-shattered +idols, Sir Peregrine reasoned of his own life and his own experience, +and applied his deductions to his son's far different case. He was, +however, too wise to put his wishes into words, or even to make them +evident without words, to their objects. But there were two persons in +the small group who tenanted Knockholt Park who knew that the dearest +wish of Sir Peregrine's heart, that desire which overpassed the +present and projected itself into the inscrutable future, when its +fruition might perchance never be known to him, was that Laurence +Alsager, his son, should marry Helen Manningtree, his ward. The two +who had penetrated the inmost feelings of the old man were Cuthbert +Farleigh and Mrs. Chisholm. + +How sped the days with Colonel Alsager in the old home? Heavily, to +say the least of it. He had undergone strong excitement of various +kinds; and now reaction had set in, with the unspeakable relief of his +father's reprieve from immediate death. During his journey from +Redmoor to Knockholt he had been an unresisting prey to bitter and +confused regrets; so bitter, they seemed almost like remorse; so +unavailing, they touched the confines of despair. The scenes in which +he had lately played a part, the problems he had been endeavouring to +solve, rushed from his view, and retired to the recesses of his +memory,--to come out again, and occupy him more closely, more +anxiously than ever, when the cruel grasp of suspense and terror was +removed from his heart; when the monotony of the quiet house, and the +life regulated by the exigencies of that of an invalid, had fairly +settled down upon him; when all the past seemed distant, and all the +future had more than the ordinary uncertainty of human existence. +There was no estrangement between Laurence and his father now; but the +son knew that there was no more similarity than before. Their relative +positions had altered, and with the change old things had passed away. +The pale and shrunken old man who lay patiently on his couch beside +the large window of the library at Knockholt, at which the peacocks +had now learned to tap and the dogs to sniff, was not the silent +though urbane, the hale and _arriéré_ country gentleman to whom his +Guardsman's life had been an unattractive mystery, and all his ways +distasteful. That Guardsman's life, those London ways, the shibboleth +of his set, even the distinctive peculiarities of his own +individuality, had all been laid aside, almost obliterated, by the +dread reality which had drawn so near, and still, as they both knew, +was unobtrusively ever nigh at hand. Father and son were much together +at certain regulated times; and Laurence was unfailing in his +scrupulous observance of all the wishes, his intuitive perception of +all the fancies, of the invalid. Still there were many hours of +solitude to be got through in every day; and Laurence Alsager held +stricter and truer commune with his own heart, while they passed over +the dial, than he had ever been used to hold. The quiet of the house; +the seclusion of the park in which he walked and rode; the formal +beauty of the garden, where he strolled with Helen Manningtree, and +listened to her enthusiastic expectations of what its appearance would +be when the time of flowers should have fully arrived; the regularity +of the household; the few and trivial interruptions from without;--all +these things had a strong influence on the sensitive temperament of +Laurence Alsager, and gradually isolated him within himself. There was +nothing to disturb the retrospective and introspective current of his +thoughts; and in those quiet weeks of waiting he learned much of +himself, of life, and of truth--knowledge which otherwise might never +have come to him. It was not very long before his mind recurred +painfully to Redmoor and its mistress, whom he had left in a position +of difficulty and danger. He remembered the counsel he had given her, +and he wondered whether it might avail. He pondered on all the +eventualities which the _triste sagesse_ of a man of the world taught +him to anticipate, and longed for power to avert them or to alter +their character. He learned some wholesome lessons in these vain +aspirations, and looked deeper into the stream of life than he had +ever looked before. + +He looked at Lady Mitford's position from every point of view; he +weighed and measured her trials, and then he began to speculate upon +her temptations. All at once it struck him that he had ceased to fear +Lord Dollamore; that that distinguished personage had somehow dropped +out of his calculations; that he was occupying himself rather with her +sentimental griefs than with the serious danger which he had believed, +a little while ago, menaced her reputation and her position. He feared +Laura Hammond, and he ardently desired to penetrate the full meaning +of Miss Gillespie's warning. He perfectly understood the difficulty of +conveying to a mind so innocent as that of Lady Mitford the full force +and meaning of the counsel he had given her, the hopelessness of +inducing her to arm herself with a woman's legitimate weapon--the +strong desire to please,--and getting her to use it against her +husband. She did not lack intelligence, but she did not possess tact; +and her nature was too refined and straightforward to give her any +chance in so unequal a contest as that into which her husband's +worthlessness had forced her. + +And now another truth came steadily up from the abyss into which +Alsager was always gazing, and confronted him. That truth was the +motive which animated his thoughts and inspired his perceptions; which +gave him so clear an insight into Lady Mitford's position, and enabled +him to read her heart with more distinctness than she herself could +have interpreted it. One day Laurence Alsager knew, and acknowledged +to himself, what this motive was, whence came this intuition. He loved +Georgie Mitford. Yes; the idle speculation, the indignation of a true +gentleman at beholding the innocent wronged and the trusting deceived; +the loyal instinct of protection; the contemptuous anger which had led +him to detest Laura Hammond and to desire her discomfiture; the tender +and true sympathy of a world-worn man with a pure and simple woman, to +whom the world and its ways are all unknown and unsuspected; the +shrinking from beholding the suffering which experience must +inflict,--all these had been evident--they had existed in utter +integrity and vitality. Alsager had not deceived himself then, neither +did he deceive himself now; and though they still existed, they had +receded from their prominence,--they did but supplement another, a +more powerful, a more vital reality. He loved her--he never doubted +the fact, never questioned it more. He loved with a love as much +superior to, as much stronger, holier, truer, and more vital than, +any love which he had ever before felt or fancied--as his present +self-commune was more candid, searching, and complete than any counsel +ever previously held in the secret chambers of his brain and heart. He +had settled this point with himself, and was moodily pondering on the +possible consequences of the fact, and on the alteration in his own +position towards Lady Mitford which it implied, when he received a +letter from Georgie. It was not the first,--several notes had passed +between them in the easy intimacy of their acquaintance; but it was +the first since that acquaintance had strengthened into friendship. +And now, for him, friendship too had passed away, and in its place +stood love--dangerous, delicious, entrancing, bewildering love. So +Georgie's letter had altogether a different value and significance for +him now. This was the letter: + + +"Redmoor, -- March 18--. + +"Dear Colonel Alsager,--Sir Charles received your kind note, but has +been too busy to write; so he has asked me to do so, and I comply with +very great pleasure. I need hardly say how truly glad we were to hear +of the improvement in Sir Peregrine's state, and how earnestly we hope +he may completely rally. All things are going on here much as usual. +Poor Mr. Hammond is very ill,--failing rapidly, I am sure; this week +he is suffering fearfully from bronchitis. They talked of going away, +but that is of course impossible. I am a good deal with him, and I +think he likes me. Lord Dollamore has come back from town, and is +staying here,--doing nothing but lounge about and watch everybody. Is +there any chance that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you again +if we are detained here much longer? I hoped Charley would have taken +me to see my father, who has been ailing this cold spring weather; but +I fear the long delay here will prevent that,--he will be impatient to +get to town as soon as possible. Pray let us hear from you how Sir +Peregrine is. Charley is out, but I know I may add his kindest regards +to my own.--Yours, dear Colonel Alsager, always sincerely, + + "Georgina Mitford. + +"P.S. I have not forgotten your advice for a minute, nor ceased to act +upon it, and to thank you for it from my heart. But--it is so +difficult to write upon this subject--difficult to me to write on any, +for, as you know, I am not clever, unfortunately for me. Could you not +come?" + + +Laurence read and re-read this simple letter with unspeakable pain and +keen irrepressible delight. She trusted him; she thought of him; she +wished for his presence! Could he not come? she asked. No; he could +not. But supposing he could--ought he? Well, he was a brave man and a +true, and he faced that question also. How he answered it remains to +be seen. + +The days passed at Knockholt Park, and resembled each other very +closely. Laurence saw a good deal of Cuthbert Farleigh, and liked him +much. He wondered a little, after the manner of men, at the content +yielded by a life so unlike his own, or any that his fancy had ever +painted; but if he and the curate did not sympathize, they coalesced. +Laurence wrote again to, and heard again from, Lady Mitford. + +There was not much in her letter apart from her kind and sympathizing +comments upon his; but he gathered a good deal from the tone which +unconsciously pervaded it. He learned that she had not succeeded in +breaking up the party at Redmoor; that Sir Charles had invited a fresh +relay of county guests; that Mr. Hammond's health was very precarious; +and that Georgie had not been gratified in her wish to see her father. +The letter made him more uneasy, more sad, by its reticence than by +its revelations. If he could but have returned to Redmoor!--but it was +impossible. If he could have left his father, how was he to have +accounted for an uninvited return to Sir Charles Mitford's house? He +did not choose, for many reasons, to assume or cultivate such +relations with the worthy Baronet as going there in an informal manner +would imply. + +So March and April slipped away, and Laurence Alsager was still at +Knockholt, in close attendance upon his father. One day in the last +week of April, Laurence was returning from a solitary ramble in the +park, intending to read to his father for a while, if he should find +that Sir Peregrine (sensibly feebler, and much inclined to slumber +through the brightest hours of sunshine) could bear the exertion of +listening. As he emerged from the shade of a thick plantation on the +north side of the house and approached the terrace, he observed with +alarm that several servants were assembled on the steps, and that two +came running towards him, with evident signs of agitation and +distress. He advanced quickly to meet them, and exclaimed, "Is +anything wrong? Is my father worse?" + +"I am sorry to tell you, Sir Laurence--" began the foremost of the two +servants. And so Laurence Alsager learned that his father had gone to +his rest, and that he had come to his kingdom. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +LORD DOLLAMORE'S COUNSEL. + + +Lady Mitford remained in the library, where Colonel Alsager had bidden +her farewell, for a long time after he had departed. She was sorely +perplexed in spirit and depressed in mind. She was heartily grieved +for Alsager, whom she had learned long ago to distinguish from the +crowd of casual acquaintance by whom she had been surrounded as soon +as her "brilliant marriage" had introduced her to the London world. +Implicit confidence in him had come to reconcile her to the novel +feeling of distrust towards others, which had gradually, under the +deteriorating influence of her recent experiences, taken possession of +her. He represented to her a great exception to a rule whose extent +she had not yet thoroughly learned to estimate, and whose existence +pained and disgusted her. His conversation with her just before his +departure had ratified the tacit bond between them; and as Lady +Mitford sat gazing idly from the wide window down the broad +carriage-drive by which the riding-party had departed, she dwelt with +grateful warmth upon every detail of Alsager's words, every variation +of his manner and inflection of his voice. + +"At least he is my friend," she thought; "and what a comfort it is to +know that! what a support in the state of wretched uncertainty I seem +doomed to!" Anon she ceased to think of Colonel Alsager at all, and +her fancy strayed, as fancy always does, to scenes and subjects whence +pain is to be extracted. If any stranger could have looked into that +handsome and luxurious room just then, and seen its tenant, he would +have recoiled from the contrast and contradictions of the picture. She +sat, as Alsager had left her sitting, on a low brown-morocco couch, +facing the deep bay-window; her hands lay idly in her lap, her small +head was bent listlessly forward; but the gaze of the lustrous and +thoughtful eves was fixed and troubled. The soft tempered light +touched her hair, her quiet hands, the graceful outlines of her +figure, and the rich folds of her dress with a tender brilliance, but +no sunshine from within lighted up the pale brow or brightened the +calm sorrowful lips. Time passed on, and still she sat absorbed in her +thoughts, until at length the loud chiming of the clocks aroused her. +She threw off her preoccupation by an effort, and saying half aloud, +"At least they shall not return and find me moping here," she passed +out of the library. She paused a moment in the hall, debating with +herself whether she would betake herself at once to the piano in her +dressing-room, or go and inquire for poor old Mr. Hammond, to whom she +had not yet made her customary daily visit. Lady Mitford was in the +mood just then to do a kindness; her heart was full of Alsager's +kindness to herself, and she sent for Mr. Hammond's man, and bade him +tell his master she requested admittance to his room if he felt able +to see her. + +"I suppose if he had not been," she added mentally, "his wife would +have been afraid to have left him to-day." + +Lady Mitford had made considerable progress in the science of life +since the friend who had left her presence that morning had seen her +for the first time at the Parthenium, but she had need to make a great +deal more before she could be qualified to comprehend Laura Hammond. + +Georgie found Mr. Hammond pretty well, and tolerably cheerful. The +feeble old man liked his gentle and considerate hostess. He had liked +her when he was in health; and he liked her still better now that the +languor of illness rendered him liable to being fatigued by ordinarily +dull or extraordinarily brilliant people. Georgie was neither;--she +was only a gentle, refined, humble-minded, pure-hearted lady; and the +old man, though of course he did not admire her at all in comparison +with his own brilliant and bewitching Laura, and had considered her +(under Laura's instructions) rather vapid and commonplace the +preceding season, was in a position just then to appreciate these +tamely admirable qualities to their fullest extent. She remained with +Mr. Hammond until the sound of the horses' hoofs upon the avenue +warned her that the cavalcade was returning. She then went hastily +down the great staircase, and reached the hall just in time to see +Mrs. Hammond lifted from her saddle by Sir Charles with demonstrative +gallantry, and to observe that he looked into her face as he placed +her upon the ground with an expression which rendered words wholly +superfluous. The unborn strength which had been created by Alsager's +counsel was too weak to bear this sharp trial. Georgie shrunk as if +she had been stung, and, abandoning her brave purpose of giving her +guests a cheerful greeting at the door, she took refuge in her own +room. + +On this day Sir Charles for the first time departed from the custom he +had maintained since their marriage, of seeking Georgie on his return +home after any absence. It was a significant omission; and as she took +her place at the dinner-table, Lady Mitford felt that the few hours +which had elapsed since Colonel Alsager had given her that counsel, +which every hour became more difficult for her to follow, had made +a disastrous difference in her position. She would make a great +effort--she would do all that Laurence had advised, but how if Sir +Charles estranged himself from her altogether?--and even to her +inexperience there was something ominous in any marked departure from +his accustomed habits,--what should she do then? He might either +persist in a tacit estrangement, which would place her at a hopeless +disadvantage, or he might quarrel with her, and end all by an open +rupture. Georgie was beginning to understand the man she had married, +without as yet ceasing to love him; and it is wonderful what rapid +progress the dullest of women will make in such knowledge when they +are once set on its right track. + +Lord Dollamore took Lady Mitford to dinner, as usual, on that day, +and Sir Charles gave his arm to Mrs. Hammond. He had entered the +drawing-room only a moment before dinner was announced, and had not +exchanged a word with his wife. Among the first topics of conversation +was Colonel Alsager's departure, which Sir Charles treated with much +indifference, and to whose cause Mrs. Hammond adverted with a pert +flippancy, so much at variance with her customary adherence to the +rules of good taste that the circumstance attracted Lord Dollamore's +attention. He made no remark when she had concluded her lively sallies +upon the inconvenience of fathers in general, the inconsiderateness of +fathers who had paralytic strokes in particular, and the generic +detestability of all old people; but he watched her closely, and when +her exclusive attention was once more claimed by Sir Charles, whose +undisguised devotion almost reached the point of insult to the +remainder of the company, he smiled a satisfied smile, like that of a +man who has been somewhat puzzled by an enigma, and who finds the key +to it all of a sudden. A little was said about Miss Gillespie, but not +much; she was speedily relegated to the category of "creatures" by +Mrs. Hammond, and then she was forgotten. The general conversation was +perhaps a little flat, as general conversation is apt to be under such +inharmonious circumstances; and Lady Mitford's assumed spirits flagged +suddenly and desperately. A feeling of weariness, of exhaustion, which +quenched pride and put bitterness aside, came over her; a dreary +loathing of the scene and its surroundings; a swift passing vision of +the dear old home she had left so cheerfully--abandoned so +heartlessly, she would now have said--of the dear old father of whom +she had thought so little latterly, whose advice would be so precious +to her now,--only that she would not tell him for the world; a horrid +sense of powerlessness in the hands of a pitiless enemy--all these +rushed over her in one cold wave of trouble. Another moment and she +would have burst into hysterical tears, when a low firm whisper +recalled her to herself. + +"Command yourself," it said; "she is looking at you, though you cannot +perceive it. Drink some wine, and smile." + +It was Lord Dollamore who spoke, and Lady Mitford obeyed him. He did +not give her time to feel surprise or anger at his interpretation of +her feelings, or his interposition to save her from betraying them; +but instantly, with the utmost ease and readiness, he applied himself +to the task of enlivening the company, and that so effectually, that +he soon gained even the attention of the preoccupied pair at the other +end of the table, and turned a dinner-party which had threatened to +become a lamentable failure into a success. It was a bold stroke; but +he played it with coolness and judgment, and it told admirably. Lady +Mitford lifted her candid eyes to his as she left the dining-room, and +there was neither anger nor reproach in them; but there was gratitude, +and the dawn of confidence. + +"Just so," thought Lord Dollamore, as he drew his chair up to the +table again; "she's the sort of woman who must trust somebody; and she +has found out that her reclaimed Charley is not to be trusted. I'll +see if I can't make her trust me." + +It suited Laura Hammond's humour to exert her powers of pleasing on +this evening, or perhaps even her audacious spirit quailed before the +ordeal of the female after-dinner conclave, and she was forced to +cover her fear by bravado. At any rate, she appeared in an entirely +new character. The insolent indolence, the _ennui_ which usually +characterized her demeanour when there were no men present, were +thrown aside, and she deliberately set herself to carry the women by +storm. She talked, she laughed, she admired their dresses, and made +suggestions respecting their _coiffures_. She offered one a copy of a +song unpurchaseable for money and unprocurable for love; she promised +another that her maid should perform certain miracles in millinery on +her behalf; she sat down at the piano and played and sang brilliantly. +Lady Mitford watched her in silent amazement, in growing +consternation. The witchery of her beauty was irresistible; the +power of an evil purpose lent her the subtlest seductive charm. The +dark-grey eyes flashed fire, and glowed with triumph; the wanton mouth +trembled with irrepressible fun. + +It was an easy and a common thing for Laura Hammond to captivate men, +and she really thought nothing about it, unless some deeper purpose, +some remoter end, happened, as in the present instance, to be in view; +but women, to tell the simple truth, always feared, generally envied, +and frequently hated her; she enjoyed her triumph over the "feminine +clique," as she disdainfully called them, at Redmoor thoroughly, and +with keen cynical appreciation. She played her game steadily all that +evening. When the gentlemen came into the drawing-room she almost +ignored their presence; she was innocently, ingenuously polite, but +she admitted no exclusive attentions; she never relapsed for a moment +in her wheedling, but never overdone, civilities to the women. She +brought forward the bashful young ladies; she actually played a +perfect accompaniment, full of the most enchanting trills and shakes, +to a feeble bleat which one of them believed to be a song; and when +Sir Charles Mitford, whose ungoverned temper and natural ill-breeding +invariably got the better of the conventional restraints which were +even yet strange to him, endeavoured to interrupt her proceedings, she +stopped him with a stealthy uplifted finger, and a warning glance +directed towards his wife. Her victim was persuaded that he fully +understood her; he rendered her admirable _ruse_ in his feeble way, +the warmest tribute of admiration; and he left the room with a vague +consciousness that the indifference which had been for some time his +only feeling towards his wife was rapidly turning into hatred. + +Laura Hammond's own game was not the only one she played that night. +Lord Dollamore had watched her quite as closely as Lady Mitford, and +to more purpose. He saw that--where sheer recklessness or from some +deeper motive,--which he thought he could dimly discern--she was +hurrying matters to a crisis, and that he might take advantage of the +position which she had created. They were dainty jewelled claws with +which he proposed to snatch the fruit he coveted from the fire; but +what of that; they were cruel also; and when they had done his work he +cared little what became of them. Let them be scorched and burnt; let +the sharp talons be torn out from their roots; what cared he? So he +watched the feline skill, the deft, supple, graceful dexterity of the +woman, with a new interest--personal this time; any he had previously +felt had been mere connoisseurship, mere cynical curiosity, in a +marked and somewhat rare specimen. + +Every evidence of this observation, every sign Of this new interest, +was carefully and successfully suppressed. When all other yes were +turned on Mrs. Hammond, his never rested on her even by accident. She +sang; and while the greater part of the company gathered round the +piano, and those who could not obtain places near the singer kept +profound silence, and listened with eager intensity, Dollamore +ostentatiously suppressed a yawn, turned over the upholstery-books +which ornamented the useless tables, scrutinized the +chimney-decorations, and finally strolled into the adjoining room. +Equally artistic was his demeanour towards Lady Mitford. He was +delicately deferential and frankly cordial; but neither by word or +look did he remind her of the service he had rendered her at dinner. +Georgie might have been slow to comprehend genius and appreciate wit, +but she recognized delicacy and good taste at a glance: and so it fell +out that when she received Lord Dollamore's "goodnight," she thought, +as she returned the valediction, "There is one man besides Colonel +Alsager over whom she has no power. Lord Dollamore holds her in +contempt." + +The next morning at breakfast Lord Dollamore announced regretfully +that he must leave Redmoor for a few days, but hoped to return by the +end of the week. He addressed this announcement to Sir Charles +Mitford, who was gazing intently on Mrs. Hammond as she broke the +seals of several notes, and tossed them down one after another, half +read, with a most reassuring air of indifference. Lady Mitford was not +present; breakfast was a free and unceremonious meal at Redmoor, to +which everybody came when everybody liked, and nobody was surprised if +anybody stayed away. Sir Charles expressed polite regret. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Hammond, "how very sorry Lady Mitford will +be! Bereft of her two courtiers, she will be bereaved indeed. First +Colonel Alsager, and now Lord Dollamore. She will be quite _au +déspoir_. + +"I wish I could hope to make so deep an impression by my absence, Mrs. +Hammond," he answered in the careless tone in which one replies to a +silly observation made by a petted child. "Mitford, can you come with +me into the library a minute?" And he moved away, taking with him a +parcel of letters.--"When you are spiteful, and show it, you grow +vulgar, madam," he muttered under his breath--"after the manner of +your kind--and a trifle coarse; but Mitford is not the man to see +that, or to mind it if he did." + +Half an hour later Lord Dollamore had left Redmoor; and as he leant +back in the railway carriage which bore him towards town, he quietly +reviewed all that had taken place during his visit, and arrived at a +conclusion perfectly satisfactory to himself. Then he resolved to +think no more of the matter till his return; and dismissed it with the +reflection that "Mitford was a regular beast,--low, and all that;" but +that she "was a devilish nice woman;--no fool, but not clever enough +to bore one, and pretty enough for anything." + +Matters continued pretty much in the same state at Redmoor during the +week which followed Lord Dollamore's departure. Lady Mitford wrote to +Colonel Alsager, and heard from him; but her letter--that which we +have seen him receive at Knockholt--said as little as possible of the +real state of affairs. The truth made a faint attempt to struggle out +in the postscript; but pride, reserve, an instinct of propriety, the +numberless obstacles to a woman in such a position as that of Lady +Mitford telling it in its entirety to any man rendered the attempt +abortive. Could he not come? she had asked him. Could he not come? she +asked herself, in the weary days through which she was passing--days +of which each one was wearier and more hopeless than its predecessor; +for things were becoming desperate now. The other guests had taken +their leave, but still the Hammonds remained at Redmoor. Not a woman +of the party but had known Laura's hollowness and falsehood well--had +known that the powers of fascination she had employed were mere tricks +of cunning art; but they were all fascinated for all that. Laura had +made the close of the time at Redmoor incomparably pleasant, whereas +its opening had been undeniably dull; and there was another reason for +their letting Mrs. Hammond down easily. They had remained as long as +they could in the same house with her; and how were they to excuse or +account for their having done so, if they disclosed their real opinion +of her character and conduct? It was a keen privation, no doubt, not +to be able to descant upon the "doings" at Redmoor, but they had to +bear it; and the only alleviation within their reach was an occasional +compassionate mention of Lady Mitford as "hardly up to the mark for +her position and fortune, and sadly jealous, poor thing!" + +It would have been impossible, in common decency, to have avoided all +mention of the departure of the Hammonds; and accordingly Sir Charles +Mitford told his wife, as curtly and sullenly as possible, that she +might make her preparations for going to town, as he supposed they +would be moving off in a few days. Georgie had suffered dreadfully, +but the worst was over. The keen agony of outraged love had died out, +and the sense of shame, humiliation, terrible apprehension, and +uncertainty, was uppermost now. In her distress and perplexity she was +quite alone; she had no female friend at all in any real sense of the +word. It was not likely Sir Charles Mitford's wife should have any; +and the only friend she could rely upon was away, and hopelessly +detained. The only friend she could rely on--As she repeated the +lamentation over and over again in the solitude of her room, and +in the bitterness of her heart, did it ever occur to her that the +only friend she could rely on might be a dangerous, though not a +treacherous one;--that she was crying peace, peace, where there was no +peace? + +"When we know what the Hammonds are going to do, I shall write to +Dollamore," said Sir Charles. He spoke to Georgie. + +She felt an eager longing to see her old home, and to breathe a purer +moral atmosphere than that of Redmoor. "I can only suffer and be +perplexed here," she thought. "Let me get away, and I can think +freely, and make up my mind to some line of action. Out of her sight, +I should be easier, even in town; and how much easier at home!--once +more in the old place, and among the old people, where I used to be +before I knew there were such women as this one in the world." So she +thought she would do a courageous thing, and ask Sir Charles to take +her home for a little, as soon as the Hammonds should have left +Redmoor. + +She came to this resolution one morning before she went down to +breakfast,--before she had to encounter Mrs. Hammond, who brought a +fresh supply of ammunition to the attack on each such occasion; whose +beauty was never brighter or more alluring than when she arrayed it in +the elaborate simplicity of Parisian morning-dress; who was not +sufficiently sensitive to be _journalière_, and who might always +cherish a well-founded confidence in her own good looks, and the +perfect efficiency of her weapons. Not that Georgie was fighting her +any longer on the old _terrain_; she had retreated from that, and had +no other object now than to shield herself from the perpetual sharp +fire of Laura's polished impertinence, her epigrammatic sarcasms, her +contemptuous pity. Lady Mitford, whose good sense was apt to do its +proper office in spite of the tumult of feeling constantly striving to +overpower it, wondered sometimes why Laura took so much trouble to +wound her. "She has made sure of Sir Charles," the pure simple lady +would say to herself, when some sharp arrow had been shot at her, and +she felt the smart, not quite so keenly as the archer thought perhaps, +but keenly still. "She does not need to turn me into ridicule before +him, to expose my defects and _gaucheries_; she does not need to test +his devotion to her by the strength and impenetrability of his +indifference to me,--at least not now. She is clever enough to know +that wit and humour, sarcasm and finesse, are all thrown away upon +_him_, if she is showing them off for her own sake." Of a surety Lady +Mitford was rapidly learning to estimate Sir Charles aright. "Her +beauty and her unscrupulousness have fascinated him, and all the rest +is more likely to bore him than otherwise. If she were in love with +him she might not understand this; but she is not in love with him--not +even after her fashion and his own; and I am sure she does understand +it perfectly. What does she throw so much vigilance away for, +then?--for she never loses a chance. Why does she waste so much energy +on _me_? Of course, I know she hates me; and if she be as good a hater +as such a woman should be, she would not be satisfied with the one +grand injury she has done me; hatred might be pacified by so large +a sop, but spite would crave for more. Yes, that must be the +explanation--she is feeding spite." + +If the old clergyman who had cried over Georgie Stanfield on her +wedding-day, and uttered that futile blessing on the marriage which +was so unblessed, could have heard her speak thus to her own heart, +how utterly confounded and astonished that good but not "knowledgable" +individual would have been! A few months in the great world to have +turned Georgie into this woman, who seeks for motives, who reads +character, who has all the dreary cunning in interpretation of the +human heart which his life-long experience had failed to impart to +him, though he had passed half a century in professional proclamation +that "the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately +wicked." But it was not her short experience of the great world in any +general sense which had so far forwarded her education in the science +of life as to enable her thus to analyze conduct and motives,--she had +had a surer, subtler teacher; she had loved, and been betrayed; she +had hoped, and been deceived. She had dreamed a young girl's dream, +and one by no means so exaggerated and exalted as most young girls +indulge in; and the awakening had come, not only with such rudeness +and bitterness as seldom accompany the inevitable disillusionment, +but with such startling rapidity, that the lasting of her vision had +borne no more proportion to the usual duration of "love's young +dream," than the forty winks of an after-dinner nap bear to the +dimensions of "a good night's rest." Experience had not tapped at the +sleeper's door, and lingered softly near the couch, and insinuated a +gently-remonstrative remark that really it was time to risk--tenderly +letting in the garish light by tempered degrees the while--cheerfully +impressing, without hurry or severity, the truth that a work-day +world--busy, stirring, dutiful, and real--lay beyond the glorified +realms of slumber, and awaited the passing of the foot going forth to +the appointed task over the enchanted threshold. The summary process +of awakening by which the sleeper has a basinful of cold water flung +on his face, and is pulled out of bed by his feet, bears a stricter +metaphorical analogy to that by which Lady Mitford had been roused +from her delusion; and though she had reeled and staggered under it at +first, the shock had effectually done its work. Georgie Mitford was a +wiser woman than Georgie Stanfield could ever have been made by any +more considerate process. + +All Lady Mitford's newly-sprung wisdom, all the acuteness she had +gained by being sharpened on the grindstone of suffering, did not +enable her to reach a complete comprehension of Mrs. Hammond's +motives. She had not the key to the enigma; she knew nothing of +Laura's former relations with Colonel Alsager. If she had ever heard +the story, or any garbled version of it, at all, it was before she had +any distinct knowledge of, or interest in, either of the parties +concerned,--when she was confused and harassed with the crowd of new +names and unfamiliar faces,--and she had forgotten it. Even that +advantage was her enemy's. Mrs. Hammond had been peculiarly bewitching +to Sir Charles, and preternaturally impertinent to Lady Mitford, at +the breakfast-table, on the morning when Colonel Alsager's first +letter had arrived; indeed, she had a little overdone her part, which +was not altogether unnatural. Fierce passions, a violent temper, and a +cold heart, form a powerful but occasionally troublesome combination, +and imperatively demand a cool brain and steady judgment to control +and utilize them. Laura Hammond had as cool a brain and as steady a +judgment as even a very bad woman could reasonably be expected to +possess; but they were not invariably dominant. The cold heart did not +always aid them successfully in subduing the violent temper; and when +it failed to do so, the combination was apt to be mischievous. On the +occasion in question, Mrs. Hammond had been, to begin with, out of +sorts, as the best-regulated natures, and the most intent on their +purposes in their worst sense, will occasionally be. Sir Charles bored +her, and she was on the point of letting him perceive the fact, and +thus giving her temper its head, when the cool brain interposed and +curbed it in time. She exerted herself then to bewitch and enslave the +Baronet, even beyond his usual condition of enchantment and +subjugation. Her success was complete; but its enjoyment was mitigated +by her perception that it had failed to affect Lady Mitford. The +husband whom she had undoubtedly loved, and of whom she had been +undeniably jealous, slighted her more openly than ever, and offered to +her rival before her face undisguised and passionate homage; and yet +Lady Mitford maintained perfect composure; and though she was +occasionally _distraite_, the expression of her face indicated +anything but painful thoughts as the cause of her abstraction. Her +serene beauty was particularly impressive, and there was an +indefinable added attraction in the calm unconscious grace of her +manner. The quick instinct of hate warned her enemy that she was +losing ground, and she listened eagerly, while she never interrupted +her conversation with Sir Charles, for an indication of the cause. It +came quickly. Alsager's letter was mentioned, and Lady Mitford +imparted its contents to Captain Bligh, who had dropped in late, and +had not heard her communication to Sir Charles. She looked away from +Mrs. Hammond while she spoke, and while she and Bligh discussed the +letter, Sir Peregrine's state, Laurence's detention at Knockholt, and +other topics connected with the subject. It was fortunate that she did +not see Laura's face; the sight would have enlightened her probably, +but at the cost of infinite perplexity and distress, deepening and +darkening a coming sorrow, swooping now very near to her unconscious +head. The look, which would have been a revelation, lasted only a +moment. It did not deform the beauty of the face, which it lighted up +with a lurid glare of baffled passion and raging jealousy; for that +beauty owed nothing to expression--its charm, its power were entirely +sensuous; but it changed it from the seductive loveliness of a wicked +woman to the evil splendour of a remorseless devil. If Lady Mitford +had seen it, the light which its lurid fury would have flashed upon +her might have been vivid enough to show her that in the rage and +torment whence it sprung, she was avenged; but Georgie was not the +sort of woman to be comforted by that view of the subject. + +Lady Mitford made her request of Sir Charles, and was refused more +peremptorily than her letter to Laurence Alsager had implied. The +increasing rudeness of Mitford to his wife was characteristic of the +man. He had neither courage, tact, nor breeding; and when he went +wrong, he did so doggedly, and without making any attempt to mitigate +or disguise the ugliness of the aberration. His demeanour to his wife +at this juncture exhibited a pleasing combination of viciousness and +stupidity. He was maddened by the near inevitability of Laura's +departure. The Hammonds must leave Redmoor, and there was no +possibility of their going to town. Mr. Hammond's physician had +prescribed Devonshire air, and in Devonshire he must be permitted to +remain. Sir Charles heartily cursed the poor old gentleman for the +ill-health by which he and Laura had so largely profited; but curses +could do nothing,--the Hammonds must go. He must be separated from +Laura for a time, unless indeed Hammond would be kind enough to die, +or she would be devoted enough to elope with him. The latter +alternative presented itself to Sir Charles only in the vaguest and +remotest manner, and but for a moment. He had become very much of a +brute, and he had always been somewhat of a fool; but he had not +reached the point of folly at which he could have supposed that Laura +Hammond would forfeit the wealth for which she had sold herself, and +which in the course of nature must soon fall into her hands, for any +inducement of sentiment or passion. He had been brooding over these +grievances alone in the library, when Georgie, with whom he had not +exchanged a dozen words for as many days, came in, and spoke to him, +with a miserable affectation of unconsciousness, about a wish to visit +her old home before their return to town for the season. He refused +with curt incivility and obstinacy; and it is probable that the +ensuing few minutes might have brought about a decided quarrel between +the husband and wife, had not Captain Bligh entered the room abruptly, +and called out, apparently without noticing Lady Mitford's presence: + +"I say, Mitford, you're wanted. Hammond is ever so much worse. Gifford +has been round to the stables to get a groom sent off for Dr. +Wilkinson.--I beg your pardon, Lady Mitford,--I ought to have +mentioned that Mrs. Hammond's maid is looking for _you_." + +Confusion reigned at Redmoor all that day, which seemed likely, during +many hours, to have been the last of Mr. Hammond's life. Sir Charles +felt that his morning meditation had had something prophetic in it; +here was the other alternative almost within his grasp. At all events, +whether he died a little sooner or lingered a little longer, Mr. +Hammond must remain at Redmoor. The evil day was postponed. Lady +Mitford simply devoted herself to the invalid, and behaved towards +Mrs. Hammond with magnanimous kindness and consideration, which might +have disarmed even Laura, had her inveterate coquetry and love of +intrigue been the only animating motives of her conduct. She might +have sacrificed the lesser passions to an impulse of the kind, but the +greater--no. So she accepted all the delicate kindness which poor +Georgie did her, she accepted the _rôle_ of devoted and afflicted wife +assigned to her before the household, and she hardened her heart +against every appeal of her feebly-speaking conscience. With the +following day the aspect of things changed a little. Mr. Hammond +rallied; the doctors considered him likely to get over the attack; and +Lord Dollamore arrived at Redmoor. + +"I didn't hear anything from anybody, Mitford, and so I came on +according to previous arrangement," said his lordship, as he greeted +his host and looked about for Lady Mitford. + +Lord Dollamore had strictly adhered to his programme. He never +burdened his mind with the pursuit of two objects at the same time. He +had completely disposed of the business which had called him away, and +with which the present narrative has no concern; and he had come back +to Redmoor as a kind of _divertissement_ before the serious business +of the season should commence. He entertained no doubt that he could +resume his relation with Lady Mitford precisely at the point which it +had attained when he left Redmoor. Georgie was not a fickle woman in +anything; rather methodical, he had observed, in trifles. The +impression he had made was likely to have been aided rather than +lessened by the intermediate course of events at Redmoor. On the whole +he felt tolerably confident; besides, he did not very much care. Lord +Dollamore's was a happy temperament--a fortunate constitution, in +fact--always supposing that life on this planet was _tout potage_, and +nothing to follow. He could be pleasantly excited by the ardour of +pursuit, and moderately elated by success; but failure had no terrors +for him; he never fell into the weakness of caring sufficiently about +anything to furnish fate with the gratification of disappointing him, +in the heart-sickening or enraging sense of that elastic expression. + +The Hammonds and Lord Dollamore were the only people now at Redmoor +who could be strictly called guests. Captain Bligh was rather more at +home than Sir Charles; and one or two stragglers, who had remained +after the general break-up, addicted themselves to the versatile and +good-humoured _vaurien_, and were generally to be found in his +company. Accordingly, and as he anticipated, Lord Dollamore found Lady +Mitford alone in, the drawing-room when he quitted the delectable +society of the gentlemen. Mrs. Hammond had left the dinner-table, +proclaiming her intention of at once resuming her place by her +husband's side--a declaration by which she secured two purposes: one, +the avoidance of a _tête-à-tête_ with Lady Mitford; the other, the +prevention of a visit by her hostess to the sickroom, on any +supposition that Mr. Hammond might require extra attention. During +dinner she had been quiet and subdued; her manner, in short, had been +perfectly _comme-il-faut_, and she was dressed for her part to +perfection. She had kept alive Lady Mitford's gentler feelings towards +her; she had forged a fresh chain for Sir Charles, who, like "Joey +B.," had great admiration for proceedings which he considered +"devilish sly;" and she had afforded Dollamore much amusement of the +kind which he peculiarly appreciated--quiet, ill-natured, and +philosophical. + +It does not much signify whether Laura went to her husband's sickroom +at all, or how long she remained there; but there was some +significance in the fact, which Lord Dollamore found eminently +convenient and agreeable, that Sir Charles sent a footman to tell my +lady that he had business to attend to in the library, and requested +she would send his coffee thither; and there was a fortunate +coincidence in the adjournment of Captain Bligh and his companions to +the smoking-room, without any embarrassing drawing-room parade at all. + +As Lord Dollamore entered the room, Lady Mitford was bidding +goodnight to Mr. Hammond's little daughter, to whom she had been +uniformly kind since the mysterious departure of Miss Gillespie. Lord +Dollamore had, hardly ever seen the child, whom her stepmother wholly +neglected, leaving her to the care of her maid, if the foreign damsel +who officiated in that enviable capacity chose to take care of +her,--and to chance, if she did not. Laura Hammond hardly knew that +Lady Mitford had taken the child under her kindly protection, and had +kept her with her during many of the hours of each day which she was +not obliged to devote to her social duties; but the child's father +knew the fact, and felt grateful to the one woman, after his senile +fashion, without daring to express or even to feel any condemnation of +the other. As the child left the room, Lord Dollamore looked after her +for a moment before he closed the door; then he went up to Lady +Mitford's sofa by the fireplace, and said quietly: + +"Mrs. Hammond is as admirable as a stepmother as in all the other +relations of life, I fancy." + +Georgie made no reply, and he did not appear to expect any. Then came +Sir Charles's message; and Dollamore watched Lady Mitford closely +during its delivery, and until the servant had left the room, carrying +a single cup of coffee on a salver. + +"Does Mrs. Hammond disdain that celestial beverage?" he asked then, in +a voice so full of meaning that Lady Mitford started and blushed +crimson. This symptom of anger did not disconcert Lord Dollamore in +the least. He had made up his mind to use the first opportunity which +should present itself, and it had come. Of course she would start and +blush, no matter how he phrased his meaning, but the start was rather +graceful, and the blush was decidedly becoming. + +"I don't know. I--what do you mean, Lord Dollamore? Mrs. Hammond has +gone to her room; you heard what she said?" + +"I did; and I don't believe a word of it. 'My poor dear Hammond' will +have very little of her society this evening. Lady Mitford," he said, +with a sudden change of tone, "how long do you intend to endure this +kind of thing? Now I know what you are going to say; "--he put up +his hand with a deferential but decided gesture, to prevent her +speaking;--"I am quite aware that I have no business to talk to you +about Mitford and Mrs. Hammond. I could repeat all that conventional +catechism about the whole duty of men and women without a blunder; but +it's all nonsense--all hypocrisy, which is worse. I am a man of the +world, and you are a woman of the world, or nearly: you will very soon +be completely so. Allow me to anticipate the period at which your +education will be finished, and to speak to you with perfect +frankness." + +Georgie looked at him in complete bewilderment. What did this new tone +which he had assumed mean?--To insult her? No; she had no reason to +think, to fear anything of that kind. Had he not done her at least one +substantial service--had he not saved her from ridicule, from +affording her enemy a triumph? Had not his manner been always +respectful, and, in his indolent way, kind? Even while he spoke of her +as "nearly" a woman of the world, she knew that he was thinking of her +newness, her ignorance of that very world, and of life. Perhaps she +should only expose herself to ridicule on his part now, if she shrank +from hearing him. It was certain that things had gone too far--the +state of affairs had become too evident--for her to affect indignation +or assume prudery, without making herself supremely ridiculous; +besides, there was already a tacit confidence between them, which she +could neither ignore nor recall. She wished vaguely that Colonel +Alsager had been there; then, that some one might come into the room; +but she felt, amid her perplexity and perturbation, a strong desire to +hear what he had to say to her--to learn what was the view which a man +so completely of society, and so capable of interpreting its judgment, +took of her position and prospects. Nervously, yet not unreadily, she +assented; and Lord Dollamore, standing on the hearth-rug and looking +down at her bent head and drooping eyelids, spoke in a low tone: + +"You are no match for Mrs. Hammond, Lady Mitford. You would not be, +even if you did not labour under the insurmountable disadvantage of +being Sir Charles's wife. That must be as evident to yourself--for you +are wonderfully sensible and free from vanity--as it is to the +lookers-on, who proverbially see most of the game. You have feeling +and delicacy, and she is encumbered by no such obstacles to the +attainment of any purpose she may set before her. But because you +can't fight her on any ground, that's no reason why you should let her +make you wretched, and, above all, ridiculous." + +"She cannot. I--" + +Georgie had looked up with an angry beautiful flush on her cheeks and +a sparkle in her eyes, which Mrs. Hammond could not have managed by +any contrivance to excel. But when she saw the look that was fixed on +her, her eyes fell, and she covered her face with her hands. It was +not a bold glance; it was quiet, powerful, and pitying--pitying from +Dollamore's point of view, not of her grief, but of her "greenness." + +"She _can_, and she _has_, Lady Mitford; but it will be your own +fault, and a very silly fault too, if she has that power much longer. +Look the truth in the face; don't be afraid of it. You have lost +Mitford's affections, I suppose you will say; and there never was any +one so miserable; and so forth. It's quite a mistake. Mitford never +had any affections--he had, and has, passions; and they will be won +and lost many and many a time, long after you will have ceased even to +notice in what direction they may happen to be straying. Because your +reign was short, you fancy Mrs. Hammond's will be eternal. Pooh! It +will come to a timely end with the beginning of the opera-season; and +nothing will remain to her of it but a rent in her reputation--which +even that endurable material will hardly bear--and much mortification. +Your reign is over, as you believe; and we will grant, for the sake of +argument, that you are right. Well, what remains to you after this +terrible imaginary bereavement of Mitford's affections? Why, Mitford's +fortune, Mitford's rank, and a position which, if you were under his +influence, might very possibly come to grief; but which you, free and +blameless,--a very pleasant combination, let me tell you, and one that +many a woman would gladly purchase at the price of a little +sentimental blighting,--will elevate and dignify. If you will only +realize your position, Lady Mitford, and act with good sense, you will +have as brilliant a destiny before you as any woman not afflicted with +a mission could possibly desire." + +The dream she had dreamed--the home-life her fancy had pictured--came +back in a moment to Georgie's mental vision; and she said, in a tone +of keen distress: + +"Don't say these things, Lord Dollamore. I know you don't mean them; +but they sound cold and wicked. How could I care for any position? and +what is wealth to me?" + +"Pretty much what it is to every rational being, Lady +Mitford--happiness; or if not quite the real sterling thing, the very +best plated or paste imitation of it procurable in this state of +existence. But you have not only wealth, rank, position, and a career +of fashion and pleasure to look forward to; there are other things in +your future. Think of your youth, estimate your beauty;--stay--no, you +cannot do that; you never could conceive the effect it must produce on +men who are gentlemen and have taste. If you ever learn to use its +full power, you will be as dangerous as Helen or Cleopatra." + +He had spoken in a calm business-like manner, which disguised the real +freedom of his speech; but he lingered just a little over the last few +words, and thou went on hurriedly: + +"What charm do you think Mrs. Hammond, or all the women like her--who +swarm like vipers in society--will have against you? I am not +flattering you, Lady Mitford,--you know that; I am merely telling you +the simple truth. Your experience has been narrow, and you think all, +or most men, are like Mitford. Because she has beaten you in this +inglorious strife, do you think she could rival you in a grander and +higher warfare?" + +"Inglorious!" she said, amazed. "Oh, Lord Dollamore, he is my +husband!" + +Dollamore smiled--not at all a pleasant smile; there was too much +contemptuous toleration in it. + +"Your husband! Yes, he is your husband; but is he therefore any the +less a commonplace and vulgar-minded person? You are too clever, Lady +Mitford" (he understood the art of praising a woman for those +qualities which she does _not_ possess), "to believe in or repeat the +stupid methodistical cant which would limit a woman's perceptions, +sympathies, and associations, to her husband only,--a worse than +Eastern bondage; for it does not involve indulgence, and it sins +against knowledge. You are not going to 'live forgotten and die +forlorn,' because you have married a man who is certainly not much +better than his neighbours, and who is really no worse. Of course he +does not suit you, and he never would have suited you, if Mrs. Hammond +had never existed. You would have found that out a little later, and +rather less unpleasantly, perhaps; but why not make the best of the +early date of the discovery, which, after all, has its advantages? +Mitford does not 'understand' you-that's the phrase, I think. Well, +it's no worse because he does 'understand' some one of a lower calibre +which is wonderfully like his own. He won't annoy you in any way, I +daresay; he is ill at ease in society at the best, and he will keep +out of it,--out of good society, I mean--_your_ set. He will find +resources at his own level, I daresay. Then do not trouble yourself +about him; by and by, I mean, when the Hammond will be nowhere. Of +course that business vexes you now; people always are vexed in the +country by things they would never care about in town. It's the trees +and the moon and the boredom, I suppose. Make up your mind not to +trouble yourself about him; study the advantages of your position +well, and determine to take the fullest possible enjoyment of them +all." + +He paused and looked at her, with a covert anxiety in his gaze. She +sat quite still, and she was very pale; but she did not say a word. +Her thoughts were painful and confused. Only one thing was clear to +her: this man's counsel was very different from that which Colonel +Alsager had given her. Which of the two would be the easier to follow? +Georgie had strayed--at least a little way--into a dangerous path, +when she acknowledged the possibility that it might be a struggle to +act upon Alsager's, and might be even possible to follow Lord +Dollamore's counsel. The pale face was very still; but Dollamore +thought he could read indecision in it. He drew a little nearer to +her, and bent a little more towards her, as he said: + +"Do you really believe-do you even make-believe-that love is never +more to be yours? Put such a cruel delusion far from you. You find it +hard to live without love now; you grieve because you cannot keep the +old feeling alive in your own heart, as keenly as you grieve because +it has died in your husband's. You will find it impossible in the time +to come. Then, when the tribute of passionate devotion is offered to +you, you will not always refuse to accept it. Then, if one who has +seen you in these dark days, radiant in beauty and unequalled in +goodness,--one whom you have taught to believe in the reality of--" + +A servant entered the room, and handed Lady Mitford a small twisted +note. It was from Sir Charles, and merely said, "Come to me at +once--to the library." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +MR. EFFINGHAM'S PROGRESS. + + +When Mr. Effingham returned to town after his signal discomfiture at +Redmoor by Miss Gillespie, he had only two objects in view: one to +prevent Griffiths finding out that he had gone so near to achieving +success, but yet had failed; the other to find out whither the young +woman, who had so cunningly betrayed him, had betaken herself. The +first was not very difficult. The meeting with the object of his +search down at a country-house far away in Devon was too improbable to +present itself to a far more brilliantly gifted person than Mr. +Griffiths; while the receipt of five sovereigns (Sir Charles's +donation had this time been represented at twenty-five pounds only) +gave that gentleman an increased opinion of his friend's powers of +persuasion, and rendered him hopeful for the future. + +The accomplishment of the second object was, however, a different +matter. Mr. Effingham's innate cunning taught him that after all he +had said to Miss Gillespie--or Lizzie Ponsford--about the source of +his instructions, the company of her old acquaintances--Messrs. Lyons, +Griffiths, Crockett, and Dunks--was about the last she would be likely +to affect; and yet in their society only would he have opportunities +of seeking her. Through the oft-threaded mazes of that tangled web, in +and out, from haunt to haunt, Mr. Effingham once more wended his +way,--asking every one, prying into every corner, listening to every +conversation,--all to no purpose. He began to think that the object of +his search must have departed from her original intention, and instead +of coming up to London, have halted on the way; but then, what could +she have done alone, unaided, without resources, in any provincial +town? Mr. Effingham took to frequenting the Devonshire public-houses +and coffee-shops,--queer London holes kept by Devonshire people, who +yet preserved a little clannish spirit, who took in a Devon paper, and +whose houses were houses-of-call for stray children of the far West, +sojourning for business or pleasure in London. Many a long talk was +there in Long Acre or Smithfield, surrounded by the foetid atmosphere +and the dull rumblings of metropolitan life, of the Exe and the Dart, +of the wooded coast of Dawlish and the lovely bay of Babbicombe, +of purple moor and flashing cataract, of wrestling-matches and +pony-fairs. The cads who dropped in for an accidental half-pint stared +with wonder at the brown countrymen, on whom the sun-tan yet remained, +who talked a language they had never heard, in an accent they could +not understand; who had their own jokes and their own allusions, in +which the jolly landlord and his wife bore their part, but which were +utterly unintelligible to the cockney portion of the customers. In +these houses, among the big burly shoulders of the assembled +Devonians, Mr. Effingham's perky little head was now constantly seen. +They did not know who he was; but as he was invariably polite and +good-natured, took the somewhat ponderous provincial badinage with +perfect suavity, and was always ready to drink or smoke with any of +them, they tolerated his presence and answered his questions +respecting the most recent arrivals from their native county civilly +enough. But all was unavailing; to none of them was the personal +appearance of Miss Gillespie known. The presence of any stranger in +their neighbourhood would not have passed unnoticed; but of the few +sojourners who were described to him, none corresponded in the least +to that person whom he sought so anxiously. + +Would she not attempt to persevere in the new line of life which she +had filled at Redmoor and succeeded in so admirably? As governess and +companion she had been seemingly happy and comfortable; as governess +and companion she would probably again try her fortune. Forthwith Mr. +Effingham had a wild desire to secure the services of a desirable +young person to superintend the studies of his supposititious niece; +and Mrs. Barbauldson, who kept a "governess agency," and Messrs. +Chasuble and Rotchet, who combined the providing of governesses and +tutors with "scholastic transfers," vulgarly known as "swopping +schools," the engagement of curates, and the sale of clerical +vestments and ecclesiastical brass-ware, were soon familiarized with +Mr. Effingham's frequent presence. He dropped in constantly at their +establishments, and took the liveliest interest in the registers, +looking through not merely the actual list of candidates for +employment, but searching the books for the past three months. He paid +his half-crown fees with great liberality, or else the manner in which +he used to bounce in and out the waiting-room and examine the features +of the ladies there taking their turn to detail the list of their +accomplishments to the clerk, was, to say the least of it, irregular, +and contrary to the regulations of the establishment. But all to no +purpose,--he could learn nothing of any one in the remotest degree +resembling Miss Gillespie: his search among the governess-agencies had +been as futile as his visits to the Devonshire public-houses, and all +Mr. Effingham's time and trouble had been spent in vain. + +What should he try next? He really did not know. He had, ever since +his visit to Redmoor, been rather shy of Mr. Griffiths, fearing lest +that worthy person might learn more than it was necessary, in Mr. +Effingham's opinion, he should know. Griffiths was to him a very +useful jackal, and it was not meet that the jackal's opinion of the +lion's sagacity and strength should be in any way diminished. Chance +had so far favoured him that Mr. Griffiths had recently been absent +from town, having accepted a temporary engagement of an important +character, as occasional croupier, occasional doorkeeper, to a +travelling band of gamblers, who were importing the amusing games of +French hazard and roulette into some of the most promising towns in +the Midland Counties. + +One night Mr. Effingham was sitting in a very moody state at +"Johnson's," sipping his grog and wondering vaguely what would be the +next best move to make in his pursuit of Miss Gillespie, when raising +his eyes, they encountered Mr. Griffiths,--Mr. Griffiths, and not Mr. +Griffiths. Gone was the tall shiny hat, its place occupied by a +knowing billy-cock; gone were the rusty old clothes, while in their +place were garments of provincial cut indeed, but obviously costly +material; a slouch poncho greatcoat kept Mr. Griffiths's body warm, +while Mr. Griffiths's boots, very much contrary to their usual custom, +were sound and whole, and hid Mr. Griffiths's feet from the garish eye +of day. Moreover, Mr. Griffiths's manner, usually a pleasing compound +of the bearing of Ugolino and the demeanour of the Banished Lord, was, +for him, remarkably sprightly. He threw open the swing-door, and +brought in his body squarely, instead of butting vaguely in with the +tall hat, as was his usual custom; he walked down the centre of the +room, instead of shuffling round by the wall; and advancing to the box +in which Mr. Effingham was seated in solitary misery, he clapped him +on the back and said, "D'Ossay, my buck, how are you?" + +The appearance, the manner, and the swaggering speech had a great +effect on Mr. Effingham. He looked up, and after shaking hands with +his friend, remarked, "You've been doin' it up brown, Griffiths,--you +have. They must have suffered for this down about Hull and Grimsby, I +should think?" And with a comprehensive sweep of his forefinger he +took in Griffiths's outer man from his hat to his boots. + +"Well, it warn't bad," said Mr. Griffiths, with a bland smile. "The +yokels bled wonderful, and the traps kept off very well, considerin' +I'm pretty full of ochre, I am; and so far as a skiv or two goes, I'm +ready to stand friend to them as stood friend to me, D'Ossay, my boy. +No? Not hard up? Have a drink then, and tell us what's been going on." + +The drink was ordered, and Mr. Effingham began to dilate on the +various phases of his pursuit of Lizzie Ponsford. As he proceeded, Mr. +Griffiths went through a series of pantomimic gestures, which with him +were significant of attempts to arouse a dormant memory. He rubbed his +head, he scratched his ear, he looked up with a singularly vacant air +at the pendent gas-light, he regarded his boots as though they were +strange objects come for the first time within his ken. At length, +when Mr. Effingham ceased, he spoke. + +"It must have been her!" said he, ungrammatically but emphatically, at +the same time bringing his fist down heavily on the table to express +his assertion. + +"What must have been her, Griffiths?" inquired Mr. Effingham, who was +growing irritated by the extremely independent tone of his usually +deferential subordinate,--"why don't you talk out, instead of +snuffling to yourself and makin' those faces at me? What must have +been her?" + +Successful though he was for the time being, Mr. Griffiths had been +too long subservient to the angry little man who addressed him to be +able to shake off his bonds. He fell back into his old state of +submission, grumbling as he said: + +"You're a naggin' me as usual, D'Ossay, you are! Can't let a cove +think for a minute and try and recollect what he'd 'eard,--you can't. +What I was tryin' to bring back was this--there's a cove as I know, a +theatrical gent, gets engagements for lakers and that, and provides +managers of provincial gaffs with companies and so on. He was down at +Hull, he was, and he come into our place one night with Mr. Munmorency +of the T. R. there, as often give us a look up; and when business was +over--we was rather slack that night--we went round to his 'otel to +have a glass. And while we was drinkin' it and talkin' over old times, +he says to me, 'Wasn't you in a swim with old Lyons and Tony Butler +once?' he says. 'Not once,' I says, 'but a good many times,' I says. +'I thought so,' he says; 'and wasn't there a handsome gal named +Ponsford, did a lot of business for them?' he says. 'There was,' I +says; 'fortune-tellin' and Mysterious-Lady business, and all that +gaff,' I says. 'That's it,' he says; 'I couldn't think where I'd seen +her before.' 'When did you see her last?' I says. 'About three weeks +ago,' he says, 'she come to me on a matter of business, and claimed +acquaintance with me; and though I knew the face and the name, I could +not think where I had seen her before.'" + +"Didn't you ask him anything more about her?" said Mr. Effingham. + +"No, I didn't. 'Twas odd, wasn't it? but I didn't. You see I wasn't on +your lay then, D'Ossay, my boy, and I was rather tired with hookin' in +the 'arf-crowns and calclatin' the bettin' on the ins and outs, and I +was enjoyin' my smoke and lookin' forward to my night's rest." + +"What a sleepy-headed cove you are, Griffiths!" said Mr. Effingham +with great contempt. "What do you tell me this for, if this is to be +the end?" + +"But this ain't to be the end, D'Ossay, dear! Mr. Trapman's come back +by this time, I dessay, and we'll go and look him up to-morrow and see +whether he can tell us anything of any real good about this gal. He's +a first-rate hand is Trapman, as knowin' as a ferret; and it won't do +to let him know what our game is, else he might go in and spoil it and +work it for himself. So just you hold your tongue, if we see him, +D'Ossay, and leave me to manage the palaver with him." + +Mr. Effingham gave an ungracious assent to his companion's suggestion, +and, practical always, asked him to name a time for this meeting on +the next day. Mr. Griffiths suggested twelve o'clock as convenient for +a glass of ale and a biscuit, and for finding Mr. Trapman at home. So +the appointment was made for that hour; and after a little chat on +subjects irrelevant to the theme of this story, the worthy pair +parted. + +The biscuit and the--several--glasses of ale had been discussed the +next day, and Mr. Griffiths was maunderingly hinting his desire to +remain at Johnson's for some time longer, when Mr. Effingham, burning +with impatience, and with the semblance of authority in him, insisted +upon his quondam parasite, but present equal, convoying him to the +interview with Mr. Trapman. Mr. Trapman's Dramatic Agency Office, so +notified in blue letters on a black board, was held at the Pizarro +Coffee-house in Beak Street, Drury Lane. A dirty, bygone, greasy, +used-up little place the Pizarro Coffee-house, with its fly-blown +playbills banging over its wire-blind, its greasy coffee-stained +lithograph of Signor Poleno, the celebrated clown, with his performing +dogs; its moss-covered basket, which looked as if it had been made in +a property-room, containing two obviously fictitious eggs. The +supporters of the Pizarro were Mr. Trapman's clients, and Mr. +Trapman's clients became perforce supporters of the Pizarro. When an +actor was, as he described it, "out of collar," he haunted Beak +Street, took "one of coffee and a rasher" at the Pizarro, and entered +his name on Mr. Trapman's books. The mere fact of undergoing that +process seemed to revivify him at once. He was on Trapman's books, and +would probably be summoned at an hour's notice to give 'em his Hamlet +at South Shields: a capital fellow, Trapman!--safe to get something +through him; and then the candidate for provincial histrionic honour +would poodle his hair under his hat and take a glance at himself in +the strip of looking-glass that adorned the window of the Roscius' +Head, and would wonder when that heiress who should see him from the +stage-box O.P., and faint on her mother's neck, exclaiming, "Fitzroy +Bellville for my husband, or immediate suicide for me!" would arrive. + +There was a strange _clientèle_ always gathered round Mr. Trapman's +door so long as the great agent was visible, viz. from ten till five; +old men in seedy camlet cloaks with red noses and bleared eyes--"heavy +fathers" these--and cruel misers and villanous stewards and +hard-swearing admirals and libertine peers; dark sunken-eyed gray men, +with cheeks so blue from constant shaving that they look as if they +had been stained by woad; virtuous and vicious lovers; heroes of +romance and single walking-gentlemen; comic men with funny faces and +funny figures, ready to play the whole night through from six till +twelve, in four pieces, and to interpolate a "variety of singing and +dancing" between each; portly matrons--Emilias and Belvideras now-who +have passed their entire life upon the stage, and who at five years of +age first made their appearance as flying fairies; sharp wizen-faced +little old ladies, who can still "make-up young at night," and who are +on the lookout for the smart _soubrette_ and singing-chambermaid's +line; and heavy tragedians--these most difficult of all to provide +for-with books full of testimonials extracted from the potential +criticisms of provincial journals. The ladies looked in, made their +inquiries as to "any news," and went away to their homes again; but +the gentlemen remained about all day long, lounging in Beak Street, +leaning against posts, amicably fencing together with their ashen +sticks, gazing at the playbills of the metropolitan theatres, and +wondering when their names will appear there. + +Through a little knot of these upholders of the mirror, Mr. Effingham +and Mr. Griffiths made their way up the dark dirty staircase past the +crowded landing, until they came into the sanctuary of the office. +Here was a dirty-faced boy acting as clerk, who exhibited a +strong desire to enter their names and requirements in a large +leather-covered book before him; but Griffiths caught sight of Mr. +Trapman engaged in deep and apparently interesting conversation with a +short dark man in a braided overcoat, and a telegraphic wink of +recognition passed between them. As it was the boy's duty to notice +everything, he saw the wink, and left them without further +molestation, until Mr. Trapman had got rid of his interlocutor, and +had come over to talk to them. + +"Well, and how are you?" said he, slapping Mr. Griffiths on the +back.--"Servant, sir," to Mr. Effingham.--"And how _are_ you?" Slaps +repeated. + +"Fust rate," said Mr. Griffiths, poking him in the ribs. "This is Mr. +Effingham, friend of mine, and a re-markably downy card!" + +Wouldn't be a friend of yours if he wasn't, said Mr. Trapman, with +another bow to D'Ossay. "Well, and what's up? Given up the gaff, I +suppose. Seven to nine! all equal!--no more of that just now, eh?" + +"No; not in town. Sir Charles Rowan and Colonel Mayne at Scotland +Yard, they know too much,--they do. No; I ain't here on business." + +"No?" said Mr. Trapman playfully. "I thought you might be goin in for +the heavy father, Griffiths, or the comic countryman, since your tour +in the provinces." + +Mr. Griffiths grinned, and declared that Mr. Trapman was "a chaffin' +him." "My friend, Mr. D'Ossay--Effingham is more in that line," he +said; "a neat figure, and a smart way he's got." + +"Charles Surface, Mercushow, Roderigo,--touch-and-go comedy,--that's +his line," said Mr. Trapman, glancing at Mr. Effingham. "One +fi'-pun-note of the Bank of England, and he opens at Sunderland next +week." + +Mr. Effingham had been staring in mute wonder at this professional +conversation; but he understood the last sentence, and thought enough +time had been spent in discussing what they didn't want to know. So he +put on his impetuous air and said to Griffiths, "Go in at him now!" + +Thus urged, and taking his cue at once, Mr. Griffiths said, "No, no; +you've mistaken our line. What we want of you is a little information. +Oh, we're prepared to pay the fee!" he added, seeing Mr. Trapman's +face grow grave under a rapid impression of wasted time; "only--no +fakement; let's have it gospel, or not at all." + +"Fire away!" said Mr. Trapman. "I'm here to be pumped--for a +sovereign!" + +The coin was produced, and handed over. + +"Now," said Mr. Trapman, having tested it with his teeth, and then +being satisfied, stretched out his arm in imitation of a pump-handle, +"go to work!" + +"You recollect," said Griffiths, "telling me, when we met down at +Hull, that one of our old lot had been to see you lately--a girl +called Lizzie Ponsford." + +"I do perfectly." + +"It's about her we want to know--that's all." + +"It ain't much to tell, but it was curous,--that it was. It's six +weeks ago now, as I was a-sittin' in this old shop, finishin' some +letters for the post, when I looked up and saw a female in the doorway +with a veil on. I was goin' on with my letters, takin' no notice, for +there's _always_ somebody here, in and out all day they are, when the +female lifted up her finger first warning-like, like the ghosts on the +stage, and then pointin' to Tom, the boy there, motioned that he +should go out of the room. I was a little surprised; for though I had +enough of that sort of thing many years ago, I've got out of it now. I +thought it was a case of smite; I did indeed. However, I sealed up the +letters, and told Tom to take 'em to the post; and then the female +came in, shuttin' the door behind her. When she lifted her veil, I +thought I knew the face, but couldn't tell where; however she soon +reminded me of that first-rate gaff, in--where was it?--out Oxford +Street way, where she did the Mysterious Lady, and Seenor Cocqualiqui +the conjurin', and Ted Spicer sung comic songs. I remembered her at +once then, and asked her what she wanted. 'An engagement,' she says. +'All right,' I says; 'what for?' 'Singin'-chambermaid, walkin'-lady, +utility, anything,' she says. 'Walkin'-lady, to grow into leadin' high +comedy, 's your line, my dear,' I says: 'you're too tall for +chambermaids, and too good for utility. Now, let's look up a place for +you.' I was goin' to my books, but she stopped me. 'I don't want a +place,' she says; 'I ain't goin' to stop in England; all I want from +you,' she says, 'is two or three letters of introduction to managers +in New York. You've seen me before the public; and though you've never +seen me act, you could tell I wasn't likely to be nervous or stammer, +or forget my words.' 'No fear of that,' I says. 'Very well then,' she +says, 'as I don't want to hang about when I get there, but want them +to give me an appearance at once, just you write me the letters, +and'--puttin' two sovereigns on the table--'make 'em as strong as you +can for the money.' Oh, a clever girl she is! I sat down to write the +letters, and in the middle of the first I looked up, and I says, 'The +bearer, Miss ----, what name shall I say?' 'Leave it blank, Mr. +Trapman, please,' says she, burstin' out laughin'; 'I haven't decided +what my name's to be,' she says; 'and when I have, I think I can fill +it in so that no one will know it ain't your writin'.' So I gave her +the letters and she went away; and that's my story." + +Mr. Griffiths looked downhearted, and was apparently afraid that his +patron would imagine he had not had his money's worth; but Mr. +Effingham, on the contrary, seemed in much better spirits, and thanked +Mr. Trapman, and proposed an adjournment to the Rougepot close by in +Salad Yard, where they had their amicable glasses of ale, and +discussed the state of the theatrical profession generally. + +When they had bidden adieu to Mr. Trapman and were walking away +together, Mr. Griffiths reverted to the subject of Miss Ponsford. + +"There's an end of that little game, I s'pose," said he; "that +document's lost to us for ever." + +"Wait!" said Mr. Effingham, with a grin; "I ain't so sure of that. +She's gone to New York, you see; now I know every hole and corner in +New York, and I'm known everywhere there, as well as any Yankee among +them. I could hunt her up there fifty times easier than I could in +London." + +"I daresay," said Mr. Griffiths; "but you see there's one thing a +trifle against that; you ain't in New York." + +"But I could go there, I s'pose, stoopid!" + +"Yes; but how, stoopid? You can't pad the hoof over the sea; and them +steamers lay it on pretty thick, even in the steerage." + +"I'm goin' to America within the next week, Griffiths, and I intend a +friend of mine to pay for my passage." + +"What! the Bart. again?" + +"Exactly. The Bart. again!" + +"And what game are you goin' to try on with him now?" + +"Ah, Griffiths, that's my business, my boy. All you've got to do is to +say goodbye to your D'Ossay to-night, for he's got to journey down to +that thunderin' old Devonshire again to-morrow; and before a week's +out he intends to be on the briny sea." + + +For the second time Mr. Effingham travelled down to Redmoor, and +obtained an interview with Sir Charles Mitford. He found that +gentleman very stern and haughty on this occasion; so Mr. Effingham +comported himself with great humility. + +"Now, sir," said Sir Charles, "you've broken your word for the second +time. What do you want now?" + +"I'm very sorry, Sir Charles--no intention of givin' offence, Sir +Charles; but--" + +"You've not got that--that horrible bill?" + +"N-no, Sir Charles, I haven't; but--" + +"Then what brings you here, sir? more extortion?--a further attempt to +obtain money under false pretences?" + +"No, no; don't say that, Sir Charles. I'll tell you right off. I may as +well make a clean breast of it. I can't find that document anywhere. I +don't know where it is; and I'm sick of cadgin' about and spongin' on +you. You know when I first saw you up in town I told you I'd come from +America. I was a fool to leave it. I did very well there; and I want +to go back." + +"Well, sir?" + +"Well, just as a last chance, do that for me. I've been true to you; +all that business of the young woman I managed first-rate--" + +"I paid you for it." + +"So you did; but try me once again." + +"Tell me exactly what you want now." + +"Pay my passage out. Don't even give me the money; send some cove to +pay it, and bring the ticket to me; and he can come and see me off, if +he likes, and give me a trifle to start with on the other side of the +water; and you'll never hear of me again." + +Sir Charles reflected a few moments; then said, "Will you go at once?" + +"At once-this week; sooner the better." + +"Have you made any inquiries about ships?" + +"There's one sails from Liverpool on Friday." + +"On Friday-and to-day is Saturday; just a week. I shan't trust you in +the matter, Mr. Butler," said Sir Charles, taking up a letter lying on +the table. "I shall adopt that precaution which you yourself +suggested. A friend of mine, coming through from Scotland, will be in +Liverpool on Wednesday night. Yes," he added, referring to the letter, +"Wednesday night. I'll ask him to stop there a day, to take your +ticket and to see you sail; and with the ticket he shall give you +twenty pounds." + +Mr. Effingham was delighted; he had succeeded better even than he had +hoped, and he commenced pouring out his thanks. But Sir Charles cut +him very short, saying: + +"You will ask for Captain Bligh at the Adelphi Hotel; and recollect, +Mr. Butler, this is the last transaction between us;" and he left the +room. + +"For the present, dear sir," said Mr. Effingham, taking up his hat; +"the last transaction for the present; but if our little New York +expedition turns up trumps, you and I will meet again on a different +footing." + +On the Friday morning Mr. Effingham sailed from Liverpool for New York +in the fast screw-steamer Pocahontas, his ticket having been taken and +the twenty pounds paid to him on board by Captain Bligh, who stood by +leaning against a capstan while the vessel cleared out of dock. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +A CRISIS AT REDMOOR. + + +When Mrs. Hammond left the dinner-table on the evening destined to add +a new sorrow to Georgie Mitford's sorely-troubled lot, she really had +gone, as she had announced her intention of going, to her husband's +room. The old man was lying in his bed, propped up with pillows, his +face turned to the large window, through which the rays of the moon +were shining, and mingling in a cold and ghastly manner with the light +in the room. The invalid had a fancy for seeing the dark clumps of +trees on the rising grounds, and the cold moon shining over their +heads. Gifford, his confidential servant, sat at the bed's head, and +had been reading to his master. Mrs. Hammond asked him several +questions in a tone of interest which sounded almost genuine as to how +Mr. Hammond had been; and then saying she meant to remain with the +invalid for a while, she dismissed him, and took her seat by the +window, in a position enabling her to see quite distinctly a portion +of the broad carriage-drive to the right of the entrance, across which +the rays of the moon flung their uninterrupted radiance. Laura did not +exert herself much for the amusement of the invalid. The few questions +he asked her she answered listlessly, then sunk into silence. After a +short time her stepdaughter came softly into the room to bid her +father goodnight. + +"You are rather late, Alice; where have you been?" said Laura, without +turning her head towards the child, still looking fixedly at the patch +of ground in the moonlight. + +"With Lady Mitford, mamma," answered Alice. + +"Have the gentlemen left the dining-room?" + +"Lord Dollamore came into the drawing-room, and I saw Sir Charles +crossing the hall into the library; but I don't know about the +others," answered Alice. + +Mrs. Hammond said no more; and Alice, having received an affectionate +embrace from her father, and the coldest conceivable touch of Mrs. +Hammond's lips on the edge of her cheek, went off to bed. The silence +continued in the sick man's room, and Laura's gaze never turned from +the window. At length a figure passed across the moonlit space, and +was instantly lost in the darkness beyond. Then Mrs. Hammond drew down +the blind, and changed her seat to a chair close by the bedside. She +took up the book which Gifford had laid down, and asked her husband if +he would like her to read on. + +"If you please, my dear," said Mr. Hammond, "if it won't tire you; and +you won't mind my falling asleep, which I may do, for I feel very +drowsy." + +Laura was quite sure it would not tire her to read, and she would be +delighted if her reading should have so soothing an effect. + +"If I do fall asleep, you must not stay with me, Laura; you must go +downstairs again. Promise me you will; and you need not call +Gifford,--I don't require any one; I am much better to-night." + +Very well; Laura would promise not to stay in his room if he should +fall asleep; and as she really did think him very much better, she +would not summon Gifford. + +Mrs. Hammond possessed several useful and attractive accomplishments; +among others, that of reading aloud to perfection. She did not exhibit +her skill particularly on this occasion--her voice was languid and +monotonous; and the author would have had ample reason to complain had +he heard his sentences rendered so expressionless. She read on and on, +in a sullen monotone; and after a quarter of an hour had elapsed, she +had the pleasure of seeing that her kind intention was fulfilled. Her +voice had been very soothing, and her husband had fallen into a +profound sleep. Then she passed through an open door into her +dressing-room, and reappeared, wrapped in a dark warm cloak, the hood +thrown over her head. If any one had taken the place she had so lately +occupied at the window, that person would have seen, after the lapse +of a few moments, a second figure flit across the moonlit space, and +disappear into the darkness beyond. + +About half an hour later Banks tapped at the door of the smoking-room, +and was gruffly bidden to "come in" by Captain Bligh. + +"If you please, Captain," said Banks, upon whom the atmosphere of that +particular apartment always produced a distressingly-choky and +eye-smarting effect,--"if you please, Captain, I can't find Sir +Charles. He ain't in the library, nor yet in the droring-room, and +he's wanted very particular." + +"Perhaps he has gone up to see Mr. Hammond," suggested Bligh. + +"No, Captain, he ain't; I've bin and ast Gifford, and he says as his +missis has been along o' the old gentleman since dinner-time, and +she's there now, and nobody ain't with them." + +"That's odd," said Captain Bligh; "but who wants him? Perhaps I might +do." + +"I beg your pardon, Captain," said the peremptory Banks, "but nobody +won't do but Sir Charles hisself. It's a party as has been sent up +from Fishbourne, where my lady comes from, and his orders is to see +Sir Charles alone, and not to let out his message to nobody else." + +The good-natured Captain looked extremely grave. Only one occurrence +could have rendered so much precaution necessary, and he conjectured +at once that that occurrence had taken place. + +"I fear Mr. Stanfield is dead," he said to his companions. "I must go +and find Mitford. Just excuse me for a while, and make yourselves +comfortable here, will you?--Come with me, Banks, and take care your +mistress gets no hint of this person's being here." + +"There ain't no fear of that, Captain," replied the man; "my lady's in +the droring-room, along o' Lord Dollamore; and I knew that Sir Charles +worn't there, so I didn't go to look for him." + +The Captain found the messenger in the library, where Banks had sent +him to await Sir Charles's appearance. He was a respectable elderly +man, and he answered Captain Bligh's inquiry at once. He had been sent +by poor Georgie's old friend, the curate, to convey to Sir Charles +Mitford the melancholy intelligence of Mr. Stanfield's death, which +had taken place early that morning; and particulars of which event +were contained in a letter which he was charged to deliver to the +Baronet. He had received special injunctions to communicate the event +to Sir Charles alone, and leave it to be "broken" to Lady Mitford by +her husband. The simple curate had little thought how difficult Sir +Charles would find it to assume even a temporary sympathy with the +feelings of his wife. + +Captain Bligh ordered refreshments to be served to the bringer of evil +tidings; requested him not to communicate with any of the other +servants; and strictly enjoining Banks to secrecy, went out of the +front door and into the shrubbery on the left of the house. Mitford +was not unaccustomed to take fits of sullen moodiness at times, and +the Captain thought that he might perhaps find him walking about and +smoking, in all the enjoyment of his ill-humour. + +The intelligent Banks had asked Gifford if he thought it likely that +Sir Charles was in his master's room, in the presence of several of +the ladies and gentlemen of the household, assembled in a comfortable +and spacious apartment which the insolence of a dominant class caused +to be known as the servants'-hall. Among the number of those who heard +the question and its answer was Mademoiselle Marcelline, Mrs. +Hammond's "own maid." She was a trim-looking French girl, who had not +anything remarkable in her appearance except its neatness, or in her +manner except its quietness. She was seated at a large table, on which +a number of workboxes were placed, for the women-servants at Redmoor +greatly affected needlework, and had a good deal of time to devote to +it; and she was embroidering a collar with neatness, dexterity, and +rapidity, eminently French. Mademoiselle Marcelline made no +observation, and did not raise her eyes, or discontinue her work for a +moment, during the discussion as to where Sir Charles could be, which +had ensued upon Banks's inquiry. She had spoken only once indeed since +his entrance. When Gifford had said Sir Charles Mitford could not be +in Mr. Hammond's room, because her mistress had been, and was there +still, he had asked, "Isn't she there still, mam'selle?" Mam'selle +had answered, "Yes, Monsieur Giffore, madame is there still." + +Mademoiselle Marcelline was so very quiet a little person, and +differed so much from French ladies'-maids in general, by the +unobtrusiveness of her manners and her extreme taciturnity--to be sure +she spoke very little English, but that circumstance is rarely found +to limit the loquacity of her class--that her exit from the +servants'-hall was scarcely noticed, when she presently looked at her +little Geneva watch, made up her embroidery into a tidy parcel, and +went away with her usual noiseless step. Mademoiselle Marcelline +mounted the stairs with great deliberation, and smiling a little, +until she reached the corridor into which the suite of apartments +occupied by the Hammonds opened. The rooms were five in number, and +each communicated with the other. They were two bed-rooms, two +dressing-rooms, and a bath-room. The latter occupied the central +space, and had no external door. Mademoiselle Marcelline entered +the last room of the suite, corresponding with that in which Mr. +Hammond lay,--this was Laura's bed-room,--and gently locked the +door. She passed through the adjoining apartment--her mistress's +dressing-room--and paused before a large wardrobe, without shelves, in +which hung a number of dresses and cloaks. She opened the doors, but +held them one in each hand, looked in for a moment, and then shut +them, and smiled still more decidedly. Then she softly locked the door +of this room which opened into the corridor, and passing through the +bath-room secured that of Mr. Hammond's dressing-room also; after +which, with more precaution against noise than ever, she glided into +the old man's room. He was sleeping soundly still, and his face looked +wasted and ashen in the abstraction of slumber. Mademoiselle +Marcelline glanced at him, shrugged her shoulders, sat down on a couch +at the foot of the bed, where she was effectually screened from view +by the heavy carved bedpost and the voluminous folds of the purple +curtain, and waited. + +Meantime, Captain Bligh had not succeeded in finding Sir Charles, +though he had sought for him in the shrubbery and in the stable-yard. +He could not make out whither he had gone, and returned to the house +to take counsel with Banks. That functionary suggested that Sir +Charles might have gone up to the keeper's house; and though the +Captain could not imagine why Sir Charles should have gone thither at +such an inconvenient time, as he had no other to offer, he accepted +this suggestion, and said he would go thither and look for him. + +"Shall I go with you, Captain?" asked Banks, who felt curious to +discover what "Mitford was up to." + +Since Mr. Effingham's visit, and the polite fiction of the +yacht--endeared to Mr. Banks by his own joke about the Fleet Prison, +which he considered so good that society was injured by its +suppression within his own bosom--the incredulous flunkey had +experienced an increased share of the curiosity with which their +masters' affairs invariably inspire servants. He was much pleased then +that Captain Bligh answered, + +"Yes, yes, you can come with me." + +The keeper's cottage was not very far from the great house, from +which, however, it was entirely hidden by a thick fir-plantation which +covered a long and wide space of undulating land, and through which +several narrow paths led to the open ground beyond. The Captain and +his attendant struck into one of those paths, which led directly in +the direction of the keeper's house. + +"We can't miss Sir Charles, I think, if he really has gone up to +Hutton's," said the Captain. + +"No, sir, I think not, unless he has taken a very roundabout way," +answered Banks. + +They walked quickly on for some distance, the Captain's impatience +momentarily increasing, and also his doubts that Mitford had gone in +this direction at all. At length they reached a point at which the +path, cutting the plantation from east to west, was intersected by one +running from north to south. Here they paused, and the Captain said +testily, + +"By Jove, Banks, I hardly know what to do. The messenger from +Fishbourne's shut up in the library all this time, and all the +servants in a fuss, and Sir Charles not forthcoming! I wish I had +broken the news of her father's death to Lady Mitford before I came +out; it would have been by far the best plan. She's sure to hear it by +accident now." + +The Captain spoke to himself rather than to the servant, and in a +particularly emphatic voice--a testimony to his vexation. Then he +strode onwards with increased speed, little knowing that he had spoken +within the startled hearing of the man whom he was seeking, and who +was so near him, as he stood where the paths met, that he could have +touched him by stretching out his arm,--touched him and his cowering +frightened companion. + +They kept a breathless silence until the Captain and Banks were quite +out of hearing. Then Sir Charles said: "What is to be done? Did you +hear what Bligh said, Laura? Some one has been sent from Fishbourne to +tell me that Mr. Stanfield is dead, and they are searching for me +everywhere. What a cursed accident! There is not a chance of +concealing your absence. My darling, my life, what is to be done?" + +She was very pale and trembling, and the words came hard and hoarse, +as she replied, + +"I know not. If we must brave it out we must; but there is a chance +yet. Do you stay here, and meet Bligh as he comes back; you can be +strolling along the cross path. Have you a cigar? No; you are in +dinner-dress, of course. Stay; you have an overcoat on; search the +pockets. Yes, yes; what luck! Here's a cigar-case, and your light-box +hangs to your chain,--I'll never call it vulgar again,--light a cigar +at once, and contrive to show the light when you hear them. I will go +to the house. You left the side window open, did you not?" + +"Yes, yes." His agitation was increasing; hers was subsiding. + +"If I can get into the house unseen, all is right. I can pass through +my own rooms into Hammond's. Send there for me if all is safe; the +servants think I am there." + +She turned away to leave him; but he caught her in his arms, and said +in a tone of agony, + +"Laura! Laura! if I have exposed you to danger--if--" + +"Hush!" she said, disengaging herself; "you have not exposed me to +danger any more than I have exposed myself; but don't talk of this as +a hopeless scrape until we know that there is no way out of it." She +was out of sight in an instant. + +Mademoiselle Marcelline sat at the foot of Mr. Hammond's bed without +the least impatience. She did not fidget, she did not look at the +clock, she did not doze. The time passed apparently to her perfect +satisfaction. The invalid slept on very peacefully, and the whole +scene wore an eminently comfortable aspect. At length her acute ears +discerned a light footfall at the end of the corridor, and then she +heard the handle of Mrs. Hammond's dressing-room door gently +turned--in vain. Then the footstep came on, and another door-handle +was turned, equally in vain. + +Mademoiselle Marcelline smiled. "It would have been so convenient for +madame to have hung her cloak up and smoothed her hair before monsieur +should see her, after madame's promenade in the clear of the moon," +thought Mademoiselle Marcelline. "What a pity that those tiresome +doors should unhappily be locked! What a sorrowful accident!" + +The door opened, and Laura looked cautiously into the room. All was as +she had left it; the sleeping face of her husband was turned towards +her. The pathetic unconsciousness of sleep was upon it; she did not +heed the pathos, but the unconsciousness was convenient. The minutest +change that would have intimated that any one had entered the room +would not have escaped her notice, but there was no such thing. She +came in, and softly closed the heavy perfectly-hung door; she made a +few steps forward, uttered a deep sigh of relief, and said in an +involuntary whisper, "What a risk, and what an escape!" + +Her heavy cloak hung upon her; she pushed back the hood, and her +chestnut hair, in wild disorder, shone with red gleams in the +firelight. She lifted her white hands and snatched impatiently at the +tasseled cord which held the garment at the throat; and Mademoiselle +Marcelline emerged from the shadow of the bed-curtains, and with +perfect propriety and an air of entire respect requested that madame +would permit her to remove the cloak which was so heavy, and also +madame's boots, which must be damp, for the promenade of evening had +inconveniences. + +Laura started violently, and then stood looking at the demure figure +before her with a kind of incredulous terror. Mademoiselle Marcelline +composedly untied the refractory cords and removed the mantle, which +she immediately replaced in the wardrobe. Would Madame have the +goodness to consider what she had said about the boots, and to go into +her dressing-room? Madame followed her like one in a dream. She placed +a chair before the dressing-table, and Laura mechanically sat down; +she took off her boots and substituted slippers; she restored the +symmetry of the crushed dress; she threw a dressing-gown over the +beautiful shoulders, folded it respectfully over the bosom heaving +with terror and anger, and began to brush her mistress's hair with a +wholly unperturbed demeanour. Laura looked at the demure composed face +which appeared over her shoulder in the glass, and at length she said: + +"How came you in that room?" + +"Ah, madame, what a happy chance! One came to the salon of the +servants, and demanded of Monsieur Giffore if Sir Charles might be in +the chamber of monsieur. Then Monsieur Giffore say that no; that +madame was there, and is there. And Monsieur Giffore asked me if he +have reason; and I say, 'Certainly, madame is still in the chamber of +monsieur.'" + +"Well," said Laura, for Mademoiselle Marcelline had paused, "what has +that to do with your being in that room?" + +"It has much, if madame will take the trouble to listen. I know that +servants are curious,--ah, how curious servants are, my God!--and I +thought one of them might have curiosity enough to see for herself +madame, so affectionate, passing the long, long evening with poor +monsieur, who is not gay,--no, he is not gay, they say that in the +salon of the servants. So, as it is not agreeable to be listened and +spied, and as servants are so curious, I locked the doors of the rooms +consecrated to the privacy of madame, and rejoiced to know that madame +might read excellent books of exalted piety to monsieur, or refresh +her spirits, so tired by her solicitude, with a promenade in the clear +of the moon--madame is so poetic!--as she chose, without being teased +by observation. I respect also that good Monsieur Giffore, and I would +not have him disprove. 'Madame is still there, mam'sell?' he asks; and +I say, 'Yes; madame is still there.'" + +All the time she was speaking, Mademoiselle Marcelline quietly pursued +her task. The long silken tresses lay now in a well-brushed shining +heap over her left arm, and she looked at them with complacent +admiration. + +"Heaven! but madame has beautiful hair!" she went on, while Laura, +pale and motionless, at taking into her heart the full meaning of this +terrible complication of her position. "It is, however, fortunate that +she does not adopt the English style, for promenades at the clear of +the moon are enemy to curls--to those long curls which the young +ladies, lastly gone away, and who were so fond of madame, wore. They +avoided the damp of the forest in the evening, the young ladies; they +were careful of their curls. But madame has not need to be careful of +anything--nothing and nobody can hurt madame, who is so beloved by +monsieur. Ah, what a destiny! and monsieur so rich!" + +She had by this time braided the shining hair, and was dexterously +folding the plaits round and round the small head, after a fashion +which Laura had lately adopted. Still her mistress sat silent, with +moody downcast eyes. As she interrupted her speech for a moment to +take a fresh handful of hair-pins from the dressing-table, Banks +knocked at the door of the adjoining room. Mademoiselle Marcelline did +not raise her voice to bid him enter; always considerate, she +remembered that an indiscreet sound might trouble the repose of the +invalid, so she stepped gently to the door and opened it. + +"Is Mrs. Hammond here, mam'sell?" asked Banks. + +"Oh, but yes, Monsieur Banks, madame is always here." + +"Not exactly," thought Banks, puzzled by her idiom; but he merely +said, "Bad news has reached the family. My lady's father is dead, +which he was a good old gentleman indeed; and she ain't seen him +neither, not for some time; and my lady she's been a faintin' away in +the libery like anythin'; and Sir Charles, he's been a holdin' of her +hup, leastways him and Lord Dollamore, and there's the deuce to pay +down there." + +Mademoiselle listened with polite attention to Mr. Banks's statement +of the condition of affairs; but she was not warmly interested. + +"Monsieur Banks will pardon me," she said; "but at present I coif +madame; I think he demanded madame?" + +"Yes, I did, marm'sell," said Banks, abashed and convicted by this +quiet little person of undue loquacity; "only I thought you'd like to +hear. Mostly servants does; but," here Mr. Banks floundered again, +"you ain't much like the rest of us, miss--mam'sell, I mean." + +Mademoiselle Marcelline acknowledged the compliment with a very frigid +smile, and again inquired what she might have the pleasure of telling +madame, on the part of Monsieur Banks. + +"Sir Charles begs Mrs. Hammond will come down to the libery if quite +convenient to her, as he wishes to speak to her about some necessary +arrangements." + +Mr. Banks delivered his message with elaboration, and waited the reply +with dignity. Mademoiselle Marcelline repeated the communication to +her mistress, word for word, and did not suffer the slightest trace of +expression to appear in her face. + +"Yes, I will go down immediately," said Laura, much relieved at the +prospect of escaping from the presence of her maid, and having time to +consider her position. + +Mr. Banks went away to deliver Mrs. Hammond's message, and +mademoiselle, in perfect silence, removed the dressing-gown from her +mistress's shoulders; and Laura, her dress in complete order, and her +nerves to all appearance as well arranged, rose from her chair. + +"Give me a lace shawl," she said, in her customary imperious manner; +"if Lady Mitford has lost her father, she will not be gratified by my +making my appearance in full-dress, and I have no time to change it." + +"Madame is so considerate," remarked Mademoiselle Marcelline, as she +folded a web of fine black lace round Mrs. Hammond's form; "and Lady +Mitford owes her so much. Poor lady, she is sensitive; she has not the +courage of madame. Madame must form her." + +"Go for Gifford to sit with Mr. Hammond," said Laura. "You can wait +for me in my room as usual;" and she walked out of the dressing-room, +having previously ordered her maid to unlock the door, without any +outward sign of disturbance. Slowly she went down the great staircase, +and as she went she asked herself, "Shall I tell Charles? Could any +worse complication arise out of my concealing this dreadful thing from +him?" At length she made up her mind, just as she reached the door of +the library. "No," she said, "I will not tell him. He has no nerve, +and would blunder, and the less one tells any man the better." + + +Poor Georgie, now indeed lonely and desolate, had been taken to her +room, and induced to lie down on her bed, by the housekeeper and her +maid, who proposed to watch by their unhappy mistress all night. She +and Sir Charles were to proceed to Fishbourne on the following day. +She had earnestly entreated her husband to take her with him, and he +had consented. She was quite worn-out and stupefied with grief, and +had hardly noticed Mrs. Hammond's presence in the library at all. It +was agreed that Lord. Dollamore should leave Redmoor on the following +day, a little later than Sir Charles and Lady Mitford, and that the +Hammonds should go to Torquay as soon as the physicians would permit +their patient to make so great an effort. + +"It is impossible to say how soon I shall get back, or how long I may +be detained," said Sir Charles; "and it's a confounded nuisance having +to go." + +Lord Dollamore looked at him with tranquil curiosity, and tapped first +his teeth and then his ear with his inseparable cane. + +"I hope they will make you comfortable here. Bligh will see to +everything, I know. Perhaps they won't let Hammond move at all--very +likely, for there's an east wind--and you'll be here when we return." + +Very gravely Mrs. Hammond answered him: "That will be impossible, Sir +Charles. Lady Mitford could not possibly be expected to have any one +in her house under such circumstances. Mr. Hammond _must_ be brought +to Torquay." + +Sir Charles was puzzled; he could not quite understand her tone; he +did not think it was assumed entirely, owing to the presence of Lord +Dollamore, for that had seldom produced any effect on Laura. No, she +was completely in earnest. She gave her hand to each gentleman in +turn, but the clasp she bestowed on each was equally warm; and when +Sir Charles, as she passed out of the door, shot one passionate glance +at her, unseen by Dollamore, she completely ignored it, and walked +gracefully away. + +"By Jove!" said Lord Dollamore, when he had gotten rid of Mitford and +was safe in his own room, "it was a lucky thing Buttons made his +appearance just when he did. I should have hopelessly committed myself +in another minute; and then, on the top of that fine piece of +sentiment, we should have had the scene of this evening's news. No +matter how she had taken it, I should have been in an awful scrape. If +she had taken it well, I should have had to do a frightful amount of +sympathy and condolence--the regular 'water-cart business' in fact; +and if she had taken it ill, egad, she's just the woman to blurt it +all out in a fit of conscience, and to believe that her father's death +is a judgment upon her for not showing me up to Mitford! As it is, the +matter remains in a highly-satisfactory condition; I am not committed +to anything: I might have been pleading my own cause, or a friend's, +or some wholly imaginary personage's; and I can either resume the +argument precisely where I dropped it, if I think proper, or I can cut +the whole affair. Bless you, my Buttons!" + + +As Georgie was driving over to the railway-station on the following +day,--her maid and she occupying the inside of the carriage, and Sir +Charles, availing himself of his well-known objection to allow any one +but himself to drive when he was present, to avoid a _tête-à-tête_ +with his wife, on the box,--she raised her heavy veil for a while, and +drawing a letter from her pocket, read and re-read it through her +blinding tears. It was from Colonel Alsager. At length Georgie put it +away, and lay back in the carriage, with closed eyes, thinking of the +writer. + +"He has suffered a great deal also," she thought; "and he has more to +suffer. How sorely he must repent his neglect of his father! as sorely +as I repent my neglect of mine." Here the tears, which had already +burned her eyelids into a state of excruciating soreness, burst forth +again. "What must he have felt when he read his father's letter!--the +letter written to be read after the writer's death,--the letter he +will show to me, he says, though to no one else in the world, except, +I suppose, the young lady whom Sir Peregrine entreated him in it to +marry. I wonder if he will,--I wonder if she is nice, and good, and +likely to make him happy! It is strange that a similar calamity should +have befallen him and me. He can feel for my grief now--I have always +felt for his!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +MR. WUFF'S "NEW STAR." + + +"Miss Constance Greenwood, the new actress!" "Go and see Constance +Greenwood on the 18th!" "Constance Greenwood as Lady Malkinshaw!" Such +were the placards in enormous letters which glared upon Laurence +Alsager from every dead wall and hoarding on his passage from the +railway-station to his old rooms in Jermyn Street. Laurence could not +forbear smiling as he glanced at them--could not forbear a laugh as, +at the Club over his dinner, he read the advertisements of the +forthcoming appearance of Miss Greenwood at the Theatre Royal, Hatton +Garden, for which national establishment she had been secured by the +_impresario_, Mr. Wuff, at an expense hitherto unparalleled--at least +so said the advertisements. + +Yes; Mr. Wuff had done it at last! He had cut himself adrift from the +moorings of mediocrity, as his nautical dramatist expressed it, and it +was now sink or swim with him. He was "going in a perisher," he said +himself; and having set his fortune on a die, he was just waiting to +see whether it turned up six or ace. + +When Mr. Wuff came into a sum of money on the death of a distant +relative, and, forsaking the necessary but hardly popular calling of a +sheriff's-officer, took the Theatre Royal, Hatton Garden, and opened +it with a revival of the legitimate drama in general and of +Shakespearian plays in particular, he made a very great hit. It was so +long since any one had attempted to represent Shakespeare, that an +entirely new generation had sprung up, which, egged on by its elders, +went religiously to the first performance of all the celebrated plays, +and tried very hard indeed to think they both understood and liked +them. The newspaper press too was very noble on the subject. Mr. Wuff, +so said the critics, was the great dramatic resuscitator of the age. + +What! People had said that the taste for the legitimate was exploded! +The answer to that was in the crowds that thronged to T. R., Hatton +Garden. And then the critics went on to say that the scenery by Mr. +Slapp, with wonderful moonlight effects such as had never previously +been seen, was thoroughly appreciated; and that the mechanical +arrangement for the appearance of Banquo's ghost amongst the +unconscious Thanes was a marvel of theatrical deception. Was it +Shakespeare or Slapp who drew? Buncle, a heavy, ignorant, ill-educated +man, who had played fourth-rate parts with the _Dii majores_ in those +"palmy days" of which we read, and who now, _faute de mieux_, found +himself pitch-forked into the leading characters, thought it was +Shakespeare--and Buncle! The knowing ones thought it was the novelty +of the reproduction and the excellence of Slapp's scenery which caused +the success; and the knowing ones were right. Shakespeare, as +interpreted by Buncle, Mrs. Buncle, and Stampede--whom Buncle always +took about with him to play his seconds--drew for a certain length of +time. Then the audience thinned gradually, and Wuff found it necessary +to supplement _King Lear_ with the _Harem Beauties_--a ballet +supported by the best band of _coryphées_ in Europe; and that was a +really good stroke of policy. While Buncle was lying down and dying as +Lear, the club-men came trooping into the house; and Buncle's +apostrophes to his dead daughter Cordelia were nearly inaudible in the +creaking of boots and the settling into seats. The pit cried "Hush!" +and "Shame!" but the swells did not care about the pit, and the +curtain fell on Buncle thirsting for aristocratic blood. The ballet at +first attracted largely. As the time for its commencement approached, +the military clubs were drained of their members, who went away in a +procession of hansoms from Pall Mall to Hatton Garden; and you could +have counted more peers within Wuff's walls at one time than were to +be found, save on special occasions, at St. Stephen's. + +But the ballet, after a time, ceased to draw; and Mr. Wuff could not +supplement it by another, for the _coryphées_ had all returned to +their allegiance to the manager of the Opera-house, whose season had +just commenced. Mr. Wuff was in despair; he dared not shut the house, +for he had to make up his rent, which was required with inexorable +punctuality by the committee of gentlemen who owned the theatre. He +must try something; but what was it to be? Wuff and his treasurer, Mr. +Bond,--always known as Tommy Bond, an apple-faced, white-headed old +gentleman, who had dropped into the theatrical world no one ever knew +whence, and who had held a place of trust with all the great managers +of the T. R., Hatton Garden, for thirty years,--were closeted +together. + +"What's it to be, Tommy?" repeated Mr. Wuff for the twentieth time. +"They've had it all round, hot and strong; and what's the caper for +'em now, I don't know." + +"What do you think of reviving _Julius Caesar?_ The classic costume +has not been seen on these boards for years." + +"What! Billy's _Julius Caesar?_ No, thank you! I've had enough of Bill +to last me some time--and that brute Buncle drawing fifteen pounds a +week, and bellowing his lungs out to thirty people in the pit! No, no! +Is there a good lion-and-camel lot about?" + +Mr. Bond shuddered; he was frequently prompted to shudder in his +conversation with Mr. Wuff. He was a great believer in the elevating +tendencies of the drama; and when he thought of lions and camels on +the same boards which he had seen trodden at different times by those +great actors and rivals, Grumble and Green, he could not refrain from +shuddering. But his business instincts made him turn to a file of the +_Era_ on the table, and he said, after consulting it: + +"There's Roker's troupe at North Shields." + +"How long since they've been in town?" + +"Oh, two years; and then they were only at the Wells--you can scarcely +call that town; and it didn't interfere a bit with our people, you +know." + +"Roker's are performing lions, ain't they?" + +"Yes; they'll let him do anything to them, when they're in a proper +state." + +"All right! Write to him about terms at once; and send to Darn and +tell him we want a piece to bring out this lot at once. Must be +Eastern, because of the camel--long procession, slaves, caskets, and +all that kind of thing, and a fight with the lion for Roker. That's +all Roker's to do, mind; he can't act a bit." + +Mr. Roker was driving such an excellent trade with the pitmen of the +North, that he refused to come to London except on terms which Mr. +Wuff would not give; and so that enterprising manager was again in a +strait. Mr. Trapman had been called into council, had ransacked his +books and his brain in search for novelty, but all to no purpose; and +things were looking very serious for Mr. Wuff, when one morning +Trapman rushed from his office and arrived breathless in the manager's +sanctum. + +"What is it?" asked Wuff, who was sitting vacantly looking at Bond, +poring over files of old paybills. + +"We've got it at last, I think!" said Trapman, pointing to an open +letter in his hand "You've heard of Constance Greenwood?" + +"Yes, yes!" struck in Mr. Bond eagerly. "Milman was here last week, +just arrived from New York,--and he says that for the leading-lady +business--modern time, I mean--he'd never seen anything like her." + +"Yankee, ain't she?" asked Wuff coldly. + +"Not a bit of it," replied Trapman. "She's English bred and born; only +been out there three months; never played anywhere before, and made a +most tre-mendous hit. I saw the New York papers about her first night. +They'd got up a report that she was the daughter of an English +nobleman, and had run away because her father was cruel to her; and +this crammed the house. The girl's acting did the rest. Every one says +she's very clever, and she was making no end of dollars a-night." + +"Well?" said Wuff, who was working up into excitement. + +"Oh, I thought you did not care about it," said Trapman. "I've a +letter from her here in my hand, saying she's taken a sudden desire to +England, and wants me to get her an engagement in a first-class +theatre. I've got newspapers by the same mail, describing her farewell +benefit, and speculating, in the way those chaps do over there, about +what can have made her want to go to England so suddenly. But there's +no doubt she's a clipper, and I came at once to offer her to you." + +"I'll have her!" shouted Wuff, jumping up. "First-class theatre she +wants, eh? This is the shop. Let's have a look at her letter?" + +"Can't do that,--it's a private letter," said Trapman; "but I'll tell +you her terms: ten pound a-night settled, and a share after a +hundred." + +"That'll do. Now, Tommy Bond, just sit down and write a stunnin' +advertisement, and put that story about her being a nobleman's +daughter into shape,--only make her run away because she was in +love, and wanted to earn money for the support of her lover, who was +blind.--Eh, Trapman, that ought to wake 'em up?--And send the story to +little Shiffon, who does that column of lies, and ask him to stick it +in next week.--What's her line, Trapman?" + +"Genteel comedy and interesting business of the highest class,--lady +of the present day, you know." + +"All right; then I shan't want Buncle." + +"Not a bit; get rid of him at once. But I'll tell you what; +Pontifex has quarrelled with the Parthenium people--he was with me +yesterday--and I'd pick him up to support her." + +Mr. Wuff agreed to this, and told Mr. Trapman to take the necessary +steps; and that gentleman then took his departure. + +"Wasn't going to let Wuff look at her letter," said he, as he walked +away; "wouldn't do at all. What a doosed clever gal! What does she +say?" and he pulled the letter from his pocket: "'Not a word to any +one until after my appearance. After that I shan't care.' All right, +my dear; you may depend upon me." + +Mr. Wuff went to work with a will, and spared no expense in his bills +and advertisements. The nobleman's daughter's story was duly filtered +through the newspapers, and popular curiosity was excited. Miss +Constance Greenwood arrived from America by the next mail, bringing +with her an American play, founded on a French subject, full of +interest, and what we should in the present day call sensation, but +wretchedly written. This play was given to the accomplished Spofforth; +and under his manipulation it became a very capital acting drama, with +a splendid character for Miss Greenwood, and very good chances for +Pontifex. Wuff, Bond, Spofforth, and Oldboy, the critic of the +_Statesman_, had a little dinner at Wuff's house before the evening +dress-rehearsal, which Miss Greenwood had requested before the +production of the piece; and they were all delighted with what they +saw. Oldboy was especially pleased. "I thought," said he, "that +ladylike women left the stage with Miss Fortescue; but this girl +restores my hopes." And Wuff winked at Spofforth, and they both knew +that meant a column and a half the morning after the performance. + + +Sir Laurence Alsager drove straight from the railway-station to the +Maecenas Club, where his servant was waiting for him with his +dressing-things. As he pushed through the streets, the placards on the +walls announcing the theatrical novelty for the evening recalled to +his mind the night of his return from the East. Then he drove to the +Club, then he had returned to be present at the first representation +of a theatrical novelty; but ah, how different was his state of mind +then from what it was now! Then the iron had passed over the slight +scratch which he at that time imagined was a wound, and had completely +cicatrized it; now a real wound was gaping and bare. Kismet! kismet! +the old story. That night he saw Georgie Mitford for the first time; +and ever since then what had he not suffered on her account! Ah, what +had she herself not suffered, poor child! His absence from London and +his manner of life down at Knockholt had precluded him from hearing +any recent news of her; and he wondered whether the lapse of time had +had any effect on Sir Charles Mitford's mad infatuation, or whether it +still continued. More than anything else, Laurence wanted to know +whether Lady Mitford's domestic misery was known to the world at +large, or confined to the few acquaintances who had such splendid +opportunities of inspecting in the quiet of Redmoor. He knew that her +first appearance in society had excited a great deal of notice, a +great deal of admiration, and, consequently, a great deal of envy; and +he was too much a man of the world not to feel certain that anything +to her disadvantage would be sought out with the greatest +perseverance, and spread abroad with the greatest alacrity. And it was +to her disadvantage in the eyes of society, that her home was unhappy; +there were people in numbers who would declare that the result was her +fault; that she was prim, puritanical, bad-tempered; that her jealousy +was perfectly ridiculous; that her missy ways and affectation rendered +it impossible for any man to live with her. There were numbers of +people who would take an opposite view of the question, and who would +pity her--not indeed with that pity which is akin to love, but from a +feeling springing from a very different source,--a pity which consists +in loudly denouncing the cause for compassion, and wondering how the +person to be compassionated can endure what has to be gone through. +There would be people who could not understand how anything otherwise +could have been expected: a young person from the _bourgeoisie_ +introduced into the _nous-autres_ class must expect that the silly +fancy which had captivated her husband would not last, and must be +prepared to take the consequences of her vaulting ambition. The +Clanronald and Tappington set would infallibly regard it from this +last-mentioned point of view, accordingly. + +How Laurence Alsager's blood boiled within him as all these thoughts +passed through his mind! During the quietude of his life at Knockholt, +he had had sufficient opportunities so thoroughly to catechise +himself, so perfectly to dissect the feelings of his breast, as to +leave no doubt in his own mind that he loved Lady Mitford deeply and +passionately. The notion of the guardian angel, the protecting genius, +which he had so encouraged at first, had now entirely faded out, and +he had not scrupled to show to himself the actual state of his +feelings towards her. Not that they would ever be known; he had made +up his mind to keep them rigidly locked in his own bosom. But still it +was worse than horrible to think that the woman in whose service he +would willingly have perilled his life, was in all probability +dragging on a miserable existence, exposed to the perverse +misunderstandings or degrading pity of the world! On these latter +points he should soon be assured. They discussed everybody at the +Maecenas; and if there had been anything sufficiently noticeable in +the Mitford _ménage_ to call for comment, it was sure to receive the +freest and most outspoken discussion in the tabak-parliament of the +Club. + +Meanwhile, the mere notion of being back in London conduced in no +small degree to raise Laurence's spirits. His time at Knockholt had +been, he felt, far from unprofitably spent; he had had opportunities +not merely of examining his own heart, but of making himself +acquainted with the hopes and fears, the wishes and prospects, of some +of those with whose lives he was to a certain extent concerned. He had +had opportunities of carrying out certain pet projects of the good old +man, whose last days he had been permitted to console; and he had been +enabled to take up that position in his county which was required of +him, not merely by the hollow ordinances of "gentility," but by the +great binding rivets of society. He hoped in all honesty and humility +to be able "to do his duty in that state of life unto which God had +called him;" but he felt all the delight of a schoolboy out of bounds +in laying-by the county magnate, the landed proprietor, the many-acred +wealthy baronet, for a time, and making a very small unit in the grand +population of London. The crowded streets, the gas-lamps, the dull +rumble of the passing vehicles,--all were delightful to him; and as he +drew up at the club-door he felt happier than he had done for many a +long day. + +He dressed himself and went down into the coffee-room, which he found +thronged. Mr. Wuff's advertisements and bills had been so far +fruitful, that two-thirds of the diners at the Maecenas seemed from +their talk to be going to the Hatton-Garden Theatre. Laurence was +welcomed with great cordiality by all who knew him, and had numerous +offers of "joining tables;" but he expected George Bertram, and when +he found that that pillar of the state did not arrive, he preferred +dining by himself. The solitary life he had been leading, the event +which had led to that life, the reflections which had engrossed him +since he had led it,--all concurred to prevent him from suddenly +plunging into the light gossip of a club-room. After dinner, finding +that the piece in which Miss Constance Greenwood was to appear did not +commence until half-past eight, he went into the smoking-room, where +most of the diners had assembled, and in addition to them, Lord +Dollamore. He looked up and saw Alsager's entrance; then stretched out +his hand, and pointed to a vacant seat on the couch beside him. + +"My dear Alsager, delighted to see you,--honestly and truly delighted! +How are you? What a hermit you have become! though of course I +understand,--family-business and all that; and what has brought you up +at last--not this new play?" + +"Well, I can scarcely say that; but I wanted a something to come up +for--a something, I mean, beyond law-business--and perhaps this +wondrous advertisement of Wuff's turned the scale." + +"They tell me the gal's deuced good. Spofforth, who saw her last +night, was here this morning, and says she's really wonderful. This is +the second time you've done this sort of thing,--coming back on the +first night of a great theatrical event. It's not half a bad idea, +because you see a lot of people you know, and get rid of +'how-d'ye-do's' in one large parcel." + +"There are some who were present on the last occasion whom I shall not +see to-night, I suppose," said Laurence. "I was thinking," he added, +as he saw Dollamore whispering to his stick, "of George Bertram." + +"No!" said Dollamore, "the Blab has been missing for the last +fortnight. It's rumoured that he has gone as a mute into the service +of the Pasha of Egypt. I thought you were alluding to our friends in +Devonshire: a nice business that." + +"Indeed! I, as you know, have been absent from town for months, and +have heard nothing." + +"Well, you won't listen to me, I suppose, because you'll imagine I am +prejudiced, recollecting all I said to you on the subject in this very +room after Spofforth's play. But you won't deny that, so far as you +had opportunities of judging while we were down at Redmoor, I was +right?" + +"Right so far as your estimation of the man went, certainly--" + +"Oh, as for the lady, there is no one can entertain a higher opinion +of Lady Mitford than myself. The degradation that that brute is +bringing upon her--" + +"Degradation! Do you mean to say that Mitford's infidelities are +known--about--generally?" + +"My dear Alsager, you think I colour and exaggerate. Let us pump that +well of candour, Cis Hetherington. If there is an honest opinion +about, it will be procurable from that son of Anak.--Well, Cis, going +to the play?" + +"Course I am," responded that scion of the aristocracy, lazily lifting +his head from the ottoman; "everybody's going, seems to me. What's the +woman like? Yankee, ain't she? Don't like Yankees,--all speak through +their noses, and say 'I guess;' at, least, all that I've ever seen do, +and that's only on the stage." + +"She's not Yankee; she's an Englishwoman, they tell me; though of +course that story of the nobleman's daughter is all bosh. However, +Wuff has worked the oracle splendidly. Everybody's going. Here's +Alsager come up to town on purpose." + +"Is that Alsager sitting next to you?" asked Cis Hetherington, raising +himself on his elbow and looking full at Laurence. "I thought it +looked like him, and I wondered he didn't speak to me. But I suppose +he's grown proud since he's become a Bart." + +"You old idiot! I shook hands with you in the hall as I came in," said +Laurence, laughing. "What's the news, Cis? how are all your people?" + +"First-rate, old boy! Westonhanger's gone abroad--to America, I mean; +Sioux Indians, and that sort of thing. Wanted you awfully to go with +him, but thought you were doing monseigneur on your _terre_. Asked +about you no end, give you my word! And the Duke's really tremendous! +'pon my soul, some fellow ought to put him in a book! Ever since the +row about the repeal of the Corn Laws has been coming to a head, he's +been like a lunatic. He thinks it's all up with everything, and is +sure we shall have a revolution, and that he'll have his head cut off +by the mob and stuck on a pike, and all that kind of thing." + +"And Algy Forrester?" asked Dollamore. + +"Algy Forrester was here to-day," said Hetherington; "came to me about +a devilish unpleasant thing. That fellow Mitford, whom you both know" +("Now, then, listen!" said Dollamore),--"that fellow Mitford has asked +him--Algy, I mean--to put him up here. And Algy came to ask if I'd +second him, and I told him I'd see Mitford d--d first. And so I would. +I ain't a strait-laced party, and don't go in for being particularly +virtuous myself; but I'm a bachelor, and am on my own hook. But the +way that fellow Mitford treats that nice wife of his is neither more +nor less than blackguardly, I think; and so I wouldn't mind telling +him, if I'd the chance." + +"Hallo, Cis!" said Markham Bowers, who was sitting near; "shut your +stupid old mouth. You'll get into a mess if you give tongue like +that,--get cut off in the flower of your youth; and then what weeping +and wailing there'll be among the ten tribes, and among those +unfortunate Christians who have been speculating on your autograph. +Not that you're wrong in what you say about Mitford; for if ever a cad +walked this earth, that's the man." + +"Ah! and isn't she a nice woman?" said Hetherington. "When she first +showed in town last season, she took everybody's fancy; even Runnymede +admired her, and the Duchess asked to be introduced, and they were +quite thick. Wonderful! wasn't it? And to think of that snob Mitford +treating her as he does, completely neglecting her, while he's--Well, +I don't know; I suppose it's all right; but there ain't many things +that would please me better than dropping on to that party--heavy." + +"You're always dropping on to parties, Cis," said Bowers; "but you had +better keep quiet in this case, please. You would have to make your +own chance of getting into a row, for of course the lady's name must +not appear--" + +"Oh, don't you be afraid of me, Marky; I'm all right!" said Cis, +rising and stretching himself. "You won't mind my stamping on +Mitford's feet,--accidentally, of course,--if we find him in the +stalls." And the two Guardsmen started away together. + +"Well," said Lord Dollamore, leaning forward towards his companion, +"was I right or wrong?" + +"Right! terribly right!" said Alsager, with a set rigid face. + +"You would not have accepted my testimony, thinking perhaps that I had +motives for exaggeration, or was prompted by an _arrière pensée_, in +which, on my word of honour, you're wrong. But those fellows are +merely types of society; and their opinion, somewhat differently +expressed, is society's opinion." + +"Has not Mitford's madness cooled down at all?" + +"It is worse, far and away,--worse than ever--" + +"And that woman?" + +"Ah," said Lord Dollamore, "she's been very quiet lately, owing to her +husband's death. Poor old boy! poor old Percy Hammond! But she's up in +town, I understand, now; and I don't think--" and here Dollamore's +crutch-handled stick was evidently whispering confidences into his +master's ear,--"I don't think Master Mitford will find it all straight +sailing in that quarter just now." + +"How do you mean? What would induce her to change to him?" + +"Well, you see, she's a widow now, with a comparatively small income; +for I suspect poor old Percy knew more than he ever let on, and +instructed Trivett to prepare his will accordingly. So that, besides +wanting a husband, she'll want him rich; for she's one of the best +hands at getting through money in England. With a husband _in posse_, +Mitford's attentions would not do at all." + +"Ah, I see; but is not her character too well known?" + +"Not a bit of it; her powers of attraction are enormous still. Why, if +I'm rightly informed, a Russian whom you know, I think,--Tchernigow by +name,-is making the running there already." + +"I know him; he was madly in love with her, I heard, the season before +last; followed her to Baden and about." + +"That's the man! Well, he's _revenu_--not to his _premier_, which was +probably some Cossack peasant-girl--but to one of his _amours_, and is +desperate." + +"He's enormously wealthy. If she accepted him, there might yet be a +chance of happiness for Georgie,--Lady Mitford, I mean." + +"Don't you believe that for an instant, Alsager!" said Dollamore, +looking keenly at him; "you're not posted up in that family history. +Matters have gone too far now; there is only one way in which Sir +Charles Mitford could really be of service to his wife, and that is by +dying. But I'm afraid she would not think so, poor girl!" Then seeing +his companion looking very grave, he said, "Come, it's no use brooding +over these matters; let us go to the theatre." + + +The theatre was crammed, as Mr. Wuff had anticipated. The audience was +composed of pretty much the same class of people as those present on +the first night of Mr. Spofforth's play at the Parthenium; with the +exception of those who were most strongly remembered by Alsager. He +had known that the Mitfords and Mrs. Hammond could not be there, and +there was little to interest him among the audience. The curtain rose +on the piece of the evening, and everybody's attention concentrated on +the stage. Shortly afterwards came the appearance of the new actress, +who was hailed with shouts of encouragement and applause by Mr. Wuff's +supporters in boxes, pit, and gallery. She seemed not in the least +overcome by her reception, but bowed gracefully, and entered +immediately on the business of the piece. The character she played was +that of a highbred wealthy girl, beloved by a young yeoman-farmer of +the neighbourhood, who proposes to her, but she mocks at his +_gaucheries_, and rejects him with scorn. He accepts his defeat, and +goes away to travel on the Continent with his brother. It is not until +he is gone that she finds how deeply she had really loved him; but he +is gone never to return, and so she accepts the attention of, and is +engaged to, a silly peer. Then comes the Nemesis. The girl's father is +ruined, the peer jilts her, and she is left in wretchedness, when the +yeoman-farmer comes back a polished gentleman. There is an admirable +scene of intensity between them, and, of course, all ends happily. The +character of the heroine seemed excellently suited for Miss Greenwood, +who, gradually winning the confidence of the audience, worked them to +a pitch of enthusiasm in the last scene, and brought down the curtain +with a universal verdict of her combining thorough knowledge of the +usages of society and ladylike manners with great dramatic power. + +Of course she was recalled before the curtain; and then as she swept +across the stage, clasping her bouquet to her bosom, and occasionally +bowing low, her eyes lit full on those of Laurence Alsager. And then +for the first time Laurence Alsager, who had been puzzling his brain +about her ever since she appeared on the scene, recollected who she +was, and said half aloud, "The woman who wrote me the note!--Miss +Gillespie, without a doubt!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +LOVE AND DUTY. + + +Lady Mitford was alone on the afternoon of the following day, when Sir +Laurence Alsager was announced. She was often alone now; for the world +falls readily and easily away, not only from the forsaken, but from +the preoccupied--from those to whom its gaieties are childish follies +and its interests weariness. She had fallen out of the ranks, as much +through inclination as in compliance with the etiquette of mourning; +and it came to pass often that the afternoon hours found her, as on +this occasion, sitting alone in her splendid, vapid, faultless, +soulless home. The softened light which reached her stately figure and +irradiated her thoughtful lace showed the grace and loveliness which +distinguished her untouched, undimmed. Under the discipline of sorrow, +under the teaching of disappointment, her face had gained in +expression and dignity,--every line and curve had strength added to +its former sweetness; the pure steadfast eyes shone with deeper, more +translucent lustre, and the rich lips met each other with firmer +purpose and more precision. The perfecting, the refinement of her +beauty, were sensibly felt by Alsager as he advanced towards the end +of the room where she was seated in the recess between a large window +and a glittering fireplace. She sat in a deep low chair of purple +velvet; and as she leaned slightly forward and looked at him coming +rapidly towards her, his eye noted every detail of the picture. He saw +the glossy hair in its smooth classic bandeaux, the steadfast eyes, +the gracious, somewhat grave, smile, the graceful figure in its soft +robe of thick mourning silk, and its rich jet trimmings; he saw the +small white hands, gentle but not weak,--one extended towards him in +welcome, the other loosely holding an open book. In a minute he was +by her side and speaking to her; but that minute had a deathless +memory,--that picture he was to see again and again, in many a place, +at many a time and it was never to be less beautiful, less divine for +him. He loved her--ay, he loved her--this injured woman, this +neglected, outraged wife, this woman who was a victim, crushed under +the wheels of the triumphal car which had maimed him once on a time, +though only slightly, and by a hurt soon healed by the balsam of +contempt. Was she crushed, though? There was sorrow in that grand +face--indeed, to that look of sorrow it owed its grandeur,--but there +was no pining; there was sad experience, but no weak vain +retrospection. All the pain of her lot was written upon her face; but +none could read there a trace of what would have been its +mortification, its bitter humiliation to commoner and coarser minds. +It mattered nothing to her that her husband's infatuation and their +mutual estrangement were topics for comment to be treated in the style +current in society, and she herself an object of that kind of +compassion which is so hard to brook: these were small things, too +small for her range of vision; she did not see them--did not feel +them. She saw the facts, she felt their weight and significance; but +for the rest! If Lady Mitford had progressed rapidly in knowledge of +the great world since she had been of it, she had also graduated in +other sciences which placed her above and beyond it. + +"I am fortunate in finding you at home, Lady Mitford," said Alsager. + +She answered by a smile They had got beyond the talking of +commonplaces to each other, these two, in general; but there was a +sense of oppression over them both to-day, and each was conscious that +it weighed upon the other. The remembrance of the talk to which he had +listened at the Club, of the light discussion of Sir Charles's +conduct, of the flippant censure of the woman who had won him from his +wife, was very strong upon Alsager; while she,--of what was she +thinking? Who could undertake to tell that? who could categorize the +medley which must occupy the mind of a woman so situated? Was she +suffering the sharp pangs of outraged love? or was she enduring the +hardly less keen torture of discovering that that which she had +believed to be love, had cherished in her breast as the true deity, +had given, in that belief, to her husband, was not love, but only a +skilful (and innocent) counterfeit, only a mock jewel which she had +offered in good faith for the flawless pearl of price? Who can tell? +She could hardly have answered such a question truly, if she had put +it to herself at the close of the interview which began after so +commonplace a fashion. + +"I have not seen you since your father's death," said Lady Mitford, +gently; and in a tone which lent the simple words all the effect of a +formal condolence. "You have not been long in town, I'm sure?" + +"No, indeed," he said; "I have but just returned. There is so much to +be done on these occasions; there are so many forms to be gone +through; there is so much immediate business to be transacted, in the +interests of the living, that--that,"--he hesitated; for he had neared +that precipice so dreaded by all now-a-days, the exhibition of natural +emotion. + +"That one has to wait for leisure to mourn for the dead," said Lady +Mitford. "Ah, yes, I understand that. But you remain in town now, do +you not?" + +There was a tone of anxiety in the question which struck on Alsager's +ear with a sound of music. She had missed him, then,--she would miss +him if he went away again! He loved her well, ay, and worthily, +contradictory though that may seem; but his heart was stirred with a +joy which he dared not analyze, but could not deny, at the thought. He +answered hurriedly, "Yes, I remain here now." And then he changed his +tone, and said eagerly, + +"Tell me something of yourself. How has it been with you since we met +last?" + +"Of myself!" she replied sadly; and her colour flushed and faded as +she spoke, and her restless fingers trifled with the ornaments of her +dress. "Myself is an unprofitable subject, and one I am weary of. I +have nothing new to tell,--nothing you would care to hear." + +He dissented by an eager gesture; but she appeared not to perceive it, +and went on, with attempted gaiety: + +"We have missed you dreadfully, of course. I need not tell you what a +void your absence must necessarily make. We all know you are beyond +spoiling." + +She looked at him, and something in his face warned her not to pursue +this tone. She felt vaguely that the position was unreal, and must be +changed. He knew, as she supposed, what she was thinking of; she knew, +as he fancied, what he was thinking of; and though, as it happened, +each was wrong, it was manifestly absurd to carry on false pretences +any longer. Woman-like, she was the first to brave the difficulty of +the situation. + +"You have come to me," she said steadily, and looking at him with the +clear upheld gaze peculiar to her, "because you have heard something +which concerns me nearly, and because, man of the world,--of this +heartless world around us,--as you are, and accustomed to such things, +still you feel for me; because you would have prevented this thing if +you could; because you tried to prevent it, and failed; because you +knew--yes, Sir Laurence Alsager, because you knew the extent and the +power of the danger that menaced me, and my helplessness: say, am I +right?--for these reasons you are here to-day." + +The composure of her voice was gone, but not its sweetness; her colour +had faded to a marble paleness; and her hands were firmly clasped +together. Alsager had risen as she spoke, and was standing now, +leaning against the low velvet-covered mantelpiece. He answered +hurriedly, and with scant composure: + +"Yes, Lady Mitford, for these reasons, and for others." + +"For what others?" + +This almost in a whisper. + +"Never mind them now," he said impetuously; and then the superficial +restraint which he had imposed upon himself gave way, broke down +before that strongest and most terrible of temptations, the sight of +the sorrow and the silent confidence of the woman one loves, granted +at the moment when a hope, a guilty hope, that that love may not be +vain, begins to stir, like life, at one's heart. She shrank a little +back in the chair, but she looked at him as earnestly as before. + +"It's all true, then," he said,--and there was a tone of deep and +bitter hatred in his voice,--"all true. The prophecy I heard among +those fellows the first time I ever heard your name--the coarse +language, the cynical foresight,--all true. That heartless demon has +caught his shallow nature in her shallow lure, and worked the woe of +an angel!" + +His voice rang with a passionate tremor, his eyes deepened and +darkened with the passionate fervour which glowed in them. His +impetuous feeling mastered her. She had no power to arrest him by a +conventional phrase, though he had overstepped more than +conventionality by invading the sacred secrecy of her domestic grief. + +"Yes, Lady Mitford," he went on; "I have returned to find that all I +feared,--more than I feared,--has befallen you. It was an unequal +contest; you had only innocence and purity, an old-fashioned belief in +the stability of human relations and the sanctity of plighted faith; +and what weapons were these in such a fight? No wonder you are +vanquished. No wonder she is triumphant--shameless as she is +heartless. I wound you," he said, for she cowered and trembled at his +words; "but I cannot keep silence. I have seen shameful things,--I am +no stranger to the dark passages of life; but this is worse than all. +Good God! to think that a man like Mitford should have had such a +chance and have thrown it away! To think that--" + +"Hush, Sir Laurence!" she said, and stretched her hand appealingly +towards him; "I must not hear you. I cannot, I will not affect to +misunderstand you; but there must be no more of this. I am an unhappy +woman--a most wretched wife; all the world--all the little world we +think so great, and suffer to torment us so cruelly--knows that. +Pretence between us would be idle; but confidence is impossible. I +cannot discuss Sir Charles Mitford's conduct with any one, least of +all with you." She seemed to have spoken the last words unawares, or +at least involuntarily, for a painful blush, rose on her face and +throat. + +"And why," he eagerly asked,--"why least of all with me? I have been +honoured by your friendship,--I have not forfeited it, have I? I know +that conventionality, which is a systematic liar and a transparent +hypocrite, would condemn in theory a woman to keep her garments folded +decorously over such mortal heart-wounds; I know that poets snivel +rhymes which tell us how grand and great, how high and mighty, it is +'to suffer and be strong.' I know how easy some people find it to see +others suffer, and be perfectly strong in the process; but such +rubbish is not for you nor for me. I cannot return to London and hear +all that I have heard; I cannot come here and look upon you--" his +voice faltered, but he forced it into the same hurried composure with +which he had been speaking. "I cannot see you as I see you now, and +talk to you as an ordinary morning visitor might talk, or even as we +have talked together, when these things were coming indeed, but had +not yet come." + +She was leaning forward now, her face turned towards him, but hidden +in her hands. He gazed at her with a kindling glance, and strode +fiercely backward and forward across the wide space which lay before +the window. + +"I am not a good man," he went on, "according to your standard of +goodness, Lady Mitford; but I am not a bad man according to my own. I +have had rough tussles with life, and some heavy falls; but I swear +there is a dastardly, cold, heartless ingratitude in this business +which I cannot bear; and in the sight of you there is something +terrible to me. Men know this man's history; we know from what +degradation you raised him; we are not so blind and coarse that we +cannot guess with what fidelity and patience you loved him when it was +at its deepest. And now, to see him return to it; to see him, without +any excuse of poverty or struggle, in the enjoyment of all that fate +and fortune have blindly given him; to see him play the part of a liar +and a villain to you--to you--to see you left unprotected, openly +neglected and betrayed, to run the gauntlet of society such as ours! I +cannot see all this, Lady Mitford, and pretend that I do not see it; +and what is more, you do not wish that I could. You are too true, too +womanly to form such a wish; and you are too honest to express it, in +obedience to any laws of cant." + +He went near to her; he bent down, he lowered his voice, he gently +drew away the hands that hid her face from him; they dropped into her +lap, nerveless and idle; the first tears he had ever seen in her eyes +dimmed them now. + +"You mean kindly, as you have always meant to me, Sir Laurence," she +said; "but we cannot discuss this matter,--indeed we cannot. I am +weaker than I ought to be,--I should not listen to this; but oh, God +help me, I have no friends; I am all alone, all alone!" + +If she had been beautiful in the pride and dignity of her sorrowful +composure, if his strong heart had quailed and his firm nerve had +shrunk at the sight of her pale and placid grief, how far more +beautiful was she now, when the restraint had fallen from her, when +the eyes looked at him from the shadow of wet lashes, and the perfect +lips trembled with irrepressible emotion. + +"No!" he said vehemently; and as he spoke he stood close before her, +and stretched his hands towards her, but without taking hers; the +gesture was one of mingled denial and appeal, and had no touch of +boldness in it; "no, you are not alone; yes, you have friends,--at +least you have one friend. Listen to me,--do not fear to hear me; let +us at least venture to tell and listen to the truth. This man, to whom +you were given as a guardian angel, is quite unworthy of you. You know +it; your keen intellect accepts a fact and all its consequences, +however terrible to your woman's heart, and does not palter with the +truth. Are you to be always miserable because you have been once +mistaken? If you had known, if you had been able to comprehend the +real nature of this man, would you, could you ever have loved him?" + +She put up her hand with a faint gesture of protest; but he +impetuously waved it away, and went on, once more striding up and +down. + +"No, no; I must speak! There can be more reticence now. You would not, +you could not have loved him, this heartless, ungrateful profligate, +as tasteless and low as he is faithless and vicious,--this scoundrel, +who, holding good in his grasp, has deliberately chosen evil. Ay, I +will say it, Lady Mitford! You _could_ not have loved him, and you +know it well; you have admitted it to yourself before now, when you +little dreamed that anyone--that I--would ever dare to put your +thought in form and shape before you. What did you love? A girl's +fancy,--a shadow, a dream! It was no reality, it had no foundation, +and it has vanished. Your imagination drew a picture of an injured +victim of circumstances,--a weak being, to be pitied and admired, to +be restored and loved! The truth was a selfish scoundrel, who has +returned in wealth with fresh zest to the miserable pleasures for +which he lived in poverty; a mean-hearted wretch, who could care for +your beauty while it was new to him indeed, but to whose perception +you, your heart and soul, your intellect and motives, were mysteries +as high and as far off as heaven. Are you breaking your heart, Lady +Mitford, under the kindly scrutiny of the world, because the thistle +has not borne figs and the thorn has not given you purple grapes? Are +you sitting down in solitary grief because the animal has done +according to its kind, because effect has resulted from cause, because +the wisdom of the world, wise in the ways of such men, has verified +itself? Do you love this man now? Are you suffering the pangs of +jealousy, of despair? No, you do not love him; you are suffering no +such pangs. You are truth itself,--the truest and the bravest, as you +are the most beautiful of women; and you cannot, you dare not tell me +that you love this man still, knowing him as you know him now." He +stopped close beside her, and looked at her with an eager, almost a +fierce glance. + +"Why do you ask me?" she gasped out faintly. There was a sudden +avoidance of him in her expression, a shadow of fear. "Why do you +speak to me thus? Oh, Sir Laurence, this--this is the worst of all." +She was not conscious of the effect of the tone in which these words +were spoken, of the pathos, the helplessness, the pleading tenderness +it implied. But he heard them, and they were enough. They were faint +as the murmur of a brook in summer, but mighty as an Alpine storm; and +the barriers of conventional restriction, the scruples of conscience, +the timidity of a real love, were swept away like straws before their +power. + +"Why?" he repeated, "because I love you!" + +She uttered a faint exclamation; she half rose from her chair, but he +caught her hands and stopped her. + +"Hush!" he said; "I implore you not to speak till you have heard me! +Do not wrong me by supposing that I have come here to urge on your +unwilling ear a tale of passion, to take advantage of your husband's +crime, your husband's cowardice, to extenuate crime and cowardice in +myself. Before God, I have no such meaning! But I love you--I love you +as I never even fancied I loved any woman before; though I am no +stranger to the reality or the mockery of passion, though I have +received deep and smarting wounds in my time. I wish to make myself no +better in your eyes than I am. And I love you--love you so much better +than myself; that I would fain see you happy with this man, even with +_him_, if it could be. But it cannot, and you know it. You know in +your true heart, that if he came back to his allegiance to you +now--poor bond of custom as it is--you could not love him, any more +than you could return to the toys of your childhood. I read you +aright; I know you with the intuitive knowledge which love, and love +only, lends to a man, when he would learn the mystery of a woman's +nature. You are too noble, too true, to be bound by the petty rules, +to be governed by the small scruples, which dominate nine-tenths of +the women who win the suffrages of society. You have the courage of +your truthfulness." + +He stood before her, looking steadfastly down upon her, his arms +tightly folded across his chest, his breath coming quickly in hurried +gasps. She had shrunken into the recesses of her velvet chair, and she +looked up at him with parted lips and wild eyes, her hands holding the +cushions tightly, the fingers hidden in the purple fringes. Was it +that she could not speak, or that she would not? However that may have +been, she did not, and he went on. + +"Yes, yes, I love you. I think you knew it before?" She made no reply. +"I think I have loved you from the first,--from the moment when, +callous and _blasé_ as I had come to believe myself--as, God knows, I +had good right to be, if human nature may ever claim such a right--I +could not bear to see the way your fate was drifting, or to hear the +chances for and against you calculated, as men calculate such odds. I +think I loved you from the moment I perceived how completely you had +mistaken your own heart, and how beautifully, how innocently loyal you +were to the error. While your delusion lasted, Lady Mitford, you were +safe with me and from me, for in that delusion there was security. +While you loved Mitford, and believed that he returned your love, you +would never have perceived that any other man loved you. But you are a +woman who cannot be partially deceived or undeceived; therefore I tell +you now, when your delusion is wholly at an end, when it can come no +more to blind your eyes, and rend your heart with the removal of the +bandage, that I love you,--devotedly, changelessly, eternally. You +must take this fact into account when you meditate upon your future; +you must number this among the component parts of your life. Hush! not +yet. I am not speaking thus through reckless audacity, availing itself +of your position; you know I am not, and you must hear me to the end." + +She had made a movement as if about to speak, but he had again checked +her; and they maintained their relative positions, he looking down at +her, she looking up at him. + +"We are facing facts, Lady Mitford. I love you, not as the man who +left you, in your first year of marriage, for the worthless woman who +forsook me for a richer lover, and would have wronged the fool who +bought her without a scruple, could she have got me into her power +again--not as he loved you, even when he came nearest to the truth of +love. That woman, your enemy, your _rival_,"--he spoke the word with a +stringent scorn which would have been the keenest punishment in human +power to have inflicted on the woman it designated,--"she knows I +love you, and she has struck at me through you; struck at me, poor +fool--for she is fool as well as fiend--a blow which has recoiled upon +herself. She has taught me how much, how well, how devotedly I love +you, and learned the lesson herself thereby, for the intuition of hate +is no less keen than that of love. But why do I speak of her? Only to +make you understand that I am a portion of your fate,--only to lay the +whole truth before you; only to make it clear to you that mine is no +chance contact, no mere intrusion. I am not a presumptuous fool, who +has dared to use a generously-granted friendship as a cover for an +illicit passion. Have patience with me a little longer. Let me tell +you all the truth. You cannot dismiss me from your presence as you +might another who had dared to love you, and dared to tell you so; you +cannot do this." + +"Why?" she asked faintly, but with an angry sparkle in her eyes. For +the second time she said that one word. + +"Because I have injured you, Lady Mitford,--injured you unconsciously, +unintentionally; and that is a plea which cannot fail, addressed to +such as you. Had I never crossed your path, the woman for whom your +husband has wronged you would never have crossed it either. I am the +object, you are the victim, of the hatred of a she-devil. You don't +suppose she cares for Mitford, do you?" + +"Not if she ever loved you," was the reply. + +Alsager passed it over, but a sudden light flashed into his face. + +"Of course she does not. She has played her ruthless game skilfully +according to her lights, and your happiness has been staked and lost. +Indirectly, I am the cause of this. Was the feeling which came over me +the first time I saw you a presentiment, I wonder? Well, no matter; +you see now that I am a portion of your fate. You see now that a +hidden tie binds us together, and the folly, the delusion of my youth, +and the mistaken love of your girlhood, have borne mysterious common +fruit." + +She sat like one enthralled, entranced, and listened to him; she bent +her head for a moment as he took an instant's breath, but she did not +attempt to speak. His manner changed, grew softer, and his voice fell +to almost a whisper: + +"May not this mysterious tie of misfortune mean more to us?" he said. +"May not the consolation come, as the curse has come, and all the +designs of our enemies be disconcerted? I do not say my love is worthy +of your acceptance,--I am too much travel-stained in my wanderings in +the world's ways to make any such pretension; but it is yours, such as +it is--faulty, imperfect, but loyal and eternal. I love you, Lady +Mitford, and I ask nothing of you but permission to love you freely +and fully; I ask your leave to give you all the devotion of my +heart, all the loyalty of my life. I know how the world would +hold such a demand; but I care nothing for the world, and I fancy +you know it too well to care much for it now. You cherished a +delusion long and sacredly; it was at least a noble one, but it is +gone, and the world can neither satisfy you for its loss nor +substitute another. Dearest--" he paused; she shivered, but she said +not a word,--"dearest, what remains? Inexpressible tenderness was in +his voice, in his bending figure, in his moistened eyes. There was a +moment's silence, and then she spoke, replying to his last words: + +"Duty, Sir Laurence,--duty, the only thing which is not a delusion; +that remains." + +He drew back a little, looking at her. She raised herself in her +chair, and pointed to a seat at a little distance from her own. She +was deadly pale, but she did not tremble, and her voice was firm and +low as she said: + +"Sit down, and listen to me." + +He obeyed, silent and wondering. Perhaps he had not told himself +exactly what he had expected,--perhaps no one ever does, when the +emotions of the heart are called into evidence; but he knew that it +was not this. Had he more to learn of this woman whom he had so +closely studied; had her nature heights which he had not seen, and +depths which he had not comprehended? Breathless he waited for her +words. In an agony of suspense he looked at her averted face, which +appeared to address itself to something in the distance,--which had +settled into a wondrous composure at the command of the strong will. +He had not estimated that strength of will aright; he had made the +common mistake of overlooking a quality because he had not seen it in +active employment. There was neither confusion nor weakness in the +manner of the woman to whom he had just spoken such words as no woman +could hear unmoved; and there mingled strangely with his love +something of wonder and of awe. + +After a little interval, which seemed endless to him, she turned her +face towards him again, laid her hand heavily upon her breast, and +spoke: + +"You have been cruel to me, Sir Laurence, in all that you have said; +but men, I believe, are always cruel to women if they love them, or +have loved them. I acquit you of intentional cruelty, and I accept all +you say of the necessity for the truth being spoken between us in the +new phase of our relation which you have brought about to-day." + +The intensity of her face deepened, and the pressure of her hand grew +heavier. He muttered a few words of protest, but she went on as if she +had not heard him. + +"You have spoken words to me, Sir Laurence, which I should not have +heard; but they have been spoken, and the wrong cannot be undone. It +may be atoned for, and it must. Neither these words nor any other must +be spoken between us henceforth--" + +He started up. + +"You cannot mean this," he said; "it is impossible; I do not believe +it.--I will not bear it." + +"Be still and hear me," she replied; "I kept silence at your +desire,--you will not, I am sure, do less at mine. I too must speak to +you, uninterrupted, in the spirit of that truth of which you have +spoken so eloquently and with such sophistry--yes, with such +sophistry." + +Once more she paused and sighed. + +"Speak to me, then," he said; and there was true, real anguish in his +tone. "Say what you will, but do not be too hard on me. I am only a +mortal man; if I have offended you, it is because you are an angel." + +"You have not offended me," she said very slowly: "perhaps I ought to +be offended, but I am not. I think you judge me aright when you say +that truth holds the foremost place in and for me: therefore I tell +you truth. You have grieved me; you have added a heavy burden to a +load which is not very easy to bear, though the world, which you +exhort me to despise and to deny, cannot lay a feather's weight upon +it. Your friendship was very dear to me,--very precious; I did not +know how dear, I think, until to-day." + +How eagerly he listened to the thrilling voice! how ardently he gazed +into the dreamy beautiful eyes! how breathlessly he kept the silence +so hard to maintain! + +"If I could use any further disguise with myself, Sir Laurence, if +self-deception could have any further power over me, I might terminate +this interview here, and tell you, and tell myself, that it should be +forgotten. But I have done with self-deception." + +"For God's sake, don't speak in that bitter tone!" Alsager said +entreatingly; "spare me, if you will not spare yourself." + +"No," she replied; "I will spare neither you nor myself. Why should I? +The world has spared neither of us--will spare neither of us; only it +will tell lies, and I will tell truths,--that's all." + +Her colour was heightened, and her eyes were flashing now; but the +pressure of her hand upon her bosom was steady. + +"You have read my story aright: I know not by what art or science--but +you have read it. If, as you say, you have an involuntary share, an +unconscious responsibility in my heavy trial, it is a misfortune, +which I put away from my thoughts; I hold you in no way accountable. +My sorrow is my own; my delusion is over; my duty remains." + +"Do you speak of duty to Sir Charles Mitford?" asked Alsager with a +sneer. + +"Yes," she said gently; "I do. Your tone is unworthy of you, Sir +Laurence; but I pass it by; for it is the tone of a man of the world, +to whom inclination is a law. Can my husband's faithlessness absolve +me from fidelity? Is his sin any excuse for my defection from my duty? +You say truly, I cannot love him now as I loved him when I did not +know him as he is; but I can do my duty to him still--a hard duty, but +imperative. The time will come when this woman will weary of him, of +her vain and futile vengeance; and then--" + +"Well, Lady Mitford, and then--?" asked Alsager in a cold hard voice. + +She looked at him with eyes in which a holy calm had succeeded to her +transient passion, and replied: + +"Then he will return to me, and I must be ready to meet him without a +shade upon my conscience, without a blush upon my cheek." + +He started up angrily, and exclaimed: + +"You pass all comprehension! What! You are no longer in error about +this man; the glamour has passed. You know him for the cold cynical +profligate he is; and you talk of welcoming him like a repentant +prodigal; only yourself it is you are prepared to kill--your own +pride, your own delicacy, your own heart! Good God! what are good +women made of, that they set such monstrous codes up for themselves, +and adhere to them so mercilessly!" + +"He is my husband," she faltered out; and for a moment her courage +seemed to fail. The next she rose, and standing by the mantelpiece, +where he had stood before, she went on, with hurry and agitation in +her voice: "Don't mistake me. Love is dead and gone for me. But this +world is not the be-all and the end-all; there is an inheritance +beyond it, reserved for those who have 'overcome.' Duty is hard, but +it is never intolerable to a steadfast will, and a mind, fixed on the +truth. Time is long, and the round of wrong is tedious; but the day +wears through best to those who subdue impatience, and wrong loses +half its bitterness when self is conquered. I have learned my lesson, +Sir Laurence, and chosen my part." + +"And what is to be mine?" he said with angry impatience,--"what is to +be mine? You moralize charmingly, Lady Mitford; and your system is +perfect, with one little exception--and what is that? A mere nothing, +a trifle--only a man's heart, only a love that is true! You are all +alike, I believe, bad or good, in this,--you will pine after, you will +endure anything for, a man who is false to you, and you will tread +upon the heart of one who is true. What do you care? We do not square +with the moral code of the good among you, nor with the caprice and +devilment of the bad; and so away with us! I am 'cruel' to you, +forsooth, because I tell you that you no longer love a worthless +profligate, who sports with your peace and your honour at the bidding +of a wanton! I am 'cruel' because I tell you that I, who have +innocently wronged you, love you with every pulse of my heart and +every impulse of my will! Is there any cruelty on your side, do you +think, when you talk, not puling sentiment--I could more easily pardon +that; it would be mere conventional silliness--but these chilly, +chilling moralities, which are fine in copy-books, but which men and +women abandon with their writing-lessons?" + +"Do they?" she said with imperturbable gentleness; "I think not. You +are angry and unjust, Sir Laurence,--angry with _me_, unjust to _me!_" + +The keen pathos of her tone, its innocent pleading, utterly overcame +him. + +"Yes," he cried; "I _am_ unjust, and you are an angel of goodness; +but--I love you,--ah, how I love you!--and you reject me, utterly, +utterly. You reject me, and for him! You give _her_ a double triumph; +you lay my life waste once more." + +He stopped in his hurried walk close to her. She laid her hand upon +his arm, and they looked at one another in silence for a little. She +broke it first. + +"And if I did not reject you, as you say--if I accepted this love, +this compensating truth and loyalty, which you offer me, what should I +be, Laurence Alsager, but her compeer? Have you thought of that? Have +you remembered that there is a law in marriage apart from and above +all feeling? Have you considered what she who breaks that law is, in +the sight of God, in the unquenchable light of her own conscience, +though her conduct were as pure from stain as the ermine of a royal +robe? I am speaking, not chilly, chilling moralities, but immortal, +immutable truth. In the time to come you will remember it, and believe +it; and then there will be no bitterness in your heart when you +recollect how I bade you farewell!" + +The lustrous eyes looked into his with a gaze as pure as an infant's, +as earnest as a sibyl's, and the gentle hand lay motionless upon his +arm. + +"How you bade me farewell!" he repeated in a hoarse voice. "What do +you mean? Are you sending me from you?" + +"Yes," she answered; "I am sending you from me. We have met once too +often, and we must meet no more. You say you love me;" she shrunk and +shivered again,--"and--and I believe you. Therefore you will obey me." + +"No," he said resolutely; "I will not obey you! I will see you,--I +must. What is there in my love to frighten or to harm you? I ask for +nothing which even your scrupulous conscience might hesitate to give; +I seek no change in the relation that has subsisted between us for +some time now." + +"Dreams, dreams," she said, sadly; "unworthy of your sense,--unworthy +of your knowledge of the world. Nothing can ever replace us on our old +footing. The words you have spoken to me can never be unsaid. They are +words I never ought to have heard--and--" In a moment her firmness +deserted her, her voice failed; she sank into a chair, and burst into +passionate tears. + +"You would not have them unsaid!" he cried; "tell me that you would +not! Tell me that the coldness and the calm which those streaming +tears deny are not true, are not real! Tell me that I am something in +your life,--that I might have been more! Dearest, I reverence as much +as I love you; but give me that one gleam of comfort. It cannot make +your heavenly rectitude and purity poorer, while to me it will be +boundless riches. Tell me that you could love me if you would; tell me +that the sacred barrier of your conscience is the only one between us! +I swear I will submit to that! I will not try to shake or to remove +it. Nay, more, I will leave you,--if indeed you persist in commanding +my absence,--if only you will tell me that under other circumstances +you would have loved me. Tell me this! I ask a great, a priceless +boon; but I do ask it. Dearest, will you not answer me?" Her +agitation, her tears, had reassured him, had broken the spell which +her calmness had imposed. The hope that had come to him once or twice +during their interview came again now, and stayed. + +There was no sound for a while but that of her low rapid sobs. The +clocks upon the mantelpieces in the suite of rooms ticked loudly, and +their irritating metallic voices mingled strangely with the rushing +pulses of Alsager's frame, as he leant over her,--one arm round the +back of her chair, the other hand upon its velvet arm. His face was +bent above her drooping head; his thick moustache almost touched the +waved ridges of her scented hair. He implored her to speak to him; he +poured out protestation and entreaty with all the ardour of his strong +and fiery nature, with all the eloquence which slumbered in him, +unsuspected even by himself. Little by little she ceased to weep, and +at length she allowed him to see her face. Again he renewed his +entreaties, and she answered him. + +"You try me too far, and I am weak. Yes, I would love you, if I +might!" + +"Then you _do_ love me!" he exclaimed. "You and I are no dreaming boy +and girl, no Knight and Dame of old romance, but man and woman; and we +know that these shades of difference are merest imagination. We love +each other, and we know it. We love each other, and the acknowledgment +makes the truth no truer. I am ungenerous, you would say; I am +breaking the promise I have just made. Yes, I am; but I love you--and +you love me!" He had dropped on one knee beside her chair now, and as +he spoke he caught her hand in his. Without any sign of anger or +prudery, she withdrew her hand quietly, but resolutely, and signed to +him to rise and be seated. He obeyed her; but exultation shone out +from every line and feature of his face. + +"You _are_ ungenerous," she said,--"very ungenerous, and very cruel; +but I will not the less be true in these the last words I shall say to +you. If I have dreamed of a life other than mine, of love well +bestowed and faithfully returned, it was only in the most passing, +transient visions. My lot is cast; my mind is made up; my heart is +fixed. I linger here for a few moments longer because they are the +last I shall ever pass alone with you. Do not interrupt me, or I +terminate this interview on the instant. This subject must never be +renewed,--indeed it never can be; for you know my resolution, and I +know you will respect it. The past remains with us; but the future has +no common history for you and me. When I have ceased speaking, and +that door has closed behind you, you must remember me, if you do not +see me, and regard me if you do, as a woman wholly devoted to her +wifely duty, of whom to think otherwise is to do a deadly wrong." + +He stood before her as pale as she had been; something wrathful and +something reverential contended in his expression. She waved her hand +with a slight gesture, and went on "Now I have done with myself; there +is no more question of me. But of you, Sir Laurence, there is much and +serious question. Your life is aimless and unreal. Give it an object +and an aim; invest it with truth, occupy it with duty. I am speaking +with you face to face for the last time, and I go back to the old +relation which you have destroyed for a few minutes. In that relation +I speak to you of your father's death-bed request. Fulfil it; and by +doing so, end this vain and sinful strife,--quell this demon which +deludes you." + +"You mean that I should marry my father's ex-ward, I presume?" said +Alsager, coldly. + +"I do." + +"Thank you, Lady Mitford. Your proposition is full of wisdom, however +it may lack feeling. But there are sundry objections to my carrying it +into effect. The lady does not love me, nor do I love the lady." + +"You hardly know her," Lady Mitford said with a timid smile; "you have +not given yourself any opportunity of testing your power of obedience +to your father's dying wish. You cannot judge of how she would be +disposed towards you." Once more she smiled timidly and sadly. "You +would have little cause to fear ill-success, I should think." + +"Except that in this case, Lady Mitford, the lady's affections are +preëngaged, and she is doubtless a miracle of constancy." + +"You speak bitterly, Sir Laurence, but your bitterness will pass, and +your better nature will assert itself." + +"Is this all you intend to say to me, Lady Mitford?" + +"This is all. My words will supplement themselves in silence and +reflection, and you will acknowledge that I have spoken the +truth--that I am as true as you believe me." + +"And are we to part thus?" he asked in a slightly softened tone. + +A quick spasm crossed her face, but she answered him at once, and +looked at him as she spoke, "Yes!" + +He bowed profoundly. She held out her hand, On the third finger was a +heavy-looking seal-ring, which she constantly were. As he coldly took +the hand in his, his eyes fell upon this ring. She marked the look, +and when he released her hand, she drew off the ring and offered it to +him. + +"You are angry with me now," she said; "but your anger will pass away. +When no shade of it remains, wear this for my sake, and make its +motto, which is mine, yours." + +He took the ring, and without looking at it, dropped it into his +waistcoat-pocket. Then he stood quite still as she passed him with her +usual graceful step, and watched the sweep of her soft black robe as +she walked down the long room, and disappeared through a door which +opened into her boudoir. + +Late that night Alsager, angry still, dark and wrathful, tossed +the ring with a contemptuous frown into a jewel-case; but he +first took an impression of it in wax, and read, the motto thus: +"Fortiter--Fideliter--Feliciter." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +SIR LAURENCE'S LETTER. + + +Helen Manningtree and Mrs. Chisholm pursued their customary mode of +life at Knockholt Park after, as before, the departure of Sir +Laurence. Helen missed the grave and courteous gentleman whom she had +learned to like so much, and her at first distant association with +whom had grown into intimacy and confidence. Sir Laurence was a most +agreeable companion; well-informed; and entirely without any sort of +pretension. He had seen a great deal of the world--in the geographical +sense of the term, as well as in every other; and his anecdotes of +travel and descriptions of foreign lands had unflagging interest for +Helen, whose experience had indeed been narrow, but whose reading had +been various and extensive. In the thoughtful mood into which Alsager +had fallen--in the serious frame of mind which had become almost +habitual with him now--he would probably have been voted a bore by +"society," supposing that he had placed himself within reach of its +suffrages; but Helen knew nothing of the tastes and fashions of the +great world, and to her Laurence was all that was most companionable +and pleasant. He was not indeed so gifted, so cultivated a creature as +Cuthbert Farleigh; but then,--who was? who could be expected to be? +And Helen, whose circle of acquaintance included a dozen unmarried men +at the most, believed with perfect good faith that she had exercised +the soundest judgment and discretion in her selection of the Reverend +Cuthbert, from "all the world," as the individual to whom alone she +could render unqualified respect and intrust the happiness of her +future life. That resolution, before mentioned, by which the curate +had bound himself, to himself, to wait until he should be a bishop, or +for the occurrence of any other equally improbable event, was rather +in the way of Helen's happiness, either present or future; but she was +not much disquieted by the delay. Cuthbert had seen no symptoms of an +alarming nature to indicate any "intentions" on Colonel Alsager's part +prior to Sir Peregrine's death, and he was ignorant of the existence +of the old Baronet's letter, in which he had urged a marriage with +Helen upon Sir Laurence. He had begun to think, within a very few days +of Colonel Alsager's arrival at Knockholt, that he had been foolishly +apprehensive in the first instance. Was it at all likely that, at +Colonel Alsager's age, and in his position, with his opportunities of +seeing, and recommending himself to, the fairest and most fascinating +women in the world, he should be entirely heart-free and ready to fix +his affections upon his father's ward? Of course Cuthbert was quite +aware that Laurence Alsager could never by any possibility have met +any one half so worthy of admiration and of love as Helen Manningtree; +but he was a young man of candid mind, and ready to acknowledge that a +man might be preoccupied to the extent of being unable to recognize +the unapproachable excellence of Helen without being guilty of +absolute stupidity or unpardonable bad taste. So, on the whole, these +young people were tolerably comfortable in their minds, and felt an +equable though unexpressed confidence in their mutual affection and in +the future. The circumstance of Sir Peregrine Alsager's will making no +mention of Helen--in fact, having been made before she became his +ward, and during Lady Alsager's lifetime--had taken them both by +surprise, and affected them differently. Helen had always known that +her own very moderate income--which Sir Peregrine had always +supplemented by a liberal allowance--was all that she actually +possessed, or had any positive right to expect. But she had never +entertained any doubt that her guardian intended to leave her a +handsome provision, and she experienced a considerable shock when she +learned that he had not done so. She could not understand it, and she +was still more puzzled and surprised when Sir Laurence told her that +he found himself a very much richer man than he had ever expected to +be. Helen had too much good sense, and even in her secluded, life had +learned to estimate facts and to eschew sentimental fallacies; so she +did not affect to be indifferent on the subject, or to think that it +was quite as well to be poor as to be rich, to be dependent as to be +independent; but she did think and feel with very consoling sincerity +that Cuthbert would have no more scruples about asking her to share +his lot when her own had ceased to be of a nature to contrast with it. +So she accepted her altered position cheerfully, and asked Sir +Laurence what he would advise her to do, with a true-hearted freedom +from anger or jealousy which elevated her to a great height in the +mind of the new Baronet. Sir Laurence made her an evasive answer, and +begged her to defer any decision on the subject until his return to +Knockholt. He was going away, first to town, and then abroad, he told +her, most probably; and she and Mrs. Chisholm must remain and take +charge there for him. He would keep up the establishment just as it +had been, with the exception of the stable department. Helen +acquiesced with great readiness. She was too completely a lady to feel +any awkwardness in such an arrangement, and she knew well that +Laurence's interests would be best served by her accepting his offer. + +"I will stay here then," she said, "and go on just as usual. I don't +know whether you are aware that I was Sir Peregrine's almoner. Am I to +be yours? The farm-bailiffs, the keepers, and all the rest of your +people, are my excellent good friends. I shall get on capitally with +them, and go my old rounds in the village, and so forth. But I want to +know what I am to do about the charities, the schools, and the +promiscuous applications to the 'great house.'" + +"I would give you unlimited credit with Todd, Helen, for all your +requirements in that way, but that I fear you would be too +conscientious to make sufficient use of it. But stay; the best plan +will be to arrange it with Farleigh. Yes; I'll speak to him, and tell +Todd he is to give him anything he asks for. I daresay he won't mind a +little additional trouble in the cause of his poor people; and you can +do the visiting and all that as usual, and report to him." + +Sir Laurence looked at Helen as he made this remarkably convenient +proposition for rendering the intercourse between the Park and the +Rectory (for Cuthbert lived at the rector's house; that is to say, in +a corner of it) more frequent than it was at present. Helen grew +extremely red, and then turned the conversation. + +"So, I suppose," said she to Mrs. Chisholm, after Sir Laurence had +taken his leave, and the two women were talking over his visit and all +the late events,--"so I suppose we shall live here until Sir Laurence +is married; and then, when he brings a handsome, dashing, fashionable +Lady Alsager down here, you and I, dear old woman, will go and live in +the village; perhaps that pretty little house with the roses and the +little white fountain, just big enough for the two ducks that are +always swimming in it, may be vacant then; and I daresay Laurence +would give it to us rent-free, and we should be very snug there; but +we would not have ducks, except for dinner; and Lady Alsager would +have us up to tea, I daresay, when there were no fine people at the +Park. What do you say to all this, Mrs. Chisholm? doesn't it sound +pleasant? What a cosy little place it is! don't you think so?" + +"My dear Helen, how you do run on?" said the calmer Mrs. Chisholm; +"you are quite in spirits to-day." + +She was; for in her sketch of the rural abode with the roses there had +been an unmentioned element. Helen thought the house would be quite +the thing for a curate. Helen was always thinking about a curate; and +in that respect there was considerable sympathy between her and her +companion, for Mrs. Chisholm was almost always thinking of a curate +too. Helen's curate was living; Mrs. Chisholm's was dead. The girl's +heart was in a dream of the future; the woman's, in the memory of the +sacred past. + +Cuthbert Farleigh had received the intelligence of Sir Peregrine +Alsager's unaccountable conduct towards Helen Manningtree with mingled +feelings. He was by no means a commonplace young man, though not the +light of learning and the mirror of chivalry which Helen believed him. +Her over-estimate of him did him no harm, for he entertained a +tolerably correct opinion of himself; and if the future were destined +to unite them, it would probably not militate against her own +happiness either. The mistake she made was in degree, not in kind,--a +distinction which makes all possible difference. A sensible and +dutiful woman may find out that her husband is not possessed of the +qualities with which she has believed her lover to be endowed, to the +extent with which she accredited him, and her love and esteem may not +suffer by the discovery. She would probably recognize that if she had +over-rated him (and what a dreadful woman she would be if she had +not!) on some points, she had also failed to discover his merits on +others, until the intimacy of domestic life had restored the balance +of judgment. The mistake, which lays a woman's life waste in its +rectification, is that which endows a man with qualities which he does +not possess at all,--the mistake which leads to the conviction that +the man she has married is not the man she loved, and burdens her with +an actual duty and a lost ideal. If Helen Manningtree were ever to +marry Cuthbert Farleigh, she would incur no such danger; she would +have to pay no such price for the indulgence of undisciplined +imagination. He was a good and a clever man, and was as highly and +wholly disinterested as it is possible for a human being to be, to +whom the consideration of meat, drink, clothing, and house-rent is one +of rational importance. + +He regarded his position with respect to Helen as very much improved +by the fact that Sir Peregrine Alsager had not left her the fortune, +which the gossips of the neighbourhood had taken for granted, and even +announced "on authority." On the other hand, he grieved that she +should be deprived of the luxurious home and the opulent manner of +life to which she had been so long habituated; and as he was not at +all a conceited man,--albeit flattered and exalted by all the ladies +in the parish, which is ordinarily the bane of curates,--it did occur +to him that perhaps Helen might have been better and happier if Sir +Peregrine had left her the fortune, and he had adhered to his +resolution of leaving her to its enjoyment, unwooed by him. Such a +supposition was not likely to last long; its cold chill would pass off +in the sunshine of free and acknowledged love. Free and acknowledged +love? Yes, the curate was going to tell Helen, as soon as he should +have learned the particulars of her position, that she had not erred +in believing that he loved her, aid to ask her to take all the risks +and all the cares of a life which could never have any brilliancy or +any luxury to offer her, for the sole consideration of sharing them +with him. He had not the smallest doubt of his success. Helen's nature +was too true, and too well known to him, to render a misgiving +possible; still the near approach of the assurance of his hope made +him grave and solemn. The orphan-girl loved and trusted him; without +him she was alone--alone in a world which is not very easily gotten +through with the best of help and companionship. The sense of a great +responsibility rested upon him, and his heart was lifted up in no +merely conventional or professional prayer. So Cuthbert made up his +mind, and felt very quiet and solemn about it. That mood would pass +away; it would be succeeded by the dazzling delight, the splendid +triumph, the fertile fancy, and superhuman hope and exultation of +love, as it ought to be; but it is a good omen for any woman whose +lover addresses himself to his wooing in such a temper. + +Thus it fell out that Helen and Cuthbert, standing together by a +window which opened on the broad stone terrace, and watching poor Sir +Peregrine's peacocks, as they marched up and down outside, talked of a +future which was to be common to them both, and was to date from the +expiration of the year of mourning for Sir Peregrine Alsager. Helen +had told Cuthbert how she had sketched such a charming picture for +Mrs. Chisholm, of the house with the roses; and they had talked a good +deal of the nonsense incidental to their position, and which is so +much pleasanter than sense,--about whether she had thought of him; and +if she had, why she had?--for there is a subtle resemblance to Jack +Bunsby's monologue in the dialogues of lovers;--and then the +conversation drifted away to Sir Laurence Alsager. + +"We must tell him, my own Helen," said the curate; "he has been very +kind to you, and I daresay will be very much disgusted at your making +so poor a marriage." + +The girl looked reproachfully at him, but smiled in a moment, and +said, "Go on, Cuthbert; you are not worth contradicting, you know." + +"No, but--" said Cuthbert, remonstrating, "you must let me set the +world's view before you. No doubt Sir Laurence will think you very +foolish; but he will always be our friend,--I feel sure of +that,--though I know he is so different, and lives in so different a +world, under so different a system. Sometimes, Helen, I have had an +idea that he found out my secret; though I never could see an inch +farther into his life and his heart than it was his good pleasure I +should look. Yes, my darling, he must know all about us, and soon; for +you must remember that it may make a difference in all his plans and +arrangements, if he finds you are not to remain here after next +spring." + +"I hardly think it will do that," said Helen; "I fancy he will +establish Mrs. Chisholm here _en permanence_; that is to say, until he +marries." + +"Is he likely to marry? Have you heard anything of that sort?" + +"O no! he has never talked of any girls to me. He has never said +anything the least like intending to marry. The only woman he ever +speaks of--and he does talk of her, and sometimes hears from her--is +Lady Mitford; you remember, you told me about her marriage,--the +daughter of Mr. Stanfield, your old tutor, you know." + +"Of course, I remember. How strangely things come about! it really +seems as if there were only two sets of people in the world; for one +never meets any one with whom one has not some link of communication! +And Georgie Stanfield is Laurence Alsager's female crony and +correspondent! How and where is she?" + +"In town, I believe; but I don't know much about her. He used to speak +of her vaguely, in talking to me of the great world and its +hollowness, as of one whom he greatly liked and esteemed, and who was +unfortunately circumstanced. He said he would have asked Lady Mitford +down here in the autumn, if he could have asked her without her +husband; but that, of course, was impossible, and he could not invite +Sir Charles Mitford. I believe they are very unhappy. Think of that, +Cuthbert,--a husband and wife unhappy! a splendid home, with rank and +wealth, and misery!" The girl lifted solemn eyes full of wonder and +compassion to her lover's face. "Sir Laurence wished that I could know +her, for her sake, he kindly said." + +"I wish you could, Helen; you would comfort her and do her good: and +yet I would not have you saddened, my child, and made wise in the +possibilities of life, as you must be if you had the confidence of an +unhappy wife. You are better without it, darling--far better without +it." + +Then the curate remembered the alarm he had felt when Colonel Alsager +made his appearance at Knockholt Park; and he confessed it to Helen, +who laughed at him, and pretended to scold him, but who was not a +little pleased all the time. + +"You stupid Cuthbert!" said the young lady, to whom the curate had +ceased to be an object of awe since their engagement; "it never came +into Laurence's head to wish to marry me; and I am certain it never +crossed any human being's imagination but your own that such a thing +could ever happen." + +The Reverend Cuthbert was reluctantly obliged to break off the +conversation at this point, and go about his parish business. So he +took leave of Helen, enjoining her to write to Sir Laurence that very +day, and to make him acquainted with their engagement,--as Mrs. +Chisholm, who had just entered the room, and to whom he referred the +matter, gave it as her decided opinion that the communication should +be made by Helen. + +The post was not a subject of such overwhelming importance at +Knockholt Park, its punctuality was not so earnestly discussed, nor +was there as much excitement on its arrival, as at the generality of +country-houses. Mrs. Chisholm had very few correspondents; Helen had +only two, exclusive of Sir Laurence; and no letters were "due" at this +particular time: hence it happened that the ladies often left the +breakfast-table before the arrival of the letter-bag, and that its +contents awaited their attention undisturbed through more hours of the +day than most people would believe possible. Mrs. Chisholm never read +the newspapers until the evening, and Helen never read them at all, +being content with Cuthbert's version of public affairs. On this +particular morning, however, Helen thought proper to remain in the +breakfast-room until the post should arrive. The truth was she shrank +from the task of writing to Sir Laurence, and she knew she ought to +set about it at once; so she lingered and fidgeted about the +breakfast-room long after Mrs. Chisholm had betaken herself to her +daily confabulation with the housekeeper. Thus she was alone when the +letter-bag was brought in, and she turned over its contents, expecting +to find them of the usual uninteresting nature. There were several +letters for Sir Laurence "to be forwarded," a number of circulars, a +few letters for some of the servants, the customary newspapers, and +lastly--a missive for Helen herself. It was a large letter in a blue +envelope, and directed in a lawyer-like hand Helen opened it, feeling +a little frightened, and found that the cover enclosed a packet +addressed to her, in the hand of Sir Laurence Alsager, and marked +"Private." + +"What on earth can Laurence be writing to me about that requires such +precaution?" thought Helen anxiously; and then she rang the bell, +handed over the other letters to the footman for proper distribution, +and retired to her own room, where she read the following: + + +"Dover. + +"My Dear Helen,--I am devoting the last evening which I shall pass in +England for an indefinite period, to writing to you a letter, which I +shall take the precaution of sending so that its existence may be +known to none but you, at the present time. A certain portion of its +contents must necessarily be communicated to others; but you will use +your discretion, upon which in this, and all other things, I rely +with absolute confidence. + +"You must not let this preamble alarm you; there is nothing to +occasion you any trouble or sorrow in what I am about to say to you. +It will be a long story, and, I daresay, a clumsily--told one, for I +am eminently unready with my pen; but it will interest you, Helen, for +my sake and for your own. When I tell you that this story is not a new +one,-that it does not include anything that has occurred after I left +Knockholt, though I am indirectly impelled to write it to you by +circumstances which have happened since then,--you will wonder why I +did not tell it to you in person, during the period when our +companionship was so close and easy,--so delightful to me, and I am +quite sure I may add, so pleasant to you. I could not tell you then, +because I was not sufficiently sure of myself. I had an experiment to +try--an experience to undergo--before I could be certain, even in the +limited sense of human security, of my own future; and until these +were over and done with, all was vague for me. They are over and done +with now: and I am going to tell you all about yourself, and a good +deal about myself. + +"You know that among the sorrows of my life there is one which must be +life-long. It is the remembrance of my conduct to my father, and of +the long tacit estrangement which preceded our last meeting, and +which, but for a providential interposition, might never have been +even so far atoned for and mitigated as it was before his death. It +would be difficult to account for this estrangement; it is impossible +to excuse it; there never was any reproach on either side,--indeed +there could not have been on mine, for the fault was all my own,--and +there never was any explanation. My father doubtless believed, as he +was justified in believing, that any wish of his would have little +weight with me;--he seldom expressed one; and I am convinced that one +thing on which he had set his heart very strongly, one paramount +desire, he cautiously abstained from expressing, that he might, by +keeping me ignorant of it during his lifetime, give it the additional +chance of realization which it might derive from the sanctity of a +posthumous appeal to the feelings of an undutiful and careless son, +when those feelings should be intensified by unavailing regret. I did +learn, dear Helen, after the barrier of eternal silence had been +placed between my father and me, that he had cherished one paramount +desire, and that he had resorted to such an expedient in order to +induce me to respect and to fulfil it. + +"My amazement and discomfiture when I found that my father's will was +of so far distant a date that it made no mention of you were great. I +could not understand why he had not supplemented the will which +existed by another, in which you would be amply provided for, and his +wishes concerning your future fully explained. My long and wilful +absence from my father had prevented my having any real acquaintance +with you. To me you were merely a name, seldom heard, hardly +remembered. Had I not gone to Knockholt when I did, you would have +remained so; and there was no one else who could be supposed to take +an obligatory interest in you. How came it, I thought, that my father +had taken no precaution against such a contingency--which, in fact, +had so nearly been a reality? You will say he trusted to the honour +and the gentlemanly feeling of his son; and so I read the riddle also; +but reflection showed me that I was wrong. A more strictly just man +never lived than my father; and he must have been strictly unjust had +he allowed the future fortunes of a young girl whom he had reared and +educated--who had been to him as a daughter for years--to depend upon +the caprice or the generosity of a man to whom she was an utter +stranger, and between whom and herself the tie of blood was of the +slightest description. Nor was delicacy less characteristic of my +father than justice. (Ah, Helen, how keenly I can see all these things +now that he is gone!) He would have shrunk as sensitively as you would +from anything that would have obliged you and me to meet for the first +time in the characters of pensioned and pensioner. I knew all this; +and I was utterly confounded at the absence of any later will. I had +the most complete and diligent search made; but in vain. There was no +will, Helen, but there was a letter. In the drawer of the desk which +my father always used, there was a letter. How do you think it was +addressed? Not to 'my son'--not to 'Colonel Alsager;' but to 'Sir +Laurence Alsager, Bart.'! It was a painful letter--painful and +precious; painful because a tone of sadness, of disappointment, of +content in feeling that the writer had nearly reached his term of +life, pervaded it; precious because it was full of pardon and peace, +of the fulness of love for his only son. I cannot let you see the +letter,--it is too sacred for any eyes but those for which it was +intended; but I can tell you some of its contents, and I can make you +understand its tone. As a mother speaks to her son going forth into +the arena of life, the night before their parting, in the dark, on her +knees, by his bedside, with her head upon his pillow; as she speaks of +the time to come, when she will watch and wait for him, of the time +that is past, whose memories are so precious, which she bids him +remember and be brave and true; as she makes light of all his faults +and shortcomings,--so did my dear old father--my father who had grown +gray and old; alone, when I might have been with him, and was +not--write to me. God bless him, and God forgive me! He never +reproached me, living; what punishment he has inflicted upon me, dead! +The letter was long; and it varied, I think, through every key in +which human tenderness can be sung. But enough of this. + +"A portion of the contents concerned you nearly, my dear Helen. I can +repeat them to you briefly. I knew, and you know, that your father and +my father--very distant relatives--had been playmates in boyhood, and +attached friends in manhood. We knew that your father died on his +voyage home from India, and just after he had consigned you and your +black nurse to the care of the captain of the ship, to be sent, on +landing, to Knockholt Park. I believe you have your father's letter to +my father, in which he solemnly, but fearlessly, entreats his +protection for the orphan child, whose credentials it is to form. He +had left your mother and her baby in an alien grave at Barrackpore, +and I suppose he had not the strength to live for you only, 'little +Nelly,' as they called you then. At all events, he died; and I knew in +a vague kind of way about that, and my father's care of you, and how +you grew up with him, and made his home cheerful and happy, which his +only son left carelessly, and forsook for long. The letter +recapitulated all this, and told me besides, that your mother had been +my father's first love. Perhaps she was also his only love--God knows. +He was a good husband to my mother during their brief married life, I +am sure; for I remember her well; and she was always smiling and +happy. But the girl he loved had preferred Robert Manningtree with +nothing but his commission, to Peregrine Alsager with a large estate +and a baronetcy for his fortunate future. My father, _preux chevalier_ +that he was, did not forget to tell me that she never repented or had +reason to regret that preference. Thus, Helen, you were a legacy to +him, bequeathed not alone by friendship, but by love. As such he +accepted you; as such he prized you, calm and undemonstrative as he +was; as such it was the cherished purpose of his life to intrust you +to me--not that I was to be your guardian in his place, but that I was +to be your husband. He thought well of me, in spite of all, you see; +he did not despair of his ungracious son, or he never would have +dreamed of conferring so great a privilege on me, of suffering you to +incur so great a risk. He had had this darling project so strongly in +his mind, and yet had been so convinced that any betrayal of it to me +would only prevent my seeking you, that my persistent neglect of the +old home had a double bitterness for him; and at length, two years +ago, hearing a rumour that I was about to marry one of the beauties of +the season, he relinquished it, and determined to make a will, +bequeathing to you the larger portion of his unentailed property. The +rumour was true as to my intentions, but false as to my success. The +lady in question jilted me for a richer marriage, thank God! I don't +say this from pique, but from conviction; for I have seen her and her +husband, and I have seen her since her husband's death. She did not +hold her perjured state long; nor did she win the prize for which she +jilted me. I am a much richer man than her husband ever was, and he +has left her comparatively poor. In a storm of rage and disgust I left +England, without going to Knockholt--without having seen you since +your childhood--without bidding my father farewell. This grieved him +much: but I was free; I was not married. I was labouring under angry +and bitter feelings towards all womankind. I should come home again, +my father thought, still unmarried, and his hope would be fulfilled. +He did not make the will. I remained away much longer than he supposed +I should have done, and not nearly so long as in my anger and +mortification I had determined to remain. You know the rest, dear +Helen--you know that I lingered and dallied with time and duty, and +did not go to Knockholt until it was all but too late. A little while +before he met with the accident, my father had written a letter +somewhat similar in purport; but he had not seen me then, and I +suppose it was not warmly affectionate enough for the old man's +liking, and he wrote that which I now mention at many, and, I fear, +painful, intervals of his brief convalescence. It was finished just a +week before he died. + +"You will have read all this with emotion, Helen; and I daresay at +this point your feelings will be very painful. Mine are little less +so, and the task of fully explaining them to you is delicate and +difficult. The truthfulness, the candour of your nature will come to +my assistance when you read, as their remembrance aids me while I +write. My first impulse on reading my father's letter was to exult in +the thought that there was anything possible to me by which his wishes +could be respected. My second--and it came speedily--was to feel that +the marriage he desired between us never could take place. Are you +reassured, Helen? Have you been frightened at the image your fancy has +created, of a debt of gratitude to be discharged to Sir Peregrine at +the cost of your own happiness, or disavowed at the cost of seeming +cold, ungrateful, and undutiful? Have you had a vision of me in the +character of an importunate suitor, half imploring a concession, half +pressing a right, and wholly distasteful to you? If you have, dismiss +it, for it is only a vision, and never will be realized to distress +you. Why do I say this? Because I know that not only do you not love +me, but that you do love Cuthbert Farleigh. Forgive the plainness and +directness with which I allude to a fact yet perhaps unavowed to him, +but perfectly well known by and acknowledged to yourself. No betrothal +could make you more truly his than you have been by the tacit promise +of your own heart--I know not for how long, but before I came to +Knockholt Park, I am sure. If I had not seen the man, I should equally +have discerned the fact, for I am observant; and though I have, I +hope, outlived the first exuberance of masculine conceit, I did not +err in imputing the tranquil, ladylike indifference with which you +received me to a preoccupied mind, rather than to an absence of +interest or curiosity about the almost unknown son of your guardian. +Life at Knockholt Park has little variety or excitement to offer; and +the advent of a Guardsman, a demi-semi-cousin, and an heir-apparent, +would have made a little more impression, would it not, had not the +Church secured its proper precedence of the Army? I perceived the +state of things with satisfaction; for I liked you very much from the +first, and I thought Cuthbert a very good fellow; just the man to hold +your respect all his life long and to make you happy. In my +reflections on your share, then, in the impossibility of the +fulfilment of my father's request, I experienced little pain. My own +was not so easily disposed of after his death as during his life. I +was destined to frustrate his wishes. Had you and I met, as we ought +to have done, long before; had I had the good fortune to have seen you +and learned to contrast you with the meretricious and heartless of +your sex, who had frittered away my heart and soured my temper, +perhaps, Helen, I might have won you, and the old man might have been +made happy. + +"We met under circumstances which made any such destiny for us +impossible, for reasons which equally affected both. My preoccupation +was of a different sort from yours; it had neither present happiness +nor future hope in it,--it had much of the elements of doubt and fear; +but it was powerful, far more powerful than I then thought, and +powerful it will always be. All this is enigmatical to you, dear +Helen, and it must remain so. I would not have said anything about it, +but that I owed it to you, to the friendship which I trust will never +know a chill, to prevent your supposing that your share in the +frustration of my father's wishes is disproportionate to mine. I +would not have you think--as without this explanation you might justly +think--that I magnanimously renounce my claims, my pretensions to your +love in favour of the actual possessor. No, Helen; for us both our +meeting was too late. We were not to love each other; I was not to be +suffered to win the heart of a true and priceless woman, such as you +are, when I had not a heart to give her in exchange. But though we +were not to love each other, we were destined to be friends--friends +in the fullest and firmest sense; and believe me, friendship between a +man and woman, with its keen sympathy, its unrestrained, confidence, +and its perfect toleration, is a tie as valuable as it is rare. + +"Now I have told you almost all I have to tell about my father's +letter. I suppose we shall both feel, and continue always to feel, +that there was something hard, something almost cruel in the fate +which marked him out for disappointment, and you and me for its +ministers. But this must be; and we must leave it so, and turn to the +present and vital interests of our lives. We shall think of him and +mourn for him none the less that we will speak of this no more. + +"Strong as was my father's desire for our marriage, dear Helen, and +his persuasion that it would come to pass, in his abstraction and his +want of observation he failed to take Farleigh into account; or +perhaps, like all old people, he did not realize the fact that the +child, the girl, had grown into a woman. He did not quite forget to +provide for the contingency of its non-fulfilment. 'If, for any +reason, it may not be. Lance,' he wrote--'if Florence Hillyard's child +is not to be the mistress of the home which might have been her +mother's, see that she has a dowry befitting my daughter and your +sister.' No sentence in his letter touched me more with its simple +trust than did that. + +"I have seen very clearly into the state of your feelings, as I am +sure you allow, and I don't think I have blundered about that of +Farleigh's. He has not told you in formal words the fact patent to +every one's observation, that he entirely reciprocates your devotion +(don't be vexed, Helen; one may pet a curate, you know), because he's +poor, and you were likely to be rich. He believes, as every one +believes, that you are as poor as himself; a belief, by the way, which +does not say much for the general estimate of _my_ character--but that +does not matter; and in that faith he will not hesitate any longer. +Will you be discreet, and say nothing at all of my intention of +carrying out this privately-expressed wish of my father? Will you +prove your possession of the qualities I give you credit for, by +leaving Cuthbert in the belief that he will have in you a portionless +bride, save for your dowry of beauty and worth? I really almost think +you will, Helen; especially as, though you do not need any further +confirmation of Farleigh's nobility of mind than the silence he has +hitherto kept, and the alacrity with which he will now doubtless break +it, it will be well for Mrs. Chisholm and for myself, your only +friends, to know how amply he fulfils our expectations. I almost think +you will; but I intend to make assurance doubly sure by not giving you +the slightest satisfaction on the subject of my intentions. When your +marriage is near, you shall learn how I mean to fulfil my father's +last injunction, but not till then; and if you tell Farleigh anything +about it until I give you leave, I vow I won't give you a shilling. + +"You see I have written myself into good spirits, dear Helen; the +thought of you cheers me almost as your kindly presence would do. What +more have I to say? Not much more of myself, or of yourself, save that +the dearest and warmest wish I entertain is for your welfare. + +"I shall send from my first halting-place on the Continent full +instructions to Todd, in case my absence should be much prolonged. I +cannot speak with any certainty of its duration; it does not depend on +my own inclination. + +"And now, in conclusion, I am going to ask you to do something for me, +which I shall take as the truest proof that the friendship I prize and +rely upon is really mine. I am sure you have not forgotten the friend +I mentioned to you--Lady Mitford. I have seen her in town, and found +her in much grief and perplexity. The cause of her sorrow is not one +on which I can venture to enter to you; but it is deep-seated, +incurable. I am much distressed for her, and can in no way defend or +comfort her. She was an only child, motherless, and brought up in +seclusion by her father,--an exemplary country clergyman, but a man +whose knowledge of the world was quite theoretical and elementary, and +who could not have trained her so that she would know how to encounter +such trials as hers; he probably did not know that such could exist. +As I told you at Knockholt, she has no female friend; unfortunately +she has female enemies--one in particular. My great wish is to procure +her the one, and defend her from the other. I may fail in the latter +object; but you, Helen, can aid me, if you will, to fulfil the former. +I have spoken to her about you, and have assured her that she might +trust in your kindliness, though your inexperience is far greater than +her own. I cannot bring you together now--there is no time or +opportunity; but I want you to promise me that, if at any time during +my absence from England Lady Mitford asks you to come to her, you will +go promptly, and will be to her all that is in you to be to one +unjustly oppressed, cruelly betrayed, and sorely afflicted. Will you +do this for me, Helen? and will you give me an assurance that I may +rely upon you to do it (this is the only portion of my letter which +you need reply to, if you have any feeling that you would rather not) +before next Wednesday, and addressed to me at the Hotel Meurice, +Paris?--Always affectionately yours, + + "LAURENCE ALSAGER." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +A "TERCEL GENTLE." + + +Sir Laurence Alsager's angry mood was of short duration. The day after +that interview in which he had spoke words that he had never intended +to speak, and heard words which he had never thought to hear, he felt +that a great change had fallen upon him. This woman who had rejected +his love, not because she did not reciprocate it, but because it was +unlawful; this woman who had had the strongest and subtlest temptation +which can assail the human heart set before her--the temptation at +once of consolation and of retaliation, of revenge upon the husband +who had deceived and the enemy who had injured her, and who had met it +with utterly disarming rectitude; this woman to whom duty was dearer +than love,--she had changed the face of the world and the meaning of +life for him. He had many times believed a lie, and not seldom had he +worshipped a sham; but he has detected the one and exposed the other, +and gone on his way not much the worse for the delusion, and a good +deal wiser for the experience. Life had, however, never brought him +anything like this before, and he knew it never would again. He should +never love, he could never love, any other woman than this peerless +one who could never be his, from whom her own mandate--he knew its +power and unchangeableness--had severed him, whom he must leave in the +grasp of sorrow and perplexity. He mused long and painfully over the +interview of the preceding day, and he asked himself how it was that, +dear as she had been to him, early as he had ceased to struggle +against her influence, he had never understood the strength, the +dignity, the perfect rectitude of her character before. It never +occurred to Sir Laurence that he had not looked for these qualities; +that he had never studied her disposition but in the most superficial +way; that his love for her was founded upon no fine theory whatsoever; +that it had sprung up partly in admiration of her exceeding beauty, +partly in chivalrous compassion for her disastrous situation, and +found its remaining constituent in a hearty contempt and abhorrence of +Sir Charles Mitford. In short, Sir Laurence did not understand that he +had done just as other people do,--fallen in love with a woman first, +and found out what sort of woman she really was afterwards. + +Sir Laurence's reverie had lasted a long time before the consideration +of his own immediate movements occupied any place in it. When it did +so, he formed his resolution with his accustomed promptitude. He had +told them at Knockholt that he might perhaps go abroad; and now abroad +he would go. He must leave London; he could not bear to witness the +progress of this drama, in which he had so vital an interest, only as +an ordinary spectator. He was parted from her; she was right--there +could be no pretext of friendship in their case. Even if he could have +obscured her clear perception and misguided her judgment; even if he +could have persuaded her to receive him once more on the footing of a +friend, he would have disdained to avail himself of such a subterfuge. +The surest test a man can apply to the worth and sincerity of his love +is to ask himself whether he would deceive its object in order to win +her; if he can honestly say no, he is a true lover and a gentleman. +Sir Laurence asked himself such a question, and was answered, no. He +could not stand the Club-talk; he could not meet those men to whom she +furnished matter for conversation,--not insolent indeed, so far as she +was concerned, but intolerable in its easy, _insouciant_, flippant +slang and indolent speculation in the ears of the man who loved her. +He could not stop it; if he remained in town he must endure it, or +forsake the society of all his customary associates, which was not to +be thought of. Such a course of proceeding as that, in addition to +depriving him of resources and leaving him nothing to do, would give +rise to no end of talk and all kinds of surmises. If he started off +suddenly, nobody knowing why, and went nobody knew where, it would be +all right,--it would be only "Alsager's queer way;" but if he stayed +in town and saw no one, or changed his set, then, indeed, that would +be quite another matter. One's own set has toleration for one's queer +ways, to which they are accustomed, but they decidedly object to any +but habitual "queerness;" they will not bear with new developments, +with running off the rails. + +Yes, he would go; and the sooner the better. There was nothing to +detain him now. He would have liked to see Miss Gillespie perhaps: +but, after all, what good could it do? Her connection with the +Hammonds, and through them with the Mitfords, had long been at an end; +her mysterious note had warned him that her power was over; so that +what could she do? and what had he to say to her? Persons of her sort +were never safe to talk to, and were so full of caprice that she might +either resent his visit or ignore the subject of Lady Mitford +altogether; if she had ever had any interest in her, and it had been +genuine, it was not likely she retained it now. No; he would not +linger for the purpose of seeing her,--he would go at once. Whither? +To Paris first, of course; and then he would consider. Was he always +to be a wanderer? he thought; was he never to realize any of the good +resolves, to put in practice any of the views, he had been indulging +in lately? Was Knockholt to remain masterless, because he could not +settle down to the interests and the occupations which sufficed for +other and better men?--men who had not been exempted from the common +lot either;--men, to many of whom their heart's desire had not been +granted. Could he not now do as his father had done? No, not yet; the +restlessness of mental trouble was upon him; the pain of unaccustomed +moral processes; the shivering chill of the dawn of a new kind of +light and a new system of thought. No doubt this would not be always +so; after a time he could find rest and tranquillity in the duties and +enjoyments of a country baronet's existence. Was this what she meant? +Was this strength to do, and fidelity in adhering to duty, the noble +law by which she ruled her life? Were they to bring him to the +happiness which seemed so distant, so impossible? Were not the words +upon the ring her message, her counsel, her command? Ah, well, if so, +he might--he would try to follow them some day; but for the present he +must get away. Like every wounded animal, he must seek refuge in +flight, he must get him to the covert. + +Sir Laurence Alsager did not remember, amid all his musings, that he +was alone in the enjoyment of this resource; that _she_ remained where +her feet trod on thorns, and heart fed on bitterness--remained in the +straight path of her duty, strong and faithful. + +Yes, he would go at once,--that evening. He gave his servant the +necessary orders, and then applied himself to writing letters on +matters of business. While thus engaged a note was brought to him, and +he was informed that the bearer awaited the answer. The note was +enclosed in an oblong envelope, bordered with black about an inch +deep, so that room was barely left for the address. He knew the +handwriting well; he had been accustomed to see it in combination with +every kind of coquetry in stationery; and he smiled grimly as he noted +the mingled hypocrisy and coquetry of this very pretty and impressive +affliction in black and white. + +"What the devil is she at now?" thought Sir Laurence, as he broke the +accurately-impressed seal. He had not had any communication with Mrs. +Hammond since he left Redmoor in the spring; he had heard not quite +all perhaps, but enough about her to make him shrink from any further +acquaintance with her, as much from disgust of herself as from +indignation on Lady Mitford's account; and he gave her too much credit +for a sufficiently accurate knowledge of the machinery of London +society, and the unfailing circulation of scandal, to entertain any +doubt that she was well aware that he must inevitably hear, and had by +this time heard, the stories that were rife about her. He was not in +the least aware to how great an extent she had been actuated by +torturing jealousy of him, though, as he had told Lady Mitford, he +knew one of her motives was revenge; but he was prepared to give Laura +Hammond credit for any amount of spite of which human nature is +capable; still, what purpose could she have to serve by opening any +communication with him? He read the note as he asked himself the +question. It was dated from the house in Portman Square, and contained +only a few lines. Mrs. Hammond had heard of Sir Laurence Alsager's +arrival in town, and was particularly desirous of seeing him. She +begged he would send her a line to say whether he could conveniently +call upon her the same evening; she said evening, as no doubt his +mornings were fully occupied with the business entailed by his +acquisition of rank and fortune, on which she begged to offer her +congratulations; and she equally, of course, did not go out anywhere, +or receive (ordinary) visitors. She hoped Sir Laurence Alsager would +comply with her request, as she wished to speak to him concerning a +person in whom he was interested, and whom his acquiescence would +materially benefit (underlined); and she remained his most faithfully. + +"A snare and a bait," said Laurence, as he stood with the note in his +hand, uncertain what reply he should make. His first impulse was to +write that he was leaving London that afternoon; but he hesitated to +do that, as it occurred to him she would be surprised at the +abruptness of such a step, and setting her serpentine sagacity to +work, might arrive at guessing something at least proximate to the +truth. Curiosity; a strong conviction that Laura would not venture to +tamper with his patience too far, and would not have dared to take +this step without some motive; a vivid recollection of the interview +which had taken place between them before the memorable visit to +Redmoor, of his threat, and Laura's evident appreciation of its +sincerity; finally, an irresistible longing to hear what Laura might +have to say about Lady Mitford, and a vague dread that a refusal might +in some indescribable way injure her,--decided him. + +He wrote a short formal note, to the effect that Sir Laurence Alsager +would have the honour of calling upon Mrs. Hammond at eight o'clock +that evening, despatched it, and then returned to his letters. + +Sir Laurence did not dine at the Club that day; he was in no mood to +meet the men whom he must have met, and who would have made him pay +the price of his popularity by inopportunely insisting on his society. +He dined at a private hotel, and eight o'clock found him at the door +of Mrs. Hammond's house. + +He was shown into an inner drawing-room, which was brilliantly +lighted, and where he was left alone for a few minutes. Then Mrs. +Hammond appeared, and came towards him holding out her hand. + +"I cannot congratulate you on your appearance, Sir Laurence," she +said, as she seated herself in a low deep chair and looked up at him. +The look was a peculiar one; intent observation and some anxiety were +blended in its expression. He had taken a seat at her invitation, and +was quite grave and self-possessed, while he preserved with exactness +the manner of a man who was there in obedience to a summons, not of +his own wish or act, and who was waiting to learn the motive which had +dictated it. + +Laura Hammond looked handsomer than he had ever seen her, as she sat +in the lighted room in her deep mourning dress, whose sombre hue and +rich material toned down the sensuous style of her beauty, and lent it +that last best touch of refinement in which alone it had been wanting. +Sir Laurence Alsager observed this increased beauty, but merely with +an artistic sense of its attraction. To him Laura Hammond could never +be aught but despicable and repulsive; and he was just then in the +mood in which a man believes that only one woman in the world is +really beautiful. She had conformed to custom in her dress so far as +the weeds went, but she did not wear a widow's cap. Nothing would have +induced her to disfigure herself by such a detestable invention; and +though she knew she should be talked about, she considered that a +minor evil. Her fine silky chestnut-hair, preserved from contact with +the hideous cap, was banded smoothly on her forehead, and gathered +into an unadorned knot at the back of her head, showing the profile +and the delicate little ears to perfection. More beautiful than ever +she undoubtedly was; but yet, as Laurence looked at her with close +attention, he noticed that she had grown suddenly older in appearance. +Even supposing all her former light and dashing manner to be resumed, +the sombre dress to be laid aside, and the brilliant toilette in which +Laura had been unrivalled among English women to have taken its place, +a change had come over her. A line above the brow,--a horizontal line, +not the sharp perpendicular mark that intellectual toil sets; a +tighter closing of the lips, too seldom closed before; a little, a +very little, less elasticity in the muscles which produced and +banished the ever-flitting smile,--these were faint, but certain, +indications. + +"I have not been ill, Mrs. Hammond," replied Sir Laurence gravely; +"but I have had a good deal of trouble lately, and that does not +improve one's looks. But," he went on, "you wished to see me; may I +inquire why? I am leaving town shortly; and--" + +He paused; his natural courtesy arrested him. He could not tell Mrs. +Hammond so plainly that he was anxious to get away from her as soon as +possible. She saw it though, and she reddened with sudden anger, which +in an instant she brought under control. + +"You are amazingly business-like, Sir Laurence! The influence of your +late onerous experiences in the character of _Gentilhomme Campaynard_, +no doubt. By the way, how do you like it all?" + +"All? I hardly catch your meaning. Since my father's death I have +been, as you suppose, very much occupied, and I cannot say I like the +details of a transfer of property and responsibility much." + +"Ah, but the property itself, I meant,--the title and the fortune, the +'county-magnate' business, and the ward;--above all, the ward." + +She spoke in a playful tone; but she watched him closely, and Sir +Laurence saw it. + +"She had heard something about Helen, and she is on a false scent," he +thought. "Perhaps it is just as well to let her deceive herself." + +So he replied, still gravely, still unwarmed by her manner, which was +half caressing and half contemptuous: + +"They are all good things in their way, Mrs. Hammond; and if their way +be not yet mine, mine will be theirs some day, I hope." + +"Ah, then, it's true!" she exclaimed. "You are really going to marry +and settle; you are going to assume the semi-sporting, semi-bucolic, +but entirely domestic character, which is so very charming, and which +will suit you so perfectly; and henceforth the all-conquering Colonel +will be sought for in vain under so admirable a travesty!" + +Still he was grave and immovable. Her _persiflage_ had no more power +to charm, her ridicule to annoy, than her beauty had power to please +him. It was all silly chatter; and he wondered at himself as he +remembered the time when he preferred the nonsense, occasionally +adulterated by slang and invariably spiced with spite, which she had +talked then and always, to any words of wit or wisdom. She still +watched him, under cover of her light manner, narrowly. + +"You know as well as I do what is the ordinary amount of truth in +public rumour, Mrs. Hammond. But you must excuse me for again +reminding you that I am here at your request, and that you summoned me +hither with some purpose. It was not to talk of _my_ affairs and +prospects, I presume." + +He spoke the last words in a harsh and angry voice involuntarily. +Anger against her, and something very like hatred of her, were strong +within him, and grew stronger rapidly. He looked at her careless face; +he marked her sensuous _soignée_ beauty; and he remembered the fair +woman whom he had seen struck down by her merciless hand in the dawn +of her innocent happiness, in the pride of her hope and love. He would +make her say her say, and leave her, or he would leave her with it +unsaid; he was sorry he had come. What could this woman do but harm to +any one; to him, and to _her_ most of all? + +"No, Colonel Alsager,--I beg your pardon, Sir Laurence,--_I_ cannot +always remember how times are changed, you see,--it was _not_. It was +for a purpose which you may think a little less welcome, and perhaps +even more trifling; it was to talk to you--of myself." + +"Of yourself, Mrs. Hammond! What can you have to say of yourself that +I ought to hear, or you to speak?" + +"Much," she said vehemently; and in a moment her manner changed. He +had a perfectly distinct recollection of her on the last two occasions +when he and she had spoken together, especially on the last, when she +openly defied him; when she had declared that she still loved him; +when she had furnished him with the clue to her conduct which he had +unravelled for Lady Mitford's enlightenment; when she had said, "I +will break her heart, and then I will spoil her name." + +Had she done so? had this woman fulfilled her threat? Very nearly; she +had almost broken Georgie's heart, and she would certainly ruin her +reputation if he--Laurence Alsager--did not resolutely withdraw, and +deprive her of any pretext for slander. And so it had come to this: +the woman he had undertaken to defend, for whose sake he had foregone +so much pleasure and neglected so much duty, could be saved only by +his absence! He knew that Laura was "talked of," and therefore persons +unskilled in the science of society might suppose that she could not +do much harm by talking of another woman; but Alsager was an adept, +and he knew that a stone will bruise and maim, and even kill, if +well-aimed and sufficiently heavy, though the hand that throws it be +ever so much stained with sin. He feared--he feared exceedingly for +the woman he loved, and whom this she-devil hated. He noted the change +in Laura's manner before she spoke, and he feared still more. + +"I have much to say, and I _will_ say it," she went on vehemently; +"and you shall listen to me! What! am I to have won at last, and at +the end of such deception and slavery, the reward I have done all and +suffered all for, and then am I to keep a decorous silence, and see it +all made waste and worthless? Don't look at me in that grave, polite, +criticising way, Laurence, or you will drive me mad!" + +Something of menace and something of appeal in her manner, a startling +energy in her gesture, and the hoarse intensity of her voice, threw +Alsager off his guard; this was so totally new to him. He had seen her +in many moods, but never in one like this. Tenderness, coquetry, a +mock gust of passion, all the tricks of fence of the most finished +flirt he had seen her play, and he had found them out--perhaps she had +never really deceived even when she had most completely fascinated +him; but he had never seen her thus, he thought, and he was right. She +was in earnest; he was about to understand her fully now. She had +risen impetuously from her seat, and approached him, and he had risen +also; so they stood confronting each other. There was nothing +artificial in the expressive grace of her attitude; her figure was +perfect, and she was graceful always--never more so than now, when she +was carried away into a forgetfulness of her own beauty, which, if it +had been habitual, would have made Laura Hammond irresistible. Her +eyes flashed, and her smooth brow reddened; but her beauty gained by +every subtle change of expression, as she poured out a torrent of +impetuous words. + +"Did you think I had forgotten our last meeting and our last parting? +Did you think I had forgotten the words you spoke then, and those with +which I answered them? Did you think the past was all blotted out, and +those three horrid years were gone like an ugly dream; those years +during which you banished yourself for love of me,--yes, Sir Laurence +Alsager, for me,--you cannot deny it, you can't take _that_ from me, +you can't transfer that jewel to _her_ crown of triumph,--ay, start +and stare; I know it all, you see,--and then came back to torture me +by indifference, by neglect, by preference of another--and _what_ +another! my God! that made it a thousand times worse--before my face! +What do you take me for that you think I would endure this, and when +the time came for speech keep silence!" + +She was trembling violently now; but as he looked at her, with all the +amazement he felt in his face, she put a strong control on herself and +stood quite firmly. + +"For God's sake, what do you mean?" stammered Sir Laurence. "What are +you talking about? What is it that you must say? What is it that I +have done?" + +"You ask me what I mean; you--you--did I not tell you then--when you +pleaded to me for the woman who had rivalled me with you--that I loved +you? Did I not tell you then, I say, and did you not know it?" + +"You did tell me that you loved me then, Mrs. Hammond, and I did not +believe you. You had told me the same thing before, you know, many a +time, and you married Mr. Hammond. You married him because he was very +rich,--perhaps you might have hesitated had he not also been old and +silly; but he was, and your calculations have succeeded;--you are rich +and free. Once before, when we talked upon this subject, I said we +would not go into it any more. To you it cannot be _profitable_" (he +laid an emphasis upon the word), "and to me it is very painful. 'That +time is dead and buried,' and so let it be. I cannot conceive why you +have revived its memory; but, whatever your purpose, it can have no +success dependent on me. I have no bitter memory of it now; indeed, +for some time I have had no memory of it at all. I know it is hard for +a woman to believe that a wound inflicted by her can ever heal, and I +daresay men show the scars sometimes, and flatter the harmless vanity +of their _ci-devant_ conquerors. But I am not a man of that stamp, +Mrs. Hammond; I have good healing flesh, I suppose, as the surgeons +and the nurses say; at all events, I have no scars to show." + +He made a step in advance, as if to take his hat from a small table; +and she saw that he intended to leave her. + +"No," she exclaimed; "you shall not go! I am utterly resolved to speak +with you; and you must hear me. I will be as cold and as calm as you +are; but you must hear me, if not for my sake or your own, for Lady +Mitford's!" + +She motioned him to his seat, and smiled--a little momentary smile and +full of bitterness. He sat down again, and she stood by the +mantelpiece, on which she laid her hand, and for a moment rested her +head upon the palm. Something forlorn in the attitude caught Alsager's +attention; then he knew that she was acting, and acting well. Fury, +perhaps ferocity, might be natural to Laura Hammond under certain +circumstances; but forlornness never. When she next spoke it was in a +softer tone, and she kept her face towards him in profile. It was her +best look, as he remembered, and as she remembered also; for though +she was not acting now in all she said--though she was more real +throughout the whole of their interview than she had ever been before, +nothing, except indeed it might have been severe bodily pain, could +have reduced Laura to perfect reality. + +"I believe," she said, "the best way I can make you understand why I +sent for you, and what I want to say to you, is to tell you the truth +about those three years." + +"As you please," he answered; "I cannot conceive how their history can +concern me, except that portion of it which I have witnessed; and that +has concerned, and does concern me. But I am here at your request, and +I will go only at your dismissal." + +"When I married, and you went away," she began, "I was not very +unhappy at first; there was novelty and success, and there was luxury, +which I love," she said with emphatic candour. "Mr. Hammond was not a +disagreeable man, and I never suffered him to get into the habit of +controlling me. He was inclined to try a little, but I soon convinced +him it was useless, and, especially at his age, would make him +uncomfortable. So he left off." Her voice hardened now into the clear +metallic tone which Laurence remembered so well. + +"By degrees, however," she continued, "everything grew irksome; and a +horrid weariness and sense of degradation stole over me; not because I +loved wealth and luxury any less, but because of the price I had to +pay for it. And you had made it dearer to buy, for you had gone away." + +"Yes," he said, "I had gone away; and you would have liked to have me +stay, and be experimented on, and victimized for your delight,--I can +understand that; but I should have fancied, Mrs. Hammond, you knew me +too well to suppose you could have played such a game as that with +me." + +"I would not have played any game with you," she said--not angrily, +rather sadly. "How unjust you are! how unjust men always are! they--" + +He interrupted her. "Pray do not indulge me--with that senseless +complaint which women who, like you, are the bane and the torment of +men who loved them with an honest, and the utter ruin of men who loved +them with a dishonest love, make of their victims. I have long ceased +to be yours, Mrs. Hammond; but I am not unjust. I say again, you would +have made me ridiculous as readily as you had made me wretched. I +don't deny it, you see. I am much astonished, and rather ashamed, when +forced to remember it; but I am not weak enough to deny a weakness. To +be so would argue that it is not entirely corrected." + +He was provoking her to anger, but not altogether unintentionally; his +best means of coming at her real purpose would be by throwing her off +her guard. + +"I say again," she repeated, "you are unjust; I would _not_ have +played any such game. I would have become used to my position in time; +I would have seen you in the world; I would have seen you gradually +forgetting me. It would not have been our angry parting, and a dead +dull blank,--time to feel to the utmost all the horrors of a marriage +without love. No woman, I believe, would sell herself, at least in +marriage, which must last, if she could estimate them aright. And then +such a meeting as ours! Do you remember it, Laurence?" She stole a +very affectionate look at him here. + +"Yes, I remember it," he said shortly. + +"A horrid interview we had then, full of sneers and bitterness on your +side, and not in the least real on mine." + +"Is this a pleasanter one, Mrs. Hammond?" said Sir Laurence, who +perceived that her levity was coming up again, and desired to suppress +it. "I cannot perceive the utility of this retrospect." + +"I daresay not," she answered coolly; "but I do." The pretty air of +command was entirely lost on Alsager. She saw that it was, and ground +her teeth,--a pleasant symptom of passion which she never could +suppress. "By the time we met again," she continued, "I was sick and +weary--not only of the price I had to pay for the wealth I had bought, +but of the wealth itself. Of course I never changed my opinion of the +value of money. I don't mean that; but I did not get as much out of +the wealth I had purchased as I might have done. I was very much +admired, and quite the fashion, but somehow I tired of it all; and +then--then, Laurence, I found out why. I found out that I really had +more heart than I believed, and that it was in your keeping." + +"Pshaw!" he said, angrily and impatiently; "pray don't talk like this. +You are drawing on your imagination very largely, and also on my +vanity. The latter is quite useless, I assure you." + +"Think what you like, say what you will,--I loved you. I knew it by +the listlessness that was always upon me; I knew it better by the +disappearance of that listlessness when they said you were coming +home; and I knew it best of all when--when do you think, Sir Laurence +Alsager?" + +"I really could not presume to guess when you made such a discovery, +Mrs. Hammond." + +"Indeed! I will tell you, then. I learned it best of all when the +first pang of jealousy I had ever felt in my life seized me. I had +often heard your name coupled with that of some woman of fashion. I +had heard a multitude of speculations about your affairs of the heart; +but I never feared them--I never believed in them; I never knew that I +had so vital an interest in them until your own look, your own manner, +your own indecision of purpose about the visit to Redmoor, betrayed +you to me, and told me who was my rival." + +"Your rival!" said Sir Laurence in astonishment. "Surely you did not +suppose I had returned to England to be caught again in _your_ toils?" + +"I don't know what I thought; I don't care. I only know that when you +and I parted, you loved me, and were angry with me,--it was passionate +love and passionate anger,--and that when you and I met, not only had +you ceased to be angry, but you were rapidly succumbing to the +influence of another woman--a woman utterly different from me! Not +more beautiful,--I deny _that_; she has not the art of being +beautiful; she has only the material. A woman whom I hate; whom I +should have hated and would have injured, I believe, if you had never +seen her. Yes; and you actually dared to menace me on her account; you +presumed to pit yourself against me as her champion. You forgot that +such championship hardly serves its object, in the eyes of the world." + +Sir Laurence uttered an exclamation of disgust; and was about to rise, +when she stepped forward close to him, and laid her hands lightly upon +his breast for an instant. + +"No, no, Laurence," she said; "bear with me. I did not mean it; not +quite that. Can you not understand me? Ah, my God! how pitiless men +are! While they want to win us, where is the end of that toleration? +We may sin as we please, provided we do not sin against them and their +self-love. But when that is over, they cannot judge us harshly enough; +they have even less pardon and pity for the sins into which they have +driven us than for any others." + +"You are talking utter nonsense, Mrs. Hammond," said Sir Laurence; +"and nonsense it is painful for me to hear. Your temptations are of +your own making, and your sins are of your own counselling, not mine. +I would have made you my wife, but you preferred--and I thank you for +the choice--another destiny. Am I to blame? You have chosen to cherish +a distempered fancy which has no foundation in truth, and am I the +ruthless being who has robbed you of it? You have chosen to solace the +tedium of your uncongenial marriage by a proceeding as vile and +unprincipled as any woman ever ventured on, to her eternal shame. +Harsh words, Mrs. Hammond, but true; and now you endeavour to lend an +air of melodrama to a transaction which was in reality as commonplace +as it was coarse. You find it hard to put your relation with Sir +Charles Mitford on a sentimental footing,--he is hardly a subject for +sentiment, I think; and you have invented this tragical theory of an +indirect revenge upon me. Tush! I gave you credit for more tact." + +This was well and boldly said; for Sir Laurence had but one object in +view,--to do the best he could for Lady Mitford in this encounter +with her foe. He knew as he spoke, as he looked into the unmasked face +before him--pale and deformed with jarring passions--that the motive +was real, though secondary; it had indeed only come to supplement the +first, which had led Laura to employ her fascinations upon Sir +Charles; but it had always been stronger, and had latterly completely +swallowed up the other. + +"Shall I never make you understand me?" she said passionately; "will +you persist in bringing things that are unreasonable to the touchstone +of reason? I don't know, I don't care how absurd what I am saying may +sound; it is true, true, Laurence Alsager,--as sure as death is true, +or any love that ever was more bitter. Yes, it is true: now think your +worst, and say your worst of me; still you must see that I am far more +wretched than she is. What had I to endure? What had she? I won her +husband from her. If I did, was he a prize, do you think? A selfish, +sensual, brainless fool; a man without taste, or manners, or mind; a +man who is a living contradiction to the theories of rage and +education; a man of whom she must have sickened in a year, if she had +ever gained sense enough to find him out. She is not very clever, you +know, and she might have taken longer for the discovery, if the +habitual society of men who are gentlemen had not enlightened her. But +she had a more sure and rapid teacher, who brought her consolation +too." There was a world of malevolent meaning in the tone in which she +said this. + +"What do you, what _can_ you mean?" he asked. + +"Ah, you are getting interested now, Sir Laurence, when my discourse +turns on _her_. Wait a little, and I will explain. I asked you what +did she lose; I need not ask you what did I gain; the one includes the +other." + +"He was her husband," said Laurence. + +"Her husband!" repeated Laura, with intense scorn. "You have caught +the cant of the proprieties' school, have you? Her husband! And what +were you? My lover, Laurence. Ay, you may forget, you may deny it; but +you were, the day you landed in England,--I should have only needed +opportunity to win you back again. Her husband!" (with a bold hard +laugh)--"she might have taken mine, and welcome!" + +Sir Laurence looked at her in growing disgust. Lord Dollamore was +quite right; there was a strong dash of vulgarity about Laura Hammond, +and it appeared whenever she lost her temper. + +"Yes," she went on, more and more angrily; "think of her, and think of +me. She suffered the tortures of jealousy, did she? of lawful +legitimate jealousy, for which good people would give her pity, if she +were not too proud to take it. She suffer! What did I suffer? I tell +you, Laurence Alsager, she _could not_ suffer what I suffer; it is not +in her, any more than she could love as I love. She is a handsome, +cold, egotistical woman, who thinks of her _rights_. Her husband +belonged to her, and I took him, and she didn't like it. She felt it +much as she would have felt my stealing her pearls or her Dresden +china, I daresay; but _suffer!_ Why, she's what is called a _good_ +woman; and if I chose to break with Mitford, he would probably now +return to her, for he likes her rather; and she would receive his +apologies, and all would be right again. Yes, she'd stoop to this +stupid meanness, because he's her _husband_, you know; and matrimony +is such a remarkably sacred institution, that a man may do anything he +pleases. And you talk to me of a woman like _her_ suffering!" + +Sir Laurence made no answer. He was thinking how truly, from her own +debased point of view, Laura Hammond read the character of the woman +she had injured so deeply. + +"You don't answer. Tell me, don't you know she would be reconciled +with Mitford to-morrow, if he asked her?" + +"I cannot tell you, indeed," he said coldly; "you had better 'break +with Mitford,' as you phrase it, and find out." + +"Will you not at least acknowledge that I had to suffer? The time of +my bondage was short, but she deprived my freedom of all its value. +She has won you, Laurence; and what is it all to me? I don't believe, +in all her well-regulated life, she ever experienced such a pang as I +felt when I saw her indifferent to Mitford's brutal neglect, and to my +insolence, one morning, because she had just had a letter from you; a +commonplace letter enough, Sir Laurence--she told us all about it--but +I can never forget or forgive the serenity of her face; it seemed as +if she had been removed into a world apart from us all." + +How little she dreamed--how far, in her blind furious anger and +self-abandonment, she was from dreaming of the secret stealthy delight +with which the listener heard her words! + +"You impute to Lady Mitford your own ideas, your own indifference to +right, Mrs. Hammond; she is a woman who is incapable of wronging her +husband, even in thought, though that husband be no worthier than +Mitford. She rules her life by principles, and in her estimate of +marriage regards the obligation rather than the individual." + +"Indeed! That's a very pretty sentence, Sir Laurence, and you have +learned your lesson like a very docile little boy. But hadn't you +better reserve it for repetition elsewhere? for really sentiments of +such grandeur are quite thrown away on me." + +She was exasperated to the highest pitch by his perfect coolness, and +tears of rage stood in her eyes. He had preserved an imperturbable +composure; neither her passion nor her sarcasm moved him. Desperately +she caught at the one hope that remained. She came towards him +suddenly, dropped upon her knees by his side, and hid her face, +covered with her hands, on his arm, while he sat astonished and +confused. + +"Laurence!" she sobbed, "listen to me. Do you not know that all the +wicked things I say are said because I am miserable; because the love +of you and the loss of you have turned me into something that I dread +to think of and to look into? Have some compassion on me! I wronged +you, I know; but can you not forgive me? Do you think the prize I won +brought me any peace? Be merciful to a woman's vanity and weakness. Am +I the only woman who is weak and vain? You did love me once; you could +love me now, if you would only put aside your pride, if you would only +try to be merciful to the errors which I have so bitterly repented. +Laurence, this woman, who has been the cause of all--whose wrongs are +upon her own head--what can she ever be to you? You know she is, +according to your own account, _too good_ to be tempted from her duty, +while I--I am free; there is no barrier between us now--and I love +you." + +She raised her drooping head, she let her hands fall, and she looked +at him. The time had been when such a look would have brought Laurence +Alsager to her feet; but now, he had said truly, "that time was dead +and buried." + +He rose with an air of stern determination. She had risen from her +knees, and had resumed her chair She was deadly pale; her eyes were +wild and haggard; and she caught her breath with a sort of gasping +sob, which threatened a burst of hysterical passion. Laurence spoke +low and sadly: + +"When you come to think over what you have just said, you will be +angry with yourself for having uttered, and with me for having heard, +such words. I will not dwell upon them, nor will I voluntarily +remember them. If you had never caused me more than the pang which +your first faithlessness to myself made me suffer, I might indeed have +pardoned it, for the sake of the old glamour, and made myself +miserable by marrying a woman whom I could not respect, because I had +once loved her. But that the woman who jilted me for Percy Hammond's +rupees, then betrayed Hammond for Sir Charles Mitford, and would now +discard Mitford for me--by the way, I am a much richer man than +Hammond was; barring the widowhood, your speculation has been +defective--should dream, in the wildest paroxysms of a woman's +unreasonableness, that I could be cajoled, or bribed, through my +interest in another, to put her in my honoured mother's place, is +beyond my comprehension." + +She looked at him, still with wild haggard eyes, and still she sobbed, +but shed no tears. + +"Farewell, Mrs. Hammond," said Sir Laurence, as he took his hat, and +turned towards the door; "you and I are not likely to meet again. I +hope the remembrance of this interview will induce you to consider +whether it might not be better for you to endeavour to imitate the +woman whom you have not only injured, but vainly endeavoured to +traduce." + +"Curse her!" hissed Laura, in a tone that was no more like a woman's +than were her words. "Let her look to it! I will punish you, Laurence +Alsager, through her." + +"No, you won't," he said; "for the first move you make in that +direction, I will write to Mitford (I shall never be without +information), and inform him that you did me the honour to propose to +break with him in my favour." + +"He would not believe you," she said, in a voice hardly audible from +the intensity of her passion. + +"O yes, he would; Mitford is not a fool on every point; and rumour +says he's jealous, which is likely to quicken his intellects. At all +events, I advise you to let Lady Mitford alone." + +"Let her look to it," said Laura; "I owe this to her, and I will pay +it." + +He smiled, bowed, and left the room. She started from her chair, and +listened, with her hands clasped upon her temples, till she heard the +half-door shut; then she knew that he was gone--then she knew that her +bold game was lost--and she felt that she should never see him more, +who was the only man she had ever loved, even after her own cold and +shallow fashion. She gave way to no passion now; she smoothed her +hair, glanced at the glass, and rang the bell. When it was answered, +she directed that Mademoiselle Marcelline should be sent to her. + +Demure, quiet, and respectful as ever, Mademoiselle Marcelline entered +the room. + +"Marcelline," said Laura (she addressed her maid by her name now), "I +am going to my room. Come to me in half an hour; I want to talk to you +about something." + +"A letter came for madame this evening," said mademoiselle; "but I took +it from the _valet de chamber_, as I thought madame did not care to be +disturbed." + +Mrs. Hammond opened the letter. It was from her solicitor, and +informed her that the final decision of the court, on her application +for the guardianship of her stepdaughter, had been given that day +against her. She frowned, then threw the letter down, with a short +laugh. + +"Everything is against me, I think. However, it is rather fortunate +for Alice." + + +At the same hour on the following evening Sir Laurence Alsager was +writing his letter to Helen Manningtree from Dover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +NATURE AND ART. + + +Lady Mitford's composure had been shaken by her interview with Sir +Laurence Alsager more rudely than by any of the events which had +succeeded each other with such rapidity in the course of the short but +troublous time since her marriage. She had reckoned upon his +friendship to support and his society to cheer her, and now they must +be relinquished. There could be no doubt, no hesitation about that; +and she did not doubt or hesitate, but she suffered, as such keenly +sensitive and highly-principled natures can suffer, whose only +possible course is to do the right thing, and pay, without having +counted, the cost. + +All the loneliness, all the dreariness of her lot came on her +foreboding spirit, as she sat alone in her dressing-room, two days +after her parting interview with Sir Laurence. She had been thinking +of the day at Redmoor when their first confidence had been +interchanged; she had been remembering his counsel, and taking herself +to task for having neglected it, or, at any rate, for not having tried +more earnestly and more persistently to follow it. + +"I must have been to blame in some degree," she thought; "I ought to +have tried to please him more; but--" and then she sighed--"I had been +used to please him without trying, and it is hard to realize the +change; and before one does realize it, it is too late. I wonder if +there is any case in which it would not be too late from the first; I +wonder if any woman in the world ever yet succeeded in retaining or +recovering the heart of any man when it had once in the least strayed +from her. I don't grieve for myself now,--I cannot; but I blame +myself. I might have tried--no doubt I should have failed; but still I +might have tried. I might have asserted myself from the moment that +they met at Redmoor, and I saw her clasp his hand as she did. But what +is the use of asserting oneself, of putting one's position, one's +conventional rights, against the perverted strength of a man's will? +No, no; there is no security where the question is one of feeling; in +the insecure holding of love we are but tenants-at-will." + +She thought thus mournfully of her own lot, and condemned herself for +faults she had not committed; she thought of Alsager, and took herself +to task because she could not repress or deny the keen and +compensating joy which the knowledge that he loved her gave; she +thought of her husband with infinite compassion, with apprehension, +and with hopelessness. The downward course had been run with awful +rapidity by Sir Charles Mitford. Since he had discarded the gentle +influence of Georgie, the benignant restraint, the touch of higher +aspiration, and purer tastes had vanished, and he had returned to all +the low habits and coarse vices of his earlier career. Georgie knew +this vaguely, and she experienced all the horror and disgust which +were natural to such a mind as hers. At first, when she recognized in +the fullest extent the fact of her husband's infatuation with Mrs. +Hammond, she could not understand why he should not be restrained by +that passion, as he had been by his evanescent love for herself, from +coarse and debasing pleasures. But she soon found out, by the light of +her clear perceptions and the aid of her intuitive refinement of mind, +how widely different were the sentiments which she had ignorantly +compared; and learned that while there is no temporal salvation for a +man so powerful as love, there is no swifter or surer curse and ruin +than an illicit passion. When Georgie came to understand this fully, +her apprehensions concerning her husband reached a height of intensity +which would have been unreasonable, had she not possessed the painful +knowledge of what his former career had been. She had hardly +understood it at the time indeed, and her father had softened matters +down very much, partly through the invincible amiability of his own +disposition, and partly because he believed, in simple sincerity, that +all "Charley's" misbehaviour had been caused by want of money alone; +and that once rich, and holding a responsible position, he would not +again be assailed by temptations to disreputable conduct. Whence it is +presumable that the good parson knew a great deal more of the next +world than he knew of this. + +Lady Mitford's dreary reverie was interrupted by the entrance of her +maid, who handed her a letter from Alsager. As she took it in her +hand, she saw that it had been sealed with the ring which she had +given him, and she broke it open with mingled joy and fear. The letter +was brief, kind, and earnest. Sir Laurence told her that he was +leaving England, and wished, before doing so, to place within her +reach a source of consolation which he felt she might to surely need. +Then, in a few words, he told her of his letter to Helen Manningtree; +and besought her in any emergency, in any unpleasantness, if she were +ill, or even if she were only lonely,--as he knew she had cultivated +no intimacies in her own circle,--to send for Helen. He had not waited +for Helen's reply; he knew so well how warm and sincere an +acquiescence in his request it would convey. He told her of the +attachment existing between Helen and the curate, and said, "Had there +been no other reason for my rejecting your advice, I knew she was, at +the time of my father's death, virtually affianced to Cuthbert +Farleigh." + +Lady Mitford paused in her perusal of the letter at this point. + +"Cuthbert Farleigh!" she repeated; "surely it must be the same--it +must be poor papa's old pupil; how very odd, if it should be! If _he_ +had ever mentioned me before him at Knockholt, he would have +remembered me." + +Her thoughts strayed back to her childhood and her old home, and she +sat absorbed in a reverie. + +"How thoughtful he is for me!" she said to herself softly; "how truly +considerate! I will obey him in this and in everything. I will make +this young lady's acquaintance-not just yet, but later, when I am more +composed." + +And then she thought how delightful it would be to talk with Helen +about Laurence; to hear from her all the particulars of his life at +Knockholt; to make all those researches and studies which have such an +ineffable attraction for loving hearts. There could be nothing wrong +in this; men and angels might scrutinize her feelings towards Laurence +Alsager, and find nothing to blame. + +There was little more in the letter, which concluded with an +expression of the warmest regard. + +Lady Mitford felt happier for the receipt of this parting note from +Sir Laurence. It seemed to decrease her loneliness--to surround her +with an atmosphere of protection. Georgie had never associated much +with women in her father's secluded parish. The inhabitants had been +chiefly of the lower classes; and since she had emerged from the +gushing schoolroom period, she had had none of those intimacies which +make up so great a part of the happiness of young womanhood. Perhaps +she had concentrated her affections in the object who had proved so +unworthy all the more obstinately, and had lavished them upon him all +the more unrestrainedly, because she had none of the lesser claimants +for them. + +She looked forward now with almost girlish pleasure to making Helen's +acquaintance and winning her affections, as she determined she would +try to do; and she was surprised at herself as she felt her spirits +rising, and recognized in herself more energy and hopefulness than she +had felt for a long time. + +Time slipped away, weighted though it was with care, and brought no +change in Sir Charles Mitford's evil life. The husband and wife rarely +met now; and when they did, their casual association was distressing +to Lady Mitford, and embarrassing to him. Their wealth, the magnitude +and style of their establishment, and the routine of life among +persons in their position, afforded them facilities for a complete and +tacit estrangement, such as the pressure of narrow circumstances would +have rendered impossible. They went their separate ways, and were more +strange and distant to each other than the merest surface +acquaintances. Lady Mitford was, as it was natural to suppose she +would be, the last person to hear particulars of her husband's +conduct; but she watched him as closely as her limited opportunities +permitted. For some time she had observed that he seemed restless and +unhappy, and that the moroseness and discontent, which had been early +indications of his relapse from his improved condition, were trying to +the household, and, on rare occasions when she had to encounter them, +distressing to her. He had no air of triumph now; he had no assured +complacency of manner; these were gone, and in their place were the +symptoms of suffering, of incertitude, of disappointment. + +"I suppose she is treating him unkindly," Lady Mitford thought. "It +must be something concerning her which is distressing him; he does not +care about anything else. He is so infatuated with her now, that I +verily believe, when he drinks to the frightful excess he sometimes +does, it is to stupify himself between the time he leaves her and the +time he sees her again. Poor fellow! poor Charley!" + +She pitied him now with her good and generous heart. Perhaps the time +that she had foreseen was near--the time which she had once hoped for, +and now dreaded, though prepared to meet it with all the dutifulness +of her nature--the time when the wicked woman who had taken him from +her, who had laid the fabric of her happiness low, would tire of him +and discard him; and he would seek forgiveness from the wife he had so +cruelly wronged. + +The moodiness and moroseness, the restlessness and irritability of Sir +Charles had been peculiarly noticeable for some time after Lady +Mitford had received Sir Laurence's letter, and they had not failed to +receive the imprecations of the servants'-hall. Lady Mitford had been +aware that much information might have been obtained through that +fruitful medium, but she would not at any time have deigned to have +recourse to it; and would have shrunk from doing so with additional +distaste just now, as she could not avoid perceiving that she was the +subject of closer observation than usual on the part of the domestics, +especially her own maid and Mr. Banks. + +One day, when Lady Mitford returned from her solitary drive, and +having alighted from her carriage, was passing through the hall, she +was encountered by Captain Bligh, coming quickly from the library. She +saluted him courteously, and was about to pass on, when he begged to +be permitted to speak with her. She acquiesced, and they went upstairs +and into the long drawing-room. + +She knew in a moment that he had come to tell her bad news, and she +nerved herself to bear it, whatever it might be, by a strong effort. +He waited until she had seated herself, and then said: + +"I fear, Lady Mitford, I can hardly escape some share of your +displeasure, incurred by my having undertaken the mission which has +brought me here to-day." + +She looked at him, and turned very pale, but she remained quite silent +and still. + +"You look frightened, Lady Mitford. Pray don't fear anything. There is +much to grieve you, but no cause for alarm." + +"Sir Charles--" she stammered. + +"Sir Charles is well; there is nothing of that sort the matter. But I +have a painful task to fulfil. Lady Mitford, are you aware that Sir +Charles has left London?" + +She fell back in her seat, and deathlike cold crept through her. She +did not faint, but a momentary sensation like fainting passed over +her. Her eyes closed, and her hands grew cold and damp. It had come, +then, the catastrophe! She was deserted; he had left England with that +woman; and it was all over! She was to be alone, and he was utterly +ruined; there was no hope, no rescue for him now! + +Captain Bligh was not a person adapted to act with discretion in a +crisis of this kind. He did not understand women's ways, as he was +accustomed to proclaim. He had a kind heart, however, and it supplied +the deficiencies of his judgment. He merely handed Lady Mitford a +scent-bottle, and waited until she had recovered herself. After a few +moments she sat upright and opened her eyes. + +"That's right!" said the honest Captain encouragingly; "I knew you +would bear it well; I knew you had such pluck. By Jove, I haven't +forgotten the ponies!" + +"Tell me what you came to say, Captain Bligh," said Lady Mitford. "I +am quite strong now;" and she looked so. + +"Well, the truth is, Lady Mitford, things have gone too far, and Sir +Charles is conscious of the fact. I would not have done such a thing +for any one in the world but him. He and I have always been good +friends, though he has done many things I could hardly stand. You +mustn't mind my not being polished,--I don't mean to be rude; but I +have such unpleasant things to say, that, by Jove, I can't manage to +say them pleasantly!" He floundered very much in his speech, and +fidgeted distractingly; but she sat quite still and listened to him. +At last he blurted out desperately, "The truth is, that she-devil +Laura Hammond has driven him mad! She has snubbed him, and tried to +throw him over, and gone off to Baden without letting him know." + +"Without letting him know! Then they are not gone together? I thank +God!" said Georgie emphatically. + +"Gone together! No; she never would be such a fool as that, whatever +he might be. I beg your pardon, Lady Mitford. She has gone, as he +believes, with the intention of throwing him off entirely, and trying +it on with Tchernigow the Russian, you know; and Mitford would not +stand it, and he has gone. He heard something last night which +exasperated him, and he came to my rooms this morning--only a small +portmanteau with him--and told me he was going. He told me to come +down here, and send Banks off to-night with his things. I said +everything I could think of, but it was no use,--he was simply +desperate. Then, Lady Mitford"--and here Captain Bligh lowered his +voice, and spoke with great gentleness-"then I asked him if he +remembered the consequences of this to _you_." + +"To me, Captain Bligh! What worse consequences can come to me than +have come already?" + +"Many, Lady Mitford, and much worse. You cannot live any longer under +the same roof with Sir Charles; the scandal is too open and too great. +He will disgrace himself, and make himself ridiculous at Baden, if +much more serious mischief does not ensue; and you must keep aloof +from the scandal." + +"I am as much aloof from it as I can be here, I think, Captain Bligh," +said poor Georgie; "and I will not leave my husband's house until he +bids me. He may find that his going to Baden is useless; if she is +resolved to discard him, she will do so as resolutely and as +effectually there as here. No, Captain Bligh; this is my home, and +here I will remain until I see the end of this matter. I will not +forsake him, as he has forsaken me, at the beginning of it; I will not +heap additional disgrace upon him, and give this story additional +publicity, by leaving his house, unless he has told me, through you, +to do so." + +"No, no, Lady Mitford," said Bligh; "he has not done that. He begged +of me to come to you, and tell you that he had gone. He would not try +to deceive you, he said; if he could induce her to allow him to remain +with her, he would, and never return to England. Yes, indeed,--so far +had his madness driven him: but at all events he would never ask you +to see him again; and whatever arrangements you might choose to make, +he would be quite prepared to carry into effect. He said he supposed +you would not remain here." + +"He was mistaken," she said, very quietly and sadly; "I will remain +here. Tell me what more passed between you, Captain Bligh." + +"Indeed, not much, dear Lady Mitford. He was dreadfully excited and +wretched, and looked fearfully ill,--he had been drinking deeply last +night, I am sure,--and his manner was agitated and incoherent. He +talked of his persecutions and his miseries, as every man who has the +best blessings of life at his command and throws them away does talk; +and his lamentations about this cursed infatuation of his were mixed +up with self-reproaches on your account, and imprecations on the men +who have tabooed him, and especially because he was rejected at the +Maecenas." + +"Poor Charles!" said Lady Mitford musingly; "all the enemies he has +ever had could have done him little harm, had he not doubled in his +own person the strength of his enemies to injure him. He began ill; +and when he made an effort to do well, some gloomy recollection, some +haunting fear, always seemed to keep him back. There was some evil +power over him, Captain Bligh, before this woman laid her spells upon +him--a power which made him moody and wretched and reckless. This was +a subject upon which it was impossible for me to speak to him; and I +accounted for it easily enough, and I have no doubt with tolerable +correctness. You know, and I know, that the early years of Sir +Charles's life were full of dark days and questionable associations. +He was unfortunate at least as much as guilty; and not the smallest of +the misfortunes of such a career is the power it gives to miscreants +of every kind to embitter one's future and tarnish one's fame, to +blight the hopes and the efforts with which one endeavours to rise +above the mud-deposit of follies and sins repented and abandoned. +There has never been a case, I am sure, in which a man who had gone +extensively wrong, and who then tried to go right, and got a good +chance of doing it, was not pursued and persecuted by harpies of the +old brood, whose talons perpetually branded him, and whose inexorable +pursuit kept him constantly depressed and miserable. Then he will be +driven to excitement, to dissipation, to anything--which will enable +him to forget the torture; but this very necessity deprives all his +efforts of vigour, and renders him hopeless of success. I am confident +that some such merciless grinding misery lay hidden in Sir Charles's +life. I saw it very shortly after we came to town; and I had reason to +suspect that he met with some annoyance of the same kind down at +Redmoor. But he never told me, and there is no good in our speculating +upon any matter of this kind. I can hardly consider myself entitled +now to inquire into any affair of his. Did he give you any +instructions, Captain Bligh? did he give you any address?" + +"No," replied the good-natured Captain, quite saddened and distressed +to witness her misery, and moved at the same time to great simple +admiration by her composure and firmness, which the Captain +denominated "pluck." "He did not say many words to me. He told me to +come here and tell you what I have told you, and he said he would +write. Let me leave you now, dear Lady Mitford, and let me return +to-morrow and take your commands." + +"Thank you," she said simply; and then he left her; and perhaps in the +whole course of his chequered existence, and among his numerous and +varied experiences, he had never felt so much pure and deep respect +for any woman as for the deserted wife to whom he had had to disclose +the full measure of her sorrow. + +The days passed, and no tidings of Sir Charles Mitford came. Georgie +had seen Banks, and had given him some directions relative to the +things which Sir Charles required him to take to Baden, in an +unconcerned and dignified manner, which had impressed that functionary +as much as her conduct of the previous day had affected Captain Bligh. + +"She's a deal too good for Mitford, and always was, even before he +took to brandy and that ere Laurer 'Ammond," soliloquized Mr. Banks; +"and I hope, for my part, he'll never come back." + +Mr. Banks left town early in the morning of the day which succeeded +the interview between Lady Mitford and Captain Bligh, and Georgie +remained in her own rooms the entire day. An agitated restlessness was +upon her, a feeling of suspense and apprehension, which deprived her +of the power of thinking consecutively, and distracted her sorrow by +changing its character. She expected to see Captain Bligh, and in her +confused state of mind she had forgotten to say that no other visitors +were to be admitted. At three in the afternoon, as she was sitting in +her boudoir, striving, quite ineffectually, to fix her attention on +some piece of feminine industry, a servant announced, + +"Miss Gillespie." + +Lady Mitford heard the name with unbounded astonishment. At first she +associated no idea whatever with it; she felt certain she had never +known any one so designated. But before the bearer of the name entered +the room, she had remembered the handsome young woman whose superb +singing and sudden disappearance had occasioned so much wonder and +discussion at Redmoor. The association of ideas was not pleasant; and +it was with a heightened colour, and something in her manner different +from its customary graceful sweetness, that she rose to receive her +unlooked-for visitor. + +Miss Gillespie was looking very handsome; and the agitation under +which she was evidently labouring had not the usual effect of +destroying ease and gracefulness. She had always been quiet, and to a +certain extent ladylike in her manners. Even in the Lizzie-Ponsford +days she had not degenerated into the coarseness which might have been +supposed to be an inevitable attendant or result of such a career. The +ease and rapidity with which she had mastered the high-comedy style of +performance, the finish of her acting, and the perfect appreciation of +the refinement and repose which mark the demeanour of the true _grande +dame_, afforded ample proof of Miss Gillespie's tact and readiness. +She had needed only the accessories, and now she had procured +them; and as she walked slowly and gracefully up to the spot +where Lady Mitford stood to receive her, her rich and elegant but +studiously-simple dress, her courteous gesture of salutation, and her +nicely-modulated voice were all perfect. + +"I daresay you have forgotten me, Lady Mitford," said she, "though you +were very kind indeed to me when I accompanied my employers to your +house at Redmoor; and your kindness made my position very different +from what it had ever been before under similar circumstances." + +"Pray be seated, Miss Gillespie," said Lady Mitford, softened by her +respectful and graceful manner; "I am very glad to know that you have +any pleasant recollections of your visit to Redmoor." + +"But you are at a loss to account for my seeking you here, Lady +Mitford, and venturing to call upon you without having first asked and +obtained your permission." + +Georgie's nature was so truthful that even the little every-day +conventional matter-of-course falsehoods of society refused to come +trippingly from her tongue. She was surprised at Miss Gillespie's +visit, and she had let it appear that she was. + +"If I am at a loss to account for your visit," she said, in her own +sweet persuasive manner, "do not therefore suppose that it is not +agreeable to me. I am very glad to see you, Miss Gillespie; and I hope +it was not any unhappy circumstance which obliged you to leave Redmoor +so abruptly at that time." + +"One of the objects of my visit to you to-day, Lady Mitford, is to +explain my conduct on that occasion. I am sure you will be infinitely +surprised to learn that you were nearly, though unconsciously, +concerned in it." + +"I, Miss Gillespie! Surely I had not done anything--nothing had +occurred at Redmoor--" + +"No, no; you mistake my meaning, which, indeed, I must explain, if you +will permit me to do so, by telling you a long story. Have I your +permission, Lady Mitford?" + +Georgie's astonishment was increasing. She marked the earnest gaze her +strange visitor fixed upon her. She saw how her face softened and +glowed as she looked at her. She knew that this young woman had a +kindly feeling towards her; and she was so lonely, so deserted, that +she felt grateful for that, though the person who bestowed it upon her +was only a humble governess. She stretched out her hand by a sudden +impulse, and Miss Gillespie caught and kissed it with intense fervour. + +"You shall stay with me as long as you please, and tell me all your +story, Miss Gillespie. I have done nothing to deserve the interest I +see you feel in me; but I thank you for it." + +Her visitor did not immediately reply: she sat looking at Georgie's +face, more beautiful in its expression of grief and courage than when +it was at its brightest, as though she were learning the features by +heart. Lady Mitford blushed a little under the scrutiny, and smiled, +as she said: + +"You look at me very earnestly, Miss Gillespie. What is there in my +face to fix your attention?" + +"There is everything that I once did not believe in, while I longed to +see it. There is beauty, Lady Mitford--well, I have seen enough of +that; but there is truth and gentleness, sweet self-forgetfulness, and +an impulse of kindness to everything that lives and feels and can +suffer. The first time I saw that face I thought of the common saying +about the face of an angel; but I soon ceased to think it was like +that. Angels are in heaven, where their sinless and sorrowless sphere +lies. Such women as you are on earth, to teach those who, standing far +off, see them, to hope, and believe, and take comfort, because they +exist and have their part in the same troubled world with themselves, +but always bringing the image and the ideal of a better nearer, and +making it real." + +Her voice trembled, and tears stood in her eyes. Georgie wondered more +and more. + +"When I have told you my story, Lady Mitford," she went on, "you will +be able to understand in a degree--you never could quite comprehend +it--the effect that such a woman as you produces upon such a woman as +I; for I studied you more closely than you could have suspected in +that brief time at Redmoor; and I hold a clue to your history, of +whose existence you were ignorant." + +"Do not tell me anything that it will pain you to repeat, Miss +Gillespie," said Georgie, seeing that she hesitated and changed +colour. + +"In that case I should tell you nothing, Lady Mitford; for there is +little in my life that has not been painful. I daresay you would find +it difficult to realize, if I could put it before you in the plainest +words; and I am sure, even if you did realize it, you would judge it +mercifully--you would remember the difficulties and the dangers of +such an existence, and suffer them to have their weight as against its +sins and sorrows. You know what it is to be motherless, Lady Mitford; +but yours was a guarded childhood, hedged about with pious care and +fatherly love,--they told me all about you down at Redmoor. Mine was a +motherless childhood; and my father was a thief, and the companion of +thieves. This is the simple English of the matter. You would not +understand the refinements and distinctions by which the dishonest +classes describe their different ranks in the army of thieves; you +could not comprehend the scenes and the influences among which my +childhood was passed; and I will not try to explain them, because they +have no bearing upon what it concerns you to hear." + +She had rested her arm upon a table beside her chair, and supported +her head on her hand. + +"My wretched childhood had passed by, and my more wretched girlhood +had reached its prime, when I was brought in contact with Sir Charles +Mitford." + +Georgie recoiled, turned very red, and uttered an exclamation. + +"I was associated at that time with some men who made their livelihood +in a number of dishonest ways; and one of them had in his possession a +document, by means of which he had maintained a hold over Mitford, +then a young man of small means and very indirect expectations. The +man I speak of died, and accident placed me in possession of the +document. It was a forged bill!" + +Lady Mitford covered her face with her hands; and as Miss Gillespie +continued, the slow tears began to force their way through the slender +fingers. + +"Others knew of the existence of this bill, Lady Mitford, and I have +no doubt whatever that they traded upon their knowledge. Every effort, +direct and indirect, was made to get the bill out of my possession; +but I resolved to keep it, and every effort failed. Perhaps I might +have used it for my own purposes against Sir Charles some day, if I +had never seen or known you. It is certain that I should have given it +to him, and set him free for ever from an apprehension which +constantly beset and tortured him, had I not known how unworthily he +was treating you, how completely all the hard lessons of his life of +poverty and shifts had failed to correct his low instincts and his +utter untrustworthiness. Don't cry, dear Lady Mitford,--your tears +pain me keenly; I must draw them forth a little while, and then I +trust to dry them. + +"I saw Sir Charles when he first visited Mrs. Hammond at Torquay. By +that time I had drifted to land somehow, and I had contrived to get my +wandering feet within the confines of respectability. I was quiet, +even happy, in Mrs. Hammond's employment, though I soon perceived her +to be the most worthless of her sex. That, however, troubled me +little; and when Sir Charles came to the house and recognized me, and +I said a few words to him which were not pleasant to hear, and I saw +that he was in the toils, as--he had so often been before, I did not +much care either. I disliked and despised him, and I liked to think of +the hidden weapon in my possession, and to picture his amazement if he +knew that not only was I Lizzie Ponsford,--acquainted with all his +doings and all his disreputable associates,--but that I actually held +in my possession the document for which he would have given so large a +price, and which would have ruined him at any moment. I liked to know +that my presence made him uncomfortable, and I suffered him to +experience that discomfort to the fullest extent. + +"You are shocked, Lady Mitford; such feelings are incomprehensible to +you but I tell you simply and plainly that they were mine, because I +am coming to the portion of lay story which concerns you. I went to +Redmoor with Mrs. Hammond, and on the first evening of our visit I saw +that you were suspicious and uneasy. I saw you, Lady Mitford; I +observed you closely, and I loved you; not so much as I did +afterwards, when every day brought some gift, some grace, some beauty +of your mind and disposition freshly before me; not so much as I did +when your sweet gentleness, your kindly courtesy, your unfailing +consideration filled me with sentiments which I had never known +before, when for the first time I learned what it was to be cared for +as an individual. Do you remember the day you took me to your +dressing-room, Lady Mitford, and lent me some of your favourite books, +and talked with me of what kind of reading I liked, and showed an +interest in me, as if I had been a lady and one of your most +considered guests? No, you do not remember it, but I do. Then I +determined to use the power I had over him on your behalf. I knew it +would not avail long; I knew if even he were rescued from her, he +never could realize your hopes, never could be worthy of you; but at +least I could control him for the time. I tried and succeeded. I +threatened him with exposure if he did not desist. I cannot tell you +exactly the course of subsequent events; I have never been able to +make that out to my own satisfaction; but I have a theory which I +think is a right one. A few days after I had the interview I have +mentioned with Sir Charles, a man appeared who had been mixed up in +many of the transactions of the time past to which I had been a party. +He met me, und told me a story which I did not believe, but which +altered my position completely. He had come down to get me away; and +whether he came as Sir Charles's _employé_ or on his own account, I +have never been certain. I believe the latter to be the more likely. +He had two alternatives at his command: he might expose me if I +refused to leave Redmoor quietly, and destroy all my hopes of +attaining respectability in future, or he might take the bill from me +by force or fraud, if I yielded to his threats. I did neither; I +temporized; I made an appointment with him for two o'clock on the +following day, and I left Redmoor, without clue by which I could be +tracked, at daybreak. Let who would be the author of Mr. Effingham's +proceeding (he called himself Effingham), I had balked their scheme, +and I turned my back on Redmoor with one bitter pang of regret mingled +with my triumph. I should see your face, Lady Mitford, no more, and I +could no longer interfere to prevent the deadly wrong which was being +done by your faithless husband and your false friend. + +"All such regrets were, however, utterly vain. The imminent risk of +exposure left me no choice. At least I would punish Sir Charles so +far: he should never have the bill--he should never have the +satisfaction of feeling that that ghost was laid. So I left the only +place in which I had ever tasted happiness, and set my face to the +hard world again. But before I stole away from your house that +morning, I wrote a line to Colonel Alsager, and told him to take up +the watch I had been obliged to relinquish. You are astonished, Lady +Mitford; and well you may be. I had never exchanged more than a dozen +sentences with Colonel Alsager; but I knew that the interest he felt +in you was in no way inferior to mine; while his opportunities of +exhibiting it were infinitely greater, and so I wrote to him." + +"What did you do, Miss Gillespie, when you left Redmoor? I fear you +had very little money. Forgive me if I offend you, but I gathered that +from something Mrs. Hammond said." + +"You are right, Lady Mitford; and it is like you to think of a need +which you have never known. I _had_ very little money; but I had a +friend who put me in the way of earning some--how, I will tell you +when I have finished the portion of my story in which you are +interested." + +The gentle look of forbearance and compassion in Georgie's face seemed +to touch Miss Gillespie very deeply. Once more she took her hand and +kissed it. Then she continued: + +"I went to America, and for a long time I heard nothing of you, though +I longed most ardently to do so. The echoes of the great world did not +reach me in the distant sphere of my toil, and I longed to know how +the only person with whom I had ever felt true human sympathy was +wearing through her day. This may seem to you an unnatural and +overstrained sentiment; and so it would be in the mind of any one who +had any natural ties, or who was less desolate than I; but you must be +able to comprehend my life before you could understand these +inconsistencies. Let me leave this, then, unexplained, and tell you +that I came back to England, and that I have heard all that has +befallen you since I went away. I have never felt anything that has +happened to myself in my vagabond life so much. Incidents I heard, but +no one could tell me anything of you individually,--of how you were +bearing your trials, of what face you showed the world, which would +coldly criticise you--a creature as far beyond its comprehension as +any angel in the heaven far beyond their sphere." + +She spoke with intense feeling, and her fine face glowed with the +depth of her sympathy and admiration. + +"At last I caught sight of Colonel Alsager." + +Georgie blushed, but her visitor did not appear to observe her +emotion. + +"I knew he could tell me what I thirsted to know, and I went to his +hotel on the following day, but failed to see him; and when I sent a +note, asking him to let me speak a few words with him, it was +returned. Colonel Alsager had left town. I learned that his father +was dead, and he, of course, a baronet now; but I heard nothing +further--no one could tell me if his absence were likely to be +prolonged. I had the strongest, the most insatiable desire to see you, +Lady Mitford. I wanted to see the face that I had never forgotten, and +find it as beautiful, as good as ever." + +Georgie smiled sadly "Ah, Miss Gillespie, I have suffered much, and am +greatly changed." + +"Only for the better," she said eagerly; "only for the better. Every +line in your face is lighted up with spiritual light now. When I saw +it last, the girlish softness had not left the features and given the +expression fair play." + +Her enthusiasm--her feeling--were so real, and there was such a strong +dash of the artist in her remarks, that it would have been impossible +to resent them. Lady Mitford once more smiled sadly. + +"I knew there was no chance that I should see you in any public +place--your deep mourning precluded that possibility--and so I +resolved to come here and present myself boldly before you. In the +ordinary sense of society, between you and me there is a gulf fixed; +but I thought your gentleness would span it. It has done so. You have +permitted me to speak to you face to face; you have gratified the wish +which another might have resented as mere insolent curiosity." + +"Why do you speak thus, Miss Gillespie? Why should there be a gulf +between you and me? I am not aware of any reason. I do not despise you +because you are a governess, because you use the talents and the +education you possess to earn an honourable livelihood. Why do you +speak thus?" + +Miss Gillespie looked at her, and an expression of deep suffering +crossed her face. + +"I will explain my meaning presently," she said; "but now I have +something else to say. Is it true that Sir Charles Mitford has +followed this woman to Baden? They say so at the clubs, and I heard it +this morning. Pardon me, and tell me. I don't ask the question for my +own sake, or out of idle curiosity. I have a serious, a most serious +meaning." + +"Yes, it is too true," said Lady Mitford. + +"Then listen. He must be brought back: he is only gone to +mortification and ridicule. I know a great many queer people, and I +hear a great many strange things; and I heard this to-day: Mrs. +Hammond is going to marry the Russian Prince Tchernigow, a man who is +a violent, jealous, brutal wretch,--I know all about him,--a man whose +cruelty and vindictiveness are not to be surpassed; her punishment is +in safe hands Dear Lady Mitford, I understand that look. You don't +wish her to be punished, I am sure--quite sure of that; but if she +marries Tchernigow, she must be. But it is not with that we are +concerned: it is to bring _him_ home--to rescue him from danger and +disgrace and ridicule, for your sake; and you can do it--you, and you +only." + +Georgie was breathless with astonishment. Miss Gillespie rose and +caught her by both hands. Then she went on speaking with great +rapidity: + +"Yes, I say you can do it. Write to him to-day--now, this very +hour-and tell him Lizzie Ponsford has been with you; that _she_ holds +the bill which he employed that poor wretch Effingham to get for him; +that Effingham cheated him from first to last--from the time of the +Albatross till the day he went to the bottom of the sea with the +Pocahontas. Tell him he shall have it placed in his hands on the day +he returns to London. Your letter will reach him when he has learned +the faithlessness of the woman for whom he has betrayed you. Do you +not think it will touch him, written as you will write it,--with the +gentleness, the pity, the pardon it will convey? At the moment of his +greatest exasperation, in the full tide of his bitterness, a way of +escape from one constant, overhanging, torturing cause of uneasiness +will be removed; and by whose hands? Yours!" + +She paused, breathless in her excitement, and took from her bosom a +paper, which she laid on the table before Lady Mitford, who looked at +it pale and trembling. + +"You will do as I say, dear Lady Mitford--you will do it for his sake, +and your own, and for mine? Let me have the satisfaction of knowing +that I have been able to do this service for you--the only service I +have ever done any one; the only one. I fear, I have ever wished to +do." + +"O no, don't say that," said Lady Mitford. "You misjudge yourself; I +am sure you do, dear Miss Gillespie, or why should you have felt so +much for me, and done me such a service? Do not write hard things +against yourself. I will do this--it may succeed; but whether it +succeeds or not, I shall ever be grateful to you, ever bless you for +this act; and you will let me serve you in turn--you will tell me your +wishes, and let me try to carry them out. You said you would tell me +how you have been engaged since you left Redmoor." + +"Thank you, dear Lady Mitford," said Miss Gillespie, in a low deep +tone; "but you cannot serve me. I told you there was a gulf fixed +between you, the patrician lady, and me. I am an actress, and my +stage-name is Constance Greenwood." + + +Lady Mitford wrote the letter to Sir Charles, as her strange visitor +had counselled her to do. She suffered much in writing it; she hoped +much from its effect. Time rolled on, and she knew that Sir Charles +must have received the letter; then she counted the days which must +elapse before the answer could arrive, and, arming herself with +patience, she waited. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +AMONG THE SPRINGS. + + +It was the month of September, and the little town of Baden was full. +It is now the big town of Baden, and is still, during its season, +filled to overflowing; but the company is by no means so select, so +pleasant, so agreeable as it used to be. The _vor-eisenbahn_ Baden +was as superior to the present excursionists' resort as was the +ante-railway Ascot Meeting to what now is merely a succession of +Derby-days in Bucks. Then, when you posted in from Strasburg, or +arrived in the _eilwagen_, from deadly-lively Carlsruhe, you found Mr. +Rheinboldt, the landlord of the Badischer Hof, attended by the +stoutest, the best-tempered, and the stupidest even of German porters, +coming forward to meet you with the pleasantest of greetings. You had +written on beforehand if you were a wise man, and your old room was +ready--one of that little row of snug dormitories set apart for +bachelors, and looking on to the trim garden. You had a wash, with +more water than you had met with since you left home (they were +beginning to understand the English mania for soap-and-water at the +Badischer Hof even so long ago), and you made your toilette and came +down to the five-o'clock _table-d'hôte_, where you found most of the +people who had been there the previous season, and many of their +friends whom they had induced to come. Most of the people knew each +other or of each other, and there was a sociability among them which +the railway has utterly annihilated. Now London sends her bagmen and +Paris her _lorettes_; but in those days, if "our Mr. Johnson" got as +far as Parry by way of Cally or Bolong, he was looked upon as an +intrepid voyager, while very few Parisian ladies, save those of the +best class, came into the Grand Duke's territory. + +It was hot in England in that September, but it was hotter at Baden. +With the earliest dawn came thick vapours rolling down from the Black +Forest, encompassing the little town with a white and misty shroud, +which invariably presaged a sultry day, and invariably kept its +promise. All day long the big red-faced sun glared down upon the +denizens of the pleasantest corner of Vanity Fair; glared in the early +morning upon the water-drinkers sipping the nauseous fluid in the +thick and heavy glass tumblers, and tendering their kreutzers to the +attendant maidens at the Brunnen; glared upon them as they took the +prescribed constitutional walk, and returned to the hotel to +breakfast; glared upon the fevered gamblers, who, with last night's +excitement only half slept off, with bleared eyes and shaking hands +and parched throats, took their places round the gaming-table as the +clock struck noon, and eyed the stolid-faced croupiers as intently as +though the chances of the game were to be gleamed from a perusal of +their fishy eyes or pursed mouths. The revellers who were starting off +for picnics to the Black Forest, or excursions to the Favourite or +Eberstein-Schloss, glanced up with terror at the scorching red ball in +the sky, and bade courteous Mr. Rheinboldt, the landlord of the +Badischer Hof, to see that plenty of ice was packed with the sparkling +Moselle, and to let Karl and Fritz take care that an unlimited supply +of umbrellas was placed in the carriage. The Englishmen, whom M. +Benazet, the proprietor of the gaming-tables, grateful for their +patronage, had provided with shooting, or who had received invitations +to the _triebjagd_ of some neighbouring landowner, looked with comic +wonder, not unmixed with horror, at the green jerkins, fantastic +game-bags, couteaux de chasse or hunting-knives (worn in the belt), +and general appearance of their foreign friends; and then when +lunch-time arrived, and they saw each German eating his own sausage +and drinking from his own particular flask, which he never dreamed of +passing, they recollected with dismay the luncheons at similar parties +in England, the snowy cloth laid under the shade of the hedge, the +luscious game-pie, the cooling claret-cup, the glancing eyes and natty +ankles of those who had accompanied the luncheon. Hot! It was no word +for it. It was blazing, tearing, drying, baking, scorching heat, and +it was hotter at Baden than anywhere else. + +So they said at least, and as they were from almost every part of the +civilized world, they ought to have known. There were English people, +swells, peers and peeresses, bankers and bankeresses, a neat little +legal set,--Sir Nisey and Lady Prious, Mr. Tocsin, Q.C., Mr. Serjeant +Stentor, and some of the junior members of the bar,--a select +assortment of the Stock-Exchange, and some eligible young men from the +West-end government offices. There were joyous Russians, whose names +all ended in "vitch" and "gorod," and were otherwise utterly +unpronounceable, who spoke all European languages with equal +fluency and facility, and who put down rouleaux of Napoleons on the +roulette-table where other people staked thalers or florins. There +were a few Frenchmen and French ladies; here was an Austrian +gross-herzog or grand-duke, there some Prussian cavalry subalterns who +could not play at the table because they had spent the half-crown of +their daily allowance in roast veal, Bairisch beer, and a horrible +compound called "grogs an rhum," which they drank at night, "after," +as they said to themselves, "the English fashion." + +It had been hotter than ever during the day, but the day was happily +past and over, and the moon was streaming on the broad gravelled Platz +in front of the Conversationshaus, and the band, stationed in the +little oil-lamp-illumined kiosk, were rattling away at Strauss's +waltzes and Labitskey's galops. The gamblers were already thronging +the _roulette_ and _trente-et-quarante_ tables; and of the +non-gamblers all such as had ladies with them were promenading +and listening to the music, while the others were seated, drinking +and smoking. It was a splendid evening; the diners at the late +_tables-d'hôte_ were wending their way from their hotels to the +promenade; the consumers of the German _mittagsessen_, were listening +to the band in delicious anticipation of the _reh-braten_ and the +_haring-salad_ and the _bok-bier_, or the Ahrbleichart, at which +another half-hour would see them hard at work; the clamouring for +coffee was incessant, and the head-waiter, Joseph, who was so like +Bouffé, was almost driven out of his wits by the Babel of voices. They +chattered, those tall occupants of the little wooden round-tables--how +they chattered! They turned round and stared at the promenaders, and +made their comments on them after they had passed. They had something +to say, some remark, either complimentary or disparaging, to make upon +all the ladies. But there was only one man who seemed to attract any +special attention, and that was the Russian Prince Tchernigow. + +A man of middle height, with brown-black hair, a perfectly bloodless +complexion, stern deeply sunken eyes, a stiff moustache bristling over +a determined mouth. A man with small hands and feet, and apparently +but little muscular development, but strong, brave, and vindictive. A +man whose face Lavater might have studied for months without getting +beyond the merest rudiments of his science--impassive, unaltering, +statuesque. He never played but with rouleaux of napoleons--twenty +in a rouleau; and though the space in front of him was shining with +gold at one moment, or laid bare by the sweeping rake of the +croupier,--winning or losing, his expression would not change for an +instant. He had been to Baden for two or three seasons running, and +was beginning to be looked upon as an _habitué_; the croupiers +acknowledged his taking his seat, intending to do battle, by a slight +grave bow; he had broken the bank more than once, and was a lion among +the visitors, and notably amongst the English. Tchernigow's horses and +carriages, his bold play, his good shooting, the wonderful way in +which he spoke our language, his love of solitude, his taciturnity, +his singular physique, were all freely discussed at the late +_tables-d'hôte_ of hotels at which the prince was not staving. His +reputation of _beau joueur_ caused him to be followed as soon as he +was seen going into the rooms, and his play was watched and humbly +imitated by scores. He seldom attended the balls, and very rarely +danced, though he valsed to perfection; and all the women in the room +were eager for his selection. His appearance on the promenade always +excited attention, but he never gave the smallest sign of having +observed it. + +Among those who looked up as Prince Tchernigow passed was Lord +Dollamore, who was seated at one of the tables, with no companion save +his invariable one--his stick. Dollamore generally came to Baden every +year. The place amused him; it was a grand field for the display of +the worst passions of human nature,--a study which always afforded him +infinite delight. He never played, but he was constantly hovering +round the tables; and there was scarcely an incident which happened in +the seething crowd, scarcely a change which swept across the faces of +the leading actors, that passed unnoticed by him. He did not dance; he +would have been prevented by his lameness from indulging in such a +pastime, even had his taste impelled him to it; but he was a constant +attendant at the balls which M. Benazet provided for the amusement of +his patrons; and looking on at the actual life before him as he might +have looked on the mimic life of a theatrical representation, he had +innumerable conferences with his stick on all he saw and heard, and on +the arguments which he deduced therefrom. He immensely enjoyed being +seated, as he was then, in the calm autumnal moonlit evening, with a +cup of excellent coffee by his side, a cigar in his mouth, and the +ever-shifting panorama of human faces passing before him. + +"That Tchernigow is really delicious!" he said to himself--or to his +stick--as he looked after the Russian, and marked the excitement which +he created; "there's a savage insolence about him which is positively +refreshing in these days of bowing and scraping and preposterous +politeness. How they chatter, and gape, and nudge each other with +their elbows about him! and what a supreme indifference he affects to +it all! Affects? Yes, _mon prince_, it is accepted as the real thing +by these good people, but we are not to be taken in by veneer, _nous +autres!_ It would require a very small scratch indeed to pick off the +Petersburg-cum-Paris polish, and to arrive at the genuine Calmuck +substratum. Only to look at you to tell that Nature's handwriting +never lies; and if ever there were a more delightfully truculent, +ruffianly, bloodthirsty savage than yourself, _mon prince_, I am very +much out in my ideas. God help the woman on whom you ever get a +legitimate hold! Ah, that reminds me--what has become of the widow? +There is no doubt that Tchernigow was badly hit in London. The only +man received at her house, the only man permitted to assuage her +grief, to wipe away those tears which doubtless flowed so constantly +for poor Percy Hammond! What an audacious little devil it is! How +pluckily she fought that business of guardianship to the child; and +how gracefully she retired from the contest when she saw that she had +no chance, and that defeat was inevitable! She's the cleverest woman, +in a certain way, that I've ever met with; and I'd take my oath she's +playing some long-headed, far-sighted game now, and that Tchernigow is +the stake. No more flirtation and coquetry--for the present--_les eaux +sont bases_; the widow is hard up, and means to _recoup_ herself by a +rich marriage. That's why that infatuated cad Mitford was snubbed so +severely. I think she comprehends that Tchernigow will stand no +nonsense, and as he is the _parti_ at present in view, his will is +law. She can't have given up the chase; but how on earth is she +working it?" + +A smart natty-looking little man in evening-dress, with +smoothly-brushed hair and elaborately-trimmed whiskers, faint pink +coral studs, little jean boots with glazed tips, irreproachable +gloves, and a Gibus hat--a little man who looked as if he had just +stepped out of a bandbox--stopped at Lord Dollamore's table, and with +a bow, half-deferential, half-familiar, glided into the vacant chair. + +"Ah, how do you do, Mr. Aldermaston?" said Lord Dollamore, looking +up,--"how do you do? and what is the latest news in this Inferno?" + +Every one who knew Mr. Aldermaston made a point of asking him the +news, well knowing that they could apply to no better source for the +latest gossip and tittle-tattle. Mr. Aldermaston nominally was private +secretary to Lord Waterhouse, the First Commissioner at the Inland, +Irrigation Office, and he had been selected for that onerous post for +his distinguished personal appearance and his obsequious toadyism. It +was not a situation involving a great deal of work, though any one +noticing the regularity with which a large leather despatch-box, +bearing a gilt crown, and "Charles Aldermaston, Esq., P.S., I.I.O.," +was deposited for him by an official messenger in the hall of the +Alfred Club, might have thought otherwise. The inferior portion of the +duty was performed by a clerk, and Mr. Aldermaston contented himself +with taking Lord Waterhouse's signature to a few papers occasionally, +and receiving a select few of the most distinguished persons who +wished for personal interviews. This left him plenty of leisure to +pursue his more amusing occupation of purveyor of gossip and inventor +and retailer of scandal. In these capacities he was without a rival. +He always knew everything; and if he did not know it, he invented it, +which in some respects was better, as it enabled him to flavour his +anecdotes with a piquancy which was perhaps wanting in the original. +He found occupation for his ears and tongue in a variety of topics; +the heaviest subjects were not excluded, the lightest obtained a place +in his _répertoire_. The rumour of the approaching change in the +premiership, while passing through the Aldermaston crucible, +encountered the report of Mademoiselle de la Normandie's refusal to +dance her _pas seul_ before Madame Rivière; the report of Lady +Propagand's conversion to Romanism did not prevent Mr. Aldermaston's +giving proper additional publicity to the whisper of Miss de Toddler's +flight with the milkman. + +There were not many people who liked Mr. Aldermaston, though there +were a great many who feared him; but Lord Dollamore was among the +former class. "He is a _blagueur_," Dollamore used to say; "and a +_blagueur_ is a detestable beast; but necessary to society; and +Aldermaston is certainly clean. He knows how to behave himself, and is +in fact an Ananias of polite society. Besides, he amuses me, and there +are very few people in the world who amuse me." + +So Lord Dollamore always spoke to Mr. Aldermaston at the club, and +encouraged him to tell his anecdotes; and when he found him at Baden, +he looked upon him as one of the resources of the place,-a purveyor of +news infinitely fresher, more piquant, and more amusing than was to be +found in the week-old _Times_ or three-days-old _Galignani_, which he +found at Misses Marx's library. + +So he again repeated, "And what's the latest news in this Inferno, Mr. +Aldermaston?" + +"Well, there's very little news here, my lord, very little indeed; +except that young Lord Plaidington is gone--sent away this morning." + +"Sent away?" + +"Yes; his mother, Lady Macabaw, wouldn't stand it any longer. Last +night Lord Plaidington took too much again, and began throwing the +empty champagne-bottles out of the window of the Angleterre; so Lady +Macabaw sent him off this morning with his tutor, the Rev. Sandford +Merton, and they've gone to Strasburg, on the way to Italy." + +"Serve him right, the young cub. I went away early last night--any +heavy play late?" + +"Yes; a Frenchman whom no one had ever seen before won a hatful at +roulette, and some Englishman whom no one seemed to know backed him +and stood in. They looked like breaking the bank at one time, but they +didn't." + +"Was Tchernigow at the tables?" + +"No; the Prince did not show up at all,--has not been there for the +last three nights." + +"So much the worse for Benazet; but what does it mean?" + +"Well, I've a notion about that that I won't broach to any one but +your Lordship. I think I've found the clue to that story." + +"What story? what clue?" + +"Prince Tchernigow's sudden cessation from play. You know what a mania +it was with him. It must have been something special to make him give +it up." + +"And what is the something special?" + +"A woman." + +"Ah!" said Lord Dollamore, warming a once into interest; "_malheureux +en jeu, heureux en amour_,--the converse of the ordinarily-received +motto. Has Mademoiselle Féodor arrived from the Gaieté? or who is the +siren that charms our Prince from the tables?" + +"Mademoiselle Féodor has not arrived, but some one else has. A much +more dangerous person than Mademoiselle Féodor, and with much more +lasting hopes in view." + +Lord Dollamore looked keenly at his companion, and said, "I begin to +find the scent warming; but I make it a rule never to guess. Tell your +story, Mr. Aldermaston, please." + +"Well, you know, Lord Dollamore, I'm staying at the Russie, and I've +made myself so agreeable to Malmedie, the landlord there, by little +bits of civility, that he generally comes up to my room in the morning +and lets me know all that is going on. He showed me a letter that he +had about a week ago, written in French, saying that a lady wanted +rooms reserved for herself and maid; that she would not dine at the +_table-d'hôte_, being an invalid, and coming only for the benefit of +the air and springs, but should require dinner and all her meals +served in her own rooms. The French of the letter was excellent, but +the idea of retirement looked essentially English. I never knew a +Frenchwoman, in however bad a state of health, who could resist the +attractions of society; so, though I said nothing to Malmedie, I +guessed at once the lady was English; and as there seemed a mystery, I +determined to penetrate it." + +Lord Dollamore smiled, and whispered something to his stick; something +of which the French word "_chiffonnier_" and the English word +"garbage" were component parts; but Mr. Aldermaston did not hear the +sentence, and only marking the smile, proceeded: + +"They were expected on Wednesday afternoon, and I took care to be +about. They came in the _eilwagen_ from Carlsruhe,--a deuced +fine-looking woman, with her face hidden in a thick black veil, and a +very neat trim little French waiting-maid. The servant was French, but +the boxes were English,--I'd take my oath of that. There was a +substantial solidity about their make, a certainty about their locks +and hinges, such as never yet was seen on a French box, I'll stake my +existence." + +"You have wonderful powers of observation, Mr. Aldermaston," said +Dollamore, still grinning. + +"Your lordship flatters me. I have a pair of eyes, and I think I can +use them. I kept them pretty tightly fixed on the movements of the +new-comers. Dinner was sent up to their rooms, but before it went up +the lady's-maid went out. I was strolling about myself, with nothing +to do just at that time, so I strolled after her. She went into the +Angleterre, and in a few minutes came tripping out again. She went +back to the Russie, and so did I. I had nothing to do, and sat down in +the porch, behind one of those tubs with the orange-trees, to smoke a +cigar. While I was smoking it, who should come up but Prince +Tchernigow?" + +"Prince Tchernigow!" cried Lord Dollamore. "_Connu!_ I'm in full cry +now, Mr. Aldermaston. But continue your story." + +"Prince Tchernigow," continued Mr. Aldermaston, "and no one else. He +asked for Madame Poitevin, in which name the rooms had been taken, and +he was shown upstairs. He came the next day twice, twice yesterday; he +was there this morning; and just now, as I came away from the +_table-d'hôte_, I met him on the steps going in." + +"Mr. Aldermaston, you are _impayable!_" said Dollamore. "I must pay a +compliment to your perspicacity, even at the risk of forestalling the +conclusion of your narrative. But you have told it so admirably, that +no man with a grain of sense in his head could avoid seeing that +Madame Poitevin is Mrs. Hammond." + +"Exactly,--I have not a doubt of it," said the little man; "and if so, +I think you and I, my lord, know some one whose state of mind must be +awful." + +"Yes," said Lord Dollamore, rising from his chair; "I see what you +mean, and you are doubtless right. Poor Percy Hammond's relatives must +feel it acutely. Goodnight, Mr. Aldermaston;" and he bowed and moved +off. + +"I'm not going to let that little cad indulge in any speculations +about the Mitfords," said he to his stick. "That woman's far too good +to be discussed by such vermin as that;" by which we may judge that +Lord Dollamore's opinion of Lady Mitford had altered as his +acquaintance with her had progressed. + + +The deductions which Mr. Aldermaston had made from this last +experiment in espionage were tolerably correct. Laura Hammond was +in Baden under the name of Madame Poitevin, and accompanied by the +never-failing Marcelline. + +She had hurried away from London for two reasons. The first, and by +far the most important, was to perfect the conquest of Tchernigow; to +clinch home that iron band which for the last two months she had been +fitting round the Russian's neck; to bring him to make the offer of +his hand at once. The short time passed in London since her husband's +death had been spent in looking her future boldly in the face, and +calculating within herself how she should mould it for the best. Lord +Dollamore was right in one of his conjectures about her: she had made +up her mind that the course of her life must henceforth be entirely +altered. She knew well enough that even the short time she had been +away from London and its world was sufficient to render her name +almost forgotten; and she determined that when it was next mentioned +it should be in a very different tone from that formerly adopted +towards it. Respectability--that state so often sneered at and +ridiculed by her--she now held in the highest veneration, and +determined to attain to. She had her work to do; to restore herself in +the world's good opinion, and to make, as soon as decency would +permit, a good marriage. The last position gained, the first would +necessarily follow. All she had to do, she thought, was to keep +herself in seclusion and choose her intended victim. + +She thought of Sir Laurence Alsager at once. She had yet for him a +remnant of what she imagined was love, but what was really thwarted +passion. Her feelings were stronger for him than for any other man; +and he had large wealth, and a good old family title, and the good +opinion of the world. When, after his interview with her, she saw the +utter futility of her plans so far as he was concerned, she was +enraged, but by no means defeated. The cast must be made in another +direction, and at once. Prince Tchernigow was in town; she knew it, +for she had had more than one note from him during her seclusion in +the country, and she knew that Tchernigow was hanging on in town on +the chance of seeing her. This flashed across her the moment Laurence +had quitted her, and her heart gave a great leap. That was the man! He +was a prince; he was three times as rich as Alsager, and was known in +the best society of every capital in Europe. Life with him as his wife +would not be spent buried two-thirds of the year in a great gaunt +country-place, where interest in the Sunday-schools and the old women +and the clergyman's charities were the excitements; life with him +would be one round of gaiety, in which she would not be a follower, +but a leader. He had been madly in love with her two years before; and +from what she knew of his nature, she believed the passion still +remained there. That could be easily ascertained. She would write him +a note, bidding him to come and see her. + +Tchernigow came at once. He had not been with Laura ten minutes before +her sharp eyes had looked into his heart and read its secrets so far +as she was concerned. He was chafing under a latent passion, a +thwarted wish. When, just at the close of their companionship at Baden +two years ago, he had ventured to make open protestation of his +devotion to her, and she had turned on him with great dignity and +snubbed him mercilessly, he had bowed and left her, cool and collected +indeed in his manner, but inwardly raging like a volcano. He had never +met with similar treatment. With him it was a question of throwing the +handkerchief, to the delight of Nourmahal or whoever might be the +lucky one towards whom his highness tossed it. The ladies of the +_corps dramatique_ of the different Parisian theatres were wild with +delight when they heard that Tchernigow had arrived in Paris, and the +will of _mon Cosaque_, as he was called by more than one, was supreme +and indisputable among them. This was quite a new thing. Not merely to +have his proffered love rejected, but to be soundly rated for having +dared to proffer it, was to him almost inexplicable. It lashed him to +fury. For the next season he kept away from London, determined to +avoid the siren who held him in her toils, yet despised his suit. +Then, hearing of her widowhood and her absence from London, he came to +England with a half-formed determination in regard to her. He saw her, +and almost instantaneously the smouldering fires of his passion were +revivified, and blazed up more fiercely than ever. + +He had more encouragement now, but even now not very much. He was +permitted to declare his devotion to her, to rave in his odd wild +way about her beauty, to kiss her hand on his arrival and +departure--nothing more. Trust Laura Hammond for knowing exactly how +to treat a man of Tchernigow's temperament. He came daily; he sat +feasting his eyes on her beauty, and listening--sometimes in wonder, +but always in admiration--to her conversation, which was now sparkling +with wit and fun, now brimming over with sentiment and pathos. Day by +day he became more and more hopelessly entangled by her fascinations, +but as yet he had breathed no word about marriage; and to that end, +and that alone, was Laura Hammond leading him on. But when Parliament +was dissolved, and town rapidly thinning; when Laura's solicitor had +written urgently to her, stating that "the other side" was pressing +for a final settlement of affairs--which meant her abdicating +her state and taking up her lowered position on her lessened +income--Tchernigow called upon her, and while telling her that he was +going to Baden, seemed to do more than hint that her hopes would be +fulfilled, if she would consent to meet him there so soon as her +business was accomplished. + +This was the principal motive which had induced her to start for the +pretty little Inferno on the border of the Black Forest. But the other +was scarcely less cogent. The fact was, that Laura was wearying +rapidly of the attentions of Sir Charles Mitford. Her _caprice_ for +him was over. He had never had the power of amusing her; and since she +knew that Laurence Alsager had left England, she saw that she could no +longer wreak her vengeance on him by punishing Lady Mitford through +the faithlessness of Sir Charles. Mitford saw that she was growing +weary of him--marked it in a thousand different ways, and raged +against it. Occasionally his manner to her would change from what she +now called maudlin tenderness to savage ferocity; he would threaten +her vaguely, he would watch her narrowly. It required all Laura's +natural genius for intrigue, supplemented by Madlle. Marcelline's +adroitness, to prevent his knowing of Tchernigow's visits. In his +blind infatuation he was rapidly forgetting the decencies of life, the +_convenances_ of society; he was getting himself more and more talked +about; what was worse, he was getting her talked about again, just at +the time when she wanted to be forgotten by all men--save one. Mitford +had followed her into the country, and only quitted her on her +expressed determination never to speak to him again unless he returned +to London at once, and saved her from the gossip of the neighbourhood. +She knew he would insist on seeing her constantly when she returned to +town. Hence her flight with only one hour's stoppage in London--and +under a feigned name--to Baden. + +"'I pray you come at once,'" said Dollamore, three days after his +conversation with Mr. Aldermaston, reading to his stick the contents +of a dainty little note which he had just received;--"'I pray you come +at once.--Yours sincerely, Laura Hammond.' Very much yours sincerely, +Laura Hammond, I should think. What the deuce does she want with me? +Is she going to drive us three abreast, like the horses in the +diligence? and does she think I should like to trot along between +Mitford and Tchernigow? Not she! She knows me too well to think +anything of that sort. But then what on earth does she want with me? +'I pray you come at once.' Egad, I must go, I suppose, and ask for +Madame Poitevin, as she tells me." + +He lounged up to the Hôtel de Russie, asked for Madame Poitevin, and +was shown into a room where Laura was seated with Marcelline reading +to her. Dollamore recollected Marcelline at once; he had an eye for +beauty in every class, and had taken not an unfavourable notice of the +trim little _soubrette_ during his stay at Redmoor. He wondered now +what had caused this sudden elevation of her social status, and did +not ascribe it to any good source. But he had little time to wonder +about Marcelline, for she rose at once, and passing him with a slight +bow, left the room as Mrs. Hammond advanced with outstretched hand. +She looked splendidly handsome; her eyes were bright, her cheeks +flushed, her step elastic. Dollamore thought he had scarcely ever seen +her to such advantage. + +"You are surprised at my having sent to you, Lord Dollamore?" said she +as soon as they were seated. + +"No, indeed, Mrs. Hammond; I'm never surprised at anything. A man who +has turned forty and suffers himself to be surprised is an idiot." + +"Turned forty! Well, when you reach that age you shall tell me whether +there is truth in that axiom." ("Flattering me!" said Dollamore to his +stick; "wants to borrow money.") "But at all events you don't know why +I asked you to come." + +"I have not the remotest idea." + +"How should you have? Three hours ago I myself had no anticipation of +the occurrence of circumstances which have induced me to ask you to +share a confidence." + +"Hallo!" said Dollamore to his stick; "I share a confidence! She ought +to have sent for Aldermaston." But he said aloud, "If I can be of any +help to you--" + +"You can be of the very greatest assistance. You may have heard how I +have been left by my husband; how Mr. Hammond's relatives, by their +cruel and secret machinations, so worked upon him in his enfeebled +state as to induce him to make a most shameful will, by which I was +robbed of all that ought to have been mine, and left with a beggarly +income!" She had not forgotten that will, and any recurrence to it +made her cheek flame in earnest. + +Dollamore bowed. He ought to have expressed some pity or some +astonishment; but he had never during his life been guilty of any +conventionality. + +"In this strait," she continued, "I have received succour from a +totally unexpected quarter. In the most generous and delicate manner +Prince Tchernigow has this day made me an offer of his hand." +(Dollamore said he was never surprised, but if the stick was on the +alert it must have heard him whistle.) "We are to be married at once!" + +"Very satisfactory indeed," said Dollamore. "Fancy being a princess, +with 'vassals and serfs by your side'!--Very delicious indeed." + +"Oh, I'm so happy!" cried Laura, with that feigned ecstasy of joy +which she had so often indulged in; "the Prince is so charming!" + +"Is he indeed?" said Dollamore. "Yes; some people require to be known +thoroughly before they're appreciated. But what will a friend of ours +say to this? I mean Sir Charles Mitford." + +"Ah!" said Laura, who turned pale at the name; "that is exactly the +subject in which I require your assistance." + +"Mine! How can I help you? Suppose he were to come here--" + +"It is that I am dreading. I took every precaution to hide my +destination. I came here under a feigned name; I have lived in the +strictest retirement, having seen no one but the Prince since I have +been here; and yet I never hear a carriage dash up to the door of the +hotel but I rush to the window, and concealing myself behind the +curtains, look out in the full expectation of seeing him leap into the +portico. If he were to come now, under present circumstances, what +should I do?--good God, what should I do?" + +"What should you do? Tell him to go back again. You are not his wife, +for him to bully and curse and order about. You are not bound to give +in to his cowardly whims, and need not endure his ruffianly insults." + +"You don't know him now; you don't know how frightful his temper has +become to any one who crosses him. No, no, no, we shall be married at +once, and leave this place; and should he come here afterwards, I +trust you to tell him nothing more than you can possibly help; above +all, to keep silence as to our intended route." + +"That will be easily managed, by your not telling me which way you +intend going. I'll do what I can to help you, Mrs. Hammond; but I may +as well say, that the less I am brought into contact with Sir Charles +Mitford, the better I shall be pleased." + +"At all events you will do as much as I have asked you?" she said. + +"I will; and as that principally consists in holding my tongue, I +shall have no difficulty in doing it. When are you to be married?" + +"To-morrow morning, at Frankfort, where there are both Russian and +English embassies; and whence we start to--" + +"You forget; I was not to know your route." + +"I had forgotten," she said with a smile. She seemed reassured; her +colour came again, and as she held out her hand, she said, "I may rely +on you?" + +"Rigidly to do nothing," he said; and took her hand, and left her. + + +"She's a very wonderful woman, and she certainly has had a great run +of luck," said Dollamore, as he walked back to his hotel. "To think of +her getting hold of this Calmuck savage! By Jove! rich as he is, +she'll try and find her way to the bottom of his sack of roubles. +Tchernigow is wealthy, but his intendant will have to screw up the +moujiks to the last copeck to provide for madame's splendid power of +spending. She's evidently completely frightened of Mitford now. It +must be sheer brutality that has done that, for he was no match for +her in spirit, or anything else." + +As he said this, he arrived at the Badischer Hof, before the door of +which was standing a dust-covered carriage with two steaming horses; +and in the hall Lord Dollamore saw a man, whose back was towards him, +talking earnestly to Mr. Aldermaston. The man turned round at the +sound of footsteps, and then Dollamore saw that it was Sir Charles +Mitford. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +REAPING THE WHIRLWIND. + + +Yes; Sir Charles Mitford had arrived at Baden. He had written several +times to Mrs. Hammond in her country retreat, and, getting no reply, +had called at her London house. The old charwoman there left in +attendance was as vague as Mrs. Hammond could possibly have wished her +to be about her mistress's movements. She had been there, Lor' bless +me, yes, she had been there; but when was it?--We'nesday week, she +thought, but won't be by no means certain. It was the day as she had +had b'iled rabbit for dinner; she knew that, 'cos she was preparin' +the onions when there come that thunderin' rat-tat at the door, which +quite discomposed her and made her 'art jump into her mouth. What had +happened then? Not much--a puttin' a few things together, which the +missis and the Frenchwoman managed between them. And then she was sent +out for a cab; and the cab came, and they all got into it, and the cab +went off. Where? She couldn't say; leastways, they would not let her +hear the direction--told the cabman to drive straight on, and they +would tell him presently; that was all she knew--yes, that was +all she knew, and all Mitford could get out of her by the closest +cross-questioning. Laura Hammond had escaped him; but of her +destination he was absolutely ignorant. + +How could he hit upon her track? The old woman--the last person who +had seen her--was exhausted and pumped out, and had told next to +nothing. Was there no one who could help him in this strait?--no one +who could make some suggestion as to the best mode of discovering the +fugitive? Yes!--a sudden brilliant thought struck him--the man who had +discovered him when, as he thought, he lay so closely hid,--the +detective, Inspector Stellfox. + +He had given a handsome present to the inspector when he came into his +kingdom--how long ago it seemed!--and he had seen him several times +since on public occasions,--at the Opera, at Chiswick Flower-shows, at +the Derby, and similar popular resorts. He had the inspector's address +somewhere,--at some police-station down in the City; and he went to +his desk, and turned over a heterogeneous collection of papers, and +found it. Then he sent Banks down to the station-house; and that +evening Inspector Stellfox was shown into Sir Charles's study, and +placed by him in possession of the facts. + +The inspector went to work in his own special way. It was a peculiar +job, he said, and not too easy to work out; but he had hopes. He went +back to the station-house, and communicated as much as he chose to +tell to two of his best men. Then all three went to work. They found +out the cabman who had taken Mrs. Hammond to the South-Eastern +Railway; they found the porter who had taken the boxes off the cab, +and the luggage-labeller who had marked them; they found the +tick-clerk who had registered them "in transit," and whose book showed +not merely the number of pounds' weight, but the name in which they +were entered. They were booked for Cologne,--one could not in those +days register any farther,--and for Cologne Sir Charles started +immediately. There he picked up the trace. Two French ladies had +arrived by the Ostend train, and gone--not to any of the grand hotels +bordering the Rhine, but to a second-rate house, yet quiet and +thoroughly respectable for all that--the Brüsseler Hof, kept for the +last thirty years by Anton Schumacher. Were they recollected there? Of +course they were. Anton Schumacher's eldest son Franz had been rather +fetched by the trim appearance of the younger lady, and had gone down +with them to the boat, and seen them on board the Königin Victoria, +and recommended them specially to the care of the _conducteur_, who +was a great friend of his. Where did they take tickets for? Why, at +his advice, they took them for Cassel, on the left bank of the +river. They were going, as he understood, to Baden-Baden, and he had +advised them to sleep at Barth's--a right clean comfortable hotel in +Cassel--and then post on to Frankfurt, where they could spend the +afternoon and the night, and so get on right pleasantly to Baden the +next day. + +To Baden! Sir Charles Mitford's heart sunk within him as he heard the +words. Baden! That was where Laura had been so talked about for her +desperate carrying on with Tchernigow nearly three years ago. And she +was gone there now, and Tchernigow had disappeared from London! + +Doubtless they had arranged it all between them, and he was thrown +overboard and sold. His mind was at once made up: he would follow her +there or to the end of the earth; what did it matter to him? He told +Banks to pack a small travelling valise; he called at Bligh's on his +way to the station and gave him certain instructions, and he was off. +Not a word of farewell to Georgie; not a look of kindness; not a kiss +of love for that poor child lying broad awake and listening to his +footsteps as he stole through the house at early morning! What could +he have said to her?--he, going in search of his paramour, who had +thrown him over,--what could he have said to the wife whom he had so +cruelly treated, so recklessly betrayed? + +So Sir Charles Mitford, after long and tedious days of travel, arrived +at Baden, as we have seen; and the first person he encountered, ere he +had scarcely put foot in the hall of the Badischer Hof, was Mr. +Aldermaston. He had known him in London, and was perfectly aware of +his qualification for news. There was no reticence in Sir Charles +Mitford now; no coming delicately to the subject; no beating about the +bush: all that had vanished long since. Besides, if there had been any +delicacy remaining, Mr. Aldermaston was scarcely the kind of man for +whom it would have been employed. So Sir Charles said at once, and +hurriedly: + +"How do, Aldermaston? Been here long?" + +"Ah, Sir Charles, how do you do? Just arrived, I see. Yes; I've been +here--O, three weeks about." + +"Then can you tell me? Is Mrs. Hammond here?" + +"There's no such name in the _Fremdenblatt_--the _Gazette des +Étrangers_, you know." His little eyes twinkled so, that even +Mitford's dull comprehension was aroused. + +"But for all that, she's here. Tell me, for God's sake!" + +"Well, there's a French lady here--says she's French that's to +say,--called Madame Poitevin, who might be Mrs. Hammond's twin +sister." + +"Ah!" Mitford gave a long sigh of relief. "I suppose she's attracted +the usual amount of attention among all the people here, eh?" + +"She would have, doubtless, had she ever courted it. But the truth is, +she has never left her hotel." + +"Never left her hotel!" echoed Mitford, obviously delighted. "Which is +her hotel? where is she staying?" + +"At the Russie, lower down the town." + +"Here under a feigned name, and never leaving her rooms,--that's +strange," said Mitford. + +"Yes; must be dull for her," said little Aldermaston, looking up to +see the effect his words had on his companion; "lives in strict +seclusion." + +"Does she indeed? Poor girl! poor Laura!" + +"Yes,--only one person permitted to see her; only one who is allowed +to mingle his tears with hers." + +"One person! and who is that?" + +"A friend of hers,--Prince Tchernigow." + +"Damnation!" screamed Mitford; "is he here? That cursed Russian with +his sallow face has always been hanging about her; and is he here +now?" + +"O yes, he's here now; has been here for the last month, and has seen +her twice every day since she arrived. I happen to know that," said +Mr. Aldermaston, "from private sources of information." + +"He has, has he? Curse him!" said Mitford, white with rage. + +"O yes, he has; and curse him if you like to me," said Mr. +Aldermaston. "He's no friend of mine; and if he were, I don't know +that I've any right to object because a gentleman curses him. But I +don't think I'd curse him too strongly to Mrs. Hammond when you see +her." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, simply because he's going to be married to her to-morrow +morning." + +"To be married to her! You lie, sir!--you lie!" + +"I say, look here, Mr.--Sir Charles Mitford; there is a point which +must not be passed;--thus far shalt thou go, you know, and that sort +of thing;--and you must not tell a gentleman he lies--'pon my soul you +mustn't!" + +"I beg your pardon; I scarcely know what I'm saying. To be married +to-morrow morning!--to be married!" + +"O yes; it's all right; it's not what you said, you know, but as true +as possible. I know it for a fact, because I was at the post-office +just now, and I saw letters addressed to the Russian ambassador, and +to Mr. Koch, our consul at Frankfurt; and Malmedie told me that the +prince's man has been over here to order a carriage and relays for the +morning." + +"What did you say the name was under which she was passing?" + +"Madame Poitevin. But why?" + +"Nothing-no matter; now the Hôtel de Russie!--all right;" and he +started off up the street. + + +"_C'est lui! mon, Dieu, madame! c'est lui!_" That was all Mademoiselle +Marcelline had time to utter as she opened the door of Mrs. Hammond's +rooms to a hasty knock, and a tall figure strode past her. +Mademoiselle Marcelline, even in the fading evening light, recognized +the well-known form of Sir Charles Mitford; but her exclamation caused +Mrs. Hammond to think it was Prince Tchernigow of whom she spoke, and +to impute Marcelline's evident terror to the fact that she had not +then put the finishing touches to her toilette or her _coiffure_. + +When she saw who was her visitor, she made up her mind instantaneously +to the line of conduct to be pursued, and said: + +"May I ask the meaning, Sir Charles Mitford, of this strange intrusion +into a lady's private rooms?" + +He stopped still, and winced under her cold words as though cut by a +whip. When he regained his voice, he said: + +"Laura! Laura! what does this mean?" + +"That is what I call upon you to, explain. You come unannounced into +my rooms, and then ask me what it means. You have been dining, Sir +Charles Mitford!" + +"Ah, I know what you're up to, then; but you're not right--I'll swear +you're not right. Not one drop of anything have I had for God knows +how many hours. But I'm faint, weary, and heart-broken. Tell me, tell +me, you heartless devil, is this true that I've heard?" He alternated +from maudlin sentimentality to fierce rage, and it was difficult to +say under which aspect he was most detestable. + +"Let go my hand," said she, trying to snatch her wrist from his +clutch; "let go my hand, or I'll call for assistance! How can I tell +whether what you've heard is true or not, when you've not had sense +enough to tell me what it is?" + +She spoke in a deadly cold metallic voice; and what she said roused +him to a pitch of fury. Ever since she had first discovered that he +occasionally resorted to the brandy-bottle, she had taunted him with +covert allusions to his drinking, well aware that nothing rendered him +so savage. + +"Curse you!" he said, "that's your old taunt. Did you not hear me say +that nothing had passed my lips for hours? Now, answer me one +question, or rather first hear me speak. I know all." + +"Do you?" said she with a sneer; "then you are a cleverer man than +ever I imagined you to be!" + +"Prince Tchernigow is in Baden." + +"And what of that?" + +"He visits you daily--twice a day." + +"And what of that? Why should he not? What is that to you?" + +"Oh, Laura!--Oh, my darling Laura! What is it to me, she asks? I, who +worship her shadow, who would put my neck down for her to tread +upon!--Then he does visit you?" + +"He does visit me. Does that answer content you? You deny that you +have been drinking, Sir Charles Mitford, and yet you go on with this +senseless rodomontade!" + +"Then let him look out for himself, Laura Hammond!--that's all I have +to say;--let him look out for himself." + +"He is perfectly able to do that, if there were occasion. But there is +no occasion now!" She took her cue from Dollamore's hint. "I'm not +your wife, Sir Charles Mitford, for you to bully and threaten. You +have no hold over me. And if you had, I am not a puny white-faced +snivelling school-girl, to be put down by big words and black looks!" + +"You are not my wife!" he repeated. "No, God knows you speak truth in +that, at all events! You are not my wife." + +His voice fell, and the tone in which he uttered these words was very +low. Did a thought come over him of the "white-faced snivelling +school-girl" who was his wife, and whom he had quitted without one +word of adieu? Did the white face rise up in judgment before him then, +as it would rise up in judgment on a certain grand day? He passed his +hand across his eyes and sat silent. + +"No, I am not your wife," she continued, "thank God! I never would +have been your wife. And now listen, for this is the last time you and +I will ever be alone together; yes--I swear it--the last time! What we +have been to each other--the nature of the tie between us--you know as +well as I. But what prompted me to permit the establishment of such a +tie, you do _not_ know, and so I will tell you. Revenge, Sir Charles +Mitford, revenge!--that was the sole spur that urged me on to allow my +name to be coupled with yours--to allow you to think that you had a +hold over me, body and soul. You imagined I cared for you! That poor +piece of propriety in England was jealous of me!--jealous of my having +robbed her of her pet-lamb, her innocent Southdown! I cared for you +then as much as I care for you now--no, I wrong you, I eared for you a +little more then, just a little more, because you were useful to me. +Now my need for such a tool is ended, and--I cast you off!" + +She stood up as ho said these words, and made a motion with her hand, +corresponding to the speech, as though throwing him away. He looked at +her in astonishment--then his face darkened, and he said: + +"Do you dare to tell me this?" + +"I dare anything," she replied, "as you might have learnt ere this. Do +you recollect the night in the fir-plantation, when your friend +Captain Bligh came out in search of you, and we stood together within +an arm's length of him? What did I dare then?" + +"Not so much as you dare now, if you did but know!" said Mitford. "You +knew then that, had the worst come to the worst, you had a man at your +feet who was prepared to brave all for you; who would have scorned the +world and all that the world could say; who would have taken you far +away out of the chance of its venom and the breath of its scandal, and +devoted his life to securing your happiness. Your reputation was even +then beginning to be tainted; your name had even then been buzzed +about, and you would have gained--ay, gained--rather than lost by the +fortunate accident which would have made one man your slave for ever!" + +"I had no idea you had such a talent for eloquence," said she calmly. +"Even in your maddest access of passion--for you are, I suppose, the +'one man' who was prepared to do such mighty things--you never warmed +up to say so many sensible words consecutively! But suppose you are +arguing on wrong premises? Suppose there is a man who is prepared +to do all that that hypothetical 'one man' would have dared? +Prepared--ay, and able--to do more! More, for that 'one man' was +married, and could only have placed me virtuously in the eyes of the +world after long and tedious legal ceremonies. Suppose that there is +now a man able and willing--nay more, dying--to make me his wife, what +then?" + +"Then," said Sir Charles, "I go back to what I said before--let him +look to himself--let him look to himself!" + +"He is perfectly ready to do so, Sir Charles Mitford," said a low deep +voice. + +Both turned, and both saw Prince Tchernigow standing in the doorway. +Laura gave a great start, and rushed to his side. He put his arm +calmly round her, and said: + +"Do not disturb yourself, Laura; there is no occasion for fright." + +"Ah!" said Mitford, with a deep inhalation of his breath, "I have +found you at last, have I? You are here, Prince Tchernigow! So much +the better! Let me tell you, sir, that--" + +"Even Sir Charles Mitford will recollect," said Tchernigow, "that one +chooses one's language in the presence of ladies!" Then, in a lower +tones "I shall be at the rooms in half an hour." + +Mitford nodded sulkily and took up his hat. Then, with a low bow to +Mrs. Hammond, he left the room. + + +An hour had passed, and the space in front of the Kürsaal was thronged +as usual. At a table by himself sat Sir Charles Mitford, drinking +brandy-and-water, and ever and anon casting eager glances round him. +His eyes were bloodshot, his hand shook as he conveyed the glass to +his lips, and his whole face was puckered and livid. The aspect of his +face brightened as he saw Prince Tchernigow approaching him. +Tchernigow was alone, and was making his way with the utmost +deliberation to the table at which he saw Mitford seated. He came up, +took off his hat with a grave bow, and remained standing. Mitford +swallowed what remained of his drink, and stood up beside him. + +"You were waiting for me, M. Mitford?" said Tchernigow. "I am sorry to +have detained you; but it was unavoidable. You used words just now--in +a moment of anger doubtless--which you are already probably sorry +for." + +"They were words which I used intentionally and with deliberation," +said Mitford. "I spoke of some man--then to me unnamed--who had come +between me and Mrs. Hammond--" + +"I scarcely understand the meaning of the phrase 'come between,' M. +Mitford. It is doubtless my ignorance of your language to which I must +ascribe it. But how could any one 'come between' a married man and a +widow--granting, of course, that the married man is a man of honour?" + +Mitford ground his teeth, but was silent. + +"And supposing always," continued Tchernigow, "that there was some one +sufficiently interested in the widow to object to any 'coming +between'?--some one who had proposed himself in marriage to her, and +who intended to make her his wife?" + +The truth flashed across Mitford in an instant. He was beaten on all +sides; but there was yet a chance of revenge. + +"And suppose there were such a fool," he said,--"which, I very much +doubt,--the words I used I would use again, and if need were, I would +cram them down his throat!" + +"_Eh bien, M. Mitford!_" said Tchernigow, changing his language, but +ever keeping his quiet tone,--"_eh bien! M. Mitford, décidément vous +êtes un lâche!_" + +A crash, a gathering of a little crowd, and the waiter-who was so like +Bouffé--raised Prince Tchernigow from the ground, with a little blood +oozing from a spot beneath his temple. "He had stumbled over a chair," +he said; "but it was nothing." + + +In deep consultation with his stick, Lord Dollamore was lounging +round the outer ring at the roulette-table, when Sir Charles Mitford, +with a flushed face and dishevelled hair, with rumpled wristbands and +shirt-collar awry, made his way to him, and begged for a few minutes' +conversation apart. + +Shrugging his shoulders, and obviously unwilling, Dollamore stepped +aside with him into an embrasure of the window, and then Mitford said: + +"I am in a mess, and I want your help." + +"In what way?" + +"I have had a row with Tchernigow--you can guess about what; he +insulted me, and I struck him. He'll have me out of course, and I want +you to act for me." + +Lord Dollamore paused for an instant, and took the stick's advice. +Then he said: + +"Look here, Si Charles Mitford: in the least offensive way possible, I +want to tell you that I can't do this." + +"You refuse me? + +"I do. We were acquaintances years ago, when you were quite a boy; and +when you came to your title you renewed the acquaintance. I did not +object then; and had things continued as they were then, I would +willingly have stood by you now. But they are not as they were then; +they are entirely changed, and all for the worse. You have been going +to the bad rapidly for the last twelve months; and, in short, have +compromised yourself in a manner which renders it impossible for me to +be mixed up in any affair of yours." + +"I understand you perfectly, Lord Dollamore," said Mitford, in a voice +hoarse with rage, "The next request I make to you--and it shall be +very shortly too--will be that you will stand not by me, but before +me!" + +"In that case," said Dollamore, with a bow,--"in that case, Sir +Charles Mitford, you will not have to complain of a refusal on my +part." + +Mitford said nothing, but he was cut to the quick. He had noticed--he +could not, even with his blunted feelings and defiant temper, avoid +noticing--that men's manners towards him had lately much changed; that +acquaintances plunged up by-streets as they saw him coming, or buried +themselves in the sheets of newspapers when he entered the club-room; +but he had never been directly insulted before. He would revenge +himself on Dollamore before he left Baden; meanwhile there was +business on hand, and who should he ask to be his second? Mr. +Aldermaston, of course; and he sought him at once. Mr. Aldermaston was +only too delighted. To be second to a baronet in a duel with a prince, +and then to have the story to tell afterwards, particularly if one of +them killed the other--he didn't much care which--would set him up for +life. Mr. Aldermaston agreed at once, and was put in communication +with Prince Tchernigow's friend; and the meeting was arranged for +sunrise in the Black Forest, just above the entrance to the Murgthal. + +Prince Tchernigow called on Laura late in the afternoon on which these +preliminaries were arranged. It is needless to say that he did not +hint at them to her; indeed such care had he taken, that Laura had no +idea Sir Charles Mitford had met the Prince since their first +interview in Baden, though probably Mademoiselle Marcelline might have +been better informed. But Tchernigow said on reflection it appeared to +him better that she should go to Frankfurt that evening,--it would put +a stop to any chance of talk, he said, and he would join her there at +the Romischer Kaiser the next morning. Laura agreed, as she would have +agreed to anything he might have proposed--so happy was she just then; +and while the visitors were engaged at the late _table-d'hôte_, a +carriage drew up at the side-door of the Hôtel de Russie, and Mrs. +Hammond and Mademoiselle Marcelline started for Frankfurt. + + + * * * * * + + +Lord Dollamore was in the habit of breakfasting late and +substantially. The tables were generally laid for the first +_table-d'hôte_ before the easy-going Englishman came lounging into the +_salle-à-manger_ about ten o'clock, and sat down to his _bifteck aux +pommes_ and his half-bottle of Léoville. He was not a minute earlier +than usual on the morning after he had refused to act for Mitford, +though he felt certain the meeting had taken place. But he thought +very little of it; he had seen so many duels amongst foreigners +which never came to anything beyond an interchange of pistol-shots, +or which were put an end to after the drawing of first blood by a +sabre-scratch. It was not until the door was flung open, and Mr. +Aldermaston, with his face ashy pale, with his travelling-clothes on +and his courier's bag slung round him, rushed into the room, that Lord +Dollamore felt that something really serious had happened, and said, +"Good God, Aldermaston! what has gone wrong? Speak, man!" + +"The worst!" said Aldermaston, whose voice had lost its crisp little +society-tone, and who spoke in a hoarse low whisper,--"the worst! +Mitford's hit!" + +"Killed?" + +"No, he's alive still; was at least when I left. We got him into a +woodcutter's hut close at hand, and there's a German doctor with him; +but, from all I can make out, there's no hope. I must be off over the +frontier, or I shall get in a mess myself. Send me a line to the Grand +Laboureur at Antwerp, and let me know all, will you? Goodbye." + +The scene which he had witnessed seemed to have had the effect of +causing Aldermaston to age visibly. His whiskers were lank, his hair +dishevelled, the hand which clasped Dollamore's was cold and clammy; +and as he hurried from the room it would have been difficult to +recognize in him the usual bright chirpy little news-purveyor. + +As soon as he was gone Lord Dollamore ordered a carriage to be got +ready, and sent round to the Hôtel d'Angleterre to Mr. Keene, the +eminent London surgeon, who had arrived two days before, and who, on +hearing what had happened, at once consented to accompany Dollamore to +where the wounded man was lying. As they proceeded in the carriage, +they exchanged very few remarks. Mr. Keene whiled away the time by the +perusal of the new number of the _Lancet_, which had reached him by +that morning's post, and which contained some delightfully-interesting +descriptions of difficult operations; and Dollamore was immersed in +reflections suggested by the nature of the errand on which he was then +journeying. He had always had a poor opinion of life in general; and +what he had witnessed lately had not tended to raise it. His +prophecies regarding Mitford had been more speedily and more entirely +fulfilled than he had expected. Mitford had gone to the bad utterly +and speedily; and Lady Mitford had had to run the gauntlet in the +fullest acceptation of the phrase,--had afforded a topic for the +blasting tongues of all the scandal-mongers in London, from no fault +of her own, poor child, but from the baseness and brutality of her +husband. + +These thoughts occupied him till the carriage arrived at a Point +beyond which it was impossible for it to proceed further. The man who +had driven Mitford and Aldermaston over in the morning, and who had +accompanied Dollamore's carriage as guide to the spot, preceded Lord +Dollamore and Mr. Keene over rough ruts and among intertwining trees, +until at length they reached the hut. Dollamore pushed the door open +and looked in, and saw a figure half-dressed, and with the front of +its shirt soaked with blood, lying on a heap of straw in one corner of +the wretched hovel; a peasant woman standing in the other corner, with +two children huddled round her knees; and by the prostrate figure +knelt a placid-looking man in black clothes,--a German doctor. He held +up his hand in warning, as the door creaked; but Mitford's eyes, +turned that way, had fallen on Dollamore, and he tried to beckon him +to approach. Dollamore entered, and knelt down beside him. Mitford +lips were moving rapidly; but Dollamore could distinguish not a word. +The dying man evidently comprehended this. With the last remnant of +strength he raised himself until his mouth touched Dollamore's ear, +and whispered: + +"Georgie--forgive--" and fell back dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +LAST WORDS. + + +The equipage and the establishment, the diamonds and the dress, of the +Princess Tchernigow, furnished the gay inhabitants of the gayest and +most gossiping city in the world with a subject for almost +inexhaustible discussion. There was no sameness about them, but an +ever-varying change; so that curiosity was never sated, and the last +select few who had met the Princess, and told their story of her +magnificence, had materials afforded them for a version of the +princely splendours which differed materially from the version given +by the select few of the immediately preceding occasion. With the +proverbial impenetrability of the French to English social facts and +customs, the Parisian _beau monde_ could not be made to understand +that there was "anything against" the Princess. They knew and cared +nothing about the date at which the former husband of that fortunate +lady had departed this life, and that at which he had been replaced by +the Prince. Many good-natured and strictly moral English people +endeavoured to instruct the Parisian mind on this point, and to make +it understand that the Princess would have some difficulty with +"society" in her own country. But these _idées insulaires_ had no +success. + +Tchernigow had been popular in Paris before he had gratified it by +bringing a new princess to sparkle and glitter, by her beauty and her +splendour, in the Bois, at the Opera, at the balls, and at the Court. +Paris admired the Calmuck; first because he was so immensely rich +because there was nothing in the place, which contains everything in +the world worth having, that he could not buy; and secondly because he +was odd, so _bizarre;_ because his character was as much out of the +common as his wealth, and his eccentricities afforded them an +increasing source of remark and speculation. He was the most polished +Russian that had ever appeared in Parisian society--the most widely +removed from the train-oil-drinking and no-shirt-wearing tradition of +the Muscovites. + +And the Princess? She had not been by any means unknown to fame in +Paris. She had visited that city during her first bridal tour, and she +had had a great success. The freshness and perfection of her beauty, +which owed nothing to artificial means, but could bear any kind or +degree of light; the piquancy of her manner, her first-rate seat on +horseback, her dancing,--all these things had captivated the +Parisians. Then, was she not so interesting, this beautiful little +English lady, whose husband was so far from young? It was so charming +to see them together, because one knew that in England marriages of +reason had no place; and this fair creature must have reposed her +affections in the feeble elderly gentleman, to whom she was so +delightfully devoted, and who was so proud of her. She had had a train +of admirers then, naturally; but it was early days, and there was +nothing very _prononcé_. + +Mrs. Hammond had been in Paris again and again after that first +successful appearance; and if her devotion to the feeble elderly +gentleman had been less conspicuous, her beauty and her vivacity had +been more so. Of course she was "talked about;" but that mysterious +and terrible word has one signification and effect in London, and +quite another in Paris; and Mrs. Hammond's reign was undimmed. + +When the Prince and Princess Tchernigow made their appearance on the +scene in their attractive character of bride and bridegroom, +considerable curiosity had been excited about them, quite apart from +the legitimate interest to which they were entitled on their separate +merits, and to which their union added vigour and intensity. The Baden +story had of course got about, with more or less correctness of time, +place, and circumstances; and the combination of a duel, involving +the death of his adversary, with a wedding, in which the bride had +been _affichée_ to the slain man, was an irresistibly piquant +anecdote,--and "so like" Tchernigow. + +The Princess came off remarkably well in the innumerable discussions +to which the affair gave rise. In the first place Mitford was dead, +which was a great point; and in the second, the catalogue of the +Prince's luxuries including some useful and devoted toadies, who made +it their business to spread abroad a report which gained ample +credence, that the unfortunate Englishman was a violent fellow, who +had no manners, and who had assumed a tone towards Mrs. Hammond wholly +unjustified by their antecedents; in fact, had persecuted that lady, +and been _excessivement brutale_. + +So it was all plain sailing with the Prince and Princess, and even the +women took the liveliest interest in the latter. Poor dear creature, +they said, how very sad, but how charmingly romantic it was! To think +that she had been quite ignorant of the duel, and had not had the +least idea that her bridegroom had shot a man just before he had +married her! When she discovered it, how strange she must have felt! +They wondered if it made her experience for a moment a very little of +repulsion. But no, probably not,--the Prince was really such a +gentleman; and the other deplorable person it was impossible to pity. + +Prince Tchernigow possessed a mansion in the Champs Elysées; and +thither, a short time after the arrival of the pair, all Paris +(presentable Paris, of course) flocked to pay their respects, and +inspect the magnificence of the possessions in the midst of which +Tchernigow had installed his bride--doubtless the most precious of +them all. Then came brilliant entertainments, and the Princess +achieved at one stroke the almost incredible eminence of being +declared by common consent the best-dressed woman in Europe--Paris +meaning that continent, of course. + +It was at the second of these entertainments that Madame de Soubise +remarked to Madame de Somme, in a pregnant little sentence, beginning +with the invariable "_dites-donc, chère Adèle_," that Madame la +Princesse seemed a little _distraite_, and had begun to wear rouge +like the rest of the world. Madame de Somme acquiesced in her friend's +remark, and further added on her own account, that the English +complexions, undeniably charming, were very evanescent, and that +really the Princess had no longer the appearance of being young. It +was on the same occasion that several of the company had asked who was +the "_petite dame_," so beautifully dressed, so quiet, and yet so +_spirituelle_, to whom the Princess was so caressing, and the "best" +men were invariably presented. The "_petite dame_" was small and +slight, pale-faced, and rather plain, perhaps, than pretty. Her +features had nothing remarkable about them, and her figure was +redeemed from insignificance only by the taste and richness of her +dress. But she was eminently attractive; and before long rumours +circulated about the _salons_ to the effect that the little lady--the +close, the inseparable friend of the Princess; a charming Irish widow, +who spoke French remarkably well, but with perhaps the slightest +defect in the accent (it is so difficult to be certain that one is +taught by persons who are _comme il faut_)--was as witty, as +brilliant, as her friend was beautiful. She was so completely at her +ease, and she enjoyed herself so much; and how delightful it was to +see the affection which subsisted between the little lady and the +Princess! Did one hint to the former that the Princess looked a little +fatigued, she would be all concern and agitation; she would fly to her +cherished Laura, and ask her in fervent tones if the pleasures, the +delights of this evening of Paradise had been too much for her; and +the two women would form the prettiest tableau in the world. + +Did any of the worshippers at Laura's _canapé_, beside which the +Prince, most attentive of bridegrooms, most devoted of men, kept his +place steadily all the evening, admire the vivacity, the wit, the +grace of the little lady, the Princess would reply warmly, that her +dear Lucy was fortunate in possessing such a charming flow of spirits; +and Tchernigow would remark that Madame Seymour was indeed a +captivating islander, but that he understood the Irish ladies +resembled the French in wit and vivacity. + +When the season in Paris approached its termination, the _beau monde_ +was distressed to learn that the health of the Princess was not in so +satisfactory a condition as the host of friends who were desolated by +the intelligence could have desired. She was as much seen as ever; she +was the gayest of the gay, the richest of the rich, the most +brilliant of the brilliant; but she was not as beautiful at the close +of the season as she had been at the beginning; and it was not to be +denied that Lady Walford and Mrs. Fane--the last new brides and +beauties from the English capital--had as many admirers, if not more. + +The Princess still dressed better than any woman in Europe, +conventionally defined; and her diamonds at least were unapproachable, +though there might possibly be brighter eyes to be now seen under the +Paris moonlight and waxlight. + +"Going to St. Petersburg, are they?" said Lord Dollamore to his +bosom-friend the Malacca cane, as he retreated gracefully from the +side of the Princess's carriage, after a brief conversation with her. +"Going to St. Petersburg, are they? She does not look enchanted; on +the contrary, rather frightened, I thought. And that little devil +Marcelline, doing her beloved compatriots with such perfect composure +and success! I would not have lost seeing that for a good deal. Gad, +the bow she bestowed upon me when the Princess introduced me would +have done credit to a duchess! Madame Seymour, hey?--and Irish! By +Jove, I have not enjoyed anything so much for an age!" + +Lord Dollamore walked on chuckling and tapping his ear in his old +manner. After a little his face grew graver and his confidences with +his cane were resumed in a different tone. + +"What the deuce has come over her, I wonder?" he said. "I see a +change; but I don't know where it is. Is it in her face? is it in her +manner? She's very handsome--she's wonderfully handsome still, +though she rouges; but that's of course here-every one does it; +though it's not a case of painting the lily, so far as the +Parisiennes are concerned. Stop, though: there's such a thing as an +orange-lily--forgot that. It's something in the expression, I +fancy--something which gives one an impression that she's thinking of +one thing and talking of another, which was never _la belle_ Laura's +way: she knew her _monde_ better than to shock their self-love by +anything of that kind. Yes: that's it, by Jove!" and Lord Dollamore +struck himself quite a sharp little blow on the ear; "I've hit it: the +expression in her face is fear!" + +When Lord Dollamore had stepped back from the side of her carriage, +and the horses were once more whirling it along, to the admiration of +the multitude, the Princess sank back upon the luxurious cushions with +a deep sigh. Madame Seymour looked at her with steady composure and +not a little contempt. + +"Agitated, are you?" she said; "and quite upset by old memories and +all that sort of thing? What a weak fool you are! you are thinking of +the last time you and that very estimable nobleman met, I daresay, and +feeling quite sentimental. If you would remember, in addition, what +you intended to do when that interesting interview took place (I +remember it: I thought I never saw anything cooler or cleverer than +his polite unconsciousness of the identity of your _dame de +compagnie_; he used to walk with me in the shrubberies at Redmoor, and +I've given him a kiss occasionally for a guinea),--if you would +remember what you intended to do, and how completely you have done it, +it would be more to the purpose." + +The Princess turned towards her companion, and said in a hurried +broken voice: + +"You are wrong, Marcelline,--you are quite wrong; I was not thinking +of anything of the kind. I was only thinking of this horrible journey +to Russia. It terrifies me." + +"Yes; but everything terrifies you, you know. How odd that Madame la +Princesse should not be _enthousiasmé_ at the prospect of beholding +the ancestral home of Monsieur le Prince, of being presented to the +gracious and urbane monarch who rules the Russias and the Russians! +They are a little difficult to rule as individuals, I fear; but as a +nation, no doubt, charming. I should have thought madame would have +seized the occasion with transport." + +"Marcelline," pleaded Laura, "don't laugh at me; I am in deadly terror +of this journey. You can save me from it if you will. Do, do, +Marcelline! It is all dreadful enough even here, where I have some +protection--where at least he dares not kill me. But if I am taken +there, to his dreadful country, I shall be quite helpless in his +hands. He might kill me there, and none would interfere--no one would +even know, perhaps." + +"How ignorant she is!" thought Mademoiselle Marcelline, "and how +cowardly! He has impressed himself upon her tolerably effectually, +this lacquered savage, and she has succumbed. These Englishwomen are +very shallow after all, no matter how bad they may be." + +The Princess still pleaded, and Mademoiselle Marcelline, having +derived sufficient amusement just then from her companion's weakness, +and being somewhat fatigued by her importunity, told her at length, +and shortly, that she desired to enjoy the drive, and therefore +intended to change the subject. For her part, she did not particularly +care about going to Russia; she understood that travelling in that +empire had not been sufficiently systematized on that scale of comfort +indispensable to persons of condition; and, on the whole, she rather +thought they were not likely to go to Russia just then. + +Madame Seymour's apartments in the Hôtel Tchernigow were among the +most luxurious and elegant which that palatial edifice contained. They +were inferior to those of the Princess in size alone; in every detail +of comfort and sybarite ease they equalled hers. A tiny and delicious +little boudoir made one of the _suite;_ and this beautiful retreat was +the scene that same evening of a rather remarkable conversation. The +speakers were the mistress of the gem-like apartment and Prince +Tchernigow. The former-dressed in the most tasteful and becoming +evening dress it was possible for human milliners to concoct, and +adorned with jewels, which also differed from those worn by the +Princess chiefly by their size-and the latter, in his usual faultless +attire, had met in the boudoir previous to accompanying the Princess +to the very last entertainment at which they intended to appear. + +"Well, Marcelline," said the Prince, "you did me the honour to summon +me. What is it? Merely that I should tell you that you never looked so +charming?" + +"For nothing of the sort," said she, putting aside the compliment as +beneath her notice and beside the question; "I sent for you to tell +you that the Princess does not wish to go to St. Petersburg. She is +nervous, I believe, and has some strange notions of the impunity of +Russian princes on their own versts. At all events, she does not wish +to go." + +"I am perfectly aware of that fact, Madame Seymour," said the Prince, +with a peculiar smile; "but we are going to St. Petersburg, _quand +même_." + +"Very well," said Marcelline; and she held her wrist towards the +Prince as a tacit intimation that he was to button her dainty glove. +"Then we shall not meet for some time, for I have not the most remote +intention of going to St. Petersburg." + +"What!" said the Prince, with an angry start; "you will not come? You +are not serious, Marcelline?" + +"I am perfectly serious, Prince Tchernigow. I have no intention +whatever of going to St. Petersburg at present, and I beg I may hear +no more on the subject. Have the goodness to ascertain if the Princess +is ready!" She sat down and turned over the leaves of a book. + +The Prince walked two or three times up and down the little apartment, +and swore a Cossack oath or two under his breath. Then he stopped +opposite to her and said: + +"Where will you consent to go then, Marcelline?" + +"H-m!" She paused, with an exasperating air of indecision. "I don't +exactly know; I think I shouldn't mind the Mediterranean." + +As she took her place beside the Princess, whose beauty was less +brilliant than ever that evening, and whose depression her attendants +had not failed to mark, she said, "Don't look so wretchedly subdued +and terrified, Madame la Princesse; you are not going to behold your +princely spouse in the cradle of his race and the midst of a grateful +peasantry. You are going to the Mediterranean instead." + +And then she said to herself, "Poor wretch! I am glad I saved her from +that for the present. I really object to torturing her, when there's +nothing to gain." + + +Another season, and another, and the Hôtel Tchernigow opened its +hospitable doors, and maintained its reputation for splendour, +profusion, and fashion. But the health of the Princess afforded more +and more reason for solicitude to the hosts of friends who were +desolated by the intelligence that she was indisposed; and the beauty +of the Princess began to require that adornment from dress which it +had hitherto bestowed upon the utmost resources of decoration. Ugly +rumours regarding the princely _ménage_ had begun to circulate; and a +few, a very few, of those in high places had abated the alacrity with +which they had been wont to welcome the appearance of the Muscovite +magnate in their _salons_. French society does not tolerate overt +brutality; and there had been a story about a fall, and a broken arm; +and though no doubt both circumstances were purely accidental, and +indeed the fullest particulars were given to the numerous callers who +were so anxious to hear of the dear Princess's progress towards +recovery, the matter left an unpleasant impression, which all the +efforts made by the Princess to convince the world that she was not +only the richest, but the happiest, woman in Paris did not succeed in +removing. + +What efforts they were! How she rouged, and dressed, and danced, and +talked! How she drove out with the Prince, and talked to him, and +smiled at him! How she playfully wore the injured arm in a very +conspicuous sling, and lamented that she was obliged to let "Alexis" +drive her darling ponies for her, until her tiresome arm should be +quite well, and how he perfectly ruined them! How she talked +about the polished _parquets_ as being so charming, but then so +dangerous,--"witness my poor arm, you know,"--and held the beautiful +limb out for pity and admiration! How she complained that she could +not ride any more that season, the injury having been inflicted on the +"bridle-arm;" and exulted in the promise of "Alexis" that if she would +only take good care of herself, and get quite well, she should hunt in +Leicestershire next season! + +It was all very clever, but it did not do; and Tchernigow knew that it +did not; and the Princess knew it also and better. + +One night, at the Italiens, an Englishman who had known the Princess +in former days saw her in her box, sitting radiantly in the front, +while Madame Seymour occupied a less prominent position, and a couple +of the most fashionable dandies of the day occupied the background. +This gentleman had left a party of ladies in the boxes, and gone down +to the stalls, and he now remarked to his companion: + +"How awfully she is altered! I never saw such a wreck in so short a +time. And surely that lady with her is some one I have seen before. Do +you know who she is, Dollamore?" + +"Yes, I do, of course. That lady is Madame Seymour, an Irish lady, a +widow of large fortune, who is devotedly attached to the Princess +Tchernigow. She lives with her,--for her, it almost appears; and she +speaks French so like a native, that it is difficult to distinguish +any difference." + +"Ah, then, I am wrong; and we don't know her," said the gentleman, +still looking curiously at the party. + +"Well, perhaps you don't exactly know her," said Dollamore; "but you +are right in thinking you had seen her. Madame Seymour used to be +known at Redmoor as Mademoiselle Marcelline, and she was Mrs. +Hammond's maid." + +His hearer's exclamation of astonishment was checked by a sudden +commotion in the Princess's box. She had recognized the English party +at the moment when his companion addressed his last question to Lord +Dollamore. She had fought hard for a moment against her overwhelming +emotion; but the days of Laura's strength and self-mastery were over, +and she fell fainting from her chair. + +Very shortly after this occurrence the paternal yearnings of the Czar +to behold Prince Tchernigow once more in the land of his birth proved +too strong for his resistance. The Prince and Princess left France for +Holy Russia; and that was the last that was seen of them in Paris. + +Miss Constance Greenwood, Miss Gillespie, Lizzie Ponsford,--which you +will--never saw Lady Mitford after that memorable occasion on which +she yielded up possession of the forged bill. A considerable time +afterwards Lady Mitford wrote to her a long and sweet letter, in +which she reiterated her thanks for the great service which Miss +Gillespie--so she still called her--had intended doing her; but she +said, "even had the talisman which you left with me possessed the +powers which you wished to invest it with, it was useless--it was too +late." Lady Mitford added, that she had not forgotten the name under +which Miss Gillespie had told her she was pursuing a theatrical +career; that she had made inquiries, and found that "Miss Constance +Greenwood" was spoken of in the highest terms, not merely for her +transcendent abilities, but for the rectitude of her conduct. In +conclusion, Lady Mitford invited her correspondent to come and stay +with her when she would, and not to fail to apply immediately and +directly to her when she was in strait or difficulty of any kind. + +People had said that Miss Constance Greenwood's stage-tears were the +most natural throughout the profession. They were not nearly so +natural as those which welled up hot and blinding into her eyes as she +perused Lady Mitford's letter, and which showered down thick and heavy +on to the paper as she pressed it to her lips. That letter is yellow +with age now; but, all stained and tear-blurred as it is, it is the +choicest object in that delicate little desk in which Miss Constance +Greenwood keeps all her treasures. + +Not that she was Miss Constance Greenwood very long after the receipt +of that letter. She had risen to the very height of popularity with +the public, and had drawn a large amount of money into Mr. Wuff's +treasury, when Mr. Wuff sent for her one day to his room, and told her +in confidence that Mr. Frank Likely was going to give up the +Parthenium next week and go into the Queen's Bench, where he would +remain until he was "whitewashed;" after undergoing which process he +and Mrs. Likely would undertake an engagement at the Hatton-Garden +Theatre. "And the worst of it is," said Mr. Wuff,--"the worst of it +is, my dear, that Mrs. Likely says she won't have any better-looking +woman than herself playing leading business in the theatre. That's a +compliment to you, my dear; but it seems that you must go; and as I've +made an engagement with the Likelys, I am afraid you and I must part +at the end of the season." + +Miss Greenwood shrugged her shoulders and bowed her head. She knew +that with her present _prestige_ any manager in London would be glad +to engage her. She was in no hurry, therefore, to seek for work. The +Parthenium closed; Mr. Frank Likely's body was seized by the myrmidons +of the sheriff; Mr. Wuff's season came to an end; and still Miss +Greenwood had not looked after another engagement, though she had +innumerable offers of terms. + +How did Sir Laurence Alsager, so far away from England, keep _au +courant_ with London theatrical matters? Just as Miss Greenwood was +weighing two offers in her mind, doubtful which to accept, she had a +visit from an old gentleman, who announced himself as Sir Laurence +Alsager's solicitor, and handed her a letter--a letter which said +that the writer had never forgotten her intended kindness to a +certain person; that he had heard of her theatrical success, and +desired to serve her. Would she not like to be the lessee of the +Parthenium--then, as he understood, vacant? If so, his lawyer had +instructions to act in any way she wished; to draw what money she +required, and to carry through the arrangement for her. Miss Greenwood +gave a little cry of delight; her old love of fun sprung up in her. +How glorious it would be to beat the Likelys with their own weapons +and in their own den! She accepted Sir Laurence Alsager's kind +proposition, she said; and while the lawyer went to work at his +business, she went to work at hers. She set the eminent Spofforth to +work on a new piece; she engaged Dacre Pontifex, who was as +distasteful to Mr. Frank Likely as was Miss Greenwood to his wife. She +got together a capital stock-company, and took the town by storm. +Everything prospered with her, and at the end of each season she found +large gains. She has long since repaid Sir Laurence Alsager's advance; +and she has now great wealth, and some one to share it with her. Dacre +Pontifex, who had so long made love to her on the stage, at length +made love to her in earnest; and as he had always proved himself a +thoroughly good fellow, she accepted him, And there is no happier +couple in England. They have almost given up acting now; but they +still retain the theatre, and are thought highly of by all who know +them. + + +And Lord Dollamore? Lord Dollamore still lives, as well as, and in +some respects better than, ever. He superintended all the arrangements +for sending Sir Charles Mitford's body to England under the charge of +Banks--a duty which that functionary performed with the greatest +reluctance, declaring that he had not been engaged to "wait upon +corpses;" and then Dollamore had a long and serious consultation with +his stick, the subject of which was whether it would be expedient for +him to make any change in his mode of life. The idea of marriage had +never entered his head; but now that he knew Lady Mitford was free, he +began to experience a curious sensation at his heart, which caused him +at first the wildest astonishment, and then a considerable amount of +trouble. He had watched Georgie through all her trials and +temptations, and the sight had impressed him deeply. For the first +time since manhood he confessed (to himself) a belief in virtue, +bravery, and selflessness; for the first time in his life he felt an +irrepressible yearning towards the possessor of these qualities; and +he thought how the companionship of such a woman would illumine the +decline of his aimless, purposeless life. + +He was for some days in doubt whether he should not return at once to +England, and after a decent interval proceed tentatively to see +whether an offer of his hand to Lady Mitford would be likely to be +successful; but he finally decided otherwise. He was no longer young, +his manner of life was formed; and he doubted whether he should have +strength to keep to all his good resolutions--in which case, and in +the event of his marriage with Georgie, her old troubles would be +renewed when she had less strength to bear them. + +There is no doubt, however, that the mere fact of his indulging in +such thoughts proved that he was to a certain extent an altered man. +His tongue is much less bitter, his manner much less rough, his +thoughts much less cynical than they were. The person who suffers most +from him now is the _chef_ of the Maecenas, when Dollamore rules the +House-Committee. When that unfortunate Frenchman hears from the +house-steward that Lord Dollamore has been seen whispering to his +stick about an _entrée_ or an omelette, he knows what to expect the +next day. + + + * * * * * + + +When Lady Mitford was told by Captain Bligh, who executed his task +with great feeling, if not with profound skill, that her waiting was +all in vain,--that her letter had never reached her unfortunate +husband, but had been carefully enclosed with the effects of the +deceased, and consigned to the custody of Mr. Banks, she was not so +completely overwhelmed as might have been expected. She listened +patiently to all the details which it was considered necessary to give +her, and bore herself with a gentle fortitude which surprised all who +saw her. + +The remains of the unfortunate Baronet arrived in due time; the +funeral was "performed;" and Sir Charles Mitford rested in the family +burial-place--the most unfortunate of a race who had been generally +rather uninterestingly prosperous. + +Lady Mitford found herself very rich. Not only did she come into +possession of an ample jointure, but the entire sum destined for a +provision for younger children was bequeathed to her, in case of the +non-existence or death of such children. She was very much surprised +to find that Sir Charles had made a will, not many months prior to his +death, by which he had left her considerable personal property also; +so that her position was an enviable one, as far as pecuniary affairs +were concerned. How far that was, she had yet to learn. She had +courage, resignation, and patience; and she had the good gift of +common sense, enabling her to lay plans and make arrangements with +judgment and foresight; but she was not cold-hearted, nor callous, and +the time lay yet a good way distant at which she could reckon her +riches and feel her freedom. + +The next heir to the title and entailed estates was a boy named Edward +Mitford, whom Lady Mitford had never seen, and who, with his widowed +mother, lived in an obscure village in Warwickshire, where the heir to +so much wealth and position picked up a very indifferent education at +a school of fourth-rate pretensions and sixth-rate performances. No +mention of this youth had been made by Sir Charles, who had, very +naturally, bestowed no thought upon the distant contingency of his +succession. The house in London had been rented by Sir Charles for a +term of years; and Lady Mitford determined to retain it in her own +possession. Having formed this resolution, and ascertained all that +was necessary relative to her position, Lady Mitford wrote to the +Reverend Cuthbert Farleigh. She recalled herself to his recollection, +and appealed to his kindness. She was very friendless, she said, and +wanted advice. Sir Laurence Alsager had told her that the kindness of +heart which had been so distinguishing a characteristic of Cuthbert +Farleigh in his boyhood was no less conspicuous in his more advanced +and responsible years, and she asked him to come to her. She did not +make any mention of Helen in the letter; she would defer that until +they could talk it over, she thought; and then he would perhaps make +her an offer of Helen's society, which she would gladly accept. + +The Reverend Cuthbert answered the letter in person; and the meeting +between the former friends and companions under such altered +circumstances could hardly have failed to be affecting. Georgie +thanked him with all her heart, and felt less lonely and desolate that +evening than she had felt since the day on which Sir Laurence Alsager +had left her. He had arrived late; and they agreed to postpone the +discussion of the serious matters on which Georgie desired his advice +until the following day. + +As Lady Mitford sat alone that night before the bright fire in her +dressing-room, she passed her life before her in mental review. She +questioned herself concerning the grief which she felt so keenly, and +yet blamed herself for not feeling with still greater acuteness. The +oppression, the vague gloom of a great change, of a tremendous shock, +from whose first effects she had not suffered so much as from that +which succeeded, were on her. The dreadful death of her husband +appalled her; less because it was _he_ who had been killed, and +because he had been killed in so awful manner, than because it seemed +to set the seal of the curse upon their marriage. She saw that +marriage now as it was,--a mistake first; then a disaster; finally a +catastrophe;--and she recoiled with horror from the awful lesson of +life thus opened out before her. + +"Swift and sure," she thought, "punishment has followed wrong in _his_ +case. It seems hard, too; he was not the only man beguiled by a wanton +woman, not the only man who betrayed and deserted his wife. Little as +I have seen of the world, I have seen instances of the same thing; but +these men, who had as little conscience, had more self-control, more +judgment, more self-respect, and did not expose themselves to the +risks which he dared, and which have been fatal to him. Poor fellow! +poor Charley!" + +Her reveries always ended thus, in sweet womanly compassion and +forgiveness. She did not deceive herself; she did not lament for Sir +Charles with the intense and passionate grief of bereavement; she did +not make any false estimate of her loss, or give way to any sentiment +in which the perfect truth did not abide; but she shrank appalled and +miserable from the contemplation of so total a wreck as her wretched +husband's life had been, from the possibilities of sin and suffering +which it revealed to her. + +Lord Dollamore had written to her,--Banks had brought the letter; and +so she learned that the last thought of the dying man had been of her, +the last word he had spoken had been her name. Georgie did not attach +greater importance to this fact than it deserved. She knew how to +discriminate between remorse and repentance too well to make a +mistake; but she was very thankful for the message, very thankful that +her husband had been permitted to utter it. She knew that in the +future, as long as she should live, those words would be a comforting +recollection to her; and she fully comprehended how much harder it +would all have been to endure, had the silence which had subsisted +between her and Sir Charles for several days before he left town never +been broken, even by those two gasping, hardly-articulate sounds. + +Cuthbert Farleigh and Lady Mitford held a long consultation, as they +had agreed to do; and during its progress the curate learned that she +was acquainted with the fact of his engagement to Helen Manningtree; +and Lady Mitford imparted to him the permission and counsel Sir +Laurence Alsager had given her to ask Helen to come to her in any time +of need. + +"You have had more than one such time of need, dear Lady Mitford," said +Cuthbert, "since Sir Laurence wrote to you and to Helen; and why have +you never made a sign, why have you never asked Helen to come to you?" + +"Because I could not think it right, Cuthbert. The trouble I was in +was of a peculiar kind,--my sorrow was the result of another's sin; +and I don't think it would have been right to have brought a young +girl like Helen in contact with it. When I think of my own girlhood, +when I remember how far I was from the mere knowledge of such +perversities in human relations being possible, I am sure I was +right." + +Cuthbert Farleigh remembered his own words to Helen,--"You are better +without the confidence of an unhappy wife,"--and admired the +directness with which the instinct and the principle of this woman had +guided her to a similar conclusion. + +"But now," she said, "that is all over. When you and I come to the end +of our conversation, let the days which preceded the dark and terrible +one of his death"--she paused for a moment to command her voice,-"let +them be consigned to oblivion. There are no faults in the grave; all +is so trifling, so small, so contemptible in the presence of that +great mystery. I think it is a happy thing, Cuthbert, that the death +of a person who has ever been beloved blots out not only anger, but +dulls remembrance. I know this is the truth, that many and many a day +I sat brooding over small offences, little slights, trifling but +significant departures from the courtesies and the graces of love; and +oh how miserable such brooding made me! Well, I forget them all now; +every trace of bitterness has disappeared,--I remember only all the +good there was in my poor Charley, Yes, Cuthbert, he is mine again +now; he had ceased to be hers before he was slain; now he is mine +again, and I am not going to dwell on his faults." + +Cuthbert Farleigh was privately of opinion that Lady Mitford proposed +to herself an exceedingly limited sphere of contemplation in respect +to her late estimable lord; but he admired, he reverenced, as every +man with the heart of a gentleman must, the simple, beautiful, +unreasoning instinct of womanly tenderness. + +"So now," she went on, "there can be no harm in Helen's coming to me. +I am a widow so much sadder and more pitiable than other widows, that +I cannot talk of him whom I have lost with that free outspoken pride +which is so instinctive in other women, and which must be so sweet and +so bitter too, so precious and so terrible. I am truly widowed; for +life robbed me of my husband before death came to hide him from my +eyes. The world will cease to talk about him soon, and it will forget +me when it does not see me. There will be nothing objectionable in the +quiet life which I shall ask Helen to share with me until you ask her +to leave my home for yours." + +Helen Manningtree obeyed Lady Mitford's summons; and from the first +hours of their mutual association Sir Laurence Alsager's hopes and +expectations were fulfilled. They "suited each other" exactly, and +their companionship was beneficial to both. + +Helen Manningtree and Mrs. Chisholm corresponded with great regularity +with Sir Laurence, now travelling somewhere in the East, and +furnishing the most inscrutable addresses for their letters, the +attempt to decipher which they ordinarily gave up in despair and +pasted them bodily on the envelopes. Their letters were written from +London and from Knockholt respectively, and furnished the recipient +with the fullest particulars respecting their writers, and the most +accurate details of the few events which marked the first year of Lady +Mitford's widowhood. + +Thus from Helen Sir Laurence learned that the young Sir Edward and his +mother had come to town on Lady Mitford's invitation, and that Georgie +and the quiet little lady from the country soon became great friends; +that the young baronet was a promising boy enough, but given to +idleness, the avoidance of soap-and-water, and the pursuit of useless +amusements, such as cricket and fishing, as contra-distinguished from +classical and useful learning; that his mother and Lady Mitford having +duly consulted the family advisers, and received from them the simple +counsel that they had better manage the boy as they thought proper, +had considered that the very best way of managing him would be to +establish him comfortably under the charge of a private tutor of +unusually desirable attainments. + +When Ellen next wrote she informed Sir Laurence that the private tutor +of unusually desirable attainments had been found in the person of +Cuthbert Farleigh, who had, moreover, been provided with a very +comfortable living not very far distant from Knockholt, by virtue of a +mysterious arrangement whereby somebody gave up this piece of +preferment at the present, in consideration of some other "good thing" +of a similar kind which would be at the young baronet's disposal in +the future. Helen did not understand the arrangement very clearly, but +she had a perfect appreciation of its results; and though her account +of the transaction, as written "out" to Sir Laurence (who, though he +wrote vaguely of coming soon, was still beyond the reach of +civilization and spelling), was remarkably confused, two facts +appeared with unmistakable clearness. The one was that the family +lawyers were satisfied with the arrangements ("There's no simony in +it, then, or bedevilment of that kind," thought Sir Laurence, relieved +when he ascertained this first fact); the second was that Helen's +marriage could not take place so early as she and Cuthbert had hoped, +because since Cuthbert had ceased to be a curate, the cares of +property and position had fallen upon him, involving the repairing and +altering of his parsonage-house, new furnishing, &c., &c. "So now, as +it is so far off, dear Laurence," wrote Helen, "you really must come +home in time for my wedding. I think we should have put the event off, +at all events, in order to admit of Lady Mitford's being present; and +now, as her year's deep mourning will have more than expired, she has +promised to come. Indeed, I rather think our marriage will take place +here. You would be much surprised, if you could see her, at her +cheerfulness. I am sure it must arise from her perfect forgetfulness +of self. She lives entirely for others, and her serenity and sweetness +tell that peace is the result. Sir Edward is greatly attached to her; +he and Cuthbert also get on very well together. As usual, Lady Mitford +sends her kindest regards." + +From Mrs. Chisholm Sir Laurence received good tidings of affairs +at Knockholt Park. That excellent lady prided herself upon her +letter-writing, fondly flattering herself, at times, that she turned +her sentences in something of the same manner in which her gifted +Augustine had rounded those flowing periods which had been so +effective when the departed curate occupied the pulpit at St. +Parable's. She liked writing letters, and especially to Sir Laurence; +and though she furnished him with plentiful details concerning +individuals of whose identity he had the most vague and confused +ideas; and though she was very pathetic indeed on the theme of +Cuthbert's removal "to a sphere of, I trust, greatly extended +usefulness, but that usefulness to others to be purchased at the price +of a relapse into spiritual destitution here very sad to +contemplate,"--Sir Laurence liked receiving her letters. + +The truth was, his heart yearned towards England And home. He had +imposed upon himself a fixed term of absence, and nothing would have +induced him to abridge that period; but all his resolution did not +check his imagination, did not arrest his fancy, did not quell his +longing for its expiration. The smallest details which reached him +from the distant households in which he was held in such affectionate +remembrance had ineffable charm for him. He found himself, under the +most unpropitious circumstances and in the most unheard-of places, +writing lengthy epistles to Mrs. Chisholm--letters full of almost +feminine inquisitiveness, and enjoining the immediate despatch of +voluminous replies. He rejoiced the good lady's heart by the sympathy +which he expressed in all the local matters which she detailed; and he +soothed her sorrows concerning the departure of Cuthbert by so +dexterous an argument in favour of the almost inevitable eligibility +of the curate destined to succeed him, that Mrs. Chisholm actually +prepared to receive him with a gracious and hopeful welcome. Sir +Laurence was right; only a young man of exemplary piety and +conscientious intentions in the direction of parish-work would be at +all likely to accept so poor a provision as the curacy at Laneham,--no +doubt all would be well; and she hoped dear Cuthbert would not be led +away by his preferment. It was, however, melancholy to observe how +great a contrast sometimes existed between the lowly and hard-working +curate and the proud, lazy, and worldly-minded rector. She trusted +such a contrast might never exist in the case of dear Cuthbert. + +The simple-minded lady was thinking, as she thus expressed her +guileless hopes and fears, of one curate to whom preferment never +came, and whom it never could have spoiled. She had a strong +conviction that if there should prove to be any celestial institution +at all resembling a bench of bishops in a future state, she should +find her Augustine occupying a very prominent place among its +occupants. + +So the time passed on, and the period appointed for Helen's marriage +drew near. The wedding was to be a very quiet one, as Lady Mitford had +insisted on its taking place at her house, and the first year of her +widowhood would have expired only a few weeks before the time for the +marriage. + +Mrs. Chisholm, Mrs. Mitford, the young baronet, and the Reverend +Cuthbert Farleigh (rector of Everingham and principal on this +auspicious occasion), Helen, and her hostess, were assembled at Lady +Mitford's house on the last evening but one before the event. They +were all together in the drawing-room, and were engaged in discussing +the chances for and against the arrival of Sir Laurence Alsager in +time for the wedding. + +"I am afraid he has made a mistake," said Cuthbert, "about a steamer +to Trieste. I can find no announcement of one for a week to come." + +"No, no," said Helen; "Laurence said he would come, and Laurence will +be here. I would not give him up if we were all in the church." + +"What do you think, Lady Mitford?" asked Sir Edward; "I'm awfully +anxious to see this Sir Laurence you and Helen are for ever jawing +about,--I'm sure he's awfully jolly, though I suppose he's no end of a +swell." + +The Reverend Cuthbert Farleigh considered it his duty to correct the +young gentleman's vernacular at this juncture, and Lady Mitford did +not appear to have heard the question. At all events she allowed it to +remain unanswered. + +At this moment a servant brought Helen a note. "Come by hand from the +Clarendon, ma'am," he explained. + +Helen exclaimed rapturously: + +"It's from Laurence! He's in London! We shall see him to-morrow! +There, Cuthbert, you incredulous person, will you ever doubt +Laurence's promise or dispute my opinion again?" + +"Certainly not, after the day after to-morrow, Nelly," replied +Cuthbert. + +There was a small enclosure in Sir Laurence's note to Helen, which she +had slipped into her pocket unperceived. It bore Lady Mitford's name; +but Helen waited until she was about to take leave of her, as usual, +for the night at the door of her own room before she handed it to her. +When she was alone Georgie opened the note. It was very brief; it +contained only three words. They were: + + + "FORTITER--FIDELITER--FELICITER?" + + +Georgie's reply to this query was perfectly satisfactory to Sir +Laurence Alsager. + + + + +THE END. + + + + +------------------------------ +JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Running the Gauntlet, by Edmund Yates + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59366 *** |