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Blind Love
by Wilkie Collins (completed by Walter Besant)
PREFACE
IN the month of August 1889, and in the middle of the seaside holiday,
a message came to me from Wilkie Collins, then, though we hoped
otherwise, on his death-bed.
It was conveyed to me by Mr. A. P. Watt. He told me that his son had
just come from Wilkie Collins: that they had been speaking of his
novel, "Blind Love," then running in the _Illustrated London News_:
that the novel was, unfortunately, unfinished: that he himself could
not possibly finish it: and that he would be very glad, if I would
finish it if I could find the time. And that if I could undertake this
work he would send me his notes of the remainder. Wilkie Collins added
these words: "If he has the time I think he will do it: we are both old
hands at this work, and understand it, and he knows that I would do the
same for him if he were in my place."
Under the circumstances of the case, it was impossible to decline this
request. I wrote to say that time should be made, and the notes were
forwarded to me at Robin Hood's Bay. I began by reading carefully and
twice over, so as to get a grip of the story and the novelist's
intention, the part that had already appeared, and the proofs so far as
the author had gone. I then turned to the notes. I found that these
were not merely notes such as I expected--simple indications of the
plot and the development of events, but an actual detailed scenario, in
which every incident, however trivial, was carefully laid down: there
were also fragments of dialogue inserted at those places where dialogue
was wanted to emphasise the situation and make it real. I was much
struck with the writer's perception of the vast importance of dialogue
in making the reader seize the scene. Description requires attention:
dialogue rivets attention.
It is not an easy task, nor is it pleasant, to carry on another man's
work: but the possession of this scenario lightened the work
enormously. I have been careful to adhere faithfully and exactly to the
plot, scene by scene, down to the smallest detail as it was laid down
by the author in this book. I have altered nothing. I have preserved
and incorporated every fragment of dialogue. I have used the very
language wherever that was written so carefully as to show that it was
meant to be used. I think that there is only one trivial detail where I
had to choose because it was not clear from the notes what the author
had intended. The plot of the novel, every scene, every situation, from
beginning to end, is the work of Wilkie Collins. The actual writing is
entirely his up to a certain point: from that point to the end it is
partly his, but mainly mine. Where his writing ends and mine begins, I
need not point out. The practised critic will, no doubt, at once lay
his finger on the spot.
I have therefore carried out the author's wishes to the best of my
ability. I would that he were living still, if only to regret that he
had not been allowed to finish his last work with his own hand!
WALTER BESANT.
BLIND LOVE
THE PROLOGUE
I
SOON after sunrise, on a cloudy morning in the year 1881, a special
messenger disturbed the repose of Dennis Howmore, at his place of
residence in the pleasant Irish town of Ardoon.
Well acquainted apparently with the way upstairs, the man thumped on a
bed-room door, and shouted his message through it: "The master wants
you, and mind you don't keep him waiting."
The person sending this peremptory message was Sir Giles Mountjoy of
Ardoon, knight and banker. The person receiving the message was Sir
Giles's head clerk. As a matter of course, Dennis Howmore dressed
himself at full speed, and hastened to his employer's private house on
the outskirts of the town.
He found Sir Giles in an irritable and anxious state of mind. A letter
lay open on the banker's bed, his night-cap was crumpled crookedly on
his head, he was in too great a hurry to remember the claims of
politeness, when the clerk said "Good morning."
"Dennis, I have got something for you to do. It must be kept a secret,
and it allows of no delay."
"Is it anything connected with business, sir?"
The banker lost his temper. "How can you be such an infernal fool as to
suppose that anything connected with business could happen at this time
in the morning? Do you know the first milestone on the road to Garvan?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Go to the milestone, and take care that nobody sees you
when you get there. Look at the back of the stone. If you discover an
Object which appears to have been left in that situation on the ground,
bring it to me; and don't forget that the most impatient man in all
Ireland is waiting for you."
Not a word of explanation followed these extraordinary instructions.
The head clerk set forth on his errand, with his mind dwelling on the
national tendencies to conspiracy and assassination. His employer was
not a popular person. Sir Giles had paid rent when he owed it; and,
worse still, was disposed to remember in a friendly spirit what England
had done for Ireland, in the course of the last fifty years. If
anything appeared to justify distrust of the mysterious Object of which
he was in search, Dennis resolved to be vigilantly on the look-out for
a gun-barrel, whenever he passed a hedge on his return journey to the
town.
Arrived at the milestone, he discovered on the ground behind it one
Object only--a fragment of a broken tea-cup.
Naturally enough, Dennis hesitated. It seemed to be impossible that the
earnest and careful instructions which he had received could relate to
such a trifle as this. At the same time, he was acting under orders
which were as positive as tone, manner, and language could make them.
Passive obedience appeared to be the one safe course to take--at the
risk of a reception, irritating to any man's self-respect, when he
returned to his employer with a broken teacup in his hand.
The event entirely failed to justify his misgivings. There could be no
doubt that Sir Giles attached serious importance to the contemptible
discovery made at the milestone. After having examined and re-examined
the fragment, he announced his intention of sending the clerk on a
second errand--still without troubling himself to explain what his
incomprehensible instructions meant.
"If I am not mistaken," he began, "the Reading Rooms, in our town, open
as early as nine. Very well. Go to the Rooms this morning, on the
stroke of the clock." He stopped, and consulted the letter which lay
open on his bed. "Ask the librarian," he continued, "for the third
volume of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' Open the
book at pages seventy-eight and seventy-nine. If you find a piece of
paper between those two leaves, take possession of it when nobody is
looking at you, and bring it to me. That's all, Dennis. And bear in
mind that I shall not recover the use of my patience till I see you
again."
On ordinary occasions, the head clerk was not a man accustomed to
insist on what was due to his dignity. At the same time he was a
sensible human being, conscious of the consideration to which his
responsible place in the office entitled him. Sir Giles's irritating
reserve, not even excused by a word of apology, reached the limits of
his endurance. He respectfully protested.
"I regret to find, sir," he said, "that I have lost my place in my
employer's estimation. The man to whom you confide the superintendence
of your clerks and the transaction of your business has, I venture to
think, some claim (under the present circumstances) to be trusted."
The banker was now offended on his side.
"I readily admit your claim," he answered, "when you are sitting at
your desk in my office. But, even in these days of strikes,
co-operations, and bank holidays, an employer has one privilege
left--he has not ceased to be a Man, and he has not forfeited a man's
right to keep his own secrets. I fail to see anything in my conduct
which has given you just reason to complain."
Dennis, rebuked, made his bow in silence, and withdrew.
Did these acts of humility mean that he submitted? They meant exactly
the contrary. He had made up his mind that Sir Giles Mountjoy's motives
should, sooner or later, cease to be mysteries to Sir Giles Mountjoy's
clerk.
II
CAREFULLY following his instructions, he consulted the third volume of
Gibbon's great History, and found, between the seventy-eighth and
seventy-ninth pages, something remarkable this time.
It was a sheet of delicately-made paper, pierced with a number of
little holes, infinitely varied in size, and cut with the smoothest
precision. Having secured this curious object, while the librarian's
back was turned, Dennis Howmore reflected.
A page of paper, unintelligibly perforated for some purpose unknown,
was in itself a suspicious thing. And what did suspicion suggest to the
inquiring mind in South-Western Ireland, before the suppression of the
Land League? Unquestionably---Police!
On the way back to his employer, the banker's clerk paid a visit to an
old friend--a journalist by profession, and a man of varied learning
and experience as well. Invited to inspect the remarkable morsel of
paper, and to discover the object with which the perforations had been
made, the authority consulted proved to be worthy of the trust reposed
in him. Dennis left the newspaper office an enlightened man--with
information at the disposal of Sir Giles, and with a sense of relief
which expressed itself irreverently in these words: "Now I have got
him!"
The bewildered banker looked backwards and forwards from the paper to
the clerk, and from the clerk to the paper. "I don't understand it," he
said. "Do you?"
Still preserving the appearance of humility, Dennis asked leave to
venture on a guess. The perforated paper looked, as he thought, like a
Puzzle. "If we wait for a day or two," he suggested, "the Key to it may
possibly reach us."
On the next day, nothing happened. On the day after, a second letter
made another audacious demand on the fast failing patience of Sir Giles
Mountjoy.
Even the envelope proved to be a Puzzle on this occasion; the postmark
was "Ardoon." In other words, the writer had used the postman as a
messenger, while he or his accomplice was actually in the town, posting
the letter within half-a-minute's walk of the bank! The contents
presented an impenetrable mystery, the writing looked worthy of a
madman. Sentences appeared in the wildest state of confusion, and words
were so mutilated as to be unintelligible. This time the force of
circumstances was more than Sir Giles could resist. He took the clerk
into his confidence at last.
"Let us begin at the beginning," he said. "There is the letter you saw
on my bed, when I first sent for you. I found it waiting on my table
when I woke; and I don't know who put it there. Read it."
Dennis read as follows:
"Sir Giles Mountjoy,--I have a disclosure to make, in which one of the
members of your family is seriously interested. Before I can venture to
explain myself, I must be assured that I can trust to your good faith.
As a test of this, I require you to fulfil the two conditions that
follow--and to do it without the slightest loss of time. I dare not
trust you yet with my address, or my signature. Any act of
carelessness, on my part, might end fatally for the true friend who
writes these lines. If you neglect this warning, you will regret it to
the end of your life."
To the conditions on which the letter insisted there is no need to
allude. They had been complied with when the discoveries were made at
the back of the milestone, and between the pages of Gibson's history.
Sir Giles had already arrived at the conclusion that a conspiracy was
in progress to assassinate him, and perhaps to rob the bank. The wiser
head clerk pointed to the perforated paper and the incomprehensible
writing received that morning. "If we can find out what these mean," he
said, "you may be better able, sir, to form a correct opinion."
"And who is to do that?" the banker asked.
"I can but try, sir," was the modest reply, "if you see no objection to
my making the attempt."
Sir Giles approved of the proposed experiment, silently and
satirically, by a bend of his head.
Too discreet a man to make a suspiciously ready use of the information
which he had privately obtained, Dennis took care that his first
attempt should not be successful. After modestly asking permission to
try again, he ventured on the second occasion to arrive at a happy
discovery. Lifting the perforated paper, he placed it delicately over
the page which contained the unintelligible writing. Words and
sentences now appeared (through the holes in the paper) in their right
spelling and arrangement, and addressed Sir Giles in these terms:
"I beg to thank you, sir, for complying with my conditions. You have
satisfied me of your good faith. At the same time, it is possible that
you may hesitate to trust a man who is not yet able to admit you to his
confidence. The perilous position in which I stand obliges me to ask
for two or three days more of delay, before I can safely make an
appointment with you. Pray be patient--and on no account apply for
advice or protection to the police."
"Those last words," Sir Giles declared, "are conclusive! The sooner I
am under the care of the law the better. Take my card to the
police-office."
"May I say a word first, sir?"
"Do you mean that you don't agree with me?"
"I mean that."
"You were always an obstinate man Dennis; and it grows on you as you
get older. Never mind! Let's have it out. Who do _you_ say is the
person pointed at in these rascally letters?"
The head clerk took up the first letter of the two and pointed to the
opening sentence: "Sir Giles Mountjoy, I have a disclosure to make in
which one of the members of your family is seriously interested."
Dennis emphatically repeated the words: "one of the members of your
family." His employer regarded him with a broad stare of astonishment.
"One of the members of my family?" Sir Giles repeated, on his side.
"Why, man alive, what are you thinking of? I'm an old bachelor, and I
haven't got a family."
"There is your brother, sir."
"My brother is in France--out of the way of the wretches who are
threatening me. I wish I was with him!"
"There are your brother's two sons, Sir Giles."
"Well? And what is there to be afraid of? My nephew, Hugh, is in
London--and, mind! not on a political errand. I hope, before long, to
hear that he is going to be married--if the strangest and nicest girl
in England will have him. What's wrong now?"
Dennis explained. "I only wished to say, sir, that I was thinking of
your other nephew."
Sir Giles laughed. "Arthur in danger!" he exclaimed. "As harmless a
young man as ever lived. The worst one can say of him is that he is
throwing away his money--farming in Kerry."
"Excuse me, Sir Giles; there's not much chance of his throwing away his
money, where he is now. Nobody will venture to take his money. I met
with one of Mr. Arthur's neighbours at the market yesterday. Your
nephew is boycotted."
"So much the better," the obstinate banker declared. "He will be cured
of his craze for farming; and he will come back to the place I am
keeping for him in the office."
"God grant it!" the clerk said fervently.
For the moment, Sir Giles was staggered. "Have you heard something that
you haven't told me yet?" he asked.
"No, sir. I am only bearing in mind something which--with all
respect--I think you have forgotten. The last tenant on that bit of
land in Kerry refused to pay his rent. Mr. Arthur has taken what they
call an evicted farm. It's my firm belief," said the head clerk, rising
and speaking earnestly, "that the person who has addressed those
letters to you knows Mr. Arthur, and knows he is in danger--and is
trying to save your nephew (by means of your influence), at the risk of
his own life."
Sir Giles shook his head. "I call that a far-fetched interpretation,
Dennis. If what you say is true, why didn't the writer of those
anonymous letters address himself to Arthur, instead of to me?"
"I gave it as my opinion just now, sir, that the writer of the letter
knew Mr. Arthur."
"So you did. And what of that?"
Dennis stood to his guns.
"Anybody who is acquainted with Mr. Arthur," he persisted, "knows that
(with all sorts of good qualities) the young gentleman is headstrong
and rash. If a friend told him he was in danger on the farm, that would
be enough of itself to make him stop where he is, and brave it out.
Whereas you, sir, are known to be cautious and careful, and farseeing
and discreet." He might have added: And cowardly and obstinate, and
narrow-minded and inflated by stupid self-esteem. But respect for his
employer had blindfolded the clerk's observation for many a long year
past. If one man may be born with the heart of a lion, another man may
be born with the mind of a mule. Dennis's master was one of the other
men.
"Very well put," Sir Giles answered indulgently. "Time will show, if
such an entirely unimportant person as my nephew Arthur is likely to be
assassinated. That allusion to one of the members of my family is a
mere equivocation, designed to throw me off my guard. Rank, money,
social influence, unswerving principles, mark ME out as a public
character. Go to the police-office, and let the best man who happens to
be off duty come here directly."
Good Dennis Howmore approached the door very unwillingly. It was
opened, from the outer side, before he had reached that end of the
room. One of the bank porters announced a visitor.
"Miss Henley wishes to know, sir, if you can see her."
Sir Giles looked agreeably surprised. He rose with alacrity to receive
the lady.
III
WHEN Iris Henley dies there will, in all probability, be friends left
who remember her and talk of her--and there may be strangers present at
the time (women for the most part), whose curiosity will put questions
relating to her personal appearance. No replies will reward them with
trustworthy information. Miss Henley's chief claim to admiration lay in
a remarkable mobility of expression, which reflected every change of
feeling peculiar to the nature of a sweet and sensitive woman. For this
reason, probably, no descriptions of her will agree with each other. No
existing likenesses will represent her. The one portrait that was
painted of Iris is only recognisable by partial friends of the artist.
In and out of London, photographic likenesses were taken of her. They
have the honour of resembling the portraits of Shakespeare in this
respect--compared with one another, it is not possible to discover that
they present the same person. As for the evidence offered by the loving
memory of her friends, it is sure to be contradictory in the last
degree. She had a charming face, a commonplace face, an intelligent
face--a poor complexion, a delicate complexion, no complexion at
all--eyes that were expressive of a hot temper, of a bright intellect,
of a firm character, of an affectionate disposition, of a truthful
nature, of hysterical sensibility, of inveterate obstinacy--a figure
too short; no, just the right height; no, neither one thing nor the
other; elegant, if you like--dress shabby: oh, surely not; dress quiet
and simple; no, something more than that; ostentatiously quiet,
theatrically simple, worn with the object of looking unlike other
people. In one last word, was this mass of contradictions generally
popular, in the time when it was a living creature? Yes--among the men.
No--not invariably. The man of all others who ought to have been
fondest of her was the man who behaved cruelly to Iris--her own father.
And, when the poor creature married (if she did marry), how many of you
attended the wedding? Not one of us! And when she died, how many of you
were sorry for her? All of us! What? no difference of opinion in that
one particular? On the contrary, perfect concord, thank God.
Let the years roll back, and let Iris speak for herself, at the
memorable time when she was in the prime of her life, and when a stormy
career was before her.
IV
BEING Miss Henley's godfather, Sir Giles was a privileged person. He
laid his hairy hands on her shoulders, and kissed her on either cheek.
After that prefatory act of endearment, he made his inquiries. What
extraordinary combination of events had led Iris to leave London, and
had brought her to visit him in his banking-house at Ardoon?
"I wanted to get away from home," she answered; "and having nobody to
go to but my godfather, I thought I should like to see You."
"Alone!" cried Sir Giles.
"No--with my maid to keep me company."
"Only your maid, Iris? Surely you have acquaintances among young ladies
like yourself?"
"Acquaintances--yes. No friends."
"Does your father approve of what you have done?"
"Will you grant me a favour, godpapa?"
"Yes--if I can."
"Don't insist on my answering your last question."
The faint colour that had risen in her face, when she entered the room,
left it. At the same time, the expression of her mouth altered. The
lips closed firmly; revealing that strongest of all resolutions which
is founded on a keen sense of wrong. She looked older than her age:
what she might be ten years hence, she was now. Sir Giles understood
her. He got up, and took a turn in the room. An old habit, of which he
had cured himself with infinite difficulty when he was made a Knight,
showed itself again. He put his hands in his pockets.
"You and your father have had another quarrel," he said, stopping
opposite Iris.
"I don't deny it," she replied.
"Who is to blame?"
She smiled bitterly. "The woman is always to blame."
"Did your father tell you that?"
"My father reminded me that I was twenty-one years old, last
birthday--and told me that I could do as I liked. I understood him, and
I left the house."
"You will go back again, I suppose?"
"I don't know."
Sir Giles began pacing the room once more. His rugged face, telling its
story of disaster and struggle in early life, showed signs of
disappointment and distress.
"Hugh promised to write to me," he said, "and he has not written. I
know what that means; I know what you have done to offend your father.
My nephew has asked you to marry him for the second time. And for the
second time you have refused."
Her face softened; its better and younger aspect revived. "Yes," she
said, sadly and submissively; "I have refused him again."
Sir Giles lost his temper. "What the devil is your objection to Hugh?"
he burst out.
"My father said the same thing to me," she replied, "almost in the same
words. I made him angry when I tried to give my reason. I don't want to
make you angry, too."
He took no notice of this. "Isn't Hugh a good fellow?" he went on.
"Isn't he affectionate? and kindhearted? and honourable?--aye, and a
handsome man too, if you come to that."
"Hugh is all that you say. I like him; I admire him; I owe to his
kindness some of the happiest days of my sad life, and I am
grateful--oh, with all my heart, I am grateful to Hugh!"
"If that's true, Iris----"
"Every word of it is true."
"I say, if that's true--there's no excuse for you. I hate perversity in
a young woman! Why don't you marry him?"
"Try to feel for me," she said gently; "I can't love him."
Her tone said more to the banker than her words had expressed. The
secret sorrow of her life, which was known to her father, was known
also to Sir Giles.
"Now we have come to it at last!" he said. "You can't love my nephew
Hugh. And you won't tell me the reason why, because your sweet temper
shrinks from making me angry. Shall I mention the reason for you, my
dear? I can do it in two words--Lord Harry."
She made no reply; she showed no sign of feeling at what he had just
said. Her head sank a little; her hands clasped themselves on her lap;
the obstinate resignation which can submit to anything hardened her
face, stiffened her figure--and that was all.
The banker was determined not to spare her.
"It's easy to see," he resumed, "that you have not got over your
infatuation for that vagabond yet. Go where he may, into the vilest
places and among the lowest people, he carries your heart along with
him. I wonder you are not ashamed of such an attachment as that."
He had stung her at last. She roused herself, and answered him.
"Harry has led a wild life," she said; "he has committed serious
faults, and he may live to do worse than he has done yet. To what
degradation, bad company, and a bad bringing-up may yet lead him, I
leave his enemies to foresee. But I tell you this, he has redeeming
qualities which you, and people like you, are not good Christians
enough to discover. He has friends who can still appreciate him--your
nephew, Arthur Mountjoy, is one of them. Oh, I know it by Arthur's
letters to me! Blame Lord Harry as you may, I tell you he has the
capacity for repentance in him, and one day--when it is too late, I
dare say--he will show it. I can never be his wife. We are parted,
never in all likelihood to meet again. Well, he is the only man whom I
have ever loved; and he is the only man whom I ever shall love. If you
think this state of mind proves that I am as bad as he is, I won't
contradict you. Do we any of us know how bad we are----? Have you heard
of Harry lately?"
The sudden transition, from an earnest and devoted defence of the man,
to an easy and familiar inquiry about him, startled Sir Giles.
For the moment, he had nothing to say; Iris had made him think. She had
shown a capacity for mastering her strongest feelings, at the moment
when they threatened to overcome her, which is very rarely found in a
young woman. How to manage her was a problem for patient resolution to
solve. The banker's obstinacy, rather than his conviction, had
encouraged him to hold to the hope of Hugh's marriage, even after his
nephew had been refused for the second time. His headstrong goddaughter
had come to visit him of her own accord. She had not forgotten the days
of her childhood, when he had some influence over her--when she had
found him kinder to her than her father had ever been. Sir Giles saw
that he had taken the wrong tone with Iris. His anger had not alarmed
her; his opinion had not influenced her. In Hugh's interests, he
determined to try what consideration and indulgence would do towards
cultivating the growth of her regard for him. Finding that she had left
her maid and her luggage at the hotel, he hospitably insisted on their
removal to his own house.
"While you are in Ardoon, Iris, you are my guest," he said.
She pleased him by readily accepting the invitation--and then annoyed
him by asking again if he had heard anything of Lord Harry.
He answered shortly and sharply: "I have heard nothing. What is _your_
last news of him?"
"News," she said, "which I sincerely hope is not true. An Irish paper
has been sent to me, which reports that he has joined the secret
society--nothing better than a society of assassins, I am afraid--which
is known by the name of the Invincibles."
As she mentioned that formidable brotherhood, Dennis Howmore returned
from the police-office. He announced that a Sergeant was then waiting
to receive instructions from Sir Giles.
V
IRIS rose to go. Her godfather courteously stopped her.
"Wait here," he said, "until I have spoken to the Sergeant, and I will
escort you to my house. My clerk will do what is necessary at the
hotel. You don't look quite satisfied. Is the arrangement that I have
proposed not agreeable to you?"
Iris assured him that she gratefully acceded to the arrangement. At the
same time, she confessed to having been a little startled, on
discovering that he was in consultation with the police. "I remember
that we are in Ireland," she explained, "and I am foolish enough to
fear that you may be in some danger. May I hope that it is only a
trifle?"
Only a trifle! Among ether deficient sensibilities in the strange
nature of Iris, Sir Giles had observed an imperfect appreciation of the
dignity of his social position. Here was a new proof of it! The
temptation to inspire sentiments of alarm--not unmingled with
admiration--in the mind of his insensible goddaughter, by exhibiting
himself as a public character threatened by a conspiracy, was more than
the banker's vanity could resist. Before he left the room, he
instructed Dennis to tell Miss Henley what had happened, and to let her
judge for herself whether he had been needlessly alarmed by, what she
was pleased to call, "a mere trifle."
Dennis Howmore must have been more than mortal, if he could have
related his narrative of events without being influenced by his own
point of view. On the first occasion when he mentioned Arthur
Mountjoy's name, Iris showed a sudden interest in his strange story
which took him by surprise.
"You know Mr. Arthur?" he said.
"Knew him!" Iris repeated. "He was my playfellow when we were both
children. He is as dear to me as if he was my brother. Tell me at
once--is he really in danger?"
Dennis honestly repeated what he had already said, on that subject, to
his master. Miss Henley, entirely agreeing with him, was eager to warn
Arthur of his position. There was no telegraphic communication with the
village which was near his farm. She could only write to him, and she
did write to him, by that day's post--having reasons of her own for
anxiety, which forbade her to show her letter to Dennis. Well aware of
the devoted friendship which united Lord Harry and Arthur Mountjoy--and
bearing in mind the newspaper report of the Irish lord's rash
association with the Invincibles--her fears now identified the noble
vagabond as the writer of the anonymous letters, which had so seriously
excited her godfather's doubts of his own safety.
When Sir Giles returned, and took her with him to his house, he spoke
of his consultation with the Sergeant in terms which increased her
dread of what might happen in the future. She was a dull and silent
guest, during the interval that elapsed before it would be possible to
receive Arthur's reply. The day arrived--and the post brought no relief
to her anxieties. The next day passed without a letter. On the morning
of the fourth day, Sir Giles rose later than usual. His correspondence
was sent to him from the office, at breakfast-time. After opening one
of the letters, he dispatched a messenger in hot haste to the police.
"Look at that," he said, handing the letter to Iris. "Does the assassin
take me for a fool?"
She read the lines that follow:
"Unforeseen events force me, Sir Giles, to run a serious risk. I must
speak to you, and it must not be by daylight. My one hope of safety is
in darkness. Meet me at the first milestone, on the road to Garvan,
when the moon sets at ten o'clock to-night. No need to mention your
name. The password is: _Fidelity."_
"Do you mean to go?" Iris asked.
"Do I mean to be murdered!" Sir Giles broke out. "My dear child, do
pray try to think before you speak. The Sergeant will represent me, of
course."
"And take the man prisoner?" Iris added.
"Certainly!"
With that startling reply, the banker hurried away to receive the
police in another room. Iris dropped into the nearest chair. The turn
that the affair had now taken filled her with unutterable dismay.
Sir Giles came back, after no very long absence, composed and smiling.
The course of proceeding had been settled to his complete satisfaction.
Dressed in private clothes, the Sergeant was to go to the milestone at
the appointed time, representing the banker in the darkness, and giving
the password. He was to be followed by two of his men who would wait in
concealment, within hearing of his whistle, if their services were
required. "I want to see the ruffian when he is safely handcuffed," Sir
Giles explained; "and I have arranged to wait for the police, to-night,
at my office."
There was but one desperate way that Iris could now discern of saving
the man who had confided in her godfather's honour, and whose trust had
already been betrayed. Never had she loved the outlawed Irish lord--the
man whom she was forbidden, and rightly forbidden, to marry--as she
loved him at that moment. Let the risk be what it might, this resolute
woman had determined that the Sergeant should not be the only person
who arrived at the milestone, and gave the password. There was one
devoted friend to Lord Harry, whom she could always trust--and that
friend was herself.
Sir Giles withdrew, to look after his business at the bank. She waited
until the clock had struck the servants' dinner hour, and then ascended
the stairs to her godfather's dressing-room. Opening his wardrobe, she
discovered in one part of it a large Spanish cloak, and, in another
part, a high-crowned felt hat which he wore on his country excursions.
In the dark, here was disguise enough for her purpose.
As she left the dressing-room, a measure of precaution occurred to her,
which she put in action at once. Telling her maid that she had some
purchases to make in the town, she went out, and asked her way to
Garvan of the first respectable stranger whom she met in the street.
Her object was to walk as far as the first milestone, in daylight, so
as to be sure of finding it again by night. She had made herself
familiar with the different objects on the road, when she returned to
the banker's house.
As the time for the arrest drew nearer, Sir Giles became too restless
to wait patiently at home. He went away to the police-office, eager to
hear if any new counter-conspiracy had occurred to the authorities.
It was dark soon after eight o'clock, at that time of the year. At nine
the servants assembled at the supper-table. They were all downstairs
together, talking, and waiting for their meal.
Feeling the necessity of arriving at the place of meeting, in time to
keep out of the Sergeant's way, Iris assumed her disguise as the clock
struck nine. She left the house without a living creature to notice
her, indoors or out. Clouds were gathering over the sky. The waning
moon was only to be seen at intervals, as she set forth on her way to
the milestone.
VI
THE wind rose a little, and the rifts in the clouds began to grow
broader as Iris gained the high road.
For a while, the glimmer of the misty moonlight lit the way before her.
As well as she could guess, she had passed over more than half of the
distance between the town and the milestone before the sky darkened
again. Objects by the wayside grew shadowy and dim. A few drops of rain
began to fall. The milestone, as she knew--thanks to the discovery of
it made by daylight--was on the right-hand side of the road. But the
dull-grey colour of the stone was not easy to see in the dark.
A doubt troubled her whether she might not have passed the milestone.
She stopped and looked at the sky.
The threatening of rain had passed away: signs showed themselves which
seemed to promise another break in the clouds. She waited. Low and
faint, the sinking moonlight looked its last at the dull earth. In
front of her, there was nothing to be seen but the road. She looked
back--and discovered the milestone.
A rough stone wall protected the land on either side of the road.
Nearly behind the milestone there was a gap in this fence, partially
closed by a hurdle. A half-ruined culvert, arching a ditch that had run
dry, formed a bridge leading from the road to the field. Had the field
been already chosen as a place of concealment by the police? Nothing
was to be seen but a footpath, and the dusky line of a plantation
beyond it. As she made these discoveries, the rain began to fall again;
the clouds gathered once more; the moonlight vanished.
At the same moment an obstacle presented itself to her mind, which Iris
had thus far failed to foresee.
Lord Harry might approach the milestone by three different ways: that
is to say--by the road from the town, or by the road from the open
country, or by way of the field and the culvert. How could she so place
herself as to be sure of warning him, before he fell into the hands of
the police? To watch the three means of approach in the obscurity of
the night, and at one and the same time, was impossible.
A man in this position, guided by reason, would in all probability have
wasted precious time in trying to arrive at the right decision. A
woman, aided by love, conquered the difficulty that confronted her in a
moment.
Iris decided on returning to the milestone, and on waiting there to be
discovered and taken prisoner by the police. Supposing Lord Harry to be
punctual to his appointment, he would hear voices and movements, as a
necessary consequence of the arrest, in time to make his escape.
Supposing him on the other hand to be late, the police would be on the
way back to the town with their prisoner: he would find no one at the
milestone, and would leave it again in safety.
She was on the point of turning, to get back to the road, when
something on the dark surface of the field, which looked like a darker
shadow, became dimly visible. In another moment it seemed to be a
shadow that moved. She ran towards it. It looked like a man as she drew
nearer. The man stopped.
"The password," he said, in tones cautiously lowered.
"Fidelity," she answered in a whisper.
It was too dark for a recognition of his features; but Iris knew him by
his tall stature--knew him by the accent in which he had asked for the
password. Erroneously judging of her, on his side, as a man, he drew
back again. Sir Giles Mountjoy was above the middle height; the
stranger in a cloak, who had whispered to him, was below it. "You are
not the person I expected to meet," he said. "Who are you?"
Her faithful heart was longing to tell him the truth. The temptation to
reveal herself, and to make the sweet confession of her happiness at
having saved him, would have overpowered her discretion, but for a
sound that was audible on the road behind them. In the deep silence of
the time and place mistake was impossible. It was the sound of
footsteps.
There was just time to whisper to him: "Sir Giles has betrayed you.
Save yourself."
"Thank you, whoever you are!"
With that reply, he suddenly and swiftly disappeared. Iris remembered
the culvert, and turned towards it. There was a hiding-place under the
arch, if she could only get down into the dry ditch in time. She was
feeling her way to the slope of it with her feet, when a heavy hand
seized her by the arm; and a resolute voice said: "You are my
prisoner."
She was led back into the road. The man who had got her blew a whistle.
Two other men joined him.
"Show a light," he said; "and let's see who the fellow is."
The shade was slipped aside from a lantern: the light fell full on the
prisoner's face. Amazement petrified the two attendant policemen. The
pious Catholic Sergeant burst into speech: "Holy Mary! it's a woman!"
Did the secret societies of Ireland enrol women? Was this a modern
Judith, expressing herself by anonymous letters, and bent on
assassinating a financial Holofernes who kept a bank? What account had
she to give of herself? How came she to be alone in a desolate field on
a rainy night? Instead of answering these questions, the inscrutable
stranger preferred a bold and brief request. "Take me to Sir
Giles"--was all she said to the police.
The Sergeant had the handcuffs ready. After looking at the prisoner's
delicate wrists by the lantern-light, he put his fetters back in his
pocket. "A lady--and no doubt about it," he said to one of his
assistants.
The two men waited, with a mischievous interest in seeing what he would
do next. The list of their pious officer's virtues included a
constitutional partiality for women, which exhibited the merciful side
of justice when a criminal wore a petticoat. "We will take you to Sir
Giles, Miss," he said--and offered his arm, instead of offering his
handcuffs. Iris understood him, and took his arm.
She was silent--unaccountably silent as the men thought--on the way to
the town. They heard her sigh: and, once, the sigh sounded more like a
sob; little did they suspect what was in that silent woman's mind at
the time.
The one object which had absorbed the attention of Iris had been the
saving of Lord Harry. This accomplished, the free exercise of her
memory had now reminded her of Arthur Mountjoy.
It was impossible to doubt that the object of the proposed meeting at
the milestone had been to take measures for the preservation of the
young man's life. A coward is always more or less cruel. The
proceedings (equally treacherous and merciless) by which Sir Giles had
provided for his own safety, had delayed--perhaps actually
prevented--the execution of Lord Harry's humane design. It was
possible, horribly possible, that a prompt employment of time might
have been necessary to the rescue of Arthur from impending death by
murder. In the agitation that overpowered her, Iris actually hurried
the police on their return to the town.
Sir Giles had arranged to wait for news in his private room at the
office--and there he was, with Dennis Howmore in attendance to receive
visitors.
The Sergeant went into the banker's room alone, to make his report. He
left the door ajar; Iris could hear what passed.
"Have you got your prisoner?" Sir Giles began.
"Yes, your honour."
"Is the wretch securely handcuffed?"
"I beg your pardon, sir, it isn't a man."
"Nonsense, Sergeant; it can't be a boy."
The Sergeant confessed that it was not a boy. "It's a woman," he said.
"What!!!"
"A woman," the patient officer repeated--"and a young one. She asked
for You."
"Bring her in."
Iris was not the sort of person who waits to be brought in. She walked
in, of her own accord.
VII
"GOOD Heavens!" cried Sir Giles. "Iris! With my cloak on!! With my hat
in her hand!!! Sergeant, there has been some dreadful mistake. This is
my god-daughter--Miss Henley."
"We found her at the milestone, your honour. The young lady and nobody
else."
Sir Giles appealed helplessly to his god-daughter. "What does this
mean?" Instead of answering, she looked at the Sergeant. The Sergeant,
conscious of responsibility, stood his ground and looked at Sir Giles.
His face confessed that the Irish sense of humour was tickled: but he
showed no intention of leaving the room. Sir Giles saw that Iris would
enter into no explanation in the man's presence. "You needn't wait any
longer," he said.
"What am I to do, if you please, with the prisoner?" the Sergeant
inquired.
Sir Giles waived that unnecessary question away with his hand. He was
trebly responsible--as knight, banker, and magistrate into the bargain.
"I will be answerable," he replied, "for producing Miss Henley, if
called upon. Good night."
The Sergeant's sense of duty was satisfied. He made the military
salute. His gallantry added homage to the young lady under the form of
a bow. Then, and then only, he walked with dignity out of the room.
"Now," Sir Giles resumed, "I presume I may expect to receive an
explanation. What does this impropriety mean? What were you doing at
the milestone?"
"I was saving the person who made the appointment with you," Iris said;
"the poor fellow had no ill-will towards you--who had risked everything
to save your nephew's life. Oh, sir, you committed a terrible mistake
when you refused to trust that man!"
Sir Giles had anticipated the appearance of fear, and the reality of
humble apologies. She had answered him indignantly, with a heightened
colour, and with tears in her eyes. His sense of his own social
importance was wounded to the quick. "Who is the man you are speaking
of?" he asked loftily. "And what is your excuse for having gone to the
milestone to save him--hidden under my cloak, disguised in my hat?"
"Don't waste precious time in asking questions!" was the desperate
reply. "Undo the harm that you have done already. Your help--oh, I mean
what I say!--may yet preserve Arthur's life. Go to the farm, and save
him."
Sir Giles's anger assumed a new form, it indulged in an elaborate
mockery of respect. He took his watch from his pocket, and consulted it
satirically. "Must I make an excuse?" he asked with a clumsy assumption
of humility.
"No! you must go."
"Permit me to inform you, Miss Henley, that the last train started more
than two hours since."
"What does that matter? You are rich enough to hire a train."
Sir Giles, the actor, could endure it no longer; he dropped the mask,
and revealed Sir Giles, the man. His clerk was summoned by a peremptory
ring of the bell. "Attend Miss Henley to the house," he said. "You may
come to your senses after a night's rest," he continued, turning
sternly to Iris. "I will receive your excuses in the morning."
In the morning, the breakfast was ready as usual at nine o'clock. Sir
Giles found himself alone at the table.
He sent an order to one of the women-servants to knock at Miss Henley's
door. There was a long delay. The housekeeper presented herself in a
state of alarm; she had gone upstairs to make the necessary
investigation in her own person. Miss Henley was not in her room; the
maid was not in her room; the beds had not been slept in; the heavy
luggage was labelled--"To be called for from the hotel." And there was
an end of the evidence which the absent Iris had left behind her.
Inquiries were made at the hotel. The young lady had called there, with
her maid, early on that morning. They had their travelling-bags with
them; and Miss Henley had left directions that the luggage was to be
placed under care of the landlord until her return. To what destination
she had betaken herself nobody knew.
Sir Giles was too angry to remember what she had said to him on the
previous night, or he might have guessed at the motive which had led to
her departure. "Her father has done with her already," he said; "and I
have done with her now." The servants received orders not to admit Miss
Henley, if her audacity contemplated a return to her godfather's house.
VIII
ON the afternoon of the same day, Iris arrived at the village situated
in the near neighbourhood of Arthur Mountjoy's farm.
The infection of political excitement (otherwise the hatred of England)
had spread even to this remote place. On the steps of his little
chapel, the priest, a peasant himself, was haranguing his brethren of
the soil. An Irishman who paid his landlord was a traitor to his
country; an Irishman who asserted his free birthright in the land that
he walked on was an enlightened patriot. Such was the new law which the
reverend gentleman expounded to his attentive audience. If his brethren
there would like him to tell them how they might apply the law, this
exemplary Christian would point to the faithless Irishman, Arthur
Mountjoy. "Buy not of him, sell not to him; avoid him if he approaches
you; starve him out of the place. I might say more, boys--you know what
I mean."
To hear the latter part of this effort of oratory, without uttering a
word of protest, was a trial of endurance under which Iris trembled.
The secondary effect of the priest's address was to root the conviction
of Arthur's danger with tenfold tenacity in her mind. After what she
had just heard, even the slightest delay in securing his safety might
be productive of deplorable results. She astonished a barefooted boy,
on the outskirts of the crowd, by a gift of sixpence, and asked her way
to the farm. The little Irishman ran on before her, eager to show the
generous lady how useful he could be. In less than half an hour, Iris
and her maid were at the door of the farm-house. No such civilsed
inventions appeared as a knocker or a bell. The boy used his knuckles
instead--and ran away when he heard the lock of the door turned on the
inner side. He was afraid to be seen speaking to any living creature
who inhabited the "evicted farm."
A decent old woman appeared, and inquired suspiciously "what the ladies
wanted." The accent in which she spoke was unmistakably English. When
Iris asked for Mr. Arthur Mountjoy the reply was: "Not at home." The
housekeeper inhospitably attempted to close the door. "Wait one
moment," Iris said. "Years have changed you; but there is something in
your face which is not quite strange to me. Are you Mrs. Lewson?"
The woman admitted that this was her name. "But how is it that you are
a stranger to me?" she asked distrustfully.
"If you have been long in Mr. Mountjoy's service," Iris replied, "you
may perhaps have heard him speak of Miss Henley?"
Mrs. Lewson's face brightened in an instant; she threw the door wide
open with a glad cry of recognition.
"Come in, Miss, come in! Who would have thought of seeing you in this
horrible place? Yes; I was the nurse who looked after you all
three--when you and Mr. Arthur and Mr. Hugh were playfellows together."
Her eyes rested longingly on her favourite of bygone days. The
sensitive sympathies of Iris interpreted that look. She prettily
touched her cheek, inviting the nurse to kiss her. At this act of
kindness the poor old woman broke down; she apologised quaintly for her
tears: "Think, Miss, how _I_ must remember that happy time--when _you_
have not forgotten it."
Shown into the parlour, the first object which the visitor noticed was
the letter that she had written to Arthur lying unopened on the table.
"Then he is really out of the house?" she said with a feeling of
relief.
He had been away from the farm for a week or more. Had he received a
warning from some other quarter? and had he wisely sought refuge in
flight? The amazement in the housekeeper's face, when she heard these
questions, pleaded for a word of explanation. Iris acknowledged without
reserve the motives which had suggested her journey, and asked eagerly
if she had been mistaken in assuming that Arthur was in danger of
assassination.
Mrs. Lewson shook her head. Beyond all doubt the young master was in
danger. But Miss Iris ought to have known his nature better than to
suppose that he would beat a retreat, if all the land-leaguers in
Ireland threatened him together. No! It was his bold way to laugh at
danger. He had left his farm to visit a friend in the next county; and
it was shrewdly guessed that a young lady who was staying in the house
was the attraction which had kept him so long away. "Anyhow, he means
to come back to-morrow," Mrs. Lewson said. "I wish he would think
better of it, and make his escape to England while he has the chance.
If the savages in these parts must shoot somebody, I'm here--an old
woman that can't last much longer. Let them shoot me."
Iris asked if Arthur's safety was assured in the next county, and in
the house of his friend.
"I can't say, Miss; I have never been to the house. He is in danger if
he persists in coming back to the farm. There are chances of shooting
him all along his road home. Oh, yes; he knows it, poor dear, as well
as I do. But, there!--men like him are such perverse creatures. He
takes his rides just as usual. No; he won't listen to an old woman like
me; and, as for friends to advise him, the only one of them that has
darkened our doors is a scamp who had better have kept away. You may
have heard tell of him. The old Earl, his wicked father, used to be
called by a bad name. And the wild young lord is his father's true
son."
"Not Lord Harry?" Iris exclaimed.
The outbreak of agitation in her tone and manner was silently noticed
by her maid. The housekeeper did not attempt to conceal the impression
that had been produced upon her. "I hope you don't know such a vagabond
as that?" she said very seriously. "Perhaps you are thinking of his
brother--the eldest son--a respectable man, as I have been told?"
Miss Henley passed over these questions without notice. Urged by the
interest in her lover, which was now more than ever an interest beyond
her control, she said: "Is Lord Harry in danger, on account of his
friend?"
"He has nothing to fear from the wretches who infest our part of the
country," Mrs. Lewson replied. "Report says he's one of themselves. The
police--there's what his young lordship has to be afraid of, if all's
true that is said about him. Anyhow, when he paid his visit to my
master, he came secretly like a thief in the night. And I heard Mr.
Arthur, while they were together here in the parlour, loud in blaming
him for something that he had done. No more, Miss, of Lord Harry! I
have something particular to say to you. Suppose I promise to make you
comfortable--will you please wait here till to-morrow, and see Mr.
Arthur and speak to him? If there's a person living who can persuade
him to take better care of himself, I do believe it will be you."
Iris readily consented to wait for Arthur Mountjoy's return. Left
together, while Mrs. Lewson was attending to her domestic duties, the
mistress noticed an appearance of pre-occupation in the maid's face.
"Are you beginning to wish, Rhoda," she said, "that I had not brought
you to this strange place, among these wild people?"
The maid was a quiet amiable girl, evidently in delicate health. She
smiled faintly. "I was thinking, Miss, of another nobleman besides the
one Mrs. Lewson mentioned just now, who seems to have led a reckless
life. It was printed in a newspaper that I read before we left London."
"Was his name mentioned?" Iris asked.
"No, Miss; I suppose they were afraid of giving offence. He tried so
many strange ways of getting a living--it was almost like reading a
story-book."
The suppression of the name suggested a suspicion from which Iris
recoiled. Was it possible that her maid could be ignorantly alluding to
Lord Harry?
"Do you remember this hero's adventures?" she said.
"I can try, Miss, if you wish to hear about him."
The newspaper narrative appeared to have produced a vivid impression on
Rhoda's mind. Making allowance for natural hesitations and mistakes,
and difficulties in expressing herself correctly, she repeated with a
singularly clear recollection the substance of what she had read.
IX
THE principal characters in the story were an old Irish nobleman, who
was called the Earl, and the youngest of his two sons, mysteriously
distinguished as "the wild lord."
It was said of the Earl that he had not been a good father; he had
cruelly neglected both his sons. The younger one, badly treated at
school, and left to himself in the holidays, began his adventurous
career by running away. He got employment (under an assumed name) as a
ship's boy. At the outset, he did well; learning his work, and being
liked by the Captain and the crew. But the chief mate was a brutal man,
and the young runaway's quick temper resented the disgraceful
infliction of blows. He made up his mind to try his luck on shore, and
attached himself to a company of strolling players. Being a handsome
lad, with a good figure and a fine clear voice, he did very well for a
while on the country stage. Hard times came; salaries were reduced; the
adventurer wearied of the society of actors and actresses. His next
change of life presented him in North Britain as a journalist, employed
on a Scotch newspaper. An unfortunate love affair was the means of
depriving him of this new occupation. He was recognised, soon
afterwards, serving as assistant steward in one of the passenger
steamers voyaging between Liverpool and New York. Arrived in this last
city, he obtained notoriety, of no very respectable kind, as a "medium"
claiming powers of supernatural communication with the world of
spirits. When the imposture was ultimately discovered, he had gained
money by his unworthy appeal to the meanly prosaic superstition of
modern times. A long interval had then elapsed, and nothing had been
heard of him, when a starving man was discovered by a traveller, lost
on a Western prairie. The ill-fated Irish lord had associated himself
with an Indian tribe--had committed some offence against their
laws--and had been deliberately deserted and left to die. On his
recovery, he wrote to his elder brother (who had inherited the title
and estates on the death of the old Earl) to say that he was ashamed of
the life that he had led, and eager to make amendment by accepting any
honest employment that could be offered to him. The traveller who had
saved his life, and whose opinion was to be trusted, declared that the
letter represented a sincerely penitent state of mind. There were good
qualities in the vagabond, which only wanted a little merciful
encouragement to assert themselves. The reply that he received from
England came from the lawyers employed by the new Earl. They had
arranged with their agents in New York to pay to the younger brother a
legacy of a thousand pounds, which represented all that had been left
to him by his father's will. If he wrote again his letters would not be
answered; his brother had done with him. Treated in this inhuman
manner, the wild lord became once more worthy of his name. He tried a
new life as a betting man at races and trotting-matches. Fortune
favoured him at the outset, and he considerably increased his legacy.
With the customary infatuation of men who gain money by risking the
loss of it, he presumed on his good luck. One pecuniary disaster
followed another, and left him literally penniless. He was found again,
in England, exhibiting an open boat in which he and a companion had
made one of those foolhardy voyages across the Atlantic, which have now
happily ceased to interest the public. To a friend who remonstrated
with him, he answered that he reckoned on being lost at sea, and on so
committing a suicide worthy of the desperate life that he had led. The
last accounts of him, after this, were too vague and too contradictory
to be depended on. At one time it was reported that he had returned to
the United States. Not long afterwards unaccountable paragraphs
appeared in newspapers declaring, at one and the same time, that he was
living among bad company in Paris, and that he was hiding disreputably
in an ill famed quarter of the city of Dublin, called "the Liberties."
In any case there was good reason to fear that Irish-American
desperadoes had entangled the wild lord in the network of political
conspiracy.
The maid noticed a change in the mistress which surprised her, when she
had reached the end of the newspaper story. Of Miss Henley's customary
good spirits not a trace remained. "Few people, Rhoda, remember what
they read as well as you do." She said it kindly and sadly--and she
said no more.
There was a reason for this.
Now at one time, and now at another, Iris had heard of Lord Harry's
faults and failings in fragments of family history. The complete record
of his degraded life, presented in an uninterrupted succession of
events, had now forced itself on her attention for the first time. It
naturally shocked her. She felt, as she had never felt before, how
entirely right her father had been in insisting on her resistance to an
attachment which was unworthy of her. So far, but no farther, her
conscience yielded to its own conviction of what was just. But the one
unassailable vital force in this world is the force of love. It may
submit to the hard necessities of life; it may acknowledge the
imperative claims of duty; it may be silent under reproach, and
submissive to privation--but, suffer what it may, it is the
master-passion still; subject to no artificial influences, owning no
supremacy but the law of its own being. Iris was above the reach of
self-reproach, when her memory recalled the daring action which had
saved Lord Harry at the milestone. Her better sense acknowledged Hugh
Mountjoy's superiority over the other man--but her heart, her perverse
heart, remained true to its first choice in spite of her. She made an
impatient excuse and went out alone to recover her composure in the
farm-house garden.
The hours of the evening passed slowly.
There was a pack of cards in the house; the women tried to amuse
themselves, and failed. Anxiety about Arthur preyed on the spirits of
Miss Henley and Mrs. Lewson. Even the maid, who had only seen him
during his last visit to London, said she wished to-morrow had come and
gone. His sweet temper, his handsome face, his lively talk had made
Arthur a favourite everywhere. Mrs. Lewson had left her comfortable
English home to be his housekeeper, when he tried his rash experiment
of farming in Ireland. And, more wonderful still, even wearisome Sir
Giles became an agreeable person in his nephew's company.
Iris set the example of retiring at an early hour to her room.
There was something terrible in the pastoral silence of the place. It
associated itself mysteriously with her fears for Arthur; it suggested
armed treachery on tiptoe, taking its murderous stand in hiding; the
whistling passage of bullets through the air; the piercing cry of a man
mortally wounded, and that man, perhaps----? Iris shrank from her own
horrid thought. A momentary faintness overcame her; she opened the
window. As she put her head out to breathe the cool night-air, a man on
horseback rode up to the house. Was it Arthur? No: the light-coloured
groom's livery that he wore was just visible.
Before he could dismount to knock at the door, a tall man walked up to
him out of the darkness.
"Is that Miles?" the tall man asked.
The groom knew the voice. Iris was even better acquainted with it. She,
too, recognised Lord Harry.
X
THERE was the Irish lord at the very time when Iris was most patiently
resigned never to see him more, never to think of him as her husband
again--reminding her of the first days of their love, and of their
mutual confession of it! Fear of herself kept her behind the curtain;
while interest in Lord Harry detained her at the window in hiding.
"All well at Rathco?" he asked--mentioning the name of the house in
which Arthur was one of the guests.
"Yes, my lord. Mr. Mountjoy leaves us to-morrow."
"Does he mean to return to the farm?"
"Sorry I am to say it; he does mean that."
"Has he fixed any time, Miles, for starting on his journey?"
Miles instituted a search through his pockets, and accompanied it by an
explanation. Yes, indeed, Master Arthur had fixed a time; he had
written a note to say so to Mistress Lewson, the housekeeper; he had
said, "Drop the note at the farm, on your way to the village." And what
might Miles want at the village, in the dark? Medicine, in a hurry, for
one of his master's horses that was sick and sinking. And, speaking of
that, here, thank God, was the note!
Iris, listening and watching alternately, saw to her surprise the note
intended for Mrs. Lewson handed to Lord Harry. "Am I expected," he
asked jocosely, "to read writing without a light?" Miles produced a
small lantern which was strapped to his groom's belt. "There's parts of
the road not over safe in the dark," he said as he raised the shade
which guarded the light. The wild lord coolly opened the letter, and
read the few careless words which it contained. "To Mrs. Lewson:--Dear
old girl, expect me back to-morrow to dinner at three o'clock. Yours,
ARTHUR."
There was a pause.
"Are there any strangers at Rathco?" Lord Harry asked.
"Two new men," Miles replied, "at work in the grounds."
There was another pause. "How can I protect him?" the young lord said,
partly to himself, partly to Miles. He suspected the two new
men---spies probably who knew of Arthur's proposed journey home, and
who had already reported to their employers the hour at which he would
set out.
Miles ventured to say a word: "I hope you won't be angry with me, my
lord"----
"Stuff and nonsense! Was I ever angry with you, when I was rich enough
to keep a servant, and when you were the man?"
The Irish groom answered in a voice that trembled with strong feeling.
"You were the best and kindest master that ever lived on this earth. I
can't see you putting your precious life in peril"----
"My precious life?" Lord Harry repeated lightly. "You're thinking of
Mr. Mountjoy, when you say that. _His_ life is worth saving. As for my
life"---- He ended the sentence by a whistle, as the best way he could
hit on of expressing his contempt for his own existence.
"My lord! my lord!" Miles persisted; "the Invincibles are beginning to
doubt you. If any of them find you hanging about Mr. Mountjoy's farm,
they'll try a shot at you first, and ask afterwards whether it was
right to kill you or not."
To hear this said--and said seriously--after the saving of him at the
milestone, was a trial of her firmness which Iris was unable to resist.
Love got the better of prudence. She drew back the window-curtain. In
another moment, she would have added her persuasion to the servant's
warning, if Lord Harry himself had not accidentally checked her by a
proceeding, on his part, for which she was not prepared.
"Show the light," he said; "I'll write a line to Mr. Mountjoy."
He tore off the blank page from the note to the housekeeper, and wrote
to Arthur, entreating him to change the time of his departure from
Rathco, and to tell no creature in the house, or out of the house, at
what new hour he had arranged to go. "Saddle your horse yourself," the
letter concluded. It was written in a feigned hand, without a
signature.
"Give that to Mr. Mountjoy," Lord Harry said. "If he asks who wrote it,
don't frighten him about me by telling the truth. Lie, Miles! Say you
don't know." He next returned the note for Mrs. Lewson. "If she notices
that it has been opened," he resumed, "and asks who has done it, lie
again. Good-night, Miles--and mind those dangerous places on your road
home."
The groom darkened his lantern; and the wild lord was lost to view,
round the side of the house.
Left by himself, Miles rapped at the door with the handle of his whip.
"A letter from Mr. Arthur," he called out. Mrs. Lewson at once took the
note, and examined it by the light of the candle on the hall-table.
"Somebody has been reading this!" she exclaimed, stepping out to the
groom, and showing him the torn envelope. Miles, promptly obeying his
instructions, declared that he knew nothing about it, and rode away.
Iris descended the stairs, and joined Mrs. Lewson in the hall before
she had closed the door. The housekeeper at once produced Arthur's
letter.
"It's on my mind, Miss," she said, "to write an answer, and say
something to Mr. Arthur which will persuade him to take care of
himself, on his way back to the farm. The difficulty is, how am I to
express it? You would be doing a kind thing if you would give me a word
of advice."
Iris willingly complied. A second note, from the anxious housekeeper,
might help the effect of the few lines which Lord Harry had written.
Arthur's letter informed Iris that he had arranged to return at three
o'clock. Lord Harry's question to the groom, and the man's reply,
instantly recurred to her memory: "Are there any strangers at
Rathco?"--"Two new men at work in the grounds." Arriving at the same
conclusion which had already occurred to Lord Harry, Iris advised the
housekeeper, in writing to Arthur, to entreat him to change the hour,
secretly, at which he left his friend's house on the next day. Warmly
approving of this idea, Mrs. Lewson hurried into the parlour to write
her letter. "Don't go to bed yet, Miss," she said; "I want you to read
it before I send it away the first thing to-morrow morning."
Left alone in the hall, with the door open before her, Iris looked out
on the night, thinking.
The lives of the two men in whom she was interested--in widely
different ways--were now both threatened; and the imminent danger, at
that moment, was the danger of Lord Harry. He was an outlaw whose
character would not bear investigation; but, to give him his due, there
was no risk which he was not ready to confront for Arthur's sake. If he
was still recklessly lingering, on the watch for assassins in the
dangerous neighbourhood of the farm, who but herself possessed the
influence which would prevail on him to leave the place? She had joined
Mrs. Lewson at the door with that conviction in her mind. In another
instant, she was out of the house, and beginning her search in the
dark.
Iris made the round of the building; sometimes feeling her way in
obscure places; sometimes calling to Lord Harry cautiously by his name.
No living creature appeared; no sound of a movement disturbed the
stillness of the night. The discovery of his absence, which she had not
dared to hope for, was the cheering discovery which she had now made.
On her way back to the house, she became conscious of the rashness of
the act into which her own generous impulse had betrayed her.
If she and Lord Harry had met, could she have denied the tender
interest in him which her own conduct would then have revealed? Would
he not have been justified in concluding that she had pardoned the
errors and the vices of his life, and that he might without impropriety
remind her of their engagement, and claim her hand in marriage? She
trembled as she thought of the concessions which he might have wrung
from her. "Never more," she determined, "shall my own folly be
answerable for it, if he and I meet again."
She had returned to Mrs. Lewson, and had read over the letter to
Arthur, when the farm clock, striking the hour, reminded them that it
was time to retire. They slept badly that night.
At six in the morning, one of the two labourers who had remained
faithful to Arthur was sent away on horseback with the housekeeper's
reply, and with orders to wait for an answer. Allowing time for giving
the horse a rest, the man might be expected to return before noon.
IX
IT was a fine sunshiny day; Mrs. Lewson's spirits began to improve. "I
have always held the belief," the worthy old woman confessed, "that
bright weather brings good luck--of course provided the day is not a
Friday. This is Wednesday. Cheer up, Miss."
The messenger returned with good news. Mr. Arthur had been as merry as
usual. He had made fun of another letter of good advice, received
without a signature. "But Mrs. Lewson must have her way," he said. "My
love to the old dear--I'll start two hours later, and be back to dinner
at five."
"Where did Mr. Arthur give you that message?" Iris inquired.
"At the stables, Miss, while I was putting up the horse. The men about
were all on the broad grin when they heard Mr. Arthur's message."
Still in a morbid state of mind, Iris silently regretted that the
message had not been written, instead of being delivered by word of
mouth. Here, again, she (like the wild lord) had been afraid of
listeners.
The hours wore slowly on until it was past four o'clock. Iris could
endure the suspense no longer. "It's a lovely afternoon," she said to
Mrs. Lewson. "Let us take a walk along the road, and meet Arthur." To
this proposal the housekeeper readily agreed.
It was nearly five o'clock when they reached a place at which a by-road
branched off, through a wood, from the highway which they had hitherto
followed. Mrs. Lewson found a seat on a felled tree. "We had better not
go any farther," she said.
Iris asked if there was any reason for this.
There was an excellent reason. A few yards farther on, the high road
had been diverted from the straight line (in the interest of a large
agricultural village), and was then directed again into its former
course. The by-road through the wood served as a short cut, for
horsemen and pedestrians, from one divergent point to the other. It was
next to a certainty that Arthur would return by the short cut. But if
accident or caprice led to his preferring the highway, it was clearly
necessary to wait for him within view of both the roads.
Too restless to submit to a state of passive expectation, Iris proposed
to follow the bridle path through the wood for a little way, and to
return if she failed to see anything of Arthur. "You are tired," she
said kindly to her companion: "pray don't move."
Mrs. Lewson looked needlessly uneasy: "You might lose yourself, Miss.
Mind you keep to the path!"
Iris followed the pleasant windings of the woodland track. In the hope
of meeting Arthur she considerably extended the length of her walk. The
white line of the high road, as it passed the farther end of the wood,
showed itself through the trees. She turned at once to rejoin Mrs.
Lewson.
On her way back she made a discovery. A ruin which she had not
previously noticed showed itself among the trees on her left hand. Her
curiosity was excited; she strayed aside to examine it more closely.
The crumbling walls, as she approached them, looked like the remains of
an ordinary dwelling-house. Age is essential to the picturesque effect
of decay: a modern ruin is an unnatural and depressing object--and here
the horrid thing was.
As she turned to retrace her steps to the road, a man walked out of the
inner space enclosed by all that was left of the dismantled house. A
cry of alarm escaped her. Was she the victim of destiny, or the sport
of chance? There was the wild lord whom she had vowed never to see
again: the master of her heart--perhaps the master of her fate!
Any other man would have been amazed to see her, and would have asked
how it had happened that the English lady presented herself to him in
an Irish wood. This man enjoyed the delight of seeing her, and accepted
it as a blessing that was not to be questioned. "My angel has dropped
from Heaven," he said. "May Heaven be praised!"
He approached her; his arms closed round her. She struggled to free
herself from his embrace. At that moment they both heard the crackle of
breaking uuderwood among the trees behind them. Lord Harry looked
round. "This is a dangerous place," he whispered; "I'm waiting to see
Arthur pass safely. Submit to be kissed, or I am a dead man." His eyes
told her that he was truly and fearfully in earnest. Her head sank on
his bosom. As he bent down and kissed her, three men approached from
their hiding-place among the trees. They had no doubt been watching
him, under orders from the murderous brotherhood to which they
belonged. Their pistols were ready in their hands--and what discovery
had they made? There was the brother who had been denounced as having
betrayed them, guilty of no worse treason than meeting his sweetheart
in a wood! "We beg your pardon, my lord," they cried, with a thoroughly
Irish enjoyment of their own discomfiture--and burst into a roar of
laughter--and left the lovers together. For the second time, Iris had
saved Lord Harry at a crisis in his life.
"Let me go!" she pleaded faintly, trembling with superstitious fear for
the first time in her experience of herself.
He held her to him as if he would never let her go again. "Oh, my
Sweet, give me a last chance. Help me to be a better man! You have only
to will it, Iris, and to make me worthy of you."
His arms suddenly trembled round her, and dropped. The silence was
broken by a distant sound, like the report of a shot. He looked towards
the farther end of the wood. In a minute more, the thump of a horse's
hoofs at a gallop was audible, where the bridlepath was hidden among
the trees. It came nearer--nearer---the creature burst into view, wild
with fright, and carrying an empty saddle. Lord Harry rushed into the
path and seized the horse as it swerved at the sight of him. There was
a leather pocket attached to the front of the saddle. "Search it!" he
cried to Iris, forcing the terrified animal back on its haunches. She
drew out a silver travelling-flask. One glance at the name engraved on
it told him the terrible truth. His trembling hands lost their hold.
The horse escaped; the words burst from his lips:
"Oh, God, they've killed him!"
THE END OF THE PROLOGUE
THE STORY
FIRST PERIOD
CHAPTER I
THE SOUR FRENCH WINE
WHILE the line to be taken by the new railway between Culm and Everill
was still under discussion, the engineer caused some difference of
opinion among the moneyed men who were the first Directors of the
Company, by asking if they proposed to include among their Stations the
little old town of Honeybuzzard.
For years past, commerce had declined, and population had decreased in
this ancient and curious place. Painters knew it well, and prized its
mediaeval houses as a mine of valuable material for their art. Persons
of cultivated tastes, who were interested in church architecture of the
fourteenth century, sometimes pleased and flattered the Rector by
subscribing to his fund for the restoration of the tower, and the
removal of the accumulated rubbish of hundreds of years from the crypt.
Small speculators, not otherwise in a state of insanity, settled
themselves in the town, and tried the desperate experiment of opening a
shop; spent their little capital, put up the shutters, and disappeared.
The old market-place still showed its list of market-law's, issued by
the Mayor and Corporation in the prosperous bygone times; and every
week there were fewer and fewer people to obey the laws. The great
empty enclosure looked more cheerful, when there was no market held,
and when the boys of the town played in the deserted place. In the last
warehouse left in a state of repair, the crane was generally idle; the
windows were mostly shut up; and a solitary man represented languishing
trade, idling at a half-opened door. The muddy river rose and fell with
the distant tide. At rare intervals a collier discharged its cargo on
the mouldering quay, or an empty barge took in a load of hay. One bold
house advertised, in a dirty window, apartments to let. There was a
lawyer in the town, who had no occasion to keep a clerk; and there was
a doctor who hoped to sell his practice for anything that it would
fetch. The directors of the new railway, after a stormy meeting,
decided on offering (by means of a Station) a last chance of revival to
the dying town. The town had not vitality enough left to be grateful;
the railway stimulant produced no effect. Of all his colleagues in
Great Britain and Ireland, the station-master at Honeybuzzard was the
idlest man--and this, as he said to the unemployed porter, through no
want of energy on his own part.
Late on a rainy autumn afternoon, the slow train left one traveller at
the Station. He got out of a first-class carriage; he carried an
umbrella and a travelling-bag; and he asked his way to the best inn.
The station-master and the porter compared notes. One of them said:
"Evidently a gentleman." The other added: "What can he possibly want
here?"
The stranger twice lost his way in the tortuous old streets of the town
before he reached the inn. On giving his orders, it appeared that he
wanted three things: a private room, something to eat, and, while the
dinner was being cooked, materials for writing a letter.
Answering her daughter's questions downstairs, the landlady described
her guest as a nice-looking man dressed in deep mourning. "Young, my
dear, with beautiful dark brown hair, and a grand beard, and a sweet
sorrowful look. Ah, his eyes would tell anybody that his black clothes
are not a mere sham. Whether married or single, of course I can't say.
But I noticed the name on his travelling-bag. A distinguished name in
my opinion--Hugh Mountjoy. I wonder what he'll order to drink when he
has his dinner? What a mercy it will be if we can get rid of another
bottle of the sour French wine!"
The bell in the private room rang at that moment; and the landlady's
daughter, it is needless to say, took the opportunity of forming her
own opinion of Mr. Hugh Mountjoy.
She returned with a letter in her hand, consumed by a vain longing for
the advantages of gentle birth. "Ah, mother, if I was a young lady of
the higher classes, I know whose wife I should like to be!" Not
particularly interested in sentimental aspirations, the landlady asked
to see Mr. Mountjoy's letter. The messenger who delivered it was to
wait for an answer. It was addressed to: "Miss Henley, care of Clarence
Vimpany, Esquire, Honeybuzzard." Urged by an excited imagination, the
daughter longed to see Miss Henley. The mother was at a loss to
understand why Mr. Mountjoy should have troubled himself to write the
letter at all. "If he knows the young lady who is staying at the
doctor's house," she said, "why doesn't he call on Miss Henley?" She
handed the letter back to her daughter. "There! let the ostler take it;
he's got nothing to do."
"No, mother. The ostler's dirty hands mustn't touch it--I'll take the
letter myself. Perhaps I may see Miss Henley." Such was the impression
which Mr. Hugh Mountjoy had innocently produced on a sensitive young
person, condemned by destiny to the barren sphere of action afforded by
a country inn!
The landlady herself took the dinner upstairs--a first course of mutton
chops and potatoes, cooked to a degree of imperfection only attained in
an English kitchen. The sour French wine was still on the good woman's
mind. "What would you choose to drink, sir?" she asked. Mr. Mountjoy
seemed to feel no interest in what he might have to drink. "We have
some French wine, sir."
"Thank you, ma'am; that will do."
When the bell rang again, and the time came to produce the second
course of cheese and celery, the landlady allowed the waiter to take
her place. Her experience of the farmers who frequented the inn, and
who had in some few cases been induced to taste the wine, warned her to
anticipate an outbreak of just anger from Mr. Mountjoy. He, like the
others, would probably ask what she "meant by poisoning him with such
stuff as that." On the return of the waiter, she put the question: "Did
the gentleman complain of the French wine?"
"He wants to see you about it, ma'am."
The landlady turned pale. The expression of Mr. Mountjoy's indignation
was evidently reserved for the mistress of the house. "Did he swear,"
she asked, "when he tasted it?"
"Lord bless you, ma'am, no! Drank it out of a tumbler, and--if you will
believe me--actually seemed to like it."
The landlady recovered her colour. Gratitude to Providence for having
sent a customer to the inn, who could drink sour wine without
discovering it, was the uppermost feeling in her ample bosom as she
entered the private room. Mr. Mountjoy justified her anticipations. He
was simple enough--with his tumbler before him, and the wine as it were
under his nose--to begin with an apology.
"I am sorry to trouble you, ma'am. May I ask where you got this wine?"
"The wine, sir, was one of my late husband's bad debts. It was all he
could get from a Frenchman who owed him money."
"It's worth money, ma'am."
"Indeed, sir?"
"Yes, indeed. This is some of the finest and purest claret that I have
tasted for many a long day past."
An alarming suspicion disturbed the serenity of the landlady's mind.
Was his extraordinary opinion of the wine sincere? Or was it Mr.
Mountjoy's wicked design to entrap her into praising her claret and
then to imply that she was a cheat by declaring what he really thought
of it? She took refuge in a cautious reply:
"You are the first gentleman, sir, who has not found fault with it."
"In that case, perhaps you would like to get rid of the wine?" Mr.
Mountjoy suggested.
The landlady was still cautious. "Who will buy it of me, sir?"
"I will. How much do you charge for it by the bottle?"
It was, by this time, clear that he was not mischievous--only a little
crazy. The worldly-wise hostess took advantage of that circumstance to
double the price. Without hesitation, she said: "Five shillings a
bottle, sir."
Often, too often, the irony of circumstances brings together, on this
earthly scene, the opposite types of vice and virtue. A lying landlady
and a guest incapable of deceit were looking at each other across a
narrow table; equally unconscious of the immeasurable moral gulf that
lay between them, Influenced by honourable feeling, innocent Hugh
Mountjoy lashed the landlady's greed for money to the full-gallop of
human cupidity.
"I don't think you are aware of the value of your wine," he said. "I
have claret in my cellar which is not so good as this, and which costs
more than you have asked. It is only fair to offer you seven-and-
sixpence a bottle."
When an eccentric traveller is asked to pay a price, and deliberately
raises that price against himself, where is the sensible
woman--especially if she happens to be a widow conducting an
unprofitable business--who would hesitate to improve the opportunity?
The greedy landlady raised her terms.
"On reflection, sir, I think I ought to have ten shillings a bottle, if
you please."
"The wine may be worth it," Mountjoy answered quietly; "but it is more
than I can afford to pay. No, ma'am; I will leave you to find some
lover of good claret with a longer purse than mine."
It was in this man's character, when he said No, to mean No. Mr.
Mountjoy's hostess perceived that her crazy customer was not to be
trifled with. She lowered her terms again with the headlong hurry of
terror. "You shall have it, Sir, at your own price," said this entirely
shameless and perfectly respectable woman.
The bargain having been closed under these circumstances, the
landlady's daughter knocked at the door. "I took your letter myself,
sir," she said modestly; "and here is the answer." (She had seen Miss
Henley, and did not think much of her.) Mountjoy offered the expression
of his thanks, in words never to be forgotten by a sensitive young
person, and opened his letter. It was short enough to be read in a
moment; but it was evidently a favourable reply. He took his hat in a
hurry, and asked to be shown the way to Mr. Vimpany's house.
CHAPTER II
THE MAN SHE REFUSED
MOUNTJOY had decided on travelling to Honeybuzzard, as soon as he heard
that Miss Henley was staying with strangers in that town. Having had no
earlier opportunity of preparing her to see him, he had considerately
written to her from the inn, in preference to presenting himself
unexpectedly at the doctor's house. How would she receive the devoted
friend, whose proposal of marriage she had refused for the second time,
when they had last met in London?
The doctor's place of residence, situated in a solitary by-street,
commanded a view, not perhaps encouraging to a gentleman who followed
the medical profession: it was a view of the churchyard. The door was
opened by a woman-servant, who looked suspiciously at the stranger.
Without waiting to be questioned, she said her master was out. Mountjoy
mentioned his name, and asked for Miss Henley.
The servant's manner altered at once for the better; she showed him
into a small drawing-room, scantily and cheaply furnished. Some
poorly-framed prints on the walls (a little out of place perhaps in a
doctor's house) represented portraits of famous actresses, who had been
queens of the stage in the early part of the present century. The few
books, too, collected on a little shelf above the chimney-piece, were
in every case specimens of dramatic literature. "Who reads these
plays?" Mountjoy asked himself. "And how did Iris find her way into
this house?"
While he was thinking of her, Miss Henley entered the room.
Her face was pale and careworn; tears dimmed her eyes when Mountjoy
advanced to meet her. In his presence, the horror of his brother's
death by assassination shook Iris as it had not shaken her yet.
Impulsively, she drew his head down to her, with the fond familiarity
of a sister, and kissed his forehead. "Oh, Hugh, I know how you and
Arthur loved each other! No words of mine can say how I feel for you."
"No words are wanted, my dear," he answered tenderly. "Your sympathy
speaks for itself."
He led her to the sofa and seated himself by her side. "Your father has
shown me what you have written to him," he resumed; "your letter from
Dublin and your second letter from this place. I know what you have so
nobly risked and suffered in poor Arthur's interests. It will be some
consolation to me if I can make a return--a very poor return, Iris--for
all that Arthur's brother owes to the truest friend that ever man had.
No," he continued, gently interrupting the expression of her gratitude.
"Your father has not sent me here--but he knows that I have left London
for the express purpose of seeing you, and he knows why. You have
written to him dutifully and affectionately; you have pleaded for
pardon and reconciliation, when he is to blame. Shall I venture to tell
you how he answered me, when I asked if he had no faith left in his own
child? 'Hugh,' he said, 'you are wasting words on a man whose mind is
made up. I will trust my daughter when that Irish lord is laid in his
grave--not before.' That is a reflection on you, Iris, which I cannot
permit, even when your father casts it. He is hard, he is unforgiving;
but he must, and shall, be conquered yet. I mean to make him do you
justice; I have come here with that purpose, and that purpose only, in
view. May I speak to you of Lord Harry?"
"How can you doubt it!"
"My dear, this is a delicate subject for me to enter on."
"And a shameful subject for me!" Iris broke out bitterly. "Hugh! you
are an angel, by comparison with that man--how debased I must be to
love him--how unworthy of your good opinion! Ask me anything you like;
have no mercy on me. Oh," she cried, with reckless contempt for
herself, "why don't you beat me? I deserve it!"
Mountjoy was well enough acquainted with the natures of women to pass
over that passionate outbreak, instead of fanning the flame in her by
reasoning and remonstrance.
"Your father will not listen to the expression of feeling," he
continued; "but it is possible to rouse his sense of justice by the
expression of facts. Help me to speak to him more plainly of Lord Harry
than you could speak in your letters. I want to know what has happened,
from the time when events at Ardoon brought you and the young lord
together again, to the time when you left him in Ireland after my
brother's death. If I seem to expect too much of you, Iris, pray
remember that I am speaking with a true regard for your interests."
In those words, he made his generous appeal to her. She proved herself
to be worthy of it.
Stated briefly, the retrospect began with the mysterious anonymous
letters which had been addressed to Sir Giles.
Lord Harry's explanation had been offered to Iris gratefully, but with
some reserve, after she had told him who the stranger at the milestone
really was. "I entreat you to pardon me, if I shrink from entering into
particulars," he had said. "Circumstances, at the time, amply justified
me in the attempt to use the banker's political influence as a means of
securing Arthur's safety. I knew enough of Sir Giles's mean nature to
be careful in trusting him; but I did hope to try what my personal
influence might do. If he had possessed a tenth part of your courage,
Arthur might have been alive, and safe in England, at this moment. I
can't say any more; I daren't say any more; it maddens me when I think
of it!" He abruptly changed the subject, and interested Iris by
speaking of other and later events. His association with the
Invincibles--inexcusably rash and wicked as he himself confessed it to
be--had enabled him to penetrate, and for a time to defeat secretly,
the murderous designs of the brotherhood. His appearances, first at the
farmhouse and afterwards at the ruin in the wood were referable to
changes in the plans of the assassins which had come to his knowledge.
When Iris had met with him he was on the watch, believing that his
friend would take the short way back through the wood, and well aware
that his own life might pay the penalty if he succeeded in warning
Arthur. After the terrible discovery of the murder (committed on the
high road), and the escape of the miscreant who had been guilty of the
crime, the parting of Lord Harry and Miss Henley had been the next
event. She had left him, on her return to England, and had refused to
consent to any of the future meetings between them which he besought
her to grant.
At this stage in the narrative, Mountjoy felt compelled to ask
questions more searching than he had put to Iris yet. It was possible
that she might be trusting her own impressions of Lord Harry, with the
ill-placed confidence of a woman innocently self-deceived.
"Did he submit willingly to your leaving him?" Mountjoy said.
"Not at first," she replied.
"Has he released you from that rash engagement, of some years since,
which pledged you to marry him?"
"No."
"Did he allude to the engagement, on this occasion?"
"He said he held to it as the one hope of his life."
"And what did you say?"
"I implored him not to distress me."
"Did you say nothing more positive than that?"
"I couldn't help thinking, Hugh, of all that he had tried to do to save
Arthur. But I insisted on leaving him--and I have left him."
"Do you remember what he said at parting?"
"He said, 'While I live, I love you.'"
As she repeated the words, there was an involuntary change to
tenderness in her voice which was not lost on Mountjoy.
"I must be sure," he said to her gravely, "of what I tell your father
when I go back to him. Can I declare, with a safe conscience, that you
will never see Lord Harry again?"
"My mind is made up never to see him again." She had answered firmly so
far. Her next words were spoken with hesitation, in tones that
faltered. "But I am sometimes afraid," she said, "that the decision may
not rest with me."
"What do you mean?"
"I would rather not tell you."
"That is a strange answer, Iris."
"I value your good opinion, Hugh, and I am afraid of losing it."
"Nothing has ever altered my opinion of you," he replied, "and nothing
ever will."
She looked at him anxiously, with the closest attention. Little by
little, the expression of doubt in her face disappeared; she knew how
he loved her--she resolved to trust him.
"My friend," she began abruptly, "education has done nothing for me.
Since I left Ireland, I have sunk (I don't know how or why) into a
state of superstitious fear. Yes! I believe in a fatality which is
leading me back to Lord Harry, in spite of myself. Twice already, since
I left home, I have met with him; and each time I have been the means
of saving him--once at the milestone, and once at the ruin in the wood.
If my father still accuses me of being in love with an adventurer, you
can say with perfect truth that I am afraid of him. I _am_ afraid of
the third meeting. I have done my best to escape from that man; and,
step by step, as I think I am getting away, Destiny is taking me back
to him. I may be on my way to him here, hidden in this wretched little
town. Oh, don't despise me! Don't be ashamed of me!"
"My dear, I am interested--deeply interested in you. That there may be
some such influence as Destiny in our poor mortal lives, I dare not
deny. But I don't agree with your conclusion. What Destiny has to do
with you and with me, neither you nor I can pretend to know beforehand.
In the presence of that great mystery, humanity must submit to be
ignorant. Wait, Iris--wait!"
She answered him with the simplicity of a docile child: "I will do
anything you tell me."
Mountjoy was too fond of her to say more of Lord Harry, for that day.
He was careful to lead the talk to a topic which might be trusted to
provoke no agitating thoughts. Finding Iris to all appearance
established in the doctor's house, he was naturally anxious to know
something of the person who must have invited her--the doctor's wife.
CHAPTER III
THE REGISTERED PACKET
MOUNTJOY began by alluding to the second of Miss Henley's letters to
her father, and to a passage in it which mentioned Mrs. Vimpany with
expressions of the sincerest gratitude.
"I should like to know more," he said, "of a lady whose hospitality at
home seems to equal her kindness as a fellow-traveller. Did you first
meet with her on the railway?"
"She travelled by the same train to Dublin, with me and my maid, but
not in the same carriage," Iris answered; "I was so fortunate as to
meet with her on the voyage from Dublin to Holyhead. We had a rough
crossing; and Rhoda suffered so dreadfully from sea-sickness that she
frightened me. The stewardess was attending to ladies who were calling
for her in all directions; I really don't know what misfortune might
not have happened, if Mrs. Vimpany had not come forward in the kindest
manner, and offered help. She knew so wonderfully well what was to be
done, that she astonished me. 'I am the wife of a doctor,' she said;
'and I am only imitating what I have seen my husband do, when his
assistance has been required, at sea, in weather like this.' In her
poor state of health, Rhoda was too much exhausted to go on by the
train, when we got to Holyhead. She is the best of good girls, and I am
fond of her, as you know. If I had been by myself, I daresay I should
have sent for medical help. What do you think dear Mrs. Vimpany offered
to do? 'Your maid is only faint,' she said. 'Give her rest and some
iced wine, and she will be well enough to go on by the slow train.
Don't be frightened about her; I will wait with you.' And she did wait.
Are there many strangers, Hugh, who are as unselfishly good to others
as my chance-acquaintance in the steamboat?"
"Very few, I am afraid."
Mountjoy made that reply with some little embarrassment; conscious of a
doubt of Mrs. Vimpany's disinterested kindness, which seemed to be
unworthy of a just man.
Iris went on.
"Rhoda was sufficiently recovered," she said, "to travel by the next
train, and there seemed to be no reason for feeling any more anxiety.
But, after a time, the fatigue of the journey proved to be too much for
her. The poor girl turned pale--and fainted. Mrs. Vimpany revived her,
but as it turned out, only for a while. She fell into another fainting
fit; and my travelling-companion began to look anxious. There was some
difficulty in restoring Rhoda to her senses. In dread of another
attack, I determined to stop at the next station. It looked such a poor
place, when we got to it, that I hesitated. Mrs. Vimpany persuaded me
to go on. The next station, she said, was _her_ station. 'Stop there,'
she suggested, 'and let my husband look at the girl. I ought not
perhaps to say it, but you will find no better medical man out of
London.' I took the good creature's advice gratefully. What else could
I do?"
"What would you have done," Mountjoy inquired, "if Rhoda had been
strong enough to get to the end of the journey?"
"I should have gone on to London, and taken refuge in a lodging--you
were in town, as I believed, and my father might relent in time. As it
was, I felt my lonely position keenly. To meet with kind people, like
Mr. Vimpany and his wife, was a real blessing to such a friendless
creature as I am--to say nothing of the advantage to Rhoda, who is
getting better every day. I should like you to see Mrs. Vimpany, if she
is at home. She is a little formal and old fashioned in her manner--but
I am sure you will be pleased with her. Ah! you look round the room!
They are poor, miserably poor for persons in their position, these
worthy friends of mine. I have had the greatest difficulty in
persuading them to let me contribute my share towards the household
expenses. They only yielded when I threatened to go to the inn. You are
looking very serious, Hugh. Is it possible that you see some objection
to my staying in this house?"
The drawing-room door was softly opened, at the moment when Iris put
that question. A lady appeared on the threshold. Seeing the stranger,
she turned to Iris.
"I didn't know, dear Miss Henley, that you had a visitor. Pray pardon
my intrusion."
The voice was deep; the articulation was clear; the smile presented a
certain modest dignity which gave it a value of its own. This was a
woman who could make such a commonplace thing as an apology worth
listening to. Iris stopped her as she was about to leave the room. "I
was just wishing for you," she said. "Let me introduce my old friend,
Mr. Mountjoy. Hugh, this is the lady who has been so kind to me--Mrs.
Vimpany."
Hugh's impulse, under the circumstances, was to dispense with the
formality of a bow, and to shake hands. Mrs. Vimpany met this friendly
advance with a suavity of action, not often seen in these days of
movement without ceremony. She was a tall slim woman, of a certain age.
Art had so cleverly improved her complexion that it almost looked like
nature. Her cheeks had lost the plumpness of youth, but her hair
(thanks again perhaps to Art) showed no signs of turning grey. The
expression of her large dark eyes--placed perhaps a little too near her
high aquiline nose--claimed admiration from any person who was so
fortunate as to come within their range of view. Her hands, long,
yellow, and pitiably thin, were used with a grace which checked to some
extent their cruel betrayal of her age. Her dress had seen better days,
but it was worn with an air which forbade it to look actually shabby.
The faded lace that encircled her neck fell in scanty folds over her
bosom. She sank into a chair by Hugh's side. "It was a great pleasure
to me, Mr. Mountjoy, to offer my poor services to Miss Henley; I can't
tell you how happy her presence makes me in our little house." The
compliment was addressed to Iris with every advantage that smiles and
tones could offer. Oddly artificial as it undoubtedly was, Mrs.
Vimpany's manner produced nevertheless an agreeable impression.
Disposed to doubt her at first, Mountjoy found that she was winning her
way to a favourable change in his opinion. She so far interested him,
that he began to wonder what her early life might have been, when she
was young and handsome. He looked again at the portraits of actresses
on the walls, and the plays on the bookshelf--and then (when she was
speaking to Iris) he stole a sly glance at the doctor's wife. Was it
possible that this remarkable woman had once been an actress? He
attempted to put the value of that guess to the test by means of a
complimentary allusion to the prints.
"My memory as a playgoer doesn't extend over many years," he began;
"but I can appreciate the historical interest of your beautiful
prints." Mrs. Vimpany bowed gracefully--and dumbly. Mountjoy tried
again. "One doesn't often see the famous actresses of past days," he
proceeded, "so well represented on the walls of an English house."
This time, he had spoken to better purpose. Mrs. Vimpany answered him
in words.
"I have many pleasant associations with the theatre," she said, "first
formed in the time of my girlhood."
Mountjoy waited to hear something more. Nothing more was said. Perhaps
this reticent lady disliked looking back through a long interval of
years, or perhaps she had her reasons for leaving Mountjoy's guess at
the truth still lost in doubt. In either case, she deliberately dropped
the subject. Iris took it up. Sitting by the only table in the room,
she was in a position which placed her exactly opposite to one of the
prints--the magnificent portrait of Mrs. Siddons as The Tragic Muse.
"I wonder if Mrs. Siddons was really as beautiful as that?" she said,
pointing to the print. "Sir Joshua Reynolds is reported to have
sometimes flattered his sitters."
Mrs. Vimpany's solemn self-possessed eyes suddenly brightened; the name
of the great actress seemed to interest her. On the point, apparently,
of speaking, she dropped the subject of Mrs. Siddons as she had dropped
the subject of the theatre. Mountjoy was left to answer Iris.
"We are none of us old enough," he reminded her, "to decide whether Sir
Joshua's brush has been guilty of flattery or not." He turned to Mrs.
Vimpany, and attempted to look into her life from a new point of view.
"When Miss Henley was so fortunate as to make your acquaintance," he
said, "you were travelling in Ireland. Was it your first visit to that
unhappy country?"
"I have been more than once in Ireland."
Having again deliberately disappointed Mountjoy, she was assisted in
keeping clear of the subject of Ireland by a fortunate interruption. It
was the hour of delivery by the afternoon-post. The servant came in
with a small sealed packet, and a slip of printed paper in her hand.
"It's registered, ma'am," the woman announced. "The postman says you
are to please sign this. And he seems to be in a hurry."
She placed the packet and the slip of paper on the table, near the
inkstand. Having signed the receipt, Mrs. Vimpany took up the packet,
and examined the address. She instantly looked at Iris, and looked away
again. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" saying this she left the
room, without opening the packet.
The moment the door closed on her, Iris started up, and hurried to
Mountjoy.
"Oh, Hugh," she said, "I saw the address on that packet when the
servant put it on the table!"
"My dear, what is there to excite you in the address?"
"Don't speak so loud! She may be listening outside the door."
Not only the words, but the tone in which they were spoken, amazed
Mountjoy. "Your friend, Mrs. Vimpany!" he exclaimed.
"Mrs. Vimpany was afraid to open the packet in our presence," Iris went
on: "you must have seen that. The handwriting is familiar to me; I am
certain of the person who wrote the address."
"Well? And who is the person?"
She whispered in his ear:
"Lord Harry."
CHAPTER IV
THE GAME: MOUNTJOY LOSES
SURPRISE silenced Hugh for the moment. Iris understood the look that he
fixed on her, and answered it. "I am quite sure," she told him, "of
what I say."
Mountjoy's well-balanced mind hesitated at rushing to a conclusion.
"I am sure you are convinced of what you tell me," he said. "But
mistakes do sometimes happen in forming a judgment of handwriting."
In the state of excitement that now possessed her, Iris was easily
irritated; she was angry with Hugh for only supposing that she might
have made a mistake. He had himself, as she reminded him, seen Lord
Harry's handwriting in past days. Was it possible to be mistaken in
those bold thickly-written characters, with some of the letters so
quaintly formed? "Oh, Hugh, I am miserable enough as it is," she broke
out; "don't distract me by disputing what I know! Think of a woman so
kind, so disinterested, so charming--the very opposite of a false
creature--think of Mrs. Vimpany having deceived me!"
There was not the slightest reason, thus far, for placing that
interpretation on what had happened. Mountjoy gently, very gently,
remonstrated.
"My dear, we really don't know yet that Mrs. Vimpany has been acting
under Lord Harry's instructions. Wait a little before you suspect your
fellow-traveller of offering her services for the purpose of deceiving
you."
Iris was angry with him again: "Why did Mrs. Vimpany never tell me she
knew Lord Harry? Isn't that suspicious?"
Mountjoy smiled. "Let me put a question on my side," he said. "Did
_you_ tell Mrs. Vimpany you knew Lord Harry?" Iris made no reply; her
face spoke for her. "Well, then," he urged, "is _your_ silence
suspicious? I am far, mind, from saying that this may not be a very
unpleasant discovery. Only let us be sure first that we are right."
With most of a woman's merits, Miss Henley had many of a woman's
faults. Still holding to her own conclusion, she asked how they could
expect to be sure of anything if they addressed their inquiries to a
person who had already deceived them.
Mountjoy's inexhaustible indulgence still made allowances for her.
"When Mrs. Vimpany comes back," he said, "I will find an opportunity of
mentioning Lord Harry's name. If she tells us that she knows him, there
will be good reason in that one circumstance, as it seems to me, for
continuing to trust her."
"Suppose she shams ignorance," Iris persisted, "and looks as if she had
never heard of his name before?"
"In that case, I shall own that I was wrong, and shall ask you to
forgive me."
The finer and better nature of Iris recovered its influence at these
words. "It is I who ought to beg pardon," she said. "Oh, I wish I could
think before I speak: how insolent and ill-tempered I have been! But
suppose I turn out to be right, Hugh, what will you do then?"
"Then, my dear, it will be my duty to take you and your maid away from
this house, and to tell your father what serious reasons there are"----
He abruptly checked himself. Mrs. Vimpany had returned; she was in
perfect possession of her lofty courtesy, sweetened by the modest
dignity of her smile.
"I have left you, Miss Henley, in such good company," she said, with a
gracious inclination of her head in the direction of Mountjoy, "that I
need hardly repeat my apologies--unless, indeed, I am interrupting a
confidential conversation."
It was possible that Iris might have betrayed herself, when the
doctor's wife had looked at her after examining the address on the
packet. In this case Mrs. Vimpany's allusion to "a confidential
conversation" would have operated as a warning to a person of
experience in the by-ways of deceit. Mountjoy's utmost exertion of
cunning was not capable of protecting him on such conditions as these.
The opportunity of trying his proposed experiment with Lord Harry's
name seemed to have presented itself already. He rashly seized on it.
"You have interrupted nothing that was confidential," he hastened to
assure Mrs. Vimpany. "We have been speaking of a reckless young
gentleman, who is an acquaintance of ours. If what I hear is true, he
has already become public property; his adventures have found their way
into some of the newspapers."
Here, if Mrs. Vimpany had answered Hugh's expectations, she ought to
have asked who the young gentleman was. She merely listened in polite
silence.
With a woman's quickness of perception, Iris saw that Mountjoy had not
only pounced on his opportunity prematurely, but had spoken with a
downright directness of allusion which must at once have put such a
ready-witted person as Mrs. Vimpany on her guard. In trying to prevent
him from pursuing his unfortunate experiment in social diplomacy, Iris
innocently repeated Mountjoy's own mistake. She, too, seized her
opportunity prematurely. That is to say, she was rash enough to change
the subject.
"You were talking just now, Hugh, of our friend's adventures," she
said; "I am afraid you will find yourself involved in an adventure of
no very agreeable kind, if you engage a bed at the inn. I never saw a
more wretched-looking place."
It was one of Mrs. Vimpany's many merits that she seldom neglected an
opportunity of setting her friends at their ease.
"No, no, dear Miss Henley," she hastened to say; "the inn is really a
more clean and comfortable place than you suppose. A hard bed and a
scarcity of furniture are the worst evils which your friend has to
fear. Do you know," she continued, addressing herself to Mountjoy,
"that I was reminded of a friend of mine, when you spoke just now of
the young gentleman whose adventures are in the newspapers. Is it
possible that you referred to the brother of the present Earl of
Norland? A handsome young Irishman--with whom I first became acquainted
many years since. Am I right in supposing that you and Miss Henley know
Lord Harry?" she asked.
What more than this could an unprejudiced mind require? Mrs. Vimpany
had set herself right with a simplicity that defied suspicion. Iris
looked at Mountjoy. He appeared to know when he was beaten. Having
acknowledged that Lord Harry was the young gentleman of whom he and
Miss Henley had been speaking, he rose to take leave.
After what had passed, Iris felt the necessity of speaking privately to
Hugh. The necessary excuse presented itself in the remote situation of
the inn. "You will never find your way back," she said, "through the
labyrinth of crooked streets in this old town. Wait for me a minute,
and I will be your guide."
Mrs. Vimpany protested. "My dear! let the servant show the way."
Iris held gaily to her resolution, and ran away to her room. Mrs.
Vimpany yielded with her best grace. Miss Henley's motive could hardly
have been plainer to her, if Miss Henley had confessed it herself.
"What a charming girl!" the doctor's amiable wife said to Mountjoy,
when they were alone. "If I were a man, Miss Iris is just the young
lady that I should fall in love with." She looked significantly at
Mountjoy. Nothing came of it. She went on: "Miss Henley must have had
many opportunities of being married; but the right man has, I fear, not
yet presented himself." Once more her eloquent eyes consulted Mountjoy,
and once more nothing came of it. Some women are easily discouraged.
Impenetrable Mrs. Vimpany was one of the other women; she had not done
with Mountjoy yet--she invited him to dinner on the next day.
"Our early hour is three o'clock," she said modestly. "Pray join us. I
hope to have the pleasure of introducing my husband."
Mountjoy had his reasons for wishing to see the husband. As he accepted
the invitation, Miss Henley returned to accompany him to the inn.
Iris put the inevitable question to Hugh as soon as they were out of
the doctor's house--"What do you say of Mrs. Vimpany now?"
"I say that she must have been once an actress," Mountjoy answered;
"and that she carries her experience of the stage into private life."
"What do you propose to do next?"
"I propose to wait, and see Mrs. Vimpany's husband to-morrow."
"Why?"
"Mrs. Vimpany, my dear, is too clever for me. If--observe, please, that
I do her the justice of putting it in that way--if she is really Lord
Harry's creature, employed to keep watch on you, and to inform him of
your next place of residence in England, I own that she has completely
deceived me. In that case, it is just possible that the husband is not
such a finished and perfect humbug as the wife. I may be able to see
through him. I can but try."
Iris sighed. "I almost hope you may not succeed," she said.
Mountjoy was puzzled, and made no attempt to conceal it. "I thought you
only wanted to get at the truth," he answered.
"My mind might be easier, perhaps, if I was left in doubt," she
suggested. "A perverse way of thinking has set up my poor opinion
against yours. But I am getting back to my better sense. I believe you
were entirely right when you tried to prevent me from rushing to
conclusions; it is more than likely that I have done Mrs. Vimpany an
injustice. Oh, Hugh, I ought to keep a friend--I who have so few
friends--when I have got one! And there is another feeling in me which
I must not conceal from you. When I remember Lord Harry's noble conduct
in trying to save poor Arthur, I cannot believe him capable of such
hateful deceit as consenting to our separation, and then having me
secretly watched by a spy. What monstrous inconsistency! Can anybody
believe it? Can anybody account for it?"
"I think I can account for it, Iris, if you will let me make the
attempt. You are mistaken to begin with."
"How am I mistaken?"
"You shall see. There is no such creature as a perfectly consistent
human being on the face of the earth--and, strange as it may seem to
you, the human beings themselves are not aware of it. The reason for
this curious state of things is not far to seek. How can people who are
ignorant--as we see every day--of their own characters be capable of
correctly estimating the characters of others? Even the influence of
their religion fails to open their eyes to the truth. In the Prayer
which is the most precious possession of Christendom, their lips repeat
the entreaty that they may not be led into temptation--but their minds
fail to draw the inference. If that pathetic petition means anything,
it means that virtuous men and women are capable of becoming vicious
men and women, if a powerful temptation puts them to the test. Every
Sunday, devout members of the congregation in church--models of
excellence in their own estimation, and in the estimation of their
neighbours--declare that they have done those things which they ought
not to have done, and that there is no health in them. Will you believe
that they are encouraged by their Prayer-books to present this sad
exposure of the frailty of their own admirable characters? How
inconsistent--and yet how entirely true! Lord Harry, as you rightly
say, behaved nobly in trying to save my dear lost brother. He ought, as
you think, and as other people think, to be consistently noble, after
that, in all his thoughts and actions, to the end of his life. Suppose
that temptation does try him--such temptation, Iris, as you innocently
present--why doesn't he offer a superhuman resistance? You might as
well ask, Why is he a mortal man? How inconsistent, how improbable,
that he should have tendencies to evil in him, as well as tendencies to
good! Ah, I see you don't like this. It would be infinitely more
agreeable (wouldn't it?) if Lord Harry was one of the entirely
consistent characters which are sometimes presented in works of
fiction. Our good English readers are charmed with the man, the woman,
or the child, who is introduced to them by the kind novelist as a being
without faults. Do they stop to consider whether this is a true picture
of humanity? It would be a terrible day for the book if they ever did
that. But the book is in no danger. The readers would even fail to
discover the falseness of the picture, if they were presented to
themselves as perfect characters. 'We mustn't say so, but how
wonderfully like us!' There would be the only impression produced. I am
not trying to dishearten you; I want to encourage you to look at
humanity from a wider and truer point of view. Do not be too readily
depressed, if you find your faith shaken in a person whom you have
hitherto believed to be good. That person has been led into temptation.
Wait till time shows you that the evil influence is not everlasting,
and that the good influence will inconsistently renew your faith out of
the very depths of your despair. Humanity, in general, is neither
perfectly good nor perfectly wicked: take it as you find it. Is this a
hard lesson to learn? Well! it's easy to do what other people do, under
similar circumstances. Listen to the unwelcome truth to-day, my dear;
and forget it to-morrow."
They parted at the door of the inn.
CHAPTER V
THE GAME: MOUNTJOY PLAYS A NEW CARD
MR. VIMPANY (of the College of Surgeons) was a burly man, heavily built
from head to foot. His bold round eyes looked straight at his
fellow-creatures with an expression of impudent good humour; his
whiskers were bushy, his hands were big, his lips were thick, his legs
were solid. Add to this a broad sunburnt face, and a grey coat with
wide tails, a waistcoat with a check pattern, and leather
riding-gaiters--and no stranger could have failed to mistake Mr.
Vimpany for a farmer of the old school. He was proud of the false
impression that he created. "Nature built me to be a farmer," he used
to say. "But my poor foolish old mother was a lady by birth, and she
insisted on her son being a professional man. I hadn't brains for the
Law, or money for the Army, or morals for the Church. And here I am a
country doctor--the one representative of slavery left in the
nineteenth century. You may not believe me, but I never see a labourer
at the plough that I don't envy him."
This was the husband of the elegant lady with the elaborate manners.
This was the man who received Mountjoy with a "Glad to see you, sir,"
and a shake of the hand that hurt him.
"Coarse fare," said Mr. Vimpany, carving a big joint of beef; "but I
can't afford anything better. Only a pudding to follow, and a glass of
glorious old sherry. Miss Henley is good enough to excuse it--and my
wife's used to it--and you will put up with it, Mr. Mountjoy, if you
are half as amiable as you look. I'm an old-fashioned man. The pleasure
of a glass of wine with you, sir."
Hugh's first experience of the "glorious old sherry" led him to a
discovery, which proved to be more important than he was disposed to
consider it at the moment. He merely observed, with some amusement,
that Mr. Vimpany smacked his lips in hearty approval of the worst
sherry that his guest had ever tasted. Here, plainly self-betrayed, was
a medical man who was an exception to a general rule in the
profession--here was a doctor ignorant of the difference between good
wine and bad!
Both the ladies were anxious to know how Mountjoy had passed the night
at the inn. He had only time to say that there was nothing to complain
of, when Mr. Vimpany burst into an explosion of laughter.
"Oh, but you must have had something to complain of!" said the big
doctor. "I would bet a hundred, if I could afford it, that the landlady
tried to poison you with her sour French wine."
"Do you speak of the claret at the inn, after having tasted it?"
Mountjoy asked.
"What do you take me for?" cried Mr. Vimpany. "After all I have heard
of that claret, I am not fool enough to try it myself, I can tell you."
Mountjoy received this answer in silence. The doctor's ignorance and
the doctor's prejudice, in the matter of wine, had started a new train
of thought in Hugh's mind, which threatened serious consequences to Mr.
Vimpany himself. There was a pause at the table; nobody spoke. The
doctor saw condemnation of his rudeness expressed in his wife's face.
He made a rough apology to Mountjoy, who was still preoccupied. "No
offence, I hope? It's in the nature of me, sir, to speak my mind. If I
could fawn and flatter, I should have got on better in my profession.
I'm what they call a rough diamond. No, offence, I say?"
"None whatever, Mr. Vimpany."
"That's right! Try another glass of sherry."
Mountjoy took the sherry.
Iris looked at him, lost in surprise. It was unlike Hugh to be
interested in a stranger's opinion of wine. It was unlike him to drink
wine which was evidently not to his taste. And it was especially unlike
his customary courtesy to let himself fall into thought at dinner-time,
when there were other persons at the table. Was he ill? Impossible to
look at him, and not see that he was in perfect health. What did it
mean?
Finding Mountjoy inattentive, Mr. Vimpany addressed himself to Iris.
"I had to ride hard, Miss Henley, to get home in time for dinner. There
are patients, I must tell you, who send for the doctor, and then seem
to think they know more about it than the very man whom they have
called in to cure them. It isn't he who tells them what their illness
is; it's they who tell him. They dispute about the medical treatment
that's best for them, and the one thing they are never tired of doing
is talking about their symptoms. It was an old man's gabble that kept
me late to-day. However, the Squire, as they call him in these parts,
is a patient with a long purse; I am obliged to submit."
"A gentleman of the old school, dear Miss Henley," Mrs. Vimpany
explained. "Immensely rich. Is he better?" she asked, turning to her
husband.
"Better?" cried the outspoken doctor. "Pooh! there's nothing the matter
with him but gluttony. He went to London, and consulted a great man, a
humbug with a handle to his name. The famous physician got rid of him
in no time--sent him abroad to boil himself in foreign baths. He came
home again worse than ever, and consulted poor Me. I found him at
dinner--a perfect feast, I give you my word of honour!--and the old
fool gorging himself till he was black in the face. His wine, I should
have said, was not up to the mark; wanted body and flavour, you know.
Ah, Mr. Mountjoy, this seems to interest you; reminds you of the
landlady's wine--eh? Well, sir, how do you think I treated the Squire?
Emptied his infirm old inside with an emetic--and there he was on his
legs again. Whenever he overeats himself he sends for me; and pays
liberally. I ought to be grateful to him, and I am. Upon my soul, I
believe I should be in the bankruptcy court but for the Squire's
stomach. Look at my wife! She's shocked at me. We ought to keep up
appearances, my dear? Not I! When I am poor, I say I am poor. When I
cure a patient, I make no mystery of it; everybody's welcome to know
how it's done. Don't be down-hearted, Arabella; nature never meant your
husband for a doctor, and there's the long and the short of it. Another
glass of sherry, Mr. Mountjoy?"
All social ceremonies--including the curious English custom which sends
the ladies upstairs, after dinner, and leaves the gentlemen at the
table--found a devoted adherent in Mrs. Vimpany. She rose as if she had
been presiding at a banquet, and led Miss Henley affectionately to the
drawing-room. Iris glanced at Hugh. No; his mind was not at ease yet;
the preoccupied look had not left his face.
Jovial Mr. Vimpany pushed the bottle across the table to his guest, and
held out a handful of big black cigars.
"Now for the juice of the grape," he cried, "and the best cigar in all
England!"
He had just filled his glass, and struck a light for his cigar, when
the servant came in with a note. Some men relieve their sense of
indignation in one way, and some in another. The doctor's form of
relief was an oath. "Talk about slavery!" he shouted. "Find me such a
slave in all Africa as a man in my profession. There isn't an hour of
the day or night that he can call his own. Here's a stupid old woman
with an asthma, who has got another spasmodic attack--and I must leave
my dinner-table and my friend, just as we are enjoying ourselves. I
have half a mind not to go."
The inattentive guest suddenly set himself right in his host's
estimation. Hugh remonstrated with an appearance of interest in the
case, which the doctor interpreted as a compliment to himself: "Oh, Mr.
Vimpany, humanity! humanity!"
"Oh, Mr. Mountjoy, money! money!" the facetious doctor answered. "The
old lady is our Mayor's mother, sir. You don't seem to be quick at
taking a joke. Make your mind easy; I shall pocket my fee."
As soon as he had closed the door, Hugh Mountjoy uttered a devout
ejaculation. "Thank God!" he said--and walked up and down the room,
free to think without interruption at last.
The subject of his meditations was the influence of intoxication in
disclosing the hidden weaknesses and vices of a man's character by
exhibiting them just as they are, released from the restraint which he
exercises over himself when he is sober. That there was a weak side,
and probably a vicious side, in Mr. Vimpany's nature it was hardly
possible to doubt. His blustering good humour, his audacious
self-conceit, the tones of his voice, the expression in his eyes, all
revealed him (to use one expressive word) as a humbug. Let drink subtly
deprive him of his capacity for self-concealment! and the true nature
of his wife's association with Lord Harry might sooner or later show
itself--say, in after-dinner talk, under skilful management. The right
method of entrapping him into a state of intoxication (which might have
presented serious difficulties under other circumstances) was
suggested, partly by his ignorance of the difference between good wine
and bad, and partly by Mountjoy's knowledge of the excellent quality of
the landlady's claret. He had recognised, as soon as he tasted it, that
finest vintage of Bordeaux, which conceals its true strength--to a
gross and ignorant taste--under the exquisite delicacy of its flavour.
Encourage Mr. Vimpany by means of a dinner at the inn, to give his
opinion as a man whose judgment in claret was to be seriously
consulted--and permit him also to discover that Hugh was rich enough to
have been able to buy the wine--and the attainment of the end in view
would be simply a question of time. There was certainly the chance to
be reckoned with, that his thick head might prove to be too strong for
the success of the experiment. Mountjoy determined to try it, and did
try it nevertheless.
Mr. Vimpany returned from his medical errand, thoroughly well satisfied
with himself.
"The Mayor's mother has reason to thank you, sir," he announced. "If
you hadn't hurried me away, the wretched old creature would have been
choked. A regular stand-up fight, by Jupiter, between death and the
doctor!--and the doctor has won! Give me the reward of merit. Pass the
bottle."
He took up the decanter, and looked at it.
"Why, what have you been about?" he asked. "I made up my mind that I
should want the key of the cellar when I came back, and I don't believe
you have drunk a drop in my absence. What does it mean?"
"It means that I am not worthy of your sherry," Mountjoy answered. "The
Spanish wines are too strong for my weak digestion."
Mr. Vimpany burst into one of his explosions of laughter. "You miss the
landlady's vinegar--eh?"
"Yes, I do! Wait a minute, doctor; I have a word to say on my
side--and, like you, I mean what I say. The landlady's vinegar is some
of the finest Chateau Margaux I have ever met with--thrown away on
ignorant people who are quite unworthy of it."
The doctor's natural insolence showed itself. "You have bought this
wonderful wine, of course?" he said satirically.
"That," Mountjoy answered, "is just what I have done."
For once in his life, Mr. Vimpany's self-sufficient readiness of speech
failed him. He stared at his guest in dumb amazement. On this occasion,
Mountjoy improved the opportunity to good purpose. Mr. Vimpany accepted
with the utmost readiness an invitation to dine on the next day at the
inn. But he made a condition. "In case I don't agree with you about
that Chateau--what-you-call-it," he said, "you won't mind my sending
home for a bottle of sherry?"
The next event of the day was a visit to the most interesting monument
of antiquity in the town. In the absence of the doctor, caused by
professional engagements, Miss Henley took Mountjoy to see the old
church--and Mrs. Vimpany accompanied them, as a mark of respect to Miss
Henley's friend.
When there was a chance of being able to speak confidentially, Iris was
eager in praising the doctor's wife. "You can't imagine, Hugh, how
agreeable she has been, and how entirely she has convinced me that I
was wrong, shamefully wrong, in thinking of her as I did. She sees that
you dislike her, and yet she speaks so nicely of you. 'Your clever
friend enjoys your society,' she said; 'pray accompany me when I take
him to see the church.' How unselfish!"
Mountjoy kept his own counsel. The generous impulses which sometimes
led Iris astray were, as he well knew, beyond the reach of
remonstrance. His own opinion of Mrs. Vimpany still pronounced steadily
against her. Prepared for discoveries, on the next day, which might
prove too serious to be trifled with, he now did his best to provide
for future emergencies.
After first satisfying himself that there was nothing in the present
state of the maid's health which need detain her mistress at
Honeybuzzard, he next completed his preparations by returning to the
inn, and writing to Mr. Henley. With strict regard to truth, his letter
presented the daughter's claim on the father under a new point of view.
Whatever the end of it might be, Mr. Henley was requested to
communicate his intentions by telegraph. Will you receive Iris? was the
question submitted. The answer expected was: Yes or No.
CHAPTER VI
THE GAME: MOUNTJOY WINS
MR. HENLEY's telegram arrived at the inn the next morning.
He was willing to receive his daughter, but not unreservedly. The
message was characteristic of the man: "Yes--on trial." Mountjoy was
not shocked, was not even surprised. He knew that the successful
speculations, by means of which Mr. Henley had accumulated his wealth,
had raised against him enemies, who had spread scandalous reports which
had never been completely refuted. The silent secession of friends, in
whose fidelity he trusted, had hardened the man's heart and embittered
his nature. Strangers in distress, who appealed to the rich retired
merchant for help, found in their excellent references to character the
worst form of persuasion that they could have adopted. Paupers without
a rag of reputation left to cover them, were the objects of charity
whom Mr. Henley relieved. When he was asked to justify his conduct, he
said: "I have a sympathy with bad characters---I am one of them
myself."
With the arrival of the dinner hour the doctor appeared, in no very
amiable humour, at the inn.
"Another hard day's work," he said; "I should sink under it, if I
hadn't a prospect of getting rid of my practice here. London--or the
neighbourhood of London--there's the right place for a man like Me.
Well? Where's the wonderful wine? Mind! I'm Tom-Tell-Truth; if I don't
like your French tipple, I shall say so."
The inn possessed no claret glasses; they drank the grand wine in
tumblers as if it had been vin ordinaire.
Mr. Vimpany showed that he was acquainted with the formalities proper
to the ceremony of tasting. He filled his makeshift glass, he held it
up to the light, and looked at the wine severely; he moved the tumbler
to and fro under his nose, and smelt at it again and again; he paused
and reflected; he tasted the claret as cautiously as if he feared it
might be poisoned; he smacked his lips, and emptied his glass at a
draught; lastly, he showed some consideration for his host's anxiety,
and pronounced sentence on the wine.
"Not so good as you think it, sir. But nice light claret; clean and
wholesome. I hope you haven't given too much for it?"
Thus far, Hugh had played a losing game patiently. His reward had come
at last. After what the doctor had just said to him, he saw the winning
card safe in his own hand.
The bad dinner was soon over. No soup, of course; fish, in the state of
preservation usually presented by a decayed country town; steak that
rivalled the toughness of india-rubber; potatoes whose aspect said,
"stranger, don't eat us"; pudding that would have produced a sense of
discouragement, even in the mind of a child; and the famous English
cheese which comes to us, oddly enough, from the United States, and
stings us vindictively when we put it into our mouths. But the wine,
the glorious wine, would have made amends to anybody but Mr. Vimpany
for the woeful deficiencies of the food. Tumbler-full after
tumbler-full of that noble vintage poured down his thirsty and ignorant
throat; and still he persisted in declaring that it was nice light
stuff, and still he unforgivingly bore in mind the badness of the
dinner.
"The feeding here," said this candid man, "is worse if possible than
the feeding at sea, when I served as doctor on board a passenger-
steamer. Shall I tell you how I lost my place? Oh, say so plainly, if
you don't think my little anecdote worth listening to!"
"My dear sir, I am waiting to hear it."
"Very good. No offence, I hope? That's right! Well, sir, the captain of
the ship complained of me to the owners; I wouldn't go round, every
morning, and knock at the ladies' cabin-doors, and ask how they felt
after a sea-sick night. Who doesn't know what they feel, without
knocking at their doors? Let them send for the doctor when they want
him. That was how I understood my duty; and there was the line of
conduct that lost me my place. Pass the wine. Talking of ladies, what
do you think of my wife? Did you ever see such distinguished manners
before? My dear fellow, I have taken a fancy to you. Shake hands. I'll
tell you another little anecdote. Where do you think my wife picked up
her fashionable airs and graces? Ho! ho! On the stage! The highest
branch of the profession, sir--a tragic actress. If you had seen her in
Lady Macbeth, Mrs. Vimpany would have made your flesh creep. Look at
me, and feast your eyes on a man who is above hypocritical objections
to the theatre. Haven't I proved it by marrying an actress? But we
don't mention it here. The savages in this beastly place wouldn't
employ me, if they knew I had married a stage-player. Hullo! The
bottle's empty again. Ha! here's another bottle, full. I love a man who
has always got a full bottle to offer his friend. Shake hands. I say,
Mountjoy, tell me on your sacred word of honour, can you keep a secret?
My wife's secret, sir! Stop! let me look at you again. I thought I saw
you smile. If a man smiles at me, when I am opening my whole heart to
him, by the living jingo, I would knock that man down at his own table!
What? you didn't smile? I apologise. Your hand again; I drink your
health in your own good wine. Where was I? What was I talking about?"
Mountjoy carefully humoured his interesting guest.
"You were about to honour me," he said, "by taking me into your
confidence." Mr. Vimpany stared in tipsy bewilderment. Mountjoy tried
again in plainer language: "You were going to tell me a secret."
This time, the doctor grasped the idea. He looked round cunningly to
the door. "Any eavesdroppers?" he asked. "Hush! Whisper--this is
serious--whisper! What was it I was going to tell you? What was the
secret, old boy?"
Mountjoy answered a little too readily: "I think it related to Mrs.
Vimpany."
Mrs. Vimpany's husband threw himself back in his chair, snatched a
dirty handkerchief out of his pocket, and began to cry.
"Here's a false friend!" the creature whimpered. "Asks me to dinner,
and takes advantage of my dependent situation to insult my wife. The
loveliest of women, the sweetest of women, the innocentest of women.
Oh, my wife! my wife!" He suddenly threw his handkerchief to the other
end of the room, and burst out laughing. "Ho! ho! Mountjoy, what an
infernal fool you must be to take me seriously. I can act, too. Do you
think I care about my wife? She was a fine woman once: she's a bundle
of old rags now. But she has her merits. Hush! I want to know
something. Have you got a lord among your circle of acquaintance?"
Experience made Mountjoy more careful; perhaps a little too careful. He
only said "Yes."
The doctor's dignity asserted itself. "That's a short answer, sir, to a
man in my position. If you want me to believe you, mention your
friend's name."
Here was a chance at last! "His name;" Mountjoy began, "is Lord
Harry--"
Mr. Vimpany lost his dignity in an instant. He struck his heavy fist on
the table, with a blow that made the tumblers jump.
"Coincidence!" he cried. "How wonderful--no; that's not the
word--providential is the word--how providential are coincidences! I
mean, of course, to a rightly constituted mind. Let nobody contradict
me! When I say a rightly constituted mind I speak seriously; and a
young man like you will be all the better for it. Mountjoy! dear
Mountjoy! jolly Mountjoy! my wife's lord is your lord--Lord Harry. No;
none of your nonsense--I won't have any more wine. Yes, I will; it
might hurt your feelings if I didn't drink with you. Pass the bottle.
Ha! That's a nice ring you've got on your finger. Perhaps you think it
valuable? It's nothing, sir; it's dross, it's dirt, compared to my
wife's diamond pin! There's a jewel, if you like! It will be worth a
fortune to us when we sell it. A gift, dear sir! I'm afraid I've been
too familiar with you. Speaking as a born gentleman, I beg to present
my respects, and I call you 'dear sir.' Did I tell you the diamond pin
was a gift? It's nothing of the sort; we are under no obligation; my
wife, my admirable wife, has earned that diamond pin. By registered
post; and what I call a manly letter from Lord Harry. He is deeply
obliged (I give you the sense of it) by what my wife has done for him;
ready money is scarce with my lord; he sends a family jewel, with his
love. Oh, I'm not jealous. He's welcome to love Mrs. Vimpany, in her
old age, if he likes. Did you say that, sir? Did you say that Lord
Harry, or any man, was welcome to love Mrs. Vimpany? I have a great
mind to throw this bottle at your head. No, I won't; it's wasting good
wine! How kind of you to give me good wine. Who are you? I don't like
dining with a stranger. Do you know any friend of mine? Do you know a
man named Mountjoy? Do you know two men named Mountjoy? No: you don't.
One of them is dead: killed by those murdering scoundrels what do you
call them? Eh, what?" The doctor's voice began to falter, his head
dropped; he slumbered suddenly and woke suddenly, and began talking
again suddenly. "Would you like to be made acquainted with Lord Harry?
I'll give you a sketch of his character before I introduce him. Between
ourselves, he's a desperate wretch. Do you know why he employed my
wife, my admirable wife? You will agree with me; he ought to have
looked after his young woman himself. We've got his young woman safe in
our house. A nice girl. Not my style; my medical knowledge certifies
she's cold-blooded. Lord Harry has only to come over here and find her.
Why the devil doesn't he come? What is it keeps him in Ireland? Do you
know? I seem to have forgotten. My own belief is I've got softening of
the brain. What's good for softening of the brain? There isn't a doctor
living who won't tell you the right remedy--wine. Pass the wine. If
this claret is worth a farthing, it's worth a guinea a bottle. I ask
you in confidence; did you ever hear of such a fool as my wife's lord?
His name escapes me. No matter; he stops in Ireland--hunting. Hunting
what? The fox? Nothing so noble; hunting assassins. He's got some
grudge against one of them. Means to kill one of them. A word in your
ear; they'll kill him. Do you ever bet? Five to one, he's a dead man
before the end of the week. When is the end of the week? Tuesday,
Wednesday--no, Saturday--that's the beginning of the week--no, it
isn't--the beginning of the week isn't the Sabbath--Sunday, of
course--we are not Christians, we are Jews--I mean we are Jews, we are
not Christians--I mean--"
The claret got the better of his tongue, at last. He mumbled and
muttered; he sank back in his chair; he chuckled; he hiccupped; he fell
asleep.
All and more than all that Mountjoy feared, he had now discovered. In a
state of sobriety, the doctor was probably one of those men who are
always ready to lie. In a state of intoxication the utterances of his
drunken delirium might unconsciously betray the truth. The reason which
he had given for Lord Harry's continued absence in Ireland, could not
be wisely rejected as unworthy of belief. It was in the reckless nature
of the wild lord to put his own life in peril, in the hope of revenging
Arthur Mountjoy on the wretch who had killed him. Taking this bad news
for granted, was there any need to distress Iris by communicating the
motive which detained Lord Harry in his own country? Surely not!
And, again, was there any immediate advantage to be gained by revealing
the true character of Mrs. Vimpany, as a spy, and, worse still, a spy
who was paid? In her present state of feeling, Iris would, in all
probability, refuse to believe it.
Arriving at these conclusions, Hugh looked at the doctor snoring and
choking in an easy-chair. He had not wasted the time and patience
devoted to the stratagem which had now successfully reached its end.
After what he had just heard--thanks to the claret--he could not
hesitate to accomplish the speedy removal of Iris from Mr. Vimpany's
house; using her father's telegram as the only means of persuasion on
which it was possible to rely. Mountjoy left the inn without ceremony,
and hurried away to Iris in the hope of inducing her to return to
London with him that night.
CHAPTER VII
DOCTORING THE DOCTOR
ASKING for Miss Henley at the doctor's door, Hugh was informed that she
had gone out, with her invalid maid, for a walk. She had left word, if
Mr. Mountjoy called in her absence, to beg that he would kindly wait
for her return.
On his way up to the drawing-room, Mountjoy heard Mrs. Vimpany's
sonorous voice occupied, as he supposed, in reading aloud. The door
being opened for him, he surprised her, striding up and down the room
with a book in her hand; grandly declaiming without anybody to applaud
her. After what Hugh had already heard, he could only conclude that
reminiscences of her theatrical career had tempted the solitary actress
to make a private appearance, for her own pleasure, in one of those
tragic characters to which her husband had alluded. She recovered her
self-possession on Mountjoy's appearance, with the ease of a mistress
of her art. "Pardon me," she said, holding up her book with one hand,
and tapping it indicatively with the other: "Shakespeare carries me out
of myself. A spark of the poet's fire burns in the poet's humble
servant. May I hope that I have made myself understood? You look as if
you had a fellow-feeling for me."
Mountjoy did his best to fill the sympathetic part assigned to him, and
only succeeded in showing what a bad actor he would have been, if he
had gone on the stage. Under the sedative influence thus administered,
Mrs. Vimpany put away her book, and descended at once from the highest
poetry to the lowest prose.
"Let us return to domestic events," she said indulgently. "Have the
people at the inn given you a good dinner?"
"The people did their best," Mountjoy answered cautiously.
"Has my husband returned with you?" Mrs. Vimpany went on.
Mountjoy began to regret that he had not waited for Iris in the street.
He was obliged to acknowledge that the doctor had not returned with
him.
"Where is Mr. Vimpany?"
"At the inn."
"What is he doing there?"
Mountjoy hesitated. Mrs. Vimpany rose again into the regions of tragic
poetry. She stepped up to him, as if he had been Macbeth, and she was
ready to use the daggers. "I understand but too well," she declared in
terrible tones. "My wretched husband's vices are known to me. Mr.
Vimpany is intoxicated."
Hugh tried to make the best of it. "Only asleep," he said. Mrs. Vimpany
looked at him once more. This time, it was Queen Katharine looking at
Cardinal Wolsey. She bowed with lofty courtesy, and opened the door. "I
have occasion," she said, "to go out"----and made an exit.
Five minutes later, Mountjoy (standing at the window, impatiently on
the watch for the return of Iris) saw Mrs. Vimpany in the street. She
entered a chemist's shop, on the opposite side of the way, and came out
again with a bottle in her hand. It was enclosed in the customary
medical wrapping of white paper. Majestically, she passed out of sight.
If Hugh had followed her he would have traced the doctor's wife to the
door of the inn.
The unemployed waiter was on the house-steps, looking about him--with
nothing to see. He made his bow to Mrs. Vimpany, and informed her that
the landlady had gone out.
"You will do as well," was the reply. "Is Mr. Vimpany here?"
The waiter smiled, and led the way through the passage to the foot of
the stairs. "You can hear him, ma'am." It was quite true; Mr. Vimpany's
snoring answered for Mr. Vimpany. His wife ascended the first two or
three stairs, and stopped to speak again to the waiter. She asked what
the two gentlemen had taken to drink with their dinner. They had taken
"the French wine."
"And nothing else?"
The waiter ventured on a little joke. "Nothing else," he said--"and
more than enough of it, too."
"Not more than enough, I suppose, for the good of the house," Mrs.
Vimpany remarked.
"I beg your pardon, ma'am; the claret the two gentlemen drank is not
charged for in the bill."
"What do you mean?"
The waiter explained that Mr. Mountjoy had purchased the whole stock of
the wine. Suspicion, as well as surprise, appeared in Mrs. Vimpany's
face. She had hitherto thought it likely that Miss Henley's
gentleman-like friend might be secretly in love with the young lady.
Her doubts of him, now, took a wider range of distrust. She went on up
the stairs by herself, and banged the door of the private room as the
easiest means of waking the sleeping man. To the utmost noise that she
could make in this way, he was perfectly impenetrable. For a while she
waited, looking at him across the table with unutterable contempt.
There was the man to whom the religion of the land and the law of the
land, acting together in perfect harmony, had fettered her for life!
Some women, in her position, might have wasted time in useless
self-reproach. Mrs. Vimpany reviewed her miserable married life with
the finest mockery of her own misfortune. "Virtue," she said to
herself, "is its own reward."
Glancing with careless curiosity at the disorder of the dinner-table,
she noticed some wine still left in the bottom of her husband's glass.
Had artificial means been used to reduce him to his present condition?
She tasted the claret. No; there was nothing in the flavour of it which
betrayed that he had been drugged. If the waiter was to be believed, he
had only drunk claret--and there he was, in a state of helpless
stupefaction, nevertheless.
She looked again at the dinner-table, and discovered one, among the
many empty bottles, with some wine still left in it. After a moment of
reflection, she took a clean tumbler from the sideboard.
Here was the wine which had been an object of derision to Mr. Vimpany
and his friends. They were gross feeders and drinkers; and it might not
be amiss to put their opinions to the test. She was not searching for
the taste of a drug now; her present experiment proposed to try the
wine on its own merits.
At the time of her triumphs on the country stage--before the date of
her unlucky marriage--rich admirers had entertained the handsome
actress at suppers, which offered every luxury that the most perfect
table could supply. Experience had made her acquainted with the flavour
of the finest claret--and that experience was renewed by the claret
which she was now tasting. It was easy to understand why Mr. Mountjoy
had purchased the wine; and, after a little thinking, his motive for
inviting Mr. Vimpany to dinner seemed to be equally plain. Foiled in
their first attempt at discovery by her own prudence and tact, his
suspicions had set their trap. Her gross husband had been tempted to
drink, and to talk at random (for Mr. Mountjoy's benefit) in a state of
intoxication!
What secrets might the helpless wretch not have betrayed before the
wine had completely stupefied him?
Urged by rage and fear, she shook him furiously. He woke; he glared at
her with bloodshot eyes; he threatened her with his clenched fist.
There was but one way of lifting his purblind stupidity to the light.
She appealed to his experience of himself, on many a former occasion:
"You fool, you have been drinking again--and there's a patient waiting
for you." To that dilemma he was accustomed; the statement of it
partially roused him. Mrs. Vimpany tore off the paper wrapping, and
opened the medicine-bottle which she had brought with her.
He stared at it; he muttered to himself: "Is she going to poison me?"
She seized his head with one hand, and held the open bottle to his
nose. "Your own prescription," she cried, "for yourself and your
hateful friends."
His nose told him what words might have tried vainly to say: he
swallowed the mixture. "If I lose the patient," he muttered oracularly,
"I lose the money." His resolute wife dragged him out of his chair. The
second door in the dining-room led into an empty bed-chamber. With her
help, he got into the room, and dropped on the bed.
Mrs. Vimpany consulted her watch.
On many a former occasion she had learnt what interval of repose was
required, before the sobering influence of the mixture could
successfully assert itself. For the present, she had only to return to
the other room. The waiter presented himself, asking if there was
anything he could do for her. Familiar with the defective side of her
husband's character, he understood what it meant when she pointed to
the bedroom door. "The old story, ma'am," he said, with an air of
respectful sympathy. "Can I get you a cup of tea?"
Mrs. Vimpany accepted the tea, and enjoyed it thoughtfully.
She had two objects in view--to be revenged on Mountjoy, and to find a
way of forcing him to leave the town before he could communicate his
discoveries to Iris. How to reach these separate ends, by one and the
same means, was still the problem which she was trying to solve, when
the doctor's coarse voice was audible, calling for somebody to come to
him.
If his head was only clear enough, by this time, to understand the
questions which she meant to put, his answers might suggest the idea of
which she was in search. Rising with alacrity, Mrs. Vimpany returned to
the bed-chamber.
"You miserable creature," she began, "are you sober now?"
"I'm as sober as you are."
"Do you know," she went on, "why Mr. Mountjoy asked you to dine with
him?"
"Because he's my friend."
"He is your worst enemy. Hold your tongue! I'll explain what I mean
directly. Rouse your memory, if you have got a memory left. I want to
know what you and Mr. Mountjoy talked about after dinner."
He stared at her helplessly. She tried to find her way to his
recollection by making suggestive inquiries. It was useless; he only
complained of being thirsty. His wife lost her self-control. She was
too furiously angry with him to be able to remain in the room.
Recovering her composure when she was alone, she sent for soda-water
and brandy. Her one chance of making him useful was to humour his vile
temper; she waited on him herself.
In some degree, the drink cleared his muddled head. Mrs. Vimpany tried
his memory once more. Had he said this? Had he said that? Yes: he
thought it likely. Had he, or had Mr. Mountjoy, mentioned Lord Harry's
name? A glimmer of intelligence showed itself in his stupid eyes.
Yes--and they had quarrelled about it: he rather thought he had thrown
a bottle at Mr. Mountjoy's head. Had they, either of them, said
anything about Miss Henley? Oh, of course! What was it? He was unable
to remember. Had his wife done bothering him, now?
"Not quite," she replied. "Try to understand what I am going to say to
you. If Lord Harry comes to us while Miss Henley is in our house--"
He interrupted her: "That's your business."
"Wait a little. It's my business, if I hear beforehand that his
lordship is coming. But he is quite reckless enough to take us by
surprise. In that case, I want you to make yourself useful. If you
happen to be at home, keep him from seeing Miss Henley until I have
seen her first."
"Why?"
"I want an opportunity, my dear, of telling Miss Henley that I have
been wicked enough to deceive her, before she finds it out for herself.
I may hope she will forgive me, if I confess everything."
The doctor laughed: "What the devil does it matter whether she forgives
you or not?"
"It matters a great deal."
"Why, you talk as if you were fond of her!"
"I am."
The doctor's clouded intelligence was beginning to clear; he made a
smart reply: "Fond of her, and deceiving her--aha!"
"Yes," she said quietly, "that's just what it is. It has grown on me,
little by little; I can't help liking Miss Henley."
"Well," Mr. Vimpany remarked, "you _are_ a fool!" He looked at her
cunningly. "Suppose I do make myself useful, what am I to gain by it?"
"Let us get back," she suggested, "to the gentleman who invited you to
dinner, and made you tipsy for his own purposes."
"I'll break every bone in his skin!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Leave Mr. Mountjoy to me."
"Do _you_ take his part? I can tell you this. If I drank too much of
that poisonous French stuff, Mountjoy set me the example. He was
tipsy--as you call it--shamefully tipsy, I give you my word of honour.
What's the matter now?"
His wife (so impenetrably cool, thus far) had suddenly become excited.
There was not the smallest fragment of truth in what he had just said
of Hugh, and Mrs. Vimpany was not for a moment deceived by it. But the
lie had, accidentally, one merit--it suggested to her the idea which
she had vainly tried to find over her cup of tea. "Suppose I show you
how you may be revenged on Mr. Mountjoy," she said.
"Well?"
"Will you remember what I asked you to do for me, if Lord Harry takes
us by surprise?"
He produced his pocket-diary, and told her to make a memorandum of it.
She wrote as briefly as if she had been writing a telegram: "Keep Lord
Harry from seeing Miss Henley, till I have seen her first."
"Now," she said, taking a chair by the bedside, "you shall know what a
clever wife you have got. Listen to me."
CHAPTER VIII
HER FATHER'S MESSAGE
LOOKING out of the drawing-room window, for the tenth time at least,
Mountjoy at last saw Iris in the street, returning to the house.
She brought the maid with her into the drawing-room, in the gayest of
good spirits, and presented Rhoda to Mountjoy.
"What a blessing a good long walk is, if we only knew it!" she
exclaimed. "Look at my little maid's colour! Who would suppose that she
came here with heavy eyes and pale cheeks? Except that she loses her
way in the town, whenever she goes out alone, we have every reason to
congratulate ourselves on our residence at Honeybuzzard. The doctor is
Rhoda's good genius, and the doctor's wife is her fairy godmother."
Mountjoy's courtesy having offered the customary congratulations, the
maid was permitted to retire; and Iris was free to express her
astonishment at the friendly relations established (by means of the
dinner-table) between the two most dissimilar men on the face of
creation.
"There is something overwhelming," she declared, "in the bare idea of
your having asked him to dine with you--on such a short acquaintance,
and being such a man! I should like to have peeped in, and seen you
entertaining your guest with the luxuries of the hotel larder.
Seriously, Hugh, your social sympathies have taken a range for which I
was not prepared. After the example that you have set me, I feel
ashamed of having doubted whether Mr. Vimpany was worthy of his
charming wife. Don't suppose that I am ungrateful to the doctor! He has
found his way to my regard, after what he has done for Rhoda. I only
fail to understand how he has possessed himself of _your_ sympathies."
So she ran on, enjoying the exercise of her own sense of humour in
innocent ignorance of the serious interests which she was deriding.
Mountjoy tried to stop her, and tried in vain.
"No, no," she persisted as mischievously as ever, "the subject is too
interesting to be dismissed. I am dying to know how you and your guest
got through the dinner. Did he take more wine than was good for him?
And, when he forgot his good manners, did he set it all right again by
saying, 'No offence,' and passing the bottle?"
Hugh could endure it no longer. "Pray control your high spirits for a
moment," he said. "I have news for you from home."
Those words put an end to her outbreak of gaiety, in an instant.
"News from my father?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Is he coming here?"
"No; I have heard from him."
"A letter?"
"A telegram," Mountjoy explained, "in answer to a letter from me. I did
my best to press your claims on him, and I am glad to say I have not
failed."
"Hugh, dear Hugh! have you succeeded in reconciling us?"
Mountjoy produced the telegram. "I asked Mr. Henley," he said, "to let
me know at once whether he would receive you, and to answer plainly Yes
or No. The message might have been more kindly expressed--but, at any
rate, it is a favourable reply."
Iris read the telegram. "Is there another father in the world," she
said sadly, "who would tell his daughter, when she asks to come home,
that he will receive her on trial?"
"Surely, you are not offended with him, Iris?"
She shook her head. "I am like you," she said. "I know him too well to
be offended. He shall find me dutiful, he shall find me patient. I am
afraid I must not expect you to wait for me in Honeybuzzard. Will you
tell my father that I hope to return to him in a week's time?"
"Pardon me, Iris, I see no reason why you should waste a week in this
town. On the contrary, the more eager you show yourself to return to
your father, the more likely you are to recover your place in his
estimation. I had planned to take you home by the next train."
Iris looked at him in astonishment. "Is it possible that you mean what
you say?" she asked.
"My dear, I do most assuredly mean what I say. Why should you hesitate?
What possible reason can there be for staying here any longer?"
"Oh, Hugh, how you disappoint me! What has become of your kind feeling,
your sense of justice, your consideration for others? Poor Mrs.
Vimpany!"
"What has Mrs. Vimpany to do with it?"
Iris was indignant.
"What has Mrs. Vimpany to do with it?" she repeated. "After all that I
owe to that good creature's kindness; after I have promised to
accompany her--she has so few happy days, poor soul!--on excursions to
places of interest in the neighbourhood, do you expect me to leave
her--no! it's worse than that--do you expect me to throw her aside like
an old dress that I have worn out? And this after I have so unjustly,
so ungratefully suspected her in my own thoughts? Shameful! shameful!"
With some difficulty, Mountjoy controlled himself. After what she had
just said, his lips were sealed on the subject of Mrs. Vimpany's true
character. He could only persist in appealing to her duty to her
father.
"You are allowing your quick temper to carry you to strange
extremities," he answered. "If I think it of more importance to hasten
a reconciliation with your father than to encourage you to make
excursions with a lady whom you have only known for a week or two, what
have I done to deserve such an outbreak of anger? Hush! Not a word more
now! Here is the lady herself."
As he spoke, Mrs. Vimpany joined them; returning from her interview
with her husband at the inn. She looked first at Iris, and at once
perceived signs of disturbance in the young lady's face.
Concealing her anxiety under that wonderful stage smile, which affords
a refuge to so many secrets, Mrs. Vimpany said a few words excusing her
absence. Miss Henley answered, without the slightest change in her
friendly manner to the doctor's wife. The signs of disturbance were
evidently attributable to some entirely unimportant cause, from Mrs.
Vimpany's point of view. Mr. Mountjoy's discoveries had not been
communicated yet.
In Hugh's state of mind, there was some irritating influence in the
presence of the mistress of the house, which applied the spur to his
wits. He mischievously proposed submitting to her the question in
dispute between Iris and himself.
"It is a very simple matter," he said to Mrs. Vimpany. "Miss Henley's
father is anxious that she should return to him, after an estrangement
between them which is happily at an end. Do you think she ought to
allow any accidental engagements to prevent her from going home at
once? If she requests your indulgence, under the circumstances, has she
any reason to anticipate a refusal?"
Mrs. Vimpany's expressive eyes looked up, with saintly resignation, at
the dirty ceiling--and asked in dumb show what she had done to deserve
the injury implied by a doubt.
"Mr. Mountjoy," she said sternly, "you insult me by asking the
question."--"Dear Miss Henley," she continued, turning to Iris, _"you_
will do me justice, I am sure. Am I capable of allowing my own feelings
to stand in the way, when your filial duty is concerned? Leave me, my
sweet friend. Go! I entreat you, go home!"
She retired up the stage--no, no; she withdrew to the other end of the
room--and burst into the most becoming of all human tears, theatrical
tears. Impulsive Iris hastened to comfort the personification of
self-sacrifice, the model of all that was most unselfish in female
submission. "For shame! for shame!" she whispered, as she passed
Mountjoy.
Beaten again by Mrs. Vimpany--with no ties of relationship to justify
resistance to Miss Henley; with two women against him, entrenched
behind the privileges of their sex--the one last sacrifice of his own
feelings, in the interests of Iris, that Hugh could make was to control
the impulse which naturally urged him to leave the house. In the
helpless position in which he had now placed himself, he could only
wait to see what course Mrs. Vimpany might think it desirable to take.
Would she request him, in her most politely malicious way, to bring his
visit to an end? No: she looked at him--hesitated--directed a furtive
glance towards the view of the street from the window--smiled
mysteriously--and completed the sacrifice of her own feelings in these
words:
"Dear Miss Henley, let me help you to pack up."
Iris positively refused.
"No," she said, "I don't agree with Mr. Mountjoy. My father leaves it
to me to name the day when we meet. I hold you, my dear, to our
engagement--I don't leave an affectionate friend as I might leave a
stranger."
Even if Mr. Mountjoy communicated his discoveries to Miss Henley, on
the way home, there would be no danger now of her believing him. Mrs.
Vimpany put her powerful arm round the generous Iris, and, with
infinite grace, thanked her by a kiss.
"Your kindness will make my lonely lot in life harder than ever to
bear," she murmured, "when you are gone."
"But we may hope to meet in London," Iris reminded her; "unless Mr.
Vimpany alters his mind about leaving this place."
"My husband will not do that, dear. He is determined to try his luck,
as he says, in London. In the meantime you will give me your address,
won't you? Perhaps you will even promise to write to me?"
Iris instantly gave her promise, and wrote down her address in London.
Mountjoy made no attempt to interfere: it was needless.
If the maid had not fallen ill on the journey, and if Mrs. Vimpany had
followed Miss Henley to London, there would have been little to fear in
the discovery of her address--and there was little to fear now. The
danger to Iris was not in what might happen while she was living under
her father's roof, but in what might happen if she was detained (by
plans for excursions) in Mr. Vimpany's house, until Lord Harry might
join her there.
Rather than permit this to happen, Hugh (in sheer desperation)
meditated charging Mrs. Vimpany, to her face, with being the Irish
lord's spy, and proving the accusation by challenging her to produce
the registered letter and the diamond pin.
While he was still struggling with his own reluctance to inflict this
degrading exposure on a woman, the talk between the two ladies came to
an end. Mrs. Vimpany returned again to the window. On this occasion,
she looked out into the street--with her handkerchief (was it used as a
signal?) exhibited in her hand. Iris, on her side, advanced to
Mountjoy. Easily moved to anger, her nature was incapable of sullen
perseverance in a state of enmity. To see Hugh still patiently
waiting--still risking the chances of insult--devoted to her, and
forgiving her--was at once a reproach that punished Iris, and a mute
appeal that no true woman's heart could resist.
With tears in her eyes she said to him: "There must be no coolness
between you and me. I lost my temper, and spoke shamefully to you. My
dear, I am indeed sorry for it. You are never hard on me--you won't be
hard on me now?"
She offered her hand to him. He had just raised it to his lips--when
the drawing-room door was roughly opened. They both looked round.
The man of all others whom Hugh least desired to see was the man who
now entered the room. The victim of "light claret"--privately directed
to lurk in the street, until he saw a handkerchief fluttering at the
window--had returned to the house; primed with his clever wife's
instructions; ready and eager to be even with Mountjoy for the dinner
at the inn.
CHAPTER IX
MR. VIMPANY ON INTOXICATION
THERE was no unsteadiness in the doctor's walk, and no flush on his
face. He certainly did strut when he entered the room; and he held up
his head with dignity, when he discovered Mountjoy. But he seemed to
preserve his self-control. Was the man sober again already?
His wife approached him with her set smile; the appearance of her lord
and master filled Mrs. Vimpany with perfectly-assumed emotions of
agreeable surprise.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," she said. "You seldom favour us with
your company, my dear, so early in the evening! Are there fewer
patients in want of your advice than usual?"
"You are mistaken, Arabella. I am here in the performance of a painful
duty."
The doctor's language, and the doctor's manner, presented him to Iris
in a character that was new to her. What effect had he produced on Mrs.
Vimpany? That excellent friend to travellers in distress lowered her
eyes to the floor, and modestly preserved silence. Mr. Vimpany
proceeded to the performance of his duty; his painful responsibility
seemed to strike him at first from a medical point of view.
"If there is a poison which undermines the sources of life," he
remarked, "it is alcohol. If there is a vice that degrades humanity, it
is intoxication. Mr. Mountjoy, are you aware that I am looking at you?"
"Impossible not to be aware of that," Hugh answered. "May I ask why you
are looking at me?" It was not easy to listen gravely to Mr. Vimpany's
denunciation of intemperance, after what had taken place at the dinner
of that day. Hugh smiled. The moral majesty of the doctor entered its
protest.
"This is really shameful," he said. "The least you can do is to take it
seriously."
"What is it?" Mountjoy asked. "And why am I to take it seriously?"
Mr. Vimpany's reply was, to say the least of it, indirect. If such an
expression may be permitted, it smelt of the stage. Viewed in
connection with Mrs. Vimpany's persistent assumption of silent
humility, it suggested to Mountjoy a secret understanding, of some
kind, between husband and wife.
"What has become of your conscience, sir?" Mr. Vimpany demanded. "Is
that silent monitor dead within you? After giving me a bad dinner, do
you demand an explanation? Ha! you shall have it."
Having delivered himself to this effect, he added action to words.
Walking grandly to the door, he threw it open, and saluted Mountjoy
with an ironical bow. Iris observed that act of insolence; her colour
rose, her eyes glittered. "Do you see what he has just done?" she said
to Mrs. Vimpany.
The doctor's wife answered softly: "I don't understand it." After a
glance at her husband, she took Iris by the hand: "Dear Miss Henley,
shall we retire to my room?"
Iris drew her hand away. "Not unless Mr. Mountjoy wishes it," she said.
"Certainly not!" Hugh declared. "Pray remain here; your presence will
help me to keep my temper." He stepped up to Mr. Vimpany. "Have you any
particular reason for opening that door?" he asked.
The doctor was a rascal; but, to do him justice, he was no coward.
"Yes," he said, "I have a reason."
"What is it, if you please?"
"Christian forbearance," Mr. Vimpany answered.
"Forbearance towards me?" Mountjoy continued.
The doctor's dignity suddenly deserted him.
"Aha, my boy, you have got it at last!" he cried. "It's pleasant to
understand each other, isn't it? You see, I'm a plain-spoken fellow; I
don't wish to give offence. If there's one thing more than another I
pride myself on, it's my indulgence for human frailty. But, in my
position here, I'm obliged to be careful. Upon my soul, I can't
continue my acquaintance with a man who--oh, come! come! don't look as
if you didn't understand me. The circumstances are against you, sir.
You have treated me infamously."
"Under what circumstances have I treated you infamously?" Hugh asked.
"Under pretence of giving me a dinner," Mr. Vimpany shouted--"the worst
dinner I ever sat down to!"
His wife signed to him to be silent. He took no notice of her. She
insisted on being understood. "Say no more!" she warned him, in a tone
of command.
The brute side of his nature, roused by Mountjoy's contemptuous
composure, was forcing its way outwards; he set his wife at defiance.
"Then don't let him look at me as if he thought I was in a state of
intoxication!" cried the furious doctor. "There's the man, Miss, who
tried to make me tipsy," he went on, actually addressing himself to
Iris. "Thanks to my habits of sobriety, he has been caught in his own
trap. _He's_ intoxicated. Ha, friend Mountjoy, have you got the right
explanation at last? There's the door, sir!"
Mrs. Vimpany felt that this outrage was beyond endurance. If something
was not done to atone for it, Miss Henley would be capable--her face,
at that moment, answered for her--of leaving the house with Mr.
Mountjoy. Mrs. Vimpany seized her husband indignantly by the arm.
"You brute, you have spoilt everything!" she said to him. "Apologise
directly to Mr. Mountjoy. You won't?"
"I won't!"
Experience had taught his wife how to break him to her will. "Do you
remember my diamond pin?" she whispered.
He looked startled. Perhaps he thought she had lost the pin.
"Where is it?" he asked eagerly.
"Gone to London to be valued. Beg Mr. Mountjoy's pardon, or I will put
the money in the bank--and not one shilling of it do you get."
In the meanwhile, Iris had justified Mrs. Vimpany's apprehensions. Her
indignation noticed nothing but the insult offered to Hugh. She was too
seriously agitated to be able to speak to him. Still admirably calm,
his one anxiety was to compose her.
"Don't be afraid," he said; "it is impossible that I can degrade myself
by quarrelling with Mr. Vimpany. I only wait here to know what you
propose to do. You have Mrs. Vimpany to think of."
"I have nobody to think of but You," Iris replied. "But for me, you
would never have been in this house. After the insult that has been
offered to you--oh, Hugh, I feel it too!--let us return to London
together. I have only to tell Rhoda we are going away, and to make my
preparations for travelling. Send for me from the inn, and I will be
ready in time for the next train."
Mrs. Vimpany approached Mountjoy, leading her husband.
"Sorry I have offended you," the doctor said. "Beg your pardon. It's
only a joke. No offence, I hope?"
His servility was less endurable than his insolence. Telling him that
he need say no more, Mountjoy bowed to Mrs. Vimpany, and left the room.
She returned his bow mechanically, in silence. Mr. Vimpany followed
Hugh out--thinking of the diamond pin, and eager to open the house
door, as another act of submission which might satisfy his wife.
Even a clever woman will occasionally make mistakes; especially when
her temper happens to have been roused. Mrs. Vimpany found herself in a
false position, due entirely to her own imprudence.
She had been guilty of three serious errors. In the first place she had
taken it for granted that Mr. Vimpany's restorative mixture would
completely revive the sober state of his brains. In the second place,
she had trusted him with her vengeance on the man who had found his way
to her secrets through her husband's intemperance. In the third place,
she had rashly assumed that the doctor, in carrying out her
instructions for insulting Mountjoy, would keep within the limits which
she had prescribed to him, when she hit on the audacious idea of
attributing his disgraceful conduct to the temptation offered by his
host's example. As a consequence of these acts of imprudence, she had
exposed herself to a misfortune that she honestly dreaded--the loss of
the place which she had carefully maintained in Miss Henley's
estimation. In the contradictory confusion of feelings, so often found
in women, this deceitful and dangerous creature had been
conquered--little by little, as she had herself described it--by that
charm of sweetness and simplicity in Iris, of which her own depraved
nature presented no trace. She now spoke with hesitation, almost with
timidity, in addressing the woman whom she had so cleverly deceived, at
the time when they first met.
"Must I give up all, Miss Henley, that I most value?" she asked.
"I hardly understand you, Mrs. Vimpany."
"I will try to make it plainer. Do you really mean to leave me this
evening?"
"I do."
"May I own that I am grieved to hear it? Your departure will deprive me
of some happy hours, in your company."
"Your husband's conduct leaves me no alternative," Iris replied.
"Pray do not humiliate me by speaking of my husband! I only want to
know if there is a harder trial of my fortitude still to come. Must I
lose the privilege of being your friend?"
"I hope I am not capable of such injustice as that," Iris declared. "It
would be hard indeed to lay the blame of Mr. Vimpany's shameful
behaviour on you. I don't forget that you made him offer an apology.
Some women, married to such a man as that, might have been afraid of
him. No, no; you have been a good friend to me--and I mean to remember
it."
Mrs. Vimpany's gratitude was too sincerely felt to be expressed with
her customary readiness. She only said what the stupidest woman in
existence could have said: "Thank you."
In the silence that followed, the rapid movement of carriage wheels
became audible in the street. The sound stopped at the door of the
doctor's house.
CHAPTER X
THE MOCKERY OF DECEIT
HAD Mountjoy arrived to take Iris away, before her preparations for
travelling were complete? Both the ladies hurried to the window, but
they were too late. The rapid visitor, already hidden from them under
the portico, was knocking smartly at the door. In another minute, a
man's voice in the hall asked for "Miss Henley." The tones--clear,
mellow, and pleasantly varied here and there by the Irish accent--were
not to be mistaken by any one who had already hear them. The man in the
hall was Lord Harry.
In that serious emergency, Mrs. Vimpany recovered her presence of mind.
She made for the door, with the object of speaking to Lord Harry before
he could present himself in the drawing-room. But Iris had heard him
ask for her in the hall; and that one circumstance instantly stripped
of its concealments the character of the woman in whose integrity she
had believed. Her first impression of Mrs. Vimpany--so sincerely
repented, so eagerly atoned for--had been the right impression after
all! Younger, lighter, and quicker than the doctor's wife, Iris reached
the door first, and laid her hand on the lock.
"Wait a minute," she said.
Mrs. Vimpany hesitated. For the first time in her life at a loss what
to say, she could only sign to Iris to stand back. Iris refused to
move. She put her terrible question in the plainest words:
"How does Lord Harry know that I am in this house?"
The wretched woman (listening intently for the sound of a step on the
stairs) refused to submit to a shameful exposure, even now. To her
perverted moral sense, any falsehood was acceptable, as a means of
hiding herself from discovery by Iris. In the very face of detection,
the skilled deceiver kept up the mockery of deceit.
"My dear," she said, "what has come to you? Why won't you let me go to
my room?"
Iris eyed her with a look of scornful surprise. "What next?" she said.
"Are you impudent enough to pretend that I have not found you out,
yet?"
Sheer desperation still sustained Mrs. Vimpany's courage. She played
her assumed character against the contemptuous incredulity of Iris, as
she had sometimes played her theatrical characters against the hissing
and hooting of a brutal audience.
"Miss Henley," she said, "you forget yourself!"
"Do you think I didn't see in your face," Iris rejoined, "that you
heard him, too? Answer my question."
"What question?"
"You have just heard it."
"No!"
"You false woman!"
"Don't forget, Miss Henley, that you are speaking to a lady."
"I am speaking to Lord Harry's spy!"
Their voices rose loud; the excitement on either side had reached its
climax; neither the one nor the other was composed enough to notice the
sound of the carriage-wheels, leaving the house again. In the
meanwhile, nobody came to the drawing-room door. Mrs. Vimpany was too
well acquainted with the hot-headed Irish lord not to conclude that he
would have made himself heard, and would have found his way to Iris,
but for some obstacle, below stairs, for which he was not prepared. The
doctor's wife did justice to the doctor at last. Another person had, in
all probability, heard Lord Harry's voice--and that person might have
been her husband.
Was it possible that he remembered the service which she had asked of
him; and, even if he had succeeded in calling it to mind, was his
discretion to be trusted? As those questions occurred to her, the
desire to obtain some positive information was more than she was able
to resist. Mrs. Vimpany attempted to leave the drawing-room for the
second time.
But the same motive had already urged Miss Henley to action. Again, the
younger woman outstripped the older. Iris descended the stairs,
resolved to discover the cause of the sudden suspension of events in
the lower part of the house.
CHAPTER XI
MRS. VIMPANY'S FAREWELL
THE doctor's wife followed Miss Henley out of the room, as far as the
landing--and waited there.
She had her reasons for placing this restraint on herself. The position
of the landing concealed her from the view of a person in the hall. If
she only listened for the sound of voices she might safely discover
whether Lord Harry was, or was not, still in the house. In the first
event, it would be easy to interrupt his interview with Iris, before
the talk could lead to disclosures which Mrs. Vimpany had every reason
to dread. In the second event, there would be no need to show herself.
Meanwhile, Iris opened the dining-room door and looked in.
Nobody was there. The one other room on the ground floor, situated at
the back of the building, was the doctor's consulting-room. She knocked
at the door. Mr. Vimpany's voice answered: "Come in." There he was
alone, drinking brandy and water, and smoking his big black cigar.
"Where is Lord Harry?" she said.
"In Ireland, I suppose," Mr. Vimpany answered quietly.
Iris wasted no time in making useless inquiries. She closed the door
again, and left him. He, too, was undoubtedly in the conspiracy to keep
her deceived. How had it been done? Where was the wild lord, at that
moment?
Whilst she was pursuing these reflections in the hall, Rhoda came up
from the servants' tea-table in the kitchen. Her mistress gave her the
necessary instructions for packing, and promised to help her before
long. Mrs. Vimpany's audacious resolution to dispute the evidence of
her own senses, still dwelt on Miss Henley's mind. Too angry to think
of the embarrassment which an interview with Lord Harry would produce,
after they had said their farewell words in Ireland. she was determined
to prevent the doctor's wife from speaking to him first, and claiming
him as an accomplice in her impudent denial of the truth. If he had
been, by any chance, deluded into leaving the house, he would sooner or
later discover the trick that had been played on him, and would
certainly return. Iris took a chair in the hall.
* * * * * * *
It is due to the doctor to relate that he had indeed justified his
wife's confidence in him.
The diamond pin, undergoing valuation in London, still represented a
present terror in his mind. The money, the money--he was the most
attentive husband in England when he thought of the money! At the time
when Lord Harry's carriage stopped at his house-door, he was in the
dining-room, taking a bottle of brandy from the cellaret in the
sideboard. Looking instantly out of the window, he discovered who the
visitor was, and decided on consulting his instructions in the
pocket-diary. The attempt was rendered useless, as soon as he had
opened the book, by the unlucky activity of the servant in answering
the door. Her master stopped her in the hall. He was pleasantly
conscious of the recovery of his cunning. But his memory (far from
active under the most favourable circumstances) was slower than ever at
helping him now. On the spur of the moment he could only call to mind
that he had been ordered to prevent a meeting between Lord Harry and
Iris. "Show the gentleman into my consulting-room," he said.
Lord Harry found the doctor enthroned on his professional chair,
surprised and delighted to see his distinguished friend. The impetuous
Irishman at once asked for Miss Henley.
"Gone," Mr. Vimpany answered
"Gone--where?" the wild lord wanted to know next.
"To London."
"By herself?"
"No; with Mr. Hugh Mountjoy."
Lord Harry seized the doctor by the shoulders, and shook him: "You
don't mean to tell me Mountjoy is going to marry her?"
Mr. Vimpany feared nothing but the loss of money. The weaker and the
older man of the two, he nevertheless followed the young lord's
example, and shook him with right good-will. "Let's see how you like it
in your turn," he said. "As for Mountjoy, I don't know whether he is
married or single--and don't care."
"The devil take your obstinacy! When did they start?"
"The devil take your questions! They started not long since."
"Might I catch them at the station?"
"Yes; if you go at once."
So the desperate doctor carried out his wife's instructions--without
remembering the conditions which had accompanied them.
The way to the station took Lord Harry past the inn. He saw Hugh
Mountjoy through the open house door paying his bill at the bar. In an
instant the carriage was stopped, and the two men (never on friendly
terms) were formally bowing to each other.
"I was told I should find you," Lord Harry said, "with Miss Henley, at
the station."
"Who gave you your information?"
"Vimpany--the doctor."
"He ought to know that the train isn't due at the station for an hour
yet."
"Has the blackguard deceived me? One word more, Mr. Mountjoy. Is Miss
Henley at the inn?"
"No."
"Are you going with her to London?"
"I must leave Miss Henley to answer that."
"Where is she, sir?"
"There is an end to everything, my lord, in the world we live in. You
have reached the end of my readiness to answer questions." The
Englishman and the Irishman looked at each other: the Anglo-Saxon was
impenetrably cool; the Celt was flushed and angry. They might have been
on the brink of a quarrel, but for Lord Harry's native quickness of
perception, and his exercise of it at that moment. When he had called
at Mr. Vimpany's house, and had asked for Iris, the doctor had got rid
of him by means of a lie. After this discovery, at what conclusion
could he arrive? The doctor was certainly keeping Iris out of his way.
Reasoning in this rapid manner, Lord Harry let one offence pass, in his
headlong eagerness to resent another. He instantly left Mountjoy. Again
the carriage rattled back along the street; but it was stopped before
it reached Mr. Vimpany's door.
Lord Harry knew the people whom he had to deal with, and took measures
to approach the house silently, on foot. The coachman received orders
to look out for a signal, which should tell him when he was wanted
again.
Mr. Vimpany's ears, vigilantly on the watch for suspicious events,
detected no sound of carriage wheels and no noisy use of the knocker.
Still on his guard, however, a ring at the house-bell disturbed him in
his consulting-room. Peeping into the hall, he saw Iris opening the
door, and stole back to his room. "The devil take her!" he said,
alluding to Miss Henley, and thinking of the enviable proprietor of the
diamond pin.
At the unexpected appearance of Iris, Lord Harry forgot every
consideration which ought to have been present to his mind, at that
critical moment.
He advanced to her with both hands held out in cordial greeting. She
signed to him contemptuously to stand back--and spoke in tones
cautiously lowered, after a glance at the door of the consulting-room.
"My only reason for consenting to see you," she said, "is to protect
myself from further deception. Your disgraceful conduct is known to me.
Go now," she continued, pointing to the stairs, "and consult with your
spy, as soon as you like." The Irish lord listened--guiltily conscious
of having deserved what she had said to him--without attempting to
utter a word in excuse.
Still posted at the head of the stairs, the doctor's wife heard Iris
speaking; but the tone was not loud enough to make the words
intelligible at that distance; neither was any other voice audible in
reply. Vaguely suspicions of some act of domestic treachery, Mrs.
Vimpany began to descend the stairs. At the turning which gave her a
view of the hall, she stopped; thunderstruck by the discovery of Lord
Harry and Miss Henley, together.
The presence of a third person seemed, in some degree, to relieve Lord
Harry. He ran upstairs to salute Mrs. Vimpany, and was met again by a
cold reception and a hostile look.
Strongly and strangely contrasted, the two confronted each other on the
stairs. The faded woman, wan and ghastly under cruel stress of mental
suffering, stood face to face with a fine, tall, lithe man, in the
prime of his heath and strength. Here were the bright blue eyes, the
winning smile, and the natural grace of movement, which find their own
way to favour in the estimation of the gentler sex. This irreclaimable
wanderer among the perilous by-ways of the earth--christened "Irish
blackguard," among respectable members of society, when they spoke of
him behind his back--attracted attention, even among the men. Looking
at his daring, finely-formed face, they noticed (as an exception to a
general rule, in these days) the total suppression, by the razor, of
whiskers, moustache, and beard. Strangers wondered whether Lord Harry
was an actor or a Roman Catholic priest. Among chance acquaintances,
those few favourites of Nature who are possessed of active brains,
guessed that his life of adventure might well have rendered disguise
necessary to his safety, in more than one part of the world. Sometimes
they boldly put the question to him. The hot temper of an Irishman, in
moments of excitement, is not infrequently a sweet temper in moments of
calm. What they called Lord Harry's good-nature owned readily that he
had been indebted, on certain occasions, to the protection of a false
beard, And perhaps a colouring of his face and hair to match. The same
easy disposition now asserted itself, under the merciless enmity of
Mrs. Vimpany's eyes. "If I have done anything to offend you," he said,
with an air of puzzled humility, "I'm sure I am sorry for it. Don't be
angry, Arabella, with an old friend. Why won't you shake hands?"
"I have kept your secret, and done your dirty work," Mrs. Vimpany
replied. "And what is my reward? Miss Henley can tell you how your
Irish blundering has ruined me in a lady's estimation. Shake hands,
indeed! You will never shake hands with Me again as long as you live!"
She said those words without looking at him; her eyes were resting on
Iris now. From the moment when she had seen the two together, she knew
that it was all over; further denial in the face of plain proofs would
be useless indeed! Submission was the one alternative left.
"Miss Henley," she said, "if you can feel pity for another woman's
sorrow and shame, let me have a last word with you--out of this man's
hearing."
There was nothing artificial in her tones or her looks; no acting could
have imitated the sad sincerity with which she spoke. Touched by that
change, Iris accompanied her as she ascended the stairs. After a little
hesitation, Lord Harry followed them. Mrs. Vimpany turned on him when
they reached the drawing-room landing. "Must I shut the door in your
face?" she asked.
He was as pleasantly patient as ever:
"You needn't take the trouble to do that, my dear; I'll only ask your
leave to sit down and wait on the stairs. When you have done with Miss
Henley, just call me in. And, by the way, don't be alarmed in case of a
little noise--say a heavy man tumbling downstairs. If the blackguard
it's your misfortune to be married to happens to show himself, I shall
be under the necessity of kicking him. That's all."
Mrs. Vimpany closed the door. She spoke to Iris respectfully, as she
might have addressed a stranger occupying a higher rank in life than
herself.
"There is an end, madam, to one short acquaintance; and, as we both
know, an end to it for ever. When we first met--let me tell the truth
at last!--I felt a malicious pleasure in deceiving you. After that
time, I was surprised to find that you grew on my liking, Can you
understand the wickedness that tried to resist you? It was useless;
your good influence has been too strong for me. Strange, isn't it? I
have lived a life of deceit, among bad people. What could you expect of
me, after that? I heaped lies on lies--I would have denied that the sun
was in the heavens--rather than find myself degraded in your opinion.
Well! that is all over--useless, quite useless now. Pray don't mistake
me. I am not attempting to excuse myself; a confession was due to you;
the confession is made. It is too late to hope that you will forgive
me. If you will permit it, I have only one favour to ask. Forget me."
She turned away with a last hopeless look, who said as plainly as if in
words: "I am not worth a reply."
Generous Iris insisted on speaking to her.
"I believe you are truly sorry for what you have done," she said; "I
can never forget that--I can never forget You." She held out her
pitying hand. Mrs. Vimpany was too bitterly conscious of the past to
touch it. Even a spy is not beneath the universal reach of the
heartache. There were tears in the miserable woman's eyes when she had
looked her last at Iris Henley.
CHAPTER XII
LORD HARRY's DEFENCE
AFTER a short interval, the drawing-room door was opened again. Waiting
on the threshold, the Irish lord asked if he might come in.
Iris replied coldly. "This is not my house," she said; "I must leave
you to decide for yourself."
Lord Harry crossed the room to speak to her and stopped. There was no
sign of relenting towards him in that dearly-loved face. "I wonder
whether it would be a relief to you," he suggested with piteous
humility, "if I went away?"
If she had been true to herself, she would have said, Yes. Where is the
woman to be found, in her place, with a heart hard enough to have set
her that example? She pointed to a chair. He felt her indulgence
gratefully. Following the impulse of the moment, he attempted to excuse
his conduct.
"There is only one thing I can say for myself," he confessed, "I didn't
begin by deceiving you. While you had your eye on me, Iris, I was an
honourable man."
This extraordinary defence reduced her to silence. Was there another
man in the world who would have pleaded for pardon in that way? "I'm
afraid I have not made myself understood," he said. "May I try again?"
"If you please."
The vagabond nobleman made a resolute effort to explain himself
intelligibly, this time:
"See now! We said good-bye, over there, in the poor old island. Well,
indeed I meant it, when I owned that I was unworthy of you. _I_ didn't
contradict you, when you said you could never be my wife, after such a
life as I have led. And, do remember, I submitted to your returning to
England, without presuming to make a complaint. Ah, my sweet girl, it
was easy to submit, while I could look at you, and hear the sound of
your voice, and beg for that last kiss--and get it. Reverend gentlemen
talk about the fall of Adam. What was that to the fall of Harry, when
he was back in his own little cottage, without the hope of ever seeing
you again? To the best of my recollection, the serpent that tempted Eve
was up a tree. I found the serpent that tempted Me, sitting waiting in
my own armchair, and bent on nothing worse than borrowing a trifle of
money. Need I say who she was? I don't doubt that you think her a
wicked woman."
Never ready in speaking of acts of kindness, on her own part, Iris
answered with some little reserve: "I have learnt to think better of
Mrs. Vimpany than you suppose."
Lord Harry began to look like a happy man, for the first time since he
had entered the room.
"I ought to have known it!" he burst out. "Yours is the well-balanced
mind, dear, that tempers justice with mercy. Mother Vimpany has had a
hard life of it. Just change places with her for a minute or so--and
you'll understand what she has had to go through. Find yourself, for
instance, in Ireland, without the means to take you back to England.
Add to that, a husband who sends you away to make money for him at the
theatre, and a manager (not an Irishman, thank God!) who refuses to
engage you--after your acting has filled his dirty pockets in past
days--because your beauty has faded with time. Doesn't your bright
imagination see it all now? My old friend Arabella, ready and anxious
to serve me--and a sinking at this poor fellow's heart when he knew, if
he once lost the trace of you, he might lose it for ever--there's the
situation, as they call it on the stage. I wish I could say for myself
what I may say for Mrs. Vimpany. It's such a pleasure to a clever woman
to engage in a little deceit--we can't blame her, can we?"
Iris protested gently against a code of morality which included the
right of deceit among the privileges of the sex. Lord Harry slipped
through her fingers with the admirable Irish readiness; he agreed with
Miss Henley that he was entirely wrong.
"And don't spare me while you're about it," he suggested. "Lay all the
blame of that shameful stratagem on my shoulders. It was a despicable
thing to do. When I had you watched, I acted in a manner--I won't say
unworthy of a gentleman; have I been a gentleman since I first ran away
from home? Why, it's even been said my way of speaking is no longer the
way of a gentleman; and small wonder, too, after the company I've kept.
Ah, well! I'm off again, darling, on a sea voyage. Will you forgive me
now? or will you wait till I come back, if I do come back? God knows!"
He dropped on his knees, and kissed her hand. "Anyway," he said,
"whether I live or whether I die, it will be some consolation to
remember that I asked your pardon--and perhaps got it."
"Take it, Harry; I can't help forgiving you!"
She had done her best to resist him, and she had answered in those
merciful words.
The effect was visible, perilously visible, as he rose from his knees.
Her one chance of keeping the distance between them, on which she had
been too weak to insist, was not to encourage him by silence. Abruptly,
desperately, she made a commonplace inquiry about his proposed voyage.
"Tell me," she resumed, "where are you going when you leave England?"
"Oh, to find money, dear, if I can--to pick up diamonds, or to hit on a
mine of gold, and so forth."
The fine observation of Iris detected something not quite easy in his
manner, as he made that reply. He tried to change the subject: she
deliberately returned to it. "Your account of your travelling plans is
rather vague," she told him. "Do you know when you are likely to
return?"
He took her hand. One of the rings on her fingers happened to be turned
the wrong way. He set it in the right position, and discovered an opal.
"Ah! the unlucky stone!" he cried, and turned it back again out of
sight. She drew away her hand. "I asked you," she persisted, "when you
expect to return?"
He laughed--not so gaily as usual.
"How do I know I shall ever get back?" he answered. "Sometimes the seas
turn traitor, and sometimes the savages. I have had so many narrow
escapes of my life, I can't expect my luck to last for ever." He made a
second attempt to change the subject. "I wonder whether you're likely
to pay another visit to Ireland? My cottage is entirely at your
disposal, Iris dear. Oh, when I'm out of the way, of course! The place
seemed to please your fancy, when you saw it. You will find it well
taken care of, I answer for that."
Iris asked who was taking care of his cottage.
The wild lord's face saddened. He hesitated; rose from his chair
restlessly, and walked away to the window; returned, and made up his
mind to reply.
"My dear, you know her. She was the old housekeeper at--"
His voice failed him. He was unable, or unwilling, to pronounce the
name of Arthur's farm.
Knowing, it is needless to say, that he had alluded to Mrs. Lewson,
Iris warmly commended him for taking care of her old nurse. At the same
time, she remembered the unfriendly terms in which the housekeeper had
alluded to Lord Harry, when they had talked of him.
"Did you find no difficulty," she asked, "in persuading Mrs. Lewson to
enter your service?"
"Oh, yes, plenty of difficulty; I found my bad character in my way, as
usual." It was a relief to him, at that moment, to talk of Mrs. Lewson;
the Irish humour and the Irish accent both asserted themselves in his
reply. "The curious old creature told me to my face I was a scamp. I
took leave to remind her that it was the duty of a respectable person,
like herself, to reform scamps; I also mentioned that I was going away,
and she would be master and mistress too on my small property. That
softened her heart towards me. You will mostly find old women amenable,
if you get at them by way of their dignity. Besides, there was another
lucky circumstance that helped me. The neighbourhood of my cottage has
some attraction for Mrs. Lewson. She didn't say particularly what it
was--and I never asked her to tell me."
"Surely you might have guessed it, without being told," Iris reminded
him. "Mrs. Lewson's faithful heart loves poor Arthur's memory--and
Arthur's grave is not far from your cottage."
"Don't speak of him!"
It was said loudly, peremptorily, passionately. He looked at her with
angry astonishment in his face. "You loved him too!" he said. "Can you
speak of him quietly? The noblest, truest, sweetest man that ever the
Heavens looked on, foully assassinated. And the wretch who murdered him
still living, free--oh, what is God's providence about?--is there no
retribution that will follow him? no just hand that will revenge
Arthur's death?"
As those fierce words escaped him, he was no longer the easy, gentle,
joyous creature whom Iris had known and loved. The furious passions of
the Celtic race glittered savagely in his eyes, and changed to a grey
horrid pallor the healthy colour that was natural to his face. "Oh, my
temper, my temper!" he cried, as Iris shrank from him. "She hates me
now, and no wonder." He staggered away from her, and burst into a
convulsive fit of crying, dreadful to hear. Compassion, divine
compassion, mastered the earthlier emotion of terror in the great heart
of the woman who loved him. She followed him, and laid her hand
caressingly on his shoulder. "I don't hate you, my dear," she said. "I
am sorry for Arthur--and, oh, so sorry for You!" He caught her in his
arms. His gratitude, his repentance, his silent farewell were all
expressed in a last kiss. It was a moment, never to be forgotten to the
end of their lives. Before she could speak, before she could think, he
had left her.
She called him back, through the open door. He never returned; he never
even replied. She ran to the window, and threw it up--and was just in
time to see him signal to the carriage and leap into it. Her horror of
the fatal purpose that was but too plainly rooted in him--her
conviction that he was on the track of the assassin, self devoted to
exact the terrible penalty of blood for blood--emboldened her to insist
on being heard. "Come back," she cried. "I must, I will, speak with
you."
He waved his hand to her with a gesture of despair. "Start your
horses," he shouted to the coachman. Alarmed by his voice and his look,
the man asked where he should drive to. Lord Harry pointed furiously to
the onward road. "Drive," he answered, "to the Devil!"
THE END OF THE FIRST PERIOD
THE SECOND PERIOD
CHAPTER XIII
IRIS AT HOME
A LITTLE more than four months had passed, since the return of Iris to
her father's house.
Among other events which occurred, during the earlier part of that
interval, the course adopted by Hugh Mountjoy, when Miss Henley's
suspicions of the Irish lord were first communicated to him, claims a
foremost place.
It was impossible that the devoted friend of Iris could look at her,
when they met again on their way to the station, without perceiving the
signs of serious agitation. Only waiting until they were alone in the
railway-carriage, she opened her heart unreservedly to the man in whose
clear intellect and true sympathy she could repose implicit trust. He
listened to what she could repeat of Lord Harry's language with but
little appearance of surprise. Iris had only reminded him of one, among
the disclosures which had escaped Mr. Vimpany at the inn. Under the
irresistible influence of good wine, the doctor had revealed the Irish
lord's motive for remaining in his own country, after the assassination
of Arthur Mountjoy. Hugh met the only difficulty in his way, without
shrinking from it. He resolved to clear his mind of its natural
prejudice against the rival who had been preferred to him, before he
assumed the responsibility of guiding Iris by his advice.
When he had in some degree recovered confidence in his own unbiased
judgment, he entered on the question of Lord Harry's purpose in leaving
England.
Without attempting to dispute the conclusion at which Iris had arrived,
he did his best to alleviate her distress. In his opinion, he was
careful to tell her, a discovery of the destination to which Lord Harry
proposed to betake himself, might be achieved. The Irish lord's
allusion to a new adventure, which would occupy him in searching for
diamonds or gold, might indicate a contemplated pursuit of the
assassin, as well as a plausible excuse to satisfy Iris. It was at
least possible that the murderer might have been warned of his danger
if he remained in England, and that he might have contemplated
directing his flight to a distant country, which would not only offer a
safe refuge, but also hold out (in its mineral treasures) a hope of
gain. Assuming that these circumstances had really happened, it was in
Lord Harry's character to make sure of his revenge, by embarking in the
steamship by which the assassin of Arthur Mountjoy was a passenger.
Wild as this guess at the truth undoubtedly was, it had one merit: it
might easily be put to the test.
Hugh had bought the day's newspaper at the station. He proposed to
consult the shipping advertisements relating, in the first place, to
communication with the diamond-mines and the goldfields of South
Africa.
This course of proceeding at once informed him that the first steamer,
bound for that destination, would sail from London in two days' time.
The obvious precaution to take was to have the Dock watched; and
Mountjoy's steady old servant, who knew Lord Harry by sight, was the
man to employ.
Iris naturally inquired what good end could be attained, if the
anticipated discovery actually took place.
To this Mountjoy answered, that the one hope--a faint hope, he must
needs confess--of inducing Lord Harry to reconsider his desperate
purpose, lay in the influence of Iris herself. She must address a
letter to him, announcing that his secret had been betrayed by his own
language and conduct, and declaring that she would never again see him,
or hold any communication with him, if he persisted in his savage
resolution of revenge. Such was the desperate experiment which
Mountjoy's generous and unselfish devotion to Iris now proposed to try.
The servant (duly entrusted with Miss Henley's letter) was placed on
the watch--and the event which had been regarded as little better than
a forlorn hope, proved to be the event that really took place. Lord
Harry was a passenger by the steamship.
Mountjoy's man presented the letter entrusted to him, and asked
respectfully if there was any answer. The wild lord read it--looked (to
use the messenger's own words) like a man cut to the heart--seemed at a
loss what to say or do--and only gave a verbal answer: "I sincerely
thank Miss Henley, and I promise to write when the ship touches at
Madeira." The servant continued to watch him when he went on board the
steamer; saw him cast a look backwards, as if suspecting that he might
have been followed; and then lost sight of him in the cabin. The vessel
sailed after a long interval of delay, but he never reappeared on the
deck.
The ambiguous message sent to her aroused the resentment of Iris; she
thought it cruel. For some weeks perhaps to come, she was condemned to
remain in doubt, and was left to endure the trial of her patience,
without having Mountjoy at hand to encourage and console her. He had
been called away to the south of France by the illness of his father.
But the fortunes of Miss Henley, at this period of her life, had their
brighter side. She found reason to congratulate herself on the
reconciliation which had brought her back to her father. Mr. Henley had
received her, not perhaps with affection, but certainly with kindness.
"If we don't get in each other's way, we shall do very well; I am glad
to see you again." That was all he had said to her, but it meant much
from a soured and selfish man.
Her only domestic anxiety was caused by another failure in the health
of her maid.
The Doctor declared that medical help would be of no avail, while Rhoda
Bennet remained in London. In the country she had been born and bred,
and to the country she must return. Mr. Henley's large landed property,
on the north of London, happened to include a farm in the neighbourhood
of Muswell Hill. Wisely waiting for a favourable opportunity, Iris
alluded to the good qualities which had made Rhoda almost as much her
friend as her servant, and asked leave to remove the invalid to the
healthy air of the farm.
Her anxiety about the recovery of a servant so astonished Mr. Henley,
that he was hurried (as he afterwards declared) into granting his
daughter's request. After this concession, the necessary arrangements
were easily made. The influence of Iris won the goodwill of the farmer
and his wife; Rhoda, as an expert and willing needlewoman, being sure
of a welcome, for her own sake, in a family which included a number of
young children. Miss Henley had only to order her carriage, and to be
within reach of the farm. A week seldom passed without a meeting
between the mistress and the maid.
In the meantime, Mountjoy (absent in France) did not forget to write to
Iris.
His letters offered little hope of a speedy return. The doctors had not
concealed from him that his father's illness would end fatally; but
there were reserves of vital power still left, which might prolong the
struggle. Under these melancholy circumstances, he begged that Iris
would write to him. The oftener she could tell him of the little events
of her life at home, the more kindly she would brighten the days of a
dreary life.
Eager to show, even in a trifling matter, how gratefully she
appreciated Mountjoy's past kindness, Iris related the simple story of
her life at home, in weekly letters addressed to her good friend. After
telling Hugh (among other things) of Rhoda's establishment at the farm,
she had some unexpected results to relate, which had followed the
attempt to provide herself with a new maid.
Two young women had been successively engaged--each recommended, by the
lady whom she had last served, with that utter disregard of moral
obligation which appears to be shamelessly on the increase in the
England of our day. The first of the two maids, described as "rather
excitable," revealed infirmities of temper which suggested a lunatic
asylum as the only fit place for her. The second young woman, detected
in stealing eau-de-cologne, and using it (mixed with water) as an
intoxicating drink, claimed merciful construction of her misconduct, on
the ground that she had been misled by the example of her last
mistress.
At the third attempt to provide herself with a servant, Iris was able
to report the discovery of a responsible person who told the truth--an
unmarried lady of middle age.
In this case, the young woman was described as a servant thoroughly
trained in the performance of her duties, honest, sober, industrious,
of an even temper, and unprovided with a "follower" in the shape of a
sweetheart. Even her name sounded favourably in the ear of a
stranger--it was Fanny Mere. Iris asked how a servant, apparently
possessed of a faultless character, came to be in want of a situation.
At this question the lady sighed, and acknowledged that she had "made a
dreadful discovery," relating to the past life of her maid. It proved
to be the old, the miserably old, story of a broken promise of
marriage, and of the penalty paid as usual by the unhappy woman. "I
will say nothing of my own feelings," the maiden lady explained. "In
justice to the other female servants, it was impossible for me to keep
such a person in my house; and, in justice to you, I must most
unwillingly stand in the way of Fanny Mere's prospects by mentioning my
reason for parting with her."
"If I could see the young woman and speak to her," Iris said, "I should
like to decide the question of engaging her, for myself."
The lady knew the address of her discharged servant, and--with some
appearance of wonder--communicated it. Miss Henley wrote at once,
telling Fanny Mere to come to her on the following day.
When she woke on the next morning, later than usual, an event occurred
which Iris had been impatiently expecting for some time past. She found
a letter waiting on her bedside table, side by side with her cup of
tea. Lord Harry had written to her at last.
Whether he used his pen or his tongue, the Irish lord's conduct was
always more or less in need of an apology. Here were the guilty one's
new excuses, expressed in his customary medley of frank confession and
flowery language:
"I am fearing, my angel, that I have offended you. You have too surely
said to yourself, This miserable Harry might have made me happy by
writing two lines--and what does he do? He sends a message in words
which tell me nothing.
"My sweet girl, the reason why is that I was in two minds when your man
stopped me on my way to the ship.
"Whether it was best for you--I was not thinking of myself--to confess
the plain truth, or to take refuge in affectionate equivocation, was
more than I could decide at the time. When minutes are enough for your
intelligence, my stupidity wants days. Well! I saw it at last. A man
owes the truth to a true woman; and you are a true woman. There you
find a process of reasoning--I have been five days getting hold of it.
"But tell me one thing first. Brutus killed a man; Charlotte Corday
killed a man. One of the two victims was a fine tyrant, and the other a
mean tyrant. Nobody blames those two historical assassins. Why then
blame me for wishing to make a third? Is a mere modern murderer beneath
my vengeance, by comparison with two classical tyrants who did _their_
murders by deputy? The man who killed Arthur Mountjoy is (next to Cain
alone) the most atrocious homicide that ever trod the miry ways of this
earth. There is my reply! I call it a crusher.
"So now my mind is easy. Darling, let me make your mind easy next.
"When I left you at the window of Vimpany's house, I was off to the
other railroad to find the murderer in his hiding-place by the seaside.
He had left it; but I got a trace, and went back to London--to the
Docks. Some villain in Ireland, who knows my purpose, must have turned
traitor. Anyhow, the wretch has escaped me.
"Yes; I searched the ship in every corner. He was not on board. Has he
gone on before me, by an earlier vessel? Or has he directed his flight
to some other part of the world? I shall find out in time. His day of
reckoning will come, and he, too, shall know a violent death! Amen. So
be it. Amen.
"Have I done now? Bear with me, gentle Iris--there is a word more to
come.
"You will wonder why I went on by the steamship--all the way to South
Africa--when I had failed to find the man I wanted, on board. What was
my motive? You, you alone, are always my motive. Lucky men have found
gold, lucky men have found diamonds. Why should I not be one of them?
My sweet, let us suppose two possible things; my own elastic
convictions would call them two likely things, but never mind that.
Say, I come back a reformed character; there is your only objection to
me, at once removed! And take it for granted that I return with a
fortune of my own finding. In that case, what becomes of Mr. Henley's
objection to me? It melts (as Shakespeare says somewhere) into thin
air. Now do take my advice, for once. Show this part of my letter to
your excellent father, with my love. I answer beforehand for the
consequences. Be happy, my Lady Harry--as happy as I am--and look for
my return on an earlier day than you may anticipate. Yours till death,
and after.
"HARRY."
Like the Irish lord, Miss Henley was "in two minds," while she rose,
and dressed herself. There were parts of the letter for which she loved
the writer, and parts of it for which she hated him.
What a prospect was before that reckless man--what misery, what horror,
might not be lying in wait in the dreadful future! If he failed in the
act of vengeance, that violent death of which he had written so
heedlessly might overtake him from another hand. If he succeeded, the
law might discover his crime, and the infamy of expiation on the
scaffold might be his dreadful end. She turned, shuddering, from the
contemplation of those hideous possibilities, and took refuge in the
hope of his safe, his guiltless return. Even if his visions of success,
even if his purposes of reform (how hopeless at his age!) were actually
realised, could she consent to marry the man who had led his life, had
written this letter, had contemplated (and still cherished) his
merciless resolution of revenge? No woman in her senses could let the
bare idea of being his wife enter her mind. Iris opened her
writing-desk, to hide the letter from all eyes but her own. As she
secured it with the key, her heart sank under the return of a terror
remembered but too well Once more, the superstitious belief in a
destiny that was urging Lord Harry and herself nearer and nearer to
each other, even when they seemed to be most widely and most surely
separated, thrilled her under the chilling mystery of its presence. She
dropped helplessly into a chair. Oh, for a friend who could feel for
her, who could strengthen her, whose wise words could restore her to
her better and calmer self! Hugh was far away; and Iris was left to
suffer and to struggle alone.
Heartfelt aspirations for help and sympathy! Oh, irony of
circumstances, how were they answered? The housemaid entered the room,
to announce the arrival of a discharged servant, with a lost character.
"Let the young woman come in," Iris said. Was Fanny Mere the friend
whom she had been longing for? She looked at her troubled face in the
glass--and laughed bitterly.
CHAPTER XIV
THE LADY'S MAID
IT was not easy to form a positive opinion of the young woman who now
presented herself in Miss Henley's room.
If the Turkish taste is truly reported as valuing beauty in the female
figure more than beauty in the female face, Fanny Mere's personal
appearance might have found, in Constantinople, the approval which she
failed to receive in London. Slim and well balanced, firmly and neatly
made, she interested men who met her by accident (and sometimes even
women), if they happened to be walking behind her. When they quickened
their steps, and, passing on, looked back at her face, they lost all
interest in Fanny from that moment. Painters would have described the
defect in her face as "want of colour." She was one of the whitest of
fair female human beings. Light flaxen hair, faint blue eyes with no
expression in them, and a complexion which looked as if it had never
been stirred by a circulation of blood, produced an effect on her
fellow-creatures in general which made them insensible to the beauty of
her figure, and the grace of her movements. There was no betrayal of
bad health in her strange pallor: on the contrary, she suggested the
idea of rare physical strength. Her quietly respectful manner was, so
to say, emphasised by an underlying self-possession, which looked
capable of acting promptly and fearlessly in the critical emergencies
of life. Otherwise, the expression of character in her face was
essentially passive. Here was a steady, resolute young woman, possessed
of qualities which failed to show themselves on the surface--whether
good qualities or bad qualities experience alone could determine.
Finding it impossible, judging by a first impression, to arrive at any
immediate decision favourable or adverse to the stranger, Iris opened
the interview with her customary frankness; leaving the consequences to
follow as they might.
"Take a seat, Fanny," she said, "and let us try if we can understand
each other. I think you will agree with me that there must be no
concealments between us. You ought to know that your mistress has told
me why she parted with you. It was her duty to tell me the truth, and
it is my duty not to be unjustly prejudiced against you after what I
have heard. Pray believe me when I say that I don't know, and don't
wish to know, what your temptation may have been--"
"I beg your pardon, Miss, for interrupting you. My temptation was
vanity."
Whether she did or did not suffer in making that confession, it was
impossible to discover. Her tones were quiet; her manner was
unobtrusively respectful; the pallor of her face was not disturbed by
the slightest change of colour. Was the new maid an insensible person?
Iris began to fear already that she might have made a mistake.
"I don't expect you to enter into particulars," she said; "I don't ask
you here to humiliate yourself."
"When I got your letter, Miss, I tried to consider how I might show
myself worthy of your kindness," Fanny answered. "The one way I could
see was not to let you think better of me than I deserve. When a
person, like me, is told, for the first time, that her figure makes
amends for her face, she is flattered by the only compliment that has
been paid to her in all her life. My excuse, Miss (if I have an excuse)
is a mean one---I couldn't resist a compliment. That is all I have to
say."
Iris began to alter her opinion. This was not a young woman of the
ordinary type. It began to look possible, and more than possible, that
she was worthy of a helping hand. The truth seemed to be in her.
"I understand you, and feel for you." Having replied in those words,
Iris wisely and delicately changed the subject. "Let me hear how you
are situated at the present time," she continued. "Are your parents
living?"
"My father and mother are dead, Miss."
"Have you any other relatives?"
"They are too poor to be able to do anything for me. I have lost my
character--and I am left to help myself."
"Suppose you fail to find another situation?" Iris suggested.
"Yes, Miss?"
"How can you help yourself?"
"I can do what other girls have done."
"What do you mean?"
"Some of us starve on needlework. Some take to the streets. Some end it
in the river. If there is no other chance for me, I think I shall try
that way," said the poor creature, as quietly as if she was speaking of
some customary prospect that was open to her. "There will be nobody to
be sorry for me--and, as I have read, drowning is not a very painful
death."
"You shock me, Fanny! I, for one, should be sorry for you."
"Thank you, Miss."
"And try to remember," Iris continued, "that there may be chances in
the future which you don't see yet. You speak of what you have read,
and I have already noticed how clearly and correctly you express
yourself. You must have been educated. Was it at home? or at school?
"I was once sent to school," Fanny replied, not quite willingly.
"Was it a private school?"
"Yes."
That short answer warned Iris to be careful.
"Recollections of school," she said good-humouredly, "are not the
pleasantest recollections in some of our lives. Perhaps I have touched
on a subject which is disagreeable to you?"
"You have touched on one of my disappointments, Miss. While my mother
lived, she was my teacher. After her death, my father sent me to
school. When he failed in business, I was obliged to leave, just as I
had begun to learn and like it. Besides, the girls found out that I was
going away, because there was no money at home to pay the fees--and
that mortified me. There is more that I might tell you. I have a reason
for hating my recollections of the school--but I mustn't mention that
time in my life which your goodness to me tries to forget."
All that appealed to her, so simply and so modestly, in that reply, was
not lost on Iris. After an interval of silence, she said:
"Can you guess what I am thinking of, Fanny?"
"No, Miss."
"I am asking myself a question. If I try you in my service shall I
never regret it?"
For the first time, strong emotion shook Fanny Mere. Her voice failed
her, in the effort to speak. Iris considerately went on.
"You will take the place," she said, "of a maid who has been with me
for years--a good dear creature who has only left me through
ill-health. I must not expect too much of you; I cannot hope that you
will be to me what Rhoda Bennet has been."
Fanny succeeded in controlling herself. "Is there any hope," she asked,
"of my seeing Rhoda Bennet?"
"Why do you wish to see her?"
"You are fond of her, Miss---that is one reason."
"And the other?"
"Rhoda Bennet might help me to serve you as I want to serve you; she
might perhaps encourage me to try if I could follow her example." Fanny
paused, and clasped her hands fervently. The thought that was in her
forced its way to expression. "It's so easy to feel grateful," she
said--"and, oh, so hard to show it!"
"Come to me," her new mistress answered, "and show it to-morrow."
Moved by that compassionate impulse, Iris said the words which restored
to an unfortunate creature a lost character and a forfeited place in
the world.
CHAPTER XV
MR. HENLEY'S TEMPER
PROVIDED by nature with ironclad constitutional defences against
illness, Mr. Henley was now and then troubled with groundless doubts of
his own state of health. Acting under a delusion of this kind, he
imagined symptoms which rendered a change of residence necessary from
his town house to his country house, a few days only after his daughter
had decided on the engagement of her new maid.
Iris gladly, even eagerly, adapted her own wishes to the furtherance of
her father's plans. Sorely tried by anxiety and suspense, she needed
all that rest and tranquillity could do for her. The first week in the
country produced an improvement in her health. Enjoying the serene
beauty of woodland and field, breathing the delicious purity of the
air--sometimes cultivating her own corner in the garden, and sometimes
helping the women in the lighter labours of the dairy--her nerves
recovered their tone, and her spirits rose again to their higher level.
In the performance of her duties the new maid justified Miss Henley's
confidence in her, during the residence of the household in the
country.
She showed, in her own undemonstrative way, a grateful sense of her
mistress's kindness. Her various occupations were intelligently and
attentively pursued; her even temper never seemed to vary; she gave the
servants no opportunities of complaining of her. But one peculiarity in
her behaviour excited hostile remark, below-stairs. On the occasions
when she was free to go out for the day, she always found some excuse
for not joining any of the other female servants, who might happen to
be similarly favoured. The one use she made of her holiday was to
travel by railway to some place unknown; always returning at the right
time in the evening. Iris knew enough of the sad circumstances to be
able to respect her motives, and to appreciate the necessity for
keeping the object of these solitary journeys a secret from her
fellow-servants.
The pleasant life in the country house had lasted for nearly a month,
when the announcement of Hugh's approaching return to England reached
Iris. The fatal end of his father's long and lingering illness had
arrived, and the funeral had taken place. Business, connected with his
succession to the property, would detain him in London for a few days.
Submitting to this necessity, he earnestly expressed the hope of seeing
Iris again, the moment he was at liberty.
Hearing the good news, Mr. Henley obstinately returned to his
plans--already twice thwarted--for promoting the marriage of Mountjoy
and Iris.
He wrote to invite Hugh to his house in a tone of cordiality which
astonished his daughter; and when the guest arrived, the genial welcome
of the host had but one defect--Mr. Henley overacted his part. He gave
the two young people perpetual opportunities of speaking to each other
privately; and, on the principle that none are so blind as those who
won't see, he failed to discover that the relations between them
continued to be relations of friendship, do what he might. Hugh's long
attendance on his dying father had left him depressed in spirits; Iris
understood him, and felt for him. He was not ready with his opinion of
the new maid, after he had seen Fanny Mere. "My inclination," he said,
"is to trust the girl. And yet, I hesitate to follow my
inclination--and I don't know why."
When Hugh's visit came to an end, he continued his journey in a
northerly direction. The property left to him by his father included a
cottage, standing in its own grounds, on the Scotch shore of the Solway
Firth. The place had been neglected during the long residence of the
elder Mr. Mountjoy on the Continent. Hugh's present object was to
judge, by his own investigation, of the necessity for repairs.
On the departure of his guest, Mr. Henley (still obstinately hopeful of
the marriage on which he had set his mind) assumed a jocular manner
towards Iris, and asked if the Scotch cottage was to be put in order
for the honeymoon. Her reply, gently as it was expressed, threw him
into a state of fury. His vindictive temper revelled, not only in harsh
words, but in spiteful actions. He sold one of his dogs which had
specially attached itself to Iris; and, seeing that she still enjoyed
the country, he decided on returning to London.
She submitted in silence. But the events of that past time, when her
father's merciless conduct had driven her out of his house, returned
ominously to her memory. She said to herself: "Is a day coming when I
shall leave him again?" It was coming--and she little knew how.
CHAPTER XVI
THE DOCTOR IN FULL DRESS
MR. HENLEY'S household had been again established in London, when a
servant appeared one morning with a visiting card, and announced that a
gentleman had called who wished to see Miss Henley. She looked at the
card. The gentleman was Mr. Vimpany.
On the point of directing the man to say that she was engaged, Iris
checked herself.
Mrs. Vimpany's farewell words had produced a strong impression on her.
There had been moments of doubt and gloom in her later life, when the
remembrance of that unhappy woman was associated with a feeling
(perhaps a morbid feeling) of self-reproach. It seemed to be hard on
the poor penitent wretch not to have written to her. Was she still
leading the same dreary life in the mouldering old town? Or had she
made another attempt to return to the ungrateful stage? The gross
husband, impudently presenting himself with his card and his message,
could answer those questions if he could do nothing else. For that
reason only Iris decided that she would receive Mr. Vimpany.
On entering the room, she found two discoveries awaiting her, for which
she was entirely unprepared.
The doctor's personal appearance exhibited a striking change; he was
dressed, in accordance with the strictest notions of professional
propriety, entirely in black. More remarkable still, there happened to
be a French novel among the books on the table--and that novel Mr.
Vimpany, barbarous Mr. Vimpany, was actually reading with an appearance
of understanding it!
"I seem to surprise you," said the doctor. "Is it this?" He held up the
French novel as he put the question.
"I must own that I was not aware of the range of your accomplishments,"
Iris answered.
"Oh, don't talk of accomplishments! I learnt my profession in Paris.
For nigh on three years I lived among the French medical students.
Noticing this book on the table, I thought I would try whether I had
forgotten the language--in the time that has passed (you know) since
those days. Well, my memory isn't a good one in most things, but
strange to say (force of habit, I suppose), some of my French sticks by
me still. I hope I see you well, Miss Henley. Might I ask if you
noticed the new address, when I sent up my card?"
"I only noticed your name."
The doctor produced his pocket-book, and took out a second card. With
pride he pointed to the address: "5 Redburn Road, Hampstead Heath."
With pride he looked at his black clothes. "Strictly professional,
isn't it?" he said. "I have bought a new practice; and I have become a
new man. It isn't easy at first. No, by jingo--I beg your pardon--I was
about to say, my own respectability rather bothers me; I shall get used
to it in time. If you will allow me, I'll take a liberty. No offence, I
hope?"
He produced a handful of his cards, and laid them out in a neat little
semicircle on the table.
"A word of recommendation, when you have the chance, would be a
friendly act on your part," he explained. "Capital air in Redburn Road,
and a fine view of the Heath out of the garret windows--but it's rather
an out-of-the-way situation. Not that I complain; beggars mustn't be
choosers. I should have preferred a practice in a fashionable part of
London; but our little windfall of money--"
He came to a full stop in the middle of a sentence. The sale of the
superb diamond pin, by means of which Lord Harry had repaid Mrs.
Vimpany's services, was, of all domestic events, the last which it
might be wise to mention in the presence of Miss Henley. He was
awkwardly silent. Taking advantage of that circumstance, Iris
introduced the subject in which she felt interested.
"How is Mrs. Vimpany?" she asked.
"Oh, she's all right!"
"Does she like your new house?"
The doctor made a strange reply. "I really can't tell you," he said.
"Do you mean that Mrs. Vimpany declines to express an opinion?"
He laughed. "In all my experience," he said, "I never met with a woman
who did that! No, no; the fact is, my wife and I have parted company.
There's no need to look so serious about it! Incompatibility of temper,
as the saying is, has led us to a friendly separation. Equally a relief
on both sides. She goes her way, I go mine."
His tone disgusted Iris--and she let him see it. "Is it of any use to
ask you for Mrs. Vimpany's address?" she inquired.
His atrocious good-humour kept its balance as steadily as ever: "Sorry
to disappoint you. Mrs. Vimpany hasn't given me her address. Curious,
isn't it? The fact is, she moped a good deal, after you left us; talked
of her duty, and the care of her soul, and that sort of thing. When I
hear where she is, I'll let you know with pleasure. To the best of my
belief, she's doing nurse's work somewhere."
"Nurse's work? What do you mean?"
"Oh, the right thing--all in the fashion. She belongs to what they call
a Sisterhood; goes about, you know, in a shabby black gown, with a poke
bonnet. At least, so Lord Harry told me the other day."
In spite of herself, Iris betrayed the agitation which those words
instantly roused in her. "Lord Harry!" she exclaimed. "Where is he? In
London?"
"Yes--at Parker's Hotel."
"When did he return?"
"Oh, a few days ago; and--what do you think?--he's come back from the
goldfields a lucky man. Damn it, I've let the cat out of the bag! I was
to keep the thing a secret from everybody, and from you most
particularly. He's got some surprise in store for you. Don't tell him
what I've done! We had a little misunderstanding, in past days, at
Honeybuzzard--and, now we are friends again, I don't want to lose his
lordship's interest."
Iris promised to be silent. But to know that the wild lord was in
England again, and to remain in ignorance whether he had, or had not,
returned with the stain of bloodshed on him, was more than she could
endure.
"There is one question I must ask you," she said. "I have reason to
fear that Lord Harry left this country, with a purpose of revenge--"
Mr. Vimpany wanted no further explanation. "Yes, yes; I know. You may
be easy about that. There's been no mischief done, either one way or
the other. The man he was after, when he landed in South Africa (he
told me so himself) has escaped him."
With that reply, the doctor got up in a hurry to bring his visit to an
end. He proposed to take to flight, he remarked facetiously, before
Miss Henley wheedled him into saying anything more.
After opening the door, however, he suddenly returned to Iris, and
added a last word in the strictest confidence.
"If you won't forget to recommend me to your friends," he said, "I'll
trust you with another secret. You will see his lordship in a day or
two, when he returns from the races. Good-bye."
The races! What was Lord Harry doing at the races?
CHAPTER XVII
ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH
IRIS had only to remember the manner in which she and Mountjoy had
disappointed her father, to perceive the serious necessity of
preventing Mountjoy's rival from paying a visit at Mr. Henley's house.
She wrote at once to Lord Harry, at the hotel which Mr. Vimpany had
mentioned, entreating him not to think of calling on her. Being well
aware that he would insist on a meeting, she engaged to write again and
propose an appointment. In making this concession, Iris might have
found it easier to persuade herself that she was yielding to sheer
necessity, if she had not been guiltily conscious of a feeling of
pleasure at the prospect of seeing Lord Harry again, returning to her
an innocent man. There was some influence, in this train of thought,
which led her mind back to Hugh. She regretted his absence--wondered
whether he would have proposed throwing her letter to the Irish lord
into the fire--sighed, closed the envelope, and sent the letter to the
post.
On the next day, she had arranged to drive to Muswell Hill, and to pay
the customary visit to Rhoda. Heavy rain obliged her to wait for a
fitter opportunity. It was only on the third day that the sky cleared,
and the weather was favourable again. On a sunshiny autumn morning,
with a fine keen air blowing, she ordered the open carriage. Noticing,
while Fanny Mere was helping her to dress, that the girl looked even
paler than usual, she said, with her customary kindness to persons
dependent on her, "You look as if a drive in the fresh air would do you
good--you shall go with me to the farm, and see Rhoda Bennet."
When they stopped at the house, the farmer's wife appeared, attending a
gentleman to the door. Iris at once recognised the local medical man.
"You're not in attendance, I hope, on Rhoda Bennet?" she said.
The doctor acknowledged that there had been some return of the nervous
derangement from which the girl suffered. He depended mainly (he said)
on the weather allowing her to be out as much as possible in the fresh
air, and on keeping her free from all agitation. Rhoda was so far on
the way to recovery, that she was now walking in the garden by his
advice. He had no fear of her, provided she was not too readily
encouraged, in her present state, to receive visitors. Her mistress
would be, of course, an exception to this rule. But even Miss Henley
would perhaps do well not to excite the girl by prolonging her visit.
There was one other suggestion which he would venture to make, while he
had the opportunity. Rhoda was not, as he thought, warmly enough
clothed for the time of year; and a bad cold might be easily caught by
a person in her condition.
Iris entered the farm-house; leaving Fanny Mere, after what the doctor
had said on the subject of visitors, to wait for her in the carriage.
After an absence of barely ten minutes Miss Henley returned; personally
changed, not at all to her own advantage, by the introduction of a
novelty in her dress. She had gone into the farmhouse, wearing a
handsome mantle of sealskin. When she came out again, the mantle had
vanished, and there appeared in its place a common cloak of
drab-coloured cloth. Noticing the expression of blank amazement in the
maid's face, Iris burst out laughing.
"How do you think I look in my new cloak?" she asked.
Fanny saw nothing to laugh at in the sacrifice of a sealskin mantle. "I
must not presume, Miss, to give an opinion," she said gravely.
"At any rate," Iris continued, "you must be more than mortal if my
change of costume doesn't excite your curiosity. I found Rhoda Bennet
in the garden, exposed to the cold wind in this ugly flimsy thing.
After what the doctor had told me, it was high time to assert my
authority. I insisted on changing cloaks with Rhoda. She made an
attempt, poor dear, to resist; but she knows me of old--and I had my
way. I am sorry you have been prevented from seeing her; you shall not
miss the opportunity when she is well again. Do you admire a fine view?
Very well; we will vary the drive on our return. Go back," she said to
the coachman, "by Highgate and Hampstead."
Fanny's eyes rested on the shabby cloak with a well-founded distrust of
it as a protection against the autumn weather. She ventured to suggest
that her mistress might feel the loss (in an open carriage) of the warm
mantle which she had left on Rhoda's shoulders.
Iris made light of the doubt expressed by her maid. But by the time
they had passed Highgate, and had approached the beginning of the
straight road which crosses the high ridge of Hampstead Heath, she was
obliged to acknowledge that she did indeed feel the cold. "You ought to
be a good walker," she said, looking at her maid's firm well-knit
figure. "Exercise is all I want to warm me. What do you say to going
home on foot?" Fanny was ready and willing to accompany her mistress.
The carriage was dismissed, and they set forth on their walk.
As they passed the inn called "The Spaniards," two women who were
standing at the garden gate stared at Iris, and smiled. A few paces
further on, they were met by an errand-boy. He too looked at the young
lady, and put his hand derisively to his head, with a shrill whistle
expressive of malicious enjoyment. "I appear to amuse these people,"
Iris said. "What do they see in me?"
Fanny answered with an effort to preserve her gravity, which was not
quite successfully disguised: "I beg your pardon, Miss; I think they
notice the curious contrast between your beautiful bonnet and your
shabby cloak."
Persons of excitable temperament have a sense of ridicule, and a dread
of it, unintelligible to their fellow-creatures who are made of coarser
material. For the moment, Iris was angry. "Why didn't you tell me of
it," she asked sharply, "before I sent away the carriage? How can I
walk back, with everybody laughing at me?"
She paused--reflected a little--and led the way off the high road, on
the right, to the fine clump of fir-trees which commands the famous
view in that part of the Heath.
"There's but one thing to be done," she said, recovering her good
temper; "we must make my grand bonnet suit itself to my miserable
cloak. You will pull out the feather and rip off the lace (and keep
them for yourself, if you like), and then I ought to look shabby enough
from head to foot, I am sure! No; not here; they may notice us from the
road--and what may the fools not do when they see you tearing the
ornaments off my bonnet! Come down below the trees, where the ground
will hide us."
They had nearly descended the steep slope which leads to the valley,
below the clump of firs, when they were stopped by a terrible
discovery.
Close at their feet, in a hollow of the ground, was stretched the
insensible body of a man. He lay on his side, with his face turned away
from them. An open razor had dropped close by him. Iris stooped over
the prostate man, to examine his face. Blood flowing from a frightful
wound in his throat, was the first thing that she saw. Her eyes closed
instinctively, recoiling from that ghastly sight. The next instant she
opened them again, and saw his face.
Dying or dead, it was the face of Lord Harry.
The shriek that burst from her, on making that horrible discovery, was
heard by two men who were crossing the lower heath at some distance.
They saw the women, and ran to them. One of the men was a labourer; the
other, better dressed, looked like a foreman of works. He was the first
who arrived on the spot.
"Enough to frighten you out of your senses, ladies," he said civilly.
"It's a case of suicide, I should say, by the look of it."
"For God's sake, let us do something to help him!" Iris burst out. "I
know him! I know him!"
Fanny, equal to the emergency, asked Miss Henley for her handkerchief,
joined her own handkerchief to it, and began to bandage the wound. "Try
if his pulse is beating," she said quietly to her mistress. The foreman
made himself useful by examining the suicide's pockets. Iris thought
she could detect a faint fluttering in the pulse. "Is there no doctor
living near?" she cried. "Is there no carriage to be found in this
horrible place?"
The foreman had discovered two letters. Iris read her own name on one
of them. The other was addressed "To the person who may find my body."
She tore the envelope open. It contained one of Mr. Vimpany's cards,
with these desperate words written on it in pencil: "Take me to the
doctor's address, and let him bury me, or dissect me, whichever he
pleases." Iris showed the card to the foreman. "Is it near here?" she
asked. "Yes, Miss; we might get him to that place in no time, if there
was a conveyance of any kind to be found." Still preserving her
presence of mind, Fanny pointed in the direction of "The Spaniards"
inn. "We might get what we want there," she said. "Shall I go?"
Iris signed to her to attend to the wounded man, and ascended the
sloping ground. She ran on towards the road. The men, directed by
Fanny, raised the body and slowly followed her, diverging to an easier
ascent. As Iris reached the road, a four-wheel cab passed her. Without
an instant's hesitation, she called to the driver to stop. He pulled up
his horse. She confronted a solitary gentleman, staring out of the
window of the cab, and looking as if he thought that a lady had taken a
liberty with him. Iris allowed the outraged stranger no opportunity of
expressing his sentiments. Breathless as she was, she spoke first.
"Pray forgive me--you are alone in the cab--there is room for a
gentleman, dangerously wounded--he will bleed to death if we don't find
help for him--the place is close by--oh, don't refuse me!" She looked
back, holding fast by the cab door, and saw Fanny and the men slowly
approaching. "Bring him here!" she cried.
"Do nothing of the sort!" shouted the gentleman in possession of the
cab.
But Fanny obeyed her mistress; and the men obeyed Fanny. Iris turned
indignantly to the merciless stranger. "I ask you to do an act of
Christian kindness," she said. "How can you, how dare you, hesitate?"
"Drive on!" cried the stranger.
"Drive on, at your peril," Iris added, on her side.
The cabman sat, silent and stolid, on the box, waiting for events.
Slowly the men came in view, bearing Lord Harry, still insensible. The
handkerchiefs on his throat were saturated with blood. At that sight,
the cowardly instincts of the stranger completely mastered him. "Let me
out!" he clamoured; "let me out!"
Finding the cab left at her disposal, Iris actually thanked him! He
looked at her with an evil eye. "I have my suspicions, I can tell you,"
he muttered. "If this comes to a trial in a court of law, I'm not going
to be mixed up with it. Innocent people have been hanged before now,
when appearances were against them."
He walked off; and, by way of completing the revelation of his own
meanness, forgot to pay his fare.
On the point of starting the horse to pursue him, the cabman was
effectually stopped. Iris showed him a sovereign. Upon this hint (like
Othello) he spoke.
"All right, Miss. I see your poor gentleman is a-bleeding. You'll take
care--won't you?--that he doesn't spoil my cushions." The driver was
not a ill-conditioned man; he put the case of his property indulgently,
with a persuasive smile. Iris turned to the two worthy fellows, who had
so readily given her their help, and bade them good-bye, with a solid
expression of her gratitude which they both remembered for many a long
day to come. Fanny was already in the cab supporting Lord Harry's body.
Iris joined her. The cabman drove carefully to Mr. Vimpany's new house.
CHAPTER XVIII
PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE
NUMBER Five was near the centre of the row of little suburban houses
called Redburn Road.
When the cab drew up at the door Mr. Vimpany himself was visible,
looking out of the window on the ground floor--and yawning as he
looked. Iris beckoned to him impatiently. "Anything wrong?" he asked,
as he approached the door of the cab. She drew back, and silently
showed him what was wrong. The doctor received the shock with
composure. When he happened to be sober and sad, looking for patients
and failing to find them, Mr. Vimpany's capacity for feeling sympathy
began and ended with himself.
"This is a new scrape, even for Lord Harry," he remarked. "Let's get
him into the house."
The insensible man was carried into the nearest room on the ground
floor. Pale and trembling, Iris related what had happened, and asked if
there was no hope of saving him.
"Patience!" Mr. Vimpany answered; "I'll tell you directly."
He removed the bandages, and examined the wound. "There's been a deal
of blood lost," he said; "I'll try and pull him through. While I am
about it, Miss, go upstairs, if you please, and find your way to the
drawing-room." Iris hesitated. The doctor opened a neat mahogany box.
"The tools of my trade," he continued; "I'm going to sew up his
lordship's throat." Shuddering as she heard those words, Iris hurried
out of the room. Fanny followed her mistress up the stairs. In her own
very different way, the maid was as impenetrably composed as Mr.
Vimpany himself. "There was a second letter found in the gentleman's
pocket, Miss," she said. "Will you excuse my reminding you that you
have not read it yet."
Iris read the lines that follow:
"Forgive me, my dear, for the last time. My letter is to say that I
shall trouble you no more in this world--and, as for the other world,
who knows? I brought some money back with me, from the goldfields. It
was not enough to be called a fortune--I mean the sort of fortune which
might persuade your father to let you marry me. Well! here in England,
I had an opportunity of making ten times more of it on the turf; and,
let me add, with private information of the horses which I might
certainly count on to win. I don't stop to ask by what cruel roguery I
was tempted to my ruin. My money is lost; and, with it, my last hope of
a happy and harmless life with you comes to an end. I die, Iris dear,
with the death of that hope. Something in me seems to shrink from
suicide in the ugly gloom of great overgrown London. I prefer to make
away with myself among the fields, where the green will remind me of
dear old Ireland. When you think of me sometimes, say to yourself the
poor wretch loved me--and perhaps the earth will lie lighter on Harry
for those kind words, and the flowers (if you favour me by planting a
few) may grow prettier on my grave."
There it ended.
The heart of Iris sank as she read that melancholy farewell, expressed
in language at once wild and childish. If he survived his desperate
attempt at self-destruction, to what end would it lead? In silence, the
woman who loved him put his letter back in her bosom. Watching her
attentively--affected, it was impossible to say how, by that mute
distress--Fanny Mere proposed to go downstairs, and ask once more what
hope there might be for the wounded man. Iris knew the doctor too well
to let the maid leave her on a useless errand.
"Some men might be kindly ready to relieve my suspense," she said; "the
man downstairs is not one of them. I must wait till he comes to me, or
sends for me. But there is something I wish to say to you, while we are
alone. You have been but a short time in my service, Fanny. Is it too
soon to ask if you feel some interest in me?"
"If I can comfort you or help you, Miss, be pleased to tell me how."
She made that reply respectfully, in her usual quiet manner; her pale
cheeks showing no change of colour, her faint blue eyes resting
steadily on her mistress's face. Iris went on:
"If I ask you to keep what has happened, on this dreadful day, a secret
from everybody, may I trust you--little as you know of me--as I might
have trusted Rhoda Bennet?"
"I promise it, Miss." In saying those few words, the undemonstrative
woman seemed to think that she had said enough.
Iris had no alternative but to ask another favour.
"And whatever curiosity you may feel, will you be content to do me a
kindness--without wanting an explanation?"
"It is my duty to respect my mistress's secrets; I will do my duty." No
sentiment, no offer of respectful sympathy; a positive declaration of
fidelity, left impenetrably to speak for itself. Was the girl's heart
hardened by the disaster which had darkened her life? Or was she the
submissive victim of that inbred reserve, which shrinks from the frank
expression of feeling, and lives and dies self-imprisoned in its own
secrecy? A third explanation, founded probably on a steadier basis, was
suggested by Miss Henley's remembrance of their first interview.
Fanny's nature had revealed a sensitive side, when she was first
encouraged to hope for a refuge from ruin followed perhaps by
starvation and death. Judging so far from experience, a sound
conclusion seemed to follow. When circumstances strongly excited the
girl, there was a dormant vitality in her that revived. At other times
when events failed to agitate her by a direct appeal to personal
interests, her constitutional reserve held the rule. She could be
impenetrably honest, steadily industrious, truly grateful--but the
intuitive expression of feeling, on ordinary occasions, was beyond her
reach.
After an interval of nearly half an hour, Mr. Vimpany made his
appearance. Pausing in the doorway, he consulted his watch, and entered
on a calculation which presented him favourably from a professional
point of view.
"Allow for time lost in reviving my lord when he fainted, and stringing
him up with a drop of brandy, and washing my hands (look how clean they
are!), I haven't been more than twenty minutes in mending his throat.
Not bad surgery, Miss Henley."
"Is his life safe, Mr. Vimpany?"
"Thanks to his luck--yes."
"His luck?"
"To be sure! In the first place, he owes his life to your finding him
when you did; a little later, and it would have been all over with Lord
Harry. Second piece of luck: catching the doctor at home, just when he
was most wanted. Third piece of luck: our friend didn't know how to cut
his own throat properly. You needn't look black at me, Miss; I'm not
joking. A suicide with a razor in his hand has generally one chance in
his favour--he is ignorant of anatomy. That is my lord's case. He has
only cut through the upper fleshy part of his throat, and has missed
the larger blood vessels. Take my word for it, he will do well enough
now; thanks to you, thanks to me, and thanks to his own ignorance. What
do you say to that way of putting it? Ha! my brains are in good working
order to-day; I haven't been drinking any of Mr. Mountjoy's claret--do
you take the joke, Miss Henley?"
Chuckling over the recollection of his own drunken audacity, he
happened to notice Fanny Mere.
"Hullo! is this another injured person in want of me? You're as white
as a sheet, Miss. If you're going to faint, do me a favour--wait till I
can get the brandy-bottle. Oh! it's natural to you, is it? I see. A
thick skin and a slow circulation; you will live to be an old woman. A
friend of yours, Miss Henley?"
Fanny answered composedly for herself: "I am Miss Henley's maid, sir."
"What's become of the other one?" Mr. Vimpany asked. "Aye? aye? Staying
at a farm-house for the benefit of her health, is she? If I had been
allowed time enough, I would have made a cure of Rhoda Bennet. There
isn't a medical man in England who knows more than I do of the nervous
maladies of women--and what is my reward? Is my waiting-room crammed
with rich people coming to consult me? Do I live in a fashionable
Square? Have I even been made a Baronet? Damn it--I beg your pardon,
Miss Henley--but it is irritating, to a man of my capacity, to be
completely neglected. For the last three days not a creature has
darkened the doors of this house. Could I say a word to you?"
He led Iris mysteriously into a corner of the room. "About our friend
downstairs?" he began.
"When may we hope that he will be well again, Mr. Vimpany?"
"Maybe in three weeks. In a month at most. I have nobody here but a
stupid servant girl. We ought to have a competent nurse. I can get a
thoroughly trained person from the hospital; but there's a little
difficulty. I am an outspoken man. When I am poor, I own I am poor. My
lord must be well fed; the nurse must be well fed. Would you mind
advancing a small loan, to provide beforehand for the payment of
expenses?"
Iris handed her purse to him, sick of the sight of Mr. Vimpany. "Is
that all?" she asked, making for the door.
"Much obliged. That's all."
As they approached the room on the ground floor, Iris stopped: her eyes
rested on the doctor. Even to that coarse creature, the eloquent look
spoke for her. Fanny noticed it, and suddenly turned her head aside.
Over the maid's white face there passed darkly an expression of
unutterable contempt. Her mistress's weakness had revealed
itself--weakness for one of the betrayers of women; weakness for a man!
In the meantime, Mr. Vimpany (having got the money) was ready to humour
the enviable young lady with a well-filled purse.
"Do you want to see my lord before you go?" he asked, amused at the
idea. "Mind! you mustn't disturb him! No talking, and no crying. Ready?
Now look at him."
There he lay on a shabby little sofa, in an ugly little room; his eyes
closed; one helpless hand hanging down; a stillness on his ghastly
face, horribly suggestive of the stillness of death--there he lay, the
reckless victim of his love for the woman who had desperately renounced
him again and again, who had now saved him for the third time. Ah, how
her treacherous heart pleaded for him! Can you drive him away from you
after this? You, who love him, what does your cold-blooded prudence
say, when you look at him now?
She felt herself drawn, roughly and suddenly, back into the passage.
The door was closed; the doctor was whispering to her. "Hold up, Miss!
I expected better things of you. Come! come!--no fainting. You'll find
him a different man to-morrow. Pay us a visit, and judge for yourself."
After what she had suffered, Iris hungered for sympathy. "Isn't it
pitiable?" she said to her maid as they left the house.
"I don't know, Miss."
"You don't know? Good heavens, are you made of stone? Have you no such
thing as a heart in you?"
"Not for the men," Fanny answered. "I keep my pity for the women."
Iris knew what bitter remembrances made their confession in those
words. How she missed Rhoda Bennet at that moment!
CHAPTER XIX
MR. HENLEY AT HOME
FOR a month, Mountjoy remained in his cottage on the shores of the
Solway Firth, superintending the repairs.
His correspondence with Iris was regularly continued; and, for the
first time in his experience of her, was a cause of disappointment to
him.
Her replies revealed an incomprehensible change in her manner of
writing, which became more and more marked in each succeeding instance.
Notice it as he might in his own letters, no explanation followed on
the part of his correspondent. She, who had so frankly confided her
joys and sorrows to him in past days, now wrote with a reserve which
seemed only to permit the most vague and guarded allusion to herself.
The changes in the weather; the alternation of public news that was
dull, and public news that was interesting; the absence of her father
abroad, occasioned by doubt of the soundness of his investments in
foreign securities; vague questions relating to Hugh's new place of
abode, which could only have proceeded from a preoccupied mind--these
were the topics on which Iris dwelt, in writing to her faithful old
friend. It was hardly possible to doubt that something must have
happened, which she had reasons--serious reasons, as it seemed only too
natural to infer--for keeping concealed from Mountjoy. Try as he might
to disguise it from himself, he now knew how dear, how hopelessly dear,
she was to him by the anxiety that he suffered, and by the jealous
sense of injury which defied his self-command. His immediate
superintendence of the workmen at the cottage was no longer necessary.
Leaving there a representative whom he could trust, he resolved to
answer his last letter, received from Iris, in person.
The next day he was in London.
Calling at the house, he was informed that Miss Henley was not at home,
and that it was impossible to say with certainty when she might return.
While he was addressing his inquiries to the servant, Mr. Henley opened
the library door. "Is that you, Mountjoy?" he asked. "Come in: I want
to speak to you."
Short and thick-set, with a thin-lipped mouth, a coarsely-florid
complexion, and furtive greenish eyes; hard in his manner, and harsh in
his voice; Mr. Henley was one of the few heartless men, who are
innocent of deception on the surface: he was externally a person who
inspired, at first sight, feelings of doubt and dislike. His manner
failed to show even a pretence of being glad to see Hugh. What he had
to say, he said walking up and down the room, and scratching his
bristly iron-gray hair from time to time. Those signs of restlessness
indicated, to those who knew him well, that he had a selfish use to
make of a fellow-creature, and failed to see immediately how to reach
the end in view.
"I say, Mountjoy," he began, "have you any idea of what my daughter is
about?"
"I don't even understand what you mean," Hugh replied. "For the last
month I have been in Scotland."
"You and she write to each other, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Hasn't she told you--"
"Excuse me for interrupting you, Mr. Henley; she has told me nothing."
Mr. Henley stared absently at the superbly-bound books on his
library-shelves (never degraded by the familiar act of reading), and
scratched his head more restlessly than ever.
"Look here, young man. When you were staying with me in the country, I
rather hoped it might end in a marriage engagement. You and Iris
disappointed me--not for the first time. But women do change their
minds. Suppose she had changed her mind, after having twice refused
you? Suppose she had given you an opportunity--"
Hugh interrupted him again. "It's needless to suppose anything of the
sort, sir; she would not have given me an opportunity."
"Don't fence with me, Mountjoy! I'll put it in a milder way, if you
prefer being humbugged. Do you feel any interest in that perverse girl
of mine?"
Hugh answered readily and warmly: "The truest interest!"
Even Mr. Henley was human; his ugly face looked uglier still. It
assumed the self-satisfied expression of a man who had carried his
point.
"Now I can go on, my friend, with what I had to say to you. I have been
abroad on business, and only came back the other day. The moment I saw
Iris I noticed something wrong about her. If I had been a stranger, I
should have said: That young woman is not easy in her mind. Perfectly
useless to speak to her about it. Quite happy and quite well--there was
her own account of herself. I tried her maid next, a white-livered
sulky creature, one of the steadiest liars I have ever met with. 'I
know of nothing amiss with my mistress, sir.' There was the maid's way
of keeping the secret, whatever it may be! I don't know whether you may
have noticed it, in the course of your acquaintance with me--I hate to
be beaten."
"No, Mr. Henley, I have not noticed it."
"Then you are informed of it now. Have you seen my housekeeper?"
"Once or twice, sir."
"Come! you're improving; we shall make something of you in course of
time. Well, the housekeeper was the next person I spoke to about my
daughter. Had she seen anything strange in Miss Iris, while I was away
from home? There's a dash of malice in my housekeeper's composition; I
don't object to a dash of malice. When the old woman is pleased, she
shows her yellow fangs. She had something to tell me: 'The servants
have been talking, sir, about Miss Iris.' 'Out with it, ma'am! what do
they say?' 'They notice, sir, that their young lady has taken to going
out in the forenoon, regularly every day: always by herself, and always
in the same direction. I don't encourage the servants, Mr. Henley:
there was something insolent in the tone of suspicion that they
adopted. I told them that Miss Iris was merely taking her walk. They
reminded me that it must be a cruelly long walk; Miss Iris being away
regularly for four or five hours together, before she came back to the
house. After that' (says the housekeeper) 'I thought it best to drop
the subject.' What do you think of it yourself, Mountjoy? Do you call
my daughter's conduct suspicious?"
"I see nothing suspicious, Mr. Henley. When Iris goes out, she visits a
friend."
"And always goes in the same direction, and always visits the same
friend," Mr. Henley added. "I felt a curiosity to know who that friend
might be; and I made the discovery yesterday. When you were staying in
my house in the country, do you remember the man who waited on you?"
Mountjoy began to feel alarmed for Iris; he answered as briefly as
possible.
"Your valet," he said.
"That's it! Well, I took my valet into my confidence--not for the first
time, I can tell you: an invaluable fellow. When Iris went out
yesterday, he tracked her to a wretched little suburban place near
Hampstead Heath, called Redburn Road. She rang the bell at Number Five,
and was at once let in--evidently well known there. My clever man made
inquiries in the neighbourhood. The house belongs to a doctor, who has
lately taken it. Name of Vimpany."
Mountjoy was not only startled, but showed it plainly. Mr. Henley,
still pacing backwards and forwards, happened by good fortune to have
his back turned towards his visitor, at that moment.
"Now I ask you, as a man of the world," Mr. Henley resumed, "what does
this mean? If you're too cautious to speak out--and I must say it looks
like it--shall I set you the example?"
"Just as you please, sir."
"Very well, then; I'll tell you what I suspect. When Iris is at home,
and when there's something amiss in my family, I believe that scoundrel
Lord Harry to be at the bottom of it. There's my experience, and
there's my explanation. I was on the point of ordering my carriage, to
go to the doctor myself, and insist on knowing what the attraction is
that takes my daughter to his house, when I heard your voice in the
hall. You tell me you are interested in Iris. Very well; you are just
the man to help me."
"May I ask how, Mr. Henley?"
"Of course you may. You can find your way to her confidence, if you
choose to try; she will trust you, when she won't trust her father. I
don't care two straws about her other secrets; but I do want to know
whether she is, or is not, plotting to marry the Irish blackguard.
Satisfy me about that, and you needn't tell me anything more. May I
count on you to find out how the land lies?"
Mountjoy listened, hardly able to credit the evidence of his own
senses; he was actually expected to insinuate himself into the
confidence of Iris, and then to betray her to her father! He rose, and
took his hat--and, without even the formality of a bow, opened the
door.
"Does that mean No?" Mr. Henley called after him.
"Most assuredly," Mountjoy answered--and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER XX
FIRST SUSPICIONS OF IRIS
FROM the last memorable day, on which Iris had declared to him that he
might always count on her as his friend, but never as his wife, Hugh
had resolved to subject his feelings to a rigorous control. As to
conquering his hopeless love, he knew but too well that it would
conquer him, on any future occasion when he and Iris happened to meet.
He had been true to his resolution, at what cost of suffering he, and
he alone knew. Sincerely, unaffectedly, he had tried to remain her
friend. But the nature of the truest and the firmest man has its weak
place, where the subtle influence of a woman is concerned. Deeply
latent, beyond the reach of his own power of sounding, there was
jealousy of the Irish lord lurking in Mountjoy, and secretly leading
his mind when he hesitated in those emergencies of his life which were
connected with Iris. Ignorant of the influence which was really
directing him, he viewed with contempt Mr. Henley's suspicions of a
secret understanding between his daughter and the man who was, by her
own acknowledgment, unworthy of the love with which it had been her
misfortune to regard him. At the same time, Hugh's mind was reluctantly
in search of an explanation, which might account (without degrading
Iris) for her having been traced to the doctor's house. In his
recollection of events at the old country town, he found a motive for
her renewal of intercourse with such a man as Mr. Vimpany, in the
compassionate feeling with which she regarded the doctor's unhappy
wife. There might well be some humiliating circumstance, recently added
to the other trials of Mrs. Vimpany's married life, which had appealed
to all that was generous and forgiving in the nature of Iris. Knowing
nothing of the resolution to live apart which had latterly separated
the doctor and his wife, Mountjoy decided on putting his idea to the
test by applying for information to Mrs. Vimpany at her husband's
house.
In the nature of a sensitive man the bare idea of delay, under these
circumstances, was unendurable. Hugh called the first cab that passed
him, and drove to Hampstead.
Careful--morbidly careful, perhaps--not to attract attention needlessly
to himself, he stopped the cab at the entrance to Redburn Road, and
approached Number Five on foot. A servant-girl answered the door.
Mountjoy asked if Mrs. Vimpany was at home.
The girl made no immediate reply. She seemed to be puzzled by
Mountjoy's simple question. Her familiar manner, with its vulgar
assumption of equality in the presence of a stranger, revealed the
London-bred maid-servant of modern times. "Did you say _Mrs._ Vimpany?"
she inquired sharply.
"Yes."
"There's no such person here."
It was Mountjoy's turn to be puzzled. "Is this Mr. Vimpany's house?" he
said.
"Yes, to be sure it is."
"And yet Mrs. Vimpany doesn't live here?"
"No Mrs. Vimpany has darkened these doors," the girl declared
positively.
"Are you sure you are not making a mistake?"
"Quite sure. I have been in the doctor's service since he first took
the house."
Determined to solve the mystery, if it could be done, Mountjoy asked if
he could see the doctor. No: Mr. Vimpany had gone out.
"There's a young person comes to us," the servant continued. "I wonder
whether you mean her, when you ask for Mrs. Vimpany? The name _she_
gives is Henley."
"Is Miss Henley here, now?"
"You can't see her--she's engaged."
She was not engaged with Mrs. Vimpany, for no such person was known in
the house. She was not engaged with the doctor, for the doctor had gone
out. Mountjoy looked at the hat-stand in the passage, and discovered a
man's hat and a man's greatcoat. To whom did they belong? Certainly not
to Mr. Vimpany, who had gone out. Repellent as it was, Mr. Henley's
idea that the explanation of his daughter's conduct was to be found in
the renewed influence over her of the Irish lord, now presented itself
to Hugh's mind under a new point of view. He tried in vain to resist
the impression that had been produced on him. A sense of injury, which
he was unable to justify to himself, took possession of him. Come what
might of it, he determined to set at rest the doubts of which he was
ashamed, by communicating with Iris. His card-case proved to be empty
when he opened it; but there were letters in his pocket, addressed to
him at his hotel in London. Removing the envelope from one of these, he
handed it to the servant: "Take that to Miss Henley, and ask when I can
see her."
The girl left him in the passage, and went upstairs to the
drawing-room.
In the flimsily-built little house, he could hear the heavy step of a
man, crossing the room above, and then the resonant tones of a man's
voice raised as if in anger. Had she given him already the right to be
angry with her? He thought of the time, when the betrayal of Lord
Harry's vindictive purpose in leaving England had frightened her--when
he had set aside his own sense of what was due to him, for her
sake--and had helped her to communicate, by letter, with the man whose
fatal ascendency over Iris had saddened his life. Was what he heard,
now, the return that he had deserved?
After a short absence, the servant came back with a message.
"Miss Henley begs you will excuse her. She will write to you."
Would this promised letter be like the other letters which he had
received from her in Scotland? Mountjoy's gentler nature reminded him
that he owed it to his remembrance of happier days, and truer
friendship, to wait and see.
He was just getting into the cab, on his return to London, when a
closed carriage, with one person in it, passed him on its way to
Redburn Road. In that person he recognised Mr. Henley. As the
cab-driver mounted to his seat, Hugh saw the carriage stop at Number
Five.
CHAPTER XXI
THE PARTING SCENE
THE evening had advanced, and the candles had just been lit in
Mountjoy's sitting-room at the hotel.
His anxiety to hear from Iris had been doubled and trebled, since he
had made the discovery of her father's visit to the doctor's house, at
a time when it was impossible to doubt that Lord Harry was with her.
Hugh's jealous sense of wrong was now mastered by the nobler emotions
which filled him with pity and alarm, when he thought of Iris placed
between the contending claims of two such men as the heartless Mr.
Henley and the reckless Irish lord. He had remained at the hotel,
through the long afternoon, on the chance that she might write to him
speedily by the hand of a messenger--and no letter had arrived. He was
still in expectation of news which might reach him by the evening post,
when the waiter knocked at the door.
"A letter?" Mountjoy asked.
"No, sir," the man answered; "a lady."
Before she could raise her veil, Hugh had recognised Iris. Her manner
was subdued; her face was haggard; her hand lay cold and passive in his
hand, when he advanced to bid her welcome. He placed a chair for her by
the fire. She thanked him and declined to take it. With the air of a
woman conscious of committing an intrusion, she seated herself apart in
a corner of the room.
"I have tried to write to you, and I have not been able to do it." She
said that with a dogged resignation of tone and manner, so unlike
herself that Mountjoy looked at her in dismay. "My friend," she went
on, "your pity is all I may hope for; I am no longer worthy of the
interest you once felt in me."
Hugh saw that it would be useless to remonstrate. He asked if it had
been his misfortune to offend her.
"No," she said, "you have not offended me."
"Then what in Heaven's name does this change in you mean?"
"It means," she said, as coldly as ever, "that I have lost my
self-respect; it means that my father has renounced me, and that you
will do well to follow his example. Have I not led you to believe that
I could never be the wife of Lord Harry? Well, I have deceived you---I
am going to marry him."
"I can't believe it, Iris! I won't believe it!"
She handed him the letter, in which the Irishman had declared his
resolution to destroy himself. Hugh read it with contempt. "Did my
lord's heart fail him?" he asked scornfully.
"He would have died by his own hand, Mr. Mountjoy----"
"Oh, Iris--_'Mr.!'"_
"I will say 'Hugh,' if you prefer it--but the days of our familiar
friendship are none the less at an end. I found Lord Harry bleeding to
death from a wound in his throat. It was in a lonely place on Hampstead
Heath; I was the one person who happened to pass by it. For the third
time, you see, it has been my destiny to save him. How can I forget
that? My mind will dwell on it. I try to find happiness--oh, only
happiness enough for me--in cheering my poor Irishman, on his way back
to the life that I have preserved. There is my motive, if I have a
motive. Day after day I have helped to nurse him. Day after day I have
heard him say things to me--what is the use of repeating them? After
years of resistance I have given way; let that be enough. My one act of
discretion has been to prevent a quarrel between my father and Harry. I
beg your pardon, I ought to have said Lord Harry. When my father came
to the house, I insisted on speaking with him alone. I told him what I
have just told you. He said: 'Think again before you make your choice
between that man and me. If you decide to marry him, you will live and
die without one farthing of my money to help you.' He put his watch on
the table between us, and gave me five minutes to make up my mind. It
was a long five minutes, but it ended at last. He asked me which he was
to do--leave his will as it was, or go to his lawyer and make another.
I said, 'You will do as you please, sir.' No; it was not a hasty
reply--you can't make that excuse for me. I knew what I was saying; and
I saw the future I was preparing for myself, as plainly as you see
it--"
Hugh could endure no longer the reckless expression of her despair.
"No!" he cried, "you don't see your future as I see it. Will you hear
what I have to say, before it is too late?"
"It is too late already. But I will listen to you if you wish it."
"And, while you listen," Mountjoy added, "you will acquit me of being
influenced by a selfish motive. I have loved you dearly. Perhaps, in
secret, I love you still. But, this I know: if you were to remain a
single woman for the rest of your life, there would be no hope for Me.
Do you believe that I am speaking the truth?"
"You always speak the truth."
"I speak in your interest, at least. You think you see your future life
plainly--you are blind to your future life. You talk as if you were
resigned to suffer. Are you resigned to lose your sense of right and
wrong? Are you resigned to lead the life of an outlaw, and--worse
still--not to feel the disgrace of it?"
"Go on, Hugh."
"You won't answer me?"
"I won't shock you."
"You don't discourage me, my dear; I am still obstinate in the hope of
restoring you to your calmer and truer self. Let me do every justice to
Lord Harry. I believe, sincerely believe, that his miserable life has
not utterly destroyed in him the virtues which distinguish an
honourable man. But he has one terrible defect. In his nature, there is
the fatal pliability which finds companionable qualities in bad
friends. In this aspect of his character, he is a dangerous man--and he
may be (forgive me!) a bad husband. It is a thankless task to warn you
to any good purpose. A wife--and a loving wife more than another--feels
the deteriorating influence of a husband who is not worthy of her. His
ways of thinking are apt to become, little by little, her ways of
thinking. She makes allowances for him, which he does not deserve; her
sense of right and wrong becomes confused; and before she is aware of
it herself, she has sunk to his level. Are you angry with me?"
"How can I be angry with you? Perhaps you are right."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Oh, yes."
"Then, for God's sake, reconsider your decision! Let me go to your
father."
"Mere waste of time," Iris answered. "Nothing that you can say will
have the least effect on him."
"At any rate," Mountjoy persisted, "I mean to try."
Had he touched her? She smiled--how bitterly Hugh failed to perceive.
"Shall I tell you what happened to me when I went home to-day?" she
said. "I found my maid waiting in the hall--with everything that
belongs to me, packed up for my departure. The girl explained that she
had been forced to obey my father's positive orders. I knew what that
meant--I had to leave the house, and find a place to live in."
"Not by yourself, Iris?"
"No--with my maid. She is a strange creature; if she feels sympathy,
she never expresses it. 'I am your grateful servant, Miss. Where you
go, I go.' That was all she said; I was not disappointed--I am getting
used to Fanny Mere already. Mine is a lonely lot--isn't it? I have
acquaintances among the few ladies who sometimes visit at my father's
house, but no friends. My mother's family, as I have always been told,
cast her off when she married a man in trade, with a doubtful
reputation. I don't even know where my relations live. Isn't Lord Harry
good enough for me, as I am now? When I look at my prospects, is it
wonderful if I talk like a desperate woman? There is but one
encouraging circumstance that I can see. This misplaced love of mine
that everybody condemns has, oddly enough, a virtue that everybody must
admire. It offers a refuge to a woman who is alone in the world."
Mountjoy denied indignantly that she was alone in the world.
"Is there any protection that a man can offer to a woman," he asked,
"which I am not ready and eager to offer to You? Oh, Iris, what have I
done to deserve that you should speak of yourself as friendless in my
hearing!"
He had touched her at last. Their tender charm showed itself once more
in her eyes and in her smile. She rose and approached him.
"What exquisite kindness it must be," she said, "that blinds a clever
man like you to obstacles which anyone else can see! Remember, dear
Hugh, what the world would say to that protection which your true heart
offers to me. Are you my near relation? are you my guardian? are you
even an old man? Ah me! you are only an angel of goodness whom I must
submit to lose. I shall still count on your kindness when we see each
other no more. You will pity me, when you hear that I have fallen lower
and lower; you will be sorry for me, when I end in disgracing myself."
"Even then, Iris, we shall not be separated. The loving friend who is
near you now, will be your loving friend still."
For the first time in her life, she threw her arms round him. In the
agony of that farewell, she held him to her bosom. "Goodbye, dear," she
said faintly--and kissed him.
The next moment, a deadly pallor overspread her face. She staggered as
she drew back, and dropped into the chair that she had just left. In
the fear that she might faint, Mountjoy hurried out in search of a
restorative. His bed-chamber was close by, at the end of the corridor;
and there were smelling-salts in his dressing-case. As he raised the
lid, he heard the door behind him, the one door in the room, locked
from the outer side.
He rushed to the door, and called to her. From the farther end of the
corridor, her voice reached him for the last time, repeating the last
melancholy word: "Good-bye." No renewal of the miserable parting scene:
no more of the heartache--Iris had ended it!
CHAPTER XXII
THE FATAL WORDS
WHEN Mountjoy had rung for the servant, and the bedroom door had been
unlocked, it was too late to follow the fugitive. Her cab was waiting
for her outside; and the attention of the porter had been distracted,
at the same time, by a new arrival of travellers at the hotel.
It is more or less in the nature of all men who are worthy of the name,
to take refuge from distress in action. Hugh decided on writing to
Iris, and on making his appeal to her father, that evening. He
abstained from alluding, in his letter, to the manner in which she had
left him; it was her right, it was even her duty to spare herself. All
that he asked was to be informed of her present place of residence, so
that he might communicate the result--in writing only if she preferred
it--of his contemplated interview with her father. He addressed his
letter to the care of Mr. Vimpany, to be forwarded, and posted it
himself.
This done, he went on at once to Mr. Henley's house.
The servant who opened the door had evidently received his orders. Mr.
Henley was "not at home." Mountjoy was in no humour to be trifled with.
He pushed the man out of his way, and made straight for the
dining-room. There, as his previous experience of the habits of the
household had led him to anticipate, was the man whom he was determined
to see. The table was laid for Mr. Henley's late dinner.
Hugh's well-meant attempt to plead the daughter's cause with the father
ended as Iris had said it would end.
After hotly resenting the intrusion on him that had been committed, Mr.
Henley declared that a codicil to his will, depriving his daughter
absolutely of all interest in his property, had been legally executed
that day. For a time, Mountjoy's self-control had resisted the most
merciless provocation. All that it was possible to effect, by patient
entreaty and respectful remonstrance, he had tried again and again, and
invariably in vain. At last, Mr. Henley's unbridled insolence
triumphed. Hugh lost his temper--and, in leaving the heartless old man,
used language which he afterwards remembered with regret.
To feel that he had attempted to assert the interests of Iris, and that
he had failed, was, in Hugh's heated state of mind, an irresistible
stimulant to further exertion. It was perhaps not too late yet to make
another attempt to delay (if not to prevent) the marriage.
In sheer desperation, Mountjoy resolved to inform Lord Harry that his
union with Miss Henley would be followed by the utter ruin of her
expectations from her father. Whether the wild lord only considered his
own interests, or whether he was loyally devoted to the interests of
the woman whom he loved, in either case the penalty to be paid for the
marriage was formidable enough to make him hesitate.
The lights in the lower window, and in the passage, told Hugh that he
had arrived in good time at Redburn Road.
He found Mr. Vimpany and the young Irishman sitting together, in the
friendliest manner, under the composing influence of tobacco. Primed,
as he would have said himself, with only a third glass of grog, the
hospitable side of the doctor's character was displayed to view. He at
once accepted Mountjoy's visit as offering a renewal of friendly
relations between them.
"Forgive and forget," he said, "there's the way to settle that little
misunderstanding, after our dinner at the inn. You know Mr. Mountjoy,
my lord? That's right. Draw in your chair, Mountjoy. My professional
prospects threaten me with ruin--but while I have a roof over my head,
there's always a welcome for a friend. My dear fellow, I have every
reason to believe that the doctor who sold me this practice was a
swindler. The money is gone, and the patients don't come. Well! I am
not quite bankrupt yet; I can offer you a glass of grog. Mix for
yourself--we'll make a night of it."
Hugh explained (with the necessary excuses) that his object was to say
a few words to Lord Harry in private. The change visible in the
doctor's manner, when he had been made acquainted with this
circumstance, was not amiably expressed; he had the air of a man who
suspected that an unfair advantage had been taken of him. Lord Harry,
on his side, appeared to feel some hesitation in granting a private
interview to Mr. Mountjoy.
"Is it about Miss Henley?" he asked.
Hugh admitted that it was. Lord Harry thereupon suggested that they
might be acting wisely if they avoided the subject. Mountjoy answered
that there were, on the contrary, reasons for approaching the subject
sufficiently important to have induced him to leave London for
Hampstead at a late hour of the night.
Hearing this, Lord Harry rose to lead the way to another room. Excluded
from his visitor's confidence, Mr. Vimpany could at least remind
Mountjoy that he exercised authority as master of the house. "Oh, take
him upstairs, my lord," said the doctor; "you are at home under my
humble roof!"
The two young men faced each other in the barely-furnished
drawing-room; both sufficiently doubtful of the friendly result of the
conference to abstain from seating themselves. Hugh came to the point,
without wasting time in preparatory words. Admitting that he had heard
of Miss Henley's engagement, he asked if Lord Harry was aware of the
disastrous consequences to the young lady which would follow her
marriage. The reply to this was frankly expressed. The Irish lord knew
nothing of the consequences to which Mr. Mountjoy had alluded. Hugh at
once enlightened him, and evidently took him completely by surprise.
"May I ask, sir," he said, "if you are speaking from your own personal
knowledge?"
"I have just come, my lord, from Mr. Henley's house; and what I have
told you, I heard from his own lips."
There was a pause. Hugh was already inclined to think that he had
raised an obstacle to the immediate celebration of the marriage. A
speedy disappointment was in store for him. Lord Harry was too fond of
Iris to be influenced, in his relations with her, by mercenary
considerations.
"You put it strongly," he said. "But let me tell you, Miss Henley is
far from being so dependent on her father--he ought to be ashamed of
himself, but that's neither here nor there--I say, she is far from
being so dependent on her father as you seem to think. I am not, I beg
to inform you, without resources which I shall offer to her with all my
heart and soul. Perhaps you wish me to descend to particulars? Oh, it's
easily done; I have sold my cottage in Ireland."
"For a large sum--in these times?" Hugh inquired.
"Never mind the sum, Mr. Mountjoy--let the fact be enough for you. And,
while we are on the question of money (a disgusting question, with
which I refuse to associate the most charming woman in existence),
don't forget that Miss Henley has an income of her own; derived, as I
understand, from her mother's fortune, You will do me the justice, sir,
to believe that I shall not touch a farthing of it."
"Certainly! But her mother's fortune," Mountjoy continued, obstinately
presenting the subject on its darkest side, "consists of shares in a
Company. Shares rise and fall--and Companies some times fail."
"And a friend's anxiety about Miss Henley's affairs sometimes takes a
mighty disagreeable form," the Irishman added, his temper beginning to
show itself without disguise. "Let's suppose the worst that can happen,
and get all the sooner to the end of a conversation which is far from
being agreeable to me. We'll say, if you like, that Miss Henley's
shares are waste paper, and her pockets (God bless her!) as empty as
pockets can be, does she run any other risk that occurs to your
ingenuity in becoming my wife?"
"Yes, she does!" Hugh was provoked into saying. "In the case you have
just supposed, she runs the risk of being left a destitute widow--if
you die."
He was prepared for an angry reply--for another quarrel added, on that
disastrous night, to the quarrel with Mr. Henley. To his astonishment,
Lord Harry's brightly-expressive eyes rested on him with a look of
mingled distress and alarm. "God forgive me!" he said to himself, "I
never thought of that! What am I to do? what am I to do?"
Mountjoy observed that deep discouragement, and failed to understand
it.
Here was a desperate adventurer, whose wanderings had over and over
again placed his life in jeopardy, now apparently overcome by merely
having his thoughts directed to the subject of death! To place on the
circumstances such a construction as this was impossible, after a
moment's reflection. The other alternative was to assume that there
must be some anxiety burdening Lord Harry's mind, which he had motives
for keeping concealed--and here indeed the true explanation had been
found. The Irish lord had reasons, known only to himself, for recoiling
from the contemplation of his own future. After the murder of Arthur
Mountjoy, he had severed his connection with the assassinating
brotherhood of the Invincibles; and he had then been warned that he
took this step at the peril of his life, if he remained in Great
Britain after he had made himself an object of distrust to his
colleagues. The discovery, by the secret tribunal, of his return from
South Africa would be followed inevitably by the sentence of death.
Such was the terrible position which Mountjoy's reply had ignorantly
forced him to confront. His fate depended on the doubtful security of
his refuge in the doctor's house.
While Hugh was still looking at him, in grave doubt, a new idea seemed
to spring to life in Lord Harry's mind. He threw off the oppression
that had weighed on his spirits in an instant. His manner towards
Mountjoy changed, with the suddenness of a flash of light, from the
extreme of coldness to the extreme of cordiality.
"I have got it at last!" he exclaimed. "Let's shake hands. My dear sir,
you're the best friend I have ever had!"
The cool Englishman asked: "In what way?"
"In this way, to be sure! You have reminded me that I can provide for
Miss Henley--and the sooner the better. There's our friend the doctor
down-stairs, ready to be my reference. Don't you see it?"
Obstacles that might prevent the marriage Mountjoy was ready enough to
see. Facilities that might hasten the marriage found his mind hard of
access to new impressions.
"Are you speaking seriously?" he said.
The Irishman's irritable temper began to show itself again.
"Why do you doubt it?" he asked.
"I fail to understand you," Mountjoy replied.
Never--as events were yet to prove--had words of such serious import
fallen from Lord Harry's lips as the words that he spoke next.
"Clear your mind of jealousy," he said, "and you will understand me
well enough. I agree with you that I am bound to provide for my
widow--and I mean to do it by insuring my life."
THE END OF THE SECOND PERIOD
THIRD PERIOD
CHAPTER XXIII
NEWS OF IRIS
AFTER his interview with the Irish lord, Mountjoy waited for two days,
in the expectation of hearing from Iris. No reply arrived. Had Mr.
Vimpany failed to forward the letter that had been entrusted to him?
On the third day, Hugh wrote to make inquiries.
The doctor returned the letter that had been confided to his care, and
complained in his reply of the ungrateful manner in which he had been
treated. Miss Henley had not trusted him with her new address in
London; and Lord Harry had suddenly left Redburn Road; bidding his host
goodbye in a few lines of commonplace apology, and nothing more. Mr.
Vimpany did not deny that he had been paid for his medical services;
but, he would ask, was nothing due to friendship? Was one man justified
in enjoying another man's hospitality, and then treating him like a
stranger? "I have done with them both--and I recommend you, my dear
sir, to follow my example." In those terms the angry (and sober) doctor
expressed his sentiments, and offered his advice.
Mountjoy laid down the letter in despair.
His last poor chance of preventing the marriage depended on his being
still able to communicate with Iris--and she was as completely lost to
him as if she had taken flight to the other end of the world. It might
have been possible to discover her by following the movements of Lord
Harry, but he too had disappeared without leaving a trace behind him.
The precious hours and days were passing--and Hugh was absolutely
helpless.
Tortured by anxiety and suspense, he still lingered at the hotel in
London. More than once, he decided on giving up the struggle, and
returning to his pretty cottage in Scotland. More than once, he
deferred taking the journey. At one time, he dreaded to hear that Iris
was married, if she wrote to him. At another time, be felt mortified
and disappointed by the neglect which her silence implied. Was she near
him, or far from him? In England, or out of England? Who could say!
After more weary days of waiting and suffering a letter arrived,
addressed to Mountjoy in a strange handwriting, and bearing the
post-mark of Paris. The signature revealed that his correspondent was
Lord Harry.
His first impulse was to throw the letter into the fire, unread. There
could be little doubt, after the time that had passed, of the
information that it would contain. Could he endure to be told of the
marriage of Iris, by the man who was her husband? Never! There was
something humiliating in the very idea of it. He arrived at that
conclusion--and what did he do in spite of it? He read the letter.
Lord Harry wrote with scrupulous politeness of expression. He regretted
that circumstances had prevented him from calling on Mr. Mountjoy,
before he left England. After the conversation that had taken place at
Mr. Vimpany's house, he felt it his duty to inform Mr. Mountjoy that he
had insured his life--and, he would add, for a sum of money amply, and
more than amply, sufficient to provide for his wife in the event of her
surviving him. Lady Harry desired her kind regards, and would write
immediately to her old and valued friend. In the meantime, he would
conclude by repeating the expression of his sense of obligation to Mr.
Mountjoy.
Hugh looked back at the first page of the letter, in search of the
writer's address. It was simply, "Paris." The intention to prevent any
further correspondence, or any personal communication, could hardly
have been more plainly implied. In another moment, the letter was in
the fire.
In two days more, Hugh heard from Iris.
She, too, wrote regretfully of the sudden departure from England;
adding, however, that it was her own doing. A slip of the tongue, on
Lord Harry's part, in the course of conversation, had led her to fear
that he was still in danger from political conspirators with whom he
had imprudently connected himself. She had accordingly persuaded him to
tell her the whole truth, and had thereupon insisted on an immediate
departure for the Continent. She and her husband were now living in
Paris; Lord Harry having friends in that city whose influence might
prove to be of great importance to his pecuniary prospects. Some
sentences followed, expressing the writer's grateful remembrance of all
that she had owed to Hugh in past days, and her earnest desire that
they might still hear of each other, from time to time, by
correspondence. She could not venture to anticipate the pleasure of
receiving a visit from him, under present circumstances. But, she hoped
that he would not object to write to her, addressing his letters, for
the present, to post-restante.
In a postscript a few words were added, alluding to Mr. Vimpany. Hugh
was requested not to answer any inquiries which that bad man might
venture to make, relating to her husband or to herself. In the bygone
days, she had been thankful to the doctor for the care which he had
taken, medically speaking, of Rhoda Bonnet. But, since that time, his
behaviour to his wife, and the opinions which he had expressed in
familiar conversation with Lord Harry, had convinced her that he was an
unprincipled person. All further communication with him (if her
influence could prevent it) must come to an end.
Still as far as ever from feeling reconciled to the marriage, Mountjoy
read this letter with a feeling of resentment which disinclined him to
answer it.
He believed (quite erroneously) that Iris had written to him under the
superintendence of her husband. There were certain phrases which had
been, as he chose to suspect, dictated by Lord Harry's distrust--
jealous distrust, perhaps--of his wife's friend. Mountjoy would wait to
reply, until, as he bitterly expressed it, Iris was able to write to
him without the assistance of her master.
Again he thought of returning to Scotland--and, again, he hesitated.
On this occasion, he discovered objections to the cottage which had not
occurred to him while Iris was a single woman. The situation was
solitary; his nearest neighbours were fishermen. Here and there, at
some little distance, there were only a few scattered houses inhabited
by retired tradesmen. Further away yet, there was the country-seat of
an absent person of distinction, whose health suffered in the climate
of Scotland. The lonely life in prospect, on the shores of the Solway,
now daunted Mountjoy for the first time.
He decided on trying what society in London would do to divert his mind
from the burdens and anxieties that weighed on it. Acquaintances whom
he had neglected were pleasantly surprised by visits from their rich
and agreeable young friend. He attended dinner parties; he roused hope
in mothers and daughters by accepting invitations to balls; he
reappeared at his club. Was there any relief to his mind in this? was
there even amusement? No; he was acting a part, and he found it a hard
task to keep up appearances. After a brief and brilliant interval,
society knew him no more.
Left by himself again, he enjoyed one happy evening in London. It was
the evening on which he relented, in spite of himself, and wrote to
Iris.
CHAPTER XXIV
LORD HARRY'S HONEYMOON
THE next day, Hugh received a visit from the last person in the little
world of his acquaintance whom he expected to see. The lost Mrs.
Vimpany presented herself at the hotel.
She looked unnaturally older since Mountjoy had last seen her. Her
artificial complexion was gone. The discarded rouge that had once
overlaid her cheeks, through a long succession of years, had left the
texture of the skin coarse, and had turned the colour of it to a dull
yellowish tinge. Her hair, once so skilfully darkened, was now
permitted to tell the truth, and revealed the sober colouring of age,
in gray. The lower face had fallen away in substance; and even the
penetrating brightness of her large dark eyes was a little dimmed. All
that had been left in her of the attractions of past days, owed its
vital preservation to her stage training. Her suave grace of movement,
and the deep elocutionary melody of her voice, still identified Mrs.
Vimpany--disguised as she was in a dress of dull brown, shorn without
mercy of the milliner's hideous improvements to the figure. "Will you
shake hands with me, Mr. Mountjoy?" Those were the first words she said
to him, in a sad subdued manner, on entering the room.
"Why not?" Hugh asked, giving her his hand.
"You can have no very favourable remembrance of me," she answered. "But
I hope to produce a better impression--if you can spare me a little of
your time. You may, or may not, have heard of my separation from my
husband. Anyway, it is needless to trouble you on the subject; you know
Mr. Vimpany; you can guess what I have suffered, and why I have left
him. If he comes to you, I hope you will not tell him where Lady Harry
is,"--
Hugh interposed: "Pray don't speak of her by that name! Call her
'Iris,' as I do."
A faint reflection of the old stage-smile trembled on Mrs. Vimpany's
worn and weary face.
"Ah, Mr. Mountjoy, I know whom she ought to have married! The worst
enemy of women is their ignorance of men--and they only learn to know
better, when it is too late. I try to be hopeful for Iris, in the time
to come, but my fears conquer me."
She paused, sighed, and pressed her open hand on her bosom;
unconsciously betraying in that action some of the ineradicable
training of the theatre.
"I am almost afraid to say that I love Iris," she resumed; "but this I
know; if I am not so bad as I once was, I owe it to that dearest and
sweetest of women! But for the days that I passed in her company, I
might never have tried to atone for my past life by works of mercy.
When other people take the way of amendment, I wonder whether they find
it as hard to follow, at first, as I did?"
"There is no doubt of it, Mrs. Vimpany--if people are sincere. Beware
of the sinners who talk of sudden conversion and perfect happiness. May
I ask how you began your new life?"
"I began unhappily, Mr. Mountjoy--I joined a nursing Sisterhood. Before
long, a dispute broke out among them. Think of women who call
themselves Christians, quarrelling about churches and church
services--priest's vestments and attitudes, and candles and incense! I
left them, and went to a hospital, and found the doctors better
Christians than the Sisters. I am not talking about my own poor self
(as you will soon see) without a reason. My experience in the hospital
led to other things. I nursed a lady through a tedious illness, and was
trusted to take her to some friends in the south of France. On my
return, I thought of staying for a few days in Paris--it was an
opportunity of seeing how the nurses did their work in the French
hospitals. And, oh, it was far more than that! In Paris, I found Iris
again."
"By accident?" Hugh asked.
"I am not sure," Mrs. Vimpany answered, "that there are such things as
meetings by accident. She and her husband were among the crowds of
people on the Boulevards, who sit taking their coffee in view of the
other crowds, passing along the street. I went by, without noticing
them. _She_ saw me, and sent Lord Harry to bring me back. I have been
with them every day, at her invitation, from that time to this; and I
have seen their life."
She stopped, noticing that Hugh grew restless. "I am in doubt," she
said, "whether you wish to hear more of their life in Paris."
Mountjoy at once controlled himself.
"Go on," he said quietly.
"Even if I tell you that Iris is perfectly happy?"
"Go on," Hugh repeated.
"May I confess," she resumed, "that her husband is irresistible--not
only to his wife, but even to an old woman like me? After having known
him for years at his worst, as well as at his best, I am still foolish
enough to feel the charm of his high spirits and his delightful
good-humour. Sober English people, if they saw him now, would almost
think him a fit subject to be placed under restraint. One of his wild
Irish ideas of expressing devotion to his wife is, that they shall
forget they are married, and live the life of lovers. When they dine at
a restaurant, he insists on having a private room. He takes her to
public balls, and engages her to dance with him for the whole evening.
When she stays at home and is a little fatigued, he sends me to the
piano, and whirls her round the room in a waltz. 'Nothing revives a
woman,' he says, 'like dancing with the man she loves.' When she is out
of breath, and I shut up the piano, do you know what he does? He
actually kisses Me--and says he is expressing his wife's feeling for me
when she is not able to do it herself! He sometimes dines out with men,
and comes back all on fire with the good wine, and more amiable than
ever. On these occasions his pockets are full of sweetmeats, stolen for
'his angel' from the dessert. 'Am I a little tipsy?' he asks. 'Oh,
don't be angry; it's all for love of you. I have been in the highest
society, my darling; proposing your health over and over and over
again, and drinking to you deeper than all the rest of the company. You
don't blame me? Ah, but I blame myself. I was wrong to leave you, and
dine with men. What do I want with the society of men, when I have your
society? Drinking your health is a lame excuse. I will refuse all
invitations for the future that don't include my wife.' And--mind!--he
really means it, at the time. Two or three days later, he forgets his
good resolutions, and dines with the men again, and comes home with
more charming excuses, and stolen sweetmeats, and good resolutions. I
am afraid I weary you, Mr. Mountjoy?"
"You surprise me," Hugh replied. "Why do I hear all this of Lord
Harry?"
Mrs. Vimpany left her chair. The stage directions of other days had
accustomed her to rise, when the character she played had anything
serious to say. Her own character still felt the animating influence of
dramatic habit: she rose now, and laid her hand impressively on
Mountjoy's shoulder.
"I have not thoughtlessly tried your patience," she said. "Now that I
am away from the influence of Lord Harry, I can recall my former
experience of him: and I am afraid I can see the end that is coming. He
will drift into bad company; he will listen to bad advice; and he will
do things in the future which he might shrink from doing now. When that
time comes, I fear him! I fear him!"
"When that time comes," Hugh repeated, "if I have any influence left
over his wife, he shall find her capable of protecting herself. Will
you give me her address in Paris?
"Willingly--if you will promise not to go to her till she really needs
you?"
"Who is to decide when she needs me?"
"I am to decide," Mrs. Vimpany answered; "Iris writes to me
confidentially. If anything happens which she may be unwilling to trust
to a letter, I believe I shall hear of it from her maid."
"Are you sure the maid is to be relied on?" Mountjoy interposed.
"She is a silent creature, so far as I know anything of her," Mrs.
Vimpany admitted; "and her manner doesn't invite confidence. But I have
spoken with Fanny Mere; I am satisfied that she is true to her mistress
and grateful to her mistress in her own strange way. If Iris is in any
danger, I shall not be left in ignorance of it. Does this incline you
to consult with me, before you decide on going to Paris? Don't stand on
ceremony; say honestly, Yes or No."
Honestly, Hugh said Yes.
He was at once trusted with the address of Iris. At the same time, Mrs.
Vimpany undertook that he should know what news she received from Paris
as soon as she knew it herself. On that understanding they parted, for
the time being.
CHAPTER XXV
THE DOCTOR IN DIFFICULTIES
SLOWLY the weeks passed. Strictly Mrs. Vimpany kept her promise.
When she heard from Iris the letter was always sent to Hugh, to be
returned after he had read it. Events in the lives of the newly-married
pair, many of which pointed to the end that Mrs. Vimpany saw and
dreaded, were lightly, sometimes jestingly, related by the young wife.
Her blind belief in her husband, sincerely asserted in the earlier part
of the correspondence, began to betray, in her later letters, signs of
self delusion. It was sad indeed to see that bright intelligence
rendered incapable of conceiving suspicions, which might have occurred
to the mind of a child.
When the latest news from Paris followed, in due course, Mountjoy was
informed of it by a note from Mrs. Vimpany expressed in these terms:
"My last letter from Iris is really no letter at all. It simply
encloses a circular, with her love, and asks me to send it on to you.
If it is in your power to make inquiries in the right quarter, I am
sure you will not hesitate to take the trouble. There can be little
doubt, as I think, that Lord Harry is engaged in a hazardous
speculation, more deeply than his wife is willing to acknowledge."
The circular announced the contemplated publication of a weekly
newspaper, printed partly in English, and partly in French, having its
chief office in Paris, and being intended to dispute the advantages of
a European circulation with the well-known Continental journal called
"Galignani's Messenger." A first list of contributors included names of
some notoriety in the literature of England and the literature of
France. Speculators who wished to know, in the first place, on what
security they might reckon, were referred to the managing committee,
represented by persons of importance in the financial worlds of London
and Paris.
Being in a position to make the inquiries which Mrs. Vimpany had
suggested, Hugh received information which verified the statements
contained in the circular, and vouched for the good faith of those
persons who were concerned in directing the speculation. So far, so
good.
But, when the question of success was next discussed, the authorities
consulted shook their wise heads. It was impossible to say what losses
might not be suffered, and what sums of money might not be required,
before the circulation of the new journal would justify the hope of
success. This opinion Hugh communicated to Mrs. Vimpany; Iris was
informed of it by that day's post.
A longer time than usual elapsed before any further news of Lord Harry
and his wife was received by Mountjoy. When he did at last hear again
from Mrs. Vimpany, she forwarded a letter from Iris dated from a new
address, in the suburb of Paris called Passy.
From motives of economy (Iris wrote) her husband had decided on a
change of residence. They were just established in their new abode,
with the advantages of a saving in rent, a pretty little garden to
cultivate, and purer air to breathe than the air of Paris. There the
letter ended, without the slightest allusion to the forthcoming
newspaper, or to the opinion that had been pronounced on the prospects
of success.
In forwarding this letter, Mrs. Vimpany wrote on the blank page as
follows: "I am sorry to add that some disquieting news of my husband
has reached me. For the present, I will say no more. It is at least
possible that the report may not be worthy of belief."
A few days later the report was confirmed, under circumstances which
had certainly not been foreseen. Mr. Vimpany himself arrived at the
hotel, on a visit to Mountjoy.
Always more or less superior to the amiable weakness of modesty, the
doctor seemed to have risen higher than ever in his own estimation,
since Hugh had last seen him. He strutted; he stared confidently at
persons and things; authority was in his voice when he spoke, and lofty
indulgence distinguished his manner when he listened.
"How are you?" he cried with a grand gaiety, as he entered the room.
"Fine weather, isn't it, for the time of year? You don't look well. I
wonder whether you notice any change in me?
"You seem to be in good spirits," Hugh replied, not very cordially.
"Do I carry my head high?" Mr. Vimpany went on. "When calamity strikes
at a man, don't let him cringe and cry for pity--let him hit back
again! Those are my principles. Look at me. Now do look at me. Here I
am, a cultivated person, a member of an honourable profession, a man of
art and accomplishment--stripped of every blessed thing belonging to me
but the clothes I stand up in. Give me your hand, Mountjoy. It's the
hand, sir, of a bankrupt."
"You don't seem to mind it much," Mountjoy remarked.
"Why should I mind it?" asked the doctor. "There isn't a medical man in
England who has less reason to reproach himself than I have. Have I
wasted money in rash speculations? Not a farthing. Have I been fool
enough to bet at horse races? My worst enemy daren't say it of me. What
have I done then? I have toiled after virtue--that's what I have done.
Oh, there's nothing to laugh at! When a doctor tries to be the medical
friend of humanity; when he only asks leave to cure disease, to soothe
pain, to preserve life--isn't that virtue? And what is my reward? I sit
at home, waiting for my suffering fellow-creatures; and the only
fellow-creatures who come to me are too poor to pay. I have gone my
rounds, calling on the rich patients whom I bought when I bought the
practice. Not one of them wanted me. Men, women, and children, were all
inexcusably healthy--devil take them! Is it wonderful if a man becomes
bankrupt, in such a situation as mine? By Jupiter, I go farther than
that! I say, a man owes it to himself (as a protest against undeserved
neglect) to become a bankrupt. If you will allow me, I'll take a
chair."
He sat down with an air of impudent independence and looked round the
room. A little cabinet, containing liqueurs, stood open on the
sideboard. Mr. Vimpany got up again. "May I take a friendly liberty?"
he said--and helped himself, without waiting for permission.
Hugh bore with this, mindful of the mistake that he had committed in
consenting to receive the doctor. At the same time, he was sufficiently
irritated to take a friendly liberty on his side. He crossed the room
to the sideboard, and locked up the liqueurs. Mr. Vimpany's brazen face
flushed deeply (not with shame); he opened his lips to say something
worthy of himself, controlled the impulse, and burst into a boisterous
laugh. He had evidently some favour still to ask.
"Devilish good!" he broke out cheerfully. "Do you remember the
landlady's claret? Ha! you don't want to tempt me this time. Well!
well! to return to my bankruptcy."
Hugh had heard enough of his visitor's bankruptcy. "I am not one of
your creditors," he said.
Mr. Vimpany made a smart reply: "Don't you be too sure of that. Wait a
little."
"Do you mean," Mountjoy asked, "that you have come here to borrow money
of me?"
"Time---give me time," the doctor pleaded: "this is not a matter to be
dispatched in a hurry; this is a matter of business. You will hardly
believe it," he resumed, "but I have actually been in my present
position, once before." He looked towards the cabinet of liqueurs. "If
I had the key," he said, "I should like to try a drop more of your good
Curacoa. You don't see it?"
"I am waiting to hear what your business is," Hugh replied.
Mr. Vimpany's pliable temper submitted with perfect amiability. "Quite
right," he said; "let us return to business. I am a man who possesses
great fertility of resource. On the last occasion when my creditors
pounced on my property, do you think I was discouraged? Nothing of the
sort! My regular medical practice had broken down under me. Very
well--I tried my luck as a quack. In plain English, I invented a patent
medicine. The one thing wanting was money enough to advertise it. False
friends buttoned up their pockets. You see?"
"Oh, yes; I see."
"In that case," Mr. Vimpany continued, "you will not be surprised to
hear that I draw on my resources again. You have no doubt noticed that
we live in an age of amateurs. Amateurs write, paint, compose music,
perform on the stage. I, too, am one of the accomplished persons who
have taken possession of the field of Art. Did you observe the
photographic portraits on the walls of my dining-room? They are of my
doing, sir--whether you observed them or not I am one of the handy
medical men, who can use the photograph. Not that I mention it
generally; the public have got a narrow-minded notion that a doctor
ought to be nothing but a doctor. My name won't appear in a new work
that I am contemplating. Of course, you want to know what my new work
is. I'll tell you, in the strictest confidence. Imagine (if you can) a
series of superb photographs of the most eminent doctors in England,
with memoirs of their lives written by themselves; published once a
month, price half-a-crown. If there isn't money in that idea, there is
no money in anything. Exert yourself, my good friend. Tell me what you
think of it?"
"I don't understand the subject," Mountjoy replied. "May I ask why you
take _me_ into your confidence?"
"Because I look upon you as my best friend."
"You are very good. But surely, Mr. Vimpany, you have older friends in
your circle of acquaintance than I am."
"Not one," the doctor answered promptly, "whom I trust as I trust you.
Let me give you a proof of it."
"Is the proof in any way connected with money?" Hugh inquired.
"I call that hard on me," Mr. Vimpany protested. "No unfriendly
interruptions, Mountjoy! I offer a proof of kindly feeling. Do you mean
to hurt me?"
"Certainly not. Go on."
"Thank you; a little encouragement goes a long way with me. I have
found a bookseller, who will publish my contemplated work, on
commission. Not a soul has yet seen the estimate of expenses. I propose
to show it to You."
"Quite needless, Mr. Vimpany."
"Why quite needless?"
"Because I decline lending you the money."
"No, no, Mountjoy! You can't really mean that?"
"I do mean it."
"No!"
"Yes!"
The doctor's face showed a sudden change of expression---a sinister and
threatening change. "Don't drive me into a corner," he said. "Think of
it again."
Hugh's capacity for controlling himself gave way at last.
"Do you presume to threaten me?" he said. "Understand, if you please,
that my mind is made up, and that nothing you can say or do will alter
it."
With that declaration he rose from his chair, and waited for Mr.
Vimpany's departure.
The doctor put on his hat. His eyes rested on Hugh, with a look of
diabolical malice: "The time is not far off, Mr. Mountjoy, when you may
be sorry you refused me." He said those words deliberately--and took
his leave.
Released from the man's presence, Hugh found himself strangely
associating the interests of Iris with the language--otherwise beneath
notice--which Mr. Vimpany had used on leaving the room.
In desperate straits for want of money, how would the audacious
bankrupt next attempt to fill his empty purse? If he had, by any
chance, renewed his relations with his Irish friend--and such an event
was at least possible--his next experiment in the art of raising a loan
might take him to Paris. Lord Harry had already ventured on a
speculation which called for an immediate outlay of money, and which
was only expected to put a profit into his pocket at some future
period. In the meanwhile, his resources in money had their limits; and
his current expenses would make imperative demands on an ill-filled
purse. If the temptation to fail in his resolution to respect his
wife's fortune was already trying his fortitude, what better excuse
could be offered for yielding than the necessities of an old friend in
a state of pecuniary distress?
Looking at the position of Iris, and at the complications which
threatened it, from this point of view, Mountjoy left the hotel to
consult with Mrs. Vimpany. It rested with her to decide whether the
circumstances justified his departure for Paris.
CHAPTER XXVI
LONDON AND PARIS
INFORMED of all that Hugh could tell her relating to his interview with
her husband, Mrs. Vimpany understood and appreciated his fears for the
future. She failed, however, to agree with him that he would do well to
take the journey to France, under present circumstances.
"Wait a little longer in London," she said. "If Iris doesn't write to
me in the next few days there will be a reason for her silence; and in
that case (as I have already told you) I shall hear from Fanny Mere.
You shall see me when I get a letter from Paris."
On the last morning in the week, Mrs. Vimpany was announced. The letter
that she brought with her had been written by Fanny Mere. With the pen
in her hand, the maid's remarkable character expressed itself as
strongly as ever:--
"Madam,--I said I would let you know what goes on here, when I thought
there was need of it. There seems to be need now. Mr. Vimpany came to
us yesterday. He has the spare bedroom. My mistress says nothing, and
writes nothing. For that reason, I send you the present writing.--Your
humble servant, F."
Mountjoy was perplexed by this letter, plain as it was.
"It seems strange," he said, "that Iris herself has not written to you.
She has never hitherto concealed her opinion of Mr. Vimpany."
"She is concealing it now," Mr. Vimpany's wife replied gravely.
"Do you know why?"
"I am afraid I do. Iris will not hesitate at any sacrifice of herself
to please Lord Harry. She will give him her money when he wants it. If
he tells her to alter her opinion of my husband, she will obey him. He
can shake her confidence in me, whenever he pleases; and he has very
likely done it already."
"Surely it is time for me to go to her now?" Hugh said.
"Full time," Mrs. Vimpany admitted--"if you can feel sure of yourself.
In the interests of Iris, can you undertake to be cool and careful?"
"In the interests of Iris, I can undertake anything."
"One word more," Mrs. Vimpany continued, "before you take your
departure. No matter whether appearances are for him, or against him,
be always on your guard with my husband. Let me hear from you while you
are away; and don't forget that there is an obstacle between you and
Iris, which will put even your patience and devotion to a hard trial."
"You mean her husband?"
"I do."
There was no more to be said, Hugh set forth on his journey to Paris.
* * * * * * *
On the morning after his arrival in the French capital, Mountjoy had
two alternatives to consider. He might either write to Iris, and ask
when it would be convenient to her to receive him--or he might present
himself unexpectedly in the cottage at Passy. Reflection convinced him
that his best chance of placing an obstacle in the way of deception
would be to adopt the second alternative, and to take Lord Harry and
the doctor by surprise.
He went to Passy. The lively French taste had brightened the cottage
with colour: the fair white window curtains were tied with
rose-coloured ribbons, the blinds were gaily painted, the chimneys were
ornamental, the small garden was a paradise of flowers. When Mountjoy
rang the bell, the gate was opened by Fanny Mere. She looked at him in
grave astonishment.
"Do they expect you?" she asked.
"Never mind that," Hugh answered. "Are they at home?"
"They have just finished breakfast, sir."
"Do you remember my name?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then show me in."
Fanny opened the door of a room on the ground floor, and announced:
"Mr. Mountjoy."
The two men were smoking; Iris was watering some flowers in the window.
Her colour instantly faded when Hugh entered the room. In doubt and
alarm, her eyes questioned Lord Harry. He was in his sweetest state of
good-humour. Urged by the genial impulse of the moment, he set the
example of a cordial reception. "This is an agreeable surprise,
indeed," he said, shaking hands with Mountjoy in his easy amiable way.
"It's kind of you to come and see us." Relieved of anxiety (evidently
when she had not expected it), Iris eagerly followed her husband's
example: her face recovered its colour, and brightened with its
prettiest smile. Mr. Vimpany stood in a corner; his cigar went out: his
own wife would hardly have known him again--he actually presented an
appearance of embarrassment! Lord Harry burst out laughing: "Look at
him Iris! The doctor is shy for the first time in his life." The Irish
good-humour was irresistible. The young wife merrily echoed her
husband's laugh. Mr. Vimpany, observing the friendly reception offered
to Hugh, felt the necessity of adapting himself to circumstances. He
came out of his corner with an apology: "Sorry I misbehaved myself, Mr.
Mountjoy, when I called on you in London. Shake hands. No offence--eh?"
Iris, in feverish high spirits, mimicked the doctor's coarse tones when
he repeated his favourite form of excuse. Lord Harry clapped his hands,
delighted with his wife's clever raillery: "Ha! Mr. Mountjoy, you don't
find that her married life has affected her spirits! May I hope that
you have come here to breakfast? The table is ready as you see"----
"And I have been taking lessons, Hugh, in French ways of cooking eggs,"
Iris added; "pray let me show you what I can do." The doctor chimed in
facetiously: "I'm Lady Harry's medical referee; you'll find her French
delicacies half digested for you, sir, before you can open your mouth:
signed, Clarence Vimpany, member of the College of Surgeons."
Remembering Mrs. Vimpany's caution, Hugh concealed his distrust of this
outbreak of hospitable gaiety, and made his excuses. Lord Harry
followed, with more excuses, on his part. He deplored it--but he was
obliged to go out. Had Mr. Mountjoy met with the new paper which was to
beat "Galiguani" out of the field? The "Continental Herald "--there was
the title. "Forty thousand copies of the first number have just flown
all over Europe; we have our agencies in every town of importance, at
every point of the compass; and, one of the great proprietors, my dear
sir, is the humble individual who now addresses you." His bright eyes
sparkled with boyish pleasure, as he made that announcement of his own
importance. If Mr. Mountjoy would kindly excuse him, he had an
appointment at the office that morning. "Get your hat, Vimpany. The
fact is our friend here carries a case of consumption in his pocket;
consumption of the purse, you understand. I am going to enrol him among
the contributors to the newspaper. A series of articles (between
ourselves) exposing the humbug of physicians, and asserting with fine
satirical emphasis the overstocked state of the medical profession. Ah,
well! you'll be glad (won't you?) to talk over old times with Iris. My
angel, show our good friend the 'Continental Herald,' and mind you keep
him here till we get back. Doctor, look alive! Mr. Mountjoy, au
revoir." They shook hands again heartily. As Mrs. Vimpany had
confessed, there was no resisting the Irish lord.
But Hugh's strange experience of that morning was not at an end, yet.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE BRIDE AT HOME
LEFT alone with the woman whose charm still held him to her, cruelly as
she had tried his devotion by her marriage, Mountjoy found the fluent
amiability of the husband imitated by the wife. She, too, when the door
had hardly closed on Lord Harry, was bent on persuading Hugh that her
marriage had been the happiest event of her life.
"Will you think the worse of me," she began, "if I own that I had
little expectation of seeing you again?"
"Certainly not, Iris."
"Consider my situation," she went on. "When I remember how you tried
(oh, conscientiously tried!) to prevent my marriage--how you predicted
the miserable results that would follow, if Harry's life and my life
became one--could I venture to hope that you would come here, and judge
for yourself? Dear and good friend, I have nothing to fear from the
result; your presence was never more welcome to me than it is now!"
Whether it was attributable to prejudice on Mountjoy's part, or to keen
and just observation, he detected something artificial in the ring of
her enthusiasm; there was not the steady light of truth in her eyes,
which he remembered in the past and better days of their companionship.
He was a little--just a little--irritated. The temptation to remind her
that his distrust of Lord Harry had once been her distrust too, proved
to be more than his frailty could resist.
"Your memory is generally exact," he said; "but it hardly serves you
now as well as usual."
"What have I forgotten?"
"You have forgotten the time, my dear, when your opinion was almost as
strongly against a marriage with Lord Harry as mine."
Her answer was ready on the instant: "Ah, I didn't know him then as
well as I know him now!"
Some men, in Mountjoy's position, might have been provoked into hinting
that there were sides to her husband's character which she had probably
not discovered yet. But Hugh's gentle temper--ruffled for a moment
only--had recovered its serenity. Her friend was her true friend still;
he said no more on the subject of her marriage.
"Old habits are not easily set aside," he reminded her. "I have been so
long accustomed to advise you and help you, that I find myself hoping
there may be some need for my services still. Is there no way in which
I might relieve you of the hateful presence of Mr. Vimpany?"
"My dear Hugh, I wish you had not mentioned Mr. Vimpany."
Mountjoy concluded that the subject was disagreeable to her. "After the
opinion of him which you expressed in your letter to me," he said, "I
ought not to have spoken of the doctor. Pray forgive me."
Iris looked distressed. "Oh, you are quite mistaken! The poor doctor
has been sadly misjudged; and I"--she shook her head, and sighed
penitently--"and, I," she resumed, "am one among other people who have
ignorantly wronged him. Pray consult my husband. Hear what he can tell
you--and you will pity Mr. Vimpany. The newspaper makes such large
demands on our means that we can do little to help him. With your
recommendation he might find some employment."
"He has already asked me to assist him, Iris; and I have refused. I
can't agree with your change of opinion about Mr. Vimpany."
"Why not? Is it because he has separated from his wife?"
"That is one reason, among many others," Mountjoy replied.
"Indeed, indeed you are wrong! Lord Harry has known Mrs. Vimpany for
years, and he says--I am truly sorry to hear it--that the separation is
her fault."
Hugh changed the subject again. The purpose which had mainly induced
him to leave England had not been mentioned yet.
Alluding to the newspaper, and to the heavy pecuniary demands made by
the preliminary expenses of the new journal, he reminded Iris that
their long and intimate friendship permitted him to feel some interest
in her affairs. "I won't venture to express an opinion," he added; "let
me only ask if Lord Harry's investments in this speculation have
compelled him to make some use of your little fortune?"
"My husband refused to touch my fortune," Iris answered. "But"--She
paused, there. "Do you know how honourably, how nobly, he has behaved?"
she abruptly resumed. "He has insured his life: he has burdened himself
with the payment of a large sum of money every year. And all for me, if
I am so unfortunate (which God forbid!) as to survive him. When a large
share in the newspaper was for sale, do you think I could be ungrateful
enough to let him lose the chance of making our fortune, when the
profits begin to come in? I insisted on advancing the money--we almost
quarrelled about it--but, you know how sweet he is. I said: 'Don't
distress me'; and the dearest of men let me have my own way."
Mountjoy listened in silence. To have expressed what he felt would have
been only to mortify and offend Iris. Old habit (as he had said) had
made the idea of devoting himself to her interests the uppermost idea
in his mind. He asked if the money had all been spent. Hearing that
some of it was still left, he resolved on making the attempt to secure
the remains of her fortune to herself.
"Tell me," he said, "have you ever heard of such a thing as buying an
annuity?"
She knew nothing about it. He carefully explained the method by which a
moderate sum of money might be made to purchase a sufficient income for
life. She offered no objection, when he proposed to write to his lawyer
in London for the necessary particulars. But when he asked her to tell
him what the sum was of which she might be still able to dispose, Iris
hesitated, and made no reply.
This time, Hugh arrived at the right conclusion.
It was only too plain to him that what remained of her money
represented an amount so trifling that she was ashamed to mention it.
Of the need for helping her, there could be no doubt now; and, as for
the means, no difficulties presented themselves to Mountjoy--always
excepting the one obstacle likely to be offered by the woman herself.
Experience warned him to approach her delicately, by the indirect way.
"You know me well enough," he said, "to feel sure that I am incapable
of saying anything which can embarrass you, or cause a moment's
misunderstanding between two old friends. Won't you look at me, Iris,
when I am speaking to you?"
She still looked away from him. "I am afraid of what you are going to
say to me," she answered coldly.
"Then let me say it at once. In one of your letters, written long
since--I don't suppose you remember it--you told me that I was an
obstinate man when I once took a thing into my head. You were quite
right. My dear, I have taken it into my head that you will be as ready
as ever to accept my advice, and will leave me (as your man of
business) to buy the annuity"--
She stopped him.
"No," she cried, "I won't hear a word more! Do you think I am
insensible to years of kindness that I have never deserved? Do you
think I forget how nobly you have forgiven me for those cruel refusals
which have saddened your life? Is it possible that you expect me to
borrow money of You?" She started wildly to her feet. "I declare, as
God hears me, I would rather die than take that base, that shameful
advantage of all your goodness to me. The woman never lived who owed so
much to a man, as I owe to you--but not money! Oh, my dear, not money!
not money!"
He was too deeply touched to be able to speak to her--and she saw it.
"What a wretch I am," she said to herself; "I have made his heart
ache!"
He heard those words. Still feeling for her--never, never for
himself!--he tried to soothe her. In the passion of her self-reproach,
she refused to hear him. Pacing the room from end to end, she fanned
the fiery emotion that was consuming her. Now, she reviled herself in
language that broke through the restraints by which good breeding sets
its seal on a woman's social rank. And now, again, she lost herself
more miserably still, and yielded with hysteric recklessness to a
bitter outburst of gaiety.
"If you wish to be married happily," she cried, "never be as fond of
any other woman as you have been of me. We are none of us worth it.
Laugh at us, Hugh--do anything but believe in us. We all lie, my
friend. And I have been lying--shamelessly! shamelessly!"
He tried to check her. "Don't talk in that way, Iris," he said sternly.
She laughed at him. "Talk?" she repeated. "It isn't that; it's a
confession."
"I don't desire to hear your confession."
"You must hear it--you have drawn it out of me. Come! we'll enjoy my
humiliation together. Contradict every word I said to you about that
brute and blackguard, the doctor--and you will have the truth. What
horrid inconsistency, isn't it? I can't help myself; I am a wretched,
unreasonable creature; I don't know my own mind for two days together,
and all through my husband--I am so fond of him; Harry is delightfully
innocent; he's like a nice boy; he never seemed to think of Mr.
Vimpany, till it was settled between them that the doctor was to come
and stay here----and then he persuaded me--oh, I don't know how!--to
see his friend in quite a new light. I believed him--and I believe him
still--I mean I _would_ believe him, but for you. Will you do me a
favour? I wish you wouldn't look at me with those eyes that won't lie;
I wish you wouldn't speak to me with that voice which finds things out.
Oh, good Heavens, do you suppose I would let you think that my husband
is a bad man, and my marriage an unhappy one? Never! If it turns my
blood to sit and eat at the same table with Mr. Vimpany, I'm not cruel
enough to blame the dear doctor. It's my wickedness that's to blame. We
shall quarrel, if you tell me that Harry is capable of letting a rascal
be his friend. I'm happy; I'm happy; I'm happy!--do you understand
that? Oh, Hugh, I wish you had never come to see me!"
She burst into a passionate fit of weeping, broken down at last under
the terrible strain laid on her. "Let me hide myself!" was all that
Iris could say to her old friend--before she ran out of the room, and
left him.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE MAID AND THE KEYHOLE
DEEPLY as she had grieved him, keenly as he felt that his worst fears
for her threatened already to be realised, it was characteristic of
Mountjoy that he still refused to despair of Iris--even with the
husband's influence against him.
The moral deterioration of her, revealed in the false words that she
had spoken, and in the deceptions that she had attempted, would have
justified the saddest misgivings, but for the voluntary confession
which had followed, and the signs which it had shown of the better
nature still struggling to assert itself. How could Hugh hope to
encourage that effort of resistance to the evil influences that were
threatening her--first and foremost, among them, being the arrival of
Vimpany at the cottage? His presence kept her in a state of perpetual
contention, between her own wise instincts which distrusted him, and
her husband's authoritative assertions which recommended him to her
confidence. No greater service could be rendered to Iris than the
removal of this man--but how could it be accomplished, without giving
offence to her husband? Mountjoy's mind was still in search of a means
of overcoming the obstacle thus presented, when he heard the door open.
Had Iris recovered herself? or had Lord Harry and his friend returned?
The person who now entered the room was the strange and silent maid,
Fanny Mere.
"Can I speak to you, sir?"
"Certainly. What is it?"
"Please give me your address."
"For your mistress?"
"Yes."
"Does she wish to write to me?"
"Yes."
Hugh gave the strange creature the address of his hotel in Paris. For a
moment, her eyes rested on him with an expression of steady scrutiny.
She opened the door to go out---stopped--considered--came back again.
"I want to speak for myself," she said. "Do you care to hear what a
servant has to say?"
Mountjoy replied that he was ready to hear what she had to say. She at
once stepped up to him, and addressed him in these words:
"I think you are fond of my mistress?"
An ordinary man might have resented the familiar manner in which she
had expressed herself. Mountjoy waited for what was still to come.
Fanny Mere abruptly went on, with a nearer approach to agitation in her
manner than she had shown yet:
"My mistress took me into her service; she trusted me when other ladies
would have shown me the door. When she sent for me to see her, my
character was lost; I had nobody to feel for me, nobody to help me. She
is the one friend who held out a hand to me. I hate the men; I don't
care for the women. Except one. Being a servant I mustn't say I love
that one. If I was a lady, I don't know that I should say it. Love is
cant; love is rubbish. Tell me one thing. Is the doctor a friend of
yours?"
"The doctor is nothing of the kind."
"Perhaps he is your enemy?"
"I can hardly say that."
She looked at Hugh discontentedly. "I want to get at it," she said.
"Why can't we understand each other? Will you laugh at me, if I say the
first thing that comes into my head? Are you a good swimmer?"
An extraordinary question, even from Fanny Mere. It was put
seriously--and seriously Mountjoy answered it. He said that he was
considered to be a good swimmer.
"Perhaps," she continued, "you have saved people's lives."
"I have twice been so fortunate as to save lives," he replied.
"If you saw the doctor drowning, would you save him? _I_ wouldn't!"
"Do you hate him as bitterly as that?" Hugh asked.
She passed the question over without notice. "I wish you would help me
to get at it," she persisted. "Suppose you could rid my mistress of
that man by giving him a kick, would you up with your foot and do it?"
"Yes--with pleasure."
"Thank you, sir. Now I've got it. Mr. Mountjoy, the doctor is the curse
of my mistress's life. I can't bear to see it. If we are not relieved
of him somehow, I shall do something wrong. When I wait at table, and
see him using his knife, I want to snatch it out of his hand, and stick
it into him. I had a hope that my lord might turn him out of the house
when they quarrelled. My lord is too wicked himself to do it. For the
love of God, sir, help my mistress--or show me the way how!"
Mountjoy began to be interested. "How do you know," he asked, "that
Lord Harry and the doctor have quarrelled?"
Without the slightest appearance of embarrassment, Fanny Mere informed
him that she had listened at the door, while her master and his friend
were talking of their secrets. She had also taken an opportunity of
looking through the keyhole. "I suppose, sir," said this curious woman,
still speaking quite respectfully, "you have never tried that way
yourself?"
"Certainly not!"
"Wouldn't you do it to serve my mistress?"
"No."
"And yet, you're fond of her! You are a merciful one--the only merciful
one, so far as I know--among men. Perhaps, if you were frightened about
her, you might be more ready with your help. I wonder whether I can
frighten you? Will you let me try?"
The woman's faithful attachment to Iris pleaded for her with Hugh.
"Try, if you like," he said kindly.
Speaking as seriously as ever, Fanny proceeded to describe her
experience at the keyhole. What she had seen was not worth relating.
What she had heard proved to be more important.
The talk between my lord and the doctor had been about raising money.
They had different notions of how to do that. My lord's plan was to
borrow what was wanted, on his life-insurance. The doctor told him he
couldn't do that, till his insurance had been going on for three or
four years at least. "I have something better and bolder to propose,"
says Mr. Vimpany. It must have been also something wicked--for he
whispered it in the master's ear. My lord didn't take to it kindly.
"How do you think I could face my wife," he says, "if she discovered
me?" The doctor says: "Don't be afraid of your wife; Lady Harry will
get used to many things which she little thought of before she married
you." Says my lord to that: "I have done my best, Vimpany, to improve
my wife's opinion of you. If you say much more, I shall come round to
her way of thinking. Drop it!"--"All right," says the doctor, "I'll
drop it now, and wait to pick it up again till you come to your last
bank note." There the talk ended for that day---and Fanny would be glad
to know what Mr. Mountjoy thought of it.
"I think you have done me a service," Hugh replied.
"Tell me how, sir."
"I can only tell you this, Fanny. You have shown me how to relieve your
mistress of the doctor."
For the first time, the maid's impenetrable composure completely failed
her. The smouldering fire in Fanny Mere flamed up. She impulsively
kissed Mountjoy's hand. The moment her lips touched it she shrank back:
the natural pallor of her face became whiter than ever. Startled by the
sudden change, Hugh asked if she was ill.
She shook her head.
"It isn't that. Yours is the first man's hand I have kissed, since--"
She checked herself. "I beg you won't ask me about it. I only meant to
thank you, sir; I do thank you with all my heart--I mustn't stay here
any longer."
As she spoke the sound of a key was heard, opening the lock of the
cottage-door. Lord Harry had returned.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE CONQUEST OF MR. VIMPANY
THE Irish lord came in--with his medical friend sulkily in attendance
on him. He looked at Fanny, and asked where her mistress was.
"My lady is in her room, sir."
Hearing this, he turned sharply to Mountjoy. On the point of speaking,
he seemed to think better of it, and went to his wife's room. The maid
followed. "Get rid of him now," she whispered to Hugh, glancing at the
doctor. Mr. Vimpany was in no very approachable humour--standing at the
window, with his hands in his empty pockets, gloomily looking out. But
Hugh was not disposed to neglect the opportunity; he ventured to say:
"You don't seem to be in such good spirits as usual."
The doctor gruffly expressed his opinion that Mr. Mountjoy would not be
particularly cheerful, in his place. My lord had taken him to the
office, on the distinct understanding that he was to earn a little
pocket-money by becoming one of the contributors to the newspaper. And
how had it ended? The editor had declared that his list of writers was
full, and begged leave to suggest that Mr. Vimpany should wait for the
next vacancy. A most impertinent proposal! Had Lord Harry--a
proprietor, remember--exerted his authority? Not he! His lordship had
dropped the doctor "like a hot potato," and had meanly submitted to his
own servant. What did Mr. Mountjoy think of such conduct as that?
Hugh answered the question, with his own end in view. Paving the way
for Mr. Vimpany's departure from the cottage at Passy, he made a polite
offer of his services.
"Can't I help you out of your difficulty?" he said.
"You!" cried the doctor. "Have you forgotten how you received me, sir,
when I asked for a loan at your hotel in London?"
Hugh admitted that he might have spoken hastily. "You took me by
surprise," he said, "and (perhaps I was mistaken, on my side) I thought
you were, to say the least of it, not particularly civil. You did
certainly use threatening language when you left me. No man likes to be
treated in that way."
Mr. Vimpany's big bold eyes stared at Mountjoy in a state of
bewilderment. "Are you trying to make a fool of me?" he asked.
"I am incapable, Mr. Vimpany, of an act of rudeness towards anybody."
"If you come to that," the doctor stoutly declared, "I am incapable
too. It's plain to me that we have been misunderstanding each other.
Wait a bit; I want to go back for a moment to that threatening language
which you complained of just now. I was sorry for what I had said as
soon as your door was shut on me. On my way downstairs I did think of
turning back and making a friendly apology before I gave you up.
Suppose I had done that?" Mr. Vimpany asked, wondering internally
whether Mountjoy was foolish enough to believe him.
Hugh advanced a little nearer to the design that he had in view.
"You might have found me more kindly disposed towards you," he said,
"than you had anticipated."
This encouraging reply cost him an effort. He had stooped to the
unworthy practice of perverting what he had said and done on a former
occasion, to serve a present interest. Remind himself as he might of
the end which, in the interests of Iris, did really appear to justify
the means, he still sank to a place in his own estimation which he was
honestly ashamed to occupy.
Under other circumstances his hesitation, slight as it was, might have
excited suspicion. As things were, Mr. Vimpany could only discover
golden possibilities that dazzled his eyes. "I wonder whether you're in
the humour," he said, "to be kindly disposed towards me now?"
It was needless to be careful of the feelings of such man as this.
"Suppose you had the money you want in your pocket," Hugh suggested,
"what would you do with it?"
"Go back to London, to be sure, and publish the first number of that
work of mine I told you of."
"And leave your friend, Lord Harry?"
"What good is my friend to me? He's nearly as poor as I am--he sent for
me to advise him--I put him up to a way of filling both our pockets,
and he wouldn't hear of it. What sort of a friend do you call that?"
Pay him and get rid of him. There was the course of proceeding
suggested by the private counsellor in Mountjoy's bosom.
"Have you got the publisher's estimate of expenses?" he asked.
The doctor instantly produced the document.
To a rich man the sum required was, after all, trifling enough.
Mountjoy sat down at the writing-table. As he took up a pen, Mr.
Vimpany's protuberant eyes looked as if they would fly out of his head.
"If I lend you the money--" Hugh began.
"Yes? Yes?" cried the doctor.
"I do so on condition that nobody is to know of the loan but
ourselves."
"Oh, sir, on my sacred word of honour--" An order on Mountjoy's bankers
in Paris for the necessary amount, with something added for travelling
expenses, checked Mr. Vimpany in full career of protestation. He tried
to begin again: "My friend! my benefactor--"
He was stopped once more. His friend and benefactor pointed to the
clock.
"If you want the money to-day, you have just time to get to Paris
before the bank closes."
Mr. Vimpany did want the money--always wanted the money; his gratitude
burst out for the third time: "God bless you!"
The object of that highly original form of benediction pointed through
the window in the direction of the railway station. Mr. Vimpany
struggled no longer to express his feelings--he had made his last
sacrifice to appearances--he caught the train.
The door of the room had been left open. A voice outside said: "Has he
gone?"
"Come in, Fanny," said Mountjoy. "He will return to London either
to-night or to-morrow morning."
The strange maid put her head in at the door. "I'll be at the
terminus," she said, "and make sure of him."
Her head suddenly disappeared, before it was possible to speak to her
again. "Was there some other person outside? The other person entered
the room; it was Lord Harry. He spoke without his customary smile.
"I want a word with you, Mr. Mountjoy."
"About what, my lord?"
That direct question seemed to confuse the Irishman. He hesitated.
"About you," he said, and stopped to consider. "And another person," he
added mysteriously.
Hugh was constitutionally a hater of mysteries. He felt the need of a
more definite reply, and asked for it plainly:
"Does your lordship associate that other person with me?"
"Yes, I do."
"Who is the person?"
"My wife."
CHAPTER XXX
SAXON AND CELT
WHEN amicable relations between two men happen to be in jeopardy, there
is least danger of an ensuing quarrel if the friendly intercourse has
been of artificial growth, on either side. In this case, the promptings
of self-interest, and the laws of politeness, have been animating
influences throughout; acting under conditions which assist the effort
of self-control. And for this reason: the man who has never really
taken a high place in our regard is unprovided with those sharpest
weapons of provocation, which make unendurable demands on human
fortitude. In a true attachment, on the other hand, there is an
innocent familiarity implied, which is forgetful of ceremony, and blind
to consequences. The affectionate freedom which can speak kindly
without effort is sensitive to offence, and can speak harshly without
restraint. When the friend who wounds us has once been associated with
the sacred memories of the heart, he strikes at a tender place, and no
considerations of propriety are powerful enough to stifle our cry of
rage and pain. The enemies who have once loved each other are the
bitterest enemies of all.
Thus, the curt exchange of question and answer, which had taken place
in the cottage at Passy, between two gentlemen artificially friendly to
one another, led to no regrettable result. Lord Harry had been too
readily angry: he remembered what was due to Mr. Mountjoy. Mr. Mountjoy
had been too thoughtlessly abrupt: he remembered what was due to Lord
Harry. The courteous Irishman bowed, and pointed to a chair. The
well-bred Englishman returned the polite salute, and sat down. My lord
broke the silence that followed.
"May I hope that you will excuse me," he began, "if I walk about the
room? Movement seems to help me when I am puzzled how to put things
nicely. Sometimes I go round and round the subject, before I get at it.
I'm afraid I'm going round and round, now. Have you arranged to make a
long stay in Paris?"
Circumstances, Mountjoy answered, would probably decide him.
"You have no doubt been many times in Paris before this," Lord Harry
continued. "Do you find it at all dull, now?"
Wondering what he could possibly mean, Hugh said he never found Paris
dull--and waited for further enlightenment. The Irish lord persisted:
"People mostly think Paris isn't as gay as it used to be. Not such good
plays and such good actors as they had at one time. The restaurants
inferior, and society very much mixed. People don't stay there as long
as they used. I'm told that Americans are getting disappointed, and are
trying London for a change."
Could he have any serious motive for this irrelevant way of talking? Or
was he, to judge by his own account of himself, going round and round
the subject of his wife and his guest, before he could get at it?
Suspecting him of jealousy from the first, Hugh failed--naturally
perhaps in his position--to understand the regard for Iris, and the
fear of offending her, by which her jealous husband was restrained.
Lord Harry was attempting (awkwardly indeed!) to break off the
relations between his wife and her friend, by means which might keep
the true state of his feelings concealed from both of them. Ignorant of
this claim on his forbearance, it was Mountjoy's impression that he was
being trifled with. Once more, he waited for enlightenment, and waited
in silence.
"You don't find my conversation interesting?" Lord Harry remarked,
still with perfect good-humour.
"I fail to see the connection," Mountjoy acknowledged, "between what
you have said so far, and the subject on which you expressed your
intention of speaking to me. Pray forgive me if I appear to hurry
you--or if you have any reasons for hesitation."
Far from being offended, this incomprehensible man really appeared to
be pleased. "You read me like a book!" he exclaimed. "It's hesitation
that's the matter with me. I'm a variable man. If there's something
disagreeable to say, there are times when I dash at it, and times when
I hang back. Can I offer you any refreshment?" he asked, getting away
from the subject again, without so much as an attempt at concealment.
Hugh thanked him, and declined.
"Not even a glass of wine? Such white Burgundy, my dear sir, as you
seldom taste."
Hugh's British obstinacy was roused; he repeated his reply. Lord Harry
looked at him gravely, and made a nearer approach to an open confession
of feeling than he had ventured on yet.
"With regard now to my wife. When I went away this morning with
Vimpany--he's not such good company as he used to be; soured by
misfortune, poor devil; I wish he would go back to London. As I was
saying--I mean as I was about to say--I left you and Lady Harry
together this morning; two old friends, glad (as I supposed) to have a
gossip about old times. When I come back, I find you left here alone,
and I am told that Lady Harry is in her room. What do I see when I get
there? I see the finest pair of eyes in the world; and the tale they
tell me is, We have been crying. When I ask what may have happened to
account for this--'Nothing, dear,' is all the answer I get. What's the
impression naturally produced on my mind? There has been a quarrel
perhaps between you and my wife."
"I fail entirely, Lord Harry, to see it in that light."
"Ah, likely enough! Mine's the Irish point of view. As an Englishman
you fail to understand it. Let that be. One thing; Mr. Mountjoy, I'll
take the freedom of saying at once. I'll thank you, next time, to
quarrel with Me."
"You force me to tell you, my lord, that you are under a complete
delusion, if you suppose that there has been any quarrel, or approach
to a quarrel, between Lady Harry and myself."
"You tell me that, on your word of honour as a gentleman?"
"Most assuredly!"
"Sir! I deeply regret to hear it."
"Which does your lordship deeply regret? That I have spoken to you on
my word of honour, or that I have not quarrelled with Lady Harry?"
"Both, sir! By the piper that played before Moses, both!"
Hugh got up, and took his hat: "We may have a better chance of
understanding each other," he suggested, "if you will be so good as to
write to me."
"Put your hat down again, Mr. Mountjoy, and pray have a moment's
patience. I've tried to like you, sir--and I'm bound in candour to own
that I've failed to find a bond of union between us. Maybe, this frank
confession annoys you."
"Far from it! You are going straight to your subject at last, if I may
venture to say so."
The Irish lord's good-humour had completely disappeared by this time.
His handsome face hardened, and his voice rose. The outbreak of jealous
feeling, which motives honourable to himself had hitherto controlled,
now seized on its freedom of expression. His language betrayed (as on
some former occasions) that association with unworthy companions, which
had been one of the evil results of his adventurous life.
"Maybe I'll go straighter than you bargain for," he replied; "I'm in
two humours about you. My common-sense tells me that you're my wife's
friend. And the best of friends do sometimes quarrel, don't they? Well,
sir, you deny it, on your own account. I find myself forced back on my
other humour--and it's a black humour, I can tell you. You may be my
wife's friend, my fine fellow, but you're something more than that. You
have always been in love with her--and you're in love with her now.
Thank you for your visit, but don't repeat it. Say! do we understand
each other at last?"
"I have too sincere a respect for Lady Harry to answer you," Mountjoy
said. "At the same time, let me acknowledge my obligations to your
lordship. You have reminded me that I did a foolish thing when I called
here without an invitation. I agree with you that the sooner my mistake
is set right the better."
He replied in those words, and left the cottage.
On the way back to his hotel, Hugh thought of what Mrs. Vimpany had
said to him when they had last seen each other: "Don't forget that
there is an obstacle between you and Iris which will put even your
patience and your devotion to a hard trial." The obstacle of the
husband had set itself up, and had stopped him already.
His own act (a necessary act after the language that had been addressed
to him) had closed the doors of the cottage, and had put an end to
future meetings between Iris and himself. If they attempted to
communicate by letter, Lord Harry would have opportunities of
discovering their correspondence, of which his jealousy would certainly
avail itself. Through the wakeful night, Hugh's helpless situation was
perpetually in his thoughts. There seemed to be no present alternative
before him but resignation, and a return to England.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS
ON the next day Mountjoy heard news of Iris, which was not of a nature
to relieve his anxieties. He received a visit from Fanny Mere.
The leave-taking of Mr. Vimpany, on the previous evening, was the first
event which the maid had to relate. She had been present when the
doctor said good-bye to the master and mistress. Business in London was
the reason he gave for going away. The master had taken the excuse as
if he really believed in it, and seemed to be glad to get rid of his
friend. The mistress expressed her opinion that Mr. Vimpany's return to
London must have been brought about by an act of liberality on the part
of the most generous of living men. _"Your_ friend has, as I believe,
got some money from _my_ friend," she said to her husband. My lord had
looked at her very strangely when she spoke of Mr. Mountjoy in that
way, and had walked out of the room. As soon as his back was turned,
Fanny had obtained leave of absence. She had carried out her intention
of watching the terminus, and had seen Mr. Vimpany take his place among
the passengers to London by the mail train.
Returning to the cottage, it was Fanny's duty to ascertain if her
services were required in her mistress's room.
On reaching the door, she had heard the voices of my lord and my lady,
and (as Mr. Mountjoy would perhaps be pleased to know) had been too
honourable to listen outside, on this occasion. She had at once gone
away, and had waited until she should be sent for. After a long
interval, the bell that summoned her had been rung. She had found the
mistress in a state of agitation, partly angry, and partly distressed;
and had ventured to ask if anything unpleasant had happened. No reply
was made to that inquiry. Fanny had silently performed the customary
duties of the night-toilet, in getting my lady ready for bed; they had
said good-night to each other and had said no more.
In the morning (that present morning), being again in attendance as
usual, the maid had found Lady Harry in a more indulgent frame of mind;
still troubled by anxieties, but willing to speak of them now.
She had begun by talking of Mr. Mountjoy:
"I think you like him, Fanny: everybody likes him. You will be sorry to
hear that we have no prospect of seeing him again at the cottage."
There she had stopped; something that she had not said, yet, seemed to
be in her mind, and to trouble her. She was near to crying, poor soul,
but struggled against it. "I have no sister," she said, "and no friend
who might be like a sister to me. It isn't perhaps quite right to speak
of my sorrow to my maid. Still, there is something hard to bear in
having no kind heart near one--I mean, no other woman to speak to who
knows what women feel. It is so lonely here--oh, so lonely! I wonder
whether you understand me and pity me?" Never forgetting all that she
owed to her mistress--if she might say so without seeming to praise
herself--Fanny was truly sorry. It would have been a relief to her, if
she could have freely expressed her opinion that my lord must be to
blame, when my lady was in trouble. Being a man, he was by nature cruel
to women; the wisest thing his poor wife could do would be to expect
nothing from him. The maid was sorely tempted to offer a little good
advice to this effect; but she was afraid of her own remembrances, if
she encouraged them by speaking out boldly. It would be better to wait
for what the mistress might say next.
Lord Harry's conduct was the first subject that presented itself when
the conversation was resumed.
My lady mentioned that she had noticed how he looked, and how he left
the room, when she had spoken in praise of Mr. Mountjoy. She had
pressed him to explain himself---and she had made a discovery which
proved to be the bitterest disappointment of her life. Her husband
suspected her! Her husband was jealous of her! It was too cruel; it was
an insult beyond endurance, an insult to Mr. Mountjoy as well as to
herself. If that best and dearest of good friends was to be forbidden
the house, if he was to go away and never to see her or speak to her
again, of one thing she was determined--he should not leave her without
a kind word of farewell; he should hear how truly she valued him; yes,
and how she admired and felt for him! Would Fanny not do the same
thing, in her place? And Fanny had remembered the time when she might
have done it for such a man as Mr. Mountjoy. "Mind you stay indoors
this evening, sir," the maid continued, looking and speaking so
excitedly that Hugh hardly knew her again. "My mistress is coming to
see you, and I shall come with her."
Such an act of imprudence was incredible. "You must be out of your
senses!" Mountjoy exclaimed.
"I'm out of myself sir, if that's what you mean," Fanny answered. "I do
so enjoy treating a man in that way! The master's going out to
dinner--he'll know nothing about it--and," cried the cool cold woman of
other times, "he richly deserves it."
Hugh reasoned and remonstrated, and failed to produce the slightest
effect.
His next effort was to write a few lines to Lady Harry, entreating her
to remember that a jealous man is sometimes capable of acts of the
meanest duplicity, and that she might be watched. When he gave the note
to Fanny to deliver, she informed him respectfully that he had better
not trust her. A person sometimes meant to do right (she reminded him),
and sometimes ended in doing wrong. Rather than disappoint her
mistress, she was quite capable of tearing up the letter, on her way
home, and saying nothing about it. Hugh tried a threat next: "Your
mistress will not find me, if she comes here; I shall go out to-night."
The impenetrable maid looked at him with a pitying smile, and answered:
"Not you!"
It was a humiliating reflection--but Fanny Mere understood him better
than he understood himself.
All that Mountjoy had said and done in the way of protest, had been
really dictated by consideration for the young wife. If he questioned
his conscience, selfish delight in the happy prospect of seeing Iris
again asserted itself, as the only view with which he looked forward to
the end of the day. When the evening approached, he took the precaution
of having his own discreet and faithful servant in attendance, to
receive Lady Harry at the door of the hotel, before the ringing of the
bell could summon the porter from his lodge. On calm consideration, the
chances seemed to be in favour of her escaping detection by Lord Harry.
The jealous husband of the stage, who sooner (or later) discovers the
innocent (or guilty) couple, as the case may be, is not always the
husband of the world outside the theatre. With this fragment of
experience present in his mind, Hugh saw the door of his sitting-room
cautiously opened, at an earlier hour than he had anticipated. His
trustworthy representative introduced a lady, closely veiled--and that
lady was Iris.
CHAPTER XXXII
GOOD-BYE TO IRIS
LADY HARRY lifted her veil, and looked at Mountjoy with sad entreaty in
her eyes. "Are you angry with me?" she asked.
"I ought to be angry with you," he said. "This is a very imprudent,
Iris."
"It's worse than that," she confessed. "It's reckless and desperate.
Don't say I ought to have controlled myself. I can't control the shame
I feel when I think of what has happened. Can I let you go--oh, what a
return for your kindness!--without taking your hand at parting? Come
and sit by me on the sofa. After my poor husband's conduct, you and I
are not likely to meet again. I don't expect you to lament it as I do.
Even your sweetness and your patience--so often tried--must be weary of
me now."
"If you thought that possible, my dear, you would not have come here
to-night," Hugh reminded her. "While we live, we have the hope of
meeting again. Nothing in this world lasts, Iris--not even jealousy.
Lord Harry himself told me that he was a variable man. Sooner or later
he will come to his senses."
Those words seemed to startle Iris. "I hope you don't think that my
husband is brutal to me!" she exclaimed, still resenting even the
appearance of a reflection on her marriage, and still forgetting what
she herself had said which justified a doubt of her happiness. "Have
you formed a wrong impression?" she went on. "Has Fanny Mere
innocently--?"
Mountjoy noticed, for the first time, the absence of the maid. It was a
circumstance which justified him in interrupting Iris--for it might
seriously affect her if her visit to the hotel happened to be
discovered.
"I understood," he said, "that Fanny was to come here with you."
"Yes! yes! She is waiting in the carriage. We are careful not to excite
attention at the door of the hotel; the coachman will drive up and down
the street till I want him again. Never mind that! I have something to
say to you about Fanny. She thinks of her own troubles, poor soul, when
she talks to me, and exaggerates a little without meaning it. I hope
she has not misled you in speaking of her master. It is base and bad of
him, unworthy of a gentleman, to be jealous--and he has wounded me
deeply. But dear Hugh, his jealousy is a gentle jealousy. I have heard
of other men who watch their wives--who have lost all confidence in
them--who would even have taken away from me such a trifle as this."
She smiled, and showed to Mountjoy her duplicate key of the cottage
door. "Ah, Harry is above such degrading distrust as that! There are
times when he is as heartily ashamed of his own weakness as I could
wish him to be. I have seen him on his knees before me, shocked at his
conduct. He is no hypocrite. Indeed, his repentance is sincere, while
it lasts--only it doesn't last! His jealousy rises and falls, like the
wind. He said last night (when the wind was high): 'If you wish to make
me the happiest creature on the face of the earth, don't encourage Mr.
Mountjoy to remain in Paris!' Try to make allowances for him!"
"I would rather make allowances, Iris, for you. Do _you,_ too wish me
to leave Paris?"
Sitting very near to him--nearer than her husband might have liked to
see--Iris drew away a little. "Did you mean to be cruel in saying
that?" she asked. "I don't deserve it."
"It was kindly meant," Hugh assured her. "If I can make your position
more endurable by going away, I will leave Paris to-morrow."
Iris moved back again to the place which she had already occupied. She
was eager to thank him (for a reason not yet mentioned) as she had
never thanked him yet. Silently and softly she offered her gratitude to
Hugh, by offering her cheek. The irritating influence of Lord Harry's
jealousy was felt by both of them at that moment. He kissed her
cheek--and lingered over it. She was the first to recover herself.
"When you spoke just now of my position with my husband," she said,
"you reminded me of anxieties, Hugh, in which you once shared, and of
services which I can never forget."
Preparing him in those words for the disclosure which she had now to
make, Iris alluded to the vagabond life of adventure which Lord Harry
had led. The restlessness in his nature which that life implied, had
latterly shown itself again; and his wife had traced the cause to a
letter from Ireland, communicating a report that the assassin of Arthur
Mountjoy had been seen in London, and was supposed to be passing under
the name of Carrigeen. Hugh would understand that the desperate
resolution to revenge the murder of his friend, with which Lord Harry
had left England in the past time, had been urged into action once
more. He had not concealed from Iris that she must be resigned to his
leaving her for awhile, if the report which had reached him from
Ireland proved to be true. It would be useless, and worse than useless,
to remind this reckless man of the danger that threatened him from the
Invincibles, if he returned to England. In using her power of
influencing the husband who still loved her, Iris could only hope to
exercise a salutary restraint in her own domestic interests, appealing
to him for indulgence by careful submission to any exactions on which
his capricious jealousy might insist. Would sad necessity excuse her,
if she accepted Mountjoy's offer to leave Paris, for the one reason
that her husband had asked it of her as a favour?
Hugh at once understood her motive, and assured her of his sympathy.
"You may depend upon my returning to London to-morrow," he said. "In
the meantime, is there no better way in which I can be of use to you?
If your influence fails, do you see any other chance of keeping Lord
Harry's desperate purpose under control?"
It had only that day occurred to Iris that there might be some prospect
of an encouraging result, if she could obtain the assistance of Mrs.
Vimpany.
The doctor's wife was well acquainted with Lord Harry's past life, when
he happened to be in Ireland; and she had met many of his countrymen
with whom he had associated. If one of those friends happened to be the
officious person who had written to him, it was at least possible that
Mrs. Vimpany's discreet interference might prevent his mischievous
correspondent from writing again. Lord Harry, waiting for more news,
would in this event wait in vain. He would not know where to go, or
what to do next--and, with such a nature as his, the end of his
patience and the end of his resolution were likely to come together.
Hugh handed his pocket-book to Iris. Of the poor chances in her favour,
the last was to his mind the least hopeless of the two.
"If you have discovered the name of your husband's correspondent," he
said, "write it down for me, and I will ask Mrs. Vimpany if she knows
him. I will make your excuses for not having written to her lately;
and, in any case, I answer for her being ready to help you."
As Iris thanked him and wrote the name, the clock on the chimneypiece
struck the hour.
She rose to say farewell. With a restless hand she half-lowered her
veil, and raised it again. "You won't mind my crying," she said
faintly, trying to smile through her tears. "This is the saddest
parting I have ever known. Dear, dear Hugh--good-bye!"
Great is the law of Duty; but the elder law of Love claims its higher
right. Never, in all the years of their friendship, had they forgotten
themselves as they forgot themselves now. For the first time her lips
met his lips, in their farewell kiss. In a moment more, they remembered
the restraints which honour imposed on them; they were only friends
again. Silently she lowered her veil. Silently he took her arm and led
her down to the carriage. It was moving away from them at a slow pace,
towards the other end of the street. Instead of waiting for its return,
they followed and overtook it.
"We shall meet again," he whispered.
She answered sadly: "Don't forget me."
Mountjoy turned back. As he approached the hotel he noticed a tall man
crossing from the opposite side of the street. Not two minutes after
Iris was on her way home, her jealous husband and her old friend met at
the hotel door.
Lord Harry spoke first. "I have been dining out," he said, "and I came
here to have a word with you, Mr. Mountjoy, on my road home."
Hugh answered with formal politeness: "Let me show your lordship the
way to my rooms."
"Oh, it's needless to trouble you," Lord Harry declared. "I have so
little to say--do you mind walking on with me for a few minutes?"
Mountjoy silently complied. He was thinking of what might have happened
if Iris had delayed her departure--or if the movement of the carriage
had been towards, instead of away from the hotel. In either case it had
been a narrow escape for the wife, from a dramatic discovery by the
husband.
"We Irishmen," Lord Harry resumed, "are not famous for always obeying
the laws; but it is in our natures to respect the law of hospitality.
When you were at the cottage yesterday I was inhospitable to my guest.
My rude behaviour has weighed on my mind since--and for that reason I
have come here to speak to you. It was ill-bred on my part to reproach
you with your visit, and to forbid you (oh, quite needlessly, I don't
doubt!) to call on me again. If I own that I have no desire to propose
a renewal of friendly intercourse between us, you will understand me, I
am sure; with my way of thinking, the less we see of each other for the
future, the better it may be. But, for what I said when my temper ran
away with me, I ask you to accept my excuses, and the sincere
expression of my regret."
"Your excuses are accepted, my lord, as sincerely as you have offered
them," Mountjoy answered. "So far as I am concerned, the incident is
forgotten from this moment."
Lord Harry expressed his courteous acknowledgments. "Spoken as becomes
a gentleman," he said. "I thank you."
There it ended. They saluted each other; they wished each other
good-night. "A mere formality!" Hugh thought, when they had parted.
He had wronged the Irish lord in arriving at that conclusion. But time
was to pass before events helped him to discover his error.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE DECREE OF FATE
ON his arrival in London, Mountjoy went to the Nurses' Institute to
inquire for Mrs. Vimpany.
She was again absent, in attendance on another patient. The address of
the house (known only to the matron) was, on this occasion, not to be
communicated to any friend who might make inquiries. A bad case of
scarlet fever had been placed under the nurse's care, and the danger of
contagion was too serious to be trifled with.
The events which had led to Mrs. Vimpany's present employment had not
occurred in the customary course.
A nurse who had recently joined the Institute had been first engaged to
undertake the case, at the express request of the suffering person--who
was said to be distantly related to the young woman. On the morning
when she was about to proceed to the scene of her labours, news had
reached her of the dangerous illness of her mother. Mrs. Vimpany, who
was free at the time, and who felt a friendly interest in her young
colleague, volunteered to take her place. Upon this, a strange request
had been addressed to the matron, on behalf of the sick man. He desired
to be "informed of it, if the new nurse was an Irishwoman." Hearing
that she was an Englishwoman, he at once accepted her services, being
himself (as an additional element of mystery in the matter) an
Irishman!
The matron's English prejudices at once assumed that there had been
some discreditable event in the man's life, which might be made a
subject of scandalous exposure if he was attended by one of his own
countrypeople. She advised Mrs. Vimpany to have nothing to do with the
afflicted stranger. The nurse answered that she had promised to attend
on him--and she kept her promise.
Mountjoy left the Institute, after vainly attempting to obtain Mrs.
Vimpany's address. The one concession which the matron offered to make
was to direct his letter, and send it to the post, if he would be
content with that form of communication.
On reflection, he decided to write the letter.
Prompt employment of time might be of importance, if it was possible to
prevent any further communication with Lord Larry on the part of his
Irish correspondent. Using the name with which Iris had provided him,
Hugh wrote to inquire if it was familiar to Mrs. Vimpany, as the name
of a person with whom she had been, at any time, acquainted. In this
event, he assured her that an immediate consultation between them was
absolutely necessary in the interests of Iris. He added, in a
postscript, that he was in perfect health, and that he had no fear of
infection--and sent his letter to the matron to be forwarded.
The reply reached him late in the evening. It was in the handwriting of
a stranger, and was to this effect:
"Dear Mr. Mountjoy,--It is impossible that I can allow you to run the
risk of seeing me while I am in my present situation. So serious is the
danger of contagion in scarlet fever, that I dare not even write to you
with my own hand on note-paper which has been used in the sick room.
This is no mere fancy of mine; the doctor in attendance here knows of a
case in which a small piece of infected flannel communicated the
disease after an interval of no less than a year. I must trust to your
own good sense to see the necessity of waiting, until I can receive you
without any fear of consequences to yourself. In the meantime, I may
answer your inquiry relating to the name communicated in your letter. I
first knew the gentleman you mention some years since; we were
introduced to each other by Lord Harry; and I saw him afterwards on
more than one occasion."
Mountjoy read this wise and considerate reply to his letter with
indignation.
Here was the good fortune for which he had not dared to hope, declaring
itself in favour of Iris. Here (if Mrs. Vimpany could be persuaded to
write to her friend) was the opportunity offered of keeping the
hot-tempered Irish husband passive and harmless, by keeping him without
further news of the assassin of Arthur Mountjoy. Under these
encouraging circumstances the proposed consultation which might have
produced such excellent results had been rejected; thanks to a
contemptible fear of infection, excited by a story of a trumpery piece
of flannel!
Hugh snatched up the unfortunate letter (cast away on the floor) to
tear it in pieces and throw it into the waste-paper basket--and checked
himself. His angry hand had seized on it with the blank leaf of the
note-paper uppermost.
On that leaf he discovered two little lines of print, presenting, in
the customary form, the address of the house at which the letter had
been written! The writer, in taking the sheet of paper from the case,
must have accidentally turned it wrong side uppermost on the desk, and
had not cared to re-copy the letter, or had not discovered the mistake.
Restored to his best good-humour, Hugh resolved to surprise Mrs.
Vimpany by a visit, on the next day, which would set the theory of
contagion at defiance, and render valuable service to Iris at a crisis
in her life.
Having time before him for reflection, in the course of the evening, he
was at no loss to discover a formidable obstacle in the way of his
design.
Whether he gave his name or concealed his name, when he asked for Mrs.
Vimpany at the house-door, she would in either case refuse to see him.
The one accessible person whom he could consult in this difficulty was
his faithful old servant.
That experienced man--formerly employed, at various times, in the army,
in the police, and in service at a public school--obtained leave to
make some preliminary investigations on the next morning.
He achieved two important discoveries. In the first place, Mrs. Vimpany
was living in the house in which the letter to his master had been
written. In the second place, there was a page attached to the domestic
establishment (already under notice to leave his situation), who was
accessible to corruption by means of a bribe. The boy would be on the
watch for Mr. Mountjoy at two o'clock on that day, and would show him
where to find Mrs. Vimpany, in the room near the sick man, in which she
was accustomed to take her meals.
Hugh acted on his instructions, and found the page waiting to admit him
secretly to the house. Leading the way upstairs, the boy pointed with
one hand to a door on the second floor, and held out the other hand to
receive his money. While he pocketed the bribe, and disappeared,
Mountjoy opened the door.
Mrs. Vimpany was seated at a table waiting for her dinner. When Hugh
showed himself she started to her feet with a cry of alarm.
"Are you mad?" she exclaimed. "How did you get here? What do you want
here? Don't come near me!"
She attempted to pass Hugh on her way out of the room. He caught her by
the arm, led her back to her chair, and forced her to seat herself
again. "Iris is in trouble," he pleaded, "and you can help her."
"The fever!" she cried, heedless of what he had said. "Keep back from
me--the fever!"
For the second time she tried to get out of the room. For the second
time Hugh stopped her.
"Fever or no fever," he persisted, "I have something to say to you. In
two minutes I shall have said it, and I will go."
In the fewest possible words he described the situation of Iris with
her jealous husband. Mrs. Vimpany indignantly interrupted him.
"Are you running this dreadful risk," she asked, "with nothing to say
to me that I don't know already? Her husband jealous of her? Of course
he is jealous of her! Leave me--or I will ring for the servant."
"Ring, if you like," Hugh answered; "but hear this first. My letter to
you alluded to a consultation between us, which might be necessary in
the interests of Iris. Imagine her situation if you can! The assassin
of Arthur Mountjoy is reported to be in London; and Lord Harry has
heard of it."
Mrs. Vimpany looked at him with horror in her eyes.
"Gracious God!" she cried, "the man is here--under my care. Oh, I am
not in the conspiracy to hide the wretch! I knew no more of him than
you do when I offered to nurse him. The names that have escaped him, in
his delirium, have told me the truth."
As she spoke, a second door in the room was opened. An old woman showed
herself for a moment, trembling with terror. "He's breaking out again,
nurse! Help me to hold him!"
Mrs. Vimpany instantly followed the woman into the bed-room. "Wait and
listen," she said to Mountjoy--and left the door open.
The quick, fierce, muttering tones of a man in delirium were now
fearfully audible. His maddened memory was travelling back over his own
horrible life. He put questions to himself; he answered himself:
"Who drew the lot to kill the traitor? I did! I did! Who shot him on
the road, before he could get to the wood? I did! I did! Arthur
Mountjoy, traitor to Ireland. Set that on his tombstone, and disgrace
him for ever. Listen, boys--listen! There is a patriot among you. I am
the patriot--preserved by a merciful Providence. Ha, my Lord Harry,
search the earth and search the sea, the patriot is out of your reach!
Nurse! What's that the doctor said of me? The fever will kill him?
Well, what does that matter, as long as Lord Harry doesn't kill me?
Open the doors, and let everybody hear of it. I die the death of a
saint--the greatest of all saints--the saint who shot Arthur Mountjoy.
Oh, the heat, the heat, the burning raging heat!" The tortured creature
burst into a dreadful cry of rage and pain. It was more than Hugh's
resolution could support. He hurried out of the house.
* * * * * * * *
Ten days passed. A letter, in a strange handwriting, reached Iris at
Passy.
The first part of the letter was devoted to the Irish desperado, whom
Mrs. Vimpany had attended in his illness.
When she only knew him as a suffering fellow-creature she had promised
to be his nurse. Did the discovery that he was an assassin justify
desertion, or even excuse neglect? No! the nursing art, like the
healing art, is an act of mercy--in itself too essentially noble to
inquire whether the misery that it relieves merits help. All that
experience, all that intelligence, all that care could offer, the nurse
gave to the man whose hand she would have shrunk from touching in
friendship, after she had saved his life.
A time had come when the fever threatened to take Lord Harry's
vengeance out of his hands. The crisis of the disease declared itself.
With the shadow of death on him, the wretch lived through it--saved by
his strong constitution, and by the skilled and fearless woman who
attended on him. At the period of his convalescence, friends from
Ireland (accompanied by a medical man of their own choosing) presented
themselves at the house, and asked for him by the name under which he
passed--Carrigeen. With every possible care, he was removed; to what
destination had never been discovered. From that time, all trace of him
had been lost.
Terrible news followed on the next page.
The subtle power of infection had asserted itself against the poor
mortal who had defied it. Hugh Mountjoy, stricken by the man who had
murdered his brother, lay burning under the scarlet fire of the fever.
But the nurse watched by him, night and day.
CHAPTER XXXIV
MY LORD'S MIND
HERE, my old-vagabond-Vimpany, is an interesting case for you--the cry
of a patient with a sick mind.
Look over it, and prescribe for your wild Irish friend, if you can.
You will perhaps remember that I have never thoroughly trusted you, in
all the years since we have known each other. At this later date in our
lives, when I ought to see more clearly than ever what an unfathomable
man you are, am I rash enough to be capable of taking you into my
confidence?
I don't know what I am going to do; I feel like a man who has been
stunned. To be told that the murderer of Arthur Mountjoy had been seen
in London--to be prepared to trace him by his paltry assumed name of
Carrigeen--to wait vainly for the next discovery which might bring him
within reach of retribution at my hands--and then to be overwhelmed by
the news of his illness, his recovery, and his disappearance: these are
the blows which have stupefied me. Only think of it! He has escaped me
for the second time. Fever that kills thousands of harmless creatures
has spared the assassin. He may yet die in his bed, and be buried, with
the guiltless dead around him, in a quiet churchyard. I can't get over
it; I shall never get over it.
Add to this, anxieties about my wife, and maddening letters from
creditors--and don't expect me to write reasonably.
What I want to know is whether your art (or whatever you call it) can
get at my diseased mind, through my healthy body. You have more than
once told me that medicine can do this. The time has come for doing it.
I am in a bad way, and a bad end may follow. My only medical friend,
deliver me from myself.
In any case, let me beg you to keep your temper while you read what
follows.
I have to confess that the devil whose name is Jealousy has entered
into me, and is threatening the tranquillity of my married life. You
dislike Iris, I know--and she returns your hostile feeling towards her.
Try to do my wife justice, nevertheless, as I do. I don't believe my
distrust of her has any excuse--and yet, I am jealous. More
unreasonable still, I am as fond of her as I was in the first days of
the honeymoon. Is she as fond as ever of me? You were a married man
when I was a boy. Let me give you the means of forming an opinion by a
narrative of her conduct, under (what I admit to have been) very trying
circumstances.
When the first information reached Iris of Hugh Mountjoy's dangerous
illness, we were at breakfast. It struck her dumb. She handed the
letter to me, and left the table.
I hate a man who doesn't know what it is to want money; I hate a man
who keeps his temper; I hate a man who pretends to be my wife's friend,
and who is secretly in love with her all the time. What difference did
it make to me whether Hugh Mountjoy ended in living or dying? If I had
any interest in the matter, it ought by rights (seeing that I am
jealous of him) to be an interest in his death. Well! I declare
positively that the alarming news from London spoilt my breakfast There
is something about that friend of my wife--that smug, prosperous,
well-behaved Englishman--which seems to plead for him (God knows how!)
when my mind is least inclined in his favour. While I was reading about
his illness, I found myself hoping that he would recover--and, I give
you my sacred word of honour, I hated him all the time.
My Irish friend is mad--you will say. Your Irish friend, my dear
follow, does not dispute it.
Let us get back to my wife. She showed herself again after a long
absence, having something (at last) to say to her husband.
"I am innocently to blame," she began, "for the dreadful misfortune
that has fallen on Mr. Mountjoy. If I had not given him a message to
Mrs. Vimpany, he would never have insisted on seeing her, and would
never have caught the fever. It may help me to bear my misery of
self-reproach and suspense, if I am kept informed of his illness. There
is no fear of infection by my receiving letters. I am to write to a
friend of Mrs. Vimpany, who lives in another house, and who will answer
my inquiries. Do you object, dear Harry, to my getting news of Hugh
Mountjoy every day, while he is in danger?"
I was perfectly willing that she should get that news, and she ought to
have known it.
It seemed to me to be also a bad sign that she made her request with
dry eyes. She must have cried, when she first heard that he was likely
to sink under an attack of fever. Why were her tears kept hidden in her
own room? When she came back to me, her face was pale and hard and
tearless. Don't you think she might have forgotten my jealousy, when I
was so careful myself not to show it? My own belief is that she was
longing to go to London, and help your wife to nurse the poor man, and
catch the fever, and die with him if _he_ died.
Is this bitter? Perhaps it is. Tear it off, and light your pipe with
it.
Well, the correspondence relating to the sick man continued every day;
and every day--oh, Vimpany, another concession to my jealousy!--she
handed the letters to me to read. I made excuses (we Irish are good at
that, if we are good at nothing else), and declined to read the medical
reports. One morning, when she opened the letter of that day, there
passed over her a change which is likely to remain in my memory as long
as I live. Never have I seen such an ecstasy of happiness in any
woman's face, as I saw when she read the lines which informed her that
the fever was mastered. Iris is sweet and delicate and bright--
essentially fascinating, in a word. But she was never a beautiful
woman, until she knew that Mountjoy's life was safe; and she will never
be a beautiful woman again, unless the time comes when my death leaves
her free to marry him. On her wedding-day, he will see the
transformation that I saw--and he will be dazzled as I was.
She looked at me, as if she expected me to speak.
"I am glad indeed," I said, "that he is out of danger."
She ran to me--she kissed me; I wouldn't have believed it was in her to
give such kisses. "Now I have your sympathy," she said, "my happiness
is complete!" Do you think I was indebted for these kisses to myself or
to that other man? No, no--here is an unworthy doubt. I discard it.
Vile suspicion shall not wrong Iris this time.
And yet----
Shall I go on, and write the rest of it?
Poor, dear Arthur Mountjoy once told me of a foreign author, who was in
great doubt of the right answer to some tough question that troubled
him. He went into his garden and threw a stone at a tree. If he hit the
tree, the answer would be--Yes. If he missed the tree, the answer would
be--No. I am going into the garden to imitate the foreign author. You
shall hear how it ends.
I have hit the tree. As a necessary consequence, I must go on and write
the rest of it.
There is a growing estrangement between Iris and myself--and my
jealousy doesn't altogether account for it. Sometimes, it occurs to me
that we are thinking of what our future relations with Mountjoy are
likely to be, and are ashamed to confess it to each other.
Sometimes--and perhaps this second, and easiest, guess may be the right
one--I am apt to conclude that we are only anxious about money matters.
I am waiting for her to touch on the subject, and she is waiting for
me; and there we are at a deadlock.
I wish I had some reason for going to some other place. I wish I was
lost among strangers. I should like to find myself in a state of
danger, meeting the risks that I used to run in my vagabond days. Now I
think of it, I might enjoy this last excitement by going back to
England, and giving the Invincibles a chance of shooting me as a
traitor to the cause. But my wife would object to that.
Suppose we change the subject.
You will be glad to hear that you knew something of law, as well as of
medicine. I sent instructions to my solicitor in London to raise a loan
on my life-insurance. What you said to me turns out to be right. I
can't raise a farthing, for three years to come, out of all the
thousands of pounds which I shall leave behind me when I die.
Are my prospects from the newspaper likely to cheer me after such a
disappointment as this? The new journal, I have the pleasure of
informing you, is much admired. When I inquire for my profits, I hear
that the expenses are heavy, and I am told that I must wait for a rise
in our circulation. How long? Nobody knows,
I shall keep these pages open for a few days more, on the chance of
something happening which may alter my present position for the better.
My position has altered for the worse.
I have been obliged to fill my empty purse, for a little while, by
means of a bit of stamped paper. And how shall I meet my liabilities
when the note falls due? Let time answer the question; for the present
the evil day is put off. In the meanwhile, if that literary speculation
of yours is answering no better than my newspaper, I can lend you a few
pounds to get on with. What do you say (on second thoughts) to coming
back to your old quarters at Passy, and giving me your valuable advice
by word of mouth instead of by letter?
Come, and feel my pulse, and look at my tongue--and tell me how these
various anxieties of mine are going to end, before we are any of us a
year older. Shall I, like you, be separated from my wife--at her
request; oh, not at mine! Or shall I be locked up in prison? And what
will become of You? Do you take the hint, doctor?
CHAPTER XXXV
MY LADY'S MIND
"ENTREAT Lady Harry not to write to me. She will be tempted to do so,
when she hears that there is good hope of Mr. Mountjoy's recovery. But,
even from that loving and generous heart, I must not accept expressions
of gratitude which would only embarrass me. All that I have done, as a
nurse, and all that I may yet hope to do, is no more than an effort to
make amends for my past life. Iris has my heart's truest wishes for her
happiness. Until I can myself write to her without danger, let this be
enough."
In those terms, dearest of women, your friend has sent your message to
me. My love respects as well as admires you; your wishes are commands
to me. At the same time, I may find some relief from the fears of the
future that oppress me, if I can confide them to friendly ears. May I
not harmlessly write to you, if I only write of my own poor self?
Try, dear, to remember those pleasant days when you were staying with
us, in our honeymoon time, at Paris.
You warned me, one evening when we were alone, to be on my guard
against any circumstances which might excite my husband's jealousy.
Since then, the trouble that you foresaw has fallen on me; mainly, I am
afraid, through my own want of self-control. It is so hard for a woman,
when she really loves a man, to understand a state of mind which can
make him doubt her.
I have discovered that jealousy varies. Let me tell you what I mean.
Lord Harry was silent and sullen (ah, how well I knew what that meant!)
while the life of our poor Hugh was in jeopardy. When I read the good
news which told me that he was no longer in danger, I don't know
whether there was any change worth remarking in myself--but, there was
a change in my husband, delightful to see. His face showed such sweet
sympathy when he looked at me, he spoke so kindly and nicely of Hugh,
that I could only express my pleasure by kissing him. You will hardly
believe me, when I tell you that his hateful jealousy appeared again,
at that moment. He looked surprised, he looked suspicious--he looked, I
declare, as if he doubted whether I meant it with all my heart when I
kissed him! What incomprehensible creatures men are! We read in novels
of women who are able to manage their masters. I wish I knew how to
manage mine.
We have been getting into debt. For some weeks past, this sad state of
things has been a burden on my mind. Day after day I have been
expecting him to speak of our situation, and have found him obstinately
silent. Is his mind entirely occupied with other things? Or is he
unwilling to speak of our anxieties because the subject humiliates him?
Yesterday, I could bear it no longer.
"Our debts are increasing," I said. "Have you thought of any way of
paying them?"
I had feared that my question might irritate him. To my relief, he
seemed to be diverted by it.
"The payment of debts," he replied, "is a problem that I am too poor to
solve. Perhaps I got near to it the other day."
I asked how.
"Well," he said, "I found myself wishing I had some rich friends.
By-the-bye, how is _your_ rich friend? What have you heard lately of
Mr. Mountjoy?"
"I have heard that he is steadily advancing towards recovery."
"Likely, I dare say, to return to France when he feels equal to it," my
husband remarked. "He is a good-natured creature. If he finds himself
in Paris again, I wonder whether he will pay us another visit?"
He said this quite seriously. On my side, I was too much as astonished
to utter a word. My bewilderment seemed to amuse him. In his own
pleasant way he explained himself:
"I ought to have told you, my dear, that I was in Mr. Mountjoy's
company the night before he returned to England. We had said some
disagreeable things to each other here in the cottage, while you were
away in your room. My tongue got the better of my judgment. In short, I
spoke rudely to our guest. Thinking over it afterwards, I felt that I
ought to make an apology. He received my sincere excuses with an
amiability of manner, and a grace of language, which raised him greatly
in my estimation."
There you have Lord Harry's own words! Who would suppose that he had
ever been jealous of the man whom he spoke of in this way?
I explain it to myself, partly by the charm in Hugh's look and manner,
which everybody feels; partly by the readiness with which my husband's
variable nature receives new impressions. I hope you agree with me. In
any case, pray let Hugh see what I have written to you in this place,
and ask him what he thinks of it.*
*_Note by Mrs. Vimpany._--I shall certainly not be foolish enough to
show what she has written to Mr. Mountjoy. Poor deluded Iris! Miserable
fatal marriage!
Encouraged, as you will easily understand, by the delightful prospect
of a reconciliation between them, I was eager to take my first
opportunity of speaking freely of Hugh. Up to that time, it had been a
hard trial to keep to myself so much that was deeply interesting in my
thoughts and hopes. But my hours of disappointment were not at an end
yet. We were interrupted.
A letter was brought to us--one of many, already received!--insisting
on immediate payment of a debt that had been too long unsettled. The
detestable subject of our poverty insisted on claiming attention when
there was a messenger outside, waiting for my poor Harry's last French
bank note.
"What is to be done?" I said, when we were left by ourselves again.
My husband's composure was something wonderful. He laughed and lit a
cigar.
"We have got to the crisis," he said. "The question of money has driven
us into a corner at last. My darling, have you ever heard of such a
thing as a promissory note?"
I was not quite so ignorant as he supposed me to be; I said I had heard
my father speak of promissory notes.
This seemed to fail in convincing him. "Your father," he remarked,
"used to pay his notes when they fell due."
I betrayed my ignorance, after all. "Doesn't everybody do the same?" I
asked.
He burst out laughing. "We will send the maid to get a bit of stamped
paper," he said; "I'll write the message for her, this time."
Those last words alluded to Fanny's ignorance of the French language,
which made it necessary to provide her with written instructions, when
she was sent on an errand. In our domestic affairs, I was able to do
this; but, in the present case, I only handed the message to her. When
she returned with a slip of stamped paper, Harry called to me to come
to the writing-table.
"Now, my sweet," he said, "see how easily money is to be got with a
scratch of the pen."
I looked, over his shoulder. In less than a minute it was done; and he
had produced ten thousand francs on paper--in English money (as he told
me), four hundred pounds. This seemed to be a large loan; I asked how
he proposed to pay it back. He kindly reminded me that he was a
newspaper proprietor, and, as such, possessed of the means of inspiring
confidence in persons with money to spare. They could afford, it seems,
to give him three months in which to arrange for repayment. In that
time, as he thought, the profits of the new journal might come pouring
in. He knew best, of course.
We took the next train to Paris, and turned our bit of paper into notes
and gold. Never was there such a delightful companion as my husband,
when he has got money in his pocket. After so much sorrow and anxiety,
for weeks past, that memorable afternoon was like a glimpse of
Paradise.
On the next morning, there was an end to my short-lived enjoyment of no
more than the latter half of a day.
Watching her opportunity, Fanny Mere came to me while I was alone,
carrying a thick letter in her hand. She held it before me with the
address uppermost.
"Please to look at that," she said.
The letter was directed (in Harry's handwriting) to Mr. Vimpany, at a
publishing office in London. Fanny next turned the envelope the other
way.
"Look at this side," she resumed.
The envelope was specially protected by a seal; bearing a device of my
husband's own invention; that is to say, the initials of his name
(Harry Norland) surmounted by a star--his lucky star, as he paid me the
compliment of calling it, on the day when he married me. I was thinking
of that day now. Fanny saw me looking, with a sad heart, at the
impression on the wax. She completely misinterpreted the direction
taken by my thoughts.
"Tell me to do it, my lady," she proceeded; "and I'll open the letter."
I looked at her. She showed no confusion. "I can seal it up again," she
coolly explained, "with a bit of fresh wax and my thimble. Perhaps Mr.
Vimpany won't be sober enough to notice it."
"Do you know, Fanny, that you are making a dishonourable proposal to
me?" I said.
"I know there's nothing I can do to help you that I won't do," she
answered; "and you know why. I have made a dishonourable proposal--have
I? That comes quite naturally to a lost woman like me. Shall I tell you
what Honour means? It means sticking at nothing, in your service.
Please tell me to open the letter."
"How did you come by the letter, Fanny?"
"My master gave it to me to put in the post."
"Then, post it."
The strange creature, so full of contraries--so sensitive at one time,
so impenetrable at another--pointed again to the address.
"When the master writes to that man," she went on--"a long letter (if
you will notice), and a sealed letter--your ladyship ought to see what
is inside it. I haven't a doubt myself that there's writing under this
seal which bodes trouble to you. The spare bedroom is empty. Do you
want to have the doctor for your visitor again? Don't tell me to post
the letter, till I've opened it first."
"I do tell you to post the letter."
Fanny submitted, so far. But she had a new form of persuasion to try,
before her reserves of resistance were exhausted. "If the doctor comes
back," she continued, "will your ladyship give me leave to go out,
whenever I ask for it?"
This was surely presuming on my indulgence. "Are you not expecting a
little too much?" I suggested--not unkindly.
"If you say that, my lady," she answered, "I shall be obliged to ask
you to suit yourself with another maid."
There was a tone of dictation in this, which I found beyond endurance.
In my anger, I said: "Leave me whenever you like."
"I shall leave you when I'm dead--not before," was the reply that I
received. "But if you won't let me have my liberty without going away
from you, for a time, I must go--for your sake."
(For my sake! Pray observe that.)
She went on:
"Try to see it, my lady, as I do! If we have the doctor with us again,
I must be able to watch him."
"Why?"
"Because he is your enemy, as I believe."
"How can he hurt me, Fanny?"
"Through your husband, my lady, if he can do it in no other way. Mr.
Vimpany shall have a spy at his heels. Dishonourable! oh, dishonourable
again! Never mind. I don't pretend to know what that villain means to
do, if he and my lord get together again. But this I can tell you, if
it's in woman's wit to circumvent him, here I am with my mind made up.
With my mind, made up!" she repeated fiercely--and recovered on a
sudden her customary character as a quiet well-trained servant, devoted
to her duties. "I'll take my master's letter to the post now," she
said. "Is there anything your ladyship wants in the town?"
What do you think of Fanny Mere? Ought I to have treated this last
offer of her services, as I treated her proposal to open the letter? I
was not able to do it.
The truth is, I was so touched by her devotion to me, that I could not
prevail on myself to mortify her by a refusal. I believe there may be a
good reason for the distrust of the doctor which possesses her so
strongly; and I feel the importance of having this faithful and
determined woman for an ally. Let me hope that Mr. Vimpany's return (if
it is to take place) may be delayed until you can safely write, with
your own hand, such a letter of wise advice as I sadly need.
In the meantime, give my love to Hugh, and say to this dear friend all
that I might have said for myself, if I had been near him. But take
care that his recovery is not retarded by anxiety for me. Pray keep him
in ignorance of the doubts and fears with which I am now looking at the
future. If I was not so fond of my husband, I should be easier in my
mind. This sounds contradictory, but I believe you will understand it.
For a while, my dear, good-bye.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE DOCTOR MEANS MISCHIEF
ON the day after Lord Harry's description of the state of his mind
reached London, a gentleman presented himself at the publishing office
of Messrs. Boldside Brothers, and asked for the senior partner, Mr.
Peter Boldside. When he sent in his card, it bore the name of "Mr.
Vimpany."
"To what fortunate circumstance am I indebted, sir, for the honour of
your visit?" the senior partner inquired. His ingratiating manners, his
genial smile, his roundly resonant voice, were personal advantages of
which he made a merciless use. The literary customer who entered the
office, hesitating before the question of publishing a work at his own
expense, generally decided to pay the penalty when he encountered Mr.
Peter Boldside.
"I want to inquire about the sale of my work," Mr. Vimpany replied.
"Ah, doctor, you have come to the wrong man. You must go to my
brother."
Mr. Vimpany protested. "You mentioned the terms when I first applied to
you," he said, "and you signed the agreement."
"That is in _my_ department," the senior partner gently explained. "And
I shall write the cheque when, as we both hope, your large profits
shall fall due. But our sales of works are in the department of my
brother, Mr. Paul Boldside." He rang a bell; a clerk appeared, and
received his instructions: "Mr. Paul. Good-morning, doctor."
Mr. Paul was, personally speaking, his brother repeated--without the
deep voice, and without the genial smile. Conducted to the office of
the junior partner, Mr. Vimpany found himself in the presence of a
stranger, occupied in turning over the pages of a newspaper. When his
name was announced, the publisher started, and handed his newspaper to
the doctor.
"This is a coincidence," he said. "I was looking, sir, for your name in
the pages which I have just put into your hand. Surely the editor can't
have refused to publish your letter?"
Mr. Vimpany was sober, and therefore sad, and therefore (again) not to
be trifled with by a mystifying reception. "I don't understand you," he
answered gruffly. "What do you mean?"
"Is it possible that you have not seen last week's number of the
paper?" Mr. Paul asked. "And you a literary man!" He forthwith produced
the last week's number, and opened it at the right place. "Read that,
sir," he said, with something in his manner which looked like virtuous
indignation.
Mr. Vimpany found himself confronted by a letter addressed to the
editor. It was signed by an eminent physician, whose portrait had
appeared in the first serial part of the new work--accompanied by a
brief memoir of his life, which purported to be written by himself. Not
one line of the autobiography (this celebrated person declared) had
proceeded from his pen. Mr. Vimpany had impudently published an
imaginary memoir, full of false reports and scandalous inventions--and
this after he had been referred to a trustworthy source for the
necessary particulars. Stating these facts, the indignant physician
cautioned readers to beware of purchasing a work which, so far as he
was concerned, was nothing less than a fraud on the public.
"If you can answer that letter, sir," Mr. Paul Boldside resumed, "the
better it will be, I can tell you, for the sale of your publication."
Mr. Vimpany made a reckless reply: "I want to knew how the thing sells.
Never mind the letter."
"Never mind the letter?" the junior partner repeated. "A positive
charge of fraud is advanced by a man at the head of his profession
against a work which _we_ have published--and you say, Never mind the
letter."
The rough customer of the Boldsides struck his fist on the table.
"Bother the letter! I insist on knowing what the sale is."
Still preserving his dignity, Mr. Paul (like Mr. Peter) rang for the
clerk, and briefly gave an order. "Mr. Vimpany's account," he said--and
proceeded to admonish Mr. Vimpany himself.
"You appear, sir, to have no defence of your conduct to offer. Our firm
has a reputation to preserve. When I have consulted with my brother, we
shall be under the disagreeable necessity--"
Here (as he afterwards told his brother) the publisher was brutally
interrupted by the author:
"If you will have it," said this rude man, "here it is in two words.
The doctor's portrait is the likeness of an ass. As he couldn't do it
himself, I wanted materials for writing his life. He referred me to the
year of his birth, the year of his marriage, the year of this, that,
and the other. Who cares about dates? The public likes to be tickled by
personal statements. Very well--I tickled the public. There you have it
in a nutshell."
The clerk appeared at that auspicious moment, with the author's account
neatly exhibited under two sides: a Debtor side, which represented the
expenditure of Hugh Mountjoy's money; and a Creditor side, which
represented (so far) Mr. Vimpany's profits. Amount of these last: 3_l._
14_s._ 10_d._
Mr. Vimpany tore up the account, threw the pieces in the face of Mr.
Paul, and expressed his sentiments in one opprobrious word:
"Swindlers!"
The publisher said: "You shall hear of us, sir, through our lawyer."
And the author answered: "Go to the devil!"
Once out in the streets again, the first open door at which Mr. Vimpany
stopped was the door of a tavern. He ordered a glass of brandy and
water, and a cigar.
It was then the hour of the afternoon, between the time of luncheon and
the time of dinner, when the business of a tavern is generally in a
state of suspense. The dining-room was empty when Mr. Vimpany entered
it: and the waiter's unoccupied attention was in want of an object.
Having nothing else to notice, he looked at the person who had just
come in. The deluded stranger was drinking fiery potato-brandy, and
smoking (at the foreign price) an English cigar. Would his taste tell
him the melancholy truth? No: it seemed to matter nothing to him what
he was drinking or what he was smoking. Now he looked angry, and now he
looked puzzled; and now he took a long letter from his pocket, and read
it in places, and marked the places with a pencil. "Up to some
mischief," was the waiter's interpretation of these signs. The stranger
ordered a second glass of grog, and drank it in gulps, and fell into
such deep thought that he let his cigar go out. Evidently, a man in
search of an idea. And, to all appearance, he found what he wanted on a
sudden. In a hurry he paid his reckoning, and left his small change and
his unfinished cigar on the table, and was off before the waiter could
say, "Thank you."
The next place at which he stopped was a fine house in a spacious
square. A carriage was waiting at the door. The servant who opened the
door knew him.
"Sir James is going out again, sir, in two minutes," the man said. Mr.
Vimpany answered: "I won't keep him two minutes."
A bell rang from the room on the ground floor; and a gentleman came
out, as Mr. Vimpany was shown in. Sir James's stethoscope was still in
his hand; his latest medical fee lay on the table. "Some other day,
Vimpany," the great surgeon said; "I have no time to give you now."
"Will you give me a minute?" the humble doctor asked.
"Very well. What is it?"
"I am down in the world now, Sir James, as you know--and I am trying to
pick myself up again."
"Very creditable, my good fellow. How can I help you? Come, come--out
with it. You want something?"
"I want your great name to do me a great service. I am going to France.
A letter of introduction, from you, will open doors which might be
closed to an unknown man like myself."
"What doors do you mean?" Sir James asked.
"The doors of the hospitals in Paris."
"Wait a minute, Vimpany. Have you any particular object in view?"
"A professional object, of course," the ready doctor answered. "I have
got an idea for a new treatment of diseases of the lungs; and I want to
see if the French have made any recent discoveries in that direction."
Sir James took up his pen--and hesitated. His ill-starred medical
colleague had been his fellow-student and his friend, in the days when
they were both young men. They had seen but little of each other since
they had gone their different ways--one of them, on the high road which
leads to success, the other down the byways which end in failure. The
famous surgeon felt a passing doubt of the use which his needy and
vagabond inferior might make of his name. For a moment his pen was held
suspended over the paper. But the man of great reputation was also a
man of great heart. Old associations pleaded with him, and won their
cause. His companion of former times left the house provided with a
letter of introduction to the chief surgeon at the Hotel Dieu, in
Paris.
Mr. Vimpany's next, and last, proceeding for that day, was to stop at a
telegraph-office, and to communicate economically with Lord Harry in
three words:
"Expect me to-morrow."
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE FIRST QUARREL
EARLY in the morning of the next day, Lord Harry received the doctor's
telegram. Iris not having risen at the time, he sent for Fanny Mere,
and ordered her to get the spare room ready for a guest. The maid's
busy suspicion tempted her to put a venturesome question. She asked if
the person expected was a lady or a gentleman.
"What business is it of yours who the visitor is?" her master asked
sharply. Always easy and good-humoured with his inferiors in general,
Lord Harry had taken a dislike to his wife's maid, from the moment when
he had first seen her. His Irish feeling for beauty and brightness was
especially offended by the unhealthy pallor of the woman's complexion,
and the sullen self-suppression of her manner. All that his native
ingenuity had been able to do was to make her a means of paying a
compliment to his wife. "Your maid has one merit in my eyes," he said;
"she is a living proof of the sweetness of your temper."
Iris joined her husband at the breakfast-table with an appearance of
disturbance in her face, seldom seen, during the dull days of her life
at Passy. "I hear of somebody coming to stay with us," she said. "Not
Mr. Vimpany again, I hope and trust?"
Lord Harry was careful to give his customary morning kiss, before he
replied. "Why shouldn't my faithful old friend come and see me again?"
he asked, with his winning smile.
"Pray don't speak of that hateful man," she answered, "as your faithful
old friend! He is nothing of the kind. What did you tell me when he
took leave of us after his last visit, and I owned I was glad that he
had gone? You said: 'Faith, my dear, I'm as glad as you are.'"
Her good-natured husband laughed at this little picture of himself.
"Ah, my darling, how many more times am I to make the same confession
to my pretty priest? Try to remember, without more telling, that it's
one of my misfortunes to be a man of many tempers. There are times when
I get tired to death of Mr. Vimpany; and there are times when the
cheery old devil exercises fascinations over me. I declare you're
spoiling the eyebrows that I admire by letting them twist themselves
into a frown! After the trouble I have taken to clear your mind of
prejudice against an unfortunate man, it's disheartening to find you so
hard on the poor fellow's faults and so blind to his virtues."
The time had been when this remonstrance might have influenced his
wife's opinion. She passed it over without notice now.
"Does he come here by your invitation?" she asked.
"How else should he come here, my dear?"
She looked at her husband with doubt too plainly visible in her eyes.
"I wonder what your motive is for sending for him," she said.
He was just lifting his teacup to his lips--he put it down again when
he heard those words.
"Are you ill this morning?" he asked.
"No."
"Have I said anything that has offended you?"
"Certainly not."
"Then I must tell you this, Iris; I don't approve of what you have just
said. It sounds, to my mind, unpleasantly like suspicion of me and
suspicion of my friend. I see your face confessing it, my lady, at this
moment."
"You are half right, Harry, and no more. What you see in my face is
suspicion of your friend."
"Founded on what, if you please?"
"Founded on what I have seen of him, and on what I know of him. When
you tried to alter my opinion of Mr. Vimpany some time since, I did my
best to make my view your view. I deceived myself, for your sake; I put
the best construction on what he said and did, when he was staying
here. It was well meant, but it was of no use. In a thousand different
ways, while he was doing his best to win my favour, his true self was
telling tales of him under the fair surface. Mr. Vimpany is a bad man.
He is the very worst friend you could have about you at any time--and
especially at a time when your patience is tried by needy
circumstances."
"One word, Iris. The more eloquent you are, the more I admire you.
Only, don't mention my needy circumstances again."
She passed over the interruption as she had already passed over the
remonstrance, without taking notice of it.
"Dearest, you are always good to me," she continued gently. "Am I wrong
in thinking that love gives me some little influence over you still?
Women are vain--are they not?--and I am no better than the rest of
them. Flatter your wife's vanity, Harry, by attaching some importance
to her opinion. Is there time enough, yet, to telegraph to Mr. Vimpany?
Quite out of the question, is it? Well, then, if he must come here,
do--pray, pray do consider Me. Don't let him stay in the house! I'll
find a good excuse, and take a bedroom for him in the neighbourhood.
Anywhere else, so long as he is not here. He turns me cold when I think
of him, sleeping under the same roof with ourselves. Not with us! oh,
Harry, not with us!"
Her eyes eagerly searched her husband's face; she looked there for
indulgence, she looked for conviction. No! he was still admiring her.
"On my word of honour," he burst out, "you fascinate me. What an
imagination you have got! One of these days, Iris, I shall be prouder
of you than ever; I shall find you a famous literary character. I don't
mean writing a novel; women who can't even hem a handkerchief can write
a novel. It's poetry I'm thinking of. Irish melodies by Lady Harry that
beat Tom Moore. What a gift! And there are fortunes made, as I have
heard, by people who spoil fair white paper to some purpose. I wish I
was one of them."
"Have you no more to say to me?" she asked.
"What more should there be? You wouldn't have me take you seriously, in
what you have just said of Vimpany?"
"Why not?"
"Oh, come, come, my darling! Just consider. With a bedroom empty and
waiting, upstairs, is my old Vimpany to be sent to quarters for the
night among strangers? I wouldn't speak harshly to you, Iris, for the
whole world; and I don't deny that the convivial doctor may be
sometimes a little too fond of his drop of grog. You will tell me,
maybe, that he hasn't got on nicely with his wife; and I grant it.
There are not many people who set such a pretty example of matrimony as
we do. Poor humanity--there's all that's to be said about it. But when
you tell me that Vimpany is a bad man, and the worst friend I could
possibly have, and so forth--what better can I do than set it down to
your imagination? I've a pretty fancy, myself; and I think I see my
angel inventing poetical characters, up among congenial clouds. What's
the matter? Surely, you haven't done breakfast yet?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to leave me?"
"I am going to my room."
"You're in a mighty hurry to get away. I never meant to vex you, Iris.
Ah, well, if you must leave the table, I'll have the honour of opening
the door for you, at any rate. I wonder what you're going to do?"
"To cultivate my imagination," she answered, with the first outbreak of
bitterness that had escaped her yet.
His face hardened. "There seems to be something like bearing malice in
this," he said. "Are you treating me, for the first time, to an
exhibition of enmity? What am I to call it, if it's not that?"
"Call it disappointment," she suggested quietly, and left him.
Lord Harry went back to his breakfast. His jealousy was up in arms
again. "She's comparing me with her absent friend," he said to himself,
"and wishing she had married the amiable Mountjoy instead of me."
So the first quarrel ended--and Mr. Vimpany had been the cause of it.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
ICI ON PARLE FRANACAIS
THE doctor arrived in good time for dinner, and shook hands with the
Irish lord in excellent spirits.
He looked round the room, and asked where my lady was. Lord Harry's
reply suggested the presence of a cloud on the domestic horizon. He had
been taking a long ride, and had only returned a few minutes since;
Iris would (as he supposed) join them immediately.
The maid put the soup on the table, and delivered a message. Her
mistress was suffering from a headache, and was not well enough to dine
with the gentlemen.
As an old married man, Mr. Vimpany knew what this meant; he begged
leave to send a comforting message to the suffering lady of the house.
Would Fanny be good enough to say that he had made inquiries on the
subject of Mr. Mountjoy's health, before he left London. The report was
still favourable; there was nothing to complain of but the
after-weakness which had followed the fever. On that account only, the
attendance of the nurse was still a matter of necessity. "With my
respects to Lady Harry," he called after Fanny, as she went out in
dogged silence.
"I have begun by making myself agreeable to your wife," the doctor
remarked with a self-approving grin. "Perhaps she will dine with us
to-morrow. Pass the sherry."
The remembrance of what had happened at the breakfast-table, that
morning, seemed to be dwelling disagreeably on Lord Harry's mind. He
said but little--and that little related to the subject on which he had
already written, at full length, to his medical friend.
In an interval, when the service of the table required the attendance
of Fanny in the kitchen, Mr. Vimpany took the opportunity of saying a
few cheering words. He had come (he remarked) prepared with the right
sort of remedy for an ailing state of mind, and he would explain
himself at a fitter opportunity. Lord Harry impatiently asked why the
explanation was deferred. If the presence of the maid was the obstacle
which caused delay, it would be easy to tell her that she was not
wanted to wait.
The wary doctor positively forbade this.
He had observed Fanny, during his previous visit, and had discovered
that she seemed to distrust him. The woman was sly and suspicious.
Since they had sat down to dinner, it was easy to see that she was
lingering in the room to listen to the conversation, on one pretence or
another. If she was told not to wait, there could be no doubt of her
next proceeding: she would listen outside the door. "Take my word for
it," the doctor concluded, "there are all the materials for a spy in
Fanny Mere."
But Lord Harry was obstinate. Chafing under the sense of his helpless
pecuniary position, he was determined to hear, at once, what remedy for
it Vimpany had discovered.
"We can set that woman's curiosity at defiance," he said.
"How?"
"When you were learning your profession, you lived in Paris for some
years, didn't you?
"All right!"
"Well, then, you can't have entirely forgotten your French?"
The doctor at once understood what this meant, and answered
significantly by a wink. He had found an opportunity (he said) of
testing his memory, not very long since. Time had undoubtedly deprived
him of his early mastery over the French language; but he could still
(allowing for a few mistakes) make a shift to understand it and speak
it. There was one thing, however, that he wanted to know first. Could
they be sure that my lady's maid had not picked up French enough to use
her ears to some purpose? Lord Harry easily disposed of this doubt. So
entirely ignorant was the maid of the language of the place in which
she was living, that she was not able to ask the tradespeople for the
simplest article of household use, unless it was written for her in
French before she was sent on an errand.
This was conclusive. When Fanny returned to the dining-room, she found
a surprise waiting for her. The two gentlemen had taken leave of their
nationality, and were talking the language of foreigners.
An hour later, when the dinner-table had been cleared, the maid's
domestic duties took her to Lady Harry's room to make tea. She noticed
the sad careworn look on her mistress's face, and spoke of it at once
in her own downright way.
"I thought it was only an excuse," she said, "when you gave me that
message to the gentlemen, at dinner-time. Are you really ill, my lady?"
"I am a little out of spirits," Iris replied.
Fanny made the tea. "I can understand that," she said to herself, as
she moved away to leave the room; "I'm out of spirits myself."
Iris called her back: "I heard you say just now, Fanny, that you were
out of spirits yourself. If you were speaking of some troubles of your
own, I am sorry for you, and I won't say any more. But if you know what
my anxieties are, and share them--"
"Mine is the biggest share of the two," Fanny broke out abruptly. "It
goes against the grain with me to distress you, my lady; but we are
beginning badly, and you ought to know it. The doctor has beaten me
already."
"Beaten you already?" Iris repeated. "Tell me plainly what you mean?"
"Here it is, if you please, as plainly as words can say it. Mr. Vimpany
has something--something wicked, of course--to say to my master; and he
won't let it pass his lips here, in the cottage."
"Why not?"
"Because he suspects me of listening at the door, and looking through
the keyhole. I don't know, my lady, that he doesn't even suspect You.
'I've learnt something in the course of my life,' he says to my master;
'and it's a rule with me to be careful of what I talk about indoors,
when there are women in the, house, What are you going to do
to-morrow?' he says. My lord told him there was to be a meeting at the
newspaper office. The doctor says: 'I'll go to Paris with you. The
newspaper office isn't far from the Luxembourg Gardens. When you have
done your business, you will find me waiting at the gate. What I have
to tell you, you shall hear out of doors in the Gardens--and in an open
part of them, too, where there are no lurking-places among the trees.'
My master seemed to get angry at being put off in this way. 'What is it
you have got to tell me?' he says. 'Is it anything like the proposal
you made, when you were on your last visit here?' The doctor laughed.
'To-morrow won't be long in coming,' he says. 'Patience, my
lord--patience.' There was no getting him to say a word more. Now, what
am I to do? How am I to get a chance of listening to him, out in an
open garden, without being seen? There's what I mean when I say he has
beaten me. It's you, my lady--it's you who will suffer in the end."
"You don't _know_ that, Fanny."
"No, my lady--but I'm certain of it. And here I am, as helpless as
yourself! My temper has been quiet, since my misfortune; it would be
quiet still, but for this." The one animating motive, the one
exasperating influence, in that sad and secret life was still the
mistress's welfare--still the safety of the generous woman who had
befriended and forgiven her. She turned aside from the table, to hide
her ghastly face.
"Pray try to control yourself." As Iris spoke, she pointed kindly to a
chair. "There is something that I want to say when you are composed
again. I won't hurry you; I won't look at you. Sit down, Fanny."
She appeared to shrink from being seated in her mistress's presence.
"Please to let me go to the window," she said; "the air will help me."
To the window she went, and struggled with the passionate self so
steadily kept under at other times; so obstinately conquered now. "What
did you wish to say to me?" she asked.
"You have surprised--you have perplexed me," Iris said. "I am at a loss
to understand how you discovered what seems to have passed between your
master and Mr. Vimpany. You don't surely mean to tell me that they
talked of their private affairs while you were waiting at table?"
"I don't tell lies, my lady," Fanny declared impulsively. "They talked
of nothing else all through the dinner."
"Before _you!"_ Iris exclaimed.
There was a pause. Fear and shame confessed themselves furtively on the
maid's colourless face. Silently, swiftly, she turned to the door. Had
a slip of the tongue hurried her into the betrayal of something which
it was her interest to conceal? "Don't be alarmed," Iris said
compassionately; "I have no wish to intrude on your secrets."
With her hand on the door, Fanny Mere closed it again, and came back.
"I am not so ungrateful," she said, "as to have any secrets from You.
It's hard to confess what may lower me in your good opinion, but it
must be done. I have deceived your ladyship--and I am ashamed of it. I
have deceived the doctor--and I glory in it. My master and Mr. Vimpany
thought they were safe in speaking French, while I was waiting on them.
I know French as well as they do."
Iris could hardly believe what she heard. "Do you really mean what you
say?" she asked.
"There's that much good in me," Fanny replied; "I always mean what I
say."
"Why did you deceive me? Why have you been acting the part of an
ignorant woman?"
"The deceit has been useful in your service," the obstinate maid
declared. "Perhaps it may be useful again."
"Was that what you were thinking of," Iris said, "when you allowed me
to translate English into French for you, and never told me the truth?"
"At any rate, I will tell you the truth, now. No: I was not thinking of
you, when you wrote my errands for me in French--I was thinking again
of some advice that was once given to me."
"Was it advice given by a friend?"
"Given by a man, my lady, who was the worst enemy I have ever had."
Her considerate mistress understood the allusion, and forbade her to
distress herself by saying more. But Fanny felt that atonement, as well
as explanation, was due to her benefactress. Slowly, painfully she
described the person to whom she had referred. He was a Frenchman, who
had been her music-master during the brief period at which she had
attended a school: he had promised her marriage; he had persuaded her
to elope with him. The little money that they had to live on was earned
by her needle, and by his wages as accompanist at a music-hall. While
she was still able to attract him, and to hope for the performance of
his promise, he amused himself by teaching her his own language. When
he deserted her, his letter of farewell contained, among other things
the advice to which she had alluded.
"In your station of life," this man had written, "knowledge of French
is still a rare accomplishment. Keep your knowledge to yourself.
English people of rank have a way of talking French to each other, when
they don't wish to be understood by their inferiors. In the course of
your career, you may surprise secrets which will prove to be a little
fortune, if you play your cards properly. Anyhow, it is the only
fortune I have to leave to you." Such had been the villain's parting
gift to the woman whom he had betrayed.
She had hated him too bitterly to be depraved by his advice.
On the contrary, when the kindness of a friend (now no longer in
England) had helped her to obtain her first employment as a domestic
servant, she had thought it might be to her interest to mention that
she could read, write, and speak French. The result proved to be not
only a disappointment, but a warning to her for the future. Such an
accomplishment as a knowledge of a foreign language possessed by an
Englishwoman, in her humble rank of life, was considered by her
mistress to justify suspicion. Questions were asked, which it was
impossible for her to answer truthfully. Small scandal drew its own
conclusions--her life with the other servants became unendurable--she
left her situation.
From that time, until the happy day when she met with Iris, concealment
of her knowledge of French became a proceeding forced on her by her own
poor interests. Her present mistress would undoubtedly have been taken
into her confidence, if the opportunity had offered itself. But Iris
had never encouraged her to speak of the one darkest scene in her life;
and for that reason, she had kept her own counsel until the date of her
mistress's marriage. Distrusting the husband, and the husband's
confidential friend--for were they not both men?--she had thought of
the vile Frenchman's advice, and had resolved to give it a trial; not
with the degrading motive which he had suggested, but with the vague
presentiment of making a discovery of wickedness, threatening mischief
under a French disguise, which might be of service to her benefactress
at some future time.
"And I may still turn it to your advantage, my lady," Fanny ventured to
add, "if you will consent to say nothing to anybody of your having a
servant who has learnt French."
Iris looked at her coldly and gravely. "Must I remind you," she said,
"that you are asking my help in practicing a deception on my husband?"
"I shall be sent away," Fanny answered, "if you tell my master what I
have told you."
This was indisputably true. Iris hesitated. In her present situation,
the maid was the one friend on whom she could rely. Before her
marriage, she would have recoiled from availing herself, under any
circumstances, of such services as Fanny's reckless gratitude had
offered to her. But the |
