"You believe, do you not, that my being here is an accident?" Sir Albert
said courteously. "I have been interested in your writing, and I am glad
it has found appreciation."
She raised her head and spoke to him hurriedly, "You are kind--you mean
to be kind--but you have no idea what a bitter, bitter blow this is to
me--and what a terrible disappointment!"
"You misunderstand the whole thing," he said, moved almost beyond his
powers of control when he noted how her bloom had faded, and how
terrible the traces of anxiety in her face showed what her life was.
"It is true that I have managed the publication for you, but I assure
you that your poems have met with the highest praise, and that, though I
did bring them out for you (it seems such a little thing to do for you),
I have just now received a letter from the editor of one of the highest
class of magazines to show you. Your name is unknown to him--he merely
treats your poems as coming from a stranger--you are a complete stranger
to him. Will you read it?"
He held it towards her. While finding fault with one or two lines,
objecting to a word here and there, he acknowledged in warm terms the
beauty of imagery, the flow of thought, the purity of the lines sent
him, and considered it indicated unusual power, and that the author
should be encouraged to try a longer flight.
Poor Margaret! The present and all the trials of her life were
forgotten; the sweetness of this praise coming at a moment when her
heart was starved, and all her brilliant and glowing imagination was
pent up within the dreary walls of her most unhappy home, was almost
overpowering. She held both hands out to the man who had proved himself
so real a friend--her colour flushed into her cheek, and tears of
gratitude sparkled in her eyes.
It was the sorest trial to poor Sir Albert not to be able to tell her
that he could not bear gratitude from her. He stood gazing at her, as
one spell-bound, clasping her hands till she withdrew them, with a
struggle going on in his heart that was almost beyond him.
Then she turned to go, and her last words were at once a pang and a
reward.
"I will always trust you," she said, earnestly, "you will be my critic
and my judge; if I write nonsense you will be a real friend and say so.
I feel so grateful to you! From henceforward I shall feel I have indeed
a brother."
He muttered something, feeling miserable, and frightened of her seeing
it, and he watched her go, knowing that his life was only cheered by
the hope of befriending her--thankful that she had this one great gift
to save her from despair, and yet fully aware that, as far as he was
concerned, her utter unconsciousness of his continued love was an
additional pain to him.
Then he went into one or two business details with Mr. Skidd; delighted
that little man by corroborating his high opinion of the little poems by
showing him the letter he had--and went to London, depressed and
unhappy. He had gained nothing by this accidental interview except the
conviction that she had so entirely forgotten his love that she
proffered the brotherly tie as entirely satisfactory to him, as to her.
And yet, in his heart of hearts, he knew that this attitude towards him
was the only possible one for such as her if she allowed him to help her
and to be her friend.
Mrs. Dorriman, missing Jean at every turn, was in a measure consoled by
the gruff kindness of her brother to her.
She was so accustomed to his manner that she felt the kindness and did
not resent his roughness.
She was happier since she had seen Jean, whose letter, faithfully
detailing her adventures, was very amusing. But she asked herself what
was to be the end of it all?
Grace, who must have some settled home, and poor Margaret, who seemed to
be so completely a prisoner, and not able to go and look after her
sister, were both perplexing problems.
But as life goes on we learn not to trouble so much about things, we
feel that a Hand does guide and guard us, and bring all things
right--and Mrs. Dorriman, looking back upon her life, was every day
learning this deeper lesson.
She was surprised now to receive a good many visits, a thing she had
hitherto been unaccustomed to, at Renton Place.
The few neighbours around, living within easy distance, had hardly
realised that Mrs. Dorriman had come to Renton to live there. When she
first went to Renton, with all the kindness of heart of the neighbours
and a real wish to make acquaintance with a person of whom all the world
spoke well, there was a pardonable amount of curiosity among some.
A man reputed to be a millionnaire, and who had a romantic attachment
for his first wife, might also make a good husband to a second wife.
Then also the question of the girls who were to have lived with him and
who did not live with him. Margaret's marriage to a man "old enough to
be her grandfather," and a certain little mystery of where it had all
been made up, gave that interest in the doings at Renton Place which
blossomed into activity in the shape of visits.
The first person who felt a visit due from her was Mrs. Wymans, who had
the excuse of an apology to make for having handled the domestic affairs
of Mr. Sandford, with a certain freedom, before Mrs. Dorriman.
Most people would have thought that the apology might have been made
before, or might be left alone now; but this conditional tense in which
her friends put the case was met by Mrs. Wymans with plausible reasons.
Certainly she had always thought of going--but till now--did any one
know that Mrs. Dorriman was anything more than a visitor? Had she known
that she was really to be resident.... Why of course it would be very
rude not to call.
Mrs. Dorriman was not at all inclined to despise the proffered
olive-branch. She had no distaste for acquaintances, and was so
evidently glad to see that people intended to be kind to her, that the
infection spread. From being liked she became extremely popular; a
person never sure enough of her facts to contradict anybody is always
approved of; and after being spoken of as poor Mrs. Dorriman for many
months she was now talked of as dear Mrs. Dorriman, being one of those
women who, for some inexplicable reason, is never mentioned without an
adjective.
The visits were made and returned--the only drawback being that Mr.
Sandford had never yet been seen by any one--though Mrs. Wymans, who
always posed as having done or seen a little more than her neighbours,
avowed to having seen the back of his head upon one occasion, which, if
true, certainly proved that he was capable of being in two places at
once.
Truth to tell, the _rapprochement_ between the brother and sister was
not productive of entire satisfaction to Mr. Sandford.
If Mrs. Dorriman's conscience was so sensitive that she felt like a
traitor towards her brother, because of certain papers she knew of, the
contents of which might _possibly_ betray something against him, his
conscience, though not sensitive, had a far far heavier weight upon it,
though it did not press upon him continually.
It was impossible to live with a woman so meek, so gentle, and so
unselfish, without learning to like her, but the liking produced much
acute uneasiness; and at times his rough manner was more a mask for his
uncomfortable feelings than for any other reason.
He was up and out again, though he felt that he had not quite his old
clearness of perception, he was more easily tired and he was always
thankful to get home.
That home was indeed changed to him now. The cheerfulness and serenity,
the evenness of Mrs. Dorriman's temper made him look forward to going
home, where his most trifling wishes were attended to, and when he had
that _certainty_ of being met in the same quiet way, of having no
fluctuations in manner, which gives the real home feeling.
Mrs. Dorriman was not perfect, she was a woman who possessed no great
gifts, and she was constitutionally timid, and not much fitted to form
an opinion about subjects outside those of domestic interest; but she
did understand that a man, tired and worried by affairs outside his
home, required rest and refreshment in it, and she knew how to give
both.
The dreariness that had once obtained had long vanished. All inside the
house was light and bright and cheerful for him now, and each day sent
him home with this recognition deeper in his heart, and more remorseful
because of certain acts of his which now never could be undone.
Mrs. Wymans, when she made her appearance at Renton, had rehearsed her
apology, and then found that it must be put differently.
The extreme quiet of Mrs. Dorriman's manner was a check she had hardly
counted upon. When they had that encounter in the railway carriage the
poor little lady had been troubled and nervous, her manner was agitated;
and Mrs. Wymans, who was a shrewd observer, saw that she stopped the
conversation about her brother from a sense of right, and that she was
evidently not resenting it in a sisterly fashion.
From this she drew several inferences, everyone of which had to be laid
aside now.
"Your brother, I hear, has been so ill we did not like to intrude, and
before--you went away----" she said, which was not in the least what she
had meant to say.
"Yes," said Mrs. Dorriman, "we went away, and had you been so kind as to
call before this I could not have seen you, my brother has been so very
ill."
"And you have no nurse?" said Mrs. Wymans, betraying her knowledge of
the internal economy of the household. "You must find the nursing very
troublesome and most fatiguing. I know of an excellent woman who could
come at a moment's notice."
"Thank you, but I am happy to say that the fatigue, like the illness,
lies in the past. My brother is quite well again, and out and about his
usual business."
"Of course he likes his business, he is so successful; the trial is
where hard work is not successful," and Mrs. Wymans spoke feelingly.
"I think my brother meets with some success and probably some trials
also, but these are only words too; we never talk of business together,
and I know nothing about his."
"Really! Forgive me, dear Mrs. Dorriman, but then where is the sympathy?
And a woman has such sharp eyes. I never rest till I know every single
thing that is going on--that is my way of showing sympathy."
"But it must tire your husband, does it not? A woman can see only one
side, and then she cannot help in the way of advice. Her advice cannot
be useful."
"That is only a notion of yours," said Mrs. Wymans, a little nettled,
"and why should a woman only know one side of a thing?"
"Because she only hears her husband's views; of course his private
affairs cannot be talked over with another person, therefore the wife's
views must be a little one-sided."
"Oh no, mine are not. I hear a thing and see a great many sides all at
once."
"Perhaps you are cleverer than I am," said Mrs. Dorriman, in all
humility, glad that at any rate the question of the Rivers girls had
not cropped up.
Mrs. Wymans eyed her keenly, anxious to make out whether she was
speaking satirically or not. Somewhat reassured on that point by Mrs.
Dorriman's placid face, she drew a little nearer her and said
confidentially,
"What a sad thing Mrs. Drayton's position is!"
"In what way?" Mrs. Dorriman received a dreadful shock by this sudden
touch upon the subject.
"Why, her husband being poor instead of rich, and some other things."
"Do you mind telling me what other things?" and Mrs. Dorriman was
alarmed as well as annoyed.
"Why, if you do not know of any thing, ... but if it is not true, I had
better not repeat it."
"You really must tell me what you mean," and Mrs. Dorriman, the gentlest
of women, had so to speak all her feathers ruffled now.
"People say he drinks," answered Mrs. Wymans, with that sudden
misgiving as to the wisdom of her words which made her wish them unsaid
immediately they had passed her lips.
"That I am sure is not the case," returned Mrs. Dorriman; she felt quite
convinced that had there been any truth about this she would have heard
it counted against him when her brother had been so incensed with her
and had said many bitter things.
"I am so very glad to hear it," and Mrs. Wymans lost her sense of
discomfort, since it was not true.
"It was a curious marriage for a young girl to make," she remarked
abruptly, since she found Mrs. Dorriman's silence a little oppressive.
"I think it was; but, though my brother offered them a home, he had, of
course, no real authority over them."
"Ah," said Mrs. Wymans, enchanted to have got at the root of the matter,
"people were rather puzzled at his having taken them up so much; do you
very much mind telling me, dear Mrs. Dorriman, how it all was? What was
the real bond of union?"
"Why should I mind telling you so simple a thing?" and Mrs. Dorriman's
amused face was quite a little shock to her visitor; "they are his
wife's nieces: he is their uncle by marriage, and being, as you are
probably aware, devoted to his wife's memory, he was glad to befriend
them."
"And is this really all?" exclaimed Mrs. Wymans, who could hardly get
over her disappointment. "Why we all thought--every one thought--and
people said something else."
"People are wrong," said Mrs. Dorriman, with a laugh that was a very
genuine one; "I cannot myself understand the interest taken in these
private matters, but that is the simple fact. Mr. Rivers and my brother
married two sisters, who were devoted to each other. When Mrs. Rivers
died she recommended her children to Mrs. Sandford, and at her death my
brother promised to befriend them. It seems to me such a simple thing."
"It certainly does," and Mrs. Wymans rose to go, and bid farewell to
Mrs. Dorriman, who was conscious only of one terrible speech; was it
true that Mr. Drayton did----that----and, if it was true, were they
right in taking all for granted and leaving Margaret at his mercy? But
for the doctor's prohibition she would have gone straight to her brother
and laid her new anxieties before him. But she remembered that he was
not to be agitated or excited, and she resolutely sat still till all her
own excited thoughts became calmer. She took up her knitting and worked
on mechanically, while this new responsibility made her feel as though
nothing in the world, of such moment, had ever come before her. It was
an evil unknown to her; in the old days her father was a man both
abstemious and refined in his surroundings, and since her marriage,
though she saw terrible accounts in the papers, she had lived so little
in any town, and had seen so little that was evil, that she considered
people made almost unnecessary fuss about teetotalism; she could not
imagine such a fearful thing as drinking touching her order, though she
knew it obtained among some poor miserable creatures, of whom she seldom
thought without a shudder of sorrow, mingled with disgust.
To think of Margaret, with all her great love of purity and peace,
exposed to so horrible a thing, was something absolutely terrible to
her; so perfectly appalling that she started up, feeling as though every
moment was a cruel wrong to the girl she had learned to love so dearly.
She went to her brother's room; he was sitting up, and she sat down
beside him in a flutter of spirits that made her incoherent.
"You have had a visitor," he began, with a laugh in which there was not
much mirth.
"Only Mrs. Wymans," she answered, with indifference.
"If she could hear you! She is a person of great consequence in her own
estimation."
"I wonder why she called," his sister said, absently, doubtful as to
her capability of putting the question without causing any excitement.
"I'll tell you," he answered; "there is a great deal of curiosity about
Drayton just now; before this attack of mine I was driven wild by all
manner of questions about him. He is a great fool to make a mystery of
his address; there is no reason he should do so; he answers no letters,
he leaves every one to conjecture things, and in this beautiful world if
a thing is not fully understood, the worst interpretation and not the
best is the accepted one."
"Then you think there is no reason for his shutting himself up?"
"There can be no reason. Margaret is not likely to give him cause for
jealousy, and the man is in the possession of all his senses."
"Always, and at all times?" and Mrs. Dorriman leaned forward, breathing
quickly and watching his face very anxiously.
"Anne," said Mr. Sandford, and this name from him was an especial sign
of kindness towards her, "has any one told you anything? Depend upon it
it is only gossip."
"It may be gossip, I trust it may be untrue; but why is Margaret, so to
speak, shut up? She cannot go out even for a walk beyond the grounds;
Jean says she has not been to see Grace for ever so long, and there must
be some reason for his never answering any letter."
"I never heard this before. What do you mean about Margaret? I think you
are speaking great nonsense."
"Jean says that the poor thing never gets out. At first she went out and
he went with her--followed her like a shadow--now he does not go
himself, and she is kept a perfect prisoner. No one is allowed to go
near the house. I assure you, brother, I have been longing for you to be
well to speak about it."
"The man must be mad," exclaimed Mr. Sandford, and then he noticed his
sister's face. "You have heard something, you have something more to
say?" and his own face flushed.
"Brother, do not excite yourself. You know the doctor is afraid of your
being ill if you do."
"Well, then, don't make mysteries," he said very angrily, and with much
of his old violence.
"I am sure," said the poor woman, hurt at such an accusation, "I do not
wish to make mysteries, but Mrs. Wymans told me that she had heard he
drank. Now, I am not quite sure if she put it quite that way or if she
asked me if he drank."
"Not a bit of it. If he does, it is something quite new. He was a very
abstemious man. You might recollect his headaches, and saying wine
increased those headaches."
"So I do," exclaimed Mrs. Dorriman, joyfully; "how tiresome it is that I
forgot this when that woman was here. She spoke so meaningly," and Mrs.
Dorriman as usual considered herself somehow altogether to blame.
Mr. Sandford said no more, but he lay back, thinking. He blamed himself,
justly, for having been the person to bring this man to the house for
his own end--and now....
He was free of further blame; he had heard rumours in connection with
Mr. Drayton's family that had greatly disturbed him, and _then_ he had
done his best to prevent his marrying Margaret; his conscience had
plenty to bear but not this--only he might have spoken more plainly, he
might have told her or his sister something that had come to his
knowledge. Then, when too late, he _knew_.
He was better, but his strength was not coming back quickly, and
business matters, the position he had held, everything connected with
the past, began to shrink in importance.
But Margaret! Something must be done at once about her; a terrible dread
came to him about her.
"One thing you must do at once," he said, aloud, following out his own
thoughts, "you must write to Jean without delay; enclose her a cheque,
and tell her it is important that she should give it, and letters from
you, to Margaret, into her own hand. Write to Margaret and tell her she
is to let you know the truth, and what her position is--write _at
once_," he repeated, as though his sister, who was thoroughly alarmed,
needed any second telling.
Jean was, on the whole, easier about Grace, who had made a surprising
rally. She was able to be up and enjoy her meals; she was also able to
enjoy the visits of no less a person than Paul Lyons.
Margaret being married and out of his reach, that young man had
conceived a great affection for her sister, now a very softened and
subdued likeness of herself at Lornbay.
"You are not Margaret, but you remind me of her," he said sentimentally.
"We are sisters. I think there is a likeness."
Grace was extremely amused by his sentiment and by the little speeches
he made her. She had always rather liked him, and was always tolerant
of the little ways that had so provoked her high-minded sister.
"I am not sure about it, personally," he said, "I meant your voice and
your manner, and something altogether."
"We have the same kind of nose," laughed Grace. "Never mind, Mr. Lyons,
I like you to be loyal to my sister; I never, _never_, could come up to
her, and I know it!"
"You--you are more like than you were last year. Sometimes I think you
_very_ like Margaret," said Mr. Lyons, consolingly.
"Thank you. I know that is a very high compliment from you."
"Don't you think, Miss Rivers, that Margaret _might_, she might, have
been happier with a fellow like me than with an old madman like
Drayton?--that's what hurts me so much," said the young man.
"Of course she would have been happier, but everything went wrong," and
Grace blushed vividly. "I sent everything wrong, and, poor, poor
darling, she sacrificed herself to save me. Oh, Mr. Lyons! you never can
say anything bad enough for me to feel it unjust. I hate myself more and
more every day," and, much to his consternation, Grace, usually mocking
at tears, shed them now.
"I declare you are so like Margaret that I am getting to be very fond of
you," exclaimed Paul, "please don't cry, it makes me feel so ... funny!"
and he looked unhappy, also.
"Oh, if I could _do_ anything!" exclaimed poor Grace, who was, now she
was stronger, less able to remain passive, and who was utterly and
entirely miserable about her sister.
"If one could only shoot the fellow!" said Paul, vindictively.
"You see even if I could go out that wretched man keeps guard; he will
not let Jean see my poor Margaret. A little while ago there was a back
door, now that is shut up."
"But why does she not walk out of the house?"
"Because of her baby. She will not leave it and he will not allow her to
take it with her, and I do not quite understand about the law, but, even
if she took it, they might force her to send it back to him, so she
says."
"Grace," said young Lyons, and he looked as though he had quite made up
his mind to something, "I wish you would marry me. I am quite in
earnest," he said, getting very red at her expression of amazement; "you
see, if I was _her_ brother I might be of some use."
Perhaps never was a proposal made so oddly, and never one so open to
offence taken in such good part.
"No, Mr. Lyons," said Grace, laughing, while tears stood in her eyes;
"you are a dear, kind-hearted boy; do you suppose I would consent to
anything of the kind? Put all nonsense out of your head and try to see
if there is anything in the world we can do. You are more able, you are
stronger than I am; think!"
Paul Lyons thought, but he could see no way of helping Margaret unless
she would help herself.
They neither of them knew what had only lately happened at the Limes.
When Margaret, her heart full of gratitude about her writing, a glow of
deep and checquered feeling making her steps lighter, as she went
homewards, had been kept at the door waiting a weary while.
When at length the servant came Mr. Drayton was with him, and he had
been so excited and so violent that the man could hardly control him.
"I am sure, ma'am, he is mad," he said to the terrified girl, "and I
will see and get the doctor to-morrow; I cannot well leave him just
now."
"Oh, pray, do not leave him!" said Margaret, terrified; "but to-morrow,
yes, something must be done to-morrow."
She had made up her mind, as she stood trembling before him, that she
would go, and she would take her child; surely, if he was mad--and she
knew he must be mad--no one would take her child from her.
Next day, so soon as baby was awake, she roused the nurse. She had great
difficulty in telling her what she meant to do; she meant to go now at
once, while, as she thought, her husband slept, and the nurse might
follow later.
"He will not wish to detain you," she said, "once we are safe away."
"But who will pay my wages?" asked the nurse, who did not at all see why
she should risk her earnings or be left in the house with a madman when
her charge and her mistress were gone.
"Of course that will be all right," said Margaret, with dignity.
"Are you sure, ma'am? because they say here you had no money, that your
sister is living in a very poor way, and that you married master for his
money."
Margaret's face was one flame.
"You are quite forgetting yourself," she said, and then the sting of
these words made her turn away. Here was a truth--she had acknowledged
to herself--put in the coarsest possible way to her! Had she a right to
resent it?
She dressed her baby and herself, put up a few necessaries, and then
knelt down and asked for help and guidance. It could not be wrong to go,
for she was sure that her husband was mad; she must go and she must take
her baby, who was hers; she was sure if she stayed that her husband
would do her an injury; she had long had a vague fear, but last night
had made her tremble; supposing he broke out in this way when the man
was not by his side! She was trembling now as she went downstairs.
"Baby must keep quiet," she whispered; but how could baby know? As they
passed her husband's door her frightened and close embrace alarmed and
hurt the child, and she set up a tremendous roar. Margaret went to the
front door; no key was there; she turned to the drawer to look and found
her husband beside her.
"Where are you going?" he thundered, holding her shoulder as in a vice.
"I am going out," she answered, trying to speak, quivering with fear all
the time.
"You do not go out at that door! and besides how can you go out with
your precious child in the rain?"
Poor Margaret looked up and there indeed she saw that it was raining
heavily.
Her heart sank and she paused irresolute.
At that moment the key turned in the lock, and the man came in.
"I have been to the doctor and he is coming directly," he said, and with
a feeling of being baffled, though only for the time, poor Margaret
turned her weary steps upstairs.
She was over-excited, and cried with the passion that comes from
weakness, as from despair.
Then she left her child upstairs, and prepared to see the doctor.
Through him she would surely be able to arrange something.
No one, she kept saying to herself, would wish her to stay with a
madman, no one could leave a child in his keeping.
And she went to the sitting-room, and when she heard the doctor come she
fled swiftly towards him, and took him upstairs to her own room. She
would lay everything before him, and he would help her.
And he, looking at her flushed face and great excitement of manner,
wondered whether she was going to tell him about some illness of her
own; and conscious of a certain prejudice against her, because of her
marriage to this man, and a farewell he had witnessed between her
and--Sir Albert Gerald.