THE TWO CHAINS
"Estelle, will you do me a favor?" asked Mrs. Thayne, following her
young landlady into the hall. The travelers from London had just
arrived and in the drawing-room, Mrs. Aldrich was expatiating to the
boys upon the roughness of the trip.
"Why, of course I will! You don't need to ask," replied Estelle
affectionately.
"You and Edith have been taking your meals with the children during my
absence. Please keep on doing it. Let us all be one family for the rest
of our stay."
"It is lovely of you to want us, Mrs. Thayne," said Estelle, her face
flushing. "We stopped with the children because I thought it would be
better and then I could personally see that they had all they wanted.
But now that you have a guest--"
"I want you and Mrs. Aldrich to know each other," said Mrs. Thayne
quickly. "And this will be one of the easiest ways to get acquainted."
"I think Mrs. Aldrich is charming," remarked Estelle. "Isn't it odd,
how sometimes a likeness in a total stranger strikes one? For a second,
just as you introduced us, she reminded me so much of my dear mother
that I could hardly pull myself together to speak. She must have
thought me quite awkward."
"I know she didn't," said Mrs. Thayne, with difficulty keeping her face
under control. She had seen Estelle start and noticed her amazed
expression when Mrs. Aldrich greeted her. So Estelle had not been
conscious of Mrs. Aldrich's constrained manner! "Then you will have
luncheon with us?" she added.
"I will since you wish it," replied Estelle, vanishing to give
directions to Nurse.
"Now, what is there to do this morning?" Mrs. Aldrich was asking the
boys. "I propose to stay in this island exactly one week. Your mother
was seasick so she ought to lie down and rest but I feel as fit as a
fiddle. Frances is at school, you tell me. No, I don't want to drive
this morning. Suppose you take me for a short walk, Roger and Win, and
show me what is to be seen on the beach."
"We might take you to Noirmont Point," suggested Roger as they stopped
at the end of the terrace to look at the view which was never twice the
same. "What are those big vessels over beyond Castle Elizabeth?"
"They are English warships," replied Mrs. Aldrich. "Coming into the
harbor we passed close to them. The captain said it was a part of the
Channel squadron, whatever that is."
"Oh, did you see their names?" demanded Roger eagerly, as he counted
the great gray ships in the offing. "Fourteen, no, fifteen."
"Only a few. One was the _Princess Royal_ and I saw the _Thunderer_,
the _Revenge_, the _Black Prince_ and the _Camperdown_."
Roger's eyes opened at this list of awe-inspiring names. "I wish we
could get over to Elizabeth," he remarked. "We could see them better
then."
"Tide's not right," said Win, casting a critical glance at the sea.
"What, to walk over to that island?" asked Mrs. Aldrich. "Is it ever
possible?"
"We've been over," said Roger. "When the tide is 'way out, there is a
raised causeway, quite smooth and easy."
"What is the place anyway?" asked Mrs. Aldrich, looking curiously
across to the castle.
"Once it was an old abbey," Win explained, "dedicated to St. Elericus,
the patron saint of Jersey. I suppose the town was named for him."
"How did the island itself get its name?" inquired Mrs. Aldrich. "The
derivation of these charming old English names is a fascinating study."
"It was the old Roman Caesarea," said Win. "Jersey is a corruption of
that. The ruined hermitage of St. Elericus is still over near
Elizabeth, at least they call it that, though it's a kind of
combination of a watch-tower and a cave. But the castle, as it stands,
was built when Edward VI was king of England. There's a story to the
effect that all the bells in the island except one for each of the
twelve churches were seized by royal authority and ordered sold to help
pay for building the castle. They were shipped to St. Malo and expected
to bring a high price, but the vessel went down on the way and all the
good church people thought it was because of sacrilege in taking those
bells."
"What is the castle used for now?" inquired Mrs. Aldrich.
"Barracks," replied Roger. "The place is full of soldiers. It's no good
now as a fortification, because Fort Regent up above St. Helier's--over
there on the cliffs--could knock Castle Elizabeth and all those
warships into fits in no time. Nothing can enter the bay if the Fort
Regent guns don't approve. And that heap of rocks where Elizabeth
stands is 'most a mile around,--it is, honest. Fran and Edith and I
walked it."
"They say," said Win, "that the space between the castle and the town
was once a meadow. For that matter, they also say that the whole
channel between here and France was once so narrow that the Bishop of
Coutances used to cross to Jersey on a plank."
"Tell that to the marines," protested Roger. "You do find the weirdest
yarns in those books you're always grubbing in."
"Oh, I can tell a bigger one than that," said Win laughing, "but
perhaps you'll swallow it because your friend Bill told it to me. He
said that some time in the sixteenth century there was an abnormally
low tide, lower than any one had ever known. Some fishermen who
happened to be out between Orgueil and the coast of France came in and
reported that they had distinctly seen down in the channel the towers
and streets and houses of an old town, forty feet or more under water."
"There are stories like that in Brittany," said Mrs. Aldrich. "The
fishermen declare that they can hear the tolling of the submerged
church bells. Now, when legends like that exist on both sides of a
channel, it stands to reason that there is likely some foundation in
truth."
"Then why don't they send divers down to find out?" demanded Roger
bluntly. "Any enterprising country would."
"We'll import a few Americans to do the investigating," laughed Mrs.
Aldrich. "Is this Frances coming? Who is with her?"
"Edith," replied Win. "Miss Estelle's sister."
"Bless me!" murmured Mrs. Aldrich. "The other was startling enough but
this resemblance is even stronger."
Win smiled. It was great fun to look on, knowing what he did of his
mother's innocent little conspiracy, all the more fun because the other
young people were unsuspecting.
At luncheon, where Estelle appeared with a pretty dignity, Win was
supplied with still more secret amusement. Mrs. Aldrich talked a good
deal, rather inconsequently at times, but continually looked from one
sister to the other in a way that would have aroused suspicion had
either the slightest idea that any plot was on foot. As it was, Win saw
Estelle occasionally glancing at their guest in a puzzled manner as
though trying to account for something she found unexpected. After the
meal he waylaid his mother.
"What is Mrs. Aldrich going to do?" he asked laughingly. "I had hard
work not to give myself away during luncheon. You looked so unnatural,
Mother, that if you hadn't been seasick, Fran and Roger would have
caught on. As it was, they thought you weren't quite rested."
"I don't know what she is going to do," replied his mother, "but it is
working as we hoped. She is strongly attracted to the girls, and
Estelle confided to me that our guest in some unaccountable way,
reminded her of her mother. We have done our part in bringing Carrie
here; it is for her to take the next step. I rather imagine that she
won't be able to hold in very much longer, though I think she is
enjoying the situation."
It was not until dinner of her third day in St. Aubin's, that Mrs.
Aldrich made herself known. To please Win, who had ascertained that she
chanced to have the old chain with her, she wore it when she entered
the dining-room.
Win watched Estelle intently, disappointed that she did not immediately
notice the ornament. Indeed, they were finishing dessert before
anything happened. Perhaps purposely, Mrs. Aldrich looked at her watch
and Fran in all innocence touched the match that fired the explosion.
"Why, how odd!" she exclaimed. "Miss Estelle has a chain just like that
one, Mrs. Aldrich."
Win and his mother exchanged a glance; the others naturally looked at
the chain.
"It's precisely like it, Sister," said Edith, who sat near Mrs.
Aldrich. "Isn't that queer?"
"It's an old keepsake," said Mrs. Aldrich with deliberation. "It
belonged to my mother. See, here are her initials on the slide, E. A.
for Emma Avery."
Edith looked with interest but Estelle turned pale. Thoughtful Win
pushed a glass of water within reach.
"Star's has initials too," Edith remarked innocently. "A. A., I think
they are. Anyway, it was Grandmother's chain."
Mrs. Aldrich turned to Estelle, who perfectly colorless, was staring at
her. "Child," she said rather peremptorily, "come up to my room and let
us compare these old trinkets."
Still speechless, Estelle mechanically arose. Amid dead silence the two
left the dining-room. Fran turned to her mother, amazed at the look of
excited pleasure on her face. "What _does_ it all mean?" she demanded.
"Is it a secret?"
"Just a mild little conspiracy," replied Mrs. Thayne. "What it means,
is that Mrs. Aldrich was your mother's first cousin, Edith, so she is
your and Estelle's second cousin. Just by chance I guessed from
Estelle's unusual chain that the one Carrie Aldrich wears came from the
same source. When Estelle told me that her great-grandfather gave one
to each of his two daughters, the whole thing flashed on me."
"But that," said Edith, with her sweet childish faith, "is a miracle."
"Perhaps," smiled Mrs. Thayne. "I only know that we shall leave St.
Aubin's happier because you and Mrs. Aldrich have found each other out."
A shower of eager questions fell from Frances and Roger but a long time
passed before anything was seen of Estelle and Mrs. Aldrich. When they
reappeared to the group awaiting them in the drawing-room, Estelle had
plainly been crying and Mrs. Aldrich's eyes looked suspiciously red.
"Come and kiss me, Edith," she said. "I want to be Cousin Carrie from
now on. Yes, Estelle, she does look more like the Averys than you,
though I saw the resemblance in your face also."
"Isn't the whole thing just like a story?" Frances confided to her
mother at bed-time. "What do you think will happen now?"
"I don't know," admitted Mrs. Thayne. "Estelle is so very proud that it
will be hard for her to accept help from any one, but Carrie will
arrange things if it can be done. I know that Estelle has been
dreadfully worried because some of the little money her father left her
has been lost through an imprudent investment and that she has not felt
sure she could manage to keep the house through another season. And yet
she must find some way of supporting herself and Edith. Things will
work themselves out, for Carrie is perfectly capable of inventing some
very necessary work for Estelle to do, which will preserve her
self-respect and let Carrie have her way. I think Carrie usually has
some young person acting as secretary and Estelle could do that easily.
I am not at all worried about the future since Estelle fortunately saw
the resemblance to her own mother in Mrs. Aldrich. I imagine that will
make it easier for her to consider whatever plan is proposed."
"Wasn't it lucky that we came here!" sighed Frances. "And doesn't it
seem odd that we did come, just because Roger and I wanted to take that
little train the first day and chanced to find Rose Villa? If it hadn't
been for that, we might not have looked for lodgings in St. Aubin's at
all, nor known Miss Estelle and Edith. Why, Mother!" she went on, with
intenser surprise in her voice. "It's just like the House that Jack
built. If we hadn't come here, we wouldn't have met the beach dog, nor
known Miss Connie, nor visited the Manor, nor be hunting for the
Spanish chest!"
Fran stopped, looking so comically aghast that Mrs. Thayne laughed as
she kissed her.
"So much depended upon a passing wish to take that little train! It is
remarkable on looking back, to realize how often life turns upon some
apparently trivial incident, some insignificant choice."
"It's time though, that we went home, Mother," said Frances merrily.
"While you were in London, Miss Estelle wanted change for half a crown,
so I tipped the money out of my purse. One piece rolled on the floor
and Roger picked it up, and said: 'Why, this isn't a shilling! What is
it?' So I took it, and, Mother, both of us looked at it hard for
several seconds before we realized that it was a United States
quarter-dollar! Don't you think it is time that we went home?"