To account for the appearance of our heroine under such peculiar
circumstances, we must look back to secondary events, which latterly we
have not had leisure to notice.
Immediately after poor Willoughby's abrupt departure from Montague
House, Lady Palliser and her daughter had set out on their continental
tour, in which it was supposed by the friends on both sides, that he was
shortly to join them. During their journey, they had either not chanced
to meet with, or at least not happened to read with any degree of
attention an English newspaper. One, however, was laid on their
breakfast table the morning after their arrival at Geneva; it was that
which contained a summary of Alfred's trial, conviction, and
condemnation to an ignominious death, for the wilful murder of his
brother. From the circumstances of Lady Palliser being out of England,
on the constant move, and consequently not associating with any one, her
ladyship had not heard before even of such an accusation having been
brought against our hero, yet she glanced over the account of the
terrific affair with a countenance perfectly unmoved; and when she had
finished the statements, merely handed the paper across the table to
Caroline saying, in the most careless tone imaginable,
"It was very fortunate that you were not married to either of them."
Caroline, wondering what her mother could mean, took the paper in
silence, and began to read the part indicated by the manner of folding.
Lady Palliser sipped her coffee without even a look of inquiry towards
her daughter; but had there been any one present to have noted the
emotions marked on the countenance of Caroline, they would have seen
first, a faint glow as the names met her sight; then the gradual
retiring of the same; then the unconscious parting of the lips and
holding of the breath; next a quickened respiration, a flickering
colour, and a countenance full of indignant expression.
Soon after this profound attention seemed to still every pulse, for the
paper which before had visibly vibrated with each throb of the heart, no
longer stirred, while every vestige of the lines of life retired even
from the lips: the eyes alone moved, as eagerly they traced, from margin
to margin, line after line. Suddenly a rush of crimson covered the face
and neck, a piercing cry escaped the lips, and Caroline fell senseless
to the floor, having become again pale as a corpse.
It was some hours before she showed any returning signs of life, and
when she again opened her eyes it was evident, from their piteous
expression, that consciousness, whether of woe or weal was gone.
Subsequently, however, though she still noticed no other object, she
manifested such strong symptoms of terror at the approach of Lady
Palliser, that the medical attendant thought fit to recommend her
ladyship not to enter the apartment.
Lady Palliser, from whom patient attendance on sickness or suffering was
not at any rate much to be expected, soon began to get exceedingly tired
of the whole affair. She was also provoked that her daughter's name
should, however blamelessly, be implicated with that of a family on whom
such disgrace had fallen; for though Alfred's escape was by this time
known, the stigma was still the same; he was still under sentence of
death--he was still believed to be a murderer. Caroline's sudden illness
too had made matters worse; for its supposed cause had got abroad, and
having spread from the English to the natives, became the universal
topic of conversation with high and low. That this would be still more
the case in England her ladyship was well aware; she determined
therefore not to return thither till the business should be in a great
measure forgotten; in the mean time to proceed on her tour, leaving her
daughter, who was unable to travel, at Geneva, with of course a suitable
establishment of sick-nurses and servants, and attended, unluckily, by
some medical personage who had acquired a questionable reputation nobody
knew how, and whose opinion therefore Lady Palliser, with her usual
whimsical irrationality, chose to consider the best _medical advice_
within reach; and to whose care, without weighing the subject further,
she accordingly committed the reason and the life of her only child.
Whether her ladyship would have taken the unfeeling step of proceeding
on her journey, had her presence afforded consolation to the suffering
Caroline, it is impossible to say; but, as her sage adviser still
recommended her to refrain from seeing his patient, she appeared to
consider herself at liberty to follow her own devices.