Harry Clayton stopped short upon entering D. Wragg's parlour, as if he
had been smitten, for he found himself face to face with Patty, who
stood before him pale and trembling, but who met his gaze with a calm
look that disarmed him.
For a moment he could not speak, but stood as if petrified.
"You here!" he exclaimed. "Thank God!" and then he was silent again,
struggling with the emotion that troubled him--a mingling of pleasure
and doubt. "Miss Pellet--Patty!" he said at last, regardless of the
bent and desolate figure crouching at her side, and he caught the young
girl's hand in his--"Mr Redgrave? he has been here a good deal lately to
see you."
"I believe," said Patty, coldly, as she withdrew her hand, "Mr Redgrave
has been sometimes, sir, to the shop."
"But," exclaimed Harry, earnestly, "do you know where he now is? If you
do, pray tell me."
"I cannot tell you--I do not know. I heard all your questions. He has
not been here for quite a fortnight."
"He was here eleven--twelve day since," said a voice.
Harry turned sharply, to find himself face to face with the little
Frenchman, who courteously raised his pinched old hat.
"Twelve days since!" repeated Harry, "and for what purpose?"
"_Ma foi_!" exclaimed Canau, with a shrug of the shoulders. "Perhaps
Monsieur will walk with me, and we will talk. Not here!" Puzzled and
anxious, Harry followed the new-comer into the shop, where he stood
amidst the noise of the restless birds and animals, as if ready to
answer the visitor's queries.
But not at first; it was not until after some preliminary fencing, by
which the shrewd little foreigner gained a little insight into Harry's
object and character, though the young man was frank and open as the
day.
Canau, suspicious at first, soon saw this, and in his turn seemed to
meet the visitor upon his own ground, apparently speaking openly and to
the point.
"But he is young--a boy--and foolish; he does not understand my girls--I
call them `my girls,' Monsieur. He makes mistakes; but we forgive him.
She," he said, nodding towards the inner room, "is young too, and we
like to have her here--to visit Janet. Perhaps it was to see her he
came. But we forgive him, and he has not been much of late."
Harry looked fixedly at the little Frenchman, as he spoke in his strange
halting fashion, meeting the young man's gaze with a shifting look.
Were these words of truth, or was there something hidden? Was this man
frank, or only an old deceiver, who could mask his face to suit any
character when he was at war with society? Still there was such an air
of candour in all that was spoken, and so much quiet dignity in the
Frenchman's words, that it was with a feeling he could not have
explained that Harry thanked him for what had been said.
"But you do not seem to realise the fact," exclaimed Harry. "He has
disappeared so suddenly, and knowing him to have been a visitor here, we
naturally looked towards this place with suspicion."
"Yes, yes, but I see," said Canau, quietly; "but he is not here. We do
not know. This is a bad place round about, but we are quiet people
here; and if they--these girls, knew anything, they would tell directly.
I hope he has not been robbed. There are many here at night it would
not be safe to meet. But there! he is young, he is gone upon some
voyage, some travel; be at ease: he will return, and the old man be
happy."
Canau's words were so calm, that forgetting place, and the Frenchman's
abject appearance, Harry seemed to recognise in him so much of the
gentleman that he raised his hat, the salute being as courteously
returned.
"If you can give me any information, pray do so," said Harry, "for we
are ill at ease respecting him."
He added the Regent Street address to his card, and handed it to the
Frenchman, who seemed to brighten up and look elate as he spoke with
Harry.
"My best endeavours shall be at the service of Monsieur," he said; and
then in answer to a few more words, he gave an affirmative nod. Then
together they entered the little room to find Patty bending over Janet,
whose face was buried in her hands.
"I am afraid," said Harry, addressing Patty, "that I have startled her
by my vehemence. I see now that I have been labouring under a gross
misapprehension, and can only ask your forgiveness. Pray make my
excuses to her when she grows more calm. I am very anxious about my
friend."
He stopped, hesitated for a few moments, and approaching and taking
Patty's hand, he said, huskily, "You say that you heard all my words,
and in memory of old times, I cannot leave without saying more. I see
that I was grievously in error. You must attribute it to ignorance; but
I must ask you before I go, to forgive the injustice, the wrong I have
done you."
Patty did not speak; she tried, but no words came to her lips. She
looked anxious and troubled, and there was a feeling as of a great
sorrow at her heart--a sorrow which made her bosom heave till she
recalled the manner in which Harry had treated her before Lionel
Redgrave, and what she looked upon as his false pride. Then came, too,
the scene which she had witnessed upon the Essex lawn, and the words she
had heard spoken, and it seemed to her that he was mocking--insulting
her.
She withdrew her hand, and just bent her head in reply, leaving Harry to
quit the room with the scene photographed in his mind of Patty leaning
down over the weeping girl at her side.
But could he have stayed, he would have seen Janet start up, wild and
angry, to catch Canau by the arm, as she fixed upon him her wild dark
eyes.
"What have they done with him?" she half shrieked. "You know--he knows.
There is some foul play here, and mischief has been done for the sake
of his wretched money. Oh! that I should stay here in this place, where
such scenes are acted! But it shall not be; they shall be told where he
is and what has been done."
"But, my child, you are mad and wild, and do not know what it is you
say. We do not know where this foolish young aristocrat can be."
"What!" cried Janet, "has it not been shameful? Has not advantage been
taken of his visits here, and he has been led on and on by Wragg, to get
his money? Has it not been cruel, scandalous, abominable to her and our
friends at Duplex Street? If they had known, would they have allowed
her to come once? and you have not tried to stay it! But it shall all
be made plain. She came here from her tender love for me, and that--
that--that man took advantage of it, and has tried all he knew,
constantly, to win her to stay in the wretched shop, so that he might
sell some miserable bird. It is villainy--villainy!"
"Hush--hush, little one!" said Canau; "you talk at random--you speak
wildly. Patty, my child, take her up-stairs; let her lie down and be at
peace. We shall soon hear news of this unfortunate boy."
Volume 2, Chapter XIX.