Beechfield Hall was the name of the old manor-house in which the Vanes
had lived for many generations. The present head of the family, General
Richard Vane, was a man of fifty-five, a childless widower, whose
interests centred in the management of his estate and the welfare of his
brother Sydney and Sydney's wife and child. In the natural course of
events, Sydney would eventually have succeeded to the property. It had
always been a matter of regret to the General that neither he nor his
brother had a son; and, when Sydney's life was prematurely cut short,
the General's real grief for his brother's loss was deepened and
embittered by the thought that the last chance of an heir was gone, and
that the family name--one of the most ancient in the county--would soon
become extinct, for a daughter did not count in the General's
meditation. It did not occur to his mind as within the limits of
possibility that he himself should marry again. He had always hoped that
Sydney--twenty years younger than himself, and the husband of a fair
and blooming wife--would have a son to bear his name. Hitherto the
Sydney Vanes had been unfortunate in their offsprings. Of five beautiful
children only one had lived beyond the first few months of babyhood--and
that one was a girl! But father, mother, and uncle had gone on hoping
for better things. Now it seemed likely that little Enid, the
nine-year-old daughter, would be the last of the Vanes, and that with
the General the name of the family would finally die out.
Beechfield Hall had long been known as one of the pleasantest houses in
the county. It was a large red-brick, comfortable-looking mansion, made
picturesque by a background of lofty trees, and by the ivy and Virginia
creeper and clematis in which it was embowered, rather than by the style
of its architecture. Along the front of the building ran a wide terrace,
with stone balustrades and flights of steps at either end leading to the
flower garden, which sloped down to an ornamental piece of water fed by
springs from the rich meadow-land beyond. This terrace and the
exquisitely-kept garden gave the house a stateliness of aspect, which it
would have lost if severed from its surroundings; but the General was
proud of every stick and stone about the place, and could never be
brought to see that its beauty existed chiefly in his own fond
imagination.
Whether Beechfield Hall was beautiful or not, however, mattered little
to the county squires and their families, to whom it had been for many
years a centre of life and gaiety. The General and his brother were
hunting-men; they had a capital stud, and were always ready to give
their friends a mount in the hunting season. They preserved strictly,
and could offer good shooting and good fishing to their neighbors; and
they were liberal of such offers--they were generous and hospitable in
every sense of the word. Mrs. Sydney Vane was of a similar disposition.
Her dances, her dinners, her garden-parties, were said to be the most
enjoyable in the county. She was young and pretty, vivacious and
agreeable, as fond of society as her husband and her brother-in-law,
always ready to fill her house with guests, to make up a party or
organise a pic-nic, adored by all young people in the neighborhood, the
chosen friend and confidante of half the older ones. And now the
innocent mirth and cordial hospitality of Beechfield Hall had come to
an untimely end. Poor Sydney Vane was laid to rest in the little green
churchyard behind the woodland slope which fronted the terrace and the
lawn. His wife, prostrated by the shock of his death, had never left her
room since the news of it was brought to her; his brother, the genial
and warm-hearted General, looked for the first time like a feeble old
man, and seemed almost beside himself. Even little Enid was pale and
frightened, and had lost her inclination for mirth and laughter. The
servants moved about in their sombre mourning garments with grave faces
and hushed, awe-stricken ways. It seemed almost incredible that so great
a misfortune should have fallen upon the house, that its brightness
should be quenched so utterly.
As soon as the misfortune that had befallen the Vanes was made known,
the General's maiden-sister descended from London upon the house, and
took possession, but not in any imperious or domineering way. Miss
Leonora Vane was far too shrewd and too kindly a woman to be aught but
helpful and sympathetic at such a time. But it was in her nature to
rule--she could not help making her influence felt wherever she went,
and the reins of government fell naturally into her hands as soon as she
appeared upon the scene. She was the General's junior by five years
only, and had always looked on Sydney and his wife as poor,
irresponsible, frivolous young creatures, quite incapable of managing
their own affairs. A difference of opinion on this point had driven her
to London, where she had a nice little house in Kensington, and was
great on committees and boards of management. But real sorrow chased all
considerations of her own dignity or comfort from her mind. She hurried
down to Beechfield as soon as she knew of her brother's need; and during
the weary days and weeks between Sydney's death and Westwood's trial,
she had been invaluable as a friend, helper, and capable mistress of the
disorganised household.
She sat one June morning at the head of the breakfast-table in the
dining-room at Beechfield Hall, with an unaccustomed look of
dissatisfaction and perplexity upon her handsome resolute face. Miss
Vane was a woman of fifty, but her black hair showed scarcely a line of
silver, and her brown eyes were as keen and bright as they had ever
been. With her smooth, unwrinkled forehead, her colorless but healthy
complexion, and her thin well-braced figure, she looked ten years
younger than her age. Not often was her composure disturbed, but on this
occasion trouble and anxiety were both evinced by the knitting of her
brows and the occasional twitching of her usually firm lips. She sat
behind the coffee-urn, but she had finished her own breakfast long
since, and was now occupying her ever-busy fingers with some knitting
until her brother should appear. But her hands were unsteady, and at
last, with an exclamation of disgust, she laid down her knitting-pins,
and crossed the long white fingers closely over one another in her lap.
"Surely Hubert got my telegram!" she murmured to herself. "I wish he
would come--oh, how I wish that he would come!"
She moved in her seat so as to be able to see the marble clock on the
massive oak mantelpiece. The hands pointed to the hour of nine. Miss
Vane rose and looked out of the window.
"He might have taken the early train from town. If he had, he would be
here by this time. But no doubt he did not think it worth while. 'An old
woman's fancy!' he said to himself perhaps. Hubert was never very
tolerant of other people's fancies, though he has plenty of his own,
Heaven knows! Ah, there he comes, thank Heaven! For once he has done
what I wished--dear boy!"
Miss Vane's hard countenance softened as she said the words. She sank
down into her chair again, crossed her hands once more upon her knees,
and assumed the attitude of impenetrable rigidity intended to impress
the observer with a sense of her indifference to all mankind. But the
new-comer, who entered from the terrace at that moment, was too well
used to Miss Vane's ways and manners to be much impressed.
"Good morning, aunt Leo. I have obeyed your orders, you see," he said,
as he bent down and touched her forehead lightly with his lips.
He was a young man, not more than one or two and twenty, but he had
already lost much of the freshness and youthfulness of his years. He was
of middle height, rather slenderly built, well dressed, well brushed,
with the air of high-bred distinction which is never attained save by
those to the manner born. His face was singularly handsome, strong, yet
refined, with sharply-cut features, dark eyes and hair, a heavy black
moustache, and a grave, almost melancholy expression--altogether a
striking face, not one easily to be forgotten or overlooked. As he
seated himself quietly at the breakfast-table, and replied to some query
of his aunt's respecting the hour of his arrival, it occurred to Miss
Vane that he was looking remarkably tired and unwell. The line of his
cheek, always somewhat sharp, seemed to have fallen in, there were dark
shadows beneath his eyes, and his olive complexion had assumed the
slightly livid tints which sometimes mark ill-health. In spite of her
preoccupation with other matters, Miss Vane could not repress a comment
on his appearance.
"What have you been doing with yourself, Hubert? You look positively
ghastly!"
"Do I!" said Hubert, glancing up with a ready smile. "I shouldn't
wonder. I was up all last night with some fellows that I know--we made a
night of it, aunt Leo--and I have naturally a headache this morning."
"You deserve it then. Surely you might have chosen a more fitting time
for a carouse!"
It seemed to her, curiously enough, that he gave a little shiver and
drew in his lips beneath his dark moustache. But he answered with his
usual indifference of manner.
"It was hardly a carouse. I can't undertake to make a recluse of myself,
my dear aunt, in spite of the family troubles."
"Hubert, don't be so heartless!" cried Miss Vane imperiously; then,
checking herself, she pressed her thin lips slightly together and sat
silent, with her eyes fixed on the cups before her.
"Am I heartless? Well, I suppose I am," said the young man, with a
slight mocking smile in which his eyes seemed to take no part. "I am
sorry, but really I can't help it. In the meantime perhaps you will give
me a cup of coffee--for I am famishing after my early flight from
town--and tell me why you telegraphed for me in such a hurry last
night."
Miss Vane filled his cup with a hand that trembled still. Hubert Lepel
watched her movements with interest. He did not often see his kinswoman
display so much agitation. She was not his aunt by any tie of blood--she
was a faraway cousin only; but ever since his babyhood he had addressed
her by that title.
"I sent for you," she said at last, speaking jerkily and hurriedly, as
if the effort were almost more than she could bear--"I sent for you to
tell the General what you yourself telegraphed to me last night."
A flush of dull red color stole into the young man's face. He looked at
her intently, with a contracted brow.
"Do you mean," he said, after a moment's pause, "that you have not told
him yet?"
Miss Vane averted her eyes.
"No," she answered; "I have not told him. You will think me weak--I
suppose I am weak, Hubert--but I dared not tell him."
"And you summoned me from London to break the news? For no other
reason?"
Miss Vane nodded,--"That was all."
Hubert bit his lip and sipped his coffee before saying another word.
"Aunt Leo," he said, after a silence during which Miss Vane gave
unequivocal signs of nervousness, "I really must say that I think the
proceeding was unnecessary." He leaned back in his chair and toyed with
his spoon, a whiteness which Miss Vane was accustomed to interpret as a
sign of anger showing itself about his nostrils and his lips. She had
long looked upon it as an ominous sign.
"Hubert, Hubert, don't be angry--don't refuse to help me!" she said, in
pleading tones, such as he had never heard from her before. "I assure
you that my post in this house is no sinecure. Poor Marion"--she spoke
of Mrs. Sydney Vane--"is rapidly sinking into her grave. Ay, you may
well start! She has never got over the shock of Sydney's death, and the
excitement of the last few days seems to have increased her malady. She
insisted on having every report of the trial read to her; and ever since
the conviction she has grown weaker, until the doctor says that she can
hardly outlast the week. Oh, that wicked man--that murderer--has much to
answer for!" said Miss Vane, clasping her hands passionately together.
Hubert was silent; his eyebrows were drawn down over his eyes, his face
was strangely white.
"Your uncle," Miss Vane continued sadly, "is nearly heart-broken. You
know how much he loved poor Sydney, how much he cares for Marion. He
has been a different man ever since that terrible day. I am afraid for
his health--for his reason even, if----"
"For Heaven's sake, stop," said the young man hoarsely. "I can't bear
this enumeration of misfortunes; it--it makes me--ill! Don't say any
more."
He pushed back his chair, rose, and went to the sideboard, where he
poured out a glass of water from the carafe and drank it off. Then he
leaned both elbows on the damask-covered mahogany surface, and rested
his forehead on his hands. Miss Vane stared at his bowed head, at his
bent figure, with unfeigned amazement. She thought that she knew Hubert
well, and she had never numbered over-sensitiveness amongst his virtues
or vices. She concluded that the last night's dissipation had been too
much for his nerves.
"Hubert," she said at length, "you must be ill."
"I believe I am," the young man answered. He raised his face from his
hands, drew out his handkerchief, and wiped his forehead with it before
turning round. It were well that his aunt should not see the cold drops
of perspiration standing upon his brow. He tried to laugh as he came
forward to the table once more. "You must excuse me," he said. "I have
not been well for the last few days, and your list of disasters quite
upset me."
"My poor boy," said aunt Leo, looking at him tenderly. "I am afraid that
I have been very thoughtless! I should have remembered that these last
few weeks have been as trying to you as to all of us. You always loved
Marion and Sydney."
It would have been impossible for her to interpret aright the
involuntary spasm of feeling that flashed across Hubert's face, the
uncontrollable shudder that ran through all his frame. Impossible
indeed! How could she fancy that he said to himself as he heard her
words----
"Loved Sydney Vane! Merciful powers, I never sank to that level, at any
rate! When I think of what I now know of him, I am glad to remember that
he was my enemy!"