|If there had happened to be any one upon whom poor Ralph's wild talk,
on the night of the Abbey festivities, had made any serious impression
whatever, it was destined to be removed by the inquest that followed
upon his death. The very words he had made use of in his fury, his
calling my Lady his wife, and stigmatising Sir Richard as her natural
son, would have been held to be no slight evidence of his insanity,
which, however, was abundantly proved by other testimony. The waiter at
the _Royal Marine_ at Coveton came in all good faith to take his solemn
oath that, to the best of his judgment, the gent, with the beard, who
had scandalised that respectable house by taking brandy for breakfast,
was like no other man alive as he had ever served; or, in other words,
was nothing short of a lunatic. The postboys whom he had commanded to
stop and let him out before his chaise could be whirled over the first
stage, pronounced him mad. The porter at the railway station, to whose
civil inquiry as to whither he was going the angry man had returned so
uncivil an answer, came to the same conclusion. No man nearer home, from
the lord-lieutenant to the parish constable, and (even of his whilom
companions) from Captain Walter Lisgard to landlord Steve, but gave it
as his opinion that the man was mad. And the verdict of the coroner's
jury being in accordance with the evidence, decided that the deceased
had met with his death in the manner with which we are acquainted during
an attack of temporary insanity, induced by Drink.
The nerves of Madame de Castellan had received much too great a shock,
from recent occurrences, to permit her presence at the inquest; and,
indeed, such an effect did they take upon her, that she left not only
Belcomb but England itself almost immediately, declining with many
thanks Sir Richard's offer--notwithstanding that Letty drove over in
person to make it known to her--that she should take up her residence
for the present at the Abbey itself. So Madame went back again to her
native land as suddenly and almost as mysteriously as she had come; and
after a while, wrote to inform her English friends that the domestic
disagreements which had driven her from home were in a fair way to be
healed, and that it was very unlikely that she should have to trespass
upon their kindness any more.
The real history of that lady's coming to Belcomb was never absolutely
known to more than two persons, and perhaps more or less rightly guessed
at by a third. From the moment that my Lady recognised her first husband
in Ralph Derrick, she never concealed from herself the possibility of
her having to leave the Abbey, and become perhaps a lifelong exile from
home and friends for her three children's sakes, but especially for that
of Sir Richard. Perhaps she exaggerated the depth to which family pride
had taken root in the heart of her eldest son; but she honestly believed
that the knowledge of his being illegitimate would have killed him.
Although she could never have possessed the strength of mind, even had
she enjoyed the requisite want of principle, to deny in person Ralph's
claim to her as her lawful husband, she justly argued that he would be
utterly unable to establish his case in her absence. He could summons no
witness whose testimony would go half so far as her own tell-tale face;
while his own character was such, that no credence would be given to
his statement, unless supported by strong and direct evidence. Thus
situated, my Lady turned over in her mind scheme after scheme of flight,
without hitting upon anything that gave much promise, and all of which
entailed a residence abroad, cruelly far from those dear ones from whom
she was about, with such a heavy heart, to flee for their own good; but
when she had, perforce, as we have seen, to take Mistress Forest into
her confidence, something arose out of a conversation between them
concerning their old life together at Dijon, which suggested that
ingenious artifice which she eventually put into effect.
Madame de Castellan had been dead some years, though of that
circumstance my Lady's children were unaware, albeit Sir Richard had
heard a good deal of her when a boy, and had even some dim recollection
of her personal appearance when she was a guest of his father and
mother's at the Abbey.
Of this remembrance, my Lady took advantage. Mary and herself in that
old school-time at Dijon had been used to act charades at Madame's
house, and that circumstance no doubt put into Lady Lisgard's mind the
idea of personating the old Frenchwoman herself. My Lady had
learned from those amateur performances the secrets of “green-room”
metamorphosis; * she was naturally endowed with no small power of
mimicry; and she could speak French like a native.
* How a few strips of black plaster on the teeth can
counterfeit age and toothlessness, let any of our fair
readers experiment for themselves.
Supposing that the desired transformation could be effected, what
securer plan, and one more unlikely to be suspected, could be found than
that secluded cottage of Belcomb, so close to the Abbey, and whither all
news relating to her children could be brought to her at once through
Mary, who, it was arranged, should be transferred to Madame's service in
the manner that was afterwards actually adopted. The letter purporting
to come from Dijon, and taken by Sir Richard's own hand from the
post-bag, had been placed therein by Mary Forest, who had used her
mistress's key at an earlier hour, and found that communication
from Arthur Haldane concerning Ralph's departure for Coveton, which
necessitated such immediate action on the part of my Lady. There was not
one day to be lost in making her preparations, and indeed from that
time she had been ready to start at a moment's notice, though, as it
happened, there was no need for such urgent haste. The counterfeit visit
in person to the Abbey was of course running a considerable risk,
but the establishment of the fact of Madame de Castellan's arrival
at Belcomb, my Lady had rightly judged to be of paramount importance;
indeed, that being effected, it is doubtful even if the unhappy Ralph
had not met with so sudden an end, whether any suspicion of Madame and
my Lady being one and the same person would have ever existed. The most
difficult matter connected with my Lady's flight was in truth, after
all, to find a reason for it sufficient to satisfy the minds of those
she left behind her. The children would have been slow to believe that
she could bring herself to leave home and them, simply because her two
boys did not get on well together, for in that case, absentee mothers
should be considerably more common than they are. But, fortunately,
not only did the flame of discord between Sir Richard and Master Walter
continue to burn, but received plenty of unexpected fuel, such as at any
other time would have caused my Lady unutterable woe, but which, under
present circumstances, were almost welcome to her. Walter's clandestine
marriage with the very girl to whom his brother had offered his own
hand, was an incident so painful as to give my Lady an excuse for almost
anything; but Walter had left the Abbey, and it was important that he
should return thither and make things unpleasant, as he could not fail
to do by the mere fact of his presence there with Rose. Sir Richard,
with his _fête_ in view, was easily persuaded to ask the new-married
couple down, and all things worked together for ill, which for once was
my Lady's “good.”
Then, again, Walter's debts--of the full extent of which, however,
his mother was never informed--gave her an additional cause of serious
dissatisfaction; and lastly, Sir Richard's opposition to Letty's
marriage with Arthur Haldane, made up a very respectable bill of
indictment. At all events, as we have seen, it was acknowledged so to be
by the parties against whom it had been filed. The consciences of both
Sir Richard and Walter were really pricked; and, besides, there was the
painful fact of their mother's departure from her own roof, owing to
their conduct, whether it justified such an extreme measure upon her
part or not. Moreover, the delegate to whom my Lady had committed the
disclosure of her motives, had been well chosen. It was necessary that a
third person should be admitted to the knowledge of my Lady's secret, in
order that her affairs might be transacted during an absence which might
be prolonged for years, or even for her lifetime; and where could she
find so tried and trustworthy a friend as Dr Haldane? The fact, too, of
his visiting the Abbey in person, after an interval of so many years,
and even after his so recent refusal to be present on the all-important
occasion of Sir Richard's coming of age, gave additional weight to
the mission upon which he came. It brought about, as has been shewn, a
genuine reconciliation between the brothers, and even exacted from them
a solemn promise that their disagreements should henceforth cease. Nor
was it destined that the good doctor's friendly offices should cease
with this. When the day came to lay Ralph Derrick's body in its coffin,
the old philosopher--nay, cynic, as many held him to be--placed very
reverently with his own hands that little locket around the dead man's
neck, which he had treasured as the most precious thing he owned for
more than half a lifetime. And on the morrow, when they buried him in
Dalwynch churchyard, the doctor followed him to the grave, not only as
the “deceased's medical attendant,” but as his chief and only mourner,
with a tender pity for the world-battered and passionful man, who had
thus found rest at last. He stood beside the round black mould, when all
had departed, with that wise, sad smile upon his face, which he always
wore when he was thinking deepest; and though “Poor fellow, poor
fellow!” was all he said, it was a more pregnant epitaph than is often
to be read on tombstones.
After a little, the good news came to Mirk from France, that my Lady,
trusting to what she had heard from her old friend, was coming home
again. The only stipulation she made was, that her withdrawal from the
Abbey was not to be alluded to by any of her family, for which, indeed,
added she, there would be the less necessity, since the principal cause
of it--the ill-feeling between her sons--no longer, as she was delighted
to understand, existed. Of course, Lady Lisgard could not prevent
“the county” from canvassing the matter, any more than she could have
forbidden a general election; and, in truth, her affairs were almost as
much talked about as politics after a dissolution of parliament. She
and her sons had each their partisans, who argued for their respective
clients often with great enthusiasm, and sometimes with an ingenuity
worthy of better premises. But it was the general opinion that Master
Walter's marriage was at the bottom of the whole business, and that that
designing woman, Rose Aynton, had sown dissension in what had once been
one of the best-conducted and most united families in Wheatshire.
An account of the inquest in the local journals, a paragraph in the
_Times_, headed “Curious Catastrophe,” and an allusion to Don Quixote's
adventure _apropos_ of the homicidal wind-mill, in a comic print,
exhausted the subject of Ralph Derrick's death.
But my Lady returned to Mirk Abbey in deep mourning, it was understood
in consequence of the sudden death of Madame de Castellan, which
occurred, singularly enough, almost immediately after her leaving
Belcomb.
It was thought very unfortunate that the two old friends should thus
have never been permitted to meet. Madame's demise, however, of course
left Mary Forest free to rejoin her former mistress, in whose company,
indeed, she returned to Mirk.
We have said that besides the two persons in possession of my Lady's
secret, there was a third who had his shrewd suspicions. But if Arthur
Haldane's legal training had really enabled him to come to the right
conclusion in the matter, it also judiciously restrained him from saying
anything about it.
He had never cause to use that memorandum which we saw him set down in
his pocket-book of Miss Letty's opinion. “It seems to me that people
should be taken for what they _are_, let their birth be what it will;”
but we believe that it was not without a reason that he committed it to
paper. Although entirely without ancestral pride, and with a very hearty
contempt for any such folly, as matters stood, Letty was just the sort
of girl who, upon finding herself illegitimate, would have refused to
carry out her engagement, from the apprehension of attaching disgrace
to the man she loved; and therefore Arthur thought it well to record her
own argument against herself, in case any such occasion should arise.
Not many months elapsed, however, before this possible obstruction was
removed, in the pleasantest manner, by the union of these two young
people; and a happier or better assorted couple it is not my fortune to
know.
Sir Richard remains a bachelor, although as staid and decorous in his
conduct as any married man; even more so than some, it is whispered--but
then, who can seriously blame charming Master Walter? The cause of the
young baronet's celibacy is strenuously held by many to be Miss Rose
Aynton's rejection of him long ago, for _that_ has oozed out, somehow or
other, divulged perhaps by the young woman herself in some moment when
her vanity for once overcame her prudence; but, at all events, Sir
Richard has acted very generously towards his brother's wife (that's how
these gossips put it), and her husband Captain Lisgard's debts have been
settled, and he has been entirely “set up” with respect to his pecuniary
affairs; and, moreover, he runs no risk of being again embarrassed.
If it is really true that he occasionally forgets that abrupt ceremony
which took place between himself and Rose at the Register Office (and
somehow the thing does not recur to the memory with such force under
those circumstances as when one is married in the usual way by the
combined endeavours of several clergymen), and indulges in little
flirtations, he has at least forsworn both the turf and the gaming-table.
We do not say that he is given up entirely to his military duties, but
he is in the enjoyment of an excellent staff appointment, and possesses
the fullest confidence both of his commanding officer and of that
functionary's wife; which latter, we all know, is essential to the
position of an aide-decamp. But the fact is, that almost everybody likes
Master Walter, and will continue to do so (although perhaps somewhat
less as he grows older) to his dying day. And why not?
_Dieu l'a jugé. Silence_, sings a true poet upon the death of the first
Napoleon: _Que des faibles mortels la main n'y touche plus! Qui peut
sonder, Seigneur, ta clémence infinie? Et vous, fléau de Dieu, qui sait
si le GÉNIE N'EST PAS UNE DE VOS VERTUS?_ And what has thus been greatly
written of genius, may also surely be said in a less sense of what we
call (for lack of a better word) Manner. England has lately followed
to his grave with weeping eyes, a statesman--both honest, indeed,
and able--but whose chief claim to her affection rested upon this
comparatively humble gift, so precious because so rare. When combined
with youth and personal graces, as in Walter Lisgard's case, it is
well-nigh irresistible, and has always been so from the days of Plato
and Xenophon. Too often worthless in themselves, or rendered so by being
“spoilt” by all who meet them; not seldom empty-headed, or with heads
turned by conceit and flattery; and almost always destitute of reverence
for sacred things, whether divine or human--natural or doctrinal--we yet
prefer the company of those thus dowered to that of the Wise, the
Witty, or the Good. Their smile is a pleasure; their very presence is a
harmony; and prayerless themselves, they evoke the supplications of the
pure in their behalf.
Even Rose herself continues to be to some extent infatuated with Master
Walter--although he is her own husband--a feat surely far more difficult
of accomplishment than for the _valet de chambre_ of a hero to believe
in his master's reputation. At all events, it is beyond question that
she grows very jealous of the captain. Master Walter has never been
jealous of _her_; not, indeed, that he has had any serious reason to be
so, but because such a baleful sentiment is never allowed to enter his
well-contented mind. He is thoroughly persuaded that if his wife loves
anybody else in the world beside herself--that that person is her
husband; and he is right. He, too, has a genuine affection for one other
individual beside Captain Walter Lisgard; and this is for his mother. We
all know that she returns it seventyfold.
My Lady lives a tranquil and not unhappy life in her old home with
dutiful Sir Richard, very pleasantly diversified by frequent visits
from dear Letty and her husband--their last advent being a particularly
grateful one, since they brought with them a little stranger, aged
six weeks, whom it was always a matter of difficulty to extricate from
grandmamma's loving arms. But my Lady's whitest days are those rare ones
which her darling Walter finds it possible--so pressing are his military
duties--to spend at somewhat sombre Mirk. Then she is happy; then she
is almost her old self as we first knew her, before those deep tones,
speaking from the grave, upon Mirk Abbey lawn at Christmas-time, broke
in upon her calm harmonious days. Master Walter has no child. This
troubles her sometimes; but at others she feels very thankful for it;
for if he had a son, or should Sir Richard marry and beget one, would
not a certain, however venial, imposition he perpetuated in the descent
of the title? Even now, when no great harm seems done, my Lady's
conscience is not altogether at ease; nay, once, so disturbed it grew,
that she took secret counsel on the matter with Dr Haldane.
“Dear Lady,” said he, “if any human being could be bettered by
the disclosure you hint at, or any human being was wronged by your
reticence, I should be the first to say: 'Tell all;' but as things
stand, it would, in my opinion, not only be Quixotic, but downright
madness to disentomb that woeful secret, which lies buried in Ralph
Gavestone's grave. Moreover, I understood it was his dying wish that his
story should remain untold.”
This last observation, delivered with great simplicity, was the best
remedy for my Lady's troubled mind that the good doctor could
have prescribed. But when this moral patient of his had left his
consulting-room quite cured, the radical philosopher permitted himself
a congratulatory chuckle. “Gad,” said he (he used the interjections of
half a century ago), “it is lucky my Lady questioned me no further. _My_
difficulty lies in permitting a person of title more than there need
be in this misgoverned country. If the Lisgards had a peerage in their
family, I should think it my duty to explode the whole concern. But I
don't suppose one baronet more than there is any necessity to suffer,
_can do much harm_.”
So Sir Richard Lisgard, little dreaming upon how unsatisfactory a tenure
it is held, keeps his title unmolested; and “my Lady” (Heaven bless
her!) is still the honoured mistress of Mirk Abbey.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Mirk Abbey, Volume 3(of 3), by James Payn