A SUDDEN FLITTING.
The next morning Mrs. Alexander’s lawyer, Mr. Thurston, made a call upon
his client, and had an interview with her of more than two hours’
duration.
After his departure, she sought Virgie, with a very grave face, and
explained the nature of his business, which caused the young girl to
open wide her lovely eyes and exclaim, with astonishment:
“Why, mamma, it is the strangest romance in the world! I never heard
anything like it!”
“Well, dear, get yourself ready as soon as possible, for we must leave
town this afternoon, as there is no time to lose,” her mother replied,
as she arose to go to make her own preparations for the proposed
journey.
“But, mamma, what shall I do about Rupert?” Virgie asked, looking
troubled.
Mrs. Alexander’s face fell at the mention of the young man’s name.
She had scarcely slept during the previous night, for many things
troubled her, and, among others, the thought that Virgie’s engagement to
Rupert Hamilton seemed likely to complicate matters very much when she
should be ready to make her claim upon Sir William Heath.
“You can leave a note telling him that we are obliged to leave town for
a while, and we can explain further to him when we ascertain just how we
are to be situated,” her mother replied, after considering a moment.
So, when Rupert called that evening, he found only a note awaiting him
instead of the bright face he had hoped to see, while it told him that
his betrothed and her mother had been unexpectedly called away from
London upon important business, which might detain them a week, perhaps
longer.
“It is very strange that she does not mention where they are going,” he
said, as he read the note over for the second time, and remarked this
omission. “Mrs. Alexander acted very strangely last evening. I wonder if
this sudden departure can have had anything to do with that?”
He retraced his steps, feeling unaccountably depressed over the absence
of Virgie, and he resolved to seek an interview with Sir William and
acquaint him with the fact of his engagement that very evening.
He did not, however, find his guardian upon his return; he had gone out
upon a matter of business, his valet told the young man, and would not
be back until late; so he retired, resolving to improve the first
opportunity on the morrow.
The next morning, after breakfast, he said, in a quiet aside:
“Can I have a few moments’ conversation with you, Uncle Will?”
“Certainly, my boy. Come into the library in about ten minutes, and I
will be there.”
Lady Linton, always on the alert for everything of a mysterious nature,
and doubly keen now to suspect mischief, heard this request, and at once
resolved to become acquainted with the nature of the interview.
Sir William’s chamber was just back of the library, although there was
no door communicating with it.
The same furnace-pipe, however, conducted heat to the two rooms, and, by
stationing herself close to this, her ladyship knew she could overhear
whatever might pass between the two men. She therefore slipped quietly
into her brother’s bed-room, locked the door, and, creeping close to the
register, laid her eager ear against it.
Rupert was already with Sir William, for the housekeeper had detained
Lady Linton for a few moments with questions regarding some domestic
matter, but she was in season to hear him broach the subject so near his
heart.
“I have come to make a confession to you, Uncle Will,” he said, as he
seated himself opposite his guardian.
“A confession! Nothing very serious, I hope,” said Sir William, glancing
keenly into the flushed face of his ward.
“Yes, I think it is of rather a serious nature,” he returned, smiling
slightly. “I wish to tell you that I have become deeply attached to Miss
Alexander, to whom I introduced you last night, and to ask your sanction
to our engagement.”
“Aha! has it gone so far as that?” inquired Sir William. “I began to
surmise last evening that she was taking your heart captive, but did not
imagine matters had reached a crisis yet.”
“Don’t you think her lovely, Uncle Will?” Rupert asked, eagerly.
“Very lovely; but, my boy, the ocean rolls between England and America.
I cannot bear the thought of a separation from you, Rupert.”
“Nor I from you, my dear guardian; and, I assure you, you need not fear
it, for the young lady does not object to a permanent residence in
England. I trust you will not oppose my marriage with Miss Alexander.”
“Rupert,” said Sir William, gravely, “my only wish is for your
happiness, and if Miss Alexander is the woman of your choice—if you are
sure that she alone can make you happy—then I can only say Heaven bless
you and grant that your future may be all that you desire.”
“Thank you, Uncle Will, I—I hope you do not disapprove of my choice of a
wife?” Rupert said, regarding his guardian’s grave face anxiously.
“No, no,” returned the baronet, hastily. “I admired the little lady very
much during the few moments that I spent with her last evening. She
seems a lovely girl. My first thought was that she might take you from
us.”
“No. Although she was born in America, she is herself of English decent
on her father’s side, and she and her mother are now in this country,
for the purpose of claiming some property inherited from him,” Rupert
explained.
“Ah! then she has no father.”
“No; he—she—lost him when she was a child.”
The young man began to fear he was trespassing somewhat upon Mrs.
Alexander’s confidence, and resolved that he would betray no more at
present.
“Are you sure that the family is one with which you will feel proud to
ally yourself?” Sir William inquired.
“I know but very little concerning their family,” Rupert admitted. “I
doubt if they have any, but everything about them indicates that they
are above reproach, while Mr. Knight, the gentleman whom I met in
America, and of whom you have often heard me speak, introduced them, and
he is of irreproachable character. He occupies a high position in New
York, and it is in compliance with his request that they are presented
here, and chaperoned by the Huntingtons.”
“The Huntingtons are all right, and would introduce no one regarding
whom there was any question,” Sir William said, in a satisfied tone. “Is
Mrs. Alexander as much of a beauty as her daughter?” he concluded,
smilingly.
“Hardly in my eyes,” returned the young man, with heightened color; “and
yet she is a remarkably handsome woman. I hope I may be able to arrange
for you to make their acquaintance very soon; but until then please
regard what I have told you as strictly confidential.”
“Ah! Then you do not intend to announce your engagement just yet,”
remarked Sir William, with some surprise.
“No, sir. At Mrs. Alexander’s request, we shall delay it for the
present, until she secures the property of which I have already spoken.”
“How much of an heiress is your pretty _fiancée_ going to be, Rupert?”
his guardian asked.
“I cannot tell. I do not even know of what this property consists,” the
young man answered, thoughtfully.
“I am afraid there is something a little mysterious about these ladies.
Doesn’t it strike you so?” inquired Sir William, gravely, yet without a
suspicion of the wonderful truth.
Rupert knew there was, but he was not going to confess it, and he
replied, evasively:
“I do not imagine there is anything but what will soon be satisfactorily
explained to us all.”
Lady Linton, hearing all this, and knowing so much more than either
Rupert or her brother, grew deadly faint as she listened and realized
how near she stood to the verge of a terrible exposure.
Just then there came a brisk tap on the library door, and the next
moment Lillian put her bright face into the room, and looking as lovely
as the morning itself in her white flannel wrapper, fastened at the
waist with cherry ribbons, and with her hands full of jacqueminot roses.
Her face assumed a look of surprise as she saw Rupert there, and she
regarded him with searching curiosity.
“Pardon me, Uncle Will,” she said, flushing; “I did not know that you
were engaged with anyone; I have just received a box of flowers, and
came to arrange some for your table. May I come in? I won’t be long.”
“Yes, indeed, come in; you are doubly welcome coming with so much beauty
and fragrance,” said her uncle, smiling.
Rupert arose as she entered, and asked with an arch smile:
“What enamored swain has been guilty of the extravagance of lavishing
such costly flowers upon you, Lillian?”
“Lord Ernest Rathburn is the donor; he has exquisite taste. I wish you
could have seen the box when it came,” the girl replied, with a
conscious drooping of her brilliant eyes.
“Lord Ernest Rathburn!” repeated Rupert in a peculiar tone, which
brought the angry color to Lillian’s cheek.
Lord Ernest was a young nobleman with a large revenue, but possessing
far less brains than mustache, and who was regarded with contempt by all
manly young men, on account of his effeminacy and excesses.
“I wish,” he added, “that you could meet a friend of mine, Lillian; you
will, I hope, before very long. Lord Ernest would sink into
insignificance by comparison.”
“And who may this paragon of manly excellence be, Mr. Hamilton, if I may
inquire?” Lillian asked, with a toss of her head.
“Harry Webster, the young man with whom I traveled, last winter, in
America.”
“I despise Americans,” retorted Miss Linton, with considerable asperity.
“That is rather a sweeping assertion; isn’t it, my dear?” asked Sir
William, looking a trifle amused.
“It is the truth, Uncle Will, whatever else it may be,” she retorted, as
she began to arrange her flowers in a vase on the table. “I am English
to the backbone. I am thoroughly imbued with a love for my own people,
and I shall never permit myself to draw disloyal comparisons.”
Rupert laughed outright as, in his mind, he placed the stooping figure
and imbecile face of the halfwitted young lord beside the grandly
developed form and frank, handsome countenance of his American friend.
“If you could place the two men side by side, I warrant you would be
compelled to draw disloyal comparisons, in spite of your very
praiseworthy patriotism, my fair cousin,” he said, a roguish twinkle in
his eyes.
Lillian shot an angry glance at those last words; nothing annoyed her
more than to be called “sister” or “cousin” by Rupert.
“I thank you for acknowledging that I am imbued with patriotism. I
wonder what has become of yours,” she said, sarcastically.
“I have plenty of it, only I do not allow it to warp my judgment; I can
appreciate both beauty and goodness whenever I find it, at home or
abroad.”
“That is a self-evident fact,” remarked the young girl, dryly, and
Rupert colored consciously.
“I give you credit for just as nice discrimination,” he retorted. “Wait
till you see my friend, Webster, and if he doesn’t take the palm I shall
‘lose my guess,’ as the Yankees say.”
“That is American slang; they are all insufferably coarse,” Lillian
returned, contemptuously.
“Did you meet the pretty little American, Miss Alexander, at Lady
Dunforth’s the other evening, Lillian?” inquired Sir William.
“Yes, I met her,” the girl admitted, rather ungraciously.
“Well, you would hardly class her among those whom you term coarse,
would you? I thought her an unusually attractive girl.”
“No; I admit she appeared very pretty and lady-like and yet I have no
doubt that she would soon betray her nationality if one was to see much
of her.”
“Neither have I; and she would be proud to own it, also, I’ll wager,”
Rupert observed, with some spirit.
He was out of patience with Lillian’s unreasonable prejudices, and her
slighting tone in speaking of Virgie made him indignant.
She looked at him with a mocking smile on her red lips.
“When shall we have the pleasure of congratulating you upon your
American conquest?” she asked, saucily.
“I shall take great pleasure in informing you when the proper time
arrives,” he replied, with studied politeness, and with a seriousness
that drove all color from the girl’s face and made her heart sink like
lead in her bosom.
At that moment the butler entered the room with a telegram, which he
presented to Sir William, and then withdrew.
The baronet tore it open and read:
“Come to Middlewich at once. William has had a dangerous fall.
MARGARET HEATH.”
Middlewich was the country seat of the nobleman to whom the baronet’s
cousin, William Heath, was private secretary, and it was to this place
that he was now so peremptorily summoned.
Lady Linton, in her hiding place, heard her brother read this telegram
with a thrill of joy.
She was glad of anything that would take him out of London and away from
the danger of meeting “that woman,” and she resolved that it should go
hard with her if she could not find some way of opposing other barriers
before his return. It was a desperate case, and she was prepared for
desperate measures.
She crept out of her brother’s chamber with a pale, drawn face, saying
to herself that Rupert Hamilton should never fulfill his engagement with
Virgie Alexander, if there was any power on earth to prevent it; she
could never bear the humiliation of it.
She packed her brother’s portmanteau with alacrity, and promised to
attend faithfully to his various commissions during his absence, and
uttered a sigh of relief when the carriage drove from the door, and she
knew that he was well on his way to Middlewich.