A FEW WORDS BY SPENSER TAIT.
WHEN the case has been stated, when the witnesses for and against have
given their evidence, when the counsel on both sides have delivered
their speeches, it is then customary for the judge to sum up the entire
matter for the direction of the jury. In this instance I am the judge,
and here is the Larcher affair summed up for the understanding of the
public. It has fallen to my share to wind up the story, so here I set
down such results as happened from the confession of Mrs. Hilliston.
The immediate result of her death was the marriage of the widower to
Mrs. Bezel, which took place, so to speak, when the latter was on her
deathbed. She lingered out another two months, and died in the arms of
her husband, at peace with all the world. Denis heartily forgave her,
and the only bitter drop in her cup was the absence of her child. Yet
when Captain Larcher suggested that Jenny should be told the truth, and
brought to say good-by to her mother, Mrs. Bezel, with a self-denial for
which I hardly gave her credit, refused to permit such a thing. She
thought that Jenny would be happier if she was ignorant of the truth,
and moreover, Mrs. Bezel shrank from letting her child know how she had
lived during these many years. At all events Jenny never learned the
truth, and Mrs. Bezel died without seeing her daughter. That she forgave
Hilliston for having deprived her of the child is, I think, a proof of
her goodness of heart, for there is no doubt that he acted selfishly and
cruelly in doing so. But enough of Mrs. Bezel, her faults and virtues.
She lies in Hampstead Cemetery under a plain stone of rose-colored
granite, inscribed "To the memory of Mona Hilliston." So she had her
wish at last, and died an honest woman.
Captain Larcher returned with Kerry to the cottage in Nightingale Lane,
as he could not make up his mind to resume his own name, or tear himself
away from the bookworm life of twenty-five years. No one knew the truth
save Claude, Jenny, and myself, for Hilliston being absent from England
does not count. The vicar was also enlightened on the subject, and
expressed much astonishment at the strange series of events which had
culminated in the death and confession of Mrs. Hilliston. Unwilling to
lose his old crony he heartily approved of Larcher's determination to
resume his usual life, and so the matter was settled. Captain Larcher
will remain Mr. Ferdinand Paynton to the end of his days, and will still
be a mystery to the gossips of Thorston; how great a one they can never
guess.
But a notable change has taken place in his habits. He is no longer a
recluse, a misanthrope. When I am at the Manor House he visits me there;
he is a constant guest at the vicarage, and may be seen frequently
fishing beside Kerry on the banks of the Lax. Following the example of
his master, Denis Bantry also renounced his name, which he
superstitiously regarded as one of ill-omen, and called himself Kerry
for the rest of his life. If he was grieved for his unhappy sister, her
life and her death, he finds consolation in the society of Mrs. Claude
Larcher, who conducts herself toward him as a niece should do. But the
relationship is not known beyond the walls of Rose Cottage, lest it
might lead to inquiries, and Jenny is still known as the daughter of Mr.
Paynton.
That Claude should call Mr. Paynton "father" is of course only regarded
as natural by the village. Has he not married Jenny, and does he not
stand in the relation of a son to the old man? Thorston gossips think he
is a most perfect son-in-law, and never guess that any nearer
relationship exists between them.
Of course Jenny and Claude were married as speedily as possible, and I
do not know a happier couple. Mrs. Larcher has quite converted me with
regard to the fair sex, and plumes herself on her victory. She has the
audacity to say that she will yet succeed in getting me married, but I
think that is beyond her powers. Mr. Linton married them, and they spent
their honeymoon at the Manor House, which I lent them for the occasion.
Indeed, while at Thorston they invariably live with me, and I should be
offended did they take up their quarters anywhere else. Not that they
have any desire to do so, for Rose Cottage is rather small, and,
besides, the Manor is within easy distance of it, so that Jenny can see
her father--or, rather, her father-in-law--as often as she chooses.
Claude still goes to different parts of the world to build bridges and
construct railways. Sometimes his wife goes with him, but she does not
like to be so long away from Thorston. Paynton is now an old man, and
cannot live long, so Mrs. Larcher wishes to be near him as much as
possible. Besides, the cares of the nursery take up her attention, so I
think that in a few months Claude will settle down to business in
London, and make his home at Thorston, as he always intended to do.
There is a pleasant little place not far from the Manor which I have
been commissioned to buy for him, so I really think that next year
Claude and Jenny will take up their residence among us.
The only person who disapproved of the marriage was Frank Linton, who
accused Jenny of jilting him. This was utter nonsense, as she never had
any intention of becoming his wife. However, the author considers
himself badly treated, and has taken up his quarters in London, where he
writes books, and poses in Chelsea circles. But I do not think he will
ever write so excellent a book as "A Whim of Fate," perhaps because Mrs.
Claude Larcher refuses to tell him any more plots. She has a good reason
for so doing, as the troubles which arose out of her finding the murder
papers in the garret of Rose Cottage have startled her in no small
degree. Still, as I tell her, she must look on such troubles as a
blessing in disguise, for, after all, they led to her marriage and
present happiness. But Mrs. Claude does not see the matter in so amiable
a light.
Finally, Hilliston! It is hard to say what has become of that gentleman.
After the death of his second wife, he withdrew from business and went
abroad. There I believe he is still, and from what I hear of him at odd
times he seems to have developed into a kind of Wandering Jew. France,
Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia, he has seen all these places, and is
constantly traveling about, no doubt trying to live down the past.
Whether he will succeed in doing so it is hard to say.
After some consideration I have come to the conclusion that we have been
rather hard on Hilliston. He did not love Mrs. Larcher, in spite of his
wife's insane jealousy on the point, and I believe he was sincerely
attached to Mona Bantry. The blot on his character is that he did not
marry her when she first came to London, and seeing that he was in love
with her, I profess my inability to explain why he did not do so.
Perhaps it was on account of her low birth, or the circumstances which
connected her with Jeringham, but at all events he did not marry her
till it was too late for the poor creature's happiness. Otherwise I do
not see how he could have acted differently. Louisa Sinclair was guilty
of the murder, but as she did it on his account, and was wildly in love
with him, it was to his honor that he protected her as he did. Whether
he would have told the truth had Mrs. Larcher been convicted I do not
know, but as Louisa Sinclair did not leave for America till Mrs. Larcher
was released, I think Hilliston would have persuaded her to confess
openly in the event of a conviction.
It is true that he married her for her money, but I think he was touched
by her devotion, and gave her some love. No doubt it was Mrs.
Hilliston's remorse for condemning his father to lifelong seclusion that
made her so kind to Claude when he was a lad. Now it is easy to see why
Hilliston was reluctant that Claude and I should investigate the case.
He was afraid lest the truth should be found out, and his wife arrested.
I was wrong in my surmise. Hilliston was not afraid for himself, but for
the unhappy woman who had killed Jeringham in mistake for him. The whole
mystery would have been solved years ago had Dicky Pental spoken out as
he should have done. But the fear of being shut up in an asylum closed
his mouth, and so the case was at a standstill for five-and-twenty long
years.
It was strange that Jenny, who set the ball rolling, should have been
the indirect means of avenging her father's murder--or rather of solving
the mystery which concealed it. Had she not discovered those papers in
the garret, she would not have been able to give Frank Linton the plot
of "A Whim of Fate." Had that novel not been written and published, Mrs.
Bezel would not have read it, and thereby have been induced to write to
Claude. Had she not done so, Hilliston would not have told Claude the
truth, thence we would not have taken up the investigation and solved
the mystery. It was Jenny who was responsible for the whole. After
five-and-twenty years the child of the murdered man unconsciously
enlightened us as to the person who had slain him. Fate works in strange
ways.
But I do not wish to figure further as a detective. This one experience
has been quite enough for me. The thought, the anguish, the trouble is
too worrying. The next criminal case in the Larcher family can look
after itself. I abandon the rôle of detective, and thus put the last
word to my only criminal case.
THE END.
A SELECTED LIST OF
NOVELS AND TALES
PUBLISHED BY
THE CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.,
_31 E. 17th St._ (_Union Square_), _New York_.
Alphabetically arranged by Authors.
Cloth Paper
ABOUT, EDMOND. Mother of a Marquise $0 75 $0 50
ADEE, DAVID G. No. 19 State Street 75 50
ALARÇON, P. A. DE. Moors and Christians 75 50
" " The Child of the Ball 75 50
" " The Three-Cornered Hat 75 50
ALLEN, GRANT. Blood Royal 75 50
" The Scallywag 1 00 ..
ALEXANDER, MRS. Broken Links. A Love Story 1 00 ..
" The Snare of the Fowler 1 00 50
BAIN, R. N. Pretty Michal 75 50
BARR, ROBT. In a Steamer Chair 75 50
BARRETT, FRANK. Out of the Jaws of Death 1 00 50
" The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane 75 50
BARRIE, J. M. Auld Licht Idylls 1 00 ..
" A Window in Thrums 1 00 25
" My Lady Nicotine 1 00 25
BAZÁN, EMILIA PARDO. A Christian Woman 75 50
" " A Wedding Trip 75 50
" " Morriña 1 00 ..
" " Swan of Vilamorta 75 50
" " The Angular Stone 75 50
BAZIN, RENÉ. A Blot of Ink 75 50
BECKETT, C. H. Who is John Noman? 75 50
BETHUNE, J. G. The Third Man 75 50
BIERCE, AMBROSE. Can Such Things Be? 75 50
BRADDON, M. E. All Along the River 1 00 ..
BREHET, ALFRED. Bras d'Acier 75 50
BRYCE, LLOYD. Friends in Exile 1 00 ..
BUCHANAN, ROBERT. The Wedding Ring 75 50
CLIFFORD, MRS. W. K. A Wild Proxy 1 00 ..
COBB, JR., SYLVANUS. Bion, the Wanderer 75 50
" " Gunmaker of Moscow 75 50
" " Karmel, the Scout 75 50
" " Orion, the Goldbeater 75 50
" " Painter of Parma 75 50
" " Smuggler of King's Cove 75 50
DAUDET, ALPHONSE. Rose and Ninette 75 50
DALE, DARLEY. Lottie's Wooing 1 00 ..
DANE, DANIEL. Vengeance is Mine 1 00 50
DEBANS, CAMILLE. Gabriel's Vocation 75 50
ELIOT, ANNIE. An Hour's Promise 75 50
FARJEON, B. L. A Fair Jewess 1 00 ..
" The Last Tenant 1 00 ..
FAWCETT, EDGAR. A New York Family 1 00 50
FENN, G. MANVILLE. Commodore Junk 75 50
" Nurse Elisia 1 00 ..
" Witness to the Deed 1 00 ..
FEUILLET, OCTAVE. An Artist's Honor 75 50
FLAMMARION, CAMILLE. Lumen 75 50
" " Uranie 75 50
FLOYD, ISOBEL HENDERSON. Stolen America 75 50
FRANCKE, PAUL M. A Blot of Ink 75 50
GAUTIER, THÉOPHILE. Juancho the Bull-Fighter 75 50
GORDON, JULIEN. His Letters 1 00 ..
" Marionettes 1 00 50
GRAND, SARAH. The Heavenly Twins 1 00 ..
GRÉVILLE, MME. HENRI. A Mystery 75 50
GRIGOROVITCH, DIMITRY. The Cruel City 75 50
HAKE, THOS. ST. E. Within Sound of the Weir 75 50
HALE, EDWARD EVERETT. A New England Boyhood 1 00 ..
" " East and West 1 00 ..
" " Sybil Knox 1 00 ..
HANNAN, CHARLES. A Swallow's Wing 75 50
HARBEN, W. N. White Marie 75 50
HARLAND, HENRY. As it was Written 1 00 50
" Grandison Mather 1 25 50
" Latin-Quarter Courtship 75 50
" Mrs. Peixada 1 00 50
" The Two Voices 50 ..
" Two Women or One? 75 ..
" Yoke of the Thorah 1 00 50
HARLAND, MARION. Mr. Wayt's Wife's Sister 1 00 ..
HARRIS, A. L. The Fatal Request 75 50
HARRISON, MRS. BURTON. A Daughter of the South 1 00 ..
" Flower de Hundred 1 00 50
" The Anglomaniacs 1 00 50
HATTON, JOSEPH. Under the Great Seal 1 00 ..
HAWTHORNE, JULIAN. John Parmelee's Curse 75 50
HOPE, ANTHONY. Father Stafford 75 50
HORNUNG, E. Tiny Luttrell 1 00 ..
HUDSON, W. C. Jack Gordon, Knight-Errant 75 50
" On the Rack 75 50
" The Diamond Button 75 50
" The Dugdale Millions 75 50
" The Man with a Thumb 75 50
" Vivier 75 50
INCA-PANCHA-OZOLLO. The Lost Inca 75 50
JOKAI, MAURUS. Dr. Dumány's Wife 75 50
" Pretty Michal 75 50
KEELING, ELSA D'ESTERRE. Orchardscroft 1 00 ..
KEENAN, HENRY F. Trajan 1 50 50
KEITH, LESLIE. 'Lisbeth 1 00 ..
LA FOREST, DEBUT. Renée and Colette 75 50
LANDON, MELVILLE D. Thirty Years of Wit, etc 1 50 50
LATHROP, GEO. PARSONS. Two Sides of a Story 75 50
LEMAÎTRE, JULES. Prince Hermann, Regent 75 50
LE QUEUX, WM. Strange Tales of a Nihilist 75 50
LOTI, PIERRE. The Book of Pity and of Death 75 50
" Jean Berny, Sailor 1 00 ..
MAIRET, MME. JEANNE. An Artist 75 50
MALLOCK, W. H. A Human Document 75 50
MARRYAT, FLORENCE. Parson Jones 1 00 ..
MARY, JULES. The Shadow of Roger Laroque 75 50
MCCLELLAND, M. G. Burkett's Lock 75 50
MCCLELLAND, M. G. Madame Silva 75 50
MCDOUGALL, W. H. The Hidden City 75 50
MEADE, L. T. Out of the Fashion 1 00 ..
" The Medicine Lady 1 00 ..
MEREDITH, WM. T. Not of Her Father's Race 75 50
MITFORD, BERTRAND. 'Tween Snow and Fire 75 50
MOLESWORTH, MRS. Leona 1 00 ..
MONTAGUE, C. H., and C. W. DYAR. Written in Red 75 50
MOORE, FRANK F. I Forbid the Banns 1 00 ..
MOURIOT, MLLE. V. Madame Rosély 1 00 ..
OHNET, GEORGES. A Debt of Hatred 75 50
" Nimrod & Co 75 50
" The Soul of Pierre 75 50
PAGE, ANNA DYER. An Artist 75 50
" " A Mystery 75 50
PARR, MRS. The Squire 1 00 50
POTAPEEKO, N. E. A Russian Priest 75 50
" The General's Daughter 75 50
QUILLER-COUCH, A. T. ("Q"). A Blot of Ink 75 50
" " Blue Pavilions 75 50
QUILLER-COUCH, A. T. ("Q"). Dead Man's Rock 75 50
" " I Saw Three Ships 75 50
" " Noughts and Crosses 75 50
" " The Splendid Spur 75 50
" " The Astonishing History
of Troy Town 75 50
QUIGG, L. E. Tin Types 1 50 50
RICKETT, J. COMPTON. The Quickening of Caliban 1 00 ..
RICHEBOURG, ÉMILE. Old Raclot's Million 75 50
ROBERTS, MORLEY. Mate of the Vancouver 75 50
RUSSELL, W. CLARK. List, Ye Landsmen 1 00 ..
" Romance of a Transport 1 00 ..
" The Emigrant Ship 1 00 ..
SACHER-MASOCH, L. VON. The New Job 75 50
SALE, PIERRE. The Price of a Coronet 75 50
SHAPCOTT, REUBEN. Auto. of Mark Rutherford 1 00 ..
" Mark Rutherford's Deliverance 1 00 ..
" Revolution in Tanner's Lane 1 00 ..
SHERARD, R. H. By Right, Not Law 75 50
SOUVESTRE, ÉMILE. Man and Money 75 50
SPENCER, MRS. G. E. A Plucky One 75 50
STERNE, STUART. The Story of Two Lives 75 50
STODDARD, ELIZABETH. Two Men 75 50
" Temple House 75 50
" The Morgesons 75 50
STRETTON, HESBA. Half-Brothers 1 00 ..
SYLVA, CARMEN. Edleen Vaughan 75 ..
THOMAS, ANNIE. Utterly Mistaken 1 00 ..
THOMPSON, MAURICE. At Love's Extremes 75 50
" A Banker of Bankersville 75 50
TOMPKINS, E. S. DE G. An Honest Hypocrite 75 50
VALDES, A. P. Faith 75 50
VALENTINE, JANE. Time's Scythe 75 50
VAN ZILE, EDWARD S. Last of the Van Slacks 75 50
" " Don Miguel, etc. 75 50
VERNE, JULES. Cæsar Cascabel 1 00 50
" Mistress Branican 1 00 50
WALWORTH, MRS. J. H. Baldy's Point 75 50
" " Bar Sinister 75 50
" " New Man at Rossmere 75 50
" " Without Blemish 75 50
WEYMAN, S. J. Story of Francis Cludde 1 00 50
" The Man in Black 1 00 ..
WOOLF, PHILIP, M. D. Who is Guilty? 75 50
WOOD, J. S. An Old Beau 1 00 ..
ZOLA, ÉMILE. Doctor Pascal 1 00 50
" The Downfall 1 50 50
Transcriber Notes:
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
Passages in bold were indicated by =equal signs=.
Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "oe".
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the
speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
Errors in punctuation and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected
unless otherwise noted.
On page 31, "Nevertheles" was replaced with "Nevertheless".
On page 51, the comma after "John Parver herself" was replaced with a
period.
On page 53, "Hillison" was replaced with "Hilliston".
On page 73, the period after "valued this spendor" was replaced with a
question mark.
On page 82, "fufilled" was replaced with "fulfilled/".
On page 102, "CHAPER" was replaced with "CHAPTER".
On page 107, "the the" was replaced with "the".
On page 116, "was" was added before "by no means".
On page 122, "Jerringham" was replaced with "Jeringham".
On page 125, a quotation mark as added after "That's strange.".
On page 127, "Hillston" was replaced with "Hilliston".
On page 136, "was" was added before "now perfectly composed".
On page 145, the period after "description of the scarfpin" was replaced
with a question mark.
On page 150, "bundle old newspapers" was replaced with "bundle of old
newspapers".
On page 162, "clever conversation that" was replaced with "clever
conversation than".
On page 162, "and like to" was replaced with "and liked to".
On page 208, "idylic" was replaced with "idyllic".
On page 210, the quotation mark was removed after "to their
accomplishment.".
On page 212, a comma was added after "he said".
On page 224, the period after "only be Jeringham" was replaced with a
comma.
On page 267, "Jerringham" was replaced with "Jeringham".
On page 280, the period after "with the case" was replaced with a comma.
On page 284, a comma was added after "into the garden".
On page 311, the period after "we ought to proceed" was replaced with a
question mark.
On page 323, the quotation mark after "not tended to improve it." was
removed.
On the first page of Selected List of Novels and Tales, a period was
added after "Edmond".
On the second page of Selected List of Novels and Tales, ".." was added
in the line for "Farjeon, B. L."