MRS. TRANMER IS STARTLED
Mrs. Tranmer was just going up to dress for dinner when in burst her
brother. Mr. Roland was, as a rule, one of the least excitable of men.
His obvious agitation therefore surprised her the more. Her feelings
took a characteristic form of expression--to her, an attentive eye to
the proprieties of costume was the whole duty of a Christian.
"Philip!--what have you done to your tie?"
Mr. Roland mechanically put up his hand towards the article referred
to; returning question for question.
"Agatha, where's that bag?"
"Bag? My good man, you're making your tie crookeder!"
"Bother the tie!" Mrs. Tranmer started: Philip was so seldom
interjectional. "Do you hear me ask where that bag is?"
"My dear brother, before you knock me down, will you permit me to
suggest that your tie is still in a shocking condition?"
He gave her one look--such a look! Then he went to the looking-glass
and arranged his tie. Then he turned to her.
"Will that do?"
"It is better."
"Now, will you give me that bag--at once?"
"Bag? What bag?"
"You know very well what bag I mean--the one you took from my room."
"The one I took from your room?"
"I told you not to take it. I warned you it wasn't mine. I informed you
that I was its involuntary custodian. And yet, in spite of all I could
say--of all I could urge, with a woman's lax sense of the difference
between _meum_ and _tuum_, you insisted on removing it from my custody.
The sole reparation you can make is to return it at once--upon the
instant."
She observed him with growing amazement--as well she might. She
subsided into an armchair.
"May I ask you to inform me from what you're suffering now?"
He was a little disposed towards valetudinarianism, and was apt to
imagine himself visited by divers diseases. He winced.
"Agatha, the only thing from which I am suffering at this moment
is--is----"
"Yes; is what?"
"A feeling of irritation at my own weakness in allowing myself to be
persuaded by you to act in opposition to my better judgment."
"Dear me! You must be ill. That you are ill is shown by the fact that
your tie is crooked again. Don't consider my feelings, and pray present
yourself in my drawing-room in any condition you choose. But perhaps
you will be so good as to let me know if there is any sense in the
stuff you have been talking about a bag."
"Agatha, you remember that bag you took from my room?"
"That old brown leather thing?"
"It was made of brown leather--a week or two ago?"
"A week or two? Why, it was months ago."
"My dear Agatha, I do assure you----"
"Please don't let us argue. I tell you it was months ago."
"I told you not to take it----"
"You told me not to take it? Why, you pressed it on me. I didn't care
to be seen with such a rubbishing old thing; but you took it off your
shelf and said it would do very well. So, to avoid argument, as I
generally do, I let you have your way."
"I--I don't want to be rude, but a--a more outrageous series of
statements I never heard. I told you distinctly that it wasn't mine."
"You did nothing of the sort. Of course I took it for granted that such
a disreputable article, which evidently belonged to a woman, was not
your property. But as I had no wish to pry into your private affairs I
was careful not to inquire how such a curiosity found its way upon your
shelves."
"Agatha, your--your insinuations----"
"I insinuate nothing. I only want to know what this fuss is about. As I
wish to dress for dinner, perhaps you'll tell me in a couple of words."
"Agatha, where's that bag?"
"How should I know?"
"Haven't you got it?"
"Got it? Do you suppose I have a museum in which I preserve rubbish of
the kind?"
"But--what have you done with it?"
"You might as well ask me what I've done with last year's gloves."
"Agatha--think! More hinges upon this than you have any conception.
What did you do with that bag?"
"Since you are so insistent--and I must say, Philip, that your conduct
is most peculiar--I will think, or I'll try to. I believe I gave
the bag to Jane. Or else to Mrs. Pettigrew's little girl. Or to my
needle-woman--to carry home some embroidery she was mending for me; I
am most particular about embroidery, especially when its good. Or to
the curate's wife, for a jumble sale. Or I might have given it to
someone else. Or I might have lost it. Or done something else with it."
"Did you look inside?"
"Of course I did. I must have done. Though I don't remember doing
anything of the kind."
"Was there anything in it?"
"Do you mean when you gave it me? If there was I never saw it. Am I
going to be accused of felony?"
"Agatha, I believe you have ruined me."
"Ruined you! Philip, what nonsense are you talking? I insist upon your
telling me what you mean. What has that wretched old bag, which would
have certainly been dear at twopence, to do with either you or me?"
"I will endeavour to explain. I believe that I stood towards that bag
in what the law regards as a fiduciary relation. I was responsible for
its safety. Its loss will fall on me."
"The loss of a twopenny-halfpenny bag?"
"It is not a question of the bag, but of its contents."
"What were its contents?"
"It contained a will."
"A will?--a real will? Do you mean to say that you gave me that bag
without breathing a word about there being a will inside?"
"I didn't know myself until to-day."
By degrees the tale was told. Mrs. Tranmer's amazement grew and grew.
She seemed to have forgotten all about its being time to dress for
dinner.
"And you are a juryman?"
"I am."
"And you actually have the bag on which the whole case turns?"
"I wish I had."
"But was the will inside?"
"I never saw it."
"Nor I. It was quite an ordinary bag, and if it had been we must have
seen it. A will isn't written on a scrappy piece of paper which could
have been overlooked. Philip, the will wasn't in the bag. That young
woman's an impostor."
"I don't believe it for a moment--not for a single instant. I am
convinced that she supposes herself to be speaking the absolute truth.
Even granting that she is mistaken, in what position do I stand? I
cannot go and say, 'I have lost your bag, but it doesn't matter, for
the will was not inside.' Would she not be entitled to reply, 'Return
me the bag in the condition in which I intrusted it to your keeping,
and I will show that you are wrong'? It will not be enough for me to
repeat that I have not the bag; my sister threw it into her dust-hole."
"Philip!"
"May she not retort, 'Then, for all the misfortunes which the loss of
the bag brings on me, you are responsible'? The letter of the law might
acquit me. My conscience never would. Agatha, I fear you have done me a
serious injury."
"Don't talk like that! Under the circumstances you had no right to give
me the bag at all."
"You are wrong; I did not give it you. On the contrary, I implored you
not to take it. But you insisted."
"Philip, how can you say such a wicked thing? I remember exactly what
happened. I had been buying some veils. I was saying to you how I hated
carrying parcels, even small ones----"
"Agatha, don't let us enter into this matter now. You may be called
upon to make your statement in another place. I can only hope that our
statements will not clash."
For the first time Mrs. Tranmer showed symptoms of genuine anxiety.
"You don't mean to say that I'm to be dragged into a court of law
because of that twopenny-halfpenny bag?"
"I think it possible. What else can you expect?
"I must tell this unfortunate young lady how the matter stands. I
apprehend that I shall have to repeat my statement in open court, and
that you will be called upon to supplement it. I also take it that no
stone will be left unturned to induce you to give a clear and
satisfactory account of what became of the bag after it passed into
your hands."
"My goodness! And I know no more what became of it than anything."
"I must go to Miss Angel at once."
"Philip!"
"I must. Consider my position. I cannot enter the court as a juryman
again without explaining to someone how I am placed. The irregularity
would transgress all limits. I must communicate with Miss Angel
immediately; she will communicate with her advisers, who will no doubt
communicate with you."
"My goodness!" repeated Mrs. Tranmer to herself after he had gone.
Still she did not proceed upstairs to dress.