"Kate," said Lady Scapegrace, as she shut the door of her snug
dressing-room and wheeled an easy-chair before the fire for my
benefit--"Kate, you're a foolish girl; it strikes me you are playing a
dangerous game, and playing it all wrong, moreover. I can see more
than you think. Do you know the difference between real diamonds and
paste? Not you, you little goose. But you _shall_, if I can teach it
you. Kate, have you ever heard me talked about? Did you ever hear any
good of me?" I was forced to answer both questions--the former in the
affirmative, the latter in the negative.
"Do you believe I'm as bad as they give me credit for?" proceeded her
ladyship.
"No, no!" I replied, taking her hand and kissing it; for I really
liked Lady Scapegrace. "Let them say what they will, I won't believe
anything bad of you at all."
"I have had a strange life, Kate," said she; "and perhaps not quite
fair play. Well, the worst is over now, at any rate. I don't _much_
care how short the remainder may be. Kate, did you ever hear I was a
murderess?"
"No, no!" I repeated, taking her hand once more; for I was shocked and
half frightened at the expression of her countenance. "I never heard
anybody say more than that you were _odd_, and a flirt, and perhaps
not very much attached to Sir Guy."
Lady Scapegrace shuddered. "I owe you a great deal, Kate Coventry,"
she resumed--"a great deal more than I can ever hope to repay. I
consider that you once saved my life, but of that I make small
account; you have done me a far greater kindness--you have interested
me; you have made me fond of you; you have taught me to feel like a
_woman_ again. The least I can do in return is to watch you and warn
you--to show you the rock on which I made shipwreck, and beseech you
to avoid it. Kate, you've heard of my Cousin Latimer; would you like
to see his picture?"
Lady Scapegrace rose, walked to a small cabinet, unlocked it, and
produced a miniature, which she placed in my hands. If the painter had
not flattered him, Cousin Latimer was indeed a handsome boy. There was
genius on his wide, bold forehead, and resolution in his firm,
well-cut mouth; his large dark eyes betrayed strong passions and keen
intelligence, whilst high birth was stamped on his fine features and
chivalrous expression of countenance. Poor Cousin Latimer!
"Look at that, Kate," said Lady Scapegrace, in low chilling tones;
"the last time I saw him that was his very image. Thank God, I never
beheld him when those kind features were cold and rigid--that white
neck gashed by his own hand! O Kate! 'tis a sad story. I have not
mentioned it for twenty years; but it's a relief to _talk_ of it now.
Surely I was not altogether to blame; surely he might have given me
time; he need not have been so hasty--so desperate.
"Listen, Kate. I was one of a large family of girls. All my sisters
were beautiful; all were vain of their charms. As I grew up, I heard
nothing talked about but conquests, and lovers, and captivations. I
thought, to dazzle and enslave the opposite sex was the noblest aim of
woman. Latimer was brought up with us: we called him 'cousin,' though
he was in reality a very distant connection. Poor boy! day by day I
could see he was growing more and more attached to me. Latimer always
brought me the earliest roses. Latimer would walk miles by the side of
my pony. Latimer helped me with my drawing, and did my commissions,
and turned the leaves when I played on the pianoforte, and hung over
the instrument when I sang. In short, Latimer was my slave, body and
soul; and the consequence was, Kate, that I cared very little for him.
My sisters, to be sure, joked me about my conquest; and I felt, I
confess, a proper pride in owning a lover like the rest; but of real
affection for him I had then very little; and I often think, my dear,
that we women seldom value devotion such as his till too late. I was
not old enough to think seriously of marriage; but Latimer was
convinced I should become his wife, and (poor fellow!) made all his
arrangements and schemes for the future under this idea, with a
forethought scarcely to be expected from one so young.
"Well, years crept on, and I 'came out,' as you young ladies call it,
and was presented at court, and went to balls, and began to make the
most of my time, and enjoy life after the manner of my kind. Of
course, I was no wiser than my elders. I danced, and smiled, and
flirted, as I had seen my sisters do; and the more partners I could
refuse the better I was pleased. One day Cousin Latimer came to me,
and spoke out honestly and explicitly. He told me of all his hopes,
his misgivings, his future as I had the power to make it, and his
love. I was pleased and flattered. I felt that I liked Cousin Latimer
better than any one in the world; but there were two things I liked
even better than Cousin Latimer: these were power and admiration. Of
the former I never could obtain as much as I coveted; of the latter I
determined to take my fill. We were that night to have a grand ball in
the house, and were much occupied with decorating the rooms, and other
preparations, such as we girls delighted in. I put off Latimer with
half-promises and vague assurances, which sent him away more in love
with me than ever. I was to dance the first quadrille with him. It was
an engagement of at least a month's standing, and he had rather
wearied me by too often reminding me of it.
"There was a regiment of hussars quartered in our neighbourhood, and
we were well acquainted with most of the officers. The more so, as one
of my sisters was engaged to be married to the major, who, by the way,
ran away from her a year afterwards. One of these officers, a captain
in the regiment, was an especial flirt of mine; he was a good-looking,
agreeable man, and a beautiful waltzer. I recollect the night as well
as if it was yesterday--the officers arriving in their uniforms; my
father standing behind us, proclaiming aloud his pride in his six
handsome daughters; Cousin Latimer claiming my hand for the first
dance, and my refusal, notwithstanding my long promise, on the plea
that I was engaged to Captain Normanton. Poor boy! I can see his
pained, eager face now. 'You do what you like with me,' he said; 'but
you _must_ dance the next.' I laughed and promised.
"Captain Normanton was very agreeable; he was the most dashing-looking
man in the room, and I liked the vanity of parading him about in his
uniform, and showing my sisters and others the power I had over Cousin
Latimer. Once more the latter claimed my promise, and once more I
threw him over. I glanced triumphantly at him as he watched me from a
corner; and the more he gazed, the more _I acted at him_, as if I was
making violent love to my partner. Somehow, without looking, I saw
every shade of Latimer's countenance. Once or twice I had compassion,
but there was the excitement of vanity and novelty to lure me on.
"For the first time in my life I knew how much it was possible for men
to care for us, and I could not resist torturing my victim to the
utmost. Fool that I was! Cousin Latimer came up to me once more.
Though annoyed and hurt, he mustered a good-humoured smile as he said,
'For the _third_ and _last_ time, will you dance with me?' 'But you
don't waltz half as well as Captain Normanton,' I replied; 'I like
_him_ best;' and away I whirled again with the delighted hussar.
"The instant I had spoken, I felt I had gone too far. I would have
given anything to unsay those foolish words, but it was too late. When
I stopped, panting and breathless, after the dance, Cousin Latimer
came quite close to me. I never saw a face so changed: he was deadly
pale, and there was a sweet, melancholy expression in his countenance
that contrasted strangely with the wild gleam in his eye. He spoke
very low, almost softly, but in a voice I had never heard before. He
only said, 'God forgive you, dear; you try me too much.' I never saw
him again, Kate--never.
"When I heard what had happened, I was laid up for months with brain
fever. They cut all my hair off; they pinioned me; they did all that
skill and science could do, and I recovered. Would to God that I had
died! I do not think my head has ever been right since.
"Kate! Kate! would you have such feelings as mine? Should you like to
live all your life haunted by one pale face? Would you wish never to
enjoy a strain of music, a gleam of sunshine, a single, simple,
natural pleasure, because of the phantom? Be warned, my dear, before
it is too late. I tell you honestly, I never forgot him; I tell you, I
never forgave myself. What did I care for any of them, except poor
Alphonse--and I only liked Alphonse because he reminded me of the
dead. Do you think I was not a reckless woman when I married Sir Guy?
"Do you think I have not been punished and humiliated enough? Heaven
forbid, my dear, that your fate should resemble mine! I read your
feelings far more plainly than you do yourself. You have a kind,
generous, noble heart deeply attached to you. Don't be a fool, as I
was; don't throw him over for the sake of an empty-headed, flirting,
good-for-nothing roué, who will forget you in a fortnight. Strong
language, Kate, is it not? But think over what I have told you.
Good-night, dear. What would I give to yawn as honestly as you do, and
to sleep sound once again, as I used to sleep when I was a girl!"
I took my candle, and kissed Lady Scapegrace affectionately as I
thanked her, and wished her "good-night." It was already late, and my
room was quite at the other end of the house. As I sped along,
devoutly trusting I should not meet any of the gentlemen on their way
to bed, I spied a figure advancing towards me from the end of a long
corridor. It was attired in a flowing dressing-gown of crimson silk,
with magnificent Turkish slippers, and carried a hand candlestick much
off the perpendicular, as it swayed up the passage in a somewhat
devious course. When it caught sight of me, it extended both its arms,
regardless of the melted wax with which such a manoeuvre bedaubed the
wall, and prepared, with many endearing and complimentary expressions,
to bar my further progress.
The figure was no less a person than Sir Guy, half tipsy, proceeding
from his dressing-room to bed. What to do I knew not. I shuddered at
the idea of meeting the Baronet at such an hour, and in so excited a
state. I loathed and hated him at all times, and I quite trembled now
to face his odious compliments and impertinent _double entendres_. My
hunting experience, however, had given me a quick eye to see my way
out of a difficulty; and espying a green baise door on my right I
rushed through it, and down a flight of stone steps that led I knew
not where. Giving a view-holloa that must have startled every light
sleeper in the house, Sir Guy followed close in my wake, dropping the
silver candlestick with a most alarming clatter. I saw I had not the
speed of him to any great extent, so I dodged into the first empty
room I came to, and blowing out my light, resolved to lie there
_perdue_ till my pursuer had overrun the scent.
The manoeuvre answered admirably so far. I heard the enemy swearing
volubly as he blundered along the passage, thinking I was still before
him; and I now prepared to grope my way back in the dark to my own
room. But I had not escaped yet. To my infinite dismay, I heard the
voices of gentlemen wishing each other the usual "Good-night, old
fellow," and proceeding along the passage from the direction of the
smoking-room. Horror of horrors! a light approached the door of the
very room in which I had taken refuge; in another second he would
enter--the man would find me in his room. He stopped a moment on the
threshold to fire a parting jest at his companions, and the light from
his candle showed me my only chance. A covered showerbath stood in the
corner of the apartment, and into that shower-bath I jumped, closing
the curtains all round me, but, as may be easily believed, taking very
particular care not to pull the string. Scarcely was I fairly
ensconced before Frank Lovell made his appearance; and I saw at once,
through a hole in the curtains, that he was the lawful occupier and
possessor of the apartment.
Here was a predicament indeed! If the emergency had not been so
desperate, I must have fainted. "Good gracious," I thought, "if he
should lock the door!" Frank, however, seemed to have no such
intention; I believe this is a precaution gentlemen seldom adopt. On
the contrary, he proceeded to make himself thoroughly at home.
Lighting his candle, he leisurely divested himself of his coat,
waistcoat, and neckcloth, enfolded his person in a large loose
dressing-gown, leaned his head on both hands, and gave a deep sigh.
Apparently much relieved by this process, he took up his hair-brushes,
and after a good refreshing turn at his locks and whiskers, and a
muttered compliment to his own reflection in the glass, that sounded
very like "You fool!" he unlocked a small writing-case, and producing
from it a little bundle of letters, tied up with pink ribbon, selected
them one by one, and read them over from beginning to end, kissing
each with devout fervour as he replaced it carefully in its envelope.
I would have given a great deal to know who they were from; their
perusal seemed to afford him mingled satisfaction and annoyance; but
he sighed heavily again, and I saw he had a long lock of hair in his
fingers, which he gazed at till the tears stood in his eyes. He kissed
it, the traitor! and fondled it, and spoke to it, and clasped it to
his heart (men are just as great fools as we are). Whose could it be?
Not mine, certainly, for I never gave him such a thing; Miss
Molasses'? No; hers was black, and rather coarse; this was a silky
chestnut. Could it have belonged to Mrs. Lumley? Hers was very much
the colour, and I often thought Frank rather _épris_ with her.
Nonsense! that lively lady had not an atom of sentiment in her
composition; she would just as soon have thought of working him a
counterpane!
I was so interested in my discoveries that I forgot altogether my own
critical position, the impracticability of escape till Frank had gone
to sleep, the chance of arousing him as I went out, or, more alarming
still, the awful possibility of his lying awake all night. When
morning dawned, concealment could no longer be preserved, and what to
do then? I meditated a bold stroke. To rush from my hiding-place, blow
out both the candles before my host had recovered his surprise, and
then run for it. Thrice was I on the eve of this perilous enterprise.
Thrice my courage failed me at the critical moment. The fourth time I
think I should have gone, when a knock at the door arrested my
attention, and Frank's "Come in" welcomed a visitor whose voice I well
knew to be that of Cousin John. The plot began to thicken. It was
impossible to get away now.
"Lovell," said John, in an unusually grave voice, "I told you I wanted
to speak a word with you, and this is the only time I can make sure of
finding you alone."
Frank was busy huddling his treasures back into the writing-case.
"Drive on, old fellow," said he, "there's lots of time; it's not two
o'clock yet."
"Lovell," proceeded John, "you are an old friend of mine, and I have a
great regard for you, but I have a duty to perform, and I must go
through with it. Point-blank, on your honour as a gentleman, I ask
you, _Are you_ or _are you not_ engaged to be married to Miss
Molasses?"
Frank coloured, hesitated, looked confused, and then got angry.
"No intimacy can give you a right to ask such a question," he replied,
talking very fast and excitedly: "you take an unwarrantable liberty,
both with her and me. Who told you I was going to be married at all?
or what business is it of yours whether I am married or not?"
John began to get heated too, but he looked very determined.
"I am sorry you should take it thus," he replied, "for you force me to
come at once to the point. As the nearest relation and natural
guardian of my cousin, Miss Coventry, I must ask your intention with
regard to that young lady. I have often remarked you paid her great
attention, but it was not till to-day that I heard your name coupled
with hers, and a doubt expressed as to which of the ladies I have
mentioned you meant to honour with your preference. I don't want to
quarrel with you, Frank," added John, softening, "I don't want to
mistrust your good feelings or your honour. Perhaps you don't know her
as well as I do; perhaps you can't appreciate her value like me. Many
men would give away their lives for her--would think no sacrifice too
dear at which to purchase her regard. Believe me, Frank, she's worth
anything. If you have proposed to her, as I have reason to think you
must have done, confide in me; I will smooth all difficulties; I will
arrange everything for you both. God knows I love her better than
anything on earth; but _her_ happiness is my first consideration, and
if she likes you, Frank, she shall marry you."
Captain Lovell seemed to be of a different opinion. He bit his lip,
looking angry and annoyed.
"You go too fast, Mr. Jones," he replied very stiffly; "I have never
given the young lady you mention an opportunity of either accepting or
refusing me. If ever _I am_ fool enough to marry, I shall take the
liberty of selecting my own wife, without consulting your taste; and I
really cannot undertake to wed every lively young lady that
condescends to flirt with me, merely _pour passer le temps_."
John's face grew dark with anger. How noble he looked as he squared
his fine figure and reared his gallant head, standing erect before his
enemy, and scanning him from top to toe. He was very quiet too; he
only said,--
"Captain Lovell, I claim a brother's right to protect Miss Coventry's
reputation, and as a brother I demand reparation for the wrong you
have done her; need I say any more?"
"Not another syllable," replied Frank Lovell carelessly. "Whenever you
like, only the sooner the better. Popham always acts for me on these
occasions; he don't go away till to-morrow afternoon, so I refer you
to him. I'm getting sleepy now, Mr. Jones. I wish you a good-night."
Cousin John took up his candle, and retired. Never in my life had I
been in such a position as this. That there would be a duel I had not
the slightest shadow of doubt--and all for my sake. That my gallant,
generous, true-hearted cousin should have behaved so nobly, so
unselfishly, did not surprise me; but that he should be sacrificed to
his devoted fidelity--I could not bear to think of it for a moment!
How I loved him now! How I wondered that I could ever have compared
the two for an instant! How I resolved to make him full amends, and,
come what might, to frustrate this projected duel! But what could I
do? In the first place, how was I to get out of the room?
My situation was so embarrassing, and at the same time so ridiculous,
that I could with difficulty resist a hysterical inclination to laugh.
Here I was, at all events, a close prisoner till Captain Lovell should
go to bed, and he seemed to have no idea of that rational proceeding,
though it was now past three o'clock. He walked about the room,
whistling softly. Once he came so near my hiding-place that I felt his
breath on my cheek. "Good heavens," thought I, "if he should take it
into his head to have a shower-bath now to brace his nerves!" At last
he walked to a drawer, selected a cigar, lit it, and throwing open the
window, proceeded deliberately to get out. I almost hoped he would
break his neck! But I conclude there was a ledge or balcony of some
sort to sustain him, and that he was accustomed to a nightly cigar in
that position. Here was a chance not to be lost! I bolted out of the
shower-bath; I popped the extinguisher on one candle, and blew the
other out at the same instant. I heard the smoker's exclamation of
astonishment, but heeded it not. I rushed through the door. I flew
along the dark passages, breathless and trembling; at last I reached
my own room, more by instinct, I believe, than any other faculty, and
having locked the door and struck a light, sat me down, in a state of
immense confusion and bewilderment, to think what I should do next.