"What is it that has been done?"
These anonymous letters and this fit of jealousy, the more dangerous
because it was a new thing, came at an awkward time for Gabriel
Cassilis. He had got "big" things in hand, and the eyes of the City,
he felt, were on him. It was all-important that he should keep his
clearness of vision and unclouded activity of brain. For the first
time in his life his operations equalled, or nearly approached, his
ambition. For the first time he had what he called a considerable sum
in his hands. That is to say, there was his own money--he was reported
to be worth three hundred thousand pounds--Gilead Beck's little pile,
with his unlimited credit, and smaller sums placed in his hands for
investment by private friends, such as Colquhoun, Ladds, and others. A
total which enabled him to wait. And the share-market oscillating. And
telegrams in cipher reaching him from all quarters. And Gabriel
Cassilis unable to work, tormented by the one thought, like Io by her
gad-fly, attacked by fits of giddiness which made him cling to the
arms of his chair, and relying on a brain which was active, indeed,
because it was filled with a never-ending succession of pictures, in
which his wife and Colquhoun always formed the principal figures, but
which refused steady work.
Gabriel Cassilis was a gamester who played to win. His game was not
the roulette-table, where the bank holds one chance out of thirty, and
must win in the long run; it was a game in which he staked his
foresight, knowledge of events, financial connections, and calm
judgment against greed, panic, enthusiasm, and ignorance. It was his
business to be prepared against any turn of the tide. He would have
stood calmly in the Rue Quincampoix, buying in and selling out up to
an hour before the smash. And that would have found him without a
single share in Law's great scheme. A great game, but a difficult one.
It requires many qualities, and when you have got these, it requires a
steady watchfulness and attention to the smallest cloud appearing on
the horizon.
There were many clouds on the horizon. His grand _coup_ was to be in
Eldorado Stock. Thanks to Mr. Wylie's pamphlet they went down, and
Gabriel Cassilis bought in--bought all he could; and the Stock went
up. There was a fortnight before settling day.
They went up higher, and yet higher. El Señor Don Bellaco de la
Carambola, Minister of the Eldorado Republic at St. James's, wrote a
strong letter to the daily papers in reply to Mr. Wylie's pamphlet. He
called attention to the rapid--the enormous--advance made in the
State. As no one had seen the place, it was quite safe to speak of
buildings, banks, commercial prosperity, and "openings up." It
appeared, indeed from his letter that the time of universal wealth,
long looked for by mankind, was actually arrived for Eldorado.
The Stock went higher. Half the country clergy who had a few hundreds
in the bank wanted to put them in Eldorado Stock. Still Gabriel
Cassilis made no move, but held on.
And every day to get another of those accursed letters, with some new
fact; every day to groan under fresh torture of suspicion; every day
to go home and dine with the calm cold creature whose beauty had been
his pride, and try to think that this impassive woman could be
faithless.
This torture lasted for weeks; it began when Colquhoun first went to
his house, and continued through May into June. His mental sufferings
were so great that his speech became affected. He found himself saying
wrong words, or not being able to hit upon the right word at all. So
he grew silent. When he returned home, which was now early, he hovered
about the house. Or he crept up to his nursery, and played with his
year-old child. And the nurses noticed how, while he laughed and
crowed to please the baby, the tears came into his eyes.
The letters grew more savage.
He would take them out and look at them. Some of the sentences burned
into his brain like fire.
"As Mr. Lawrence Colquhoun is the only man she ever loved. Ask her for
the secret. They think no one knows it.
"Does she care for the child--your child? Ask Tomlinson how often she
sees it.
"When you go to your office, Mr. Colquhoun comes to your house. When
you come home, he goes out of it. Then they meet somewhere else.
"Ask him for the secret. Then ask her, and compare what they say.
"Five years ago Mr. Lawrence Colquhoun and Miss Pengelley were going
to be married. Everybody said so. She went to Scotland. He went after
her. Ask him why.
"You are an old fool with a young wife. She loves your money, not you;
she despises you because you are a City man; and she loves Mr.
Colquhoun."
He sat alone in his study after dinner, reading these wretched things,
in misery of soul. And a thought came across him.
"I will go and see Colquhoun," he said. "I will talk to him, and ask
him what is this secret."
It was about ten o'clock. He put on his hat and took a cab to
Colquhoun's chambers.
On that day Lawrence Colquhoun was ill at ease. It was borne in upon
him with especial force--probably because it was one of the sultry and
thunderous days when Conscience has it all her own disagreeable
way--that he was and had been an enormous Ass. By some accident he was
acquainted with the fact that he had given rise to talk by his
frequent visits to Victoria Cassilis.
"And to think," he said to himself, "that I only went there at her own
special request, and because she likes quarrelling!"
He began to think of possible dangers, not to himself, but to her and
to her husband, even old stories revived and things forgotten and
brought to light. And the thing which she had done came before him in
its real shape and ghastliness--a bad and ugly thing; a thing for
whose sake he should have fled from her presence and avoided her; a
thing which he was guilty in hiding. No possible danger to himself?
Well, in some sense none; in every other sense all dangers. He had
known of this thing, and yet he sat at her table; he was conscious of
the crime, and yet he was seen with her in public places; he was
almost _particeps criminis_, because he did not tell what he knew; and
yet he went day after day to her house--for the pleasure of
quarrelling with her.
He sat down and wrote to her. He told her that perhaps she did not
wholly understand him when he told her that the renewed acquaintance
between them must cease; that, considering the past and with an eye to
the future, he was going to put it out of her power to compromise
herself by seeing her no more. He reminded her that she had a great
secret to keep unknown, and a great position to lose; and then he
begged her to give up her wild attempts at renewing the old ties of
friendship.
The letter, considering what the secret really was, seemed a wretched
mockery to the writer, but he signed it and sent it by his servant.
Then he strolled to his club, and read the papers before dinner. But
he was not easy. There was upon him the weight of impending
misfortune. He dined, and tried to drown care in claret, but with poor
success, Then he issued forth--it was nine o'clock and still
light--and walked gently homewards.
He walked so slowly that it was half-past nine when he let himself
into his chambers in the Albany. His servant was out, and the rooms
looked dismal and lonely. They were not dismal, being on the second
floor, where it is light and airy, and being furnished as mediæval
bachelorhood with plenty of money alone understands furniture. But he
was nervous to-night, and grim stories came into his mind of spectres
and strange visitors to lonely men in chambers. Such things happen
mostly, he remembered, on twilight evenings in midsummer. He was quite
right. The only ghost I ever saw myself was in one of the Inns of
Court, in chambers, at nine o'clock on a June evening.
He made haste to light a lamp--no such abomination as gas was
permitted in Lawrence Colquhoun's chambers: it was one of the silver
reading-lamps, good for small tables, and provided with a green shade,
so that the light might fall in a bright circle, which was Cimmertian
blackness shading off into the sepia of twilight. It was his habit,
too, to have lighted candles on the mantelshelf and on a table; but
to-night he forgot them, so that, except for the light cast upwards by
the gas in the court and an opposite window illuminated, and for the
half-darkness of the June evening, the room was dark. It was very
quiet, too. There was no footsteps in the court below, and no voices
or steps in the room near him. His nearest neighbour, young Lord
Orlebar, would certainly not be home, much before one or two, when he
might return with a few friends connected with the twin services of
the army and the ballet for a little cheerful supper. Below him was
old Sir Richard de Counterpane, who was by this time certainly in bed,
and perhaps sound asleep. Very quiet--he had never known it more
quiet; and he began to feel as if it would be a relief to his nerves
were something or somebody to make a little noise.
He took a novel, one that he had begun a week ago. Whether the novel
of the day is inferior to the novel of Colquhoun's youth, or whether
he was a bad reader of fiction, certainly he had been more than a week
over the first volume alone.
Now it interested him less than ever.
He threw it away and lit a cigar. And then his thoughts went back to
Victoria. What was the devil which possessed the woman that she could
not rest quiet? What was the meaning of this madness upon her?
"A cold--an Arctic woman," Lawrence murmured. "Cold when I told her
how much I loved her; cold when she engaged herself to me; cold in her
crime; and yet she follows me about as if she was devoured by the
ardour of love, like another Sappho."
It was not that, Lawrence Colquhoun; it was the _spretæ injuria
formæ_, the jealousy and hatred caused by the lost power.
"I wish," he said, starting to his feet, and walking like the Polar
bear across his den and back again, "I wish to heaven I had gone on
living in the Empire City with my pair of villainous Chinamen. At
least I was free from her over there. And when I saw her marriage, by
Gad! I thought it was a finisher. Then I came home again."
He stopped in his retrospection, because he heard a foot upon the
stairs.
A woman's foot; a light step and a quick step.
"May be De Counterpane's nurse. Too early for one of young Orlebar's
friends. Can't be anybody for me."
But it was; and a woman stopped at his doorway, and seeing him alone,
stepped in.
She had a hooded cloak thrown about an evening-dress; the hood was
drawn completely over her face, so that you could see nothing of it in
the dim light. And she came in without a word.
Then Colquhoun, who was no coward, felt his blood run cold, because he
knew by her figure and by her step that it was Victoria Cassilis.
She threw back the hood with a gesture almost theatrical, and stood
before him with parted lips and flashing eyes.
His spirits rallied a little then, because he saw that her face was
white, and that she was in a royal rage. Lawrence Colquhoun could
tackle a woman in a rage. That is indeed elementary, and nothing at
all to be proud of. The really difficult thing is to tackle a woman in
tears and distress. The stoutest heart quails before such an
enterprise.
"What is this?" she began, with a rush as of the liberated whirlwind.
"What does this letter mean, Lawrence?"
"Exactly what it says, Mrs. Cassilis. May I ask, is it customary for
married ladies to visit single gentlemen in their chambers, and at
night?"
"It is not usual for--married--ladies--to visit--single--gentlemen,
Lawrence. Do not ask foolish questions. Tell me what this means, I
say."
"It means that my visits to your house have been too frequent, and
that they will be discontinued. In other words, Mrs. Cassilis, the
thing has gone too far, and I shall cease to be seen with you. I
suppose you know that people will talk."
"Let them talk. What do I care how people talk? Lawrence, if you think
that I am going to let you go like this, you are mistaken."
"I believe this poor lady has gone mad," said Lawrence quietly. It was
not the best way to quiet and soothe her, but he could not help
himself.
"You think you are going to play fast and loose with me twice in my
life, and you are mistaken. You shall not. Years ago you showed me
what you are--cold, treacherous, and crafty----"
"Go on, Victoria; I like that kind of thing, because now I know that
you are not mad. Quite in your best style."
"And I forgave you when you returned, and allowed you once more to
visit me. What other woman would have acted so to such a man?"
"Yet she must be mad," said Lawrence. "How else could she talk such
frightful rubbish?"
"Once more we have been friends. Again you have drawn me on, until I
have learned to look to you, for the second time, for the appreciation
denied to me by my--Mr. Cassilis. No, sir; this second desertion must
not and shall not be."
"One would think," said Lawrence helplessly, "that we had not
quarrelled every time we met. Now, Mrs. Cassilis, you have my
resolution. What you please, in your sweet romantic way, to call
second desertion must be and shall be."
"Then I will know the reason why?"
"I have told you the reason why. Don't be a fool, Mrs. Cassilis. Ask
yourself what you want. Do you want me to run away with you? I am a
lazy man, I know, and I generally do what people ask me to do; but as
for that thing, I am damned if I do it!"
"Insult me, Lawrence!" she cried, sinking into a chair. "Swear at me,
as you will."
"Do you wish me to philander about your house like a ridiculous tame
cat, till all the world cries out?"
She started to her feet.
"No!" she cried. "I care nothing about your coming and going. But I
know why--Oh, I know why!--you make up this lame excuse about my good
name--_my_ good name! As if you cared about that!"
"More than you cared about it yourself," he retorted, "But pray go
on."
"It is Phillis Fleming; I saw it from the very first. You began by
taking her away from me and placing her with your cousin, where you
could have her completely under your own influence. You let Jack
Dunquerque hang about her at first, just to show the ignorant creature
what was meant by flirtation, and then you send him about his
business. Lawrence, you are more wicked than I thought you."
"Jealousy, by Gad!" he cried. "Did ever mortal man hear of such a
thing? Jealousy! And after all that she has done----"
"I warn you. You may do a good many things. You may deceive and insult
me in any way except one. But you shall never, never marry Phillis
Fleming!"
Colquhoun was about to reply that he never thought of marrying Phillis
Fleming, but it occurred to him that there was no reason for making
that assertion. So he replied nothing.
"I escaped," she said, "under pretence of being ill. And I made them
fetch me a cab to come away in. My cab is at the Burlington Gardens
end of the court now. Before I go you shall make me a promise,
Lawrence--you used to keep your promises--to act as if this miserable
letter had not been written."
"I shall promise nothing of the kind."
"Then remember, Lawrence--you _shall never marry Phillis Fleming_! Not
if I have to stop it by proclaiming my own disgrace--you shall not
marry that girl, or any other girl. I have that power over you, at any
rate. Now I shall go."
"There is some one on the stairs," said Lawrence quietly.
"Perhaps he is coming here. You had better not be seen. Best go into
the other room and wait."
There was only one objection to her waiting in the other room, and
that was that the door was on the opposite side; that the outer oak
was wide open; that the step upon the stairs was already the step upon
the landing; and that the owner of the step was already entering the
room.
Mrs. Cassilis instinctively shrank back into the darkest corner--that
near the window. The curtains were of some light-coloured stuff. She
drew them closely round her and cowered down, covering her head with
the hood, like Guinevere before her injured lord. For the late caller
was no other than her own husband, Gabriel Cassilis.
As he stood in the doorway the light of the reading-lamp--Mrs.
Cassilis in one of her gestures had tilted up the shade--fell upon his
pale face and stooping form. Colquhoun noticed that he stooped more
than usual, and that his grave face bore an anxious look--such a look
as one sees sometimes in the faces of men who have long suffered
grievous bodily pain. He hesitated for a moment, tapping his knuckles
with his double eyeglasses, his habitual gesture.
"I came up this evening, Colquhoun. Are you quite alone?"
"As you see, Mr. Cassilis," said Colquhoun. He looked hastily round
the room. In the corner he saw the dim outline of the crouching form.
He adjusted the shade, and turned the lamp a little lower. The gas in
the chambers on the other side of the narrow court was put out, and
the room was almost dark. "As you see, Mr. Cassilis. And what gives me
the pleasure of this late call from you?"
"I thought I would come--I came to say----" he stopped helplessly, and
threw himself into a chair. It was a chair standing near the corner in
which his wife was crouching; and he pushed it back until he might
have heard her breathing close to his ear, and, if he had put forth
his hand, might have touched her.
"Glad to see you always, Mr. Cassilis. You came to speak about some
money matters? I have an engagement in five minutes; but we shall have
time, I dare say."
"An engagement? Ah! a lady, perhaps." This with a forced laugh,
because he was thinking of his wife.
"A lady? Yes--yes, a lady."
"Young men--young men----" said Gabriel Cassilis. "Well, I will not
keep you. I came here to speak to you about--about my wife."
"O Lord!" cried Lawrence. "I beg your pardon--about Mrs. Cassilis?"
"Yes; it is a very stupid business. You have known her for a long
time."
"I have, Mr. Cassilis; for nearly eight years."
"Ah, old friends; and once, I believe, people thought----"
"Once, Mr. Cassilis, I myself thought--I cannot tell you what I
thought Victoria Pengelley might be to me. But that is over long
since."
"One for her," thought Lawrence, whose nerves were steady in danger.
His two listeners trembled and shook, but from different causes.
"Over long since," repeated Gabriel Cassilis. "There was nothing in
it, then?"
"We were two persons entirely dissimilar in disposition, Mr.
Cassilis," Lawrence replied evasively. "Perhaps I was not worthy of
her--her calm, clear judgment."
"Another for her," he thought, with a chuckle. The situation would
have pleased him but that he felt sorry for the poor man.
"Victoria is outwardly cold, yet capable of the deepest emotions. It
is on her account, Colquhoun, that I come here. Foolish gossip has
been at work, connecting your names. I think it the best thing,
without saying anything to Victoria, who must never suspect----"
"Never suspect," echoed Colquhoun.
"That I ever heard this absurdity. But we must guard her from calumny,
Colquhoun. Cæsar's wife, you know; and--and--I think that, perhaps, if
you were to be a little less frequent in your calls--and----"
"I quite understand, Mr. Cassilis; and I am not in the least offended.
I assure you most sincerely--I wish Mrs. Cassilis were here to
listen--that I am deeply sorry for having innocently put you to the
pain of saying this. However, the world shall have no further cause of
gossip."
No motion or sign from the dark corner where the hiding woman
crouched.
Mr. Cassilis rose and tapped his knuckles with his glasses. "Thank
you, Colquhoun. It is good of you to take this most unusual request so
kindly. With such a wife as mine jealousy would be absurd. But I have
to keep her name from even a breath--even a breath."
"Quite right, Mr. Cassilis."
He looked round the room.
"Snug quarters for a bachelor--ah! I lived in lodgings always myself.
I thought I heard a woman's voice as I came up-stairs."
"From Sir Richard de Counterpane's rooms down stairs, perhaps. His
nurses, I suppose. The poor old man is getting infirm."
"Ay--ay; and your bedroom is there, I suppose?"
Lawrence took the lamp and opened the door. It was a bare, badly
furnished room, with a little camp-bedstead, and nothing else hardly.
For Lawrence kept his luxurious habits for the day.
Was it pure curiosity that made Gabriel Cassilis look all round the
room?
"Ah, hermit-like. Now, I like a large bed. However, I am very glad I
came. One word, Colquhoun, is better than a thousand letters; and you
are sure you do not misunderstand me?"
"Quite," said Lawrence, taking his hat. "I am going out, too."
"No jealousy at all," said Gabriel Cassilis, going down the stairs.
"Certainly not."
"Nothing but a desire to--to----"
"I understand perfectly," said Lawrence.
As they descended, Lawrence heard steps on the stairs behind them.
They were not yet, then, out of danger.
"Very odd," said Mr. Cassilis. "Coming up I heard a woman's voice. Now
it seems as if there were a woman's feet."
"Nerves, perhaps," said Colquhoun. The steps above them stopped. "I
hear nothing."
"Nor do I. Nerves--ah, yes--nerves."
Mr. Cassilis turned to the left, Colquhoun with him. Behind them he
saw the cloaked and hooded figure of Victoria Cassilis. At the
Burlington Gardens end a cab was waiting. Near the horse's head stood
a woman's figure which Lawrence thought he knew. As they passed her
this woman, whoever she was, covered her face with a handkerchief. And
at the same moment the cab drove by rapidly. Gabriel Cassilis saw
neither woman nor cab. He was too happy to notice anything. There was
nothing in it; nothing at all except mischievous gossip. And he had
laid the Ghost.
"Dear me!" he said to himself presently, "I forgot to ask about the
Secret. But of course there is none. How should there be?"
Next morning there came another letter.
"You have been fooled worse than ever," it said. "Your wife was in
Mr. Colquhoun's chambers the whole time that you were there. She
came down the stairs after you; she passed through the gate,
almost touching you, and she drove past you in a hansom cab. _I
know the number_, and will give it to you when the time comes.
Mr. Colquhoun lied to you. How long? How long?"
It should have been a busy day in the City. To begin with, it only
wanted four days to settling-day. Telegrams and letters poured in, and
they lay unopened on the desk at which Gabriel Cassilis sat, with this
letter before him, mad with jealousy and rage.