To those who take no note of social distinctions, Swinton's scheme in
relation to Julia Girdwood will appear grotesque. Not so much on
account of its atrocity, but from the chances of its success seeming so
problematical.
Could he have got the girl to love him, it would have changed the aspect
of affairs. Love breaks down all barriers; and to a mind constituted as
hers, no obstacle could have intervened--not even the idea of danger.
She did not love him; but he did not know it. A guardsman, and handsome
to boot, he had been accustomed to facile conquests. In his own way of
thinking, the time had not arrived when these should be deemed
difficult.
He was no longer in the Guards; but he was still young, and he knew he
was still handsome English dames thought him so. Strange if a Yankee
girl should have a different opinion!
This was the argument on his side; and, trusting to his attractions, he
still fancied himself pretty sure of being able to make a conquest of
the American--even to making her the victim of an illegal marriage.
And if he should succeed in his bigamous scheme, what then? What use
would she be as a wife, unless her mother should keep that promise he
had overheard: to endow her with the moiety of her own life-interest in
the estate of the deceased storekeeper?
To many Julia Girdwood against her mother's wish would be a simple
absurdity. He did not dread the danger that might accrue from the
crime. He did not think of it. But to become son-in-law to a woman,
whose daughter might remain penniless as long as she herself lived,
would be a poor speculation. A woman, too, who talked of living another
half-century! The jest was not without significance; and Swinton
thought so.
He felt confident that he could dupe the daughter into marrying him; but
to get that half-million out of the mother, he must stand before the
altar as a _lord_!
These were Mrs Girdwood's original conditions. He knew she still
adhered to them. If fulfilled, she would still consent; but not
otherwise.
To go on, then, the sham _incognito_ must be continued--the deception
kept up.
But how?
This was the point that puzzled him.
The impersonation had become difficult. In Newport and New York it had
been easy; in Paris still easier; but he was at length in London, where
such a cheat would be in danger of being detected.
Moreover, in his last interview with the ladies, he had been sensible of
some change in their behaviour toward him--an absence of the early
congeniality. It was shown chiefly by Mrs Girdwood herself! Her warm
friendship suddenly conceived at Newport, continued in New York, and
afterwards renewed in Paris, appeared to have as suddenly grown cool.
What could be the cause? Had she heard anything to his discredit?
Could she have discovered the counterfeit? Or was she only suspicious
of it?
Only the last question troubled him. He did not think he had been found
out. He had played his part skilfully, having given no clue to his
concealed title. And he had given good reasons for his care in
concealing it.
He admitted to himself that she had cause for being suspicious. She had
extended hospitality to him in America. He had not returned it in
Europe, for reasons well-known.
True, he had only met his American acquaintances in Paris; but even
there, an English lord should have shown himself more liberal; and she
might have felt piqued at his parsimony.
For similar reasons he had not yet called upon them in London.
On the contrary, since his return, he had purposely kept out of their
way.
In England he was in his own country; and why should he be living under
an assumed name? If a lord, why under straitened circumstances? In
Mrs Girdwood's eyes these would be suspicious circumstances.
The last might be explained--by the fact of their being poor lords,
though not many. Not many, who do not find the means to dress well, and
dine sumptuously--to keep a handsome house, if they feel disposed.
Since his return from the States, Swinton could do none of these things.
How, then, was he to pass himself off for a lord--even one of the
poorest?
He had almost despaired of being able to continue the counterfeit; when
the patronage of a lord, real and powerful, inspired him with fresh
hope. Through it his prospects had become entirely changed. It had put
money in his purse, and promised more. What was equally encouraging, he
could now, in real truth, claim being employed in a diplomatic capacity.
True, it was but as a _spy_; but this is an essential part of the
diplomatic service!
There was his apparent intimacy with a distinguished diplomatic
character--a nobleman; there would be his constant visits to the grand
mansion in Park Lane--strange if with these appearances in his favour he
could not still contrive to throw dust in the eyes of Dame Girdwood!
Certainly his scheme was far from hopeless. By the new appointment a
long vista of advantages had been suddenly disclosed to him; and he now
set himself to devise the best plan for improving them.
Fan was called into his counsels; for the wife was still willing. Less
than ever did she care for him, or what he might do. She, too, had
become conscious of brighter prospects; and might hope, at no distant
day, to appear once more in Rotten Row.
If, otherwise, she had a poor opinion of her husband, she did not
despise his talent for intrigue. There was proof of it in their changed
circumstances. And though she well knew the source from which their
sudden prosperity had sprung, she knew, also, the advantage, to a woman
of her propensities, in being a _wife_. "United we stand, divided we
fall," may have been the thought in her mind; but, whether it was or
not, she was still ready to assist her husband in accomplishing a second
marriage!
With the certificate of the first, carefully stowed away in a secret
drawer of her dressing-case, she had nothing to fear, beyond the chance
of a problematical exposure.
She did not fear this, so long as there was a prospect of that splendid
plunder, in which she would be a sharer. Dick had promised to be "true
as steel," and she had reciprocated the promise.
With a box of cigars, and a decanter of sherry between them, a programme
was traced out for the further prosecution of the scheme.