Derrick was awakened the next morning by a servant-man who brought him a
cup of fragrant coffee and the accompanying cigarette. Derrick dressed
quickly and went in search of Don José, to get some information which
would enable the newly-appointed engineer to set about his duties; on
the way, he met the major-domo, and inquired after Donna Elvira. The man
said that her Excellency's maid had told him that her mistress had spent
a bad night and was now trying to get some sleep. The major-domo was
extremely respectful in his manner towards Derrick, and Don José, when
Derrick met him in the patio, greeted him with marked consideration.
In response to Derrick's inquiries, Don José shrugged his shoulders and,
twisting his lips into a smile, intimated that, so far as he was
concerned, Derrick was free to do, or not to do, anything he pleased;
but he led the young man to a shed which he designated as the machine
room, and opening the door, with a wave of his hand, presented to
Derrick's view a mass of machinery very much out of date and in
exceedingly bad order, and intimating, with another shrug and wave, that
Derrick was free of the concern, walked off. Derrick strolled round the
antiquated engine and rusty pump and chaff-cutters, then took off his
coat, turned up his sleeves and proceeded to make a detailed
examination; wondering why the worn boiler had not burst and blown the
whole kit, and anyone who happened to be near, into smithereens.
It was some time since he had had the handling of machinery, and, for
several hours, he enjoyed himself thoroughly, emerging at lunch-time,
very hot, and as grimy and soot-laden as a chimney sweep. On his way
towards the house he looked up at the windows, and at one of them he
saw, or fancied he saw, through a partially-drawn curtain, the face of
Donna Elvira; but the curtain was drawn so swiftly that he could not be
sure that it was the Donna who had been looking down at him.
She did not appear that day, and Derrick went about his work with a
sense of satisfaction and enjoyment which he had not experienced during
the execution of his duties at the circus: to the engineer the handling
of machinery is as sweet as is the touch of a brush to an artist, the
pen to an author. He was interested not only in his work, but in the
strange and novel life going on around him. It was unlike anything with
which he had come in contact hitherto; not only was the place overrun
with servants, but, on every side, were evidences of a wealth and state
which were almost regal and yet barbaric; the magnificent mansion itself
was at some distance from the farm building, and the serenity of the
house and its surroundings was not intruded upon by the business of
which Donna Elvira was the head.
Derrick could not help being struck by the fact that his favourable
reception and appointment had aroused no surprise and very little
curiosity on the part of the household; and he concluded that Donna
Elvira's rule was so despotic that her law passed unquestioned, and that
no action of hers was received with astonishment. His position was
accepted by everyone without question or remark; the man who had brought
him his coffee had evidently been told off as his body-servant, and he
served Derrick's meals in a little room adjoining the bedroom, or on the
verandah; as the young fellow showed some intelligence, Derrick took him
on as an assistant, much to the peon's delight and pride, and initiated
him into the elementary mysteries of machinery.
Long before his examination had finished, Derrick had come to the
conclusion that it would be necessary to scrap the existing machinery
and set up new in its place; and he was anxious to consult Donna Elvira;
but though he learnt that she had sustained no injury from the accident
in the salon, she did not make her appearance until three days had
elapsed. On the evening of the third, as he was sitting on the verandah,
smoking a cigarette after an excellent dinner, and dreaming, as the
exile must dream, however flourishing his position, of the land he had
left, he saw her coming towards the verandah. He sprang to his feet,
and, bare-headed, hastened to meet her and give her his hand to ascend
the steps. She was dressed in black, and her lace mantilla, worn in
Spanish fashion, half-shrouded her face, which was paler and even more
worn than when he had first seen it.
"I hope your Excellency has quite recovered?" he said, as he led her to
a chair and set a cushion for her feet; and he performed the little act
with a courtesy which was as genuine as strange in Derrick, who, like
most men of his class, was not given to knightly attentions; but, every
time he had seen this proud and sorrowful woman, some tender chord had
been touched in his heart and given forth a note of pity and respect. "I
can't blame myself enough for not keeping an eye on that lamp. I hope
you were not burned?"
"No, it was nothing," she said in a low voice, her eyes covered by their
lids, her lips set. "It was the shock, nothing more. I came to speak to
you here because it is cooler, and I wished to see that you
were--comfortable; that is the English word, is it not?"
"Yes," rejoined Derrick, with a laugh. "And it's the most important one
in the language nowadays. Comfort is the one thing everybody goes for;
we've made it our tin god, and we worship it all the time; it's because
money means comfort that we're all out for it."
"And yet you are poor," said her Excellency, musingly. "And you are
happy?"
There was a note of interrogation in her voice, and Derrick checked a
sigh as he shrugged his shoulders, a trick which everybody about the
place possessed, and he was acquiring unconsciously; he was dreading
that, in time, he should come to spread out his hands and gesticulate
like the rest of them.
"Count no man happy till he's dead," he said, a trifle wistfully; and,
at that moment, the scene before him, fair as it was, assumed a dreary
aspect, and he longed for the grimy London streets, the hustle of the
crowd, the smell of the asphalt; and, above all, the stone staircase and
the gaol-like corridors of Brown's Buildings. "At any rate, if I'm not
happy, it is not your fault, Donna Elvira. Owing to your kindness, I
have fallen on clover--pardon! I mean that I've got an excellent
situation. And, speaking of that, I'm very glad to see you. I'm afraid
you'll think I'm a nuisance, and that, like a new broom, I want to sweep
everything clean; but I'm obliged to tell you that the machinery you've
got out there is played out, and that it is absolutely necessary to have
a new plant. It will cost you a great deal of money, and I don't know
where it is to come from--straight from England, I suppose."
She made a movement of her hand, indicating what seemed to Derrick
sublime indifference.
"It shall be as you say," she said. "You have been working very hard, is
it not? Oh, I have seen you coming from the shed; you looked tired and
so----Is it necessary, señor, to get so dirty?"
"'Fraid it is," said Derrick, with a laugh; "the worst of it is, the
machinery is even dirtier than I am. 'Pon my word, I don't believe it's
had a good over-haul for years."
"Possibly," said Donna Elvira, absently. "The last man who had charge of
it was too fond of the wine."
"I can believe it," said Derrick; "anyway, he kept his machinery thirsty
enough. What shall I do about it?"
She pondered for a moment or two; then, with a sudden raising of her sad
eyes, she said, slowly,
"It must come from England, you said. It is possible to order it from
thence?"
"Oh, yes," said Derrick, hesitatingly. "Of course, it would be better if
one could buy it on the spot."
"That is so," she agreed. There was silence for awhile, then she said
slowly, "Are you content to remain here--Mr. Dene?"
It was the first time she had addressed him by his name, and she did so
with an hesitation that Derrick attributed to her uncertainty of the
pronunciation.
"Well, I am as content as I should be anywhere out of England," he said,
with a candour compelled by her kindness.
She glanced at him with an earnest regard, and said softly, but
suddenly,
"It means that you have left your heart there?"
Derrick coloured and lit another cigarette. Again, he felt as if he were
obliged to open his heart to this sorrowful, sympathetic woman.
"That is so," he said, gravely.
"You have no father or mother," she murmured, her eyes downcast; "then
it must be the girl you love--a sweetheart?"
Derrick nodded.
"Yes, it's a girl I love," he said, with a thrill as he made the
confession, and was impressed by the spoken words with the depths of his
love for that girl. "Oh, don't misunderstand! It's true that I--love
her; but she doesn't love me; it's all on my side, she doesn't even know
that I care for her. You'll be surprised to hear that I saw her only
once in my life, and then only for a few minutes."
"That is the Spanish way of loving, not the English," she said, with a
long breath like a sigh, as she looked at him. "No; I am not surprised.
Love is a strange thing, Derrick--pardon!--Mr. Dene; and it comes
sometimes, more often than not with the people of my nation, at first
sight. Will you think me curious, if I ask her name?"
"Not at all. I don't know it," said Derrick, with a grim laugh.
She looked at him with surprise in her mournful eyes.
"Oh, look here!" said Derrick, more to himself than to the listener
whose sympathy affected him strangely and forced his confidence. "I've
got to tell you everything, if you care to hear it. You are so clever,
'cute--I beg your Excellency's pardon!--that you will have guessed, as
old Bloxford guessed, that I had good reason, or, rather, bad, for
leaving England; besides, I hinted it the other night. I'll tell you
what that is, if you care to hear it."
"Tell me," she said, in a low voice. "I--I am a lonely woman; I have
neither husband nor child; you have interested me"--her voice sank for a
moment--"Yes, tell me. I--I may help you----"
"I'm afraid I'm beyond even your help," said Derrick; "but this is how
it is."
He told her the story of the forged cheque, suppressing all names, and
Donna Elvira listened, as immovable as a statue, looking straight before
her, her brows drawn, her lips set. She sighed as he finished, and said,
"The woman you did this for--you cared for her?"
"I did, at one time--or, I thought I did," said Derrick; "but, when I
met that other girl, the girl who stepped in like an angel and saved me
from suicide, I cared for her no longer. It was as if she had gone out
of my life, out of my heart, and another woman had stepped into her
place. Do you understand, Donna Elvira?"
"It is not difficult," she said, with a faint smile. "The woman for whom
you made so foolish, so wicked a sacrifice was not worthy of you. It is
well that you should have forgotten her. This other girl--I do not know
her; but I think she must be good and true."
"She's all that," said Derrick, fervently. "If you had seen only just as
much of her as I have, you'd know that you were right. She is not a girl
who would jilt a man who cared for her, to marry another man for his
rank. She's good and true, as you say; as true as steel. Why, think of
it: a slip of a girl, scarcely out of her teens, facing, alone, a
madman, with a revolver! The sight of the thing gave her the horrors, I
could see; but there she stood, firm as a rock, pleading, arguing,
insisting, until she'd saved the silly fool. A girl like that is--oh, I
can't talk about her. And, what's it matter? I shall never see her
again. Besides, it isn't possible that a girl so beautiful, so charming,
should be free for long. I may meet her again; but it's long odds that,
when I do, it will be to find that she's married, got children--I beg
your pardon, your Excellency; you've been very kind to listen to all
this and very patient. You see how hopeless it is. I must try to forget
her. But that's impossible." He laughed ruefully. "I think of her every
day: I fall asleep thinking of her. But that's enough! About the
machinery?"
"We will talk of it some other time," she said, rising. "Good-night."
For several days Derrick saw Donna Elvira at a distance only; but,
somehow, he was conscious that she was watching him; for now and again,
when he was going to or from the shed, he caught sight of the pale face,
with its white hair, at a window, or saw her moving across the court;
but he did not venture to intrude upon her. While he was waiting for her
decision, respecting the new plant, he employed himself in making a kind
of survey of the house and the buildings; and he drew up a schedule of
the repairs that were necessary and made some suggestions for various
alterations. But though her Excellency did not grant him another
interview, it was evident that she had not forgotten him, and he knew
that it was to her he owed several comfortable additions in and about
his rooms, and the increased respect and attention of the servants.
One evening, about a week later, his servant came to him with a message:
he was to attend her Excellency in the salon. With a sense of relief,
and of pleasure, Derrick hastened to obey the summons. The frail, yet
proudly-erect figure was seated in the big chair; she looked thinner and
more haggard; and Derrick, as he stood before her, feared that she was
still suffering from the shock of the overturned lamp. She held out her
hand, for the first time; and as Derrick took it, he felt it tremble
under the pressure of his.
"You sent for me, your Excellency?" he said.
"Yes," she answered in a low voice, as she waved him to a chair which
had been placed, either accidentally or by her orders, near her. "I have
arrived at a decision--about--the machinery. I wish you to go to England
for it."
Derrick could not repress a start, and he stared at her, somewhat
aghast.
"Want me to go----?" he said, changing colour. "But I'm afraid--have you
forgotten what I told you about--about the trouble of the cheque?"
"No, I have not forgotten," she said, in the same low voice. "I do not
think you have any need to fear. I think that you were unwise to fly
England. And yet I am glad; for--for, if you had not done so, I should
not--you would not have come here."
"I'm glad enough that I did come here, your Excellency," said Derrick,
warmly. "And I shall be very sorry to leave you, putting aside this
question of my safety."
"You will be quite safe, or I would not ask you to go. I have been
thinking over your story. I have not always lived in this out-of-the-way
part of the world. I have had experience; and I see more clearly than
you. I do not think you would have been prosecuted. They are clever,
these lawyers, and they would have got the truth out of you. A word or a
look on your part would have given them the clue. Besides, this other
man; they would have questioned him, and he would have exposed himself."
"That's true enough; that's what I told Heyton----" began Derrick; in
his eagerness, unwittingly letting slip Heyton's name, as he had the
other evening let slip his own. He broke off and looked down, biting his
lip. If he had still kept his eyes on the face of the woman beside him,
he could not have failed to see the sudden change which came to that
face, the expression of amazement, of fear, of intense excitement. She
did not speak, she did not utter a word, but her lips writhed and her
thin, long white hands closed and opened spasmodically.
"I'm sorry," muttered Derrick, regretfully, and frowning at his boots.
"The name slipped out before I knew it." He laughed ruefully. "It seems
as if I were unable to conceal anything from you."
"There is no cause for fear," she said in a tremulous voice. "You may
speak to me as you would to a father confessor; as you would to
a--mother."
"Oh, I know that," said Derrick, and his own voice shook a little.
"Strangely enough--I'm afraid you'll think I'm pretty impudent--but ever
since I saw you I have felt----Oh, well, I can't explain." He leant
forward with profound respect and a warmer feeling he could not
understand. "I suppose it was because you were so good to me; perhaps
because you were so lonely, here amongst all these people----Oh, I
_can't_ explain, and I'm afraid I'm distressing you," he went on
remorsefully; for the frail figure was trembling, and the tears had
gathered in the dark eyes. "I'm a blundering kind of idiot, and I'm
worrying you with my tuppenny-ha'penny affairs. Forgive me!"
She drew her hand across her eyes; then slowly, hesitatingly, laid the
hand on his arm.
"There is nothing to forgive," she murmured. "But tell me. I too have
felt--I am a lonely woman; you--you are young enough--you might
be--shall we say that I have been drawn to you as you say you have been
drawn to me--you said so, did you not?--that I have felt as if I
were--your mother."
"I wish to God you were!" said Derrick, huskily, and feeling, with
amazement, and an Englishman's annoyance, that his own eyes were moist.
"Let us pretend that we are--mother and son," she said, in so low a
voice as to be almost inaudible. "Therefore, as a son, you need conceal
nothing from me. Tell me, who is this man whose name escaped you?"
As she asked the question, she made an evident effort to control her
agitation, and her voice and manner were well-nigh calm, and infinitely
tender and persuasive.
"Oh, Heyton!" said Derrick, feeling that he would be quite safe to tell
her everything. "He is the eldest, the only, son of the Marquess of
Sutcombe; and, of course, he will be the next Marquess; and, of course,
that's the reason why Miriam--Miriam Ainsley--chucked me and married
him."
"This Lord Heyton, what manner of man is he?" she said.
"Oh, I'm afraid he's a bad lot; you'll see that, or he wouldn't have
played this low down trick on me. He's a weak sort of fellow who has
played the fool pretty thoroughly. I met him at the place where the
Ainsleys lived, a little village called Bridgeford; and though--it's
easy to be wise after the event--I didn't like him much, we got to be
kind of friends. He's full of low cunning and I'd no idea he was after
Miriam until it was too late. You see the sort of man he is."
"And he will be the Marquess," she said, musingly.
"Oh, yes, nothing can prevent that," assented Derrick, with a short
laugh.
"It is a pity," she said.
"A thousand pities," agreed Derrick; "but there you are! It's our system
of primogeniture, eldest son, you know."
"If you go to England, you will keep out of his way," she said.
"Rather!" said Derrick, grimly. "If I go to England--and, of course, I
shall if you wish it--I shall keep out of everybody's way. I shall use
my assumed name, Sydney Green."
"It will be well to do so," she said, gravely. It was evident that she
was considering the matter with all a woman's acuteness. "Yes; I wish
you to go to England. There are other reasons--it will be better for you
to see the machinery."
"All right, your Excellency," said Derrick, promptly; for he felt as if
he had placed himself in her hands. "When would you like me to start?"
"To-morrow," she said. She raised her eyes and looked at him wistfully.
"If you are to go, it is better for me--for you--for affairs, that you
go at once."
As she spoke, she opened a despatch-box lying on the table beside her
and took out two packets. She held one out to him.
"In this you will find some money; sufficient, I hope, to pay all
expenses; if it is not, if you should need more, you will address
yourself to the branch of the Bank of Spain in England, where I shall
place some to your credit. Do not hesitate to use the money; I do not
mean for the machinery only, but for any purpose for which you may want
it. It is at your entire disposal. You will write to me----"
"Of course," said Derrick. "I shall send your Excellency a regular
report at frequent intervals."
"The carriage is ordered, and you will be driven to the station
to-morrow. Write to me as soon as you arrive."
Derrick rose to bid her good-bye; but she stayed him with a slight,
hesitating gesture and held out the second packet.
"Take this," she said. "It contains instructions for your conduct in--in
certain events."
"Sealed instructions," said Derrick, with a smile, as he noticed that
the package was thus secured.
"Yes," she said. "You will break the seals and read the enclosed
instructions if, at any time, during your absence, you should
be in any great difficulty or danger. Do you think this is very
strange--mysterious?" she asked, her eyes fixed upon him with a
half-apprehensive regard.
"I've not the least doubt you have good reasons for giving me this,"
said Derrick; "I will not open it unless, as you say, I am in a fix."
"That is well," she said. "You have good reason--a reason I cannot
explain," she added hurriedly, and with some agitation, "for trusting
me."
"I'd trust you with my life," said Derrick, impelled to the burst of
fervour by something in her manner and voice.
She held out her hand, and Derrick took it and pressed it; there was
something so melting in the tenderness of her gaze that again he was
impelled by a strange influence, and he bent and kissed the hand. As he
did so, she laid her other one upon his bent head; it was a touch soft
as thistle-down, as caressing as that of a mother; and as he felt it,
something tugged at Derrick's heart-strings. He turned away and left the
room quickly.
Some time after he had reached his own quarters, and had pondered over
the singular emotion which had been aroused in him during the scene, he
opened the first packet. It contained a large sum of money, greatly in
excess of his possible needs. The generosity of this great lady was
amazing. He stowed the notes in his belt and then turned to the other
packet. This he sewed up inside his waistcoat; it was too precious to be
committed to so commonplace a depository as the purse of a belt.
The following morning, as he stepped into the carriage--Donna Elvira's
own carriage of state!--he looked round on the chance and in the hope of
seeing her. She was nowhere in sight as the carriage started; but when
it was turning the bend of the road, still looking back earnestly, he
saw the tall figure standing on the steps of the patio. From the black
mantilla which shrouded her, she waved a hand.