MRS. CHUDLEIGH GATHERS INFORMATION
It was a fine morning when Mrs. Keith sat on the saloon deck of a river
boat steaming with the ebb tide down the St. Lawrence. The terraced
heights of Quebec had faded astern; ahead a blaze of sunshine rested on
the river, up which a big liner with crowded decks and her smoke-trail
staining the clear blue sky moved majestically. To starboard dark
pinewoods, with here and there a sawmill stack, were faintly marked
upon the lofty bank; to port rose rugged hills with wooden villages at
their feet. The light wind that rippled the blue water was pleasantly
cool, and Mrs. Keith, laying down the book she had been reading, looked
about with languid enjoyment.
"I suppose I'm neglecting my opportunities, but this is very delightful
and I don't think they have anything finer than the river in Canada,"
she said. "Its width impresses one; the French villages with their
church spires are so picturesque--I wonder how many churches there are
in this part of the country. One sees them everywhere."
"You were urged to see the Ontario forests and the prairie," Millicent
remarked.
"One cannot do everything, and I'm not insatiable. I'm getting too old
to stand the shaking in the hot and dusty cars, and I can't accustom
myself to going to bed in public, without undressing. No doubt, it's a
matter of prejudice, but I've been used to more room for taking my
clothes off than they give you behind the flapping curtain."
Millicent laughed as she remembered their experiences during a journey
on a crowded express.
"Getting up is worse," she said. "However, they told us it was very
pretty and generally cool at Saguenay. Then you'll have somebody to
talk to, as Mrs. Chudleigh is coming. But didn't she make up her mind
rather suddenly?"
"I thought so, since she didn't speak of going until I sent you for the
tickets. Still, Sedgwick was sent to Ottawa, where she doesn't know
anybody, which may have had something to do with it."
Millicent, who looked very pretty in her light summer dress as she
leaned back in a deckchair, did not reply. Sun and wind had brought a
fine warm colour into her face, but her brown eyes were grave, for
there was a point upon which she must try to form a correct judgment
and she distrusted her inexperience. She was young and had a natural
love of pleasure, as well as a certain longing for excitement and a
willingness to take a risk which she had inherited from her gambling
father. Mrs. Keith had prevented her indulging these tendencies, and
the girl, thrust for the most part into the society of older people,
suffered at times from a feeling of depressing monotony.
Then she had met Captain Sedgwick, who paid her rather marked
attention, at Quebec, and at first had been attracted by the handsome
soldier and flattered by his singling her out among women of higher
station and maturer beauty; but the attraction did not last long.
There was a vein of sound sense in Millicent, and when she tested
Sedgwick by it, he did not ring true, and when Mrs. Chudleigh openly
claimed him as her property she acquiesced. Afterwards she met Blake
on board the steamer and the gratitude and admiration which a
chivalrous act of his had roused suddenly revived. Moreover she was
sorry for him and felt that he had been unjustly blamed, while, though
it was generally hidden by his careless manner, she thought she saw in
him a strong sincerity. Now she wondered whether she was foolish in
letting her thoughts dwell on him, and if he would soon forget her.
Recalling his words when he said good-bye she knew he had been stirred,
but before this she had been conscious of a certain restraint in his
manner which had only broken down at the last moment. By and by Mrs.
Keith disturbed her reflections.
"It looks as if we were to be favoured with Mrs. Chudleigh's society,"
she remarked with ironical amusement. "Mine appears to have become
more valuable during the last few days."
Millicent saw Mrs. Chudleigh moving towards them, followed by a steward
carrying a folding chair and a maid who brought a book, a bunch of
flowers, an ornamental leather bag, and several other odds and ends.
Mrs. Chudleigh was elaborately attired, but the large plumed hat and
dress cut in the extreme of the current fashion became her. She made a
stately progress along the deck with her burdened attendants in her
train, and it took a few minutes to arrange her belongings to her
satisfaction. Then she sank into the big chair with marked grace of
movement and smiled at Mrs. Keith.
"A delightful morning. I ought to have been writing letters, but the
sunshine brought me out."
Mrs. Keith agreed and Mrs. Chudleigh went on: "I have enjoyed this
visit greatly and find Canada a most interesting country. In fact, I
wish I could stay another month or two, but, of course, when one has
duties."
As Mrs. Chudleigh had neither husband nor children, Margaret Keith
wondered what her duties were, unless she considered the taking a part
in a round of social amusements as such.
"After all," she remarked, "I imagine that one doesn't see very much of
the real Canada from the _Frontenac_ or a big hotel in Montreal."
"True," said Mrs. Chudleigh. "I must confess that I didn't come out to
study the country, though I'm charmed with all I've seen. I'm afraid I
belong to a frivolous set and find a change refreshing. Then several
old friends of mine were going to take a part in the celebrations at
Quebec--Captain Sedgwick among others."
"Is Captain Sedgwick a very old friend?" Mrs. Keith asked, willing to
give the other the lead she seemed to wish for.
"Oh, yes; I met him first as a subaltern in India, when he was very raw
and troubled by a seriousness he has since grown out of, but I thought
he would make his mark."
Mrs. Keith pondered the explanation. She could not imagine her
companion's patronizing a callow young lieutenant, but this was not
important. Admitting that a hint might have been intended for
Millicent's benefit, Mrs. Chudleigh's boldness in laying claim to the
man by suggesting that she had come out for his sake was puzzling. It
was not in good taste, but although Mrs. Chudleigh's position was
assured, there was something of the audacity of the adventuress about
her. Margaret Keith, however, had no admiration for Sedgwick, whom she
thought of as second-rate, and she was glad to believe that Millicent
did not wish to dispute the woman's right to him.
"Are you going home soon?" she asked.
"Before long, I think. There is a round of visits I have promised to
make and I may stay some time with the Fosters in Shropshire near
Colonel Challoner's place. I believe he is a friend of yours."
"He is. Have you met him?"
"Once; I found him charming. A very fine, old-fashioned gentleman, and
I understand a famous soldier. Somebody told me he never quite got
over his nephew's disgrace and seemed to think it reflected upon the
whole family. Very foolish, of course, but one can admire his sense of
honour."
Mrs. Keith began to understand why her companion had sought her. She
wished to speak about Richard Blake and Mrs. Keith was forced to
acquiesce, since he had been seen in her company.
"I suppose you know the nephew was in Montreal," she said.
"To tell the truth, I do. I saw him talking to Bertram Challoner, whom
I met in London, and the family likeness struck me. Then I saw his
name in the hotel register."
"No doubt you studied him after that. What opinion did you form?"
Mrs. Chudleigh gave her a look of thoughtful candour. "I was puzzled
and interested. I don't know him, but he did not look the man to run
away."
"He is not," Mrs. Keith declared. "I knew him as a boy, and even then
he was marked by reckless daring. What's more, I noticed very little
change in him."
"It's strange." Mrs. Chudleigh's tone was sympathetically grave. "I
feel much as you do. After all, it may have been one of the affairs
about which the truth never quite comes out."
"What do you wish to suggest by that?"
"Nothing in particular; I've no means of forming an accurate
conclusion. But the regimental honour was threatened and a scapegoat
needed. A mistake may have been made by somebody of greater
importance. One hears of some curious things."
"That's true," Mrs. Keith drily agreed. "I believe in Dick Blake, but
it must be admitted that he made no defence."
Mrs. Chudleigh pondered this. "One meets men capable of making a great
sacrifice, though they're by no means numerous. I suppose Colonel
Challoner really felt it a heavy blow?"
"Those who know him can't doubt it, though he never speaks of the
matter."
"It must have been a shock. Apart from whatever affection he had for
his nephew, there was, in a sense, the stigma reflected upon
himself--an old man who has bravely won distinction and retains some
influence! I'm told he has friends in administrative circles and that
his opinion on Indian subjects still carries weight."
"I believe so," said Mrs. Keith. "He certainly holds his opinions
firmly, and was once looked upon as an authority on frontier defence.
Indeed, he gave up his command because he could not get some drastic
change which events subsequently proved needful adopted. His honesty
is remembered by men who hold him in esteem."
"All you have said bears out my impression of him. I must renew our
acquaintance when I am in Shropshire. Are you staying here long?"
Mrs. Keith was glad to change the subject, but while they talked a
steward appeared with a letter for Millicent, which he explained had
been sent on board the steamer at Quebec. As the girl laid down the
opened envelope Mrs. Chudleigh recognized Sedgwick's writing and her
face grew contemptuously hard. Then she laughed and started a
different topic, which she continued for a time. When she went away,
Mrs. Keith turned to Millicent.
"I wonder whether I have told her too much, though it's hard to see
what use she can make of it. Innocent or not, Dick Blake is a
favourite of mine and when I speak of him I'm apt to be unguarded. Of
course, it's obvious that she joined us on purpose to talk about him."
"One would have imagined it was Captain Sedgwick. She dragged him in
rather pointedly."
"Oh! no. That was by the way, and perhaps intended to put me off the
scent. She's a scheming woman."
"But she has not learned much from you."
"She has learned two things," Mrs. Keith answered thoughtfully.
"First, that I don't believe Dick Blake failed in his duty; and,
secondly, that Colonel Challoner has some influence. I think she was
particularly interested in the latter point. I've been incautious and
let my tongue run away with me."
Then she took up her book while Millicent read her letter. Though
young and to some extent inexperienced, her judgment was generally
sound, and she had come to see how Sedgwick really regarded her. She
had pleased his eye, and he was a man who would boldly grasp at what
delighted him, but love would not be permitted to interfere with his
ambitions. He wrote in a tone of forced and insincere sentiment, and
his words brought a blush into Millicent's face as well as a rather
bitter smile into her eyes. By and by she tore the sheet into pieces
and dropped them over the steamer's rail. That affair was ended.
As the fragments of paper fluttered astern Mrs. Keith looked up. "You
are treating somebody's letter very unceremoniously."
"Perhaps I am," said Millicent. "It's from Captain Sedgwick."
"Ah!" exclaimed Mrs. Keith. "Has he anything of interest to say?"
"He mentions that he is going back to Africa sooner than he expected
because the officer above him has suffered so much from the climate
that he has asked to be relieved of his post. Captain Sedgwick
believes this will give him a chance of advancement."
"Then I've no doubt he'll make the most of it. I suppose he doesn't
waste much pity on his unfortunate chief? The man's personal interest
stands first with him."
"Isn't that the usual thing with men?"
"There are exceptions. Colonel Challoner, for instance, threw up his
career when he found he was forced to act against his convictions, and
I've a suspicion that another man I know made as great a sacrifice.
However, Sedgwick will make every effort to get the vacant post, and I
wonder whether he told Mrs. Chudleigh how matters stood. She may have
had a letter before you did."
Millicent knew her employer's penetration, but did not understand the
drift of her remarks.
"I dare say he wrote to her. She told us they were old friends. But
why should it interest you?"
"It does," Mrs. Keith rejoined. "I have a habit of putting things
together and drawing my conclusions, though, of course, I'm now and
then mistaken. Whether I'm right or not in the present instance time
will show, but I must try to watch the woman when we go home." Then
she added sharply: "As you have torn it up, you don't mean to answer
Sedgwick's letter?"
"No," said Millicent, with a trace of colour; "I don't think it needs a
reply."
Mrs. Keith made a sign of agreement. "On the whole," she said
pointedly, "I should imagine that to be a wise decision."
On reaching Saguenay, Mrs. Keith spent the first morning sitting
outside her hotel. Rugged mountains with dark belts of pines
straggling up their sides were spread about her, but she gave the wild
grandeur of the landscape scanty attention as she consulted the
engagement book in her hand. It contained a list of the friends she
wished to entertain and the visits she had thought of making in England
during the winter, and she wondered which could be shortened and whom
she could put off, because it might be desirable to spend some time in
Shropshire.
Margaret Keith was a strong-willed woman who had led a busy life, but
now, when she had resolved to retire into the background and rest, it
looked as if she might again be forced to take an active part in
affairs. She had enjoyed her Canadian trip, but during the last week
or two it had begun to lose its interest, and she was conscious of a
call to be up and doing. She suspected Mrs. Chudleigh, she doubted
Sedgwick, and she was disturbed by the way the unfortunate affair on
the Indian frontier had cropped up again. Somehow, she felt Colonel
Challoner's peace was threatened, which could not be permitted. For
many years she had cherished a warm liking for him, and long ago, when
he was a young lieutenant, she could have made him hers. Family
arrangements, complicated by the interests of landed property, had,
however, stood in the way. Challoner was not free to marry as he
pleased; he had been taught that the desire of the individual must be
subordinated to the welfare of the line, and when he first met Margaret
Keith, who was beautiful then, it was too late for him to rebel. She
let him go, but he had always had a place in her heart, and now they
were firm and trusted friends.
During her stay at Saguenay, Mrs. Chudleigh made two or three attempts
to extract some further information about the Challoners but without
success, and one day, soon after she had left, Mrs. Keith sent
Millicent for a list of steamer sailings.
"This place is very pretty, but we have been here some time and I'm
beginning to think of home," she said.
"One of the Empresses sails next week," said Millicent, returning with
the card. "Mr. Gordon told me this morning that Mrs. Chudleigh went in
the _Salmatian_ the day before he left Quebec."
"Did she?" Mrs. Keith rejoined. "Well, perhaps you had better write to
the Montreal office about our berths." Then, for the call had grown
clearer, she smiled as the girl went away, and added: "It might be
wiser to keep the woman in sight."