Lucia came home late in the evening. Mrs. Costello, resuming her old
habits, had sent the servant to bed, and herself admitted her daughter.
They went into the drawing-room together to talk over the day's doings.
"You look very bright," Mrs. Costello said with her hand on Lucia's
shoulder. "You have enjoyed yourself?"
"Yes, mamma, _so_ much. You know I was a little afraid of Lady Dighton,
and dreadfully afraid of Sir John. But they have both been so good to
me; just like people at Cacouna who had known me all my life."
Mrs. Costello smiled. She was very glad this friendship seemed likely
to prosper. Yet it was not very wonderful that any one should like
Lucia.
"What have you been doing?"
"We went to Versailles, and saw the gardens. We had no time for the
Palace; but Maurice is going to take me there another day. Then we came
home and had dinner; and where do you think we have been since?"
"Where?"
"To the theatre! Oh, mamma, it was so nice! You know, I never was in one
before."
Lucia clasped her hands, and looked up at her mother with such a
perfectly innocent, childish, face of delight, that it was impossible
not to laugh.
"What a day of dissipation!"
"Yes; but just for once, you know. And I could not help it."
"I do not see why you should have wished to help it. How about your
French? Could you understand the play?"
"Pretty well. It was very shocking, you know. Lady Dighton says the best
French plays always are. I cried a little, and I was so ashamed of
myself; only I saw some other people crying too, so then I did not mind
so much."
"You did not really see much of Lady Dighton, then, if you were driving
all afternoon and at the theatre all evening?"
"Oh! yes; we had a long talk before dinner. When we came in, she said,
'Now, Maurice, you must just amuse yourself how you can for an hour. Sir
John has English papers to read, and Miss Costello and I are going to my
room to have a chat.' So she took me off to her dressing-room, and we
were by ourselves there for quite an hour."
"In which time, I suppose, you talked about everything in heaven and
earth."
"I don't know. No, indeed; I believe we talked most about Maurice."
"He is a favourite of hers."
"She says she liked him from the first. She is so funny in her way of
describing things. She said, 'We English are horribly benighted with
regard to you colonists; and my notions of geography are elementary.
When grandpapa told me he had sent for his heir from Canada, I went to
Sir John and asked him where Canada was. He got a big map and began to
show me; but all I could understand was, that it was in North America.
I saw an American once. I suppose I must have seen others, but I
remember one particularly, for being an American; he was dreadfully thin
and had straight black hair, and a queer little pointed black beard, and
I _think_ he spoke through his nose; and really I began to be haunted by
a recollection of this man, and to think I was going to have a cousin
just like him.' Then she told me about going over to Hunsdon and finding
he had arrived. She said that before the end of the day they were fast
friends."
"He was not like what she expected, then?"
"Just the opposite. She made me laugh about that. She said, 'I like
handsome people, and I like an English style of beauty for men. My poor
dear Sir John is not handsome, though he has a good face; but really
when a man is good-looking _and_ looks good, I can't resist him.'"
"You seem to have been much occupied with this question of looks. Did
you spend the whole hour talking about them?"
"Mamma! Why that was only the beginning."
"What was the rest, then? or some of it, at least?"
"She told me how good Maurice was to his grandfather, and how fond Mr.
Beresford grew of him. Do you know that Maurice was just going to try to
get away to Canada at the very time Mr. Beresford had his last attack?
Lady Dighton says he was excessively anxious to go, and yet he never
showed the least impatience or disappointment when he found he could not
be spared."
"He must have felt that he was bound to his grandfather."
"He nursed him just like a woman, Lady Dighton says, and one could fancy
it. Could not you, mamma?"
"I don't find it difficult to believe anything good of Maurice."
"Oh! and then she told me about Hunsdon. She was born there, and lived
there till she was married. She told me all about why Mr. Beresford left
it to Maurice, and not to her. But, mamma, I cannot understand how
Maurice can be so long away from home. I should think he must have
quantities of things to attend to; and she told me Sir John was always
busy, though his estate is not so large as Hunsdon. Only think, mamma,
of Maurice, our Maurice, having more than ten thousand a year!"
"Well, dear, since we have come to talking of our neighbour's fortunes,
I think we had better go to bed."
"Oh! yes; how thoughtless I am, keeping you up so. And I must be early
to-morrow, for Lady Dighton is coming to see you, and Maurice wants me
to go with him for a walk first. Not to see anything, but just for a
walk."
Mrs. Costello lay down that night with a great feeling of content with
regard to her daughter's future.
"Certainly," she thought, "Maurice may be satisfied with the affection
she has for him; if it is not just the kind of love he wishes for, that
is only because it has never entered her mind that he could be anything
but a brother to her. She is so excessively childish in some things! I
shall be glad now when she really does begin to understand. Only, must I
part with her? Better that than that I should leave her alone; better
even than that she should have to go among strange relatives."
Maurice had asked Lucia to walk with him for the sake of having her
quite to himself for an hour, and perhaps of asking that much meditated
question. He had specially bargained that they were not to "go
anywhere;" but simply to choose a tolerably quiet road and go straight
along it. Accordingly they started, and went slowly up the sunny slope
towards the great arch, talking of yesterday, and of the trifles which
always seemed interesting when they spoke of them together. After they
had passed the barrier, they hesitated a little which road to take--they
had already made several expeditions in this direction, and Lucia wanted
novelty. Finally they took the road to Neuilly, and went on for a time
very contentedly. But Maurice, after a while, fell into little fits of
silence, thinking how he should first speak of the subject most
important to him. He felt that there could be no better opportunity than
this, and he was not cool enough to reflect that it was waste of trouble
to try to choose his words, since if Lucia accepted him she would for
ever think them eloquent; and if she refused him, would be certain to
consider them stupid. She, on the other hand, was in unusually high
spirits. It had occurred to her that Lady Dighton, who seemed to know
everybody, would probably know Percy. She had begun already to lay deep
plans for finding out if this was the case, and after that, where he
was at present. She had thought of him so much lately, and so tenderly;
she had remembered so often his earnestness and her own harshness in
that last interview, that she felt as if she owed him some reparation,
and as if his love were far more ardent than hers, and must needs be
more stable also. The idea that she had advanced a step towards the
happiness of meeting him again, added the last ingredient to her
content. She could have danced for joy.
They walked a considerable distance, and Maurice had not yet found
courage for what he wanted to say. Lucia began to think of her mother's
loneliness, and proposed to return; he would have tempted her further,
but a strange shyness and embarrassment seemed to have taken possession
of him. They had actually turned round and begun to walk towards home
before he had found a reason for not doing it.
"Lucia," he said abruptly, after one of the pauses which had been
growing more and more frequent, "don't you wish to go over to England?"
"Of course I do," she answered with some surprise; "I wish we _could_
go. You know I always used to wish it."
"Why don't you try now you are so near?"
"Surely, Maurice, you know mamma cannot go."
"I remember hearing something about your grandfather having wished her
not to do so. Forgive me if it is a painful subject; but do not you see
that things are quite changed now?"
"Do you think she could, then? But I _don't_ see."
"Her father, I suppose, wished to avoid the chance of her marriage being
gossipped about. His idea of her going back to England was naturally
that she would go among her own relations and old acquaintance who knew
the story. Now, I believe that she might go to any other part of the
island--say Norfolk, for instance--and obey his wishes just as much as
by staying in Paris."
"To Norfolk? Why, then, we should be near you? Oh! do try to persuade
her."
"I must have you decidedly on my side then. I must be enabled to offer
her a great inducement. If, for instance, I could tell her that you had
made up your mind to come and live in Norfolk, she might say yes."
"Ah! but she would have to make up her mind first. See Maurice," she
broke in abruptly, "what is that little building on the other side the
road? There are some people who look like English going in."
"Don't mind that now, I want to talk to you."
"We have been talking. Only tell me what it is?"
"It is a chapel built on the place where the Duke of Orleans was killed
some years ago."
"I remember now somebody told me about it; his monument is there."
"Very likely. I know nothing about it."
"Oh, Maurice! to speak in that tone, when it was such a sad thing."
"There are so many sad things--one cannot pity everybody."
"You are cross this morning. What is the matter?"
"Nothing. What do you want me to do?"
"Just now I want you to take me in there. I see it is open."
There was no help; the moment was gone. Lucia's head was full of the
unhappy Duke of Orleans, and it would, have been very bad policy,
Maurice thought, to oppose her whim. He rang the bell, and they were
admitted without difficulty into the open space in front of the chapel.
The old man who let them in pointed to the half-open door, and, saying
that his wife was in there with a party, retreated, and left them to
find their own way into the building itself. They passed quietly through
the entrance and into the soft grey light of the chapel. Lucia stopped
only to take one glance of the tiny interior, so coldly mournful with
its black draperies and chill white and grey marble, and then passed
round to examine more closely the monument which marks the very spot
where the fatal accident occurred. Maurice followed her. They stood half
concealed by the monument, and speaking low, while the tones of other
voices could be distinctly heard from the recess behind the altar where
the English visitors were examining the picture of the Duke's death.
There was one rather high-pitched female voice which broke the solemn
stillness unpleasantly, and as it became more audible, Lucia laid her
hand softly on Maurice's arm to make him listen, and looked up in his
face with eyes full of laughter. The lady was talking French to the
guide with a strong English accent and in a peculiar drawl, which had a
very droll effect. It was a manner new to them both, though Maurice
could not help thinking, as he listened, of Percy in his worst moods.
"I am glad to have seen it," the voice said, "and quite by chance, too;
it is excessively interesting, so melancholy. Ah! you say that they laid
him just there? It makes one shudder! No, I will not go near the place;
it is too shocking."
At the last words Maurice and Lucia saw the speaker emerge from behind
the altar on the side furthest from where they stood. She was a tall
woman, neither young nor pretty, but very fashionable--distinguished,
Lucia supposed she should be called; and but for the peculiarity of her
voice, would have made a favourable rather than an unfavourable
impression on a stranger. She stopped just at the top of the steps, and
turned round to speak again to some one behind her who was still
concealed by the altar. This time she spoke English in a lower tone, and
with a greater drawl.
"Really, Edward," she said, "it is very small. Pray don't give the
woman much; you know how heavy our expenses are. I think I ought to
carry the purse."
"As you please, my dear; it would save me trouble, certainly."
At the sound of that second voice Maurice started and looked at Lucia.
She had suddenly grasped at the stonework before her, and stood looking
with passionate eagerness over the carved figure of the dying Duke
towards the altar. He almost shuddered at the intensity of that
gaze--the rigidity of intolerable suspense in her whole figure; but he
could only be still and watch her.
The unconscious Englishwoman moved on; close behind her, following her
with his old languid manner, came the man Lucia was watching for--Edward
Percy.
Still she never stirred. They passed down the chapel with her eyes upon
them, but they never saw her, and she made no sound or movement. Only
when they were no longer in sight, everything seemed to grow suddenly
black and confused about her--her hold upon the marble relaxed, and she
would have fallen if Maurice had not gently supported her, and drawn her
to a seat close by.
She did not faint, though she was cold and white and powerless. After a
minute Maurice, bending over her, saw that she was trying to speak. Her
lips seemed stiff and hardly able to form the words, but he made out,
"Who is she?"
He hesitated a moment; but she saw that he _could_ answer, and her eyes
insisted on her question.
"She is his wife," he answered; "they were married, I believe, a month
or six weeks ago."
Suddenly, at his words, the blood seemed to rise with one quick rush to
her very temples.
"You knew," she said, "and would not tell me!"
Then after her momentary anger came shame, bitter and intolerable, for
her self-betrayal. She bent down her face on her hands, but her whole
figure shook with violent agitation. Maurice suffered scarcely less. His
love for her gave him a comprehension of all, and a sympathy unspeakable
with her pain. He laid his hand lightly on her shoulder as he had often
done in her childish troubles, but one word escaped him which he had
never spoken to her before,
"My darling! my darling!"
Perhaps she did not hear it; but at least she understood that through
all the pang of her loss, there remained with her one faithful and
perfect affection; and even at that moment she was unconsciously
comforted.
But the Percys were gone, and the guide was coming back into the chapel
after a word or two at the door with her husband; Maurice had to decide
instantly what to do. He said to Lucia,
"Wait here for me," and then going forward to meet the woman, he
contrived to make her comprehend that the lady was ill; and that he was
going for a carriage. He then hurried out, and Lucia was left alone in
the chapel with the good-natured Frenchwoman, who looked at her
compassionately and troubled her with no questions.
For a few minutes the poor child remained too bewildered to notice
anything; but when at last she raised her head, and saw that Maurice was
not there, she grew frightened. Had she been so childish and
uncontrolled as to have disgusted even him? Had he left her, too? She
tried to get up from her seat, but she could not stand. The guide saw
her attempt, and thought it time to interfere.
"Monsieur would be back immediately," she said. "He was gone for a
carriage. It was unfortunate madame should be taken ill so suddenly."
Lucia smiled a very miserable kind of smile.
"Yes," she answered, "it was unfortunate, but it was only a little
giddiness."
And there she broke off to listen to the sound of wheels which stopped
at the gate.
It was Maurice; and at the sight of him Lucia felt strong again. She
rose and met him as he came towards her.
"I have got a carriage," he said. "We had walked too far. Can you go to
it?"
She could find nothing to say in answer. He made her lean on his arm,
and took her across the court and put her into the vehicle.
"Would you rather go alone?" he asked her.
"Oh! no, no," she cried nervously, and in a minute afterwards they were
on their way homewards.
When they had started, she put her hand to her head confusedly.
"Is not it strange?" she said half to herself. "I was sure we should
meet in Paris; only I never guessed it would be to-day. Across a grave,
that was right."
Maurice shuddered at her tone; it sounded as if she were talking in her
sleep.
"Dear Lucia," he said, "scold me, be angry with me. I should have told
you."
She seemed to wake at the sound of his voice, and again that burning,
painful flush covered her face and neck.
"Oh! Maurice," she cried, "it is you who should scold me. What must you
think? But, indeed, I am not so bad as I seem."
"It is I who have been blind. I thought you had forgotten him."
"Forgotten him? So soon? I thought he could not even have forgotten me!"
Maurice clenched his hand. The very simplicity of her words stirred his
anger more deeply against his successful rival. For _her_ he had still
nothing but the most pitiful tenderness.
"Some men, Lucia, love themselves too well to have any great love for
another."
"But he did care for me. I want to tell you. I want you to see that I
am not quite so bad--he did care for me very much, and I sent him away."
"You refused him?"
"Not just that. At first, you know, I thought everything could be made
to come right in time--and then mamma told me all that terrible story
about her marriage, and about the constant fear she was in; and then--I
could not tell that to him--so I said he must go away. And he did; but
he told me perhaps in a year I should change my mind. And the year is
not over yet."
Maurice was silent. He would not, if he could help it, say one word of
evil to Lucia about this man whom she still loved; and at first he could
not trust himself to speak.
"How did you know?" she asked.
And he understood instinctively what she meant, and told her shortly
when and where he had seen Percy, and what he had heard from the
solicitor.
"It is the same lady, then," she said, "that I remember hearing of."
"Yes, no doubt. I recollect some story being told of him and her, even
in Cacouna."
Lucia sighed heavily. She had now got over the difficulty of speaking on
the subject to Maurice. She knew so well that he was trustworthy, and
for the rest, was he not just the same as a brother?
"He might have waited a year," she murmured. "You cannot imagine how
happy I have been lately, thinking I must see him soon!"
"Cannot I?" Maurice cried desperately. "Listen to me, Lucia! I, too,
have been happy lately. I have been living on a false hope. I have been
deceived, and placed all my trust in a shadow. Don't you think we ought
to be able to feel for each other?"
His vehemence and the bitterness of his tone terrified her. She laid her
little trembling hand on his appealingly.
"What do you mean?" she whispered.
But he had controlled himself instantly. He took hold of her hand and
put it to his lips.
"I mean nothing," he said, "at least nothing I can tell you about at
present. Are you feeling strong enough to meet Mrs. Costello? You must
not frighten her, you know, as you did me."
"Did I frighten you? I am so sorry and ashamed--only, you know--Yes, I
can behave well now."
He saw that she could. Her self-command had entirely returned now. Her
grieving would be silent or kept for solitude henceforward. They had
already passed the barrier, and in a minute would stop at the door.
"I am not coming in with you," Maurice said, "I must go on now; but I
shall see you this evening."
He saw her inside the house and then drove away, while she little
guessed how sore a heart he took with him.