That morning Ida came down-stairs singing, not loudly, but in the soft
undertone which a girl uses when she is supremely happy and she has
hopes of seeing the cause of her happiness very soon. All through
breakfast, while Mr. Heron read his letters, opening them and reading
them stealthily as usual, her heart was singing its love-song to her,
and she was wondering whether she would meet Stafford by the stream or
among the hills. That she should meet him she felt quite sure, for he
had never failed to leave the gay party at the Villa to come over to
her every day.
Perhaps he had spoken to his father, and, in the wonderful way men
have, had swept aside all the obstacles which stood against their
union. He was so strong, so self-reliant, so masterful--though so
gentle with her--that surely no obstacles could stand against him. She
was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost started when Jason
appeared and, looking from her to Mr. Heron, announced that Mr.
Wordley, the family lawyer, was in the library.
Mr. Heron flushed and scrambled his letters and papers together as he
rose.
"Won't Mr. Wordley come in and have some breakfast?" suggested Ida. But
her father, shaking his head impatiently, said that Mr. Wordley was
sure to have had his breakfast, and shuffled out of the room.
A few minutes after he had gone, Jessie came in for the day's orders,
and Ida dragged her thoughts away from the all-absorbing subject and
plunged into housekeeping. It was not a lengthy or a very elaborate
business, alas! but when it was over Jessie lingered and began
collecting the breakfast things, glancing shyly at Ida, as she always
did when she wanted to gossip.
"There was fine doings up at the Villa last night, Miss Ida!" she
began, rather timidly, for Ida seldom encouraged her chatter. "There
was a ball there. Such a tremendous grand affair! There hasn't been
anything like it ever known in this country. Williams was up there this
morning, and Susie told him that it was like fairyland, what with the
beautiful rooms and the music and the ladies' rich dresses and jewels.
She got a peep through one of the open doors, and she says it quite
took her breath away."
Ida smiled. She was not envious; for would not Stafford come over
presently and tell her all about it: who was there, with whom he had
danced, and how all the time he had been longing to be by her side?
"Susie says that the ladies was beautiful, Miss Ida, and that the most
beautiful of them all was Miss Falconer. Susie says she had the most
lovely dress, like a cloud of smoke, with diamonds sparkling all over
it like stars."
"That sounds very pretty and poetical, Jessie," said Ida.
What would he care for a dress like a cloud, or the diamonds that shone
like stars on it? Did she not know that he loved the little rain-washed
habit which a certain rustic country girl wore, better than the
choicest production of Worth?
"Yes, miss," Jessie went on, "and Susie says that Mr. Stafford, the
lord's son"--the simple dale folk as often called Sir Stephen "my lord"
as "sir"--"danced ever so many times with her, and the servants was
saying that he was making love to her, and that they shouldn't be
surprised to hear that Mr. Stafford was going to marry Miss Falconer."
Ida could not prevent the colour rising to her face, but she laughed
unforcedly, and with no misgiving; for she had looked into Stafford's
eyes and read his soul through them. He was hers, let all the women in
the world be beautiful and decked in silks and satins.
She ran upstairs to put on her habit, leaving Jessie rather
disappointed at the effect of her news, and she sang while she tied the
little scarlet sailor's knot, and presently came down the stairs with a
step as light as her heart. As she was mounting and talking to Jason
about the last lot of steers, Mr. Wordley came out of the house to get
his horse, and hurried to her, bare-headed, in the good old way.
"No, I can't stay," he said in answer to her invitation. "I have to be
back at the office; but I'll ride a little way with you, if I may. It
isn't often I get the chance of riding with the prettiest girl in the
county. There now, I've made you blush, as I used to when you sat upon
my knee, and I told you that little girls had no right to stars for
eyes."
Ida laughed.
"But I'm a big girl now," she said, "and too old for compliments;
besides, lawyers should always speak the truth."
"For goodness sake! don't spread that theory, my dear, or we shall all
have to put our shutters up," he retorted, with mock alarm.
He got on his old red-roan rather stiffly, and they rode out of the
court-yard and on to the road, where, be sure, Ida's "star-like" eyes
swept the hills and the valleys lest perchance a young man should be
riding there. They rode in silence for a few minutes, during which the
old lawyer seemed very thoughtful, and glanced at her sideways, as if
he were trying to make up his mind about something. At last he said,
with an affectation of casualness:
"Father been pretty well of late, my dear?"
Ida hesitated for a moment. She could not bring herself to tell even
Mr. Wordley of her father's painful habit of walking in his sleep.
"Yes," she said, "fairly well. Sometimes he is rather restless and
irritable as if he were worried. Has he anything to worry him, Mr.
Wordley--I mean anything more than usual?"
He did not answer, and she looked at him as if waiting for his reply.
"I was thinking of what you just said: that you were a big girl. So you
are, though you always seem to me like the little child I used to
nurse. But the world rolls on and you have grown into a woman and I
ought to tell you the truth," he said, at last.
"The truth!" she echoed, with a quick glance.
"Yes," he said, nodding gravely. "Does your father ever talk to you of
business, my dear? I know that you manage the house and the farm; ay,
and manage them well, but I don't know whether he ever tells you
anything about the business of the estate. I ask because I am in rather
an awkward position. When your father dismissed his steward I thought
he would consult me on the matters which the steward used to manage;
but he has not done so, and I am really more ignorant about his affairs
than anyone would credit, seeing that I have been the Herons' family
lawyer--I and mine--since, well, say, since the Flood." "No; my father
tells me nothing," said Ida. "Is there anything the matter, is there
anything I should know?"
He looked at her gravely, compassionately.
"My dear, I think there is," he said. "If you had a brother or any
relative near you I would not worry you, would not tell you. But you
have none, you are quite alone, you see."
"Quite alone," she echoed. And then she blushed, as she remembered
Stafford, and that she was no longer alone in the world.
"And so I think you ought to be told that your father's affairs
are--are not as satisfactory as they should be."
"I know that we are very poor," said Ida in a low voice.
"Ah, yes," he said. "And so are a great many of the landed gentry
nowadays; but they still struggle on, and I had hope that by some
stroke of good luck I might have helped your father to struggle on and
perhaps save something, make some provision, for you. But, my dear--See
now! I am going to treat you as if you were indeed a woman; and you
will be brave, I know, for you are a Heron, and a Heron--it sounds like
a paradox!--has never shown the white feather--your father's affairs
have been growing worse lately, I am afraid. You know that the estate
is encumbered, that the entail was cut off so that you might inherit;
but advantage has been taken of the cutting off the entail to raise
fresh loans since the steward was dismissed and I have been ignorant of
your father's business matters. I came to-day to tell him that the
interest of the heaviest mortgage was long overdue, and that the
mortgagee, who says that he has applied several times, is threatening
foreclosure. I felt quite sure that I should get the money from your
father this morning, but he has put me off and makes some difficulty.
He made a rambling statement, almost incoherent, which I did not
understand, though, to be sure, I listened very intently, and from a
word or two he incautiously let drop, I am afraid that--"
He stopped and frowned and puckered his lips as if reluctant to
continue. Ida looked at him steadily with her deep grey eyes.
"Go on." she said. "Do not be afraid to tell me the truth. I can bear
it. I would rather know the worst, know what I have to face. For some
time past I have feared my father was in trouble. Do you think I am
afraid? Please tell me all."
"In a word, then, my dear," said the old lawyer, with a sigh, "I am
afraid your father has been speculating, and, like ninety-nine out of a
hundred that do so, has been losing. It is like playing against the
bank at Monte Carlo; one man may break it, but the advantage is on the
bank's side, and for the one who wins thousands lose. Can you tell me
if there are any grounds for my apprehension?"
Ida was silent for a moment as she recalled her father's manner of
late, his habit of shutting himself up in the library, of keeping his
letters from her, of secreting papers, and, above all, the furtive
glances which she had now and again seen him cast at her.
"I am afraid that it is only too true," she said. "My poor father! What
is to be done, Mr. Wordley? Can I do anything?"
The old man shook his head. He knew too well that once a man has really
taken to gambling, whether it be on the Stock Exchange, or at a green
table, or on the turf, there is very little hope of saving him.
"I fear you can do nothing," he replied, sadly. "A Heron never yet
brooked interference even by his nearest and dearest. No, you must say
nothing about it. Even I must be careful how I approach him; for this
morning he was testy and irritable and resented the few questions I
ventured to put to him. Don't make yourself unhappy about it. I will
try and arrange about the mortgage, and I will come over again as soon
as possible and try and persuade your father to confide in me as he
used to do. Now, come, remember! You are not to worry yourself, my
dear, but to leave it entirely to me. Things are rarely as bad as they
seem, and there is always a gleam of light in the darkest sky. Perhaps,
some day, we shall see Heron Hall and the good old family in all its
old glory; and when that day comes, my little girl with the star eyes
will queen it in the dale like one of the Heron ladies of the past."
He patted her hand as he held it, patted and stroked it and looked at
her with a tender and encouraging smile, which made Ida's eyes grow
moist.
She rode down the dale gravely and sadly for some minutes: then the
thought flashed through her mind, warming her heart, that she was not
alone, but there was one who loved her and to whom she could by for
consolation and encouragement. Yes, it was only right that she should
tell Stafford all; there should be no concealment from him.
She rode down the dale looking for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
When she came to the opening by the lake she saw the large, white Villa
gleaming in the sunlight; a launch was patting off from the
landing-place with men and women on board, and the could almost fancy
that she heard the sound of laughter. The contrast of the prosperity
typified by the great white place and the poverty of Heron Hall smote
her sharply. She was poorer even than she had thought: what would the
great, the rich Sir Stephen say to such a daughter-in-law? She watched
the launch dreamily as it shot across the lake, and wondered whether
Stafford was on board, laughing and talking perhaps with the beautiful
Miss Falconer. In this moment of her trouble the thought was not
pleasant, but there was no jealousy in it, for in her assurance of his
love he was free to talk and jest with whom he pleased. She turned, and
after making her usual circuit, rode home-wards. As she reached the
cross-road she heard the sound of a horse coming from the Hall, and she
pulled up, her heart beating fast; then it sank with disappointment,
for the horseman came round the bend and she saw that it was a groom.
He touched his hat as he passed, and rode on at a sharp trot in the
direction of Bryndremere. Ida wondered why he had been to the Hall, but
concluded that he had gone there with some message about the farm
produce.
When she rode into the stable-yard, she saw Jessie and Jason standing
by the small hall door and talking eagerly, and Jessie came forward,
and taking a letter from under her apron, held it out with a smile.
"It's just come from the Villa, Miss Ida," she said. "And oh, miss,
what I told you this morning--it's quite true. It was Mr. Stafford's
own groom as brought the note, and he says that his master is engaged
to Miss Falconer, and that the whole place is in excitement over it. He
was as proud as Punch, Miss Ida; for he says that his new mistress is
terrible rich as well as beautiful, and that there'll be the grandest
of grand doings up there."
The blood rushed to Ida's face for a moment, then faded, and she
slipped the note into the pocket of her habit and laughed. For it
sounded too ridiculous, too incredible to cause her even a shadow of
annoyance. She gave one or two orders to Jason, then went into the
hall, took the note from her pocket and looked at the address lovingly,
lingeringly: for instinctively she knew whose hand had written it. It
was the first letter she had received from him; what would it say to
her? No doubt it was to tell her why he had not been able to meet her
that morning, to ask her to meet him later in the day. With a blush of
maidenly shame she lifted the envelope to her lips and kissed each
written word.
Then she opened it, slowly, as lingeringly as she had looked at it,
spinning out the pleasure, the delight which lay before her in the
perusal of her first love-letter. With her foot upon the old-fashioned
fender, her head drooping as if there was someone present to see her
blushes, she read the letter; and it is not too much to say that at
first she failed utterly to grasp its meaning. With knit brows and
quaking heart, she read it again and again, until its significance was,
so to speak, forced upon her; then the letter dropped from her hand,
her arms fell limply to her sides, and she looked straight before her
in a dazed, benumbed fashion, every word burning itself upon her brain
and searing her heart.
The blow had fallen so suddenly, so unexpectedly, like a bolt from the
blue, smiting the happiness of her young life as a sapling is smitten
by summer lightning, that for the moment she felt no pain, nothing but
the benumbing of all her faculties; so that she did not see the
portrait of the dead and gone Heron upon which her eyes rested, did not
hear her father's voice calling to her from the library, was conscious
of nothing but those terrible words which were dinning through her
brain like the booming of a great bell. Presently she uttered a low cry
and clasped her head with her hand, as if to shut out the sound of the
words that tortured her.
It could not be true--it could not be true! Stafford had not written
it. It was some cruel jest, a very cruel jest, perpetrated by someone
who hated them both, and who wantonly inflicted pain. Yes; that was it!
That could be the only explanation. Someone had written in his name; it
was a forgery; she would meet Stafford presently, and they would laugh
at it together. He would be very angry, would want to punish the person
who had done it; but he and she would laugh together, and he would take
her in his arms and kiss her in one of the many ways in which he had
made a kiss an ecstasy of delight, and they would laugh together as he
whispered that nothing should ever separate them.
She laughed now as she pictured the scene that would be enacted. But
suddenly the laugh died on her lips, as there flashed across her mind
the words Jessie had said. Stafford was engaged to Maude Falconer, the
girl up at the Villa, whose beauty and grace and wealth all the dale
was talking of.
Oh, God! Was there any truth in it, was there any truth in it? Had
Stafford, indeed, written that cruel letter? Had he left her forever,
forever, forever? Should she never see him again, never again hear him
tell her that he loved her, would always love her?
The room spun round with her, she suddenly felt sick and faint, and,
reeling, caught at the carved mantel-shelf to prevent herself from
falling. Then gradually the death-like faintness passed, and she became
conscious that her father's voice was calling to her, and she clasped
her head again and swept the hair from her forehead, and clenched her
hands in the effort to gain her presence of mind and self-command.
She picked up the letter, and, with a shudder, thrust it in her bosom,
as Cleopatra might have thrust the asp which was to destroy her; then
with leaden feet, she crossed the hall and opened the library door, and
saw her father standing by the table clutching some papers in one hand,
and gesticulating wildly with the other. Dizzily, for there seemed to
be a mist before her eyes, she went to him and laid a hand upon his
arm.
"What is it, father?" she said, "Are you ill? What is the matter?"
He gazed at her vacantly and struck his hand on the table, after the
manner of a child in a senseless passion.
"Lost! Lost! All lost!" he mumbled, jumbling the words together almost
incoherently.
"What is lost, father?" she asked.
"Everything, everything!" he cried, in the same manner. "I can't
remember, can't remember! It's ruin, utter ruin! My head--I can't
think, can't remember! Lost, lost!"
In her terror, she put her young arm round him as a mother encircles
her child in the delirium of fever.
"Try and tell me, father!" she implored him. "Try and be calm, dearest!
Tell me, and I will help you. What is lost?"
He tried to struggle from her arms, tried to push her from him.
"You know!" he mumbled. "You've watched me--you know the truth!
Everything is lost! I am ruined! The mortgage! Herondale will pass
away! I am a poor man, a very poor man! Have pity on me, have pity on
me!"
He slipped, by their weight, from her arms and fell into the chair. She
sank on to her knees, her arms still round him, and stroked and
caressed his withered hand that twitched and shook; and to her horror
his stony eyes grew more vacant, his jaw dropped, and he sank still
lower in the chair. "Jessie! Jason!" she called, and they rushed in.
For a space they stood aghast and unhelpful from fright, then Jason
tried to lift his master from the heap into which he had collapsed. The
old man's eyes closed, he straggled for breath, and when he had gained
it, he looked from one to the other with a smile, a senile smile, which
added to Ida's grief and terror.
"It's all right!" he whispered, huskily, pantingly. "It's all right;
they don't know. They don't guess!" Then his manner changed to one of
intense alarm and dismay. "Lost! Lost!" he gasped. "I'm ruined, rained!
Herondale has gone, gone--all is gone! My poor child--Ida!"
"Father!" broke from Ida's white lips. "Father, I am here. Look at me,
speak to me. I am here--everything is not lost. I am here, and all is
well."
His lips twisted into a smile, a smile of cunning, almost of glee; then
he groaned, and the cry rose again:
"I can't remember--all is lost! Ruined! My poor child! Have pity on my
child!"
As she clung to him, supporting him as she clung, she felt a shudder
run through him, and he fell a lifeless heap upon her shoulder.
The minutes--were they minutes or years?--passed, and were broken into
fragments by a cry from Jessie.
"Miss Ida! Miss Ida! He's--the master's dead!'"
Ida raised her father's head from her shoulder and looked into his
face, and knew that the girl had spoken the truth.
He was dead. She had lost both father and lover in one day!