A Letter and a Legacy
On a January morning two months later, when all London was under a
blanket of snow, a card was brought to Mrs. Darling--Mr. Widdicombe's
card.
"I am not at home," she said petulantly. And when the maid had gone she
added to herself: "He is the rudest man I know, and I refuse to see rude
men."
But the maid was back before she was able to recompose herself.
"The gentleman says, ma'am, that he saw you at the window, and it's most
important."
"Tell him that I shall take care not to let him see me at the window
again, or any place else. I am engaged and cannot receive him."
But the maid, returning for a second time, presented a second card,
bearing a scribbled line, which Nina was about to cast into the blazing
grate when a single word of the penciling caught her eye and interest.
The word was "Scripps."
"I must see you," he had written, "regarding Miss Agnes Scripps."
Had it not been for the puzzle of that addressed envelope so strangely
discovered at so tragic a moment, yet forgotten in the stress of
following events, it is a question whether even the scribbled line would
have served its purpose.
As it was, however, Mrs. Darling reversed her decision at once, and the
solicitor of the parchment cheeks was promptly admitted.
He found her a funereal-appearing young woman in deepest mourning,
guarded by an equally funereal-appearing staghound, which lay between
her feet and the fender.
"I trust you will pardon my persistency, Mrs. Darling," he began; "but
the truth is that Lord Kneedrock's sudden death, coupled with another
event, equally unexpected and unprovided for, has left me in a somewhat
serious predicament."
"Another event?" questioned Nina coolly.
"Another death."
"Whose?" she asked bluntly.
"Old David Phipps died yesterday, in Dundee."
"I never heard of him. Who is he?"
Mr. Widdicombe appeared surprised.
"I was under the impression," he began, taking off his glasses and
wiping the lenses on his enormous silk handkerchief, "that you were
informed. He was--well, an associate of the late viscount's in
Melanesia."
"No," she returned, "I was not informed. I fancied at the moment you
alluded to Miss Scripps."
At this the solicitor brightened. "Ah, then you are informed concerning
Miss Scripps. I am glad of that. I feared that, perhaps, you were not;
which would make my mission the more embarrassing."
"I know that Lord Kneedrock visited and corresponded with a young lady
of that name in Dundee, and I have always imagined that he was rather
seriously attached to her."
And now Mr. Widdicombe looked surprised again.
"Then you don't know all?" he questioned, rubbing his lenses more
vigorously.
"All?" she repeated. "Is there any more?"
The solicitor hesitated in apparent indecision.
"There is very much more," he said at length. "You know and I
know--though the world doesn't--that the late viscount was, and yet
after a fashion was not, a married man."
Nina Darling nodded. She had always supposed that Mr. Widdicombe knew,
since he had all the Kneedrocks' secrets; but she had never been quite
sure. Then, in spite of herself, she smiled.
"We were like a certain class of suburban villas," she
said--"semi-detached."
The old gentleman did not smile. "Quite so," he agreed.
"I think I begin to understand," she continued. "He met Miss Scripps in
Tahiti, when he had no thought of ever returning to England. She fancied
that he meant to marry her, and when he came away--left her forlorn--she
induced old David Phipps to accompany her and follow after. Isn't that
it?"
But there was no answering gleam of affirmation in the pale eyes of the
legal luminary. "No," he answered, "not exactly. You forget, if you ever
have known, that the late viscount while in that far country assumed the
name of Scripps himself."
"Oh, of course," she rejoined; "I know that. I've always wondered why he
chose such a horrid name."
"He never knew why himself."
"Never knew why?"
"No. You see, when he recovered his memory after the incident at Spion
Kop he found himself at Cape Town in a shipping office, and he was known
there as Henry Scripps. For reasons best known to himself he retained
it."
Nina looked confused. All those questions and conjectural answers that
had sprung into her mind on the finding of the letter in the St. James's
Square suite came flooding back.
Of a sudden she spoke.
"Shouldn't she be Mrs. Scripps?" she asked pointedly.
"Not at all," was the quick answer. "There was a Mrs. Scripps, you see.
Miss Agnes Scripps is in her tenth year. Her mother died when she was
four. Her mother was David Phipps's sister."
Nina sank a trifle lower in her chair. It was the very last thing she
expected. The weight of the revelation robbed her for the moment of
words.
She had married, believing Kneedrock dead. But he had married, knowing
her to be living. All her blood seemed rushing to her face. She was
never more incensed.
Mr. Widdicombe was quick to note her emotion. "You must not forget, Mrs.
Darling, that at this time the viscount believed he had completely
buried himself in his island home. He had no intention of ever returning
to England."
Her long, tapering fingers, each a psychic index, were playing a tattoo
on the arms of her chair.
"If he wished to bury himself," she said warmly, "he should have
remained dead. But he took pains to send me word that he was alive."
"That was before he left Africa, however; and he did so after some
protest at my advice. It was purely to avoid certain possible legal
complications."
Nina continued her nervous tapping. Presently she asked: "What was his
wife like?"
Mr. Widdicombe's yellow, seamed cheeks took on a deeper color. They
blushed--brownly. He was a bachelor of rigid impeccability, and he was
embarrassed.
"There was never any service or ceremony," he said, looking away. "The
prefix 'Mrs.' was assumed rather than warranted. In Papeete the moral
code is somewhat lightly held."
Oddly enough, Nina appeared much relieved.
"Ah, I see!" she said. "That, of course, makes a difference--a very
great difference."
The solicitor's eyes came back to her. "It does indeed," he affirmed.
"And it is because of that difference that I am here. The little girl in
Dundee, now that her uncle is dead, is without friends and penniless."
Mrs. Darling stood up.
"Lord Kneedrock made no provision for her?"
"He had fully intended to do so, but neglected it. Indeed it was for
that purpose that he visited me on the morning of that unfortunate day.
He had just returned from Dundee, as you may remember; and I am of the
opinion that he was himself conscious of his failing health, both
physically and mentally.
"Moreover, David Phipps was ill at the time, and he clearly foresaw the
urgent necessity of prompt action. As long as Phipps lived--he was
already handsomely pensioned--the child would have had a home.
"But the pension ceased by its provisions at the old man's death, and,
as he left no will, his little savings go to his brother, who, strangely
enough, is a guard at the Zooelogical Gardens, and was the most important
witness at the coroner's inquest."
"Then he consulted you on the matter--he gave you his ideas?"
"He did. In fact, I prepared a codicil to his will that afternoon.
But--it was never signed."
"And you wish--" asked Nina.
Mr. Widdicombe was less abrupt than usual. "I--I would like simply to
learn whether you, Mrs. Darling, as Viscount Kneedrock's sole legatee,
would care to--to--"
"I do care to," she broke in, much to his relief. "I care very much to.
I desire that the codicil be carried out precisely as though Viscount
Kneedrock had signed it."
The solicitor, who had risen when Nina did, bowed with an unprecedented
graciousness.
"You are more than generous, Mrs. Darling," he said. "But would it not
be well for you to have a copy of the provisions? Perhaps--"
"No," she interrupted again. "I am quite satisfied to let it be as he
would wish it." Then, after a slight pause, she added: "He had written
to her of it, hadn't he?"
"Yes, poor child! She received a letter on the day following his death."
Mr. Widdicombe had made his adieus when Nina stopped him.
"I should like to see the little girl," she said. "Will you have her
brought to me?"
"I shall indeed," returned the solicitor, buttoning up his greatcoat.
"At the very earliest opportunity, Mrs. Darling. I will fetch her
myself."
"No," Nina rejoined. "Pray, don't take the trouble. You are a very good
solicitor, Mr. Widdicombe; but you told me once that you were not a
wet-nurse, and I prefer you send some one else. And, by the bye," she
added, "please tell Miss Agnes to be quite sure to bring her parrot with
her."