WHICH TELLS ONCE MORE OF COMMONPLACE INCIDENTS
The note-book fell out of Louisa's hands on to her lap. How simple the
tragedy seemed, now that she knew. How understandable was the mystery
of Luke's silence. He knew that "Uncle Rad" was guilty. There lay the
awful difficulty!
"Uncle Rad has been father, mother, brother, sister to us all! Bless
him!" that was Luke's feeling with regard to Uncle Rad.
The un-understandable was so simple after all!
Louisa went back to the sitting-room. The two men were sitting,
smoking in silence. Colonel Harris, too, understood the mystery at
last. His loyalty was crowned with the halo of justification.
* * * * *
The public never knew, I think, that Luke de Mountford had actually
been arrested for the murder of the Clapham Road bricklayer. The
police the next day applied for a remand and then Luke was brought
quietly before the magistrate and equally quietly dismissed.
He was free to go and see Uncle Rad.
Louisa did not see him the whole of that day, for he sat by the
bedside of the sick man whose strange and perturbed spirit was slowly
sinking to rest. Uncle Rad was at peace, for he held the hand and
looked into the face of the man on whom he had lavished the storehouse
of an affection that had known no bounds.
The two men understood each other perfectly. He who had committed a
crime, and he who was ready to bear its burden, both had done their
share for the other's sake.
It was only after the magnificent obsequies of the Earl of Radclyffe
that the truth about the murder of the bricklayer's son was made known
to the public at large.
It had to be done for Luke's sake. Colonel Harris insisted upon it
with all the weight of his fatherly authority. Sir Thomas Ryder did
likewise.
For Louisa's sake, too, it had to be. But, twenty-four hours before
the publication of the confession in the newspapers, Luke and Louisa
had been quietly married by special license, and had gone abroad.
Once more we must think of them as the commonplace, conventional man
and woman of the world, who outwardly behaved just like thousands of
English men and women of their class behave.
When they came back from their honeymoon--which lasted one year abroad
and all the rest of their lives after that--there was not a trace in
them, in their appearance, their manner, their mode of life, of the
terrible tragedy which had threatened to annihilate honour, life, and
love.
"Ah! those English!" murmured the foreign excellencies who graced the
English court, "they have no heart, no sentiment! Lord and Lady
Radclyffe! They behave just as if he had never been accused of murder!
As if his uncle had never been the awful criminal that he was! They
are hypocrites, these English, and they have no heart!"
Convention was once more the master! Its giant hands held the strings
which made the puppets dance.
But at times his grip would relax, when Luke and Louisa were all
alone, no prying eyes to watch, no indifferent gaze to see the
unburdening of their hearts. Then Luke would lie at Louisa's feet, for
his love was worship, and his passion uncontrolled. His arms would
encircle the perfect form that he loved with such intensity, that at
times the happiness of loving had in it an exquisite sense of pain.
The tragedy of the past was never quite absent from them then: the
ghost of a great crime and the shadow of a still greater renunciation
threw a mystic halo over their love for each other. And at those
times--like Paolo and Francesca--they read no more.
But these English, they have no heart, you know!
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors
present in the original edition have been corrected.
In Chapter I, "She gleamed a phrase" was changed to
"She gleaned a phrase".
In Chapter III, "At the tine I thought" was changed to
"At the time I thought".
In Chapter IV, "Radcylffe would be gone" was changed
to "Radclyffe would be gone".
In Chapter VI, a comma was changed to a period after
"he was invariably clumsy".
In Chapter VII, a period was changed to a comma after
"held open for him".
In Chapter XI, a period was changed to a comma after
"saying simply", and a quotation mark was added before
"I can't explain".
In Chapter XIII, "he caugh sight of Louisa" was
changed to "he caught sight of Louisa".
In Chapter XIV, "an old man's irritabilty" was changed
to "an old man's irritability".
In Chapter XVI, a quotation mark was added after "have
you seen your uncle?".
In Chapter XVII, "his neighour's wife" was changed to
"his neighbour's wife".
In Chapter XX, a quotation mark following "a quarter
past eight" was deleted.
In Chapter XXI, "Sir Thomas, Ryder" was changed to
"Sir Thomas Ryder", "such paltry gounds" was changed
to "such paltry grounds", and "keep Lousia out of it"
was changed to "keep Louisa out of it".
In Chapter XXII, "pressently would have to be brushed
off" was changed to "presently would have to be
brushed off".
In Chapter XXV, "No. 1. Cromwell Road" was changed to
"No. 1 Cromwell Road", and "along Picadilly until" was
changed to "along Piccadilly until".
In Chapter XXXIX, "the small of disinfectants" was
changed to "the smell of disinfectants", and "he went
to the piano" was changed to "she went to the piano".