THE BROTHERS' MEETING.
With drowsy driver and weary horse, the cab rolled slowly on, till at
length the rumble of its wheels broke the stillness of aristocratic
Grosvenor Square. Bruce roused himself as the conveyance stopped at the
door of Mrs. Montalban.
As the coming of the Trevors was unexpected, none of the servants were
likely to be up to answer at once the summons of the bell. No light
shone in the hall, all was shut up; and the driver stood clapping his
arms to keep out the cold, until some sleepy lackey should rouse himself
to obey the unwelcome summons.
But there was one person in that mansion too nervous and too much
excited to have made any preparations, even at past midnight, for
retiring to rest. Vibert was pacing up and down his room when the cab
was drawn up at the door; to him the bell, heard at so late an hour,
announced tidings which must relate to his own unhappy affair. It was
Vibert who, pale with anxiety and distress, rushed down the six flights
of stairs, hurried into the hall, drew back the massive bolts, unloosed
the chain, and threw open the door, while Mrs. Montalban's footman was
yet rubbing his sleepy eyes and yawning, before he attempted to ensconce
himself in his livery coat.
"Emmie! Bruce!" exclaimed the astonished Vibert, as by the flickering
light of the bed-room candle, which he had brought from his own
apartment, he recognized the travellers who now entered the hall. "For
what have you come, and at such a time?"
"To stand by you," answered Bruce, grasping the hand of his younger
brother.
Those brief words--that grasp of the hand--were to the wretched Vibert
like the first gleam of light bursting through clouds of darkness and
storm. Of the bitter drops which had filled the cup of misery which,
since his arrest, Vibert had drained, perhaps none had been more bitter
than the thought of the contempt which his elder brother would feel for
one who had stood in a police-court, accused as a felon. Not that Vibert
supposed that Bruce would believe him capable of knowingly passing
forged notes; but what a selfish prodigal--what a contemptible
dupe--what a disgrace to the family, would he not appear in the eyes of
his high-minded elder brother! Bruce, with his lofty sense of duty,--his
own character so pure from reproach,--how he would despise the companion
and tool of a profligate forger! Vibert, notwithstanding his affected
disregard of the opinions of Bruce, really looked up to him with
respect, though that feeling was largely mixed with that of dislike. The
youth was vain of his own personal advantages; love of approbation was
strong in his soul, and he had resented the stern Mentor-like
superiority assumed by his elder brother. Now that all Bruce's warnings
against Vibert's folly had been more than justified by the event, the
younger brother winced at the idea of the stern judgment on his conduct
which would be passed by him who had warned in vain. The brother's
withering sneer--so thought Vibert, who was selfish even in his
misery--would be harder to bear than even his father's deep
mortification, or Emmie's burst of distress. Now to find sympathy and
support, where he had looked for upbraiding and scorn, touched the heart
of the poor lad, and filled his eyes with tears.
Bruce's dislike to "cause any fuss in the house" made him decide at once
on accompanying Vibert back to his room, where, as the younger Trevor
said, there were a sofa and a fire. Emmie was to steal up softly to the
apartment of her cousin Cecilia, whose habit it was, as she knew, to sit
up reading novels till midnight. There was to be no noise--no whispering
on the stairs--to rouse the family from their slumbers. Vibert wondered
at the earnestness with which Emmie recommended Bruce to his care; it
was strange to the poor lad, absorbed as he was in his own trouble, that
his sister should appear to be more anxious about Bruce than unhappy
about himself. A feeling of shame had made Vibert scarcely glance at his
brother when he met him in the hall, and he scarcely noticed with how
feeble and slow a step Bruce now mounted the long flights of stairs. If
Vibert thought at all on the subject, as, candle in hand, he led the way
to his room, he deemed that his brother was giving to Emmie, who
accompanied Bruce to the upper landing-place, the support which he was
in reality receiving from the slender arm of his sister.
Bruce entered his brother's room, into which he had been preceded by
Vibert, with difficulty reached the sofa, and then sank upon it, his
brain reeling, and every object seeming to swim around him. He threw off
the travelling cap which, light as it was, had sat like a weight of lead
on his brow; and then, indeed, Vibert noticed that his brother's head
was bandaged.
"What has happened to you, Bruce?" he exclaimed. "You look as if you had
just walked out of your grave!"
Bruce simply replied, "I had a blow;" and Vibert's mind went back at
once to his own affairs. The youth, as he stirred the fire to a brighter
blaze, kept up what could scarcely be termed a conversation, as he
himself was the only speaker. Bruce did not take in the meaning of half
the rapidly-uttered words which fell on his ear,--to his feverish brain
they were as sounds heard in a dream; but he was a silent if not an
attentive listener, and that was enough for Vibert.
"Can you imagine a more horrid affair than this has been?" exclaimed the
younger Trevor. "I had no more doubt that those notes had been issued
from the Bank of England than I had of my own existence. But I need not
tell you that. No one who knows me could for a moment suspect me of a
dishonourable action, though, as I am ready enough to own, I have acted
with consummate folly. How could I have let myself be so deceived by a
worthless adventurer? I cannot even now understand how Standish gained
such an influence over my mind!"
Bruce might have replied--"By working on your vanity and self-love;" but
the young man had neither the strength nor the inclination to make such
a remark. Vibert went rambling on with his painful story; he had been
longing for some one to whom he could pour out his heart, and was
agreeably surprised at not being interrupted by any caustic remark from
his brother.
"The blow fell upon me in so horridly public a way!" cried Vibert. "Just
imagine the scene. There was the large drawing-room full of people,--my
aunt was giving an afternoon party. We had the Montagues, Carpenters,
stately Sir Richard,--the countess and all! The music had struck up; the
couples were placed; I had asked Alice for the first dance; she and I
stood at the top. We were laughing, chatting, and just beginning to
dance. Suddenly the music stopped,--musicians, dancers, every one
looking in one direction. A policeman--astounding apparition!--was
making his way up the room! Even then I was not in the least alarmed. I
remember that I turned to Alice, and jestingly asked her whether she was
to be taken up for stealing hearts! It was no jesting matter for me!
When the fellow in blue laid his grasp on _my_ arm,--when he said that
his business was with _me_,--I should have liked to have struck him to
the earth; and then--I should have liked the floor to have opened
beneath me!" Vibert, as he spoke, plunged the poker fiercely into the
heart of the fire. "Only conceive," he continued, "what it was to have
to walk down that long room, with a policeman's hand on my collar, and
to feel (I dared not look about me to see) that every eye was watching
my movements! I did indeed catch a glimpse of my aunt in her purple
velvet, with her face as full of horror as if she had seen the Gorgon's
head! I did hear Alice's exclamation of pity,--that was almost the worst
of all; for such pity is akin to contempt! Then my poor uncle,
stammering and confused at the dishonour done to his family and house,
would fain have got me out of the clutch of the grim policeman; but he
could not effect anything then, though his bail and my father's were
accepted on the following day when I had been before the magistrate. I
was led off from that grand house--from that gay throng--to--to--O
Bruce! can you imagine your brother in the lock-up for a night! I wonder
that I did not go crazy! And then to have to appear on the next day in a
police-court, on a charge of felony! Horrible! horrible!--most horrible!
I should wish, when this affair is over, to shut myself up in a
hermitage, where no one should ever see or hear of me again. I shall
never be able to endure meeting one of those who beheld me carried off
to jail in charge of the police!"
Vibert turned suddenly from the fire as he concluded the sentence, and
saw his brother stretched on the sofa, quite unconscious of his
presence, sleeping the sleep of exhaustion.