It was striking one when Mrs. Wade came in sight of the Quarriers'
house. At this hour Quarrier was expected at home for luncheon. He
arrived whilst the visitor still waited for an answer to her ring at
the door.
"But haven't you seen Lily? She told me"----
"Yes, I have seen her. She is at the cottage."
A peculiarity in her tone arrested his attention, and the look of
joyous excitement which had been fixed upon his face these last few
days changed to anxious inquiry.
"What's the matter?"
"She is quite well--don't imagine accidents. But I must speak to you in
private."
The door had opened. Denzil led straightway to the library, where he
flung aside hat and overcoat.
"What is it, Mrs. Wade?"
She stood close before him, her eyes on his. The rapid walk had brought
colour to her cheek, and perhaps to the same cause was attributable her
quickened breathing.
"Lily has been discovered by an enemy of hers and yours. A man named
Northway."
"Damnation!"
He felt far too strongly to moderate his utterance out of regard for
the listener. His features were distorted; he stared wrathfully.
"And you have left her with him? Where is she?"
"She is quite safe in my sitting-room--the key turned to protect her.
He, too, is in the house, in another room. I have gained time; I"----
He could not listen.
"How did it happen?--You had no right to leave her alone with him!--How
has he found her?"
"Please don't eat me up, Mr. Quarrier I have been doing my very best
for you."
And she told him the story of the morning as briefly as possible. Her
endeavour to keep a tone of perfect equanimity failed in the course of
the narrative; once or twice there was a catching in her breath, and,
as if annoyed with herself, she made an impatient gesture.
"And this fellow," cried Quarrier, when she ceased, "imagines that I am
at his mercy! Let him do what he likes--let him go into the
market-place and shout his news!--We'll go back at once."
"You are prepared, then, to have this known all over Polterham?" Mrs.
Wade asked, looking steadily at him.
"I don't care a jot! Let the election go to the devil! Do you think I
will submit Lily to a day of such torture? This very evening we go to
London. How does she bear it?"
"Very well indeed."
"Like a brave, good girl! Do you think I would weigh the chance of
election against her misery?"
"It seems to me," was the cold answer, "that you have done so already."
"Has she complained to you?"
"Oh, no! But I understand now what always puzzled me. I understand
her"----
She checked herself, and turned quietly from him. Strategy must always
be liable to slips from one cause or another, and Mrs. Wade's prudence
had, for the moment, yielded to her impulses.
"You think she has all along been unhappy?"
"No, nothing of the kind. But when we have been speaking of the
position of women--that kind of thing--I have noticed something
strange--an anxiety. I was only going to say that, after having
succeeded thus far, it seems a pity to lose everything when a little
prudence--"
She waved her hand.
"Do you believe," Denzil asked, "that his story of finding her by mere
chance is true?"
"Lilian tells me that only your most intimate friend shared the secret."
"Glazzard? Of course _he_ has nothing to do with it. But some one else
may have"----
He walked apart, brooding. Mrs. Wade seated herself, and became
thoughtful.
"What sort of a fellow is this?" Quarrier asked, of a sudden.
"It depends who is dealing with him," she answered, meeting his look
with eyes full of sympathetic expression. "I read him at once, and
managed him. He is too weak for serious villainy. He doesn't seem to
have thought of extorting money from you. Lilian was his only object.
He would have taken her away by force."
"Come--we mustn't lose time."
"Mr. Quarrier, do be calm, and let us talk before we go. She is quite
safe. And as for Northway, I am perfectly sure that you can keep him
silent."
"You think it possible?"
"If you will consent to follow in the path I have prepared. I have
taken no small trouble."
She looked up at him and smiled.
"You have behaved like a true friend, Mrs. Wade--it is no more than I
should have expected of you. But what have you planned? Think how this
secret has already spread--what hope is there of finally hushing it up?
Glazzard and you would never breathe a syllable; but how, short of
manslaughter, could I assure the silence of a blackguard like this
Northway? If I let him blackmail me, I am done for: I should be like
the fools in plays and novels, throwing half my possessions away, and
all in vain."
"Pray remember," urged the other, "that this Northway is by no means
the rascal of melodrama. He has just enough brains to make him
conceited, and is at the disposal of any one who plays upon his
conceit. With much trouble I induced him to regard you as a source of
profit." She broke off and seemed to falter. "I think you won't find
fault with me, Mr. Quarrier, for trying to do this?"
"You did it in the friendliest spirit."
"And not indiscreetly, I hope." She looked at him for a moment, and
continued: "He is bribable, but you must go to work carefully. For
instance, I think if you offered to give him a good start in a
commercial career--by your personal recommendation, I mean--that would
have more effect than an offer of money. And then, again, in this way
you guard yourself against the perils of which you were speaking. Place
him well, so that he considers himself a respectable, responsible man,
and for his own sake he won't torment you. Couldn't you send him to
some one over in Sweden--some house of business?"
Denzil pondered, with knitted brows.
"I have no faith in it!" he exclaimed at length, beginning to walk
about. "Come--I want to get to Lilian; she must be in misery. I will
order the carriage; it will be needed to bring her back."
He rang the bell violently; a servant appeared, and hurried away to do
his bidding.
"Mrs. Wade," he said, as soon as the door had closed, "shouldn't I do
better to throw up the game? I hate these underhand affairs! I don't
think I could go through with the thing--I don't, indeed! Speak your
whole mind. I am not a slave of ambition--at bottom I care precious
little for going into Parliament. I enjoyed the excitement of it--I
believe I have a knack of making speeches; but what does it all amount
to? Tell me your true thought." He drew near to her. "Shall I throw it
up and go abroad with my wife?--my _wife_! that is her true name!"
He looked a fine fellow as he spoke this; better than he had looked on
the platform. Mrs. Wade gazed at him fixedly, as if she could not take
away her eyes. She trembled, and her forehead was wrung with pain.
"Do this," she replied, eagerly, "if you wish to make Lilian unhappy
for the rest of her life."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems I understand her better than you do--perhaps because I am a
woman. She dreads nothing so much as the thought that _she_ has been
the ruin of your prospects. You have taught her to believe that you are
made for politics; you can never undo that. The excitement of this
election had fixed the belief in her for ever. For _her_ sake, you are
bound to make every attempt to choke this scandal! Be weak--give
in--and (she is weak too) it's all over with her happiness. Her life
would be nothing but self-reproach."
"No, no, no! For a short time, perhaps, but security would be the best
thing of all for her."
"Try, then--try, and see the result!"
She spoke with suppressed passion, her voice shaking. Denzil turned
away, struggled with his thoughts, again faced her. Mrs. Wade read his
features as if her life depended on what he would resolve. Seeing him
in a misery of indecision, she repeated, at greater length and more
earnestly still, her cogent reasonings. Quarrier argued in reply, and
they were still thus engaged when it was announced that the carriage
waited.
"Let us go!" He threw his overcoat on to his shoulders.
Mrs. Wade caught his hand.
"Are you bent on doing the hopeless thing?"
"Let us talk in the carriage. I can't wait any longer."
But in the carriage both kept silence. Mrs. Wade, exhausted by stress
of emotion, by the efforts of her scheming brain, lay back as if she
had abandoned the contest; Denzil, his face working ceaselessly, stared
through the windows. When they were nearing their destination, the
widow leaned towards him.
"I have done my best for you. I have nothing so much at heart as your
welfare--and Lilian's."
He pressed her hand, too much disturbed to think of the singular way in
which she spoke. Then the vehicle stopped. Denzil assisted his
companion to alight, and, whilst she was opening the house-door, bade
the coachman go up and down till he was summoned. Then he sprang after
Mrs. Wade, learnt from her where Lilian was, and at once tried to enter
the sitting-room. The door was locked.
"Lily!" he called, in a low voice. "Open, dear! It is I!"
The key turned rapidly. He rushed in, and clasped Lilian in his arms.
She could not utter a word, but clung to him sobbing and wailing.
"Don't!--don't, dear girlie! Try to be quiet--try to command yourself."
"Can you do anything?" she uttered at length. "Is there any hope?"
"What do you wish, Lily, dearest? What shall I do?"
The common sense of manliness urged him to put no such questions, to
carry her away without a word, save of tender devotion, to escape with
her into quietness, and let all else go as it would. But Mrs. Wade's
warning had impressed him deeply. It went with his secret inclination;
for, at this stage of the combat, to lose all his aims would be a
bitter disappointment. He thought of the lifelong ostracism, and feared
it in a vague way.
"Mrs. Wade thinks he can be persuaded to leave us alone," Lilian
replied, hurriedly, using simple words which made her seem childlike,
though at the same moment she was nerving herself to heroic effort.
"See him, and do what you can, Denzil. I did my utmost, dear. Oh, this
cruel chance that brought him here!"
She would have given years of her life to say "Sacrifice all, and let
us go!" He seemed even to invite her to say it, but she strove with
herself. Sacrifice of his career meant sacrifice of the whole man. Not
in _her_ eyes, oh no!--but she had studied him so well, and knew that
he could no longer be content in obscurity. She choked her very soul's
desire.
"Shall I try to buy him off, Lily?"
"Do try, darling!"
"But can you face what will come afterwards--the constant risks?"
"Anything rather than you shall be ruined!"
A syllable would have broken down her heroism. It was on his tongue. He
had but to say "Ruin!--what do I care for ruin in _that_ sense?" and
she would have cried with delight. But he kept it back.
"Sit down and wait for me. I will go and see him."
One more embrace, and he left her. Mrs. Wade was talking with Northway
in the dining-room, talking hurriedly and earnestly. She heard
Quarrier's step and came to the door.
"In here?" Denzil asked.
She nodded and came out. Then the door closed behind him.
Northway stood near the window. He had eaten--luncheon was still on the
table--and had been smoking to calm his nerves, but at the sight of
Quarrier he became agitated They inspected each other. Denzil's impulse
was to annihilate his contemptible enemy with fierceness of look and
word; and in Northway jealousy fought so strongly with prudence that a
word of anger would have driven him to revengeful determination. But a
few moments of silence averted this danger. Quarrier said to himself
that there was no use in half measures. He had promised Lilian to do
his best, and his own desire pointed to the same end. Swallowing his
gall, he spoke quietly.
"Mr. Northway, we can't talk as if we were friends; but I must remember
that you have never intentionally done me any wrong--that it is _I_ who
am immediately to blame for this state of things. I hope you will talk
it over with me"----
His voice failed, but the first step had been taken. He sat down,
motioning the other to a chair.
"I can't allow my wife to live any longer in this way," began the
adversary, with blundering attempt at dignified speech.
"My wife" was like a blow to Denzil; he flushed, started, yet
controlled himself. What Mrs. Wade had told him of Northway's
characteristics came into his mind, and he saw that this address might
be mere bluster.
"It's very natural for you to speak in that way; but there is no
undoing what has happened. I must say that at once, and as firmly as
possible. We may talk of how I can compensate you for--for the injury;
but of nothing else."
He ended with much mental objurgation, which swelled his throat.
"You can't compensate a man," returned Northway, "for an injury of this
kind."
"Strictly speaking, no. But as it can't be helped--as I wronged you
without knowing you--I think I may reasonably offer to do you whatever
good turn is in my power. Please to tell me one thing. Have you spoken
to any one except Mrs. Wade of what you have discovered?"
"No--to no one."
It might be true or not. Denzil could only hope it was, and proceed on
that assumption.
"I am sure I may trust your word," he said, beginning to use diplomacy,
with the immediate result that Northway's look encouraged him. "Now,
please tell me another thing, as frankly. Can I, as a man of some means
and influence, offer you any acceptable service?"
There was silence. Northway could not shape a reply.
"You have been in commerce, I think?" proceeded the other. "Should you
care to take a place in some good house of business on the Continent,
or elsewhere abroad? I think it's in my power to open a way for you
such as you would not easily make by your own exertions."
The listener was suffering. But for one thing, this offer would have
tempted him strongly; but that one thing made it idle for him to think
of what was proposed. To-day or to-morrow Quarrier would be exposed by
his plotting enemies, and thereupon any bargain made with reference to
the future would collapse. If he were to profit by Quarrier at all, it
must needs be in the shape of a payment which could not be recovered.
"I don't care to go into business again," he said, with a mingling of
real annoyance and affected superiority. "I have other views."
"Can I help to advance them?" asked Denzil, sickening under the
necessity of speaking fair.
The dialogue lasted for half an hour more. Jealousy notwithstanding,
Northway had made up his mind to gain what was to be gained. Lilian was
beyond his reach; it would be foolish to go back to his poverty and
cloudy overlook when solid assistance was held out to him. With much
posturing and circumlocution, he came at length to the avowal that a
sum of ready money would not be refused.
"Are you wise in preferring this to the other kind of help?" Denzil
urged.
"I have my own views."
Quarrier ridiculed himself for what he was doing. How could he pretend
to trust such a fellow? Again, there was only the hope that a bribe
might be efficacious.
"I will give you five hundred pounds," he said, "on condition that you
leave England at once."
The bid was too low. Northway would be satisfied with twice as much,
provided it were paid forthwith. Pondering, Quarrier decided that he
was about to commit an absurdity. A thousand pounds--and how much more
in future? He looked Northway in the eyes.
"Here is my last word. I don't greatly care whether this secret comes
out or not. If I am to be at your mercy henceforth, I had rather bid
you do what you like; it really doesn't matter much to me. I will give
you five hundred pounds at once--a cheque on a Polterham banker;
moreover, if my secret is kept, I will do you the other service I
offered. But that's all I have to say. If it doesn't suit you, you must
do what you please."
His boldness was successful. Northway could gain nothing by betrayal of
the secret--which he believed to be no secret at all. With show of
indifference, he accepted what was obtainable.
"Then come and drive with me into the town," said Denzil.
Thereupon he stepped out and entered the sitting-room, where the two
women were together. They looked eager inquiry, and he smiled.
"Managed, I think. He goes with me. Lily, I'll be back for you as soon
as possible."
A moment, and they watched the carriage roll away.