Doctor Phillips had not been in the Hôtel Lion d’Or five minutes before
Margaret Pullen took him upstairs to see her baby. She was becoming
terribly anxious about her. They encountered Captain Ralph Pullen on
the staircase.
“Hullo! young man, and what have _you_ been doing to yourself?”
exclaimed the doctor.
He was certainly looking ill. His face was chalky white, and his eyes
seemed to have lost their brightness and colour.
“Been up racketing late at night?” continued Doctor Phillips. “What is
Miss Leyton about, not to look after you better?”
“No, indeed, Doctor,” replied the young man with a smile, “I am sure my
sister-in-law will testify to the good hours I have kept since here.
But I have a headache this morning--a rather bad one,” he added, with
his hand to the nape of his neck.
“Perhaps this place doesn’t agree with you--it was always rather famous
for its smells, if I remember aright! However, I am going to see Miss
Ethel Pullen now, and when I have finished with her, I will look after
you!”
“No, thank you, Doctor,” said Ralph laughing, as he descended the
stairs. “None of your nostrums for me! Keep them for the baby!”
“He is not looking well,” observed Doctor Phillips to Margaret, as they
walked on together.
“I don’t think he is, now you point it out to me, but I have not
noticed it before,” replied Margaret. “I am sure he has been living
quietly enough whilst here!”
The infant was lying as she had now done for several days past--quite
tranquil and free from pain, but inert and half asleep. The doctor
raised her eyelids and examined her eyeballs--felt her pulse and
listened to her heart--but he did not seem to be satisfied.
“What has this child been having?” he asked abruptly.
“Having, Doctor? Why! nothing, of course, but her milk, and I have
always that from the same cow!”
“No opium--no soothing syrup, nor quackeries of any kind?”
“Certainly not! You know how often you have warned me against anything
of the sort!”
“And no one has had the charge of her, except you and the nurse here?
You can both swear she has never been tampered with?”
“O! I think so, certainly, yes! Baby has never been from under the eye
of one or the other of us. A young lady resident in the hotel--a Miss
Brandt--has often nursed her and played with her, but one of us has
always been there at the time.”
“A Miss--what did you say?” demanded the doctor, sharply.
“A Miss Brandt--a very good-natured girl, who is fond of children!”
“Very well then! I will go at once to the pharmacien’s, and get a
prescription made up for your baby, and I hope that your anxiety may
soon be relieved!”
“O! thank you, Doctor, so much!” exclaimed Margaret “I knew you would
do her good, as soon as you saw her!”
But the doctor was not so sure of himself. He turned the case over and
over in his mind as he walked to the chemist’s shop, wondering how such
a state of exhaustion and collapse could have been brought about.
The baby had her first dose and the doctor had just time to wash and
change his travelling suit before they all met at the dinner-table.
Here they found the party opposite augmented by the arrival of Monsieur
Alfred Brimont, a young Brussels tradesman, who had come over to Heyst
to conduct his sister home. He was trying to persuade Harriet Brandt to
accompany Olga and stay a few days with them, but the girl--with a long
look in the direction of Captain Pullen--shook her head determinedly.
“O! you might come, Harriet, just for a few days,” argued Olga, “now
that the _Bataille de Fleurs_ is over, there is nothing left to stay
for in Heyst, and Alfred says that Brussels is such a beautiful place.”
“There are the theatres, and the Parc, and the Quinçonce, and
Wauxhall!” said young Brimont, persuasively. “Mademoiselle would enjoy
herself, I have no doubt!”
But Harriet still negatived the proposal.
“Why shouldn’t we make up a party and all go together,” suggested the
Baroness, “me and the Baron and Bobby and ’Arriet? You would like it
then, my dear, wouldn’t you?” she said to the girl, “and you really
should see Brussels before we go ’ome! What do you say, Gustave? We’d
go to the Hôtel de Saxe, and see everything! It wouldn’t take us more
than a week or ten days.”
“Do as you like, mein tear,” acquiesced the Baron.
“And why shouldn’t you come with us, Captain?” continued Madame Gobelli
to Ralph. “You don’t look quite the thing to me! A little change would
do you good. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! ’Ave you been
to Brussels?”
“I lived there for years, Madame, and know every part of it!” he
replied.
“Come and renew your acquaintance then, and take me and ’Arriet about!!
The Baron isn’t much good when it comes to sight-seeing, are you,
Gustave? ’E likes ’is pipe and ’is slippers too well! But you’re young
and spry! Well! is it a bargain?”
“I really could not decide in such a hurry,” said Ralph, with a glance
at Margaret and Elinor, “but we might all go on to Brussels perhaps, a
little later on.”
“I don’t think you must buoy up the hopes of the Baroness and Miss
Brandt with that idea,” remarked Miss Leyton, coldly, “because I am
sure that Mrs. Pullen has no intention of doing anything of the sort.
If you wish to accompany Madame Gobelli’s party, you had better make
your arrangements without any reference to us!”
“All right! If you prefer it, I will,” he answered in the same
indifferent tone.
“_Who_ is that young lady sitting opposite, with the dark eyes?”
demanded Doctor Phillips of Mrs. Pullen.
“The same I spoke to you of, upstairs, as having been kind to
baby--Miss Harriet Brandt!”
“I knew a Brandt once,” he answered. “Has she anything to do with the
West Indies?”
“O! yes! she comes from Jamaica! She is an orphan, the daughter of
Doctor Henry Brandt, and has been educated in the Ursuline Convent
there! She is a young lady with an independent fortune, and considered
to be quite a catch in Heyst!”
“And you and Miss Leyton are intimate with her?”
“She has attached herself very much to us since coming here. She has
few friends, poor girl!”
“Will you introduce me?”
“Miss Brandt, my friend, Doctor Phillips, wishes for an introduction to
you.”
The usual courtesies passed between them, and then the doctor said,
“I fancy I knew your father, Miss Brandt, when I was quartered in
Jamaica with the Thirteenth Lances. Did he not live on the top of the
Hill, on a plantation called Helvetia?”
“That was the name of our place,” replied Harriet, “but I left it when
I was only eleven. My trustee, Mr. Trawler, lives there now!”
“Ah! Trawler the attorney! I have no doubt he made as much out of the
property as he could squeeze.”
“Do you mean that he cheated me?” asked Harriet, naïvely.
“God forbid! my dear young lady. But he was a great crony of your
father’s, and a d--d sharp lawyer, and those sort of gentry generally
feather their own nest pretty well, in payment of their friendship.”
“He can’t do me any harm now,” said Harriet, “for I have my property in
my own hands!”
“Quite right! quite right! that is, if you’re a business woman,”
rejoined the doctor. “And are you travelling all by yourself?”
Harriet was about to answer in the affirmative, when the Baroness took
the words out of her mouth.
“No, Sir, she ain’t! She came over with her friend, Mademoiselle
Brimont, and now she’s under my chaperonage. She’s a deal too ’andsome,
ain’t she? to be travelling about the world alone, with her money-bags
under her arm. My name’s the Baroness Gobelli,--this is my ’usband,
Baron Gustave Gobelli, and this is my little boy, Bobby Bates--by my
first ’usband, you’ll understand--and when you return to London, if you
like to come and see Miss Brandt at our ’ouse--the Red ’Ouse, ’Olloway,
we shall be very pleased to see you!”
“I am sure, Madame, you are infinitely kind,” replied Doctor Phillips
gravely.
“Not at all! You’ll meet no end of swells there, Prince Loris of
Taxelmein, and Prince Adalbert of Waxsquiemer, and ’eaps of others. But
all the same we’re in trade, the Baron and I--and we’re not ashamed of
it either. We make boots and shoes! Our firm is Fantaisie et Cie, of
Oxford Street, and though I say it, you won’t find better boots and
shoes in all London than ours. No brown paper soles, and rotten uppers!
Not a bit of it! It’s all genuine stuff with us. You can take any boot
out of the shop and rip it to pieces, and prove what I say! The best
materials, and the best workmen, that’s our principle, and it answers.
We can’t make ’em fast enough!”
“I have no doubt of it,” again gravely responded the old doctor.
“Ah! you might send some of your patients to us, Doctor, and we’ll pay
back by recommending you to our friends. Are you a Gout man? Prince
Adalbert ’as the gout awfully! I’ve rubbed ’is feet with Elliman’s
Embrocation, by the hour together, but nothing gives ’im relief! Now
if you could cure ’im your fortune would be made! ’E says it’s all the
English climate, but _I_ say it’s over-eating, and ’e’d attend more to
a medical man, if ’e told ’im to diet, than ’e will to me!”
“Doubtless, doubtless!” said the Doctor, in a dreamy manner. He seemed
to be lost in a reverie, and Margaret had to touch his arm to remind
him that the meal was concluded.
She wanted him to join the others in a promenade and see the beauties
of Heyst, but he was strangely eager in declining it.
“No! no! let the youngsters go and enjoy themselves, but I want to
speak to you, _alone_.”
“My dear doctor, you frighten me! Nothing about baby, I hope!”
“Not at all! Don’t be foolish! But I want to talk to you where we
cannot be overheard.”
“I think we had better wait till the rest have dispersed then, and go
down upon the sands. It is almost impossible to be private in a hotel
like this!”
“All right! Get your hat and we will stroll off together.”
As soon as they were out of earshot, he commenced abruptly,
“It is about that Miss Brandt! You seem pretty intimate with her! You
must stop it at once. You must have nothing more to do with her.”
Margaret’s eyes opened wide with distress.
“But, Doctor Phillips, for what reason? I don’t see how we could give
her up now, unless we leave the place.”
“Then leave the place! You mustn’t know her, neither must Miss
Leyton. She comes of a terrible parentage. No good can ever ensue of
association with her.”
“You must tell me more than this, Doctor, if you wish me to follow your
advice!”
“I will tell you all I know myself! Some twelve or thirteen years ago I
was quartered in medical charge of the Thirteenth Lances, and stationed
in Jamaica, where I knew of, rather than knew, the father of this girl,
Henry Brandt. You called him a doctor--he was not worthy of the name.
He was a scientist perhaps--a murderer certainly!”
“How horrible! Do you really mean it?”
“Listen to me! This man Brandt matriculated in the Swiss hospitals,
whence he was expelled for having caused the death of more than one
patient by trying his scientific experiments upon them. The Swiss
laboratories are renowned for being the foremost in Vivisection and
other branches of science that gratify the curiosity and harden the
heart of man more than they confer any lasting benefit on humanity.
Even there, Henry Brandt’s barbarity was considered to render him
unfit for association with civilised practitioners, and he was expelled
with ignominy. Having a private fortune he settled in Jamaica, and set
up his laboratory there, and I would not shock your ears by detailing
one hundredth part of the atrocities that were said to take place under
his supervision, and in company of this man Trawler, whom the girl
calls her trustee, and who is one of the greatest brutes unhung.”
“Are you not a little prejudiced, dear Doctor?”
“Not at all! If when you have heard all, you still say so, you are not
the woman I have taken you for. Brandt did not confine his scientific
investigations to the poor dumb creation. He was known to have decoyed
natives into his Pandemonium, who were never heard of again, which
raised, at last, the public feeling so much against him, that I am
glad to say that his negroes revolted, and after having murdered him
with appropriate atrocity, set fire to his house and burned it and all
his property to the ground. Don’t look so shocked! I repeat that I am
_glad_ to say it, for he richly deserved his fate, and no torture could
be too severe for one who spent his worthless life in torturing God’s
helpless animals!”
“And his wife--” commenced Margaret.
“He had no wife! He was never married!”
“Never married! But this girl Harriet Brandt--”
“Has no more right to the name than you have! Henry Brandt was not
the man to regard the laws, either of God or man. There was no reason
why he should not have married--for that very cause, I suppose, he
preferred to live in concubinage.”
“Poor Harriet! Poor child! And her mother, did you know her?”
“Don’t speak to me of her mother. She was not a woman, she was a fiend,
a fitting match for Henry Brandt! To my mind she was a revolting
creature. A fat, flabby half-caste, who hardly ever moved out of her
chair but sat eating all day long, until the power to move had almost
left her! I can see her now, with her sensual mouth, her greedy eyes,
her low forehead and half-formed brain, and her lust for blood. It
was said that the only thing which made her laugh, was to watch the
dying agonies of the poor creatures her brutal protector slaughtered.
But she thirsted for blood, she loved the sight and smell of it, she
would taste it on the tip of her finger when it came in her way. Her
servants had some story amongst themselves to account for this lust.
They declared that when her slave mother was pregnant with her, she was
bitten by a Vampire bat, which are formidable creatures in the West
Indies, and are said to fan their victims to sleep with their enormous
wings, whilst they suck their blood. Anyway the slave woman did not
survive her delivery, and her fellows prophecied that the child would
grow up to be a murderess. Which doubtless she was in heart, if not in
deed!”
“What an awful description! And what became of her?”
“She was killed at the same time as Brandt, indeed the natives would
have killed her in preference to him, had they been obliged to choose,
for they attributed all the atrocities that went on in the laboratory
to her influence. They said she was ‘Obeah’ which means diabolical
witchcraft in their language. And doubtless their unfortunate
child would have been slaughtered also, had not the overseer of the
plantation carried her off to his cabin, and afterwards, when the
disturbance was quelled, to the Convent, where, you say, she has been
educated.”
“But terrible as all this is, dear Doctor, it is not the poor girl’s
fault. Why should we give up her acquaintance for that?”
“My dear Margaret, are you so ignorant as not to see that a child
born under such conditions cannot turn out well? The bastard of a
man like Henry Brandt, cruel, dastardly, Godless, and a woman like
her terrible mother, a sensual, self-loving, crafty and bloodthirsty
half-caste--what do you expect their daughter to become? She may seem
harmless enough at present, so does the tiger cub as it suckles its
dam, but that which is bred in her will come out sooner or later, and
curse those with whom she may be associated. I beg and pray of you,
Margaret, not to let that girl come near you, or your child, any more.
There is a curse upon her, and it will affect all within her influence!”
“You have made me feel very uncomfortable, Doctor,” replied Mrs.
Pullen. “Of course if I had known all this previously, I would not have
cultivated Miss Brandt’s acquaintance, and now I shall take your advice
and drop her as soon as possible! There will be no difficulty with Miss
Leyton, for she has had a strange dislike to the girl ever since we
met, but she has certainly been very kind to my baby--”
“For Heaven’s sake don’t let her come near your baby any more!” cried
Doctor Phillips, quickly.
“Certainly I will not, and perhaps it would be as well if we moved on
to Ostende or Blankenburghe, as we have sometimes talked of doing. It
would sever the acquaintance in the most effectual way!”
“By all means do so, particularly if the young lady does not go to
Brussels, as that stout party was proposing at dinner time. What an
extraordinary person she appears to be! Quite a character!”
“That is just what she is! But, Doctor, there is another thing I should
like to speak to you about, concerning Miss Brandt, and I am sure I may
trust you to receive it in the strictest confidence. It is regarding
my brother-in-law, Ralph Pullen. I am rather afraid, from one or two
things I have observed, that he likes Miss Brandt--O! I don’t mean
anything particular, for (as you know) he is engaged to be married to
Elinor Leyton and I don’t suspect him of wronging her, only--young men
are rather headstrong you know and fond of their own way, and perhaps
if you were to speak to Ralph--”
“Tell me plainly, has he been carrying on with this girl?”
“Not in the sense you would take it, Doctor, but he affects her company
and that of the Gobellis a good deal. Miss Brandt sings beautifully,
and Ralph loves music, but his action annoys Elinor, I can see that,
and since you think we should break off the intimacy----”
“I consider it most imperatively necessary, for many reasons, and
especially in the case of a susceptible young man like Captain Pullen.
She has money, you say--”
“Fifteen hundred a year, so I am told!”
“And Miss Leyton has nothing, and Ralph only his pay! O! yes! you are
quite right, such an acquaintanceship is dangerous for him. The sense
of honour is not so strong now, as it was when I was a boy, and gold
is a powerful bait with the rising generation. I will take an early
opportunity of talking to Captain Pullen on the subject.”
“You will not wound his feelings, Doctor, nor betray me?”
“Trust me for doing neither! I shall speak from my own experience, as I
have done to you. If he will not take my advice, you must get someone
with more influence to caution him about it. I hardly know how to make
my meaning clear to you, Margaret, but Miss Brandt is a _dangerous_
acquaintance, for all of you. We medical men know the consequences
of heredity, better than outsiders can do. A woman born in such
circumstances--bred of sensuality, cruelty, and heartlessness--cannot
in the order of things, be modest, kind, or sympathetic. And
she probably carries unknown dangers in her train. Whatever her
fascinations or her position may be, I beg of you to drop her at once
and for ever!”
“Of course I will, but it seems hard upon her! She has seemed to crave
so for affection and companionship.”
“As her mother craved for food and blood; as her father craved for
inflicting needless agony on innocent creatures, and sneered meanwhile
at their sufferings! I am afraid I should have little faith in Miss
Brandt craving for anything, except the gratification of her own
senses!”
They were seated on the lower step of the wooden flight that led from
the Digue to the sands, so that whilst they could see what went on
above them, they were concealed from view themselves.
Just then, Harriet Brandt’s beautiful voice, accompanied by the silvery
strains of the mandoline, was heard to warble Gounod’s “Marguerite”
from the open window of the Baroness’s sitting-room. Margaret glanced
up. The apartment was brilliantly lighted--on the table were bottles
of wine and spirits, with cakes and fruit, and Madame Gobelli’s bulky
form might be seen leaning over the dishes. She had assembled quite
a little party there that night. The two Brimonts were present,
and Captain Pullen’s tall figure was distinctly visible under the
lamplight. Harriet was seated on the sofa, and her full voice filled
the atmosphere with melody.
“There’s something like a voice!” remarked the old doctor.
“That is the very girl we have been talking of!” replied Mrs. Pullen.
“I told you she had a lovely voice, and was an accomplished musician.”
“Is that so?” said Doctor Phillips, “then she is still more dangerous
than I imagined her to be! Those tones would be enough to drag any man
down to perdition, especially if accompanied by such a nature as I
cannot but believe she must have inherited from her progenitors!”
“And see, Doctor, there is Ralph,” continued Margaret, pointing out
her brother-in-law! “I left him with Miss Leyton. He must have got
rid of her by some means and crept up to the Gobellis. He cannot go
for _them_. He is so refined, so fastidious with regard to people in
general, that a woman like the Baroness must grate upon his feelings
every time she opens her mouth, and the Baron never opens his at all.
He can only frequent their company for the sake of Harriet Brandt! I
have seen it for some time past and it has made me very uneasy.”
“He shall know everything about her to-morrow, and then if he will not
hear reason--” Doctor Phillips shrugged his shoulders and said no more.
“But surely,” said his companion, “you do not think for a moment that
Ralph could ever seriously contemplate breaking his engagement with
Elinor Leyton for the sake of this girl! O! how angry Arthur would be
if he suspected his brother could be guilty of such a thing--_he_, who
considers that a man’s word should be his bond!”
“It is impossible to say, Margaret--I should not like to give an
opinion on the subject. When young men are led away by their passions,
they lose sight of everything else--and if this girl is anything like
her mother, she must be an epitome of lust!”
“O! you will speak to Ralph as soon as ever you can,” cried Margaret,
in a tone of distress. “You will put the matter as strongly before him
as possible, will you not?”
“You may depend on my doing all I can, Margaret, but as there seems no
likelihood of my being able to interview the young gentleman to-night,
suppose you and I go to bed! I feel rather tired after my passage over,
and you must want to go back to your baby!”
“Doctor,” said Margaret, in a timid voice, as they ascended the hotel
staircase together, “you don’t think baby _very_ ill, do you?”
“I think she requires a great deal of care, Margaret!”
“But she has always had that!”
“I don’t doubt it, but I can’t deny that there are symptoms about her
case that I do not understand. She seems to have had all her strength
drawn out of her. She is in the condition of a child who has been
exercised and excited and hurried from place to place, far beyond what
she is able to bear. But it may arise from internal causes. I shall be
better able to judge to-morrow when my medicine has had its effect.
Good-night, my dear, and don’t worry. Please God, we will have the
little one all right again in a couple of days.”
But he only said the words out of compassion. In his own opinion, the
infant was dying.
Meanwhile, Harriet having finished her songs, was leaning out of the
window with Ralph Pullen by her side. She wore an open sleeve and as he
placed his hand upon her bare arm, the girl thrilled from head to foot.
“And so you are determined _not_ to go to Brussels,” he whispered in
her ear.
“Why should I go? You will not be there! The Baroness wants to stay for
a week! What would become of me all that time, moping after you?”
“Are you sure that you _would_ mope? Monsieur Brimont is a nice young
man, and seems quite ready to throw himself at your feet! Would he not
do as well, _pro tem_?”
Harriet’s only answer was to cast her large eyes upwards to meet his
own.
“Does that mean, ‘No’?” continued Captain Pullen. “Then how would it
do, if _I_ joined you there, after a couple of days? Would the Baroness
be complaisant, do you think, and a little short-sighted, and let us
go about together, and show each other the sights of the town?”
“O! I’m sure she would!” cried Harriet, all the blood in her body
flying into her face, “she is so very kind to me! Madame Gobelli!” she
continued, turning from the window to the light, “Captain Pullen says
that if you will allow him to show us the lions of Brussels, he will
come and join us there in a couple of days--”
“If I find I can manage it!” interposed Ralph, cautiously.
“Manage it! Why, of course you can manage it,” said the Baroness.
“What’s to ’inder a young man like you doing as ’e chooses? You’re not
tied to your sister’s apron-string, are you? Now mind! we shall ’old
you to it, for I believe it’s the only thing that will make ’Arriet
come, and I think a week in Brussels will do us all good! You’re not
looking well yourself, you know, Captain Pullen! You’re as white as
ashes this evening, and if I didn’t know you were such a good boy, I
should say you’d been dissipating a bit lately! He! he! he!”
“The only dissipating I have indulged in, is basking in the sunshine of
your eyes, Madame!” replied Ralph gallantly.
“That’s a good ’un!” retorted the Baroness, “it is more likely you’ve
been looking too much in the eyes of my little friend ’ere. You’re a
couple of foxes, that’s what you are, and I expect it would take all my
time to be looking after you both! And so I suppose it’s settled, Miss
’Arriet, and you’ll come with us to Brussels after all!”
“Yes, Madame, if you’ll take charge of me!” said Miss Brandt.
“We’ll do that for a couple of days, and then we’ll give over charge.
Are we to engage a room for you, Captain, at the Hôtel de Saxe?”
“I had better see after that myself, Madame, as the date of my coming
is uncertain,” replied Ralph.
“But you _will_ come!” whispered Harriet.
“Need you ask? Would I not run over the whole world, only to find
myself by your side? Haven’t you taken the taste out of everything else
for me, Harriet?”