ALMOST A "VERT."
Major Mahon is standing at one of the front windows of his house,
waiting for his dinner to be served, when he sees a _fiacre_ driven up
to the door, and inside it the face of a friend.
He does not stay for the bell to be rung, but with genuine Irish
impulsiveness rushes forth, himself opening the door.
"Captain Ryecroft!" he exclaims, grasping the new arrival by the hand,
and hauling him out of the hackney. "Glad to see you back in Boulogne."
Then adding, as he observes a young man leap down from the box where he
has had seat beside the driver, "Part of your belongings, isn't he?"
"Yes, Major; my old Wye waterman, Jack Wingate, of whom I spoke to you.
And if it be convenient to you to quarter both of us for a day or
two----"
"Don't talk about convenience, and bar all mention of time. The longer
you stay with me, you'll be conferring the greater favour. Your old room
is gaping to receive you; and Murtagh will rig up a berth for your
boatman. Murt!" to the ex-Royal Irish, who, hearing the _fracas_, has
also come forth, "take charge of Captain Ryecroft's traps, along with
Mr. Wingate here, and see all safely bestowed. Now, old fellow, step
inside. They'll look after the things. You're just in time to do dinner
with me. I was about sitting down to it _solus_, awfully lamenting my
loneliness. Well, one never knows what luck's in the wind. Rather hard
lines for you, however. If I mistake not, my pot's of the poorest this
blessed day. But I know you're neither _gourmand_ nor _gourmet;_ and
that's some consolation. In!"
In go they, leaving the old soldier to settle the _fiacre_ fare, look
after the luggage, and extend the hospitalities of the kitchen to Jack
Wingate.
* * * * *
Soon as Captain Ryecroft has performed some slight ablutions--necessary
after a sea voyage however short--his host hurries him down to the
dining-room.
When seated at the table, the Major asks,--
"What on earth has delayed you, Vivian? You promised to be back in a
week at most. It's months now! Despairing of your return, I had some
thought of advertising the luggage you left with me, 'if not claimed
within a certain time, to be sold for the payment of expenses.' Ha! ha!"
Ryecroft echoes the laugh; but so faintly, his friend can see the cloud
has not yet lifted; instead, lies heavy and dark as ever.
In hopes of doing something to dissipate it, the Major rolls on in his
rich Hibernian brogue,--
"You've just come in time to save your chattels from the hammer. And now
I have you here, I mean to keep you. So, old boy, make up your mind to
an unlimited sojourn in Boulogne-sur-mer. You will, won't you?"
"It's very kind of you, Mahon; but that must depend on----"
"On what?"
"How I prosper in my errand."
"Oh! this time you _have_ an errand? Some business?"
"I have."
"Well, as you had none before, it gives reason to hope that other
matters may be also reversed, and instead of shooting off like a comet,
you'll play the part of a fixed star; neither to shoot nor be shot at,
as looked likely on the last occasion. But speaking seriously, Ryecroft,
as you say you're on business, may I know its nature?"
"Not only may, but it's meant you should. Nay, more, Mahon; I want your
help in it."
"That you can count upon, whatever it be--from pitch-and-toss up to
manslaughter. Only say how I can serve you."
"Well, Major, in the first place I would seek your assistance in some
inquiries that I am about to make here."
"Inquiries! Have they regard to that young lady you said was
lost--missing from her home! Surely she has been found?"
"She has--found drowned!"
"Found drowned! God bless me!"
"Yes, Mahon. The home from which she was missing knows her no more.
Gwendoline Wynn is now in her long home--in heaven!"
The solemn tone of voice, with the woe-begone expression on the
speaker's face, drives all thoughts of hilarity out of the listener's
mind. It is a moment too sacred for mirth; and between the two friends,
old comrades in arms, for an interval even speech is suspended; only a
word of courtesy as the host presses his guest to partake of the viands
before them.
The Major does not question further, leaving the other to take up the
broken thread of the conversation.
Which he at length does, holding it in hand, till he has told all that
happened since they last sat at that table together.
He gives only the facts, reserving his own deductions from them. But
Mahon, drawing them for himself, says searchingly--
"Then you have a suspicion there's been what's commonly called foul
play?"
"More than a suspicion. I'm sure of it."
"The devil! But whom do you suspect?"
"Whom should I but he now in possession of the property--her cousin, Mr.
Lewin Murdock. Though I've reason to believe there are others mixed up
in it; one of them a Frenchman. Indeed, it's chiefly to make inquiry
about him I've come over to Boulogne."
"A Frenchman. You know his name?"
"I do; at least, that he goes by on the other side of the Channel. You
remember that night as we were passing the back entrance of the convent
where your sister's at school, our seeing a carriage there--a hackney,
or whatever it was?"
"Certainly I do."
"And my saying that the man who had just got out of it, and gone inside,
resembled a priest I'd seen but a day or two before?"
"Of course I remember all that, and my joking you at the time as to the
idleness of you fancying a likeness among sheep, where all are so nearly
of the same hue--that black. Something of the sort I said. But what's
your argument?"
"No argument at all, but a conviction, that the man we saw that night
was my Herefordshire priest. I've seen him several times since--had a
good square look at him--and feel sure 'twas he."
"You haven't yet told me his name?"
"Rogier--Father Rogier. So he is called upon the Wye."
"And, supposing him identified, what follows?"
"A great deal follows, or rather, depends on his identification."
"Explain, Ryecroft. I shall listen with patience."
Ryecroft does explain, continuing his narrative into a second chapter,
which includes the doings of the Jesuit on Wyeside, so far as known to
him; the story of Jack Wingate's love and loss--the last so strangely
resembling his own--the steps afterwards taken by the waterman; in
short, everything he can think of that will throw light upon the
subject.
"A strange tale, truly!" observes the Major, after hearing it to the
end. "But does your boatman really believe the priest has resuscitated
his dead sweetheart, and brought her over here with the intention of
shutting her up in a nunnery?"
"He does all that; and certainly not without show of reason. Dead or
alive, the priest or some one else has taken the girl out of her coffin,
and her grave."
"'Twould be a wonderful story, if true--I mean the resuscitation, or
resurrection; not the mere disinterment of a body. That's possible, and
probable where priests of the Jesuitical school are concerned. And so
should the other be, when one considers that they can make statues wink,
and pictures shed tears. Oh! yes; Ultramontane magicians can do
anything!"
"But why," asks Ryecroft, "should they have taken all this trouble about
a poor girl--the daughter of a small Herefordshire farmer,--with
possibly at the most a hundred pounds or so for her dowry? That's what
mystifies me!"
"It needn't," laconically observes the Major. "These Jesuit gentry have
often other motives than money for caging such birds in their convents.
Was the girl good looking?" he asks, after musing a moment.
"Well, of myself I never saw her. By Jack's description she must have
been a superb creature--on a par with the angels. True, a lover's
judgment is not much to be relied on, but I've heard from others, that
Miss Morgan was really a rustic belle--something beyond the common."
"Faith! and that may account for the whole thing. I know they like their
nuns to be nice looking; prefer that stripe; I suppose, for purposes of
proselytizing, if nothing more. They'd give a good deal to receive the
services of my own sister in that way: have been already bidding for
her. By Heavens! I'd rather see her laid in her grave!"
The Major's strong declaration is followed by a spell of silence; after
which, cooling down a little, he continues,--
"You've come, then, to inquire into this convent matter, about--what's
the girl's name?--ah! Morgan."
"More than the convent matter; though it's in the same connection. I've
come to learn what can be learnt about this priest; get his character,
with his antecedents. And, if possible, obtain some information
respecting the past lives of Mr. Lewin Murdock and his French wife; for
which I may probably go on to Paris, if not farther. To sum up
everything, I've determined to sift this mystery to the bottom--unravel
it to its last thread. I've already commenced unwinding the clue, and
made some little progress. But I want one to assist me. Like a lone
hunter on a lost trail, I need counsel from a companion--and help too.
You'll stand by me, Mahon?"
"To the death, my dear boy! I was going to say the last shilling in my
purse. As you don't need that, I say, instead, to the last breath in my
body!"
"You shall be thanked with the last in mine."
"I'm sure of that. And now for a drop of the 'crayther,' to warm us to
our work. Ho! there, Murt! bring in the 'matayreals.'"
Which Murtagh does, the dinner-dishes having been already removed.
Soon as punches have been mixed, the Major returns to the subject,
saying,--
"Now then, to enter upon particulars. What step do you wish me to take
first?"
"First, to find out who Father Rogier is, and what. That is, on this
side; I know what he is on the other. If we can but learn his relations
with the convent, it might give us a key capable of opening more than
one lock."
"There won't be much difficulty in doing that, I take it. All the less,
from my little sister Kate being a great pet of the Lady Superior, who
has hopes of making a nun of her! Not if I know it! Soon as her
schooling's completed, she walks out of that seminary, and goes to a
place where the moral atmosphere is a trifle purer. You see, old fellow,
I'm not very bigoted about our Holy Faith, and in some danger of
becoming a 'vert.' As for my sister, were it not for a bit of a legacy
left on condition of her being educated in a convent, she'd never have
seen the inside of one with my consent; and never will again when out of
this one. But money's money; and though the legacy isn't a large one,
for her sake, I couldn't afford to forfeit it. You comprehend?"
"Quite. And you think she will be able to obtain the information,
without in any way compromising herself?"
"Pretty sure of it. Kate's no simpleton, though she be but a child in
years. She'll manage it for me, with the instructions I mean giving her.
After all, it may not be so much trouble. In these nunneries, things
which are secrets to the world without, are known to every mother's
child of them--nuns and novices alike. Gossip's the chief occupation of
their lives. If there's been an occurrence such as you speak of--a new
bird caged there--above all, an English one--it's sure to have got
wind--that is, inside the walls. And I can trust Kate to catch the
breath, and blow it outside. So, Vivian, old boy, drink your toddy, and
take things coolly. I think I can promise you that, before many days, or
it may be only hours, you shall know whether such a priest as you speak
of be in the habit of coming to that convent; and if so, what for, when
he was there last, and everything about the reverend gentleman worth
knowing."
* * * * *
Kate Mahon proves equal to the occasion, showing herself quick-witted,
as her brother boasted her to be.
On the third day after, she is able to report to him, that some time
previously--how long not exactly known--a young English girl came to the
convent, brought thither by a priest named Rogier. The girl is a
candidate for the Holy Sisterhood--voluntary, of course--to take the
veil, soon as her probation be completed. Miss Mahon has not seen the
new novice--only heard of her as being a great beauty; for personal
charms make noise even in a nunnery. Nor have any of the other
_pensionaires_ been permitted to see or speak with her. All they as yet
know is, that she is a blonde, with yellow hair--a grand wealth of
it--and goes by the name of "Soeur Marie."
"Sister Mary!" exclaims Jack Wingate, as Ryecroft at second-hand
communicates the intelligence--at the same time translating the "Soeur
Marie." "It's Mary Morgan--my Mary! An' by the Heavens of Mercy," he
adds, his arms angrily thrashing the air, "she shall come out o' that
convent, or I'll lay my life down at its door."