To return to Charlotte De Stancy. When the train had borne Somerset from
her side, and she had regained her self-possession, she became conscious
of the true proportions of the fact he had asserted. And, further, if
the telegram had not been his, why should the photographic distortion
be trusted as a phase of his existence? But after a while it seemed so
improbable to her that God’s sun should bear false witness, that instead
of doubting both evidences she was inclined to readmit the first.
Still, upon the whole, she could not question for long the honesty of
Somerset’s denial and if that message had indeed been sent by him, it
must have been done while he was in another such an unhappy state
as that exemplified by the portrait. The supposition reconciled all
differences; and yet she could not but fight against it with all the
strength of a generous affection.
All the afternoon her poor little head was busy on this perturbing
question, till she inquired of herself whether after all it might not
be possible for photographs to represent people as they had never been.
Before rejecting the hypothesis she determined to have the word of a
professor on the point, which would be better than all her surmises.
Returning to Markton early, she told the coachman whom Paula had sent,
to drive her to the shop of Mr. Ray, an obscure photographic artist in
that town, instead of straight home.
Ray’s establishment consisted of two divisions, the respectable and the
shabby. If, on entering the door, the visitor turned to the left,
he found himself in a magazine of old clothes, old furniture, china,
umbrellas, guns, fishing-rods, dirty fiddles, and split flutes. Entering
the right-hand room, which had originally been that of an independent
house, he was in an ordinary photographer’s and print-collector’s
depository, to which a certain artistic solidity was imparted by a
few oil paintings in the background. Charlotte made for the latter
department, and when she was inside Mr. Ray appeared in person from the
lumber-shop adjoining, which, despite its manginess, contributed by far
the greater share to his income.
Charlotte put her question simply enough. The man did not answer her
directly, but soon found that she meant no harm to him. He told her that
such misrepresentations were quite possible, and that they embodied a
form of humour which was getting more and more into vogue among certain
facetious persons of society.
Charlotte was coming away when she asked, as on second thoughts, if he
had any specimens of such work to show her.
‘None of my own preparation,’ said Mr. Ray, with unimpeachable probity
of tone. ‘I consider them libellous myself. Still, I have one or two
samples by me, which I keep merely as curiosities.--There’s one,’ he
said, throwing out a portrait card from a drawer. ‘That represents the
German Emperor in a violent passion: this one shows the Prime Minister
out of his mind; this the Pope of Rome the worse for liquor.’
She inquired if he had any local specimens.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but I prefer not to exhibit them unless you really ask
for a particular one that you mean to buy.’
‘I don’t want any.’
‘O, I beg pardon, miss. Well, I shouldn’t myself own such things were
produced, if there had not been a young man here at one time who was
very ingenious in these matters--a Mr. Dare. He was quite a gent, and
only did it as an amusement, and not for the sake of getting a living.’
Charlotte had no wish to hear more. On her way home she burst into
tears: the entanglement was altogether too much for her to tear asunder,
even had not her own instincts been urging her two ways, as they were.
To immediately right Somerset’s wrong was her impetuous desire as
an honest woman who loved him; but such rectification would be the
jeopardizing of all else that gratified her--the marriage of her brother
with her dearest friend--now on the very point of accomplishment. It was
a marriage which seemed to promise happiness, or at least comfort, if
the old flutter that had transiently disturbed Paula’s bosom could be
kept from reviving, to which end it became imperative to hide from her
the discovery of injustice to Somerset. It involved the advantage of
leaving Somerset free; and though her own tender interest in him had
been too well schooled by habitual self-denial to run ahead on vain
personal hopes, there was nothing more than human in her feeling
pleasure in prolonging Somerset’s singleness. Paula might even be
allowed to discover his wrongs when her marriage had put him out of her
power. But to let her discover his ill-treatment now might upset the
impending union of the families, and wring her own heart with the sight
of Somerset married in her brother’s place.
Why Dare, or any other person, should have set himself to advance her
brother’s cause by such unscrupulous blackening of Somerset’s character
was more than her sagacity could fathom. Her brother was, as far as she
could see, the only man who could directly profit by the machination,
and was therefore the natural one to suspect of having set it going. But
she would not be so disloyal as to entertain the thought long; and who
or what had instigated Dare, who was undoubtedly the proximate cause of
the mischief, remained to her an inscrutable mystery.
The contention of interests and desires with honour in her heart shook
Charlotte all that night; but good principle prevailed. The wedding
was to be solemnized the very next morning, though for before-mentioned
reasons this was hardly known outside the two houses interested; and
there were no visible preparations either at villa or castle. De Stancy
and his groomsman--a brother officer--slept at the former residence.
De Stancy was a sorry specimen of a bridegroom when he met his sister
in the morning. Thick-coming fancies, for which there was more than good
reason, had disturbed him only too successfully, and he was as full of
apprehension as one who has a league with Mephistopheles. Charlotte told
him nothing of what made her likewise so wan and anxious, but drove
off to the castle, as had been planned, about nine o’clock, leaving her
brother and his friend at the breakfast-table.
That clearing Somerset’s reputation from the stain which had been thrown
on it would cause a sufficient reaction in Paula’s mind to dislocate
present arrangements she did not so seriously anticipate, now that
morning had a little calmed her. Since the rupture with her former
architect Paula had sedulously kept her own counsel, but Charlotte
assumed from the ease with which she seemed to do it that her feelings
towards him had never been inconveniently warm; and she hoped that Paula
would learn of Somerset’s purity with merely the generous pleasure of a
friend, coupled with a friend’s indignation against his traducer.
Still, the possibility existed of stronger emotions, and it was only too
evident to poor Charlotte that, knowing this, she had still less excuse
for delaying the intelligence till the strongest emotion would be
purposeless.
On approaching the castle the first object that caught her eye was
Dare, standing beside Havill on the scaffolding of the new wing. He
was looking down upon the drive and court, as if in anticipation of the
event. His contiguity flurried her, and instead of going straight to
Paula she sought out Mrs. Goodman.
‘You are come early; that’s right!’ said the latter. ‘You might as well
have slept here last night. We have only Mr. Wardlaw, the London lawyer
you have heard of, in the house. Your brother’s solicitor was here
yesterday; but he returned to Markton for the night. We miss Mr. Power
so much--it is so unfortunate that he should have been obliged to go
abroad, and leave us unprotected women with so much responsibility.’
‘Yes, I know,’ said Charlotte quickly, having a shy distaste for the
details of what troubled her so much in the gross.
‘Paula has inquired for you.’
‘What is she doing?’
‘She is in her room: she has not begun to dress yet. Will you go to
her?’
Charlotte assented. ‘I have to tell her something,’ she said, ‘which
will make no difference, but which I should like her to know this
morning--at once. I have discovered that we have been entirely mistaken
about Mr. Somerset.’ She nerved herself to relate succinctly what had
come to her knowledge the day before.
Mrs. Goodman was much impressed. She had never clearly heard before what
circumstances had attended the resignation of Paula’s architect. ‘We had
better not tell her till the wedding is over,’ she presently said; ‘it
would only disturb her, and do no good.’
‘But will it be right?’ asked Miss De Stancy.
‘Yes, it will be right if we tell her afterwards. O yes--it must
be right,’ she repeated in a tone which showed that her opinion was
unstable enough to require a little fortification by the voice. ‘She
loves your brother; she must, since she is going to marry him; and it
can make little difference whether we rehabilitate the character of a
friend now, or some few hours hence. The author of those wicked tricks
on Mr. Somerset ought not to go a moment unpunished.’
‘That’s what I think; and what right have we to hold our tongues even
for a few hours?’
Charlotte found that by telling Mrs. Goodman she had simply made two
irresolute people out of one, and as Paula was now inquiring for her,
she went upstairs without having come to any decision.