"HONBLE. BLANCHE FARROW--Wyndfell Hall--Darnaston--Suffolk--Very
private--Meet me outside Darnaston Church at twelve o'clock,
midday, to-morrow, Wednesday--MARK GIFFORD."
Blanche sat up in bed and stared down at the telegraph form. What on
earth did this mean? But for the fact that she knew it to be out of the
question, she would have suspected a foolish and vulgar practical joke.
She noted that the telegram had been sent off at 9.30 the night before
(just after Mark must have received her letter). She also saw that it
had been inscribed for morning delivery. That was like Mark Gifford. He
was nothing if not careful and precise with regard to everything of a
business kind.
Then she began asking herself the sort of rather futile questions people
do ask themselves, when puzzled, and made uneasy by what seems an
inexplicable occurrence. How would Mark get to Darnaston by twelve
o'clock to-day? Surely he could only do so by starting before it was
light, and motoring the whole way from London?
She gazed at the words "very private." What did they portend? Quickly
she examined her conscience. No, she had done nothing--nothing which
could have brought her into contact, even slightly, with the law. Of
course, she was well aware that Mark had never forgotten, even over all
these years, the dreadful scrape into which she had got herself by going
to those gambling parties in the pleasant, quiet, Jermyn Street flat
where she and Varick had first become acquainted. But that had been a
sharp lesson, and one by which she had profited.
She next took a rapid mental survey of her family, all so much more
respectable and prosperous than herself. The only person among them
capable of getting into any real scrape was poor little Bubbles.
Bubbles was now practically well again. She had written out the
announcement which was to appear in the _Times_ and the _Morning Post_,
and had insisted on its being sent off.
Donnington had been somewhat perturbed by the thought of their
engagement being thus at once made public. But Bubbles had observed
cheerfully: "Once people know about it, I shan't be able to get out of
it, even if I want to!" To that Bill had said, sorely, that if she
wanted to give him the chuck she should of course do so, even on the
altar steps. Bubbles had laughed at that and exclaimed: "I only said it
to tease you, old thing! The real truth is that I want father to
understand that I really mean it--that's all. He reads the _Times_ right
through every day, and he'll think it true if he sees it there. As for
his tiresome widow, she'll see it in the _Morning Post_--and then she'll
believe it, too!"
Blanche Farrow told herself that this mysterious and extraordinary
message might have something to do with Bubbles; and as she got up, she
went on thinking with increasing unease of the unexpected assignation
which lay before her.
It was a comfort to feel that that disagreeable man, James Tapster, was
gone, and that the rest of the party, with the exception of herself and
Bubbles, were going to-day.
Something had again been said about Miss Burnaby and her niece staying
on, and she had heard Varick pressing them earnestly to do so; but the
old lady had been unwilling to break her plan, the more so that she had
an appointment with her dentist. Then Varick had asked why Miss Brabazon
shouldn't stay on till Saturday? There had been a considerable
discussion about it; but Blanche secretly hoped they would all go away.
She felt tired and unlike herself. The events of the last few days had
shaken her badly.
What an extraordinary difference a few moments can make in one's outlook
on life! Blanche Farrow was uncomfortably aware that she would never
forget what had happened to her on New Year's Eve. That strange and
fearful experience had obliterated some of her clearest mental
landmarks. She wished to think, she tried very hard to think, that in
some mysterious way the vision she had seen with such terrible
distinctness had been a projection from Bubbles' brain--Bubbles' uncanny
gift working, perchance, on Lionel Varick's mind and memory. She could
not doubt that the two wraiths she had seen so clearly purported to be a
survival of the human personalities of the two women who each had borne
Varick's name, and had been, for a while, so closely linked with him....
Yet long ago, when quite a young woman, she had come to the deliberate
conclusion that there was no such survival of human personality.
Taking up Mark Gifford's mysterious telegram, and one or two
unimportant letters she had just received, she went downstairs, to see,
as she came into the dining-room, that only Varick was already down.
He looked up, and she was shocked to see how ill and strained he looked.
He had taken poor little Bubbles' accident terribly to heart; Blanche
knew he had a feeling--which was rather absurd, after all,--that he in
some way could have prevented it.
But as he saw her come in his face lightened, and she felt touched. Poor
Lionel! He was certainly very, very fond of her.
"I do hope Helen Brabazon will stay on with you and Bubbles," he said
eagerly. "I think I've nearly persuaded Miss Burnaby to let her do so.
Do say a word to her, Blanche?"
"I will, if you like. But in that case, hadn't we better ask Sir Lyon to
stay on, too?"
"Dilsford!" he exclaimed. "Why on earth should we think of doing that?"
Blanche smiled. "Where are your eyes?" she asked. "Sir Lyon's head over
heels in love with Helen Brabazon; and I've been wondering these last
few days whether that quiet, demure girl is quite as unconscious of his
state as she pretends to be!"
And then, as she began pouring out a cup of tea for the man who was now
looking at her with a dismayed, surprised expression on his face, she
went on composedly: "It would be rather amusing if two engagements were
to come out of your house-party, Lionel--wouldn't it?"
But he answered at once, in a harsh, decided tone, "I think you're quite
mistaken, Blanche. Why, they've hardly exchanged two words together."
Blanche put down the tea-pot. She began to laugh--she really couldn't
help it. "You must have been deaf as well as blind!" she exclaimed.
"They've been together perpetually! I admit that that's been his
doing--not hers. For days past I've seen right into his mind--seen, I
mean, the struggle that has been taking place between his pride
and--yes, the extraordinary attraction that girl seems to have for him.
He's no fortune-hunter, you know; also, he wants so little, the lucky
man, that I think her money would be a positive bother to him."
Lionel Varick stared at Blanche Farrow. She had a way of being right
about worldly matters--the triumph of experience over hope, as she had
once observed cynically. But this time he felt sure she was wrong.
The feminine interest in a possible, probable, or even improbable
love-affair always surprises the average man--surprises, and sometimes
annoys him very much.
"Do you go so far as to say she returns this--this feeling you attribute
to him?" he asked abruptly. He was relieved to see Blanche shake her
head.
"No; I can't say that I've detected any response on her part," she said
lightly. "But she's very old-fashioned and reserved. She certainly
enjoys Sir Lyon's rather dull conversation, and she likes
cross-examining him about the life of the poor. She's a very good girl,"
went on Blanche musingly. "She's a tremendous sense of duty. One can
never tell--but no, I don't think the idea that Sir Lyon's in love with
her has yet crossed her mind! And I should say that she really prefers
you to him. She has a tremendous opinion of you, Lionel. I wonder why?"
He laughed aloud, for the first time since Bubbles' accident. He knew
that what Blanche said was true, and it was a very pleasant, reassuring
bit of knowledge.
"Old Burnaby would not think of allowing her to marry a penniless
baronet," he said smiling.
Blanche looked across at him quickly. "Good and obedient as she is to
both those old things, I don't think they'd be able to influence Helen
Brabazon in such a thing as marriage."
"Well, you may be right," said Varick, doubtfully.
He felt strongly tempted to take Blanche into his confidence; to tell
her, frankly, that he wished to marry Helen. Yet some obscure instinct
held him back. Women, even the most sensible women, are so damned
sentimental! So he told himself. Lately he had had the unpleasant,
disconcerting feeling that whenever Helen looked at him she thought of
"poor Milly."
"Still, I don't envy Sir Lyon his wooing," went on Blanche. "Helen is a
girl who'll take a long time to make up her mind, and who will weigh all
the pros and cons."
"Then you don't think," said Varick in a low tone, "that she would ever
be swept off her feet?"
At one time he had felt sure she would be.
"By a grand passion? My dear Lionel, what an absurd idea! But hush--"
The door opened, and the object of their discussion came in. Helen
Brabazon always looked especially well as breakfast. It was her hour.
"How's Bubbles this morning?" she asked.
And Blanche felt rather guilty. She hadn't been into Bubbles' room; her
mind had been too full of other things. "She's going on very well," she
answered composedly. "I think she might get up to-morrow, in spite of
Dr. Panton." And then, for she felt Varick was "willing" her to say it:
"I do hope that you are going to stay on till Saturday, even if your
aunt has to go away this afternoon."
"Yes," said Helen, and the colour deepened a little in her cheeks. "Yes,
I've persuaded Auntie to let me stay on till you and Bubbles come up to
London. It's only two days, after all."
"I _am_ glad." There was a genuine thrill of satisfaction in Varick's
voice. This meant that he and the girl would be practically alone
together all to-morrow and Friday.
"I think Sir Lyon could manage to stay on too, if you ask him." Helen
smiled guilelessly at her host. "I saw him just now. He and Dr. Panton
were taking Span round to the kitchen, and when I said I was staying on,
Sir Lyon said he thought he could stay on too, just till Saturday
morning."
Blanche could not forbear giving a covert glance of triumph at Varick's
surprised and annoyed face. "Of course," she said quickly, "we shall be
delighted to have Sir Lyon a little longer. I thought by what he said
that he was absolutely obliged to go away to-day, by the same train as
you and Miss Burnaby."
"He certainly said so," observed Varick coldly.
And then, for Blanche Farrow was above all things a woman of the world,
when the other two men came in she made everything quite easy for Sir
Lyon, pressing him to stay on, as if she had only just thought of it.
But she noticed, with covert amusement, that he was very unlike his
usual cool, collected self. He actually looked sheepish--yes, that was
the only word for it! Also, he made rather a favour of staying. "I shall
have to telegraph," he said; "for I'd made all my arrangements to go
back this afternoon."
"As for me," said Dr. Panton, "I must leave this afternoon, worse luck!
But there it is." He turned to Varick. "I've got an appointment in
London to-morrow morning--one I can't put off."
Donnington came in at last. He looked radiant--indeed, his look of
happiness was in curious contrast to the lowering expression which now
clouded Varick's face.
"Bubbles is nearly well again!" he cried joyfully. "She says she'll get
up to-morrow, doctor or no doctor!" He looked at Panton; then, turning
to Blanche, in a lower tone: "Also, she's shown me the most wonderful
letter from her father, written to her before Christmas. I always
thought he disliked me: but he liked me from the very first time we
met--isn't that strange?"
"Very strange," said Blanche, smiling.
They all scattered after breakfast, but Miss Farrow noticed that Varick
made a determined and successful attempt to carry off Helen Brabazon
from Sir Lyon, who had obviously been lying in wait for her.
"What dogs in the manger men are!" she said to herself. And then she
remembered, with a little gasp of dismay, her mysterious appointment
with Mark Gifford. She knew him well enough to be sure that he would be
in good time; but, even so, there was more than an hour to be got
through somehow before she could start for Darnaston.
She went up to Bubbles' room. Yes, the girl looked marvellously
better--younger too, quite different!
There came a knock at the door while she was there, and Donnington came
in.
"If you'd been wise," said Bubbles, looking up at him, "you'd have made
up to Helen Brabazon, Bill. She's like an apple, just ready to fall off
the tree."
"What _do_ you mean?" asked Blanche.
"Just what I say. She's tremendously in love with love!"
"D'you really think so?"
(If so, Sir Lyon's task would be an easy one.)
"I know it," said Bubbles positively. "I've made a close study of that
girl. I confess I didn't like her at first, and I will tell you why,
though I know it will shock Bill."
"I've always liked Miss Brabazon," he said stoutly, "why didn't you like
her, Bubbles?"
"Because when she arrived here I saw that she was in love with Lionel
Varick."
"Don't talk nonsense," said her aunt reprovingly. "You know I don't like
that sort of joking."
And as for Bill, he turned and walked towards the door. "I've got some
letters to write," he said crossly.
"Don't go away, Bill. It isn't a joke, Blanche--and I'm going really to
shock _you_ now--unless, of course, you're only pretending to be
shocked?"
"What d'you mean?" said Blanche.
"I think Helen fell in love with Lionel Varick before his wife died."
Bill said sharply: "I won't have you say such disgusting things,
Bubbles!" And he did indeed look disgusted.
"What a queer mind you've got," said Bubbles reprovingly. "I mean, of
course, in quite a proper way; that is, without the poor girl knowing
anything about it. But I thing _he_ knew it right enough."
Blanche remained silent. Bubbles' words were making her feel curiously
uneasy. They threw a light on certain things which had puzzled her.
"Lionel Varick marked her down long ago," went on Bubbles slowly. "On
the evening that she arrived I saw that he had quite made up his mind to
marry her. But as the days went on I began to hope that he wouldn't
succeed." She uttered these last words very, very seriously.
Her aunt looked at her, surprised at the feeling she threw into her
voice. As for Donnington, he was staring at her dumbly and, yes,
angrily. At last he said: "And why shouldn't Varick marry her, if they
both like one another?"
"You wouldn't understand if I were to tell you. You're too stupid and
too good to understand."
Donnington felt very much put out. He did not mind being called stupid,
but what on earth did Bubbles mean by saying he was too good?
"I'm sure Lionel's dead wife has been haunting Helen," went on Bubbles
rapidly, "quite, quite sure of it. And I'm glad she has! I should be
sorry for any nice girl--for any woman, even a horrid woman--to marry
Lionel Varick. There! I've said my say, and now I shall for ever hold my
peace."
They both stared at her, astonished by the passion and energy with which
she uttered the curious words.
Bill looked down at the girl, and, though he felt hurt and angry with
her, his heart suddenly softened. Bubbles looked very frail and tired
lying there.
"Bill," she said, "come here," and he came, though not very willingly,
closer to her.
She pulled him down. "I only want to tell you that I love you," she
whispered, and his anger, his irritation, vanished like snow in the sun.
Blanche was already at the door. She turned round. "Well, I must be off
now to see the _chef_, and to make all sorts of arrangements. Sir Lyon
is staying on--rather unlike him to change his mind, but he's done
so--at the last moment."
"I wish _I_ could get a few more days' holiday," said Bill ruefully. "My
number's up this afternoon."
The letters he had to write could go to blazes--of course he meant to
spend each of the precious minutes that remained in the next few hours
with Bubbles!
"You'll be able to escort old Miss Burnaby to town, for Helen's staying
on," went on Blanche.
"Helen staying on?" exclaimed Bubbles. "I'm glad of that! Oh, and Sir
Lyon's staying on, too?"
She suddenly gave one of her funny, eerie little chuckles; but she made
no other comment.
"Yes," called out Blanche. "And Dr. Panton's going--so I've a good many
little things to see to."
Bill sprang to the door, and opened it for her.
As it shut she heard Bubbles' voice, and it was a voice Blanche Farrow
hardly knew. "Are you really sorry you're going away from your little
kid, Bill?"
Blanche sighed sharply. After all, so she told herself, there is
something to be said for love's young dream.