"Olive knows nothing of Edward Percy, and—I don't want to tell her just yet."—page 121."Olive knows nothing of Edward Percy, and—I don't want to tell her just yet."—page 121.
"Ask, then."
"I shall touch upon a painful subject, and I will tell you why. After you went away, the story of your sorrow remained with me. So I thought the ground all over, and formed some conclusions. Do you wish to hear them?"
Olive nodded, wearily.
"You have told me," said Madeline, assuming a calm, business-like tone, "that Lucian Davlin testified against your husband at his trial. Now the wounded man, Percy, stated that he recognized the man who struck him?"
"Yes."
"Well, what was Davlin's testimony?"
"That he saw my husband stealing in the direction of the place where the wounded man was found, but a few moments before he was struck, wearing the same hat and hunting-jacket that the injured man testified was worn by his would-be assassin."
"Oh!" Madeline knitted her brows in thought a moment; then—"Was the coat and hat Mr. Girard's?"
"Yes; he had thrown them off in the afternoon, while the heat was intense, and had fallen asleep. When he awoke, he heard them calling him to supper. It was late in the evening when he remembered his coat and hat, and went back to look for them. He went just at the time when the man must have been struck, and his absence told against him in the evidence."
"Did he find his garments?"
"No; they were found by others, not where he had left them, but nearer the scene of the crime."
"Ah! And who was the first to discover the injured man?"
"Why, I believe it was Mr. Davlin." Olive looked more and more surprised at each question. "Why do you ask these things, Madeline?"
The girl made a gesture of impatience. "Wait," she said, "I will explain in good time." Again she considered. "Was there any ill-feeling between your husband and Davlin?"
"There was no open misunderstanding, but I know there was mutual dislike. Philip saw that Davlin was making systematic efforts to win money from the party, and had therefore persuaded one or two of his friends to give gaming little countenance. No doubt he kept money out of the man's pocket."
"And what was the standing of that man and the victim, this Percy?"
"They were much together, and Philip tells me he had sometimes fancied that Davlin held some power over Percy. Davlin had won largely from him, and the man seemed much annoyed, but paid over the money without demur."
"And now, how did your husband stand toward the injured man?"
"That is the worst part of the story. They had had high words only that very day. Philip had been acquainted with Percy at school, and he knew so much that was not in his favor, that he was unable to conceal his real opinion of the man at all times. One day high words arose, and Philip uttered a threat, which was misconstrued, after the attack upon Percy. They said he threatened his life. But Percy knew that only his honor was meant. Davlin knew this, too; must have known it, for he was aware that the two had met before they came together with the party."
"I can not see why Lucian Davlin should be your husband's enemy."
"I can understand that he hated Philip for the same reason that a thief hates the light, and Philip had balked his plans."
"True; and yet—"
"And yet?" inquiringly.
"Bad as the man is, I can see but one motive that could induce even him to swear away the liberty, almost the life, of a man who never wronged him."
"Still, he did it," said Olive, with a weary sigh.
"True; and he did it for a motive."
"And that motive—"
"Was the strongest instinct of the human race."
"What?" eagerly.
"Self-preservation."
Olive started up with a half cry. "Madeline, in heaven's name,whatdo you mean!"
"That Lucian Davlin threw suspicion upon the innocent to screen the guilty," said the girl, in a low, firm tone.
"And the guilty one, then?"
"Himself. Do you think him too good for it?" sneeringly.
"No, no! oh, no! But this I had never thought of—yet it may be true."
She fell into deep thought; after a time she started up. "I must consult a detective immediately," she said.
"You must do no such thing," cried Madeline, springing to her feet; "why did not the detectives find this out before? Because they have not my reasons for hunting that man down.Ifound this clue, if it be one. I claim it; it is my right, and I will have it. If he is to be undone, it shall be by my hands. I swear it!"
They faced each other in silence.
Slowly Olive recalled to her countenance and voice its usual sweet calm, and then seated herself and talked long and earnestly with Madeline.
The little bronze clock on the mantel was on the stroke of two when the conference ended, and Madeline retired to her own room, but not to sleep. She sat and thought until the dawn shone in at her window.
One link was missing from the chain; no motive had been discovered for an attack on Percy by Davlin.
"But I will find it," she muttered. Then, as a new thought occurred to her, she caught her breath. "Claire's lover is named Percy; can it be the same? Why did not this occur to me sooner? Why did I not ask for his first name, and a description of him? If this man and Edward Percy should be one and the same! Pshaw! the name is not an uncommon one, and it may be only a coincidence. But your face is a bad one, Edward Percy, and I shall know it when I see it again."
The sun was not high in the heavens ere Madeline was astir, for her nature was such that strong excitement rendered rest impossible. Moving impatiently about the grounds, she saw a familiar form approaching through the shrubbery, and hastened to meet it.
The black visage of Henry beamed with satisfaction as he made a hurried obeisance and placed in her hand a letter, saying:
"Master was preparing for a two days' journey when this letter came. He threw it into his desk, and bade me lock it, and bring him the key. His back was turned, and I took the letter before I locked the desk. It was a long one, and fromher; I thought you might want to see it."
"Right, Henry," said the girl, quietly, as she opened the letter. "You will wait for it?"
"Yes, miss; it must not be missing when he comes."
"Certainly not."
She returned to the letter, and this is what she read:
Oakley, October 11.
Lucian,Mon Brave:
I am in a fine predicament—have made a startling discovery. Mr. A—— has been sick, and the mischief is to pay; and his sickness has brought some ugly facts to light.The old man isnotthe sole proprietor of the Oakley wealth. That girl who ran away so mysteriously, and has never been heard of, will inherit at his death. He can bequeath his widow nothing. Oh, to know where that girl is! If she is alive, my work is useless, my time is wasted. I think the old chap must have driven her to desperation, for he raved in his delirium of her and her words at parting. They must have been "searchers."Well, to add to the general interest, Miss Arthur, aged fifty or so, is here. She is a juvenile old maid, who has a fortune in her own right, and so must be cultivated. She dresses like a sixteen-year-old, and talks like a fool, principally about a certain admirer, a "blonde demi-god"—her words—named Percy.Something must be done: things must be talked over. Come down and make love to Miss Arthur.Hermoney is not entailed.Bring me some Periques and a box of Alexis gloves—you know the number. Yours in disgust,
I am in a fine predicament—have made a startling discovery. Mr. A—— has been sick, and the mischief is to pay; and his sickness has brought some ugly facts to light.
The old man isnotthe sole proprietor of the Oakley wealth. That girl who ran away so mysteriously, and has never been heard of, will inherit at his death. He can bequeath his widow nothing. Oh, to know where that girl is! If she is alive, my work is useless, my time is wasted. I think the old chap must have driven her to desperation, for he raved in his delirium of her and her words at parting. They must have been "searchers."
Well, to add to the general interest, Miss Arthur, aged fifty or so, is here. She is a juvenile old maid, who has a fortune in her own right, and so must be cultivated. She dresses like a sixteen-year-old, and talks like a fool, principally about a certain admirer, a "blonde demi-god"—her words—named Percy.
Something must be done: things must be talked over. Come down and make love to Miss Arthur.Hermoney is not entailed.
Bring me some Periques and a box of Alexis gloves—you know the number. Yours in disgust,
Cora Mme. Arthur.
Madeline dropped the letter, and stood amazed. What did it mean? "CoraMme.Arthur!"
Henry stooped for the letter, and the act recalled her to herself. She thanked him for the service he had done her; told him of her intended departure; gave him some last instructions, and dismissed him with a kind good-by.
"I took the letter before I locked the desk."—page 127."I took the letter before I locked the desk."—page 127.
"It is time to act," she muttered. "Good heavens! the audacity of that man and woman! She is married to my step-father,if that letter does not lie; has married him for money, and is baffled there. She hoped to becomehis widow, aha! The plot thickens, indeed! Goodness! what a household! That bad old man, the still viler woman, dangerous Lucian Davlin, and that funny, youthful, cross, 'conceited spinster,' Ellen Arthur, who has a lover, and his name is—heaven save us—Percy! That namewillmix itself up with my fate web, and why? Percy beloved of Claire; Percy who brought Philip Girard to his doom; Percy the lover of a rich old maid, are ye one and the same? Percy! Percy! Percy! I must cultivate the Percys at any cost."
She turned and entered the house, her head bent, thinking, thinking, thinking.
Less than a week after the events last related, and a family group surrounds the lunch table in the newly furnished morning room of Oakley.
The fair and fascinating Mrs. Torrance had accomplished the purpose for which she came to Bellair.
Truly had she said, "There is no fool like an old fool;" for John Arthur had been an easy victim. He had lost no time with his wooing, and so, a little less than two months from the day the fair widow came to Bellair, saw her mistress of John Arthur's household.
A bridal tour was not to her taste, much to the delight of the bridegroom. So they set about refitting some of the fine oldrooms of the mansion, Cora having declared that they were too gloomy to be inhabitable.
As it was to her interest to keep up the deception of frank affection, she had been, during the two months of their honey-moon, a model wife. But the discovery that John Arthur could leave her nothing save his blessing, had now been made, and Cora, who was already weary of her gray-headed dupe, had been for a few days past less careful in her dissembling.
For this reason John Arthur now sat with a moody brow, and watched her smile upon her brother with a feeling of jealous wrath.
The bride had thrown off her badge of mourning, and was very glad to bloom out once more in azure and white and rose—hues which her soul loved.
Opposite sat Miss Arthur, her sallowness carefully enameled over, her head adorned with an astonishing array of false braids and curls and frizzes, jetty in hue to match her eyes, which, so Cora informed Lucian in private, were "awfully beady."
The lady was perusing a paper, which she suddenly threw down, and said languidly, while she stirred her chocolate carefully. "Should not this be the day on which my new maid arrives?"
Miss Arthur, from perusing many novels of the Sir Walter Scott school, had acquired a very stately manner of speech, and, so she flattered herself, a very effective one.
"I don't know why Miss Arthur can want a maid; her toilets are always perfection," remarked Mr. Davlin to the general assembly.
Whereupon, Miss Arthur blushed, giggled, and disclaimed; Mrs. Arthur disappeared behind a newspaper; and Mr. Arthur emerged from the fog of thought that had enveloped him, to say brusquely:
"Miss Arthur want a maid? what's all this? A French maid in a country house—faugh!"
Miss Arthur gazed across at her brother, and said, loftily, and somewhat unmeaningly:
"It is what I have chosen to do, John." Then to Mr. Davlin, sweetly: "It is so hard to dispense with a maid when you have been accustomed to one."
"I suppose so."
"And this one comes so well recommended, you know, by Mrs. Overman and Mrs. Grosvenor. You have heard of these ladies in society, no doubt, Mr. Davlin?"
"Oh, certainly," aloud, "not," aside.
"And the name of the maid?" pursued Lucian.
"Her name," referring to the letter, "Céline Leroque—French, I presume."
"No doubt," dryly.
"Stop him, Miss Arthur," interrupted Cora, prettily; "he will certainly ask if she is handsome, if you let him open his mouth again."
Miss Arthur glanced at him suspiciously. "Not having seen her, I could not inform him," she said, coldly.
"Don't believe my sister," said Davlin, quietly, as he passed his cup. "Cora, a little more chocolate, please. Miss Arthur, I met Mrs. Grosvenor at the seaside, two years ago. Her toilets were the marvel of the day; she protested that all credit was due her maid, who was a whole 'magazine of French art.' I thought this might be the same."
"I most earnestly hope that it is," pronounced Miss Arthur.
"And I most earnestly hope it isn't," grumbled her brother, who to-day felt vicious for many reasons, and didn't much care what the occasion was, so long as it gave him an excuse for growling.
At this happy stage of affairs, the door was opened and the housemaid announced: "An old lady, who says I am to tell you that her name is Hagar, wants to see you, sir," addressing Mr. Arthur.
The master of the house started, and an angry flush settled upon his face. "Send her away. I won't see the old beldam. Send her away."
The girl bowed and was about to retire, when she was pushed from the doorway with little ceremony, and Nurse Hagar entered. Before the occupants of the room had recovered from their surprise, or found voice to address her, she had crossed the room, and paused before John Arthur. Placing a small bundle upon the table near him, she said:
"Don't think you can order me from your door, John Arthur, when I choose to enter it. I shall never come to you without good reason, and I presume you will think me a welcome messenger when you know my errand."
"Confound you," said the man, angrily, yet with an uneasy look in his eyes; "if you must chatter to me, come into the library." He arose and made a step toward the door.
"There is no need," said Hagar, with dignity; "my errand may interest others here besides yourself. I bring a message from the dead."
John Arthur turned ashen pale and trembled violently. All eyes were turned upon the speaker, however, and his agitation was unnoticed save by Hagar.
"Last night," she continued, "a carriage stopped at my door and a woman came in, bringing that bundle in her hands."
She paused and seemed struggling with her feelings.
"She said," continued Hagar, "that she was requested to come by a dying girl, else she would have written the messagegiven to her. She belonged to a charitable society, and visited the hospital every week. She brought flowers and fruit to one of the patients—a girl who died asking her to write down what is on this card," holding out a bit of white cardboard, "and not to tell the officers of the hospital her true name. She had entered under the name of Martha Gray, and wished to be buried as such. The lady promised; the girl gave her these articles, and the lady kept her word, and brought the message. There is the bundle," in a choking voice, "and here is the card. That is all. Good-by, John Arthur; be happy, if you can. And may God's curse fall upon all who drove her to her doom!"
She gathered her shawl about her shoulders and, casting a meaning glance at Lucian Davlin, passed from the room and the house.
John Arthur sat with eyes riveted upon the card before him. After a time he turned, and placing it in Davlin's hand, signed to him to read it, and hurriedly left the room.
The hand that had first stricken the young life, placed the evidence that the end had come in the hand that had completed what the first began!
Something of this Lucian Davlin felt, hardened as he was, for he knew, without waiting for the proof, that the true name of the girl who died in the hospital was familiar to them all.
"Read!" ejaculated Cora, impatiently, "or give it to me."
Lucian's eyes had scanned the card, and tossing it across to her, he pushed back his chair and walked to the window. Cora read for the benefit of her bewildered sister-in-law:
Madeline Payne, at St. Mary's Hospital, under name of Martha Gray, died—brain fever—no friends but nurse.
Madeline Payne, at St. Mary's Hospital, under name of Martha Gray, died—brain fever—no friends but nurse.
"May God's curse fall upon all who drove her to her doom."—page 134."May God's curse fall upon all who drove her to her doom."—page 134.
On the opposite side of the card was pencilled the full address of old Hagar, and this was all. Scant information, but it was enough.
Cora pounced upon the bundle and opened it. It contained a little purse; a few trinkets, which any of the servants could identify as belonging to Madeline; the cloak she had worn the evening of her flight; and a pocket-handkerchief with her name embroidered in the corner.
Satisfaction beamed in the face Cora turned toward Lucian, and away from Miss Arthur. She was mindful of the proprieties, however, and turning her eyes back upon the lady opposite, she pressed a dainty handkerchief to her countenance, and murmured plaintively:
"How very, very shocking, and sad! Poor Mr. Arthur is quite overcome, and no wonder—that poor, sweet, young girl."
Across Lucian's averted face flitted a smile of sarcasm. How little she knew of the truth, this fair hypocrite, and how unlikely she was ever to know now. If Madeline were dead, of what avail was any effort to break from the olden thraldom—for this is what had been in the mind of the scheming man.
Cora brushed her handkerchief across her eyes and arose languidly. "I must go to Mr. Arthur, poor man," she murmured, shaking out her flounces. "He is terribly shocked, I fear."
Studiously avoiding the necessity of glancing in the direction of Mr. Davlin, she glided from the room.
And so the news fell in Madeline's home, and its inmates were affected no more than this:
With Cora a renewal of tenderness toward "Dear John," and an increased stateliness toward Miss Arthur and the servants. More deference on Miss Arthur's part towards her brother, andless on his part toward her, as the possibility of being obliged to ask a small loan faded away into the past of empty purses and closed up coffers.
Lucian took upon himself the responsibility of visiting the city and calling at St. Mary's, there to be reassured of the fact that one Martha Grey had died within its walls and been buried.
After this the days flew by very much alike.
Miss Arthur's maid arrived, and proved indeed a treasure, nor was she as obnoxious to Mr. John Arthur as he had evidently intended to find her. Perhaps Céline Leroque knew by instinct that the master of Oakley cherished an aversion to French maids in particular; or perhaps she was an exceptional French maid, and craved neither the smiles nor slyly administered caresses, that fell to the lot of prettyfemmes de chambre, at least in novels. At any rate, certain it is that Miss Arthur's maid manifested no desire to be seen by the inmates of the household, and she had been domiciled for some weeks without having vouchsafed to either John Arthur or Lucian Davlin more than a fleeting glimpse of her maidship.
Things were becoming very monotonous to some of the occupants of the Oakley manor; very, very dull and flavorless.
Cora was growing restless. Not that the astute lady permitted signs of discontent to become manifest to the uninitiated, but Lucian Davlin saw, with a mingled feeling of satisfaction and dismay,that therôleof devoted wife had ceased to interest his blonde comrade in iniquity.
The fact gave him a malicious pleasure because, as fate had dared to play against him, he would have felt especially aggrieved if a few thorns had not been introduced into the eider down that seemingly enveloped his fair accomplice.
But he felt some dismay, for he knew by the swift flash of azure eyes under golden lashes, by the sway of her shoulders as she paced the terrace, by the nervous tapping of her slippered foot at certain times in the intervals of table chat—that Cora wasthinking. And when Cora thought, something was about to happen.
It was in obedience to one of those swift side glances, that he followed her from the morning room, one forenoon about three weeks after the news of Madeline's death had come to them. The day was bright but chill, and the woman had wrapped herself in a shawl of vivid crimson, but stood with bared head in the sunlight waiting the approach of her counterfeit brother.
"Cover your head, you very thoughtless woman," was his brotherly salutation as he approached, plunging about in his pockets in search of a cigar the while.
"Bother!" she ejaculated, tossing her golden locks; "my hair needs a sunbath. I only wish I dare indulge myself further! If you had any heart you wouldn't torture me so constantly with the odor of those magnificent Havanas, when you know how my very soul longs for a weed!"
"Poor little woman," laughing maliciously; "fancy Mrs. John Arthur of Oakley smoking aPerique! Isn't it prime, Co.?" puffing out a cloud of perfumed smoke.
"Prime! bah! I'd like to strangle you, or—"
"Or?—" inquiringly.
"Somebody," laughing nervously.
"Just so; Miss Arthur would be a good subject and that would confer a favor on me, too, by Jove!"
"I don't want to confer a favor on you. You had much better try and do me one, I think."
"With all my heart, taking my ability for granted, of course; only tell me how."
Cora shrugged her crimson-clad shoulders, and they paced forward in silence for a time. Then as if his stillness had been speech of a distasteful kind, she ejaculated, crossly, and without turning her head: "Stuff! you talk too much!"
Lucian smiled maliciously, removed his cigar from between his lips, described a smoke wreath in mid-air, replaced his weed, and said: "Do I? then mum's the word;" and he relapsed into silence.
He seemed bent on annoying her, for there was a laughing glimmer in his eye, and he obstinately refused to attempt to draw her out, and so make easier whatever she might have to say, for he knew that she had signaled him out to-day for a purpose.
Mutely he walked by her side, and contentedly puffed at his cigar until, at length, she turned upon him, and struck petulantly at the hand that had just removed it from his lips. The weed fell from his fingers to the ground, and Cora set her slippered heel upon it, as if it were an enemy, and laughed triumphantly.
"Now we are on a level," she cried. "Do you suppose I intend to give you that advantage over me?"
"It seems not," with a shrug expressive of resignation and a smile hidden by his mustache.
He was not the man to be angered, or even ruffled, by these little feminine onslaughts. In fact, they rather pleased and amused him, and he had become well accustomed to Cora's"little ways," as he called them. Deprived of his cigar, he thrust his hands into his pockets and whistled softly.
"Lucian, if you don't stop looking so comfortable, and content, and altogether don't-care-ish, I shall do something very desperate," she exclaimed, pettishly.
"No?" raising his eyebrows in mock incredulity; "you don't tell me. I thought you were in a little heaven of your own, Mrs. Arthur."
"Oh! you did? Very clever of you. Well, Mr. Davlin, has it occurred to you that heaven might not be a congenial climate for me?"
"Not while your wings are so fresh, surely? You have scarcely entered your paradise, fair peri."
"Haven't I?" ironically. "Well, I am tired of manna, anyhow." Cora was not always strictly elegant in her choice of expressions. "Now, Lucian, stop parleying, and tell me, when is this going to end?"
"When?"
He stopped and looked down at her intently. Twice they had traversed the terrace, and now they paused at the termination furthest from the house. Just before them a diminutive flight of stone steps led down to a narrow graveled walk, that skirted a velvety bit of lawn, and was in its turn hedged by some close and high-growing shrubs from the "Bellair woods," as they were called. Beyond the steps was a gap in the hedge, and this, cut and trimmed until it formed a compact and beautiful arch, was spanned by a stile, built for the convenience of those who desired to reach the village by the shortest route, the Bellair woods.
"Don't repeat like a parrot, Lucian." Cora raised her voice angrily. "I say, when is this to end? and how?"
They were just opposite the gap in the hedge and Lucian, looking down upon Cora, stood facing the opening. As the words crossed her lips, his eyes fell upon a figure just behind her, and he checked the conversation by an involuntary motion of the hand.
The figure came toward them. It was Miss Arthur's French maid, and she carried in her hand a small parcel. Evidently she was returning from some errand to the village. Miss Arthur's maid had black hair, dressed very low on the forehead; eyes of some sort, it is to be presumed, but they were effectually concealed by blue glasses; a rather pasty complexion; a form that might have been good, but if so, its beauties were hidden by the loose and, as Cora expressed it, "floppy," style of jacket which she habitually wore. She passed them with a low "Bon jour, madame," and hurried up the terrace. At least she was walking swiftly, but not very smoothly, up the terrace when Lucian cast after her a last disapproving glance.
"Your lady's maid is not a swan nor a beauty," he said, as they by mutual consent went down the steps.
Cora made no reply to this, seeming lost in thought. They walked on for a moment in silence.
But Céline Leroque did not walk on. She dropped her package and, stooping to recover it, cast a swift glance after the pair. They were sauntering slowly down the hedgerow walk, their backs toward her.
Probably the falling parcel had reminded the French maid of something forgotten, for she turned swiftly, silently, and without any of her previous awkwardness retraced her steps and disappeared beyond the stile.
"What's the row, Co.?" asked Lucian, kicking a pebble with his boot toe. "You are getting restive early in thegame. Can't you keep to the track for another two months?"
"No."
"What then?"
"This. We must get that fool out of the way."
"Meaning who?"
"She, of course—Ellen Arthur. The woman will make a raving maniac of me in two months more."
"By Jove! and of me, too, if I don't get out of this."
"We must get rid of her."
"How?"
"I don't know—somehow, anyhow."
"And then?"
"And then—" she gave him a side glance, and laughed unpleasantly.
"And then? You have a plan, my blonde. Out with it; I am a listener."
And he did listen.
Slowly down the hedgerow path they paced, and at the end, halted and stood for a time in earnest consultation. There was some difference of opinion, but the difference became adjusted. And they turned toward the house, evidently satisfied with the result of the morning's consultation.
Not long after, Miss Arthur's maid returned also.
"I see by the papers that Dr. LeGuise has come back from Europe, Cora," announced Mr. Davlin from his seat at the lunch table that day.
"Dr. LeGuise! how delightful! Now one will not be afraid to be sick—our old family physician, you know," to Miss Arthur; "andsoskillful. He has been in Europe a year. The dear man, how I long to see him!"
"Well!" laughed Lucian, "I will carry him any amount ofaffection, providing it is not too bulky. I find that I must run up to the city to-morrow, and of course will look him up."
"Oh!" eagerly, "and find out if he saw the D'Arcys in Paris; and those delightful Trevanions!" Then, regretfully, "can't you stay another week, dear?"
"Out of the question, Co., much as I regret it," glancing expressively at Miss Arthur. "But I shan't forget you all."
"Pray do not," simpered the spinster. "And when do you return?"
"Not for two or three weeks, I fear. But rest assured I shall lose no time, when once I am at liberty."
During his lazy, good-humored moments, Mr. Davlin had made most ridiculous love to Miss Arthur, and that lady had not been behind in doing her part. Now, strange to say, the face which she bent over her napkin wore upon it a look, not of sorrow, but of relief. And why?
"Take especial care with my toilet this morning, Céline," drawled Miss Arthur, as she sat before a mirror in her luxuriously appointed dressing-room.
Wise Cora had seen the propriety of giving to this unwelcome sister-in-law with the heavy purse, apartments of the best in the newly fitted-up portion of the mansion.
"I want you to beespeciallycareful with my hair and complexion," Miss Arthur continued.
"Yes, mademoiselle," demurely. Then, as if the informationmight bear upon the question of the toilet, "Does mademoiselle know that Monsieur Davlin left an hour ago?"
"Certainly, Céline, but I expect a visitor. He may arrive at any time to-day, and you must do your very best with my toilet."
"Mademoiselleest charmante; slight need of Céline's poor aid," cooed the little hypocrite, and the toilet proceeded.
At length, the resources of art having been exhausted, Miss Arthur stood up, and approved of Céline's handiwork.
"I really do look nicely, Céline; you have done well, very. Now go send me a pot of chocolate and a bit of toast."
"Yes, mademoiselle."
"And a bit of chicken, or a bird's wing."
"Oui."
"And a French roll, Céline, with perhaps an omelette."
"Pardonne, mademoiselle, but might I suggest we must not forget this," touching Miss Arthur's tightly laced waist.
"True, Céline, quite right; the toast, then. And, Céline, remain down-stairs and when Mr. Percy comes," (her maid visibly started at the name) "show him into the little parlor, and tell him I am somewhere in the grounds—you understand? Then come and let me know. I prefer to have him fancy me surprised, you see," smiling playfully.
"I see; mademoiselle hassuchtact," and the French maid disappeared.
"Mr. Percy?" muttered the French maid, in very English accents; "I will certainly look for your coming, Mr. Percy. Can it be that I am to meet you at last?"
Mrs. John Arthur was restless that morning. She fidgeted about after the departure of her brother; tried to play the agreeable to her husband, but finding this a difficult task, lefthim to his cigar and his morning paper, in the solitude of his sanctum, and seizing her crimson shawl, started out for a turn upon the terrace.
The "little parlor," as it was called, commanded a view of one end of the terrace walk, but no portion of it was visible from the immediate front of Oakley mansion, the terrace running across the grounds in the rear of the dwelling, and being shut off from the front by a thicket of flowering shrubs and trees.
The hall facing the front entrance to Oakley was deserted now, save for the figure of Céline Leroque, who was ensconsed in one of the windows thereof. She had been watching there for more than an hour, and Cora had promenaded the terrace half that time, when a gentleman approached the mansion from the front gate-way.
Céline's eyes were riveted upon the coming figure, as it appeared and disappeared among the trees and shrubbery along the winding walk. At length he emerged into open space and approached nearer.
Céline Leroque suppressed a cry of astonishment as she anticipated his ring and ushered him in. A very blonde man, with the lower half of his face covered with a mass of yellow waving beard; pale blue, searching, unfathomable eyes; pale yellow hair; a handsome face, the face she had seen pictured in Claire's souvenir!
Céline Leroque led the way toward the little parlor with a heart beating rapidly.
"Miss Arthur is in the grounds," she said, in answer to his inquiry. "I will go look for her;" and she turned away.
Mr. Percy placed his hat upon a little table and tossing back his fair hair, said: "I think I can see her now."
Approaching the window he looked down upon the terrace.
Céline looked, too, and catching a gleam of crimson, said: "That is not Miss Arthur."
"Stop a moment, my girl," the man exclaimed.
He was gazing down at Cora, who was walking away from them, with a puzzled look. "Good God!" he ejaculated, as she turned and he saw her face.
He checked himself, and withdrawing hastily from the window, took up his hat as if about to depart. Approaching the window once again, he looked cautiously forth, and seeing Cora still pacing the terrace in evident unconcern, he muttered to himself, but quite audibly, "Thank goodness, she did not see me."
Then turning to Céline: "Girl, who is that woman?"
The girl approached the window: "That, monsieur, is Madame Cora Arthur."
"A widow, eh?"
"Oh, no, monsieur. Mr. Arthur is the master of Oakley."
"Oh! and madame—how long has she been his wife?"
"She is still a bride, monsieur."
"Still a bride, is she? How exceedingly pleasant." Mr. Percy had evidently recovered from his panic. "Was she a miss when she married the master of Oakley?"
"Oh, no, monsieur; a widow."
"Widow?" stroking his whiskers caressingly. "What name?"
"Madame Torrance, monsieur."
"Madame Torrance, eh? Well, my good girl, take this," offering a bank note. "I really thought that Madame Torrance, I mean Arthur, was an old friend; however, it seems I was mistaken. Now, my girl, go and tell that lady that a gentleman desires to see her, and do not announce me to Miss Arthur yet. May I depend upon you?" glancing at her keenly.
"You may, monsieur."
Taking the offered money, she made an obeisance, and withdrew.
The little parlor had but one means of egress—through the door by which Mr. Percy had entered. This door was near the angle of the room; so near that, as it swung inward, it almost grazed against a huge high-backed chair, stiff and grim, but reckoned among the elegant pieces of furniture that are always, or nearly always, uncomfortable. This chair occupied the angle, and behind its capacious back was comfortable room for one or two persons, should they fancy occupying a position so secluded. The act of opening the door completely screened this chair from the view of any person not directly opposite it, until such time as the door should be again closed.
As Céline Leroque opened the door and disappeared one might have fancied, had they been gazing at that not-very-interesting object, that the high-backed chair moved ever so little.
Céline flew along the hall and down the stairway, tearing viciously at something as she went. Once in the open air, the brisk autumn breezes caught something from her hand, and sent little fragments whirling through space—paper scraps, that might have been dissected particles of a bank note.
Cora listened in some surprise to the messenger, who broke in upon her meditations with a trifle less of suavity than was usual in Miss Arthur's maid.
"A gentleman, to see me! Are you quite sure, Céline?"
Mrs. Arthur, for various reasons, received but few friends, and Céline thought now that she looked a trifle annoyed.
"Well, Céline, where is the gentleman? Stop," as if struck by a sudden thought, and changing color slightly, "tell him I am out, but not until I have got up-stairs," she said; "not until I have had an opportunity to see him, myself unseen," she thought.
"But, madame," hesitated Céline, "he is in the little parlor. He saw madame at the upper end of the terrace."
"Confusion! What did he say, girl?" excitedly.
"He said, madame, that he wished to speak with you; that he was an old friend."
"Well, go along," sharply. "I will see the man."
Céline turned about and Cora followed her almost sullenly. She had some apprehension as to this unknown caller, but he had seen her, and whoever he was she must face him, for Cora was no coward.
Céline tripped along thinking intently.
"This man is Edward Percy—Edward Percy, the lover of two women. He was frightened when he saw this Mrs. Arthur, and my words reassured him; why? At the mention of a strange caller, she must needs see him before she permits him an interview—for that is what she meant. Do they know each other? If so, the plot thickens."
Edward Percy had certainly been agitated at sight of Mrs. Arthur, and had as certainly recovered when assured that the ladywasMrs. Arthur. He looked the image of content now, as he lounged at the window. Under the blonde mustaches, a smile of cunning and triumph rested; but his eyes looked very blue, very, very calm, very unfathomable.
"Madame Arthur, sir."
Céline opens the door gently, and admits the form of Cora. Then, as the two face each other in silence, the door quietly closes, neither one having glanced toward the girl, who has disappeared.
Cora stands before him, the folds of the crimson shawl falling away from the plump, graceful shoulders, and mingling with the sweep of her black cashmere wrapper in rich, graceful contrast.One fair hand gathers up the crimson fabric and, instinctively, the other thrusts itself out in a repellant gesture, as the soft voice utters, in tones of mingled hate and fear: "You!"
He laughs softly. "Yes, I. I knew you would be delighted." All the time he is gazing at her critically, apparently viewing her loveliness with an approving eye.
And now the woman feels through her whole being but the one instinct—hate. She has forgotten all fear, and stands before him erect, pallid, but with eye and lip expressing the bitterness that rages within her.
"You won't say you are glad to see me? Cruel Alice," he murmurs, plaintively. "And after all these years, too; how many are they, my dear?"
"No matter!" fiercely. "They have given the devil ample time to claim his own, and yet you are upon earth!"
"Yes," serenely; "both of us."
"Both of us, then. How dare you seek me out?"
"My dear wife, I never did you so much honor. I came to this house for another purpose, and Providence, kind Providence, has guided me to you."
The woman seemed recalled to herself. Again the look of fear overspread her face, and looking nervously about her, she said. "For God's sake, hush! What you wish to say say out, but don't let your voice go beyond these walls."
"Dear Alice, my voice never was vulgarly loud, was it? recollect, if you please," in an injured tone.
"Well! well! what do you want with me? Percy Jordan, I warn you—I am not the woman you wronged ten years ago."
"No; by my faith, you are a handsomer woman, and you carry yourself like a duchess. Why didn't you do that when you were Mrs.—"
"Hush!" she cried; "you base liar, it did not take me long to find you out, even then. Don't forget that you have lived in fear of me for ten long years."
"Just so," serenely; "haven't they been long? But they are ended now, my dear; my incubus is dead and—"
"But documents don't die," she interrupted; "don't forget that!"
"Not for worlds. For instance, I remember that in a certain church register may be seen the marriage lines of Alice Ford and—ahem—myself. And somewhere, not far away, there must be on record the statement that Mr. Arthur, of Oakley, has wedded the incomparable Mrs. Torrance, a blonde widow—ahem. Where did you go, my dear, when you left my bed and board so very unceremoniously?