The night before my wedding day I could scarcely sleep a wink--that is, to speak of. I suppose it was partly the excitement; because, of course, I could not help thinking--and there were so many things to think of. "Now, Maud," said mamma, when she was bidding me good-night, "don't you girls stop up talking. You get between the sheets as soon as you're upstairs, and go to sleep at once." But she might as well have talked to the moon. Of course, Eveleen came in to have what she called a "few last words"; from the way she said it there might have been going to be a funeral instead of a wedding. I had not previously suspected her of being sentimental; but that night she was positively depressing. And so horridly hopeful. She hoped that George would make a good husband, and that we should be happy, and that I should never regret what I was doing, and that it would all turn out for the best, and that marriage would suit me, and that I should not go into a rapid decline, like Aunt Louisa did, and that George would not quarrel with mamma, and that he would not estrange me from all my relations and friends, and that whatever happened I should always remember she was the only sister I had; she kept on hoping that sort of thing till I had to bundle her off.
To crown all, when at last I was between the sheets, who should come creeping into the room like a ghost but mamma herself, though it must have been frightfully late; and her manner was positively sepulchral.
"When you were a small child," she began, "I always used to come and kiss you before you went to sleep; have you forgotten?" Of course I had not forgotten. "So I have come again to kiss you, for the last time."
"Dear mother, I'm not dying to-morrow; at least, I hope not."
"That depends on what you mean by dying"--which was a cheerful thing to say! "I trust, my dear daughter, that events will prove you have chosen wisely, and that you will have every happiness; my own married life has not been without its trials. Only, in the midst of your own happiness, do not forget that you have a mother, and that you are still my child. God bless you!"
As she stooped over to kiss me I felt her tears fall on my cheeks. That finished me. After she had gone I had a good cry--the first I had had for years and years. I was more than half disposed to jump out of bed and run after her and promise that I would never leave her--never! never! never!--but--I managed not to. Still I was anything but comfortable, lying all alone in the dark there. Because I could not shut my eyes to the fact that mamma had said things to George, and that George had said things to mamma, and that papa had said things to both of them; and everybody knows how that sort of thing grows, till a breach is made which may never be bridged over. Then there was my dress. Three times I had had to have it altered; till, finally, in desperation, I had made up my mind to have an entirely new bodice made. I could not go to the altar screwed up so tight as to be in continual terror of my seams bursting, or else being suffocated. George would be furious if anything did happen. The new bodice was something of a fit. But it had not yet come home, though Mme. Sylvia had promised--pledged what she called her professional reputation--that it should come before ten o'clock to-morrow morning. Still, I could not help owning to myself that I had scarcely any faith in the woman; and suppose it did not come? My wedding dress!
The horror of such a prospect was too much for me. I believe it frightened me to sleep, if you could call it sleep. Because then I dreamt--such dreams! They were really dreadful nightmares. I know that in one of them George was throwing mamma out of the window and I had on scarcely a rag, and papa, laughing like a maniac, was cutting my wedding dress into tiny shreds and Eveleen was shrieking; when, in the very midst of it, I woke with a start--a frightful start--to find that someone was gripping my shoulder with a clutch of steel, and that a voice was saying to me in the pitchy darkness,--
"Maud, wake up!--wake up! There are burglars in the house; they are in the drawing-room stealing your presents!"
Roused out of sleep by a thunder-clap like that, it was not surprising if I were disposed to wonder where I was and what had happened.
"Who is it?" I inquired. "And what's the matter?"
"It's Eveleen! And as for what's the matter, they're not my presents, so it's not of the slightest consequence to me what becomes of them, though I should not be in the least surprised if they're all of them gone by now. Do wake up!"
Before I really knew it I was not only wide awake, but I was stealing along the pitch dark passage in my night-gown, with Eveleen's hand in mine. Sure enough, as we leaned over the baluster, we could see, through the open door, that there was a light in the drawing-room, where all my wedding-presents were laid out for inspection.
"What are you doing in there?" I cried. "Who are you?"
Looking back they seemed rather foolish questions to have asked. It was, perhaps, because she felt this strongly that, without the slightest warning, Eveleen burst into the most appalling shrieks and yells.
"Help! help!--murder!--thieves!--burglars!--help-p!"
I had never suspected her of having such powerful lungs. It was partly owing to the surprise occasioned by the discovery, and partly to the thrill which the noise she made sent right through me, that I was induced to do the most daring--and also the rashest--thing I ever did do. Without giving Eveleen the least hint of my intention, I flew down the stairs and dashed into the drawing-room in my night-gown, just as I was. What would have happened if the burglar had stayed and attacked me is too terrible for thought. Fortunately, he did nothing of the kind. Just as I tore through the door the light in the room went out; I heard a scrambling noise, as if somebody was stumbling against furniture and knocking over chairs. Then I saw a blind lifted and a figure leaped through the open window. I believe I should have leaped after him if Eveleen had not stopped me. I had already lifted the corner of the blind when she shouted,--
"Maud! What are you going to do?"
"I can see him running across the lawn, and I believe he's taken all my presents!"
"If he has, whatever good do you suppose you'll be able to do by jumping through the window after him?"
"There he is! He's going through the gate! He'll escape!"
Eveleen, coming rushing across the room, flung her arms around me and held me tight.
"Come back!" she cried; which were hardly the correct words to use, since, as a matter of fact, I had not actually gone.
Then papa and mamma and the servants came hurrying in, and there was a fine to-do. That burglar had apparently supposed that those wedding-presents had been laid out for his inspection. Anyhow, he had gone carefully over them and selected the very best. As Eveleen rather coarsely--and also ungratefully--put it, the things he had left behind were hardly worth having. He had taken Aunt Jane's turquoise bracelet, and Uncle Henry's pearl necklace, and Mrs Mackenzie's diamond brooch, and, indeed, nearly every scrap of jewellery, and the silver tea-service, and the dressing-case--George's own present to me--and five cheques, and all sorts of things; though, of course, in the excitement of the moment, we could hardly be certain what he had taken; but I may say at once that it turned out to be worse even than we feared. When, at last, a policeman did appear upon the scene, he was anything but sympathetic. From his manner we might have left my presents lying about on purpose, and the window open too. He was the most disagreeable policeman I ever did encounter.
Anyone would easily imagine that after such an interruption there was no more sleep for me that night. But mamma insisted upon my going back to bed. Extraordinary though it may seem, I believe I was no sooner between the sheets than I was fast asleep. And that time I had no dreams. I was visited by no premonitions of what was to happen to me on what I had meant should be the happiest day of my life. My existence had been uneventful up to then. Scarcely anything worth speaking of had occurred, except my meeting George. It appeared that Fate had resolved to crowd into a few hours the misfortunes which might very well have been spread over the nineteen years I had been in the world. Everything went wrong; some evil spirit had been let loose that day to play on me as many cruel pranks as it possibly could--I feel sure of it. Stealing my wedding-presents was only the beginning. I had worked and schemed, planned and contrived, so that everything should go smoothly and be as nice as it could be. Instead of which anything more tragic could hardly be conceived.
To begin with, Eveleen, who seemed destined on that occasion to act as a bird of ill-omen, awoke me, for the second time, out of sleep with a piece of information which was really almost worse than her first had been. Indeed, for a moment or two, when I realised all that it meant, it seemed to me to be an absolutely crushing blow. She waited till she was sure that I had my eyes wide open; then she let fall her bombshell.
"Maud, I have another pleasant piece of news for you. Bertha has the measles."
"Eveleen," I exclaimed, starting up in bed, "what do you mean?"
"Exactly what I say. And as Constance slept with her last night she will probably have them also, so that you will, at any rate, be two bridesmaids short. Read that."
She handed me a letter which she had been holding in her hand. Seating herself on the side of my bed, she watched me with an air of calm resignation while I read it. It was easy enough for her to be calm; it was different for me. I had arranged for four bridesmaids. Bertha Ellis was to be one; her cousin, Constance Farrer, was to be another. Bertha had had for some days what we had thought was a cold; during the night it had turned into measles--at her time of life, because she was as old as I was. And Constance had actually slept in the same bed with her. So, as Mrs Ellis had written to point out, it was altogether out of the question that either of them should be present at my wedding.
"Now," I demanded, "perhaps you will be so good as to tell me what I am to do."
"I suppose it would be too late to get anyone to take their places?"
"At the eleventh hour--practically at the church door? And who is to get into their dresses? They are both of them so ridiculously small."
"You would have them like that in order to make you look tall. It seems as if it were a judgment."
"How can you say such awful things? Why don't you suggest something?"
"The only thing I am able to suggest is that you should do without them and put up with Ellen and me.
"You know very well that I only asked Ellen Mackenzie because I knew that her mother was going to give me a diamond brooch--and now it's stolen. It's not alone that she's hideous, but she won't harmonise with me in the very least; and, anyhow, having only two bridesmaids will spoil everything."
"Then there's nothing for you to do except postpone the wedding, unless you know of some establishment where they hire out bridesmaids of all shapes and sizes on the shortest notice."
"If it were your wedding day I wouldn't talk to you so heartlessly. How can you be so unkind?"
"Pray, Maud, don't start crying. Red eyes and a red nose won't improve either your appearance or anything else. You are perfectly aware how your nose does go red on the slightest provocation."
Talk about the affection of an only sister! Mamma came in just as I felt like shaking Eveleen.
"Oh, mamma," I burst out, "Bertha Ellis has the measles, and Constance Farrer is almost sure to have them, so I shall be two bridesmaids short, and I had set my heart on having four."
Mamma was, if anything, less demonstrative in the way of sympathy even than Eveleen.
"Be so good, Maud, as not to excite yourself unnecessarily. You will have need of all your self-control before the day is over. Anything more unreasonable than your father's conduct I cannot imagine. He insists on going to the City."
At that both Eveleen and I jumped up.
"But, mamma, he's to give me away at half-past twelve!"
"That makes not the smallest difference to your father. It seems that there's some absurd foreign news which he says will turn that ridiculous City upside down, and he simply insists on going."
I was beginning to put some clothes on anyhow.
"Then he sha'n't!--I won't let him! Mamma, you mustn't let him!"
"It's all very well for you to say that, and goodness knows I have done my best; but you might as well talk to a wooden figure-head as to your father when he is in one of his moods. He's gone already."
"Gone! Mamma!"
"He said that if he was not back at twelve he would meet you at the church door at half-past; but you know how he may be relied upon to keep an appointment of that kind; especially as he went out of his way to inform me--not for the first time--that the whole business is a pack of rubbish."
There are fathers, no doubt, who take the tenderest interest in everything which concerns their children; especially when they have only two, and both of them are daughters. But if my father has any tenderness in him he manages to conceal the fact from the knowledge of his family. And as for interest, I doubt if he takes any real interest in either of us. When George was coming to the house about seven times a week mamma dropped a hint to papa to sound George as to what was the object of his dropping in so often. But papa could not be induced to take it.
"Don't you try to induce me to ask the man if he intends to make a fool of himself, because I won't do it." That was all that papa could be induced to say.
When, after all, without any prompting from anyone, George put to me the question on which hinged so much of my life's happiness, it was ever so long before anyone said a word about it to papa. As to referring George to him, as some daughters, more fortunately situated, might have done, I knew better. At last, one evening, when I was alone with him in the drawing-room after dinner, I managed to find courage enough to tell him.
"Papa, I think you ought to know that I am engaged to be married."
He looked up from the book which he was reading.
"What's that? Rubbish!"
He looked down again. It was a promising beginning.
"It may be rubbish, but it is a simple fact. I am engaged to be married."
"How old are you?"
"I should have thought you would have known my age. I was eighteen last birthday."
"In another ten years it will be time enough to think of nonsense of that sort."
"Ten years! I am going to be married in six weeks from to-day."
"Be so good as not to interrupt me when I'm reading with nonsensical observations of that kind."
That was the form my father's congratulations took. It may easily be imagined what trouble we had with him. He could not be brought to regard things seriously. It was not merely because he thought I was too young; if I had been fifty it would have been exactly the same. It was simply because he hated being bothered. And yet when, after repeated trials, it was driven home to his understanding that I was going to be married, and that George was a respectable person, he surprised me by the generosity which he all at once displayed. One morning, as he was leaving the breakfast-table to start for the City, he slipped a piece of paper into my hand.
"That's to buy clothes."
When I had looked at it, and saw it was a cheque, and the figures which were on it, I jumped up and ran after him into the hall, and kissed him.
"What's that for?" he demanded. I explained. Putting his hand on my shoulder he turned me towards the light and looked me up and down. Then he remarked, "Perhaps, after all, that young man's not such a fool as I thought him." It was the nearest approach to a compliment he had ever paid me.
What we had to endure from him on the great question of the wedding! His ideas on the subject were barbarian.
"Let us all go in a four-wheeler--we can put the young man on the box--and drive round the corner to the nearest registrar. It will all be done in a business-like manner inside ten minutes."
That was his notion of what a wedding ought to be. I need scarcely say that mine was entirely different. I had made up my mind to have a really pretty wedding. May Harvey had been married the year before. Hers was a pretty wedding; I had resolved that mine should be prettier still. Mamma, Eveleen and I arranged everything. By degrees we persuaded him, if not exactly to agree, then at least to wink at what was going to happen. On one point I was firm--that he should give me away. He promised that he would. But when he began to realise what a pretty wedding really meant he became restless and more and more trying, and he said the most horrid things. And now on the very day itself he had gone off to the City! If I could have relied on his returning at twelve, or even on his meeting me at the church at half-past, I should not have minded. But I was perfectly aware that if business was at all pressing he would think nothing of sending one of his clerks to take his place; on some absolutely essential matters I knew to my cost that he had not the slightest sense of propriety. As, however, all I could do was to hope for the best, there was nothing left but to appear resigned.
"I presume if my own father doesn't care enough about me to trouble himself to be present at my marriage it's not of the slightest consequence."
Just as I was about to sigh Eliza, the housemaid, appeared in the doorway, addressing mamma.
"If you please, ma'am, cook's going."
Mamma turned round to her with a start.
"Cook's going--where?"
"She's leaving the situation."
"Eliza! What do you mean?"
"If you please, ma'am, Mary and she have been having words about who it was left the drawing-room window open last night; and then Mary she said she believed as how it was cook's young man who broke in and stole Miss Maud's presents; and then cook, she said that after that she wouldn't stay with her in the same house not another minute; so she's gone upstairs to put her things together."
Off went mamma to interview cook. I turned to Eveleen, who was still sitting on the side of my bed with an air of complete unconcern, as if nothing whatever mattered. I always did say that she was almost too much like papa.
"It seems as if everything was going wrong--everything! Eveleen, what is the time?"
"Just past ten."
"Past ten! Has my dress come?" She shook her head with an air of the utmost nonchalance. If it had been her dress! "But Mme. Sylvia promised that I should have it before ten! And I've had no breakfast!"
"There is breakfast waiting for you downstairs."
"As if I wanted any breakfast! As if I could eat, feeling as I do! You know that I had arranged to commence dressing at ten! Eveleen, what am I to do?"
"You mean about the dress? It's only just past ten; it may come still."
"May come! Eveleen, do you want me to--to hit you? Eliza or someone must go at once and fetch it, finished or not."
"I daresay Eliza can go, if you think it necessary. If you take my advice you won't excite yourself."
"Won't excite myself! If it were your wedding and your dress you'd talk in a different strain."
"I should have made different arrangements."
"You would have made--" I bit my lip till it nearly bled; I had to do something to stop myself. "I know how nice you can be if you like; but I don't mean to quarrel with you, to-day of all days, if I can help it." As I was speaking Eliza reappeared in the doorway. "Eliza, I want you to get a hansom and to tell the man to drive you to Mme. Sylvia's as fast as he can. I'll give you a note to her. You're to bring my dress back with you. I'll write the note while you're putting on your hat. Do be as quick as you can."
"If you please, miss, Miss Mackenzie's downstairs."
A voice exclaimed behind Eliza,--
"Oh, no, she's not; she's here." There stood Ellen, in her bridesmaid's dress, all smiles. She came bustling into the room--in that bustling way she always has. "Well, my children, how are you? And how's the sweet young bride? You told me to be here by ten--ready dressed--and here I am. What do you think of it?" She turned and twisted herself about so as to show off her dress. "It's a bit tight under the arms and a shade loose in the back, but it's not so bad. Am I the first? Where are Bertha and Constance?"
I waved my hand towards Eveleen.
"Tell her--I can't!"
Eveleen told her everything, and I will say this for her, she made out things to be as bad as they very well could be. Ellen Mackenzie's face was a study. She is one of the plainest girls I know--her dress did not suit her at all; I knew it wouldn't; nothing ever does; and she seemed to grow plainer and plainer as she listened. But she was more sympathetic than any of my relations had been. She threw her arms round me, quite indifferent as to what might happen to her dress.
"You poor darling! To have had your presents stolen--and two bridesmaids down with the measles--and your father gone to that horrid City--and the servants quarrelling--and now no wedding-dress! As to that Mme. Sylvia, if I were in your place I should feel like wringing her neck."
"I shouldn't be surprised if I did wring it if my dress isn't ready by the time that Eliza gets there. Eliza, haven't you got your hat on?"
She had actually stood there looking on and listening, with her eyes and mouth wide open. But she was ready almost as soon as the note was--it was a note! And just as we had started her off, with strict injunctions to come back at once and bring the dress back with her, if she had to snatch it out of the dressmaker's hands, a person arrived who stated that he was a detective and had come to inquire into the burglary, and who insisted on seeing me. So we saw him all three of us together, and a most unpleasant interview it was. He asked me the most disagreeable questions, wanting to know what I valued the missing presents at, and how much they had cost, and if the jewellery was real, and unpleasant things of that sort. While we were in the very midst of it mamma came in in a state of painful excitement.
"Are you a policeman?" she demanded. "Because if you are I should like you to tell my cook and my parlourmaid that if they leave my house this day without giving me due and proper notice they will do so at their peril, and that I shall prosecute them both as sure as they are living." The detective stroked his chin and seemed disinclined to do as mamma desired. She went on, "My parlourmaid has been making the most unwarrantable accusations against my cook, in consequence of which she declares that she won't stay in the house another minute; and when I told my parlourmaid what I thought of her behaviour she announced that she should also go at once. They are both perfectly well aware that it is my daughter's wedding day, and that if they do go everything will be in a state of confusion; so I want you to speak to them and bring them to a proper sense of their duty."
The detective still seemed dubious.
"I am afraid, madam, that that sort of thing hardly comes within my jurisdiction. But if they are going I should like to ask them a few questions about this burglary before they leave the house."
Cook with her hat on, and Mary with hers in her hand, had been standing in the doorway all the while. Cook now came forward--battle in her eye; we always had had trouble with her temper.
"I'm quite ready to answer any questions that's put to me; but if anyone says a word against Mr Parsons, who's as honest and respectable a man as ever walked this earth, then I say they're liars."
Then came Mary, who, as we had all of us noticed, always had a way of hinting more than she actually said.
"What I say is true, and I'm not going to be frightened from speaking the truth by anyone. I say that Mr Parsons was hanging about this house last night till after twelve o'clock; and so he was."
There was a frightful scene. I believe, if the detective had not been present, that those two women would have attacked each other. When Eveleen and Ellen got me back into my own room my nerves were in such a state that I was trembling all over. It was past eleven. There were still no signs of Eliza or my dress. The carriage was to come to take me to the church at twelve; the wedding was to be at half-past; as we wanted to catch the afternoon train for Paris we had arranged to have it early. I was feeling both miserable and desperate, altogether different from what I had intended to feel.
"I shall go and fetch the dress myself," I said.
"Rather than you shall do that," exclaimed Eveleen, "I'll go myself." And she went, giving me a few words of advice before she departed. "Do control yourself, Maud, and don't give way. Everything will be all right if you keep calm. I promise to bring you your dress in twenty minutes, if I don't meet Eliza with it on the way."
It was all very well for her to talk about keeping calm, but I had reached a stage when something had to be done. So I threw myself on the bed and had a cry. Although Ellen did try to comfort me it was not the slightest use. Then, when she saw the state I was in, she started crying too. And while we were both of us at it in came mamma. She was almost in a worse condition than we were. Cook and Mary had both left, and the detective had gone without having done the slightest good, and everything was topsy-turvy. The refreshments for the reception which was to take place after the wedding were to come in from outside, and the waiters also; still, it was dreadful to be practically servantless. Mamma was in such a state of painful agitation that she almost drove me to hysterics. Then Jane, the kitchenmaid, came rushing in. Since Eliza had not yet returned, she was the only maid we had in the house.
"If you please, ma'am, the carriages have come."
"Carriages! What carriages?"
"To take Miss Maud and her bridesmaids to the wedding, ma'am."
"Wedding!" Mamma laughed; it was an awful sound. "Since it does not seem likely that there will be any wedding, it will hardly be worth their while to wait."
"Shall I tell them to go, ma'am?"
When the idiotic Jane asked that question I leapt right off the bed on to the floor.
"Mamma! Jane! How can you be so absurd?"
I was just going to give both of them a piece of my mind--because mamma's conduct really was ridiculous--when someone else came tearing up the staircase. It was Eveleen, followed by a smartly-dressed young woman carrying a large box--which I made a dash at--with Eliza in the rear.
"Here's your dress!" cried Eveleen.
The young woman began to explain.
"Mme. Sylvia sends her apologies, and hopes you will excuse her for having kept you waiting; but there has been an unavoidable delay owing to an unfortunate misunderstanding--"
Eveleen cut her short.
"We'll have the apologies and all that sort of thing afterwards. What you have to do, Maud, is to put on that dress in the shortest time on record, and let's hope it fits. You've been crying--so have you, mamma--and Ellen! You're three nice people. As for you, Ellen, nothing will get those marks off your face except clean water, and you'll have to wash."
Ellen's complexion takes a tremendous time; she uses all sorts of things for it, so that that was a bad blow for her. We all began to bustle. The young woman began to unpack the box, and I got quite ready to slip into the dress when it was unpacked. Suddenly there was an exclamation from Mme. Sylvia's assistant.
"My goodness! what is this?" She was holding up what looked as if it were some weird sort of a blouse made of all the colours of the rainbow; it was certainly not part of my wedding-dress. She stared and we stared. Then she dropped on to a chair with a groan. "There's been a mistake," she gasped. "In the hurry I've brought a dress which we have been making for Mrs Markham for a fancy-dress ball, and I'm afraid your dress has gone to her."
There are moments in life when, the worst having come to the worst, obviously the only thing left to do is to look it boldly in the face. I realised that one of those moments had come to me then. All hope was gone; nothing remained but to calmly face despair. I gave myself a sort of mental pinch, and walked quietly up to that young woman, feeling--and no doubt looking--almost dangerously cool. I picked up the parti-coloured garment, which was all that had been brought to me after all that strain and stress.
"This looks as if it might be some sort of fancy dress. Am I to understand that it is a fancy dress?"
I believe that that assistant was overawed by my manner.
"Yes; it's for one of our customers--a Mrs Markham--for a fancy-dress ball."
"And, pray, where is my wedding-dress?"
"I expect it has been sent to Mrs Markham in mistake for hers."
"And when may I rely on receiving it back from Mrs Markham?"
"Not before to-morrow, at the earliest; it has been put on a train at Euston--she lives in the North."
"Since I am to be married to-day, it will not be of much use to me to-morrow, will it? Put this article back in your box. Return it to Mme. Sylvia, and inform her, with my compliments, that she will hear from my solicitors. I should imagine that she will probably hear from Mrs Markham's solicitors also. Take Mrs Markham's fancy costume--and yourself--away as fast as you possibly can. Eveleen, I will be married in my going-away dress."
I have little doubt that they were all impressed by what, under the circumstances, seemed my almost preternatural calmness. Scarcely a word was spoken by anyone. Even mamma merely remarked that the assistants in Mme. Sylvia's establishment seemed to be as utter idiots as their principal; and that, for mamma, was nothing. I bundled her off to dress, and I made Eveleen and Ellen go too. I attired myself for my wedding, which was far from what I had intended to do. It had been arranged that I should be costumed by a sort of committee consisting of my four bridesmaids, with mamma acting as my supervisor. But since that arrangement had been made everything had been altered; and as now nothing remained but my going-away dress, I needed no assistance in putting on that. With a travelling costume a bridal veil seemed almost painfully out of place, so I resolved to do without that also. I wore a hat.
Just as I was putting the finishing touches to my hat there came a tapping at my bedroom door. When I cried, "Come in!" to my amazement who should enter but George's best man, Jack Bowles.
"Maud!" he exclaimed. "Whatever's up? Do you know it's nearly two, and George is almost off his head, and the parson's going to a funeral?"
I turned to him with what he has since assured me was the air of a tragedy queen.
"I am ready now. We will start at once."
He stared, as well he might.
"Like that?" he cried.
"Like this. You and I will drive to the church together, and I will explain everything to you as we go." I hurried with him down the staircase, calling to the others as I went; unseen, unnoticed, a quiver passed all over me as I recalled how, in the days gone by, with a prophetic eye, I had seen myself, a vision of snowy white, descend that staircase "with measured step and slow," surrounded by my bridesmaids. "Mamma, I'm going to drive to the church with Mr Bowles. You and Eveleen and Ellen had better follow in another carriage."
"My dear!" mamma's voice came back. "What do you mean? I'm not nearly ready yet."
"Maud!" Eveleen distinctly shouted.
But I waited for nothing; for no one. Hastening to a carriage with Mr Bowles, off we started. It was rather an invidious position; there had been passages with Mr Bowles which made my situation one of some delicacy. When George told me that he had asked him to be his best man, I felt that he was hardly the person I should have chosen for the part. However, I had not quite seen my way to acquaint him with the manner in which Mr Bowles had behaved at Mrs Miller's dance; to speak of nothing else. So there we were alone together perhaps for the last time in our lives. Possibly what had passed between us made him all the quicker to feel for me in the plight in which--as I explained to him--I found myself. He showed the most perfect sympathy. Even George could not have been nicer.
But, for me, disasters were not ended. I was to be the victim of another before the church was reached. It seems to me that motor cars are always doing something. As we were passing along the busiest part of the High Street one of them did something then. It skidded--or something--and took off one of our back wheels. Down dropped a corner of the brougham with a crash which sent me flying into Mr Bowles's arms. Presently, when, apparently uninjured, we found ourselves standing in the road, the centre of an interested and rapidly-increasing crowd, we realised that it might have been worse.
"The stars," I murmured, with a presence of mind which, now that I look back upon it, seems to have been really phenomenal, "are fighting against me in their courses."
"Poor old George," said Mr Bowles, who was always rather inclined to slang, "will be fairly off his nut."
All at once I espied papa coming along in a hansom cab. I called out to him. Stopping the cab he sprang out to us.
"What are you two doing here?" he demanded, in not unreasonable astonishment. Then he went on to offer exactly the kind of explanation I had expected. "Do you know, I've been so occupied that I quite overlooked the fact that I was due with you at half-past twelve. I hope it made no difference. Where's George?"
"He's at the church."
"At the church? What's he doing there?"
"He's waiting for me to come and be married."
"Waiting? How's that? Aren't you married already?"
"No; and--it--doesn't look--as if--I--ever--shall be."
"Jump into my hansom--you and Bowles--we'll soon see about that."
We jumped in, Mr Bowles and I, and we drove off to the church--to my wedding!--three in a hansom cab! If ever anyone had foretold that such a thing would--or could--have happened to me I should have expired on the spot.
When we reached the church--we did reach it!--we found that such of the people as remained were standing on the steps or in the doorway. George, who was nearly distracted, came rushing forward at the sight of me; the people actually cheered. It appeared that the clergyman--our vicar--who had been specially retained, had gone to a funeral; but a curate, of some sort, had been routed out from somewhere, and he performed the service. Just as it was begun in came mamma and Eveleen and Ellen. The instant it was over George and I tore off home, got my trunks--George himself helped to carry them--and rushed to Charing Cross just in time to catch the boat-train.
When it had started, and he and I were in a compartment alone together, I put my head on his shoulder and I cried--with joy. Everything had gone as wrong as it very well could have done; but we were married!
"Fares, please!"
The omnibus conductor stood in front of a lady, young, and not ill-looking, and waited. As he waited he flicked his packet of tickets with the forefinger of his right hand. The lady addressed seemed to experience some difficulty in finding the sum required. She felt in a bag which was hanging at her waist. She dived into the recesses of a pocket which was apparently placed in an even more inaccessible position than a lady's pocket is wont to be. Without result. Her proceedings attracted the attention of all her fellow-passengers; and the 'bus was full;--indeed, her manœuvres were the cause of some inconvenience to her immediate neighbours. At last she delivered herself of a piece of information.
"I've lost my purse!"
The conducter eyed her stolidly. He was not so young as he had been. Possibly a long experience of 'bus conducting had brought him into intimate relations with ladies who did lose things; so that his sympathies were dulled.
"Lost your purse?"
He echoed her words as if the matter was not of the slightest interest to him.
"Yes;--that is, I had it when I came into the 'bus;--I'm afraid it has been stolen."
"Stolen?" echoed the conductor;--still with an air of complete indifference.
"Yes," said an old man, who was on the seat opposite, at the end farthest from the door; "and that man sitting by you is the man as took it."
Since Bruce Palliser was the only man sitting by her the allusion could only be to him. He turned on the speaker in surprise.
"Are you suggesting, sir, that I have stolen the lady's purse?"
"That's it; that's what I'm suggesting. Only it's more than a suggestion. I see you fumbling with the lady's skirt. I wondered what you was up to. Now I know."
A woman sitting on the other side of the purseless lady interposed.
"Here's a penny, if that's any good;--or, for the matter of that, here's twopence. It's not nice for any of us to be crowded in the same 'bus with parties who say they've had their purses stolen."
"I'm afraid it isn't," admitted the sufferer. "I'm very sorry, but--all my money was in my purse. If you would let me have a penny I should be very much obliged."
The penny was forthcoming.
"Do you make any charge?" inquired the conductor, as he handed over the ticket in exchange.
"No," rejoined the lady. "I do not."
"He's got it on him now," asserted the old gentleman in the corner. "If you'll hand him over to a policeman you'll find he has."
"I trust," exclaimed Mr Palliser, "that you'll afford me an opportunity to prove that what this person says is absolutely false."
The young lady stood up.
"Please stop the 'bus. I'm going to get out."
"You call a policeman," persisted the old gentleman. "You'll soon find where your purse is."
"But, madam!" cried Mr Palliser. The 'bus stopped. The young lady began to move towards the door. Bruce Palliser following, appealing to her as he did so. "Madam!--if you will give me your attention for a single instant!"
The young lady alighted. Mr Palliser alighted also. The 'bus went on.
"I see him take it," announced the old gentleman in the corner. "Put it in his pocket, I believe he did."
Bruce Palliser, standing in the roadway, tried to induce the young lady to give him a chance to establish his innocence.
"If you will permit me to explain who I am, I will make it quite clear to you--"
She cut him short.
"Have the kindness not to address me."
She climbed into a passing hansom. He had to spring to one side to avoid being cut down by a furniture van. By the time the van had gone the cab had gone also.
Later in the day he rushed into the station with just time enough to enable him to catch the train which was to take him home. He had already entered a compartment before he realised that a seat near the door was occupied by the young lady of the omnibus. The recognition was obviously mutual. Something in her attitude made him conscious of a ridiculous sense of discomfort. He felt that if he did not leave the carriage she would--although the train was about to start. Scrambling back on to the platform he was hustled into another compartment by an expostulating guard. When the train stopped at Market Hinton, and he got out, he observed that the young lady of the omnibus was emerging from the compartment from which he had retreated with so small a show of dignity. Apparently she also had reached her journey's end. He thought he knew most of the people who lived thereabouts, at least by sight. He had certainly never seen her before. Who could she be?
Stupidly enough he hung about the station, allowing himself to be buttonholed by an old countryman who was full of his sufferings from rheumatism--one of that large tribe with which every doctor is familiar, the members of which never lose a chance of obtaining medical advice for nothing. He was not in the best of tempers by the time that he reached home. Nor was his temper improved by the greeting which he received from Jack Griffiths, who had acted as hislocumduring his enforced absence in London.
"You're not looking any better for your change," declared Jack, who had an unfortunate--and exasperating--knack of seeing the pessimistic side of things. "You're looking all mops and brooms."
"I'm not feeling all mops and brooms--whatever state of feeling that may be. On the contrary, I'm feeling as fit as I ever felt in the whole of my life."
"Then you're not looking it; which is a pity. Because it's my opinion that you'll want all the stock of health you can lay your hands on if you're to continue to hold your own in Market Hinton."
"What might you happen to mean?--you old croaker!"
"It's easy to call me a croaker, sir, but facts are facts; and I tell you that that new doctor's making things hum--cutting the grass from under your very feet."
"What new doctor?"
"The new doctor. I wasn't aware that there was more than one. If there is then you're in greater luck even than I thought you were."
"Are you alluding to that female creature?"
"I am. I am alluding to Dr Constance Hughes, M.D. (London). Mrs Vickers is of opinion that she's a first-rate doctor."
"Mrs Vickers!--Why, she's one of my oldest patients."
"Precisely; which is perhaps one reason why she feels disposed to try a change. Anyhow she called Dr Constance Hughes in one day, when that medical lady happened to be passing; and I'm inclined to think that, if she could only see her way, she'd like to call her in again."
"Pretty unprofessional conduct! What does the woman mean by it?"
"Which woman? Dr Constance Hughes? She's nothing to do with it. She had to go in when they stopped her on the high road; but, from what I understand, when she learnt that Mrs Vickers was your patient she declined to call again. Than her conduct nothing could have been more professional. But it isn't only Mrs Vickers. I hear golden opinions of her on every side. And she drives some of the finest horses I ever saw."
"So I've been told. Thank goodness, so far I've seen neither the woman nor her horses; but if half they say is true, she knows more of horse flesh than of medicine."
"Then, in that case, she must be a dabster. Heaps of money, I'm informed; taken up the profession simply for the sake of something to do, and because she loves it. Bruce, Dr Constance Hughes is going to be a dangerous rival!"
Such, ere long, was to be Bruce Palliser's own opinion.
When, the following afternoon, he returned from his rounds, he learned that an urgent summons had come for him, earlier in the day, from Mrs Daubeny, one of his most influential patients. He hurried round to her. On his arrival at the house the maid who opened the door informed him that the other doctor was upstairs. As he had not come, and Mrs Daubeny was in such pain, they had sent for other assistance. While she was speaking, the maid conducted him upstairs. Opening a door, she ushered him in, announcing his appearance.
"Dr Palliser."
He found himself in a bedroom, with someone lying in the bed, and two women standing on either side of it. One of the women he recognised as Foster, Mrs Daubeny's housekeeper; and the other--as the lady of the omnibus. He stared at her in blank amazement. Although she had her hat on, her sleeves were turned up, and she was holding in her hand what he perceived to be a clinical thermometer. Foster went--awkwardly enough--through a form of introduction.
"Oh, Dr Palliser, I'm so glad you've come! This is Miss Hughes--I mean Dr Hughes. Mrs Daubeny has been so bad that if she hadn't come I don't know what we should have done."
Mr Palliser bowed; so stiffly that the inclination of his head only just amounted to a movement. The lady was as stiff. Although she looked him full in the face there was that in the quality of her glance which almost hinted that she did not notice he was there. She explained the position, in a tone of voice which could hardly have been more frigid.
"Mrs Daubeny has had an attack of acute laryngitis, rather a severe one. Fortunately, however, the worst is over; unless, that is, it should recur."
"I am obliged to you. I have had the honour to treat Mrs Daubeny on former occasions. I will see that all is done that is necessary."
The lady returned her thermometer to its case. She turned down her sleeves. She donned a sable jacket which Mr Palliser could not but feel was not unbecoming. With the curtest possible nod to the newcomer she quitted the room.
At his solitary meal that night, the more Bruce Palliser turned matters over in his mind the less he liked them.
"This is a nice kettle of fish! To think of her being Dr Constance Hughes! For all I know she may actually be of opinion that it was I who stole her purse--as that lying old scoundrel asserted--I should like to wring his neck! She wouldn't condescend to even give me a hearing; the vixen! She has a first-rate tale to tell against me, anyhow. Why, if she chooses to tell everyone that someone stole her purse, and that there was a man in the omnibus who declared he saw me take it, I sha'n't even be able to bring an action for slander; the thing is true enough. I ought to have dragged that old ruffian out by the hair of his head, and made him own then and there that he lied. I've half a mind to write to her and insist on her giving me an opportunity to explain. But she wouldn't do it; she's that kind of woman. I know it! I could see by the way she treated me this afternoon that she means to get her knife into me--and well in, too. A male rival is bad enough--I've had one or two passages-of-arms with old Harford--but a female--and such a female! I may as well announce my practice for sale while there's any of it left to sell. That woman won't leave a stone unturned to ruin me!"
During the next few days he was destined to hear more of Dr Constance Hughes than he cared for. She seemed to have impressed other people a good deal more favourably than she had him. Market Hinton is in the centre of a hunting country. The fact that she had quite a string of first-rate horses, and that she could handle the "ribbons" as well as any coachman, and had an excellent seat in a saddle, appealed to the local imagination in an especial degree. To be a "good sportsman" meant much at Market Hinton; of anyone who reached that high standard they could think no evil. Bruce Palliser found that, because Dr Constance Hughes had hunters who, with her on them, could hold their own in any country, and in any company, people were taking it for granted that her medical qualifications must necessarily be unimpeachable.
Old Rawlins, of "The King's Head," put the case in a nutshell.
"She drives a mare that would win a prize at any show in England; and it does you good to see the way she drives her. That mare wants some driving! I say that a woman who can handle a horse like she can handle that mare ought to be able to handle anything. She shall have the handling of Mrs Rawlins the next time she's ill; I'll have her sent for."
Bruce Palliser was to make the close acquaintance of the mare in question before very long, and in a fashion which did not tend to give him such a high opinion of the creature as Mr Rawlins possessed.
Just as he was preparing for dinner a call came to a patient who lived the other side of the town. His stable only contained one horse, and that had already done a good day's work. Taking out his bicycle he proceeded to the patient's house on that. He was not detained long. Glancing at his watch as he was about to return he perceived that if he made haste he would not be so very late for dinner after all, and would have a chance of getting something to eat before everything was spoiled. So he bowled along at a pace which was considerably above the legal limit. It was bright moonlight. Until he reached Woodcroft, the residence of Dr Constance Hughes, he had the road practically all to himself.
Woodcroft was a corner house. As he neared it he became suddenly conscience that a vehicle was coming along the road which bounded it on one side. As he came to the corner the vehicle swept round it. He had just time to see that it was a high dog-cart, and that Dr Constance Hughes was driving. For some reason the discovery caused him to lose his head. Forgetting that he was riding a free wheel, instead of jamming on the brakes he tried to back pedal. Before he had realised his mistake he was under the horse's hoofs, and the dog-cart had passed right over him.
Mr Palliser was conscious that the startled animal first reared, then bolted--or rather, tried to. Fortunately her master sat behind her in the shape of her mistress. Not only was she brought to a standstill, but, in less than half a minute, Dr Constance Hughes had descended from the dog-cart, and was kneeling at Mr Palliser's side.
Her first remark was scarcely sympathetic.
"You ought to have rung your bell," she said.
"I hadn't a bell to ring," he retorted.
"Then you never ought to come out without one, as you're very well aware. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong."
He proved that there was nothing wrong by quietly fainting in the middle of the road.
"What's up?" was the first remark which he made when he returned to consciousness. "What's happened? Where am I? What on earth--"
He stopped, to groan with pain, and to recognise the futility of an attempt to sit upright. He lay still, looking about him with wide-open eyes. He was in bed--not his own, but someone else's. And in someone else's room; one, moreover, which was strange to him. On one side stood Dr Constance Hughes; behind her was that very general practitioner and ancient rival--Joseph Harford. It was the lady who replied.
"As to where you are, you're in my house. And you've come back to your senses just in time to let us know if you would like your leg cut off."
"My leg?"
"I said your leg. At present it's a question of that only. It may be necessary to proceed further later on."
"What do you mean?"
Bruce Palliser was conscious that his right leg was subjecting him to so much agony that beads of sweat stood on his brow.
"Compound fracture. Tibia and peroneal both broken. Mr Harford is of opinion that the only thing is to amputate at once."
"Is he? I'm much obliged."
"I say no."
"Do you?"
"I do. I say they can be set, being of opinion that it's worth while risking something on the off chance of being able to save your leg, since it's better to go about with two than one."
Mr Harford shook his head.
"I've had my say; having done so I wash my hands of all responsibility. If we amputate at once your life will not be endangered. If there is any postponement we may not be able to operate at all; you may lose your life and your leg."
"That is your opinion?"
"It is--emphatically."
"Then I'll keep my leg. Set it." He closed his eyes, he had to, the pain just then was so exquisite. Presently he opened them again to address the lady pointedly. "Youset it."
"I intend to. Would you like an anæsthetic? It won't be pleasant."
"No."
"Then grit your teeth. I'll be as quick as I can; but I'm afraid you'll have a pretty bad time."
He gritted his teeth, and he had a pretty bad time. But through it all he recognised that the work was being done by a workman, with skill and judgment, with as much delicacy also as the thing permitted. He had not thought that such a slip of a girl could have had such strength or courage. When the task was over she gave what sounded like a gratified sigh.
"That's done. You've behaved like a man."
"And you're a surgeon born."
That was all he could mutter. Then he swooned, unconsciousness supervened; he had come to the end of his tether.
The bad time continued longer than he cared to count. The days slipped by, and still he lay in that bed. One morning he asked her,--
"How's it going?"
"As well as can be expected; better perhaps. But this is not going to be a five minutes' job--you know better than that?"
"I ought to have let old Harford cut it off; I should have made a quicker recovery."
"Nonsense. In that case you would never, in the real sense of the word, have recovered at all. Now there's every probability of your being as sound as ever. You only want time. There's no inflammation; the wound keeps perfectly sweet. You've a fine physique; you've lived cleanly. I counted upon these things when I took the chances."
Two days afterwards he broached another matter.
"You know I can't stop here. I'm putting you to tremendous expense, and no end of inconvenience. The idea's monstrous. I'm ashamed of myself for having stopped so long. You must have me put into the ambulance at once and carted home."
"You will stay where you are. I'm in charge of this case. I decline to allow you to be moved."
"But--!"
"But me no buts. As your medical adviser I refuse to permit of any interference. In such a matter you of all persons ought to set a good example."
He was silent. Not only was he helpless and too weak for argument, but there was in her manner an air of peremptory authority before which he positively quailed. Yet, the next day, he returned to the attack.
"I don't want there to be any misunderstanding between us, so please realise that I'm quite aware that the accident was entirely my fault, that you were in no way to blame, and that therefore you are not in any sense responsible for my present position."
"I know that as well as you do. You ought to have had a bell; no bicyclist ought to be without a bell, especially at night. I did not hear you coming, but you heard me; yet you ran right into me although you heard."
"I lost my head."
"You lost something.
"Therefore I wish to emphasise the fact that I have not the slightest right to encroach upon your hospitality, or your time, or your services."
"Does that mean that you would rather dispense with the latter? Or are you merely again trying to display a refractory spirit?"
"I'm not doing anything of the kind. I simply don't wish to take advantage of your--your generosity."
"Generosity? My good sir, you are mistaken. Yours is an interesting case. I flatter myself that not everybody could have saved that leg of yours. You know how seldom one gets an interesting case at Market Hinton; I mean to make the best of this one now I've got it. You'll regard this as a hospital. And you'll stay in it, as patiently as your nature permits, until, in due course, you receive your discharge."
There was silence. He watched her while she adjusted fresh bandages. He thought that he had never seen work of the kind more deftly done. As she bent over him he noticed what a dainty profile she had, and what beautiful hands. Presently he spoke again.
"Miss Hughes--"
"Dr Hughes, if you please. I didn't proceed to my M.D. degree for nothing."
"I beg your pardon. Dr Hughes, what has become of my patients while I've been lying here?"
"I've been taking them. Do you object?"
"Object! Indeed, no; only--I'm afraid--"
He stopped.
"Yes? What are you afraid of?"
"Nothing; that is--I hardly know how you'll take it."
"What are you afraid of?"
"Only that, when they've once tried you, they won't care to return to me."
"That's it, is it? I thought so. Do you take me to be that kind of person? I'm extremely obliged."
"You're quite mistaken. I didn't mean it in that way at all, as you know. I meant it for a clumsy compliment."
"It's a kind of clumsy compliment I don't care about, thank you very much."
"But, professionally, you are infinitely cleverer than I am."
"Professionally, I am nothing of the kind. It's not fair of you to laugh at me. Wherever I go people tell me how skilful you are, especially those who know. Besides, you need have no fear of illegitimate competition. It is not likely that I shall remain in Market Hinton."
He started.
"You are not going away?"
"I am, most probably. I only came here as an experiment; from my point of view it is an experiment which has failed."
He was still, to speak again after another interval. A more serious note was in his speech.
"Dr Hughes, when that man in the omnibus said I had stolen your purse, did you believe him?"
"I did not."
"Not for an instant?"
"Not for a single instant. And that for the best of reasons; my purse had not been stolen. I could have bitten my tongue off directly I had allowed myself to hint that it might have been; because it instantly occurred to me that it was well within the range of possibility that I had left it behind me at a shop at which I had been making some purchases. I drove straight back to the shop, and there it was."
"Why didn't you allow me to explain?"
"There was nothing for you to explain. As a matter of fact the explanation would have had to come from me, and I was in too bad a temper for that. Women have a reputation for making spectacles of themselves in that particular fashion; it didn't please me to think that I'd fallen in line with my sisters." She added, after a pause: "You've no notion what a vile temper I have."
"I doubt if it's such a very bad one."
"You doubt? You don't! You, of all people, ought to know what kind of temper I've got."
He smiled enigmatically.
"I do."
It was some time afterwards, when he had advanced to the dignity of an easy-chair and a leg-rest, that some of the points of that conversation were touched on again. It was he who began.
"Dr Hughes."
"DoctorPalliser?"
The emphasis which she laid upon the "Doctor" was most pronounced.
"Pardon me, I am not a doctor, I am a mere F.R.C.S."
"Is it necessary that you should always 'Doctor' me?"
"Pardon me again. I remember an occasion when you went a little out of your way to make it plain to me that you had not proceeded to your M.D. degree for nothing."
"You needn't always flaunt that in my face."
"I won't, since you appear to have changed your mind--until you change it again." She looked at him, with a gleam in her eyes which was half laughter, half something else. He went on: "At the same time, since what I have to say to you is strictly professional, I don't think that, on this occasion, the 'Doctor' Hughes will be out of place. You once said to me that you had some vague intention of not remaining in Market Hinton."
"It wasn't a vague intention then; it is less vague now. I am going."
"That is a pity."
"Why? It will be all the better for you; one competitor less."
"I am afraid I don't see it altogether in that light. You see, I was thinking of taking a partner."
"A partner?"
"Exactly, a partner. The practice was getting a little beyond me. When I am able to move about again, as I soon shall be, thanks to you, it may get beyond me again. Now what would you say to taking a partner?"
"I! What! Bring another woman here?"
"No, I was not thinking of that. Indeed, I was not thinking of a woman at all. I was thinking of a man."
"A man!"
"I was thinking of myself."
"You! Mr Palliser!"
"Why shouldn't we--you and I--be partners? Miss Hughes--Dr Constance"--suddenly, as he went on she looked down--"don't you think that it is possible that we might work together? That an arrangement might be made which--would be agreeable to us both?"
"Of course--there is always a possibility."
"Don't you think that, in this instance, there's a probability?"
"There might be."
"Don't you feel that such an arrangement would be, from all possible points of view, a desirable one? I do; I feel it strongly."
"Do you?"
"Don't you?" She was silent; so he continued, "I'd give all I have in the world, all I hope to have, to hear you say that you'd like us to be partners."
She looked up at him.
"I'd like to have--you for a partner," she said.