captain acton and the admiral walked a few hundred paces in silence, each lost in thought. very abruptly the admiral stopped, obliging his companion to halt.
"if i have your permission, sir," he exclaimed, "i will at once send a messenger in a post-chaise to the commander-in-chief at plymouth, and after stating the facts request him to send a ship to overtake or intercept and arrest the minorca, and you will then be able to ascertain direct from my son the meaning and causes of his extraordinary conduct."
captain acton resumed his walk, and the admiral rolled by his side beating the ground.
"that idea has occurred to me," he said, "and i have dismissed it, sir, for what reception would the commander-in-chief give such a message as you propose? the master of a ship, who is fully empowered to act in the interests of his owners, chooses to leave a certain harbour some hours earlier than the[pg 182] time announced. the reason he gives is that there is a frenchman in the neighbourhood whom he is anxious to avoid and escape. the commander-in-chief's sympathy would be with him in that. it is no case of piracy to ship a pilot, and the mate and crew which the vessel carried last voyage; and besides, sir, would the sloop, corvette, or frigate which the commander-in-chief might choose to send, overhaul the minorca if your son determined that his purpose, whatever it may be, should be prosecuted without interruption? she is certainly as swift as the fastest thing that we have in the navy, and there is no reason to suppose that any vessel as fast would be despatched in chase. plymouth is a long distance from this spot, and messengers are not always the rapid people we desire them to be. no, sir, we have to accept the position as it is. the ship has sailed; mr lawrence's conduct is unaccountable. we must continue to regard him as the honourable, well-meaning man which i have found him during our association in the matter of this command, and i must await with a certain degree of confidence a letter in which he will communicate the full meaning of what is now unintelligible to us."
the admiral bowed in silence. he was the father of the person they were talking[pg 183] about. captain acton's acceptance of an incident which must instantly prove sinister to a suspicious intelligence was noble and gracious, and it was certainly not for the father to endeavour to prove his son a rogue and a scoundrel, and perhaps worse still, in the teeth of the disposition of his employer to continue to place trust in him.
when they were within ten minutes' walk of old harbour house, they met mr adams, who was an agent for a gentleman who lived in london, and who owned a great deal of property in the neighbourhood of old harbour town.
"i beg your pardon, squire," said mr adams, addressing captain acton, who with the admiral was passing on with a nod, "but i understand that enquiries are being made after your daughter."
both the old retired officers instantly stopped.
"has she returned home?" asked captain acton.
"i cannot tell you that, sir, but this morning at about a quarter before eight o'clock, i was about ten minutes' walk this side old harbour bridge. i was going up the road and met your daughter, who was alone, coming down. a few minutes after i had passed her, i happened to look round and perceived that[pg 184] she had been stopped by a young man, humpbacked and otherwise deformed, well known to me as a fellow who used to hang about old town, and called by the single word paul. as your daughter was alone i slackened my pace and continued to look to see what the man wanted with her, and observed that he gave her a letter which she read, and i heard her exclaim on reading it: 'oh dear! i hope it is not serious,' and she immediately walked swiftly on followed by the fellow called paul. she turned the bend of the road, and i pursued my way."
"i beg your pardon," exclaimed captain acton, whose agitation was marked when mr adams ceased to speak, "but may i enquire if you are quite sure that it was my daughter whom you met?"
"sir, there is but one lucy acton in this country, and no man who has set eyes on her is ever likely to forget her beauty and sweetness."
captain acton bowed, but his distress was lively.
"what sort of a fellow was this who stopped miss acton?" enquired the admiral. "was he a pauper? broken clothes, whining voice, the suppliant's demeanour—that sort of thing?"
"i have known the fellow by sight some[pg 185] years. he got his living by running errands, and has in his day, i believe, been watched with some attention by the magistrates. he is a red-haired, hunchbacked, long-armed man with rounded legs, and i marked a peculiarity in him whilst he addressed the lady which i have before taken notice of when passing him as he lounged in the sun, or stood waiting in a door: i mean that whilst the young lady was reading the missive, he scratched his left shoulder precisely as a monkey scratches himself."
captain acton started, and stared hard at mr adams.
"did you notice how he was dressed?" he asked.
"in a camlet jacket. there was something of the sailor's rig in his costume."
"then the fellow," said captain acton, "is steward of the minorca! this gentleman," said he, addressing the admiral, "has exactly described the figure of a man who passed me in the cabin two or three days ago when i was talking to mr lawrence. judging that he belonged to the ship, and being struck by his appearance, i asked mr lawrence who he was, and he answered that he was a poor devil whom he had shipped as a steward or captain's waiter out of pity, and he said something about having once paid a fine for[pg 186] the man to rescue him from a term of imprisonment to which he would have been sentenced for some trifling offence."
the admiral's face wore an expression that was almost imbecile with bewilderment.
"from whom was that letter? who is the person that miss lucy has fled to help? it cannot possibly be my son, sir. if he had met with a serious accident, would the ship have sailed? but even if he had met with a serious accident and left the duty of going to sea with the mate, would he have sent to miss lucy? i am utterly beaten. i see nothing, and can conjecture nothing!"
captain acton with a violent effort had by this time recollected himself.
"i am much obliged to you, sir, for your information," he said to mr adams. "we may find her at home, sir," he said, addressing the admiral. "an explanation will simplify the miraculous. good day, sir, and many thanks."
he bowed to mr adams, and again set off with the admiral for old harbour house.
"to me it is impossible to suppose," said sir william, "that my son could have written the letter which mr adams saw your daughter reading. captain weaver told us plainly that my son was aft on the quarterdeck of the minorca at the time that she was hauling out[pg 187] from the wharf. it is perfectly clear therefore that no accident could have befallen him. nor is it imaginable that, even if he had met with a disaster, he would dream of communicating with your daughter. why your daughter, sir? if they are on bowing terms we may take it that their intimacy scarcely goes farther. depend upon it, there is some man in connection with this business, in whom your daughter is interested—of course, sir, you will understand me to mean as a sweet and beautiful christian sympathiser, as one to whom every sort of misfortune appeals, to whom suffering and misery are quick to make themselves known, being sure of heartfelt, womanly pity. the moment i have had a peck, after hearing whether miss lucy has arrived at home, i will devote the rest of the day to enquiries about this person who wrote the letter which mr adams saw delivered."
"speculation is idle," exclaimed captain acton, with a slight flavour of impatience in his manner. "i am profoundly puzzled. there can be no question from mr adams's statement and from my own observation that the fellow who delivered the missive is cabin-boy, or steward, or whatever you please to call him, of the minorca, chosen by your son, as he admits, though it seemed to me as i looked at him that nobody less likely and less[pg 188] inviting for such a post could have been found in the district."
these and a few further words brought them to the gateway of old harbour house. they entered and found miss acton in the dining-room.
"well," she cried in a voice of tremulous eagerness, "have you heard of her?"
this was proof conclusive that miss acton had not.
"she has not returned, then?" said captain acton.
"no, nor can i get to hear of her," answered miss acton, whose voice trembled with tears and terror. "wasn't she down on the wharves?"
"we have heard of her, but not as we could wish, sister," said captain acton. "but what have you done to find her, or to hear of her?"
"why," answered the old lady, "i sent george and joseph on horseback to every house where she is known, and she has visited none, nor been seen by any this morning. yes, mrs moore as she was passing our gate, caught a sight of her coming out of the house at half-past seven, or at some such time, and gave her a curtsy and received a smile. but nobody else that george and joseph met and called upon has seen her this day. what have you to tell me about her?"
[pg 189]
captain acton repeated mr adams's statement. the old lady's face was slowly moulded into a mask that her friends would scarcely have recognised by the horror and terror that worked in her.
she cried: "a dirty fellow giving her a letter, and beguiling her and luring her into some dreadful place, perhaps to her destruction! oh dear! oh dear! what is to be done? can't she be discovered? can't the bell-man raise the alarm? who can the wretch be that wrote to her? and why should she rush away to his help? oh dear! oh dear! what is to be done?"
"i'll do something," said the admiral. "i'll call upon you this evening and tell you what i have found out. farewell for the present. no, i thank you, i must go home first and i'll get a bite that awaits me, and then away to old harbour town, and the place shall be dredged, and the fellow who wrote the letter found, and the lady restored to her home if wrong has been done her, if there is one ounce of energy left in this old composition."
he bowed with the vehemence of a man who butts at another, struck the floor hard with his staff, and rolled out on legs that showed themselves more expeditious than his years seemed to promise.
captain and miss acton sat down to dinner.[pg 190] an elegant repast was rendered insipid in every dish by the absence of lucy. the captain's excellent if fastidious appetite was gone, and his eyes often wandered to his daughter's vacant place. brother and sister had but one subject in their minds; they talked but little, however, for servants were present.
when they were alone, miss acton exclaimed: "i hope i may be forgiven if i do him a wrong, and i love his old father, who is the soul of honour and a fine example of a true gentleman of the sea, but i cannot help thinking, brother, that mr lawrence has had a hand in our lucy's disappearance."
and the worthy old lady's eyes grew dim as she pronounced the words "our lucy."
captain acton started from a reverie and looked at her attentively.
"you want to imply," he cried, "that there was an understanding between mr lawrence and my daughter?"
"i cannot imagine why the steward of the ship came to be employed, as mr adams tells us—an assertion you justify by saying that you saw this man in the cabin of the vessel—unless mr lawrence sent the letter."
captain acton expanded his chest, and a look of haughtiness entered his face.
"sister, is your opinion of lucy such that[pg 191] you imagine she can have anything to do with mr lawrence unknown to me?"
but a quality of stubbornness was one of miss acton's characteristics.
"he offered her marriage, brother."
"yes. and she rejected him with the peremptoriness which i should have expected in her."
"a woman," said miss acton, "cannot but think with more or less kindness of the man who offers her marriage and who loves her. she may reject him, but she will always feel a tenderness for him."
"but do i understand," said captain acton, "that you mean that lucy was secretly attached to the man whose hand she declined, and that she speeds to him at the first call that is made upon her by such a missive as the fellow paul delivered?"
"i cannot but think," answered miss acton, "that lucy had a secret hankering after mr lawrence. he is exceedingly handsome. in bearing he is superior to any man of quality i ever met, and for fine manners you must look to the aristocracy of this country. he can make a leg with the grace equal to any master of elegant salutations; and though his character is bad, yet there are many points in him which women admire, and i say," she continued, with perseverance and a fixity of[pg 192] meaning truly astonishing in an old lady who in most matters scarcely knew her own mind, who was easily filled with terror, and who seldom acted without consulting her friends, "lucy has a secret liking for the man, which could scarcely escape the observation of any one who watched them when they are in company."
with an expression of face that was near to amazement captain acton said: "do you want me to believe that lucy has eloped with mr lawrence?"
"lord forbid! she is too god-fearing, and too nobly and sweetly moulded as a woman to be capable of any such descent."
"then i do not understand you," said captain acton.
"what has become of her?" cried miss acton, sinking suddenly into her tremulous voice and into a manner of alarm, bewilderment, and general confusion of mind. "what shall you do to find out?"
"as i am quite convinced," said captain acton, "that mr lawrence has nothing to do with this business, and as i feel persuaded that the call made upon her is by some man or woman—for how are we to know the sex of the person who wrote that letter?—in whom her charity is interested, and whom she has been helping according to her wont in ways unknown to us, i shall devote the[pg 193] afternoon as sir william intends, to making enquiries in old harbour town and about the wharves——"
"but she cannot be in old town or even in the district," broke in miss acton, "or why did she not return to dinner? she has had the whole morning. from a little after seven till now is a very long time, and a hundred acts of charity may be performed in less."
though captain acton was not a man to be influenced by his sister's opinions he knew her to be in many directions a shrewd, observant woman, who could deliver herself of many stupid antiquated notions, whilst at times she would astonish him by the sagacity of her views and the penetration with which she interpreted human motives. we shall not be surprised, therefore, when we learn that shortly after dinner he ordered his mare to be saddled, and rode straight into old harbour town, where he stabled the mare at "the swan" and walked direct to the wharves, first of all to learn if anybody had seen lucy down at the shipping early that morning.
he made for the aurora and found captain weaver on board. he immediately related mr adams' story, and asked captain weaver if he had seen miss lucy acton down by the minorca or near her, or aboard of her shortly before she sailed.
[pg 194]
"no, sir," was captain weaver's answer. "i came on to the wharf as the minorca was warping out, and talked with mr lawrence from the quay-side. i saw nothing of the young lady, who, depend upon it, sir, would have immediately caught my attention had i seen her."
"it is very strange," said captain acton, "that that mis-shapen fellow made by mr lawrence the steward of the ship, should be employed to convey a letter to my daughter at so early an hour when there was very little likelihood of finding the young lady abroad."
"the whole job of the ship sailing before her time is a mystery to me, sir," said captain weaver.
"walk with me, and we'll endeavour to find out if miss lucy acton was on the wharf after the hour of half-past seven this morning, and before the minorca sailed."
captain weaver knew many who were engaged on the several wharves, and so indeed did captain acton. they asked two or three score of different persons the question, but the majority had not been down on the wharves at that time, and the few who were at work declared that they had not seen her. it seemed impossible to captain weaver as well as to captain acton, that so beautiful[pg 195] and well known a lady as miss lucy should make her appearance on the wharf at a time of day when scarce more than labourers were about, without being either recognised or seen, and her presence borne witness to by those who did not know who she was.
they went on board the several vessels lying in the harbour, but the answer they received was that of the wharf: miss lucy acton had not been seen, or at all events noticed.
"i will leave you," said captain acton, "to make further enquiries, sir, and you will be pleased to immediately communicate with me at my home should you meet with anybody who can positively swear that my daughter was down here between seven and eight this morning."
he seemed convinced by these enquiries at the wharves that at all events mr lawrence could have had nothing whatever to do with the communication which mr adams had seen paul place in the hands of miss lucy. who, then, was the sender of the note, and how was it that paul, who should have been on board his ship since she was on the eve of sailing, should have been engaged to carry the letter? there was really no particular reason why the writer should be a man. why should not she be a woman? she might even be[pg 196] a relative of the fellow paul. lucy was a girl of singular kindness, who was always helping others and going amongst the poor and ministering to the afflicted; and though captain acton could not positively say, he might readily believe that she had one or two or three poor sufferers on her list whom she saw to and helped with her purse, and one of these—possibly a woman—might have written the letter in a moment of urgency intending it for delivery at old harbour house.
captain acton walked slowly towards old harbour town. he was sunk in thought, and was in deep distress and at a loss to know what to do. he had no machinery of police to command. 1805 was a year very primitive as compared with 1905. he reflected that the first step in the disappearance of his daughter as represented in the statement of mr adams might indicate nothing in respect of the real cause of her disappearance. because, suppose his surmise was correct, and that she had hastened to the help of some afflicted or humble person whom she befriended, she might, after having left the place wherever it was, have met with some disaster; she might have fallen over the cliff—she might on some roundabout way home have been robbed and left for[pg 197] dying; in short, when a person mysteriously disappears a hundred reasons for his or her envanishment will occur to the mind, and any one of them may so satisfy, so convince, that those who accept it will go to work as though it were the truth though it possess but the very attenuated merit of being a conjecture.
at six o'clock, greatly wearied, captain acton mounted his mare at "the swan" stables and rode home. he was very pale. indeed this man loved his daughter, who was his only child. his immediate question, put with bright-eyed passion to the servant who came to the door, was, "has miss lucy returned?"
"no, sir."
"has news been received of her?"
"i don't think so, sir."
"has admiral lawrence been here?"
"no, sir."
captain acton walked into his house and sought his sister, whom he found alone in the dining-room. she was seated on a high-backed chair knitting. her own and lucy's dog lay at her feet. she started at the entrance of captain acton, dropped her knitting in her lap, and half rose at her brother, clutching the arms of the chair.
"well!" she cried in a note that was like[pg 198] a suppressed scream with excitement, fear, and expectation. "what have you heard? is there any news of her? what have you to tell me?"
he sat down, looking very weary.
"i have heard nothing of her, sister. nobody saw her on the wharf at the time the minorca sailed, and there was plenty about, labourers ashore, and sailors in the ships."
"then what have you done to find out what has become of her?"
"believing that she might have met with some accident—god knows of what serious nature—on her return from the person whose letter she received"—miss acton looked stunned at such an idea—"i called at arrowsmith's first of all, and wrote out a placard, offering a reward of fifty guineas to any one who can find miss lucy acton, who can state her whereabouts, or who can give any information as to her disappearance since half-past seven o'clock this morning, which was dated and the day named. this placard will be printed and pasted in old harbour town, and over a wide area of the district before nightfall. i also gave a copy of this placard to the bell-man. what further publicity could i command?"
"but what do you fear, brother? what could have happened to her?"
[pg 199]
"why, suppose on her way home by way of the cliffs, or by any other of the roads by which this house may be gained, she fell upon the rocks, or was met by a band of gipsies, or attacked for her money and left for dead——"
his feelings overcame him, and he looked upon the ground in silence.
"nothing of the sort. i am sure of it!" exclaimed miss acton. "who hears of such outrages happening here?"
"but to fall over the edge of a cliff is not an outrage," said captain acton.
"she is too careful. she may safely be trusted. besides, are there not blockaders stationed along these cliffs, and would not one see her on the rocks? no, no, no! an accident is not the cause of her disappearance. the more i think, the more persuaded i am that mr lawrence has had a hand in this horrid business. why did he sail so early and long before his time? why was his steward paul engaged to carry the letter?"
"you again want to imply, sister," said captain acton with a darkling face, "that my daughter has eloped with the man she rejected."
"rejected, but she has a hankering for him still," said the old lady with one of those smiles of knowingness which make the lineaments[pg 200] ghastly when bitter sorrow and tragic trouble are the topics talked about.
captain acton left the room to refresh himself with a change of apparel, and returned after a brief absence. he was a man of considerable but not powerful self-control. he entered the room with a face that indicated a certain resolution of mind, and said to his sister: "i have been thinking, perhaps, that we have been unnecessarily flurried and somewhat hurried in our conjecture and efforts. i believe i have done well in giving all possible publicity to the fact that lucy left her home this morning and has not returned. but when i come to reflect that even now it is not twelve hours since she started on her early walk, i consider that she has not been long enough absent to cause us the bitter anxiety we have felt and are feeling. suppose after visiting the person from whom she received the letter, she breakfasted with a friend on the other side of old harbour town. this friend may have induced her to stop to dinner; a drive might follow. there are hundreds of things in this business which when explained would seem perfectly reasonable, so that at any moment she may turn up and tell us the story of her day's outing, and wonder that we should be so troubled because of an absence that she makes perfectly comprehensible. i shall hold[pg 201] to this view," he continued firmly, "until the night is advanced. if she does not return to-night then we must take further steps to-morrow."
"what steps?" asked his sister. "what steps have not been taken that remain to be taken?"
he had suddenly sunk in reflection and did not answer her.
"i should be uneasy in my mind in any case," said miss acton. "but that odious steward of the minorca being in the business together with the unwarrantable sailing of the vessel hours before her time, fills me with dread and terror, and i cannot, brother, listen to what you say about her breakfasting and dining with a friend and going for a drive, and so forth. she would guess at our suspense and anxiety. is our lucy a girl to cause unnecessary pain and unhappiness, not indeed to those who love her as we do, but to the humblest creature in the world?"
just then the door was opened, and the footman announced "admiral sir william lawrence."
the old gentleman entered, not with his familiar deep-sea rolling gait, but slowly and wearily, and with an air of dejection. lucy's dog welcomed him by barking and rushing at his shoe and trying to bite through it. miss[pg 202] acton rose and sank in a curtsy which is to be seen in these days only on the stage, but her kindly heart quickened her gaze for anything that invited sympathy, and she immediately said: "sir william, you are quite worn out. you need refreshment. pray sit, pray sit! what will you take?"
"we will have some brandy and seltzer water," said captain acton, pulling the bell, knowing this drink to be as great a favourite with the admiral as hock and soda water was with lord byron.
"i am sorry to say," said the admiral, sinking into a chair, "that i have brought no news."
"i have scoured old harbour town and can obtain no information," said captain acton; "but it is certain that no one seems to have seen her down on the wharf between seven and eight this morning."
"i heard the bell-man recite your notice," said sir william, speaking leisurely, as one who is tired out; "that, and the bill which they were beginning to paste as i came this way, should help. i've walked my legs off. i have enquired everywhere. i, too, asked if miss lucy had been seen down at the harbour at any hour this morning. but my fixed idea was, and still is, that the person who wrote to her through the minorca's steward was somebody that she helped, somebody in poverty and[pg 203] want, and i called upon everybody likely to know of the existence of such an individual; but to no purpose. the parson, the apothecary, all the tradespeople i looked in upon, could tell me nothing. once i thought i had run the person we want to earth. mrs moore, who keeps the greengrocer's shop, told me that there was an old woman who lived in a cottage just out of lower street, out of whose house she had once seen miss lucy acton issue. i got the address, called at the cottage and saw a squalid female who said she was mrs mortimer's niece, and that mrs mortimer had died that morning at five o'clock. she said it was true that miss acton occasionally visited mrs mortimer and brought her little comforts and read to her. i got no further. this is the extent and value of my report, and i am as profoundly puzzled," said the admiral, raising the glass of brandy and seltzer and examining it before he drank, "as i was this morning."
"she may turn up at any moment," said captain acton, with more gloom than the hope his words expressed justified. "she has only been twelve hours missing."
"only!" cried miss acton. "sir william," she went on slowly, nodding, at him whilst her face hardened, "i have a conviction which my brother does not share. it seems to me, sir, impossible to think of the unexpected and[pg 204] terrifying departure of the minorca hours before her time, and the conveyance of a letter by the steward of the vessel, without feeling the conviction i speak of."
"and what is that conviction, madam?" asked sir william, from whose jolly round face fatigue had robbed much of its warm colour.
"i regret to have to say it," said miss acton, "but i must think—i cannot help it, that mr lawrence's hand is in this strange disappearance of my niece."
captain acton slightly frowned upon the old dame, and exclaimed: "i think, caroline, you should have withheld your conviction, for the present at all events, from admiral lawrence."
sir william looked firmly and somewhat sternly at miss acton and said: "i am very sorry, madam, that you should hold this opinion, very sorry indeed. i had thought you the friend and well-wisher of my son—in this respect eminently the charitable and warm-hearted sister of captain acton. but if you mean to imply that mr lawrence wrote the letter to miss lucy, then you have to confess (which would be an indignity done to a beautiful character) that your niece was a willing recipient of my son's missive, that she hastened to him on reading the contents of his communication and that in short, the design of the minorca's premature sailing was that mr[pg 205] lawrence and miss lucy acton should elope—a thing not to be dreamt of—at an hour when few were abroad, and when there was little or no chance of the news reaching her home that captain acton's daughter had sailed in the minorca."
scarcely had the old gentleman pronounced these words when a footman, throwing open the door, exclaimed: "mr greyquill presents his humble respects to captain acton, and desires leave to speak with him."
"mr greyquill!" cried captain acton.
"mr greyquill!" echoed the admiral, looking with a changed face at the footman.
"mr greyquill!" cried miss acton. "why, he may have come with news of lucy. bid him step in!"
the footman disappeared.
"what on earth but some news of my daughter can bring greyquill here at this hour?" said captain acton.
the admiral looked deaf, and continued to stare at the door, which in a few moments was again flung open, and mr greyquill entered.
