it was a little business-room, but the business in it was chiefly feminine. there were baskets of work, shelves full of books in homely covers, a parish or sunday-school library, and all the paraphernalia of a country lady who ‘takes an interest’ in her poorer neighbours. it was the room in which mrs. bellendean interviewed those of her dependants or retainers who came to ask her advice, or whom she sent for to be reproved or counselled. her own chair stood in front of a formidable-looking writing-table, and one other stood close by, awaiting the respondent or defendant, whoever he or she might be. the windows looked into a closely surrounding shrubbery, which shut out the view—as if landscapes and such vanities had nothing to do with the sternness of the business transacted here. over the mantelpiece hung a large engraving of dr. chalmers—the presiding divinity. colonel hayward came in after her, somewhat tremulous, with a sense that some revelation was about to be made to him. the excitement which he had tried to put off, which he had tried to represent to himself as without foundation, as proceeding from merely accidental resemblances, had once more gained command of him, and with more power than ever. he felt certain now that some discovery deeply concerning him was about to be made.
‘joyce,’ mrs. bellendean began, ‘is——’
‘i beg your pardon. joyce what? tell me her other name.’
‘my dear colonel hayward, if you will only listen to me! joyce—has no other name. oh yes, she takes the name of the good old people who have brought her up, who love her like their own child. she is a foundling, colonel hayward.’
‘a foundling!’ the word did not discompose him as she had expected, but evidently took him by surprise. a look of profound perplexity came upon his face. he shook his head slightly, and gazed at her, as if he did not know what to think.
{19}
‘the story has been told to me so often that i feel as if i had known all about it throughout, though this happened long before i came here. it is a little more than twenty years ago. a lady arrived one evening at the inn in the village. it is a very poor little place—the sort of place where people coming out from edinburgh on sundays——’
he made her a little silent yet impatient sign of assent.
‘you understand? yes, a little bit of a place, where they had a humble room or two sometimes to let in summer. she arrived there quite unexpectedly. she had been going by queensferry to fife and the north, and was too tired to go on. and they had no room for her at the ferry hotel. she had no maid or any one with her, but she seemed a lady to the people here. they were all quite sure she was a lady—very like what joyce is now, pale, with that little movement of her lips which i tell joyce—— colonel hayward, you look as if you knew, as if you had known—— oh, do you think you can throw any light——’
‘for god’s sake go on—go on!’
‘to spare you the details,’ said mrs. bellendean, ‘the poor thing was about to have a baby: but showed her condition very little—so little that there was no alarm, nor any idea of a—of a catastrophe. she walked about a little in the evening, and perhaps over-tired herself. anyhow, in the middle of the night she was taken ill. the people made a great fuss when they knew what it was, and wanted her to tell them who her friends were, and her husband, and all that, which probably made everything worse, though they had no unkind meaning. and so when the child was born——’
the colonel got up from his seat. he went to the window and looked out, turning his back upon her; then returned to his chair like a man distracted. mrs. bellendean paused in her narrative, startled by the sudden movement, and sat silent watching him. he said, in a sort of hoarse whisper, ‘she died?’
‘not immediately. what happened was almost worse than dying; she went out of her mind. women have many things to bear that nobody thinks of. they are subject to attacks of that kind at such times. the doctor thought she would get better of it; but she did not live to get better, poor thing! my sister-in-law, who was here then, heard of her, and was very much interested and did all she could. but the poor girl died in about three weeks, without ever being able to tell them where she came from or who she was. they made out that her name was joyce, from her own wanderings and from the letters.
{20}
’
colonel hayward said with his lips, ‘the letters?’ scarcely making any sound.
‘there was one letter, without any envelope or address, which appeared to be from her husband. and on the night she arrived, before she was taken ill, she had begun to write, to him apparently, about something that had come between them, something that had driven her nearly mad. colonel hayward! yes, they were read by the people who took charge of the poor little baby and who managed everything. i understand what you mean; it was like prying into the secrets of the poor dead lady. but what could they do? what do you say? name? no, there is no name. the husband’s letter is signed only h—— ah! you know! i am sure you know!’
the ah! which came from mrs. bellendean’s lips was very nearly a scream. the colonel had risen to his feet, with a pallor upon his face and a gasp for breath which frightened her. he stood as if any touch would have knocked him down, as if scarcely conscious what he was about. his faculties seemed to fail him for the moment. he put up his hand with a sort of dumb appeal, as if to stop what she was saying. then he himself with an effort broke the silence. she leaned forward with the greatest excitement and expectation. but all that was audible were the words that had been going through his mind all day, ‘oh, if elizabeth were only here!’
‘elizabeth—who is elizabeth?’ mrs. bellendean cried.
he did not make any reply, nor did he seem to hear, but began to walk up and down, passing and repassing between her and the window. he seemed to be arguing, talking to himself, comparing what he had heard with something else. ‘but i never suspected that—never. she said nothing. there might be another—another. it might be all the while, it might be all the while—some one else. how can i tell? only a name, a name! and so long ago. oh, if i only had elizabeth here! elizabeth would know.’
mrs. bellendean here rose up too and touched him on the arm. she was trembling with the excitement of this encounter, which suddenly made the story of the poor young mother—a sort of tradition in the village—into something real. ‘colonel,’ she said, ‘you know something; you can tell us something? for god’s sake, if there is any clue, don’t let it go. tell me, for that poor girl’s sake.’
her touch seemed to restore him to himself. he looked round vaguely, and seeing that she was standing, drew forward her chair with old-fashioned politeness. ‘a boorish fellow,’ he cried, ‘a
{21}
boorish fellow you must think me, not to perceive that you were standing. how can i beg your pardon? the fact is, that without elizabeth—without elizabeth—there is no good to be got out of me.’
mrs. bellendean was a woman full of energy and promptitude. ‘if that be so, then let us send for her at once,’ she said.
the colonel made a hasty movement of satisfaction. ‘but i am scarcely known to you myself,’ he cried. ‘how could i take such a liberty? only your son’s old colonel; and he is not even your son.’
‘he is a great deal more—he is the master of this house. who should be so welcome as his own friends? and if i count for anything, and any light can be thrown on this mystery—oh, colonel!’
‘i don’t know,’ he said; ‘i don’t know. my mind is all in a whirl. there are some things that make me think—and then there are other things. it is more than i can make head or tail of—alone. and then it’s a serious thing—oh, a very serious thing. if i were to do anything hasty, and then it were to turn out a mistake——’
he said this with such an air of trouble, and at the same time of confidence, that his listener met his look with one of involuntary sympathy, and murmured an assent.
‘she will say i am hasty. i am always hasty; but then, in the circumstances—— and it is not a case for half measures. if this should be!’ a shiver of strong feeling seemed to pass over him. ‘it would make a revolution in our lives,’ he went on; ‘it would change everything. there must be no half measures. if ever there was a case in which she had a right to be consulted—— and then she’ll understand in a moment—she’ll see through it. if it’s credible: it sounds incredible; but on the other hand——’ he gave her once more that appealing look, as if the dilemma in which he found himself must be evident to her, then added hastily, ‘will you really be so very good, notwithstanding the little you know of us? but i might go and get rooms at the ferry, and not trouble you.’
‘you shall do nothing of the kind,’ she said peremptorily, with a decision that was balm to him. ‘let us not lose a moment, colonel hayward. here is a telegraph paper; will you write it yourself, or shall i?’
he took it from her, and lifted a pen from the table, but his hand shook. ‘i am very nervous,’ he said. ‘it is absurd, but i can’t help it. if you will write, “come at once; i am in great need of you.” that will do.
{22}
’
‘come at once. i am in great need of you,’ repeated mrs. bellendean; ‘had not you better add that you will meet her by the early train? will she be likely to travel by night?’
‘she will come by the first train, whenever that may be.’
‘that will be the night express. i shall add, “will meet you at edinburgh.” and now you must put the address.’
he paused a little without replying. ‘you would think that alarming, perhaps, if you got it all at once without any warning?’
‘yes,’ she said, with a smile, ‘i fear i should; but then no one thinks my help so important as you evidently feel your—this lady’s to be.’
‘my wife,’ he said gravely; ‘my wife. yes, she is very important. perhaps you will put at the last, “nothing that is alarming—rather good.” i think that will do. to mrs. hayward, rosebank, fairhill, surrey. how can i ever thank you enough!’ he stooped over her hand, which held out the paper, and kissed it with old-fashioned gratitude—‘to let me send for her, when i am but a stranger myself.’
‘i hope she will be able to help you, colonel hayward; and i hope my poor joyce will get the benefit.’
‘ah!’ he cried. he had come to himself by means of the ready intervention of the practical in the person of mrs. bellendean, but faltered again at this as if she had struck him a blow.
‘perhaps,’ she added hastily, ‘you would like to see—the letters, and the other relics? perhaps——’
he rose up from his seat. ‘i must go and send this,’ he said, and hurried from the room. he came back again, however, a moment after, looking in through the half-opened door. ‘when elizabeth comes,’ he said, and disappeared again.
mrs. bellendean had been greatly excited by the idea of thus touching upon a real romance of life—a story such as comes to light rarely in the commonplace world. the old colonel’s emotion, the excitement with which he had listened to the narrative, the evident stirring up of old recollections in his mind, and attempt to piece it out from his own knowledge of something which had passed long ago—had wound her up to a pitch of suspense and eagerness almost as great as his own. but a certain comic element came in with the sudden summons of elizabeth, and the evident determination to put the whole matter, whatever it might be, on his wife’s shoulders, and to put off the inquiry until she should appear. poor elizabeth!—probably a comfortable mother, suddenly shaken out of domestic peace, and sent for in hot haste to unravel a mystery with which most likely she had nothing to
{23}
do. mrs. bellendean laughed softly to herself: but then changed her expression, and sighed. she was herself of no such importance to any one. she reflected that, if any difficulty should happen in the life of her own husband, she would be the person from whom, above all others, it would be concealed. no one in the world would think of summoning her to aid him in a desperate crisis. she would be spared all unpleasant knowledge: what everybody would say would be—don’t say anything to her; why should we disturb her? perhaps the elizabeth of colonel hayward’s thoughts would have been glad to be so exempted from the troubles of life. but mrs. bellendean was not glad. she envied the other woman, upon whom it appeared that, habitually, all that was troublesome was thrown. what kind of a woman must she be—an old campaigner, a strong-minded person—who kept the good old colonel in subjection? that was the most probable explanation.
mrs. bellendean sat a little thinking this over, and then she went back to her duties, to see after her guests. the school treat had been happily the end of all the public performances; but with so many people in the house, every dinner was a dinner-party. when she went out again upon the terrace, the children were just disappearing in a many-coloured line through the avenue of limes, watched by the ladies who had been made to form queen margaret’s court under the great ash-tree. the younger ladies of the party gathered about her as she reappeared. there was one of them who was her special favourite—the only daughter of one of her dearest friends, a distant relation—a little margaret, to whom she had given her name, and in whom, accordingly, every element of preference centred. mrs. bellendean had said to herself that if greta (which was her pet name, to distinguish her from maggies and margarets without number) and norman should by any chance take to each other—why then! but it must be understood that no match-making was thought of, no scheme, no trap laid—only if they should happen to take to each other! greta was one of the eager band who came forward to meet the lady of the house. she was a slim girl of nineteen, with silky brown hair and grey eyes—the slightest willowy figure, the most deprecating expression,—a fragile creature, who begged pardon for everything—though in looks, not in words—and yielded at a touch to the bolder spirits about. it was perhaps for this cause that greta was always made the spokeswoman when anything was wanted in her family and connections; no one had the heart to refuse the pleading of her eyes.
{24}
‘aunt margaret, they want so much to have tableaux to-night, after dinner, before the gentlemen come in, just for ourselves.’
‘oh, i don’t see that,’ said a voice out of the group behind her. ‘we may as well have an audience.’
‘and we want them to help. we must have an edgar atheling, and a malcolm canmore, and all the court gentlemen.’
‘oh no; dresses for the gentlemen are impossible,’ said another, more peremptory. ‘we can manage for ourselves, but how could we get things for them? oh no, no!’
greta stood looking round upon her somewhat rebellious following. ‘i wish,’ she said, with a slight vexation in her tone, ‘you would make up your mind what you do want, before you send me to ask. aunt margaret, may we get them up? and will you be queen margaret, as you were to-day! and will you let us ask joyce?’
‘oh, we must have joyce!’ cried the chorus. ‘joyce is indispensable. none of us know much about queen margaret. please let us have joyce.’
‘the tableaux as much as you like,’ said mrs. bellendean. ‘i have no objection; but joyce—joyce is quite another matter.’
‘how is joyce another matter?’ cried the little surging crowd. ‘joyce is the very first necessity of all. oh, aunt margaret! oh, mrs. bellendean! oh, queen, queen! why, she is the one that knows. she is the one——’
‘my dear girls, you don’t think. how do you suppose she can like it, to come and take her part with you, and be complimented by everybody, and then to go away to peter matheson’s cottage and boil the potatoes for supper? besides, there are other circumstances——’
‘what other circumstances? oh, tell us! oh, i hope she is going to break it off with that mr. halliday. he is not half good enough for her. but why should that keep her from helping us?’
‘don’t ask me fifty questions all in a moment. hush! don’t say anything. perhaps she may be going to find out about her mother.’
this was very indiscreet of mrs. bellendean: but she was so full of her new information that she could not restrain herself. and then there arose from all those soft throats a unanimous ‘oh!’ which ran like a little breeze about the house, and disturbed the flowers in the big baskets. ‘who is she? is she a lady? i am sure she is a lady!’ the girls cried.
‘i can’t tell you any more. and you must none of you say a
{25}
word, for she knows nothing; neither do i. i only know that i think—some one knows about her—some one who is here.’
who could it be? the girls consulted each other with their eyes, and immediately ran over every name of all the dwellers in the house and all the guests, excepting only the old colonel, of whom nobody thought.
‘if there is to be the least hint given, or so much as a look, or anything to awaken her attention—remember in that case she must not come. she must not come: i cannot have her excited and disturbed.’
there was a universal cry of indignant protestation. tell her! oh no! no one would do such a thing. what did mrs. bellendean think of them? were they such silly things, with so little feeling as that? oh no, no! on the other hand, to be taken out of herself, to be made to forget it, would be such a good thing for joyce. and how exciting and delightful for everybody! to think she might be a duke’s daughter perhaps, or a foreign princess, or, in any case, something altogether out of the common way!
‘well, if it must be so,’ said mrs. bellendean. ‘greta, i think i can trust you to take care of her. not a word; not a hint. for after all, it is the very vaguest possibility, and it may come to nothing at all.’
‘in that case, don’t you think it was a pity to say anything about it?’ said the matter-of-fact, common-sense voice of mr. bellendean.
he was a man said to be full of common-sense. his wife considered him a wet blanket, always putting out her fires, and quenching all enthusiasm. he had a horrible way of being right which was doubly exasperating. and she had of course regretted that premature hint of hers the moment she had made it. when she turned round and found out that she had taken her husband and his son unwittingly into her confidence, she felt, to use her own words, ‘as if she could have cried.’
‘perhaps it was a pity,’ she said; ‘but one can’t always be prudent, and none of you will say a word.’
the young ladies redoubled their protestations, and hurried away to make up to joyce before she reached the village with her charge. as for mrs. bellendean, to avoid further criticism, she turned quickly round upon norman, who had said nothing, but whose eyes had followed the girls with pleased observation. it was natural, for they were a pretty group.
‘are you very well acquainted with colonel hayward?’ she asked.
{26}
‘acquainted? with old hayward? oh yes, i think so,’ he said, with a little surprise.
‘then who is elizabeth?’
the young man had been looking at her with some curiosity. his face suddenly changed now from grave to gay. his eyes lighted up with humour. ‘elizabeth!’ he said, with a laugh, ‘have you found her out? she is mrs. hayward, i know; but i have never seen her. she is his other self—no, that’s not the right way of putting it. she is himself, and he is the other. oh, everybody knows about elizabeth.’
‘she is coming here to-morrow,’ said mrs. bellendean.
‘coming here! none of us have ever seen her,’ he replied. ‘she was always at the hills, or home for her health, or something; though some people said she kept close in the bungalow like a native lady, and never would show——’
‘good heavens! she is not a native, norman, i hope? don’t say that, please.’
‘one of your usual hasty proceedings, my dear; but it would be some fun to have a begum in the house.’
‘i don’t think it is likely; but i don’t know. he was always wishing for her. we made rather a joke of it, i fear. i have heard him, when he was giving his orders—and he is a very smart soldier, dear old fellow, though perhaps you think him a—— i have heard him say between his teeth, “if elizabeth were but here,” when most men were only too thankful their wives were out of the way.’
‘i like that,’ said mrs. bellendean, with a sigh. ‘i like it very much. women would be a great deal happier if their husbands would always treat them so.’
‘what! take them out to face the enemy?’ her husband said. but he knew very well what she meant; and though he was a very well-bred man, and showed no sign of it, he resented both her little speech and her smaller sigh.
