there was ever, when separated, an uninterrupted correspondence between berengaria and endymion. they wrote to each other every day, so that when they met again there was no void in their lives and mutual experience, and each was acquainted with almost every feeling and incident that had been proved, or had occurred, since they parted. the startling news, however, communicated by the king had not previously reached endymion, because he was on the eve of his return to england, and his correspondents had been requested to direct their future letters to his residence in london.
his voyage home was an agitated one, and not sanguine or inspiriting. there was a terrible uncertainty in the future. what were the feelings of lady montfort towards himself? friendly, kind, affectionate, in a certain sense, even devoted, no doubt; but all consistent with a deep and determined friendship which sought and wished for no return more ardent. but now she was free. yes, but would she again forfeit her freedom? and if she did, would it not be to attain some great end, probably the great end of her life? lady montfort was a woman of far-reaching ambition. in a certain degree, she had married to secure her lofty aims; and yet it was only by her singular energy, and the playfulness and high spirit of her temperament, that the sacrifice had not proved a failure; her success, however, was limited, for the ally on who she had counted rarely assisted and never sympathised with her. it was true she admired and even loved her husband; her vanity, which was not slight, was gratified by her conquest of one whom it had seemed no one could subdue, and who apparently placed at her feet all the power and magnificence which she appreciated.
poor endymion, who loved her passionately, over whom she exercised the influence of a divinity, who would do nothing without consulting her, and who was moulded, and who wished to be moulded, by her inspiring will, was also a shrewd man of the world, and did not permit his sentiment to cloud his perception of life and its doings. he felt that lady montfort had fallen from a lofty position, and she was not of a temperament that would quietly brook her fate. instead of being the mistress of castles and palaces, with princely means, and all the splendid accidents of life at her command, she was now a dowager with a jointure! still young, with her charms unimpaired, heightened even by the maturity of her fascinating qualities, would she endure this? she might retain her friendship for one who, as his sister ever impressed upon him, had no root in the land, and even that friendship, he felt conscious, must yield much of its entireness and intimacy to the influence of new ties; but for their lives ever being joined together, as had sometimes been his wild dreams, his cheek, though alone, burned with the consciousness of his folly and self-deception.
“he is one of our rising statesmen,” whispered the captain of the vessel to a passenger, as endymion, silent, lonely, and absorbed, walked, as was his daily custom, the quarterdeck. “i daresay he has a good load on his mind. do you know, i would sooner be a captain of a ship than a minister of state?”
poor endymion! yes, he bore his burthen, but it was not secrets of state that overwhelmed him. if his mind for a moment quitted the contemplation of lady montfort, it was only to encounter the recollection of a heart-rending separation from his sister, and his strange and now perplexing relations with adriana.
lord montfort had passed the summer, as he had announced, at princedown, and alone; that is to say, without lady montfort. she wrote to him frequently, and if she omitted doing so for a longer interval than usual, he would indite to her a little note, always courteous, sometimes even almost kind, reminding her that her letters amused him, and that of late they had been rarer than he wished. lady montfort herself made montfort castle her home, paying sometimes a visit to her family in the neighbourhood, and sometimes receiving them and other guests. lord montfort himself did not live in absolute solitude. he had society always at command. he always had a court about him; equerries, and secretaries, and doctors, and odd and amusing men whom they found out for him, and who were well pleased to find themselves in his beautiful and magnificent princedown, wandering in woods and parks and pleasaunces, devouring his choice entrees, and quaffing his curious wines. sometimes he dined with them, sometimes a few dined with him, sometimes he was not seen for weeks; but whether he were visible or not, he was the subject of constant thought and conversation by all under his roof.
lord montfort, it may be remembered, was a great fisherman. it was the only sport which retained a hold upon him. the solitude, the charming scenery, and the requisite skill, combined to please him. he had a love for nature, and he gratified it in this pursuit. his domain abounded in those bright chalky streams which the trout love. he liked to watch the moor-hens, too, and especially a kingfisher.
lord montfort came home late one day after much wading. it had been a fine day for anglers, soft and not too bright, and he had been tempted to remain long in the water. he drove home rapidly, but it was in an open carriage, and when the sun set there was a cold autumnal breeze. he complained at night, and said he had been chilled. there was always a doctor under the roof, who felt his patient’s pulse, ordered the usual remedies, and encouraged him. lord montfort passed a bad night, and his physician in the morning found fever, and feared there were symptoms of pleurisy. he prescribed accordingly, but summoned from town two great authorities. the great authorities did not arrive until the next day. they approved of everything that had been done, but shook their heads. “no immediate danger, but serious.”
four-and-twenty hours afterwards they inquired of lord montfort whether they should send for his wife. “on no account whatever,” he replied. “my orders on this head are absolute.” nevertheless, they did send for lady montfort, and as there was even then a telegraph to the north, berengaria, who departed from her castle instantly, and travelled all night, arrived in eight-and-forty hours at princedown. the state of lord montfort then was critical.
it was broken to lord montfort that his wife had arrived.
“i perceive then,” he replied, “that i am going to die, because i am disobeyed.”
these were the last words he uttered. he turned in his bed as it were to conceal his countenance, and expired without a sigh or sound.
there was not a single person at princedown in whom lady montfort could confide. she had summoned the family solicitor, but he could not arrive until the next day, and until he came she insisted that none of her late lord’s papers should be touched. she at first thought he had made a will, because otherwise all his property would go to his cousin, whom he particularly hated, and yet on reflection she could hardly fancy his making a will. it was a trouble to him—a disagreeable trouble; and there was nobody she knew whom he would care to benefit. he was not a man who would leave anything to hospitals and charities. therefore, on the whole, she arrived at the conclusion he had not made a will, though all the guests at princedown were of a different opinion, and each was calculating the amount of his own legacy.
at last the lawyer arrived, and he brought the will with him. it was very short, and not very recent. everything he had in the world except the settled estates, montfort castle and montfort house, he bequeathed to his wife. it was a vast inheritance; not only princedown, but great accumulations of personal property, for lord montfort was fond of amassing, and admired the sweet simplicity of the three per cents.
