CHAPTER XXVII
LADY SUE'S FORTUNE
Less than an hour later four people were assembled in the smallwithdrawing-room of Acol Court.
Master Skyffington sat behind a central table, a little pompous ofmanner, clad in sober black with well-starched linen cuffs and collar,his scanty hair closely cropped, his thin hands fingering with assuranceand perfect calm the various documents laid out before him. Near him SirMarmaduke de Chavasse, sitting with his back to the dim November light,which vainly strove to penetrate the tiny glass panes of the casementwindows.
In a more remote corner of the room sat Editha de Chavasse, vainlytrying to conceal the agitation which her trembling hands, her quiveringface and restless eyes persistently betrayed. And beside the centraltable, near Master Skyffington and facing Sir Marmaduke, was LadySusannah Aldmarshe, only daughter and heiress of the late Earl of Dover,this day aged twenty-one years, and about to receive from the hands ofher legal guardians the vast fortune which her father had bequeathed toher, and which was to become absolutely hers this day to dispose of asshe list.
"And now, my dear child," said Master Skyffington with due solemnity,when he had disposed a number of documents and papers in methodicalorder upon the table, "let me briefly explain to you the object ... hem... of this momentous meeting here to-day."
"I am all attention, master," said Sue vaguely, and her eyes wide-open,obviously absent, she gazed fixedly on the silhouette of Sir Marmaduke,grimly outlined against the grayish window-panes.
"I must tell you, my dear child," resumed Master Skyffington after aslight pause, during which he had studied with vague puzzledom theinscrutable face of the young girl, "I must tell you that your latefather, the noble Earl of Dover, had married the heiress of Peter Ford,the wealthiest merchant this country hath ever known. She was your ownlamented mother, and the whole of her fortune, passing through herhusband's hands, hath now devolved upon you. My much-esteemed patron--Imay venture to say friend--Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse, having beenappointed your legal guardian by the Court of Chancery, and I myselfbeing thereupon named the repository of your securities, these have beenadministered by me up to now.... You are listening to me, are you not,my dear young lady?"
The question was indeed necessary, for even to Master Skyffington'sunobservant mind it was apparent that Sue's eyes had a look of aloofnessin them, of detachment from her surroundings, which was altogetherinexplicable to the worthy attorney's practical sense of the due fitnessof things.
At his query she made a sudden effort to bring her thoughts back fromthe past to the present, to drag her heart and her aching brain awayfrom that half-hour spent in the hall, from that conversation with herfriend, from the recollection of that terribly cruel blow which she hadbeen forced to deal to the man who loved her best in all the world.
"Yes, yes, kind master," she said, "I am listening."
And she fixed her eyes resolutely on the attorney's solemn face, forcingher mind to grasp what he was about to say.
"By the terms of your noble father's will," continued MasterSkyffington, as soon as he had satisfied himself that he at last heldthe heiress's attention, "the securities, receipts and all other moneysare to be given over absolutely and unconditionally into your own handson your twenty-first birthday."
"Which is to-day," said Sue simply.
"Which is to-day," assented the lawyer. "The securities, receipts andother bonds, grants of monopolies and so forth lie before you on thistable.... They represent in value over half a million of Englishmoney.... A very large sum indeed for so young a girl to have fullcontrol of.... Nevertheless, it is yours absolutely and unconditionally,according to the wishes of your late noble father ... and Sir Marmadukede Chavasse, your late guardian, and I myself, have met you here thisday for the express purpose of handing these securities, grants andreceipts over to you, and to obtain in exchange your own properlyattested signature in full discharge of any further obligation on ourpart."
Master Skyffington was earnestly gazing into the young girl's face,whilst he thus literally dangled before her the golden treasures ofwealth, which were about to become absolutely her own. He thought, notunnaturally, that a girl of her tender years, brought up in theloneliness and seclusion of a not too luxurious home, would feel in ameasure dazzled and certainly overjoyed at the brilliant prospect whichsuch independent and enormous wealth opened out before her.
But the amiable attorney was vastly disappointed to see neitherpleasure, nor even interest, expressed in Lady Sue's face, which on thisjoyous and momentous occasion looked unnaturally calm and pallid. Evennow when he paused expectant and eager, waiting for some comment orexclamation of approval or joy from her, she was silent for a while, andthen said in a stolidly inquiring tone:
"Then after to-day ... I shall have full control of my money?"
"Absolute control, my dear young lady," he rejoined, feeling strangelyperturbed at this absence of emotion.
"And no one ... after to-day ... will have the right to inquire as tothe use I make of these securities, grants or whatever you, MasterSkyffington, have called them?" she continued with the same placidity.
"No one, of a surety, my dear Sue," here interposed Sir Marmaduke,speaking in his usual harsh and dictatorial way, "but this is a strangeand somewhat peremptory question for a young maid to put at thisjuncture. Master Skyffington and I myself had hoped that you wouldlisten to counsels of prudence, and would allow him, who hath alreadyadministered your fortune in a vastly able manner, to continue so to do,for a while at any rate."
"That question we can discuss later on, Sir Marmaduke," said Sue now,with sudden hauteur. "Shall we proceed with our business, master?" sheadded, turning deliberately to the lawyer, ignoring with calm disdainthe very presence of her late guardian.
The studied contempt of his ward's manner, however, seemed not todisturb the serenity of Sir Marmaduke to any appreciable extent. Castinga quick, inquisitorial glance at Sue, he shrugged his shoulders in tokenof indifference and said no more.
"Certainly, certainly," responded Master Skyffington, somewhatembarrassed, "my dear young lady ... hem ... as ... er ... as you wish... but ..."
Then he turned deliberately to Sir Marmaduke, once more bringing himinto the proceedings, and tacitly condemning her ladyship'sextraordinary attitude towards his distinguished patron.
"Having now explained to Lady Sue Aldmarshe the terms of her noblefather's will," he said, "methinks that she is ready to receive themoneys from our hands, good Sir Marmaduke, and thereupon to give us theproper receipt prescribed by law, for the same ..."
He checked himself for a moment, and then made a respectful, if pointed,suggestion:
"Mistress de Chavasse?" he said inquiringly.
"Mistress de Chavasse is a member of the family," replied Sir Marmaduke,"the business can be transacted in her presence."
"Nothing therefore remains to be said, my dear young lady," rejoinedMaster Skyffington, once more speaking directly to Sue and placing hislean hands with fingers outstretched, over the bundles of papers lyingbefore him. "Here are your securities, your grants, moneys and receipts,worth L500,000 of the present currency of this realm.... These I, inmine own name and that of my honored friend and patron, Sir Marmaduke deChavasse, do hereby hand over to you. You will, I pray, verify and signthe receipt in proper and due form."
He began sorting and overlooking the papers, muttering half audibly thewhile, as he transferred each bundle from his own side of the table tothat beside which Lady Sue was sitting:
"The deeds of property in Holland ... hem.... Receipt of moneysdeposited at the bank of Amsterdam.... The same from the Bank ofVienna.... Grant of monopoly for the hemp trade in Russia.... hem ..."
Thus he mumbled for some time, as these papers, representing a fortune,passed out of his keeping into those of a young maid but recently out ofher teens. Sue watched him silently and placidly, just as she had donethroughout this momentous interview, which was, of a truth, the startingpoint of her independe
nt life.
Her face expressed neither joy nor excitement of any kind. She knew thatall the wealth which now lay before her, would only pass briefly throughher hands. She knew that the prince--her husband--was waiting for iteven now. Doubtless, he was counting the hours when his young wife'svast fortune would come to him as the realization of all his dreams.
In spite of her present disbelief in his love, in spite of the bitterknowledge that her own had waned, Sue had no misgivings as yet as to thehonor, the truth, the loyalty of the man whose name she now bore. Herillusions were gone, her romance had become dull reality, but to onethought she clung with all the tenacity of despair, and that was to theillusion that Prince Amede d'Orleans was the selfless patriot, theregenerator of downtrodden France, which he represented himself to be.
Because of that belief she welcomed the wealth, which she would this daybe able to place in his hands. Her own girlish dreams had vanished, buther temperament was far too romantic and too poetic not to recreateillusions, even when the old ones had been so ruthlessly shattered.
But this recreation would occur anon--not just now, not at the verymoment when her heart ached with an intolerable pain at thought of thesorrow which she had caused to her one friend. Presently, no doubt, whenshe met her husband, when his usual grandiloquent phrases had once moresucceeded in arousing her enthusiasm for the cause which he pleaded, shewould once more feel serene and happy at thought of the help which she,with her great wealth, would be giving him; for the nonce the wholetransaction grated on her sense of romance; money passing from hand tohand, a man waiting somewhere in the dark to receive wealth from awoman's hand.
Master Skyffington desired her to look over the papers, ere she signedthe formal receipt for them, but she waved them gently aside:
"Quite unnecessary, kind master," she said decisively, "since I receivethem at your hands."
She bent over the document which the lawyer now placed before her, andtook the pen from him.
"Where shall I sign?" she asked.
Sir Marmaduke and Editha de Chavasse watched her keenly, as with a boldstroke of the pen she wrote her name across the receipt.
"Now the papers, please, master," said Lady Sue peremptorily.
But the prudent lawyer had still a word of protest to enter here.
"My dear young lady," he said tentatively, awed in spite of himself bythe self-possessed behavior of a maid whom up to now he had regarded asa mere child, "let me, as a man of vast experience in such matters,repeat to you the well-meant advice which Sir Marmaduke ..."
But she checked him decisively, though kindly.
"You said, Master Skyffington, did you not," she said, "that afterto-day no one had the slightest control over my actions or over myfortune?"
"That is so, certainly," he rejoined, "but ..."
"Well, then, kind master, I pray you," she said authoritatively, "tohand me over all those securities, grants and moneys, for which I havejust signed a receipt."
There was naught to do for a punctilious lawyer, as was MasterSkyffington, but to obey forthwith. This he did, without another word,collecting the various bundles of paper and placing them one by one inthe brown leather wallet which he had brought for the purpose. Suewatched him quietly, and when the last of the important documents hadbeen deposited in the wallet, she held out her hand for it.
With a grave bow, and an unconsciously pompous gesture, MasterSkyffington, attorney-at-law, handed over that wallet which nowcontained a fortune to Lady Susannah Aldmarshe.
She took it, and graciously bowed her head to him in acknowledgment.Then, after a slight, distinctly haughty nod to Sir Marmaduke and toEditha, she turned and walked silently out of the room.