‘Dear Madam,
‘Your faithful servant,
‘ALFRED DE BLERIOT’
Seven
From Mr Pendril to Norah Vanstone
‘Serle Street, October 27th, 1847
‘MY DEAR MISS VANSTONE,
‘A lady, named Lecount (formerly attached to Mr Noel Vanstone’s service, in the capacity of housekeeper), has called at my office this morning, and has asked me to furnish her with your address. I have begged her to excuse my immediate compliance with her request, and to favour me with a call to-morrow morning, when I shall be prepared to meet her with a definite answer.
‘My hesitation in this matter does not proceed from any distruct of Mrs Lecount personally – for I know nothing whatever to her prejudice. But in making her request to me, she stated that the object of the desired interview was to speak to you privately on the subject of your sister. Forgive me for acknowledging that I determined to withhold the address, as soon as I heard this. You will make allowances for your old friend and your sincere well-wisher? You will not take it amiss, if I express my strong disapproval of your allowing yourself on any pretence whatever, to be mixed up for the future with your sister’s proceedings.
‘I will not distress you by saying more than this. But I feel too deep an interest in your welfare, and too sincere an admiration of the patience with which you have borne all your trials, to say less.
‘If I cannot prevail on you to follow my advice, you have only to say so, and Mrs Lecount shall have your address to-morrow. In this case (which I cannot contemplate without the greatest unwillingness), let me at least recommend you to stipulate that Miss Garth shall be present at the interview. In any matter with which your sister is concerned, you may want an old friend’s advice and an old friend’s protection against your own generous impulses. If I could have helped you in this way, I would but Mrs Lecount gave me indirectly to understand that the subject to be discussed was of too delicate a nature to permit of my presence. Whatever this objection may be really worth, it cannot apply to Miss Garth, who has brought you both up from childhood. I say, again, therefore, if you see Mrs Lecount, see her in Miss Garth’s company.
‘Always most truly yours,
‘WILLIAM PENDRIL’
Eight
From Norah Vanstone to Mr Pendril
‘Portland Place, Wednesday
‘DEAR MR PENDRIL,
‘Pray don’t think I am ungrateful for your kindness. Indeed, indeed I am not! But I must see Mrs Lecount. You were not aware when you wrote to me, that I had received a few lines from Magdalen – not telling me where she is, but holding out the hope of our meeting before long. Perhaps Mrs Lecount may have something to say to me, on this very subject? Even if it should not be so, my sister – do what she may -is still my sister. I can’t desert her; I can’t turn my back on any one who comes to me in her name. You know, dear Mr Pendril, I have always been obstinate on this subject; and you have always borne with me. Let me owe another obligation to you which I can never return – and bear with me still!
‘Need I say that I willingly accept that part of your advice which refers to Miss Garth? I have already written to beg that she will come here at four, to-morrow afternoon. When you see Mrs Lecount, please inform her that Miss Garth will be with me, and that she will find us both ready to receive her here, to-morrow, at four o’clock.
‘Gratefully yours,
‘NORAH VANSTONE’
Nine
From Mr de Bleriot to Mrs Lecount
‘Private
‘Dark’s Buildings, October 28th
‘DEAR MADAM,
‘One of Mr Loscombe’s clerks has proved amenable to a small pecuniary consideration, and has mentioned a circumstance which it may be of some importance to you to know.
‘Nearly a month since, accident gave the clerk in question an opportunity of looking into one of the documents on his master’s table, which had attracted his attention from a slight peculiarity in the form and colour of the paper. He had only time, during Mr Loscombe’s momentary absence, to satisfy his curiosity by looking at the beginning of the document, and at the end. At the beginning, he saw the customary form used in making a will. At the end, he discovered the signature of Mr Noel Vanstone; with the names of two attesting witnesses, and the date (of which he is quite certain) – the thirtieth of September last.
‘Before the clerk had time to make any further investigations, his master returned, sorted the papers on the table, and carefully locked up the will, in the strong box devoted to the custody of Mr Noel Vanstone’s documents. It has been ascertained that, at the close of September, Mr Loscombe was absent from the office. If he was then employed in superintending the execution of his client’s will – which is quite possible – it follows clearly that he was in the secret of Mr Vanstone’s address, after the removal of the 4th of September; and if you can do nothing on your side, it may be desirable to have the lawyer watched on ours. In any case, it is certainly ascertained that Mr Noel Vanstone has made his will, since his marriage. I leave you to draw your own conclusions from that fact, and remain, in the hope of hearing from you shortly,
‘Your faithful servant,
‘ALFRED DE BLERIOT’
Ten
From Miss Garth to Mr Pendril
‘Portland Place, October 28th
‘MY DEAR SIR,
‘Mrs Lecount has just left us. If it was not too late to wish, I should wish from the bottom of my heart, that Norah had taken your advice, and had refused to see her.
‘I write in such distress of mind, that I cannot hope to give you a clear and complete account of the interview. I can only tell you briefly what Mrs Lecount has done, and what our situation now is. The rest must be left until I am more composed, and until I can speak to you personally.
‘You will remember my informing you of the letter which Mrs Lecount addressed to Norah from Aldborough, and which I answered for her in her absence. When Mrs Lecount made her appearance today, her first words announced to us that she had come to renew the subject. As well as I can remember it, this is what she said, addressing herself to Norah:
‘ “I wrote to you on the subject of your sister, Miss Vanstone, some little time since; and Miss Garth was so good as to answer the letter. What I feared at that time has come true. Your sister has defied all my efforts to check her;’ she has disappeared in company with my master, Mr Noel Vanstone; and she is now in a position of danger, which may lead to her disgrace and ruin at a moment’s notice. It is my interest to recover my master; it is your interest to save your sister. Tell me – for time is precious – have you any news of her?”
‘Norah answered, as well as her terror and distress would allow her, “I have had a letter, but there was no address on it.”
‘Mrs Lecount asked, “Was there no post-mark on the envelope?”
‘Norah said – “Yes; Allonby.”
‘ “Allonby is better than nothing,” said Mrs Lecount. “Allonby may help you to trace her. Where is Allonby?”
‘Norah told her. It all passed in a minute. I had been too much confused and startled to interfere before; but I composed myself sufficiently to interfere now.
‘ “You have entered into no particulars,” I said. “You have only frightened us – you have told us nothing.”
‘ “You shall hear the particulars, ma’am,” said Mrs Lecount; “and you and Miss Vanstone shall judge for yourselves, if I have frightened you without a cause.”
‘Upon this, she entered at once upon a long narrative, which I cannot – I might almost say, which I dare not – repeat. You will understand the horror we both felt, when I tell you the end. If Mrs Lecount’s statement is to be relied on, Magdalen has carried her mad resolution of recovering her father’s fortune, to the last and most desperate extremity – she has married Michael Vanstone’s son, under a false name. Her husband is at this moment still persuaded that her maiden name was By grave, and that she is really the niece of a scoundre
l who assisted her imposture, and whom I recognize by the description of him to have been Captain Wragge.
‘I spare you Mrs Lecount’s cool avowal, when she rose to leave us, of her own mercenary motives in wishing to discover her master and to enlighten him. I spare you the hints she dropped of Magdalen’s purpose in contracting this infamous marriage. The one aim and object of my letter is, to implore you to assist me in quieting Norah’s anguish of mind. The shock she has received at hearing this news of her sister, is not the worst result of what has happened. She has persuaded herself that the answers she innocently gave in her distress, to Mrs Lecount’s questions on the subject of her letter – the answers wrung from her under the sudden pressure of confusion and alarm – may be used to Magdalen’s prejudice by the woman who purposely startled her into giving the information. I can only prevent her from taking some desperate step on her side – some step by which she may forfeit the friendship and protection of the excellent people with whom she is now living by reminding her that if Mrs Lecount traces her master by means of the post-mark on the letter, we may trace Magdalen at the same time, and by the same means. Whatever objection you may personally feel to renewing the efforts for the rescue of this miserable girl, which failed so lamentably at York, I entreat you, for Norah’s sake, to take the same steps now which we took then. Send me the only assurance which will quiet her – the assurance, under your own hand, that the search on our side has begun. If you will do this, you may trust me when the time comes, to stand between these two sisters, and to defend Norah’s peace, character and future prosperity, at any price.
‘Most sincerely yours,
‘HARRIET GARTH’
Eleven
From Mrs Lecount to Mr de Bleriot
‘October 28th
‘DEAR SIR,
‘I have found the trace you wanted. Mrs Noel Vanstone has written to her sister. The letter contains no address; but the post-mark is Allonby, in Cumberland. From Allonby, therefore, the inquiries must begin. You have already in your possession the personal description of both husband and wife. I urgently recommend you not to lose one unnecessary moment. If it is possible to send to Cumberland immediately on receipt of this letter, I beg you will do so.
‘I have another word to say before I close my note – a word about the discovery in Mr Loscombe’s office.
‘It is no surprise to me, to hear that Mr Noel Vanstone has made his will since his marriage; and I am at no loss to guess in whose favour the will is made. If I succeed in finding my master – let that person get the money if that person can! A course to follow in this matter has presented itself to my mind, since I received your letter – but my ignorance of details of business and intricacies of law, leaves me still uncertain whether my idea is capable of ready and certain execution. I know no professional person whom I can trust in this delicate and dangerous business. Is your large experience in other matters, large enough to help me in this? I will call at your office to-morrow at two o’clock, for the purpose of consulting you on the subject. It is of the greatest importance, when I next see Mr Noel Vanstone, that he should find me thoroughly prepared beforehand, in this matter of the will.
‘Your much obliged servant,
‘VIRGINIE LECOUNT’
Twelve
From Mr Pendril to Miss Garth
‘Serle Street, October 29th
‘DEAR MISS GARTH,
‘I have only a moment to assure you of the sorrow with which I have read your letter. The circumstances under which you urge your request, and the reasons you give for making it, are sufficient to silence any objection I might otherwise feel to the course you propose. A trustworthy person, whom I have myself instructed, will start for Allonby to-day; and as soon as I receive any news from him, you shall hear of it by special messenger. Tell Miss Vanstone this, and pray add the sincere expression of my sympathy and regard.
‘Faithfully yours,
WILLIAM PENDRIL’
Thirteen
From Mr de Bleriot to Mrs Lecount
‘Dark’s Buildings, November 1st
‘DEAR MADAM,
‘I have the pleasure of informing you that the discovery has been made, with far less trouble than I had anticipated.
‘Mr and Mrs Noel Vanstone have been traced across the Solway Firth, to Dumfries; and thence to a cottage, a few miles from the town, on the banks of the Nith. The exact address is, Baliol Cottage, near Dumfries.
‘This information, though easily hunted up, has nevertheless been obtained under rather singular circumstances.
‘Before leaving Allonby, the persons in my employ discovered, to their surprise, that a stranger was in the place pursuing the same inquiry as themselves. In the absence of any instructions preparing them for such an occurrence as this, they took their own view of the circumstance. Considering the man as an intruder on their business, whose success might deprive them of the credit and reward of making the discovery, they took advantage of their superiority in numbers, and of their being first in the field, and carefully misled the stranger before they ventured any further with their own investigations. I am in possession of the details of their proceedings – with which I need not trouble you. The end is, that this person, whoever he may be, was cleverly turned back southward, on a false scent, before the men in my employment crossed the Firth.
‘I mention the circumstance, as you may be better able than I am to find a clue to it, and as it may possibly be of a nature to induce you to hasten your journey.
‘Your faithful servant,
‘ALFRED DE BLERIOT’
Fourteen
From Mrs Lecount to Mr de Bleriot
‘November Ist
‘DEAR SIR,
‘One line to say that your letter has just reached me at my lodging in London. I think I know who sent the strange man to inquire at Allonby. It matters little. Before he finds out his mistake, I shall be at Dumfries. My luggage is packed – and I start for the North by the next train.
‘Your deeply obliged,
‘VIRGINIE LECOUNT’
THE FIFTH SCENE
BALIOL COTTAGE, DUMFRIES
Chapter One
Towards eleven o’clock, on the morning of the third of November, the breakfast-table at Baliol Cottage presented that essentially comfortless appearance which is caused by a meal in a state of transition – that is to say, by a meal prepared for two persons, which has been already eaten by one, and which has not yet been approached by the other. It must be a hardy appetite which can contemplate without a momentary discouragement, the battered egg-shell, the fish half-stripped to a skeleton, the crumbs in the plate, and the dregs in the cup. There is surely a wise submission to those weaknesses in human nature which must be respected and not reproved, in the sympathizing rapidity with which servants in places of public refreshment, clear away all signs of the customer in the past, from the eyes of the customer in the present. Although his predecessor may have been the wife of his bosom or the child of his loins, no man can find himself confronted at table by the traces of a vanished eater, without a passing sense of injury in connection with the idea of his own meal.
Some such impression as this found its way into the mind of Mr Noel Vanstone, when he entered the lonely breakfast-parlour at Baliol Cottage, shortly after eleven o’clock. He looked at the table with a frown, and rang the bell with an expression of disgust.
‘Clear away this mess,’ he said, when the servant appeared. ‘Has your mistress gone?’
‘Yes, sir – nearly an hour ago.’
‘Is Louisa downstairs?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘When you have put the table right, send Louisa up to me.’
He walked away to the window. The momentary irritation passed away from his face; but it left an expression there which remained – an expression of pining discontent. Personally, his marriage had altered him for the worse. His wizen little cheeks were beginning to shrink into hollows; his frail little figure had already contracted a
slight stoop. The former delicacy of his complexion had gone – the sickly paleness of it was all that remained. His thin flaxen moustachios were no longer pragmatically waxed and twisted into a curl: their weak feathery ends hung meekly pendent over the querulous corners of his mouth. If the ten or twelve weeks since his marriage had been counted by his looks, they might have reckoned as ten or twelve years. He stood at the window mechanically picking leaves from a pot of heath placed in front of it, and drearily humming the forlorn fragment of a tune.
The prospect from the window overlooked the course of the Nith, at a bend of the river a few miles above Dumfries. Here and there, through wintry gaps in the wooded bank, broad tracts of the level cultivated valley met the eye. Boats passed on the river, and carts plodded along the high-road on their way to Dumfries. The sky was clear; the November sun shone as pleasantly as if the year had been younger by two good months; and the view, noted in Scotland for its bright and peaceful charm, was presented at the best which its wintry aspect could assume. If it had been hidden in mist or drenched with rain, Mr Noel Vanstone would, to all appearance, have found it as attractive as he found it now. He waited at the window until he heard Louisa’s knock at the door –then turned back sullenly to the breakfast-table and told her to come in.
‘Make the tea,’ he said. I know nothing about it. I’m left here neglected. Nobody helps me.’
The discreet Louisa silently and submissively obeyed.
‘Did your mistress leave any message for me,’ he asked, ‘before she went away?’
‘No message in particular, sir. My mistress only said she should be too late if she waited breakfast any longer.’
‘Did she say nothing else?’
‘She told me at the carriage-door, sir, that she would most likely be back in a week.’
‘Was she in good spirits at the carriage-door?’
‘No, sir. I thought my mistress seemed very anxious and uneasy. Is there anything more I can do, sir?’