In half an hour more, the mixture was ready. She carried it up to him, foaming and fragrant, in a large tumbler. ‘He will sleep after this,’ she thought to herself, as she opened the door; ‘I have made it stronger than usual on purpose.’
He had changed his place. He was sitting at the table in the corner – still with his back to her, writing. This time, his quick ears had not served him. This time, she had caught him in the act.
‘Oh, Mr Noel! Mr Noel!’ she said, reproachfully, ‘what is your promise worth?’
He made no answer. He was sitting with his left elbow on the table, and with his head resting on his left hand. His right hand lay back on the paper, with the pen lying loose in it. ‘Your drink, Mr Noel,’ she said in a kinder tone, feeling unwilling to offend him. He took no notice of her.
She went to the table to rouse him. Was he deep in thought?
He was dead.
THE END OF THE FIFTH SCENE
BETWEEN THE SCENES
PROGRESS OF THE STORY THROUGH THE POST
One
From Mrs Noel Vanstone to Mr Loscombe
‘Park Terrace, St John’s Wood,
‘November 5th
DEAR SIR,
‘I came to London yesterday, for the purpose of seeing a relative, leaving Mr Vanstone at Baliol Cottage, and proposing to return to him in the course of the week. I reached London late last night, and drove to these lodgings, having written to secure accommodation beforehand.
‘This morning’s post has brought me a letter from my own maid, whom I left at Baliol Cottage, with instructions to write to me if anything extraordinary took place in my absence. You will find the girl’s letter enclosed in this. I have had some experience of her; and I believe she is to be strictly depended on to tell the truth.
‘I purposely abstain from troubling you by any useless allusions to myself. When you have read my maid’s letter, you will understand the shock which the news contained in it has caused me. I can only repeat, that I place implicit belief in her statement. I am firmly persuaded that my husband’s former housekeeper has found him out, has practised on his weakness in my absence, and has prevailed on him to make another will. From what I know of this woman, I feel no doubt that she has used her influence over Mr Vanstone, to deprive me, if possible, of all future interest in my husband’s fortune.
‘Under such circumstances as these, it is in the last degree important – for more reasons than I need mention here – that I should see Mr Vanstone, and come to an explanation with him, at the earliest possible opportunity. You will find that my maid thoughtfully kept her letter open, until the last moment before post–time – without, however, having any later news to give me than that Mrs Lecount was to sleep at the cottage last night, and that she and Mr Vanstone were to leave together this morning. But for that last piece of intelligence, I should have been on my way back to Scotland before now. As it is, I cannot decide for myself what I ought to do next. My going back to Dumfries, after Mr Vanstone has left it, seems like taking a journey for nothing –and my staying in London appears to be almost equally useless.
‘Will you kindly advise me, in this difficulty? I will come to you at Lincoln’s Inn at any time this afternoon or to–morrow which you may appoint. My next few hours are engaged. As soon as this letter is despatched, I am going to Kensington, with the object of ascertaining whether certain doubts I feel about the means by which Mrs Lecount may have accomplished her discovery, are well founded or not. If you will let me have your answer by return of post, I will not fail to get back to St John’s Wood in time to receive it.
‘Believe me, dear Sir, yours sincerely,
’MAGDALEN VANSTONE’
Two
From Mr Loscombe to Mrs Noel Vanstone
‘Lincoln’s Inn, Nov. 5th
‘DEAR MADAM,
‘Your letter and its enclosure have caused me great concern and surprise. Pressure of business allows me no hope of being able to see you either to-day or to-morrow morning. But if three o’clock to–morrow afternoon will suit you, at that hour you will find me at your service.
‘I cannot pretend to offer a positive opinion, until I know more of the particulars connected with this extraordinary business than I find communicated either in your letter, or in your maid’s. But with this reserve, I venture to suggest that your remaining in London until to-morrow, may possibly lead to other results besides your consultation at my chambers. There is at least a chance, that you, or I, may hear something further in this strange matter by the morning’s post.
‘I remain, dear Madam, faithfully yours,
‘JOHN LOSCOMBE’
Three
From Mrs Noel Vanstone to Miss Garth
‘November 5th, Two o’Clock
‘I have just returned from Westmoreland House – after purposely leaving it in secret, and purposely avoiding you under your own roof. You shall know why I came, and why I went away. It is due to my remembrance of old times not to treat you like a stranger, although I can never again treat you like a friend.
‘I set forth on the third from the North to London. My only object in taking this long journey, was to see Norah. I had been suffering for many weary weeks past, such remorse as only miserable women like me can feel. Perhaps, the suffering weakened me; perhaps, it roused some old forgotten tenderness – God knows! – I can’t explain it; I can only tell you that I began to think of Norah by day, and to dream of Norah by night, till I was almost heart–broken. I have no better reason than this to give for running all the risks which I ran, and coming to London to see her. I don’t wish to claim more for myself than I deserve; I don’t wish to tell you I was the reformed and repenting creature whom you might have approved. I had only one feeling in me that I know of. I wanted to put my arms round Norah’s neck, and cry my heart out on Norah’s bosom. Childish enough, I dare say. Something might have come of it; nothing might have come of it – who knows?
‘I had no means of finding Norah without your assistance. However you might disapprove of what I had done, I thought you would not refuse to help me to find my sister. When I lay down, last night, in my strange bed, I said to myself, “I will ask Miss Garth, for my father’s sake and my mother’s sake, to tell me.” You don’t know what a comfort I felt in that thought. How should you? What do good women like you, know of miserable sinners like me? All you know is that you pray for us at church.
‘Well, I fell asleep happily that night – for the first time since my marriage. When the morning came, I paid the penalty of daring to be happy, only for one night. When the morning came, a letter came with it, which told me that my bitterest enemy on earth (you have meddled sufficiently with my affairs to know what enemy I mean) had revenged herself on me in my absence. In following the impulse which led me to my sister, I had gone to my ruin.
‘The mischief was beyond all present remedy, when I received the news of it. Whatever had happened, whatever might happen, I made up my mind to persist in my resolution of seeing Norah, before I did anything else. I suspected you of being concerned in the disaster which had overtaken me – because I felt positively certain at Aldborough, that you and Mrs Lecount had written to each other. But I never suspected Norah. If I lay on my death–bed at this moment, I could say with a safe conscience I never suspected Norah.
‘So I went this morning to Westmoreland House to ask you for my sister’s address, and to acknowledge plainly that I suspected you of being again in correspondence with Mrs Lecount.
‘When I inquired for you at the door, they told me you had gone out, but that you were expected back before long. They asked me if I would see your sister, who was then in the schoolroom. I desired that your sister should on no account be disturbed: my business was not with her, but with you. I begged to be allowed to wait in a room by myself, until you returned.
‘They showed me into the double room on the ground floor, divided by curtains – as it was when I last remember it. There was a fire in the outer division of the
room, but none in the inner; and for that reason, I suppose, the curtains were drawn. The servant was very civil and attentive to me. I have learnt to be thankful for civility and attention, and I spoke to her as cheerfully as I could. I said to her, “I shall see Miss Garth here, as she comes up to the door, and I can beckon her in, through the long window.” The servant said I could do so, if you came that way – but that you let yourself in sometimes, with your own key, by the back–garden gate; and if you did this, she would take care to let you know of my visit. I mention these trifles, to show you that there was no premeditated deceit in my mind when I came to the house.
‘I waited a weary time, and you never came: I don’t know whether my impatience made me think so, or whether the large fire burning made the room really as hot as I felt it to be – I only know that, after a while, I passed through the curtains into the inner room, to try the cooler atmosphere.
‘I walked to the long window which leads into the back garden, to look out; and almost at the same time, I heard the door opened – the door of the room I had just left – and your voice and the voice of some other woman, a stranger to me, talking. The stranger was one of the parlour–boarders, I dare say. I gathered from the first words you exchanged together, that you had met in the passage – she, on her way downstairs, and you, on your way in from the back garden. Her next question and your next answer, informed me that this person was a friend of my sister’s, who felt a strong interest in her, and who knew that you had just returned from a visit to Norah. So far, I only hesitated to show myself, because I shrank, in my painful situation, from facing a stranger. But when I heard my own name immediately afterwards on your lips and on hers – then, I purposely came nearer to the curtain between us, and purposely listened.
‘A mean action, you will say? Call it mean, if you like. What better can you expect from such a woman as I am?
‘You were always famous for your memory. There is no necessity for my repeating the words you spoke to your friend, and the words your friend spoke to you, hardly an hour since. When you read these lines, you will know, as well as I know, what those words told me. I ask for no particulars; I will take all your reasons and all your excuses for granted. It is enough for me to know that you and Mr Pendril have been searching for me again, and that Norah is in the conspiracy this time, to reclaim me in spite of myself. It is enough for me to know, that my letter to my sister has been turned into a trap to catch me, and that Mrs Lecount’s revenge has accomplished its object by means of information received from Norah’s lips.
‘Shall I tell you what I suffered, when I heard these things? No: it would only be a waste of time to tell you. Whatever I suffer, I deserve it – don’t I?
‘I waited in that inner room – knowing my own violent temper, and not trusting myself to see you, after what I had heard – I waited in that inner room, trembling lest the servant should tell you of my visit, before I could find an opportunity of leaving the house. No such misfortune happened. The servant, no doubt, heard the voices upstairs, and supposed that we had met each other in the passage. I don’t know how long, or how short a time it was, before you left the room to go and take off your bonnet – you went and your friend went with you. I raised the long window softly, and stepped into the back garden. The way by which you returned to the house, was the way by which I left it. No blame attaches to the servant. As usual, where I am concerned, nobody is to blame but me.
‘Time enough has passed now to quiet my mind a little. You know how strong I am? You remember how I used to fight against all my illnesses, when I was a child? Now I am a woman, I fight against my miseries in the same way. Don’t pity me, Miss Garth! Don’t pity me!
‘I have no harsh feeling against Norah. The hope I had of seeing her, is a hope taken from me; the consolation I had in writing to her, is a consolation denied me for the future. I am cut to the heart – but I have no angry feeling towards my sister. She means well, poor soul – I dare say she means well. It would distress her, if she knew what has happened. Don’t tell her. Conceal my visit, and burn my letter.
‘A last word to yourself and I have done:
‘If I rightly understand my present situation, your spies are still searching for me to just as little purpose as they searched at York. Dismiss them – you are wasting your money to no purpose. If you discovered me tomorrow, what could you do? My position has altered. I am no longer the poor outcast girl, the vagabond public performer, whom you once hunted after. I have done, what I told you I would do – I have made the general sense of propriety my accomplice this time. Do you know who I am? I am a respectable married woman, accountable for my actions to nobody under Heaven but my husband. I have got a place in the world, and a name in the world, at last. Even the law, which is the friend of all you respectable people, has recognized my existence, and has become my friend too! The Archbishop of Canterbury gave me his licence to be married, and the vicar of Aldborough performed the service. If I found your spies following me in the street, and if I chose to claim protection from them, the law would acknowledge my claim. You forget what wonders my wickedness has done for me. It has made Nobody’s Child, Somebody’s Wife.
‘If you will give these considerations their due weight; if you will exert your excellent common sense, I have no fear of being obliged to appeal to my newly–found friend and protector – the law. You will feel, by this time, that you have meddled with me at last to some purpose. I am estranged from Norah – I am discovered by my husband – I am defeated by Mrs Lecount. You have driven me to the last extremity; you have strengthened me to fight the battle of my life, with the resolution which only a lost and friendless woman can feel. Badly as your schemes have prospered, they have not proved totally useless after all!
‘I have no more to say. If you ever speak about me to Norah, tell her that a day may come when she will see me again – the day when we two sisters have recovered our natural rights; the day when I put Norah’s fortune into Norah’s hand.
‘Those are my last words. Remember them the next time you feel tempted to meddle with me again.
‘MAGDALEN VANSTONE’
Four
From Mr Loscombe to Mrs Noel Vanstone
‘Lincoln’s Inn, November 6th
‘DEAR MADAM,
‘This morning’s post has doubtiess brought you the same shocking news which it has brought to me. You must know, by this time, that a terrible affliction has befallen you – the affliction of your husband’s sudden death.
‘I am on the point of starting for the North, to make all needful inquiries, and to perform whatever duties I may with propriety undertake, as solicitor to the deceased gentleman. Let me earnestly recommend you not to follow me to Baliol Cottage, until I have had time to write to you first, and to give you such advice as I cannot, through ignorance of all the circumstances, pretend to offer now. You may rely on my writing after my arrival in Scotland, by the first post.
‘I remain, dear Madam, faithfully yours,
‘JOHN LOSCOMBE’
Five
From Mr Pendril to Miss Garth
‘Serle Street, Nov. 6th
‘DEAR MISS GARTH
‘I return you Mrs Noel Vanstone’s letter. I can understand your mortification at the tone in which it is written, and your distress at the manner in which this unhappy woman has interpreted the conversation that she overheard at your house. I cannot honestly add that I lament what has happened. My opinion has never altered since the Combe–Raven time. I believe Mrs Noel Vanstone to be one of the most reckless, desperate and perverted women living; and any circumstances that estrange her from her sister, are circumstances which I welcome, for her sister’s sake.
‘There cannot be a moment’s doubt on the course you ought to follow in this matter. Even Mrs Noel Vanstone herself acknowledges the propriety of sparing her sister additional, and unnecessary, distress. By all means, keep Miss Vanstone in ignorance of the visit to Kensington, and of the letter which has followed it. It would
be not only unwise, but absolutely cruel, to enlighten her. If we had any remedy to apply, or even any hope to offer, we might feel some hesitation in keeping our secret. But there is no remedy, and no hope. Mrs Noel Vanstone is perfectly justified in the view she takes of her own position. Neither you nor I can assert the smallest right to control her.
‘I have already taken the necessary measures for putting an end to our useless inquiries. In a few days I will write to Miss Vanstone, and will do my best to tranquillize her mind on the subject of her sister. If I can find no sufficient excuse to satisfy her, it will be better she should think we have discovered nothing, than that she should know the truth.
‘Believe me, most truly yours,
‘WILLIAM PENDRIL’
Six
From Mr Loscombe to Mrs Noel Vanstone
‘Private
‘Lincoln’s Inn, Nov. 15th
‘DEAR MADAM,
‘In compliance with your request, I now proceed to communicate to you in writing, what (but for the calamity which has so recently befallen you) I should have preferred communicating by word of mouth. Be pleased to consider this letter as strictly confidential between yourself and me.
‘I enclose, as you desire, a copy of the will executed by your late husband on the third of this month. There can be no question of the genuineness of the original document. I protested, as a matter of form, against Admiral Bartram’s solicitor assuming a position of authority at Baliol Cottage. But he took the position, nevertheless; acting as legal representative of the sole Executor under the second will. I am bound to say I should have done the same myself in his place.
‘The serious question follows – what can we do for the best, in your interests? The will executed under my professional superintendence, on the thirtieth of September last, is at present superseded and revoked by the second and later will, executed on the third of November. Can we dispute this document?