CHAPTER VIII.
The agitation of Venetia on her return was not unnoticed by hermother; but Lady Annabel ascribed it to a far different cause than thereal one. She was rather surprised when the breakfast passed, and LordCadurcis did not appear; somewhat perplexed when her daughter seizedthe earliest opportunity of retiring to her own chamber; but, withthat self-restraint of which she was so complete a mistress, LadyAnnabel uttered no remark.
Once more alone, Venetia could only repeat to herself the wild wordsthat had burst from Plantagenet's lips in reference to her father.What could they mean? His morals might be misrepresented, his opinionsmight be misunderstood; stupidity might not comprehend his doctrines,malignity might torture them; the purest sages have been accusedof immorality, the most pious philosophers have been denounced asblasphemous: but, 'a traitor to his king,' that was a tangible, anintelligible proposition, one with which all might grapple, whichcould be easily disproved if false, scarcely propounded were itnot true. 'False to his God!' How false? Where? When? What mysteryinvolved her life? Unhappy girl! in vain she struggled with theoverwhelming burden of her sorrows. Now she regretted that she hadquarrelled with Cadurcis; it was evident that he knew everything andwould have told her all. And then she blamed him for his harsh andunfeeling demeanour, and his total want of sympathy with her cruel andperplexing situation. She had intended, she had struggled to be sokind to him; she thought she had such a plain tale to tell that hewould have listened to it in considerate silence, and bowed to hernecessary and inevitable decision without a murmur. Amid all theseharassing emotions her mind tossed about like a ship without a rudder,until, in her despair, she almost resolved to confess everything toher mother, and to request her to soothe and enlighten her agitatedand confounded mind. But what hope was there of solace or informationfrom such a quarter? Lady Annabel's was not a mind to be diverted fromher purpose. Whatever might have been the conduct of her husband, itwas evident that Lady Annabel had traced out a course from which shehad resolved not to depart. She remembered the earnest and repeatedadvice of Dr. Masham, that virtuous and intelligent man who neveradvised anything but for their benefit. How solemnly had he enjoinedupon her never to speak to her mother upon the subject, unless shewished to produce misery and distress! And what could her mother tellher? Her father lived, he had abandoned her, he was looked upon as acriminal, and shunned by the society whose laws and prejudices he hadalike outraged. Why should she revive, amid the comparative happinessand serenity in which her mother now lived, the bitter recollection ofthe almost intolerable misfortune of her existence? No! Venetia wasresolved to be a solitary victim. In spite of her passionate andromantic devotion to her father she loved her mother with perfectaffection, the mother who had dedicated her life to her child, and atleast hoped she had spared her any share in their common unhappiness.And this father, whoso image haunted her dreams, whose unknown voiceseemed sometimes to float to her quick ear upon the wind, could he bethat abandoned being that Cadurcis had described, and that all aroundher, and all the circumstances of her life, would seem to indicate?Alas! it might be truth; alas! it seemed like truth: and for one solost, so utterly irredeemable, was she to murmur against that pureand benevolent parent who had cherished her with such devotion, andsnatched her perhaps from disgrace, dishonour, and despair!
And Cadurcis, would he return? With all his violence, the kindCadurcis! Never did she need a brother more than now; and now he wasabsent, and she had parted with him in anger, deep, almost deadly:she, too, who had never before uttered a harsh word to a human being,who had been involved in only one quarrel in her life, and that almostunconsciously, and which had nearly broken her heart. She wept,bitterly she wept, this poor Venetia!
By one of those mental efforts which her strange lot often forced herto practise, Venetia at length composed herself, and returned to theroom where she believed she would meet her mother, and hoped sheshould see Cadurcis. He was not there: but Lady Annabel was seated ascalm and busied as usual; the Doctor had departed. Even his presencewould have proved a relief, however slight, to Venetia, who dreaded atthis moment to be alone with her mother. She had no cause, however,for alarm; Lord Cadurcis never appeared, and was absent even fromdinner; the day died away, and still he was wanting; and at lengthVenetia bade her usual good night to Lady Annabel, and receivedher usual blessing and embrace without his name having been evenmentioned.
Venetia passed a disturbed night, haunted by painful dreams, in whichher father and Cadurcis were both mixed up, and with images of pain,confusion, disgrace, and misery; but the morrow, at least, did notprolong her suspense, for just as she had joined her mother atbreakfast, Mistress Pauncefort, who had been despatched on somedomestic mission by her mistress, entered with a face of wonder,and began as usual: 'Only think, my lady; well to be sure, who havethought it? I am quite confident, for my own part, I was quite takenaback when I heard it; and I could not have believed my ears, if Johnhad not told me himself, and he had it from his lordship's own man.'
'Well, Pauncefort, what have you to say?' inquired Lady Annabel, verycalmly.
'And never to send no note, my lady; at least I have not seen one comeup. That makes it so very strange.'
'Makes what, Pauncefort?'
'Why, my lady, doesn't your la'ship know his lordship left the abbeyyesterday, and never said nothing to nobody; rode off without a word,by your leave or with your leave? To be sure he always was the oddestyoung gentleman as ever I met with; and, as I said to John: John, saysI, I hope his lordship has not gone to join the gipsies again.'
Venetia looked into a teacup, and then touched an egg, and thentwirled a spoon; but Lady Annabel seemed quite imperturbable, and onlyobserved, 'Probably his guardian is ill, and he has been suddenlysummoned to town. I wish you would bring my knitting-needles,Pauncefort.'
The autumn passed, and Lord Cadurcis never returned to the abbey,and never wrote to any of his late companions. Lady Annabel nevermentioned his name; and although she seemed to have no other object inlife but the pleasure and happiness of her child, this strange mothernever once consulted Venetia on the probable occasion of his suddendeparture, and his strange conduct.
BOOK IV.