Part 16 (1/2)
”I instigated!”--exclaimed Mr Croft. And then he stopped short, both in his speech and walk.
”Yes,” said the lady, stopping also, and turning to face him, ”you did, and you ought to remember it. You said if I had a husband to travel about with me you would like very much to employ me in the search for Mr Keswick, and it was solely on that account that I went and got married.”
Observing the look of blank and utter amazement on his face, she smiled, and said: ”Please don't look so horribly astonished. Mr Null is void.”
As she made this remark the lady looked up at her companion with a smile and an expression of curiosity as to how he would take the announcement.
Lawrence gazed blankly at her for a moment, and then he broke into a laugh. ”You don't mean to say,” he exclaimed, ”that Mr Null is an imaginary being?”
”Entirely so,” she replied. ”My dear Freddy is nothing but a fanciful idea, with no attribute whatever except the name.”
”You are a most extraordinary young person,” said Lawrence; ”almost as extraordinary as your aunt. What in the world made you think of doing such a thing? and why do you wish to keep up the delusion among your relatives, even so far as to drive your aunt to the point of getting you divorced from your airy husband?” And he laughed again. ”I told you how I came to think of it,” she said, as they walked on again. ”It was very plain that if I wanted to travel about as your agent I must be married, and I have found a husband quite a protection and an advantage, even when he doesn't go about with me; and as to keeping up the delusion, as you call it, in my own family, I have found that to be absolutely necessary, at least for the present. My aunt, even when I was a little girl, determined to take my marriage into her own hands; and since I have returned to her, this desire has come up again in the most astonis.h.i.+ng way. It is her princ.i.p.al subject of conversation with me.
Were it not for the protection which my dear Freddy Null gives me I should be thrown bodily into the arms of the person whom my aunt has selected, and he would be obliged to take me, whether he wanted to or not, or be cast forth forever. So you see how important it is that my aunt should think I am married; and I do hope you will not tell anybody about Mr Null.”
”Of course I will keep your secret,” said Croft. ”You may rely upon that; but don't you think--do you believe that this sort of thing is altogether right?”
She did not answer for a few moments, and then she said: ”I suppose you must consider me a very deceptive sort of person, but you should remember that these things were not done for my own good, and, as far as I can see, they were the only things that could be done. Do you suppose I was going to let you pounce down on my cousin and do him some injury, for, as you kept your object such a secret, I did not suppose it could be anything but an injury you intended him.”
”A fine opinion of me!” said Croft.
”And then, do you suppose,” she continued, ”that I would allow my aunt to quarrel with Junius and disinherit him, as she says she will, should he decline to marry me. I expected to drop my married name when I came here, but I had not been with my aunt fifteen minutes before I saw that it would never do for me to be a single woman while I stayed with her; and so I kept my Freddy by me. I did not intend, at all, to tell you all these things about my cousin, and I only did it because I did not wish you to think that I was a sly, mean creature, deceiving others for my own good.”
”Well,” said Croft, ”although I can't say you are right in making your relatives believe you are married when you are not, still I see you had very fair reasons for what you did, and you certainly showed a great deal of ingenuity and pluck in carrying out your remarkable schemes.
By-the-way,” he continued, somewhat hesitatingly, ”I am in your debt for your services to me.”
”Not a bit of it!” she exclaimed quickly. ”I never did a thing for you.
It was all for myself, or, rather, for my cousin. The only money due was that which you paid to Mr Candy before I took charge of the matter.”
Lawrence felt that this was rather a sore subject with his companion, and he dropped it. ”Do you still hold the position of cas.h.i.+er in the Information Shop?”
”No,” she said. ”When I started out on my lonely wedding tour I gave up that, and if I should go back to New York, I do not think I should want to take it again.”.
”Do you propose soon to return to New York?” he asked.
”No; at least I have made no plans in regard to it. I think it would grieve my aunt very much if I were to go away from her now, and as long as I have Mr Null to protect me from her matrimonial schemes, I am glad to stay with her. She is very kind to me.”
”I think you are entirely right in deciding to stay here,” he said, looking around at her, and contrasting in his mind the bright-faced, and somewhat plump young person walking beside him with the thin-faced girl in black whom he had seen behind the cas.h.i.+er's desk.
”Now,” said she, with a vivacious little laugh, ”I have poured out my whole soul before you, and, in return, I want you to gratify a curiosity which is fairly eating me up. Why were you so anxious to find my Cousin Junius? And how did you happen to come here the very day after he arrived? And, more than that, how was it that you had seen him at Midbranch so recently? You were talking about it last night. It couldn't have been my letter from Howlett's that brought you down here?”
”No,” said Lawrence, ”my meeting with Mr Keswick at Midbranch was entirely accidental. When I arrived there, a few days ago, I had no reason to suppose that I should meet him. But I must ask you to excuse me from giving my reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to find your cousin, and for coming to see him here. The matter between us has now become one of no importance, and will be dropped.”
The lady's face flushed. ”Oh, indeed!” she said. And during the short remainder of their walk to the house she made no further remark.
CHAPTER XIV.
When Lawrence and his companion reached the house, they found on the porch Mrs Keswick and her nephew; and, after a little general conversation, the latter remarked to Mr Croft that he had found it would not be in his power to attend to that matter he had spoken of; to which Croft replied that he was very much obliged to him for thinking of it, and that it was of no consequence at all, as he would probably make other arrangements. He then stated that he would be obliged to return to the Green Sulphur Springs that day, and that, as it was a long ride, he would like to start as soon as his horse could be brought to him. But this procedure was condemned utterly by the old lady, who insisted that Mr Croft should not leave until after dinner, which meal should be served earlier than usual in order to give him plenty of time to get to the Springs before dark, and as Lawrence had nothing to oppose to her very urgent protest, he consented to stay. Before dinner was ready he found out why the protest was made. The old lady took him aside and made inquiries of him in regard to Mr Null. He had already informed her that he was not acquainted with that gentleman, but she thought, as Mr Croft seemed to be going about the country a good deal, he might possibly meet with her niece's husband; and, if he should do so, she would be very glad to have him become acquainted with him.