Part 34 (1/2)

He had been found on the hearth-rug in his dressing-room; having apparently been seized with a fit, in the act of burning some paper.

The ashes were discovered close by him, just inside the fender. On his recovery, his first anxiety was to know if a letter had been burnt.

Satisfied on this point, he had ordered the servants to a.s.semble round his bed, and had peremptorily forbidden them to open the door to their mistress, if she ever returned at any future time to the house. Regina's questions and remonstrances, when she was left alone with him, were answered, once for all, in these pitiless terms:--”If you wish to deserve the fatherly interest that I take in you, do as I do: forget that such a person as your aunt ever existed. We shall quarrel, if you ever mention her name in my hearing again.” This said, he had instantly changed the subject; instructing Regina to write an excuse to ”Mr.

Melton” (otherwise, the middle-aged rival), with whom he had been engaged to dine that evening. Relating this latter event, Regina's ever-ready grat.i.tude overflowed in the direction of Mr. Melton. ”He was so kind! he left his guests in the evening, and came and sat with my uncle for nearly an hour.” Amelius made no remark on this; he led the conversation back to the subject of Mrs. Farnaby. ”She once spoke to me of her lawyers,” he said. ”Do _they_ know nothing about her?”

The answer to this question showed that the sternly final decision of Mr. Farnaby was matched by equal resolution on the part of his wife.

One of the partners in the legal firm had called that morning, to see Regina on a matter of business. Mrs. Farnaby had appeared at the office on the previous day, and had briefly expressed her wish to make a small annual provision for her niece, in case of future need. Declining to enter into any explanation, she had waited until the necessary doc.u.ment had been drawn out; had requested that Regina might be informed of the circ.u.mstance; and had then taken her departure in absolute silence.

Hearing that she had left her husband, the lawyer, like every one else, was completely at a loss to understand what it meant.

”And what does the doctor say?” Amelius asked next.

”My uncle is to be kept perfectly quiet,” Regina answered; ”and is not to return to business for some time to come. Mr. Melton, with his usual kindness, has undertaken to look after his affairs for him. Otherwise, my uncle, in his present state of anxiety about the bank, would never have consented to obey the doctor's orders. When he can safely travel, he is recommended to go abroad for the winter, and get well again in some warmer climate. He refuses to leave his business--and the doctor refuses to take the responsibility. There is to be a consultation of physicians tomorrow. Oh, Amelius, I was really fond of my aunt--I am heart-broken at this dreadful change!”

There was a momentary silence. If Mr. Melton had been present, he would have said a few neatly sympathetic words. Amelius knew no more than a savage of the art of conventional consolation. Tadmor had made him familiar with the social and political questions of the time, and had taught him to speak in public. But Tadmor, rich in books and newspapers, was a powerless training inst.i.tution in the matter of small talk.

”Suppose Mr. Farnaby is obliged to go abroad,” he suggested, after waiting a little, ”what will you do?”

Regina looked at him, with an air of melancholy surprise. ”I shall do my duty, of course,” she answered gravely. ”I shall accompany my dear uncle, if he wishes it.” She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece.

”It is time he took his medicine,” she resumed; ”you will excuse me, I am sure.” She shook hands, not very warmly--and hastened out of the room.

Amelius left the house, with a conviction which disheartened him--the conviction that he had never understood Regina, and that he was not likely to understand her in the future. He turned for relief to the consideration of Mr. Farnaby's strange conduct, under the domestic disaster which had befallen him.

Recalling what he had observed for himself, and what he had heard from Mrs. Farnaby when she had first taken him into her confidence, he inferred that the subject of the lost child had not only been a subject of estrangement between the husband and wife, but that the husband was, in some way, the person blamable for it. a.s.suming this theory to be the right one, there would be serious obstacles to the meeting of the mother and child, in the mother's home. The departure of Mrs. Farnaby was, in that case, no longer unintelligible--and Mr. Farnaby's otherwise inexplicable conduct had the light of a motive thrown on it, which might not unnaturally influence a hard-hearted man weary alike of his wife and his wife's troubles. Arriving at this conclusion by a far shorter process than is here indicated, Amelius pursued the subject no further.

At the time when he had first visited the Farnabys, Rufus had advised him to withdraw from closer intercourse with them, while he had the chance. In his present mood, he was almost in danger of acknowledging to himself that Rufus had proved to be right.

He lunched with his American friend at the hotel. Before the meal was over Mrs. Payson called, to say a few cheering words about Sally.

It was not to be denied that the girl remained persistently silent and reserved. In other respects the report was highly favourable. She was obedient to the rules of the house; she was always ready with any little services that she could render to her companions; and she was so eager to improve herself, by means of her reading-lessons and writing-lessons, that it was not easy to induce her to lay aside her book and her slate.

When the teacher offered her some small reward for her good conduct, and asked what she would like, the sad little face brightened, and the faithful creature's answer was always the same--”I should like to know what he is doing now.” (Alas for Sally!--”he” meant Amelius.)

”You must wait a little longer before you write to her,” Mrs. Payson concluded, ”and you must not think of seeing her for some time to come.

I know you will help us by consenting to this--for Sally's sake.”

Amelius bowed in silence. He would not have confessed what he felt, at that moment, to any living soul--it is doubtful if he even confessed it to himself. Mrs. Payson, observing him with a woman's keen sympathy, relented a little. ”I might give her a message,” the good lady suggested--”just to say you are glad to hear she is behaving so well.”

”Will you give her this?” Amelius asked.

He took from his pocket a little photograph of the cottage, which he had noticed on the house-agent's desk, and had taken away with him. ”It is _my_ cottage now,” he explained, in tones that faltered a little; ”I am going to live there; Sally might like to see it.”

”Sally _shall_ see it,” Mrs. Payson agreed--”if you will only let me take this away first.” She pointed to the address of the cottage, printed under the photograph. Past experience in the Home made her reluctant to trust Sally with the address in London at which Amelius was to be found.

Rufus produced a huge complex knife, out of the depths of which a pair of scissors burst on touching a spring. Mrs. Payson cut off the address, and placed the photograph in her pocket-book. ”Now,” she said, ”Sally will be happy, and no harm can come of it.”

”I've known you, ma'am, nigh on twenty years,” Rufus remarked. ”I do a.s.sure you that's the first rash observation I ever heard from your lips.”

BOOK THE SEVENTH. THE VANIs.h.i.+NG HOPES

CHAPTER 1

Two days later, Amelius moved into his cottage.