David Dwight Wells

“ Colonel Darcy," said Stanley, striving to be calm, but his voice quivering with suppressed emotion.
"So you did," replied his adversary, rising slowly to his feet, very red in the face and somewhat short of breath.
"Then why haven't you gone? Do you wish me to speak to Mrs. Roberts?"
"I intended to obey your request, out of respect to Miss Fitzgerald. But the fact is, I have lost an important letter."
"So Kingsland tells me, though it seems almost impossible."
"Truth, sir, is often stranger than fiction," replied the Colonel angrily, "as our own relations with each other have already proved. ”

“ The Dowager gasped. She had no words to express her feelings.
"You needn't get so agitated, for I shall probably leave you Mr. Stanley to fall back upon, if this present marriage proves illegal. Lady Isabelle would be provided with some husband in any case."
The Dowager gripped the handle of her sunshade until it seemed as if it must snap, and turned purple in the face.
"Don't tell me I lie," pursued her tormentor, "it's not good form, and besides, if you want confirmation, look in Mr. Lambert's register at the chapel next door, where your daughter was married two days ago." ”

“ His name was Darcy. He is a liar."
"He is—my husband."
"A gentleman—I suppose?"
"The world accords him that title," she replied coldly.
"I understand— He's a man of means?"
"He has nothing but his pay."
"And you—but that question is unnecessary. Señor De Costa's name and estates are well known—and you are his only child."
"Yes, you're right," she burst out. "It's my money, my cursed money! Why do men call it a blessing! Oh, if I could trust him, I'd give him every penny of it. ”

“ Why? Because what's left of my conscience smote me for leaving a lamb amidst a pack of wolves, and wouldn't let me rest; nearly destroyed my digestion, I give you my word. I came down to pluck your innocence alive from the burning, and I've been a fool for my pains. Why, confound you, I not only find you épris with Madame Darcy, but engaged to both the Fitzgerald and Lady Isabelle."
"My dear Kent-Lauriston, pray soothe your ruffled feelings; your logic is excellent, but your premises are one and all false." ”

“ This good young man, who preaches me sermons on self-respect—who is concerned for my good name—who thinks I've been too careless of my reputation, who is cut to the heart because I do not live up to the ideal to which he considers a woman should attain, who has just done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage—not because he loves me—oh dear, no—but because he feels it his duty to save me from myself. ”

“ That means a madhouse."
"My dear Madame Darcy!"
"Call me Inez De Costa, I will not have that name of Darcy, I hate it."
"My dear Inez, then; your fears are groundless; they can't put sane people in madhouses any longer in England, except in cheap fiction—it's against the law."
"It's very easy for you to sit there and talk of law. You, who are protected by your office, but for me, for a poor woman whose liberty is threatened!" ”

“ Would it not be better to stand up and tell the truth of this miserable matter? One look at the bent head of Lady Isabelle, and her nervous fingers clutching the tablecloth, determined his course of action—he could not expose her to the criticism of this table of scandal-mongers. She sat there, almost fainting, hanging on his every word; chivalry, honour, manliness, left but one course open—he must sacrifice himself to save her. The future would decide itself—his duty lay clear before him. ”

“ Stanley threw himself into the breach at once, and took the burden of the conversation.
"I'm sure," he said, "I don't believe that half of the people in the world can tell for the life of them why they fall in love with a certain person and not with another. As we're talking confidentially, I don't mind telling you that I've decided that I'm in love with Miss Fitzgerald, and that the best thing I can do is to tell her so as soon as possible, though I'm afraid there is little chance of her having me." ”

“ Everyone knew Kent-Lauriston and everyone liked him. He was a type of the most delightful class of Englishman. With all his insular prejudices strong within him, and combining in his personality those rugged virtues for which the name of Britain is a synonym, he had in addition that rarest of talents, the quality of being all things to all men; for he was possessed of great tact and sympathy flavoured with a cheerful cynicism which hurt no one, and lent a piquancy to his conversation. ”

“ Darcy he would have no mercy for. He must be punished for his crime, and the fact of his being the criminal would give Inez her freedom, and then—— Ah! but if Belle Fitzgerald was innocent—was he not in honour bound to her? And at that moment he realised that he had mistaken pity for love, that Darcy possessed the woman in the world most worth having, and that he was unworthy of her. ”

“ All London is ringing with it, thanks to her husband.
"What you most want is change of scene and occupation, to distract you from your present cares. There is only one way to drown care without drowning oneself—and that is by work. So unless I find you grinding away at the Legation to-morrow noon, I shall invite myself to be one of Mrs. Roberts' house-party, and we shall see what may be effected even in the face of overwhelming odds. Give me a fair field and no favour, and I pledge my word to win you to yourself. ”

“ He was, on the evening on which he is first introduced to us, standing in the immaculate glory of his dress suit, on the top step of the grand staircase of the Hyde Park Club.
His party, a very nice little party of six, had all arrived save one, and that one was his chaperon. The two young ladies, safe in harbour of the cloak-room, awaited her coming to flutter forth; the two gentlemen wandered aimlessly about the now nearly deserted reception-room, for dinner was served and most of the brilliant parties had already gone to their respective tables. ”

“ In a moment the porter was assisting them to arise.
"A narrow escape for Mr. Riddle," said the Secretary to the porter, as he picked himself up and recovered his hat, which had rolled to one side. "A very narrow escape from what might have been a nasty accident."
"Accident!" exclaimed the porter, with a sarcasm which spoke louder than words.
"I said accident," replied Stanley, slipping a sovereign into the man's hand, and looking him straight in the eyes.
"Oh, quite right, sir. Accident it was. Thank ye, sir," and the porter shuffled off, leaving them alone. ”

“ Lieutenant Kingsland always chaffed everybody—he could stand that—but Kent-Lauriston's quiet, well-bred cynicism, would, he felt, under the circumstances, simply drive him mad.
Yet, they must be told. He must face the music, or find a chaperon, and how could he do the latter in a maze of people whom he did not know, and who were all engaged to their own dinner-parties? Outside the Club it was hopeless, for there was no time to send for any lady friend, even were such an one dressed and waiting to come at his behest. A telephone might have saved the situation, but London is above telephones ”

“ They were seen in numbers, peeping out of a fringe of woodland across the width of an uncultivated field, and they were in that delightful state of semi-tameness, when a longing for the bits of bread, with which Stanley and Lady Isabelle were well supplied, battled equally with an impulse, born of natural training, to flee the proximity of the human race. ”

“ Ten minutes later, Belle and he were alone in the most favourable place in the house for a tête-à-tête, a curious old corner, the two sides of which were converted into a capacious seat to which there was but one approach, screened by a heavy curtain on one side and a suit of armour on the other—safe from all observers.
"What a quaint old house this is!" he said. "We might almost suppose we were back in the sixteenth century."
"Yes," she replied dreamily. "We're out of place in these surroundings." ”

“ Isabelle Fitzgerald stood in a wooded recess of the park, beside a young sapling; the one no more fair and tall and glorious with the joy of living than the other. Kent-Lauriston was beside her, hat in hand, with just the trace of a cynical smile about his parted lips ”

“ Somehow I can't think all you imply of her."
"My dear boy," said Kent-Lauriston, "I may be doing the lady gross injustice and keeping you out of a very good thing, but even in that case you must not go to Sussex. For heaven's sake, man, take time to consider! It's too important a matter to be decided in a hurry. If she cares for you and is worthy of you, she'll give you every fair opportunity of asking her the fateful question and a reasonable amount of time to think it over. Take a fortnight for calm reflection; it's very little to allow for what may be a life's happiness or misery. ”

“ Stanley are very old friends, are you not?"
"Our fathers were. We have not met often recently."
"Yes, yes, of course," said the Marchioness. "Mr. Stanley told me. He's such a nice young fellow. We often see him at our house. I take quite an interest in him. And how pleasantly he is situated, too. Diplomacy is such a delightful profession. But then"—and here she sighed gently—"like other delightful things in this world it must require a very long purse."
If Madame Darcy had had any knowledge of English manners and customs, the Dowager's method of attack would have put her on her guard at once. ”

“ We can't fight duels galore in this part of the world, and cut the throats of inconvenient witnesses. People will talk; there are the newspapers; and—the dowagers; and the nonconformist conscience to be considered. You don't know what you are letting me—I mean yourself, in for."
"I tell you, I must confirm my suspicions. I must see your—what you call it—your visitors' book—which they have in great houses— I must compare the handwriting of the guests with the handwriting of these letters. When I have proved my case I will return to London—not one moment before. ”

“ The young diplomat said nothing for a moment or two, he was arranging his ideas—adjusting them to this new and interesting phase of his experience with Madame Darcy.
As a Secretary of Legation is generally the father confessor of his compatriots—he had ceased to be surprised at anything. People may deceive their physician, their lawyer, or the partner of their joys and sorrows; but to their country's representative in a strange land they unburden their hearts. ”

“ With all her faults, Miss Fitzgerald, like the parson, came of fighting stock, and, game to the last, she began the dangerous experiment of burning her boats behind her, by informing her hostess that she should leave to-morrow afternoon in any event, as it was not her wish to stay where she was unwelcome. Then, possessed by the spirit that has always prompted heroic deeds, the determination to do or die, she sought and found an interview with Mr. Stanley. She boldly opened the attack, by calling that young gentleman to account for his neglect of the last twenty-four hours. ”

“ The old blue glazed tiles of the fireplace, and the bricks which composed its floor, were alike immovable. There was only the roof left; if he failed there, he must resign himself to the inevitable, and bend all his energies on trying to open the secret door.
At the risk of being thought prying and meddlesome, Stanley now proceeded to search for some mode of ascent to the leads, and after many mistakes and much wandering, he discovered at last a worm-eaten ladder. ”

“ Tell me what happened after I left."
"Nothing particular," said Stanley. "We all kept our tempers and were very polite."
"Then there was no disturbance?"
"None whatever; the Colonel was quite amenable to reason and went away quietly."
"But Mr. Kent-Lauriston?"
"Oh, he's too much a man of the world not to know when to hold his tongue."
"You will not tell your hostess? Promise me that. Badly as he has treated me, I am still his wife, and his honour is yet mine."
"I will keep your secret. If he is discovered in the house, someone else must do it." ”

“ The light in the hall was turned out, and the sombre black oak panelling made the great apartment seem darker than it really was. Absolute stillness reigned. It was, to all appearance, empty.
"Must have been rats," said the Secretary. "Everyone seems to have retired."
"Have they?" said Kent-Lauriston.
"Listen!"
And both could have sworn that they heard, far up the hall, the dying rustle of a skirt. But there were some things that Stanley had no wish to know, and he set his face and his steps towards the stairs, continuing:—
"As I was saying, we are the only people up. ”

“ Nobody said anything.
"I wonder if Darcy'll ever get his letter?" asked Kent-Lauriston, glancing at Mr. Riddle. "Anyway, it's as safe behind that portal as if it was in the Bank of England. Safer, in fact, for he can't get it out if he wants to."
"I don't think there's much chance of anyone's opening it," said Mr. Riddle. "Cleverer men than Colonel Darcy have tried to solve that problem in the last two centuries, and failed. I imagine, however, if it ever does come to be opened, that a certain theory will be proved correct."
"What is it?" asked Kingsland. ”

“ No one can respect a woman more than I respect you. It's of some of your friends that I disapprove."
"A man is known by the company he keeps—how much more a woman. I'm like my friends—and you—you"—and for the moment she forgot to be meek and suffering, and her eyes blazed with passion—"you are the Pharisee of the nineteenth century, the hem of whose robe we outcasts are unworthy to touch!" ”

“ You can never love a woman whom you cannot respect, and no woman who respects herself would permit even a hint of a man's affections until she was free to receive them. [Pg 399] Any such premature attempt would be fatal to his suit."
"Thank you," said Stanley, "I won't forget;" and then, with a touch of his old humour, which the responsibilities of the last few days had nearly crushed out, he added: "You're not going to try to save me again?"
"No, thank you, one experience of that sort has been quite enough," replied Kent-Lauriston, laughing. ”

“ By the way, if your land doesn't produce good investments, it certainly brings forth beautiful women. What wonderful beauty [Pg 38] that Madame Darcy has, who dined with us last night."
"Our fathers are old friends," replied Stanley.
"Ah, what a pity," said the Lieutenant.
"I don't understand."
"That she should not have married you, I mean, instead of that bounder Darcy. I have heard his name more than once in official circles, and there's precious little to be said in his favour. But his wife—ah, there's a woman any man might be proud to marry. Such beauty, such refinement, so much reserve. ”

“ At least one serious charge has been made against the woman whom you propose to make your wife. If true—for your own sake, for your father's sake, you must surrender her. If false, you are equally bound, by honour and chivalry, to disprove it."
"How can I do this?"
"The charge to which I refer is based on the direct evidence of certain letters. See them, and judge for yourself."
"That is easier said than done."
"Here they are," replied Kent-Lauriston, handing him a little packet.
"You have seen Madame Darcy?" ”

“ Stanley but my love; but I dare say you don't believe in love, Mr. Kent-Lauriston."
"Not believe in love? My dear young lady, it forms the basis of every possible marriage."
"Does it never form the whole of such a union?"
"Only too often, but these are the impossible marriages, and ninety-nine per cent. of them prove failures, or worse." [Pg 410]
"I can't believe you—if one loves, nothing else counts."
"Quite true for the time being, but God help the man or woman who mistakes the passion aroused by a pretty face or form for the real lasting article, and wagers his life on it." ”

“ Prompted by that subtle instinct which invariably suggests to the feminine mind the proper course with a man she cares to impress, she relegated her own woes to the uncertain future, and led the conversation into reminiscences of their common country. So time fled by unnoticed, till Stanley had arrived at the dangerous point of wondering why fate had not ordained his life differently before she had married that brute, or he had—no, no, he did not mean that! He was a very lucky dog, and Belle was much too good for him—and, in short, he must go back to the Hall. ”

“ She'd require to live in London or keep open house in the country, and she'd gather about her the set she goes with now. Her companions, her manner of life, you think unworthy of her; already they grate on your finer sensibilities, blinded as you are; believe me, they'd grate much more when she bore your name. No, the only man who could marry her, be happy, make her happy, and keep his good name untarnished in the future, would be one who knows her world better than she does herself; who has a past that even she would shudder at ”

“ Darcy won't dare to contest the suit for divorce. He'll be glad to get rid of her, because he can't control her money. Having the purse-strings, I can force him to recognise me as his wife, after the divorce has been granted. I shall have an assured position, and I can begin to pay back some of my debts," and her eyes flashed.
"And in all this, what is there to compel me to keep your secret?"
"Because the marriage between Inez De Costa and Mr. Stanley might never take place if they knew the truth. I'll keep the secret if you will. She's in no way to blame. ”

“ To pursue a woman who believes that you have cruelly wronged her was a bold undertaking, but if she could not assure the Secretary that she would right him in his lady's eyes, her duty, under the circumstances, was all the more imperative to do so without delay; so summoning all her courage to her aid, she ascended to Miss Fitzgerald's chamber, and knocked timidly ”