Emma Treherne

“ Necessity, however, is a stern mistress. I pointed out to her that I must either qualify myself for her father’s assistant, or seek my bread elsewhere, and to London I went!
“There I met you, Milburn, and you know whether I spared myself in pursuit of my professional studies, or indulged in any of the gaieties patronised by my companions. You remember how often you reproached me for the solitary cheerless life I led. I paid a short annual visit to Wales, and on those occasions it appeared as if the sole object of Winifred’s life were to consult my happiness. ”

“ He shook his head.
“You are looking pale and fatigued, yourself, madame,” said I to Clara. “I fear you have tired yourself out to-day. I would suggest your retiring early, and recommend your husband to have a cigar afterwards as a sedative.”
“I will retire now, Dr. Milburn,” said Clara, “and I can leave you, querido Pablo, in Dr. Milburn’s charge. I do feel rather tired, and that is the truth. So good night, Dr. Milburn.”
And at last we were alone, Paul and I.
“You must think I am a great villain,” said Paul. ”

“ He is my husband in spite of those nasty mustachios, and I’ll prove it, too, before I have done with him.”
“Now, my good aunt,” I remonstrated, “pray do not excite yourself. Be calm, and tell me how you came to lose sight of this husband of yours for so many years.”
“You shall hear, George. We did not live happily together. Paul was so wilful and so disinclined to take advice which was all for his good! At last he went off to South America. ”

“ As time wore on I expected that Paul would draw aside the veil of mystery which enshrouded his proceedings, and that I should hear how he, Paul Garrett, whom I had last heard of as an assistant to a Mr. Jones, at an obscure village in Wales, should have become transformed into a Spanish grandee. But he seemed to shrink from touching on the subject. He did indeed once casually mention that when he left Wales he went to South America, and from thence to Cuba, where he married Clara. ”

“ Make yourself quite easy about the consequences of your slight accident, and you will soon recover. Allow me to feel your pulse. This will never do! Have you some vinegar, hartshorn, or sal volatile at hand?” I asked.
“I will fetch some directly,” said Madame de Aranda, and hurried from the room, while I still held Paul’s hand in mine. He gave me an imploring look, and then with a gasp said, in an unnatural tone of voice,
“Milburn! I will trust you! Keep my secret!”
“I will,” replied I, pressing his hand. ”

“ By great good fortune Alice saw the man, and impressed as she was with the idea of her aunt’s derangement, she had little trouble in persuading the detective of the fact, but suggested that, to keep her quiet, he should bring fictitious accounts to her from time to time. Nothing could have happened more opportunely. I thereby escaped telling falsehood upon falsehood, and Aunt Winifred received accounts of Paul’s whereabouts. ”

“ If you make any disturbance about the business, you will bring vexation and annoyance on worthy people who have never injured you, and do yourself no good. You say your marriage was secret. Why was that? I presume you were of age.”
“I will tell you.”
Another dry cough.
“The fact was that my step-father, Mr. Jones, had plenty of money, and had promised to leave it to me if I behaved well to him (for his own daughter had married against his will and gone to Australia) , and I was afraid to tell him I had married his assistant, for fear he should be angry with me. ”

“ Simpson, settling everything satisfactorily, and a week afterwards I found myself in the presence of Sir Clement Trevanion, a tall, dark, unhealthy-looking man of about forty-seven years of age. He gave me a searching glance with his deeply-set eyes, and then received me graciously enough. Mr. Simpson, who had remained at Monkton Bassett, to initiate me into the method he had pursued in the treatment of his patient, had a long conversation with me, and from him I found that all was not couleur de rose at Monkton Bassett, as I had almost been sure would be the case. ”

“ The detective’s services were engaged for a month, at the end of which time he informed her that her quarry had returned to England, and was now at Brighton, No. —, Oriental Place, under an assumed name. She told this to Alice in confidence, but Alice did not repeat it to me. At this time, I could quite conscientiously have affirmed that Aunt Winifred was not of sound mind; by constantly dwelling on one idea her intellect had been shaken, and I had directed Alice to keep a strict watch over her. ”

“ My sisters made up their minds at once to proceed to Australia, where an aunt of theirs was comfortably settled; but I preferred remaining in England, having no taste for life in the bush.
I was looking out for a situation as assistant to a country practitioner, when an old friend of my father’s informed me of something that he imagined would suit me. Sir Clement Trevanion of—well, we will say,—Monkton Bassett, was desirous of securing my services, as a painful disorder of long standing rendered it necessary that he should be constantly attended by a skilful medical man. Mr. ”

“ I gathered from words dropped here and there, that he had been “crossed in love,” as the old lodge-keeper expressed it, and that a great disappointment had soured his temper and destroyed his health. But he entirely left off showing temper towards me. ”

“ And it was the same with almost every dish on the table. I began to fear that I should not “get on” very well with my patient, but while he was sulking, I began talking (having all the talk to myself, however) , and fortunately happened to relate an anecdote which tickled his fancy. His brow relaxed, and after laughing heartily, he ate some boiled mutton which I recommended.
The evening passed pleasantly, Sir Clement drawing me out as much as possible to speak on various subjects. ”

“ I expected to go to London as soon as I had completed my eighteenth year, but shortly before that time arrived, the bank in which the money had been invested for that especial purpose, broke, and I was left without the means of qualifying myself to become Mr. Jones’s assistant. ”