Little Lady Linton. A novel

Front matter

LITTLE LADY LINTON. 31 floUcl. BY FRAN K BARRETT, AUTHOR OF ' FOLLY MORRISON,' "HONEST DAVIE,' ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON. J'abJishtrs in ffirtunarg to gjer (cttajfstj) thc (Sjjurtn. 1881 [All Right* Reserved.] (The right of dramatising this novel has been protected in accordance loith the terms ofthe Coin/right Act.) CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER PACE I. MESSRS. PIERCE AND PIERCE - - 1 II. MRS. GOWER - - - - IS III. THE DIARY - - - - 33 IV. THE DIARY. — GERTIE SETS SAIL FOR ENGLAND - - - -55 V. THE DIARY. — GERTIE DINES WITH JOHN BROWN - - - - - 73 VI. THE DIARY. —GERTIE AND JOHN BROWN TALK OF STRANGE THINGS IN FACT AND FICTION - - - - 90 VII. THE DIARY. — GERTIE'S SEA VOYAGE COMES TO AN END - 104 VIII. THE DIARY. — GERTIE GOES TO LONDON - Contents. IV CHAPTER PAGE IX.

THE DIARY. — GERTIE'S GREAT HAPPINESS 160 X. THE DIARY. — A NEW LIFE - - 206 XI. THE DIARY. — GERTIE'S PUPILS - -. 226 XII. THE DIARY. — ' WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY ' 243 XIII.' THE DIARY. — GERTIE REBELS: THE CAUSE THEREOF - -

Chapter I. Messes

PIERCE AND PIERCE. ' tV^X^I -ELL, here's my place of business. Æf3kWZ You'll know where to find me when you want me.' ' " Third floor — Pierce and Pierce." Who is the other Pierce, Bob ?' ' My partner.' ' One of the mysterious unknoAvn Avho have figured as "Co." in former enterprises, I suspect. What are you now ?' vol. I. Mr. Pierce dropped his voice and murmured in his friend's ear : ' PriA*ate inquiry agents, if you please.' * A private inquiry agent — you ? Ho, ho ! Y"ou don't mind my laughing ?' ' Not at all ; I'm tolerably inured to it ; but I should like to know where the point of the joke is.' ' Hang it, Bob ! one can understand your beingan agent for coals, sewing-machines, mineral waters, knife-cleaners, or eA*en a theatrical agent ; but it's past comprehen sion that a man like you could think of being a private inquirer — something be tween a plain-clothes policeman and an earwig !

Certainly you might make any number of private inquiries without leading anyone to suspect that you Avere employed for that purpose ; for, to tell you the truth, Pierce, you look more like an alderman than a spy.' ' I should prefer to be an alderman ; but circumstances give me no choice in the matter. A moneyless man must do some thing for his living, unfortunately. No one would haA'e me for a clerk if he had any business-principles whatever; I can't constitute myself director of a flourishing company, and I have not sufficient cash to open a chandler's shop. Here I have a snug little office at ten shillings a Aveek, where I can sit and read my newspaper without the slightest worry or interrup tion.' ' But suppose anyone is rash enough to employ you in a case that requires active investigation ?' ' I shall still sit in my office and read i my newspaper. 'But your case ? — for I know you well enough to believe that you would deceive nobody ' 1—2 ' Except in the way of business.' ' I mean nobody Avho employed you.

Well, how would you act fairly to him and sit eternally in your office Avith your ever lasting newspaper ?' ' Oh, the eavesdropping, the poking and prying part of the business is conducted by the other Pierce !' ' Then you really have a partner ?' ' Undoubtedly ; and, if you asked me the origin of my partner's species, I should answer, without the slightest hesitation — ferrets. To a man like me, who loves peace and quiet beyond most things, who loves to read his newspaper without being bothered, and to come and go and do just Avhat he pleases without question or interference, it would be, as you may imagine, a great blessing to be entrusted with an investiga tion that should occupy a restless inquisitiA*e partner wholly.' 'Undoubtedly. Is there any hope of your getting such employment for him ?' ' I think there is.

By-the-bye, I must put my pipe out. I expect my client — chent, my boy I — at ten, and it won't do to be caught gossiping in the street Avith a pipe in my mouth. Come up to my office if you have nothing better to do for a quarter of an hour, and I'll give you the outline of the case — it's a rather curious one. But you must put your pipe out, you know.' Mr. Pierce went up to his office on the third floor, followed by his friend ; and, when he had put on a pair of easy slippers, and both were seated, he said : ' We will begin at the beginning ; read that.' He handed a letter taken from a bundle which he had brought out of the capacious pocket of his coat. The communication, written in a feminine hand, ran as follows : * HaA*ing seen your advertisements in the morning papers, I should be glad to know upon what terms you undertake investiga tions.

Address, " Anon., Post-office, Wal ham Green." ' 'I rephed, saying that our terms de pended upon the nature of the work and the amount of it to be done ; and at the same time requested that she — our client is a lady — would call upon me, or lay her case as clearly as possible before me in a letter. Two days later I received this.' Mr. Pierce handed his friend a second letter. The foUowing is the statement of facts you require. As I am unacquainted Avith any person who has had transactions Avith you, and wish to commit myself to nothing at this stage of our negotiations, I have given imaginary names to the persons con cerned : ' At the age of twenty -six my daughter married a person of title and considerable Avealth. For the first two years my daughter lived in London and at her husband's country seat.

I have no reason to think that my child was ill-used during this time, although her husband was a man of the world, with a temper at times sardonic, at times violent, as I had more than once occasion to remark. At the end of two years Sir Charles went abroad, taking my daughter with him; and I have letters to prove that he was at this time unreasonably suspicious, exacting, and self- Avilled. They were abroad twelve months, and then returned to England, but not to London. In express opposition to my daughter's wish and my entreaties, Sir Charles gave up his town house and insisted upon residing in the country, where my daughter suffered physically and men taUy. The house was old, and, in the vpinter, damp, and the society was unbear able. My daughter had been used to in dulgence, to hfe, and the excitement of the season. 1 can produce forty-three letters, AA*ritten to me in the space of a year, to show that Sir Charles treated his Avife with absolute barbarity.

He would not listen to her wishes, nor, I may add, would he listen to my prayers. Indeed, his behaviour to me became so intolerable that my visits at his house became shorter and more remote every time, until they finally ceased alto gether. My daughter, however, did not faU to correspond regularly; and in the folloAving 37ear, the fourth of her married life, she complained bitterly of her husband's neglect, and of the surveillance under which she was placed in his absence. It was clear to me that my daughter could not exist in this deplorable condition, and that either she would put an end to her life or leave her husband. She had begged me to pro cure a legal separation, but my solicitor informed me that this was impracticable. In the autumn of the fourth year my daughter disappeared. The fact was made known tome through Sir Charles's solicitor.

A boat taken from the boat-house Avas found upset below the weir, but no trace of my daughter could be discovered. No one believed she had committed suicide, for she had taken Avith her a maid-servant and all her jewels. It was concluded that she had used the boat to cross the river, and then suffered it to go down with the current. This was my own conclusion. After this, I naturally expected to see my daughter, or at least to receive a message or a letter from her. But no message came, and I then began to suspect the truth. My suspicions were verified in the spring. In February I Avas summoned to , where a quantity of hair, some fragments of clothing, and some jewellery were shown me. I identified them at once as appertaining to my dear daughter. These remains, with others un recognisable, had been discovered under Avater in repairing the empty boat-house.

I saAv at once that Sir Charles had murdered his wife; and at the inquest I produced my child's letters, and described fuUy the bar barous treatment to which he had subjected her. He made no denial of my charge, he offered no explanation of the way by which his wife had come by her death, and he was committed to take his trial at the assizes. The prosecution was shamefully lenient to Sir Charles. Instead of representing my child as the blameless and suffering angel she was, the Queen's Counsel tacitly admitted that she had misconducted herself and given Sir Charles ample cause to regret his marriage. My solicitor tried to con vince me that this course was unavoidable, since, supposing Sir Charles to be in his senses, a motive for the murder must be admitted ; he further added that no jury Avould hang a man of title on presumptive evidence, and that the utmost the Crown could do was to cast strong suspicion on Sir Charles and debar him from holding an honourable position in society for the future.

My letters were scarcely referred to, and in the witness-box I was grossly insulted. No direct e*/idence against Sir Charles was found ; and it was merely suggested that, having followed his wife to the boat-house, he had there, tempted by opportunity, or provoked by her refusal to return with him to the house, thrust her into the water and suffered her to drown. The jury returned a verdict of "Not guilty " '—here Mr. Pierce's friend gave a grunt of approval. ' But,' the letter proceeded, ' I am thoroughly convinced that this verdict could not have been returned had a searching inquiry been made into Sir Charles's relations with the servants, who were undoubtedly bribed to withhold evidence. It is this investigation which I will have made, if the cost of making it is within my means.' ' She doesn't say what became of the maid -servant who left Avith her daughter.' ' Oh, she disappeared — with the major part of her mistress's jeAvels !' ' Just what I expected.

Of course she did it' ' Don't be hasty ; you haven't heard the other side. I wrote to my client, asking for particulars as to Sir Charles's defence. Here's her reply.' Mr. Pierce's friend read : ' The counsel for the defence charged my daughter with insobriety and a clandestine acquaintance with James Burton, Sir Charles's discharged valet, Avho is said to have been at the same time secretly courting my daughter's maid. With regard to in sobriety, our famUy doctor declared that it was a disease which should have elicited her husband's sympathy and pity rather than his malevolent anger. As to the clandestine acquaintance, I do not believe one word of it.' ' Do you believe a word of it, Bob ?' - Oh, it was proved at the trial !' ' How do you know that ?' Mr. Pierce chuckled quietly. ' My correspondent's vanity did it,' said he. ' You can see she is as proud as a peacock, and could not conceal the fact that she had married her daughter to a man of title.

My partner at once recollected the case of a baronet being tried for murder, and of a boat being found at the foot of a weir. A few hours spent with a file of newspapers put us in possession of all the particulars my client mentions, and many others she had passed over. It was proved that the lady was afflicted with dipsomania before her marriage, and that the fact had been carefully concealed by her mother — it Avas on this point that the lady receiA'ed the gross insults in the AA*itness-box of which she complains in her letter. It was proA'ed that her husband was compelled to with draw her from society, and that he took her abroad at the advice of a physician, with the hope of curing her. It was proved that she grew Avorse instead of better, and had to be put under paid keepers. It was proA'ed that she eluded their vigilance and carried on a clandestine acquaintance Avith Sir Charles's valet, who was dismissed on that account.

It was proved that the lady's-maid was at the same time secretly courted by this man-servant. It was proved that, the day before the lady's death, she received through her maid a letter from the discharged man-servant ; and it Avas proved that the man and the maid were together, and took the train to London the morning after the lady's flight from her husband's house, and that they carried a box, which they would not trust to the man who took their portmanteau from the hotel to the station.' ' Oh, the case doesn't admit of doubt ! Your client must be mad to think of over turning a verdict based upon such evidence as that.' ' I dare say she is mad,' said Mr. Pierce, with another chuckle. ' I see her position pretty clearly. She marries her daughter to a baronet, and becomes at once a kind of triton amongst her middle-class minnows.

Then comes this revelation, AA'hich covers her daughter with disgrace, and her also, and all through her own precious cleATerness at the inquest. But for her evidence, there Avould have been a simple verdict of "found drowned," in all probability. To saA*e his Avife's name from disgrace, Sir Charles said nothing about her propensities or this un pleasant acquaintance with his valet until he was compelled to do so.' ' That shows he was a gentleman. Of course, if you take up this case, you can't expect to prove Sir Charles guilty.' ' I am not so sure of that.' ' What ! Xorx think he is guilty ?' ' Of complicity, perhaps.' ' But there's not a tittle of eA-idence against him.' ' There it is. You may fairly doubt the justice of any verdict that is returned for want of evidence on the other side.

Ha !' A gong upon the door in the outer office sounded, and Mr. Pierce rose from his chair. ' There's my client,' said he. ' You must > go. ' I Avish you luck, Bob. Good-bye !' VOL. I.

Chapter II. Mrs

GOWER. R PIERCE closed the door of the outer office upon his friend, and turned to the lady who waited by the little mahogany counter, ' Ah, this is the office of Messrs. Pierce and Pierce, I beheve ?' she said. ' It is, ma'am. My name is Pierce.' ' Ah, indeed !' She unfolded a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and, holding them Avith great delicacy a few inches from her eyes, examined Mr. Pierce with the cool audacity of a Arery superior super-genteel person ; whilst he, Avith his knuckle on the little counter, looked over the top of his glasses at her with the stolidity of a naturally phlegmatic man. She was well dressed, tall, very erect, and about fifty. Her features might have served Mr. du Maurier as a model for his duchess. They were features with a good deal of character in them — unpleasant character, as it seemed to Mr. Pierce.

She spoke with severe distinctness, and, having spoken, drew back her lips tightly upon her perfect teeth, giving to her face the semblance of a smile which seemed much at A'ariance Avith the expression ofher eyes ; for her eyebrows were raised in pained astonishment, and she looked anything but pleased with the aspect of Mr. Pierce. In truth, his appearance was enough to disappoint anyone about to entrust him with an enterprise requiring' shrewdness 2—2 and quick address. He was large and heavy, with the patient ox-like expression of an unsuccessful man. There was a slipshod air about him, and a distinct odour of last night's birds'-eye. His dress was unbusiness-like. Half of his ill-folded newspaper stuck out of one pocket, and two-thirds of an old bandanna hung out of the other ; and he seemed not at aU con scious of his utter commonplaceness and very inferior condition.

The lady lowered her glasses and said: ' I haATe written to you, signing myself anonymously. Y^ou receiA*ed my letter yesterday ?' ' Yes, ma'am. If you will walk into my office, we can talk without fear of inter ruption. This way, if you please.' Mr. Pierce opened the inner door. The lady hesitated, as if she regretted having had anything to do with Mr. Pierce ; however, there was no going back at this point, so she entered the inner office. There was nothing in the look of this small room to promote confidence. Looking about her deliberately, she observed that, whUe the two armchairs had the air of being extensively sat upon, there was a thick stratum of dust upon the stool before the desk. Mr. Pierce placed a chair for her, and Avith difficulty poised himself upon the stool. * I should like to know if you are the principal of this firm ?' said she. ' I am the senior partner and head of the business,' he replied. ' Thank you.

I do not wish to waste your time or my OAvn, Mr. Pierce ; we will therefore come to the point at once.' * She wants to get out of it,' thought Mr. Pierce. ' Like my luck !' ' You have taken three weeks to consider the subject of our correspondence.' ' Yes, ma'am ; we do nothing in a hurry.' ' Obviously ; and you have arrived at a conclusion ?.' ' Y"es. We are prepared to make the in vestigation, and to begin at once.' ' Just so. Be good enough to tell me now, if you please, at what price you value > your services. ' It avUI cost you two guineas a day.' ' For how long ?' ' Until the guilt or innocence of the party suspected is proved to your satisfaction.' The lady smiled ; there was something quite too ridiculous in Mr. Pierce's pro posal. ' That is to say,' said she, ' the inquiry is to be protracted indefinitely at my exi pense. ' I shouldn't advise you to have it extended beyond six months.

If nothing is discovered by that time, nothing will ever be discovered.' ' I am afraid the result Avould not be worth the expense.' The lady rose from her seat. ' I must, therefore, decline to go any further with this investigation, Mr. Pierce.' With the slightest perceptible in clination of the head, she turned towards the door. Mr. Pierce slipped off his stool with an air of resignation, and, going to open the door for his escaping chent, murmured : - So much the better for Sir Gilbert.' ' Sir GUbert !' exclaimed the lady, stop ping abruptly and turning towards Mr. Pierce. ' How did you come into posses sion of that name ?' ' Do you suppose I should take up a case, knowing no more about it than you told me in your letter, Mrs. Gower ?' ' How long have you known my name ? c Only within the last three weeks.' 'And — and what do you know of this case ?' ' Sufficient to warrant me in offering my services on your side.

This private inquiry business is not a very exalted kind of thing — not the sort of work a gentleman would take to, if he could help it ; nor the occupation that any decent man would devote him self to Avithout a pretty strong conviction that he could get his hving honestly by it.' ' Then you beUeve Sir Gilbert is guilty ?' ' I believe that he is not guUtless. I am tolerably certain he had a stronger motive for Avishing his Avife out of the way than the counsel for the prosecution discovered.' Mr. Pierce spoke with his hand resting on the handle of the door. Mrs. Gower, after regarding him without the aid of her glasses for a couple of moments in silent surprise, quietly turned to the chair she had left, and re-seated herself. Mr. Pierce, instead of returning to his desk, dropped, by force of habit, into the armchair that faced her. ' What motive had he ?' she asked.

Mr. Pierce did not reply directly ; he seemed to calculate for a brief space hoAV far he should play his fish before striking. ' Do you know that Sir Gilbert has given up the Abbey ?' he presently inquired. ' I heard that he had left Monkden. No one would miss him.' ' Do you knoAv that he has taken a second wife?' ' Sir Gilbert married again, and not a year since my dear Griselda was alive ?' Mr. Pierce nodded. ' To whom ? What is the creature's name ? How long has he known her ?' ' Her name is now Lady Linton. He made her acquaintance about five or six months before your daughter was drowned.' ' That is precisely what I suspected !' cried Mrs. Gower, in great excitement. ' I Avas certain of it. I said to my husband again and again, " There is another woman at the bottom of this." ' That reminds me, ma'am.

If this inves tigation is to be proceeded Avith, absolute secrecy is necessary. Above aU things, Mr. Gower must suspect nothing of your know ledge.' ' Why ?' ' Because Mr. Gower is in frequent com munication with Sir GUbert Linton, and is not only his friend, but also, I beUeve, an old acquaintance of the present Lady Linton.' ' Oh, the infamous man, the monster, the wicked base creature ! Why did I ever marry him ?' 'Ah!' Mr. Pierce made a little gesture which signified that this question was one open to a good deal of private inquiry. 'Go on, Mr. Pierce ; do not regard my emotion ; teU me all ; let me knoAv everything.' Here Mr. Pierce thought that the time had come to stride. ' As you may suppose, ma'am,' said he, rising and thrusting his hands in his pockets, ' this knowledge has not been acquired without a good deal of trouble and expense on our part.

If the investiga tion ends here, I shall be a loser. That is my affair. One must speculate in every business. I have given you sufficient proof, I think, that we are neither stupid nor dis honest. If you stiU think the result of our inquiries avUI be not worth the cost, you are at Uberty to withdraw at once ; but, if you desire to know anything further from me concerning Sir Gilbert Linton and Lady Linton — and your husband — you must sign this httle memorandum of agreement, em powering us to carry on inquiries in your behalf at a payment of two guineas per diem for a space not exceeding six months from the present date.' Saying this, Mr. Pierce pulled out the bundle of letters from his pocket, and, after opening half a dozen envelopes, at length found the copy of agreement, which he handed over to the lady.

Mrs. Gower read the form of agreement through, and sat for some moments in silent reflection, tapping the paper with the edge of her glasses. ' It is not a trifling sum that I may be compelled to pay,' she said at length. ' Before signing this agreement, I ought to have a more defined prospect of success. The facts — if they are facts — which you have produced, may be all that you can obtain.' { Oh yes !' murmured Mr. Pierce thought fully, looking up at the ceiling over his spectacles; 'I think you're right there! It's a fair suggestion. Do you think, ma'am,' he proceeded, turning his glance down to his client — ' do you think a man could keep a secret from his wife ?' ' Not if she wished to knoAV it,' answered Mrs. Gower sharply. ' And there are very few secrets that a Avife doesn't want to know, generally speak ing,' said Mr. Pierce, Avith a chuckle. ' Now Mr. Gower was a widower when you married him.

Do you think, if he was suspected of having murdered his first wife, you would not have found out the truth very soon after your marriage ? This is merely a suggestion to prove the case.' ' Of course I should.' ' You think that any woman, living con stantly with her husband and on affectionate terms with him, would in the course of a few months discover whether the charge against him was true or false ?' After considering the question for a minute, Mrs. Gower rephed : ' Y"es ; I think that any woman with ordinary commonsense would discover that — after marriage certainly, if not before.' ' Then I fancy I can give you some assurance of discovering more facts than I haA'e already produced.' Saying this, Mr. Pierce had recourse once more to the bundle of letters in his pocket, and, taking out a bulky packet, he held it up and said : * This, ma'am, contains a faithful copy of the present Lady Linton's diary, as I am giA'en to understand.

As yet I have but just glanced at it, for it only came to me by this morning's post. It is not the whole of the diary, nor anything like the whole. Apparently it begins at the date of the lady's first meeting with Sir Gilbert. But I am assured that the diary contains a com plete record of the Avriter's experiences and reflections up to the present day. I may tell you that my partner is now residing with Sir Gilbert and his wife, and has access to Lady Linton's diary.' Mr. Pierce looked at his slippers, as if he were rather ashamed of his partner. ' The opportunities of seeing the diary and copying from it are naturally few and brief — an hour or tAvo each day is about the average ; but we may reasonably expect to get the Avhole of it in time. I am told that there are facts re lating to Mr. Gower which will be of great interest to you.' 'YTou will let me read that and what follows ?' Mrs. Gower asked eagerly. ' Certainly.

I will give you this packet the moment you have signed the agree ment.' ' Give me a pen.' With some difficulty Mr. Pierce found ink that would flow and a pen that would write, and, having brushed the desk Avith his coat sleeve, invited Mrs. Gower to put her name to the agreement. This she did, and then, handing the paper to Mr. Pierce, said : ' Now give me that woman's diary.' Mr. Pierce handed her the packet.

Chapter III. The Diary

HERE were some women washing at the lavoir. I asked them if they knew where I should find the English fishermen belonging to the boat that lay in the harbour. They all ceased beating their linen to look at my dress and hear what I had to say ; and one of them, leaving her Avork, conducted me to the end of the little street, and pointing along the sea-wall to the angle where a man was seated upon a piece of timber, said that he was one of them. I thanked 3 VOL. I. her and walked along the wall, which here was sheltered from the Avind by a row of houses, so that one could look about and enjoy the strange and beautiful scene, which was strange indeed to me, who had never before seen the sea. The wind seemed to have swept away all impurity from the air, the sun made nothing of the white clouds that crossed his path ; eA*erything was sur prisingly brilliant, and stood out clear and bold before the eye — the cliffs, the great rocks detached from them, the birds skim ming over the water, and some boats Avith yellow and brown saUs.

The line where the sea met the sky looked quite near, so that it perplexed me for a while to see the surface there so blue and still, while, but a little nearer, it was all of a blustering hurly burly, and yellow from the sand torn up from the shore. It made me giddy to peep over the breastwork at the great waA'es that bounced inward and raced along by the wall, curling over in a lengthening streak of white foam as they ran until their strength was exhausted, and they swirled back to meet others, and be licked in and dashed up in feathery spray. But I did not pay very much attention to the sea just then, except to keep closer by the houses when a wave stronger than the rest came spluttering up the wall and leapt over the breastwork into the road, for my thoughts Avere chiefly concerned with the Englishman and my business with him.