Doctor Weld; or, The Web of life. By the author of 'Deeds not words' [i.e. M. M. Bell], &c

Preface

. The story of " Doctor Weld" was written three years ago. It has therefore no connexion whatever with a late criminal trial; nor has the manuscript been in the hands of the Author since that trial took place. London, January 1, 186G. CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Lionel's Story 2S2

Chapter I. Preliminary

" Lina, are you there . " And Sir Robert Hepburn roused himself from his afternoon nap, and looked round the library in which he sat. "Yes, I am here." And a tall, slight girl glided noiselessly from the Avindow-seat where she had been reading, and knelt down by her grandfather's elboAv-chair. " You have slept more calmly to-day, grandpapa ? " she said. Her accent Avas slightly foreign, but her voice so soft and low that the peculiar intonation was rather agreeable than otherwise. " Yes, Lina. It soothes me to think that the Whim is likely soon to be inhabited." " You did not tell me hoAv it came about that you heard of a tenant." " Why, the fellow M'Donald, M'Dougal — pshaAv I what is his name ? — was staying at the George, saAv the VOL. I. B house shut up, fancied the situation, and, learning from Allen that it was to be let, wrote to me to inquire the terms."

" Ah, that is good ! You Avish so much to have that house lived in once again ? " "*VV^ All UllX.14 4XQ .*-.-.-. . " I do, indeed, Lina. It was to the Whim I carried your grandmother when I married. It was there my eldest son was born, and your Aunt Upton also." "And papa?" Lina timidly asked; but Sir Robert either did not hear the question, or did not choose to answer it, for he went on unheeding her interruption. "And therefore I cannot bear to see it going to Avrack and ruin simply from the absurd idea in the country that Sir Cosmo ' Avalks' ! Ah, Lina, it Avas another place in my young days from what it is now. The Whim and Kinburn were full of life and joyaunce then, very different from the monotonous life you lead here, my poor child, shut up in this dull, desolate, old house, with only your cross grandfather as company."

"Not cross, grandpapa!" she exclaimed, eagerly — " never cross to me ! And if you but knew what a miserable life you took me from, you would belieA^e me when I say that this quiet, homely — homelike," she added hastily, correcting her foreign phraseology — " homelike old Kinburn has been a very paradise to me for these two years past." "Poor dear little girl! poor Lina!" the old man an swered, a little fretfully, but stroking, as he spoke, her upturned face. "It was a pity I did not know you sooner, but it can't be helped now, so let us say no more about it. Bygones must be bygones, my dear." Preliminary. 3 " I know," she answered, conquering her emotion, though Avith difficulty ; " but sometimes I cannot quite keep back all my gratitude to you." " Tut, tut, child ! Nonsense to talk to me of grati tude.

You are my natural heiress, though I wish you had been a boy instead of a girl. Confound it ! AA'hy should my only male grandchild be an Upton, and my only female one a Hepburn, I wonder? But," with a long-drawn sigh, "as poor James the Fifth said, 'The land cam' Avith a lass and will go with a lass.' ': Lina was silent, anxious yet doubtful Iioav to turn the conversation from so dangerous a channel. Till suddenly, remembering the point from which it had diverged, she asked, naively: "This Mr. M'Lean, M'Dougal — this tenant to be of grandpapa's — is he a man of family? " Sir Robert caught eagerly at the inquiry. "Why, my dear, I really don't know. Allen says he looks like a gentleman, and his name has a good ring in it, though, after all, I do not think it is either M'Lean or M'Dougal." Lina laughed a clear ringing laugh at this answer.

" Ah, forgive me that I am still so foreign in my speech. I meant to ask, has he family, a wife, daughters, sons ? " Sir Robert laughed also. " So, Miss Lina," he said, mockingly, " this paradise of a Kinburn lacks an Adam, does it?" Lina blushed painfully, as she answered with unlooked for acerbity. " Not at all. Only a woman may be curious about some things." Her grandfather seemed diverted by her irritation and by the sudden gleam that shot from her usually sleepy eyes, and he pinched her cheek as he said : " Yes, my b2 dear, she may. And it is natural enough, Lina, that you should sigh for more amusing companions than I ; but I fear that, the neAv comer is a man of no family, in your sense of the word." And again the old man laughed at his innocent double entendre. "Here is his note. You may read it for yourself," he added, taking it from his pocket and presenting it to her ; then, suddenly draAving it back, he said : " But, first, I must see Avhat hornhe fixed for calling to-day.

Three o'clock ! It must be nearly that now. I shall go to my study to receive him." " Can you not receive him here ? " Sir Robert looked at the young girl Avith a quizzical smile. " Ah, you ingenious young lady, you wish to see the gentlemanly tenant yourself, that you may judge his pretensions as to family." Lina reddened, but this time ansAvered gently : " Not so. I should have left the room had you wished to re ceive him here. I know that girls are thought an in trusion when the talk is of business. Only I wished to spare you going doAvn-stairs, Avithout it had been necessary." " Considerate Lina ! " And there was a touch of satire in his tone and words. " But I am not altogether chair-ridden even now. I can still hobble about the house, up-stairs and doA\-n-stairs, and in my lady's chamber.

So I am not altogether incapable of descend ing one or two flights of stairs to receive this Mr. Confound it ! I have forgotten his name again ! " And the irascible old gentleman peered into the note with his purblind eyes. Preliminary. 5 Lina did not dare to offer her assistance, but Avhen, after rising with difficulty, he tottered across the room to the AvindoAV to have more light thrown on the writing, she folloAved him with his gold-headed cane, and patiently waited till he should require it. " Maxwell ! " Sir Robert exclaimed at length. " Francis S. Maxwell! A good-sounding name enough. I Avas sure it had either a Highland or a Border twang. Well ! it does not matter to me Avhat he is, as he is not a man of family." And taking his cane from his granddaughter's hand, he maliciously twitched her golden ringlets to give point to his remark, and quitted the library as the clock struck three.

Lina stood for some moments where he had left her, utterly motionless, save that an indefinable smile was on her face — a smile not of amusement exactly, nor yet of contempt, though it partook slightly of both ; for, strange to say, the principal ingredient in that curious smile was experience — an experience of life and character seldom possessed by one so young. She had evidently studied her grandfather, had acquired a complete comprehension of his character, had AA'eighed his foibles and prejudices, and Avas noAV balancing in her mind Avhat line of conduct tOAvards him Avas most judicious for her to follow. Had her thoughts found A'oice, they might have run thus : "True, I am his natural heir. My uncle is dead, my father is dead ; I am the last of the name of Hep burn, yet I fear this Lionel Upton.

Were he to play his cards well, eATen yet he might be master of Kinburn. Were I in his place, I should be so. I would not scruple to secure the inheritance of my ancestors by the relinquishing of an empty name. He, howeA'er, thinks other wise^ and I am the gainer by his obstinacy. But " — and she hesitated — " am I likely to retaiii the favour he has lost ? Can I control myself to the end ? Who can tell ? Yet I must try ; it Avould be worse than ever iioav to be the poor solitary being I have been." She stooped for the book she had been reading Avhen interrupted by her grandfather half an hour previously, and resumed her seat in the window. Suddenly she started up Avith a faint cry, Avhile the book fell from her tremulous fingers. A sound had caught her ear — that of a quick, firm tread on the terrace beneath.

" Am I dreaming ? " she exclaimed, in an accent of intense surprise, " or is that really Max's footstep ? " And, shrouding herself in the drapery of the windoAV curtain, she peered eagerly, but furtively, through the windoAv. In vain ! The overhanging balcony prevented any view of the terrace beneath, though she heard the sonorous ring of the door bell as he pulled it, and could even distinguish the slightly impatient tap-tap of his riding-switch against his boot as he Avaited for ad mittance. Lina sighed unconsciously, and her dark blue eyes assumed the rapt, dreamy look of one whose thoughts had gone far back into the past, striving to recal a happiness that could never come again. Her preoccupation, liOAvever, Avas not of long continuance, and a pettish ex clamation escaped her lips as she stooped a second time to pick up her book.

In doing so her hand came in contact Avith the crumpled note which her grandfather had flung carelessly doAvn after reading it. Preliminary. 7 " Ah ! " she said, as she took it up, " here is the proof I Avant. This Avill shoAV me that I am so very a fool as to have alloAved my imagination to play me a scurvy trick. Surely one man's footstep may resemble another's, and not be that other's ; at least, may resemble it more than his name does the barbarous one of Sir Robert Hepburn's correspondent. MaxAvell ! Is that a good sounding name in this country ? " she added, with a slight sneer. " No ' von,' no ' de' — a simple surname ! " And yet, contemptuous as were her tones, her slender fingers shook as she endeavoured to smoothe the note so as to render its contents legible. It was done at length, and she hurriedly turned to the signature.

What was there in it to make her eyes dilate, her ever pale cheek grow paler still ? The signature was his ! No one but he could Avrite in that fashion, so clear, so upright, and so unmistakably foreign ; no other pen could form the inimitable " parafe" beneath the signature. It alone was proof sufficient of his identity. " It is true, then," she murmured. " It Avas my heart that spoke, and not my fancy — not my eager, eager longing ! And yet what brings him to this remote place ? Alone, too ? What has become of her ? Alas ! alas ! why should Ave meet again iioav that it is too late ? Why does he now seek her whom once he so disdained ? Perhaps he has heard that I am heiress of Kinburn, and cares, therefore, to renew our acquaintance ! " But she quickly checked so unworthy a thought. Mercenary as he had proved himself, he was superior to that.

"Be sides, AA'hat advantage could it now bring to either?" And, covering her face with her hands, her slender frame shook Avith the violence of her emotions. " It cannot be," she at last ejaculated. " I must be mistaken. ' Francis Maxwell' ! Absurd ! " And, snatch ing up the crumpled note, she reperused it with keen avidity. But a closer examination only confirmed her conviction that the writing Avas that of Max, and of Max only, and yet the signature, which to her Avho kneAv it so Avell could only be read in one way, had the christian and surnames so curiously blended into one, that she began to confess that her grandfather's misconception of it Avas not so extraordinary as she at first believed. The name Maxwell, besides, was one much more familiar to Sir Robert than the real one. Long did she sit with her eyes fixed on that scrap of paper, Avhile her busy brain pictured a thousand scenes of the past, and conjured up as many of the future.

The closing of a door startled her into the present. She sprang to her feet, and listened eagerly. Perhaps her grandfather might bring him to the library? It was improbable, certainly, but she would not give up the faint hope till a second door, the outer one, closed also, and again she heard the quick characteristic step on the terrace. When that sound smote her ear, she bowed her head on her breast, and one or two tears trickled slowly doAvn her cheeks. Lina Hepburn had, however, served a long appren ticeship to disappointment, and in the school of adversity had learned that there are times when sorrow, however poignant, must be controlled, passions, however violent, must be concealed, if they cannot be conquered, and Preliminary. 9 she knew that before Sir Robert re-entered the library it was necessary for her to hide all outward signs of emotion.

Already she heard the quick, sharp rap of his staff on each step of the flights of stairs ascending and descend ing from the study to the library. In another minute he would enter the room. But before that minute was elapsed, the only traces left of the struggle she had gone through were, that her cheek Avas a few shades paler than its usual delicate fairness, and her long eyelashes drooped more heavily over her soft, almond-shaped blue eyes. Sir Robert, moreoA-er, was at all times too little observant of his granddaughter's countenance to detect such slight signs of agitation ; and, indeed, it would have required a more sharp-sighted man than he, shrewd as he Avas in some things, to have remarked any hidden grief under the assumption of indifference with which she questioned him as to his intervieAv Avith his tenant elect.

" Is his name really Maxwell ? " she asked ; and added, with a little laugh, "Has he no family?" "Yes, his name is Maxwell, and he has no family whatever. I asked him particularly, and his answer was, ' I am alone — entirely alone.' " Little did Sir Robert suspect the tumult those five words created in Lina's heart. Its pulses beat like sledge hammers, and she could with difficulty control the exclamation that rose to her lips as he uttered them. " He hinted, indeed, that, having lately suffered some great loss, he had begun to feel misanthropical, and was glad to find a spot in Britain so solitary as this, where ' the Avorld forgetting,' he might be ' by the Avorld forgot.' (He is a poetical Adam, you see, Lina.) So far, how ever, he is right. There are feAv places in our island left unpolluted by those abominable railways, and I liked the fellow from the acrimony with Avhich he condemned them.

He seems, however, more favourably inclined to steamers, for it Avas the Fairholm steamer, it seems, that landed my gentleman at St. Ringans, and he spoke of the ' de lightful sail,' as if he had been aboard a pleasure-yacht. No one is perfect in this Avorld, you see ! Well, finding St. Ringans a quiet little place, he determined to stay there for a time and folloAv his profession, Avhich, as far as I can make out, is that of an artist. His first ramble led him accidentally to the Whim, and the business was settled." " That means," Lina said, with a forced laugh, " that you liked the stranger's appearance, grandpapa, and ac cepted him as your tenant ? " " Hm ! yes, for a couple of months or so, on trial," Sir Robert ansAvered, a little hesitatingly. " And on what terms . " She asked the question AA'ith the least little touch of malice, for she shrewdly sus pected that the bargain was not likely to be profitable to her grandfather.

" Ah, you little witch ! " he said, Avith a grimace, " you guess he found the soft bit in my heart and took advantage of it ? You are right enough. He is to have it for two months, rent free, on condition that he opens all the windows, and persuades the world of St. Ringans that Sir Cosmo lies quiet in his grave." Lina asked no more. Already she had sufficient food Preliminary. 11 for conjecture. He was alone. He had suffered a recent loss. He was for two months to dwell in her close A-icinity. Was a new sun about to shine on her Avorld ? Was the shadoAvthat had fallen on her girlhood about to pass aAvay? The heiress of Kinburn was very different from the penniless orphan of the Pensionnat Bertin at Verville, and while she shrunk from attributing mercenary motives to one so beloved, she had sufficient knowledge of the world to perceive that riches are only valueless to the very young or A'ery foolish.

It seemed, besides, quite impossible that chance alone should haAe led Max to this secluded part of Scotland. He must have had some motive besides that he had assumed. He must have discovered her residence at Kinburn, and have arranged it all Avith the intention of being once more thrown into her society. Ah, yes ! there was a bond betAveen them which would draAv them together from the uttermost parts of the earth ! Such Avere the A'ague thoughts Avhich floated through Lina's brain as she listened with seeming indifference to Sir Robert's prosy details of the intervieAv between him self and Maxwell. Look at the graceful girl kneeling by the old man's chair ! Listen to the lively chit-chat Avith AA'hich she strives to lull his weary hours of lassitude and pain. Hark to the silvery laugh which ansAvers so readily to his oft repeated jests, and you might suppose that Lina Hepburn was a careless, light-hearted child.

But lift the veil from her heart, and what would you behold ? Passionate yet vague aspirations after a happiness which she dared not put in words even to herself, because its attainment implied the death of the one woman avIio had ever shown her sympathy and kindness — the one girl friend whom she had dearly loved till she became her rival. Yes, under Lina's childish exterior quick pulses Avere beating, Avild hopes AA'ere surging up, to be thrust doAvn Avith giant might ; fears of some dread mystery still to be disclosed haunted her, and intensified the agonies of her passion-tossed heart, hoping against hope, and dreaming wild dreams which Avere to end — avIio kneAv Iioav? A Aveek passed. Lina Avas told that the neAV tenant had taken possession of the Whim. But that Avas all ; and the A'ery desire she had to learn more prevented her from making further inquiries.

Another Aveek followed. Not an atom of intelligence regarding the neAv comer reached her, and the idea that her presence at Kinburn had been the lode-star to draw him to the neighbourhood Avaxed fainter and fainter. A month rolled by. Sir Robert made frequent visits to the Whim, and gradually became eloquent on the im provements effected there by the neAV tenant at his sug gestion. And the old man would rub his hands and chuckle at his own cleverness in getting so much work out of a clever artist for nothing. But as to any informa tion beyond his oaati indiA'idual interests in Maxwell's labours, not a word was said. The second month Avas waning fast Avhen the new comer Avas invited to dine at Kinburn. Lina's heart beat quick as she rose to receive him, and her hungry eyes rested for an instant on the once-loved face.

But no recognition met her glance; a cold, ceremonious boAv Preliminary. 13 alone responded to her greeting. What could it mean ? A passing doubt assailed her that, after all, the stranger was not Max, and, with an overwhelming sensation of disappointment and mortification, she resumed her seat in the shadow of the bow-AvindoAv. He spoke, and the doubt vanished! No voice but his could so thrill her heart, no eyes but his dark, expressive ones could give such a glance as he gave Sir Robert. It Avas Max most certainly, older, graver than of old, but still Max, and Max only. Yet why did he treat her as a stranger ? Why did no trace of recognition light up his face ? Had she really no part in bringing him to St. Ringans? Did he not knoAv that Kinburn was now her home ? Lost in these speculations, Lina forgot everything till her grandfather said, in his old-fashioned way, "My dear, Mr. Maxwell waits to carry you to the dining-room."

Then she rose, and, passing from the embrasure of the AvindoAV, stood in the full light of the summer afternoon. As it fell on her face, she felt that the long looked-for recognition had come at last. She saAv it slowly daAvn upon him, and waited AAath throbbing pulses for some Avord, some look, such as her thirsty heart had craved so long ; but it never came. With a conventional smile, he said, quite easily, " Miss Hepburn ! I did not recognise you before ! Hoav strange it is we should meet again, and here of all places ! " She felt as if she could have stabbed him as these light words smote her ear, especially when he added, with laughing indifference, " I cannot think how it happened that Ave have been so long in the same neighbourhood without even an accidental meeting. I have often heard the country people talk of Sir Robert Hep burn's granddaughter, but it never occurred to me that Miss Lina Hepburn was the same person Avhom I had knoAvn at Verville as Mademoiselle Alexandrine He bourne."

Lina tried to echo his laugh, but the effort Avas a failure, the more so that the speaker's words had made her grandfather's brows meet in an ominous frown. He looked from one to the other in silence, but in the coun tenance of neither did he see any expression of satisfac tion at the unexpected rencounter. Mr. Maxwell's face wore a look of stolid sullenness, Avhile poor Lina con trived, under a veil of haughty reserve, to conceal the bitterness of her mortification. "Yes," she said, Avith a haughty inclination of her head, " I was at school at VerA'ille. It is possible I may haAre met Mr. Maxwell there, though I confess the name is not familiar to me." A very faint smile curled the corners of the young man's mouth at this rejoinder, but to Sir Robert it was a cause of unmingled satisfaction.

"She has put. him down ! " he thought, rubbing his hands. " She spoke like a true Hepburn there." And he resumed the topic he had been discussing with his tenant before dinner, as if the slight acknoAvledgment of previous acquaintance between the others was of no moment. And, indeed, it seemed so on either side, for, with the exception of the necessary courtesies of the table, not a syllable was exchanged betAveen Miss Hepburn and Mr. Maxwell. Preliminary. 15 What their secret thoughts were, however, is a very different matter. That Miss Hepburn's Avere not at ease AA'as evident to the dark eyes Avhich furtively watched each turn of her countenance, even while apparently engrossed by Sir Robert's conversation.. Lina, hoAvever, Avas unconscious of their espial. The tumult of her own feelings made her almost unconscious of what went on that night.

Her proud spirit was chafed by the doAvnfal of her hopes, and mortified by Maxwell's long delayed recognition. EATen when it did come, his indifference Avas hard to bear — an indifference which even her haughty rejoinder had failed to overcome. He could not forget the past. That was impossible ; yet what motive had he for acting thus ? Was it to mislead her grandfather Avith the idea that their acquaintance was of the slightest? She might have belieAred this had he not accepted the wrong name Sir Robert had given him before he knew of his relationship to herself. In short, turn it as she would, she could make nothing of the mystery in Avhich she found herself imrolved. One thing only was clear, that whatever his object might be, her own course was plain enough. She must retain her appearance of indifference until he proffered her an ample explanation and apology for his strange behaviour towards her.

Thus they parted as they had met, as mere casual acquaintance ; and such, as far as the world knew, they continued thenceforward. Once or twice the artist tenant of the Whim was invited to Kinburn, once or twice Lina accompanied her grandfather to see the improvements Mr. Maxwell had made in the old house, but the young people seemed to make no progress in intimacy, the manner of both became more repellent each time they met. The old gentleman laughed at Lina's haughty airs, assured her that Maxwell, though an artist, was a gentlemanly enough fellow, and was a most agreeable com panion Avith men. He had an immense fund of informa tion on other subjects than painting, and conversed with Avonderful fluency and raciness. Lina listened in silence to these remarks, and Sir Robert, inwardly delighted by her pride and reserve, quizzed her a little notAvithstand ing on her indifference to men of " no family," and then hurried off to the Whim to spend half the day in Avatch ing the skilful restoration of the fantastic decorations of the old house, and especially those of the garden octagon, which, under Maxwell's auspices, was gradually resuming its Oriental character.

The little world of St. Ringans also took considerable interest in these restorations, and the usual tittle-tattle of a small town exaggerated their extent to a marvellous degree, but no impertinent tongue ever hinted that there was any further acquaintance between Miss Hepburn and the young artist than Avhat beseemed their respective positions in life. Some wondered that there was so little, considering how solitary Avas the life the young heiress led at Kinburn, but all confessed that it was be fitting a Hepburn, one of the proudest of old Scotch families, to discourage the acquaintance of a man whose sole letters of recommendation were some artistic talent, and a good-sounding Border name, for none but himself and Lina kneAv it to be a false one. Preliminary. 17 And thus time rolled on.

Lina maintained the reserve suited to her own proud spirit, and to the conservative predilections of her grandfather, Avhile Maxwell apparently preferred the comrersation of his host to that of his granddaughter. But there was a sequestered spot in the grounds of Kinburn AA'hich could have told another tale, had its echoes been gifted with speech. Close by the sea-shore, some quarter or half mile from the mansion-house, Avas a little nook which had caught Lina's fancy on her first arrival, and Avhich Avas her fa vourite resting-place in her walks. An indefinable some thing in its scenery reminded her of the coast near Ver ville. It was true that here gloomy fir woods replaced the orange and myrtle groves of the sunny South; it Avas true that the sea was neither so blue nor so sparkling as the Mediterranean, and that the beams of the sun were far less powerful, the lights and shadoAvs wanting in brilliancy and depth.

Still there Avas in it, taken as a whole, one of those likenesses which we some times trace between the faces of a fair and a dark person, different yet alike, and Lina's heart clung to the belief that this spot Avas like Verville, Avitli the pertinacity of an oA-er-excitable temperament. To her morbid fancy, any association with a place where she had suffered great sorrow and enjoyed great happiness, was Avelcome, and on the Avild sea-shore of Scotland she had reacted in imagination the most noted scenes of her short but eventful life. This was the spot destined by Fate to reunite the VOL. I. C broken links that had bound her to one whose influence on her life had been very marked. It was the morning after Mr. MaxAvell's first dinner at Kinburn that Lina, rising early from her sleepless pilloAV, had sought her favourite retreat, and Avas brooding over the meeting of the preA-ious evening, when a shadow fell on her path, and, looking up startled by so unusual a phenomenon, she perceived the artist, sketch-book in hand, standing close beside her.

He Avas the first to speak. With hand outstretched and penitent face, he murmured one word — "Aline !" " Max ! " For a full minute each fixed on the other a look half questioning, half defiant. At last he sat down by her side, and began to speak rapidly in a foreign tongue. Her answers, at first short and disdainful, softened as the coiiA'ersation went on, and Avhen they parted it Avas not Avith the calm indifference of chance acquaintance, nor was that first meeting their last. It came by-and-by to be tacitly understood betAveen them, that, unless prevented by matters of deep importance, they should meet each morning at an appointed horn." at the trysting-stone. And the spring floAvers were succeeded by the summer roses, and the roses by the harebell and heather, ere their meetings came to an end.