'For so Little.' The story of a crime

Book I

— FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE. page I. The Doctor 1 II. Major Legh 5 III. " Lawrence Maber " 8 IV. An Engagement 13 V. Rocks Ahead . . 17 VI. The Codicil 21 VII. Maber Called Away Unexpectedly .... 26 VIII. "Elsie's Watch" 31 IX. A Cruel Awakening 35 X. The Will and Its Codicil 40

BOOK IL

— FOR RICHER, FOR POORER. XI. Embarrassments 47 XII. The Two Partners 51 XIII. A Fresh Factor 55 XIV. '"I Wish For — I Wish For,' — And Here She Sighed "..... I .... 69 XV. A False Step 66 XVI. The Seance 69 XVII. " We Mabers are not Long Livers " . . . .80 XVIII. The Drive 86 XIX. In the Servants' Hall . . . 92 XX. Night 95 XXI. Help " XXII. Occdlt Influences 107 XXIII. Lothian's Tactics Eeceive a Check .... 115 XXIV. Elsie Discloses Her Policy 125 XXV. Pressure is Brought to Bear on Lothian . . 132 XXVI. Apollyon 139 book in.— Ear sickness and in health. XXVII. "There's a Little Boy Upstairs" . . . .147 XXVIII. "One Life is Bound up in the Other" . . .149 XXIX. "Check" 156 XXX. In the Pantry 163 XXXI. "The Serpent Beguiled Me" 167 XXXII. The Club Ball 171 XXXIII. "The Belle of the Ball" 174 XXXIV.

Perplexity 177 XXXV. Dr Ealston 18° XXXVI. Belief Contents. IV CHAPTEB "<£ XXXVH. A Visit From Ambrose Govette 1°7 XXXVIII. Doubtful Views 190 XXXIX. " My Little Elsie " I97 XL. The Second Consultation 200 XLI. Precautions • 20o XLH. " Not Long For This World " . . . . . 207 XLIII. Maber's Last Hope 212

BOOK IV.

— TILL DEATH US DO

PART. XLIV.

Despair . . . 221 XLV. "Nemesis" 223 XLVI. Dentbeigh Receives a Shock 230 XLVU. The Trial— Revelations 234 XLVni. Deserters 237 XLIX. Two Sides of the Question 239 L. " I Am Here to Speak the Truth " . . . . 243 LI. A Sad Issue 252 LII. A Blighted Life 257 LIII. Nurse Billings' Story 259 LIV. "A Lion in His Lair" 265 LV. Mr Nibs 271 LVI. Great and Little People 276 LVn. The Defence 279 LVIH. "Weighed in the Balance, and Found Wanting". 283 LIX. The Interview 289 LX. " Take Her Up Tenderly " 297 LXI. Divorce 299 LXII. " The Variety of the Measure had Puzzled Her " 302 LXIII. A Spectre of the Past 303 LXIV. After Two Years . 310 LXV. Elsie and Lawrence 319 LXVI. A Hard Task 327 LXVII. A Secret Negotiation 330 LXVIII. Diamond Cut Diamond 335 LXIX. A Clue 336 LXX. Kelp Has the Best of It 341 LXXI.

A Letter 344 LXXEI. The Journey 352 LXXIII. "Run to Earth" .356 LXXIV. Counsel 364 LXXV. The Greater Need 370 LXXVI. Temptation 372 LXXVn. Hush! . 378 LXXVIII. Guilty and Not Guilty 383 LXXIX. Conclusion

BOOK I. FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE.

Chapter I. The Doctor

The heat has been intense all day long, but the thermometer is falling at last. Let us enter the study of Dominic Langley, M.D., one day in November, 1877, where the mercury indicates 86°, and take our measure of the physician, who is reclining in an attitude and dress favourable for the new temperature to take effect. He is a man of middle height, with a bright complexion and an amiable expression of countenance, although somewhat loosely put together, and careless in his dress. There are no signs of the modern masher about Dominic Langley, and it is partly owing to this fact and the total absence of self-consciousness that he is such a favourite. For six years he has been practising in Dentbeigh, a town of no mean importance in Australia, and at the time when this story opens he is acknowledged to be the leading medical man there, having steadily advanced to this position by qualities which commanded respect and good feeling.

Whether or not he was as skilful as some people made out is a question which up to the present remains unanswered, but it B is safe to give him credit for more than average ability, and to confirm his reputation for kindness and common sense. He is a bachelor, and for the best of reasons — the lady of his affections was wed to another. After the first two years of his residence at Dentbeigh, during which time he had been gradually making headway, Dominic Langley began to realize that he was surrounded b}- kind friends who were interested in his welfare. Among these, he was most attracted towards Major Legh, an old army man, who was living in retirement on his pension, which played a very inconsiderable part in the domestic economy, and an income derived from invested capital. Major Legh had one child, Elsie, named after her dead mother, whom the Major, being a man of deep affection, and one who had always more or less lived apart, more than usually prized and petted.

In the words of Rogers, she was " the pride and joy of an indulgent sire." At the time when Dr Langley had made the acquaintance of Major Legh, Elsie was between seventeen and eighteen, an age when impressions are easily made and marriage is a desir able end to love-making. And it is extremely probable that such would have been the termination of the intimacy between Dr Langley and " little Elsie Legh," as she was then called, if he had been a less diffident suitor, and no other had presented himself. Two years, however, after their first introduction, when acquaintance had ripened into intimacy, the running was taken up by a fresh arrival, Lawrence Maber, a nephew of Sir Robert Maber, who had recently become an object of revived interest to the community of Dentbeigh. He was a remarkably hand some man, and what counts more with most women, his manners were fascinating, and his appearance distinguished.

Added to this, his means were supposed to be very large. It was the versatility of Maber's genius which made him an attractive puzzle to both sexes. He dabbled in science and art, knew music thoroughly — the practical outcome of which was evi denced in his skill at the piano — and he boxed and played tennis equally well. In fact his reputation for power generally was circulated far beyond Dentbeigh. "With women, a man of The Doctor. 3 this kind would be eminently successful, too successful, when the result of such captivation has to be taken into account. With such a rival in the field, Dominic Langley forebore any expression of his feelings. He realized fully his own inferiority, and he was not long in making the discovery that Major Legh, although opposed to the fact of Elsie marrying, because in all probability it meant separation from himself, was fast coming round to regard Maber in the light of an eligible son-in-law.

In such a relation, the Major, a thorough old autocrat in his way, considered that Langley was out of the question, and the Doctor was well aware that, between himself and his love, a great barrier was set up, a barrier called social disparity. Moreover, Elsie, wearying of his society, showed a revival of spirit on the approach of Maber, and there could be no mis taking that his daring looks of love found a timid response in her sweet eyes. It was left for Dominic Langley to make up his mind to his misfortune by counterbalancing the advantages which would fall to Miss Legh as Lawrence Maber's wife against those he considered that he could offer. The latter were immeasurably outweighed, and he knew of no woman who would be likely to hesitate in her preference of those two choices. It never struck him to take credit for that unobtrusive nobility which endeared him to the little children, the sick and the friendless, and much less to give expression to the general maxim, which in this case would have been like an intentional application to himself, that " Those whom the animals loved were worthy."

Nevertheless, he was the sovereign of a realm as wide as that which admitted the rule of his rival, and, although unconscious of it, was fed by a stimulant which had more virtue in keeping despair at bay than that which the spoiled darling of society had at his command. Jealousy had not made Dr Langley unjust. In his innermost thoughts he had never depreciated Maber's worth. He even confessed to a liking for him, and admitted to himself that, under other circumstances, Maber might have been the man whose companionship he would have sought to lighten the toil of his profession. Luckily the Doctor's dark hours were few. There was too much hurry in his life, too much to engross his faculties, to admit of anything like ennui. The nearest approach to dreariness which ever assailed him had taken possession of him at the time when he was introduced to the reader.

About eight months previously, Elsie Legh had been married to Lawrence Maber, and report had circulated abundant stories of the young wife's happiness. The devotion of her husband gave no room for any other interpretation, but, had further testimony been required, it would certainly have been supplied in the radiant expression which Elsie's face wore. Mr and Mrs Maber were to be seen in their pew at church on Sunday, for Lawrence, although tinged with the ideas of the modern agnostic, was too judicious to thwart his wife's desire on a matter that it lay within his power to grant. As they both delighted in the exercise of hospitality, Westwood — for Maber had been prevailed upon by Major Legh to establish himself in Elsie's old home — became the scene of the smartest entertain ments of the season.

How charmingly Maber had refurnished it ! How exactly he had considered Elsie's wishes in every small detail ! How thoughtfully, indeed, the comfort of all had been provided for ! Maber had studied his own tastes in one small particular only. His billiard-room was admitted to be perfect ; and although the musical click of balls, which so often greeted the ears of his visitors, might suggest a rather late occupation of that apartment, still a man who denies his wife nothing should be entitled to a little indulgence, The affectionate little wife sometimes thought Lawrence was late in joining her, but women, as a rule, when over-indulged exact a discipline which is hardly fair to a man who has no tastes more vicious than a love for billiards and tennis. Elsie's quiver of expectancy, however, changed rapidly to a restful state of contentment when her husband appeared.

In his face there was a fresh renewal of the love he had pledged her at the altar ; and in the embrace which clasped her to his breast there spoke to her with dumb eloquence an all-absorbing passion. This was the happy issue of Mr and Mrs Maber's union, and Dominic Langley would have been surprised at any other, as the indications had very clearly pointed to this end from the first Major Legh. 5 But how was it with the Doctor ? There was a puzzled and troubled expression on his face as he sat smoking in his lounge. He was evidently ill at ease, and Mrs. Maber was indirectly the cause of it. A few hours before he had been called in pro fessionally by Major Legh, who was living with his daughter. Tho Major had been feeling so unwell lately that he desired to consult a medical man. Not that there was much the matter with him, possibly nothing more than an aggravation of his old complaint, dyspepsia ; but he wrote that his daughter was uneasy on his account, and that, to allay her anxiety, he was most anxious for an interview.

Virtually, Dominic Langley saw that it meant tho appoint ment of family physician to Lawrence Maber, as under all the circumstances it was hardly likely that another medical man would supersede him after he had been once called in by Major Legh. It would certainly not be in his power to decline tho position, even if he were so disposed. What plea could he bring forward to justify such a course ? And he asked himself again if there was any necessity for an avoidance of this house in particular. For the moment it seemed to him that there was, for surely the right was his to protect himself against unnecessary distress of mind. On the other hand, so far as he knew, his attachment had never been positively disclosed, and his excuses would probably be received with amazement and pain. Strong liking, too, for Major Legh made him solicitous to attend him in his illness. So that, after weighing one thing with another, and turning each argument over in his mind, he decided to pay the visit in the morning.

Chapter II. Major Leg II

At eleven o'clock Dr Langley started on his round of visits, a light gig being tho moans of his conveyance. It was about noon when his well-known vehicle drew up before the gate3 "For so Little." of Westwood, and passers-by at once jumped to the conclusion that Mrs Maber was seriously ill. However, the object of that mysterious visitation was lying at the moment of the Doctor's arrival on a folding-chair on the wide verandah which sur rounded the house. The morning being delightfully balmy, the Major was taking advantage of an airing without exercise. As he rose to greet Dr Langley, whom he had not seen for some time, the change in his personal appearance at once struck the professional eye of the physician. "I had no idea you had not been well lately," he said. " What have you been doing with yourself ?

" " That I must leave you to decide, my dear friend," replied Major Legh with a smile, falling back into his chair with a weary gesture of over-exertion. " I have, I fancy, a touch of my old enemy ; but if you will kindly give me your arm we will go inside, as there will be less chance of interruption, and you can give me the necessary overhauling." " You are very weak," said Dr Langley, offering his arm to the old man deferentially ; " why haven't you sent for me sooner ? Not that there is any cause for you to alarm yourself, but while there is a means of arresting any derangement of the system which causes distressing symptoms, it is well to do so. When I have got you fixed up, I will see if I can make out the cause of the mischief." While Dr Langley was talking they had passed through the spacious and handsomely furnished hall into the library, the walls of which were lined with books, obviously the collection of a man of culture, bound in the choicest of quiet-coloured leathers.

The carpet, soft as moss, was dark, and the furniture massive, luxurious, and sombre. The few ornaments the room contained consisted of bronze vessels of antique form and rare beauty of workmanship. The curtains were of rich velvet, of a dark bronze colour, lined with dead gold, and drawn back with fastenings of gold filigree. Perhaps the monotony of colouring would have imparted a tone of dulness to this handsome room had there not been a profusion of bright flowers everywhere. There was, indeed, a gorgeous display of blossoms, amongst which were roses of every size and colour, azaleas, heliotrope, and Major Legh. 7 honeysuckle, and the pervading odour of mignonette told of an ■environment which the refined senses of Lawrence delighted in. " When Mr Maber is at home this is the room he uses most," said Major Legh ; " but, as you are aware, he leaves here for his office about ten.

But why have jtou been such a stranger lately, Langley? We've seen nothing of you since Elsie's marriage." " I've got so much to do that I've really no time for anything outside my profession, and there's been an unusual amount of sickness about Dentbeigh lateh-. I hope Mrs Maber is well," said Dr Langley, quietly feeling his patient's pulse. " Yes, very well. I think you'll find my pulse is faster than usual, owing, I imagine, to the bad state of my health generally. I feel rather flurried by your visit. My daughter has made a very happy marriage," continued Major Legh, reverting to the subject Dr Langley had partly introduced. " Mr Maber is the most devoted of husbands, and they seem to understand one another, a great desideratum in marriage. Bad or good, Langley ? " " It is weak, as I expected, and decidedly fast.

You want tone, and to get that you must take plenty of suitable nourishment. How's your appetite ? " " My appetite is only middling, but it is the feeling of weakness and nausea which is most troublesome to me." " A feeling of nausea ? Do you feel this constantly? " " Yes, constantly. My son-in-law says that probably it is more the advanced stage of dyspepsia. He has been a great martyr to a bad digestion, and knows what it is." " Sickness is a symptom of other complaints besides dyspepsia," said Dr Dominic, a little irritated at his opinion being anticipated ; " but I should think that dyspepsia is probably the cause. Have you any other symptoms — oppression on the chests or a feeling of tightness ? " " I certainly have a queer sensation in the stomach. Yes, I suppose I might describe it in that manner."

" Ah ! I thought so. Mr Maber does not strike me as alto gether robust," said the Doctor. " Nor is he. He works too hard, and there is no greater strain than mental toil. Tco much devolves on him ; but he has plenty "For so Little." of pluck. Do you think I am sound here ? " asked the old gentleman, tapping at the left side of his body. "I sometimes fear I am not. I suffer from palpitation." "That is probably caused by the indigestion you suffer from ; it's a common thing for people to frighten themselves unneces sarily on this score, through this symptom. I suppose you know, Major Legh, there's a sympathy between all one's organs ? When one is deranged the others feel it, and dyspepsia commonly arises from food lying undigested in the stomach. The action of the heart is affected by the introduction of foreign substances,. or rather substances in a foreign form.

I will physic you, and you must practise a little self-denial as far as food is concerned, and between us you ought soon to be about again. But you want tone. First, we must find out the kind of food which will agree best with you. Are you disinclined to try starving for a period ? " " Certainly not ; I flatter myself I'm enough of a soldier to obey orders." " So much the better," said Dr Langley, smiling at his con fidence. " I will call again in a few days to see you. Send for me if you want me before that ; and in any case let me know how you are getting on. In the meantime I'll send you up some stuff with quinine in it. Good-bye, Major. Look after the diet!"'

Chapter III

" LAWRENCE MABER." That evening the Doctor was taking advantage of a spare half hour to read a finely written treatise on the virtue of alcohol as a medicine. Something in the air made him drowsy, and from reading attentively he fell into a desultory manner of perusing the article, which left the interpretation far behind. His thoughts traced out his life for the last six years at Dent beigh, beginning with the time when the world had nothing but hard knocks to give him. He then tried to recall the state of his mind during that precarious period, but he failed to revive any remembrance but "Lawrence Maber." 9 that of the enthusiasm he felt for his profession, and the in difference he felt towards adversity. A fair practice had become, in time, exceptionally large, and the means were now at his command of living without the harassing care of debt.

Besides the power of providing for himself, he was enabled to render considerable assistance to his family, who were living in Ireland, and who, since the passing of Griffith's Act, had been poorer than ever. So that, without any actual extravagance on his part, he was spending all he earned, and that was considerably less than he might have laid claim to, for Dr Dominic was a bad accountant, and the poor did little towards swelling his purse, though they did much to occupy his time. If, however, love could have reckoned as coin, his banking account might have stood on a different basis; but the Doctor was not a man to commend himself for his good reputation, nor was he one to put in a claim for life's prizes. The one occasion of his life when his heart had been occupied by a selfish aim was in the days gone by, when the attainment of Elsie Legh's love had been the object of his ambition ; but Lawrence Maber had won the prize, and he had to content himself with such things as had sufficed for his happiness before love's young dream had disturbed his peace of mind.

Without any feeling of bitterness, he rejoiced to hear the further confirmation of Mrs. Maber's happiness, which Major Legh had volunteered that very morning. His somewhat wandering ideas were fast collecting round this new feature of his existence, when the servant presented a card, and Lawrence Maber entered the room. "It's a long time since we have met, Dr Langley," said Maber, shaking hands with the Doctor easily, " and I hope you will pardon this intrusion on your dinner hour, but neither Mrs. Maber nor I feel at all easy about Major Legh, and we are most anxious to learn your opinion. But pray send me about my business if it's not a convenient hour." "My time, Mr Maber, is never my own," said Langley, smiling and speaking with that simplicity of tone which was so telling with the poor.

" If you were not here, it is very likely some one else would be, perhaps with less reason. I am glad you came, for, to tell you the truth, I wished to see you on this matter without alarming the Major by calling on you at your house. He is nervous about himself, and it was on this account that I told him, in a casual manner, I would look in again in a few days. My intention, however, was to visit him the day after to-morrow." " You think seriously then of his illness ? " inquired Maber, in a tone of deep feeling. " I had no idea of this, although it has been my wish to have called you in before." " His illness, or the complaint from which he is suffering, is not really a serious one," returned the Doctor ; " but he is an old man, with an impaired constitution, and through not looking after himself, he is now in a very low, indeed a seriously low, condition.

His voice is weak, he barely has the strength to walk, and his pulse is very small. I assure you I was very much surprised when I saw him, although I tried to make him think I took a cheerful view of his case." Lawrence Maber sat with his hand over his face. " The old man has always been so good and kind to me," he said feelingly, after some minutes' pause. " My wife must not be told of this ; her present state of health will not permit of any agitation." He gave his last words a signification which the Doctor under stood. " And you are aware of her love for her father ; but with care you do not anticipate the worst ? " " Certainly not," said the Doctor, thinking as he spoke what a good fellow Maber was at heart. " With care we may get him round. He must take the physic I am sending him, and stick to the diet which I am going to prescribe."

" As to the diet, I am afraid we shall have a difficulty. He is quite regardless of what he eats, and I doubt if any one will be able to break him of the habit of eating fast, I dabble in physic myself, you know, and have been prescribing all along, but the cause of his being in his present state is simply his utter disrcgard of the laws of health. If I were to take the same liberties Legh does, I should have been in my coffin long ago. How he has managed to evade all consequences so long, I cannot fathom." " His liver has been ruined in India," rejoined Dominic "Lawrence Maber." 11 Langley, " and ever since I have known him he has been troubled with it to a greater or less degree. But I can do nothing unless he follows my advice." " No expense need be spared. You know his means are large.

Oh, by the bye, before I go, there is a suggestion I should like to make, and, as it is a matter which touches my wife's health, you will admit it is not altogether presumptuous on my part to mention it. Major Legh, you are aware, has been in the habit of being waited on hand and foot by Mrs Maber. More than ever is now expected of her, and in her present state of health this is making her nervous and ' out of sorts,' which I suppose is the best — as it's the most indefinite — expression you can find for a lady's hundred and one ailments. I think it would be a means of exercising some control over Major Legh's diet if you were to engage a nurse who would undertake to carry out your orders to the letter— a sort of interesting dragon in petticoats, who would be equal to court-marshalling the Major if he trans gressed.

Mrs Maber is not adverse to the idea, and says you knew of one a little while ago who would answer the purpose admirably." " There is a Miss Morte, a young lady acting as nurse in the Dentbeigh Hospital. She has had charge of the male ward there, and is well up to the work : and though by no means a dragon, I can safely say she will preserve discipline. Your idea is a good one, and I believe it will be a great boon to Miss Morte, as she's been on the look-out for something of the kind for some time — some position where her duties would be less arduous than at present. Before Miss Legh was married, if I remember rightly, they were rather friendly, so that it won't be like having a stranger." " Studying the effects of alcohol," asked Lawrence with interest, as he caught sight of the book on the table, "with a view of upsetting a theory ?

" " No ; merely to see what the writer has to say on the subject. I have my own ideas, like every medical man who has had practical experience of it. I think alcohol is like a whip to a tired horse, and that the cases are rare of getting much real benefit out of it." " Do you disapprove of the injections of morphia as a relief to pain ? " " Oh ! that is a slightly different matter," said the Doctor, with an eye to the precision of terms which his profession de manded. " But the habitual practice of taking morphia is bad, because, for one reason, it's hard to leave off, and consequently you have to go on taking a drug which is exceedingly baneful to human life. I expect you know the reasons, and especially its action on the heart, as well as I do." " I know a very little about it," said Maber ; " but pain, too, is hurtful to human life when it robs its victims of natural sleep, and lowers the nervous system.

Have you ever felt pain — incessant, acute pain ? " " I cannot say I have felt it myself, at least of the nature you speak of. But I know its character from the results which I test daily. You know that there are some organizations more sensitive to pain than others ; they actually feel more acutely. Pain is a sensation which arises from certain con ditions, and in some cases these conditions cause an exquisite sensibility." " Nature has some strange secrets," said Maber. " However, we'll finish this investigation some other time, if you care to, as I am very much interested in that kind of thing. In the meantime I must go home." And Lawrence uttered the word as if home meant the one oasis in the blank desert called life, along which the jaded body earned a burden called pain. There were moments even with him, surfeited as he was with good fortune, love, and all that a man of pleasure and taste could desire, when he felt that life might be sold for a song.

It is men of this kind who want consolation, and who need good wives. Let not Dr Langley, wedded to his profession and to humanity, and alive to the pleasures of beneficent associations with his kind, begrudge Lawrence Maber the delightful repose and enticements of his home. Au Engagement. 13