A Step in the Dark

Front matter

THE UNITED KINGDOM AND COLONIES SUPPLIED BY BARBER & COMPANY (The Original), TEA AND COFFEE IMPORTERS For nearly "One Hundred" years (since 1797), when their popular Black Tea was 8s. per lb., and the Finest Pure Gunpowder, 1 6s. Now they are offering a good Pure BLACK LEAF TEA at Is., Is. 2d., and Is. 4d. ; higher qualities equally cheap ; and Pure Fine GUNPOWDER, 2s. lOd. " and 35. lOd., the same quality as that charged 16s. for in 1797," and so highly appreciated. ■founding Sistings of CHOICE BLACK TEAS (not powder) ready for use as soon as made, Is. per lb. "A LUXURY" NO LONGER UNKNOWN. BARBER & COMPANY'S FRENCH COFFEE (See that you have none other), Is. per i-lb. tin ; 2-lb. sample tin, free by post, for 2s. 6d. ; 10 lb. of Tea or Coffee above is. per lb. carriage free in England. Special Terms to Large Consumers and Agents.

BARBER & COMPANY ("THE ORIGINAL"— Established in the Last Century, 1797), 274, REGENT CIRCUS, W. 61, Bishopsgate Street, London, E.C. 67> Bnxton Road, S W. ,„„ „, ,. „ ~ 44, Union Street, late 42, Great 102, Westbourne Grove, W. Titchfield Street, W. Quadrant, New Street, BIRMINGHAM. 147, North Street, & 75, East Street, BRIGHTON ; also 60, Church Road, Hove (their on y Add: es es in Sussex). THUS WE PART — HE AND I (See />. 69). BY KATE EYRE AUTHOR OF "FOR THE GOOD OF THB FAMILY" "TO BE GIVEN Up" ETC. CASSELL and COMPANY Limited LONDON PARIS & MELBOURNE 1S94 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reprinted from Cassell's Magazine.

Chapter I. In Which Lady Vane Hears Tidings

Picture a well-furnished room in a house in South Kensington, the only occupants two women — one old, one young. The elder woman is powerfully built, with a stern almost cruel face, that shows but few traces of her great age — fourscore years and five. She is pacing up and down, gesticulating wildly with one hand, while with the other she brings a stick to the ground at each step she takes, with such force that the nick-nacks about the room tremble at her approach. Not so the younger woman. With an open letter in her hand, she sits quietly watching the movements of her companion. She is too used to these outbursts to feel alarmed. The elder woman is Lady Vane, widow of one Sir William Vane, who amassed a large fortune by the manufacture of a patent medicine, and was knighted for his enormous expenditure.

On his death, which took place some twenty years or more before the commence ment of this story, Lady Vane altered her mode of living, spending no more than was necessary for her own comfort ; and, as the sale of the world-famed blood tonic increased year by year, she at length became one of the richest women in London, The younger woman is myself — Adrianne Temple. I am alone in the world ; penniless ; friendless, save for the eccentric old woman, whose humble companion I have been for the last three years. The letter I am holding in my hand has crossed the ocean broad, having been written in Melbourne by one Bernard Cole, half-nephew, and only male relative, to Lady Vane. In it the writer expresses much anxiety as to his dear aunt's state of health, and hints at his readiness to travel thousands of miles to receive her — blessing.

Long years ago, Bernard Cole's father — Lady Vane's half-brother — committed an unpardonable folly : he married a thirdor fourth-rate actress. The young couple, after having in vain applied to the Vanes for assistance, went to Australia. At that time the blood tonic was becoming known, but the wealth of the Vanes was not then an established fact. Of her half-brother Lady Vane never again heard, nor was she aware of her nephew's existence until she received his letter. I need not now enter into the long account he gives of the death of his father and mother, of his own career, and of the strange coincidences which led to the joyful dis covery that he had an aunt still living. Lady Vane is furious. " Doubtless he thinks I'm a poor old woman to whom he is anxious to do a good turn. Very much surprised he would be if he heard I had a shilling to call my own, I suppose ; ha ! ha ! ha !

" Lady Vane puts her hand on the table to support herself as she speaks, and shakes her stick angrily. Her voice is gruff, like a man's ; her laugh reminds one of the roaring of the sea ; old as she is, her eyes flash. " Like father, like son," she continues ; " my brother never had a penny to bless In which Lady Vane hears Tidings. 9 himself with, and this young stripling is just such another, I'll be bound. A nice fool he must fancy I am, to think I should believe such gammon as he writes." " He is not much of a stripling, Lady Vane ; you forget that he says he is over thirty." " Forget ; yes, I'm always forgetting ! I'll tell you one thing I shall forget, and that will be to put his name down in my will. But he won't mind that as long as he gets my blessing. You can send him that in a letter, and save him a journey.

You might put half a dozen crosses at the end for kisses ; ha ! ha ! ha ! " I have nothing to say to this, so I keep silence. " Now I suppose you think I ought to leave this young reprobate half my fortune, or perhaps the whole ? Yes, the whole, that would be the better plan, so that he might make ducks and drakes of it, and go headlong to the dogs." " I think, as he is your only male relative, you should receive him if he comes to England, Lady Vane ; and that, unless there be any serious charge you can bring against him, your freehold property should go to him, as it would do were you to die without a will." I have never spoken my mind so freely before, but Lady Vane's niece has been saying cruel things of me. If Lady Vane would but consent to make a will in favour of her relatives, I should no longer feel that my endeavour to do my duty by my employer gave others an opportunity of questioning the purity of my motives.

" What has my will to do with you, Adrianne Temple ? A very uninteresting document it will be as far as you are concerned ; I can tell you that much." " Nothing whatever, Lady Vane, more than that I believe you would feel easier if your property were satisfactorily disposed of." " Only thinking of my good, I suppose, like Caroline and her girls. Oh, you are a nice, disinterested lot ! " Caroline is a widow with two daughters, her late husband, Dr. Melgrove, having left her just enough to live on. She is niece to Lady Vane, and first cousin to Bernard Cole. Lady Vane has no other relations. " I know nothing about Mrs. Melgrove, Lady Vane. Personally I have, as you well know, no interest what ever in the disposal of your property." " Think you will stand a better chance if you are high and mighty, eh ?

Well, you are not so far out, child, for I like you better than I do that sycophant, Caroline. The way that girl — woman, I should say, for she's not much of a chick now — irritates me is past endurance, with her ' dear aunt this,' and her ' dear aunt that,' and those two mincing misses of hers. Bah! I've no patience with them. Your chances are better than theirs at any rate, though that's not saying much. I wouldn't advise you to reckon on what you're likely to get, or you may be finding yourself in the wrong box ; mind that." " Lady Vane, why will you always think that I am anxious for you to remember me in your will ? I have assured you over and over again that I neither have, nor wish to have, any expectations of inheriting your money. I have never viewed myself in any light but that of a paid dependent."

" Yes, and mightily well paid you are too ! I should like to know where else you would get the salary I give you ; and what do you do for it ? why, next to nothing. And yet, instead of being grateful, you are for ever preaching and trying to teach me my duty." " If you are so dissatisfied with me, Lady Vane, why do you not make a change ? I have tried hard to please you, nor am I insensible to all your kindness to me : but In which Lady Vane hears Tidings. 11 if you think I am not worth the salary you give me, I would rather you told me to leave you." " Who wants to talk about your leaving, indeed ? I always knew Caroline, and those idiotic girls of hers, didn't care a straw for me, notwithstanding all their blarneying ; but I didn't think you would want to desert a poor lonely old woman, who, with all her faults, has never said an unkind word to you.

I had a better opinion of you than that, I had indeed." " You know I don't wish to leave you, Lady Vane. Remember how lonely I am, and that you are the only friend I have in the world." " Then why talk about leaving me ? But there, there, my dear, don't let us say anything more about it. There is nothing I hate in the world so much as a fuss. Run and fetch my jewel-case, and I will show you some treasures that will make you die with envy." One by one Lady Vane takes out her ornaments, telling me for the hundredth time the history and value of each, making me put them on, and asking me if I wouldn't give my eyes to possess them. " Now put them back. They must all go to some one some day, but the old woman may wear them her self again yet. No, don't put those pearls away ; they suit you vastly well.

I don't fancy I should look quite so pretty in them as you do, although I needn't have said so once upon a time. Ah ! at many a party in Paris have I worn those pearls, and the gallants used to say in those days that the English miss had no cause to be ashamed of her face. Ah ! there's no place like Paris." Lady Vane has started on her favourite theme now. For two long hours she entertains me with stories that I have heard many times before of Parisian life, chuckling maliciously over the vices of wicked men and weak, silly women. " There, run and put the jewel-case back in its place. You can hide the pearls in your own room, and I won't ask what you have done with them." " Oh, Lady Vane, I don't want them ; indeed I don't." " Don't talk such rubbish, child ; I should like to see Caroline refuse such a gift for one of her girls.

About as much chance of her refusing as of my offering it ; ha ! ha! ha!" " But, Lady Vane, indeed it would be more fitting for one of Mrs. Melgrove's daughters to have them." "If you are not quiet in a moment I'll box your ears for you. I wonder if any poor old woman but myself would put up with such a provoking chit of a girl as you are ? I should like to give you a good beating, I should ; " and Lady Vane shakes her stick so menac ingly that, were I not used to her, I should feel seriously alarmed. So it ends in my accepting the pearls, feeling in my heart grateful to the eccentric old woman who is at once so unreasonable and yet so thoroughly good to me.

Chapter II

" I'LL ' DEAR AUNT ' YOU ! " "My newly-found and inexpressibly dear Nephew, — I am, indeed, delighted to hear of your existence. The high esti mation in which I ever held your lamented father, together with the unstinted approval which his choice of a life-partner called forth from all those who had the honour of knowing him, naturally "I'll 'Dear Aunt' You!" 13 predisposes me in favour of his offspring. Inclination bids me tell you to come to me ; but, stay ! I dare not call you away from those duties which — as you say yourself — you perform in so exemplary a manner. Were I to beseech you to cross the bound less ocean, in order that I might hold you in my arms, how sad, how deplorable might be the consequences ! In the first place, you might suffer from sea-sickness ; and, in the second, it is just possible that you might feel a trifle disappointed on learning I have decided to whom to leave my little property — that is, if you were aware when you wrote your frank, generous letter, that I had a few pounds saved up.

Probably, however, this is news to you. "If you weigh these considerations dispassionately, you will, I think, my dear nephew, come to the conclusion that it would be better for you to receive by letter only the blessing of " Your loving Aunt, " Martha Vane." Such is the letter which, at Lady Vane's dictation, I write to Bernard Cole. " Well, if he has a spark of proper pride, that will about settle him, I should say; ha! ha! ha!" chuckles Lady Vane, as she rubs her hands together in fiendish delight. I did not like the tone of Bernard's letter ; it was too cringing ; still, as he is nearly related to Lady Vane, I think her ladyship's reply is much too severe. Doubtless it will, however, have the desired effect of "settling him." But in thinking this Lady Vane and I are both mistaken. The possible results are, I suppose, too advantageous for an enterprising colonial to relinquish the game so easily.

At any rate, Lady Vane receives a second letter in a surprisingly short time, the contents of which go to prove that the writer possesses more brains than self-respect. In it he feigns to treat Lady Vane's communication as an excellent joke, and says he is coming to England shortly on urgent business, when he looks forward to making his dear aunt's acquaintance. Yes, a clever letter, certainly, but entirely thrown away on the recipient. " Send it back to him at once, and inform him that any further communications with which he may favour me will be returned to him unopened." Letter after letter arrives for Lady Vane after this with as much rapidity as the mails admit of. The loving aunt is, however, as good as her word, at first returning all her nephew's letters unopened, and after wards having recourse to the simpler method of burning them unread.

At length they cease. " Tired out at last, I suppose," laughs Lady Vane. "Well, really I've a good mind to send him a Post Office order, for the postage of all those letters must have amounted to something considerable, and they were worth a trifle for the amusement they caused me. Better not, though ; it might induce him to make fresh efforts, and I am getting rather sick of the affair." It is a bright morning in the beginning of October. Lady Vane is making arrangements to leave for Brighton about the 20th, intending to stay, as is her usual practice, at that most charming of winter resorts until after Christmas. I am writing, at her dictation, to a Miss Sparrow, the proprietress of a fashionable boarding-house, where we are in the habit of taking up our quarters. Lady Vane prefers a boarding-house to an hotel, possibly because there is more likelihood of her eccentricities being condoned at the former establishment in consideration of her title and wealth.

K I'll 'Dear Aunt' You!" 15 A titled boarder is a godsend to a boarding-house proprietress. A knock at the door. "Come in," says Lady Vane sharply. Her ladyship does not like to be interrupted while she is dictating a letter. The parlour-maid enters. It is one of Lady Vane's many peculiarities that she will have only female ser vants in the house. A coachman she is obliged to keep, but on no consideration would she allow him to sleep under the same roof as herself. " There is a gentleman below, my lady, who wishes to speak to you," says the parlour-maid. " Bother the man ! Who is he ? Come on some begging expedition, I'll be bound. Really the British Public seem to think I have nothing else to do but to put my hand in my pocket all day long." " He didn't give his name, my lady." " Go down and ask him for his card, then."

Presently the girl returns. " Please, my lady, the gentleman says he forgot to bring his card-case with him." " Then tell him he had better go back and fetch it." " He looks quite the gentleman, my lady," says the girl dubiously. " I don't care what he looks. Go and do as I tell you at once. Am I to be mistress here or you, I should like to know ?" The girl again descends, to reappear after a few minutes, carrying a visiting-card on a salver. " Why, in the name of all that's wonderful, couldn't that idiot of a man have sent this up before, instead of making all this fuss ? " says Lady Vane, as she takes the card. " Il was just an odd one he found in his pocket book, my lady," explains the parlour-maid. " Tell me who it is, my dear. I can't see without my glasses ; " and Lady Vane hands the card across to me.

I glance at it ; then I read aloud the name : — "Mr. Bernard Cole." " Who ? " screams Lady Vane. I repeat the name, although Lady Vane's face tells me she heard what I said before. " I won't see him. Nothing on earth shall induce me to. Tell him to go about his business at once." " Well, I've come across a good deal in the way of quiet impertinence in my day, but never anything to equal this," remarks Lady Vane, as the parlour-maid again disappears. " Please, my lady, the gentleman says he wants to see you most particular." The parlour-maid stands holding the handle of the door, evidently dreading the effect of her words, and prepared to make off should her ladyship attempt to use that terrible stick of hers. " How dare you bring up such a message ? A nice lot of servants I have about me, when there isn't one who will do as she is told.

Why don't you shut the door in the man's face? " " Oh, my lady, he won't go. He's at the foot of the stairs now." Lady Vane clutches hold of her stick, and hobbles to the landing as fast as she can go. "If you don't leave my house this instant, I shall send for the police," screams her ladyship over the banisters. " But, my dear aunt, I have come all the way from Australia on pur " "I'll 'Dear Aunt' You!" 17 " I can't hear what you say, and I don't want to hear, either. Don't I tell you to go ? " " I've come all the way from Melbourne," shouts the affectionate nephew. "I don't care where you have come from. I'll tell you where you'll go to, and that is to Newgate, if you don't leave my house at once. Reade " — to the parlour-maid — "fetch a policeman." " My dear aunt, I think you forget — " Why don't you fetch a policeman, as I tell you, Reade, instead of standing gaping there ?

" " But, my dear aunt — " I'll 'dear aunt ' you ! " — and an alarming clatter on the stairs tells me that Lady Vane has aimed her stick at her too attentive nephew. The terrible noise is succeeded by a lull. At length her ladyship returns to the drawing-room. " Well, I really have settled him at last, I think. It's shameful that no one dared to send that fellow about his business but myself. Talk about keeping a dog and barking oneself! why, I keep a whole pack, and yet I can't get a growl out of one of them. Ring the bell, Miss Temple. "Send all the servants up to me at once, and come back yourself," says Lady Vane, when Reade appears, pale and trembling. " If ever that man comes here again," says her ladyship, when the servants have mustered, " no matter which of you opens the door to him, shut it in his face at once.

Now you can all go." The servants promise a ready obedience and depart. They must, I think, feel a little puzzled as to how they are to recognise the individual whom they have orders to treat so discourteously, but they all stand too B much in awe of their hot-tempered mistress to ask any questions. " What was Mr. Bernard Cole like, Lady Vane ? " I ask. " I don't know, and I don't care. I didn't put on my glasses to look at him." A fortnight after Lady Vane and I leave for Brighton.

Chapter III. Our Agreeable Travelling Companion

It is the 20th of October, and we — Lady Vane and myself — have just arrived at Miss Sparrow's select boarding establishment. We came down by the four o'clock express from London Bridge. The train was not crowded, there being but one other passenger in our compartment. I felt that this was a cause for thankfulness, for Lady Vane is much given to making remarks about her travelling companions in a very loud tone. Possibly, as she is a little deaf herself, she is unaware how far her voice travels. Nevertheless it is a very trying habit on the part of her ladyship, and one that [has occasioned me much discomfort. The one other passenger was a gentleman, apparently not much over thirty. He got in after we had settled ourselves, and took a seat at the farther corner from us. Lady Vane immediately put up her glasses and stared hard at him.

"What a remarkably handsome man, my dear!" she remarked. ' " Yes, he is nice-looking," I replied in a low tone. I felt myself reddening as I involuntarily gave one hasty, anxious glance at the stranger to see if he had heard her ladyship's comment. To my relief he was cutting a copy of a paper, and appeared quite unconscious of the compliment Lady Vane had paid him. " Might I trouble you to let down this window part of the way ? It is so stiff, I can't do it myself," said Lady Vane a little later on, addressing our travelling companion. "Oh, Lady Vane, let me try ; I think I can manage it," I pleaded, tugging vigorously at the strap. " Nonsense, child ; you'll hurt yourself." " Allow me," and in another second the stranger had let the window down as far as Lady Vane desired. He did not return to his seat in the corner, but sat down next to Lady Vane and opposite to me.

" You are very wise to admit the fresh air," he said, addressing her ladyship ; " most ladies seem to have a horror of ventilation in a railway carriage." " Oh, I can't bear stuffiness ; there's nothing I detest more," replied Lady Vane. " If you have not seen this week's illustrated paper, perhaps you would like to look at this," and the stranger proffered his paper. " Thank you. I think I must trespass on your good nature still further by asking you to tell me what this cartoon means. I never can see a joke unless I have someone at hand to explain it to me." " With pleasure," and the stranger was soon eluci dating the mysteries of a political caricature, while Lady Vane was laughing heartily. His voice was cultivated, even musical ; his choice of words excellent. B Sitting opposite to them, I had a good opportunity of watching this strange pair.

Yes, Lady Vane was right — he was a very handsome man. Tall, and well proportioned ; with silky black hair, waving slightly ; blue-grey eyes, that looked as if they could be wonder fully expressive on occasions ; a rather dark skin ; and a long black moustache, that failed, however, to hide two rows of perfect teeth. He had drawn off one glove, exposing to view a long, white hand, with tapering fingers and filbert nails. Lady Vane was in high good-humour. Notwith standing her fourscore years and five, she still appre ciates the society of distinguished-looking men, nor has she altogether forgotten the arts of coquetry in which, during her long residence in Paris, she became pro ficient. Somehow it saddened me to watch her. Why, I can hardly tell, possibly only because it is not what one looks for in a woman of her age.

Yet with all her worldliness, her bitter tongue, and her love of sarcasm, I doubt if Lady Vane is any worse than many a sedate old dame, correct in manner, but hard of heart. Seldom indeed does her ladyship turn a deaf ear to the poor and needy — always provided the poor and needy do not come to her in the guise of relations — but the fact that her gifts are nearly always accompanied by cruel, sting ing words, takes away from them much of their charm. She is not fond of letting her name appear on subscrip tion lists, but there are few London charities that have not benefited by anonymous gifts due to the sale of the world-famed blood tonic ; fewer still who have not received satirical letters condemning their system and management, signed " Martha Vane." I wonder whether the anonymous gifts and the condemnatory letters have ever been traced to the same source by any of the recipients of both.

Probably not. But to return to our journey. Lady Vane and our handsome travelling companion continued chatting until we reached our destination. Occasionally I was drawn into the conversation, when the stranger would address me in so deferential a tone that I was weak enough to feel rather gratified. I think I was even a little sorry when we alighted on the Brighton platform. Our newly-found acquaintance saw our luggage put on a fly, handed us in, and delicately leaving Lady Vane to tell the coachman our address, raised his hat, and wished us good-day. " A thoroughly well-mannered man," was her ladyship's verdict. For a few minutes the stranger was uppermost in our thoughts, but now he is forgotten in the flurry of our arrival at Albany House. Miss Sparrow welcomes us warmly. She is a pretty, stylish-looking woman, not much over thirty, with a slightly foreign accent.

Her mother was, I believe, a Frenchwoman. " It is so sweet to have you here again, dear Lady Vane," she says, advancing to meet us with both hands extended. " So sweet " and " so nice " are Miss Sparrow's favourite expressions, and she applies them to nearly everything. " Eh, what ? " queries her ladyship, who is rather given to feigning to be deafer than she really is. " So nice to have you back with us," repeats Miss Sparrow in a louder voice. Delicate little compliments lose much of their sweetness when they have to be shouted out two or three times, as no doubt Miss Sparrow feels. " Well, I shouldn't say you had been fretting while I was away, for I never saw you looking so well in my life." " Do I ? It is so kind of you to say so, Lady Vane. And how are you, Miss Temple ? " I make a suitable reply.

I am only Lady Vane's companion, so I must not expect such a warm welcome as is accorded to her ladyship. " Well, I suppose we can go up to our rooms now ? Dinner at half-past six as usual ? " asks Lady Vane. "Yes, just the same as ever. You will find good fires in your rooms, and I will see that Martin takes you up some tea and hot water at once. Now, be sure to ring, Lady Vane, if there is anything you want. I think you will find everything just as you like it." " Oh, I'll ring fast enough if there's anything I want. That's a care you need not have ; ha ! ha ! ha ! " " Just as cheerful as ever ! I do so like to hear you laugh, Lady Vane." " Yes, just as cheerful, and just as fond of my own way. Oh, there's plenty of life in the old woman yet ! " We have two large, comfortable bed-rooms, with a door of communication between them.