Peril. A novel

Part I

— continued. CHAPTER PACE XI. PAUL LAWFORD TO MRS. WOODFALL - - 3 XII. LE ROI EST MORT - - - 24 XIII. THE DEAD HAND STRIKES - - " S1 XIV. THE COUSINS - - - 76 XV. FAREWELL TO GREAT NORTH STREET - 98

Part II. Stanesacre

I. BEGINNING AGAIN - - - - 1 23 II. VOX IN DESERTO ... - 150 III. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION - - - CONTENTS. IV CHAPTER PACE IV. WITH THE HEART — AGAINST THE HEAD - IQ*^ V. OLD ORDER CHANGETH - - - 2lS VI. A DISCOURSE ON CHIFFONS - . . . 250 VII. MRS. TRELAWNEY'S RIVALS - - - 2 §3 PERIL.

PART I.

— continued. 2 1 VOL.

CHAPTER XI. PAUL LAWFORD TO MRS.

AA'OODFALL. WONDER how all this will end, Katty, my dear. I am going to give you the history of my last mystification, which you can read or not, as you wish — I fancy you will. ' Hugh went away on Wednesday evening. I missed, and do yet miss him, very much in the office ; but I did my best, and succeeded tolerably well. After all, it doesn't require much brains to do the work which, with kindly consideration for my limited capacities, they have set for me here. On the Thursday morning I had to depend entirely on my own 21 — PERIL, exertions, for the day before Hankinson had been ill, and was now as cross as a bear. I have noticed a change coming lately over the spirit of that man's dream. What may be the cause of it I can't say, of course. But that is not the mystification I have to tell you about.

I went home, as usual. The even ings do not seem half so long since I have had something to do in the daytime. Now that the pinch is over, I may tell you that those days in January and the first part of February — just before I went to old Nowell's dinner-party — were black enough — so black that sometimes I felt as if I would cut my throat for a toss-up. I suppose a lot of people would say that considering I had enough secure, to grind on with, that was a most idiotic frame of mind to be in; but every day it is more strongly borne in upon my mind that man does not live by bread alone, and that perhaps those are not always the worst cases of starvation which are the most obvious and the most material. At any rate, I could not describe to you, and would not if I could, out of consideration for your feel ings, the sensation that used to come crawl ing over me, like one of those " slimy things that crawl with legs upon a slimy sea," when I woke in the morning and looked round my room, and went downstairs and saw the wretched, sordid little room, empty alike of voice or face to bless one with the sight or sound of it, and realized that practically there was nothing for me to do but sit there all day long.

That is over now ; copying out in voices and writing orders or acknowledging them is excitement after that. ' I went home then, as I say, and had just sat down to my dinner, when the servant brought a note to me saying that it came from Mr. Nowell's, and that the messenger waited for answer. It was from Peril, PERIL 6 written in a small, fine Italian hand, like delicate little traceries and tendrils — the last kind of hand I should have expected her to write. I may as well give it you all, for it was short. ' " Dear Mr. Lawford, ' " My grandfather desires me to say that if you are at liberty this evening, and would call any time after seven, he would be very glad to see you, as he particularly wishes to speak to you. If you will kindly send a verbal answer by the bearer of this, it will be quite enough. ' " Yours very truly, ' " Peril Noavell." ' My verbal message was to the effect that I would be round in about half an hour.

I did not waste much time in wondering what had procured me the honour of an invitation from Nowell senior as soon as Nowell junior's back was turned ; but as soon as I was ready, I made my way to Great North Street. While I was taking off my overcoat, and the servant stood by waiting, the door of the library was opened, and Miss Nowell emerged from it. ' " How do you do, Mr. Lawford ?" she said very gravely and gently ; and then she said to the maid, " You need not wait. I am going upstairs, and I will take Mr. Lawford with me. ' The girl went away, and then Peril said to me : ' " Come in here ; I want to speak to you." With which she took hold of my arm, and literally led me into the room and closed the door after us. I was somewhat surprised in secret, but I had some time ago resolved that it was not of the least use to betray any astonishment about anything that went on PERLL. here, so I looked as if nothing were happen ing.

There was a much brighter light here than in the hall, and when I looked at Peril, I was more startled and more shocked than with anything else. She looked the phantom of her usual self — pale, haggard, and woe begone, and with a look in her eyes of the most devouring anxiety that I ever saw. Her voice was quick and low when she spoke. ' " Did you send for me, Miss Nowell, or was it really a message from Mr. Nowell ?" ' " Oh, it was from him, certainly," she said ; " and it is that that I want to speak to you about. He means mischief." ' Her eyes were distended, and her face white. She bent forward and stared at me. Wondering what it could be to me, or how I could possibly prevent it if he did mean mischief, however black, I rather feebly said, " Indeed !' and waited to hear more. Hugh has gone away, as you know," she said ' " Yes. ' " Mrs. Robson has gone too.

She left this afternoon." ' "Mrs. Robson !" I was really amazed at this. " I thought she never left Mr. Nowell ?" ' " She never does, generally. Twice only, since he began to be out of health, has she ever gone. It wrung her heart to have to go to-day. The idea of leaving him alone in my clutches nearly turned her brain. Nothing short of absolute necessity would have driven her off, as you may suppose. She got a telegram this morning to say that her only sister, who lives near Leicester, has not many days to live. Unfortunately for her, she is not in the habit of getting tele grams ; she wondered what it could be all about, and read it aloud to us, so that both PERIL, grandpapa and I became acquainted with the contents of it. After that, there was nothing for her but to go. It would have looked too brutal to say she did not care whether her dear sister lived or died.

But I saw that she could have bitten her tongue off with vexation. You see, if she had had sufficient presence of mind to keep quiet, we need not have known what there was in the telegram." ' " But her only sister* 'Peril laughed. "Really, Mr. Lawford! Well, she went off in great agony ; it was like tearing herself bodily away. She said she did not know what in the world he would do without her. He told her — you know how polite and grateful he always is — that she was not so indispensable as she supposed, and that he and I would get on splendidly together. I really thought she would have screamed when she heard that, but she had to conceal her anguish and go. Scarcely had the cab rattled away with her this afternoon, than he called me to him, spoke quite affec tionately to me, so that it made my blood run cold to listen to him, and told me to write that note to you.

So I did." ' " And I obeyed with pleasure, though I am at a loss to imagine what he can want with me." ' " Listen to me," she said, drawing very close to me, and speaking beneath her breath. " He is going to ask you questions — about Hugh. He is suspicious. Sus picion is the breath of life to him. Whatever you say, tell him nothing about Hugh which can possibly prejudice him against him." ' " It may be rather difficult not to do so, if he has made up his mind in advance to be prejudiced against him," I said. I will own to you, Katty, that I found it a little difficult to keep my head steady, as she stood, having forgotten everything except her one object — PERLL, with her hands grasping my arm, and that wonderful face gazing into mine. Does she think one is made of granite, or iron ? But of course I knew all the time that she did not think anything about it.

She is over head and ears in love with Hugh ; she was thinking of him, and of what was to be done for him. And, as I was under the impression that Mr. Nowell did believe in Hugh, what ever he might think of everybody else, I was bewildered, as well as startled. She seemed to grow impatient at the blank way in which I looked at her, for she gave my arm a little jerk, and said : Don't you understand ?' « " No," I confessed, " I don't. What has made him suspicious of Hugh ? For, most certainly he trusted him, up to a very short time ago. He trusted him implicitly." ' She loosed her hold of my arm. Her hands sank down at her sides. I shall never forget the dreadful look on her face, as she said to me : ' " What has made him suspicious ? I have made him suspicious." ' " But, my dear Miss Nowell '"Hush!

I know all about it. It was last night. I quarrelled with Hugh — the worst quarrel I ever had with him — I do not mean that we have not said harder things to each other, for we have, many a time. Indeed, he was hardly angry at all. He was a great deal worse — he was forgiving. It was all because of that woman — that Margaret Hankinson, whom he loves — oh, Mr. Law ford, you did not tell me true that night, when you said his love for her was a passing fancy, such as many a man had had for a woman older than himself: it is earnest, it is real. She is his saint upon earth, and the woman whom he loves and wants to marry, too." PERIL ' " I could but say what I thought and believed," I urged. " How could I tell ? It was what, judging from experience, I supposed must be the case." ' " It is not the case — and we had this quarrel, though it did not begin about that.

And while he was prating about her, I was feeling as if I should go mad. Why, I was mad, I know — perfectly mad. I never felt so horrible in all my life. Why should I pretend to deny it ? you must have seen it long ago. He is everything in the world to me — my life, and my hope, and my light ; and surely / had more reason to expect that he should love me, than that other woman — look at me ! was there anything strange in my idea that he might return my love ?" ' Katty, instead of being ridiculous, as ninety-nine men and women out of a hundred would have been, in making such a confes sion, this girl was sublime. There was nothing absurd, nothing weak about her. I should wonder that a lad like Hugh Nowell could have inspired her with such a passion, only I know what a woman — or a man either — will idealize and worship, when they have nothing else.

That Mrs. Robson is a stupid, silly woman. She might have tamed Peril, and taken away her sting, at the very first, by kindness and firmness. That I will always maintain. I thought out all this, and more, as she stood before me, with her hands spread out, as if to say, " See, he has rejected this ; he has despised me." And at last I said, slowly, but I think with conviction : ' " There was nothing strange about it. The mystery is that it should have turned out otherwise." ' She scarcely seems to regard me as a person — an individual — more as a machine endowed with a certain degree of intelligence PERIL. to which' she can confide the story of her wrongs. '" I left him," she said. " I rushed upstairs. On the first landing I felt my knees tremble under me. I felt as if I could not get up the other stairs.

I went into the drawing-room, and there I saw my grandfather alone." ' She paused, and then went on, quite com posedly, but not with a sort of composure that one cares to see : ' " I walked up to the fireplace. Grandpapa asked me one or two questions, and at last wanted to know why Hugh was going off to London in such a hurry ? I said, perhaps he was going to give more assistance to the Hutchinsons " '"Oh, Miss Nowell!" ' " You said to me once, that there was danger I might inadvertently say something to Hugh's detriment. I said I could not do so inadvertently. No more I could. I knew quite well what I was saying, and I went on with it, and told him all about Hugh and the Hutchinsons — I wish you would strike me !' she broke in abruptly ; " I wish you would do something to me that I deserve, or call me some name, or something.

When I had told him — and if Hugh had been standing there I would have gone on with the same words — I walked away, and left him to meditate upon it, and he has has been doing so ever since. They have both gone away. I am here alone with him, and I can see that he is going over everything in his mind, but he does not tell me anything. I think he wants to question you with a view to finding out a few more crimes and enormities of Hugh's. My punishment is coming ; I feel it drawing towards me. I do not know what it will be yet, but it is coming — coming, and it will strike me through him — I know that. Oh, Mr. Lawford, I am not unreasonable, 22 VOL. PERLL am I, in asking you to do what you can to up hold Hugh's dear name ? I am a very bad, miserable girl, and I have no right whatever to trouble you with my wretched concerns, but you also care for him a little — he is your friend.

And the very first time I saw you, when he brought you here, I read in your face that you were kind and gentle, and generous, and that is why I appeal to you n now. ' She looked at me with her eyes swimming in tears ; her throat choking down the sobs that rose in it. I did not say much. I told her that, so far as I could, I would baffle his cunning, but that I trusted more to his know ledge of Hugh's necessity to him for the preservation of his money than to anything else for keeping him straight. But I would do what I could. ' " Thank you, thank you — God bless you ! You are a real friend to one who does not deserve any kindness from you or anyone," she said. " Now come upstairs. We have been here long enough." ' I followed her upstairs. She opened the drawing-room door, and said, quite briskly and cheerfully : ' " Grandpapa, here's Mr. Lawford.

I'll leave you to have your talk with him," and so disappeared. ' Now, what the old rascal really wanted with me is more than I can tell, for he asked me very few questions about Hugh. He asked me far more about the office, and about Hankinson, and what I did there, and how much they paid me. He did inquire how long I had known H ugh, and some questions of that kind. He looked vindictive, but he presently dismissed me, and I went away. I greatly desired to see Peril again, but she did not give me the chance, and I had to go away unsatisfied. Whether she thought she 22 — PERIL had overdone her alarm, and felt ashamed of her excitement and of the confessions she had made ; whether she was literally afraid to ask me what had taken place— I don't know, but I did not see her again ; and what is brewing in his mind I don't know.' Written on the following evening. ' We got a grand fright in the office this morning — at least, Hankinson did, if I am not much mistaken.

I wonder if he has evei done anything he ought not to have done — in business, I mean. The time at which the alarm occurred was about noon. My desk is in the outer office — not the most distinguished part of the establishment — don't suppose it. But Hankinson had sent for me into his office to speak to me, and I had left the door open. He was telling me about some letters I had to write. Suddenly we heard a little fuss and bustle in the outer office, and then a voice— the voice— the Snarl, of which I have spoken to you before, and which no one could mistake. ' " Well, what are you all doin' ?" said this voice. I lifted my head, as one does at an unexpected voice or sound, and I caught sight of Hankinson's face, reflected in a small square looking-glass which hung on the opposite wall. It was ashenwhite — ghastly to look at.

The flag of fear, or guilt, or apprehension, or something was hung out upon his cheeks, plainly enough to be seen. The only thing is, these flags show the same colour for so many and such very opposite emotions. But there it was, and it startled me, as appearing on the face of a very high class manager of such very extensive factories After a moment, it disappeared, and he said, quietly enough, as he placed the bundle of drafts in my hands : Mr. Nowell — he must be much better PERLL 22 to have ventured out, and down here on a day like this." ' Of course it was no place of mine to make any remarks. I held my tongue, and went to my own quarters, meditating a little on what had happened. I met the venerable man face to face ; he was buttoned up in huge furs and overcoats. I suppose his poor little mummy of a person was stowed away some where inside them ; and as long as the spirit continues to animate it, that mummy will have the power to make everyone connected with it uncomfortable.

He was leaning on the arm of Smith, his man, and condescended to give me a nod and a grunt of recognition. His errand, whatever it might be, was cut short by a paroxysm of bronchitic coughing, which left him gasping and almost fainting. We nearly carried him to his carriage, a hired brougham, which had brought him down ; and he was driven away home. How he survives these fits of coughing is more than I can understand. I fancy he will go very soon — may it be before he has had time to accomplish the mischief which Peril affirms he is plotting !'

CHAPTER XII

le roi est mort. ITTLE more than a week later, Mrs. Robson was back at her post, her sister having, as she observed, without intending either reproach or satire, ' disappointed them ' for the second time, and deferred her demise until some future day. Mrs. Robson merely used an expression which had been common and correct in her youth, but, in a measure, she actually was disappointed. If Mrs. Hepburn, the sister in question, had indeed and verit ably died — if Mrs. Robson could have come back in triumphant crape, and with the black- LE ROL EST MORT. 25 edged handkerchief of a mourner before her eyes — she would at least have felt that she had left her post at Great North Street for a solid and tangible reason. But, as a matter of fact, her sister had got better, and Mrs. Robson felt very much as if she had been decoyed away from her charge on false pretences — as if she need never have left him in Peril's careless keeping.

She had insisted on having bulletins as to his health, as often as she could extract them from the young lady, who performed her office in a very perfunctory manner. Mrs. Robson had heard from her four times, billets, on each occasion, as terse and concise as a telegraphic despatch. The first had said : ' Grandpapa says he is better than he has been for years. He had a close carriage yesterday, and was out driving for some time.' Peril omitted — purposely, and by her grandfather's orders — to state that this drive PERIL had been to town, on business, the nature of which he had not confided to her. Despatch No. 2 said : 'Grandpapa has got a little touch of his bronchitis again, but his appetite keeps good, and he does not intend to go out. You are not to trouble, he says.' Despatch No. 3, sent two days later, informed Mrs. Robson : ' Grandpapa's cough is worse.

I sent for the doctor. He says he is to keep in one temperature, and take every care.' It will be imagined into what a fever Mrs. Robson was thrown by the last of these despatches. She resolved to return to Dark ingford, and her resolution was only confirmed by the last bulletin, received on the morning of her departure from her sister's : ' Grandpapa really very ill. The doctor says, if you can leave Mrs. Hepburn, you had better come here at once.' Trains, cabs, and every other method of locomotion were all too slow for Mrs. Robson on that anxious day. Towards dusk she arrived at Great North Street, having worked herself up into a frenzy of doubt and apprehension. Peril came towards her in the hall, and was greeted with the announcement : ' I knew what would be the result of my absence. What on earth have you been doing to let your poor, dear grandfather get so ill ?

He must have been dreadfully neglected.' Extreme anxiety and irritation could alone have caused Mrs. Robson to say a thing like this, for one of the servants standing by was Smith, Mr. Nowell's man, who observed at once, in answer to her words : 'Mr. Nowell has had the usual attentions, ma'am. When Miss Nowell begged him to stop in, he rang the bell and ordered me to send for a brougham. I think you'll own PERIL that my master's orders in his own house must be attended to.' 'Oh, I meant nothing; it is only most distressing that it should have happened,' said Mrs. Robson hurriedly. Smith was an old and confidential retainer, and it was by no means to her interest to quarrel with him. Peril, who had listened with supreme in difference, now observed, reassuringly : ' / consider him very ill indeed, and I think you ought to send for Hugh at once.' Mrs. Robson, carrying her investigations into the sick-room, was not encouraged by what she found.

The patient was indeed very weak and prostrate, and torn by a cough which could only be subdued by means of opiates. He just opened his eyes when she spoke to him, but scarcely took any notice of her. The doctor coming in soon after her arrival, she held a hurried consultation with him, and it was decided that it would be better to send for Hugh. It was still early in the evening, and a telegram was de spatched, which might bring him home almost before morning. In the black and pitchy darkness of an early February morning, Nowell returned to his home. The complaint had made con siderable progress, even in the hours which had elapsed since Mrs. Robson's return. The doctor was there, and was remaining there till some change should take place either for the better or the worse, and he held out no prospect of its being for the better.

The long hours of the day dragged on, and the watch was continued by the old man's bedside. The house was very quiet. The sick man lay with dulled senses, in a kind of trance, breathing — but only breathing. One or two knocks came to the door — one PERIL or two persons called to inquire after the invalid. Amongst them was Paul Lawford. He was told that Miss Nowell had said, if he called, she wanted to speak to him ; and he was thereupon ushered into the library, where she had spoken to him on the night when Mr. Nowell had sent for him. She very soon came down to him. Her face was white, and her hands were cold. Everything in her appearance betrayed the state of high nervous tension and agonized suspense in which her whole being was. It seemed to Paul that since he had seen her, she had visibly wasted and dwindled.

His own handsome, indifferent-looking face was a little paler than usual, as he saw her, and felt the sense of fascination which she exer cised over him, deepen and strengthen almost as he stood there. ' You want to see me, Miss Nowell ?' ' I dared not come to you again the other night. I was afraid of what you might tell me. But now, anything is better than suspense. Tell me, Mr. Lawford, what did he say ?' ' Nothing,' said Paul. ' At least, nothing that could be called suspicious, or dangerous. To tell the truth, I cannot think that your theory was the correct one. He asked me far more about Mr. Hankinson and myself than about Hugh. He even went into details,' added the young man, with the dawn of a smile, ' about the number of fires kept burning at the office. I fancy he wanted to see if he could make a spy of me ; useful in the matter of checking off small economies of that kind.' Peril almost groaned. ' So much the worse,' she said. ' He has already made up his mind.

Don't think I am quite mad, Mr. Lawford. I only wish I were. Hugh has come back — grandpapa is dying. They don't PERLL 32 tell me so, but I know it quite well. Very soon we shall know what it is — I shall, that is — my punishment, you know, that I spoke of. If it is very bad, perhaps it will turn my brain ; and oh, what a blessing that would be!' ' Don't talk like that ! Don't make the worst of everything,' said Lawford, feeling his heart ache at the spectacle of her white face, and great fixed, sleepless-looking eyes. ' There's no one else to whom I can say it,' she replied, blankly. ' But I won't trouble you with it any more. I must not stay here, either. Good-night ! I am glad you came.' She bowed her head to him, and glided away. Lawford departed, full of thought. The next person who called said, if every one else was busy, could he see Miss Nowell ?

It was Mr. Hankinson, and again the inter view took place in the library. ' Pardon my troubling you, Miss Nowell. I should like to know exactly how poor Mr. Nowell is.' ' He is dying, I suppose,' she replied, in a hard voice. ' I don't know how ill he is, or how soon he will go, but he is dying.' ' Dear, dear ! Terrible, awful !' said Han kinson, wiping his brow, and panting. Peril looked at him with curiosity mingled with contempt. Was it possible that he cared for Mr. Nowell ? Was he attached to him ? No ; she put that idea out of her head instantly. Then he was afraid that things might be altered ; that he might lose his post — that was it ; all for greed, like every thing else that everyone did. She felt inclined to laugh ungenially, when he re sumed : ' And how are the others ? How do they bear up ?