Claire Brandon. A novel

Front matter

I ■ ■ I ■ I ■ ■ CLAIRE BKANDON CLAIRE BRANDON A NOVEL BY FEEDEEICK MAESHALL IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I. AVILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON M D C C C X C AU Rights reserved CLAIRE BBANDON. CHAPTEE I. On the afternoon of the 2d February 1862, Miss Harriet Brandon was sitting alone in the draAving-room of her cottage at Hurley. Her long, angular person Avas dressed in thick black silk. Her features were regular ; her complexion AAras fresh ; her expression was frank, generous, and rough. There Avas a distinct manifestation about her of the desire to be correct and dignified, and, mixed up Avith it, there was an irrepressible goodness and a detonating abruptness Avhich contradicted the correct dignity. Her movements Avere some what hard and ungraceful, but yet she Avas un mistakably a lady.

She had even, at certain moments, a marked distinction of bearing. VOL. I. A That afternoon she Avas out of temper, as happened to her frequently. Forty years of life had not calmed her tumultuous nature, and she had acquired amongst her neighbours the reputation of being as stormy as she Avas good, as explosive as she was free - hearted. She tried to read, but could not fix her atten tion, and pushed away the book. She poked the fire impatiently, and then sat and stared at it as if she expected peace of mind to issue from the smoke. AVhile staring she heard Avheels on the road outside. Half a minute later a carriage stopped at her door. She supposed a visitor was coming, so she hastily smoothed doAvn her dress, tried, though with less success, to smooth down her face, and waited for the visitor to be announced.

Vague sounds of talk reached her ears from the hall, but two minutes passed before a maid-servant opened the door and said — "Please, ma'am, there is a foreign woman come in a fly from the station, and Morris's boy has brought her, and she has a baby with her, and I can't make out Avhat she says, but she talks a great deal." Miss Brandon looked at the maid and asked her with as much indifference as she could command, " Is she a respectable person ? " "AVell, ma'am," answered the maid, "I shouldn't say she looks respectable, because she hasn't a bonnet. Only she seems decent, and I think she is tired, and she has got two boxes on the fly." " For whom does she ask ? " inquired Miss Brandon. " I can't understand her," was the reply. Thereupon Miss Brandon got up and Avalked into the hall. Standing there, Avith a child in her arms, AA7as a middle-sized woman, wearing a dark shawl and dress, and a white muslin cap with Avhite strings tied under her chin.

Chapter II

Before Miss Brandon could reach the House, the General Avas dead. The violent emotions he had gone through had been too much for him, and had brought on apoplexy. The shock to Miss Brandon was very severe. She was Avarmly attached to her uncle, Avith whom she had lived, for many years, in almost daily contact ; and, naturally, the effect which had been produced on her excitable tempera ment by the neAvs of her brother's death and by the arrival of the child, had rendered her more than ordinarily nervous, and quite unfit to bear a neAV Uoav. She sobbed most violently, and Avas utterly upset. But yet her will Avas strong enough to make her perceive that she ought to telegraph to her brother George, announcing the double loss of his uncle and his brother, and asking him to come at once to Hurley.

And then she went back home, and sat at the child's side, and cried. The next afternoon Mr George Brandon appeared. He was ten years younger than his sister. He was a barrister, and lived in London. He was intelligent, Avell-mannered, and good-looking, and yet he was generally disliked. No one, however, could have ex plained Avhy. There was no apparent reason for the antipathy he provoked. He had never done anything wrong to anybody. It was true that there Avere lurking signs of sourness and falseness about his mouth ; that his chin had a distinctly aggressive expression, resulting from the hardness and the sharpness of its lines ; and that his eyes had often an unquiet look, as if he were conscious of a crime and expected to be suddenly arrested : but these indications were not marked enough or evident enough to attract attention, or to show that he had a character which justified people in shrinking from him.

As he sought no inti macies and possessed no friends, nobody was sufficiently interested in him to ask the motive of the instinctive dislike that Avas felt towards him. His sister, Avho mistrusted him pro- VOL. i. c soundly, was probably the only person who could give an explanation of her aversion. She was perfectly clear and very outspoken on the subject ; she concealed from no one that, in her opinion, her brother George had no heart at all, that he thought of nothing but himself, and that he passed his time in unceas ing preoccupation as to the means he could employ to turn things to his own advantage. Her OAvn nature was so open, so generous, so impulsive, that the calculating coldness of her brother disgusted her, and made her feel ashamed that any one of the name of Brandon should be constituted in such a fashion.

His presence irritated her and always stimulated her quarrelsomeness. The result was that his visits to her had been rare. AVhen he came in they kissed each other coldly. Mr George Brandon observed, "AD this is very sad, Harriet; very sad." And Miss Brandon replied, " Yes, George, very sad ; extremely sad." And then they seemed to have no more to say. After a while it occurred to Miss Brandon that it Avould be right to communicate to her brother the details of the events which hacl just happened. So she told him the Avhole story. He listened Avith close attention, and, when she had finished, remained silent for a time. At last he remarked, in a tone of voice Avhich seemed to her peculiarly acrimonious, "Then, as my uncle did not live to execute the new will, I am excludedfrom the property he meant me to have, and this child, as Charles's heir-at-laAv, comes into Hurley under the provisions of the old will."

" Of course," replied Miss Brandon, who, until that moment, had not given a thought 3 G G to this aspect of the situation, but Avho felt suddenly quite comforted by the notion that George was bitterly disappointed. And then there was another silence, during which Miss Brandon hesitated Avhether she should ask him to see the child. It seemed to her that, on the whole, it Avas right to do so, and therefore she proposed to him to go up-stairs with her. He, however, declined the offer, saying, "Thank you, Harriet; I think not. You really can scarcely expect me to have much liking for a child who has dropped from God knows Avhere between me and seven thousand a-year. This ansAver, Avhich Avas perhaps not altogether inexcusable under the circumstances, appeared to Miss Brandon to be so abominably and so unpardonably wsicked, that a furious ansAver rushed instantly to her lips.

But something checked her, something new within her — she did not knoAv what. She made, instinctively, an effort to control herself, swal loAved twice convulsively, and said nothing. As soon as the funeral was over, Mr George Brandon returned to London, after an icy parting with his sister. Mr Cumber had been appointed by the will executor and trustee, and, in those qualities, proceeded to enter into possession of the estate for the child. And then, when the business was done, Miss Brandon threw her whole self into the child. She forgot the sadness of the two recent deaths, she forgot her duties in the village, she forgot entirely to get angry several times a-day. She lived for nothing else than to look at Claire, and play Avith her, and chatter to her. But, as the nurse was a necessary part of Claire, she talked to her as well, and got technical instruction from her about the handling of a baby, and listened to her stories about the Colonel, and began to like her.

In one of their conversations the nurse observed, " Don't you think, mademoiselle, it is time that Henry arrived ? It seems to me he ought to be here now." " Of course he ought," replied Miss Brandon. "You came nearly a fortnight ago. Of course he ought to be here. I will ask Mr Cumber Avhen the boat is due." She Avent that afternoon to Lorston for the purpose, and was told by Mr Cumber that he too was rather surprised at the delay, and that he thought it Avould be as Avell to communicate with the agents at Southampton in order to ascertain the clay on Which the steamer was expected. A letter was sent by him at once. The answer came by return of post, stating that not only the vessel folloAving the Britannia (Avhich had brought the nurse and child), but another also had come in, and that Henry Blaine was not on board either of them.

The letter added that Blaine's luggage had remained unclaimed since it had been landed from the Britannia, and that Mr Cumber (who Avas known to the agents) had better have it taken aAvay to avoid Avarehouse expenses. This neAvs perplexed Mr Cumber. He felt instinctively, as a lawyer, that it Avould be just as Avell — if only as a matter of form — to have the papers Blaine was bringing, and though delay was of no real importance, still it was useless and vexing. And Blaine, too, Avas to tell the whole story of the marriage, and to give Miss Brandon the details she Avas waiting for Avith such eagerness. Until he came she Avould have to remain in ignorance. His non - arrival seemed inexplicable, and, Avhatever was the cause of it, was certainly particularly annoying. There Avas, at that time, no cable to Lisbon, otherwise Mr Cumber Avould have asked the people at Southampton to inquire by it Avhat hacl become of Henry Blaine.

The mails Avent by sea, and as the boats were only weekly and took five days for the passage, two or three weeks might elapse before an answer could be got by post. Still, though it seemed unnecessary to write — because it was taken for granted that Blaine was on the way somewhere — the agents were requested to obtain news from Lisbon. Meanwhile the luggage Avas sent for. There were several packages : two of .them bore the name of Henry Blaine ; the rest had belonged to Colonel Brandon. In the presence of Miss Harriet Brandon, at Mr Cumber's office, all the trunks were broken open. It was a painful proceeding, and Miss Brandon suffered keenly from it ; but her sur mise that her brother's letter to the General might be in Blaine's boxes, and her confi dent expectation that, in any event, she Avould find information about the marriage amongst her brother's papers, gave her courage to go through with the task.

The red despatch-box of which the nurse had spoken was soon found, but, to the vexation of Miss Brandon, it con tained nothing of the faintest interest. There Avere no letters, no documents, no indications of any kind. The few memoranda that were in it were notes about Portugal in the Colonel's Avriting, and some calculations of the time and expense necessary for a journey to Oporto and the Minho. In the portmanteaus there were clothes and personal objects and a few books, but nothing that had the slightest relation to family affairs. It Avas therefore Avith much increased interest, and even agitation, that Miss Brandon turned to the two boxes belong ing to the servant, in the eager hope that the letter would be there. But again she was disappointed ; there Avas nothing in Blaine's luggage that could throAV the slightest light GG O O O upon the situation.

There was a letter from his mother, with neAvs of the coming marriage of his sister, and that was all. Miss Brandon Avent back to Hurley ex tremely mortified and saddened, and Avith a strong disposition to lose her temper on the first opportunity that might offer. Mr Cumber hacl not attempted to console her ; he hacl simply observed, " AVell, noAv, Ave must Avait till Blaine arrives." But, as Avaiting is generally an irritating process, as it had always been particularly so to Miss Brandon, and as the circumstances were of a nature to intensify its effects, it put her into such a state of nervousness and impatience that even the child ceased to exercise a quieting influence over her. She Avent in almost every day to Lorston, to see Mr Cumber, and persecuted him -with questions. She exaggerated or mistook the meanings of the prudent, guarded answers he made to her, and Avorked herself into a state of irrepressible agitation.

She began to suspect there Avas some deceit about the Avhole story from Lisbon. She attacked the nurse and told her she was an impostor and a liar ; and then she grew suddenly ashamed and sorry, and begged the Avoman to take no notice of her Avords, because she did not mean what she said. Sometimes she doubted whether her brother Avas dead, Avhether the letter she had received Avas really from him, Avhether he had ever been married, and Avhether the child Avas his at all. At other moments she became passionately loving with Claire, called her by all the names that tenderness could invent, and cried for hours over her. Then she addressed a hundred questions to the nurse, and obtained no reply. This state of things went on until more than a month had passed since the arrival of the child ; but still there was no sign of Henry Blaine.

At last, one afternoon, Mr Cumber appeared at the cottage. He looked serious, and Miss Brandon felt instinctively that something had happened. He brought her two letters he had received that day. One was from the steamboat agents at Southampton, enclosing a copy of the answer from their house at Lisbon. It stated simply that nothing hacl been heard of Blaine since the departure of the Britannia. The other, from Mr George Brandon, was as follows : — :- London, 6th March 1862. "My dear Cumber, — I suppose my brother's servant has arrived Avith the papers concerning his marriage. " As I have received no communication from you on the subject, I shall be much obliged if you AA'ill have the kindness to inform me about it. — Sincerely yours, " George Brandon." After reading the two letters, Miss Brandon exclaimed, with an emotion which grew more and more violent as she Avent on speakino-, and reached at last a paroxysm of excitement : " AVhat can it all mean ?

What can have become of Blaine ? Certainly there must be something wrong. Can Blaine have got up the whole story for some purpose of his own ? How do Ave know that Charles really signed that letter to me ? Oh, pray advise me ! AVhat shall I do ? Of course I shall keep the clear little child ; but is it Charlie's child at all ? Oh, do tell me Avhat to do ! And George ? It is manifest that he will make difficulties if he can. I felt that the first time I saAv him after my uncle's death. But — Mr Cumber — if George makes difficulties, that will change everything ? In that case, I will de fend the child, no matter what happens. I cannot bear George, and if he turns against the little darling, I will fight him, although he is my brother. Besides, I have no doubts at all. I did not mean it Avhen I said I had.

I know it is Charlie's child, and I know he was married, and feel it is all true, as if I had been a Avitness. AVho can dispute it ? Nobody Avould, except George. He is so odiously selfish, George. If he means to be hostile to the baby, he will provoke me to the bitterest resistance. I Avill stand before her as if she were my OAvn — and she is my OAvn. I have SAVorn that to poor Charlie. Noav tell me, Mr- Cumber, what shall we do ? " " Well, my dear lady, I have of course given a good deal of thought to the matter. It is, as you say, very strange, and I do not pretend to understand it. All that we can do for the moment is to try to discover, if possible, what has become of Blaine. For that purpose, I propose to you to send out a person to Lisbon. If that is not done, and if Blaine's arrival continues to be delayed, we may remain indefinitely in our present condition of un certainty.

I have a very intelligent clerk, who can speak a little French, and if you authorise the expense, I think he had better go by the next boat, and try to get to the bottom of the matter. His name is Gray. I knoAv no one else so fit to be intrusted Avith such a mission." The proposal calmed Miss Brandon a little, for it opened the door to action, and in that Avay gave a sort of satisfaction to the energy of her character. She ansAvered, " Certainly ; I quite agree with you. Of course we cannot go on in this way ; it is altogether intolerable. Pray send Mr Gray at once. I shall be so much obliged to you. And tell him, above all, not to lose an instant in letting us know. My anxiety is becoming so intense, that at moments I can scarcely bear it. And what answer will you send to George ? Oh, hoAv wicked he is !

" " I can only say the truth — that Blaine has not arrived, that we are expecting him every day, and that I will let Mr George know as soon as he is here." Then Mr Cumber went away, and Miss Brandon walked up and down the room, and thought. " I knoAv Avhat George is about," she said to herself. " He is seeking for means to attack Charlie's child — my child. To attack my child ! And he calls himself my brother ! And all for money. How hideous ! AVell, poor Charlie ! you Avould not have expected that. Of course it is impossible to understand the absence of the servant ; and if George had behaved properly, I might have had doubts myself. But his letter to Cumber has made all my doubts disappear. If he had any heart he would have no suspicions, but Avould join with me in protecting the child, instead of working against the little darling for his own odious purposes.

Little darling ! I will take care of you. It steadies me and quiets me to think that the duty of defending you has fallen to me. And defend you I will, to the utmost limit of energy and effort. It is my duty. Sweet little innocent ! How cruel that you should be treated in this way by my OAvn brother ! " Miss Brandon forgot, in her indignation, that, so far, her brother George had simply asked Mr Cumber, in the most natural manner, for information, and had manifested no intentions AvhateA7er. But her way of reasoning did not ahvays take facts for a basis ; it Avas her habit to be illogical and to jump to extremes, and in this case her pre-existing dislike of her brother disposed her to vieAV his proceedings in the worst light. She sus pected that, if he could, he would dispute the rights of the child, and the suspicion rendered her wild.

It had appeared to her quite natural to feel, at certain moments, mis givings and hesitations herself ; but the instant she fancied that any one else shared them, she got into a rage, and declared it was disgraceful to have any doubts at all. And it was especially disgraceful in her eyes that her own brother — who certainly had the strongest possible motives for desiring to be able to doubt — should permit himself to ask for news. In feverish agitation she had to Avait for intelligence from Lisbon. She scarcely ever left the child. Her love for it became almost a frenzy. She greAv frightened if it was out of her sight for a feAV minutes, and imagined sometimes that attempts Avould be made to steal it. She had it in her room at night, and was perpetually starting in her sleep, and getting out of bed to put her arms round it, in order to protect it.

The nurse complained, and said this woke the child ; but she hacl found already that it was useless to resist Miss Brandon, and recognised that she must either bear it all, or go. So, not wishing to go, she bore it. Besides, Miss Brandon treated her, as a rule, most kindly, and talked to her continually ; they wondered together where Blaine could be, and what had become of the letter, and, in a sort of Avay, they became friends under the pressure of their common anxiety. At last, after Avearying suspense, a letter came from Mr Gray. It Avas as folloAvs : — " Lisbon, 24th March 1862. "Sir, — I arrived here on the 18th instant, and, according to your instructions, went at once to the Braganza Hotel, and to the British Legation and Consulate. " As soon as I had stated the object of my journey, I received offers of assistance from every one.

The Consul was kind enough to place a clerk at my disposal, to go about with me, and interpret for me. " At the hotel I learnt that Colonel Brandon died there on 18th January, and that he was buried on the 20th. I have seen the two doctors who attended him, and was told by them that the immediate cause of death Avas pneumonia, brought on by the reopening of the wound in the side, folloAving on a previous condition of disease of the lungs. I have obtained a duly authenticated certificate of the death. " The Colonel appears to have shown very remarkable affection to the child during the time he was in Lisbon. His tenderness Avas so unceasing, that it Avas noticed by all the people in the hotel. Before he died he asked the master of the house to do all he could to facilitate the journey of the child to England, and, if necessary, to apply for the aid of the British Minister.

He spoke also warmly of the tAvo servants, saying he hacl given them full instructions and letters to his family, and that they were to take the child to England, and also his money and his luggage. " At the steamboat office I Avas told that they knew nothing of Blaine. He had, as stated by the nurse, taken passages to South ampton for himself, the nurse, and the child, by the Britannia, which sailed from Lisbon on 27th January; and they heard afterwards, at the office, that he had missed the ship. Since that time they have not seen him. " Then I addressed myself to the police, and obtained, through the kind intervention of the Consul, permission to examine the daily reports from and after the 2 7th January, the day on Avhich Blaine returned ashore from the steamer. No one in any way like him had come to any inn or lodging-house in Lisbon, or had been received into the hospitals.

Nor VOL. I. d could I discover any trace of him at any of the shipping or diligence offices. " Finally, I asked for the list of accidents and suicides, and I regret to say it seems not impossible that this may have led me to a clue. " On the 2d of February, the body of a man was found floating in the Tagus, with two stabs in the chest. The man had been dead apparently four or five days. He had no clothes on but his trousers. As his skin was white and his hair fair, it Avas supposed he was a foreigner. There was an old scar, as if from a SAVord-cut, on his left shoulder. The body, which Avas much decomposed, was buried immediately by the police, who seem to have made no inquiries about the man, being accus tomed, apparently, to find bodies in the Tagus. "The idea that the body might perhaps be that of Blaine, induced me to inquire of the porter and the waiters at the hotel, whether they kneAv anything of his habits during the time he passed in Lisbon, or of the persons, if any, Avhom he frequented.

I was informed that he often Avent out alone in the evenino after his master had gone to bed, and returned usually rather late. No one knew, however, Avhere he went, excepting that it was down the hill towards the river. It occurred to me that; as Blaine could not speak Portuguese, it waa improbable he would have made acquaintances, unless it were amongst the few seafaring Eng lish who are to be found in small boarding houses or drinking - places along the Tagus. So I visited all the houses of that description which are known to the Consul or the police ; but I could learn nothing. It may be pre sumed that the motive which brought Blaine ashore again from the Britannia had, in all probability, some connection with the visits he Avas in the habit of making at nights ; but, on all that part of the case, I have failed thus far to discover anything.

I can only suppose that he did not mean to remain on shore, and that on the contrary it was his intention to return to the steamer, for he had taken his own luggage on board with the nurse, and had left it there. " A detail of considerable interest, Avhich was mentioned to me by one of the waiters, is that Blaine stated to him, after the Colonel's death, in the presence of other persons, that he had the Colonel's money upon him to convey to England, and that he did not like the responsibility of carrying it about. Such a fact, if known, Avould be of a nature to induce robbers to lay a trap for him. " It would be premature to say that the body found in the Tagus on the 2d February Avas that of Henry Blaine. To assist in de ciding that question, Ave have at our disposal two possibilities of identification.

The first is the scar on the left shoulder. Had he such a scar ? His family (if you could find them) could probably inform you upon that. The trousers offer the second chance. I have suc ceeded in obtaining them from the police, and have shown them to the people of the hotel, but no one there could recognise them. I shall bring them with me to England, in the hope that the nurse may be able to say Avhether she has seen them Avorn by Blaine. They are discoloured, stained, and torn. " I shall remain here a feAV days longer to continue my inquiries, and expect to be able to return by the next steamer. " In conclusion, I ought to observe that the nurse's story, so far as you have related it to me, seems to be fully corroborated by all I have learnt here. — I am, Sir, your faithful servant, C. Gray."

AVhen Miss Brandon had finished reading this letter (which Mr Cumber brought to her directly it arrived), she sat back in her chair, closed her eyes, and remained silent. Even her nature, with all its sturdiness, was crushed for a moment by the neAvs. After a time, she said, Avith a broken voice, " But if Blaine is murdered and robbed, the letter must be lost." Mr Cumber replied, " It Avould be going too far to admit at once that the body found in the Tagus was that of Blaine. But the delay in his arm7al here, combined Avith the impossibility of tracing him at Lisbon, does certainly point to the hypothesis that he may have been murdered. In that case there can be little doubt that whatever he had upon him, money or papers, Avould be taken ; and if the letter from Colonel Brandon to the General were in his pocket, it would, in all probability, be stolen Avith the rest."

" If it Avere in his pocket ? " interrupted Miss Brandon, waking up again. "AVhere could it be, excepting in his pocket ? It was not in his luggage; we knoAv that. Therefore it was in his pocket. That is certain." "Not certain; only very likely," ansAvered Mr Cumber, gently. " I fear, however, that, Avherever it was, it has disappeared, and I do not yet see any plan by Avhich we could hope to get it back again. If Blaine Avas draAvn into some Ioav hole in Lisbon, and killed there for the money he was known to have upon him, Ave must suppose that the murderers would destroy everything that could compromise them, and a letter would certainly be burnt. It cannot therefore be reasonably expected that Ave should gain anything by offering a reAvard for the recovery of the letter. Still, avg could make the attempt, provided Ave could obtain immunity from the Portuguese authorities for the person who restored it.