A Tangled Chain

Front matter

BV J. E. PANTON, AUTHOB OF 'LESS THAN KIN,' 'A CURATE'S WIFE,' &C IN TWO VOLUMES. Vol. I. LONDON : WAED AND DOWNEY, 12, YOEK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 1887. \AU Rights Reserved.] Novello, Ewer & Co., Printers, 69 & 70, Dean Street, Soho, London, W. CONTENTS. CHAPTER „,__. PAGE I. FROM NATURAL CAUSES - - - - 7 II. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE " - - - 42 III. AN EDGELESS TOOL ----- 75 IV. GOOD-BYE TO BRIDGEPORTH - - - - H3 V. LADY STANDEN AT HOME .... \£1 VI. INTRODUCED TO SOCIETY - - - - 181 VII. IN THE CONSERVATORY -----

Chapter I

' PROM NATURAL CAUSES.' ' I don't know who is to tell Missie ! ' said the old butler, as he stood looking down at the bed, where lay all that remained of his late master. ' It will go for to kill the child, never did daughter love father better; and how we are to tell her ! Lord knows, I don't ! ' ' There ain't no one to send for neither,' replied his wife, who did duty as housekeeper, and who had been called into the room by Andrew when he had made the terrible discovery. ' In most families there's an aunt, or a sister, or even the parson's wife ; but all these twenty years you and I have lived here, not one soul, save the doctor and lawyer, has ever entered the house. I nursed Missie from the day she were two years old, and they came into possession of the property ; but I know no more of her than I do of Jane's girl, and she I've never seen.

But something must be done — the question is what ? ' ' There's the doctor to fetch, of course, just to see why he's gone,' replied Andrew, ' though he knows as you and I know this might come at any moment. I always wanted Missie told, but Dr. Pearson made sure she could never keep it from her father, and if he had known it would have killed him outright. I can hardly believe that. Any how, he should have been prepared, and we should have known from him who to send ' From Natural Causes.'' 9 for and what to say. As it is, I'm fairly non plussed,' and the old man knitted his brows and looked anxiously at his wife. ' I suppose he is dead ? ' she asked, tenta tively. ' Dead as forty door nails,' replied her husband, turning back the curtain a little and allowing the light to shine on the calm white face on the pillow. ' I never had no doubts on that matter, when I came into his room and couldn't rouse him.

I've expected this day any time these ten years, but 'tis a shock, death is, come when it may ; and I shall never get over this, I know.' ' Oh, yes you will,' said his wife, easily ; 1 but there's worse to come. Missie is in the garden ; breakfast is due in five minutes ; you go down, Andrew, and say her Pa is not well; you can send off Jake for Dr. Pearson to come at once, and he shall tell her. Don't let her up here ; you can say her Pa don't wish her until the doctor has been, anyway.' 'You ain't afraid, Maria?' asked the butler, as he moved to the door on the tips of his toes, as if dreading to arouse the sleeper on the bed. ' Afraid of him ? ' said the housekeeper, contemptuously, ' not I ; you go and fetch the doctor and prepare Missie, though it's my opinion she won't care one bit — she is a mass of selfishness, she is."

And so saying, and taking small notice of her husband's protest against her last remark, she bundled him out of the room, locked the door against all possible intruders, and stood looking down once more at all that was left of her old master. The blind over the window had been drawn up and the room seemed full of the Sep tember sunshine that flooded the garden and lighted up the distant woods, where autumn's ' From Natural Causes.'' 11 hand had already begun to paint the trees scarlet and russet and gold. The air was heavy with the scent of the magnolia that covered the front of the house, where bees were humming loudly as they gathered their last stores of honey ; and far away could be heard the fitful song of a girl as she wandered about in the garden, where a red waistcoated robin was singing lustily too, as if anxious to show he could hold his own with the human songstress ; and, indeed, notwithstanding that death had taken possession of the house, the whole atmosphere was redolent of life, and it was difficult, verily, to believe that the master of all that fair property was no more, and could never again lean from his window answering his daughter's song, as usual, with his musical whistle.

Something in the song caused the housekeeper to go to the case ment and look down at the girl as she strayed hither and thither among the flowerbeds, gathering the bouquets that were never absent hom the breakfast table ; and as she listened to the light hearted carol, and watched the slender fingers possess them selves carelessly of all the owner desired, she felt impelled to call out the news to her harshly, dispelling at one blow the care lessness and joyousness that always made her declare that, be what she might, Missie most certainly was born without a soul. But shaking off this impulse, Mrs. Luker came back to the bed-side and began mechanically to straighten the sheets and to put tidy the pillows that lay beneath the head of the dead man. It was a fine face, and as the housekeeper finished all she could do, an unbidden tear fell from her eyes and lay on the cold, ivory coloured cheek.

Sir Marmaduke Standen had been a very handsome man ; at sixty five he was comparatively a young man, and ' From Natural Causes.' 13 as he lay in the repose of death he appeared so strong, and so calmly asleep that it was well-nigh incredible that he would never awake again ; and although the bitter chill of the cheek, as Mrs. Luker wiped away the tear, might have assured her of the fact that it was indeed death that she saw before her, she could not resist turning back the bed clothes once more to feel if the heart yet beat or if, indeed, it were silent for ever. As she did so, leaning over the bed in such a manner as not to alter the position of the body, she discovered a tiny wine-glass on the bed-clothes under the right hand. It was out of Sir Marmaduke's medicine chest, and was used by him to contain the draught he invariably took at night, did the pain at his heart trouble him ; and as Mrs. Luker took it up to place it on the table, a curious scent caused her to raise it to her nose, from which she took it away almost as quickly as she placed it there ; and once more bending down over her late master, she leaned low enough to ascertain that the same subtle odour appeared to cling to his lips, that were half opened, as if he were about to speak.

Mrs. Luker sank down into a chair, and, for a moment, could not even think what this might mean ; and then, as ideas crowded through her brain, she rose again and began eagerly searching the room, to see if she could discover any clue to what was, un doubtedly, an overwhelming mystery. It was impossible that Sh Marmaduke could have poisoned himself; he was far too fond of life, of Missie, of his property, to say nothing of his dinners, to go recklessly out of a world where such things were certainties, into another where nothing, even Missie, was anything but problematical ; and it was almost as impossible to believe he had been ' From Natural Causes.' 15 murdered ; there was no one who would do it, unless robbery were added to the crime too, and this Mrs. Luker knew was not the case, for all the best plate was at the bank, and the rest Luker had carried up to bed with him, as usual, the night before, and had restored it to its place in the pantry before making the discovery of Sir Marmaduke's death.

And as Mrs. Luker wandered about, looking under the bed, and into drawers, and, in fact, everywhere where there was the very smallest chance of finding anything, she felt inclined to rush down stairs and, regardless of her young mistress, to shriek out wildly that help was required at once, for Sir Marmaduke Standen lay upstairs in his bed foully murdered. Presently wheels on the gravel below heralded the fact of Dr. Pearson's arrival. Mrs. Luker heard Miss Standen question him closely about her father and heard his cautious answers, and then came his feet on the stairs, and a pause outside the door. Mrs. Luker was about to turn the key to admit the doctor when she heard him say, ' I cannot permit you to enter, Miss Standen ; indeed I can't, pray don't ask it.' ' He is my father, and my place is at his side,' replied Miss Standen in a strangely agitated voice. ' Not until I have seen him,' replied Dr. Pearson calmly ; ' recollect, Miss Standen, every moment you keep me here you are preventing me from helping him; you can stay outside and I will call you in the moment I can safely do so ; but these sudden attacks are not fit for girls to witness, and your presence would incommode us both.

Now, will you stand aside and wait ? ' 'I suppose I must, but oh! doctor, remember there are only us two,' said Liza Standen, her voice breaking as if she were From Natural Causes.' 17 in tears ; ' he is all I have ' — and she was going on to say more, when Mrs. Luker opened the door cautiously, and Dr. Pearson slipped inside and the key was turned again, before she could realize what was done, when she sank down on her knees close to the keyhole, trying her best to hear anything that might be passing in the room, where Dr. Pearson had told her her father was lying fighting a desperate fight for life ; but the low-toned colloquy in the room did not reach her, and she could not hear nor see anything of what was occurring. ' The end has come then,' said the doctor below his breath, as he came up to the bedside and began a professional examination of Sir Marmaduke's body ; ' well, it is just what I always expected.

I can certify this, and there will be no fuss or inquest ; so unpleasant, you know, for the household.' ' The end has come indeed, Dr. Pearson, VOL. I. B A Tarigled Chain. but not quite as we expected,' replied Mrs. Luker cautiously ; ' there has been foul play somewhere — look here ! ' and she handed him the small glass and begged him to smell it. 'lean smell nothing,' answered the doctor, turning very white ; ' nothing at all. Stay, Mrs. Luker, have you found the bottle containing the rest of the draught ; you know it always held som.' doses, and I sent the last one in only the day before yesterday.' ' I never looked, but it is sure to be in the chest,' said the housekeeper, tossing her head. ' What's become of your nose this morning, Dr. Pearson; it's keen enough when you come sniffing about, declaring the drains are out of order and my dust-bin's foul ; and yet you can't tell oil of almonds when you are given a thing literally stinking of it ; and there's the smell about his mouth too, as strong as strong: anyways, here's the rest of the ' From Natural Causes.' 19 draught,' she added, as she opened the medicine chest and took out the bottle ; ' you can smell that anyhow,' and she held the vial up to him, that the moment the cork was out gave forth a subtle odour as of prussic acid.

The doctor put the cork in hastily and placed the bottle in his pocket. ' Listen to me, Mrs. Luker, for a few moments,' he said, ' then I think you will see the necessity of keeping this dark between you and me ; you don't want scandal to play havoc here and to ruin everyone, even Miss Standen. I have a clue : Sh Marmaduke was always telling me some day the pain at his heart would increase so much that he should be driven to kill himself; there was always a fraction of a drop of oil of almonds in his draught — this gave him the idea; the pain was too much for him, he has taken the law into his own hands and VOL. i. b has killed himself; anyhow, he could not have lived another month. Now don't you think you and I had better keep our own counsel about this ? Think of the talk ; the inquest ; why, they might even suspect you and Luker !

You come into a nice lot of money in the will, and life here is a trifle slow ; you can get away now — your motives are evident.' ' Goodness gracious me, Dr. Pearson, have you gone raving mad,' exclaimed the housekeeper. ' Even if we do come into money under the will, and this, neither me nor Andrew knows of, mind you, who's to go suspecting of us ? we've lived in Bridge porth these forty years : first in Sir George Standen's time and then in Sir Marmaduke's, and that puts us above suspicion. I don't hold with no hole-and-corner work, not I ; let's have an inquest if we must, and have done of it. I shall go and tell Andrew at ' From Natural Causes 21 once,' and she turned as if to leave the room ' How about that poor child listening at the door,' said the doctor, putting his hand detainingly on her arm ; ' think what you will do for her if you allow such a thing to get abroad ; you nursed her, you must care for her ; what can be her future if she goes out into the world as the daughter of a lunatic mother and of a father that com mitted suicide because he was too cowardly to bear pain ?

As it is, no one knows of the mother, and as I have attended Sh Mar maduke for years for a most dangerous and aggravated case of heart disease, I, of course, know how he died.' ' He never committed suicide,' exclaimed the housekeeper stoutly. ' Why he gave me instructions only last night about the cooking of the partridges for breakfast this morning, and wrote for a whole lot of claret just to please Andrew. Men who mean to kill themselves don't do that ; they give out hints, drop words we think of after, and such like; and Sir Marmaduke ! why, his last words to me, his very last words were : " Maria, you old fool, if you don't stew those birds before you put 'em in the pie you'll find yourself cut off with a shilling in my will." ' Then he had mentioned his will,' said the doctor, significantly. ' Only jeering like that,' stuttered the housekeeper; 'never nothing serious, or what we could look to as a certainty ; ' no,' added she, recovering herself, ' he were murdered .

Never had any one less wish to go out of life than Sh Marmaduke ; he enjoyed himself always just about, and he'd never have left Missie willingly, of that I'm sure.' ' Where is the motive for a murderer,' urged the doctor. ' The plate is all right ; watch, ring, and money untouched ; whereas ' From Natural Causes.' 23 I know that pain was awful, and he was not a first-rate hand at bearing it ; in fact, he was about as cowardly a man as I ever met. You have no conception either, Mrs. Luker, what he had to endure, and he has often and often said to me : ' ' that life could never be worth having until he was cured " — it was when I told him he never could be cured that he talked of suicide. He was a regular old heathen, you know, and had no dread of bogey or fear of a higher power to keep him from taking the law into his own hands, and I know, as well as that I am standing here, that this is his doing.' ' I see no reason why folks should not hear of it, even if it is so,' persisted the housekeeper ; ' and nothing on this earth shall make me believe it is anything but a foul crime.

Pain or no pain, Sh Marmaduke would never have done such a deed ; it is not the time of year he would have chosen either — September and October were his favourite months. Now if it had been December or January; but now — no, Dr. Pearson, justice must be done, and you must summon the coroner.' 'It is ridiculous, quite ridiculous,' urged Dr. Pearson. ' You will cause a most un pleasant scandal, and harm all Miss Standen's future ; think, too, what she has to bear as it is. She never knew of her mother, now she must, as provision was made for her in the will, and she is too sharp not to insist on seeing that for herself; there is no con cealing anything from her. I only wonder how Sh Marmaduke managed her as well as he contrived to do. What a life she has had to be sure. I wonder what she will do, now she is her own mistress !

She has never even driven as far as Bodmin, has she?' ' Not she ; not since the day they came ' From Natural Causes.' 25 here, twenty years ago,' said Mrs. Luker meditatively; 'and she knows no more of the outside world than a baby ; of course, she has talked to her teachers, and there is not a book or a newspaper she has not read ; but what's reading after all ? Half-an-hour in Regent Street tells you more of what's what than a century of papers and magazines. She is brim full of curiosity naturally, and she'll be off like an arrow from a bow the moment her Pa's buried. Often I've heard her begging him to go up to town, and declaring she should go mad if he kept her down here year after year any more ; but he always put her off with some excuse or other — next season, or when the hay was cut, it might be.

Once the boxes were packed, and Missie was wild with joy, and then came on a bad attack of pain, and, of course, they could not go then. No, Dr. Pearson, it's been an unnatural life for any girl ; and one can't blame her if she tries to make up for lost time. I only hope she will let me and Andrew stay on here and keep the house. Forty years in one place makes any spot one's home and part of oneself; and it would kill us both, I'm sure of that, had we to leave the Holt.' ' Now don't you see two excellent reasons for accepting my view of the cause of death?' asked the doctor eagerly. ' You know what a coroner's inquest is here — a mere farce — albeit I allow it is a very unpleasant one. My evidence, after all, will be the only thing Peters will listen to. I shall settle the questions to be asked by him over a glass of port this evening, and you will be under the unpleasant suspicion of blackening your master's character and harming his daughter ; once mention this bottle, and, of course, the verdict must be suicide, unless I tell Peters you imagined the whole thing to get ' From Natural Causes.' 27 up a sensation ; then do you think Miss Standen will allow you to stay on here ? beside which, you allow yourself the poor girl has had a dismal existence, and with the same breath proceed to make it doubly dismal for her in the future.

The daughter of a live lunatic and a dead suicide will hardly be received into society with open arms. You leave matters as they are, Mrs. Luker ; anyhow, they are bad enough ; and if you take my advice you won't even tell Andrew all you think. You know he is not always to be trusted, more especially on market days at the "Black Bear," and this needs a still tongue.' ' If all's true that's said there, you've no call to throw out hints against him,' replied Mrs. Luker angrily. ' Andrew ain't perfect, nor quite as sober as one could wish ; but he can go to his bed when he is half-seas over. He ain't called up to attend poor sick folks like some people, who lets them lie and suffer, while he falls asleep on the sofa like a pig, because he hadn't got over the effects of his carouse. Andrew is not much to boast of, still he does his duty, and never takes too much as long as his work ain't done, and that's more than can be said for some folks,' and Mrs. Luker tossed her head significantly, and glanced spitefully at her antagonist. ' Well, well, we're wasting time ; remember there's that poor girl to be told,' said Dr. Pearson, laughing unsteadily ; ' and there's work to be done here, too.

What is your resolve, Mrs. Luker ? An inquest that will result in nothing satisfactory, and will cause Miss Standen the acutest misery now and hereafter, or silence and my certificate ? I haven't much more time to spare either,' he added, looking at the watch that stdl ticked steadily over the dead man's head, ' in half- ' From Natural Causes.' 29 an-hour I am clue at the surgery, so let me hear at once how you decide.' ' Well, I suppose you had better have your own way,' grumbled Mrs. Luker, placing a handkerchief over Sh Marmaduke's face and drawing down the blind again ; ' though, mhid you, I'm acting against my better judgment ; it's murder, not suicide, that sent Sh Mar maduke out of the world, and you mark what I say ; you and I will live to see my words come true. And who's to tell Missie, I wonder ? ' ' Oh, I'll do that,' said the doctor, putting the little wine-glass in his pocket unperceived by the housekeeper ; ' but is there no one you can send for to be with her — an old governess or girl-friend?

By the way, who comes in for the title ? ' ' A miserable clerk in the city, and much good may it do him,' said Mrs. Luker. ' He and his mother had better come down, I suppose ; he only gets the estate in Lancashire — one farm I think that is, and a tumble-down house, and a ghost or two — all the real pro perty comes to Missie. You see, the Standens as a family are poor ; although they are come of such a very old stock Sir Marmaduke made his money in trade, though we never mention this ; and his wife had a large dowry too, one handed straight over to him on the wedding clay, in the foolishest manner. There was an awful scandal about her,' she added, dropping her voice, ' and then the next thing we heard was that she went mad after Missie was born, which may account for her tantrums and tempers at times, which, as you know, Dr. Pearson, are something awful.' 'Well, we mustn't stop talking here any more,' answered the doctor, whose manner towards the housekeeper had completely changed since she had fallen in with his proposition to do without any formal inquiry 'From Natural Causes.' 31 into the cause of Sir Marmaduke's sudden death ; ' you have your work to do and I have mine ; I only hope Miss Standen won't have hysterics or any tantrums now.

You send for the new baronet, anyway, and I will tell Smiles and Boscawen. I wish the next ten minutes were over ' — and so saying, Dr. Pearson opened the door cautiously, and slipped out into the passage, the housekeeper turning the key in the lock again as soon as he had left the room. Miss Standen was seated on the stairs, leaning against the balustrades, round which her hands were twined as if to support herself from falling ; and as the doctor came out she raised her head and looked him full in the face, with calm brown eyes fixed on his. "He is dead," she said, in a quiet un emotional voice; ' you need not tell me, for I know he is dead.' ' My clear young lady,' began Dr. Pearson feebly, as he cleared his throat, and took one of the cool slim hands in his hot trembling ones, ' Sir Marmaduke is at rest; he is now in heaven, and ,' here to his horror Miss Standen laughed a low musical laugh. 'You, too,' she said quietly, ' you, too, who must see so much of the comedies of life and death to talk such con ventional nonsense to me.

Why, if there were a heaven do you suppose I should be here now ? Papa never for one moment credited these old wives' tales, and of course I don't either ; if he is dead he is dead, and so ends chapter one of my existence' — and the girl rose to her feet wearily, and was going down stairs without another word, when Dr. Pear son put a detaining hand on her shoulder. ' My dear,' he said, ' you are wrong, very wrong; you must not take the trouble that has come to you in such a dreadful manner. Sorrow is sent by God ; in time you will see your father again — now you are unhinged, ' From Natural Causes.' 33 unstrung; do not try to talk, go and lie down.

I will send ' — and here Dr. Pearson paused, as indeed he knew of no one to send to the help of this girl, for whose brain he had already begun to fear. ' There is no one to send, save Laura at the Rectory, and they don't know she and I are friends,' said Liza Standen, still as quietly as if she were planning a party of pleasure ; ' Papa never let me speak to a soul, but Laura and I have become acquainted on the sly; will you ask them if she may come, you can say you thought of it ; she is about my age too, it will sound natural ; and the rector is such an old fool, he will be sure to think it so; besides, I shall be rich now, and I shall have plenty of friends.' Doctor Pearson literally gasped for breath ; he remembered the mother in the lunatic asylum, and thought perhaps it would be best to humour the girl, whose senses of course VOL. i. c were temporarily deranged by the blow she had sustained; and presently he said, 'Neither you nor I have had any breakfast, suppose we have a cup of coffee together before I go on my way ; I promise you to send Laura Buckworth if they see no objection ; but before I go I should like to see you more natural — can you not cry, dear ? it would do you a world of good.' ' Cry?' asked the girl, as she went down stairs and seated herself at the table prepared for her, and for him who would never eat nor drink with her again ; ' why should I cry ?

It is so useless to cry for what is over and done. Why did papa die, Dr. Pearson ; will there have to be an inquest ? ' and here for the first time the hard clear voice broke a little, and a pale shade came over the beautiful quiet oval face. 'No, no, my dear, nothing of the kind, thank heaven ! ' replied the doctor with ' From Natural Causes.' 35 emotion, his hand instinctively closing on the phial and glass safely ensconced in his coat pocket ; ' his heart was the cause, Miss Standen ; he might have died at any moment this last ten years ; he could not have lived six months longer save by a miracle. I am only thankful his long sufferings are over, and he has died quietly in his bed — it might have been so awful.' ' You mean, you mean he has died of heart disease, and must have died anyhow,' ex claimed Liza, jumping up and pacing the room in an agitated manner ; ' why was I not told this, I ought to have been ; it might have altered my whole life.' ' The very reason why you were not told,' replied Dr. Pearson, watching the girl with amazement ; ' you could not possibly have kept it from him, and the shock of such a piece of intelligence would have killed him on the spot ; beside which, think of vol. i. c all you would have endured any time he was five minutes late for dinner or breakfast !