Stanley's Wife. A novel

Front matter

■ ■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ I I I ■ I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ M ■ ■ ■ NEW NOVEL. JUST OUT. AT ALL LIBRARIES. PATTY'S DREAM. HV D'AUBIGNE WHITE, Author of "THE ARTISAN OP NISMES." 3 Vols. 31s. 6d. REMINGTON & CO., 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. STANLEY'S WIFE. a ilobel, IN TWO VOLUMES. El MAJOR SMITH. VOL. II. ILonUon : REMINGTON AND CO., 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. l879 [All Rights Reserved.] CONTENTS.

CHAP. PACK I.— The Postscript 1 II. — An Agreeable State of Things ... ... 13 III.— Amy Prepares to Set Off 21 IV. — The Captain and his Ladies Bid Adieu to England 30 Ar. — A Prize worth striving for ... ... ... 38 VI. — The Widow tries her Charms on Monsieur Victoire ... ... ... ... ... ... 44 VII. — Which takes just a Peep at Amy ... ... 60 VIII. — The House with the Carved Gateway in the Rae Virgile ... ... ... ... ... •■• 65 IX. — The Marquis Eef uses to be Communicative 74 X. — Adele is Unpleasantly Reminded of the Past ... 85 XL — Adele is still more Unpleasantly Reminded of the Past ' 96 XII. — Adele and her Sisters receive Visitors ... 109 XIII. — An Evening in the Rue Virgile ... ... 121 XIV. — Mrs. Glave's new Lodger 129 XV. — Sophie Determines to Win This Time ... 140 XVI.— Lofty Ambition 147 XVII. — The Captain Explains the State of the Case 153 XVIII.— Poor Dear Sir Temple 160 XIX. — Maria goes to See the Boat off 171 XX.— The Marquis Proposes to Accompany the Ladies ... ... ... ■ -■ ... --■ 179 XXI. — The Shadow before the \\*indow 189 XXII. — Dear, Good SirT'emple, — how She Loved Him! 198 XXIII. — An Unexpected Interruption 205 XXIV. — The Misses Jinks have Good Cause for Astonishment ... ... ... •■• ... 215 XXV.— Awakening 226 XXVI. — In which the Whole Truth is Revealed to Stanley 239 XXVII.— The End of it AU 264 XXVIII. — Maria and Maria's Aunt become a Little Troublesome ... •■• ... •■■ ■•• 270 XXIX.— Conclusion

Chapter I. The Postscript

Had Stanley Torrington not been such a very sound sleeper, he might perhaps have been not a little startled at hearing his wife that night, in her broken slumbers, breathing a name that was not his name, and imploring the owner of it, for the love of heaven, to spare her, to keep her wicked secret, at least, for a little while longer ! " Was that man, Brooke Melville, then, a VOL. II. B friend, a relative, perhaps, of theTorringtons?" Adele asked herself. Somehow, she could not bring herself to speak of him, no, not even to little gentle, unsuspecting Amy. Oh, no, her manner would betray her. That Dollingford possessed a portrait of him was sufficient for her to know, was sufficient to upset all her peace of mind from that time forth. Amy evidently prized that portrait, too, Adele could not help thinking, or she would never have kept it so carefully wrapped up amongst her jewels.

Could she ever have been fond of such a man, that little simple child ? Impossible, it was not in her nature, thought Adele, and she set to work planning how she might discover something about it in an indirect way. She was always late down to breakfast was Adele in these days, for she had grown tired of trying, at great incon venience to herself, to get down into the breakfast-room as soon as Sir Temple should make his appearance. She found it did not answer, inasmuch as she got no praise from him for so doing. And to leave her dressing room thus early was to neglect a greater portion of her toilet, for the golden wash took long to dry, and Adele had no maid to help her through her difficulties. But it was not her toilet this morning that was delaying her, it was, in truth, the effects of her restless, unquiet slumbers.

The Captain felt convinced she was far from well, and began to think really that Dollingford did not suit her, that it was perhaps too bleak or too damp, or something. He was pondering this in his mind when he entered the breakfast-room that morning, and had begun making his usual apologies for his wife's non-appearance at the breakfast table, when Sir Temple suddenly cut him short by putting into his hands a letter in a deeply black-edged envelope, directed to his wife, saying, as he did so — "There, I am sorry for her, poor thing; perhaps you may be able to guess what it is." " Good heavens, sir, and it is in her sister Florence's handwriting — poor girl ! I am awfully afraid it is either one or other of the sisters, or else Jinks himself ; they have no other near relatives in the world.

Poor Adele, how will she bear this ? so woefully low-spirited as she is, too, just now. I dread giving it to her." " Well, I would strongly advise you to eat your breakfast first, and give your wife time to get hers before you take the letter up to her." " There was nothing said about any of them being ill when we last heard," observed the Captain, " but, to be sure, they have missed several mails. As Adele was saying only yesterday, her sisters are terribly bad correspondents. Poor Adele, this is a dreadful thing for her, and if it should be the father, I know not what is to become of those three poor girls," continued he, pushing aside his untasted breakfast. " I think it is time, now, I took this up to Adele, she will blame me if I keep it from her longer." So saying, the Captain left the room, and a few seconds afterwards knocked at his wife's dressing-room door.

He was admitted, although the golden wash was not yet dried properly in amongst the roots, but then he was so near-sighted was dear Stanley, he would never be able to see in that dim light. " And what have you got for me ?" cried Adele. " A letter, I declare, but not the one I have been expecting, not one from either of those naughty girls, or you would have brought it to me sooner. But what a deep black border — who is it from ? Oh, Stanley, you frighten me, you look so solemn," cried she, throwing down her hair-brush, and coming forward to take the letter from his hands. " Great heavens, it is from Florence — it is Sophie or Mimey who is dead, or — Oh — oh, I shall die," continued Adele, tear ing the envelope open. " Oh, I cannot read it, Stanley; you read — read — read it," said she, falling into a chair, and covering her face with her hands.

" I know not how to tell you this dreadful news, my dear sister," began the letter, in Florence Jinks's handwriting, " but the others are too much upset to do anything, so the painful duty of necessity devolves upon me. I should tell you, then, in the first place, that on the 1 6th of June poor papa went out as usual ; he had not complained in any way of his health previously, therefore when the day closed in, and he did not return, we were in no way alarmed, for, as you know, it was his custom, poor dear, very frequently to sit up hard at work all night. But, alas, upon inquiry being made for him at the Bureau, next morning, they found him cold and dead, lying on the floor, having had, so the doctors say, a fit of apoplexy, brought on from over work." " Oh, my poor papa — my poor papa," cried Adele, distractedly.

" Go on, go on, Stanley, read to the end." " They carried him home, and we nearly went mad the whole lot of us, it was so awful ; but what makes it even worse to us now, is that it has since transpired poor dear papa had been speculating unknown to us, and failed to such a frightful extent that we are left with barely enough to pay for the funeral and for these hideous black clothes which we are compelled to wear. Having no relatives and few real friends here, we know of no other course than to take passage to England, and join you and your husband. It is a great tax upon you, but what can we do — can we starve ? " " By heavens, they'll find nothing but starvation staring them in the face over here. Confound it, Adele, how could your father act thus ? How could he beggar his family in this way ?

" " Poor dear papa, don't speak so of him, now he is dead," sobbed Adele. " Oh, dear — oh, dear, what is to become of those poor dear sisters of mine ? I know no more than you do, but you could not refuse to shelter them, Stanley." " Shelter them ? where is the shelter ? Be good enough to tell me that, Adele." " Oh, don't be cruel to me, now ; don't speak so harshly. Will not Sir Temple take them in ? " " Adele, you are most ridiculous ; could you for one moment expect such a thing?" " But my sisters are without a home, and a home they must have, if they starve. If no one will feed them, they must yet have a roof to die under. Oh, this is awful, awful news," cried Adele, wringing her hands. " But go on, finish poor Flo's letter." " Let me see, where was it I left off ? Oh, here it is, where your sister asks you what is to be done, whether they can starve.

Now, how, I should like to know, can I support three sisters, when I have not even the means to support my wife ? Your sister then goes on to say — " ' In another month or three weeks, after the date of this letter you may expect us, for if we are to leave home and all here, we had better, they tell us, not delay it any later, on account of the icebergs.' " Another month or three weeks ! Good Heavens, Adele ! what are we to do ? I must speak to my father immediately about it." " Finish the letter, will you, first ? " "'Poor papa is to be buried to-morrow, and we have got dresses with lots of black crape ; and, oh,|isn't it hideously unbecoming ! I cannot write more just now, because I have to see the mantua-maker about my skirt, which she has cut three inches and a half too short. " ' Believe me, ever your loving sister, " ' Florence.' " ' P.S. — Perhaps you had better hear all the unpleasant news at once.

I regret to tell you, but it is nevertheless a fact, I, with my own eyes have seen, though not seen by him, Sewell Johnson hanging about here since papa's death, so that, my poor Adele, after all, what you saw in New York was a reality, not a freak of imagination, as I had supposed. Brooke Melville was with him. I did not tell the girls, I though it best not.' " Adele had borne the news of her father's death, and everything comparatively calmly, but at this she flung herself on the floor and groaned aloud. " Poor Adele ! For God's sake who are these men ? " " Ask Amy, don't ask me," cried Adele, in anguish. " Ask Amy," repeated the Captain. Had, then, his wife's senses left her, was grief affecting her intellect ? Amy, poor little Amy, how should his sister know anything about these men ? " Give me the letter," cried Adele, seizing it from her husband's hands, and, running her eyes over the postscript, she burst into a kind of hysterical laugh, and, catching Stanley by the arm, implored him in pas sionate tones to take her away from Dolling ford.

" Take me away, bury me somewhere — any where. Take me to the little town you spoke of in France. Let me go there and die, and be forgotten. Oh, Stanley, how unfortu nate it was I ever married you, and you have been so good to me. Oh, Stanley, Stanley," and Adele fell upon his neck and wept bitterly. " Dear Adele, you will break my heart if you give way like this." " But, oh, Stanley, you should never have married me. Oh, my sisters, my poor sisters ! what will become of them ! "

Chapter II. An Agreeable State Of Things

It was very pleasant for poor Stanley, certainly, to have the whole batch of Jinks's thrust upon him at a moment's notice in this fashion; very pleasant, but it was of no use putting himself in a temper about it, that would not stop them, for they were even then upon their way, half across the Atlantic, coming to be fed, and clothed and housed at his ex pense, until such time as death or a husband should relieve him of their charge. It was a very agreeable prospect, to be sure, and yet, perhaps, as his father observed, he ought to consider himself lucky that the family was no larger. "I am heartily sorry for you," said Sir Temple, " but you must remember, Stanley, that you have brought it all upon yourself. I never asked you to marry Miss Jinks, or Miss Jinks' legion of sisters. You did it with your eyes open, and you must bear the conse quences.

And do you not suppose," con tinued he, "that either of these ladies are capable of doing anything for themselves, gaining a livelihood, as other women have done who have been similarly circum stanced ? " " Is Adele, sir, think you, capable of doing anything for herself ? You smile ; let me tell you, then, they are equally helpless, and wrorse." " Well, that being the case, all I can say is, God help you with them, for I cannot. I must certainly agree with you in thinking that a re sidence at Beaulaval would be the thing, the AN AGREEABLE STATE OF THINGS. 15 only thing for you. They tell me if you can live cheaply anywhere, it is there. Both you and your wife, I think, Stanley, must have pretty plainly seen the nakedness of the land here. I am miserably poor, poorer than you think for, my boy.

I am still paying off debts of your brother Temple's, and so I shall be to the end of the chapter. And then I have Douglas and Barney to look to, and what is to become of them I don't know. I shall pack Amy off to her aunt now at once ; she will catch Mrs. Crane, who sets out with her family for Paris the day after to-morrow, and it was left an open question whether she should accompany her or not, but as you and your wife are going directly, there is no fur ther reason why she should remain. I wish, therefore, if you see her just now, you would send her to me, that I may tell her my deci sion. By-the-way, I see there are boats to Beaulaval three times a week. Amy, unfor tunately, goes quite a different route, or her aunt's friend might have been of assistance to you in indicating some place where you were likely to be comfortable."

" We must do the best we can, and take our chance," replied the Captain. " I don't suppose we shall have much difficulty in find ing lodgings, and if the worst comes to the worst, we must put up at an inn for a night or two, till we can get fairly settled." " You will find that expensive work, I take it, even in Beaulaval ; you had better be care ful what you are about. Certainly, I will say that for your wife, Stanley, she has one redeeming point, she is not extravagant, and that is a great thing. I only hope you and she will contrive some way of living. The sooner you start, I think, the better." " We only wait, sir, for a letter from one or other of the sisters, saying when they ar rive, probably it will come to-morrow or the next day. Oh, here comes Amy. I was just going to fetch you. You have been sitting.

AN AGREEABLE STATE OF THINGS. 17 with poor Adele, have you not ? Tell me, is she any calmer now ? " " No," replied Amy, " she is still brooding over that letter, and crying and laughing by turns, and I do not understand her." " Has she been telling you anything, Amy, about those men whom her sister speaks of in the postscript to her letter ?" " No, what men? She has only told me that her father is dead, and she seems, I think, poor thing, almost out of her mind with grief ; she has sent me now to ask papa, if she can go in the boat as far as Mill borough." " Millborough, why what on earth does she want to go to Millborough for ? " " That she may walk on and see the priest at the chapel, she says she would not be long." " By the holy poker, confession or mass ? " " Don't speak so of anything so solemn, Stanley.

Papa," continued Amy, " Adele VOL. II. c asks it as a favour, that Hodgson should row her up to Millborough, she does not wish Barney or Douglas to accompany her." " Tell Adele, she can have Hodgson and welcome," replied Sir Temple, " and then by and-by, when I have written these letters, I want to speak to you, Amy." " Does Adele mean to set off at once, do you know? " asked the Captain. " I believe she wishes to do so," replied his sister. " Depend upon it she is going to bargain for some cheap masses." " You should not talk so, Stanley. Adele is really serious, and I dare say, poor thing, it will comfort her to see her priest, for her mind is, I think, very much disturbed." " I know it is. By heavens, I know it is, but I know also that if her mind is disturbed, mine is a great deal more so.

It is no joke, Amy, I can tell you, to have to support three sisters as well as a wife ; it's enough to dis- AN AGREEABLE STATE OF THINGS. turb a fellow's mind and render him savage and a brute." " Poor Stanley," replied Amy, as she turned just then to leave the room with her brother. " Poor Stanley, but you are so good and kind, and only think of the distress poor Adele is in, only think how dreadful it is for her to have lost her father, and in this sudden way, too ; that is the most awful part of it." " Yes, but Amy, though of course that up sets her, strange to say she takes a great deal more to heart the news that was con veyed in that postscript about those men having been seen by her sister Florence." " What men ? " " She did not read the letter to you, then. But you know all about them Amy, for she told me so.

Brooke Melville was the name of one, and I think Sewell Johnson that of the other. Who are they, Amy, and how are they connected with Adele ? " " How should I know ? Oh, dear Stanley, I have never even heard their names before." " Why, and Adele referred me to you for information respecting them." " Oh, how strange, Stanley. Poor Adele, what could she mean ? "

Chapter III Amy Prepares To Set Off

It was not likely that Stanley would let his wife go to Millborough alone, he would of course row her up the river himself, and walk on with her to the chapel, and wait for her there. Adele did not show by her manner that she was in any way averse to his doing so, though she would indeed have greatly preferred making the journey accompanied alone by Hodgson, that she might have indulged her miserable thoughts un interruptedly, and the better have prepared her troubled and sin-weighted mind for the sifting it was about to go through at the hands of her priest. " Amy, what is this ? Stanley tells me you are going," said she, meeting her sister-in law in the hall just as they were about to leave the house. " Yes, papa says I had better start to morrow. You won't think it rude my going, you won't miss me.

You see, Adele, my aunt's friend, Mrs. Crane, starts wdth her family on Friday, and it would be such a pity if I lost the opportunity of going with them." " Mrs. Crane ! yes. Who is she ? " asked Adele, her fingers playing nervously with the strings of her bonnet. " She is a friend of my Aunt de Fouchon's. I know no more of her than that." " Crane ! What an ugly name it is, to be sure," observed Adele, " but it is a very common one isn't it Amy," continued she, as her thoughts reverted unpleasantly to a certain Alice McVerner, who married Captain Crane of the Guards. " Oh, yes, a very common one, I should think. There is a Crane keeps a cheese monger's shop over at Millborough; we pass it, you know, in going to the railway station, and then there are some poor people of the name living in one of those cottages by Mansfield's farm," continued Amy, thinking how odd Adele was, and wondering why she wanted to know whether that name was a common one or not.

Just then Stanley joined them, and offering his arm to his wife, they left the house, and turned to take their way in the direction of the river. But they had not gone far when the Captain's steps were suddenly arrested by a voice from behind shouting after him. It was Charlie Dixon ; he had ridden over, bearing a note from his aunt, Lady Ann, who had now quite recovered her usual health, and wrote to say that the weather being so fine, she was determined to make the most of it aud have a picnic. She therefore requested that Mrs. Torrington and her husband, sister, and brothers would join their party on the day she had named. " Alas ! alas ! picnics, dinner parties, balls and routs, it was too late now for anything of the kind," sighed poor Adele, as the Captain, leading his friend into the house, explained to him in few words the state of the case.

" My poor wife is awfully cut up, as you may suppose. It is a shocking business, and it falls very hard upon me, but I will contrive to run over to see you to-morrow, and will then tell you more about it. You'll excuse my leaving you now, as I have promised to take my wife over to Millborough. If you don't mind waiting, I will depute my sister to write a reply to Lady Ann's kind note." So saying, the Captain went in search of Amy, and after having instructed her in what she had to do, he set off to rejoin bis wife, who had strolled on towards the river, Douglas entertaining his visitor in his absence with a good deal of yawning, and as much slang as he could well contrive to haul in in half-an-hour's conversation. Meanwhile Amy did her best to write a very nice and proper note to Lady Ann, giving her an account of the lamentable news her sister-in-law had received that morning, and stating how, in consequence of the anticipated sudden arrival ■of the Misses Jinks, her brother and his wife would leave Dollingford almost immediately.

Then, after having wound up with kind regards and that sort of thing, Amy directed her missive and carried it off to give to Mr. Dixon. Perhaps it might have been thinking of what her sister-in-law had on a former occasion said to her, that caused those blushes as she entered the drawing-room where he and her brother were seated ; but be that as it may, whatever they arose from, certain it is they put Charlie Dixon completely at his ease, or as completely as it was possible for him to feel in the presence of a woman, and that a young and pretty woman, for did not those blushes prove to him that she was a good bit shyer than even he himself, for certainly he was not given to that sort of thing, whatever other awkward ness he might be guilty of. " I'm sure I'm awfully sorry, Miss Torring ton, to hear of what has happened ; wish with all my heart old Jinks had postponed dying just for another week," said he, jingling the charms that hung from his watchguard, whilst he endeavoured with the other hand to drag some imaginary whisker round to the corner of his mouth with a view to having a bite at the same.

" Positively it's the most provoking thing, for my aunt wanted you all over at Lea Court so much. It'll be awful slow without you, but you'll come over to our next picnic when they're gone, now won't you, Miss Torrington ? " " I am going too," replied Amy. " I leave Dollingford to-morrow, and start for France next day." " By Jingo, you don't say so ; I'm awful sorry, I am indeed. We were going to have had a dance afterwards, you know, and it would have been awful jolly." Amy made no response, and the Ensign having by this time pretty well exhausted his conversational powers, there ensued a pause, a somewhat long and awkward one, during which Douglas, looking from the window, espied his brother Barnet coming along, sulky and out of humour, laden with his piscatorial implements, and called out to him, asking what sport he had had.

" Sport ! " echoed Barney's cracked treble beneath. " As if a fellow could expect any when that great stupid oaf of a Stanley comes down with that hulking beast of a boat of the Governor's, and frightens away all the fish. By-the-by, he told me his friend Dixon had been over here. Has he gone yet? because if not, I've got a question to ask him about the Wingfield preserves." "All right, he's still here." " Tell him, then, I can't come up, I'm all over mud and stuff from that slimy slippery bank." " I suppose I must come down to you, then," called out Charlie Dixon, looking from the window atthe ungainly youth, and, bidding a hasty farewell to Amy, he left the room. And in less than another ten minutes he had parted with her brothers also, and was turning his horse's head in the direction of Lea Court, his thoughts occupied, it must be con fessed, just a little with Amy Torrington, and regretting mu ch that she was going away from Dollingford.

Meanwhile, in spite of what her sister-in law had said to her, that young lady never troubled herself for one moment about her visitor ; but to be sure just then her mind was so occupied in thoughts of her approach ing departure, she could find room for nothing else. There was poor Adele, too, of course Amy could not help thinking of her, and being sorry for her, but still how wearied she was of her everlasting grumblings ; however, they were coming to an end at last.

Chapter IV. The Captain And His Ladies Bid Adieu To England

Amy Torrington left home next day, and two days following the Captain and his wife bade adieu to Dollingford likewise, and set off for town to meet, at the Euston Station, the three sisters and their luggage, and it was arranged that that evening they should set sail, or rather steam off from London Bridge direct for Beaulaval, on the coast of France. The Misses Jinks were perfectly agreeable to this arrangement. " And it is proposed," said Adele, " that we go into a boarding-house until we can look about us and find lodgings, for a hotel, you know, would ruin us even for one night." The Misses Jinks acquiesced. " Stanley, poor fellow," pursued Adele, " does not like the idea of it, but Sir Temple said we could not do better just for a day or so, you know, and for my part I should a great deal prefer to live so entirely, if it were possible, for you see, not knowing any one there, how fearfully triste and dreadful our lives would be with only Stanley; and oh, my sisters, if you knew what I have gone through the last few months, if you knew what a household it is at Dollingford, what hateful, stupid, doltish, nasty people they are, you would pity me.

But my dear sisters, we will not condemn ourselves to such un utterable wretchedness." " Really, Adele," whispered Florence, " you are looking ten years older, what with that frightful black dress, and the long griefful look you put into your face." " Ah ! poor papa ! " sighed Adele. " Poor papa ! " echoed the three sisters, but they had a happy way with them, these three ladies, of casting off their grief and forgetting all about poor papa, and quite losing sight of their extreme pauperism, and expecting to be waited upon right and left, and thinking that the Captain should, rather than otherwise, look upon it as an honour to have to protect them, and feed them, and keep them. " Yes, Adele, I never saw any one so altered as you are," said Florence, as she and her sister sat together, wrapped in numerous shawls and furs on the deck of the steamer.