Paul's Courtship. A novel

Chapter I

The sun was setting when the travellers arrived at Leamington. Doris had received no other address from Tom EanshaAve than that of the Post Office. The best clue to his temporary abode would be found at the resi dence of Emma Aspen, from whom they could Avithout doubt obtain the necessary information. The languor that had been visibly creeping over Doris during the journey, after the agitation and fatigue of the day, now gave place to a fevered excitement, which Paul watched with anxiety. When the conveyance they had taken stopped before the door of Emma Aspen's lodging, and Doris turned to him her eyes brilliant Avith an unnatural YOL. III. B light, and cheeks burning with a hectic glow, he assisted her to alight with un wonted carefulness. Still keeping her hand in his, as he drew it through his arm, lie addressed her in compassionate and encou raging accents.

" Be calm, Doris," he said. " You possess courage and resolution ; call them to your help iioav. Believe me, I fully share your pain, and as far as it lies in my power, I will shield you from any further distress." She pressed his arm gratefully, but without raising her eyes ; clinging to him, as if she had not strength to enter unsupported, they fol loAved the servant, who ansAvered their sum mons, and conducted them at once to the presence of Emma Aspen. The room was dark with the gathering twilight ; but near the window sat tAvo figures side by side, whom they recognised in a moment as the persons whom they Avere seeking. Paul felt Doris's footsteps falter, and laid his hand again upon hers to reassure her, while Tom Eanshawe and Emma confronted them Avith an air of some confusion. Emma uttered a piercing little shriek, when she detected in the dark, who Avere the silent strangers before her ; but Tom Fanshawe, coolly availing himself of the obscu rity, muttered an apology for leaving, and a farewell to Emma, and was effecting a rapid retreat.

" Stay, Mr. Fanshawe," said Paul, intercepting his escape, " our business is with 3? you. A second shriek from Emma, folloAved by a series of hysterical sobs, was the immediate reply to this announcement. In the slight interval that their almost involuntary attention to her occasioned, Tom Fanshawe had time to collect his faculties. He could not at once perceive the reason that had brought both Paul and Doris there, though he had a shreAvd guess at it ; and it behoved him to proceed with caution until he could learn the true cause of their unexpected appearance together. The arrival of either Avould have scarcely sur- 's prised him at all; but that both should come made it more difficult to discover the clue. "Shall I ring for your servant, Emma?" asked Paul. " Miss Arnold and I have im portant business with Mr. FanshaAve.

Your presence is unnecessary." " Oh, no, no," gasped Emma, convulsively, " I must stay ; you cannot have any business with him, which I may not hear. You shall not send me away, Paul." " She must go," said Doris, in a decisive tone to Tom FanshaAve, as though she knew him to possess tact or authority enough to manage the weak Avoman and her emotion. He had some difficulty nevertheless in per suading her to leave them ; and both Paul and Doris had so accurate an acquaintance with her character, that after she Avas gone their voices fell into a key so Ioav as not to be audible beyond the walls of the apartment. Tom Fanshawe followed their example, and a calmer, more softly breathed conversation was not sustained that evening in any residence in Leamington. " I do not Avant to look at you," said Doris Avith rapid intonations, and drawing so near to Paul that he felt rather than heard the tremor of her voice.

" I am thankful that the dark hides you from me. I could almost Avish — almost — that I might never see your face again; only yet you belong to me. I cannot free myself from you. I am bound to you, I suppose, for the term of your shameful life." " By Jove ! Doris," Avas the answer in tones as low as her OAvn, but Avith a ring of mockery in them, which roused Paul's anger in an in stant ; " you spoke that Avell, with both em phasis and action. Hoav many times now did you render that speech to yourself on your Avay here?" " Your dishonesty has been found out," she continued ; " it could not fail to be found out. You thought because I was — you thought you were safe in forging Dr. Lockley's name. Do not make any further mistake. There is no engagement betAveen us ; and I did not accompany him to plead for you, or to screen you.

I came here to say to him in your presence what I have said to him before. Do with him, Dr. Lockley, Aidiatever your sense of justice demands ; and I will myself be a wit ness against him. It is of no use to let him escape the punishment of his crime. This is the second sin. He robbed my father first, a man of unblemished honour ; and because of his crime, he Avent out again, heart-stricken and broken-spirited, aud died far aAvay from his home and me. He caused my father's death. Do not spare him for my sake, Paul." Doris's voice died aAvay in stifled sobs, and Paul drawing her hand through his arm, pressed it against his heart. " Et tu, Brute," said Tom Fanshawe, sneeringly. "Good heavens!" cried Paul, "can you be such a scoundrel as to mock at Avords like these, and a soitoav like hers ?

I Avish to Heaven there Avas no one to consider but yourself; you should be dragged from this room, like the villain you are, to the nearest jail." " Thank you," he replied, in the same light and irritating tone ; " but there are several per sons to consider. First and foremost there is your OAvn betrothed Doris, Avho has brought you here. Imagine yourself appearing as a pro secutor against me ! Why, man ! it Avas nothing more than a little friendly borrowing between brothers. A friendly forgery, if you like to call it so. I kneAV you could not find it in your heart to proceed to any severe mea sures. For your oavii sake you would be willing to hush matters up, and quietly pay the tax upon your felicity." " There is no engagement between us," whispered Doris, still clinging to Paul's arm. " It grieves me hear of it," he answered.

" I regarded it as a very eligible settlement for you. Still, I hold other cards in my hand, if you force me to play them. But, Doris, I must call you to account. I Avish to be made acquainted with the exact purpose of your very remarkable appearance here together. It can hardly be for pleasure, since you tell me you have dissolved partnership by mutual consent." Doris shrank from her clasp of Paul's arm. He sprang forward, and seizing Tom Fan shaAve by the collar, shook him with vehement force, before he could recover from his surprise. " You villain ! " he exclaimed, " you scoun drel ! I should like to horseAvhip you through every street of this toAvn. Insult Doris again in my hearing, and I Avill not answer for Avhat I shall clo to you ! " " Come, come," said Tom, freeing himself with some effort, " I Avas not prepared for you, Lockley.

Let us keep our temper, what ever Ave do. I simply request to knoAV why I have the unexpected pleasure of seeing you now both before me." Paul did not answer for some minutes, until he could recover his self-command after the rare ebullition of passion into which he had been hurried ; when he spoke it Avas in short and excited sentences. " You Avill return Avith us to Thornbury. I have communicated with the police here, and they will keep an eye upon your movements. You shall not escape me. I shall return with you to your hotel ; and by the first train in the morning you -will go back Avith us." " I feel honoured indeed," he answered jeeringly, " in having a gentleman and a scholar like Dr. Lockley for my jailer. But what particular role does Doris take? Par don me, I have no intention of hurting her feelings ; but Avhy, in the sacred name of Avoman, has she come across the country with you, on such an errand as this?"

" I came to do what Dr. Lockley Avould leave undone," said Doris. " I came to claim all that remains of your ill-gotten money. The duty of repaying the Avhole sum Avill fall upon me, and I must take care the burden is as pawl's courtship. light as it can be. You have robbed me, as Avell as my father, George ! " "George!" echoed Paul, as a new light broke suddenly upon his mind, bringing with it a vivid gloAV of satisfaction, " Who is this felloAV, Doris ? What relation does he hold to you?" " My brother," she murmured. " You knew he was my brother. I am the sister of a criminal. He is George Arnold, the only son of a broken-hearted father." "Your brother!" repeated Paul, in a tone of deep content ; " but you never told us you had a brother. How could I be otherwise than deceived ? I thought — Avell, never mind Avhat Rufus and I thought."

His Avords were followed by a gay laugh from George Arnold. " By Jove ! " he cried, " quite a farce ! So, Lockley, you fancied Doris and I Avere old lovers? And you followed us into the cloi sters that night. If I had ouly knoAvn you were there, Avouldn't I have put more ardour into our intervieAv ? But noAV, if that is your quarrel, make it up at once ; and let me pre side at the reconciliation." " Be silent, fellow ! " exclaimed Paul, " you Avill make me kill you." His voice Avas so hoarse with suppressed passion, that George Arnold felt it was time to set a constraint upon his mocking tongue. After a few hurried Avords between Paul and Doris, the former took his departure, closely folloAved by George, who waved an undetected adieu to Emma, as she leaned anxiously over the balustrade of the staircase.

She joined Doris immediately ; and through the greater portion of the night Avept and bemoaned her self, in the hope of obtaining the explanation to these mysterious circumstances, Avhich by Paul's advice, Doris withheld from her.

Chapter II

A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter, has said the Avise preacher. Rumour hovers, with noiseless, invisible wings, in the atmosphere which surrounds us ; taking flight, it carries away hints and pregnant germs of our most hidden secrets, and scatters them far and wide upon the lips of those avIio will eagerly spread the report. HoAvever cautiously Paul dis cussed Avith Mr. Palmer the forgery detected by them so unexpectedly, a whisper of it had got afloat, and passed from mouth to mouth before the same night set in ; and the certain intelligence that Dr. Lockley and Miss Arnold had started from the Thornbury station after booking to Leamington gave colour to the mere hearsay of the rumour. There was something also in the professional air of secresy assumed by the clerks at the bank, Avhose suspicions had been more quickly kindled than Mr. Palmer supposed, Avhich added to the general presumption, and gtive to the charge a fair sIioav of likelihood.

The household at Fairfield and the Priory had been too long subjected to a microscopic scrutiny for any unusual event to pass un noticed ; and it was swiftly reported that the Croftons, Avith their well-known ally, Tom Fanshawe, had committed a successful forgery upon Dr. Lockley to a fabulous amount. It Avas in the early morning after the departure of Paul and Doris ; Avhile Mrs. Aspen Avas seated opposite to Mr. Vale at the break fast-table, presiding in Doris's place with a charming, old-fashioned courtesy, Avhich Avas mirrored by the old clergyman's obsolete politeness ; that a visitor Avas announced in the person of Mr. Weston. He apologised earnestly for his untimely call, but pleaded his extreme anxiety that no ill neAvs should reach Mrs. Aspen's ears before she had been carefully prepared for its reception.

" I should have come along to Ryton last night," he continued, " but it Avas late in the day before the report reached me. I scarcely credited it until they told me at the station that Lockley was gone to Leamington after FanshaAve. That is correct, I believe? " " My nepheAv and Miss Arnold are gone to Leamington," replied Mrs. Aspen, " but it is to see a brother of Miss Arnold's, who is dangerously ill." " Indeed ? " said Mr. Weston, Avith an in credulous air ; " my story runs somewhat differently. Do not be alarmed, my dear madam ; it is nothing that affects you per sonally. The whisper is that Fanshawe and the Croftons have forged a cheque upon Rock's bank for some thousands of pounds, for the whole of the sum in fact that Lockley has deposited there. You are aware that FanshaAve is in Leamington, I presume ?

" Mrs. Aspen and Mr. Vale gazed rigidly at the speaker as he gave voluble utterance to his neAvs. When he paused for some expression of amazement or disbelief they remained speechless, and he resumed his statements with slower and more marked emphasis. " The story is thus told to me. For some time past FanshaAve, and the ladies from the Priory, have been in the habit of presenting cheques of various amounts at Rock's bank. Of course Mr. John Avas not implicated in it except as accompanying the others. Some of these cheques bore Lockley's signature ; in disputably his in the opinion of the cashier. Yesterday Lockley asked for his cash account ; which was taken in to him into Palmer's par lour. After some time Palmer came out looking very grave, and instituted a close inquiry as to Avho had presented a certain cheque for a very large amount — the sum is variously stated — only a few days previously.

It was distinctly remembered, for there Avas some thing odd about the occurrence, that Mrs. Crofton and FanshaAve Avere the parties. Palmer said nothing ; but they tell me that Lockley Avent through the bank Avith a face as pale as death. The same afternoon he started to Leamington, accompanied by Miss Arnold, and it is supposed that she is gone to be with Mrs. John Aspen. They may haA'e told you that they were going to see a brother of hers ; but I assure you, my dear Mrs. Aspen, Mr. Fanshawe has been staying there for some weeks past." Mrs. Aspen had been listening intently, and iioav recovered her scattered faculties, which had been confounded and perplexed by Mr. Weston's first eagerness in making his announcement. "Mr. Weston," she said, smiling, "my nephew's bankers are too Avell acquainted with him to be cheated by such unusual and irregular calls upon his account with them.

They Avould have made some inquiries from himself before paying so large a cheque." " My dear lady," said Mr. Weston, " it Avas supposed all along that the forged cheques ; for there are several of them it is believed ; were draAvn by Lockley to defray his debts of honour to the Croftons and FanshaAve." " My nepheAv gamble ! " exclaimed Mrs. Aspen, draAving up her tall and slender figure with impressive dignity ; " you astonish me, Mr. Weston, by repeating such mere gossip." " But, Mrs. Aspen," he continued, " it is Avell knoAvn throughout the neighbourhood that during the whole of last winter, Avhile you Avere absent in London, there Avere some strange doings soma: on at the Priory. Foreign play not quite free from suspi cion. I was there myself one evening, when Sutton of Sutton flung the cards into Mrs. Crofton's face, and charged her Avith cheating.

It caused a great scandal, for Sutton Avas in a towering rage, and so Avas the lady; and Richard Crofton Avas nearly mad with passion. Sutton told me himself the day following that he had lost upwards of a hundred pounds that night ; and he was convinced that FanshaAve and Mrs. Crofton had some Avay of playing C TOL. into one another's hands. Oh ! I assure you, there has been some very high play carried on at the Priory." Mrs. Aspen sat stiffly erect for some minutes, as if the Avhole force of Mr. Weston's statements could not penetrate all at once to her brain ; but as she began to realise their import her demeanour changed into one of overwhelming excitement. " My Priory ! " she cried, " my home pol luted by such scenes ! I must hear all iioav, Mr. Weston. Tell me what else has been done there?

What other degradation has fallen upon Monkmoor Priory ? It is a just punishment upon me for fleeing from the scene of my soitoav." " I feared you might hear of it casually," pursued Mr. Weston, " for all this is Avell known throughout Thornbury, and the country round. AusIoav, and LaAvrence, and many others, have been Avell fleeced. Lockley, too, was there frequently. Palmer had every reason to suppose the cheques were in due ■order. Why, it is not very long since he AvithdreAv 5001., and handed it over to the Croftons ; Richard Crofton told me himself. No blame can attach to the bankers." " But Avhy is he gone to Leamington ? " asked Mrs. Aspen. " What brings Mr. Fan shaAve there ? " " It is said," Avas the reply, " that he is paying his addresses to Mrs. John Aspen. My dear lady, do not agitate yourself.

I am informed that they are seen constantly together there." " Never ! " exclaimed Mrs. Aspen, rising from her seat with an air of offended majesty. " I refuse to give credence to your story. This condemns and contradicts it altogether. Emma could never forget John. She refused to forsake the spot where he died, that she might cherish continual remembrances of him. My nepheAV is gone Avith Miss Arnold to attend her brother, Avho is on the point of death." " They may have told you so," said Mr. o Weston, in a confident tone, " but I under stood that Miss Arnold had no relatives ? I knoAV she Avas on terms of some intimacy with FanshaAve, for she met him at Murivance the very day that he prevented this last cheque at the bank. It is possible that she may have some knowledge of his affairs that would make her presence of service to Lockley ; or she Avent to take care of Mrs. John."

" Doris ! " cried Mrs. Aspen. " Who then am I to believe ? If Paul and Doris deceive me ; if they deal treacherously with me in my old age, in whom can I put any trust ? " The fire and dignity of her aspect faded, and she sank doAvn again trembling upon her chair, and lifted her wasted hands to her face. " Madam ! Clarissa," said Mr. Vale, in faltering tones, " look up at me. We are old friends. We have known and esteemed one another for many a long year. There are but a few steps betAveen us and the grave : we will be true to each other to the last. Trust in me, dear old friend ; I could never deceive you. I -will be as true to you, as if Ave Avere already in the heaven of truth and uprightness." " I do trust in you, Reginald," she an- SAvered, and the old man's face was suffused with a glow from his youth as she pronounced his name.

" But I will tell you what I must do. This very day I must return to the Priory, and purge it from the pollution of vice there. The blood-stain Avas upon it, and I shrank from that ; but now there is the brand of guilt and folly, from which I might have secured it. I ought to have known that Harriet Crofton could not change her nature. The Priory Avill not long be my own ; but the author of this evil shall not remain in it another day." " You shall go," he said reluctantly, yet Avith a smile lingering upon his features. " It has been the most blessed time of my life, while you and Doris have d\Arelt under my roof. We will not be hard upon our Doris ; Ave must not judge her harshly, and without ■21 paul's courtship. hearing her. But you sheill go home to the- Priory, Clarissa. This house Avill become a solitude to me again until you return."

He glanced mournfully round the peaceful room. As if feeling that his season of halcyon enjoyment was ended, and he must make some exertion to aid his old friend, he inti mated to Mr. Weston that Mrs. Aspen would prefer to be alone. After accompanying him to the gate, he Avalked on with a brisk step to Fairfield, Avhere he imparted Mrs. Aspen's intention to Mrs. Margraf, and requested her and Rufus to be in readiness to go with her to the Priory, that she might not enter its doors, and meet Harriet Crofton, with a for lorn sense of being alone and unprotected. Mrs. Margraf was all impatience and eagerness to comply with his desire ; and in the course of an hour, Mrs. Aspen leaning trem blingly upon her old friend's arm, and fol lowed by Rufus and Mrs. Margraf, returned for a brief sojourn under the roof of her ancestral home.

Chapter III

Harriet Crofton had driven over to Thornbury that morning to execute the com mission, Avhich she had entrusted to Paul the day before, fretfully resenting his inattention. But in some vague and undefined manner the drive through the streets, and the feAV calls she had made, were not pleasant to her. She was conscious of a marked change in the glances that she met, and in the cold and con strained greetings which returned her gracious smiles of recognition. She Avas unaware of anything new to create an increase of super cilious neglect on the part of her numerous acquaintances, unless it Avas the certainty of Mrs. Aspen's loss of the Priory, where she and her husband had been living upon the bounty of their kinswoman. But she Avas so Avell inured to the contempt of poverty, that she smiled back with gay warmth upon the cold looks flung at her, and secretly wished a time might come when she could repay their sneers with interest.

In all probability she Avas never more amazed in her life, than when, from her favourite station in the oriel AvindoAv which overlooked the river, the road to Thornbury, and Paul's house, her bright eyes beheld the forms of Mr. Vale and Mrs. Aspen, Rufus and Mrs. Margraf, descending the steps at Monk's Ferry into the boat, and being roAved across to the Priory. She felt instinctively that some imminent crisis Avas at hand. She looked again, and Paul and Doris Avere not there, and Mrs. Aspen was returning to the Priory un announced, and attended by such an escort ! A feAV seconds' deliberation indicated a possible course of action, by which she could gain more time for consideration, and multiply her chances of learning the meaning of this un .ooked-for event. Before the boat reached the Priory banks, she had retreated hastily to her bed-room, changed her dress for a loose robe, and Avith the windoAvs darkened, and her face turned away from the dimmed light, threAV herself upon a sofa with every semblance of a sudden and acute illness.

The servant who had searched for her through the house and ruins in obedience to Mrs. Aspen's orders, was sent back to her mistress with a message that Mrs. Crofton Avas suffering from a severe attack of headache, which rendered her unable to lift her head from the pillow, or even to speak coherently beyond the assurance that she could not bear either to move or talk. Mrs. Aspen found herself foiled, when she had expected to carry out her intended pur pose with instant energy ; but she would not listen to Mrs. Margraf's proposition that they should follow Harriet Crofton to her chamber, and insist upon her rising at once to prepare for an immediate departure. Neither Mr. Vale nor Rufus seconded the proposal. A woman, sick and suffering from Avhatever malady, had a sacredness of claim upon their sympathy which they could not ignore.

Rich ard Crofton was gone to attend the weekly market at Thornbury ; and the time of his re turn Avas uncertain. Like Harriet they gained time for consideration, and for discussing their several opinions. It appeared that after all it might be as well to avoid any further cause for public scandal, such as the sudden ejectment of the Croftons from the Priory ; the more so as the mysterious journey of Paul and Doris Avas yet inexplicable to them all ; though Rufus had some heart-shaking sus picions that Doris's love for Tom Fanshawe was in some Avay the reason of it. Every one avoided the mention of her name ; yet the thoughts of each were occupied with her. Rufus sat apart in profound and sorroAvful reflections upon all the phases of Doris's conduct, and Doris's character. At Thornbury the tide of public excitement rose to the fullest height Avhen Dr. Lockley reappeared at the railway station, accompanied by Mr. Fanshawe, Miss Arnold, and Mrs. John Aspen.

It Avas eagerly reported through the toAvn that he looked very grave ; that the ladies, closely veiled as they were, bore the traces of violent Aveeping ; but that Mr. Fan shawe was more gay and debonair than ever, greeting every acquaintance Avhom he met Avith so light-hearted and palmy a manner, that it was remarked by the bystanders that he looked more like a bridegroom than a cri minal. He assisted the ladies into the con veyance procured for their farther journey to the Priory, Avith a grace peculiar to himself, and occupied the seat opposite to them with a smile of perfect satisfaction; Avhile Dr. Lockley sat stiffly erect, and turned a grim, grey frown upon the little croAvd which had collected at the station. The drive to the Priory Avas a silent one, interrupted only by periodical sobs from Emma of varying intensity and duration; an exercise in which she had indulged from the moment when Doris, with a cold and un sympathizing sternness, had informed her of Tom FanshaAve's relationship to herself, and the crime of which he had been guilty.

It was about two hours after Mrs. Aspen's return to the Priory. She Avas still waiting, surrounded by her faithful escort, in anxious expectation of Richard Crofton's appearance ; to whom she desired to communicate the painful discovery she had made, and her irre vocable determination that he and his wife should leave her home, only awarding to them a feAV clays of grace to render their banishment less disgraceful ; Avhen the sound of wheels along the drive gave intimation of some arrival. The glimpse she caught of Paul's face ; as he looked through the carriage Avindow in nervous scrutiny of the house, where he Avas about once more to meet the treacherous woman Avho had twice defrauded him ; lifted a heavy load from Mrs. Aspen's heart. Rufus also, Avith an exclamation of gladness and relief, darted into the hall to receive them.

It was no light surprise to any of them when Paul Avas followed into the study by Doris, Emma, and Tom FanshaAve ; and that none of the three advanced Avith any greeting to the group already assembled in the room ; but in their OAvn astonishment stood together, silent, perplexed, and conscious ; a cluster of doAvn cast-looking culprits, Avith Emma's sobs rising unnoticed and unsoothed to an hysterical pitch. It Avas a meeting so unforeseen and bewilder ing that each group gazed upon the other in speechless amazement ; until Doris, putting a feAV paces betAveen herself and her brother, appealed imploringly to Paul. "Oh, be quick!" she said, Avith mournful impatience. "Your silence tortures me. I Avant everything to be knoAvn at once, that I may feel some rest and peace." " Paul and Doris ! " cried Mrs. Aspen, " what is the meaning of all this ?"

" I scarcely knoAV," replied Paul, gazing in perplexity at the assemblage. " Hoav is it that I find you here, aunt? What has brought you across to the Priory at last ? " " I came here," she said, with solemn dietion, " because I heard that my nephew, Paul Lockley, whom I believed to be my honour able and trustworthy kinsman, has permitted the pollution of vice to fall upon my home. I came because I Avas told that Paul Lockley is a gambler, seduced by the wiles of a dangerous and wicked woman ; though he Avas be trothed to a girl, whom I regarded as my adopted daughter. I came to SAveep out of the house, which will be mine for a little time only, the sharpers and impostors who have brought a stigma upon the old Priory." A deep bronze flush crept over Paul's grey face as Mrs. Aspen spoke Avith her grave and measured utterance, and her air of deep re sentment and regret.