A Scarborough Romance. The strange story of Mary Glynde

Front matter

-•.-— otrj. si . l .- 3- #^_i# Florence Warden u Author of The HoUse ort the Mar^U F. V. White & Co,. London. A SCARBOROUGH ROMANCE. THE STRANGE STORY OF MARY GLYNDE. BV FLORENCE WARDEN, AUTHOR OF "Those Westerton Girls," "A Wild Wooing," "The House ox the Marsh," Et< . Jii One Uolume. LONDON : F. V. WHITE & CO., 14, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1894. <æ- A. FACT ! -S> Your TEETH can be WHITE AS DRIVEN SNOW in quite a short time, by using DR. ZIEMER'S "ALEXANDRA' DENTIFRICES. "S'he Proprietors gaarantee that the above marvellous preparation is absolutely PASTE : s LOTION: 51771/3. 2/-i 6d. and 1/- I | 3/6, 6/6 per bottle per pot. » CREAM: ; (. f uisd direct in wattr i 3 5 POWDER: 6d,l/-and| 2/6 t per tube. \% Especially rutted for people travelling. I.6d. and 1/ * • 1 per box. NON-INJTJRIOTJS TO THE ENAMEL To le obtained fr^n all respectable Chemists, Perfumer,, tfc. throughout the World, or direct from B. If.

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Chapter I. An Inauspicious Meeting

It was the middle of July, and the weather was perfect ; but the season at Scarborough had only just begun. The pretty gardens of the Spa looked fresh and green, protected by the high cliff above from the fierce noonday heat of the sun ; and on the winding paths, girls, in pretty light summer dresses, hovered about like a swarm of many-hued butterflies. The sea looked smooth as glass, and the tide was coming in under the great terrace before the Spa buildings, and the rippling of the little waves made a pretty accompaniment to the music of the band. It was early in the evening, and the terrace was not yet crowded. A little dark man, with rather sharp features and an expression of intelligence tempered with some self - complacency, arrived early, but kept in the background among the trees, until the crowd began to thicken, lt was evident that he was not an idler, although he wished to be taken for one ; he was watching for someone, not with the nervous shyness of a lover waiting for the lady he loves, but with a hawk like eagerness. . . .

Presently he came down to the terrace, and, choosing a secluded corner, was about to settle himself again to his task of watching, scanning eagerly the face of every woman who went by, when he was startled by the touch of a hand upon his shoulder. " Hallo, Tom, you here ? " Tom turned with a crimson face, evidently by no means overjoyed a.t the meeting. His friend, on the other hand, seated himself beside him with the effusive delight of a young man who has fallen in love, and who is in ecstasies at having found a new victim to bore about " her." Tom's coldness was quite lost upon Herbert Linsdell, who had been dying to find a fresh victim to listen to his rhapsodies. He was a good-looking young fellow, with a sun-burnt face, just such an honest, simple minded lad of five and twenty as you can meet by the dozen in any English place of resort.

The happy expression of his face, together with his fair hair and light blue eyes, made him look younger than he was, so that he seemed, though much taller than his friend, quite a boy beside him. " Well, old fellow, and what are you doing up here ? I thought you always spent your holiday on ' the Continong, the Continong ! ' " " Yes, but you see I've come here for a change." " It doesn't seem to have done you much good, so far. You were scowling in a portentous manner when I first saw you, and — who are you looking for ? " Herbert went on curiously, having detected his friend's eager scrutiny of the passers-by. " Nobody," answered Tom promptly, turning his gaze at once to his companion. " Oh, yes, you were. You can't ' have ' me like that. It's some girl you expect to see. And that's why you looked so jolly disagreeable when I spoke to you."

" You're quite mistaken, I give you my word," said Tom energetically. " All right, then you'll be delighted for me to stay and talk to you as long as you stay, and that's what I mean to do." Tom looked at his friend, and saw that he meant to do it. " Look here, old man," said he gravel)', " / am looking for someone, and I would rather be by myself. But it's no love affair " '■ Well, what on earth is it then ? " " It's an awfully unpleasant business, and you'd better not ask any questions." " All right. Only just tell me this. I heard something had been found out about your uncle's death ; is it anything to do with that ? " Tom nodded. " Well, if you know so much, you may as well know a little more. My father has just come back from India, and he's had the body exhumed, and a post-mortem made.

And they've found out with out any doubt that Uncle Edgar was poisoned with arsenic." " Good gracious, what an awful thing ! Who did it ? Do they know ? Do they suspect any one? " " It's a good deal more than suspicion. My father got a warrant yesterday." " And that's the business you're up here about ? " " Yes. Now don't ask me any more." But Herbert's cuiiosity was, naturally enough, roused too effectually for him to be put off in this manner. He looked at the moving crowd before them for a few moments in silence, and then he turned, with a fascinated gaze, to the watching face of his friend. " And you — are watching — for the murderer ? I* By Jove," said he in a low voice, "that is an un canny idea." His friend began to grow impatient. " Well," said he, " now I've confessed — (and you must hold your tongue about it, mind !)— aren't you going to leave me in peace ?

I suppose you have some love affair on, as usual ; go to the turnstile and wait for her there." Not even the interest of the murder story had power to quench Herbert's excitement about his new love. " Mind, it's serious this time ; none of your idle flirtations with some girl who has just as many on hand herself as you have, but a real grande passion, the genuine article, and no mistake." " How long has it lasted — up to now ? " asked his friend drily. " Nearly three weeks, and it's going on for ever, I tell you, for ever," answered Herbert emphati cally. " She really is the prettiest girl you ever saw in your life, and I'm sure you'll acknowledge it when you see her." " Of course, of course. Haven't I heard those words from you fifty times before ? " " Oh, I don't pretend I haven't been in love before ; one always must go through an apprentice ship in these things.

But I've got beyond that stage now, and I can't be more in love than I am, if I live a hundred years, because I could never find such a lovely girl again. Now look here," he went on rapidly, as he saw that his friend was growing impatient to the point of breaking away altogether, " I know you have too much on your mind to be interested in my affairs just now. But you're such a clever fellow that you are sure to get your business done in no time, and then all I ask is that you should stay here a couple of days on purpose to hear me talk about Miss Glynde." "Oh, all right," assented Tom impatiently. Still Herbert showed no signs of an intention to leave his friend in peace. He sat nursing his knee, looking eagerly along the terrace until he caught sight, at the other end, of an invalid's basket-chair.

Then he could scarcely contain himself; he seemed anxious to jump up and wave his hat, or demonstrate in some such unconventional fashion his rapture at the approach of his lady love. "There she is, coming along this way. Don't pretend to notice," he went on to Tom, in an excited under-tone. " What, is it that old lady in the wheel-chair ? " drawled Tom. Herbert did not deign to answer. His eyes were fixed, in ecstatic reverence, not on the occu pant of the chair, but on the slender, black-cloaked figure of the nurse who was pushing it slowly forward through the throng. "A nurse, eh? Is it the nurse?" asked Tom, with an unexpected expression of interest. Before Herbert could reply, this expression changed to one of astonishment and horror. Herbert, anxious to see the effect which the young nurse's appearance would have upon his critical friend, glanced from her to him.

" What do you think of her ? " The words were scarcely out of his mouth when his eyes fell on Tom's stony face. There was no mistaking the look on that face for admiration ; for anything indeed but horror. Herbert jumped to the right conclusion in a moment, as his thoughts at once quitted the subject of his own meditation for that of his friend's. "Good Heavens, Tom, you've seen him — seen the murderer ! " he exclaimed in a low voice, as he at once began to look eagerly at the faces of the passing crowd, wondering whether his vague knowledge of what a murderer looks like would help him to make a shrewd guess. Tom rose quickly, and dragging him up by the arm with a nervous pressure, hurried him off the terrace, through the principal building, and out on to the flat roof, where, in a secluded seat under one of the turrets, they were entirely out of sight and out of hearing of all the crowd.

" Which is he ? Can you point him out as he goes past ? Are you sure of him ? " asked Herbert, in a state of great excitement. But Tom, who was livid, and shaking from head to foot, had had time to collect his thoughts and to decide upon reticence. He tried to laugh it off, and declared that he must have been mistaken. " I suppose I have horrors on the brain just now," said he. " Let's go down and have a sherry and soda. How awfully bleak this place is ! " They went down together, and Bertie, believing that Tom had really seen the man he was in search of, and that he was anxious to be alone to prosecute his researches further, would have left him and gone in search of the nurse behind the wheel-chair. But Tom had now grown as eager to detain him as a few minutes before he had been to get rid of him.

" Tell me all about your one and only love," he said with rather forced jocularity, thrusting his arm through Herbert's and leading him away into the more distant paths of the garden. " I don't say she is my only love," said Herbert, in a rather offended tone ; " I don't pretend, like you, that I never lose my head about any girl. All I say is that this is the woman I mean to marry. Why, you don't mean to say you're shivering on an evening like this ? I can scarcely bear the heat ! " " Never mind me. Does your mother know of this — attachment ? " " Oh, yes. To tell the truth, I don't think anybody could stay in the same house with me without knowing. You see, Mary and her old woman are staying at the same hotel as my mother and my sisters and I." "Mary! It has got as far as Christian names then !

I may take it that the lady is of a coming on disposition. These nurses generally are, I believe. Herbert, my dear boy, don't be foolish. This will prove to be a great mistake, take my word for it." This speech was not likely to find favour with the ardent lover, and Herbert was incensed by it. " Miss Glynde is of no more coming-on a dis position than I am," he said indignantly. " In fact I've tried to propose to her several times, and each time she has put me off." " I am glad she has enough sense of propriety for that, at all events," said Tom. " But I don't intend to be put off any longer," went on Herbert doggedly. " I am going to speak to her again this evening, and to-morrow morning I'll tell you the result." He tried to withdraw his arm from that of his friend, but Tom held it fast.

His voice was full of deep feeling as he spoke in a conciliatory, almost fatherly tone. "You headstrong lad, why won't you listen to advice ? What possible reason, except your own welfare, can I have for advising you ? All I say is — wait a little. Why be in such a hurry ? You have known her only three weeks, and marriage lasts a lifetime." "Well, all people really make up their minds in a hurry as to the person they marry. And the chances are just as good that you will get married happily aster a six weeks' engagement as after one of six years." " Provided there is nothing known against either of the parties to the engagement," suggested Tom, who was now showing most unexpected interest and even excitement in the affair which he had begun by treating so contemptuously. " Well, what is there against me ? — or her ?

" " Against yon — nothing." " And against her — nothing, except your ridicu lous prejudice against nurses." " Well, wait and see, wait a week." " I will not wait another day — no, and not another hour," said Herbert obstinately. " So let me go, unless you want me to drag you with me as a witness to my proposal." Herbert was obstinate, and he was also a great deal taller and a great deal more muscular than his companion; so that as he spoke, he dragged Tom down with him in the direction of the terrace, looking about eagerly for the wicker chair. As soon as he caught sight of it and of the fair-haired girl in the demure nurse's garb, he threw off his companion's arm with a sudden jerk, and hurried down alone. Before he had reached the bottom of the path, however, his steps were again arrested by his friend, who, planting himself just in front of the lover, thrust a freshly-printed handbill into his hand.

" Read that," he said briefly. Herbert allowed his eyes to glance contemp tuously at the paper ; but he had not read many words, before he was reading the whole with eager interest. It ran thus : "£100 REWARD. "Whereas, on January the 10th, Edgar Roberts Meade was murdered by the administration of arsenic, and whereas his nurse, known as Sister Aquila, is suspected of having administered the same to the same Edgar Roberts Meade, a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the said nurse known as Sister Aquila, and the above reward will be paid to any person (not being a member of the Police force) as shall give such information as shall lead to her arrest. " The following is the description of the person known as Sister Aquila : " Height 5 feet 5 inches. Figure slight. Com plexion fair. Very fair hair.

Blue eyes, dark lashes. Small features, very good teeth. Scar on the back of the left hand. " Information to be given at any Police station." Herbert looked up, horror - struck, stupefied, into the face of his friend. Tom nodded, and laid a kindly hand upon the young fellow's shoulder. " I'm afraid I've broken it to you rather abruptly," said he apologetically, " but what could I do when you talked of proposing to the girl at once ? " " You surely don't think," said poor Herbert, gasping out his words with mingled indignation and incredulity, " that, that " "That your Mary is Nurse Aquila? I'm afraid I do, though." " But it's a vague description that might apply to half the girls in England ! " cried Herbert, rather contemptuously, as he began to recover from the first shock. " And there's no scar on her hand ; I should have noticed it."

" Well, Bertie, I'm sure I hope there isn't, for I don't want to see you break your heart, as you seem inclined to do. But, old man, I shall have to make her acquaintance and see for myself." He was going off in his turn, when Herbert ran after him, looking pale and agitated. " Make her acquaintance ? " said he ; " how will you do it ? " " Oh, I'll find a way." Herbert retorted very hotly and defiantly : "There is no need. I will introduce you myself. Whatever yon may think, / have not the least fear of the result." But both the young men were trembling with excitement as they made their way in silence down to the terrace.

Chapter II

A MEDIATRESS. A COOL and pleasant evening breeze was blowing in their faces as the two young men descended the path towards the Spa terrace. It fanned their heated faces, and blowing the handbill out of the grasp of the elder of the two young men, sent it fluttering behind them. Tom turned to recover it. It had been blown some yards away, and it fell at the feet of a well dressed lady, whose beauty was striking enough to impress the young man in the midst of the anxiety from which he was suffering. She was accompanied by an elderly man, of what is called the " well-preserved " order, whose dark hair was too dark, and whose slim waist was too slim, for his evident years. Tom raised his hat and apolo gized as he picked up the paper, which had lodged against the hem of her light silk gown. The gracious smile with which she received his first words changed, however, as if with a sudden shock, to a look of gravity as she caught sight of some of the words on the paper ; without the slightest hesitation she snatched the handbill from the astonished Tom, and read its contents from be ginning to end.

Tom was extremely vexed at this incident, but the lady was one of those imperious fair ones who are in the habit of getting their own way un questioned ; and her commanding presence and handsome black eyes had already reduced Tom to abject humility : for he had the inevitable admiration of the short man for tall women. He watched her as she read the handbill, and at once perceived that she was more than commonly interested by its contents. Her firmly-pressed lips and the grave attention of her whole face told him that, even before she glanced with searching enquiry in her black eyes, from the paper to his face, and from his face to that of his friend Herbert, who was standing a couple of yards behind him. "This is interesting," said she, with a sort of commanding playfulness, which yet had a charming touch of seriousnesss.

And she was about to hand the paper, not to Tom, but to the elderly gentleman beside her, when Tom interposed. " Excuse me, madam," said he, drily, " but that paper is a private one of my own." She handed it to him at once with a change to absolute gravity which Tom found as interesting as her lighter mood. " I beg your pardon," she said. " I took it for one of the handbills one sees outside police stations." "So it is," he answered, "but it has not been issued yet ! This is the proof." There was no mistaking now the very strong interest which the lady showed both in the paper, and in the man who held it. " Indeed ! Then you are personally interested in this unhappy affair? You will excuse me for showing so much curiosity when I tell you that I once knew this unhappy Sister Aquila." Herbert Linsdell drew nearer, and the lady's eyes rested upon him for a few moments before she went on.

Her elderly companion, meanwhile, was giving many signs of impatience at the unwelcome interruption of his tete-a-tete. "And I should be very, very sorry, to hear that any fresh trouble had fallen upon her," she continued, fervently. " Ah, thank you, it is good of you to say that ! " cried Herbert, in spite of himself. And instantly, while the lady surveyed him steadily, and with marked approval, his face became suffused with the deepest of blushes. " What, you know her too, then ? " she asked, curiously. " No, no — at least I mean, madam, that I knew her once — like you, or at least " The lady did not increase his confusion by smiling, but she listened very attentively to his words. In the slight pause which followed, the wheel chair came in sight some distance below them, with the pale girl in the long black cloak and veil, behind it.

The eyes of all three instantly betrayed to each other the interest they felt in the unconscious woman. The strange lady looked from one to the other of the young men, and then softly asked : " Is that she ? " " No," answered Herbert, promptly. But Tom looked away and said nothing. The middle-aged gentleman, at last thoroughly dis gusted with this intrusion of the two youn° strangers, and with the lady's unheard-of condescension in parleying with them, now cleared his throat, and said stiffly : " I fear, Mrs. Mansell, that I am in the way. I think I had better walk down to the concert room, and secure you a good seat." " Thank you, Major, I need not trouble you to do that, as somebody or other booked one for me a week ago. But you had better make haste and secure one for yourself, if you have not done so."

She held out her hand with a gracious smile, which evidently did not suffice to console him for his disappointment, to her elderly admirer, who took his leave very stiffly, and with a vicious glance at the two young men whom he regarded as his supplanters. The lady turned to them at once. " I am going to do a very unheard-of thing," she said, with dignity and decision. " I am going to ask you to let me take you back with me this moment to my hotel, where we can discuss this matter more privately than here. I will tell you all that I know about this poor girl, as I think it may influence you in the course you take. You say that this hand-bill has not yet been issued ? " " Not yet," admitted Tom, reluctantly. " Then I think that after hearing what I have to tell you, it never will be. You will both come ?

" Her tone had more of command in it than of entreaty, as she took a few steps in the evident expectation that they would follow her. Tom, however, shook his head and was declining the invitation, when Herbert's ready acceptance of it caused him to change his mind. They both accompanied her in silence therefore, and in some embarrassment, up to the gate at the top of the cliff, and to the Clarence Hotel, where she was staying. It was with the air of a princess that she led the way to a sitting-room with a full view of the sea, and taking off her hat and her gloves, invited them to be seated, while she threw herself into an easy chair by one of the windows, in which she leaned back, showing to great advantage her fine figure and her well-shaped head with its crown of silky dark hair. " You may light your cigarettes," said she.

" My late husband was a great smoker, and the scent of tobacco smoke is rather pleasant to me than other wise." She asked Herbert, who was nearest to the bell, to ring ; and when the waiter appeared, she gave him some directions in half-a-dozen words, which resulted in his bringing in whisky, soda, ice, lemons and cigarettes. " Now," said she, " help yourselves, and tell me how you came to be interested in this dreadful business of hunting poor Nurse Aquila down." " / have nothing to do with it, and I believe it's all a horrible mistake. I'm sure of it," cried Herbert, with fervour. Mrs. Mansell looked at Tom who, however, said nothing. " I will tell you what I know about her myself," pursued the lady, in a gently persuasive voice. " She's an orphan, the daughter of a physician who died too early in his career to be able to make proper provision for his wife and child.

The widow was not a strong woman either mentally or physically, and she scarcely made the best of things, poor thing. So that when she died, not so very long after, poor little Mary " The lady bit her lip — but both the young fellows had caught the name, and they involuntarily exchanged glances. " The girl, I mean, was left practically penniless. She was very young, very pretty, and entirely alone in the world. Could anybody blame her for declining the dull life of the governess, and for preferring the harder but decidedly less monotonous duties of a nurse ? I knew her at that time, and both my husband and I tried to dissuade her from a life which we thought too independent a one for a good-looking and friendless girl. But she was obstinate, I am sorry to say." The lady uttered these last words in a dreamy undertone, and looked sorrowfully out to sea.

Herbert chose to fancy that there was an implied reproach to the girl he loved in these last words, and he reddened, and would have struck in ; but she, perceiving his intention, raised her hand in protest and continued : " Ah ! don't blame her. How can a young man understand what it is to be a woman, young, handsome, and altogether friendless ? " She sighed, and then quickly went on, " I lost sight of her for a time, and when I saw her again I would not ask any questions. What was the use? She had been my friend, and whatever she had been through, I intended that she should remain my friend still." But at this point, Herbert could remain silent no longer, and he sprang up in a rage. " Madam," said he, coldly, or with what might have passed for coldness, " you must excuse me, but I cannot sit here to hear you take away the character of your friend, and the woman I love."

But as he rose, Mrs. Mansell rose too, and with passion in her face, applauded him for his words. " That is right, that is outspoken and manly," she said, warmly. " Say what you like to me and of me, but stand up as a champion for the woman who is being hunted down." She threw a glance of magnificent anger at Tom, who stammered out that she was mistaken, that she was doing him injustice. She took him up promptly and gravely. " Indeed," said she, " I hope I am." Tom had been much impressed by her earnest ness, and he did not see what cause Herbert had to complain of her advocacy of her unfortunate friend. He hastened to try to put himself right in her eyes. "Madam," he said, "you will understand my action in the matter (though indeed I have taken no action at present), when I tell you that the Edgar Meade referred to on the hand-bill you saw, was my uncle, and that it was his brother (my father) who sent me up here on information which he received, I don't know from what quarter, late last night.