The Repentance of Paul Wentworth : a novel

Front matter

a THE REPENTANCE OF PAUL "WENTWORTH. 8 Nobel. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, in ©rtiinarg tn $?er fHajcstg tfje ©item. 1889. (All rights reserved.) " Men are led by strange ways. One should have tolerance for a man, hope of him ; leave him to try yet what he will do." — Carlyle. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAPTER PAGE I. Lady Clavebino to the Rescue ... ... 1 II. "Total Eclipse" ... ... ... 26 III. A Passage Perilous ... ... ... 38 IV. A Modern Sir Galahad ... ... 65 V. Stella ... ... ... 94 VI. "The Silence that came next" ... 120 VII. Philip Irvine becomes Uneasy ... ... 137 VIII. What the World said ... ... 153 IX. Sealing the Indictment ... ... ... 171 X. Counsels of Perfection ... ... 190 XI. " AMICI, COMŒDIA FINITA EST " ... ... 220 XII. The Scene changes ... ... ... 211 XIII.

A Chance Acquaintance ... ... ... 266 XIV. At a Little Dinner-Party ... ... 287 XV. "Rosemary, for Remembrance" ... ... 311 XVI. Lady Ellesthorpe speaks ... ... 324 XVII. Then and Now ... ... ... ...

Chapter I. Lady Clavering To The Rescue

" Daughter, I know not what you call the highest. If this be high, what is it to be low?" Tennyson. " I can't think what made me fancy he was a widower," poor Mrs. Erskine said, shivering as she spoke. She was standing with Lady Clavering in a secluded part of the garden on the morning following the latter's arrival at the Hotel Mythen; the air was chilly and autumnal, and, not expecting that the private conference to which her friend had invited her would last so lone, the Professor's wife had come out in her vm.. ii. thin house-dress, unprotected by shawl or wrap of any kind, so her shivering condition was easily accounted for. " I certainly never thought he was a married man. What made me imagine he was a widower, I wonder ? Surely Alec must have said something to that effect ! " "If you thought he was unmarried, Isabel," answered Lady- Clavering briskly, "I should have said that was an additional reason for not letting a pretty young girl run about the country with him in this free-and-easy wayr.

His being married — if he behaved himself as he ought to do, which he doesn't — would have been a kind of safeguard. But that's not really the question. Married or widowed, it makes no difference. With a reputation hke his, half a dozen wives couldn't lessen the impropriety of Muriel's roam ing about with him." Lady Clavering did not shiver at all. She was wTell and warmly equipped for the journey on which she was about to start, and in any case the heat of her righteous zeal and indignation would have prevented her experiencing any sensation of cold. "I am dreadfully sorry, Susan," Mrs. Erskine replied penitently. " I suppose I ought to have looked after her more closely, but Alec monopolizes so much of my time that I have little left for any one else, and then he spoke so highly7 of Mr. Wentworth !

I never had much to do with him myself, but I could see that he was a very clever, well-bred man, and I thought it very kind of him to take so much notice of a child like Muriel. So did Alec." Lady Clavering gave a sort of despairing groan. " Isabel, I believe you are more than half a child still 3'ourself," she said. " I speak plainly, but we have been almost like sisters all our lives, and I know you won't take my plain speaking ill. It's very nice to be as guileless and childlike and all that kind of thing as you and the dear Professor are, but it's very dangerous sometimes. Why, Muriel's nineteen ; she's not a child at all. She's a very beautiful girl, just at the age to take the fancy of a jaded man of the world like Paul Wentworth. As to his good nature and kindness, it's a myth ! You won't get me to believe in it.

Of course he admires Muriel — who wouldn't ? I don't blame him so much for that, and his own wife is a tiresome, cold-hearted, artificial woman : I detest her! — and I've no doubt he has gone as far as he dares in trying to flirt with the dear child. He dares a good deal, let me tell you. My great hope is that she's too young and simple to understand what he's been driving at." " I am sorry you think so very badly of him," Mrs. Erskine said wistfully. "I have heard some very nice things about him from Alec and Muriel. One little story— of his marvellous kindness to some poor child who got lost between this place and Fluelen, and whom he saved from slipping over the precipice — was really quite touching." " Worse and worse ! " rejoined Lady Clavering, with another sound of dismay. " Muriel told you these pretty tales, did she ?

I am very sorry to hear it. However, they say we ought to give even Satan his due, and I don't wish to assert that Mr. Wentworth is destitute of common humanity. Indeed, I never heard that he was an unkind man." " Then as regards Muriel," Mrs. Erskine struck in, eager to exculpate herself from the charges levelled at her, "don't you see that his age alone would prevent her looking upon him in — in the way you speak of? Oh, it's quite impos sible that she should ever think of him in that way, Susan ' Why, he must be old enough to be her father, pretty nearly ! She would consider him an elderly man." " My dear Isabel,' how little you know about it all ! A clever, fascinating man of Paul Went worth's age would be much more likely to dazzle the mind of a romantic girl like Muriel than a curly-headed boy twenty years younger.

His attentions would be something to be really proud of, you see. As to his being elderty, he's only forty and looks less ; and, elderly or not, I never yet knew the woman whose head he couldn't manage to turn if he gave his mind to the under taking." " I have been very remiss, I fear," poor Mrs. Erskine murmured. Her mild blue eyes filled with tears ; she looked the picture of helpless regret and utter bewilderment. " I believe I am unfit to take care of anybody, but to think that I should have acted such a careless part by poor Amy's child breaks my heart. Susan, you were always quick and full of resource. Tell me what to do in this terrible trouble ! " " Come, we needn't call it a terrible trouble at present," Lady Clavering said. She had gained the desired end now — Mrs. Erskine had been thoroughly frightened, and there was little fear but what she would prove a more circumspect o-uardian in future.

" Perhaps there's no harm done. In fact, my impression is that there is not. I got Muriel into my room this morning and talked to her— of course without saying any thing of all this— and all she said reassured me. She seemed as gay as a lark and not a bit self conscious, both good signs. Then I just casually mentioned jToung Arlingham — you know that nice young fellow at Eversleigh who paid her so much attention last summer — and she blushed like a rose at once. That was another good sign, and so, I thought, was her evident willingness to go back to England directly. No, I don't think there's any serious harm done yet." " But what ought I to do now ? " " Do ? Why, stop these tete-a-tete boating expeditions to begin with — they are the worst part of the business. I don't want to wound vour feelings again, my dear, but how could you ever have permitted them ?

Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk. But it is lucky John and I were the people to see and recognize them last night, instead of some ill-natured strangers. She would have been terribly talked about in that case, I can assure you." " I will not believe the world in general to be so gratuitously cruel," answered Mrs. Erskine, plucking up a little spirit. " I think you are rather harsh in your own judgments, Susan. I may have been wrong in allowing the child so much liberty, but I gave the permission inno cently, and she took it innocently; and for aught I know," added Mrs. Erskine, with a spurt of defiance, " Mr. Wentworth ma}T have acted inno cently in the matter too." " A fig for Mr. Wentworth's innocence ! You cannot know many men of his stamp, or you would not give much credence to that notion," Lady Clavering replied scornfully.

" No, I am glad to say I don't know many, or indeed any men of the stamp you would have me believe Mr. Wentworth belongs to," Mrs. Erskine retorted with growing heat. " Have you believe ! " Lady Clavering cried with a gesture of exasperation. "Why, the man's character is as well known as — as Cæsar Borgia's, I was going to say. Not that I mean to imply he's like Cæsar Borgia, of course. People say sometimes that his wife must be either a fool or an angel to bear as she does with him. I don't believe she's either myself, by the way : she's certainly not a fool, and I see no tokens of angelhood about her. I only know that if it was my husband who made himself so talked about, I should break my heart for shame and misery." Lady Clavering paused impressi vely, but a faint smile on her friend's lips warning her that the idea of the respectable, elderly Sir John enacting the part of a reckless and fascinating Don Juan was not without its humorous elements and suggestions, she hurried on again, " Well, Mrs. Wentworth's conduct has really nothing to do with the matter.

If you want me to prove the truth of what I have been saying, I can tell you half a dozen stories " "No, no; pray don't!" interrupted Mrs. Erskine, flushing like a girl. " Of course I ought to have known that you would not speak without good and sufficient cause, Susan. But I would rather not hear these — stories." " I do not want to repeat them, I am sure," Lady Clavering said. "They're not exactly edifying." This was undeniably true; nevertheless, Lady Clavering would have hked to repeat them very much. " We must think now what yon ought to do about Muriel." " Yes, certainty. Pray tell me what you would advise." " First of all, I should inquire into this widower idea — I mean, I should try and find out how it reached you to begin with. If he's been wilfully deceiving the Professor and Muriel, I should expose him without mercy — to the oirl herself, that is to say.

Of course you wouldn't talk about such a matter to strangers, or there would be a scandal at once. For my part, I believe Mr. Wentworth capable of anything, but I don't want to condemn him unheard. If you find that it was all your own mistake from beginning to end, of course you needn't say so much. In that case, your plan of action would be very simple indeed." Lady Clavering, in her part of confidential counsellor and experienced woman of the world, was enjoying herself immensely. She stopped for a minute, partly to take breath and partly to indulge in a complacent review of the important position she conceived herself to be occupying at the moment, and then went on again as fast and as eagerly as before. "In that case I should simply say that you have heard things about him from me and from John that you don't like — of course you won't enter into particulars, but you might just hint that he's not an estimable individual morally, and that he behaves ill to his wife ; that will be quite enough for a girl like Muriel — and that, as you've heard these things, you think she had better not make such a friend of him, and rather keep out of his way in future.

You will see by the way she takes this whether he has really made any impression or not, because if he has, she'll try to stick up for him, and refuse to believe what you say. In any case, don't blame yourself to her for what is over and gone. Keep up your authority — perhaps you may need it before all's done with, though I repeat that I don't believe there's any real harm accomplished yet. But how lucky John and I came, for you are so innocent that there is no saying how long this kind of thing might have gone on before you woke up to its enormity ! I wish I could stayT and help you, but " " Susan, where are you ? Where is Lady Clavering ? " said Sir John's gruff voice close at hand. " The steamer is ready to start; we shall be late, as usual ! " " Coming, dear, coming," cried his wife cheer fullyT.

" Well, good-bye, Isabel " — embracing her friend ; " write to me how it all falls out. I wish I could have stayed and helped you. Good bye, and don't worry yourself." And with this parting recommendation Lady Clavering sailed off, having previously done her very best, in all kindness, to harass Mrs. Erskine's gentle soul into a madness of perplexity. That lady was indeed sorely distressed, but with the removal of Lady Clavering's presence and the cessation of her energetic onslaughts in behalf of propriety and conventionality, the distress she had created began to subside a little. Susan, good soul ! was always rather given to exaggerated alarm on slender provocation, and she had probably' yielded to her habitual ten dency in the present instance — indeed, had she not herself been obliged to confess that no harm had as yet been done ?

Mr. Wentworth might not be in all respects a model of virtue, but this regrettable fact would not render him incapable of showing disinterested kindness to a mere girl, young enough to be his daughter. Altogether, by the time she got back to the house and her husband, Mrs. Erskine had succeeded in bringing > O O herself to a much more composed and hopeful frame of mind, and it was in such a frame that she sought counsel of the Professor. He was not in an auspicious mood for giving counsel to any one on any subject whatsoever. Sir John's society had bored him insufferably, and he had had besides two or three dull but intricate business matters to dispose of that morning by letter, and had consequently been prevented attacking his dearly loved philosophers at the usual hour. When his wife detailed her narrative he was at first inattentive, next a little taken aback, and finally exceedingly cross.

"He wished Lady Clavering would keep her advice to herself : that chattering tongue of hers did no end of mischief. She never could appear on any scene without instantly causing an imbroglio. He hoped to goodness she had not been telling all this fine tale to Muriel — putting things into the child's head which she need never hear of, and was much better for not knowing ? " " No," Mrs. Erskine answered for her friend. " She has not done that, for she particularly assured me that she had not said a word to Muriel about the matter. She even warned me to be careful what I said myself." " Much obliged for her warnings," muttered the Professor. " I should think we ought to know how to look after our niece without her help." The worthy man was all the more savage because in the inmost recesses of his heart he knew that the obnoxious Lad}r Clavering was right, and that he, Alexander Erskine, was wrong.

" As to Wentworth, I always told you that I knew nothing of his private history. Lady Clavering's scandalous gossip may or may not be true ; I have no means of testing its truth, and for that thank Heaven, say I ! I don't concern myself with such matters; I leave them to the society papers and the company in the servants' hall. Very possible Wentworth is not a Sir Galahad — or more properly a King Arthur ; both are rare figures in modern society. But he is a perfect gentleman, and I decline to believe that he has taken advantage in any way of our confidence in him. If I thought he had," Mr. Erskine added, a sudden gleam of anger lighting up his rough-hewn features, " I would make him repent it bitterly ! But I don't think it for a moment." "That is just what I feel, just what I told Susan," rejoined his wife.

" But you haven't given me any answer about the other point, Alec — about his having a wife living, I mean. Did you know it ? " " Know it ? Of course I knew it ! " the Pro fessor retorted angrily. " You or Muriel, or both of you, ran away with some ridiculous idea about his being a widower when you first saw him, I believe, and I did not argue the matter with you, not feeling interested in the question. For aught I knew at that time your notion might have been correct. However, any doubts I en tertained on the subject were soon set at rest by Wentworth's speaking voluntarily of his wife. He has mentioned her to me several times ; he did so only last week, if I remember aright. Said something about her being in Scotland or Ireland, I forget which." Mrs. Erskine breathed more freely. "I am very glad to hear this," she said.

" It shows that there can have been no deception on his part, and that it does not do to trust implicitly to Susan's fancies. Yet I wonder how it happened that you never mentioned this to me, Alec ? " " Why on earth should I mention it to you ? " inquired the Professor irritably. " Could I suppose that you were likely to feel profoundly interested in the fact of Mrs. Wentworth's beino in Scotland — or in the fact of her existing at all ? Have we been in the habit of discussing Went worth's domestic affairs between ourselves, you and I ? " Mrs. Erskine was obliged to admit that such had certainly not been their habit. " Then you would have me do nothing — not move in the matter at all?" she asked timidly, laying a gentle hand on her husband's shoulder. "I don't quite understand what you mean by moving in the matter," he answered more amiably.

The mute caress had not been without its effect. " Well — speaking to Muriel, and telling her she had better not go out with Mr. Wentworth any more." " As to that," the Professor replied, getting up and looking about for his hat, " tell her what you please, Belle, my dear. I have perfect con fidence in your judgment, whatever Lady Clavering may feel. I would only caution you against putting ideas into Thekla's head that would never come there without help. For the rest, if even here we are to be subjected to periodical domiciliary visits from Mrs. Grundy and her satellites, perhaps you had better give the child a hint to avoid solitary expeditions with Wentworth in future. I believe he is going away in a day or two, which will simplify matters. Meanwhile, Muriel can easily excuse herself, if he asks her to walk or row with him ; but she is not to be rude or give herself airs, remember."

Mrs. Erskine laughed a little at thc notion of Muriel's being rude or giving herself airs to Mr. Wentworth. "I don't think that is likely to happen," she said. "Well, I will follow your advice exactly, Alec. I shall see by the way she receives my hint, whether " She hesitated in confusion. " Whether Wentworth's fascinations have had any effect, you mean?" her husband rejoined. " Stuff and nonsense ! How should there be anything to see ? The man's old enough to be her father." With which comforting reflection the Professor swung out of the room, calling as he went : " I am going for half an hour's stroll and smoke before we begin work." His wife sat down to her writing-desk much relieved in mind. True, the task of conveying to Muriel a warning amounting to a prohibition still lay before her, and this task was very unpleasant to a woman of her shy, nervous temperament, but the conversation she had just held with her husband had shorn it of half its difficulties and disagreeables.

Then, meek as she was, she nevertheless felt a glow of triumph steal over her as she reflected that after all she had been able to prove Susan's judgment overharsh, and erroneous as well. She was not usually impulsive, but this unwonted feeling of exultation, this new pride of victory, carried her partially off her feet. She decided on sending a note to Lady Clavering by that very day's post. She had written no further than " My dear Susan," when the door opened and her niece came in. Muriel had not been out that morning, and her new happiness, coupled with her secret anticipation of the words that she was to hear from Wentworth's lips before many hours were over, made her restless. She found it hard to settle down to any kind of occupation, yet she was unwilling to go into the garden and so provoke the decisive interview just yet.

Now that the fateful moment was close at hand she shrank a little from encountering it. Not that she had any lurking distrust of Wentworth's truth. She was very young and simple and inexperienced, and in her small world had never yet found special cause to doubt any one's sincerity ; therefore it was not likely that she would doubt the man to whom she had given her whole heart. All her doubts related to her own unworthiness to be loved by him. But she felt a certain awe in contemplating the new phase of her life's history just ready to open before her, and a faint touch of innocent coquetry mingled with this maidenly timidity. " He asked me to come early," she said to herself, with a saucy smile born of pride and happiness unspeakable, " and it is a quarter past ten now. Well, that is early — very early, I think.

I shall not go till eleven. You must wait a httle while to-day, vol. ii. Mr. Wentworth." And then she blushed deeply at her own unspoken audacity7. She had brought her drawing materials into the room with her, and, seating herself at the table in the window, she tried to steady her quivering fingers sufficiently to touch up a partially finished sketch. Mrs. Erskine, sitting at the Professor's writing-table on the opposite side of the room, had her back turned to her niece — a fact for which the poor lady felt devoutly thankful. Now that Muriel was actually present and the moment had clearly arrived for discharging what Mrs. Erskine felt to be an exceedingly painful duty, all her old nervousness returned upon her with redoubled force. She cast about for some easy introduction to the necessary subject of discourse.

" Do you know, Muriel," she said at length without turning round, " that I think I must be an extraordinarily dull person ? I have just been talking to your uncle, and he was quite vexed with me for a stupid mistake I have been labouring under with regard to Mr. Wentworth. I always supposed he was a widower ; but it seems that was pure fancy on my part, and that he has a wife living, who is travelling in Scotland or Ireland just now. Your uncle sa3's Mr. Wentworth has often spoken of her to him, but I am sure he never did to me." Muriel sat stiffened into stone, staring straight before her in her dumb agony. The one instinct that animated her was to keep silence ; she clenched her hands painfully in the effort to prevent herself crying out. It was as well that Mrs. Erskine did not turn round at that moment.

" One does leap to conclusions too hastily some times," Mrs. Erskine went on ; while Muriel's heart suddenly awoke from the trance in which it had seemed to stand still, and beat so wildly that she felt as if great hammers were clanging in her ears and brain, while everything before her whirled round in a giddy dance, and, though she still heard her aunt's voice speaking, it seemed to come to her from an ever-increasing distance, until at last she had to strain every nerve to catch what was said. " I believe you leapt to this conclusion too, my dear, didn't you ? " " Yes, I did," Muriel answered. Her own voice sounded far away to her, too, and she was so cold that she trembled from head to foot. " So did your uncle, though he scarcely likes to admit as much now." Muriel rose from her chair and seemed as if she were going to speak.

For a moment her heart cried out in wild revolt, " It is not true ! It cannot be true ! I will not believe it ! " But before the words could reach her lips, she sank down awain. She knew it was true. In a moment of time her preternaturally excited memory had retraced the history of the last three weeks, recalling all that had perplexed her, and she knew that her aunt's words gave the key to the whole mystery. All was fully explained now ; the answer to the riddle was found. Like a flash of lightning in a dark and unexplored region, Mrs. Erskine's announcement revealed to Muriel over what manner of ground she had been treading so unsuspectingly. There was no hope : it was all true. One thing only was left for her to do now — to try and conceal the crushing shame that had overtaken her. "No one shall know, no one shall know — if I die for it !" she said to herself.

She got up and moved her drawing-board a little, so as to bring her face into deeper shadow. Mrs. Erskine's pen continued to fly busily over the paper. "Did Mr. Wentworth ever talk to you about his wife ?" she inquired with innocent craftiness, nerving herself for the coming plunge. " No, never." " Ah, well ! there may have been a reason for his silence. Lady Clavering knows a great deal about him, and I am sorry to say she tells me he is not at all a good man. He seems to be sadly destitute of moral principle, and he is said to behave very ill towards his wife ; in fact, I fear he is a very bad husband," said poor Mrs. Erskine, dutifully repeating her lesson. " So you see, dear, he is hardly the person you should make a friend of. I know he has been very kind to you, and of course you would not like to appear ungrateful.

Still your uncle and I think you had better not go out alone boating with him again, and you can easily make some polite excuse if he asks you, cannot you ? " " Quite easily," Muriel answered with a little laugh. " I wonder if I am going mad ? " she said to herself. She seemed to have a double identity; she heard herself speaking, and listened as if to a third person. " As you say, Aunt Isabel, he has been very good-natured, and I should not wish to seem rude." "Very right, dear," returned Mrs. Erskine approvingly. The dreaded ordeal was passing off infinitely better than she could have ventured to hope. " I know your uncle would be pleased to hear you say that." " In any case," Muriel went on, playing her part with growing assurance and watching her self play it with a kind of insane admiration, " I shan't need to make many excuses, because he — Mr. Wentworth — he told me himself he was going back to England to-morrow."

" Perhaps that is as well," returned her aunt. " Drawing off in any way from a person who has been kind to you is always disagreeable work. I was sorry to hear so unfavourable a report of Mr. Wentworth's character, for I rather liked him myself, and your uncle thought very highly of his abilities. However, unfortunately, talent and principle very frequently don't go together." Muriel assented vaguely to this rather trite sentiment. Then, remembering that she was hardly acting fully up to the role she had assumed, she added firmly, " He is certainly a very clever man, and talks exceedingly well. It is a pity he should be on such bad terms with his wife. Perhaps she may be partly in fault." " No, I am afraid his wife has excellent reason for being on bad terms with him," Mrs. Erskine answered gravely.