Guy Vernon

Chapter I

" Far better commit a fault and have done As you, dear, for ever, and choose the pure, And look where the healing waters run, And strive and strain to be good again, And a place in the other world ensure, All glass and gold, with God for the sun." R. Browning. " T~I THEN I reached St. James's Square, * ' Maynard met me in the hall. I was startled by his grave looks, and feared all was not well with you. In a few words he acquainted me with your condition, and the doctor's opinion of the seriousness of the case. His manner was a little stiff, and I, forgetting how mach appearances were against me, felt wounded to the quick. I VOL. III. B did not disguise the intensity of my sorrow with this additional grief to weigh me down. He looked at me with infinite pity, and then, bending down, whispered — ' Is she still living?' I bowed my head in silent agony.

" From that moment, dearest, Maynard has been my support and comfort. The little time I could spare from your dear bed side was spent with him, discussing my position in all its bearings. There were certain points of Miriam's narrative that Maynard totally disbelieved. Again, he thought it possible that a twin sister was trading on her strong likeness. I could give him no accurate information, as Miriam's word was so little to be relied on. She had professed, I told him, to be an only child, and, lo ! this brother had turned up. May nard urged me to tell you all, and I loyally meant to do so when your health was quite re-established. Later there was a talk of our wintering at Nice, and I asked Maynard if it were not much better to put off the blow till you were out of England ; it would be a nine days' wonder there, perhaps, if known at all, and surely you would be better able to bear it with Mildred near you.

In short, I put off the evil hour as long as possible. Maynard gravely shook his head. ' She may be grossly in sulted by these people some day, and you not be there to defend her.' Then I hurried the preparations for departure, as you know, Violet ; and in the meantime May nard was not idle — he had gone to Oxford to endeavour to find out any traces of Mr. Benson's family. All he learnt Avas that neither son nor grown-up daughter, save Miriam, Mrs. Vernon, had ever resided with Mr. Benson during his stay at Oxford ; that she had never been seen since her marriage. Here there was a discrepancy ; Miriam had averred that she and her brother had met b at Oxford, and even that she had taken up her residence there on her return from America. The hope, however, that Miriam had had a twin-sister fell to the ground.

I own I had never been sanguine on this head. I was certain that the woman call ing herself Miriam Vernon was indeed my wife ; about her relationship to the man Roberts I was more doubtful. It was now three weeks since the night of the opera, and I began to hope that seeing they could get nothing more out of me in the shape of money, they had quietly returned to America. " Great was my relief when Dr. May thorn advised your returning to the country for change of air. I had been for so many months harassed and worried, that the change to the Deene was comparative happiness. I rejoiced to see your progress daily in health and strength, and I had a hope that our foreign trip might be a happy one. This evening I was preparing to join you at the Centre Oak, as we had arranged, when I heard the door-bell ring, and presently I was told that Mr. Hawkins, accompanied by another gentleman, was in the library.

Violet, conscience makes cowards of us all ! In a moment I guessed the purport of the visit. I was now at bay, and therefore en deavouring to arm myself with what sang froid I possessed, I entered the library. There stood the gipsy of Church Lane, my reputed brother-in-law, Violet. Turning to Mr. Hawkins, without acknowledging the presence of the other, I greeted him kindly, at the same time asking the nature of his business with me. " ' A most extraordinary charge has been made against you by this gentleman, Sir Guy; he assures me he is related to your first wife, that she is still alive, and that you are aware of the fact, but decline to re-establish her in her rightful position.' " I was silent. Mr. Hawkins, who had. up to the present moment, treated the accusation as a false one, stared in unfeigned astonish ment.

"'What if it be true ? ' I exclaimed at length. " ' Then little remains to be done, Sir Guy, but to inform Lady Vernon of her unfortunate position.' " ' In that case, Hawkins, Mr. Roberts had better leave us : it is singular that he should have chosen you as counsel on this occasion instead of his own lawyer.' "Hawkins seemed on the alert in a moment. ' Has this gentleman assumed a false name, then ?' he exclaimed ; ' he was christ ened at his father's desire by that of Basil Ricketts.' " I started back in surprise, whilst a deep flush crimsoned my brothers face ! Here, then, was the clue to this man's hatred towards me ! And Miriam was in league with him ! Here was I face to face with my father's son. It seemed now a mercy tliat death had spared him the sight of such unnatural antagonism.

Basil was my brother, yet he hated me with an instinctive, jealous hatred ; whilst I, before I married you, Violet, had already bettered his position through the medium of Hawkins. I recovered myself sufficiently to say, with what dignity I could command, " Mr. Ricketts, it will be better for you to leave us ; my part in this shameful trans action I prefer relating to Mr. Hawkins in private ; or, if needs be, with only Miriam Vernon as witness.' " 'You really had better retire, Mr. Rick etts,' said Hawkins quietly. 'Sir Guy Ver non, you may be quite certain, will behave as a man of honour, and if you will call the day after to-morrow at my office, you will hear the result of this interview.' " ' Thank you ! I don't stir from here before I see my way a little. I won't be bamboozled any more by Sir Guy Vernon, or any other fine gentleman.

He either acknowledges my sister as his lawful wife, or I expose him before his fine powdered foot men, and all the world besides.' "My blood boiled, darling; I scarcely know how I was able to keep my hands off him ; but I thought of my father, and forbore. " 'Well, sir,' said Hawkins, with contempt in his voice and manner, ' I know little of the particulars of the case ; but from what has fallen from your own lips I gather that it is a trumped-up one, and a fabrication from be ginning to end 1 ' " ' Sir !' said Basil Ricketts, starting to his feet, his face livid with rage. " ' Yes, Mr. Ricketts. ' You have yet to prove that you are the late Mrs. Vernon's brother. I say ' late,' for I do not acknow ledge her as living, until she can show by truthworthy evidence that she was saved from the wreck of the Nautilus.'1 " ' Saved from the wreck ?

Ask Sir Guy Vernon ! As "a man of honour'' he will tell you that he has seen and talked with her !' " Mr. Hawkins turned to me for an ex planation. So, judging it best to settle the question at once, I told him all, sparing my self in nothing, neither did I screen my wicked accomplice. Basil Ricketts remained doggedly silent. Once or twice he moved uneasily in his seat. Hawkins had his eye on him the whole time. " When I had finished speaking he said, " ' I have heard your version of the story, Mr. Ricketts, which certainly tallies with that of the person calling herself Miriam Vernon, and I have now listened to Sir Guy's sad part of it. The result is that I am as much convinced as I was at first that there is a great wrong being enacted some where. At present I do not see my way clearly, but I promise you, in the name of Sir Guy Vernon, that he will spare no ex pense to sift this matter to the bottom.

In my own mind I am convinced that it is a fictitious case, got up to extort money.' "'Prove it!' said Ricketts, with a loud, derisive laugh. ' In the meantime, sir,' he added, turning to me, 'the lady usurping my sister's place in your establishment remains your mistress until I denounce her.' " At these words I sprang at him with the force of a tiger, to hurl him from the window, so that I might be rid of his blasphemous presence ; but Hawkins interfered between us. Then Basil Ricketts slank away, and I saw him no more. When the door closed on him I breathed a sigh of relief. " ' My dear Sir Guy, I am not certain if counsel can pull you through, but ' " ' It must not come to a trial,' I said. ' This woman is indeed the one I married three years ago in St. Pancras Church.' " ' Did you know any of her antecedents before marriage ?' " ' I took her on her own showing,' I an swered, shortly.

" ' Ah !' said Hawkins, with a whistle of satisfaction. ' Now, then, we have to find out if the mother of Basil Ricketts was ever married to Mr. Benson. In that way alone could he and Mrs. Vernon become brother and sister. Of this, Sir Guy, I have the strongest doubts. Should these doubts be well founded, what, then, is the link be tween them ? In the meantime, of course, you see that it is necessary that you should prepare Lady Vernon for what may befall her.' " The incredulity of Hawkins as to the relationship of Basil Ricketts and Miriam opened a fresh train of ideas in my ruind, that had not before suggested themselves. Could my brother and wife have formed a connection both infamous and dishonourable to me ; and if so, of what date ? Could it have begun before my marriage with her ? It would account for much of her subsequent conduct, but how much ?

How cruelly I had been duped ! The blackness of their conduct seems, Violet, the more atrocious and ungrateful, from the earnest way in which I had endeavoured, from the very first, to improve the condition of both. When you left us together after dinner, Hawkins said that when first Basil presented himself at his office he was too overwhelmed to take in the whole story. Parts of it were very confused, particularly in relation to his first meeting with his sister. He gave but an incoherent account of her escape from the wreck, and yet mentioned having met her at Halifax. " ' At Halifax?' I exclaimed. ' But they met first at Oxford, I understood.' " That is at once a discrepancy in the two statements, Sir Guy. Small and unimport ant as it seems, a great deal may hang on it. Mrs. Vernon probably had a motive in leading you to suppose that her first meeting with her brother took place in England, and if so we must sift that motive.

I repeat to you, I am morally convinced that the beau tiful and innocent lady who has just left us is your true and lawful wife, but the law will give it against us until we can present proofs. My first work will be to trace out Mr. Benson's habitat before he settled in Oxford.* " ' London, I believe, Hawkins,' was my answer. ' But neither the name of the street nor even the quarter of the town do I know.' " ' Ah !' sighed Hawkins, ' London is a large place. We may here come to a check, which will necessitate a trip to America ; but still, I hope in time to outwit Mr. Basil Ricketts and his accomplice.' " And now, my darling wife — for such you are in my eyes and those of Hawkins — you know all." " Guy, I am not without hope myself, although I cannot see how it will be ful filled. If that woman had ever loved you, for that alone she would have saved you from a great crime ; also, were she your wife, would she, an ambitious woman, content herself with a life of obscurity, when she might have so fully gratified her tastes for luxury and expense by asserting her rights ?"

" But she is the woman I married, Violet — none but a twin sister could bear such a resemblance to another." " We have already detected untruths in her statements. Why should she not have committed a still greater deceit by assuming her dead sister's person and rights." " Ah ! Violet, darling, beware of exciting hopes that may not be realised." " It is because I have loved you as a wife should myself, Guy, that I seem to feel this woman is an impostor." " My Violet, let us content ourselves with that possibility." There was a long silence. They gazed wistfully at each other. Violet spoke first. In a low voice, but firmly, and without hesitation, she said, " Dear Guy, until this is all cleared up — for I will hope against hope — we must separate." He laid his face in her lap, clasping her knees in his agony.

" Yes, my be loved," she continued, "we must part — I will believe, only for a time ; but whilst there exists a doubt, it must be so." " Ah ! Violet, if you loved as I do, you could not calmly talk of leaving me." Poor Violet ! she put her hand against her heart to still its beating ; this pang seemed almost greater than any — that he should doubt her love. He glanced up passionately at her pale face. " Violet," he exclaimed, " before God you are my wife. We married, believing ourselves free — the sin is on her head, not ours." " But we know it noiv, Guy — the sin dates from when we know it." " If you love as I do, oh ! my darling, you will fly with me ! The world is large, and we can go where we may live happy and honoured. Are you prepared to drag on, perhaps a long life, in eternal separation ?

" Violet turned from such a picture ; she sighed deeply. Thinking he had gained an advantage, Guy seized her hand, and cover ing it with kisses, said, " My best-beloved, can you bring yourself to desert me in my sorrow ? I have been so unhappy. You were the ray of light that came to cheer me in my isolation — do not doom me to everlasting darkness now." Then tears crept up into his eyes, and he fell upon her neck and wept. Her arms were round about him in a moment, as she tried to dry those tears with her kisses. Then gently drawing herself away, she whis pered in a broken voice, " Dear one, do not tempt me. I am very weak, help me to be courageous. Life does not end here, oh ! my darling !" He drew her face down to his, and im pressed one long kiss on her lips ; then he rose. f "You are right, my better angel; it shall be as you decide, and may God give us strength to persevere in doing right !"

Then they began sadly, but with greater calmness, to discuss their plans. Violet pleaded for utter solitude. She would go somewhere, Guy should decide where, and wait the issue of Mr. Hawkins's search ing investigations. He must not write to her — it were better not. One letter she was to receive from him — the one to an nounce their ultimate fate. Guy begged that she would go to Thornborough, Mil dred's company would be a comfort to her ; but she entreated that he would give way to her earnest desire for solitude. " Not even my precious mother's society could I bear at this moment — some griefs are better borne alone. I will wait years patiently, but I must be alone — at least, at first. Guy, my beloved, my case is an isolated one. No one can enter into an anxiety such as mine. Let me bear it in my own VOL. III. c way.

If you let me have a choice about my residence, let me say somewhere in Corn wall, where I have been so happy !" They settled on Carstones, a little fishing village. It was a quiet and unfrequented place, and therefore suited to Violet's un happy position. Bartiett should accompany her, and Nurse Hardy follow. They were part and parcel of the dear home she had loved so fondly. Mrs. Hardy a link with Guy. Oh ! how her heart yearned towards him as they sat together side by side, talking of her plans ! In a few more hours she would be miles and miles away from him. She repressed the cry of wretchedness that rose from her heart as this thought occurred to her. She must not unnerve him. She would drown her own sufferings — anything to spare him. And now daylight was forcing its way through the curtains.

Guy rose. " You must rest, my poor child," he said, " after such a night of fatigue and pain !" Violet drew him towards the window ; she opened it, and stepped out on the ter race. The sun was rising gradually over the purple moor, causing the dew on the broad sweep of park before them to sparkle as with countless diamonds ; the pale blue of the sky, warmed by the golden light of a single star, gave promise of a lovely day ; but the Deene itself lay in deep shadow, and the earlv morning air was chill, which to Violet seemed prophetic of her fate. Sigh ing, she for a moment leaned her head against Guy's breast, then turning on the much-loved landscape a look of unutterable fondness, she left the spot, with death at her heart and sorrow in her eyes. The hour had at length come for Violet to leave the Deene.

The carriage had been announced, but still they lingered hand in hand, unable to utter that last terrible word ; it came, though, all too soon. " God for ever bless you, Guy ! " Violet said, gently trying to disengage herself from c2 him ; but he held her tight in his embrace. "Neither to see, nor to hear from, nor write to you ! Oh, Violet ! is not that un necessary rigour?" " Not if we would act rightly, dear. It must be so. But, in the event of the worst, we will meet again — once." O Suddenly and with passion, as if a vision of himself iu his deep solitude came before him in yet stronger colours, he exclaimed, " Violet, it is not yet too late ! Do not desert me, for the love of God !" His voice sounded strangely in his great agony. " Have pity on yourself also. I am not wholly selfish.

Think of your own sorrow and desolation. For you will be broken down and bruised by this tempest of grief. Have pity on us both, oh, Violet !" She raised her eyes in mute prayer, and in that pious movement, so full of faith and humility, Guy saw that this, his last appeal to human passion, had failed. " Again you have conquered, Violet, my darling, dearest and best ! May God eter nally bless and protect you ! " Then he strained her to his heart, covering her hair, her eyes, her lips with kisses. "For the last time, Violet ! — for the last time !" He led her through the. hall, and placed her silently in the carriage. Bartiett was already there. The door was shut, but still Guy's hand lingered on it. She bent her lips for a second on what she so dearly loved. Then, lifting her eyes to his, a yearn ing, longing cry burst from her ; for Guy's face, pale and rigid, revealed a whole life time of sorrow, past and to come.

Did she relent ? Was the pain too great to be borne ? She leaned forward to catch a last look. The guardian angel of her spotless life was with her to help and to shield her. Before a word could escape her lips the carriage moved on ! It had rained within the last hour, a light summer rain, and, although the sun shone out now hot and bright, and the trees and flowers gave forth a double perfume, yet the heavy drops that still hung glistening on the branches, seemed as if nature were weeping at her departure. Poor Violet ! she was leaving her home, her Guy, all that had made life most precious to her. It was her obvious duty, but not the less an anguish, and, as her mind travelled on into the desolate future, it opened out to her in all its dull and dreary reality. For how long would it last, this dread uncertainty ?

Who could tell ? Then her heart tightened within her, and the long-suppressed sobs burst forth. Turn ing her face to old Bartlett's, Violet there read the sympathy of old and tried affection. She laid her head on that faithful bosom, and cried bitterly. " Good God, my lady — my dear Miss Vio let ! Whatever is it ?" " Bartiett, I am not his wife ! But only last night I knew my misery ! I have left him, Bartiett — him, my life, my idol ! and I may not see him again for a longer time than I dare think of." The old nurse was shocked. This, then, corroborated what had been looked on through the household as a vile slander. The report had spread like wildfire amongst the servants, after the stranger's departure on the previous evening, but had been promptly suppressed by Masters. It was too true, then ; and Bartiett also shuddered as her darling mistress's sad fate rose before her.

She endeavoured to soothe and caress her, as she had done when Violet, as a little child, had reposed her baby sorrows on her sympathising breast ; but nothing stopped that broken-hearted cry, which refused all comfort. The necessity for exertion and self-com mand being over, Violet had fairly broken down ; and, as each mile took her further and further from the Deene, the bitterness of her grief increased doublefold. "Ah! Carmen," she thought, " I too am drinking the cup of sorrow to the very dregs ; and, alas ! not I only, but Guy, my unhappy Guy, who must suffer alone, with no one to comfort or sustain him !" They travelled cross country to meet the Great Western Railway ; and on the even ing of the second day after that severance, which fell on Violet as a widowhood, they reached Carstones.

Chapter II

" Good name in man or woman, Is the immediate jewel of their souls." Shakespeare. rT.HERE was a large summer-house in the -*- wooded grounds of Castleton Place, fitted up more as a boudoir than as an out door resting-place; a lawn sloped down from it to a broad gravel walk, which skirted the stream that ran through the whole domain. In the centre of the lawn was a prettily devised rose-garden, and though now the glory of the roses had departed, there still lingered a ge'ant de batailles, or malmai son — a "cloth of gold," and purple-flushed broad-leaved senateur vaisse, to give evidence of what it once had been. This spot had been a favourite haunt of Lord St. Clair in the early days of his love-passages with Carmen Liston ; and now, under the heavy shade of a catalpa tree, deep in thought, half sat, half lay Mildred Linden.

She was at Castleton, and, sorely against her will, without her husband. They had made a halt here, en route from Lifford Cas tle to London, and Herbert Linden had been suddenly recalled to Lifford by the alarming illness of Lord Portarlis. Mildred pleaded to accompany him, but was not al lowed. She was at Castleton for a rest, not being over-strong or up to exertion ; and Mr. Linden begged her to remain with her people until he could rejoin her ; or, in case of the worst, send her a fresh feuille de route. So now, on the very day that Violet was journeying sadly towards Carstones, Mil dred, with feelings very like those of a chained animal, was thinking of her and Herbert alternately, and wondering over her mother's silence. They were such very regular correspondents, those three, that, already out of spirits at Herbert's departure, she conjured up one gloomy reason after another to account for their not writ ing ; but the sad, naked truth was far from her imagination, nor did she dream of the sorrow that was crushing her sister.

Sometimes it had come to her mind to question if Violet was happy — if that dear and sensitive nature was appreciated at its just value ; and yet the tender and unceas ing devotion shown to her in her last illness by Guy — her warm gratitude for it, and seeming contentment, so unlike the per plexed and saddened look that in London had surprised and at times angered Mildred — bade her dismiss the idea. Doubtless the second post would bring her the desired letter, explaining the un usual silence ; at all events, she Avould not betray her uneasiness to Lady Olivia, who was always prone to scent out an annoy ance ever so far in the distance, or, in other words, make a mountain out of a mole-hill. Mildred's reverie was brought to an end by the unwelcome vision of Lord St. Clair, with Lady Olivia at his side, standing by the door of the summer-house.

Lady Olivia looked in ; they were evidently seeking her. Presently both walked down the lawn in her direction, and then Mildred rose from her comfortable seat and stood awaiting their approach. There were no visitors at Castleton just then. Lady Castleton and her sister-in-law were on the eve of an expedition to Hom burg ; only Lord St. Clair graced the family party, but Colonel Maynard was ex pected that afternoon. Mildred looked to this arrival as an agreeable break, for Lord St. Clair was not a whit more pleasant than formerly, although, perhaps, a trifle less hostile in his manner towards herself. Lady Olivia was kindness itself — careful of her health to a fault, Mildred thought ; for she was inclined to take things calmly, whereas Lady Olivia was mostly in a state of effervescence ; and now, as she advanced towards her, Mildred saw that an ebullition of some sort was at hand, and determined to appear a stoic, whatever might be the circumstances of the case.

" I trust you won't catch cold, Mildred, sitting, and, I beheve, sleeping, as you were just now under tliis' tree, although you knew it rained this morning. I naturally looked for you in the summer-house, but St. Clair descried you committing this imprudence." Mildred did not attempt a defence. "Well, Aunt Olive, here I am, at your service. What is it ?" Lord St. Clair was smoking ; he removed the cigar as he said, " You don't mind this, Mildred, I believe?" " Not particularly," was the laconic an swer. " Well, Aunt Olive, I see you have a telegram. Is it from the Grange ?" " No, certainly. I was just going to ask if you had heard to-day from Selina or Violet ?" " I have not," said Mildred. " Why ?" " Because this is from Colonel Maynard, who says he has been summoned by a tele graphic message to the Deene.

Such a bore! What can it mean?" added Lady Olivia, in a state of perturbation. " If Colonel Maynard were a doctor, I should fear that Violet was not so well ; but as it is, what can it signify ?" " You are the calmest and most self contained young person I know," said Lady Olivia, with a laugh. " Well, I must take this off to Sophy at once." Mildred quickly resumed her seat. Lord St. Clair remained leaning against the tree. Mildred's manner was not very encouraging, but he had nothing to amuse him better for the moment, so elected to stay with her. " You and poor Olivia are good contrasts to one another. She takes everything to heart, you nothing." " Really ? Is that the result of your study of character ?" " Yes," said her cousin, nothing daunted. " But it's all a sham. You are the most de ceptive girl I ever met with.