Affinities : a romance of to-day

Front matter

BY M!tCAMPBELL-PRAED w&ci&irf~: routlfd^f" and sons fifth]

Routledge's Railway Lfbrary Advertiser.

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Chapter I

Major Graysett and Colonel Rainshaw had been in the same regiment in India. They had gone out there together ; but Major Graysett remained on service some time longer than Rainshaw. The latter went home on sick leave, married an heiress, sold out of the army, and settled himself very comfortably in one of the Midland counties, on a property which had been bought with his wife's money. He did not, however, lose sight of his friend ; and when, three or four years later, Graysett found himself in England, almost the first invitation he received was to Colonel Rainshaw's place, Leesholm.

The visit was arranged under what seemed attractive conditions — good pheasant-shooting, a small party of pleasant people in the house, and a hunt ball in the neighbourhood.

Graysett travelled down by an afternoon train. It was almost dark, therefore, when he arrived at Leesholm ; and a raw evening, with a blustering wind and snowy clouds. The building seemed, as he approached it from the back, to be large, rambling, and of the Tudor style of architecture, with low mullioned windows and irregular gables. It was built of pallid grey stone, which in the dim light gave it an almost spectral appearance. The east front looked out upon a prim pleasureground, bordered by a high yew hedge, cut at the corners into pyramidal shapes, which stood out sombrely against the leaden sky. An apparently unused, three-aisled avenue stretched in a straight line beyond the ha-ha ; but a bend in the approach, bringing the visitor to the principal entrance, showed him an addition to the structure, of later date and more imposing proportions. On the west side might be seen an extensive prospect of smooth lawn and trimly kept shrubbery, and beyond, in the hazy distance, lay a flat, well-timbered park, over which the grey mist was stealthily creeping.

An owl hooted from an old tree near, as Graysett drew up before the portico. He shivered. Though not impressionable in every day social matters, his temperament was susceptible to atmospheric influences, and to those of scenery and surroundings ; and he was struck now by a certain weirdness in the aspect of the place and of the evening. Possibly, he reflected, this might arise from the fact that he had for long been unfamiliar with the details of an English wintry landscape.

He got down from the fly in which he had

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driven from the station — for, the time of his arrival being uncertain, he had requested Colonel Rainshaw not to send for him — and paused for a minute before ringing. Again the eerie feeling seized him as he looked along the broad carriage drive, above which the naked boughs interlaced, spreading a misty fretwork against the sky. The ground was covered with a light sprinkling of snow, whiter upon the turf than where an array of empty flower-beds stretched in a fantastic pattern upon the lawn. There was a dampness in the air which told of a coming thaw ; and the wind blew in fitful gusts, moaning plaintively through the trees, and round the grey spire of a church close by. Ghostly white patches lay upon the evergreen shrubs and the funereal yews, against which the snow had drifted ; while every now and then a flake, loosened by the blast, would hover for a moment and noiselessly fall. A watery moon had just risen, cold and round, concealed at intervals by driving clouds, and shedding broken reflections upon the gleaming ground, and on a stretch of ornamental water shadowed by drooping beeches.

The windows of the house were closed and shuttered, only here and there a light twinkled ; but he caught a faint sound of melancholy music, a waltz air which he did not know, played dreamily and in uncertain time, twe long notes quivering in suspense as it were, and then an impassioned turn in the melody, swelling louder and gracefully dying away, like some magic strain of mysterious import. The music, which had indeed a certain wildness and beauty, due perhaps to the manner in which it was played, impressed Graysett so powerfully that he lingered in the porch till it had ceased, hesitating to break its charm. Then another gust swept chilly round him, driving a branch of dripping ivy against his face, and almost drowning the bell's muffled peal. The outer door swung open, and he was ushered into a hall, warm and harmonious, and flooded with soft light from a great blazing fire and several rose-shaded lamps — a pleasant contrast to the glassy paleness and wintry desolation without. The hall was of the conventional type — old oak carving, deep window seats, Chippendale tables, willow-patterned plates, brass dogs on the wide hearth, palms, bulrushes, and peacocks' feathers in tall blue vases, screens of faded leather, and tapestry portitrcs. It was like a dozen other halls of the same design, and almost oppressive in its want of originality but for the traces it gave of recent occupation — library books, newspapers, crewels, a sketching-block, and an easel on which rested a canvas with a lightly dashedin girl's head. Just now the place was deserted, but the sound of voices and of grown-up people's laughter, and again snatches of that pathetic, mysterious waltz air, floated down from some upper room or corridor. The servant withdrew and Graysett waited, enjoying the luxurious warmth, and reflecting that his friend had made for himself a very comfortable nest.

" If the wife be only in keeping with the good things her money has purchased," he thought, " I might be tempted to follow Rainshaw's example, and give up the fancy I've had all my life, that a twin soul is wandering about the world waiting till my mine claims it as a mate."

He gave a little laugh, and stooped to caress the Dachshund which came rubbing against his legs. Then he looked at the drawing upon the easel, and while thus occupied became aware of steps upon the stairs, and went forward to meet his host.

"Well, Rainshaw, I'm glad, indeed, to be with you again. You see I've managed after all to get down in time for dinner. One forgets how easy travelling is in England, and what a distance one can fly over in a day if trains fit. One forgets, too, what a dreary, ghost-like effect moonlight and snow produce, and how horribly cold a winter's night may be. In fact, there is so much forgotten in all ways, that it is pleasant to find oneself remembered by an old friend. You are looking well."

There was a great contrast between the two men. Rainshaw had a thoroughly English face and physique ; he was broad-shouldered, muscular, and ruddy-complexioned, with blue eyes, and light hair and moustache. Graysett, though not less athletic or soldier-like, was dark and sallow, with refined features, deep-set brown eyes, and a more thoughtful expression of countenance. He looked worn, and his skin was transparent,

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as though he had been for some time out of health.

Rainshaw shook hands delightedly with his friend.

" I am sorry to say that I cannot return the compliment, old fellow. What has been the matter with you ? Jungle fever ? "

" Something of the sort," answered Graysett carelessly ; " but I have quite got over it. I am perfectly well."

" Well, if not, we will soon put you all right. Let me introduce you to my wife."

There came forward a handsome, " well-got up " young lady, who had followed Colonel Rainshaw down the stairs. Her hair, of the fashionable bronze, was touzled in front, and drawn upwards from the nape of her neck. She wore a very mediaeval-looking tea-gown, and carried a great fan of peacocks' feathers. But her dress, her designedly dreamy gaze, and affectation of deep earnestness, were in odd contrast with a briskness of movement, solidity of form, and frank address which would have suited a young English country girl to whom life was a very pleasant and material fact.

Mrs. Rainshaw greeted her husband's comrade with flattering warmth, offering him tea, sherry, and seltzer, and all kinds of refreshment.

" You've had a long journey, haven't you ? " said she. " Of course I don't mean from India — that's too far to think of. I never got any farther than Nice ; and it was while we were wintering there that I met Tom, and my mother persuaded me into marrying him, by promising me as many dresses for my trousseau as Queen Elizabeth had in her wardrobe. I wonder why mothers want their daughters to marry as soon as they are out of the school-room. I'm sorry I had so many dresses, for I might have considered that I should have been able to buy them for myself afterwards. Now all that I can do is to buy things for Tom — at least he buys them and I pay for them," — and her girlish laugh and frank smile at her husband, as though the whole affair were an excellent joke, prevented Graysett from thinking then of the bad taste of the remark, though afterwards it occurred to him that there might be drawbacks to the pleasure of marrying an heiress.

" I daresay that you heard us laughing," continued Mrs. Rainshaw. " We have been behaving like a pack of children, playing at games in the Long Gallery. It began most seriously with thought-reading : and each person willed that somebody else should do something extraordinary. And I must say that Lady Romer did make an impression upon Mr. Margrave, and he looked decidedly queer when she told him what he was thinking of; but I said that I'd have nothing to do with mesmerism and mediumship and all that horrid stuff — I know one man who was turned into an atheist by it — so we played magic music instead. I'm going back to start a paper chase, which will give us all a little exercise before dressing time, Now, Tom, it's all very well for you to frown

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and call me hoydenish ; but if you had married straight out of the school-room, and if you had to entertain a set of county frumps this evening, and to ask them how their children are, and to talk about clothing clubs and mothers' meetings, and all sorts of dank subjects till you felt like a fly in a honey-pot, you'd be glad enough to fortify yourself by a romp beforehand. I suppose that you're used to county people and to being improved, Major Graysett, or were before you went to India, and that you would be too sedate to join us."

Major Graysett assured her that such was not the case, but declined the invitation as he was evidently expected to do ; and then looked round with a view to making some appropriate remark upon the adaptability of the house to such amusements.

They had gone upstairs and were standing in a quaint kind of ante-room, into which several doors opened. Through an archway Graysett caught glimpses of more oak carving and blue china, and of a tortuous panelled corridor. He saw that Leesholm was an old and irregularly built house, which had been furnished according to modern lights by some one terribly nervous about anachronisms. As at least two periods seemed clearly indicated, the task could not have been without its difficulties. This he observed to Mrs. Rainshaw.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, " it's despairing to any one with a sense of harmony — not that I am harmonious ; but, as everybody seems to think so much about their houses and their furniture being in keeping with a period, I thought it would be the correct thing to get up an enthusiasm about. I didn't know that I shouldn't have everything clear before me till after I had begun to fix up the old place. I fancied that, as long as a house was ancient, all the parts were bound to match, but that doesn't seem to be the case. One had an idea, you know, that people in those times kept to their century, and didn't try to go backwards or forwards. That's all a mistake ; they jumbled up their centuries just as much as we do ; and as we've got more to choose from, why, we have decidedly the advantage of them."

Mrs. Rainshaw stopped and laughed in a way that was infectious.

" I had set my heart upon being Queen Anne and nothing else/' she went on. " The front is all right ; it's this part that is mixed. I did this room myself; do you like it ? But I must have a Grandfather's Clock for that corner. I suppose it ought to be inlaid ; what do you think ? I know that I've got out of my period."

" Isn't everything just what it ought to be," said Graysett, " I am sure all looks delightfully harmonious."

"Yes," she assented doubtfully, "except, perhaps, those two arm-chairs. Spindle-legged seats are beautifully early — though that's rather out of fashion now ; but they are so uncomfortable."

More peals of laughter floated down from a higher level.

" They are waiting for me," cried Mrs. Rainshaw.

" Good bye ! I am sure, Major Graysett, that, although you look rather severe, you'd like me to have my little bit of play before I do my lessons this evening. If you come down early I'll tell you who everybody is." She ran away, but came back to say, " Tom will show you where you are to go, and will take care of you for the present, Major Graysett ; I'll put myself in charge afterwards. I must consider while I am dressing who I shall send you in to dinner with. I could not decide how you were to be paired till after I had seen you. I promise to give you some one nice. You sha'n't have a frump."

" Now that you have seen my wife," said Rainshaw, as the pretty vision finally disappeared, " you will be less surprised that I did not want to go back to India. It is hardly fair to ask your opinion."

" She is charming," replied Graysett warmly. " As frank and unaffected as a child. I congratulate you upon having got a real good thing out of life's lottery."

" I knew you'd understand her. She is a child. I begin to think that I was rather a brute to take advantage of her innocence. But I fancy she is very happy, and I always let her say just what comes into her mind. I like her to be perfectly natural."

Colonel Rainshaw conducted his guest along some curious passages which apparently belonged to what Mrs. Rainshaw called the mixed part of the house, and left him in a cheerful bachelor's apartment where a bright fire burned, and an arm-chair stood invitingly near the hearth.

" I hope, old fellow, that you will forage for anything that you want. I see that they have unpacked your portmanteau. That's all right. You'll hear the first gong presently. As you don't know your way about, I'll come round after Pve received my marching orders for dinner, and pilot you down."

It was, however, earlier than they imagined, and before the first gong sounded Graysett was already dressed. He seated himself in the arm-chair by the fire, and, leaning back, fell into a reverie. He was tired, and was conscious of nervous excitement unusual with him. He had travelled from Scotland that day, and though to Rainshaw he had made light of his recent illness, it was certain that the fever had left traces, both physical and mental, upon his constitution. Among its effects of the latter kind were a vague sadness and dissatisfaction with the world, a keener susceptibility to music, and to the influence of Nature, and some romantic and poetic tendencies, to which he had heretofore been a stranger. He had now a curious illustration of this fact. The melody of the waltz which he had heard upon his arrival had lingered with extraordinary vividness in his memory, and seemed at this moment to reproduce itself in the air of his chamber.

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Chapter II

Colonel Raixshaw knocked twice at Major Graysett's door before he received permission to enter. As soon as he went in, it became evident to him that something strange and discomposing had occurred during the interval. Graysett was standing by the chimneypiece, his head bent and his face very white. He looked up. There was a dazed expression in his eyes, and he started violently, seeming at first almost unable to collect himself, when Rainshaw spoke :

" Are you ready, Graysett ? "

" Yes," replied the other in a dreamy way. " I have been ready for some time."

" Sit down then, and let us varn for a few minutes. You don't catch me in the drawing-room before it's absolutely necessary to put in an appearance. It's the English country gentleman's privilege, which he gains as soon as he marries, to be let off hanging about doors and saying civil nothings. We had a dose of that sort of thing in our aide-de-camp days — eh, Graysett ?"

" We had indeed," rejoined Graysett mechanically.

" I tell my wife that I have had enough of the ' superior footman ' business, and that she must manage social arrangements for herself. Pulling the bell, ordering the carriage, acting valet upon occasions, and doing master of the ceremonies generally — that was about it, wasn't it ? Do you remember how his Excellency used to funk taking in old Lady Whalley at the dinner parties ; and how he swore at the table of precedence ? " Rainshaw laughed at the recollection. " I feel much in the same mood when we entertain what my wife calls the county frumps. However, my lines are cast in pleasant places this evening. Aren't you well, Graysett ? Knocked up, perhaps, with walking over the moors. Let me send for a sherry and bitters to pull you together."

" Nothing, thank you. I'm detaining you ; don't mind me. I shall be myself in a few minutes, and will follow you downstairs."

Graysett made an effort to resume his usual manner. He waived Rainshaw's offers of restoratives, and to some extent succeeded in allaying the anxiety of his friend, who, however, refused to leave him.

" There's plenty of time. I met Judith Fountain on the landing going up to dress — -your destiny for this evening by the way. She will be the last to appear. It is a fashion of hers to keep every one waiting while she is in one of her dreams."

" Do you believe in dreams, Rainshaw ? " asked Graysett abruptly.

" About as much as I believe in the manifestations at a dark seance. You don't know Lady

Romer ? She is staying here. I made her very angry not long ago by telling her that her spirit faces were no more than phosphorised bullocks' bladders. It's a fact, I assure you. A medium once let me into the trick."

" But one has heard and read strange things about dreams," persisted Graysett. " It is known that they have foretold events."

" I only know that I once lost a considerable sum of money through backing a dream event which didn't come off in reality," said Rainshaw. " I have fought shy of dreams ever since. I don't remember you of old as going in for that sort of thing, Graysett. But you will be quite in harmony with some of the ladies here ; and I see that Molly showed more discrimination than I gave her credit for, when she coupled you with Miss Fountain."

Graysett made no reply. He seemed to be thinking deeply.

" Haven't you any curiosity about your destiny ? " said Rainshaw. " I felt inclined to pity you, for in my opinion Judith Fountain is one of the most stupid girls for whom I ever tried to make conversation. She has no go in her whatever. Yet she is sought after, because, in the first place, she is good-looking, after a rather uncanny style ; and, in the second, as some one puts it, ' A vast fortune doth buy for her consideration.' "

Graysett made two or three sudden paces up and down the room, then halted before his friend.

Rainshaw, surprised at something strange and excited in his appearance, exclaimed —

" What is wrong with you ? You don't look in the least like yourself. Have you seen a ghost ? I'm not aware that the house is haunted, but we'll make inquiries. There hasn't been time for you to fall asleep and dream a dream."

" That's the curious part of it," said Graysett. "That's what baffles me. It's altogether strange, and I suppose my nerves have been a little shaken by that fever. Look here, Rainshaw," he added excitedly, " I can't make out your house — I can't make out whether I have been dreaming or not. Just come in here for a second."

He crossed to the opposite wall and threw open a door, revealing a small narrow room panelled in oak. with a writing-table, a few severe-looking chairs, and two or three old-fashioned cabinets. It looked something like an oratory, and did not appear to communicate with any other part of the house.

" Has this room any outlet except through mine ? " asked Graysett.

" No. That's the nuisance of it. We can only use it as a sitting-room."

"There's no portiere painted in imitation of modern tapestry, with a representation of the sleeping Endymion, concealing a door ? "

" Certainly not. The only hangings in the room are those window curtains of crimson silk."

"The door leading into an oblong sort of ante-room, lighted from above, the wall covered with

Japanese figures, as far as a dado which runs all round, and is formed of Japanese plates sunk in a dead gold ground ? "

"A dado of Japanese plates !" exclaimed Rainshaw. " My good friend, we are nothing if we are not Early English. As for the ante-room, all the walls of this little excrescence are outer walls, except that which divides it from your bedroom."

" I'll go on with my description. I want to know if there's any part of your house which answers to it. At the end of the oblong room are double doors, one of them inlaid after the Japanese style ; there are also some fine Japanese bronzes ; but the other furniture is utterly incongruous with the prevailing style. The cabinets are Florentine, and scattered about are pieces of bric-a-brac which might have been chosen haphazard in the shop of any London curiosity dealer. The incongruities, however, don't end here. The outer door opens into a sitting-room panelled in white and gold, each alternate panel a painting of wreaths of flowers and Cupids after Boucher. Here everything seems intended to correspond with the rest, but utterly fails. Forgive me if I wound your susceptibilities. Several of the pieces are glaringly out of harmony. There is a Pompadour cabinet, a so-called Marie Antoinette writing-table, a Chippendale writing-table, a Tottenham Court Road couch drawn up by the fire, with a satin coavrc-pied embroidered in wreaths of roses "

" My dear Graysett," interrupted Rainshaw, " what does all this mean ? You are describing the boudoir of some heroine in a French novel : assuredly nothing that you will find in this sober English country-house. Come, what is the mystery ? Is it a dream or an hallucination ? Out with it."

" I believe that it is a warning," said Graysett solemnly

" Let me hear it. Perhaps you are not aware that there is a society in London devoted to the investigation of all branches of supernatural phenomena. I will introduce you to Lady Romer when we go downstairs, who will be happy to place you in communication with the secretary to the committee of inquiry into dreams and portents."

Graysett laughed. " I have never considered myself a subject for phenomena. Seriously, I have had a dream or a vision — I can't say which — that has made a most uncomfortable impression upon my mind. I don't know of anything which ever before laid such a grip upon my imagination. I cannot get over it. I'll tell you exactly what I saw or fancied ; and if by laughing at me you can drive away the queer, squirmy sensation that has taken hold of me, I shall feel grateful to you."

They went back to the bed-room. At that moment a gong echoed through the corridors.

" Go down," said Graysett. " I'll tell my tale another time. Mrs. Rainshaw and your guests will be impatient."

" No, no. The butler knows my ways, and always allows me ten minutes' grace, and Judith Fountain is- good for another ten. Go on."

" I suppose it was a dream," began Graysett ; " but I don't remember feeling in the least sleepy, and I am not in the habit of napping in an arm-chair. I dressed directly you left me, and was sitting here by the fire waiting for you to come back, thinking about you, your wife, and your home, and how pretty and cosy your hall looked when I came into it out of the snow and moonlight. I kept fancying that I heard a waltz some one was playing upstairs when I arrived — a melancholy, fanciful thing. It was curious how the tune stuck in my memory, for I had never heard it before."

"Ah!" said Rainshaw, "Judith Fountain's waltz ! Yes, I know. She was playing it just as you came, for a sort of thought-reading, ' magic-music ' game. An odd connection of ideas ! She always declares that she did not compose it, but that she heard it in a dream. Anyhow, it has become very popular, and you will probably dance to it at the Holmborough ball on Wednesday evening. Coote and Tinney have got hold of it. Well ? "

" Some one knocked at the door," continued Graysett. " Supposing that it was you I called out ' Come in, Rainshaw/ But, to my surprise, there entered a man I had certainly never seen before, though I should recognise him again in an instant, under any circumstances or after any lapse of time."

"What was he like ?" asked Colonel Rainshaw with a practical air.

"A large man, very tall, and of great breadth of chest, with a way of tossing back his head so that attention was called to his statue-like throat. He had a smooth-shaven face, rather classical features, and sensuous, Greek lips. He reminded me of a statue in the Louvre, I think of the young Alcides. There was a good deal of intellectuality in his face, and of fire in his blue eyes when he opened them fully, which did not seem to be his habit. The most striking thing about him was his hair. It was not red and it was not gold, but something between the two ; and he wore it very long, and brushed back from his forehead. It was curly, and stood out at the ends like "

"Tail of a chestnut cob in full gallop," coolly interjected Rainshaw ; " I know. You have described Esme Colquhoun to a t. And now I have got the clue to the whole thing. But let us have your story to the end."

" Who is Esme Colquhoun ? " asked Graysett with interest.

" Have you been living quite out of the world ? Punch's Platonic poet," returned Rainshaw drily. " He has been down in his luck lately. Surely you must have seen the correspondence in the newspapers a little while ago. Don't you know how, when sensation is slack, the public and the press have a way of lashing themselves into a fury of excitement over a mere nothing ? Some social personages fancied they had been gibbeted in a novel. It might have been you or I — a perfect storm in a teacup. But that gave an impetus to the pendulum ; and a reactionary movement generally goes beyond the mark. Then it was discovered that our poet had lost all his money in a rotten investment — a bubble scheme floated by a pair of knaves, who made Esme their dupe. The saw-mills were burnt down, and the whole thing exploded. I need not enter into particulars. You will hear rather too much about Esme Colquhoun presently from the ladies who are staying here. He is still a god to a certain set of worshippers."

"Whoever the man may be, he had in my dream a strange and most unpleasant power of fascination/' said Graysett gravely. " He crossed before me to the door of that inner room. I felt constrained to rise and follow him. We passed through the Japanese room which I have described, and into the Louis Ouinze boudoir. I seemed to halt for a few moments on the threshold of the door, and while I did so the scene photographed itself, as it were, on my brain. The apartment was evidently that of a refined and luxurious woman. All sorts of knick-knacks were scattered about. On a chair lay a mantle of some rich material, apparently not long taken off. There was a bunch of yellow roses upon the carpet, crushed and drooping, and giving out the strong perfume of dying flowers. At one end of the room there was a raised alcove — a window recess, approached by a step, and draped with curtains of blue satin, the borders embroidered like the coverlet on the sofa."