Aylwin

"What about that, Winnie? I specially want to know about his laugh."

"Then I will tell you. When he laughed his teeth were a little too much seen; and this gave the mouth a somewhat satirical expression."

"Winnie," I said, "there is no need now for you to tell me the name of the gentleman. In a few sentences you have described him better than I could have done in a hundred."

"And certainly there is no reason why I should not tell you his name," she said, laughing, "for if there is a word that is musical in my ears, it is the name of him whose voice is music--D"Arcy. When he told me that I should know everything in time, and that there was nothing for me to know except that which would give me comfort, and said, "You confide in me!" I could only answer, "Who would not confide in you? I will wait patiently until you tell me what you have to tell." "Then," said he, "the best thing you can do is to lie down for an hour or two on that divan and rest yourself, and go to sleep if you can, while I go and attend to certain affairs that need me."

He then left the room. I was glad to be alone, for I was terribly tired. I felt as though I had been taking violent bodily exercise, but without feeling the staying power that Snowdon air can give. I lay down on the divan, and must have fallen asleep immediately. When I woke I found the same kind face near me, and the same kind eyes watching me. Mr. D"Arcy told me that I had been sleeping for two hours, and that it had, he hoped, much refreshed me. He told me also that he took a const.i.tutional walk every day, and asked me if I would accompany him. I said, "Yes, I should like to do so." At this moment there pa.s.sed the window some railway men leaving some luggage. On seeing them Mr. D"Arcy said, "I see that I must leave you for a minute or two to look after a package of canvases that has just come from my a.s.sistant in London," and he left me. When I was left alone I had an opportunity of observing the room. The walls were covered with old faded tapestry, so faded indeed that its general effect was that of a dull grey texture. On looking at it closely I found that it told the story of Samson. Every piece of furniture seemed to me to be a rare curiosity."

"Now, Winnie," I said, "I am not going to interrupt you any more. I want to hear your story as an unbroken narrative."

IV

"Well," said Winnie, "after a while Mr. D"Arcy returned and told me that he was now ready to take me for a stroll across the meadows, saying, "The doctor told me that, at first, your walks must be short; so while you go to your room I will get Mrs. t.i.twing in for my usual consultation about our frugal meal."

""My room," I said, "my room, and Mrs. t.i.twing; who"s--"

""Ha! I quite forgot myself," he said, with an air of vexation, which he tried, I thought, to conceal. "I will ring for Mrs.

t.i.twing--the housekeeper--and she will take you to your room."

"He walked towards the bell, but before reaching it he stopped as if arrested by a sudden thought. Then he said, "I will go to the housekeeper"s room and speak to Mrs. t.i.twing there. I shall be back in a minute." And he pa.s.sed from the room through the door by which he and I had first entered.

"Scarcely had the door closed behind him before a woman entered by another door opposite to it. She was about the common height, slender, and of an extremely youthful figure for a woman of middle age. Her bright-complexioned face, lit by two watery blue eyes, was pleasant to look upon. It was none the less pleasant because it showed clearly that she was as guileless as a child.

"I knew at once that she was the person--the housekeeper--that Mr.

D"Arcy had gone to seek at the other side of the house. Evidently she had come upon me unexpectedly, for she gave a violent start, then she murmured to herself,

""So it"s all over, and all went off well." she said. Then she walked quietly towards me and threw her arms round me and kissed me, saying, "Dear child, I am so glad."

"The tone of voice in which she spoke to me was exactly that of a nurse speaking to a little child.

"I was so taken by surprise that I pulled myself from her embrace with some force. The poor woman looked at me in a hurt way and then said,

""I beg your pardon, miss. I didn"t notice at first how--how changed you are. The look in your eyes makes me feel that you are not the same person, and that I have done quite wrong."

"While she was speaking, Mr. D"Arcy had re-entered the room by the door by which he went out. He had evidently heard the housekeeper"s words.

""Miss Wynne," he said, "this is Mrs. t.i.twing, my excellent housekeeper. She has been attending you during your illness; but your weakness was so great that you were unconscious of all her kindness."

"I went up to her and kissed her rosy cheek, at which she began to cry a little. I afterwards found that she was in the habit of crying a little on most occasions.

""Will you, then, kindly show me my room?" I said to her. But as she turned round to lead the way to the room, Mr. D"Arcy said to her,

""Before you show Miss Wynne the way, I should like one word with you, Mrs. t.i.twing, in your room, about the arrangements for the day."

"The two pa.s.sed out of the room, and again I was left to myself and my own thoughts."

V

"Evidently there was some mystery about me," said Winifred, continuing her story. "But the more I tried to think it out the more puzzling it seemed. How had I been conveyed to this strange new place? Who was the wizard whose eyes and whose voice began to enslave me? and what time had pa.s.sed since he caught me up on Raxton sands?

It seemed exactly like one of those _Arabian Nights_ stories which you and I used to read together when we were children. The waking up on the couch, the sight of the end of the other couch behind the screen, and the tall woman"s feet upon it, the voices from unseen persons in the room, and above all the strange magic of him who seemed to be the directing genie of the story--all would have seemed to me unreal had it not been for the prosaic figure of Mrs. t.i.twing.

About her there could not possibly be any mystery; she was what Miss Dalrymple would have called "the very embodiment of British commonplace," and when, after a minute or two, she returned with Mr.

D"Arcy, I went and kissed her again from sheer delight of feeling the touch of her real, solid; commonplace cheek, and to breathe the commonplace smell of scented soap. Her bearing, however, towards me had become entirely changed since she had gone out of the room. She did not return the kiss, but said, "Shall I show you the way, miss?"

and led the way out.

"She took me through the same dark pa.s.sage by which I had entered, and then I found myself in a large bedroom with low panelled walls, in the middle of which was a vast antique bedstead made of black carved oak, and every bit of furniture in the room seemed as old as the bedstead. Over the mantelpiece was an old picture in a carved oak frame, a Madonna and Child, the beauty of which fascinated me. I remember that on the bottom of the frame was written in printed letters the name "Chiaro dell" Erma." I was surprised to find in the room another walking-dress, not new, but slightly worn, laid out ready for me to put on. I lifted it up and looked at it. I saw at a glance that it would most likely fit me like a glove.

""Whose dress is this?" I said.

""It"s yours, miss."

""Mine? But how came it mine?"

""Oh, please don"t ask me any questions, miss," she said. "Please ask Mr. D"Arcy, miss; he knows all about it. I am only the housekeeper, miss."

""Mr. D"Arcy knows all about my dress!" I said. "Why, what on earth has Mr. D"Arcy to do with my dress?"

""Please don"t ask me any more questions, miss," she said. "Pray don"t. Mr. D"Arcy is a very kind man; I am sure n.o.body has ever heard me say but what he is a very kind man; but if you do what he says you are not to do, if you talk about what he says you are not to talk about, he is frightful, he is awful. He calls you a chattering old--I don"t know what he won"t call you. And, of course, I know you are a lady, miss. Of course you look a lady, miss, when you are dressed like one. But then, you see, when I first saw you, you were not dressed as you are now, and at first sight, of course, we go by the dress a good deal, you know. But Mr. D"Arcy needn"t be afraid I shall not treat you like a lady, miss. I"m only a housekeeper now, though, of course, I was once very different--very different indeed. But, of course, anybody has only to look at you to see you are a lady, and, besides, Mr. D"Arcy says you are a lady, and that is quite enough."

"At this moment there came through the door--it was ajar--Mr.

D"Arcy"s voice from the distance, so loud and clear that every word could be heard.

""Mrs. t.i.twing, why do you stay chattering there, preventing Miss Wynne from getting ready? You know we are going out for a walk together."

""Oh Lord, miss!" said the poor woman in a frightened tone, "I must go. Tell him I didn"t chatter--tell him you asked me questions and I was obliged to answer them."

"The mysteries around me were thickening every moment. What did this prattling woman mean about the dress in which she had at first seen me? Was the dress in which she had first seen me so squalid that it had affected her simple imagination? What had become of me after I had sunk down on Raxton sands, and why was I left neglected by every one? I knew you were ill after the landslip, but Mr. D"Arcy had just told me that you had since been well enough to go to Wales and afterwards to j.a.pan.

"I put on the dress and soon followed her. When I reached the tapestried room there was Mr. D"Arcy talking to her in a voice so gentle, tender, and caressing, that it seemed impossible the rough voice I had heard bellowing through the pa.s.sage could have come from the same mouth, and Mrs. t.i.twing was looking into his face with the delighted smile of a child who was being forgiven by its father for some trifling offence. As I stood and looked at them I said to myself, "Truly I am in a land of wonders.""

VI

"Mr. D"Arcy and I," said Winifred, "went out of the house at the back, walked across a roughly paved stable-yard, and pa.s.sed through a gate and entered a meadow. Then we walked along a stream about as wide as one of our Welsh brooks, but I found it to be a backwater connected with a river. For some time neither of us spoke a word. He seemed lost in thought, and my mind was busy with what I intended to say to him, for I was fully determined to get some light thrown upon the mystery.

"When we reached the river bank we turned towards the left, and walked until we reached a weir, and there we sat down upon a fallen willow tree, the inside of which was all touchwood. Then he said,

""You are silent, Miss Wynne."

""And you are silent," I said.

""My silence is easily explained," he said. "I was waiting to hear some remark fall from you as to these meadows and the river, which you have seen so often."

""Which I see now for the first time, you mean."

""Miss Wynne," he said, looking earnestly in my face, "you and I have taken this walk together nearly every day for months."