"Well, he used to come in pretty often before the old man died; but they were both of "em precious close. Mr. Percival never let out that he was my master"s son, but I guessed as much before he"d been here many times."
"How was it that I never came across him?"
"Chance, I suppose; but he"s a deep one. If you"d happened to come in when he was here, I daresay he"d have contrived to slip away somehow without your seeing him."
"When did he come here last?" asked Gilbert.
"About a fortnight ago. He came with Mr. Medler, the lawyer, who introduced him formally as my master"s son; and they took possession of the place between them for Mrs. Holbrook, making an arrangement with me to carry on the business, and making precious hard terms too."
"Have you seen Mrs. Holbrook since that morning when she left London for Hampshire, immediately after her grandfather"s death?"
"Never set eyes on her since then; but she"s in London, they told me, living with her father. She came up to claim the property. I say, the husband must be rather a curious party, mustn"t he, to stand that kind of thing, and part company with her just when she"s come into a fortune?"
"Have you any notion where Mrs. Holbrook or her father is to be found? I should be glad to make you a handsome present if you could enlighten me upon that point."
"I wish I could, sir. No, I haven"t the least idea where the gentleman hangs out. Oysters ain"t closer than that party. I thought he"d get his paw upon his father"s money, somehow, when I used to see him hanging about this place. But I don"t believe the old man ever meant him to have a sixpence of it."
There was very little satisfaction, to be obtained from Mr. Tulliver; and except as to the one fact of Percival Nowell"s return, Gilbert left Queen Anne"s Court little wiser than when he entered it.
Brooding upon the revelations of that day as he walked slowly westward, he began to think that Percival and Mr. Medler had been in league from the time of the prodigal son"s return, and that his own exclusion from the will as executor, and the subst.i.tution of the lawyer"s name, had been brought about for no honourable purpose. What would a weak inexperienced woman be between two such men? or what power could Marian have, once under her father"s influence, to resist his will? How she had fallen under that influence so completely as to leave her husband and her quiet country home, without a word of explanation, was a difficult question to answer; and Gilbert Fenton meditated upon it with a troubled mind.
He walked westward, indifferent where he went in the perplexity of his thoughts, anxious to walk off a little of his excitement if he could, and to return to his sick charge in the temple in a calmer frame of mind.
It was something gained, at the worst, to be able to return to John Saltram"s bedside freed from that hideous suspicion which had tormented him of late.
Walking thus, he found himself, towards the close of the brief winter day, at the Marble Arch. He went through the gate into the empty Park, and was crossing the broad road near the entrance, when an open carriage pa.s.sed close beside him, and a woman"s voice called to the coachman to stop.
The carriage stopped so abruptly and so near him that he paused and looked up, in natural wonderment at the circ.u.mstance. A lady dressed in mourning was leaning forward out of the carriage, looking eagerly after him. A second glance showed him that this lady was Mrs. Branston.
"How do you do, Mr. Fenton," she cried, holding out her little black-gloved hand: "What an age since I have seen you! But you have not forgotten me, I hope?"
"That is quite impossible, Mrs. Branston. If I had not been very much absorbed in thought just now, I should have recognised you sooner. It was very kind of you to stop to speak to me."
"Not at all. I have something most particular to say to you. If you are not in a very great hurry, would you mind getting into the carriage, and letting me drive you round the Park? I can"t keep you standing in the road to talk."
"I am in no especial hurry, and I shall be most happy to take a turn round the Park with you."
Mrs. Branston"s footman opened the carriage-door, and Gilbert took his seat opposite the widow, who was enjoying her afternoon drive alone for once in a way; a propitious toothache having kept Mrs. Pallinson within doors.
"I have been expecting to see you for ever so long, Mr. Fenton. Why do you never call upon me?" the pretty little widow began, with her usual frankness.
"I have been so closely occupied lately; and even if I had not been so, I should have scarcely expected to find you in town at this unfashionable season."
"I don"t care the least in the world for fashion," Mrs. Branston said, with an impatient shrug of her shoulders. "That is only an excuse of yours, Mr. Fenton; you completely forgot my existence, I have no doubt.
All my friends desert me now-a-days--older friends than you. There is Mr.
Saltram, for instance. I have not seen him for--O, not for ever so long,"
concluded the widow, blushing in the dusk as she remembered that visit of hers to the Temple--that daring step which ought to have brought John Saltram so much nearer to her, but which had resulted in nothing but disappointment and regret--bitter regret that she should have cast her womanly pride into the very dust at this man"s feet to no purpose.
But Adela Branston was not a proud woman; and even in the midst of her regret for having done this foolish thing, she was always ready to make excuses for the man she loved, always in danger of committing some new folly in his behalf.
Gilbert Fenton felt for the poor foolish little woman, whose fair face was turned to him with such a pleading look in the wintry twilight. He knew that what he had to tell her must needs carry desolation to her heart--knew that in the background of John Saltram"s life there lurked even a deeper cause of grief for this gentle impressionable little soul.
"You will not wonder that Mr. Saltram has not called upon you lately when you know the truth," he said gravely: "he has been very ill."
Mrs. Branston clasped her hands, with a faint cry of terror.
"Very ill--that means dangerously ill?"
"Yes; for some time he was in great danger. I believe that is past now; but I am not quite sure of his safety even yet. I can only hope that he may recover."
Hope that he might recover, yes; but to be a friend of his, Gilbert"s, never more. It was a dreary prospect at best. John Saltram would recover, to seek and reclaim his wife, and then those two must needs pa.s.s for ever out of Gilbert Fenton"s life. The story would be finished, and his own part of it bald enough to be told on the fly-leaf at the end of the book.
Mrs. Branston bore the shock of his ill news better than Gilbert had expected. There is good material even in the weakest of womankind when the heart is womanly and true.
She was deeply shocked, intensely sorry; and she made no attempt to mask her sorrow by any conventional speech or pretence whatsoever. She made Gilbert give her all the details of John Saltram"s illness, and when he had told her all, asked him plainly if she might be permitted to see the sick man.
"Do let me see him, if it is possible," she said; "it would be such a comfort to me to see him."
"I do not say such a thing is not possible, my dear Mrs. Branston; but I am sure it would be very foolish."
"O, never mind that; I am always doing foolish things. It would only be one folly more, and would hardly count in my history. Dear Mr. Fenton, do let me see him."
"I don"t think you quite know what you are asking, Mrs. Branston. Such a sick-bed as John Saltram"s would be a most painful scene for you. He has been delirious from the beginning of his illness, and is so still. He rarely has an interval of anything like consciousness, and in all the time that I have been with him has never yet recognised me; indeed, there are moments when I am inclined to fear that his brain may be permanently deranged."
"G.o.d forbid!" exclaimed Adela, in a voice that was choked with tears.
"Yes, such a result as that would be indeed a sore calamity. I have every wish to set your mind at ease, believe me, Mrs. Branston, but in John Saltram"s present state I am sure it would be ill-advised for you to see him."
"Of course I cannot press the question if you say that," Adela answered despondently; "but I should have been so glad if you could have allowed me to see him. Not that I pretend to the smallest right to do so; but we were very good friends once--before my husband"s death. He has changed to me strangely since that time."
Gilbert felt that it was almost cruel to keep this poor little soul in utter ignorance of the truth. He did not consider himself at liberty to say much; but some vague word of warning might serve as a slight check upon the waste of feeling which was going on in the widow"s heart.
"There may be a reason for that change, Mrs. Branston," he said. "Mr.
Saltram may have formed some tie of a kind to withdraw him from all other friendships."
"Some attachment, you mean!" exclaimed the widow; "some other attachment," she added, forgetting how much the words betrayed. "Do you think that, Mr. Fenton? Do you think that John Saltram has some secret love-affair upon his mind?"
"I have some reason to suspect as much, from words that he has dropped during his delirium."
There was a look of unspeakable pain in Mrs. Branston"s face, which had grown deadly pale when Gilbert first spoke of John Saltram"s illness. The pretty childish lips quivered a little, and her companion knew that she was suffering keenly.
"Have you any idea who the lady is?" she asked quietly, and with more self-command than Gilbert had expected from her.
"I have some idea."
"It is no one whom I know, I suppose?"
"The lady is quite a stranger to you."