Molly turned carelessly from the question of 2000 and its interest at three and a half per cent. to the letter surmounted by a black initial and a coronet.
"My DEAR ANNE,--
"I am not coming to stay in your neighbourhood as I had hoped. I should have been very glad to have had a talk with you about Molly, if it had been possible, for her dear father"s sake. Indeed, I think you are far from exaggerating the difficulties of the case.
You are very reluctant to take a house in London, and you say that if you did take one and gave up all your home duties you would not now have a circle of friends there who could be of any use to a girl of her age. I feel that very likely you would be glad if my daughter would undertake her, and you are quite right in thinking that she would like a girl to take into the world. But I must be frank with you, as I want to save you from pitfalls which I may be more able to foresee than you can in your secluded home. My dear, I know that dear old John died without a penny: why if he had had any fortune as a young man--but, alas! he had none--is it possible that, in a soldier"s life, with, for a few years, a madly extravagant wife to help him, he could conceivably have saved a capital that can produce 3000 a year!
"No, my dear Anne, the money is from her mother, and I must tell you that I"ve often wondered if that estimable lady is really dead at all. Then, you know, that I always kept up with John, and that I knew something about Sir David Bright. To conclude, Rose Bright is my cousin by marriage, and we are all dumbfounded at finding that she has been left 800 a year instead of twice as many thousands, and that the fortune has gone to a lady named Madame Danterre. It is so old a story that I don"t think any one has read the conclusion aright except myself, and _parole d"honneur_, no one shall if I can help it. I am too fond of poor John"s memory to want to hurt his child, only for the child"s own sake I would not advise you to bring her up to London. I should keep her quietly with you, and trust to a man appearing on the scene--it"s a thing you _can_ trust to, where there is 3000 a year. I daresay I could send some one your way quite quietly. But don"t bring John"s girl to London, at any rate, just yet.
"I hope we may come within reach of you in the autumn. I should love to have a quiet day with you and to see Molly.
"Ever yours affectionately,
"JANE DAWNING."
"P.S.--By the way, is the 3000 sure to go on? If it is not, might it not be as well to put a good bit of it away?"
Thus in one short hour, Molly had been told that her mother was living but did not want her child; that the ideal of motherly love had in her own case been a complete fiction; that the mother of her imagination had never existed, and, immediately afterwards, she had been given a glimpse of the world"s view of her own position as a young person best concealed, or, at least, not brought too much forward.
Lastly, with the news of the money that at least meant freedom, she had gained, by a rapid intuition, a faint but unmistakable sense of discomfort as to the money itself.
It was not any scrupulous fear that it could be her duty to inquire whether Sir David Bright ought to have left his fortune to his widow!
Probably Lady Rose had quite as much as many dowagers have to live on.
But she had been forced to know that other people disapproved of Sir David"s will. It was not a fortune entered into with head erect and eyes proudly facing a friendly world. Still, Molly was not daunted: the combat with life was harder and quite different from what she had foreseen, but she had always looked on her future as a fight.
Presently she let the "letter from Jane" fall close to the chair in which her aunt had been sitting, and moved the chair till the paper was half hidden by the chintz frill of the cover. She meant Mrs. Carteret to think that she had not read it.
She then went out for a long walk and met her aunt at luncheon with a quietly respectful manner, a little more respectful than it had ever been before.
Later in the day Molly wrote to the family lawyer, and consulted him as to how to find a suitable lady with whom to stay in London. Mrs.
Carteret read and pa.s.sed the letter. Seeing that Molly was determined to go to London, she was anxious to help her as much as possible, without calling down upon herself such letters of advice as the one from Lady Dawning. It proved as difficult to find just the right thing in chaperones as it is usually difficult to find exactly the right thing in any form of humanity, and December and January pa.s.sed in the search. But in the end all that was to be wished for seemed to be secured in the person of Mrs. Delaport Green, who was known to a former pupil of Miss Carew"s, and at length Molly went out of the rooms with the northern aspect, and drove through the wood that sheltered under the shoulder of the great green hill, with nothing about her to recall the child who had come in there for the first time fourteen years ago, except that she still had the look of one who waits for other circ.u.mstances and other people.
CHAPTER VII
EDMUND GROSSE CONTINUES TO INTERFERE
Mr. Murray had had no belief in Sir Edmund Grosse"s doings, and he indulged in the provoking air of "I told you so," when the latter, who had not been in London for several months, appeared at the office, and owned to the futility of his visit to Florence. Meanwhile, Mr. Murray had also carried on a fruitless enquiry in a different direction.
"The General"s two most intimate friends were killed about two months after his death, and his servant died in the same action--probably before Sir David himself. I have tried to find out if he had any talk on his own affairs with friends on board ship going out, but it seems not.
I can show you the list of those who went out with him."
Sir Edmund knew something of most people and after studying the list he went to look up an old soldier friend at the Army and Navy Club. Indeed, for some weeks he was often to be seen there, and he was as attentive to Generals as an anxious parent seeking advancement in the Army for an only son. He soon became discouraged as to obtaining any information regarding David"s later years, but some gossip on his younger days he did glean. Nothing could have been better than David"s record; he seemed to have been a paragon of virtue.
"That"s what made it all the more strange that he should have fallen into the hands of Mrs. Johnny Dexter," mused an old Colonel as he puffed at one of Grosse"s most admirable cigars. "Poor old David; he was wax in her hands for a few weeks, then he got fever and recovered from her and from it at the same time--he went home soon after. He"d have done anything for her at one moment."
This Colonel might well have been flattered by Edmund"s attentions; but he gave little in return for them except what he said that day.
"Mrs. Johnny Dexter! Why, I"m sure I have known Dexters," thought Edmund, as he strolled down Pall Mall after this conversation. He stopped to think, regardless of public observation. "Why, of course, that old bore Lady Dawning was a Miss Dexter. I"ll go and see her this very day."
Lady Dawning was gratified at Sir Edmund"s visit, and was nearly as much surprised at seeing him as he was at finding himself in the handsome, heavily-furnished room in Princes Gate. Stout, over fifty, and clumsily wigged, it rarely enough happened to Lady Dawning to find not only a sympathetic listener but an eager inquirer into those romantic days when love"s young dream for her cousin Johnny Dexter was stifled by parental authority: "And it all ended in my becoming Lady Dawning." A sigh of satisfaction concluded the episode of romance, and led the way back to the present day.
When Lady Dawning had advised Mrs. Carteret to keep poor dear Johnny"s girl quietly in the country, she had by no means intended to let any of her friends know anything about Molly. She had looked important and mysterious when people spoke of Sir David Bright"s amazing will, but she made a real sacrifice to Johnny"s memory by not divulging her knowledge of facts or her own conclusions from those facts. But the enjoyment of talking of her own romantic youth to Edmund had had a softening effect.
Sir Edmund appeared to be so very wise and safe.
"Of course, it is only to you," came first; and then, "It would be a relief to me to get the opinion of a man of the world; poor dear Anne Carteret consults me, and I really don"t know what to advise. Fancy!
that woman allows the girl 3000 a year, and Anne Carteret would probably have acted on my advice and kept her quiet so that no one need know anything of the wretched story, but the girl won"t be quiet, and will come up to London, and it seems so unsafe, don"t you know? They are looking for a chaperone, as nothing will make Anne come herself. And if it all comes out it will be so unpleasant for poor dear Rose Bright to meet this girl all dressed up with her money; don"t you think so?"
Lady Dawning was now quite screaming with excitement, and very red in nose and chin. It would be a long time before she could be quite dull again. But Edmund was far too deeply interested to notice details.
They parted very cordially, and Lady Dawning promised to let him know if she heard from Anne Carteret, and, if possible, to pa.s.s on the name of the chaperone woman who was to take Molly into society.
"And so your _protegee_ is to arrive to-night?" said Edmund Grosse.
"Yes, and I _am_ so frightened;" and with a little laugh appreciative of herself in general, Mrs. Delaport Green held up a cup of China tea in a pretty little white hand belonging to an arm that curved and thickened from the wrist to the elbow in perfect lines.
Sir Edmund gave the arm the faintest glance of appreciation before it retreated into lace frills within its brown sleeve. Those lace frills were the only apparent extravagance in the simple frock in question, and simplicity was the chief note in this lady"s charming appearance.
"I don"t believe you are frightened, but probably she is frightened enough."
"I know nothing whatever about her," sighed the little woman, "and we are only doing it because we are so dreadfully hard up; my maid says that I shall soon not have a st.i.tch to my back, and that would be so fearfully improper. At least"--she hesitated--"I am doing it because times are bad. Tim really knows nothing about it; I mean that he does not know that Miss Dexter is a "paying guest", and it does sound horribly lower middle-cla.s.s, doesn"t it? But I"m so afraid Tim won"t be able to go to Homburg this year, and he is eating and drinking so much already, and it"s only the beginning of April. What will happen if he can"t drink water and take exercise all this summer?"
"But I suppose you know her name?"
"I believe it is Molly Dexter. And do you think I should say "Molly" at once--to-night, I mean?"
Sir Edmund did not answer this question.
"I used to know some Dexters years ago."
"Yes, it is quite a good name, and Molly is of good family: she is a cousin of Lady Dawning, but she is an orphan. I think I must call her Molly at once," and the little round eyes looked wistful and kindly.
Sir Edmund was able from this to conclude rightly that Mrs. Delaport Green was not aware of the existence of Madame Danterre, and would have no suspicions as to the sources of the fortune that supplied Molly"s large allowance. It had, in fact, been thought wiser not to offer explanations which had not been called for.
"It will be very tiresome for you," said Grosse. "You will have to amuse her, you know, and is she worth while?"
"Quite; she will pay--let me see--she will pay for the new motor, and she will go to my dressmaker and keep her in a good temper. But, of course, I shall have to make sacrifices and find her partners. I must try and not let my poor people miss me. They would miss me dreadfully, though I know you don"t think so."
"And you don"t even know what she is like?"
"Oh, yes, I do; I have seen her once, and she is oh! so interesting: olive skin, black, or almost black, hair, almond-shaped grey eyes--no, I don"t mean almond-shaped, but really very curiously-shaped eyes, full of--let me see if I can tell you what they are full of--something that, in fact, makes you shiver and feel quite excited. But, do you know, she hardly speaks, and then in such a low voice. I"ll tell you now, I"ll tell you exactly what she reminds me of: do you know a picture in a very big gallery in Florence of a woman who committed some crime? It"s by one of the pupils of one of the great masters; just try and think if you don"t know what I mean. Oh, must you go? But won"t you come again, and see how we get on, and how I bear up?"
When Molly did arrive, her dainty little hostess petted and patted her and called her "Molly" because she "could not help it."