"And where is the young gentleman?" asked Captain Drayton, after a little interval.
Beatrix told him again.
"Oh! _That"s_ he! Isn"t his French very bad--did it strike you? Bad _accent_--I can tell in a moment. That"s not an accent one hears anywhere."
Oddly enough, Sir Jekyl at the same time, with such slight interruptions as his agreeable attentions to Lady Blunket imposed, was, in the indistinct way in which such discussions are mentally pursued, observing upon the peculiarities of his two new guests, and did not judge them amiss.
The elder was odd, take him for what country you pleased. Bearded like a German, speaking good French, with a good accent, but in the loud full tones of a Spaniard, and with a quality of voice which resounds in the synagogue, and a quietude of demeanour much more English than continental. His dress, such as I have described it, fine in material, but negligent and easy, though odd. Reserved and silent he was, a little sinister perhaps, but his bearing unconstrained and gracious when he spoke. There was, indeed, that odd, watchful glance from under his heavy eyebrows, which, however, had nothing sly, only observant, in it. Again he thought, "Who could he be?" On the whole, Sir Jekyl was in nowise disposed to p.r.o.nounce upon him as Captain Drayton was doing a little way down the table; nor yet upon Guy Strangways, whom he thought, on the contrary, an elegant young man, according to French notions of the gentlemanly, and he knew the French people a good deal better than the youthful Captain did.
The princ.i.p.al drawing-room of Marlowe is a very large apartment, and people can talk of one another in it without any risk of detection.
"Well, Lady Jane," said the Baronet, sitting down before that handsome woman, and her husband the General, so as to interrupt a conjugal _tete-a-tete_, probably a particularly affectionate one, for he was to leave for London next day. "I saw you converse with Monsieur Varbarriere. What do you think of him?"
"I don"t think I conversed with him--did I? He talked to me; but I really did not take the trouble to think about him."
The General laughed triumphantly, and glanced over his shoulder at the Baronet. He liked his wife"s contempt for the rest of the s.e.x, and her occasional--_only_ occasional--enthusiasm for him.
"Now you are much too clever, Lady Jane, to be let off so. I really want to know something about him, which I don"t at present; and if anyone can help me to a wise conjecture, you, I am certain, can."
"And don"t you really know who he is?" inquired General Lennox, with a haughty military surprise.
"Upon my honour, I have not the faintest idea," answered Sir Jekyl. "He may be a cook or a rabbi, for anything I can tell."
The General"s white eyebrows went some wrinkles up the slanting ascent of his pink forehead, and he plainly looked his amazement that Lady Jane should have been subjected at Marlowe to the risk of being accosted on equal terms by a cook or a rabbi. His lips screwed themselves unconsciously into a small o, and his eyes went in search of the masquerading menial.
"We had a cook," said the General, still eyeing M. Varbarriere, "at Futtychur, a French fellow, fat like that, but shorter--a capital cook, by Jove! and a very gentlemanly man. He wore a white cap, and he had a very good way of stewing tomatas and turkeys, I think it was, and--yes it was--and a monstrous gentlemanlike fellow he was; rather too expensive though; he cost us a great deal," and the General winked slyly. "I had to speak to him once or twice. But an uncommon gentlemanlike man."
"He"s not a cook, my dear. He may be a banker, perhaps," said Lady Jane, languidly.
"You have exactly hit my idea," said Sir Jekyl. "It was his knowing all about French banking, General, when you mentioned that trick that was played you on the Bourse."
At this moment the ma.s.sive form and face of M. Varbarriere was seen approaching with Beatrix by his side. They were conversing, but the little group we have just been listening to dropped the discussion of M.
Varbarriere, and the Baronet said that he hoped General Lennox would have a fine day for his journey, and that the moon looked particularly bright and clear.
"I want to show Monsieur Varbarriere the drawings of the house, papa; they are in this cabinet. He admires the architecture very much."
The large enchanter in black made a solemn bow of acquiescence here, but said nothing and Beatrix took from its nook a handsome red-leather portfolio, on the side of which, in tall golden letters, were the words--
VIEWS AND ELEVATIONS OF MARLOWE MANOR HOUSE.
PAULO ABRUZZI, ARCHITECT.
1711.
"Capital drawing, I am told. He was a young man of great promise," said Sir Jekyl, in French. "But the style is quite English, and, I fear, will hardly interest an eye accustomed to the more graceful contour of southern continental architecture."
"Your English style interests me very much. It is singular, and suggests hospitality, enjoyment, and mystery."
Monsieur Varbarriere was turning over these tinted drawings carefully.
"Is not that very true, papa--hospitality, enjoyment, mystery?" repeated Beatrix. "I think that faint character of mystery is so pleasant. We have a mysterious room here." She had turned to M. Varbarriere.
"Oh, a dozen," interrupted Sir Jekyl. "No end of ghosts and devils, you know. But I really think you excel us in that article. I resided for five weeks in a haunted house once, near Havre, and the stories were capital, and there were some very good noises too. We must get Dives to tell it by-and-by; he was younger than I, and more frightened."
"And Mademoiselle says you have a haunted apartment here," said the ponderous foreigner with the high forehead and projecting brows.
"Yes, of course. We are very much haunted. There is hardly a crooked pa.s.sage or a dark room that has not a story," said Sir Jekyl. "Beatrix, why don"t you sing us a song, by-the-bye?"
"May I beg one other favour first, before the crowning one of the song?"
said M. Varbarriere, with an imposing playfulness. "Mademoiselle, I am sure, tells a story well. Which, I entreat, is the particular room you speak of?"
"We call it the green chamber," said Beatrix.
"The green chamber--what a romantic t.i.tle!" exclaimed the large gentleman in black, graciously; "and where is it situated?" he pursued.
"We must really put you into it," said Sir Jekyl.
"Nothing I should like so well," he observed, with a bow.
"That is, of course, whenever it is deserted. You have not been plagued with apparitions, General? Even Lady Jane--and there are no ghost-seers like ladies, I"ve observed--has failed to report anything horrible."
His hand lay on the arm of her chair, and, as he spoke, for a moment pressed hers, which, not choosing to permit such accidents, she, turning carelessly and haughtily toward the other speakers, slipped away.
CHAPTER XIV.
Music.
"And pray, Mademoiselle Marlowe, in what part of the house is this so wonderful room situated?" persisted the grave and reverend signor.
"Quite out of the question to describe to one who does not already know the house," interposed Sir Jekyl. "It is next the six-sided dressing-room, which opens from the hatchment gallery--that is its exact situation; and I"m afraid I have failed to convey it," said Sir Jekyl, with one of his playful chuckles.
The Druidic-looking Frenchman shrugged and lifted his fingers with a piteous expression of perplexity, and shook his head.
"Is there not among these drawings a view of the side of the house where this room lies?" he inquired.
"I was looking it out," said Beatrix.
"I"ll find it, Trixie. Go you and sing us a song," said the Baronet.
"I"ve got them both, papa. Now, Monsieur Varbarriere, here they are.
This is the front view--this is the side."
"I am very much obliged," said Monsieur examining the drawings curiously. "The room recedes. This large bow-window belongs to it. Is it not so?--wide room?--how long? You see I want to understand everything. Ah! yes, here is the side view. It projects from the side of the older building, I see. How charming! And this is the work of the Italian artist? The style is quite novel--a mixture partly Florentine--really very elegant. Did he build anything more here?"
"Yes, a very fine row of stables, and a temple in the grounds," said Sir Jekyl. "You shall see them to-morrow."