Such was the farewell spoken by Varbarriere to his nephew, as he nodded his good-night on the threshold of their dressing-room.
In the morning Monsieur Varbarriere"s place knew him no more at the breakfast-table. With his valise, despatch-box, and desk, he had glided away, in the frosty sunlight, in a Marlowe post-chaise, to the "Plough Inn," on the Old London Road, where, as we know, he had once sojourned before. It made a slight roundabout to the point to which his business really invited his route; and as he dismissed his vehicle here, I presume it was done with a view to mystify possible inquirers.
At the "Plough Inn" he was received with an awful bustle and reverence.
The fame of the consideration with which he was entertained at Marlowe had reached that modest hostelry, and Monsieur Varbarriere looked larger, grander, more solemn in its modest hall, than ever; his valise was handled with respect, and lifted in like an invalid, not hauled and trundled like a prisoner; and the desk and despatch-box, as the more immediate attendants on his person, were eyed with the respect which such a confidence could not fail to inspire.
So Monsieur Varbarriere, having had his appetising drive through a bright country and keen air, ate his breakfast very comfortably; and when that meal was over, ordered a "fly," in which he proceeded to Wardlock, and pulled up at the hall-door of Lady Alice"s reserved-looking, but comfortable old redbrick mansion.
CHAPTER III.
Monsieur Varbarriere talks with Donica Gwynn.
The footman opened the door in deshabille and unshorn, with a countenance that implied his sense of the impertinence of this disturbance of his gentlemanlike retirement. There was, however, that in the countenance of Monsieur Varbarriere, as well as the intangible but potent "aura" emitted by wealth, which surrounded him--an influence which everybody feels and no one can well define, which circ.u.mambiates a rich person and makes it felt, n.o.body knows how, that he _is_ wealthy--that brought the flunky to himself; and adjusting his soiled necktie hastily with one hand, he ran down to the heavy but commanding countenance that loomed on his from the window of the vehicle.
"This is Wardlock?" demanded the visitor.
"Wardlock Manor?--yes, sir," answered the servant.
"I"ve a note from Lady Alice Redcliffe, and a few words to Mrs. Gwynn the housekeeper. She"s at home?"
"Mrs. Gwynn?--yes, sir."
"Open the door, please," said Monsieur Varbarriere, who was now speaking good frank English with wonderful fluency, considering his marked preference for the French tongue elsewhere.
The door flew open at the touch of the footman; and Monsieur Varbarriere entered the staid mansion, and was shown by the servant into the wainscoted parlour in which Lady Alice had taken leave of the ancient retainer whom he was about to confer with.
When Mrs. Gwynn, with that mixture of curiosity and apprehension which an unexpected visit is calculated to inspire, entered the room, very erect and natty, she saw a large round-shouldered stranger, standing with his back toward her, arrayed in black, at the window, with his grotesque high-crowned hat on.
Turning about he removed this with a slight bow and a grave smile, and with his sonorous foreign accent inquired--
"Mrs. Gwynn, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir, that is my name, if you please."
"A note, Mrs. Gwynn, from Lady Alice Redcliffe."
And as he placed it in the thin and rather ladylike fingers of the housekeeper, his eyes rested steadily on her features, as might those of a process-server, whose business it might be hereafter to identify her.
Mrs. Gwynn read the note, which was simply an expression of her mistress"s wish that she should answer explicitly whatever questions the gentleman, M. Varbarriere, who would hand it to her, and who was, moreover, a warm friend of the family, might put to her.
When Mrs. Gwynn, with the help of her spectacles, had spelled through this letter, she in turn looked searchingly at Monsieur Varbarriere, and began to wonder unpleasantly what line his examination might take.
"Will you, Mrs. Gwynn, allow me the right to sit down, by yourself taking a chair?" said Monsieur Varbarriere, very politely, smiling darkly, and waving his hand toward a seat.
"I"m very well as I am, I thank you, sir," replied Gwynn, who did not very much like the gentleman"s looks, and thought him rather like a great roguish Jew pedlar whom she had seen long ago at the fair of Marlowe.
"Nay, but pray sit down--I can"t while you stand--and our conversation may last some time--pray do."
"I can talk as well, sir, one way as t"other," replied she, while at the same time, with a sort of fidgeted impatience, she did sit down and fold her hands in her lap.
"We have all, Mrs. Gwynn, a very high opinion of you; I mean Lady Alice and the friends of her family, among whom I reckon myself."
"It"s only of late as I came to my present misses, you"re aware, sir, "aving been, from, I may say, my childhood in the Marlowe family."
"I know--the Marlowe family--it"s all one, in fact; but I may say, Mrs.
Gwynn, that short, comparatively, as has been your time with Lady Alice, you are spoken of with more respect and liking by that branch of the family than by Sir Jekyl."
"I"ve done nothing to disoblege Sir Jekyl, as Lady Alice knows. Will you be so kind, sir, as to say what you want of me, having business to attend to up-stairs?"
"Certainly, it is only a trifle or two."
Monsieur Varbarriere cleared his voice.
"Having ascertained all about that _secret door_ that opens into the green chamber at Marlowe, we would be obliged to you to let us know at what time, to your knowledge, it was first used."
His large full eyes, from under his projecting brows, stared full upon her shrinking gaze as he asked this question in tones deep and firm, but otherwise as civil as he could employ.
It was vain for Mrs. Gwynn to attempt to conceal her extreme agitation.
Her countenance showed it--she tried to speak, and failed; and cleared her throat, and broke down again.
"Perhaps you"d like some water," said Varbarriere, rising and approaching the bell.
"No," said Donica Gwynn, rising suddenly and getting before him. "Let be."
He saw that she wished to escape observation.
"As you please, Mrs. Gwynn--sit down again--I shan"t without your leave--and recover a little."
"There"s nothing wrong with me, sir," replied Donica, now in possession of her voice, very angrily; "there"s nothing to cause it."
"Well, Mrs. Gwynn, it"s quite excusable; I know all about it."
"What _are_ you, a builder or a hartist?"
"Nothing of the kind; I"m a gentleman without a profession, Mrs. Gwynn, and one who will not permit you to be compromised; one who will protect you from the slightest suspicion of anything unpleasant."
"I don"t know what you"re a-driving at," said Mrs. Gwynn, still as white as death, and glancing furiously.
"Come, Mrs. Gwynn, you"re a sensible woman. You _do_ know _perfectly_.
You have maintained a respectable character."
"Yes, sir!" said Donica Gwynn, and suddenly burst into a paroxysm of hysterical tears.
"Listen to me: you have maintained a respectable character, I know it: nothing whatever to injure that character shall ever fall from my lips; no human being--but two or three just as much interested in concealing all about it as you or I--shall ever know anything about it; and Sir Jekyl Marlowe has consented to take it down, so soon as the party at present at Marlowe shall have dispersed."