"Don"t give way, sir, too much. If there is this sort of misfortune, it is much better discovered--_much_ better. You"ll think so just now.
You"ll view it quite differently in the morning. Call for me the moment you want me--farewell, sir."
So Varbarriere was conducted to his bed-room, and made, beside his toilet, conscientious inquiries about his late dinner, which was in an advanced state of preparation; and when he went down to partake of it, he had wonderfully recovered the interview with General Lennox.
Notwithstanding, however, he drank two gla.s.ses of sherry, contrary to gastronomic laws, before beginning. Then, however, he made, even for him, a very good dinner.
He could not help wondering what a prodigious fuss the poor old fogey made about this little affair. He could not enter the least into his state of mind. She was a fine woman, no doubt; but there were others--no stint--and he had been married quite long enough to sober and acquire an appet.i.te for liberty.
What was the matter with the old fellow? But that it was insufferably comical, he could almost find it in his heart to pity him.
Once or twice as he smoked his cigar he could not forbear shaking with laughter, the old Philander"s pathetics struck him so sardonically.
I really think the state of that old gentleman, who certainly had attained to years of philosophy, was rather serious. That is, I dare say that a competent medical man with his case under observation at that moment would have p.r.o.nounced him on the verge either of a fit or of insanity.
When Varbarriere had left the room, General Lennox threw himself on the red damask sofa, which smelled powerfully of yesterday"s swell bagman"s tobacco, never perceiving that stale fragrance, nor the thinness of the cushion which made the ribs and vertebrae of the couch unpleasantly perceptible beneath. Then, with his knees doubled up, and the "Times"
newspaper over his face, he wept, and moaned, and uttered such plaintive and hideous maunderings as would do n.o.body good to hear of.
A variety of wise impulses visited him. One was to start instantaneously for Marlowe and fight Sir Jekyl that night by candlelight; another, to write to his wife for the last time as his wife--an eternal farewell--which perhaps would have been highly absurd, and affecting at the same time.
About two hours after Varbarriere"s departure for dinner, he sent for that gentleman, and they had another, a longer, and a more collected interview--if not a happier one.
The result was, that Varbarriere"s advice prevailed, as one might easily foresee, having a patient so utterly incompetent to advise himself.
The attorney, having shaken hands with Monsieur Varbarriere, and watched from the platform the gradual disappearance of the train that carried him from the purlieus of Slowton, with an expression of face plaintive as that with which Dido on the wild sea banks beheld the receding galleys of aeneas, loitered back again dolorously to the hostelry.
He arrived at the door exactly in time to witness the descent of Guy Deverell from his chaise. I think he would have preferred not meeting him, it would have saved him a few boring questions; but it was by no means a case for concealing himself. He therefore met him with a melancholy frankness on the steps.
The young man recognised him.
"Mr. Rumsey?--How do you do? Is my uncle here?"
"He left by the last train. I hope I see you well, sir."
"Gone? and where to?"
"He did not tell me." That was true, but the attorney had seen his valise labelled "Chester" by his direction. "He went by the London train, but he said he would be back to-morrow. Can _I_ do anything? Your arrival was not expected."
"Thank you. I think not. It was just a word with my uncle I wished. You say he will be here again in the morning?"
"Yes, so he said. I"m waiting to see him."
"Then I can"t fail to meet him if I remain." The attorney perceived, with his weatherwise experience, the traces of recent storm, both in the countenance and the manner of this young man, whose restiveness just now might be troublesome.
"Unless your business is urgent, I think--if you"ll excuse me--you had better return to Marlowe," remarked the attorney. "You"ll find it more comfortable quarters, a good deal, and your uncle will be very much hurried while here, and means to return to Marlowe to-morrow evening."
"But I shan"t. I don"t mean to return; in fact, I wish to speak to him here. I"ve delayed you on the steps, sir, very rudely; the wind is cold."
So he bowed, and they entered together, and the attorney, whose curiosity was now a little piqued, found he could make nothing of him, and rather disliked him; his reserve was hardly fair in so very young a person, and practised by one who had not yet won his spurs against so redoubted a champion as the knight of the rueful countenance.
Next morning, as M. Varbarriere had predicted, General Lennox, although sleep had certainly had little to do with the change, was quite a different man in some respects--in no wise happier, but much more collected; and now he promptly apprehended and retained Monsieur Varbarriere"s plan, which it was agreed was to be executed that night.
More than once Varbarriere"s compunctions revisited him as he sped onwards that morning from Chester to Slowton. But as men will, he bullied these misgivings and upbraidings into submission. He had been once or twice on the point of disclosing this portion of the complication to his attorney, but an odd sort of shyness prevented. He fancied that possibly the picture and his part in it were not altogether pretty, and somehow he did not care to expose himself to the secret action of the attorney"s thoughts.
Even in his own mind it needed the strong motive which had first prompted it. Now it was no longer necessary to explore the mystery of that secret door through which the missing deed, and indeed the Deverell estate, had been carried into old Sir Harry"s cupboard. But what was to be done? He had committed himself to the statement. General Lennox had a right to demand--in fact, _he_ had promised--a distinct explanation.
Yes, a distinct explanation, and, further, a due corroboration by proof of that explanation. It was all due to Monsieur Varbarriere, who had paid that debt to his credit and conscience, and behold what a picture!
Three familiar figures, irrevocably transformed, and placed in what a halo of infernal light.
"The thing could not be helped, and, whether or no, it was only right.
Why the devil should I help Jekyl Marlowe to deceive and disgrace that withered old gentleman? I don"t think it would have been a pleasant position for me."
And all the respectabilities hovering near cried "hear, hear, hear!" and Varbarriere shook up his head, and looked magisterial over the havoc of the last livid scene of the tragedy he had prepared; and the porter crying "Slowton!" opened the door, and released him.
CHAPTER X.
Uncle and Nephew.
When he reached his room, having breakfasted handsomely in the coffee-room, and learned that early Mr. Rumsey had accomplished a similar meal in his own sitting-room, he repaired thither, and entered forthwith upon their talk.
It was a bright and pleasant morning; the poplar trees in front of the hotel were all glittering in the mellow early sunlight, and the birds twittering as pleasantly as if there was not a sorrow or danger on earth.
"Well, sir, true to my hour," said Monsieur Varbarriere, in his deep brazen tones, as smiling and wondrously he entered the attorney"s apartment.
"Good morning, sir--how d"ye do? Have you got those notes prepared you mentioned?"
"That I have, sir, as you shall see, pencil though; but that doesn"t matter--no?"
The vowel sounded grandly in the upward slide of Varbarriere"s t.i.tanic double ba.s.s.
The attorney took possession of the pocket-book containing these memoranda, and answered--
"No, I can read it very nicely. Your nephew is here, by-the-bye; he came last night."
"Guy? What"s brought him here?"
M. Varbarriere"s countenance was overcast. What had gone wrong? Some chamber in his mine had exploded, he feared, prematurely.
Varbarriere opened the door, intending to roar for Guy, but remembering where he was, and the dimensions of the place, he tugged instead at the bell-rope, and made his summons jangle wildly through the lower regions.
"Hollo!" cried Varbarriere from his threshold, antic.i.p.ating the approaching waiter; "a young gentleman--a Mr. Guy Strangways, arrived last evening?"
"Strangways, please, sir? Strangways? No, sir, I don"t think we "av got no gentleman of that name in the "ouse, sir."
"But I know you _have_. Go, make out where he is, and let him know that his uncle, Monsieur Varbarriere, has just arrived, and wants to see him--_here_, may I?" with a glance at the attorney.
"Certainly."