"He was dead."
Many and many a time had Joseph Cayley rehea.r.s.ed this scene upon which he had now entered. His earliest initiation into the secrets of the office was connected with it. It had been a legacy to him from his father; and the unusual mystery and importance of the case had so impressed him, that he used to imagine all the circ.u.mstances of the young girl"s coming to claim her own, and of his speeches and bearing during the interview. He forgot all his elaborate speeches, and remembering only the bare facts of the case, related them with as great delicacy as he could. Now for the first time did Annie Brunel understand the sad circ.u.mstances of her mother"s story, and for the moment she lost sight of everything else. She was away back in that strange and mournful past, recalling her mother"s patient bearing, her heroic labour, her more than heroic cheerfulness and self-denial, and the bitter loneliness of her last hours.
"It was his friends who kept him from her?" she asked, not daring to look up.
The lawyer knew better; but he dared not tell the cruel truth to the girl.
"Doubtless," he said. "Your father"s friends were very proud, and very much against his marrying an actress."
"And my mother feared my going among them?"
"Doubtless. But you need not do so now."
"Do they know who I am?"
"Yes, _my lady_."
He uttered the words, not out of compliment, but of set purpose. It was part of the information he had to give her. She looked up to him with a curious look, as if he were some magician who had suddenly given her sacksful of gold, and was about to change the gold again into flints.
"If all this is true, why did I never hear it from any one else?"
"We alone knew, and your father"s friends. They concealed the marriage as well as they could, and certainly never would speak to any one about you."
"And all these estates you speak of are mine?" she said, with a bewildered look on her face.
"Yes."
"And all that money?"
"Certainly."
"Without the chance of anybody coming forward and saying it is not mine?"
"There is no such chance that I know of, once you have been identified as Lady Knottingley"s daughter, and that will not be difficult."
"And I can do with the money what I like?" she asked, the bewilderment turning to a look of joy.
"Most undoubtedly."
"Out of such sums as you mention, I could give 20,000*l.* to one person, and the same amount to another?"
"Certainly. But you will forgive my saying that such bequests are not usual-perhaps you will get the advice of a friend."
"I have only two friends-a Miss Featherstone, and an old gentleman called Mr. Anerley. These are the two I mean."
Mr. Cayley opened his eyes with astonishment.
"Miss Featherstone of the -- Theatre?"
"Yes."
"You propose to give her 20,000*l.*?"
"Yes," said the young girl, frankly, and with a bright happy look on her face.
"The imprudence-the indiscretion-if I may say so!-(although it is no business of mine, my lady, and we shall be glad to fulfil any of your instructions). What could such a girl do with that sum of money?"
"What shall I do with all the rest-if it is real, which I can scarcely believe yet? But I wish you to tell me truly what was my mother"s intention in keeping this secret from me. I was only to apply to you in extreme need. No one knows how extreme my need is-how extreme it was last night, when it drove me to take out that letter and resolve to appeal to you."
"Your mother told my father why she should keep the secret from you.
She wished you never to undergo the wrongs she had suffered by coming in contact with those people whose influence over your father she feared and hated."
"And how she used to teach me always to rely upon the stage!" she said, musingly, and scarcely addressing herself to the man before her.
"Perhaps I have done very wrong in relinquishing it. Perhaps I am to have as miserable a life as she had; but it will not be through _them_."
"Now, my lady, there is no necessity why you should ever see one of the family."
"And it was her wish that I should come to you when I was in extreme distress--?"
"Distress! I hope not pecuniary--"
"That, and nothing else," said the girl, calmly.
Mr. Cayley was only too glad to become her banker until the legal arrangements should permit of her stepping into a command of money such as Harry Ormond himself had never owned.
"And in the meantime," she added, "you will not mention to any one my having seen you. I do not know what I shall do yet. I fear there is something wrong about it all-something unreal or dangerous; and when I think of my poor mother"s life, I do not wish to do anything in haste.
I cannot believe that all this money is mine. And the t.i.tle, too-I should feel as if I were on the stage again, and were a.s.suming a part that I should have to drop in an hour. I don"t want all that money; I should be afraid of it. If my mother were only here to tell me!"
Mr. Cayley was called away at this moment to see some other visitor. In his absence John Hubbard came to the door of the room and looked in.
He saw before him a figure which he instantly recognised. The girl was looking at the sheet of brown paper which bore her mother"s name, her eyes were wet, and her hands were clasped together, as if in mute supplication to that sc.r.a.p of writing to say something more and guide her in this great emergency. John Hubbard guessed the whole situation of affairs directly. Without a moment"s hesitation, he entered, and Annie Brunel looked up.
"My poor girl!" he said, in accents of deep compa.s.sion, with his pale face twitching nervously, "I understand your sad position; and if you had only remained in our house a few days longer, our counsel and advice might have been of service to you in this crisis. How deeply you must feel the want of a true and faithful adviser--!"
John Hubbard became aware that he had made a mistake. All the return that his sympathetic consolation provoked was a calm and penetrating look: and then, with a sudden change of manner, that surprised and half frightened him, she rose to her feet, and said, coldly and proudly-
"I am here on business; it is Mr. Cayley I wish to see."
Bewildered alike by her manner and her speech, Mr. Hubbard only blundered the worse.
"My lady," he said hurriedly, and with profound respect, "you will forgive me if I have been too forgetful in offering you my sympathy.
But as an old friend-our old relations-the pleasant evenings--"
"Mr. Hubbard," she said, in the same tone (and before the clear, cold, cruel notes of her voice the walls of his imaginative Jericho fell down and crumbled into dust), "I am much obliged to you and your wife for having employed me. I hope I did my work in return for the food I received. As to your kindness, and the pleasant evenings spent in your house, I have an impression which I need not put into words. You know I had a conversation with your brother before I left your house which seemed to explain your kindness to me. At the same time, I am as grateful to you as I can be."
"That brother of mine again!" thought John Hubbard, with an inward groan.
Mr. Cayley came into the room, and was surprised to find his partner there.