"You"re quite right, dear," exclaimed her cousin, rising. "We must really make haste if we are to do all our shopping and catch the five o"clock from Waterloo. In Maud"s letter, this morning, she says she will send the carriage to meet that train."
I rose also. I was loth to leave the presence of this charming girl, who was undoubtedly my bride, but who, it appeared, was entirely unconscious of the fact. Yet the woman who had called me in for consultation, and had acted so strangely that it almost seemed as though she had fallen in love with me, had pointedly dismissed me; therefore I was compelled to take my leave.
"I hope, Doctor, that we shall see something more of you on our return to town," her ladyship said, as we shook hands. "Recollect our conversation of this morning," she added meaningly.
"Of course I shall be most delighted to call and see how you have progressed," I responded. "You have the prescription, and I hope you will persevere with it."
"If I feel worse." She laughed, and I knew that she did not mean to have the mixture made up. She had shammed illness very cleverly. I was amused and annoyed at the same moment.
"I hope Doctor Colkirk will dine with us here one evening," said the woman who was my bride. "I"m sure Sir Henry would be charmed to meet him."
"Yes," answered her cousin; "only he must not know that I have consulted him professionally. That must be kept a secret."
"All women love secrets," I remarked.
"And men also," responded Feo. "Some appear to think that a little mystery adds an additional zest to life."
Her words were strange ones, and seemed to have been uttered with some abstruse meaning.
"Do you yourself think so?" I inquired, looking earnestly into those bright eyes of clear, childlike blue, that were so plainly indicative of a purity of soul.
"Well, I scarcely know," she responded, returning my glance unflinchingly. "We all of us have some little mystery or other in our lives, I suppose."
I had taken her hand in adieu, and was still holding it.
"And are you no exception?"
"Ah! now, Doctor, you"re really too inquisitive." And she laughed, just a trifle unnaturally I thought, as though I had approached an unwelcome topic.
"Well," I said smiling, "I won"t press you further; it isn"t fair.
Good-bye, and I trust I shall meet both your cousin and yourself at a date not far distant--that is, if I am still in town."
"Oh, I hope you will be!" exclaimed her ladyship; "I can"t think why doctors go and bury themselves in the country."
"There are just as many patients in the country districts as in the towns," I responded. "And in the country one carries on one"s profession amid more congenial surroundings."
I repeated my farewells, and, with a final and longing glance at my mysterious wife, went forth into the hall, and was let out by the liveried servant.
To approach my wife boldly and demand the truth was, I saw, useless.
First I must, by my own careful observation, establish her ident.i.ty with Beryl Wynd, and, secondly, clear up the mystery of how a woman could be dead and yet still live.
The expression of those clear, honest eyes, the form of the beautiful face, as flawless as that of t.i.tian"s "Flora" in the Tribune of the Uffizzi, the unusual tint of that gold-brown hair were all unmistakable.
They set at rest any doubt which arose within me that the woman whose hand I had held was not the same upon whose finger I had placed the wedding-ring. Incredible though it seemed, I had that morning spoken with my unknown wife, and she had not known me. We were strangers, yet united in matrimony.
Mechanically I walked towards Kensington Church in order to take the omnibus back to Hammersmith. My mind was filled with the mystery of my marriage and the reason why the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds had been offered me if I would consent to secretly kill my bride.
Certain it was that I had been the victim of a cunningly devised plot, and further, that the fact of my return to London was known to those who had conspired against me. Therefore, it behoved me to exercise considerable care and caution in the prosecution of my inquiries. The two scoundrels, Wyndham Wynd and Major Tattersett, must, I resolved, be discovered at all hazards, while I must also leave no stone unturned to find out the house in which the marriage had taken place.
The man Wynd had intended that my wife should die, but it was plain that, by some good fortune, she had escaped him. Yet the most curious phase of the affair was that she appeared utterly unconscious of it all.
It struck me that I might, by dint of careful questioning, learn something from Sir Henry"s wife. But she was, I knew, a clever, intelligent woman; and if she held a secret, it would be exceedingly difficult to obtain knowledge of it.
I returned to Rowan Road, and, on entering with my latch-key, found Bob standing in the hall.
"Why, my dear fellow?" he cried; "I had a wire to say you were missing, and so came up to look after you. Where, in the name of fortune, have you been?"
"I"ve been abroad," I responded vaguely.
"Abroad!" he cried incredulously. "Why? What made you go abroad?"
"I"ll tell you all when we get upstairs," I answered; and we ascended together to the little den.
Then, over our pipes, I related to him the curious story.
"Well," he declared, in profound amazement. "I"ve never heard of a stranger adventure than that! Do you mean to say that you"re actually married?"
"Without a doubt. A special licence was obtained and the marriage is, therefore, quite legal. The most remarkable fact of all is, that while I know my wife, she doesn"t know me. To her I"m a perfect stranger."
"But the fellow, Wynd, whoever he is, is evidently no novice in crime,"
Bob declared thoughtfully. "The contraction of the eye was a curious symptom."
"Yes. It was in the pupil of the left eye."
"And yet the girl you have met to-day is perfectly sound in both eyes?"
he remarked.
"Perfectly."
"But, my dear fellow, it can"t be! If she were dead, as you say, she can"t, as you yourself know, be still alive."
"That"s just where the mystery becomes so inscrutable?" I cried. "The woman whom I married evidently died. Indeed, I"d have given a certificate of death and backed it by my professional reputation. Yet she"s alive and well, and I have, only an hour ago, spoken with her."
"Bless my soul?" cried Bob. "Most extraordinary thing I"ve ever heard of! There must have been some very strong reason why you should marry her, or that scoundrel Wynd would not have offered such a sum. He evidently wished to get her married, and then do away with her for reasons which I hope we shall, some day, be able to discover. The thing"s a complete enigma," he went on, "and if I can help you to solve it, d.i.c.k, I"ll do so willingly. In my opinion there"s a great deal more in this affair than we dream of. The whole thing seems to have been most carefully worked out, and I shouldn"t wonder if her ladyship has not had a hand in the affair. She seems too bold; and therefore I have suspicions of her."
"So have I, old fellow," I said. "The strongest suspicions. Her very words have betrayed her."
"Unless"--he hesitated--"unless she saw you at the _Savoy_ when we fed together in honour of my birth, and was struck by your appearance--in fact, to put it plainly, unless she has fallen in love with you."
"But why?" I demanded. "I"ve never met the woman before, to my knowledge."
"But you"re a good-looking Johnnie, my dear d.i.c.k," my friend declared, laughing; "and she"s certainly not the first woman who has fallen over head and ears in love with you."
"You"re devilish complimentary, old chap," I answered; "but if she is, as you think, really attracted towards me, then she"ll have a cruel awakening when she finds that I"m actually the husband of her cousin Feo."
"That"s just what I"ve been thinking," he replied, with a serious expression on his face. "Your position is an exceedingly difficult one, and the inquiries must be made with the utmost tact and care. At all hazards you must humour her ladyship, and retain her as your friend.
Indeed if, as you say, your wife is not aware that you are actually her husband, then it might not be a bad plan to flatter her ladyship by making violent love to her."
"I can"t, Bob," I declared. "In this matter I must at least act straightforwardly. Feo has fallen a victim, just as I myself have-- that"s evident."