"Just so, lad. But, on the other hand, it may be the one we know of, Richard Foliott. One point coincides--he is going to be married."
I sat back on the seat, revolving probabilities, and thinking of many things. That instinctive dislike I had taken to Captain Foliott"s eyes, or to himself, or to both, flashed over me with vivid force. The fine scenery we were just then whirling past, and on which my eyes seemed to be fixed, might have been a sandy desert, for all I saw of it.
"The worst is, the dilemma it puts one in," continued Tod. "To speak of this to the Whitneys, or not to speak?--that"s the question. If it should turn out to be another Foliott, they might never forgive me.
_He_ never would."
"But then--Helen"s whole future may be at stake. It may be in peril."
Tod pulled at his whiskers again. I read the name of the station we were flashing past.
"I hate a doubt of this sort," cried Tod impatiently, "where one can"t see how one"s duty lies. It bothers the mind. I think I"ll let it go, Johnny."
"But, if it should turn out, when too late, that he is a scamp: and, for the want of a word, you have let him--let him make havoc of Helen"s life!"
"What could I say?" he asked irritably. "That I overheard two fellows, in the smoking-compartment of a railway train, saying that one Foliott was a scamp. Sir John would naturally ask me what grounds I had for a.s.suming that it was their Foliott. Well, I have no grounds. And how small I should look!"
"There are slight grounds, at any rate, Tod. The name is his, Foliott; and both are going to be married."
"All the same, I don"t see that I can speak."
"Put it in this light, Tod," I said. "You don"t speak; and they get married; and then something or other bad turns up about Foliott; and Sir John finds out that it was in your power to warn him in time, and you did not. What will he say then?"
"I"m sure I don"t know," grunted Tod. "I wish I could see on which side land lies."
All the rest of the way to London we continued to discuss it by fits and starts, and at last hit upon a good thought--to tell the whole to William Whitney. It was the best thing to do, so far as we could see.
It might all end in smoke, or--it might not.
The Whitneys had found a furnished house in Gloucester Place, near Portman Square. The maid who had taken the illness was soon well again, and the Hall was being regularly fumigated now, preparatory to their return. In Gloucester Place they were within a short drive of Miss Deveen"s, a fact which had guided them to the locality. Indeed, it was only a walk for the younger of us.
Not until night did we get any chance of a private talk with William.
Our bedrooms opened into one another; and after we went up for good, he sat down in our room.
"You won"t be affronted, Bill, at something I am about to say?" struck in Tod, by way of prelude.
"Affronted!" cried Bill. "I! What on earth do you ask that stupid question for?"
"In coming up to-day, I heard a few words in the train," went on Tod.
"Two fellows were talking, and they brought up a man"s name in a disparaging manner. It is a friend of yours, Bill; and Johnny and I had a precious discussion, I can tell you, as to whether we should repeat it to you or not."
"Was it my name?" asked Bill. "What could they have to say against me?"
"No, no; they"d have got an answer from me had it been yours. First of all, we thought of mentioning it to Sir John; but I did not like to, and that"s the truth. So we just concluded to put it before you, as one of ourselves, and you can tell him if you like."
"All right," said Bill. "Go ahead."
Tod told him all from beginning to end. Not that it was very much to tell: but he brought in our own conversation; the delicacy we felt in speaking at all, and the arguments for and against. Bill was not in the least put out; rather wondered, I thought, that we should be.
"It can"t be d.i.c.k Foliott, you know," said he. "There"s not anything against him; impossible that there should be."
"I am glad you say so," cried Tod, relieved. "It was only for Helen"s sake we gave a thought to it."
"The name was the same, you see--Foliott," I put in. "And that man is going to be married as well as this one."
"True," answered Bill, slowly. "Still I feel sure it is quite impossible that it can be Foliott. If--if you think I had better mention it, I will. I"ll mention it to himself."
"I should," said I eagerly, for somehow my doubts of the man were growing larger. "Better be on the safe side. You don"t know much about him, after all, Bill."
"Not know much about him! What do you mean, Johnny? We know enough. He is Riverside"s nephew, a very respectable old Scotch peer, and he is Foliott the mill-owner"s nephew; and I"m sure _he_ is to be respected, if it"s only for the money he has made. And d.i.c.k has a very fair income of his own, and settles ten thousand pounds upon Helen, and will come into a hundred thousand by-and-by, or more. What would you have?"
I could not say what I would have; but the uneasiness lay on my mind.
Tod spoke.
"The men alluded to conduct, I expect, Bill; not to means. They spoke of that Foliott as an out-and-out scamp, and called the girl he was going to marry "Poor thing," in a piteous tone. You wouldn"t like that applied to Helen."
"By Jove, no. Better be on the safe side, as Johnny says. We"ll say nothing to my father at present; but you and I, Tod, will quietly repeat to Foliott what you heard, and we"ll put it to him, as man to man, to tell us in all honour whether the words could have related to himself.
Of course the idea is altogether absurd; we will tell him that, and beg his pardon."
So that was resolved upon. And a great relief it was. To decide upon a course of action, in any unpleasant difficulty, takes away half its discomfort.
Captain Foliott had come to London but once since they met at Malvern.
His stay was short; three days; and during those days he was so busy that Gloucester Place only saw him in the evenings. He had a great deal to do down in the North against his marriage, arranging his property preparatory to settling it on Helen, and seeing to other business matters. But the zeal he lacked in personal attention, he made up by letter. Helen had one every morning as regularly as the post came in.
He was expected in town on the morrow, Tuesday: indeed, Helen had thought he might perhaps have come to-day. Twelve o"clock on Wednesday, at Gloucester Place, was the hour fixed for signing the deeds of settlement: and by twelve o"clock on Thursday, the following day, all going well, he and Helen would be man and wife.
Amidst the letters waiting on the breakfast-table on Tuesday morning was one for Helen. Its red seal and crest told whence it came.
"Foliott always seals his letters to Helen," announced Bill for our information. "And what ill news has that one inside it?" continued he to his sister. "You look as cross as two sticks, Nelly."
"Just mind your own business," said Helen.
"What time will Captain Foliott be here to-day, my dear?" questioned her mother.
"He will not be here at all to-day," answered Helen, fractiously. "It"s too bad. He says it is impossible for him to get away by any train, in time to see us to-night; but he will be here the first thing in the morning. His mother is worse, and he is anxious about her. People always fall ill at the wrong time."
"Is Mrs. Foliott coming up to the wedding?" I asked.
"No," said Lady Whitney. "I of course invited her, and she accepted the invitation; but a week ago she wrote me word she was not well enough to come. And now, children, what shall we set about first? Oh dear! there is such a great deal to do and to think of to-day!"
But we had another arrival that day, if we had not Captain Foliott. That was Mary Seabright, who was to act as bridesmaid with Anna. Brides did not have a string of maids in those days, as some have in these. Leaving them to get through their multiplicity of work--which must be connected, Bill thought, with bonnets and wedding-cake--we went up with Sir John in a boat to Richmond.
That evening we all dined at Miss Deveen"s. It was to be one of the quietest of weddings; partly by Captain Foliott"s express wish, chiefly because they were not at home at the Hall. Miss Deveen and Miss Cattledon were to be the only guests besides ourselves and Mary Seabright, and a Major White who would go to the church with Foliott.
Just twelve of us, all told.
"But where"s the bridegroom?" asked Miss Deveen, when we reached her house.
"He can"t get up until late to-night; perhaps not until to-morrow morning," pouted Helen.
The dinner-table was a downright merry one, and we did not seem to miss Captain Foliott. Afterwards, when Sir John had made up his whist-table--with my lady, Miss Deveen, and the grey-haired curate, Mr.