"I wish you could find out for certain."
"I _am_ certain.... Well, you always get one"s little secrets out of one. I"ve no right to mention this. But Hyde & Collins recently approached one of my own clients--to find out if he had more money than brains. Coupled with the other information, that clinches it.... I stake my reputation--for what it"s worth--that unless Mr. Archibald procures help within the next fortnight, he will have to put up his shutters."
"A fortnight," said Mrs. Marsden absently.
Then they talked of something else, and soon Mr. Prentice bade his hostess good-night.
It had been a pleasant evening for her--a respite from the storm and stress of the days. But when she slept, the respite was immediately over; in dreams she fell back upon doubt and difficulty; in troubled and confused dreams she was desperately fighting for life.
XIX
At last Mrs. Marsden went to see her daughter, and in the next few months she paid many visits.
Enid had written, asking her to come as soon as possible, and giving her a reason why she must not refuse this invitation. Enid had just discovered that she was going to have a baby. The happy event was not expected until the spring; but Enid said she longed to see her mother without an hour"s avoidable delay.
Mrs. Marsden telegraphed her reply. She would come out to-morrow, Thursday--early closing day--directly after luncheon.
In the old days she would have driven in one of Mr. Young"s luxurious landaus; but now she travelled by train, in a second cla.s.s carriage, and walked the mile and a half from Haggart"s Road station to the Kenions"
converted farmhouse. The day was bright and fine; and the air felt quite mild, although there had been a sharp frost overnight.
She had hoped that Enid might feel up to walking, and perhaps meet her at the station--or somewhere on the road, if the station was too far.
But she saw no friendly face on the straight road, along which she plodded with resolute vigour.
Two road-menders near a quaint little stone church directed her to the house. It was situated on sufficiently high ground, at the end of an accommodation lane; and, as she pa.s.sed through the gate and walked up the little carriage drive, she thought it all looked very nice and comfortable. The house itself seemed old and rather humble--less attractive than she had antic.i.p.ated; but the large outbuildings gave the place a certain air of importance and gentility. She caught a glimpse of the capacious stableyard, saw a groom crossing it, and heard voices from an invisible saddle-room--Mr. Kenion"s voice, as she believed among the rest. The thick-growing ivy on the walls was pretty, but it would have been the better for cutting; and the garden, on this side of the house, appeared to be sadly neglected.
The front door stood open; and while she waited for somebody to answer the bell, she had an opportunity of glancing at the decorations of the hall. They had all been paid for by her purse, so she was fairly ent.i.tled to look at them critically if she pleased. She liked the appearance of the painted ceiling-beams, the panelled dado, the modern basket grate with the blue and white tiles; but she did not so much like the sporting prints, the heads and tails of foxes, the hats and coats lying so untidily on all the chairs, the immense number of whips and sticks, and the ugly gla.s.s case that held horses" bits and men"s spurs and stirrups. _That_ was a decoration more suitable to Mr. Kenion"s harness room than to Mrs. Kenion"s hall. She could hear the servants talking somewhere quite near; and yet they could not hear the bell, although she had rung it loudly enough three times.
Presently, as if by chance, a maid showed herself.
"Not at home," said the maid briskly.
Mrs. Marsden gave her name, and explained that the mistress of the house would certainly be at home to her.
"Very good, ma"am," said the maid, doubtfully. "Step this way, and I"ll tell her. She"s upstairs, lying down, I think."
Then Mrs. Marsden was shown into what she supposed to be the drawing-room, and left waiting there. There was something rather chilling and disappointing in the whole manner of her reception at the home that she had provided for Enid and her husband.
She was allowed plenty of time to examine more ceiling beams and blue tiles, to admire photographs in silver frames, or to read the sporting newspapers and magazines that littered every table. The room was pretty--but dreadfully untidy. She walked over to one of the windows, and looked out. There had been no greater attempt at gardening on this side of the house than on the other: the few shrubs were overgrown; the gravel paths had almost disappeared under moss and weeds.
Beyond iron railings she saw the gra.s.s fields that Enid had said were like a park. As a park they were completely disfigured by some ugly buildings with corrugated iron roofs--really hideous erections, which she guessed to be horseboxes. In each meadow there was an artificially made jump for the horses; and, looking farther away, she saw that these sham obstacles together with the natural banks and hedges formed a miniature steeplechase course.
With a sigh she turned from the windows. Indoors and out of doors there was too much evidence of the husband"s amus.e.m.e.nts, and not enough evidence of the wife"s tastes and occupations. The whole place was altogether too much like a bachelor"s home to please Enid"s mother.
Suddenly the door opened, and Kenion slouched in. He had his hands in the pockets of his riding breeches; and he looked gloomy, worried, anything but glad to see the visitor. It was the first time that they had met since the wedding, and it proved rather an unfortunate meeting.
"How do you do--Mr. Charles?"
"Oh, you"ve come after all. You got the news, I suppose?"
"Yes, indeed I have."
"Beastly unlucky, isn"t it?"
"What"s that?"
"But I _am_ unlucky."
"_Unlucky_, Mr. Kenion!" Mrs. Marsden had flushed; and her face plainly expressed the anger and contempt that she felt.
"No one can say I"m to blame," Kenion went on gloomily and grumblingly.
"I"d have given fifty pounds to prevent its happening. It wasn"t _my_ fault. I knew she was as clever as a cat. I thought she _couldn"t_ make a mistake."
"Mr. Kenion," said Mrs. Marsden hotly, "if you aren"t ashamed to speak like this, I am ashamed to listen to you."
"Eh--what?"
"Where is Enid?" And she moved towards the door. "I think your att.i.tude is unmanly--mean--and _despicable_; and I wish--yes, I wish Enid"s child was going to have a better father."
"Eh--what?"
"If you had a spark of proper feeling, you"d rejoice, you"d thank G.o.d that this--this great blessing was coming to her."
Kenion suddenly bent his thin back, and became completely doubled up with a fit of cackling laughter.
"It"s too comic," he spluttered. "Best thing I ever heard--Ought to be sent to _Punch_!"
"If you are joking, Mr. Kenion, I"m sorry for your ideas of fun."
"No. No--don"t be angry. You"ll laugh when you see the joke. Of course you"--and again his own laughter interrupted him--"you--you were talking about Enid"s baby.... Well, _I_ was talking about Mrs. Bulford"s mare."
Then he explained the disaster that had befallen them. A very valuable animal, the property of a friend, had been placed in his charge to train it for a point-to-point race; and this morning it had broken its back over one of the artificial jumps.
"And we were all so upset--Enid has been crying about it--that I sent you a telegram, telling you what had happened, and asking you not to come out to-day. But you never got it really?"
"No, it must have arrived after I started."
"Well, I"m glad you"ve come--for you have given me a good laugh. Though Heaven knows"--and he became gloomy again--"it isn"t a laughing matter.
I wonder I was able to laugh."
Then Enid came into the room. There were red rims round her eyes, and her nose seemed swollen; evidently she had shed many tears.
"Mother dear, isn"t this dreadful?"
"Yes, dear."