"Once I saw his wife, and only once. She was a strikingly handsome Frenchwoman, of that bold and flaunting type which generally puts an Englishman on his guard--all paint and powder and cosmetics; you know the style!"
"Not exactly a poetic ideal," said Sydney.
"That is just what I thought at the time; and she seems to have been still less so in character. When I saw her she was terribly excited about some trifle or other--treated Walcott like a dog, without the slightest consideration for his feelings or mine, stood over him with a knife, and ended with a fit of shrieking hysterics."
"Drink or jealousy?" Captain Williams asked.
"Perhaps a little of both. Walcott told me afterwards that that was his daily and nightly experience, and that he was making up his mind to end it. I never knew what he meant by that, but it was impressed upon my memory by the cool sort of way in which he said it, and a quiet look in his eyes which evidently meant mischief. About a fortnight later they went abroad, rather in a hurry; and for some time I heard nothing more of them. Then I went to Aix-les-Bains, and came on the scene just after a frightful row. It seems that a French admirer of hers had followed her to Aix, and attacked Walcott, and even struck him in the hotel gardens.
The proprietor and the police had to interfere, and I came across Walcott just as he was looking for some one to act as second. There had been a challenge, and all that sort of thing; and, un-English as it seems, I thought Walcott perfectly right, and acted as his friend throughout the affair. It was in no way a remarkable duel: the French fellow was shot in the arm and got away to Switzerland, and we managed to keep it dark. Walcott was not hurt, and went back to his hotel."
"What did the woman do?" asked Williams, curiously.
"That"s the odd part of it. Husband and wife seem to have made it up, for in a day or two they went on to Culoz, had luncheon there, and went out for a walk together. From that walk, Mrs. Alan Walcott did not return. Now comes the mystery: what happened in the course of that walk near Culoz? All that is known is that the landlady saw Walcott returning by himself two or three hours later, and that when she questioned him he replied that madame had taken her departure. What do you think of that for a bit of suggested melodrama?"
"It lacks finish," said Milton.
"I can"t see where the poetry comes in," observed the captain.
"It certainly looked black for Walcott," Sydney remarked. "I suppose there was a regular hue and cry--a search for the body, and all that kind of thing?"
"So far as I know, there was nothing of the sort. n.o.body seems to have had any suspicion at the time. The peasants at Culoz seemed to have talked about it a little, and some weeks afterwards the English people at Aix-les-Bains got hold of it, and a friend of mine tried to extract information from the landlady. But he was unsuccessful: the landlady could not positively affirm that there was anything wrong. And--perhaps there was not," Mr. Dalton concluded, with a burst of Christian charity which was creditable to him, considering how strong were his objections to Walcott"s friendship with Miss Campion.
The captain leaned his head back, sent a pillar of smoke up to the ceiling, and laughed aloud.
"There is no question about it," said Milton, "that Walcott got out of it cheaply. I would not be in his shoes for any money, even now."
"Is this business widely known?" Sydney asked. "It is strange that I never heard anything about it."
He was thinking that the acquaintance of Mr. Alan Walcott could not in any case be a desirable thing for Miss Lettice Campion. From the manner in which Dalton had introduced the subject he felt pretty sure that the attention paid by this man to his sister had been noticed, and that his friend was actuated by a sense, of duty in giving him warning as to the facts within his knowledge.
"I don"t wonder you never heard of it," said Dalton. "I am not aware of anyone in England who ever did, except myself. I have not mentioned it before, because I am not sure that it is fair to Walcott to do so. But I know you men will not repeat what I have been telling you."
"Not a word," said Captain Williams and Charles Milton, in a breath.
Yet in less than a week from that time the whole story made its appearance in one of the baser personal journals, and people were discussing who the "well-known poet" was, and whether "the buried secret" would presently come to light again.
And Alan Walcott saw the paragraph, and felt that he had not yet quite done with his past, and wondered at the dispensation of Providence which permitted the writers of such paragraphs to live and thrive.
But a good deal was to happen before that paragraph was printed; and in the meantime Dalton and Campion went off to look for partners in a rubber, without supposing for a moment that they had delivered a stab in the back to one who had never done an injury to either of them.
CHAPTER IX.
LETTICE RECEIVES A VISITOR.
The day following that on which Sydney Campion paid his afternoon visit to his club in Pall Mall was one of considerable importance to his sister Lettice.
She was an early riser, and generally contrived to write half-a-dozen pages of easy translation or straightforward fiction before ten o"clock.
That was the hour when she was due in her mother"s room, to help her in dressing, and to settle her comfortably in her arm-chair, with her Bible and spectacles at her side, and a newspaper or magazine waiting its turn after the lessons for the day had been read. Mrs. Campion was growing very feeble, both in mind and in body, but she got through her waking hours with a fair amount of satisfaction, thanks to the attention which was paid to all her wants and wishes. Lettice did not suffer anything to interfere with the regular routine which she had marked out for her mother"s comfort. She and her maid Milly between them kept the old lady in peace of mind and constant good humor; and if Mrs. Campion still believed that Sydney was their great benefactor, and that it behoved her to comport herself with dignity and grace as the mother of a Lord Chancellor, Lettice did not attempt the hopeless task of undeceiving her.
On this particular day there had been a poor pretence of morning work.
She had arranged her papers, the ink and pen were ready to her hand, and a few lines were actually written. But her ideas were all in confusion, and eluded her when she tried to fix them. She could not settle to anything, and instead of writing she found herself drawing figures on the blotting-pad. She knew that of old as a bad symptom, and gave up trying to be industrious. The French window stood open, and the balmy June morning tempted her out into the garden. She picked some flowers for her vases, and pinned a rosebud on the collar of her soft grey dress. It was a simple, straight-flowing dress, of the make which suits every woman best, tall or short, handsome or plain, depending for its beauty on shape and material alone, without any superfluous tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs; for Lettice had a man"s knack of getting her dressmaker to obey orders, and would have scorned to wear and pay for, as a matter of course, whatever trappings might be sent home to her in lieu of what she wanted.
Clearly there were special reasons for her perturbation of mind, and if any other woman had been at her side, and watched her in and out of the house for ten minutes at a time, she would have had no difficulty in divining that Lettice expected a visitor. She would probably go further than this, and draw some confident conclusion as to the kind of welcome likely to be accorded to the visitor; but here, at any rate, the criticism would have been premature. Lettice did expect a visitor--Mr.
Alan Walcott to wit; but she had not the slightest notion as to how she should receive him, or whether she would prefer that he should come or stay away.
Her friendship with the poet had grown steadily since their first meeting, and they were now on tolerably familiar terms. His manner had made it impossible for her to doubt that he liked to talk and listen to her, that he sought her company, and even considered himself ent.i.tled to her sympathy. But when on the previous day he had gone so far as to a.s.sert his t.i.tle in words, he had done so with what seemed to her remarkable audacity. And, although she had given him permission to come to her house this morning, she was thinking now whether it would not have been better if she had suggested the transfer of the volume of which he spoke at Mrs. Hartley"s on the following Sunday, or if she had made her hint still broader by praising the cheapness and despatch of the Parcels Delivery Company.
She had done nothing of this kind. She had been neither rude nor effusive, for it was not in her nature to be either. He was coming "some time after twelve," and in fact, punctually as the clock struck twelve, Mr. Alan Walcott was at the door.
Milly announced him demurely. She observed him carefully, however, as she admitted him into Lettice"s room, and studied his card with interest while carrying it to Miss Campion. No man so young and handsome had ever called at Maple Cottage in her time before.
Lettice had been sitting with her mother, and she came down to her study and received her visitor with a frank smile.
"It is really, very kind of you," she said, taking the innocent book which he held out as a sort of warrant for his intrusion, "to be at all this trouble. And this is a splendid copy, it reminds me of the volumes my father used to be so fond of. I will take great care of it. How long did you say I might keep it?"
"Till you have read it, at any rate. Or till I ask you for it again--which I don"t think I shall. You say that you used to see volumes like this on your father"s bookshelves. I should not wonder if you had seen this very book there. It is a strange coincidence that I should have had it in my possession for some time, and yet never noticed until this morning, when I took it down to bring to you, that it had your name on the fly-leaf. Look!"
He opened the book and held the fly-leaf against the window. The name had been rubbed out with a wet finger, after the manner of second-hand booksellers, but the "Lawrence Campion" was still easily legible.
Lettice could not restrain a little cry of delight.
"Yes, that is his dear handwriting, I know it so well! And this is his book-plate, too, and his motto--"Vive ut vivas in vitam aeternam." Oh, where did you get the book? But I suppose my father"s library was scattered all over the country."
"No doubt it was. I have a few--perhaps twenty--with the same plate. My uncle gave me them. I--a--Miss Campion--I came this morning--"
Apparently he did not quite know why he came, or at any rate he did not find it easy to say. Lettice spoke again in order to relieve his embarra.s.sment, which she did not understand.
"It is so strange that I should have one of his books in my hand again.
You can imagine what a grief it was to him when he had to let them go."
"I am so glad to have restored to you something that was your father"s.
I want you to give me a great pleasure, Miss Campion. These books--there are not more than forty outside--I want you to have them. They are yours, you know, because they were his, and he ought never to have been deprived of them."
"I could not take them, indeed, Mr. Walcott. You are most kind to think of it, but I could not!"
"Why?"
"That is hardly a reasonable question," she said, with a quiet little laugh. "How could I?"
"I see very well how you could, but why should you not? It will be a good deed, and there is no good deed without a sacrifice."
"And you want to sacrifice these books, which are so valuable!"
"No, it is no sacrifice to me, as I could easily prove to you. Believe that it pleases me, and sacrifice your own feelings by taking them."
"I don"t see why you should ask me. It is too great a present to make, and--oh, dear me, I am afraid I do not know how to say what I mean! But if you will give me this one book, with my father"s name in it, I will take it from you, and thank you very much for it."