"Who?" asked Ella, trembling with a sudden apprehension of evil.
"Poor old St. George!--the old man of whom I have spoken to you."
"Your marriage has not broken his heart, I trust?"
"No; I am not sure he had a heart to break. But, Ella, you have turned pale, my own darling! Do not torment yourself; the living or dying of every one belonging to me can never affect my happiness with you; you are worth them all to me. But this letter--here, read it." And, pa.s.sing one arm round her, Wilton held out the letter for her to peruse. "You see," he continued, "Kenrick (he is Lord St. George"s solicitor and the Wiltons" solicitor generally) says he has died suddenly without a will.
I am his heir-presumptive and nearest of kin--the only person ent.i.tled to act or to give directions. We must, therefore, start for London to-morrow. I will see Monsieur le Proprietaire, and settle with him at once."
Ella sighed, and cast one long look out into the garden, where the bees were humming and the first roses blooming, and away over the variegated, map-like country beyond, with its distant, dim blue line of sea--a farewell look at the scene where she had tasted for the first time in a somewhat sad existence, the divine cup of full, fresh delight; then, holding her cheek to her husband"s kiss, gently disengaged herself and went away to prepare for turning over a new leaf in the book of life.
CHAPTER XII.
"There is not the slightest use of making any search for a will. I know there is none. Lord St. George made me carefully destroy the last one he had executed only the day before his death. Indeed, he had given me instructions to draw up another so exceedingly inimical to your interests that I determined to be as slow as possible in carrying out his intentions. Now, his death intestate has left everything to you, Colonel Wilton--I beg pardon, my lord."
So spoke Mr. Kenrick--a grave, well-bred, exceedingly professional man--as Wilton sat at the opposite side of his knee-hole table in the well-known office of Kenrick and Cole, Lincoln"s Inn Fields, the morning after his arrival in London.
"No; I prefer being Ralph Wilton still. I suppose I need not adopt the t.i.tle if I do not like? We must remember, Kenrick, that poor St.
George"s daughter may be still alive, and may have a host of children."
"That is certainly possible, though it is a possibility I had wellnigh forgotten. Forgive me for saying so, but I heartily wish you had been a little less impetuous. Six weeks" patience would have seen you possessed of ample means to support your t.i.tle, and free to choose a wife where you liked."
"Ay; but who could foresee the course of events? I could not have acted a double part with the poor old man, nor could I have postponed my marriage. In short, there is no use in discussing the question; tell me what Lord St. George said when he sent for you."
"I found him," replied the lawyer, "looking terribly ill, although, as usual, accurately dressed and quite composed. I had, by his directions, brought with me the will he had executed a few months ago--a will bequeathing everything to you, Colonel Wilton. His first question was, "Have you heard that my heir has selected a wife at last?" I replied I had not; and he went on to say that you had at first concealed your marriage, but, having met Mr. St. George Wilton, and thinking concealment no longer necessary, you had written to him. He showed me your letter, and said he had a visit from your cousin, who gave him a true version of the affair, with much more that was not flattering, and need not be repeated. He then made me destroy the will in his presence, and gave me instructions to prepare another, by which he bequeathed his large property to the Foundling Hospital, adding a grim jest as to the probability of some of his own grandchildren profiting by the bequest. I must say, however, that he seemed princ.i.p.ally affected by the apparent attempt to conceal your marriage."
"That was never my intention," said Wilton, much disturbed, while he walked up and down. "But I wish to Heaven I had written to him at once!
The fact is, I knew that I had cut myself off from him completely by my marriage, and thought it little mattered when I announced it. Then I forgot to write."
"And most things, probably," said Mr. Kenrick, with a grave and slightly compa.s.sionate smile. "The next morning my late client was found by Saunders--his man, who has been so long with him--lying placidly on his bed, but life was quite extinct. He must have been dead some hours."
"I cannot tell you, Kenrick, how confoundly sorry I am to have caused him this annoyance!"
"His heart had long been in a very weak state," continued the lawyer, scarcely heeding the interruption; "and his death was certainly painless. It remains to discover his daughter"s children."
"Or herself," put in Wilton.
"She is dead--I feel sure of that. I perfectly remember my father mentioning to me the terrible species of exultation with which Lord St.
George heard that his only child was no more. That must be twenty years ago. I am under the impression that she left no family. If so, I shall be pleased to congratulate you, colonel, on a n.o.ble inheritance."
Wilton took another turn to and fro. "I have never been used to wealth or finery," he said. "If I could dispense with the t.i.tle, I should not care much. Tell me--does nothing hang on to the coronet?"
"Well, I believe the rent of one farm; barely four hundred a year. But the house in S---- Square belongs to you. It was one of the "bad"
viscount"s purchases; and though the late lord"s father paid off the various mortgages with which it was loaded, he never alienated it from the direct line."
"So much the better for me. And now, Kenrick, lose no time in taking proper steps to discover the daughter"s children."
"I will, of course; but I have a strong idea there are none."
"Why?" asked Wilton.
"Because we should have been sure to have heard of them. The father--a needy foreigner, by all accounts--would never have resisted the temptation to dip his fingers into such well-filled pockets as those of Lord St. George; and the application would have been through us, or referred to us. No, I cannot help thinking Madame or Mrs. de Monteiro left no children."
"And I cannot help thinking she has. When is the funeral to take place?"
"The day after to-morrow. Meantime, had you not better take up your residence in S---- Square? The house is yours, and probably everything in it."
"No, Kenrick; I could not stand the house, nor could Mrs. Wilton, I am sure. I shall remain at the hotel where we now are. After the funeral we must examine the poor old man"s letters and papers; we may find some clue to the real heir among them."
Meantime an outline of the story began to be told at the clubs and dinner-tables, now throbbing with the convulsive life of the season.
To the older members of society the name of Wilton had once been familiar, but Ralph had little beyond regimental renown and a high reputation at the Horse Guards. Now, however, that he was supposed to have inherited the estates as well as the t.i.tle of Lord St. George, relatives and connections gathered round him "thick as leaves that fall in Valambrosa."
Ella was at first bewildered, as well as surprised, at the numerous cards and polite inquiries for Lord and Lady St. George, until Wilton unfolded the whole history for her enlightenment, and expended some bad language on the annoyance of being thus saddled with a t.i.tle he could not support. Still he was sufficiently alive to the necessity of his position to insist on his wife"s supplying herself with proper and fashionable mourning at the most select milliner"s he could find out.
The result delighted him and appalled Ella. The garments were certainly becoming, but never in her simple life had she seen so much money paid for clothes.
The operation of examining the papers and letters of one lately alert and ready to defend the privacy of his inner life is full of mournfulness. Even when the deceased has been neither well known nor loved, there is deep pathos in the silent appeal of death. All the secrets of the now empty "prison-house" lie bare and at the mercy of a successor, who may be the last to whom the released tenant would have exposed them. Although Ralph Wilton was far from being a sentimentalist, he felt this keenly when, a.s.sisted by Mr. Kenrick, he proceeded to examine the late viscount"s escritoire, and various caskets, cabinets, and jewel-cases, in hopes of finding some trace of his possible successor. There lay, in profusion, the graceful trinkets bestowed with lavish hand on his wife and child, exquisite enamels, carved onyx clasps and brooches, costly fans, old-fashioned _bijouterie_--all the beautiful artistic trifles which acc.u.mulate in an ancient and wealthy family. The more important jewels were of course kept at the bank, but quant.i.ties of valuable nothings were scattered about the rooms--miniatures of fair women and lovely children, and one beautiful face in every stage of development, from an infant peeping out from its rich surrounding of lace and satin to a stately, gracious demoiselle in court dress. These portraits were all in rooms and cabinets the most distant, dust-covered, and evidently rarely opened. All bore somewhere about the frame the initials E. L. A., sometimes plain, sometimes entwined in a monogram.
"These are all portraits of Miss St. George," said the lawyer, in the law tone they both unconsciously adopted. "You can scarcely wonder that such a marriage should almost have driven her father mad. He hardly thought royalty good enough for her."
"What, in Heaven"s name, made her throw herself away on a foreigner?"
exclaimed Wilton. "How could she be so mad?"
"Hum!" said Mr. Kenrick, dryly; "imprudent marriages are always incomprehensible, except to those that commit them."
Wilton looked up for a moment, with a flash of indignation in his quick, brown eyes, which, pa.s.sing rapidly away, gave place to a good-humored smile.
"You are right," said he; "no outsiders can quite judge the force of our unreasoning reasons. You had better dine with us to-day, and let me present you to Mrs. Wilton."
"I imagine she expects you to present me to Lady St. George."
"You are mistaken. She is utterly indifferent to t.i.tles--more indifferent than I am; but you will dine with us?"
"I shall be most happy."
But they sought in vain; no trace existed of the viscount"s erring daughter after the period of her disgraceful marriage. Of private correspondence very little remained, and it was decided to advertise for the information they wanted.
"Let us have some talk with Saunders," suggested Wilton; "he was so much with Lord St. George that he may be able to give us some clue to what we want."
The serious-looking valet was therefore summoned, and the lawyer shortly explained to him the state of affairs.
"I believe there was an application of some kind made to my lord respecting his daughter," said he, slowly and reflectively; "but it was a long time back--nearly three years ago."
"Tell us what you know about it," said Wilton.
"It was in the summer time, just before we left for Scotland that year, and my lord was not very well, when one morning the hall-porter called me and said there was a foreign gentleman wanted to see my lord about a picture. I knew he expected one or two he had bought in Italy, a few weeks before, to be sent after him--the only thing he seemed to care about lately was art; so I went and spoke to the gentleman--for, though he was a queer-looking customer, he did not seem a common fellow. He spoke a sort of broken French, and said he was Italian (I can speak French, but not Italian,) and added that he had called to see Lord St.