"Well, upon my word," Miss Everard said, addressing empty s.p.a.ce, "this does cap the globe! The Mysteries of Udolpho were plain reading compared to Mr. Guy Vyking and the effect he produces upon the people. He"s a very handsome young man, and a very agreeable young man; but I should never have suspected he possessed the power of throwing all the elderly ladies he meets into gasping fits. There"s Lady Thetford: he was too much for her, and she had to be helped out of the dining-room; and here"s Mrs. Weymore going into hysterics because he used to be called Guy Vyking. I thought my lady might be the veiled lady of his story; but now I think it must have been you."
Mrs. Weymore looked up, her very lips white.
"The veiled lady? What lady? May, tell me all you know of Mr. Vyking."
"Not Vyking now--Legard," answered May; and there-upon the young lady detailed the scanty _resume_ the artist had given them of his history.
"And I"m very sure it isn"t chance at all," concluded May Everard, transfixing the governess with an unwinking stare; "and Mr. Legard is as much a Thetford as Sir Rupert himself. I don"t pretend to divination, of course, and I don"t clearly see how it is; but it is, and you know it, Mrs. Weymore; and you could enlighten the young man, and so could my lady, if either of you chose."
Mrs. Weymore turned suddenly and caught May"s two hands in hers.
"May, if you care for me, if you have any pity, don"t speak of this. I _do_ know--but I must have time. My head is in a whirl. Wait, wait, and don"t tell Mr. Legard."
"I won"t," said May; "but it is all very strange and very mysterious, delightfully like a three-volume novel or a sensation play. I"m getting very much interested in the hero of the performance, and I"m afraid I shall be deplorably in love with him shortly if this sort of thing keeps on."
Mr. Legard himself took the matter much more coolly than any one else; smoked cigars philosophically, criticised Sir Rupert"s pictures, did a little that way himself, played billiards with his host and chess with Miss Everard, rode with that young lady, walked with her, sang duets with her in a deep melodious ba.s.s, made himself fascinating, and took the world easy.
"It is no use getting into a gale about these things," he said to Miss Everard when she wondered aloud at his const.i.tutional phlegm; "the crooked things will straighten of themselves if we give them time. What is written is written. I know I shall find out all about myself one day--like little Paul Dombey, "I feel it in my bones.""
Mr. Legard was thrown a good deal upon Miss Everard"s resources for amus.e.m.e.nt; for, of course, Sir Rupert"s time was chiefly spent at Jocyln Hall, and Mr. Legard bore this with even greater serenity than the other. Miss Everard was a very charming little girl, with a laugh that was sweeter than the music of the spheres and hundreds of bewitching little ways; and Mr. Legard undertook to paint her portrait, and found it the most absorbing work of art he had ever undertaken. As for the young baronet spending his time at Jocyln Hall, they never missed him.
His wooing sped on smoothest wings--Col. Jocyln almost as much pleased as my lady herself; and the course of true love in this case ran as smooth as heart could wish.
Miss Jocyln, as a matter of course, was a great deal at Thetford Towers, and saw with evident gratification the growing intimacy of Mr. Legard and May. It would be an eminently suitable match, Miss Jocyln thought, only it was a pity so much mystery shrouded the gentleman"s birth.
Still, he was a gentleman, and, with his talents, no doubt would become an eminent artist; and it would be highly satisfactory to see May fix her erratic affections on somebody, and thus be doubly out of her--Miss Jocyln"s--way.
The wedding preparations were going briskly forward. There was no need of delay; all were anxious for the marriage--Lady Thetford more than anxious, on account of her declining health. The hurry to have the ceremony irrevocably over had grown to be something very like a monomania with her.
"I feel that my days are numbered," she said, with impatience, to her son, "and I cannot rest in my grave, Rupert, until I see Aileen your wife."
So Sir Rupert, more than anxious to please his mother, hastened on the wedding. An eminent physician, summoned down from London, confirmed my lady"s own fears.
"Her life hung by a thread," this gentleman said, confidentially to Sir Rupert, "the slightest excitement may snap it at any moment. Don"t contradict her--let everything be as she wishes. Nothing can save her, but perfect quiet and repose may prolong her existence."
The last week of September the wedding was to take place; and all was bustle and haste at Jocyln Hall. Mr. Legard was to stay for the wedding, at the express desire of Lady Thetford herself. She had seen him but very rarely since that first day, illness had compelled her to keep her room; but her interest in him was unabated, and she had sent for him to her apartment, and invited him to remain. And Mr. Legard, a good deal surprised, and a little flattered, consented at once.
"Very kind of Lady Thetford, you know, Miss Everard," Mr. Legard said, sauntering into the room where she sat with her ex-governess--Mr. Legard and Miss Everard were growing highly confidential of late--"to take such an interest in an utter stranger as she does in me."
May stole a glance from under her eyelashes at Mrs. Weymore; that lady sat nervous and scared-looking, and altogether uncomfortable, as she had a habit of doing in the young artist"s presence.
"Very," Miss Everard said, dryly. "You ought to feel highly complimented, Mr. Legard, for it"s a sort of kindness her ladyship is extremely chary of to utter strangers. Rather odd, isn"t it, Mrs.
Weymore?"
Mrs. Weymore"s reply was a distressed, beseeching look. Mr. Legard saw it, and opened very wide his handsome, Saxon eyes.
"Eh?" he said, "it doesn"t mean anything, does it? Mrs. Weymore looks mysterious, and I"m so stupid about these things. Lady Thetford doesn"t know anything about me, does she?"
"Not that _I_ know of," May said, with significant emphasis on the personal p.r.o.noun.
"Then Mrs. Weymore does! By Jove! I always thought Mrs. Weymore had an odd way of looking at me! And now, what is it?"
He turned his fair, resolute face to that lady with a smile hard to resist.
"I don"t make much of a howling about my affairs, you know, Mrs.
Weymore," he said; "but for all that, I am none the less interested in myself and my history. If you can open the mysteries a little you will be conferring a favor on me I can never repay. And I am positive from your look you can."
Mrs. Weymore turned away, and covered her face with a sort of sob. The young lady and gentleman exchanged startled glances.
"You can then?" Mr. Legard said, gravely, but growing very pale. "You know who I am?"
To his boundless consternation Mrs. Weymore rose up and fell at his feet, seizing his hands and covering them with kisses.
"I do! I do! I know who you are, and so shall you before this wedding takes place. But before I tell you I must speak to Lady Thetford."
Mr. Legard raised her up, his face as colorless as her own.
"To Lady Thetford! What has Lady Thetford to do with me?"
"Everything! She knows who you are as well as I do. I must speak to her first."
"Answer me one thing--is my name Vyking?"
"No. Pray, pray don"t ask me any more questions. As soon as her ladyship is a little stronger, I will go to her and obtain her permission to speak. Keep what I have said a secret from Sir Rupert, and wait until then."
She rose up to go, so haggard and deploring-looking, that neither strove to detain her. The young man stared blankly after her as she left the room.
"At last!" he said, drawing a deep breath, "at last I shall know!"
There was a pause; then May spoke in a fluttering little voice.
"How very strange that Mrs. Weymore should know, of all persons in the world."
"Who is Mrs. Weymore? How long has she been here? Tell me all you know of her, Miss Everard."
"And that "all" will be almost nothing. She came down from London as a nursery-governess to Rupert and me, a week or two after my arrival here, selected by the rector of St. Gosport. She was then what you see her now, a pale, subdued creature in widow"s weeds, with the look of one who had seen trouble. I have known her so long, and always as such a white, still shadow, I suppose that is why it seems so odd."
Mrs. Weymore kept altogether out of Mr. Legard"s way for the next week or two. She avoided May also, as much as possible, and shrunk so palpably from any allusion to the past scene, that May good naturedly bided her time in silence, though almost as impatient as Mr. Legard himself.
And whilst they waited the bridal eve came round, and Lady Thetford was much better, not able to quit her room, but strong enough to lie on a sofa and talk to her son and Col. Jocyln, with a flush on her cheek and sparkle in her eye--all unusual there.
The marriage was to take place in the village church; and there was to follow a grand ceremonial of a wedding-breakfast; and then the happy pair were to start at once on their bridal-tour.
"And I hope to see my boy return," Lady Thetford said, kissing him fondly. "I can hardly ask for more than that."
Late in the afternoon of that eventful wedding-eve, the ex-governess sought out Guy Legard, for the first time of her own accord. She found him in the young baronet"s studio, with May, putting the finishing touches to that young lady"s portrait. He started up at sight of his visitor, vividly interested. Mrs. Weymore was paler even than usual, but with a look of deep, quiet determination on her face no one had ever seen there before.
"You have come to keep your promise," the young man cried--"to tell me who I am?"
"I have come to keep my promise," Mrs. Weymore answered; "but I must speak to my lady first. I wanted to tell you that, before you sleep to-night, you shall know."