"He says the young lady has gone away. He cares for nothing. He is of no use. He despairs of getting enough money to take him back to Russia."
After a great deal of persuasion, however, they got him to leave the public-house with them and return to his lodgings. They got him some tea and some bread-and-b.u.t.ter, and made him swallow both. Then Edwards, under his friend"s instructions, proceeded to impress on Kirski that the young lady was only away from London for a short time: that she would be greatly distressed if she were to hear he had been misconducting himself; that, if he returned to his work on the following morning, he would find that his master would overlook his absence; and that finally, he was to abandon his foolish notions about going to Russia, for he would find no one to a.s.sist him; whereas, on the other hand, if he went about proclaiming that he was about to commit a crime, he would be taken by the police and shut up. All this, and a great deal more, they tried to impress on him; and Edwards promised to call the next evening and see how he was getting on.
It was late when Brand and Edwards again issued out into the wet night; and Edwards, having promised to post a line to Kirski"s employers, so that they should get it in the morning, said good-bye, and went off to his own lodgings. Brand walked slowly home through the muddy streets. He preferred the glare and the noise to the solitude of his own rooms. He even stood aimlessly to watch a theatre come out; the people seemed so careless and joyous--calling to each other--making feeble jokes--pa.s.sing away under their umbrellas into the wet and shining darkness.
But at length, without any definite intention, he found himself at the foot of the little thoroughfare in which he lived; and he was about to open the door with his latch-key when out of the dusk beyond there stepped forth a tall figure. He was startled, it is true, by the apparition of this tall, white-haired man in the voluminous blue cloak, the upturned hood of which half concealed his face, and he turned with a sort of instinct of anger to face him.
"Monsieur mon frere, you have arrived at last!" said the stranger, and instantly he recognized in the p.r.o.nunciation of the French the voice of Calabressa.
"What!" he said; "Calabressa?"
The other put a finger on his arm.
"Hush!" he said. "It is a great secret, my being here; I confide in you. I would not wait in your rooms--my faith no! for I said to myself, "What if he brings home friends who will know me, who will ask what the devil Calabressa is doing in this country.""
Brand had withdrawn his hand from the lock.
"Calabressa," he said, quickly, "you, if anybody knows, must know where Natalie and her mother are. Tell me!"
"I will directly; but may I point out to you, my dear Monsieur Brand, that it rains--that we might go inside? Oh yes, certainly, I will tell you when we can say a word in secret, in comfort. But this devil of a climate! What should I have done if I had not bought myself this cloak in Paris? In Paris it was cold and wet enough; but one had nothing like what you have here. Sapristi! my fingers are frozen."
Brand hurried him up-stairs, put him into an easy-chair, and stirred up the fire.
"Now," said he, impatiently--"now, my dear Calabressa, your news!"
Calabressa pulled out a letter.
"The news--voila!"
Brand tore open the envelope; these were the contents:
"Dearest,--This is to adjure you not to leave England for the present--not till you hear from me--or until we return. Have patience, and hope. You are not forgotten. My mother sends you her blessing.
Your Betrothed."
"But there is no address!" he exclaimed. "Where are they?"
"Where are they? It is no secret, do you see? They are in Naples."
"In Naples!"
"Oh, I a.s.sure you, my dear friend, it is a n.o.ble heart, a brave heart, that loves you. Many a day ago I said to her, "Little child, when you are in trouble, go to friends who will welcome you; say you are the daughter of Natalie Berezolyi; say to them that Calabressa sent you."
And you thought she was in no trouble! Ah, did she not tell me of the pretty home you had got for the poor mother who is my old friend? did she not tell me how you thought they were to be comfortable there, and take no heed of anything else? But you were mistaken. You did not know her. She said,"My betrothed is in danger: I will take Calabressa at his word: before any one can hinder me, or interfere, I will go and appeal, in the name of my family, in the name of myself!" Ah, the brave child!"
"But appeal to whom?" said Brand, breathlessly.
"To the Council, my friend!" said Calabressa with exultation.
"But gracious heavens!" Brand cried, with his hand nervously clutching the arm of his chair, "is the secret betrayed, then? Do they think I will shelter myself behind a woman?"
"She could betray no secret," Calabressa said, triumphantly, "she herself not knowing it, do you not perceive? But she could speak bravely!"
"And the result?"
"Who knows what that may be? In the mean time, this is the result--I am here!"
At another moment this a.s.sumption of dignity would have been ludicrous; but Brand took no heed of the manner of his companion; his heart was beating wildly. And even when his reason forced him to see how little he could expect from this intervention--when he remembered what a decree of the Council was, and how irrevocable the doom he had himself accepted--still the thought uppermost in his mind was not of his own safety or danger, but rather of her love and devotion, her resolve to rescue him, her quick and generous impulse that knew nothing of fear. He pictured her to himself in Naples, calling upon this nameless and secret power, that every man around him dreaded, to reverse its decision! And then the audacity of her bidding him hope! He could not hope; he knew more than she did. But his heart was full of love and of grat.i.tude as he thought of her.
"My dear friend," said Calabressa, lowering his voice, "my errand is one of great secrecy. I have a commission which I cannot altogether explain to you. But in the mean time you will be so good as to give me--_in extense_, with every particular--the little history of how you were appointed to--to undertake a certain duty."
"Unfortunately, I cannot," Brand said, calmly; "these are things one is not permitted to talk about."
"But I must insist on it, my dear friend."
"Then I must insist on refusing you."
"You are trustworthy. No matter: here is something which I think will remove your suspicions, my good friend--or shall we not rather say your scruples?"
He took from his pocket-book a card, and placed it somewhat ostentatiously on the table. Brand examined it, and then stared at Calabressa in surprise.
"You come with the authority of the Council?"
"By the goodness of Heaven," Calabressa exclaimed with a laugh, "you have arrived at the truth this time!"
CHAPTER LI.
THE CONJURER.
There was no mistaking the fact that Calabressa had come armed with ample authority from the Council, and yet it was with a strange reluctance that Brand forced himself to answer the questions that Calabressa proceeded to put to him. He had already accepted his doom.
The bitterness of it was over. He would rather have let the past be forgotten altogether, and himself go forward blindly to the appointed end. Why those needless explanations and admissions?
Moreover, Calabressa"s questions, which had been thought over during long railway journeys, were exceedingly crafty. They touched here and there on certain small points, as if he were building up for himself a story. But at last Brand said, by way of protest,
"Look here, Calabressa. I see you are empowered to ask me any questions you like--and I am quite willing to answer--about the business of the Council. But really, don"t you see, I would rather not speak of private matters. What can the Council want to know about Natalie Lind? Leave her out of it, like a good fellow."
"Oh yes, my dear Monsieur Brand," said Calabressa, with a smile, "leave her out of it, truly, when she has gone to the Council; when the Council have said, "Child, you have not appealed to us for nothing;" when it is through her that I have travelled all through the cold and wet, and am now sitting here. Remember this, my friend, that the beautiful Natalushka is now a--what do you call it?--a _ward_" (Calabressa put this word in English into the midst of his odd French), "and a _ward_ of a sufficiently powerful court, I can a.s.sure you, monsieur! Therefore, I say, I cannot leave the beautiful child out. She is of importance to me; why am I here otherwise? Be considerate, my friend; it is not impertinence; it is not curiosity."
Then he proceeded with his task; getting, in a roundabout, cunning, shrewd way, at a pretty fair version of what had occurred. And he was exceedingly circ.u.mspect. He endeavored, by all sorts of circ.u.mlocutions, to hide from Brand the real drift of his inquiry. He would betray suspicion of no one. His manner was calm, patient, almost indifferent.
All this time Brand"s thoughts were far away. He was speaking to Calabressa, but he was thinking of Naples.