""I shall remain here," said she, firmly.
"I said nothing more. I saw that she was immovable. At the same time I could not consent. I could not live with her, and I could not go away leaving her there. I could not give up the ancestral home to her, to mar and mangle and destroy. Well, I waited for about two months, and then--"
"Well?" asked Hawbury, as Dacres hesitated.
"Dacres Grange was burned down," said the other, in a low voice.
"Burned down!"
"Yes."
"Good Lord!"
"It caught fire in the daytime. There were but few servants. No fire-engines were near, for the Grange was in a remote place, and so the fire soon gained headway and swept over all. My wife was frantic.
She came to me as I stood looking at the spectacle, and charged me with setting fire to it. I smiled at her, but made no reply.
"So you see she was burned out, and that question was settled. It was a terrible thing, but desperate diseases require desperate remedies; and I felt it more tolerable to have the house in ruins than to have her living there while I had to be a wanderer.
"She was now at my mercy. We went to Exeter. She went to her father, and I finally succeeded in effecting an arrangement which was satisfactory on all sides.
"First of all, the separation should be absolute, and neither of us should ever hold communication with the other in any shape or way.
"Secondly, she should take another name, so as to conceal the fact that she was my wife, and not do any further dishonor to the name.
"In return for this I was to give her outright twenty thousand pounds as her own absolutely, to invest or spend just as she chose. She insisted on this, so that she need not be dependent on any annual allowance. In consideration of this she forfeited every other claim, all dower right in the event of my death, and every thing else. This was all drawn up in a formal doc.u.ment, and worded as carefully as possible. I don"t believe that the doc.u.ment would be of much use in a court of law in case she wished to claim any of her rights, but it served to satisfy her, and she thought it was legally sound and actually inviolable.
"Here we separated. I left England, and have never been there since."
Dacres stopped, and sat silent for a long time.
"Could she have been mad?" asked Hawbury.
"I used to think so, but I believe not. She showed too much sense in every thing relating to herself. She sold pictures and timber, and kept every penny. She was acute enough in grasping all she could.
During our last interviews while making these arrangements she was perfectly cool and lady-like."
"Have you ever heard about her since?"
"Never."
"Is she alive yet?"
"That"s the bother."
"What! don"t you know?"
"No."
"Haven"t you ever tried to find out?"
"Yes. Two years ago I went and had inquiries made at Exeter. Nothing could be found out. She and her father had left the place immediately after my departure, and nothing was known about them."
"I wonder that you didn"t go yourself?"
"What for? I didn"t care about seeing her or finding her."
"Do you think she"s alive yet?"
"I"m afraid she is. You see she always had excellent health, and there"s no reason why she should not live to be an octogenarian."
"Yet she may be dead."
"_May_ be! And what sort of comfort is that to me in my present position, I should like to know? _May_ be? Is that a sufficient foundation for me to build on? No. In a moment of thoughtlessness I have allowed myself to forget the horrible position in which I am. But now I recall it. I"ll crush down my feelings, and be a man again. I"ll see the child-angel once more; once more feast my soul over her sweet and exquisite loveliness; once more get a glance from her tender, innocent, and guileless eyes, and then away to South America."
"You said your wife took another name."
"Yes."
"What was it? Do you know it?"
"Oh yes; it was _Willoughby_"
"_Willoughby_!" cried Hawbury, with a start; "why, that"s the name of my Ethel"s friend, at Montreal. Could it have been the same?"
"Pooh, man! How is that possible? Willoughby is not an uncommon name.
It"s not more likely that your Willoughby and mine are the same than it is that your Ethel is the one I met at Vesuvius. It"s only a coincidence, and not a very wonderful one, either."
"It seems con-foundedly odd, too," said Hawbury, thoughtfully.
"Willoughby? Ethel? Good Lord! But pooh! What rot? As though they _could_ be the same. Preposterous! By Jove!"
And Hawbury stroked away the preposterous idea through his long, pendent whiskers.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "SHE CAUGHT MINNIE IN HER ARMS."]
CHAPTER IX.
NEW EMBARRa.s.sMENTS.
Mrs. Willoughby had been spending a few days with a friend whom she had found in Naples, and on her return was greatly shocked to hear of Minnie"s adventure on Vesuvius. Lady Dalrymple and Ethel had a story to tell which needed no exaggerations and amplifications to agitate her strongly. Minnie was not present during the recital; so, after hearing it, Mrs. Willoughby went to her room.
Here she caught Minnie in her arms, and kissed her in a very effusive manner.
"Oh, Minnie, my poor darling, what is all this about Vesuvius? Is it true? It is terrible. And now I will never dare to leave you again.
How could I think that you would be in any danger with Lady Dalrymple and Ethel? As to Ethel, I am astonished. She is always so grave and so sad that she is the very last person I would have supposed capable of leading you into danger."