_To the Secretary, S. J., Rome._
I.
I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. You mention that our Reverend Fathers are discouraged at not having heard from me for more than six weeks, since I reported the little dinner given to Romayne at my lodgings.
I am sorry for this, and more than sorry to hear that my venerated brethren are beginning to despair of Romayne"s conversion. Grant me a delay of another week--and, if the prospects of the conversion have not sensibly improved in that time, I will confess myself defeated.
Meanwhile, I bow to superior wisdom, without venturing to add a word in my own defense.
II.
The week"s grace granted to me has elapsed. I write with humility. At the same time I have something to say for myself.
Yesterday, Mr. Lewis Romayne, of Vange Abbey, was received into the community of the Holy Catholic Church. I inclose an accurate newspaper report of the ceremonies which attended the conversion.
Be pleased to inform me, by telegraph, whether our Reverend Fathers wish me to go on, or not.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
CHAPTER I.
MRS. EYRECO URT"S DISCOVERY.
THE leaves had fallen in the grounds at Ten Acres Lodge, and stormy winds told drearily that winter had come.
An unchanging dullness pervaded the house. Romayne was constantly absent in London, attending to his new religious duties under the guidance of Father Benwell. The litter of books and ma.n.u.scripts in the study was seen no more. Hideously rigid order reigned in the unused room. Some of Romayne"s papers had been burned; others were imprisoned in drawers and cupboards--the history of the Origin of Religions had taken its melancholy place among the suspended literary enterprises of the time.
Mrs. Eyrecourt (after a superficially cordial reconciliation with her son-in-law) visited her daughter every now and then, as an act of maternal sacrifice. She yawned perpetually; she read innumerable novels; she corresponded with her friends. In the long dull evenings, the once-lively lady sometimes openly regretted that she had not been born a man--with the three masculine resources of smoking, drinking, and swearing placed at her disposal. It was a dreary existence, and happier influences seemed but little likely to change it. Grateful as she was to her mother, no persuasion would induce Stella to leave Ten Acres and amuse herself in London. Mrs. Eyrecourt said, with melancholy and metaphorical truth, "There is no elasticity left in my child."
On a dim gray morning, mother and daughter sat by the fireside, with another long day before them.
"Where is that contemptible husband of yours?" Mrs. Eyrecourt asked, looking up from her book.
"Lewis is staying in town," Stella answered listlessly.
"In company with Judas Iscariot?"
Stella was too dull to immediately understand the allusion. "Do you mean Father Benwell?" she inquired.
"Don"t mention his name, my dear. I have re-christened him on purpose to avoid it. Even his name humiliates me. How completely the fawning old wretch took me in--with all my knowledge of the world, too! He was so nice and sympathetic--such a comforting contrast, on that occasion, to you and your husband--I declare I forgot every reason I had for not trusting him. Ah, we women are poor creatures--we may own it among ourselves. If a man only has nice manners and a pleasant voice, how many of us can resist him? Even Romayne imposed upon me--a.s.sisted by his property, which in some degree excuses my folly. There is nothing to be done now, Stella, but to humor him. Do as that detestable priest does, and trust to your beauty (there isn"t as much of it left as I could wish) to turn the scale in your favor. Have you any idea when the new convert will come back? I heard him ordering a fish dinner for himself, yesterday--because it was Friday. Did you join him at dessert-time, profanely supported by meat? What did he say?"
"What he has said more than once already, mama. His peace of mind is returning, thanks to Father Benwell. He was perfectly gentle and indulgent--but he looked as if he lived in a different world from mine.
He told me he proposed to pa.s.s a week in, what he called, Retreat. I didn"t ask him what it meant. Whatever it is, I suppose he is there now."
"My dear, don"t you remember your sister began in the same way? _She_ retreated. We shall have Romayne with a red nose and a double chin, offering to pray for us next! Do you recollect that French maid of mine--the woman I sent away, because she would spit, when she was out of temper, like a cat? I begin to think I treated the poor creature harshly. When I hear of Romayne and his Retreat, I almost feel inclined to spit, myself. There! let us go on with your reading. Take the first volume--I have done with it."
"What is it, mama?"
"A very remarkable work, Stella, in the present state of light literature in England--a novel that actually tells a story. It"s quite incredible, I know. Try the book. It has another extraordinary merit--it isn"t written by a woman."
Stella obediently received the first volume, turned over the leaves, and wearily dropped the wonderful novel on her lap. "I can"t attend to it,"
she said. "My mind is too full of my own thoughts."
"About Romayne?" said her mother.
"No. When I think of my husband now, I almost wish I had his confidence in Priests and Retreats. The conviction grows on me, mama, that my worst troubles are still to come. When I was younger, I don"t remember being tormented by presentiments of any kind. Did I ever talk of presentiments to you, in the bygone days?"
"If you had done anything of the sort, my love (excuse me, if I speak plainly), I should have said, "Stella, your liver is out of order"; and I should have opened the family medicine-chest. I will only say now send for the carriage; let us go to a morning concert, dine at a restaurant, and finish the evening at the play."
This characteristic proposal was entirely thrown away on Stella. She was absorbed in pursuing her own train of thought. "I almost wish I had told Lewis," she said to herself absently.
"Told him of what, my dear?"
"Of what happened to me with Winterfield."
Mrs. Eyrecourt"s faded eyes opened wide in astonishment.
"Do you really mean it?" she asked.
"I do, indeed."
"Are you actually simple enough, Stella, to think that a man of Romayne"s temper would have made you his wife if you had told him of the Brussels marriage?"
"Why not?"
"Why not! Would Romayne--would any man--believe that you really did part from Winterfield at the church door? Considering that you are a married woman, your innocence, my sweet child, is a perfect phenomenon! It"s well there were wiser people than you to keep your secret."
"Don"t speak too positively, mama. Lewis may find it out yet."
"Is that one of your presentiments?"
"Yes."
"How is he to find it out, if you please?"
"I am afraid, through Father Benwell. Yes! yes! I know you only think him a fawning old hypocrite--you don"t fear him as I do. Nothing will persuade me that zeal for his religion is the motive under which that man acts in devoting himself to Romayne. He has some abominable object in view, and his eyes tell me that I am concerned in it."
Mrs. Eyrecourt burst out laughing.
"What is there to laugh at?" Stella asked.
"I declare, my dear, there is something absolutely provoking in your utter want of knowledge of the world! When you are puzzled to account for anything remarkable in a clergyman"s conduct (I don"t care, my poor child, to what denomination he belongs) you can"t be wrong in attributing his motive to--Money. If Romayne had turned Baptist or Methodist, the reverend gentleman in charge of his spiritual welfare would not have forgotten--as you have forgotten, you little goose--that his convert was a rich man. His mind would have dwelt on the chapel, or the mission, or the infant school, in want of funds; and--with no more abominable object in view than I have, at this moment, in poking the fire--he would have ended in producing his modest subscription list and would have betrayed himself (just as our odious Benwell will betray himself) by the two amiable little words, Please contribute. Is there any other presentiment, my dear, on which you would like to have your mother"s candid opinion?"
Stella resignedly took up the book again.