"You have left nothing behind, I hope?" said Charles, civilly, for the sake of saying something.
"She have left nothing," said Mrs. Smith, swimming forward with dignity, "and she have also took nothing. I have seen to that, Sir Charles."
"Good-bye, then," said Charles. "Right, coachman."
Mrs. Carroll"s eyes had been wandering upward to the old house rising above her with its sunny windows and its pointed gables. Perhaps, after all the sordid shifts and schemes of her previous existence, she had imagined she might lead an easier and a more respectable life within those walls. Then she looked towards the long green terraces, the valley, and the forest beyond. Her lip trembled, and turning suddenly, she fixed her eyes with burning hatred on the man who had ousted her from this pleasant place.
Then the coachman whipped up his horse, the dog-cart spun over the smooth gravel between the lines of stiff, clipped yews, and she was gone.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
Mr. Alwynn had returned from his eventful morning call at Vandon very grave and silent. He shook his head when Ruth came to him in the study to ask what the result had been, and said Dare would tell her himself on his return from London, whither he had gone on business.
Ruth went back to the drawing-room. She had not strength or energy to try to escape from Mrs. Alwynn. Indeed it was a relief not to be alone with her own thoughts, and to allow her exhausted mind to be towed along by Mrs. Alwynn"s, the bent of whose mind resembled one of those mechanical toy animals which, when wound up, will run very fast in any direction, but if adroitly turned, will hurry equally fast the opposite way. Ruth turned the toy at intervals, and the morning was dragged through, Mrs. Alwynn in the course of it exploring every realm--known to her--of human thought, now dipping into the future, and speculating on spring fashions, now commenting on the present, now dwelling fondly on the past, the gayly dressed, officer-adorned past of her youth.
There was a meal, and after that it was the afternoon. Ruth supposed that some time there would be another meal, and then it would be evening, but it was no good thinking of what was so far away. She brought her mind back to the present. Mrs. Alwynn had just finished a detailed account of a difference of opinion between herself and the curate"s wife on the previous day.
"And she had not a word to say, my dear, not a word--quite _hors de combat_--so I let the matter drop. And you remember that beautiful pig we killed last week? You should have gone to look at it hanging up, Ruth, rolling in fat, it was. Well, it is better to give than to receive, so I shall send her one of the pork-pies. And if you will get me one of those round baskets which I took the dolls down to the school-feast in--they are in the lowest shelf of the oak chest in the hall--I"ll send it down to her at once."
Ruth fetched the basket and put it down by her aunt. Reminiscences of the school-feast still remained in it, in the shape of ends of ribbon and lace, and Mrs. Alwynn began to empty them out, talking all the time, when she suddenly stopped short, with an exclamation of surprise.
"Goodness! Well, now! I"m sure! Ruth!"
"What is it, Aunt f.a.n.n.y?"
"Why, my dear, if there isn"t a letter for you under the odds and ends,"
holding it up and gazing resentfully at it; "and now I remember, a letter came for you on the morning of the school-feast, and I said to John, "I sha"n"t forward it, because I shall see Ruth this afternoon,"
and, dear me! I just popped it into the basket, for I thought you would like to have it, and you know how busy I was, Ruth, that day, first one thing and then another, so much to think of--and--_there it is_."
"I dare say it is of no importance," said Ruth, taking it from her, while Mrs. Alwynn, repeatedly wondering how such a thing could have happened to a person so careful as herself, went off with her basket to the cook.
When she returned in a few minutes she found Ruth standing by the window, the letter open in her hand, her face without a vestige of color.
"Why, Ruth," she said, actually noticing the alteration in her appearance, "is your head bad again?"
Ruth started violently.
"Yes--no. I mean--I think I will go out. The fresh air--"
She could not finish the sentence.
"And that tiresome letter--did it want an answer?"
"None," said Ruth, crushing it up unconsciously.
"Well, now," said Mrs. Alwynn, "that"s a good thing, for I"m sure I shall never forget the way your uncle was in once, when I put a letter of his in my pocket to give him (it was a plum-colored silk, Ruth, done with gold beads in front), and then I went into mourning for my poor dear Uncle James--such an out-of-the-common person he was, Ruth, and such a beautiful talker--and it was not till six months later--niece"s mourning, you know--that I had the dress on again--and a business I had to meet it, for all my gowns seem to shrink when they are put by--and I put my hand in the pocket, and--"
But Ruth had disappeared.
Mrs. Alwynn was perfectly certain at last that something must be wrong with her niece. Earlier in the day she had had a headache. Reasoning by a.n.a.logy, she decided that Ruth must have eaten something at Mrs.
Thursby"s dinner-party which had disagreed with her. If any one was ill, she always attributed it to indigestion. If Mr. Alwynn coughed, or if she read in the papers that royalty had been unavoidably prevented attending some function at which its presence had been expected, she instantly put down both mishaps to the same cause; and when Mrs. Alwynn had come to a conclusion it was not her habit to keep it to herself.
She told Lady Mary the exact state in which, reasoning always by a.n.a.logy, she knew Ruth"s health must be, when that lady drove over that afternoon in the hope of seeing Ruth, partly from curiosity, or, rather, a Christian anxiety respecting the welfare of others, and partly, too, from a real feeling of affection for Ruth herself. Mrs. Alwynn bored her intensely; but she sat on and on in the hope of Ruth"s return, who had gone out, Mrs. Alwynn agreeing with every remark she made, and treating her with that pleased deference of manner which some middle-cla.s.s people, not otherwise vulgar, invariably drop into in the presence of rank; a Scylla which is only one degree better than the Charybdis of would-be ease of manner into which others fall. If ever the enormous advantages of n.o.ble birth and ancient family, with all their attendant heirlooms and hereditary instincts of refinement, chivalrous feeling, and honor, become in future years a mark for scorn (as already they are a mark for the envy that calls itself scorn), it will be partly the fault of the vulgar adoration of the middle cla.s.ses. Mrs. Alwynn being, as may possibly have already transpired in the course of this narrative, a middle-cla.s.s woman herself, stuck to the hereditary instincts of _her_ cla.s.s with a vengeance, and when Ruth at last came in Lady Mary was thankful.
Her cold, pale eyes lighted up a little as she greeted Ruth, and looked searchingly at her. She saw by the colorless lips and nervous contraction of the forehead, and by the bright, restless fever of the eyes that had formerly been so calm and clear, that something was amiss--terribly amiss.
"I"ve been telling Lady Mary how poorly you"ve been, Ruth, ever since Mrs. Thursby"s dinner-party," said Mrs. Alwynn, by way of opening the conversation.
But in spite of so auspicious a beginning the conversation flagged. Lady Mary made a few conventional remarks to Ruth, which she answered, and Mrs. Alwynn also; but there was a constraint which every moment threatened a silence. Lady Mary proceeded to comment on the poaching affray of the previous night, and the arrest of a man who had been seriously injured; but at her mention of the subject Ruth became so silent, and Mrs. Alwynn so voluble, that she felt it was useless to stay any longer, and had to take her leave without a word with Ruth.
"Something is wrong with that girl," she said to herself, as she drove back to Atherstone. "I know what it is. Charles has been behaving in his usual manner, and as there is no one else to point out to him how infamous such conduct is, I shall have to do it myself. Shameful! That charming, interesting girl! And yet, and yet, there was a look in her face more like some great anxiety than disappointment. If she had had a disappointment, I do not think she would have let any one see it. Those Deyncourts are all too proud to show their feelings, though they have got them, too, somewhere. Perhaps, on the whole, considering how excessively disagreeable and scriptural Charles can be, and what unexpected turns he can give to things, I had better say nothing to him at present."
The moment Lady Mary had left the house, Ruth hurried to her uncle"s study. He was not there. He had not yet come in. She gave a gesture of despair, and flung herself down in the old leather chair opposite to his own, on which many a one had sat who had come to him for help or consolation. All the b.u.t.tons had been gradually worn off that chair by restless or heavy visitors. Some had been lost, but others--the greater part, I am glad to say--Mr. Alwynn had found and had deposited in a Sevres cup on the mantle-piece, till the wet afternoon should come when he and his long packing-needle should restore them to their home.
The room was very quiet. On the mantle-piece the little conscientious silver clock ticked, orderly, gently (till Ruth could hardly bear the sound), then hesitated, and struck a soft, low tone. She started to her feet, and paced up and down, up and down. Would he never come in? She dared not go out to look for him for fear of missing him. Why did not he come back when she wanted him so terribly? She sat down again. She tried to be patient. It was no good. Would he never come?
She heard a sound, rushed out to meet him in the pa.s.sage, and pulled him into the study.
"Uncle John," she gasped, holding out a letter in her shaking hand.
"That man who was taken up last night was--Raymond. He is in prison. He is ill. Let us go to him," and she explained as best she could that a letter had only just been found written to her by Raymond in July, warning her he was in the neighborhood of Arleigh, near the old nurse"s cottage, and that she might see him at any moment, and must have money in readiness. The instant she had read the letter she rushed up to Arleigh, to see her old nurse, and met her coming down, in great agitation, to tell her that Raymond, whom she had shielded once before under promise of secrecy, had been arrested the night before.
In a quarter of an hour Mr. Alwynn and Ruth were driving swiftly through the dusk, in a close carriage, in the direction of D----. On their way they met a dog-cart driving as quickly in the opposite direction which grazed their wheel as it pa.s.sed; and Ruth, looking out, caught a glimpse, by the flash of their lamps, of Charles"s face, with a look upon it so fierce and haggard that she shivered in nameless foreboding of evil, wondering what could have happened to make him look like that.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
It was still early on the following morning that Dare, forgetting, as we have seen, his promise to Charles, arrived at Slumberleigh Rectory--so early that Mrs. Alwynn was still ordering dinner, or, in other words, was dashing from larder to scullery, from kitchen to dairy, with her usual energy. He was shown into the empty drawing-room, where, after pacing up and down, he was reduced to the society of a photograph alb.u.m, which, in his present excited condition, could do little to soothe the tumult of his mind. Not that any discredit should be thrown on Mrs.
Alwynn"s alb.u.m, a gorgeous concern with a golden "f.a.n.n.y" embossed on it, which afforded her infinite satisfaction, inside which her friends"
portraits appeared to the greatest advantage, surrounded by birds and nests and blossoms of the most vivid and life-like coloring. Mr. Alwynn was encompa.s.sed on every side by kingfishers and elaborate bone nests, while Ruth"s clear-cut face looked out from among long-tailed tomt.i.ts, arranged one on each side of a nest crowded with eggs, on which a strong light had been thrown.
Dare was still looking at Ruth"s photograph, when Mr. Alwynn came in.
"Do you wish to speak to Ruth?" he asked, gravely.
"Now, at once." Dare was surprised that Mr. Alwynn, with whom he had been so open, should be so cold and unsympathetic in manner. The alteration and alienation of friends is certainly one of the saddest and most inexplicable experiences of this vale of tears.
"You will find her in the study," continued Mr. Alwynn. "She is expecting you. I have told her nothing, according to your wish. I hope you will explain everything to her in full, that you will keep nothing back."
"I will explain," said Dare; and he went, trembling with excitement, into the study. Fired by Charles"s example, he had made a sublime resolve as he skimmed across the fields, made it in a hurry, in a moment of ecstasy, as all his resolutions were made. He felt he had never acted such a n.o.ble part before. He only feared the agitation of the moment might prevent him doing himself justice.
Ruth rose as he came in, but did not speak. A swift spasm pa.s.sed over her face, leaving it very stern, very fixed, as he had never seen it, as he had never thought of seeing it. An overwhelming suspense burned in the dark, l.u.s.treless eyes which met his own. He felt awed.