Merton, seeing his clients absorbed in mirth, murmured something vague about "business," and spirited Miss Blossom away to the inner chamber.
"Sit down, pray, Miss Blossom. There is no time to waste. What do you know about these children? Why did you send them here?"
The girl, who was pale enough now, said, "I never thought they would come."
"They are here, however. What do you know about them?"
"I went to stay, lately, at the Home Farm on their grandmother"s place.
We became great friends. I found out that they were motherless, and that they were being cruelly ill-treated by their governess."
"Miss Limmer?"
"Yes. But they both said they loved her dearly. They always said that when asked. I gathered from their grandmother, old Mrs. Apsley, that their father would listen to nothing against the governess. The old lady cried in a helpless way, and said he was capable of marrying the woman, out of obstinacy, if anybody interfered. I had your advertis.e.m.e.nt, and I thought you might disentangle him. It was a kind of joke. I only told them that you were a kind gentleman. I never dreamed of their really coming."
"Well, you must take them back again presently, there is the address. You must see their father; you must wait till you see him. And how are you to explain this escapade? I can"t have the children taught to lie."
"They have been taught _that_ lesson already."
"I don"t think they are aware of it," said Merton.
Miss Blossom stared.
"I can"t explain, but you must find a way of keeping them out of a sc.r.a.pe."
"I think I can manage it," said Miss Blossom demurely.
"I hope so. And manage, if you please, to see this Miss Limmer and observe what kind of person she is," said Merton, with his hand on the door handle, adding, "Please ask Dr. Maitland to come here, and do you keep the children amused for a moment."
Miss Blossom nodded and left the room; there was laughter in the other chamber. Presently Maitland joined Merton.
"Look here," said Merton, "we must be rapid. These children are being cruelly ill-treated and deny it. Will you get into talk with the boy, and ask him if he is fond of his governess, say "Miss Limmer," and notice what he says and how he says it? Then we must pack them away."
"All right," said Maitland.
They returned to the children. Miss Blossom retreated to the inner room.
Bats simplified matters by falling asleep in the client"s chair. Maitland began by talking about schools. Was Tommy going to Eton?
Tommy did not know. He had a governess at home.
"Not at a preparatory school yet? A big fellow like you?"
Tommy said that he would like to go to school, but they would not send him.
"Why not?"
Tommy hesitated, blushed, and ended by saying that they didn"t think it safe, as he walked in his sleep.
"You will soon grow out of that," said Maitland, "but it is not very safe at school. A boy I knew was found sound asleep on the roof at school."
"He might have fallen off," said Tommy.
"Yes. That"s why your people keep you at home. But in a year or two you will be all right. Know any Latin yet?"
Tommy said that Miss Limmer taught him Latin.
"Are you and she great friends?"
Tommy"s face and voice altered as before, while he mechanically repeated the tale of the mutual affection which linked him with Miss Limmer.
"_That"s_ all very jolly," said Maitland.
"Now, Tommy," said Merton, "we must waken Batsy, and Miss Blossom is going to take you both home. Hope we shall often meet."
He called Miss Blossom; Batsy kissed both of her new friends. Merton conducted the party to the cab, and settled, in spite of Tommy"s remonstrances, with the cabman, who made a good thing of it, and nodded when told to drive away as soon as he had deposited his charges at their door. Then Merton led Maitland upstairs and offered him a cigar.
"What do you think of it?" he asked.
"Common post-hypnotic suggestion by the governess," said Maitland.
"I guessed as much, but can it really be worked like that? You are not chaffing?"
"Simplest thing to work in the world," said Maitland. "A lot of nonsense, however, that the public believes in can"t be done. The woman could not sit down in St. John"s Wood, and "will" Tommy to come to her if he was in the next room. At least she might "will" till she was black in the face, and he would know nothing about it. But she can put him to sleep, and make him say what he does not want to say, in answer to questions, afterwards, when he is awake."
"You"re sure of it?"
"It is as certain as anything in the world up to a certain point."
"The girl said something that the boy did not say, more gushing, about his dead mother."
"The hypnotised subject often draws a line somewhere."
"The woman must be a fiend," said Merton.
"Some of them are, now and then," said the author of _Clinical Psychology_.
Miss Blossom"s cab, the driver much encouraged by Tommy, who conversed with him through the trap in the roof, dashed up to the door of a house close to Lord"s. The horse was going fast, and nearly cannoned into another cab-horse, also going fast, which was almost thrown on its haunches by the driver. Inside the other hansom was a tall man with a pale face under the tan, who was nervously gnawing his moustache. Miss Blossom saw him, Tommy saw him, and cried "Father!" Half-hidden behind a blind of the house Miss Blossom beheld a woman"s face, expectant. Clearly she was Miss Limmer. All the while that they were driving Miss Blossom"s wits had been at work to construct a story to account for the absence and return of the children. Now, by a flash of invention, she called to her cabman, "Drive on--fast!" Major Apsley saw his lost children with their arms round the neck of a wonderfully pretty girl; the pretty girl waved her parasol to him with a smile, beckoning forwards; the children waved their arms, calling out "A race! a race!"
What could a puzzled parent do but bid his cabman follow like the wind?
Miss Blossom"s cab flew past Lord"s, dived into Regent"s Park, leading by two lengths; reached the Zoological Gardens, and there its crew alighted, demurely waiting for the Major. He leaped from his hansom, and taking off his hat, strode up to Miss Blossom, as if he were leading a charge.
The children captured him by the legs. "What does this mean, Madam? What are you doing with my children? Who are you?"
"She"s None-so-pretty," said Tommy, by way of introduction.
Miss Blossom bowed with grace, and raising her head, shot two violet rays into the eyes of the Major, which were of a bistre hue. But they accepted the message, like a receiver in wireless telegraphy. No man, let be a Major, could have resisted None-so-pretty at that moment. "Come into the gardens," she said, and led the way. "You would like a ride on the elephant, Tommy?" she asked Master Apsley. "And you, Batsy?"
The children shouted a.s.sent.