Randal began. "Before we talk of anything else," he said, "tell me about Catherine and the child. Where are they?"
"On their way to England, after a residence in Germany."
"And the old lady?"
"Mrs. Presty has been staying with friends in London."
"What! have they parted company? Has there been a quarrel?"
"Nothing of the sort; a friendly separation, in the strictest sense of the word. Oh, Randal, what are you about? Don"t put pepper into this perfect soup. It"s as good as the _gras double_ at the Cafe Anglais in Paris."
"So it is; I wasn"t paying proper attention to it. But I am anxious about Catherine. Why did she go abroad?"
"Haven"t you heard from her?"
"Not for six months or more. I innocently vexed her by writing a little too hopefully about Herbert. Mrs. Presty answered my letter, and recommended me not to write again. It isn"t like Catherine to bear malice."
"Don"t even think such a thing possible!" the lawyer answered, earnestly. "Attribute her silence to the right cause. Terrible anxieties have been weighing on her mind since you went to America."
"Anxieties caused by my brother? Oh, I hope not!"
"Caused entirely by your brother--if I must tell the truth. Can"t you guess how?"
"Is it the child? You don"t mean to tell me that Herbert has taken Kitty away from her mother!"
"While I am her mother"s lawyer, my friend, your brother won"t do that.
Welcome back to England in the first gla.s.s of sherry; good wine, but a little too dry for my taste. No, we won"t talk of domestic troubles just yet. You shall hear all about it after dinner. What made you go to America? You haven"t been delivering lectures, have you?"
"I have been enjoying myself among the most hospitable people in the world."
Mr. Sarrazin shook his head; he had a case of copyright in hand just then. "A people to be pitied," he said.
"Why?"
"Because their Government forgets what is due to the honor of the nation."
"How?"
"In this way. The honor of a nation which confers right of property in works of art, produced by its own citizens, is surely concerned in protecting from theft works of art produced by other citizens."
"That"s not the fault of the people."
"Certainly not. I have already said it"s the fault of the Government.
Let"s attend to the fish now."
Randal took his friend"s advice. "Good sauce, isn"t it?" he said.
The epicure entered a protest. "Good?" he repeated. "My dear fellow, it"s absolute perfection. I don"t like to cast a slur on English cookery. But think of melted b.u.t.ter, and tell me if anybody but a foreigner (I don"t like foreigners, but I give them their due) could have produced this white wine sauce? So you really had no particular motive in going to America?"
"On the contrary, I had a very particular motive. Just remember what my life used to be when I was in Scotland--and look at my life now!
No Mount Morven; no model farm to look after; no pleasant Highland neighbors; I can"t go to my brother while he is leading his present life; I have hurt Catherine"s feelings; I have lost dear little Kitty; I am not obliged to earn my living (more"s the pity); I don"t care about politics; I have a pleasure in eating harmless creatures, but no pleasure in shooting them. What is there left for me to do, but to try change of scene, and go roaming around the world, a restless creature without an object in life? Have I done something wrong again? It isn"t the pepper this time--and yet you"re looking at me as if I was trying your temper."
The French side of Mr. Sarrazin"s nature had got the better of him once more. He pointed indignantly to a supreme preparation of fowl on his friend"s plate. "Do I actually see you picking out your truffles, and putting them on one side?" he asked.
"Well," Randal acknowledged, "I don"t care about truffles."
Mr. Sarrazin rose, with his plate in his hand and his fork ready for action. He walked round the table to his friend"s side, and reverently transferred the neglected truffles to his own plate. "Randal, you will live to repent this," he said solemnly. "In the meantime, I am the gainer." Until he had finished the truffles, no word fell from his lips. "I think I should have enjoyed them more," he remarked, "if I had concentrated my attention by closing my eyes; but you would have thought I was going to sleep." He recovered his English nationality, after this, until the dessert had been placed on the table, and the waiter was ready to leave the room. At that auspicious moment, he underwent another relapse. He insisted on sending his compliments and thanks to the cook.
"At last," said Randal, "we are by ourselves--and now I want to know why Catherine went to Germany."
Chapter XXIX.
Mr. Sarrazin.
As a lawyer, Randal"s guest understood that a narrative of events can only produce the right effect, on one condition: it must begin at the beginning. Having related all that had been said and done during his visit to the cottage, including his first efforts in the character of an angler under Kitty"s supervision, he stopped to fill his gla.s.s again--and then astonished Randal by describing the plan that he had devised for escaping from the spies by crossing the lake in the fog.
"What did the ladies say to it?" Randal inquired. "Who spoke first?"
"Mrs. Presty, of course! She objected to risk her life on the water, in a fog. Mrs. Linley showed a resolution for which I was not prepared. She thought of Kitty, saw the value of my suggestion, and went away at once to consult with the landlady. In the meantime I sent for the gardener, and told him what I was thinking of. He was one of those stolid Englishmen, who possess resources which don"t express themselves outwardly. Judging by his face, you would have said he was subsiding into a slumber under the infliction of a sermon, instead of listening to a lawyer proposing a stratagem. When I had done, the man showed the metal he was made of. In plain English, he put three questions which gave me the highest opinion of his intelligence. "How much luggage, sir?" "As little as they can conveniently take with them," I said. "How many persons?" "The two ladies, the child, and myself." "Can you row, sir?" "In any water you like, Mr. Gardener, fresh or salt". Think of asking Me, an athletic Englishman, if I could row! In an hour more we were ready to embark, and the blessed fog was thicker than ever. Mrs.
Presty yielded under protest; Kitty was wild with delight; her mother was quiet and resigned. But one circ.u.mstance occurred that I didn"t quite understand--the presence of a stranger on the pier with a gun in his hand."
"You don"t mean one of the spies?"
"Nothing of the sort; I mean an idea of the gardener"s. He had been a sailor in his time--and that"s a trade which teaches a man (if he"s good for anything) to think, and act on his thought, at one and the same moment. He had taken a peep at the blackguards in front of the house, and had recognized the shortest of the two as a native of the place, perfectly well aware that one of the features attached to the cottage was a boathouse. "That chap is not such a fool as he looks," says the gardener. "If he mentions the boat-house, the other fellow from London may have his suspicions. I thought I would post my son on the pier--that quiet young man there with the gun--to keep a lookout. If he sees another boat (there are half a dozen on this side of the lake) putting off after us, he has orders to fire, on the chance of our hearing him.
A little notion of mine, sir, to prevent our being surprised in the fog.
Do you see any objection to it?" Objection! In the days when diplomacy was something more than a solemn pretense, what a member of Congress that gardener would have made! Well, we shipped our oars, and away we went. Not quite haphazard--for we had a compa.s.s with us. Our course was as straight as we could go, to a village on the opposite side of the lake, called Brightfold. Nothing happened for the first quarter of an hour--and then, by the living Jingo (excuse my vulgarity), we heard the gun!"
"What did you do?"
"Went on rowing, and held a council. This time I came out as the clever one of the party. The men were following us in the dark; they would have to guess at the direction we had taken, and they would most likely a.s.sume (in such weather as we had) that we should choose the shortest way across the lake. At my suggestion we changed our course, and made for a large town, higher up on the sh.o.r.e, called Tawley. We landed, and waited for events, and made no discovery of another boat behind us. The fools had justified my confidence in them--they had gone to Brightfold.
There was half-an-hour to spare before the next train came to Tawley; and the fog was beginning to lift on that side of the lake. We looked at the shops; and I made a purchase in the town."
"Stop a minute," said Randal. "Is Brightfold on the railway?"
"No."
"Is there an electric telegraph at the place?"
"Yes."
"That was awkward, wasn"t it? The first thing those men would do would be to telegraph to Tawley."
"Not a doubt of it. How would they describe us, do you think?"
Randal answered. "A middle-aged gentleman--two ladies, one of them elderly--and a little girl. Quite enough to identify you at Tawley, if the station-master understood the message."
"Shall I tell you what the station-master discovered, with the message in his hand? No elderly lady, no middle-aged gentleman; nothing more remarkable than _one_ lady--and a little boy."