Virgie had been gone for more than a week, leaving no clew to her whereabouts, which was evidence enough that she believed the very worst of her husband, imagined herself a dishonored and deserted woman, and had doubtless buried herself in some remote corner where no one would be likely to discover her.
Lady Linton"s plot had worked thus far beyond her most sanguine expectations and she accepted her success as an omen of good for the future.
But she hid all this under a mask of well-a.s.sumed surprise.
"What can it mean? Why should she leave the hotel where you left her?" she inquired of her brother.
"Oh, I do not know. There is something wrong--very mysterious--about it.
Oh, why is there not a steamer ready to sail this instant? I believe I shall go mad with this delay!" cried the baronet, in an agony of fear and suspense.
But he had to wait until Sat.u.r.day in spite of his suffering though he had not even gone from Heathdale two hours when Lady Linton received a letter bearing the United States postmark.
Of course it was from Mrs. Farnum, who gave a detailed account of all that had transpired regarding Virgie"s sudden departure, and a.s.suring her that no one in the hotel suspected her agency in the matter, or had any idea that she knew anything regarding the girl previous to her coming there.
They did not even know that she was from England; she confided that fact to Virgie alone, simply to further her schemes regarding her.
Lady Linton uttered a sigh of relief over this letter. Her brother would not find his wife in New York, and his journey would be all in vain, she told herself, and yet she would not feel at ease until she had him safely at home again.
Sir William thought the voyage across the Atlantic would never end, and yet it was a very quick and prosperous pa.s.sage. When the steamer touched her pier in New York he was the first of all the eager pa.s.sengers to spring ash.o.r.e, and rushing for a carriage, without even stopping to attend to his baggage, he gave orders to be driven directly to the hotel where he had left Virgie.
Mr. Eldridge quaked visibly and grew deadly pale when Sir William suddenly presented himself in his office and demanded of him the reason of his wife leaving his house.
The polite hotel-keeper"s blandness all failed him for once, and, with much stammering and confusion, with many apologies and excuses, he confessed that there had arisen a rumor--how he could not say--to the effect that the lady was not Mrs. Heath at all, that her supposed husband was an English n.o.bleman who had deceived her; that his patrons had insisted upon her leaving, or they would; and thus, after a hint from him as to how matters stood, she had quietly gone away.
Sir William was furious at this, and the landlord was actually frightened at the tempest his story had aroused.
"And you allowed such a malicious slander to drive a delicate and unprotected woman and her child homeless into the street?" cried the baronet, with sublime scorn.
"Ah, sir, I was helpless. The honor of my house must be sustained, and there was so much evidence to make the story appear true," said the man deprecatingly.
"Evidence! What do you mean?" demanded the angry husband.
"You had registered as "Mr. Heath and lady." I learned that you were an English baronet."
"Yes, but what of that? I simply wished to escape being conspicuous, and I had a right to register as I chose."
"Then there was a story that you had taken another wife in England, shortly after leaving America."
"And were you idiot enough to believe such a contemptible slander, when I brought her here and established her as my honored wife? Did I ever treat her with anything but reverence and respect?" thundered Sir William, growing more and more indignant.
"No, sir," confessed the unhappy proprietor, as he drew a paper from his desk; "but when you read a notice that I have here you may not wonder so much at the credulity of people; besides, there were no letters coming from you to the lady."
"No letters!" cried the baronet, in a startled tone.
"No, sir, although madam wrote to you with every steamer, and seemed sad and depressed to get nothing in return."
The baronet was astounded.
It all looked as if there was some treachery at work to ruin their happiness; but Sir William racked his brain in vain to solve the riddle.
He had received no letters from his wife; she had had none from him; and, with that dreadful scandal and rumor to crush her, to say nothing of having been driven from the shelter with which he had provided her, what must she not have suffered?
"Will you read this notice, sir?" Mr. Eldridge asked, pushing the paper nearer to the baronet, and desiring to intrench himself behind as many bulwarks as possible.
Sir William bent forward and read it, and he did not wonder then, that Virgie had felt herself the most wronged of women.
He knew that it had been intended as the announcement of his cousin"s marriage with Margaret Stanhope, but a grave mistake had been made in prefixing the young man"s name with a t.i.tle, thus making it appear that it was the baronet who had been married.
Virgie did not know that he had a relative by the same name, so, of course, taking everything else into consideration, she must have believed that he had been false to all honor, to his manhood, and to her.
He groaned aloud.
"Oh, what must she have thought of me!" he cried, in despair. Then, turning to the proprietor of the hotel, he asked, "Where did you get this paper?"
It was the Hampshire County Journal, and he wondered how it could have got to New York to accomplish so much mischief.
"I cannot say, sir. I found it in my office here among other papers, and--and you must confess that such a notice as that was sufficient to stagger me when I read it."
"Yes," Sir William admitted, white to his lips, "and yet it was heartless to send her away. It was my cousin--a gentleman bearing the same name--who was married; but some one made a mistake and added my t.i.tle. Did she see that notice?"
"She appeared to know about it, sir."
"It seems as if an enemy had done this to ruin our happiness; but who?"
groaned the miserable husband.
Chapter XX.
Sir William Finds A Trace Of Virgie.
Sir William asked, a little later, when he had succeeded in somewhat recovering his composure:
"And have you no idea whither my wife went after leaving here?"
"No," Mr. Eldridge said. "I offered to find some nice, quiet place for her, but she simply thanked me and declined my offer. She then ordered a carriage and drove away, without giving any definite directions regarding her destination--at least, in my hearing."
The proprietor was careful not to state that he had been so relieved by the departure of his then questionable guest that he had taken no pains to ascertain her plans, being only too glad to be quit of her upon any terms, and to thus preserve the honor of his house and retain the patronage of its other occupants.
Sir William then repaired to the office of Dr. Knox, the physician in whose care he had left his wife, hoping to glean something from him. But that gentleman knew nothing whatever of what had occurred, and appeared greatly surprised by what the young husband told him.
He simply stated what we already knew--that Mrs. Heath had sent him a note saying that she was about leaving the city and wished to settle her bill, and requested him to call for the amount. He had done so, and she had paid him in full.
He said that his time was limited, and he had only remained a few moments.
He thought she was looking rather pale and worn; but she said she was well, and, being calm and self-possessed, he did not imagine that she was in any trouble.
It was evident that from this source Sir William could gain nothing to aid him in his search for his wife.