No. 55.] SATURDAY,
MAY 12 , 1860 [PRICE 2d.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE.
———•———
THE HOUSEKEEPER’S NARRATIVE CONTINUED.
The next event that occurred was
of so singular a nature, that it might have caused me a feeling of
superstitious surprise, if my mind had not been fortified by principle
against any pagan weakness of that sort. The uneasy sense of something wrong
in the family which had made me wish myself away from Blackwater Park, was
actually followed, strange to say, by my departure from the house. It is
true that my absence was for a temporary period only: but the coincidence
was, in my opinion, not the less remarkable on that account.
My departure took place under the following
circumstances:
On the day when the servants all left, I was again sent
for to see Sir Percival. The undeserved slur which he had cast on my
management of the household, did not, I am happy to say, prevent me from
returning good for evil to the best of my ability, by complying with his
request as readily and respectfully as ever. It cost me a struggle with that
fallen nature which we all share in common, before I could suppress my
feelings. Being accustomed to self-discipline, I accomplished the sacrifice.
I found Sir Percival and Count Fosco sitting together,
again. On this occasion his lordship remained present at the interview, and
assisted in the development of Sir Percival’s views.
The subject to which they now requested my attention,
related to the healthy change of air by which we all hoped that Miss
Halcombe and Lady Glyde might soon be enabled to profit. Sir Percival
mentioned that both the ladies would probably pass the autumn (by invitation
of Frederick Fairlie, Esquire) at Limmeridge House, Cumberland. But before
they went there, it was his opinion, confirmed by Count Fosco (who here took
up the conversation, and continued it to the end), that they would benefit
by a short residence first in the genial climate of Torquay. The great
object, therefore, was to engage lodgings at that place, affording all the
comforts and advantages of which they stood in need; and the great
difficulty was to find an experienced person capable of choosing the sort of
residence which they wanted. In this emergency, the Count begged to inquire,
on Sir Percival’s behalf, whether I would object to give the ladies the
benefit of my assistance, by proceeding myself to Torquay in their
interests.
It was impossible, for a person in my situation, to
meet any proposal, made in these terms, with a positive objection.
I could only venture to represent the serious
inconvenience of my leaving Blackwater Park, in the extraordinary absence of
all the in-door servants, with the one exception of Margaret Porcher. But
Sir Percival and his lordship declared that they were both willing to put up
with inconvenience for the sake of the invalids. I next respectfully
suggested writing to an agent at Torquay; but I was met here by being
reminded of the imprudence of taking lodgings without first seeing them. I
was also informed that the Countess (who would otherwise have gone to
Devonshire herself) could not, in Lady Glyde’s present condition, leave her
niece; and that Sir Percival and the Count had business to transact
together, which would oblige them to remain at Blackwater Park. In short, it
was clearly shown me, that if I did not undertake the errand, no one else
could be trusted with it. Under these circumstances, I could only inform Sir
Percival that my services were at the disposal of Miss Halcombe and Lady
Glyde.
It was thereupon arranged that I should leave the next
morning; that I should occupy the day after in examining all the most
convenient houses in Torquay; and that I should return, with my report, on
the third day. A memorandum was written for me by his lordship, stating the
various requisites which the place I was sent to take must be found to
possess; and a note of the pecuniary limit assigned to me, was added by Sir
Percival.
My own idea, on reading over these instructions, was,
that no such residence as I saw described could be found at any
watering-place in England; and that, even if it could by chance be
discovered, it would certainly not be parted with for any period, on such
terms as I was permitted to offer. I hinted at these difficulties to both
the gentlemen; but Sir Percival (who undertook to answer me) did not appear
to feel them. It was not for me to dispute the question. I said no more; but
I felt a very strong conviction that the business on which I was sent away
was so beset by difficulties that my errand was almost hopeless at starting.
Before I left, I took care to satisfy myself that Miss
Halcombe was going on favourably.
There was a painful expression of anxiety in her face,
which made me fear that her mind, on first recovering itself, was not at
ease. But she was certainly strengthening more rapidly than I could have
ventured to anticipate; and she was able to send kind messages to Lady Glyde,
saying that she was fast getting well, and entreating her ladyship not to
exert herself again too soon. I left her in charge of Mrs. Rubelle, who was
still as quietly independent of every one else in the house as ever. When I
knocked at Lady Glyde’s door, before going away, I was told that she was
still sadly weak and depressed; my informant being the Countess, who was
then keeping her company in her room. Sir Percival and the Count were
walking on the road to the lodge, as I was driven by in the chaise. I bowed
to them, and quitted the house, with not a living soul left in the servants’
offices but Margaret Porcher.
Every one must feel, what I have felt myself since that
time, that these circumstances were more that unusual—they were almost
suspicious. Let me, however, say again, that it was impossible for me, in my
dependent position, to act otherwise than I did.
The result of my errand at Torquay was exactly what I
had foreseen. No such lodgings as I was instructed to take could be found in
the whole place; and the terms I was permitted to give were much too low for
the purpose, even if I had been able to discover what I wanted. I returned
to Blackwater Park on the third day; and informed Sir Percival, who met me
at the door, that my journey had been taken in vain. He seemed too much
occupied with some other subject to care about the failure of my errand, and
his first words informed me that even in the short time of my absence,
another remarkable change had taken place in the house.
The Count and Countess Fosco had left Blackwater Park
for their new residence in St. John’s Wood.
I was not made aware of the motive for this sudden
departure—I was only told that the Count had been very particular in leaving
his kind compliments for me. When I ventured on asking Sir Percival whether
Lady Glyde had any one to attend to her comforts in the absence of the
Countess, he replied that she had Margaret Porcher to wait on her; and he
added that a woman from the village had been sent for to do the work down
stairs.
The answer really shocked me—there was such a glaring
impropriety in permitting an under-housemaid to fill the place of
confidential attendant on Lady Glyde. I went upstairs at once, and met
Margaret on the bedroom landing. Her services had not been required
(naturally enough); her mistress having sufficiently recovered, that
morning, to be able to leave her bed. I asked, next, after Miss Halcombe;
but I was answered in a slouching, sulky way, which left me no wiser than I
was before. I did not choose to repeat the question, and perhaps provoke an
impertinent reply. It was in every respect more becoming, to a person in my
position, to present myself immediately in Lady Glyde’s room.
I found that her ladyship had certainly gained in
health during the last three days. Although still sadly weak and nervous,
she was able to get up without assistance, and to walk slowly about her
room, feeling no worse effect from the exertion than a slight sensation of
fatigue. She had been made a little anxious that morning about Miss Halcombe,
through having received no news of her from any one. I thought this seemed
to imply a blamable want of attention on the part of Mrs. Rubelle; but I
said nothing, and remained with Lady Glyde, to assist her to dress. When she
was ready, we both left the room together to go to Miss Halcombe.
We were stopped in the passage by the appearance of Sir
Percival. He looked as if he had been purposely waiting there to see us.
“Where are you going?” he said to Lady Glyde.
“To Marian’s room,” she answered.
“It may spare you a disappointment,” remarked Sir
Percival, “if I tell you at once that you will not find her there.”
“Not find her there!”
“No. She left the house yesterday morning with Fosco
and his wife.”
Lady Glyde was not strong enough to bear the surprise
of this extraordinary statement. She turned fearfully pale; and leaned back
against the wall, looking at her husband in dead silence.
I was so astonished myself, that I hardly knew what to
say. I asked Sir Percival if he really meant that Miss Halcombe had left
Blackwater Park.
“I certainly mean it,” he answered.
“In her state, Sir Percival! Without mentioning her
intentions to Lady Glyde!”
Before he could reply, her ladyship recovered herself a
little, and spoke.
“Impossible!” she cried out, in a loud, frightened
manner; taking a step or two forward from the wall. “Where was the doctor?
where was Mr. Dawson when Marian went away?”
“Mr. Dawson wasn’t wanted, and wasn’t here,” said Sir
Percival. “He left of his own accord, which is enough of itself to show that
she was strong enough to travel. How you stare! If you don’t believe she has
gone, look for yourself. Open her room door, and all the other room doors,
if you like.”
She took him at his word, and I followed her. There was
no one in Miss Halcombe’s room but Margaret Porcher, who was busy setting it
to rights. There was no one in the spare rooms, or the dressing-rooms, when
we looked into them afterwards. Sir Percival still waited for us in the
passage. As we were leaving the last room that we had examined, Lady Glyde
whispered, “Don’t go, Mrs. Michelson! don’t leave me, for God’s sake!”
Before I could say anything in return, she was out again in the passage,
speaking to her husband.
“What does it mean, Sir Percival? I insist—I beg and
pray you will tell me what it means!”
“It means,” he answered, “that Miss Halcombe was strong
enough yesterday morning to sit up, and be dressed; and that she insisted on
taking advantage of Fosco’s going to London, to go there too.”
“To London!”
“Yes—on her way to Limmeridge.”
Lady Glyde turned, and appealed to me.
“You saw Miss Halcombe last,” she said. “Did you think
she looked fit to travel in four-and-twenty hours afterward?”
“Not in my
opinion, your ladyship.”
Sir Percival, on his side, instantly turned, and
appealed to me also.
“Before you went away,” he said, “did you, or did you
not, tell the nurse that Miss Halcombe looked much stronger and better?”
“I certainly made the remark, Sir Percival.”
He addressed her ladyship again, the moment I offered
that reply.
“Set one of Mrs. Michelson’s opinions fairly against
the other,” he said, “and try to be reasonable about a perfectly plain
matter. If she had not been well enough to be moved, do you think we should
any of us have risked letting her go? She has got three competent people to
look after her—Fosco and your aunt, and Mrs. Rubelle, who went away with
them expressly for that purpose. They took a whole carriage yesterday, and
made a bed for her on the seat, in case she felt tired. To-day, Fosco and
Mrs. Rubelle go on with her themselves to Cumberland——”
“Why does Marian go to Limmeridge, and leave me here by
myself?” said her ladyship, interrupting Sir Percival.
“Because your uncle won’t receive you till he has seen
your sister first,” he replied. “Have you forgotten the letter he wrote to
her, at the beginning of her illness. It was shown to you; you read it
yourself; and you ought to remember it.”
“I do remember it.”
“If you do, why should you be surprised at her leaving
you? You want to be back at Limmeridge; and she has gone there to get your
uncle’s leave for you, on his own terms.”
Poor Lady Glyde’s eyes filled with tears.
“Marian never left me before,” she said, “without
bidding me good-by.”
“She would have bid you good-by this time,” returned
Sir Percival, “if she had not been afraid of herself and of you. She knew
you would try to stop her; she knew you would distress her by crying. Do you
want to make any more objections? If you do, you must come down stairs and
ask questions in the dining-room. These worries upset me. I want a glass of
wine.”
He left us suddenly.
His manner all through this strange conversation had
been very unlike what it usually was. He seemed to be almost as nervous and
fluttered, every now and then, as his lady herself. I should never have
supposed that his health had been so delicate, or his composure so easy to
upset.
I tried to prevail on Lady Glyde to go back to her
room; but it was useless. She stopped in the passage, with the look of a
woman whose mind was panic-stricken:
“Something has happened to my sister!” she said.
“Remember, my lady, what surprising energy there is in
Miss Halcombe,” I replied. “She might well make an effort which other
ladies, in her situation, would be unfit for. I hope and believe there is
nothing wrong—I do indeed.”
“I must follow Marian!” said her ladyship, with the
same panic-stricken look. “I must go where she has gone; I must see that she
is alive and well with my own eyes. Come! come down with me to Sir
Percival.”
I hesitated; fearing that my presence might be
considered an intrusion; I attempted to represent this to her ladyship; but
she was deaf to me. She held my arm fast enough to force me to go down
stairs with her; and she still clung to me with all the little strength she
had, at the moment when I opened the dining-room door.
Sir Percival was sitting at the table with a decanter
of wine before him. He raised the glass to his lips, as we went in, and
drained it at a draught. Seeing that he looked at me angrily when he put it
down again, I attempted to make some apology for my accidental presence in
the room.
“Do you suppose there are any secrets going on here?”
he broke out, suddenly; “there are none—there is nothing underhand; nothing
kept from you or from any one.” After speaking those strange words, loudly
and sternly, he filled himself another glass of wine, and asked Lady Glyde
what she wanted of him.
“If my sister is fit to travel, I am fit to travel,”
said her ladyship, with more firmness than she had yet shown. “I come to beg
you will make allowances for my anxiety about Marian, and let me follow her
at once, by the afternoon train.”
“You must wait till to-morrow,” replied Sir Percival;
“and then, if you don’t hear to the contrary, you can go. I don’t suppose
you are at all likely to hear to the contrary—so I shall write to Fosco by
to-night’s post.”
He said those last words, holding his glass up to the
light, and looking at the wine in it, instead of at Lady Glyde. Indeed, he
never once looked at her throughout the conversation. Such a singular want
of good breeding in a gentleman of his rank impressed me, I own, very
painfully.
“Why should you write to Count Fosco?” she asked, in
extreme surprise.
“To tell him to expect you by the mid-day train,” said
Sir Percival. “He will meet you at the station, when you get to London, and
take you on to sleep at your aunt’s, in St. John’s Wood.”
Lady Glyde’s hand began to tremble violently round my
arm—why, I could not imagine.
“There is no necessity for Count Fosco to meet me,” she
said. “I would rather not stay in London to sleep.”
“You must. You can’t take the whole journey to
Cumberland in one day. You must rest a night in London—and I don’t choose
you to go by yourself to an hotel. Fosco made the offer to your uncle to
give you house-room on the way down; and your uncle has accepted it. Here!
here is a letter from him, addressed to yourself. I ought to have sent it up
this morning; but I forgot. Read it, and see what Mr. Fairlie himself says
to you.”
Lady Glyde looked at the letter for a moment; and then
placed it in my hands.
“Read it,” she said, faintly. “I don’t know what is the
matter with me. I can’t read it, myself.”
It was a note of only three lines—so short and so
careless, that it quite struck me. If I remember correctly, it contained no
more than these words:
“Dearest Laura, Please come, whenever you like. Break
the journey by sleeping at your aunt’s house. Grieved to hear of dear
Marian’s illness. Affectionately yours, Frederick Fairlie.”
“I would rather not go there—I would rather not stay a
night in London,” said her ladyship, breaking out eagerly with those words,
before I had quite done reading the note, short as it was. “Don’t write to
Count Fosco! Pray, pray don’t write to him!”
Sir Percival filled another glass from the decanter, so
awkwardly that he upset it, and spilt all the wine over the table. “My sight
seems to be failing me,” he muttered to himself, in an odd, muffled voice.
He slowly set the glass up again, refilled it, and drained it once more at a
draught. I began to fear, from his look and manner, that the wine was
getting into his head.
“Pray don’t write to Count Fosco!” persisted Lady Glyde,
more earnestly than ever.
“Why not, I should like to know!” cried Sir Percival,
with a sudden burst of anger that startled us both. “Where can you stay more
properly in London, than at the place your uncle himself chooses for you—at
your aunt’s house? Ask Mrs. Michelson.”
The arrangement proposed was so unquestionably the
right and the proper one, that I could make no possible objection to it.
Much as I sympathised with Lady Glyde in other respects, I could not
sympathise with her in her unjust prejudices against Count Fosco. I never
before met with any lady, of her rank and station, who was so lamentably
narrow-minded on the subject of foreigners. Neither her uncle’s note, nor
Sir Percival’s increasing impatience, seemed to have the least effect on
her. She still objected to staying a night in London; she still implored her
husband not to write to the Count.
“Drop it!” said Sir Percival, rudely turning his back
on us. “If you haven’t sense enough to know what is best for yourself, other
people must know for you. The arrangement is made; and there is an end of
it. You are only wanted to do what Miss Halcombe has done before you——”
“Marian?” repeated her Ladyship, in a bewildered
manner; “Marian sleeping in Count Fosco’s house!”
“Yes, in Count Fosco’s house. She slept there, last
night, to break the journey. And you are to follow her example, and do what
your uncle tells you. You are to sleep at Fosco’s, to-morrow night, as your
sister did, to break the journey. Don’t throw too many obstacles in my way!
don’t make me repent of letting you go at all!”
He started to his feet; and suddenly walked out into
the verandah, through the open glass doors.
“Will your ladyship excuse me,” I whispered, “if I
suggest that we had better not wait here till Sir Percival comes back? I am
very much afraid he is over-excited with wine.”
She consented to leave the room, in a weary, absent
manner.
As soon as we were safe up-stairs again, I did all I
could to compose her ladyship’s spirits. I reminded her that Mr. Fairlie’s
letters to Miss Halcombe and to herself did certainly sanction, and even
render necessary, sooner or later, the course that had been taken. She
agreed to this, and even admitted, of her own accord, that both letters were
strictly in character with her uncle’s peculiar disposition—but her fears
about Miss Halcombe, and her unaccountable dread of sleeping at the Count’s
house in London, still remained unshaken in spite of every consideration
that I could urge. I thought it my duty to protest against Lady Glyde’s
unfavourable opinion of his lordship; and I did so, with becoming
forbearance and respect.
“Your ladyship will pardon my freedom,” I remarked, in
conclusion; “but it is said, ‘by their fruits ye shall know them.’ I am sure
the Count’s constant kindness and constant attention from the very beginning
of Miss Halcombe’s illness, merit our best confidence and esteem. Even his
lordship’s serious misunderstanding with Mr. Dawson was entirely
attributable to his anxiety on Miss Halcombe’s account.”
“What misunderstanding?” inquired her ladyship, with a
look of sudden interest.
I related the unhappy circumstances under which Mr.
Dawson had withdrawn his attendance—mentioning them all the more readily,
because I disapproved of Sir Percival’s continuing to conceal what had
happened (as he had done in my presence) from the knowledge of Lady Glyde.
Her ladyship started up, with every appearance of being
additionally agitated and alarmed by what I had told her.
“Worse! worse than I thought!” she said, walking about
the room, in a bewildered manner. “The Count knew Mr. Dawson would never
consent to Marian’s taking a journey—he purposely insulted the doctor to get
him out of the house.”
“Oh, my lady! my lady!” I remonstrated.
“Mrs. Michelson!” she went on, vehemently; “no words
that ever were spoken will persuade me that my sister is in that man’s power
and in that man’s house, with her own consent. My horror of him is such,
that nothing Sir Percival could say, and no letters my uncle could write,
would induce me, if I had only my own feelings to consult, to eat, drink, or
sleep under his roof. But my misery of suspense about Marian gives me the
courage to follow her anywhere—to follow her even into Count Fosco’s house.”
I thought it right, at this point, to mention that Miss
Halcombe had already gone on to Cumberland, according to Sir Percival’s
account of the matter.
“I am afraid to believe it!” answered her ladyship. “I
am afraid she is still in that man’s house. If I am wrong—if she has really
gone on to Limmeridge—I am resolved I will not sleep to-morrow night under
Count Fosco’s roof. My dearest friend in the world, next to my sister, lives
near London. You have heard me, you have heard Miss Halcombe, speak of Mrs.
Vesey? I mean to write, and propose to sleep at her house. I don’t know how
I shall get there—I don’t know how I shall avoid the Count—but to that
refuge I will escape in some way, if my sister has gone to Cumberland. All I
ask of you to do, is to see yourself that my letter to Mrs. Vesey goes to
London to-night, as certainly as Sir Percival’s letter goes to Count Fosco.
I have reasons for not trusting the post-bag down stairs. Will you keep my
secret, and help me in this? it is the last favour, perhaps, that I shall
ever ask of you.”
I hesitated—I thought it all very strange—I almost
feared that her ladyship’s mind had been a little affected by recent anxiety
and suffering. At my own risk, however, I ended by giving my consent. If the
letter had been addressed to a stranger, or to any one but a lady so well
known to me by report as Mrs. Vesey, I might have refused. I thank
God—looking to what happened afterwards—I thank God I never thwarted that
wish, or any other, which Lady Glyde expressed to me, on the last day of her
residence at Blackwater Park.
The letter was written, and given into my hands. I
myself put it into the post-box in the village, that evening.
We saw nothing more of Sir Percival for the rest of the
day. I slept, by Lady Glyde’s own desire, in the next room to hers, with the
door open between us. There was something so strange and dreadful in the
loneliness and emptiness of the house, that I was glad, on my side, to have
a companion near me. Her ladyship sat up late, reading letters and burning
them, and emptying her drawers and cabinets of little things she prized, as
if she never expected to return to Blackwater Park. Her sleep was sadly
disturbed when she at last went to bed: she cried out in it, several
times—once, so loud that she woke herself. Whatever her dreams were, she did
not think fit to communicate them to me. Perhaps, in my situation, I had no
right to expect that she should do so. It matters little, now. I was sorry
for her—I was indeed heartily sorry for her all the same.
The next day was fine and sunny. Sir Percival came up,
after breakfast, to tell us that the chaise would be at the door at a
quarter to twelve; the train to London stopping at our station, at twenty
minutes after. He informed Lady Glyde that he was obliged to go out, but
added that he hoped to be back before she left. If any unforeseen accident
delayed him, I was to accompany her to the station, and to take special care
that she was in time for the train. Sir Percival communicated these
directions very hastily; walking, here and there, about the room all the
time. Her ladyship looked attentively after him, wherever he went. He never
once looked at her in return.
She only spoke when he had done; and then she stopped
him as he approached the door, by holding out her hand.
“I shall see you no more,” she said, in a very marked
manner. “This is our parting—our parting, it may be for ever. Will you try
to forgive me, Percival, as heartily as I forgive
you? ”
His face turned of an awful whiteness all over; and
great beads of perspiration broke out on his bald forehead. “I shall come
back,” he said—and made for the door, as hastily as if his wife’s farewell
words had frightened him out of the room.
I had never liked Sir Percival—but the manner in which
he left Lady Glyde made me feel ashamed of having eaten his bread and lived
in his service. I thought of saying a few comforting and Christian words to
the poor lady; but there was something in her face, as she looked after her
husband when the door closed on him, that made me alter my mind and keep
silence.
At the time named, the chaise drew up at the gates. Her
ladyship was right—Sir Percival never came back. I waited for him till the
last moment—and waited in vain.
No positive responsibility lay on my shoulders; and
yet, I did not feel easy in my mind. “It is of your own free will,” I said,
as the chaise drove through the lodge-gates, “that your ladyship goes to
London?”
“I will go anywhere,” she answered, “to end the
dreadful suspense that I am suffering at this moment.”
She had made me feel almost as anxious and as uncertain
about Miss Halcombe as she felt herself. I presumed to ask her to write me a
line, if all went well in London. She answered, “Most willingly, Mrs.
Michelson.” “We all have our crosses to bear, my lady,” I said, seeing her
silent and thoughtful, after she had promised to write. She made no reply:
she seemed to be too much wrapped up in her own thoughts to attend to me. “I
fear your ladyship rested badly last night,” I remarked, after waiting a
little. “Yes,” she said; “I was terribly disturbed by dreams.” “Indeed, my
lady?” I thought she was going to tell me her dreams; but no, when she spoke
next it was only to ask a question. “You posted the letter to Mrs. Vesey
with your own hands?” “Yes, my lady.” “Did Sir Percival say, yesterday, that
Count Fosco was to meet me at the terminus in London?” “He did, my lady.”
She sighed heavily when I answered that last question,
and said no more.
We arrived at the station, with hardly two minutes to
spare. The gardener (who had driven us) managed about the luggage, while I
took the ticket. The whistle of the train was sounding, when I joined her
ladyship on the platform. She looked very strangely, and pressed her hand
over her heart, as if some sudden pain or fright had overcome her at that
moment.
“I wish you were going with me!” she said, catching
eagerly at my arm, when I gave her the ticket.
If there had been time; if I had felt the day before,
as I felt then, I would have made my arrangements to accompany her—even
though the doing so had obliged me to give Sir Percival warning on the spot.
As it was, her wishes expressed at the last moment only, were expressed too
late for me to comply with them. She seemed to understand this herself
before I could explain it, and did not repeat her desire to have me for a
travelling companion. The train drew up at the platform. She gave the
gardener a present for his children, and took my hand, in her simple, hearty
manner, before she got into the carriage.
“You have been very kind to me and to my sister,” she
said—”kind when we were both friendless. I shall remember you gratefully, as
long as I live to remember any one. Good-by—and God bless you!”
She spoke those words, with a tone and a look which
brought the tears into my eyes—she spoke them as if she was bidding me
farewell for ever.
“Good-by, my lady,” I said, putting her into the
carriage, and trying to cheer her; “good-by, for the present only; good-by,
with my best and kindest wishes for happier times!”
She shook her head, and shuddered as she settled
herself in the carriage. The guard closed the door. “Do you believe in
dreams?” she whispered to me, at the window. “My
dreams, last night, were dreams I have never had before. The terror of them
is hanging over me still.” The whistle sounded before I could answer, and
the train moved. Her pale quiet face looked at me, for the last time, looked
sorrowfully and solemnly from the window—she waved her hand—and I saw her no
more.
Towards five o’clock on the afternoon of that same day,
having a little time to myself in the midst of the household duties which
now pressed upon me, I sat down alone in my own room, to try and compose my
mind with the volume of my husband’s Sermons. For the first time in my life,
I found my attention wandering over those pious and cheering words.
Concluding that Lady Glyde’s departure must have disturbed me far more
seriously than I had myself supposed, I put the book aside, and went out to
take a turn in the garden. Sir Percival had not yet returned, to my
knowledge, so I could feel no hesitation about showing myself in the
grounds.
On turning the corner of the house, and gaining a view
of the garden, I was startled by seeing a stranger walking in it. The
stranger was a woman—she was lounging along the path, with her back to me,
and was gathering the flowers.
As I approached, she heard me, and turned round.
My blood curdled in my veins. The strange woman in the
garden was Mrs. Rubelle.
I could neither move, nor speak. She came up to me, as
composedly as ever, with her flowers in her hand.
“What is the matter, ma’am?” she said, quietly.
“You here!” I
gasped out. “Not gone to London! Not gone to Cumberland!”
Mrs. Rubelle smelt at her flowers with a smile of
malicious pity.
“Certainly not,” she said. “I have never left
Blackwater Park.”
I summoned breath enough and courage enough for another
question.
“Where is Miss Halcombe?”
Mrs. Rubelle fairly laughed at me, this time; and
answered in these words:
“Miss Halcombe, ma’am, has not left Blackwater Park,
either.”
All The Year Round, 12 May 1860, Vol.III, No.55, pp.97-102
Weekly Part 25.
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