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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9773.txt b/9773.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7439f42 --- /dev/null +++ b/9773.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1804 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, Alice, or The Mysteries, by Lytton, Book XI +#213 in our series by Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + + +Title: Alice, or The Mysteries, Book XI + +Author: Edward Bulwer Lytton + +Release Date: January 2006 [EBook #9773] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE, BY LYTTON, BOOK XI *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and by David Widger + + + +Corrected and updated text and HTML PG Editions of the complete +11 volume set may be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774.txt + +https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9774/9774-h/9774-h.htm + + + + + +BOOK XI. + + "Man is born to be a doer of good."--MARCUS ANTONINUS, lib. iii. + + + +CHAPTER I. + + His teeth he still did grind, + And grimly gnash, threatening revenge in vain.--SPENSER. + +IT is now time to return to Lord Vargrave. His most sanguine hopes were +realized; all things seemed to prosper. The hand of Evelyn Cameron was +pledged to him, the wedding-day was fixed. In less than a week she was +to confer upon the ruined peer a splendid dowry, that would smooth all +obstacles in the ascent of his ambition. From Mr. Douce he learned that +the deeds, which were to transfer to himself the baronial possessions of +the head of the house of Maltravers, were nearly completed; and on his +wedding-day he hoped to be able to announce that the happy pair had set +out for their princely mansion of Lisle Court. In politics; though +nothing could be finally settled till his return, letters from Lord +Saxingham assured him that all was auspicious: the court and the heads of +the aristocracy daily growing more alienated from the premier, and more +prepared for a Cabinet revolution. And Vargrave, perhaps, like most +needy men, overrated the advantages he should derive from, and the +servile opinions he should conciliate in, his new character of landed +proprietor and wealthy peer. He was not insensible to the silent anguish +that Evelyn seemed to endure, nor to the bitter gloom that hung on the +brow of Lady Doltimore. But these were clouds that foretold no +storm,--light shadows that obscured not the serenity of the favouring +sky. He continued to seem unconscious to either; to take the coming +event as a matter of course, and to Evelyn he evinced so gentle, +unfamiliar, respectful, and delicate an attachment, that he left no +opening, either for confidence or complaint. Poor Evelyn! her gayety, +her enchanting levity, her sweet and infantine playfulness of manner, +were indeed vanished. Pale, wan, passive, and smileless, she was the +ghost of her former self! But days rolled on, and the evil one drew +near; she recoiled, but she never dreamed of resisting. How many equal +victims of her age and sex does the altar witness! + +One day, at early noon, Lord Vargrave took his way to Evelyn's. He had +been to pay a political visit in the Faubourg St. Germain, and he was now +slowly crossing the more quiet and solitary part of the gardens of the +Tuileries, his hands clasped behind him, after his old, unaltered habit, +and his eyes downcast,--when suddenly a man, who was seated alone beneath +one of the trees, and who had for some moments watched his steps with an +anxious and wild aspect, rose and approached him. Lord Vargrave was not +conscious of the intrusion, till the man laid his hand on Vargrave's arm, +and exclaimed,-- + +"It is he! it is! Lumley Ferrers, we meet again!" + +Lord Vargrave started and changed colour, as he gazed on the intruder. + +"Ferrers," continued Cesarini (for it was he), and he wound his arm +firmly into Lord Vargrave's as he spoke, "you have not changed; your step +is light, your cheek healthful; and yet I--you can scarcely recognize me. +Oh, I have suffered so horribly since we parted! Why is this? Why have +I been so heavily visited, and why have you gone free? Heaven is not +just!" + +Castruccio was in one of his lucid intervals; but there was that in his +uncertain eye, and strange unnatural voice, which showed that a breath +might dissolve the avalanche. Lord Vargrave looked anxiously round; none +were near: but he knew that the more public parts of the garden were +thronged, and through the trees he saw many forms moving in the distance. +He felt that the sound of his voice could summon assistance in an +instant, and his assurance returned to him. + +"My poor friend," said he soothingly, as he quickened his pace, "it +grieves me to the heart to see you look ill; do not think so much of what +is past." + +"There is no past!" replied Cesarini, gloomily. "The Past is my Present! +And I have thought and thought, in darkness and in chains, over all that +I have endured, and a light has broken on me in the hours when they told +me I was mad! Lumley Ferrers, it was not for my sake that you led me, +devil as you are, into the lowest hell! You had some object of your own +to serve in separating _her_ from Maltravers. You made me your +instrument. What was I to you that you should have sinned for _my_ sake? +Answer me, and truly, if those lips can utter truth!" + +"Cesarini," returned Vargrave, in his blandest accents, "another time we +will converse on what has been; believe me, my only object was your +happiness, combined, it may be, with my hatred of your rival." + +"Liar!" shouted Cesarini, grasping Vargrave's arm with the strength of +growing madness, while his burning eyes were fixed upon his tempter's +changing countenance. "You, too, loved Florence; you, too, sought her +hand; _you_ were my real rival!" + +"Hush! my friend, hush!" said Vargrave, seeking to shake off the grip of +the maniac, and becoming seriously alarmed; "we are approaching the +crowded part of the gardens, we shall be observed." + +"And why are men made my foes? Why is my own sister become my +persecutor? Why should she give me up to the torturer and the dungeon? +Why are serpents and fiends my comrades? Why is there fire in my brain +and heart; and why do you go free and enjoy liberty and life? Observed! +What care _you_ for observation? All men search for _me_!" + +"Then why so openly expose yourself to their notice; why--" + +"Hear me!" interrupted Cesarini. "When I escaped from the horrible +prison into which I was plunged; when I scented the fresh air, and +bounded over the grass; when I was again free in limbs and spirit,--a +sudden strain of music from a village came on my ear, and I stopped +short, and crouched down, and held my breath to listen. It ceased; and I +thought I had been with Florence, and I wept bitterly! When I recovered, +memory came back to me distinct and clear; and I heard a voice say to me, +'Avenge her and thyself!' From that hour the voice has been heard again, +morning and night! Lumley Ferrers, I hear it now! it speaks to my heart, +it warms my blood, it nerves my hand! On whom should vengeance fall? +Speak to me!" + +Lumley strode rapidly on. They were now without the grove; a gay throng +was before them. "All is safe," thought the Englishman. He turned +abruptly and haughtily on Cesarini, and waved his hand; "Begone, madman!" +said he, in a loud and stern voice,--"begone! vex me no more, or I give +you into custody. Begone, I say!" + +Cesarini halted, amazed and awed for the moment; and then, with a dark +scowl and a low cry, threw himself on Vargrave. The eye and hand of the +latter were vigilant and prepared; he grasped the uplifted arm of the +maniac, and shouted for help. But the madman was now in his full fury; +he hurled Vargrave to the ground with a force for which the peer was not +prepared, and Lumley might never have risen a living man from that spot, +if two soldiers, seated close by, had not hastened to his assistance. +Cesarini was already kneeling on his breast, and his long bony fingers +were fastening upon the throat of his intended victim. Torn from his +hold, he glared fiercely on his new assailants; and after a fierce but +momentary struggle, wrested himself from their grip. Then, turning round +to Vargrave, who had with some effort risen from the ground, he shrieked +out, "I shall have thee yet!" and fled through the trees and disappeared. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + AH, who is nigh? Come to me, friend or foe! + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, + Ev'n now forsake me.--_HENRY VI_. Part iii. + +LORD VARGRAVE, bold as he was by nature, in vain endeavoured to banish +from his mind the gloomy impression which the startling interview with +Cesarini had bequeathed. The face, the voice of the maniac, haunted him, +as the shape of the warning wraith haunts the mountaineer. He returned +at once to his hotel, unable for some hours to collect himself +sufficiently to pay his customary visit to Miss Cameron. Inly resolving +not to hazard a second meeting with the Italian during the rest of his +sojourn at Paris by venturing in the streets on foot, he ordered his +carriage towards evening; dined at the Cafe de Paris; and then re-entered +his carriage to proceed to Lady Doltimore's house. + +"I beg your pardon, my lord," said his servant, as he closed the +carriage-door, "but I forgot to say that, a short time after you returned +this morning, a strange gentleman asked at the porter's lodge if Mr. +Ferrers was not staying at the hotel. The porter said there was no Mr. +Ferrers, but the gentleman insisted upon it that he had seen Mr. Ferrers +enter. I was in the lodge at the moment, my lord, and I explained--" + +"That Mr. Ferrers and Lord Vargrave are one and the same? What sort of +looking person?" + +"Thin and dark, my lord,--evidently a foreigner. When I said that you +were now Lord Vargrave, he stared a moment, and said very abruptly that +he recollected it perfectly, and then he laughed and walked away." + +"Did he not ask to see me?" + +"No, my lord; he said he should take another opportunity. He was a +strange-looking gentleman, and his clothes were threadbare." + +"Ah, some troublesome petitioner. Perhaps a Pole in distress! Remember +I am never at home when he calls. Shut the door. To Lady Doltimore's." + +Lumley's heart beat as he threw himself back,--he again felt the grip of +the madman at his throat. He saw, at once, that Cesarini had dogged him; +he resolved the next morning to change his hotel, and to apply to the +police. It was strange how sudden and keen a fear had entered the breast +of this callous and resolute man! + +On arriving at Lady Doltimore's, he found Caroline alone in the +drawing-room. It was a _tete-a-tete_ that he by no means desired. + +"Lord Vargrave," said Caroline, coldly, "I wished a short conversation +with you; and finding you did not come in the morning, I sent you a note +an hour ago. Did you receive it?" + +"No; I have been from home since six o'clock,--it is now nine." + +"Well, then, Vargrave," said Caroline, with a compressed and writhing +lip, and turning very pale, "I tremble to tell you that I fear Doltimore +suspects. He looked at me sternly this morning, and said, 'You seem +unhappy, madam; this marriage of Lord Vargrave's distresses you!'" + +"I warned you how it would be,--your own selfishness will betray and ruin +you." + +"Do not reproach me, man!" said Lady Doltimore, with great vehemence. +"From you at least I have a right to pity, to forbearance, to succour. I +will not bear reproach from _you_." + +"I reproach you for your own sake, for the faults you commit against +yourself; and I must say, Caroline, that after I had generously conquered +all selfish feeling, and assisted you to so desirable and even brilliant +a position, it is neither just nor high-minded in you to evince so +ungracious a reluctance to my taking the only step which can save me from +actual ruin. But what does Doltimore suspect? What ground has he for +suspicion, beyond that want of command of countenance which it is easy to +explain,--and which it is yet easier for a woman and a great lady [here +Lumley sneered] to acquire?" + +"I know not; it has been put into his head. Paris is so full of slander. +But, Vargrave--Lumley--I tremble, I shudder with terror, if ever +Doltimore should discover--" + +"Pooh! pooh! Our conduct at Paris has been most guarded, most discreet. +Doltimore is Self-conceit personified,--and Self-conceit is horn-eyed. I +am about to leave Paris,--about to marry, from under your own roof; a +little prudence, a little self-control, a smiling face, when you wish us +happiness, and so forth, and all is safe. Tush! think of it no more! +Fate has cut and shuffled the cards for you; the game is yours, unless +you revoke. Pardon my metaphor; it is a favourite one,--I have worn it +threadbare; but human life _is_ so like a rubber at whist. Where is +Evelyn?" + +"In her own room. Have you no pity for her?" + +"She will be very happy when she is Lady Vargrave; and for the rest, I +shall neither be a stern nor a jealous husband. She might not have given +the same character to the magnificent Maltravers." + +Here Evelyn entered; and Vargrave hastened to press her hand, to whisper +tender salutations and compliments, to draw the easy-chair to the fire, +to place the footstool,--to lavish the _petits soins_ that are so +agreeable, when they are the small moralities of love. + +Evelyn was more than usually pale,--more than usually abstracted. There +was no lustre in her eye, no life in her step; she seemed unconscious of +the crisis to which she approached. As the myrrh and hyssop which +drugged the malefactors of old into forgetfulness of their doom, so there +are griefs which stupefy before their last and crowning consummation! + +Vargrave conversed lightly on the weather, the news, the last book. +Evelyn answered but in monosyllables; and Caroline, with a hand-screen +before her face, preserved an unbroken silence. Thus gloomy and joyless +were two of the party, thus gay and animated the third, when the clock on +the mantelpiece struck ten; and as the last stroke died, and Evelyn +sighed heavily,--for it was an hour nearer to the fatal day,--the door +was suddenly thrown open, and pushing aside the servant, two gentlemen +entered the room. + +Caroline, the first to perceive them, started from her seat with a faint +exclamation of surprise. Vargrave turned abruptly, and saw before him +the stern countenance of Maltravers. + +"My child! my Evelyn!" exclaimed a familiar voice; and Evelyn had already +flown into the arms of Aubrey. + +The sight of the curate in company with Maltravers explained all at once +to Vargrave. He saw that the mask was torn from his face, the prize +snatched from his grasp, his falsehood known, his plot counterworked, his +villany baffled! He struggled in vain for self-composure; all his +resources of courage and craft seemed drained and exhausted. Livid, +speechless, almost trembling, he cowered beneath the eyes of Maltravers. + +Evelyn, not as yet aware of the presence of her former lover, was the +first to break the silence. She lifted her face in alarm from the bosom +of the good curate. "My mother--she is well--she lives--what brings you +hither?" + +"Your mother is well, my child. I have come hither at her earnest +request to save you from a marriage with that unworthy man!" + +Lord Vargrave smiled a ghastly smile, but made no answer. + +"Lord Vargrave," said Maltravers, "you will feel at once that you have no +further business under this roof. Let us withdraw,--I have much to thank +you for." + +"I will not stir!" exclaimed Vargrave, passionately, and stamping on the +floor. "Miss Cameron, the guest of Lady Doltimore, whose house and +presence you thus rudely profane, is my affianced bride,--affianced with +her own consent. Evelyn, beloved Evelyn! mine you are yet; you alone can +cancel the bond. Sir, I know not what you have to say, what mystery in +your immaculate life to disclose; but unless Lady Doltimore, whom your +violence appalls and terrifies, orders me to quit her roof, it is not +I,--it is yourself, who are the intruder! Lady Doltimore, with your +permission, I will direct your servants to conduct this gentleman to his +carriage!" + +"Lady Doltimore, pardon me," said Maltravers, coldly; "I will not be +urged to any failure of respect to you. My lord, if the most abject +cowardice be not added to your other vices, you will not make this room +the theatre for our altercation. I invite you, in those terms which no +gentleman ever yet refused, to withdraw with me." + +The tone and manner of Maltravers exercised a strange control over +Vargrave; he endeavoured in vain to keep alive the passion into which he +had sought to work himself; his voice faltered, his head sank upon his +breast. Between these two personages, none interfered; around them, all +present grouped in breathless silence,--Caroline, turning her eyes from +one to the other in wonder and dismay; Evelyn, believing all a dream, yet +alive only to the thought that, by some merciful interposition of +Providence, she should escape the consequences of her own rashness, +clinging to Aubrey, with her gaze riveted on Maltravers; and Aubrey, +whose gentle character was borne down and silenced by the powerful and +tempestuous passions that now met in collision and conflict, withheld by +his abhorrence of Vargrave's treachery from his natural desire to +propitiate, and yet appalled by the apprehension of bloodshed, that for +the first time crossed him. + +There was a moment of dead silence, in which Vargrave seemed to be +nerving and collecting himself for such course as might be best to +pursue, when again the door opened, and the name of Mr. Howard was +announced. + +Hurried and agitated, the young secretary, scarcely noticing the rest of +the party, rushed to Lord Vargrave. + +"My lord! a thousand pardons for interrupting you,--business of such +importance! I am so fortunate to find you!" + +"What is the matter, sir?" + +"These letters, my lord; I have so much to say!" + +Any interruption, even an earthquake, at that moment must have been +welcome to Vargrave. He bent his head, with a polite smile, linked his +arm into his secretary's, and withdrew to the recess of the farthest +window. Not a minute elapsed before he turned away with a look of +scornful exultation. "Mr. Howard," said he, "go and refresh yourself, +and come to me at twelve o'clock to-night; I shall be at home then." The +secretary bowed, and withdrew. + +"Now, sir," said Vargrave, to Maltravers, "I am willing to leave you in +possession of the field. Miss Cameron, it will be, I fear, impossible +for me to entertain any longer the bright hopes I had once formed; my +cruel fate compels me to seek wealth in any matrimonial engagement. I +regret to inform you that you are no longer the great heiress; the whole +of your capital was placed in the hands of Mr. Douce for the completion +of the purchase of Lisle Court. Mr. Douce is a bankrupt; he has fled to +America. This letter is an express from my lawyer; the house has closed +its payments! Perhaps we may hope to obtain sixpence in the pound. I am +a loser also; the forfeit money bequeathed to me is gone. I know not +whether, as your trustee, I am not accountable for the loss of your +fortune (drawn out on my responsibility); probably so. But as I have not +now a shilling in the world, I doubt whether Mr. Maltravers will advise +you to institute proceedings against me. Mr. Maltravers, to-morrow, at +nine o'clock, I will listen to what you have to say. I wish you all +good-night." He bowed, seized his hat, and vanished. + +"Evelyn," said Aubrey, "can you require to learn more; do you not already +feel you are released from union with a man without heart and honour?" + +"Yes, yes! I am so happy!" cried Evelyn, bursting into tears. "This +hated wealth,--I feel not its loss; I am released from all duty to my +benefactor. I am free!" + +The last tie that had yet united the guilty Caroline to Vargrave was +broken,--a woman forgives sin in her lover, but never meanness. The +degrading, the abject position in which she had seen one whom she had +served as a slave (though, as yet, all his worst villanies were unknown +to her), filled her with shame, horror, and disgust. She rose abruptly, +and quitted the room. They did not miss her. + +Maltravers approached Evelyn; he took her hand, and pressed it to his +lips and heart. + +"Evelyn," said he, mournfully, "you require an explanation,--to-morrow I +will give and seek it. To-night we are both too unnerved for such +communications. I can only now feel joy at your escape, and hope that I +may still minister to your future happiness." + +"But," said Aubrey, "can we believe this new and astounding statement? +Can this loss be so irremediable; may we not yet take precaution, and +save, at least, some wrecks of this noble fortune?" + +"I thank you for recalling me to the world," said Maltravers, eagerly. +"I will see to it this instant; and tomorrow, Evelyn, after my interview +with you, I will hasten to London, and act in that capacity still left to +me,--your guardian, your friend." + +He turned away his face, and hurried to the door. + +Evelyn clung more closely to Aubrey. "But you will not leave me +to-night? You can stay? We can find you accommodation; do not leave +me." + +"Leave you, my child! no; we have a thousand things to say to each other. +I will not," he added in a whisper, turning to Maltravers, "forestall +your communications." + + + +CHAPTER III. + + ALACK, 'tis he. Why, he was met even now + As mad as the vexed sea.--_Lear_. + +IN the Rue de la Paix there resided an English lawyer of eminence, with +whom Maltravers had had previous dealings; to this gentleman he now +drove. He acquainted him with the news he had just heard, respecting the +bankruptcy of Mr. Douce; and commissioned him to leave Paris, the first +moment he could obtain a passport, and to proceed to London. + +At all events, he would arrive there some hours before Maltravers; and +those hours were something gained. This done, he drove to the nearest +hotel, which chanced to be the Hotel de M-----, where, though he knew it +not, it so happened that Lord Vargrave himself lodged. As his carriage +stopped without, while the porter unclosed the gates, a man, who had been +loitering under the lamps, darted forward, and prying into the +carriage-window, regarded Maltravers earnestly. The latter, pre-occupied +and absorbed, did not notice him; but when the carriage drove into the +courtyard it was followed by the stranger, who was muffled in a worn and +tattered cloak, and whose movements were unheeded amidst the bustle of +the arrival. The porter's wife led the way to a second-floor, just left +vacant, and the waiter began to arrange the fire. Maltravers threw +himself abstractedly upon the sofa, insensible to all around him, when, +lifting his eyes, he saw before him the countenance of Cesarini! The +Italian (supposed, perhaps, by the persons of the hotel to be one of the +newcomers) was leaning over the back of a chair, supporting his face with +his hand, and fixing his eyes with an earnest and sorrowful expression +upon the features of his ancient rival. When he perceived that he was +recognized, he approached Maltravers, and said in Italian, and in a low +voice, "You are the man of all others, whom, save one, I most desired to +see. I have much to say to you, and my time is short. Spare me a few +minutes." + +The tone and manner of Cesarini were so calm and rational that they +changed the first impulse of Maltravers, which was that of securing a +maniac; while the Italian's emaciated countenance, his squalid garments, +the air of penury and want diffused over his whole appearance, +irresistibly invited compassion. With all the more anxious and pressing +thoughts that weighed upon him, Maltravers could not refuse the +conference thus demanded. He dismissed the attendants, and motioned +Cesarini to be seated. + +The Italian drew near to the fire, which now blazed brightly and +cheerily, and, spreading his thin hands to the flame, seemed to enjoy the +physical luxury of the warmth. "Cold, cold," he said piteously, as to +himself; "Nature is a very bitter protector. But frost and famine are, +at least, more merciful than slavery and darkness." + +At this moment Ernest's servant entered to know if his master would not +take refreshments, for he had scarcely touched food upon the road. And +as he spoke, Cesarini turned keenly and wistfully round. There was no +mistaking the appeal. Wine and cold meat were ordered: and when the +servant vanished, Cesarini turned to Maltravers with a strange smile, and +said, "You see what the love of liberty brings men to! They found me +plenty in the jail! But I have read of men who feasted merrily before +execution--have not you?--and my hour is at hand. All this day I have +felt chained by an irresistible destiny to this house. But it was not +you I sought; no matter, in the crisis of our doom all its agents meet +together. It is the last act of a dreary play!" + +The Italian turned again to the fire, and bent over it, muttering to +himself. + +Maltravers remained silent and thoughtful. Now was the moment once more +to place the maniac under the kindly vigilance of his family, to snatch +him from the horrors, perhaps, of starvation itself, to which his escape +condemned him: if he could detain Cesarini till De Montaigne could +arrive! + +Agreeably to this thought, he quietly drew towards him the portfolio +which had been laid on the table, and, Cesarini's back still turned to +him, wrote a hasty line to De Montaigne. When his servant re-entered +with the wine and viands, Maltravers followed him out of the room, and +bade him see the note sent immediately. On returning, he found Cesarini +devouring the food before him with all the voracity of famine. It was a +dreadful sight!--the intellect ruined, the mind darkened, the wild, +fierce animal alone left! + +When Cesarini had appeased his hunger, he drew near to Maltravers, and +thus accosted him,-- + +"I must lead you back to the past. I sinned against you and the dead; +but Heaven has avenged you, and me you can pity and forgive. Maltravers, +there is another more guilty than I,--but proud, prosperous, and great. +_His_ crime Heaven has left to the revenge of man! I bound myself by an +oath not to reveal his villany. I cancel the oath now, for the knowledge +of it should survive his life and mine. And, mad though they deem me, +the mad are prophets, and a solemn conviction, a voice not of earth, +tells me that he and I are already in the Shadow of Death." + +Here Cesarini, with a calm and precise accuracy of self-possession,--a +minuteness of circumstance and detail, that, coming from one whose very +eyes betrayed his terrible disease, was infinitely thrilling in its +effect,--related the counsels, the persuasions, the stratagems of Lumley. +Slowly and distinctly he forced into the heart of Maltravers that +sickening record of cold fraud calculating on vehement passion as its +tool; and thus he concluded his narration,-- + +"Now wonder no longer why I have lived till this hour; why I have clung +to freedom, through want and hunger, amidst beggars, felons, and +outcasts! In that freedom was my last hope,--the hope of revenge!" + +Maltravers returned no answer for some moments. At length he said +calmly, "Cesarini, there are injuries so great that they defy revenge. +Let us alike, since we are alike injured, trust our cause to Him who +reads all hearts, and, better than we can do, measures both crime and its +excuses. You think that our enemy has not suffered,--that he has gone +free. We know not his internal history; prosperity and power are no +signs of happiness, they bring no exemption from care. Be soothed and be +ruled, Cesarini. Let the stone once more close over the solemn grave. +Turn with me to the future; and let us rather seek to be the judges of +ourselves, than the executioners of another." + +Cesarini listened gloomily, and was about to answer, when-- + +But here we must return to Lord Vargrave. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + MY noble lord, + Your worthy friends do lack you.--_Macbeth_. + + He is about it; + The doors are open.--_Ibid._ + +ON quitting Lady Doltimore's house, Lumley drove to his hotel. His +secretary had been the bearer of other communications, with the nature of +which he had not yet acquainted himself; but he saw by the +superscriptions that they were of great importance. Still, however, even +in the solitude and privacy of his own chamber, it was not on the instant +that he could divert his thoughts from the ruin of his fortunes: the loss +not only of Evelyn's property, but his own claims upon it (for the whole +capital had been placed in Douce's hands), the total wreck of his grand +scheme, the triumph he had afforded to Maltravers! He ground his teeth +in impotent rage, and groaned aloud, as he traversed his room with hasty +and uneven strides. At last he paused and muttered: "Well, the spider +toils on even when its very power of weaving fresh webs is exhausted; it +lies in wait,--it forces itself into the webs of others. Brave insect, +thou art my model! While I have breath in my body, the world and all its +crosses, Fortune and all her malignity, shall not prevail against me! +What man ever yet failed until he himself grew craven, and sold his soul +to the arch fiend, Despair! 'Tis but a girl and a fortune lost,--they +were gallantly fought for, that is some comfort. Now to what is yet left +to me!" + +The first letter Lumley opened was from Lord Saxingham. It filled him +with dismay. The question at issue had been formally, but abruptly, +decided in the Cabinet against Vargrave and his manoeuvres. Some hasty +expressions of Lord Saxingham had been instantly caught at by the +premier, and a resignation, rather hinted at than declared, had been +peremptorily accepted. Lord Saxingham and Lumley's adherents in the +Government were to a man dismissed; and at the time Lord Saxingham wrote +the premier was with the king. + +"Curse their folly!--the puppets! the dolts!" exclaimed Lumley, crushing +the letter in his hand. "The moment I leave them, they run their heads +against the wall. Curse them! curse myself! curse the man who weaves +ropes with sand! Nothing--nothing left for me but exile or suicide! +Stay, what is this?" His eye fell on the well-known hand writing of the +premier. He tore the envelope, impatient to know the worst. His eyes +sparkled as he proceeded. The letter was most courteous, most +complimentary, most wooing. The minister was a man consummately versed +in the arts that increase, as well as those which purge, a party. +Saxingham and his friends were imbeciles, incapables, mostly men who had +outlived their day. But Lord Vargrave, in the prime of life--versatile, +accomplished, vigorous, bitter, unscrupulous--Vargrave was of another +mould, Vargrave was to be dreaded; and therefore, if possible, to be +retained. His powers of mischief were unquestionably increased by the +universal talk of London that he was about soon to wed so wealthy a lady. +The minister knew his man. In terms of affected regret, he alluded to +the loss the Government would sustain in the services of Lord Saxingham, +etc.; he rejoiced that Lord Vargrave's absence from London had prevented +his being prematurely mixed up, by false scruples of honour, in +secessions which his judgment must condemn. He treated of the question +in dispute with the most delicate address,--confessed the reasonableness +of Lord Vargrave's former opposition to it; but contended that it was +now, if not wise, inevitable. He said nothing of the _justice_ of the +measure he proposed to adopt, but much on the _expediency_. He concluded +by offering to Vargrave, in the most cordial and flattering terms, the +very seat in the Cabinet which Lord Saxingham had vacated, with an +apology for its inadequacy to his lordship's merits, and a distinct and +definite promise of the refusal of the gorgeous viceroyalty of India, +which would be vacant next year by the return of the present +governor-general. + +Unprincipled as Vargrave was, it is not, perhaps, judging him too mildly +to say that, had he succeeded in obtaining Evelyn's hand and fortune, he +would have shrunk from the baseness he now meditated. To step coldly +into the very post of which he, and he alone, had been the cause of +depriving his earliest patron and nearest relative; to profit by the +betrayal of his own party; to damn himself eternally in the eyes of his +ancient friends; to pass down the stream of history as a mercenary +apostate,--from all this Vargrave must have shrunk, had he seen one spot +of honest ground on which to maintain his footing. But now the waters of +the abyss were closing over his head; he would have caught at a straw; +how much more consent to be picked up by the vessel of an enemy! All +objection, all scruple, vanished at once. And the "barbaric gold" "of +Ormus and of Ind" glittered before the greedy eyes of the penniless +adventurer! Not a day was now to be lost. How fortunate that a written +proposition, from which it was impossible to recede, had been made to him +before the failure of his matrimonial projects had become known! Too +happy to quit Paris, he would set off on the morrow, and conclude in +person the negotiation. Vargrave glanced towards the clock; it was +scarcely past eleven. What revolutions are worked in moments! Within an +hour he had lost a wife, a noble fortune, changed the politics of his +whole life, stepped into a Cabinet office, and was already calculating +how much a governor-general of India could lay by in five years! But it +was only eleven o'clock. He had put off Mr. Howard's visit till twelve; +he wished so much to see him, and learn all the London gossip connected +with the recent events. Poor Mr. Douce! Vargrave had already forgotten +_his_ existence!--he rang his bell hastily. It was some time before his +servant answered. + +Promptitude and readiness were virtues that Lord Vargrave peremptorily +demanded in a servant; and as he paid the best price for the +articles--less in wages than in plunder--he was generally sure to obtain +them. + +"Where the deuce have you been? This is the third time I have rung! you +ought to be in the anteroom!" + +"I beg your lordship's pardon; but I was helping Mr. Maltravers's valet +to find a key which he dropped in the courtyard." + +"Mr. Maltravers! Is he at this hotel?" + +"Yes, my lord; his rooms are just overhead." + +"Humph! Has Mr. Howard engaged a lodging here?" + +"No, my lord. He left word that he was gone to his aunt, Lady Jane." + +"Ah, Lady Jane--lives at Paris--so she does; Rue Chaussee d'Antin--you +know the House? Go immediately--go yourself; don't trust to a +messenger--and beg Mr. Howard to return with you. I want to see him +instantly." + +"Yes, my lord." + +The servant went. Lumley was in a mood in which solitude was +intolerable. He was greatly excited; and some natural compunctions at +the course on which he had decided made him long to escape from thought. +So Maltravers was under the same roof! He had promised to give him an +interview next day; but next day he wished to be on the road to London. +Why not have it over to-night? But could Maltravers meditate any hostile +proceedings? Impossible! Whatever his causes of complaint, they were of +too delicate and secret a nature for seconds, bullets, and newspaper +paragraphs! Vargrave might feel secure that he should not be delayed by +any Bois de Boulogne assignation; but it was necessary to _his honour_ +(!) that he should not seem to shun the man he had deceived and wronged. +He would go up to him at once,--a new excitement would distract his +thoughts. Agreeably to this resolution, Lord Vargrave quitted his room, +and was about to close the outer door, when he recollected that perhaps +his servant might not meet with Howard; that the secretary might probably +arrive before the time fixed,--it would be as well to leave his door +open. He accordingly stopped, and writing upon a piece of paper, "Dear +Howard, send up for me the moment you arrive: I shall be with Mr. +Maltravers _au second_"--Vargrave wafered the _affiche_ to the door, +which he then left ajar, and the lamp in the landing-place fell clear and +full on the paper. + +It was the voice of Vargrave, in the little stone-paved antechamber +without, inquiring of the servant if Mr. Maltravers was at home, which +had startled and interrupted Cesarini as he was about to reply to Ernest. +Each recognized that sharp clear voice; each glanced at the other. + +"I will not see him," said Maltravers, hastily moving towards the door; +"you are not fit to--" + +"Meet him? no!" said Cesarini, with a furtive and sinister glance, which +a man versed in his disease would have understood, but which Maltravers +did not even observe; "I will retire into your bedroom; my eyes are +heavy. I could sleep." + +He opened the inner door as he spoke, and had scarcely reclosed it before +Vargrave entered. + +"Your servant said you were engaged; but I thought you might see an old +friend:" and Vargrave coolly seated himself. + +Maltravers drew the bolt across the door that separated them from +Cesarini; and the two men, whose characters and lives were so strongly +contrasted, were now alone. + +"You wished an interview,--an explanation," said Lumley; "I shrink from +neither. Let me forestall inquiry and complaint. I deceived you +knowingly and deliberately, it is quite true,--all stratagems are fair in +love and war. The prize was vast! I believed my career depended on it: +I could not resist the temptation. I knew that before long you would +learn that Evelyn was not your daughter; that the first communication +between yourself and Lady Vargrave would betray me; but it was worth +trying a _coup de main_. You have foiled me, and conquered: be it so; I +congratulate you. You are tolerably rich, and the loss of Evelyn's +fortune will not vex you as it would have done me." + +"Lord Vargrave, it is but poor affectation to treat thus lightly the dark +falsehood you conceived, the awful curse you inflicted upon me. Your +sight is now so painful to me, it so stirs the passions that I would seek +to suppress, that the sooner our interview is terminated the better. I +have to charge you, also, with a crime,--not, perhaps, baser than the one +you so calmly own, but the consequences of which were more fatal: you +understand me?" + +"I do not." + +"Do not tempt me! do not lie!" said Maltravers, still in a calm voice, +though his passions, naturally so strong, shook his whole frame. "To +your arts I owe the exile of years that should have been better spent; to +those arts Cesarini owes the wreck of his reason, and Florence Lascelles +her early grave! Ah, you are pale now; your tongue cleaves to your +mouth! And think you these crimes will go forever unrequited; think you +that there is no justice in the thunderbolts of God?" + +"Sir," said Vargrave, starting to his feet, "I know not what you suspect, +I care not what you believe! But I am accountable to man, and that +account I am willing to render. You threatened me in the presence of my +ward; you spoke of cowardice, and hinted at danger. Whatever my faults, +want of courage is not one. Stand by your threats,--I am ready to brave +them!" + +"A year, perhaps a short month, ago," replied Maltravers, and I would +have arrogated justice to my own mortal hand; nay, this very night, had +the hazard of either of our lives been necessary to save Evelyn from your +persecution, I would have incurred all things for her sake! But that is +past; from me you have nothing to fear. The proofs of your earlier +guilt, with its dreadful results, would alone suffice to warn me from the +solemn responsibility of human vengeance. Great Heaven! what hand could +dare to send a criminal so long hardened, so black with crime, unatoning, +unrepentant, and unprepared, before the judgment-seat of the ALL JUST? +Go, unhappy man! may life long be spared to you! Awake! awake from this +world, before your feet pass the irrevocable boundary of the next!" + +"I came not here to listen to homilies, and the cant of the conventicle," +said Vargrave, vainly struggling for a haughtiness of mien that his +conscience-stricken aspect terribly belied; "not I; but this wrong world +is to be blamed, if deeds that strict morality may not justify, but the +effects of which I, no prophet, could not foresee, were necessary for +success in life. I have been but as all other men have been who struggle +against fortune to be rich and great: ambition must make use of foul +ladders." + +"Oh," said Maltravers, earnestly, touched involuntarily, and in spite of +his abhorrence of the criminal, by the relenting that this miserable +attempt at self-justification seemed to denote,--"oh, be warned, while it +is yet time; wrap not yourself in these paltry sophistries; look back to +your past career; see to what heights you might have climbed, if with +those rare gifts and energies, with that subtle sagacity and indomitable +courage--your ambition had but chosen the straight, not the crooked, +path. Pause! many years may yet, in the course of nature, afford you +time to retrace your steps, to atone to thousands the injuries you have +inflicted on the few. I know not why I thus address you: but something +diviner than indignation urges me; something tells me that you are +already on the brink of the abyss!" + +Lord Vargrave changed colour, nor did he speak for some moments; then +raising his head, with a faint smile, he said, "Maltravers, you are a +false soothsayer. At this moment my paths, crooked though they be, have +led me far towards the summit of my proudest hopes; the straight path +would have left me at the foot of the mountain. You yourself are a +beacon against the course you advise. Let us contrast each other. You +took the straight path, I the crooked. You, my superior in fortune; you, +infinitely above me in genius; you, born to command and never to crouch: +how do we stand now, each in the prime of life? You, with a barren and +profitless reputation; without rank, without power, almost without the +hope of power. I--but you know not my new dignity--I, in the Cabinet of +England's ministry, vast fortunes opening to my gaze, the proudest +station not too high for my reasonable ambition! You, wedding yourself +to some grand chimera of an object, aimless when it eludes your grasp. +I, swinging, squirrel-like, from scheme to scheme; no matter if one +breaks, another is at hand! Some men would have cut their throats in +despair, an hour ago, in losing the object of a seven years' +chase,--Beauty and Wealth, both! I open a letter, and find success in +one quarter to counterbalance failure in another. Bah! bah! each to his +_metier_, Maltravers! For you, honour, melancholy, and, if it please +you, repentance also! For me, the onward, rushing life, never looking +back to the Past, never balancing the stepping-stones to the Future. Let +us not envy each other; if you were not Diogenes, you would be Alexander. +Adieu! our interview is over. Will you forget and forgive, and shake +hands once more? You draw back, you frown! well, perhaps you are right. +If we meet again--" + +"It will be as strangers." + +"No rash vows! you may return to politics, you may want office. I am of +your way of thinking now: and--ha! ha!--poor Lumley Ferrers could make +you a Lord of the Treasury; smooth travelling and cheap turnpikes on +crooked paths, believe me. Farewell!" + + + +On entering the room into which Cesarini had retired, Maltravers found +him flown. His servant said that the gentleman had gone away shortly +after Lord Vargrave's arrival. Ernest reproached himself bitterly for +neglecting to secure the door that conducted to the ante-chamber; but +still it was probable that Cesarini would return in the morning. + +The messenger who had taken the letter to De Montaigne brought back word +that the latter was at his villa, but expected at Paris early the next +day. Maltravers hoped to see him before his departure; meanwhile he +threw himself on his bed, and despite all the anxieties that yet +oppressed him, the fatigues and excitements he had undergone exhausted +even the endurance of that iron frame, and he fell into a profound +slumber. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + BY eight to-morrow + Thou shalt be made immortal. + _Measure for Measure_. + +LORD VARGRAVE returned to his apartment to find Mr. Howard, who had but +just that instant arrived, warming his white and well-ringed hands by the +fire. He conversed with him for half an hour on all the topics on which +the secretary could give him information, and then dismissed him once +more to the roof of Lady Jane. + +As he slowly undressed himself, he saw on his writing-table the note +which Lady Doltimore had referred to, and which he had not yet opened. +He lazily broke the seal, ran his eye carelessly over its few blotted +words of remorse and alarm, and threw it down again with a contemptuous +"pshaw!" Thus unequally are the sorrows of a guilty tie felt by the man +of the world and the woman of society! + +As his servant placed before him his wine and water, Vargrave told him to +see early to the preparations for departure, and to call him at nine +o'clock. + +"Shall I shut that door, my lord?" said the valet, pointing to one that +communicated with one of those large closets, or _armoires_, that are +common appendages to French bedrooms, and in which wood and sundry other +matters are kept. + +"No," said Lord Vargrave, petulantly; "you servants are so fond of +excluding every breath of air. I should never have a window open, if I +did not open it myself. Leave the door as it is, and do not be later +than nine to-morrow." + +The servant, who slept in a kind of kennel that communicated with the +anteroom, did as he was bid; and Vargrave put out his candle, betook +himself to bed, and, after drowsily gazing some minutes on the dying +embers of the fire, which threw a dim ghastly light over the chamber, +fell fast asleep. The clock struck the first hour of morning, and in +that house all seemed still. + +The next morning, Maltravers was disturbed from his slumber by De +Montaigne, who, arriving, as was often his wont, at an early hour from +his villa, had found Ernest's note of the previous evening. + +Maltravers rose and dressed himself; and while De Montaigne was yet +listening to the account which his friend gave of his adventure with +Cesarini, and the unhappy man's accusation of his accomplice, Ernest's +servant entered the room very abruptly. + +"Sir," said he, "I thought you might like to know. What is to be done? +The whole hotel is in confusion, Mr. Howard has been sent for, and Lord +Doltimore. So very strange, so sudden!" + +"What is the matter? Speak plain." + +"Lord Vargrave, sir,--poor Lord Vargrave--" + +"Lord Vargrave!" + +"Yes, sir; the master of the hotel, hearing you knew his lordship, would +be so glad if you would come down. Lord Vargrave, sir, is dead,--found +dead in his bed!" + +Maltravers was rooted to the spot with amaze and horror. Dead! and but +last night so full of life and schemes and hope and ambition. + +As soon as he recovered himself, he hurried to the spot, and De Montaigne +followed. The latter, as they descended the stairs, laid his hand on +Ernest's arm and detained him. + +"Did you say that Castruccio left the apartment while Vargrave was with +you, and almost immediately after his narrative of Vargrave's instigation +to his crime?" + +"Yes." + +The eyes of the friends met; a terrible suspicion possessed both. "No; +it is impossible!" exclaimed Maltravers. "How could he obtain entrance, +how pass Lord Vargrave's servants? No, no; think of it not!" + +They hurried down the stairs; they reached the other door of Vargrave's +apartment. The notice to Howard, with the name of Vargrave underscored, +was still on the panels. De Montaigne saw and shuddered. + +They were in the room by the bedside. A group were collected round; they +gave way as the Englishman and his friend approached; and the eyes of +Maltravers suddenly rested on the face of Lord Vargrave, which was +locked, rigid, and convulsed. + +There was a buzz of voices which had ceased at the entrance of +Maltravers; it was now renewed. A surgeon had been summoned--the nearest +surgeon,--a young Englishman of no great repute or name. He was making +inquiries as he bent over the corpse. + +"Yes, sir," said Lord Vargrave's servant, "his lordship told me to call +him at nine o'clock. I came in at that hour, but his lordship did not +move nor answer me. I then looked to see if he were very sound asleep, +and I saw that the pillows had got somehow over his face, and his head +seemed to lie very low; so I moved the pillows, and I saw that his +lordship was dead." + +"Sir," said the surgeon, turning to Maltravers, "you were a friend of his +lordship, I hear. I have already sent for Mr. Howard and Lord Doltimore. +Shall I speak with you a minute?" + +Maltravers nodded assent. The surgeon cleared the room of all but +himself, De Montaigne, and Maltravers. + +"Has that servant lived long with Lord Vargrave?" asked the surgeon. + +"I believe so,--yes; I recollect his face. Why?" + +"And you think him safe and honest?" + +"I don't know; I know nothing of him." + +"Look here, sir,"--and the surgeon pointed to a slight discoloration on +one side the throat of the dead man. "This may be accidental--purely +natural; his lordship may have died in a fit; there are no certain marks +of outward violence, but murder by suffocation might still--" + +"But who besides the servant could gain admission? Was the outer door +closed?" + +"The servant can take oath that he shut the door before going to bed, and +that no one was with his lordship, or in the rooms, when Lord Vargrave +retired to rest. Entrance from the windows is impossible. Mind, sir, I +do not think I have any right to suspect any one. His lordship had been +in very ill health a short time before; had had, I hear, a rush of blood +to the head. Certainly, if the servant be innocent, we can suspect no +one else. You had better send for more experienced practitioners." + +De Montaigne, who had hitherto said nothing, now looked with a hurried +glance around the room: he perceived the closet-door, which was ajar, and +rushed to it, as by an involuntary impulse. The closet was large, but a +considerable pile of wood, and some lumber of odd chairs and tables, took +up a great part of the space. De Montaigne searched behind and amidst +this litter with trembling haste,--no trace of secreted murder was +visible. He returned to the bedroom with a satisfied and relieved +expression of countenance. He then compelled himself to approach the +body, from which he had hitherto recoiled. + +"Sir," said he, almost harshly, as he turned to the surgeon, "what idle +doubts are these? Cannot men die in their beds, of sudden death, no +blood to stain their pillows, no loop-hole for crime to pass through, but +we must have science itself startling us with silly terrors? As for the +servant, I will answer for his innocence; his manner, his voice attest +it." The surgeon drew back, abashed and humbled, and began to apologize, +to qualify, when Lord Doltimore abruptly entered. + +"Good heavens!" said he, "what is this? What do I hear? Is it possible? +Dead! So suddenly!" He cast a hurried glance at the body, shivered, and +sickened, and threw himself into a chair, as if to recover the shock. +When again he removed his hand from his face, he saw lying before him on +the table an open note. The character was familiar; his own name struck +his eye,--it was the note which Caroline had sent the day before. As no +one heeded him, Lord Doltimore read on, and possessed himself of the +proof of his wife's guilt unseen. + +The surgeon, now turning from De Montaigne, who had been rating him +soundly for the last few moments, addressed himself to Lord Doltimore. +"Your lordship," said he, "was, I hear, Lord Vargrave's most intimate +friend at Paris." + +"I _his_ intimate friend?" said Doltimore, colouring highly, and in a +disdainful accent. "Sir, you are misinformed." + +"Have you no orders to give, then, my lord?" + +"None, sir. My presence here is quite useless. Good-day to you, +gentlemen." + +"With whom, then, do the last duties rest?" said the surgeon, turning to +Maltravers and De Montaigne. "With the late lord's secretary?--I expect +him every moment; and here he is, I suppose,"--as Mr. Howard, pale, and +evidently overcome by his agitation, entered the apartment. Perhaps, of +all the human beings whom the ambitious spirit of that senseless clay had +drawn around it by the webs of interest, affection, or intrigue, that +young man, whom it had never been a temptation to Vargrave to deceive or +injure, and who missed only the gracious and familiar patron, mourned +most his memory, and defended most his character. The grief of the poor +secretary was now indeed overmastering. He sobbed and wept like a child. + +When Maltravers retired from the chamber of death, De Montaigne +accompanied him; but soon quitting him again, as Ernest bent his way to +Evelyn, he quietly rejoined Mr. Howard, who readily grasped at his offers +of aid in the last melancholy duties and directions. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + IF we do meet again, why, we shall smile.--_Julius Caesar_. + +THE interview with Evelyn was long and painful. It was reserved for +Maltravers to break to her the news of the sudden death of Lord Vargrave, +which shocked her unspeakably; and this, which made their first topic, +removed much constraint and deadened much excitement in those which +followed. + +Vargrave's death served also to relieve Maltravers from a most anxious +embarrassment. He need no longer fear that Alice would be degraded in +the eyes of Evelyn. Henceforth the secret that identified the erring +Alice Darvil with the spotless Lady Vargrave was safe, known only to Mrs. +Leslie and to Aubrey. In the course of nature, all chance of its +disclosure must soon die with them; and should Alice at last become his +wife, and should Cleveland suspect (which was not probable) that +Maltravers had returned to his first love, he knew that he might depend +on the inviolable secrecy of his earliest friend. + +The tale that Vargrave had told to Evelyn of his early--but, according to +that tale, guiltless--passion for Alice, he tacitly confirmed; and he +allowed that the recollection of her virtues, and the intelligence of her +sorrows and unextinguishable affection, had made him recoil from a +marriage with her supposed daughter. He then proceeded to amaze his +young listener with the account of the mode in which he had discovered +her real parentage, of which the banker had left it to Alice's discretion +to inform her, after she had attained the age of eighteen. And then, +simply, but with manly and ill-controlled emotion, he touched upon the +joy of Alice at beholding him again, upon the endurance and fervour of +her love, upon her revulsion of feeling at learning that, in her +unforgotten lover, she beheld the recent suitor of her adopted child. + +"And now," said Maltravers, in conclusion, "the path to both of us +remains the same. To Alice is our first duty. The discovery I have made +of your real parentage does not diminish the claims which Alice has on +me, does not lessen the grateful affection that is due to her from +yourself. Yes, Evelyn, we are not the less separated forever. But when +I learned the wilful falsehood which the unhappy man, now hurried to his +last account, to whom your birth was known, had imposed upon me,--namely, +that you were the child of Alice,--and when I learned also that you had +been hurried into accepting his hand, I trembled at your union with one +so false and base. I came hither resolved to frustrate his schemes and +to save you from an alliance, the motives of which I foresaw, and to +which my own letter, my own desertion, had perhaps urged you. New +villanies on the part of this most perverted man came to my ear: but he +is dead; let us spare his memory. For you--oh, still let me deem myself +your friend,--your more than brother; let me hope now that I have planted +no thorn in that breast, and that your affection does not shrink from the +cold word of friendship." + +"Of all the wonders that you have told me," answered Evelyn, as soon as +she could recover the power of words, "my most poignant sorrow is, that I +have no rightful claim to give a daughter's love to her whom I shall ever +idolize as my mother. Oh, now I see why I thought her affection measured +and lukewarm. And have I--I destroyed her joy at seeing you again? But +you--you will hasten to console, to reassure her! She loves you +still,--she will be happy at last; and that--that thought--oh, that +thought compensates for all!" + +There was so much warmth and simplicity in Evelyn's artless manner, it +was so evident that her love for him had not been of that ardent nature +which would at first have superseded every other thought in the anguish +of losing him forever, that the scale fell from the eyes of Maltravers, +and he saw at once that his own love had blinded him to the true +character of hers. He was human; and a sharp pang shot across his +breast. He remained silent for some moments; and then resumed, +compelling himself as he spoke to fix his eyes steadfastly on hers. + +"And now, Evelyn--still may I so call you?--I have a duty to discharge to +another. You are loved"--and he smiled, but the smile was sad--"by a +younger and more suitable lover than I am. From noble and generous +motives he suppressed that love,--he left you to a rival; the rival +removed, dare he venture to explain to you his own conduct, and plead his +own motives? George Legard--" Maltravers paused. The cheek on which he +gazed was tinged with a soft blush, Evelyn's eyes were downcast, there +was a slight heaving beneath the robe. + +Maltravers suppressed a sigh and continued. He narrated his interview +with Legard at Dover; and, passing lightly over what had chanced at +Venice, dwelt with generous eloquence on the magnanimity with which his +rival's gratitude had been displayed. Evelyn's eyes sparkled, and the +smile just visited the rosy lips and vanished again. The worst because +it was the least selfish fear of Maltravers was gone, and no vain doubt +of Evelyn's too keen regret remained to chill his conscience in obeying +its earliest and strongest duties. + +"Farewell!" he said, as he rose to depart; "I will at once return to +London, and assist in the effort to save your fortune from this general +wreck: LIFE calls us back to its cares and business--farewell, Evelyn! +Aubrey will, I trust, remain with you still." + +"Remain! Can I not return then to my--to her--yes, let me call her +_mother_ still?" + +"Evelyn," said Maltravers, in a very low voice, "spare me, spare her that +pain! Are we yet fit to--" He paused; Evelyn comprehended him, and +hiding her face with her hands, burst into tears. + +When Maltravers left the room, he was met by Aubrey, who, drawing him +aside, told him that Lord Doltimore had just informed him that it was not +his intention to remain at Paris, and had more than delicately hinted at +a wish for the departure of Miss Cameron. In this emergency, Maltravers +bethought himself of Madame de Ventadour. + +No house in Paris was a more eligible refuge, no friend more zealous; no +protector would be more kind, no adviser more sincere. To her then he +hastened. He briefly informed her of Vargrave's sudden death; and +suggested that for Evelyn to return at once to a sequestered village in +England might be a severe trial to spirits already broken; and declared +truly, that though his marriage with Evelyn was broken off, her welfare +was no less dear to him than heretofore. At his first hint, Valerie, who +took a cordial interest in Evelyn for her own sake, ordered her carriage, +and drove at once to Lady Doltimore's. His lordship was out, her +ladyship was ill, in her own room, could see no one, not even her guest. +Evelyn in vain sent up to request an interview; and at last, contenting +herself with an affectionate note of farewell, accompanied Aubrey to the +home of her new hostess. + +Gratified at least to know her with one who would be sure to win her +affection and soothe her spirits, Maltravers set out on his solitary +return to England. + +Whatever suspicious circumstances might or might not have attended the +death of Lord Vargrave, certain it is that no evidence confirmed and no +popular rumour circulated them. His late illness, added to the supposed +shock of the loss of the fortune he had anticipated with Miss Cameron, +aided by the simultaneous intelligence of the defeat of the party with +whom it was believed he had indissolubly entwined his ambition, sufficed +to account satisfactorily enough for the melancholy event. De Montaigne, +who had been long, though not intimately, acquainted with the deceased, +took upon himself all the necessary arrangements, and superintended the +funeral; after which ceremony, Howard returned to London; and in Paris, +as in the grave, all things are forgotten! But still in De Montaigne's +breast there dwelt a horrible fear. As soon as he had learned from +Maltravers the charge the maniac brought against Vargrave, there came +upon him the recollection of that day when Cesarini had attempted De +Montaigne's life, evidently mistaking him in his delirium for +another,--and the sullen, cunning, and ferocious character which the +insanity had ever afterwards assumed. He had learned from Howard that +the outer door had been left ajar when Lord Vargrave was with Maltravers. +The writing on the panel, the name of Vargrave, would have struck +Castruccio's eye as he descended the stairs; the servant was from home, +the apartments deserted; he might have won his way into the bedchamber, +concealed himself in the _armoire_, and in the dead of the night, and in +the deep and helpless sleep of his victim, have done the deed. What need +of weapons--the suffocating pillows would stop speech and life. What so +easy as escape,--to pass into the anteroom; to unbolt the door; to +descend into the courtyard; to give the signal to the porter in his +lodge, who, without seeing him, would pull the _cordon_, and give him +egress unobserved? + +All this was so possible, so probable. + +De Montaigne now withdrew all inquiry for the unfortunate; he trembled at +the thought of discovering him, of verifying his awful suspicions, of +beholding a murderer in the brother of his wife! But he was not doomed +long to entertain fear for Cesarini; he was not fated ever to change +suspicion into certainty. A few days after Lord Vargrave's burial, a +corpse was drawn from the Seine. Some tablets in the pockets, scrawled +over with wild, incoherent verses, gave a clew to the discovery of the +dead man's friends: and, exposed at the Morgue, in that bleached and +altered clay, De Montaigne recognized the remains of Castruccio Cesarini. +"He died and made no sign!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + SINGULA quaeque locum teneant sortita.*--HORACE: _Ars Poetica_. + + * "To each lot its appropriate place." + +MALTRAVERS and the lawyers were enabled to save from the insolvent bank +but a very scanty portion of that wealth in which Richard Templeton had +rested so much of pride. The title extinct, the fortune gone--so does +Fate laugh at our posthumous ambition! Meanwhile Mr. Douce, with +considerable plunder, had made his way to America: the bank owed nearly +half a million; the purchase money for Lisle Court, which Mr. Douce had +been so anxious to get into his clutches, had not sufficed to stave off +the ruin,--but a great part of it sufficed to procure competence for +himself. How inferior in wit, in acuteness, in stratagem, was Douce to +Vargrave; and yet Douce had gulled him like a child! Well said the +shrewd small philosopher of France--"On peut etre plus fin qu'un autre, +mais pas plus fin que tous les autres."* + + * One may be more sharp than one's neighbour, but one can't be + sharper than all one's neighbours.--ROCHEFOUCAULD. + +To Legard, whom Maltravers had again encountered at Dover, the latter +related the downfall of Evelyn's fortunes; and Maltravers loved him when +he saw that, far from changing his affection, the loss of wealth seemed +rather to raise his hopes. They parted; and Legard set out for Paris. + +But was Maltravers all the while forgetful of Alice? He had not been +twelve hours in London before he committed to a long and truthful letter +all his thoughts, his hopes, his admiring and profound gratitude. Again, +and with solemn earnestness, he implored her to accept his hand, and to +confirm at the altar the tale which had been told to Evelyn. Truly he +said that the shock which his first belief in Vargrave's falsehood had +occasioned, his passionate determination to subdue all trace of a love +then associated with crime and horror, followed so close by his discovery +of Alice's enduring faith and affection, had removed the image of Evelyn +from the throne it had hitherto held in his desires and thoughts; truly +he said that he was now convinced that Evelyn would soon be consoled for +his loss by another, with whom she would be happier than with him; truly +and solemnly he declared that if Alice rejected him still, if even Alice +were no more, his suit to Evelyn never could be renewed, and Alice's +memory would usurp the place of all living love! + +Her answer came: it pierced him to the heart. It was so humble, so +grateful, so tender still. Unknown to herself, love yet coloured every +word; but it was love pained, galled, crushed, and trampled on; it was +love, proud from its very depth and purity. His offer was refused. + +Months passed away. Maltravers yet trusted to time. The curate had +returned to Brook-Green, and his letters fed Ernest's hopes and assured +his doubts. The more leisure there was left him for reflection, the +fainter became those dazzling and rainbow hues in which Evelyn had been +robed and surrounded, and the brighter the halo that surrounded his +earliest love. The more he pondered on Alice's past history, and the +singular beauty of her faithful attachment, the more he was impressed +with wonder and admiration, the more anxious to secure to his side one to +whom Nature had been so bountiful in all the gifts that make woman the +angel and star of life. + +Months passed. From Paris the news that Maltravers received confirmed +all his expectations,--the suit of Legard had replaced his own. It was +then that Maltravers began to consider how far the fortune of Evelyn and +her destined husband was such as to preclude all anxiety for their future +lot. Fortune is so indeterminate in its gauge and measurement. Money, +the most elastic of materials, falls short or exceeds, according to the +extent of our wants and desires. With all Legard's good qualities he was +constitutionally careless and extravagant; and Evelyn was too +inexperienced, and too gentle, perhaps, to correct his tendencies. +Maltravers learned that Legard's income was one that required an economy +which he feared that, in spite of all his reformation, Legard might not +have the self-denial to enforce. After some consideration, he resolved +to add secretly to the remains of Evelyn's fortune such a sum as might, +being properly secured to herself and children, lessen whatever danger +could arise from the possible improvidence of her husband, and guard +against the chance of those embarrassments which are among the worst +disturbers of domestic peace. He was enabled to effect this generosity +unknown to both of them, as if the sum bestowed were collected from the +wrecks of Evelyn's own wealth and the profits of the sale of the houses +in C-----, which of course had not been involved in Douce's bankruptcy. +And then if Alice were ever his, her jointure, which had been secured on +the property appertaining to the villa at Fulham, would devolve upon +Evelyn. Maltravers could never accept what Alice owed to another. Poor +Alice! No! not that modest wealth which you had looked upon complacently +as one day or other to be his. + +Lord Doltimore is travelling in the East,--Lady Doltimore, less +adventurous, has fixed her residence in Rome. She has grown thin, and +taken to antiquities and rouge. Her spirits are remarkably high--not an +uncommon effect of laudanum. + + + +CHAPTER THE LAST. + + ARRIVED at last + Unto the wished haven.--SHAKSPEARE. + +IN the August of that eventful year a bridal party were assembled at the +cottage of Lady Vargrave. The ceremony had just been performed, and +Ernest Maltravers had bestowed upon George Legard the hand of Evelyn +Templeton. + +If upon the countenance of him who thus officiated as a father to her he +had once wooed as a bride an observant eye might have noted the trace of +mental struggles, it was the trace of struggles past; and the calm had +once more settled over the silent deeps. He saw from the casement the +carriage that was to bear away the bride to the home of another,--the gay +faces of the village group, whose intrusion was not forbidden, and to +whom that solemn ceremonial was but a joyous pageant; and when he turned +once more to those within the chamber, he felt his hand clasped in +Legard's. + +"You have been the preserver of my life, you have been the dispenser of +my earthly happiness; all now left to me to wish for is, that you may +receive from Heaven the blessings you have given to others!" + +"Legard, never let her know a sorrow that you can guard her from; and +believe that the husband of Evelyn will be dear to me as a brother!" + +And as a brother blesses some younger and orphan sister bequeathed and +intrusted to a care that should replace a father's, so Maltravers laid +his hand lightly on Evelyn's golden tresses, and his lips moved in +prayer. He ceased; he pressed his last kiss upon her forehead, and +placed her hand in that of her young husband. There was silence; and +when to the ear of Maltravers it was broken, it was by the wheels of the +carriage that bore away the wife of George Legard! + +The spell was dissolved forever. And there stood before the lonely man +the idol of his early youth, Alice,--still, perhaps, as fair, and once +young and passionate, as Evelyn; pale, changed, but lovelier than of old, +if heavenly patience and holy thought, and the trials that purify and +exalt, can shed over human features something more beautiful than bloom. + +The good curate alone was present, besides these two survivors of the +error and the love that make the rapture and the misery of so many of our +kind; and the old man, after contemplating them a moment, stole +unperceived away. + +"Alice," said Maltravers, and his voice trembled, "hitherto, from motives +too pure and too noble for the practical affections and ties of life, you +have rejected the hand of the lover of your youth. Here again I implore +you to be mine! Give to my conscience the balm of believing that I can +repair to you the evils and the sorrows I have brought upon you. Nay, +weep not; turn not away. Each of us stands alone; each of us needs the +other. In your heart is locked up all my fondest associations, my +brightest memories. In you I see the mirror of what I was when the world +was new, ere I had found how Pleasure palls upon us, and Ambition +deceives! And me, Alice--ah, you love me still! Time and absence have +but strengthened the chain that binds us. By the memory of our early +love, by the grave of our lost child that, had it lived, would have +united its parents, I implore you to be mine!" + +"Too generous!" said Alice, almost sinking beneath the emotions that +shook that gentle spirit and fragile form, "how can I suffer your +_compassion_--for it is but compassion--to deceive yourself? You are of +another station than I believed you. How can you raise the child of +destitution and guilt to your own rank? And shall I--I--who, Heaven +knows! would save you from all regret--bring to you now, when years have +so changed and broken the little charm I could ever have possessed, this +blighted heart and weary spirit? Oh, no, no!" and Alice paused abruptly, +and the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +"Be it as you will," said Maltravers, mournfully; "but, at least, ground +your refusal upon better motives. Say that now, independent in fortune, +and attached to the habits you have formed, you would not hazard your +happiness in my keeping,--perhaps you are right. To _my_ happiness you +would indeed contribute; your sweet voice might charm away many a memory +and many a thought of the baffled years that have intervened since we +parted; your image might dissipate the solitude which is closing round +the Future of a disappointed and anxious life. With you, and with you +alone, I might yet find a home, a comforter, a charitable and soothing +friend. This you could give to me; and with a heart and a form alike +faithful to a love that deserved not so enduring a devotion. But I--what +can I bestow on you? Your station is equal to my own; your fortune +satisfies your simple wants. 'Tis true the exchange is not equal, Alice. +Adieu!" + +"Cruel!" said Alice, approaching him with timid steps. "If I could--I, +so untutored, so unworthy--if I could comfort you in a single care!" + +She said no more, but she had said enough; and Maltravers, clasping her +to his bosom, felt once more that heart which never, even in thought, had +swerved from its early worship, beating against his own! + +He drew her gently into the open air. The ripe and mellow noonday of the +last month of summer glowed upon the odorous flowers, and the broad sea, +that stretched beyond and afar, wore upon its solemn waves a golden and +happy smile. + +"And ah," murmured Alice, softly, as she looked up from his breast, "I +ask not if you have loved others since we parted--man's faith is so +different from ours--I only ask if you love me now?" + +"More! oh, immeasurably more, than in our youngest days!" cried +Maltravers, with fervent passion. "More fondly, more reverently, more +trustfully, than I ever loved living being!--even her, in whose youth and +innocence I adored the memory of thee! Here have I found that which +shames and bankrupts the Ideal! Here have I found a virtue, that, coming +at once from God and Nature, has been wiser than all my false philosophy +and firmer than all my pride! You, cradled by misfortune,--your +childhood reared amidst scenes of fear and vice, which, while they seared +back the intellect, had no pollution for the soul,--your very parent your +tempter and your foe; you, only not a miracle and an angel by the stain +of one soft and unconscious error,--you, alike through the equal trials +of poverty and wealth, have been destined to rise above all triumphant; +the example of the sublime moral that teaches us with what mysterious +beauty and immortal holiness the Creator has endowed our human nature +when hallowed by our human affections! You alone suffice to shatter into +dust the haughty creeds of the Misanthrope and Pharisee! And your +fidelity to my erring self has taught me ever to love, to serve, to +compassionate, to respect the community of God's creatures to +which--noble and elevated though you are--you yet belong!" + +He ceased, overpowered with the rush of his own thoughts. And Alice was +too blessed for words. But in the murmur of the sunlit leaves, in the +breath of the summer air, in the song of the exulting birds, and the deep +and distant music of the heaven-surrounded seas, there went a melodious +voice that seemed as if Nature echoed to his words, and blest the reunion +of her children. + +Maltravers once more entered upon the career so long suspended. He +entered with an energy more practical and steadfast than the fitful +enthusiasm of former years; and it was noticeable amongst those who knew +him well, that while the firmness of his mind was not impaired, the +haughtiness of his temper was subdued. No longer despising Man as he is, +and no longer exacting from all things the ideal of a visionary standard, +he was more fitted to mix in the living World, and to minister usefully +to the great objects that refine and elevate our race. His sentiments +were, perhaps, less lofty, but his actions were infinitely more +excellent, and his theories infinitely more wise. + +Stage after stage we have proceeded with him through the MYSTERIES OF +LIFE. The Eleusinia are closed, and the crowning libation poured. + +And Alice!--Will the world blame us if you are left happy at the last? +We are daily banishing from our law-books the statutes that disproportion +punishment to crime. Daily we preach the doctrine that we demoralize +wherever we strain justice into cruelty. It is time that we should apply +to the Social Code the Wisdom we recognize in Legislation! It is time +that we should do away with the punishment of death for inadequate +offences, even in books; it is time that we should allow the morality of +atonement, and permit to Error the right to hope, as the reward of +submission to its suffering. Nor let it be thought that the close to +Alice's career can offer temptation to the offence of its commencement. +Eighteen years of sadness, a youth consumed in silent sorrow over the +grave of Joy, have images that throw over these pages a dark and warning +shadow that will haunt the young long after they turn from the tale that +is about to close! If Alice had died of a broken heart, if her +punishment had been more than she could bear, _then_, as in real life, +you would have justly condemned my moral; and the human heart, in its +pity for the victim, would have lost all recollection of the error.--My +tale is done. + + + +THE END. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ALICE BY LYTTON, BOOK XI *** +By Edward Bulwer Lytton + +******* This file should be named 9773.txt or 9773.zip ******* + +Produced by Dagny; and by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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