Checkmate Part 54

"Didn't you never shee a ferret kill a rabbit? It'sh a beautiful thing; it takesh it shomeway down the back, and bit by bit it mendsh itsh grip, moving up to-_wards_ the head. It _is_ really beautiful, and not a shound from either, only you'll see the rabbitsh big eyes lookin' sho wonderful! and the ferret hangsh on, swinging this way and that like a shna-ake--'tish wery pretty!--till he worksh hish grip up to where the backbone joinish in with the brain; and then in with itsh teeth, through the shkull! and the rabbit givesh a screetch like a child in a fit. Ha, ha, ha! I'm blesht if it ain't done ash clever ash a doctor could do it.

'Twould make you laugh. That will do."

And he took the bills from Sir Richard, and handed him two cheques, and as he placed the bills in the safe, and locked them up, he continued,--

"It _ish_ uncommon pretty! I'd rayther shee it than a terrier on fifty rats. The rabbit's sho s.h.i.+mple--there'sh the fun of it--and looksh sho foolish; and every rabbit had besht look sharp," he continued, turning about as he put the keys in his pocket, and looking with his burning black eyes full on Sir Richard, "and not let a ferret get a grip anywhere; for if he getsh a good purchase, he'll never let go till he hash his teeth in his brain, and then he'sh off with a shqueak, and there's an end of him."

"I can get notes for one of these cheques to-night?" said Sir Richard.

"The shmall one, yesh, eashy," answered Mr. Levi. "I'm a bachelor," he added jollily, in something like a soliloquy, "and whenever I marry I'll be the better of it; and I'm no m.u.f.f, and no cove can shay that I ever shplit on no one. And what do I care for Lonclushe? Not the snuff of this can'le!" And he snuffed the dip scornfully with his fingers, and flung the sparkling wick over the bannister, as he stood at the door, to light Sir Richard down the stairs.

CHAPTER LVIII.

THE BARON COMES TO TOWN.

Weeks flew by. The season was in its last throes: the session was within a day or two of its death. Lady May drove out to Mortlake with a project in her head.

Alice Arden was glad to see her.

"I've travelled all this way," she said, "to make you come with me on Friday to the Abbey."

"On Friday? Why Friday, dear?" answered Alice.

"Because there is to be a grand oratorio of Handel's. It is for the benefit of the clergy's sons' school, and it is one that has not been performed in England for I forget how many years. It is _Saul_. You have heard the Dead March in Saul, of course; everyone has; but no one has ever heard the oratorio, and come you must. There shall be no one but ourselves--you and I, and your uncle and your brother to take care of us. They have promised to come; and Stentoroni is to take Saul, and they have the finest voices in Europe; and they say that Herr Von Waasen, the conductor, is the greatest musician in the world. There have been eight performances in that great room--oh! what do you call it?--while I was away; and now there is only to be this one, and I'm longing to hear it; but I won't go unless you come with me--and you need not dress. It begins at three o'clock, and ends at six, and you can come just as you are now; and an oratorio is really exactly the same as going to church, so you have no earthly excuse; and I'll send out my carriage at one for you; and you'll see, it will do you all the good in the world."

Alice had her difficulties, but Lady May's vigorous onset overpowered them, and at length she consented.

"Does your uncle come out here to see you?" asks Lady May.

"Often; he's very kind," she replies.

"And Grace Maubray?"

"Oh, yes; I see her pretty often--that is, she has been here twice, I think--quite often enough."

"Well, do you know, I never could admire Grace Maubray as I have heard other people do," says Lady May. "There is something harsh and bold, don't you think?--something a little cruel. She is a girl that I don't think could ever be in love."

"I don't know that," says Alice.

"Oh! really?" says Lady May, "and who is it?"

"It is merely a suspicion," says Alice.

"Yes--but you think she likes some one--do, like a darling, tell me who it is," urges Lady May, a little uneasily.

"You must not tell anyone, because they would say it was sisterly vanity, but I think she likes d.i.c.k."

"Sir Richard?" says Lady May, with as much indifference as she could.

"Yes, I think she likes my brother."

Lady May smiles painfully.

"I always thought so," she says; "and he admires her, of course?"

"No, I don't think he admires her at all. I'm certain he doesn't," said Alice.

"Well, certainly he always does speak of her as if she belonged to Vivian Darnley," remarks Lady May, more happily.

"So she does, and he to her, I hope," said Alice.

"Hope?" repeated Lady May, interrogatively.

"Yes--I think nothing could be more suitable."

"Perhaps so; you know them better than I do."

"Yes, and I still think Uncle David intends them for one another."

"I would have asked Mr. Longcluse," Lady May begins, after a little interval, "to use his influence to get us good hearing-places, but he is in such disgrace--is he still, or is there any chance of his being forgiven?"

"I told you, darling, I have really nothing to forgive--but I have a kind of fear of Mr. Longcluse--a fear I can't account for. It began, I think, with that affair that seemed to me like a piece of insanity, and made me angry and bewildered; and then there was a dream, in which I saw such a horrible scene, and fancied he had murdered Richard, and I could not get it out of my head. I suppose I am in a nervous state--and there were other things; and, altogether, I think of him with a kind of horror--and I find that Martha Tansey has an unaccountable dread of him exactly as I have; and even Uncle David says that he has a misgiving about him that he can't get rid of, or explain."

"I can't think, however, that he is a ghost or even a malefactor," said Lady May, "or anything worse than a very agreeable, good-natured person.

I never knew anything more zealous than his good-nature on the occasion I told you of; and he has always approached you with so much devotion and respect--he seemed to me so sensitive, and to watch your very looks; I really think that a frown from you would have almost killed him."

Alice sighs, and looked wearily through the window, as if the subject bored her; and she said listlessly,--

"Oh, yes, he was kind, and gentlemanlike, and sang nicely, I grant you everything; but--there is something ominous about him, and I hate to hear him mentioned, and with my consent I'll never meet him more."

Connected with the musical venture which the ladies were discussing, a remarkable person visited London. He had a considerable stake in its success. He was a penurious German, reputed wealthy, who ran over from Paris to complete arrangements about ticket-takers and treasurer, so as to ensure a system of check, such as would make it next to impossible for the gentlemen his partners to rob him. This person was the Baron Vanboeren.

Mr. Blount had an intimation of this visit from Paris, and Mr. David Arden invited him to dine, of which invitation he took absolutely no notice; and then Mr. Arden called upon him in his lodging in St.

Martin's Lane. There he saw him, this man, possibly the keeper of the secret which he had for twenty years of his life been seeking for. If he had a feudal ideal of this baron, he was disappointed. He beheld a short, thick man, with an enormous head and grizzled hair, coa.r.s.e pug features, very grimy skin, and a pair of fierce black eyes, that never rested for a moment, and swept the room from corner to corner with a rapid and unsettled glance that was full of fierce energy.

"The Baron Vanboeren?" inquires Uncle David courteously.

The baron, who is smoking, nods gruffly.

"My name is Arden--David Arden. I left my card two days ago, and having heard that your stay was but for a few days, I ventured to send you a very hurried invitation."

The baron grunts and nods again.

"I wrote a note to beg the pleasure of a very short interview, and you have been so good as to admit me."

The baron smokes on.