Cursed by a Fortune Part 43

At last her fevered waking dream, as it seemed to her, was brought to an end by Garstang suddenly starting up as if from sleep to rub his condensed breath off the window-pane and look out.

"London lights," he said.--"Asleep, my dear?"

"No, Mr Garstang. I have been awake thinking all the while."

"Of course you would be. What an absurd, malapropos question. There, you see what it is to be a middle-aged, unfeeling man. I'm afraid we do get very selfish. Instead of trying to comfort you, and chatting pleasantly, I curl up like a great black cat and go to sleep."

She made no reply. The words would not come.

"Cold, my dear?"

"No. I feel hot and feverish."

"Nervous anxiety, of course. But try and master it. We shall soon be home, and you can have a good cup of tea and go to bed. A good long sleep will set you right, and you will not be thinking of what a terrible deed you have committed in coming away in this nocturnal clandestine manner. That sounds grand, doesn't it, for a very calm, sensible move on life's chess-board--one which effectually checks James Wilton and that pleasant young p.a.w.n his son. There, there, don't fidget about it, pray. I have been thinking, too, and asking myself whether I have done my duty by Robert Wilton's child in bringing you away, and I can find but one answer--yes; while conscience says that I should have been an utter brute to you if I had left you to be exposed to such a scandalous persecution."

"Thank you, Mr Garstang," said Kate, frankly, as she held out her hand to him. "I could not help feeling terribly agitated and ready to reproach myself for taking such a step. You do a.s.sure me that I have done right?"

"What, in coming with me, my dear?" he said, after just pressing her hand and dropping it again. "Of course I do. I was a little in doubt about it at first, but my head feels clearer after my nap, and I tell you, as an experienced man, that you have done the only thing you could do under the circ.u.mstances. This night journey excites and upsets you a bit, but I'm very much afraid that some of them at Northwood will be far worse, and serve them right."

"Poor 'Liza will be horror-stricken," said Kate. "I wish I had begged harder for you to bring her too."

"Ah, poor woman! I am sorry for her," said Garstang, thoughtfully; "servants of that devoted nature are very rare. It is an insult to call them servants; they are very dear and valuable friends. But just think a moment, my dear. To have roused her from sleep and told her to dress and come with you--to join you in your flight would have seemed to her then so mad a proceeding that it would have resulted in her alarming the house, or at least in upsetting our project. She would never have let you come."

"I am afraid you are right," said Kate, with a sigh.

"I am sure of it, my child; but you must communicate with her at once.

She must not be kept in suspense an hour longer than we can help. Let me see, I must contrive some way of getting a letter to her.--Ah, here we are."

For the train had slowed while they were talking, and was now gliding gently along by the platform of the great dimly lighted station.

A porter sprang on to the footboard as he let down the window.

"Luggage, sir?"

"No. Is the refreshment room open?"

"Yes, sir."

"That will do, then," said Garstang, and he slipped a coin into the man's hand. "Now, then, my dear, we'll go and have a hot cup of tea at once."

"I really could not touch any now, Mr Garstang," said Kate.

"That's what I daresay you said about your medicine when you were a little girl; but I must be doctor, and tell you that it is necessary to take away that nervous s.h.i.+vering and agitation; and besides, have a little pity on me."

She smiled faintly as he handed her out of the carriage, and suffered herself to be led to where the cheerless refreshment room was in charge of a couple of girls, who looked particularly sleepy and irritable, but who had been comforting themselves with that very rare railway beverage, a cup of freshly made tea.

"There, I am sure you feel better for that," said Garstang, as he drew his companion's arm through his and led her out of the station, ignoring the offers of cabman after cabman. "A nice, little, quick walk will circulate your blood, and then we'll take a cab and go home."

She acquiesced, and he took her along at a brisk pace through the gas-lit streets, pa.s.sing few people but an occasional policeman who looked at them keenly, and the men busy in gangs sweeping the city streets; but at the end of a quarter of an hour he raised his hand to the sleepy looking driver of a four-wheeler, handed his companion in, gave the man his instructions, and then followed, to sit opposite to her, and drew up the window, when the wretched vehicle went off with the gla.s.s jangling and jarring so that conversation became difficult.

"There!" said Garstang, merrily; "now, my dear, I am going to confess to a great deal of artfulness and cunning."

She looked at him nervously.

"This is a miserable cab, and I could have obtained a far better one in the station, but now you have come away it's to find peace, quiet, and happiness, eh?"

"I hope so, Mr Garstang."

"Yes, and you shall have those three necessities to a young girl's life, or John Garstang will know the reason why. So to begin with I was not going to have James Wilton and his unlicked cub coming up to town some time this morning, enlisting the services of a clever officer, who would question the porters at the terminus till he found the man who asked me about luggage, and then gather from that man that he called cab number nine millions and something to drive us away. Then, as they keep a record of the cabs which take up and where they are going, for the benefit of that stupid cla.s.s of pa.s.sengers who are always leaving their umbrellas and bags on seats, that record would be examined, number nine millions and something found, questioned, and ready to endorse the entry as to where we were going; and the next thing would have been Uncle James and Cousin Claud calling at my house, insisting upon seeing you, and consequently a desperate row, which would upset you and make me say things again which would cause me to repent. Now do you see?"

"Yes," she said, gravely; "they will not follow us now."

"I hope not, but it is of no use to be sure. I am taking every precaution I can; and I shall finish by getting out where I told the man--Russell Square; and we will walk the rest of the way."

Kate did not speak, for a vague terror was beginning to oppress her, which her companion's bright cheery way had hard work to disperse.

"It is of no use to be sure about anything, but if they do find out that you have come with me, these proceedings will throw them off the scent.

Your uncle does not know that I have a house in Great Ormond Street. Of course he knows of my offices in Bedford Row, and of my place at Chislehurst, where Harry Dasent lives with me--when he condescends to be at home. Come, you seem brighter and more cheerful now, but you will not be right till you have had a good long sleep."

Very little was said for the rest of the journey, the cab drawing up at the end of the narrow pa.s.sage close to Southampton Row, where there was no thoroughfare for horses; and after the man was paid, Garstang led his companion along the pavement as if about to enter one of the houses, going slowly till the cab was driven off. Then, increasing his pace, he led the way into the great square, along one side, making for the east, and finally stopped suddenly in front of a grim-looking red-brick mansion in Great Ormond Street--a house which in the gloomy morning, just before dawn, had a prison-like aspect which made the girl s.h.i.+ver.

"Strange how cold it is just before day," said Garstang, leading the way up the steps, glancing sharply to right and left the while. The next moment a latch-key had opened the ponderous door, and they stood in a great hall dimly seen to be full of shadow, till Garstang struck a match, applied it beneath a gla.s.s globe, and revealed the proportions of the place, which were ample and set off by rich rugs, and old oak presses full of blue china, while here and there were pictures which looked old and good.

"Welcome home, my child," said Garstang, with tender respect. "It looks gloomy now, but you are tired, faint, and oppressed with trouble. This way."

He led the girl to a door at the foot of a broad staircase, opened it, entered the room, and once more struck a match, to apply it to a couple of great globes held up by bronze figures on the great carved oak mantelpiece, and as the handsome, old-fas.h.i.+oned room lit up, he stopped and applied a match to the paper of a well-laid fire, which began to burn briskly, and added the warmth and glow of its flames and the cheery crackle of the wood to the light shed by the globes.

"There," he continued, drawing forward a great leather-covered easy chair to the front of the fire, "take off your hat, but keep your cloak on till the room gets warmer. It will soon be right."

She obeyed, trying to be firm, but her hands trembled a little as she glanced at her strange surroundings the while, to see that the room was heavily but richly furnished, much of the panelled oak wall being taken up by great carved cabinets, full of curious china, while plates and vases were ranged abundantly on brackets, or suspended by hooks wherever s.p.a.ce allowed. These relieved the heaviness of the thick hangings about a stained-gla.s.s window and over the doors, lying in folds upon the thick Persian carpet, while as the fire burned up a thousand little reflections came from the glaze of china, and wood polished as bright as hands could make it.

"You did not know I was quite a collector of these things, my dear. I hope you will take an interest in them by-and-by. But to begin with, let me say this--that I hope you will consider this calm old house your sanctuary as well as home, that you are its mistress as long as you please, and give your orders to the servants for anything that seems to be wanting."

"You are very good to me, Mr Garstang," faltered Kate, who felt that the vague terror from which she had suffered was dying away.

"Good? Absurd! Now, then, you will not mind being left alone for a few minutes? I am going to awaken my housekeeper and her daughter. Rather an early call."

As he spoke a great clock over the mantelpiece began to chime musically, and was followed by the hour in deep, rich, vibrating tones.

"It's a long time since I was up at five in the morning," said Garstang, cheerily. "Hah! a capital fire soon. Becky is very clever at laying fires. You will find her and her mother rather quaint, but they are devoted to me. Excellent servants. I never see anyone else's house so clean. There, I shall not be long."

He smiled at her pleasantly, and left the room, while, as the door closed, and the heavy folds of the portiere dropped down, Kate sank back in her chair, and the tears which had been gathering for hours fell fast. Then she drew herself up with a sigh, and hastily wiped her eyes, as if relieved and prepared to meet this new change of fate.

Garstang's few minutes proved to be nearly a quarter of an hour, during which, after a glance or two round the room, Kate sat thinking, with her ideas setting first in one direction, then ebbing in the other, the feeling that she had done wrong predominating; but her new guardian's reappearance changed their course again, and she could feel nothing but grat.i.tude to one whose every thought seemed to be to make her position bearable.

"I could not be cross with them," he said, as he entered; "but it is an astonis.h.i.+ng thing how people who have neither worry nor trouble in the world can sleep. Now those two have nothing on their minds but the care of this house, which came to me through an old client, and in which I very seldom live! and I believe they pa.s.s half their time drowsing through existence. If the truth were known, they were in bed by nine o'clock last night, and they were so soundly asleep that the place might have been burned down without their waking."

"It seems a shame to disturb them," said Kate, with a faint smile.