Cursed by a Fortune Part 50

"No; not yet," said Kate, wearily; "and I have tried very hard."

"Then don't try, my child," he said, with a smile, "and then perhaps the idea will come. I ought to say, though," he added, playfully, "do try hard, so as not to succeed, for I do not want you to go. It is as if a change had come over my life, and like the man in one of the old plays, I had discovered a long-lost child."

"Pray don't treat it lightly, Mr Garstang," said Kate. "All this troubles me terribly. I feel so helpless."

"Believe me that if I talk lightly, I think very, very seriously of your position," said Garstang, quickly. "I know how painful it must be for you to neglect your friends, those to whom you would write, but really I am obliged to advocate reticence for the present. I will have your letters posted if you desire me to, but I am bound to show you the consequences which must follow."

Kate sighed, and looked more and more troubled.

"To put it more plainly," continued Garstang, "my position is that I have an extensive practice, with many clients to see, and consequently I must be a great deal away. Now suppose one morning, when I am out, James Wilton and his son present themselves. What will you do?"

Kate s.h.i.+vered, and gazed at him helplessly.

"I shall not feel best pleased to come back home to dinner, and find you gone."

"My position is terrible," said Kate. "I almost wish I were penniless."

"Come, come, not so terrible; it is only that of a prisoner who has her cell door barred inside, so that she can open it when she pleases. May I try and advise you a little?"

"Yes, pray, pray do, Mr Garstang."

"Well, my advice is this--even if it causes your poor old nurse great anxiety. She will be content later on, when she learns that it was for your benefit. My advice is for you to try and settle down here for a while, so as to see how matters shape themselves, or till you have decided where it would be better for you to go."

She looked at him wistfully.

"Could I not take apartments somewhere, and have Eliza up to keep house for me?"

"Well--yes," he said, thoughtfully. "It would be risky, for every movement of your old servant will be jealously watched just now. It would be better later on. What do you think?"

"That I do not wish to seem ungrateful for your kindness, neither do I feel justified in putting you to great trouble and expense."

"Pooh, pooh," he said, merrily, "I am not so poor that I can not afford myself a few pleasures. But proper pride is a fine thing. There, you shall be independent, and pay me back everything when you come of age."

He glanced at his watch, for breakfast had been over some time, and they had sat talking.

"I am keeping you, Mr Garstang," she said.

"Well, I like to be kept, but I have several appointments to-day. Have a good quiet think while I am gone, and we will talk it over again to-night."

"No," said Kate, quietly, "you will be tired then. I will take your advice, Mr Garstang."

"Yes?" he said, raising his eyebrows a little.

"I will stay here for a time, where, as you say, I can be at rest and safe from intrusion. We will see what time brings forth."

"Spoken like a thoughtful, wise little woman," said Garstang, without the slightest display of elation. "By the way, you find plenty of books to read?"

"Oh, yes, and I have been studying the old china."

"A very interesting subject; but music--you are fond of music. We must see about that."

He nodded and smiled, and then she saw that he became very calm and thoughtful, as if immersed in his business affairs.

Once more she was quite alone, thinking that she had been a whole week in the solemn old house, and a few minutes later the housekeeper entered to clear away the breakfast things.

"Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am?" said the woman sadly, when she had finished her task, Kate noticing the while that there was an occasional whisper outside the door, as the various articles were handed out.

"No, I think not, this morning, Sarah," said Kate, with a smile which proved infectious, for the woman stood staring at her for a few moments as if in wonder, and then her own countenance relaxed stiffly, as if she had not smiled in years, till her face looked nearly cheerful.

"You are handsome, ma'am," she said; "I haven't seen you look like that before since you've been here."

"Why does not Becky come in to help you to clear away?" said Kate, to change the conversation, and Sarah Plant's face grew stern and withered again, as she shook her head.

"She's such a sight, ma'am, with that handkercher round her head."

"I should not mind that; I have not fairly seen her since I came."

"No, ma'am, and you won't if she can help it. You mayn't mind, but she do. She always hides herself when anybody's about. Poor girl, she's been in trouble almost ever since she was born. There's sure to be something in this life. Not as I complains of master. It was just the same with old master, and when he died it made Becky ever so much worse.

You see, ma'am, old master's wife was ill for a long time, and that made the house dull and quiet; and then she died, and old master was never the same again. He spent scores o' thousands o' pounds on furniture, and books, and china, and did everything he could to make the place nice, but he never held up his head again. And then somehow his money went wrong, and new master used to come to help him out of his troubles, but it was no use; old master never had the blinds pulled up again; and that made Becky and me different to most folk, for it used to be like being shut up in a cupboard, and we never hardly went out.

Becky ain't been out of the house for years, and years, and years."

"We must make the house more cheerful now, Sarah."

The woman looked at her in astonishment, and then shook her head.

"Well, ma'am, I will say that it has seemed different since you came; but no--it's beautifully furnished, and I never see a better kitchen in my life--but make it cheerful? No, ma'am, it ain't to be done."

"We shall see," said Kate, smiling, and the woman's face relaxed once more as she gazed at the fair, intellectual countenance before her as if it were some beautiful object which gave her real pleasure; but as Kate's smile died away her own features looked cloudy, and she shook her head.

"No, ma'am, it's my belief as this was meant to be a dull house before the big trouble came. Me and Becky used to say to one another it was just as if the sun had gone out, but we never expected what came at last, or I believe we should have run away."

The moment before Kate had been thinking of dismissing the housekeeper to her work, but this hint at something which had happened enchained her attention, and the woman went on.

"You see, old master kept on getting from bad to worse, spite of Mr Garstang's coming and seeing to his affairs; and one day the doctor says to me: 'It's of no use, Mrs Plant, I can do nothing for a man who shuts himself up and sets all the laws of nature at defiance.' Those were his very words, ma'am; I recollected them because I never quite knew what they meant; but the doctor evidently thought master had done something wrong, though I don't think he ever did, for he was such a good man.

Then came that morning, ma'am. I may as well tell you now. Becky used to sleep with me then, same as she does now, but that was before she had face-ache and fits. I remember it as well as can be. It was just at daylight in autumn time, when the men brings round the ropes of onions, and I nudged her, and I says, 'Time to get up, Becky,' and she yawned and got up and went down, for she always dressed quicker than I could.

And there I was, dressing, and thinking that master had told me that Mr Garstang was coming at ten o'clock, and I was to send him into the library at once, and breakfast was to be ready there.

"I'd just put on my cap, ma'am, and was going down, when I heard the horridest shriek as ever was, and sank down in a chair trembling, for I felt as sure as sure that burglars were in the house, and they were murdering my poor Becky. I was that frightened I got up and tottered to the door, and locked and bolted it, for I said they shouldn't murder me.

But, oh, dear; what I did suffer! 'Pretty sort of a mother you are,' I says to myself, 'taking care of yourself, and letting poor Becky be cut to pieces p'raps to hide their crime.'

"That went to my heart like a knife, ma'am, and I unfastened the door again and went out and listened, and all was still as still. You know how quiet it can be in this house, ma'am, don't you?"

Kate nodded.

"So I stood trembling there at the very top of the house, for we used to sleep up there, then, before Becky took to wanting to be downstairs, where she wasn't so likely to be seen; and though I listened and I listened, there wasn't a sound, and I give it to myself again. 'Why,' I says, 'a cat would scratch if you tried to take away its kitten to drown it'--as well I know, ma'am, for I've tried--'and you stand there doing nothing about your own poor girl.' That roused me, ma'am, and I went down, with the staircase all gloomy, with the light coming only from the sooty skylight in the roof; and there were the china cupboards and the statues in the dark corners all seeming to look down at something on the first floor. I was ready to drop a dozen times over, but I felt that I must go, even if I died for it; and down I went, step by step, peeping before me, and ready to shriek for help directly I saw what it was.

"But there was nothing that I could see, and I stopped on the first floor, looking over the banisters and trying to make out whether the hall door was open; but no, I couldn't see anything, and I went along sideways, looking down still, till I saw that the dining-room door was open, and it seemed to me that the shrieking must have come from there.

I was just opposite to the door leading into the two little lib'ries-- you know, ma'am, where the big curtain is--and I was taking another step sideways, meaning to look a little more over and then go and call up master, who didn't seem to have heard, when I caught my foot on something, and cried out and fell. And then I found it was poor Becky, who had just crawled out of the doorway on her hands and knees.